H202 error on Quickbooks caused by DNS/network settings mismatch

This problem caused me hours and hours of headache.

I wanted to move my Quickbooks Pro 2010 database host from one server to another.  I had done everything right on the new host as far as I could tell:

1. install the database only option on the new server
2. update the Quickbooks version on the server to the most recent version (R16 as of the installation time)
3. open up the necessary ports in the firewall (8019, 55338)
4. share out a folder with the appropriate sharing and file/folder permissions
5. Open the quickbooks database server manager and scan the appropriate folder were QBW files are stored

In this case, I was getting H202 folders over and over again no matter what I did.  I went through many wrong paths, but I eventually found the problem to be the static IP address I had set.  Even though every network setting matched the settings that DHCP provided to workstations, it still did not work.

The only change I made to get Quickbooks hosting to work was give this new server (a Win 2008 32 bit server) a DHCP reservation instead of a static IP address.  I don't know if this added A record entry in my SBS 2008 server that was required or there was some other property (no WINS on my network) - but that was the sole change I made.

As for what I was seeing (in case this helps others).

This is what I'd get in the ND file when running the QB database server manager (without opening the files - note that engine name ends in _18 even though I'm on QB 2010 which means it should end in _20 . . . this is normal):

[NetConnect]
ServerIp=10.0.0.7
EngineName=QB_server7_18
ServerPort=10180
FilePath=E:\quickbooks\Test Company.QBW
ServerMode=1


This is what the ND file would change to when I had static DNS in place:


[NetConnect]
EngineName=QB_data_engine_20
FilePath=\\10.0.0.7\quickbooks\Test Company.QBW
ServerMode=2
FileConnectionGuid=cc8c20cf6bf5445bb1397c152c58645c


This is what the ND file changed to after being successfully opened once I had the DHCP reservation in place:

[NetConnect]
ServerIp=10.0.0.7
EngineName=QB_server7_20
ServerPort=55338
FilePath=E:\quickbooks\TestCompany.QBW
ServerMode=1
FileConnectionGuid=

setting up Quickbooks Database Manager on Windows 2008 R2

Windows 2008 R2 is 64 bit only. Quickbooks Database Manager (hereto referred to as QDM) is only certified on 32 bit systems from what I've read. Setting aside how ridiculous it is in 2010 that Quickbooks doesn't officially support 64 bit systems, I had to make a small adjustment when configuring QDM on Windows 2008 R2.

When I ran the Quickbooks connection diagnostic tool, it said I had to open ports 8019 and 55338. Weirdly, I never had to do this for previous OSes, but c'est la vie.