How can I trouble shoot problems with Updating to the Internet?

We have an article explaining the types of Updates the Desktop PMS offers at: https://support.bookingcenter.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/55

Troubleshooting tips for update erros are as follows:

If you are experiencing problems with Updating to the Internet, or other BookingCenter services, here are some likely causes:

--> Problem: "Error #0: Sockets: No Data Record" or "Unable to upload...." some file.

Solution: You are using a firewall that prevents BookingCenter from communicating with the Central Reservations Systems. We have seen this happen with the Personal Norton Firewall and some other software firewall products on the internet. Simply turn OFF the firewall, quit BookingCenter, re-start BookingCenter, and try again. If the problem is gone, then you must slowly 'tighten' security restrictions until both your firewall needs and the ability to communicate with BookingCenter's Central Reservation System are met.


--> Problem: Error: Sockets: Time Out

Solution: You are not connected to the Internet or have expired the internet connection. This happens if yuor internet connection dropped out (in the case of a DSL or cable modem, for example) or you are using a dial-up and the connection re-set itself. Simply quit BookingCenter. Connect to the Internet and confirm it by visiting a website or making a search engine query, and then re-launch BookingCenter and try again.



--> Problem: Notifications of Updates (Part or Full) are not getting through to your FROM BookingCenter. You get the 'Network Results Screen Success' but nothing changes online from the update.

Solution: You are not able to notify the BookingCenter server (admin.bookingCenter.com) by either HTTP nor SMTP that your Desktop software just did an Update. This leaves all the updates 'unprocessed' on our servers and the changes you sent not used. We see this in particular instances where there are proxy servers used on the LAN or on satellite systems that have been optimized for HTTP traffic and employ strange 'tunneling' programs for network enhancements.


We also see this if your mail server rejects emailing from within BookingCenterr. Placing the correct SMTP user name and password and choosing "Use SMTP Auth" will work for an Internet Service provider who uses 'clear text' as the authentication schemes. We have an article on Using Authentication to Send Email here:https://support.bookingcenter.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/174 to see if your ISP is on this list.

If the 'clear text' authentication scheme that BookingCenter supports does not work with your ISP, then you can download a local SMTP server for your BookingCenter needs.  There are numerous FREE SMTP servers for both Macintosh and Windows.  Check: http://www.download.com/ and download a free one to use on the BookingCenter PC/Mac you are are having trouble sending emails from. Note, BookingCenter does not support help setting up or configuring an SMTP server, so please contact your local computer networking person if this option is your desire.

The last option is for BookingCenter customers that can not get SMTP access through network authentication or SMTP 'clear text' authentication, nor do they wish to run their own SMTP server. In this case, we can set them up with an account on our BookingCenter servers and they use our SMTP servers for emails sent using the BookingCenter Property Management System.  There is a $120/year fee for using the BookingCenter SMTP servers, so try all other alternatives before resorting to this.


--> Problem: Firewall or Anti Virus Errors Prevent Updates or Credit Card Transactions

Solution: You are using a firewall that prevents BookingCenter from communicating with the Central Reservations Systems. While we don't work with firewalls and establishing security protection for our customers, we have found that a decent network administrator can help enable these services while still providing a good protection against intruders. here are the common protocols we require to work for various services:
Service

Host Name

Protocol
Credit Card Processing auth.bookingcenter.com HTTP
Part and Full Updates to the CRS admin.bookingcenter.com FTP
Live Sync admin.bookingcenter.com HTTP
Automated backup of datafile (can be backup.bookingcenter.com or customer's web host) FTP
Networking BookingCenter Desktop clients client dependent on mapping AppleTalk (older Apple Mac networking) or Windows Networking/SAMBA for Windows and mixed networks
MyPMS connectivity mypms.bookingcenter.com HTTP

After adding the above exceptions if you are still receiving timeouts when trying to do an availability update, a credit card transaction or a live sync please follow the test metric below:

1) make a booking, watch the live sync crs update time out
2) Open your firewall/av software and check exceptions
3) Disable all firewall/av software
4) Do an availability update or transfer a booking to a different room or any other modification that causes a CRS upload
5) Verify above update/transfer/live sync performed at normal speed with no issues
6) Re-enable Firewall/AV Software
7 Repeat test illustrated in step 5
8) Verify timeouts/issues reoccur.

The test metric above should conclusively rule out or confirm the issue is in fact within the firewall or av software. BookingCenter cannot provide technical support for firewalls or av software. Please contact a local networking professional for further assistance.