OK, after reading the many posts, this is my take on the information. First, the posts are all very well written in the light of the amount of confusion this is causing. Chris, please keep in mind that we are dealing with about four people here out of, what, over 8,000 practices? I suppose an announcement on the board and/or in an email will need to take place, which is going to produce NUMEROUS questions, confusion and backlash. Also, no matter how well the upload/download works, there is a lot of history with support where many users don't always trust the quickness of the reply and the whether the support they are getting is good. Yes, it has improved tremendously over the past three months or more, but, again, there is a LOT of history here. In fact, one of the answers received up a few posts seemed to be contraditory to what we are hearing now.
Quote from Chris:
it's extremely rare that the need arises for us to re-encrypt a file. They are speaking in terms of the "same machine" or server..The .enc file you restore must have originated from the same physical server from which it originated, or you need the secret sauce.
I don't see how if you need to have the .enc file re-encrypted for all .enc files previous to 9.1 AND 9.1 (which would not be business as usual) will have to be re-encrypted as well on a new server or main computer. How could that be rare?
Quote from Chris:
Once you're on v9.1 it's business as usual, there is absolutely no difference in what you do then as you have in years past to backup and restore as all files created will use the new encryption algorithm.
This is from Chris' first post. If I am understanding this, and believe me, it becomes more difficult to understand the further we go, you can't use a 9.1 or higher .enc backup without re-encryption on a different computer. So, this is not business as usual as we used to be able to do that. I understand with previous versions, but it would seem that ALL v9.1 backups would be fine.
Also, what is the difference between data in your EMR, which can be read by anyone and the .enc file located locally?
Quote from Chris:
When you do an install or database move to a new server, for whatever reason, you need an installation key from CS and your .enc backup will need to be encrypted for the new server
This is just a quote which verifies that even a 9.1 .enc file would need to be re-encrypted.
My editorial:
This seems to be rather confusing and unnecessary. The file is encrypted as it needs to be. It would seem that if AC wanted to stay ahead of the bad guys, there could simply be a decision to start making backups with better encryption starting with v9.1, but not change anything previous. Eventually, everyone will move to 9.1 and this won't be an issue.
I don't quite understand why we can't move a database to another computer as long as we have our original license key. This isn't like Windows or Adobe, which needs to be on each machine, therefore, you have to purchase a license for each. AC runs with one machine acting as a database, and all of the other computers have just the program. So, I don't see why you can't install to another computer or every computer for that matter. If you have your original license key, you should be fine. If the CS 24 hour key is needed for new users at a new practice that makes sense. Just like after their 30-day trial period. But, I couldn't send my license key to someone else. It just wouldn't work when it phoned home. And, doing something like that would make my license null and void, and I would not be able to use AC, something no person in their right mind would do given the importance of the program. And, if they do, then they will likely face the consequences.
Chris, I think you made two changes at the same time and without notification of the users. (I don't think I saw anything, my apologies if there were). But, both of the changes are confusing, the .enc file is more so, but maybe one step at a time would have made more sense.
Personally, I would go back to the old system and then have all post 9.0 versions make a better encrypted backup. But, all previous ones should be grandfathered in and all post 9.0 .enc backups should work on any computer. I simply don't see how this isn't going to be a huge issue. Also, having your backup in the cloud is an option, but I think it will be looked up as being somewhat forced to do the online backups.
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To everyone on the board:
I said this before, but it keeps coming up, so I will say it again. Until we get this sorted out, if you back up your II with your .enc file locally, that's great. You schedule it overnight, and you have the ultimate backup if you need to move your computer.
But, if you do this, I would recommend you do a quick(2 minute to 5 minute) manual backup before you leave or have a staff member do it first thing in the morning. Have two backups. That way if you have to do the upload/download, you will be using a 100Mb file and not a 30GB file. You can get up and running quickly and move your II with copy and paste or whatever.
