Schulz Consulting

Consulting and Upgrades

The Future of Sage 100 Is In The Cloud

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Hi, I’m Wayne Schulz, a Sage 100 ERP consultant who has been working with Sage 100 since the early 1990s. You may actually remember the software as MAS 90.

I also run a Sage 100 email newsletter – Schulz Says – that I’ve been sending to 1300 people every Thursday for the past 10 years. The newsletter covers all sorts of topics on Sage 100 accounting software, best practices, tips, tricks, news, upcoming releases and that type of stuff.

Gary and I sat down during the Meeting of the Minds conference in Newport Beach, CA and talked briefly about the process that his company – Summit Hosting – takes to ease the transition for Sage 100 users from on-premises to cloud hosted accounting.

I’ve known Gary for over 15 years and he was one of the first consultants to work with Sage to host what was then known as MAS 90 in a cloud environment.

Over the last few years hosting has greatly expanded in availability. Summit Hosting now offers hosting for not only Sage 100 but Sage 50 ( formerly Peachtree), Sage 100 Contractor, Sage 300, Sage 300 CRE ( formerly Timberline ), Sage 500, Sage Enterprise Management ( X3 ), Sage BusinessWorks, Sage CRM, Sage Fixed Assets and Sage HRMS.

One important distinction is that Sage doesn’t directly host most of their applications.

Instead, they rely on a network of consulting firms with experience in cloud hosting to provide the hosting for not only the accounting applications but also third-party applications such as Office 365, etc.

Meet My Cloud Guru: Gary Feldman

Gary is the cloud evangelist at Summit Hosting. He’s been working with sage 100 Since the 80s and hosting sage 100 since 1999. His company, Summit Hosting, provides a Secure Workspace to offer Sage 100 cloud hosting.

Tip: While you can run Sage 100 on many different platforms – including AWS, Azure, Partner Cloud, and Remote Desktop ( RDP ) – you’ll want whichever way you chose to access Sage 100 remotely to be secure from unauthorized access.

How Tough Is It To Move Sage 100 To The Cloud?

One question I’m asked quite a bit which may be of interest to you is – how exactly do we move Sage 100 from my on-premises server to the cloud. Can I move to the cloud if I have third-party integrations? What limitations would I face moving to the cloud?

To that I end I asked Gary Feldman to elaborate on how many of these types of Sage 100 to Cloud migrations he has done in his career?

Gary’s reponse – around 500 migrations of Sage 100 on-premises to cloud hosted.

Okay, what obviously, it’s 100 customer, and I’ve got 15 users, right? That’s probably pretty difficult. I’ve got wholesale distribution, I’ve got some of the warehouse management stuff, I’ve got shipping, I come to you and I say, hey, look, I want to go on prem, I’m tired of managing my own servers, I want to go to the cloud, Reader’s Digest version. What’s that process like?

Migrating Sage 100 to Cloud: The Details

Well, the first thing is the contracting. Once you get the contract, and that usually is very quickly, we can spin up a server in a day.

Not everyone moves as quickly as a day. However, for purposes of conversation, the migration of your Sage 100 from an existing on premises server to a cloud host should be closer to a day than a month.

In detail, typically, what happens is you zip up ( compress ) your MAS90 or Sage 100 folder. Then you send it securely to us, usually via a file transfer system we have set up to make it fast.

And then we we install the Sage 100 version specific to your company. A lot of people use the cloud migration as an upgrade opportunity.

However, we’ve had to deal with some emergency situations such as the company was hacked on Friday, they had a backup, they send it to us, we get them up and running, they’re running on Monday.

Typically, what I would suggest to people is that, especially if they have the third party applications, that they do some testing, you know, and usually it’s, it’s no more than a day’s worth of testing to and through those major processes that you do.

Even things like content chat, you know, a check is is subject to the printer driver, right? If you go from a laptop to a server, it’s a different operating system, the printer driver might not work. But typically you zip it up, you send it up there. And in a couple of days, it works.

If you have a really large environment,let’s say a SQL Sage 100 Premium environment and you have a lot of users, we frequently recommend you do a stress test.

Sage 100 on SQL ( Premium ) Without Setup Hassles

Okay, so here’s a good question. Because I think premium is the best version of Sage 100.

Benefits of Sage 100 Premium ( SQL )

  • Data security controlled by SQL
  • Migrates your existing Sage 100 data automatically
  • Integrates to almost all third-party solutions that Sage 100 works with
  • Faster external access to and reporting on SQL tables
  • Generally easier for external IT teams to access data files in a familiar SQL environment
  • Sage no longer charges extra for Premium provided you active on subscription

Note: For more details on the pros/cons of Sage 100 Premium review my free Sage 100 Premium FAQ ( Google Doc – NO REGISTRATION ). I keep this as a Google Doc so that as I continue to make updates you’ll always have the latest version at the link above.

Hosting your Sage 100 in a cloud environment will rarely involve giving up access to third-party solutions. Popular integrations like Starship, ScanForce, DataSelf, Scanco, MAPADOC will all work in both an on-premises and cloud based environment. And upgrades are actually easier in the cloud because you have control over all the workstations during the upgrade – so no more running workstation to workstation having to run wksetup repeatedly.

Premium is Sage 100 running on a SQL database. That means the tables are secured by SQL security which larger companies almost always insist on for keeping data private and secure.

In my experience Sage 100 on SQL equals less corruption. However, one issue with SQL setup and configuration is many customers don’t know how to set up or maintain Microsoft SQL.

It can be much simpler to offload MS SQL setup, configuration, maintenance and licensing to a third-party cloud host.

Predictable Monthly Cost

And with cloud hosting that’s all done for you through monthly subscription pricing.

SQL also creates so many more opportunities, not just from a reporting perspective. But for people who are, if you’ve got a partner who has a good development partner, you can do so much with triggers or with with stored procedures with other stuff to make more automation within your software as well. So it’s just it’s just a better database.

And the nice thing with Sage 100, in almost all cases the third-party integrations which are working with on-premises Sage 100 Standard or Advances work just fine with Sage 100 Premium in the cloud using SQL.

In additon to better security you’ll have better tools for backups. If you are high volume transaction processor in SQL, you can do backups during the day. So you don’t have a recovery point of yesterday, you can have recovery points during the day as well.

How To You Setup Your Sage 100 Users In The Cloud?

At Summit Hosting we take a spreadsheet of all your users, load that into Microsoft Active Directory, and then the users receive an email with instructions on how to login and setup their desktops. Depending on the situation we might have a remote training session or two as well.

To keep all your remote users secure we have this new tool called True Grid which creates like a VPN tunnel. It also allows for multi factor authentication, which is another great security feature so that you and only you can log into it.

With multi-factor authentication we are sending you a code onto your smartphone. And what’s even better about that is that everybody doesn’t have to have it. Because you know, you have different people with different levels, even though I would highly, highly, highly recommend multi-factor ( aka MFA ). That’s the way of the future. If you do any online banking, you have to do this stuff all the time anyway. But that’s how you can also get administrative rights on the server.

We have a frequently asked questions pages, all that kind of information available for you including detailed instructions along with step by step with pictures and a whole lot of customers,

Bad Internet Connections Typically Not A Factor

One of the objections to access your Sage 100 remotely in the cloud is that one or more of your people have a bad internet or internet goes down. In reality we’ve found that most Internet is pretty table so it’s not much of a factor anymore.

The way you connect using Terminal Server consumes such a small amount of data. You’re not sending all of your data over the Internet, you’re just sending keystrokes and mouse clicks, and we’re just sending you pictures of the screen. So there isn’t significant amounts of data going over the internet, which is also why it’s secure.

We’ve seen people try to roll their own cloud solution. In most cases it makes the most amount of sense to go with somebody who has done 500 of them. It makes things a lot easier. And in my view, the future of Sage 100 is remote connections to the cloud. Especially since Sage 100 runs just like it would on an on premise just a lot easier to set up configure insecure, and support.

Support. We have 24 by seven support 365 and the partners can get in anytime they need to do

The above is a transcript of a conversion with Gary Feldman from the May 2022 90 Minds Meeting. Portion have been edited for clarity. For more information about cloud hosting please reach out to Summit Hosting directly at sales@summithosting.com.

Eight Tips for Speeding Up Sage 100

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We’ve heard from some users that after upgrading Sage 100 to version 2020 that they’ve experienced slower performance.

Slow performance can be cause by many things ( see below for a list of the top 8 reasons your Sage 100 might be slow ).

In many instances the slowness of a new Sage 100 upgrade can be traced back to overly aggressive anti-virus or malware scanners causing interruptions in processing.

The suggestions below may ( or may not ) help speed up your Sage 100 system. Prior to calling support I recommend walking through each and seeing if they might apply to your particular installation.

  1. Change the default printer to another physical or network printer and then test/check the performance
    1. Sage 100 Advanced and Premium looks at the default printer on the server every time a task is launched.
    2. Sage 100 Standard edition checks the workstation’s default printer.
    3. Make sure all Network Printers are on-line
    4. If a Network Printer is off-line and no longer needed, remove it from Control Panel, Devices and Printers
  2. Check the path
    1. For Sage 100 Standard, Workstation Setup should be installed from a mapped drive letter path, such that the shortcut to launch Sage 100 also has the mapped drive letter path. The drive letter must be mapped to a directory above “MAS90”
    2. For Sage 100 Advanced or Premium, Workstation Setup should be installed from a UNC path, such that the shortcut to launch Sage 100 also has the UNC path. The UNC share point must be a directory above “MAS90”
  3. Check that the latest Sage Anti-Virus setting exclusions have been applied
  4. Consider temporarily disabling anti-virus and malware scans
    1. This is trickier than it should be – and may require uninstalling and rebooting the server
  5. Consider setting Sage 100 so that the shortcut always “runs as administrator”
  6. Check ping times for Advanced/Premium
    1. PING servername -l 1800 ( Note the -l is lowercase letter L ) 
    2. Anything over 40 ms is slow and may be cause for further investigation
  7. Turn off the Sage Product Enhancement Program
    1. Login to Sage as Administrator
    2. Select Sage Product Enhancement Program
    3. Deselect “Participate in the Program” by removing the checkmark
  8. Never run Sage over WiFi without use of RDP or Terminal Server/Citrix
    1. Customers may refer to this as “using a VPN” but the VPN does NOT act as a remote desktop
    2. Customers running solely over WIFI or the Internet with RDP will see most pronounced slowdowns in printing

All information was drawn from this Sage KB article – Slow performance when opening a new task or starting Sage 100, or when running Sage 100 across a network

Sage 100 Files to Exclude from Antivirus Scanning

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No matter how fast your computer system hardware may be there is always room for improvement. One way that Sage 100 users have found to improve the speed of their accounting software is by excluding certain Sage 100 files from scanning by antivirus software.

Be sure you consider all anti-virus and malware applications. In at least one case we’ve had a user who added exclusions ( as suggested by Sage below ) and found that Windows Defender was also running on the server and once exclusions were added to Windows Defender their slow speed problems vanished.

Sage has a published list of the files and file extensions which may normally be excluded from scanning by antivirus software.

Since these file extensions are specific to Sage 100 there is a small risk of infection which leads Sage to recommend their exclusion.

There is a Sage knowledge article available online – How to exclude Sage 100 from antivirus scans.

The article recommends the following antivirus expulsions which may speed up the processing of Sage 100.

In general these exclusions should happen on both the server and workstation.

Update 3/2/2021

Consider testing by temporarily disabling your antivirus product to see if this improves performance: speed, file locking problems encountered, error messages, etc.

If performance improves, exclude the Sage 100 programs, folders, and file extensions from your Antivirus program:

In your Antivirus product ( To ensure you have the latest info please verify the list below against this official Sage KB article prior to making changes ):

  • Disable any aggressive or continuous (also known as on-access, constant, or real-time, or “network scanning“) monitoring or scanning of Sage 100 (formerly Sage MAS 90 or 200) programs if they exist:
    • “..\MAS90\Home\Pvxwin32.exe“
    • “..\MAS90\Home\pvxiosvr.exe“
    • “..\MAS90\Launcher\Launch32.exe“
    • “..\MAS90\Launcher\Launcher.old.exe“
  • Exclude the “..\MAS90” directory and sub-directories and contents on the server where Sage 100 is installed.
    • Note: Do the same for the workstations, if using Sage 100 Advanced or Premium editions (formerly Sage MAS 200 and Sage MAS 200 SQL editions)
  • Exclude the following file extensions:
    • AUC, DCL, DD, DDE, DDF, EXP, LCK, LIB, KDF, M4D, M4L, M4P, M4T, M4X, PRM, PVC, PVX, RPT, SOA, XEQ
  • Spa.NA.Com must be a trusted site

Note: It is okay to run nightly scans when users are out.

We advise that you consult with your IT staff prior to making any exclusions. Never disable your antivirus or malware scanners without understanding the risks involved.

WFH Tip For Sage 100: Go Paperless

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If your workflow is now like that of many companies you probably have most or all of your staff working from home.

When your staff is working in Sage 100 they are likely printing and updating journals and registers as they go about their regular workday.

These registers require paper and if you are manually printing and requiring staff to come into the office to later file the journals and registers – you are working too hard.

Sage 100 includes a feature called Paperless Office. It’s essentially taking all those journals and registers and automatically saving them as PDF files in a location determined by you.

What’s nice about this feature is that once enabled it automatically saves a copy of the output no matter whether your staff tries to send it to a printer or manually creates a PDF.

Sage has a set of detailed instructions online. These only look complicated as the actual setup is fairly straightforward.

If you decide to setup Paperless Office in Sage 100, here are a couple quick tips.

  • Create a common storage location which will survive upgrades. Don’t embed the saved paperless documents inside the \MAS90 folder or you’ll need to move them ( or keep that old folder ) with each upgrade.
  • Usually what we do is create a folder \acct then inside there have a folder \v20xx for the actual Sage 100, also a \acct\Paperless folder which holds the paperless documents.

That’s it. It’s very easy to automatically saved copies of your journals and registers to PDF automatically which will save your staff from having to manually file those documents.

With a little more setup effort you can also email out invoices using paperless. Some third-party credit card processors also support embedding links inside the invoices so your Sage 100 customers can pay directly from the invoice.

Previously we’ve had some customers dismiss paperless office as an unnecessary step. Now with more companies adjusting to working from home this handy feature is not only included in your product but can provide a very real return on your Sage 100 investment.

Contact Us

Schulz Consulting
Connecticut Office
Phone: 860.657.8544
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Available remotely nationwide.
We are a local branch of DSD Business Systems Connecticut.