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How to Optimize Prophet 21 Performance

How to Optimize Prophet 21 Performance

Load Balancing the P21 Server Stack into an N-Tier Architecture

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system scalability is always a concern. Your user count grows. The database gets larger. The organization adds branches. As this all snowballs, several interconnected challenges begin to affect an ERP system’s ability to keep up. A central aspect of a company’s overall system performance is the ability to effectively divide user workload when the user count exceeds the capacity of a given application server.

Prophet 21 Load Balancing Performance Optimization

Epicor’s Prophet 21 distribution ERP software is no exception to this general concern, and one significant element of handling performance challenges when scaling your Prophet 21 application relates to load balancing. That said, when understanding how P21 load balancing functions within a P21 installation, it would be helpful to understand some basic application architecture concepts.

A common form of application architecture involves a three-tiered architecture:

  • At the lowest level, the database server stores and organizes an application’s data.
  • At the highest level, the user interacts with the application through the client user interface, whether browser-based or desktop-deployed.
  • The application server is responsible for orchestrating the interaction between the client and the database levels – the business logic at the AppServer level converts requests from the client into commands at the database level.

Epicor’s Kinetic application has such a 3-tiered architecture, going back to the days of its antecedents, E10, Epicor 905, and Epicor Vantage – the Epicor AppServer has long been the hub of Epicor administration. But not all ERP systems had such an architecture. Epicor’s P21 ERP is one such application. Historically, the Epicor Prophet 21 application was a 2-tiered architecture:

  • The P21 database stored the application’s data, as is the case with most ERP systems.
  • The P21 desktop application functioned both as the user interface and as the source of the Prophet 21 application’s business logic, communicating directly with the Prophet 21 database.

With the more recent versions of the Prophet 21 application and the introduction of the P21 Middleware Server, the P21 ERP application has taken on a more contemporary 3-tiered architecture. The Prophet 21 Middleware Server is essentially an application server layer. The introduction of the P21 application server layer allowed for innumerable capabilities that had been previously unavailable with the P21 desktop application.

One such capability is the P21 API layer. ERP systems normally provide API connectivity at the application server layer – the ERP API functions in the place of a client application, sending requests to the application server. The application server layer interprets these requests as it would a request from an end user client.

The API layer allows for an exponential increase in integration opportunities, enabling a more decoupled hybrid cloud architecture — one where multi-system interactions no longer had to reside at the database level.

The challenges to scaling a P21 ecosystem don’t end with a three-tier server stack.

As user counts increase, the need for additional application servers similarly increases. And with fluctuations in the timing that users access the application, it becomes difficult to manage and balance the user load across the overall environment. This can lead to performance bottlenecks, among other things. Enter P21 load balancing.

A system admin can implement load balancing in one of several forms. Load balancing can occur from within the application itself – the application decides how a given user session will be handled. An admin can also choose to implement load balancing from outside the application, using an external load balancer.

When using an external load balancing appliance to level out your P21 ERP user sessions, the load balancer controls the user flow differently than a traditional 3-tiered application configuration. In such an environment, the client application speaks first to the load balancer, rather than speaking to the middleware server directly. Based in the middleware servers available, and the current load profiles in play, the load balancer guides the client request to the appropriate P21 middleware server.

What makes external load balancing of your P21 environment so helpful is its transparency – the balancing of user load is, in fact, invisible to the end users involved. This allows your P21 administrator to fine-tune performance over time, as load patterns surface.

Better still, the use of an external load balancer adds a layer of security, allowing for identify management, multi-factor authentication, and security group management, to better lock down and secure your P21 enterprise. This abstraction of the application server from the client allows for a truly N-tiered architecture: an architecture that can segregate various interactions with the P21 database, allowing for a diverse orchestration of functionality and capability.

Prophet 21 Performance in Action

EstesGroup provided the infrastructure for the P21 Lake Erie User Group meeting in December of 2022 at the Embassy Suites hotel in the greater Cleveland area. This Epicor Prophet 21 ecosystem included a load balanced P21 middleware server layer. A depiction of the system architecture can be seen in the image below:

Prophet 21 Perfomance P21WWUG

Do you need help optimizing your Epicor Prophet 21 performance? Chat with us now to begin a conversation with a P21 expert today!

P21 Public Web Client Access – Who’s Your Proxy?

P21 Public Web Client Access – Who’s Your Proxy?

ERP systems have traditionally had a functionality-accessibility problem: ERP systems were highly functional, but not especially accessible – they normally required desktop fat-client applications for access, and these were often hamstrung by local access requirements, making applications far from mobile.

As internet architectures became more and more robust, the possibility of web browser-based ERP became a reality, with new ERP vendors designing and building their software around the browser, and legacy vendors systems hastening to retrofit their existing ERP systems to accommodate the browser-based future.

21 Public Web Client Access

But this introduced a new problem – one of accessibility vs security: the high levels of availability increased the possibility that threat actors could access a company’s ERP system remotely, and cause havoc to company data.

Most load balancers make it relatively easy to have an app safely deployed publicly. Normally, you run a reverse proxy server that passes traffic to your web app. This obfuscates the info for the destination of the web app and basically acts as a secure gateway to the internal resource. At EstesGroup, P21 Web UI is protected by MFA via a reverse proxy to the identity provider as well. However, administration of the Prophet 21 application introduces additional challenges. The P21 web login page contains a gear icon.

Epicor Prophet 21 Create Connection

If a P21 user clicks the gear, they can access the Middleware server URL value, along with its port.

Prophet 21 Profile Name Server Name

This introduces several complications:

  • It basically shows users a free shortcut around MFA. A clever user can copy and paste the Middleware URL and port into their browser and access the P21 application directly, avoiding the MFA.
  • The Middleware server URL and port are resolved on the P21 client side of the P21 application when logging in. This means, even though the Load Balancer can reverse proxy to the internal resource, it’s not going to be able to resolve the specific Middleware server URL on the P21 client side to complete the P21 login.

To get around these challenges, you might initially think to expose the Prophet 21 Middleware server to the internet and add a public DNS entry for it. But to directly expose P21 Middleware servers to the internet in that manner is a monumental risk. Another option is required.

To address the above issue, we do the following:

  • We create a middleware reverse proxy to direct traffic to the middleware servers.
  • We direct the P21 Web configurations to use the middleware proxy for its respective Middleware Server.
  • We then expose the reverse proxies to the internet, creating DNS records for each of them.

By exposing the Middleware server proxies to the internet through a public DNS instead of the middleware servers themselves, you add a line of defense to the servers, only passing that needed traffic and keeping P21 Middleware Servers from being directly internet-exposed.

Another advantage of reverse proxying is the ability to intercept direct-access attempts. Theoretically, one might try to plug in the Middleware proxy URLs publicly and get access to the P21 API or the P21 Web UI. The reverse proxy allows for the functionality to block certain endpoints, such as the API or web client. When a user sees the Middleware URL in the P21 login settings, if they try to get around MFA and plug that URL in, they get a lovely 403 page, keeping them out of the Middleware. Alternatively, you can also redirect them back to the Web UI home page.

While there are other solutions for increasing accessibility, such as accessing through a VPN, these can at times be unreliable. If you are a decentralized company, with remote employees all over the country, speeds over VPN can be less than ideal on many occasions. Obviously, there are certain risks to opening any resource to the internet. It’s important to consider the attack surface, and the associated risks. At EstesGroup, we isolate any resources open to the internet, and implement Antivirus, Firewalls, and Threat Protection for all endpoints. Along with that, oftentimes, Geofencing helps cut out a lot of noise on any resource open to the internet, to prevent overseas attackers using botnets.

Reverse Proxy Web Server
Cloud Hosting Epicor Kinetic ERP Logo
Marshall Douglas EstesGroup

Marshall Douglas, EstesGroup Systems Engineer

Have questions about Epicor P21 public web client access? Schedule a free consultation or ERP cloud solutions demo with the author now.

License to Go Live: Accessing Epicor License Info

License to Go Live: Accessing Epicor License Info

Manufacturing a License to Be Different

No two Epicor implementations are quite the same.

One of the primary reasons for the differences between the configuration of two Epicor® Kinetic environments has to do with licensing. The Epicor® application has a broad suite of licensed modules, and most customers do not license the exact same Epicor® modules. So, how do you decide how to drive your Epicor® license?

Epicor License Info Epicor Kinetic Data Management

Considering the complexities and capabilities of manufacturing and distribution companies, Epicor® has created ERP systems for these industries that are ready for the unique challenges business owners face, from office to factory to customer. Each Epicor® application is a many-headed hydra, and with each head comes different modules and different capabilities. The number of heads determines the character of the monster.

If you are an enterprise resource planning (ERP) consultant, it is important to understand which modules are licensed, as this affects your options for helping a customer solve its many business problems.

If you are an ERP system user, it is similarly helpful to understand which Epicor® Kinetic modules are licensed, when working with support and troubleshooting unexpected behavior.

As you will see, the modules you license impact the behavior of the system, and unexpected behaviors might actually be explained by the underlying Epicor® license.

In the past, accessing Epicor® licensing was a bit of a pain. You needed to be able to access the Kinetic application server’s admin console to be able to gather licensing information. This required additional access levels and many additional steps.

Epicor Admin Console Epicor License Info

Now, as a function of Epicor’s more recent versions, you can access licensing information directly from the application.

When logged into the application itself, you can access Epicor® license information through the Epicor® Company Configuration module by simply navigating to the “License” tab and clicking the “Retrieve License Info” button to load the Epicor license information that would previously be retrieved via the Epicor® Admin Console:

Epicor Company Configuration License

You no longer need access to the Epicor® Application server to extract this information. All you need is the appropriate Epicor® security permissions to access the Epicor Company Configuration screen.

As with any Epicor® grid, you can also export the license into a spreadsheet format, using the “Copy to Excel” or “Copy All Include Labels” commands.

Epicor License Labels

This new functionality makes it much easier to get licensing information at the tip of your fingers, when working with Epicor® support or your customer account manager.

Do you need to get your Epicor® Module list in a hurry? Are you chasing down an issue with support and need the details now? Look no further than the Company Cig screen, and be on your way to fast and good answers about your system. 

How to Use Technology to Manage Freight Costs

How to Use Technology to Manage Freight Costs

Freight costs are more important than ever in our turbulent times. With ongoing inflation, and the possibility of a recession looming, runaway freight costs threaten to take distributors’ profit margins for a ride.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions often lack proper tools within the base software for managing freight costs and often must rely on third-party applications and web sites to manage and execute carrier pricing. With a potential recession on the horizon, it is more important now than ever to recover costs and protect profits. Companies go to great lengths to negotiate freight rates with carriers but often fall short on execution of the rates resulting in paying higher costs. A better solution is needed, especially in light of the challenges that a recession will bring.

Freight Costs business concept: Small cardboard boxes with a plane flies above world map. Concept of transportation, international freight, global shipping, goods or services remotely. overseas trade, regional
ShipSource

November 30th @12PM – 1PM (EASTERN)

ShipSource: Using Technology to Manage Freight Costs During a Recession

On November 30th, at Noon (Eastern), Ron Cope of ShipSource will discuss the techniques necessary when using technology to manage freight costs during a recession. The session will focus on things you can do to improve freight execution and become more efficient to control spending.

Companies spend significant time, resources, and money to license and install shipping software. Efficient and fully-functional shipping solutions are a must in the distribution industry in general and in the Epicor Prophet 21 community, in particular. Moreover, there is a need in the P21 industry for custom platforms that meet clients’ needs, that are integrated immediately, and can go live within days.

ShipSource is an authorized distributor of the ShipVia multi-carrier transportation management system, and has been providing Prophet 21 shipping solutions since 2005. ShipVia was created to meet the Prophet 21 shipping needs of the P21 distribution community, by providing a robust rating engine that can be deployed quickly at affordable pricing.

Tailored to fit the corporate growth initiatives and financial strategies, the solution supports a robust solution and a rapid implementation. If you are looking for a solution that supports rating for all your carriers and can be fully implemented within days, then ShipSource has the system for you.

Meet Ron Cope of ShipSource at ESTES INTEGRATE 2022

Ron Cope has more than 35 years of experience with transportation management. Currently, Ron is the President of ShipVia, the manufacturer of the ShipVia transportation management software program and ViaDUCT integration software. Ron is also the Managing Partner of ShipSource that is licensed to distribute the ShipVia software products.

Ron Cope

Ron Cope, ShipSource

Ready to keep your freight costs in your control?

ERP Integration Software Event
Boosting P21 Sales Through CRM

Boosting P21 Sales Through CRM

If you’re in the distribution industry and planning for 2023, you might be asking, “How do I land more accounts and close more deals?” Leveraging CRM as the customer-facing side of your ERP system can help answer these questions. But ERP systems routinely fall short when it comes to natively providing best-in-class CRM capabilities.

Successful Prophet 21 CRM processes are most often supported by a best-of-breed third-party solution. White Cup’s solution for P21 is one such system, that can help extend the capabilities of your Prophet 21 ecosystem. But successful Prophet 21 CRM is best paired with Prophet 21 Business Intelligence, and White Cup complements their CRM offering with a robust BI platform, allowing users to mine the sales funnel with precision.

Prophet 21 Sales CRM
White Cup logo

Within the context of P21 BI and P21 CRM, just what does a “day in the life” look like for a P21 salesperson?

On November 30th, Steve Hesson of White Cup will be presenting at 1:00 ET, on the subject of Driving P21 sales using White Cup CRM and BI. White Cup can take your P21 data to a new level of sales success.

Drive more sales from your P21 data with White Cup. In this session, White Cup’s Steve Hesson will cover the tactical ways that P21 integrates with White Cup CRM and BI (formerly MITS BI) to help create more sales opportunities and close more deals.

  • Increase existing customer sales using business intelligence
  • Speed up sales cycles with automated CRM workflows
  • Win new customers by responding to opportunities faster than the competition

White Cup turns a distributor’s sales pains into profit gains. Their CRM, Business Intelligence (BI), and Pricing software make it easier for you to sell more, keep more profit and beat the competition. With over 20 years of experience, White Cup is trusted by more than 1,000 customers globally.

Meet Steve Hesson at ESTES INTEGRATE 2022

Steve Hesson is White Cup’s Regional Sales Manager. He’s worked with distributors and manufacturers for the last six years and is passionate about selling technology that makes it easier for sales reps to crush their quotas and grow businesses.

Steve Hesson
White Cup EstesGroup 2022
ERP Integration Software Event