Opinions on deployment to Azure or AWS

[StevenH]

I apologize in advance if this subject has been discussed elsewhere. I looked but couldn't find anything.

I plan to use a cloud service for a CRM application that I'm running a feasibility study on but I've never used a cloud service so any info anyone is willing to offer would be much appreciated.

Here's some info about my app:

This is a CRM for the political world.
It will have about 10,000 to 50,000 records per client and about 2 to 3 users each.
There are a lot of fields per record, around 100 fields including memo fields.
I'm planning on using Lianja SQL Tables
I expect to have about 6 to 8 tables per client.
Each client will have their data in a separate folder as they may customize their file structure as well as do massive updates noted below on their own schedules.
The tables will undergo massive updates several times during election years, Basically, relating the in-use tables to tables of new data from our counties and running CRUD operations
Client use will be look ups of individuals, update of some info as they speak to individuals in their district so not normally intensive stuff.
However, once or twice in an election year, they may want to print hardcopy reports of a filtered list of the data. About 65% of all records. I envision this to be a pdf that they will download an print.


Things I'm interested in knowing include:
- Which cloud service are you using? AWS, Azure, other:
- Why did you chose it?
- Are you happy with your choice? and if not, is there another cloud service you think would be better
- How helpful are they in figuring out what you need and associated costs.
- Ease of installation
- If you used Lianja's tables in the cloud and if not, why not
- Any idea of what the cloud service would charge for the above needs?

Thank you for any info you can provide.

Steve

[barrymavin]

Hi Steve,

timing is everything :)

We are in the final QA and testing of Lianja cloud which will be available soon.

It will satisfy those requirements and more.

You will soon be able to purchase a subscription and install your apps with ease.

Lianja cloud runs on AWS. It’s a serverless and vertically.horizontally scalable architecture.

it’s all done for you.

I would recommend having a subscription for each of your clients. It simplifies everything.

[StevenH]

Thanks Barry!

Unfortunately, a large percentage of my clients I expect to get will be first time challengers to an incumbent. Challengers tend to be more hardworking and into the data while incumbents at least here in Hawaii, tend to cruise and not campaign much.

This means our clients won't have much funds. Separate licenses for each would probably put our service out of their financial reach.

If I design this as a single project with a primary user having their own folder, running the same Lianja CRM app, would that be a very difficult thing to design/implement?

Also, I've been assuming the primary user and any of his sub-users would count towards the 25 users that come with the basic installation. Is that correct?

And if I get more clients, I can purchase more user seats. Is that correct and what would be the cost of that?

Thanks so much for your assistance,
Steve

[barrymavin]

Hi Steve

I suggested having separate tenancies for each of your clients but you can run them all in one tenancy. The database containing client specific tables can be associated with the user login.

Our pricing for Lianja cloud does not require anything else to be purchased. No AWS, no Lianja cloud server licenses and no AWS expertise.

Pricing is based on the number of concurrent users required and the disk space required for your data.

There are essentially three offerings; Small, Medium and Large.

Details of exact pricing will be available when Lianja cloud is commercially available.

[StevenH]

Thanks Barry!

I have a couple of questions...

When do you anticipate Lianja Cloud to be commercially available?

Are there any multi-tenant example apps?

Steve

[StevenH]

Forgot to mention...

I totally like the "No AWS Expertise" requirement. I messed with it about 8 years ago and it was so confusing. I spoke to their support and got conflicting answers to my questions...even they were confused!

[barrymavin]

Hi Steve

I expect it to be available before the end of November.

Database tenancies provide you with the ability to deploy an App once for multiple customers/tenants but have separate databases specific to each.

See:
https://www.lianja.com/doc/index.php/Database_Tenancies

[StevenH]

Thanks Barry!

Very helpful info and link.

Steve

[StevenH]

Hi Barry,

I just got off a conference call with some MS Azure people. I spoke with one of their sales persons a while back and today was with their tech folks. Since my initial talk with sales, you mentioned you have an installation package for AWS so I told them I was no longer interested in hosting with them.

They told me about something you may be interested in. They said that they have a credit program where an installer, like Lianja, could be credited for the entire cost of installing Lianja apps (like mine). They claimed their prices are very possibly lower than AWS.

Anway, I thought that might be something you want to look into so you can offer either cloud service and the cost of the actual installation might be zero. You would have to talk with them and see if they would give you the credit and if the credit has a limit or would apply to all installations. They said there is an application process.

If it helps, I can get the contact info for the tech guy that suggested the credit program. His name was John Fowler and the sales person was Paul Vincent

Thanks,
Steve

[barrymavin]

Hi Steve,

Lianja Cloud is not a package installed on AWS it’s a complete cloud platform hosted on the AWS infrastructure.

Moving it over to azure is not something that we are interested in doing as there is nothing to be gained.

Our decision to host on AWS is based on sound technical reasons as well as the fact that we have in house AWS expertise.