Open Dental Forum

can i connect to an opendental database remotely via IP (internet)?
if so how?
thanks

What are you trying to do?

trying to connect to the database at the office from home.
thanks

Probably the easiest and safest way is to use Logmein, http://www.logmein.com

what if i want to 1 server for 2 offices?
thanks

That's more complex - I'd suggest asking someone on the list who's done it (I haven't).

I use logmein from home frequently. There should be no problem with concurrency as it sees the remote as a normal terminal. But 99% of the time I am using it after hours - So this is a guess on my part (educated of course) I'm not sure how it would perform when live.

RotKT wrote:what if i want to 1 server for 2 offices?
thanks

You can use terminal services if your server allows for it. It works quite well most of the time.

So you are not asking about remote access:
http://www.open-dent.com/manual/remote.html
but rather about multiple locations:
http://www.open-dent.com/manual/multiplelocations.html
Read that page and you will discover that:
1. TS works best.
2. Direct connection over VPN might work fine if your connection is fast.
3. Daisy chain works fine if you have time to maintain it.
4. ASP.NET solution will be better than all the above. It's not done yet.

Has anyone had success using a laptop as the server for offices with mutiple locations?

It may work if you are only going to be in one office at a time? But it doesn't sound like a long term solution.

This is a really interesting post for me. My practice is to travel to 20+ offices and provide IV sedation,oral surgery and endodontics. All of the practices I go to have internet access. I would love to have a dedicated server at my business office and access it from all the other offices. The only problem I see is the ability to print everything from the office I am at for that office. For example, progress notes, statement and RX. I can not find a program that will let me use their printer while I am at their office and accessing OD from my server at the business office. am I doing something wrong?

I have got to say OD is the coolest program on the market......who was it that aquired the rights to MySql?

I may be missing something here but I think there is an easy solution for what you are wanting to do which is different from the original topic of this thread. If you run open dental on your server at your business office, you can access it from any remote computer with internet access using LogMeIn. If you spend a few bucks (inexpensive annual fee) and upgrade LogMeIn from the free version to the Pro version, you can remote print. In other words, you can be at one of your referring doctors offices working on Open Dental remotely on your server and if you want to print a prescription, notes, statement, etc, you hit print and it will print to the local printer in the referring doctor's office--not your printer attached to your server in your business office. Hope this helps.

Oracle acquired the rights to MySQL.

jclaydds wrote:I may be missing something here but I think there is an easy solution for what you are wanting to do which is different from the original topic of this thread. If you run open dental on your server at your business office, you can access it from any remote computer with internet access using LogMeIn. If you spend a few bucks (inexpensive annual fee) and upgrade LogMeIn from the free version to the Pro version, you can remote print. In other words, you can be at one of your referring doctors offices working on Open Dental remotely on your server and if you want to print a prescription, notes, statement, etc, you hit print and it will print to the local printer in the referring doctor's office--not your printer attached to your server in your business office. Hope this helps.

This is exactly what I was looking for! So Logmein Pro will allow me to do this. Now all I have to do is build a server.

Thx for your help

I use logmein free version, and in my opinion it is an absolutely fabulous service. On another thread, I understand that it is being used with an iphone. I will be checking into this soon.

Anybody not using logmein is really missing something wonderful.

I can print remotely with the free version, but I can't print locally.

Dr. Bloom, I have an office in your area and I would like to chat with you about the services you provide.

Thanks,

Dr. Neelley

You could use LogMeIn's Hamachi.. its a free VPN. Works well. And it would encrypt the data over the network. You dont want port 3306 (mysql) exposed to the internet. Even with a root password. Someone could find an exploit in mysql and download your whole database. Hamachi would be slower then just using LogMeIn. I use hamachi with rsync to send backups from the office to the home.

http://hamachi.cc

PS. The cool thing with logmein and hamachi is you can do remote printing and filesharing with hamachi the free version, and remote viewing with logmein the free version. So you can login to the office from home and print, for free. I set this up for some people.

cneelley wrote:I use logmein free version, and in my opinion it is an absolutely fabulous service. On another thread, I understand that it is being used with an iphone. I will be checking into this soon.

Anybody not using logmein is really missing something wonderful.

I can print remotely with the free version, but I can't print locally.

Dr. Bloom, I have an office in your area and I would like to chat with you about the services you provide.

Thanks,

Dr. Neelley

Hi, You are out in Cypress, did you know Robert? I will call you Wednesday.

http://www.drbloom.com

Roy