Table of Contents
Episode Summary
Join Vermont Systems Technical Consultant Ross Tenaglia and your RecChat crew in discussing the End of Life for the legacy version of VIC. This includes instructions for deploying the updated VIC installer and the various things to consider in that process.
Recording
Transcript
Zach Malloch 0:41
and that sound means that we are in to our first February 2022 RecChat. And I'm joined today by Ross Tenaglia. We've got a couple of people that might be moving in and out a little bit on the rest of the side to help us with moderation. Got a couple of different issues going on today that other people are working on. So we're here to talk, however, today about VIC, end of life for the legacy version and making sure that you're on the Next Gen version before anything would happen. Ross, you are and I'm sorry. We're also joined by Julia. Since she popped up on Screen I wanted to introduce her. We might have Bret we might have Jason helping out with some of the questions. But speaking of questions, if you do have questions about the presentation or anything about the end of life for the legacy, VIC, please use the q&a Button that lets us keep track of questions a little bit better rather than having to scroll up through the chat history to try to find everything. That being said we can jump right into today's session. Ross, how's it going today?
Ross Tenaglia 1:42
Oh, it's going getting ready for a lot of snow and all that fun stuff. So
Zach Malloch 1:48
we have a frosting starting today.
Ross Tenaglia 1:51
And so they have for sure.
Zach Malloch 1:55
Actually almost anybody from Geez even like Oklahoma east of there has probably seen some snow recently. It's a very, very wide swath.
Ross Tenaglia 2:04
Yeah. You always know when it's snowing when? Everywhere when it's a little bit slower some days?
Zach Malloch 2:09
Yeah, the waves are picking up behind you. You know, we can tell for sure.
Ross Tenaglia 2:13
Oh, I didn't realize that they animated.
Zach Malloch 2:16
Yeah. So yeah. Today we're going to be talking about the end of life for VIC legacy. So, Ross, first question, when do we need to worry about this being done?
Ross Tenaglia 2:27
Oh, all the when is June 15 of this year 2022. That's determined on many reasons. But the main reason is, internet explorers and of life is that same time, hopefully most people have already moved on from using IE as of many years ago. But that's the reason IE is the only way to install the Old VIC. And that is becoming increasingly impossible, and will be 100% impossible on that date. So
Zach Malloch 3:03
IEdoesn't exist anymore. Yeah. It's bringing up all sorts of memories of going to everybody's workstation and opening up Internet Explorer, dusting off all the cobwebs from it just to install VIC and then moving on from that.
Ross Tenaglia 3:14
Yeah, that first time load that opens up multiple pages that you don't want to read.
Zach Malloch 3:19
Yeah,
Ross Tenaglia 3:19
I think we all know that.
Zach Malloch 3:21
So I think one of the next questions that people would probably have is how can they tell whether or not they are on the legacy version? Or if they are on the Next Gen version?
Ross Tenaglia 3:30
Oh, yeah, that's easy enough. There's multiple ways depending on your preference, but on the that paperclip icon in the top right, that's your VIC connection. If you hover over it, it will reference a local host colon, and then there'll be a port number if it begins with 65 It is Old VIC if it begins with 55 it is new VIC. So if you're already on 55 You can leave. But if you're on 65 You probably want to stay tuned a little bit.
Zach Malloch 4:06
Yeah, I'm actually just getting into RecTrac here so I can share my Screen briefly. Air Alright, so in my RecTrac I've got this little icon is connected icon right. I think Ross called it a paperclip. If I hover over it, it says yeah,
Ross Tenaglia 4:23
I never know what that thing is. I call it paperclip, but it's probably some
Zach Malloch 4:28
paperclip Ching chain links, whatever. And that's it almost looks like a Pokeball but yeah, so So mine says might be hard to see here but mine says localhost 55 100. It might also say there's a couple other ports but they all start with five five rather than six five, correct?
Ross Tenaglia 4:48
Yeah, it'll be six five or five, five, and then there's, you know, the three other digits you know 65 165 110 651 111 those other ones just kind of mean, you're using servers to exe. But it's the first two digits that are the key ones.
Zach Malloch 5:09
All right, and Trevor and Cheryl are asking the same question, which is basically what if they don't have that icon in their RecTrac,
Ross Tenaglia 5:17
then you don't use VIC, that probably be the first one. Or you have VIC, but your workstation has a VIC equals Nan Profile, so you don't get annoyed with connecting to RecTrac. And waiting the 10 or so seconds that says failed to connect to VIC Do you want to continue onwards because you just simply don't have it installed.
Zach Malloch 5:39
And frequently, you will just see VIC installed on like the front desk workstations where they have to control hardware and we won't see them installed, like you know, back computers where maybe admin offices are because if you don't have hardware that you need VIC for then why have it. So then, let's say theoretically, that somebody looks at their icon, and they see, oh, Jason also pointed out that if you don't see the exact icon that I pointed out, it could be because you're on the old version of VIC, which is I'm sorry, the old version of RecTrac, you're still using the legacy UI, you're not using the Next Gen UI, in which case, you would have that it's a it's a little light color, it's either red or green, or something like that up at the top the same sort of area once you're logged into it, though, but definitely recommend updating to the most recent version of RecTrac. And enabling the Next Gen UI with all the nice, fancy, shiny new features would be a good recommendation. So if somebody does see, I'm gonna have to take care of some kittens that are getting into some trouble. But I'll ask you
Ross Tenaglia 6:44
out for a few moments because both my cats decide they want to leave.
Zach Malloch 6:48
They're just a little bit crazy today. So if somebody does hover over that icon, whichever icon it happens to be, and notice that it says 65 Something, something, something for that port number, what's the next steps they've got to do there, Ross?
Ross Tenaglia 7:01
Oh, the next step is to plan on getting onto the new VIC, as soon as you can. So there. And the nice thing, because the two VIX, they can coexist, you can go about implementing and installing the new Next Gen VIC, without disrupting using the legacy VIC, because at some point, you got to make the Profile swap that says alright, instead of looking at the Old VIC, let's look at the new VIC. And naturally, if you do that before getting it installed on all computers, you're going to end up with some working and some not working. And you don't want to do that. Because then you know, you can
Zach Malloch 7:48
basically what you're saying is you could have the Old VIC installed, you could go workstation by workstation, get the new version on and then wait until everybody's installed not affect the way that they're working currently, then just update the Profile when you're ready to do it. And
Ross Tenaglia 8:01
then that is correct. Exactly. And accompanying with this RecTrac will be that quick guide for installing Next Gen VIC. That gives you everything you'll need to go through and do this process. And that will lead me to sharing my Screen here which one to kind of just run through that process. So you can see. Honestly how easy it can be. So this is what the guide will look like. It's only two pages.
Zach Malloch 8:37
So I can't see your Screen yet. Ross.
Ross Tenaglia 8:39
Oh, it's not showing it. Oh, sorry. I had to hit the share Button.
Zach Malloch 8:43
There we go. Perfect.
Ross Tenaglia 8:44
All right. Yeah. Yep. So this is that nice and easy two page guide here that tells you where you need to start. So there are some constants, always be logged in as a computer administrator. I would say that's first and foremost, to do this install Windows 10 Only seven, it's not supported because seven is end of life. Windows 11. We are working on certifying it is not certified yet. So we don't really recommend jumping onto Windows 11. Because if VIC doesn't work, you may be in a stuck position, which is good. And dotnet 4.8 needs to be there and Chrome is the preferred browser to use it. Now to install VIC, if you are hosted or have an HTTPS connection you need this VIC Certificate distributed to the computer's first and you can get it from our FTP site. I already have it pulled up tells you right where the location is. Here's the Certificate It says VSI VIC ca dot cert. Don't worry about that, just grab this, drag it and it's on your desktop, then you can open up MMC, you can just literally just hit your start menu and start typing and MMC should come up right there. Open that. And then under Files, you do add, remove snap in. Certificates, add computer account, very important. Finish, hit OK. This takes forever to load for me, so I already have it up. Here it is. So it's a trusted root Certificate authority, expand that quick certificates, right Click all tasks import. And just browse out to where you saved it. And next, and then you'll get the Okay, and to verify I have a lot of other stuff in here. But it's always just 2040 For one, that's, that's when you know you got the right one, and there it is. Then you can hit X and hitting on now it's just saving the console, it's not saving changes. And then you can pull up that guide again, scroll down and again, all the steps that I just performed are listed right here. And then you can Click right here to download VIC shows up right there. When it downloads, don't just double Click it because it's important that you got to run it as administrator and you can't so just go to show in folder where it is. So that you can from here do right Click Run as administrator. And then that will prompt the install. And you pretty much keep hitting next. Most customers will not use service services only reserved if you have access control. And as that's the case, generally you would have a brief discussion with most likely myself or a few other co workers familiar with using access control to kind of navigate those waters. But if you don't have access control, you're using the executable and you just keep hitting next and wait for the install. And then when it finishes up, I'll let you know you'll have an icon on the desktop, you know, have an icon down here. And yep, there it is. Three, one, sevens the most latest one. So that's the one you should see.
Ross Tenaglia 13:06
And once it's done all eventually here. And the nice thing about this VIC version, as opposed to the old one is it automatically starts up on login. So it has an MS startup entry. So you don't have to worry about opening. There you can see my VIC icon, it's green. I pull up my RecTrac. If I can. I might have to log out and log back in. We'll see. Because I already had this open Nope. And now it's connected. Hover over 55 100. That's it. And then say theoretically, you're still using the Old VIC. And you've gone through this process on all computers. All you got to do is go to Profile assignments. And sorry, I'll back up I have it bookmarked. But you can just go to the menu here, Type in profiles, grab Profile assignments, expand on defaults. I already have the new one. But if you have the old one in there, I've My Old VIC, not my new VIC Profile, I would just remove and then you got sculpted top there. And then the new VIC. And you can see I have 55 110 That's what I use.
Zach Malloch 14:38
Pretty straightforward for us. We are getting questions about the Certificate. So first question. If you're not using HTTPS, do you need to worry about the Certificate at all?
Ross Tenaglia 14:48
No. But I believe then we have a RecTrac have put notices out a little bit ago a while ago that HTTPS is here. gonna be the required future. So all customers, I know we've gotten a lot and a lot have gone through it. But you do really want to strive to be on HTTPS. And we have other information about that. If you're still using the Old VIC, and still HTTP, that's kind of a good time to wrap up taking care of both of them at the same time. Because I can assure you there will be a future with Chrome and edge because edge is based off of chromium, where you have to be HTTPS, or it wouldn't work.
Zach Malloch 15:41
So that's a follow up question from Michael, he's asking, is the HTTPS swap mandatory with next year's version of VIC? It sounds like it's not because of VIC. But eventually it will be because of
Ross Tenaglia 15:52
yeah, they're two separate pieces. They do relate to one another. Right now they are independent. But eventually, they're not going to be independent. And you said you have HTTPS on the WebTrac server. So that would mean you would have WebTrac and a WAN, VIC, you would already be on HTTPS. If you're using WebTrac as your form of connecting the RecTrac. That's already a publicly accessible site. You're required to be on HTTPS. If that's not the case. We'll have another personal conversation about that. But that should answer that.
Zach Malloch 16:38
All right. Very good.
Ross Tenaglia 16:40
And does it have to be installed? Nope. It is a one and done. Unlike the Old VIC, that you remember, that's a per user instance, this is a per computer instance. So just install it once and you don't have to worry about.
Zach Malloch 16:59
Awesome. Well, I see a couple of questions coming in chat. And I'd like to remind people, if possible, post your question over in the the q&a area rather than the chat area, just to make sure that we get everything answered. But I see that there is a question here. And I can understand the reason for it. But if you're on Next Gen RecTrac. Does it mean that you already are using the Next Gen VIC?
Ross Tenaglia 17:22
Not necessarily.
Zach Malloch 17:23
Right. Yeah. So you could still be using legacy VIC and already have switched over to the Next Gen UI for RecTrac. So Next Gen RecTrac user interface is not the same as Next Gen. VIC, they are not connected directly if you were installed with the Next Gen interface, and I'm pretty sure that you would be using the Next Gen VIC, because that would be what was available at that time. And in the follow up is there a reason that they would not want to use the service Ross
Ross Tenaglia 17:51
there are a lot of I would say troubleshooting and use case, downfalls of it, the service requires that you have a service user run it and it has to be a domain admin. A lot of people in industry, that's an immediate red flag. Because ideally, you would want the password to not expire. But most policies require domain admin passwords be changed every three months, something like that. So when that passwords change, VIC breaks until you go to every individual computer and update the password. Along with it is difficult to troubleshoot. Sometimes if you just simply need a restart VIC. exe, you can just close and reopen it with the service, you have to restart the service. And if you're not a local or computer admin, you know you're helping out or we're helping out or you're helping out front desk computer, you have to re log in and restart that way and then log back in as the individual. And there's a few other things that I won't get in the weeds about but I think those two explanations kind of seal the deal.
Zach Malloch 19:11
Very good. And actually, this is a good question. I'm assuming it doesn't really matter. I'll just ask it. So does the install with a service requiring a domain admin with an unchanging password meet PCI compliance requirements? I'm not sure.
Ross Tenaglia 19:27
No, it doesn't. That's why I mentioned that the the password generally has to be reset every three months. I forgot the exact rules for that. So every three months or whatever the timeframe is, you're literally running around to every computer and updating the service
Zach Malloch 19:45
password. So PCI compliance is more about the frequency of the password change rather than whether it's a domain admin or not.
Ross Tenaglia 19:51
Correct, correct. Yeah, cuz you can have a domain admin everyone has one it's just that password is pretty. That's the piece.
Zach Malloch 19:57
Gotcha. That's, that's good. information to have a need is asking if we'll send out step by step instructions. And yes, Ross showed a document on his Screen, we're going to post that with the recording of this session. So you'll be able to get that as well. And actually, even Trevor has a good question. Maybe we should have started with this. What the heck does VIC even do?
Ross Tenaglia 20:21
Well, VIC, is how you can interact with hardware, because browsers for security reasons other than webcams, that's that one got a pass. But for everything else, like credit card readers that our USB integrated cash drawers, printers, browsers for security reasons can't directly interact with that kind of hardware, it's prohibited. So VIC is a program that is basically a middleman so that the browser communicates to the software that has a very limited scope and what it can do, which is just interact with these defined pieces of hardware. And that's how it works.
Zach Malloch 21:06
Perfect. And then Cheryl is asking a question, if she looks in the folder, and there's no VIC linked, should it be addressed? And I guess the answer to that is some of our customers don't need VIC. And based on what Ross was just saying, it's really based upon whether you need to interact directly with hardware on your workstations, if you don't need to do that. Or if you're like, are directly with hyperlink, you always preview a report and then from the Adobe preview, then print it, but to directly just say print from RecTrac, and then have it hit your printer. That's when you would really need VIC. And if you don't need that, if you as far as you know, have been using RecTrac and nobody's been complaining about something not working and you don't see VIC link there, then maybe you're just not using it.
Ross Tenaglia 21:49
Yep, and I've worked with a few customers that just straight up don't need it. They don't do credit cards or their cash and cheque operation only no physical hardware of that nature. So kind of leads to why bother? We don't need it scenario.
Zach Malloch 22:06
Okay. And yeah, so that answer is Sarah's question two, will we always need VIC link to RecTrac? The answer is only if you need hardware. I think maybe your question is a little bit broader as to Will we ever get to a point where we don't need VIC to interact with hardware. And as far as we can tell, probably we will still need something to do this because of that security between the browser and your actual workstation. But if that changes, we'll of course, like you know, we're going to retire VIC. And then Deanna is clarifying. She says, PCI compliance is also affected if you share a login and password. So you don't have to share a domain admin Username and password to install VIC you can have one person do all of that. But you know, obviously it's more likely that you're going to be sharing it if you're doing a divide and conquer sending four people out with the same Username and password that would be an issue.
Ross Tenaglia 23:01
Yep. So yeah, the snowball grows on that one.
Zach Malloch 23:05
Yeah. And I hope Yeah, I think that so Jack was asking if we would still have to run the local host cert fix when you install on a new PC
Ross Tenaglia 23:17
nope you shouldn't have to we haven't really been needing to do that for a long time. That was primarily with the Old VIC. reasons I won't really get into because going deep but with the new VIC I honestly say I probably haven't touched that program and three years.
Zach Malloch 23:40
Very good. That's a good good indication of this being kind of a solid and stable thing. I might have not answered that. Made a bad comment there. But I was distracted because Michael asked another question. So he was told that once the Next Gen VIC is downloaded on all of your workstations remove the legacy service off of the default level and replace it with the Next Gen VIC then remove all VIC profiles from everywhere else just leaving the Next Gen VIC at the default level. Does that mean remove the old service and install the new service?
Ross Tenaglia 24:14
I would say Micheal if you don't have access control, just use the exe like I know a lot of customers especially if they've been using RecTrac for a while. Like really a while a lot of people were using this service. But if you're used transitioning to the Next Gen transition to use the executable and forget the service aspect of it. We fine tuned grew with experience and over the years and just kind of determined that executable is the better alternative to the service.
Zach Malloch 24:58
And just in case anybody is like one During well do I use access control. So access control is specifically a way that RecTrac can control physical door locks or turnstiles. So if you have anywhere on your organization where you swipe a card and it physically clicks a lock and unlocks the door or opens a turnstile, then you are probably using access control. And you might need to have VIC installed as a service somewhere. But for everything else, that's not an access control station, the executable would be the simpler way to do it.
Ross Tenaglia 25:26
Correct.
Zach Malloch 25:28
All right, well, that basically clears our list of current open questions. So and we're actually getting close to the end of this. So it's a good timing. So just to summarize, we'll be posting that document with the recording of this session. We have another RecChat, actually, from June 17 of last year. So June 17, of 2021. If you go in the RecTrac archives, you can just search for VIC, or you can search for June 17. And Ross joins me at that point roughly about eight months ago to talk about why we would need to use the Next Gen and how to do it. This is just kind of an update on that because we now know that as of June 15, Internet Explorer won't be around anymore. And so you won't be able to install the legacy version of VIC, even if you wanted to. And the modern version is more stable and easier to deal with anyway. So very highly recommended, universally that everybody goes to the Next Gen version of VIC. And yeah, we'll get that. So yeah, so Keith is posting a question. Is this a good summary? Next Gen. VIC is installed on machines that need to connect to hardware, no need to install on all machines use the exe and not service. I'll just add as long as you're not using access control. Any problems with that statement? Ross?
Ross Tenaglia 26:46
Yeah, that if you want to put it as simple as simple can be. Yeah, that's it. If you're HTTPS, obviously, the Certificate needs to be installed. So you can just add a you know, Asterix point to that. But if you're still using HTTP, that would be as simple as I could put it.
Zach Malloch 27:05
Perfect. Well, distilled to Keith nicely done. Well, that is the last question that we had asked. Got some thanks from people saying it was a good session. So very much appreciate your time here. Ross. Thank you, everybody for participating and asking those clarifying questions to make it a little bit even better. Thanks to Jason and Julia and Bret for helping out on the question side of things. And I think that's about it. Any closing thoughts? Ross?
Ross Tenaglia 27:38
Nope. Just something that you want to make sure you plan for. And I know a lot of people have been holding off on doing because I think it's a bigger process. And in all reality, as you saw, it's not really. And the countdown is coming faster than you think. So
Zach Malloch 28:01
4 months and 12 days, everybody out. All right. Well, then I think we're going to go ahead and take this in for a landing. I'm gonna go ahead and end the session for everybody. Thank you so much. We'll see you guys in another two weeks, and we'll have another topic ready for you. Let us know if you need anything else and we'll talk to everybody soon. Bye, Ross.
Ross Tenaglia 28:25
Bye Everyone.
Zach Malloch 28:25
See ya