V.I.PC

How do I share and map a network drive for Drake Tax?

General descriptions are attached to guide you or your technician through network configuration for typical Drake network installations running on Windows 7 or Windows 10 machines (see Attachments at the bottom of this page). The attachments are only guidelines, because these operating systems exist in a number of different versions, network setup and security can vary widely, and the presence of older operating systems on the network can introduce additional issues.

Generally, Drake network setup involves the following steps:

1. Establish the network. You must complete this basic step yourself. If you are not familiar with office networks, get help from a competent network technician. The success of your office will depend on a reliable network.
   1. The physical network. Link your office computers in a hard wired or wireless network. Internet access is necessary for all machines on which Drake will be installed.
   2. Network architecture and security. Determine what operating systems will be used, which computer will be the Drake server, and how the network computers will communicate with each other and with the internet. Determine the level of security for network equipment, users, internet and other possible internal and external network access. Generally, wireless networks are slower and less secure than hard-wired networks.
2. Configure the network for Drake. The following two steps a) and b) are described in more detail in the attachments:
   1. On the server, share on the network the hard drive where Drake will be installed. Set user permissions to ensure all workstation operators can access the drive.
   2. On each workstation, map the workstation to the shared network drive so that a permanent connection exists between the workstation and the shared drive. On completion of this step, each workstation can open the shared network drive in the same way that it can open a local hard drive.
3. Install and configure Drake as required for NW Client or Peer-to-Peer (see the “Installation & Setup” chapter in the Drake User’s Manual). Test and troubleshoot the installation at all computers where you will run Drake. Adjust any network security or permission, and any hardware or software firewall that interferes. You may need a technician for these adjustments.

You can install Drake on a network in one of two ways:

• NW Client (recommended).  In this configuration, you install and configure Drake only on the network server, a hard shared disk accessible to network workstations. You then run an accessory program, NW Client, from each network workstation to complete workstation setup.
  • Advantages:  an NW Client installation is easier to run and maintain. All data is kept on the server (or on paths defined in Drake on the server), all e-file transmission occurs from the server, and there is only the one installed copy of Drake on the server to be updated.
  • Disadvantages:  the server must be adequate to the task of running multiple copies of Drake simultaneously, or network speed suffers.
• Peer-to-peer. In this configuration, you install and configure Drake on the network server, a shared hard disk accessible to network workstations. You also install and configure Drake on each workstation. All client data files are kept on the server (or on paths defined in Drake on the server), where workstations access and save them. Optionally, the workstations can also share Drake configuration files on the server.
  • Advantages:  For a given server, network speed is higher because the workstations run Drake locally, sharing the load.
  • Disadvantages:  You must update each copy of Drake on the server and workstations, so each must have internet access. You must pay attention to file sharing to make sure all workstations are using the same data and basic configurations. If you mistakenly transmit a return from a workstation copy of Drake, you may damage the office e-file data base (which, for example, can interfere with printing a taxpayer’s refund check).