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Getting around the server license issue

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    #1

    Getting around the server license issue

    Ok, first of all I hope nobody takes this the wrong way. I am not suggesting anything outside of any legal means but I need some clarification and maybe some insight and advice.
    First of all, if we use IIS - is that a proprietary Alpha thing that would require a license issued by Alpha to serve an alpha application?
    Secondly, does anyone know if the Alpha Cloud is a hosting or a server environment, in other words if you pay for Alpha Cloud is that per domain for hosting or is it more like a server you would log into like zebra host and then you need to install the alpha server or IIS and of course stuff like RDPguard...

    The other thing if anyone can offer advice - how would you use this as a business developing applications for others? Do you host and serve and actually manage their license? Do you require that they own all that and you manage/maintain?

    I am just wondering how I could start something like this with a very small developer budget. I certainly wouldn't want to buy a license for a customer and be responsible for a subscription while producing lets say a proto-type for a bid. Maybe that's how its done...thanks in advance for your thoughts and ideas.

    Lastly, I really don't want this thread devolving into a discussion of alphas business model of subscriptions, it would be better to discuss best practices and pitfalls of getting started. Like I said in another thread I have several ideas I want to develop to pitch to prospective customers.
    NWCOPRO: Nuisance Wildlife Control Software My Application: http://www.nwcopro.com "Without forgetting, we would have no memory at all...now what was I saying?"
    Tags: None
    #2
    Re: Getting around the server license issue

    Charles,

    IIS is a Microsoft product included in their server family. Alpha Server for IIS is essentially a plugin that runs under IIS and yes it requires a license from Alpha.

    Alpha Cloud is essentially like Microsoft Azure but leverages Amazon's S3 servers. So, you can purchase what level of performance and scalability you need. You can purchase a shared server which hosts multiple customers web sites or you can get your own server for only your web site(s). There are a lot of unknowns at the moment .. I don't believe any pricing has been set at this point. I took several notes about Alpha Cloud at DevCon, but I don't have them in front of me, I'll check tomorrow if you want more details. You can get a free trial of Alpha Cloud right now to test it out and see if it meets your needs though. I think it looks like a really great option, we'll have to see how the costing pans out.
    Last edited by iRadiate; 10-20-2016, 03:02 PM.
    Alpha Anywhere v12.4.6.5.2 Build 8867-5691 IIS v10.0 on Windows Server 2019 Std in Hyper-V

    Comment

      #3
      Re: Getting around the server license issue

      AWS S3 is a flat file system so basically AWS client servers are running normal (preconfigured by Alpha) EC2 Windows instances. There is no doubt that Apha AWS cloud is a great option for Alpha developers.

      Adobe has implemented AWS in their Coldfusion platform which is targeted like Alpha Anywhere for Enterprise. For example Adobe Coldfusion Enterprise in AWS you pay for software and for AWS instance. So running a year minimum server m3.medium(1 core, memory 3.75) ami costs 770 software + server 1123.20 = 1893.20.
      And just a little better m3.large( 2 core, memory 7.5) 1545 + 2237.76 =3782.76. Then in both example you have to add storage costs and other services you use snapshots and so on.

      If you compare to Leaseweb in their own US Cloud Center with extra firewall the price for 8 core, 8gb, 160 gb ssd cloud server with 1000Mbps port is 496,80 per year + AA software but you have to install AA server and IIS by your self.

      At the moment you need a separate Alpha Anywhere license for every domain and I am sure this will not change in Alpha cloud.

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        #4
        Re: Getting around the server license issue

        Leaseweb is cheaper and faster and if you need 8 Core Alpha u need to contact Alphasoftware Sales, good luck

        Comment

          #5
          Re: Getting around the server license issue

          Leaseweb of course has cheaper servers but if Alpha takes 4 core and you then still got 4 free cores that is today not too much.

          But as always with virtual servers the point is how many IP's you can get to your server. Leaseweb gives one for cloud server and for dedicated servers I did get 5. AWS gives in practise one per running instace. Also important feature is can you take a snapshots or not. In AWS you can, Leaseweb not and for example in Hetzner you can (but limited amount). But can Alpha cloud take snapshot I do not know.

          Comment

            #6
            Re: Getting around the server license issue

            An other alternative is smarterasp even cheaper dan Leaseweb a lot of A5 developers run there apps beside zebrahost who is also good.Futher the os will a least one core also your database and Alpha Report server takes a core. The rest is depending.

            Comment

              #7
              Re: Getting around the server license issue

              Originally posted by bea2701 View Post
              An other alternative is smarterasp even cheaper dan Leaseweb a lot of A5 developers run there apps
              I wonder why do you think SmaterAsp is even cheaper than Leaseweb. How did you calculate that conclusion?

              SmarterAsp most cheaper vps is 2 core 2 gb 30 gb ssd COST is 99,95 per month.
              In Leaseweb 2 core 2 gb 40 gb ssd cost is 21,95 so Leaseweb is 78 per month cheaper.

              Smarter asp 4 core 8gb 60 gb ssd cost is 199,95.
              In Leaseweb 8 core 8gb 160 gb ssd cost is 41,40 so Leaseweb is 158,55 cheaper per month.

              Could you point me to the right direction why so many Alpha developers has gone to SmarterAsp?

              Comment

                #8
                Re: Getting around the server license issue

                Ken people have free choices what they like end of debate, i have no preference i am nutral end ond of debat again, thank u]

                Comment

                  #9
                  Re: Getting around the server license issue

                  Can you still point me to the SmarterASP even cheaper servers you were talking?

                  I am happy with Leaseweb but other Alpha developers sure are interested why so many Alpha developers has gone to SmartesASP. Obviously it is not price because Leaseweb is 4 times cheaper than SmarterASP.
                  Last edited by kkfin; 10-20-2016, 09:58 AM.

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Re: Getting around the server license issue

                    Another nice feature of Alpha Cloud is the ability to manage your account settings and sites and publish directly from within the Development workstation.
                    As for service options, Web Tenancy has 3 options:
                    1. Single - one server group, one website (private)
                    2. Subscription - one or more server groups, my web sites
                    3. Public - many server groups, many web sites (shared tenancy)
                    Server groups are managed by Amazon web services, auto-scale up or down depending on load.
                    Instances ALWAYS run behind a load balancer
                    Separate IIS application pool for each deployed app
                    Virtual machines with Windows Server 2012 R2 with latest security patches applied by AWS
                    All data in transit encrypted by TLS
                    All data at rest in S3 storage is encrypted
                    Built in application rollback
                    Domain name support
                    Last edited by iRadiate; 10-20-2016, 11:00 AM. Reason: typo
                    Alpha Anywhere v12.4.6.5.2 Build 8867-5691 IIS v10.0 on Windows Server 2019 Std in Hyper-V

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Re: Getting around the server license issue

                      At first ability to mangae account settings and sites form developer sounds great but I would prefer browser based management for security reasons. Just like AWS do now. You manage with browser and you need a key.

                      "Instances always run behind load balancer". I do not see any advantages running single instance behind load balancer.

                      It seems like these Alpha cloud instances are managed (because automatically updated). I first did though that they are just preconfigured amis. Nice to see how they update and when Alpha Anywhere. Also would be nice to know how nodejs runs on them and how email servers are handled. Also how you work with databases.
                      Seems to me that there is possibility that in very basic configuration expenses may rice quite high per year. But as always question is who pays the bill.

                      Anyway big and good step from Alpha.
                      Last edited by kkfin; 10-20-2016, 12:37 PM.

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Re: Getting around the server license issue

                        Originally posted by kkfin View Post
                        At first ability to mangae account settings and sites form developer sounds great but I would prefer browser based management for security reasons. Just like AWS do now. You manage with browser and you need a key.
                        I believe that is also provided with Alpha Cloud Management Console

                        Originally posted by kkfin View Post
                        "Instances always run behind load balancer". I do not see any advantages running single instance behind load balancer.
                        I'm not a network guru, but my understanding was that load balancers help improve high volume traffic performance. So, whether one instance or several, wouldn't this be beneficial?
                        I imagine it helps with performance during DR and server failover too if necessary.

                        Originally posted by kkfin View Post
                        It seems like these Alpha cloud instances are managed (because automatically updated). I first did though that they are just preconfigured amis. Nice to see how they update and when Alpha Anywhere. Also would be nice to know how nodejs runs on them and how email servers are handled. Also how you work with databases.
                        Seems to me that there is possibility that in very basic configuration expenses may rice quite high per year. But as always question is who pays the bill.

                        Anyway big and good step from Alpha.
                        I don't know about nodejs & mail servers, but if I recall correctly your SQL database can reside remotely or in the hosted environment.

                        And yeah, the cost??? Don't know.
                        Alpha Anywhere v12.4.6.5.2 Build 8867-5691 IIS v10.0 on Windows Server 2019 Std in Hyper-V

                        Comment

                          #13
                          Re: Getting around the server license issue

                          allways these endless debate, people have free choices, thank u take care

                          Comment

                            #14
                            Re: Getting around the server license issue

                            Glad Eric that you have found SmarterAsp been cheap hosting company. We others still like to compare features vs costs.

                            Comment

                              #15
                              Re: Getting around the server license issue

                              agreed of course that all to it in one word all about a matter of choices and freedom to compare features vs costs. Good luck!!

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