Cloud Service

Comments

• CorbyNagel

  March 19

  We have clients that use Azure and AWS. It is difficult to provide a cost per user, per month as each client is different depending on their processing and storage needs, user count, and overall process. Their physical location can also matter as pricing for each of these services vary depending on the cloud data center used since certain regions are more expensive than others. Each of our clients have their own account and infrastructure, we do not combine clients under a single server infrastructure for security reasons.
  
  In most cases you want to have a very small Windows server running the Active Directory and house the OpenInsight/AREV application. Then a secondary server that is the Terminal Server with higher performing hardware. If you are going to use Microsoft Remote Desktop you will need to have a terminal license per user connected. These licenses can be tricky so please read through all of the instructions before activating them as they are tied to the server and if configured incorrectly can be a major headache to resolve.
  
  I will also comment that if there are any engine server or other background processes/services it is best to provide those services with their own dedicated server so they do not take away from the user experience on the terminal server. But as mentioned above, each client is unique and has their own needs so this must be customized for each application/client.
• DonBakke

  March 19

  Gone are the days when the question used to be, "What kind of server specs do you recommend?" Even that question wasn't always easy to answer, but one might be able to provide a relatively safe low-to-high cost range.
  
  As Corby well explained, cloud hosting introduces a lot more issues to consider. I'm still amazed at the number of questions I didn't know to ask, so I am thankful for those on my team who have hands on experience.
  
  I liken this to the question, "How much per square foot to build a house?" Is it possible to give a low-to-high estimate for this? Sure, but it would be almost useless because the range in costs would be rather extreme. Regrettably, I think cloud hosting estimating has itself fallen into the area of consulting. This doesn't mean you have to spec out every little detail in advance, but you should book an hour or two of time with an experienced company, give them the broad strokes, answer any questions they might have, and then let them run some numbers for you. It will still be a low-to-high estimate, but it will be a smaller range that gives you a reasonable idea of the expected costs.
• BarryStevens

  March 19

  Wow, thank you both so much for the very formative insight.
  It looks like it is definitely a road I would not attempt to go down alone.
  
  I had looked at the configuration options you had to go though and that did my head in!!