Prism Users Guide - Chapter 31. Centrals
31.8 Centrals Resiliency Service
About the Centrals Resiliency Service
Even the most reliable Internet connections may occasionally suffer a loss of connectivity. For merchants, even a brief interruption in the connection with the server can result in significant losses. RP Prism Centrals includes an offline mode to gracefully handle situations in which the connection to the Centrals server is lost.
When the connection to the Centrals server is lost, RP Prism will continue to allow you to make transactions. In the case of Central Credit, you can define an Offline Take Limit that places a ceiling on the amount for any single offline transaction. When the connection is restored, transactions completed when the centrals server was offline are sent to the Centrals Server.
Offline mode' is defined as ‘Centrals Service not available'. This could be caused by a variety of problems, including:
- The Centrals hostname/IP address was entered incorrectly and cannot be found
- The Centrals server is down
- The Centrals Server is up, but the PrismPOSV1 service on the Centrals server is not running.
The frequency with which resiliency tries to re-connect to the Centrals server is the ‘Interval' value (in minutes) defined in Admin Console > Installation Defaults. Enter the number of minutes Prism should wait before checking again to see if the connection to the Centrals server has been restored. For example, entering a value of 5 means that a check will be done every five minutes until the connection is restored.
PrismResiliencyService.exe
The Prism Server Installer adds the PrismResiliencyServer.exe to the file system and installs the PrismResiliencyService in the "C:\Program Files (x86)\RetailPro\Resiliency" folder. The PrismResiliencyService.exe facilitates the ability to create Central Credit and Central Gift Card transactions while offline. The Resiliency service will run automatically according to the Interval defined in Installation Defaults. You can run the service outside of the interval by clicking the "Run Resiliency" button.
Prism Centrals Resiliency Settings
In Admin Console > Node Preferences > Transactions > Centrals, the Central Server Settings area has a button to start the Resiliency Service. The interface includes various read-only fields that display status and other resiliency-related information.
| Preference | Description |
|---|---|
| Service State | The current state of the service: Active or Sleeping |
| Last Cycle | Displays the date/time of the last connection and the status of the connection. |
| Status of Last Cycle | Displays the number of offline transactions or the message "No Offline Transactions Found". |
| Next Cycle | Displays the date/time of the next scheduled check of the resiliency connection. |
| Run Resiliency | Click the Run Resiliency button to immediately start the Resiliency connection process (otherwise, the Resiliency service runs automatically according to the Interval defined in Installation Defaults). |
Basic Steps for Centrals Resiliency
1. If using Central Credit, define an Offline Take Limit in Node Preferences > Transactions > Centrals.
2. Perform transactions as usual. If the connection with the server is lost, a message will be displayed in the UI.
3. When your connection is restored, Prism will send the offline transactions to the Centrals server.
Central Customer Lookup in Offline Mode
When the connection to the centrals server is offline, Central customer lookup will call out to the centrals server to retrieve the customer. When the timeout expires, a prompt is displayed asking if the local database should be checked.
Central Returns in Offline Mode
When the connection to the centrals server is offline, if a user does a central return, Prism will first check the Centrals server for the original transaction. After the number of seconds specified in the Timeout setting, a prompt is displayed. The user has three options:
- Retry: Click the Retry button to search the Centrals server again
- Local: Click the Local button to search the local database.
- Cancel: Click the Cancel button to cancel the search
If the transaction is found on the Centrals server or local database, the return can proceed.
Central Credit in Offline Mode
When the connection to the centrals server is offline and a customer is entered on a transaction, Prism will first check the Centrals server. After the number of seconds defined in the Timeout setting, Prism will pull the last-known Centrals Credit balance for the customer in the local database. Under the customer's name on the transaction form will be an indication that Central Credit is offline. The user can do an Add Value or Redeem transaction up to the "Max Amount" defined in Node Preferences > Transaction > Centrals.
Important! Centrals Credit lookup by Credit ID is not functional in Offline mode, only lookup by customer.
Centrals Gift Cards in Offline Mode
Only purchase (activation) of gift cards is allowed. Redemption and balance check is not allowed.
Offline Messages
During Central Customer Lookup, if the Centrals server cannot be reached, when the number of seconds specified in the Timeout value have elapsed, a message is displayed: "Centrals Server is Offline: Local results will be displayed"
If the Centrals server cannot be reached, or the entered username or password is incorrect, a message is displayed: "Centrals Server not Connected"
In POS, when ‘offline', the line underneath the listed customer that indicates the Centrals Credit balance will show ‘(Offline)'
On the Tender screen, when Offline, the Centrals Credit Tender chosen will show ‘(Offline)'.