Connecting to a server

Establishing connection with the server is easy and doesn't need any special technical skills or additional network setup.

Prerequisites for establishing network connection are:

- Firebird server tool installed on the server

- EssentialPIM client

- *.epim database file

Firebird server is the part of EssentialPIM Business installation file.

The installation wizard offers two options - Firebird server and EssentialPIM.

Firebird should be installed on a server machine only. When installing EssentiaiPIM Pro Business on client machines, Firebird server option can be disabled.

After Firebird installation you should create the *.epim database file on the server to which the clients will connect. Create the database in any preferred place on the server PC. You can also use an existing *.epim database file from the personal EssentialPIM or EssentialPIM Free version.

Once all preparations are completed you can start the connection procedure:

1. Run EssentialPIM. If it's already running then close the current database file by pressing on the smaller cross button in the top right corner of the program window, or under File -> Close.

2. Navigate to File -> Connect to Server, and fill in all fields in the dialog:

Server - enter server name or its IP address. If the server is in the LAN then you can locate it by pressing on the [...] button. When connecting through VPN or Internet, only its IP address can be used.

Database file - local path to the database on the server. The path shouldn't contain any network-specific elements like network connected drives or a computer's name. If a database is in "D:\EPIM_Network\database.epim" folder on the server, the same path should be entered into this field on all client machines.

Login/Password - enter user credentials here. When connecting for the first time you should log in using the default administrator account: login - SYSDBA, password - masterkey.

3. Press OK and the database on the network should open. If not, please refer to the troubleshooting topic.

4. Once connected under the administrator's (SYSDBA) account, you'll be able to access Tools -> Users menu. Here you can create, edit or delete user accounts. See the managing users topic for more information.

5. After creating users accounts, install EssentialPIM on client computers and connect to the database file on the server as described above.