WashPay Installation

[Andyjmyr]

Just wondering if anyone else with WashPay had problems with the install? We just got both automatics, 5 out of 6 of our SS bays, and still waiting to get our dog wash installed. The online system is a HUGE improvement from our old system.

However, the problems we're experiencing is that our server will go offline from time to time. We have remote login activated. This allows us to view everything from home. We noticed this shut off this morning. We couldn't log on. After arriving at the car wash the whole network was down. Our internet was working. This is getting to the point where its getting frustrating.

Tech support has been good but it seems like the problems continue.

 

[bigleo48]

Haven't had that particular problem and our WashPay Server Gen1 is almost 2 years old. It does need rebooting once a week or it will hang. I also installed one of these to auto-reboot or remote reboot it
http://www.controlbyweb.com/webrelay/

I have worked with complicated computer systems for years. To identify the cause usually requires reading logs the system creates...or windows logs if this is an OS issue. After you've determined there are no hardware problems (various utilities can test it out).

Have you been there when it happens? If you did, what did you see?

If it new and you are not very skilled in this area (I can tell from the way you explained your problem), perhaps swapping out the server for starters.

 

[Andyjmyr]

Yes, I have been there when it happens.

We just got it installed the other day. The site server ran fine for several hours. Unitec issued us a brand new server that hasn't even come out yet. It comes with a very nice solid state drive.

The other day while on the phone with tech support, they wanted to send us a new server. I'm guessing its because we were having so many problems.

Luckily its very cold and windy today. The car wash is dead. Had it been a normal day of washing, I'm sure crap would hit the fan.

We're loving the internet cc processing. It's almost INSTANT whenever a customer purchases a wash in the autos.

 

[bigleo48]

Yes, I have been there when it happens.

Snip

The other day while on the phone with tech support, they wanted to send us a new server. I'm guessing its because we were having so many problems.

So what did you see?

It's easier for Unitec to swap hardware if you are not well versed in computer systems.

 

[Andyjmyr]

The devices in the bays sometimes gives us faults. When we press "Refresh" in the summary section, they come back to "Idle".

Last night we had unitec setup our Cisco VPN router to log in remotely. We were able to do this until this morning.

We ran Cat6 cable throughout the wash. Today we had a networking company come out to test their cable terminations. Sure enough, 3 out of 8 of their connections were failing.

 

[gsgriffin]

When logging in remotely, are you connnecting to the server directly (using rdp or something) or connecting to the cisco firewall first using a vpn. If using the VPN, could that part connect? if not, most likely a firewall or router issue.

Other items it could be ar the switch, or the server itself.

Having that many cable terminations that are bad is pretty rare these days, depending on who did the cabling...


You can set the server to reboot nightly, this is really easy if a windos OS. just setup a scheduled task to run shutdown /f /r.

anyway...i am sure they will get it handled for you. i bet they would love to hear" this guy on a forum suggested..."

Griffin

 

[Andyjmyr]

We're connecting to the server directly using one of our static IP's.

We have the server to reboot every night at 3am.

I hope they get it handled. I think the software and system is great! I just wish it was more stable.

To compensate, we've been processing credit cards on our phones using "Square". It's a painful....painful situation right now.

 

[bigleo48]

Andyjmyr,

Ok...more info now. When you said "that our server will go offline from time to time", I thought you were saying it was turning off or rebooting.

With the devices going between fault and idle is likel a line of sight issue. (Cabling, connectors or switch/router, etc) and not likely a Server problem.

Why do you VPN? You could just open a port on the router. VPN is more secure, but it has lots of overhead (up to half of the data is encoding).

I disagree with GSgriffin on the cabling faults. I have done lots of cabling (office towers, airports, hospitals, etc). When you look at mating a cable with a RJ-45 connector, there are many issues. Like, what kind of jacketing (PVC or Plenum), what kind of wire and gauge (stranded or solid), Shielded or non, etc. They will dictate the connector used. Then their is the crimp tool. If you are using a cheap pair of side crimps like these

that don't crimp evenly across all 8 pins, you'll have problems. You need something like this that crimps all 8 together

 

[Andyjmyr]

Bigleo,

we had a company come out and do our cabling. I used to be a network op tech for at&t. I know what you mean by the quality of crimps. The problem in our cables ended up being in the patch panel installed next to our switch. The network tech didn't punch down a couple pairs in the back. We're using cat6 24 gauge wire.

The cables come from all the bays to the panel. The panel is then connected to a switch which then connects to the router. Then from the router we connect to the site server.

Still, the problem is apparent with our credit cards. Hopefully after today we have a new site server tomorrow. Apparently we're the first car wash with the new version of the site server. Its about twice as small and twice as fast as the original. I'm guessing it still has a couple bugs.

Also, Unitec just sent us the VPN router. We're not using a VPN to log in remotely. We assigned a static IP to the router. That's how we're logging in.

Here is a link to the exact router unitec sent us.
http://www.neweggbusiness.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124091

PANEL

SWITCH

ROUTER

 

[bigleo48]

When we got ours, the Washpay SS terminals had self-crimping female ends that gave us a few problems. We dumped them and connected directly and have not had problems since.

Your cabling contractor is terrible. Not only did they miss some pairs, they obviously did not test it right. Even is the problem was intermittent, it usually shows up in stress testing to Cat 6 speeds. Also, the data exchanged between the server and the devices is so low, you could have half-duplex 10BaseT on cat3 cable and it would work fine.

Sorry, for sounding annoying, but you're problem descriptions don't make a lot of sense to me. I guess you have a couple of problems...one was cabling and another is system based. I guess we'll see when the new server shows up.

The networking hardware you have is ok. Most routers now have VPN capabilities. I am not big on the Cisco/Linksys stuff. Seen a high failure rate and they do poorly in stress testing which indicate low memory and slow processors. I use the Netgear FVS338. Did much better in the stress testing and has dialup failover should you lose your high speed.

I would make sure that you hook everything up to the switch, then one cable between the switch and the router, then the router directly to your ISP's demarc. This would ensure faster and more reliable connections...especially if you have a video camera system also.

 

[bigleo48]

So....was the problem resolved? If so, what was it?

 

[Andyjmyr]

Hey bigleo,

I just sent you an email. I'd rather you email me at my personal e-mail address so I can send you pictures of what I'm talking about.

Unitec said they were sending out an update to the software in two weeks.

The system is sending out "fault" and "offline" messages. We're not sure if this is something to worry about or ignore???

We've gone in the router and assigned static IP's to each of the Paynodes.

Does the "fault" and "offline" errors happen to you? Is this something I should be worried about?

 

[Andyjmyr]

After what seemed like weeks of uncertainty, our WashPay system is finally working.

Unitec suggested that we assign static IP's for the WSII's. Ever since we did this inside of our NETGEAR RP614 V.4 router, this seems to be working. We'll see in the coming days if it holds up.

Today was a good test of the new system. We just had our first snow fall of the year. Today was 50 degrees and sunny.

Here is a screenshot of the SiteServer. All PayNode devices ran "Idle" or "Running" all day. We had no errors.

 

[bigleo48]

So the DHCP renewal was one of the causes. I would rather see a snapshot of the router's DHCP config page. That might tell us something interesting.