Running filePro in the Cloud?

[Nancy Palmquist]

Mark,

For the fees, if you replace a full time IT guy, the fees are going to 
be less, I would think.

If you look at the cost of IT, hardware, software (you can rent some OS 
and software from them) backup solutions, I think you are in a good 
place for cost.  Some will even offer to upgrade to new hardware, 
regularly to keep you current.

I realize when you buy hardware and software you own it, but in my 
experience it has a short shelf life and almost each year you have to 
pay for new software or upgrades, and every few years new hardware.  
This on-going expense - if spread out over months is easier to pay.  
Also, for taxes, this is a straight expense kind of thing where 
hardware/software you buy have to be depreciated over time.  That might 
be a consideration for some.

I do not see much problem with speed due to the internet on my setup.  I 
know if my applications and data was bigger, I would upgrade to faster 
stuff, but it works ok for us.

Nancy

On 5/20/2015 11:50 AM, Fairlight via Filepro-list wrote:
> Yeah, I'd concur, more or less.  But a decent amount of planning is
> necessary.
>
> The big cost in a hosted solution will be RAM provisioning.  And a -lot- of
> people over-provision their RAM.  You'd be surprised what you can get out
> of 1GB, and yet people provision 8GB for something which should require no
> more than 1-2GB.  Tuning is imperative, because you're not doing a one-off
> purchase you can just write off; you're paying for that resource every
> bloody month.
>
> That's the most expensive part, with disk coming second.  Yes, lower end
> drives are a commodity.  But when you have places putting in SAS drives for
> high performance, it stops being so inexpensive very quickly.  And again,
> it's a recurring fee.
>
> mark->
>
> On Wed, May 20, 2015 at 09:37:12AM -0400, Scott Walker thus spoke:
>> One nice thing about setting up a hosted server (at least in the linux
>> world) is there is not a large up front hardware cost.  So you should set up
>> at test and then TEST it, to see how the real world experience will be and
>> what problems there are, if any.
>>
>> If it does not go well, abandon the test, with your time being the major
>> cost suffered.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Scott
>>
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Filepro-list [mailto:filepro-list-
>>> bounces+scottwalker=ramsystemscorp.com at lists.celestial.com] On Behalf Of
>>> Fairlight via Filepro-list
>>> Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2015 12:34 AM
>>> To: filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
>>> Subject: Re: Running filePro in the Cloud?
>>>
>>> If I never heard the word "cloud" again, it'll be too soon.  It's a
>>> buzzword that means something different to everyone, and therefore means
>>> next to nothing.
>>>
>>> Bottom line on the tangible business side of things is that it's almost
>>> always bad business to make knee-jerk decisions based on one hardware
>>> failure.  The only exception of which I can think is if someone was
>>> running without backups and their hardware failed, in which case they
>>> should immediately take steps to implement backups.
>>>
>>> Changing one's entire architecture over a one-off is silly.  One might
>>> start to consider it for the longer term, but it's likely to generate a
>>> poor outcome if if one acts rashly and without considering the full
>>> ramifications of any changes.
>>>
>>> mark->
>>>
>>> On Tue, May 19, 2015 at 10:09:45PM -0400, Del via Filepro-list thus
>>> spoke:
>>>> Thanks for all the replies about running filePro in the cloud.
>>>> After thinking it over, I believe I will advise my client to stick
>>>> with his in house Windows server.
>>>> The performance on the local server is excellent, and the cloud may be
>>>> subject to variable internet performance.
>>>> Given that his server is protected by multiple levels of security, I
>>>> don't think it is any less secure than a cloud based server, and maybe
>>>> more so.
>>>> He backs up his system both locally and to the cloud, and also keeps
>>>> copies off site, so I think his data is safe from loss.
>>>> True, he had an unusual failure of the board that controls his Raid
>>>> disk configuration, but that is the only hardware caused downtime he
>>>> has had for several years, and it is clear that running in the cloud
>>>> does not guarantee 100% uptime.
>>>> In the long run, the expense of running in the cloud appears to be
>>>> greater than maintaining a local server.
>>>> If he relocates his application to a cloud server, he still has to
>>>> maintain local workstations, and I am sure there will be plenty of
>>>> technical issues to be solved, so it does not appear to remove the
>>>> "IT" burden.
>>>> Please correct me if any of these ideas are just plain wrong.
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>>

-- 
Nancy Palmquist         MOS & filePro Training Available
Virtual Software Systems    Web Based Training and Consulting
PHONE: (412) 835-9417           Web site:  http://www.vss3.com