Quite a few factors should be considered before finally choosing the way to conduct your business - starting with costs, across various functional and performance standards up to security issues. As for individuals, the choice is much simpler - for several years already, cloud solutions have become the preferred choice for both personal business and even small business ventures.

In the paragraphs to follow, we are going to present and summarize our technology and efforts to make Easy Redmine the best accessible project management solution for those who have already chosen their way. For those who are currently undecided yet, we will also present a typical use case with positive and negative aspects to consider, which may help speed up the decision-making procedure based on their key requirements.

Self-hosted Redmine (server) solutions

What we offer

As a company fully committed to web applications, we have a deep understanding of what it takes to host such an app. As part of our on-going support for self-hosted solutions, we try to simplify this complex operation as much as possible. During our 10+ years of experience with hundreds of unique server customers, we have innovated and released variety of helpful tools and manuals usable almost universally.

Virtualization

This was a natural step right from the beginning of our server solutions venture. Instead of having our customers prepare an environment with all prerequisites before final installation of our application, we provide the option to download the complete „server“. It is a virtual machine (VM) compatible with VMware and Virtual Box technologies that contains the application ready to start working. Thus, customer onboards the application a lot faster and with a significantly smaller effort.

We also released a couple of free variants of VM for the Redmine community, one with clean Redmine, the other with Redmine + our own free extensions (Easy Gantt, Easy WBS).

„Redmine installer“

Quickly after its release, Redmine installer has become the most used tool to date. When the customer opts to install the application directly to the server, this tool makes it a lot easier than the standard way – instead of having to perform lots of manual steps (extracting installation package into a specific folder, running various server commands), there is a wizard which takes you through the basic settings and performs the installation and migrations automatically – thus minimizing the chance of an error.

Furthermore, Redmine installer is an integral part of our VMs, where it is used to install software updates without a hassle.

Redmine server requirements check

As mentioned before, our applications are dependent on all sorts of systems, which is quite normal – we are living in an era of integrated technology. To keep the dependencies in order, we have devised a very simple tool that checks the important components on the server. The admin just runs a simple command, which results in a neat table listing the components and their status. Such information is valuable not only for the admin, but eventually also for our support staff that can provide better instructions for a fix if the customer turns to us.

Manuals and guidelines

Server environment is a diverse jungle of ridiculous proportions. To keep all parts in a perfect sync requires tons of experience and continually refreshing your knowledge about new technologies. For the most crucial configurations and components related to our applications, we have published instruction manuals and guidelines that assist admins in regular server maintenance.

These include – installation manuals, ruby updating, server configurations, useful commands or common server errors, and more.

Limitations of Redmine server solution

Support flexibility

While we always try our very best to provide customers as much useful information and tools for smooth running of their self-hosted application, we cannot directly control their environment. That means we have no ability to perform fixes directly on the server, or we cannot look for the cause of various errors occurring on the server which leaves us only guessing when providing support.

Remote server support performed by our administrators is available as a paid service. Furthermore, the resolution time is always longer when compared to cloud solution – simply due to arrangements needed before access to client server can be provided. Which leads to next point:

Access restrictions and issues

In most instances when a customer asks for server support, they cannot provide direct access to the server, but rather a remote-controlling session via apps such as TeamViewer. It is better than having no access, but our experience show a significant decrease in flexibility and resolution time when using remote-controlling tools in comparison to direct (SSH) access – connection issues with the hosting computer, lagging, and loss of control when the customer uses the computer. It all adds up to 50% slower resolution time than with SSH access.

Plánování

Poptávka po správcích serverů je větší než nabídka, to je fakt. Podpora serverů není výjimkou. Z tohoto důvodu musí být podpora serverů plánována předem, aby byl dostatečný časový rámec pro úplné řešení problému.

To platí zejména v případě, že jedinou možností přístupu je vzdálené ovládání, kde musí být přítomen správce zákazníka. Pokud nám zákazník poskytne přístup SSH, je tento problém trochu menší - náš správce začne opravu okamžitě, jakmile bude k dispozici, a nemusí se setkat se správcem zákazníka.

Ověření hlášení chyb

Není daleko k tomu říci, že každé prostředí serveru je odlišné. S tolika konfiguračními možnostmi byste si mysleli, že je nemožné mít dva identické servery. To je často důvod, proč nemůžeme simulovat vnitřní specifické chování popsané zákazníkem, které působí jako chyba.

Pokud je služba potřebná pro běh naší aplikace nakonfigurována odlišně od našeho doporučení, není to nutně špatně, ale může způsobit problémy v aplikaci, které jsou obtížné vysledovat zpět na tuto konfiguraci.

Zaregistrujte se zdarma

^{Není vyžadována žádná kreditní karta. Není nutná instalace, žádná závaznost}

Redmine cloudové řešení

Technicky pro koncového uživatele neexistuje skutečný rozdíl mezi serverovým a cloudovým řešením, stále se jedná o webovou aplikaci, kterou otevřete ve svém prohlížeči. Z hlediska služby jsou však tato řešení naprosto odlišná.

Zatímco s řešením na serveru částečně pracujete s aplikací - musíte věnovat nějaké zdroje na udržování aplikace a prostředí serveru. V cloudu je veškeré úsilí zaměřeno na práci s aplikací k dosažení cílů ve vašem podnikání. Redmine Cloud se jednoduše týká provádění vašeho podnikání, zatímco my spravujeme "nástrojovnu".

Co nabízíme

Optimální konfigurace

Díky našemu rozsáhlému zkušenostem s infrastrukturou serverů a nevyčerpatelným evolučním a revolučním inovacím v této oblasti, spolu s nejhlubší znalostí požadavků aplikace, jsme schopni garantovat, že naše cloudové řešení poskytuje optimální konfiguraci pro nejlepší výkon našeho softwaru.

Vzhledem k tomu, že se IT svět mění každý den před našimi očima, uvědomujeme si, že nikdy nebude dokonalá konečná konfigurace. Proto v každém okamžiku spravujeme cloud tím, že přizpůsobujeme nejlepší postupy a naše vlastní technologie nejnovějším trendům s vysokou přidanou hodnotou.

Redmine Global Cloud

Naše datová centra jsou již rozšířena na všech (neantarktických) kontinentech, aby poskytovala spolehlivou dostupnost a přístupnost z každé části světa. A neplánujeme přestat přidávat nová datová centra do naší mapy. Všechna datová centra splňují nejvyšší standardy hostování aplikací.

Polohy našich současných datových center*:

• EUROPA
  •  Francie
  •  Česká republika
  •  Rusko (Moskva)
• SEVERNÍ AMERIKA - Kanada
• JIŽNÍ AMERIKA - Brazílie
• ASIE
  • Singapur
  • Japonsko
• AUSTRÁLIE - Sydney
• AFRIKA - Jihoafrická republika

* - k 09/2017

Datová centra po celém světě poskytují rychlý výkon a vysokou úroveň bezpečnosti.

Kde najdete naše servery? Téměř všude.

Mapa Redmine Global Cloud

Flexibility

Cloud applications are generally more standardized than server solutions, which is a good thing because it reduces the cost for the customer. However, in Redmine Cloud we provide exclusive customizable services that eliminate some of the basic cloud disadvantages.

One example of such service is to run the application on the customer’s domain. For instance, instead of using the standard domain for an application company.easyproject.com, you can use projects.company.com.

Another service we offer are regular full-data backups from application accessible in a secure SFTP location, which is not a standard in most cloud solutions.

If the demands to customize the cloud solution get even higher, we are up for it.

Redmine Private Cloud (dedicated server)

The pinnacle of cloud services, private cloud combines the biggest advantages of both server and cloud solutions, while eliminating the most significant shortcomings of the two.

On one hand, your application is running on a separate server dedicated solely to your application, where surrounding technical services are tailored to your needs. On the other hand, you leave all concerns for the „well-being“ of the application to us, and need not carry a team for this purpose in your organization.

Support

It was mentioned in the server part of this article that it may become complicated to solve some issues occurring on the server application. In cloud, however, you can always count with the most direct and pro-active approach to your reported issues simply because our operators can test the issue first-hand. Therefore, we are able to provide you a first-reply solution to your request very often.

Furthermore, our state-of-the-art incident monitoring technology is in full permanence 24/7, which allows us to intercept vast majority of errors before they are noticed by the end user. And those that have been discovered by users are already in the care of our committed team of experts.

Recovery in case of fatal failures of external services is within 3 hours – your application running on a new server.

Limitations of Redmine cloud solution

Control over the application

The back-end of the application – infrastructure, source code, server processes, etc. are completely under our control – the customer doesn’t get to manage this part of the solution. In case of private cloud, customer has a say in it, but doesn’t handle it directly.

Security policies

It goes without saying that Redmine Cloud protects user data according to high standards and all legislative policies. In spite of that, there are organizations that are simply disallowed to have data processed by external parties, due to internal rules, legislation in regulated areas or other regulations. However, this is rarely the case.     

Our data shows, these are limitations directly affect only about 10 % of all our customers.

How to choose?

To help with the vital decision between server and cloud solution, we prepared a set of questions to help you realize your true priorities for the decision and to unravel some variables you may have left out of the equation.

This guide basically summarizes the previous paragraphs, but also adds other more sublime criteria.

Question #1 – Do I have the resources to self-host a web application?

Starting with obvious – reliable server infrastructure, skilled server admins. But then it goes deeper, to software prerequisites.

• Will I have to hire new employees to manage the application?
• Will my technicians require additional training for this kind of application?
• Will I need to buy a new server?
• Will I need to update/replace an operating system?
• How many components will I have to install/update in order to be able to install the application?

Remember, keeping up with current server technologies to run a reliable web application may be more demanding than it seems at the first glance.

Question #2 – How much would self-hosting cost?

In cloud, you are only paying for so-called SaaS (software as a service), while server solution implies additional costs as well. Not just the price of the application, but also internal costs for maintenance, hardware or technical trainings. If your application budget is not ready for such overhead, you will be unpleasantly surprised...and so will your supervisors.

Always keep this in mind, when preparing for a self-hosted application. In the end, the decision may be easier than you expect in a side-by-side budget comparison.

Question #3 – What kind of support am I expecting?

While response times are similar in both solutions, there are objective reasons why some issues on server may be resolved in weeks, as opposed to hours on cloud.

Statistically, resolution time of mid-to-high complex issues is slower in server solutions than on cloud. This is simply because the support operator doesn’t have first-hand access to the issue and may not be able to replicate the reported behavior.

Shrnutí

Není překvapením, že většina uživatelů softwaru volí kompletní, snadné a plug-and-play řešení v podobě cloudu, pokud je jim nabídnuto. Pro jednotlivce a většinu firem to není ani rozhodnutí - stačí spustit instanci cloudu, pozvat svůj tým a dále se soustředit na svůj hlavní byznys s pomocí nové aplikace.

Vždy zůstanou oblasti, kde není možné použít cloudové řešení, a ty dostávají péči a pozornost od dodavatelů serverových řešení. Ale zůstane to náročnější a dražší z obou možností.