With the increasing availability and demand for 64-bit servers, many customers have switched to 64-bit SQL server environments. While both Microsoft Dynamics GP and Vertex Q Series are not truly 64-bit compatible, they will run on 64-bit SQL servers. However, TaxAssist will not due to architectural dependencies on these products. With no timelines in place for true 64-bit versions of these products, it is unknown when a 64-bit version of TaxAssist will be available. While this appears to be a problem, there is a workaround for those customers running Dynamics GP and Vertex on 64-bit SQL servers. The solution is to have a separate 32-bit SQL Server configured and allow TaxAssist to run on that server. With a few simple setup changes, TaxAssist can run normally.
The steps to setting up TaxAssist on a separate 32-bit SQL Server are as follows:
1) Install a 32-bit SQL server on the 32-bit server environment, and Add a link to the 32-bit SQL Server from the 64-bit SQL server (Attached script: AddLinkedServer.sql)
2) Install the VERTEX database on a 32-bit SQL Server, and copy all the Vertex DLLs (For Ex C:\Program Files\Vertex\QSUT\Utils\*.dll) to the 32-bit environment’s Windows\System32 folder
3) Copy the TaxAssist DLL “XP100001.dll” and windows DLL “OpenDS60.DLL” to the 32-bit environment’s Windows\System32 folder
4) Execute the TaxAssist SQL script “TA_XP.sql” against the master database on the 32-bit SQL server. This will create the SQL Extended Stored Procedures on the 32-bit SQL server
5) Create a Vertex ODBC (DSN) in the 32-bit server to point to the 32-bit SQL Server’s Vertex database.
6) Change the references in the TaxAssist SQL script TA_SP.SQL
· Wherever there is a statement that starts with “exec master..” it needs to be replaced with the statement “exec [32BITSQLINSTANCE].master..”
· The [32BITSQLINSTANCE] represents the SQL server instance name on the 32-bit server. Change it to the name of your 32-bit SQL server/instance name
· Execute the TA_SP.SQL against each of the GP company databases (For Ex. TWO)
· A sample TA_SP.SQL script is attached (Attached file TA10_RefToThe32BITSQLINSTANCE.sql)
7) Login to Dynamics GP and change the ODBC/Server on the TaxAssist setup window to point to the Vertex ODBC created on the 32-bit server
Once the above setup is completed, TaxAssist and Vertex should communicate properly.
To test the functionality, try running the Create GeoCodes or do a lookup for a Customer or Vendor GeoCode from the TaxAssist setup window.
Important: Please make sure that the XP100001.DLL and OpenDS60.DLL along with the Vertex DLLs are copied to the 32-bit server’s Windows\System32 folder.
Jack Sowers
Posted in TaxAssist
