Posts made by magicmarker

@scottalanmiller said in Looking for an alternative database to MS SQL to process a text file.:

@magicmarker said in Looking for an alternative database to MS SQL to process a text file.:

You may say that I could just have the label software connect to the text file on a file server, but it’s possible I will be receiving this text file every 30min and I’m worried about the label software connection to the file every time the file get updated/overwritten.

In theory this should be fine. Don't hold the connection open. Open it and important the data. Close it when done. Should take a split second. A text file is a form of database. A silly one, but a database nonetheless. There is a tiny, tiny chance that it could be overwritten at that exact second that you have it open. But not very likely.

What that in mind, just connecting to the text file may work just fine. It would make the process a little less complicated and save me from setting up a MariaDB server and coming up with a process to import the text file to the MariaDB. The text file will just sit on a file server shared folder. I would have label software installed on 15 computers that could have the connection to the text file. The 15 computers are at all my different branch offices connecting back to the HQ file server over SD-WAN/MPLS connections (I'm currently migrating to SD-WAN). In theory I may be able to get away with this correct?

I need to bounce ideas of someone.

Everyday my company receives text files from our parent company that includes hazardous chemical information on products we make. We receive this file daily because we make new items everyday and need updated hazardous information.

I’ve created a batch process that imports the text files into Microsoft SQL databases, and then time stamps the files and archives them on our file server. Our label software then connects to the MS SQL databases to print label data. Our company is moving to a new ERP system next year and I will have a chance to update this process. The ERP database is hosted overseas, and our parent company does not give us direct access to the DB. The initial process will still start by receiving text files with the necessary data.

Now to my question. I want to investigate other options to process this text file. These databases are less the 1GB. We are currently using Microsoft SQL Standard servers to import these text files into. I want to investigate moving to a different database and stop paying MS SQL software fees and SQL CAL licenses.

I still have a lot to learn when it comes to DB administration. I’m looking for something easy to setup and maintain for someone not very knowledgeable with DB administration. My first thought is setting up a MariaDB server to import the text files to instead, and create the ODBC connections in our label software to the MariaDB. I could also look at MS SQL Express, but then I get very limited and less flexible.

You may say that I could just have the label software connect to the text file on a file server, but it’s possible I will be receiving this text file every 30min and I’m worried about the label software connection to the file every time the file get updated/overwritten. Depending on how often I am getting the updated text file (which I don’t know yet), connecting directly to the text file could be an option. What is a good open source DB server an IT generalist can setup and maintain in this scenario? Or is their something else out there that you can point me in the direction of to look at? My label software just needs a text file or ODBC connection.

@JaredBusch said in Need a cloud hosted PBX provider, looking at Jive:

@magicmarker said in Need a cloud hosted PBX provider, looking at Jive:

@JaredBusch said in Need a cloud hosted PBX provider, looking at Jive:

@magicmarker said in Need a cloud hosted PBX provider, looking at Jive:

@JaredBusch Hi Jared. I will try contacting you today to discuss my options with you.

Was good talking to you. If you have more questions, just ask.

Thanks Jared. I know I will have more questions. FreePBX does seem like the best option for me. Now time for some math.

This might help you. I think I say "math" once or twenty times...

https://www.spiceworks.com/spiceworld/post-event/#it-pros?video=18

Oh wow. Thanks for the video. Great presentation at Spiceworld. My wife is a 6th grade math teacher, may need her help with this excel spreadsheet.

@JaredBusch said in Need a cloud hosted PBX provider, looking at Jive:

@magicmarker said in Need a cloud hosted PBX provider, looking at Jive:

@JaredBusch Hi Jared. I will try contacting you today to discuss my options with you.

Was good talking to you. If you have more questions, just ask.

Thanks Jared. I know I will have more questions. FreePBX does seem like the best option for me. Now time for some math.

@JaredBusch Hi Jared. I will try contacting you today to discuss my options with you.

@EddieJennings said in Need a cloud hosted PBX provider, looking at Jive:

I found that what was offered by Jive wasn't worth the cost for the business for whom I worked. I went with FreePBX hosted in Vultr.

Thanks for your response Eddie. How many handsets do you have connected to your FreePBX?

@Dashrender said in Need a cloud hosted PBX provider, looking at Jive:

@coliver said in Need a cloud hosted PBX provider, looking at Jive:

There are several community members that provide hosted VoIP. I think both @Bundy-Associates / @JaredBusch and @NTG provide this service.

This is basically what I was going to say.

And if you want to expand your own skillset - you can setup a FreePBX and just manage it completely on your own.

I have a FreePBX system running from Vultr. Vultr costs me $5/m for the VPS (the virtual private server) that FreePBX is installed into. Use VOIP.MS or a few others mentioned here on ML for SIP trunks, etc...

Heck I'm sure @NTG or @JaredBusch could even be hired to help you set it up and learn it, then you take it over. Whatever you want.

Gotcha. Good point. I will plan to reach out. The lease to own option was a nice feature though from Jive. Otherwise I'm seeing the handsets at around a $10K capital expense.

I’m looking to move to a new cloud-based PBX provider. I’ve currently got 3 locations on Cisco UCS phone systems, and 2 locations are still on physical PBX’s. I’m going to need just over 100 handsets. I’m looking for the migration to be transparent to the end users with only a new phone on their desk. I’m going to need about 100 total handsets. We really don’t need many fancy features. I will need 10 Auto Attendants, some simple call groups for Customer Service that reside in of 2 of the 5 locations, and voicemail to email. These days most orders come in over email. I wouldn’t expect more than 30 people on the phone at the same time out of the 100 handsets connected. My VAR has provided a quote for RingCentral, but it seems RingCentral is overkill for our needs. My VAR has now introduced me to Jive Communications. It seemed Jive Communications was closer aligned to our needs. I was impressed with their sales staff and engineers. They do a lease to own option on the VOIP handsets and they quoted out some decently priced Yealink T42S handsets. However, I see that LogMeIn bought them, so that is making me a little sick to my stomach. Is anyone familiar or using Jive Hosted VOIP? If yes, how is the service?

@scottalanmiller said in Looking to migrate backup service to Unitrends.:

CloudBerry makes several things, but not their own storage. They make a backup tool which you can use instead of Veeam, or to back up the Veeam system. Whatever you like. Or you can use it just to create accessible cloud based storage that appears like a local disk so that Veeam can back up to the cloud.

Very interesting. I planned to install Cloudberry backup on the SD-WAN box to just backup the Veeam repository folder. You are saying you can use Cloudberry to present the Backblaze B2 storage to have Veeam backup to directly?

@JaredBusch Very nice. Now would install Cloudberry on the Veeam server, or the SAM-SD to replicate to Backblaze B2?

I'm now doing a U-turn and looking at Veeam again. My new plan is to go with Veeam Enterprise. My Veeam repository will be a SAM-SD for local backups. Then for $80 I can install Cloudberry on the SAM-SD and replicate Veeam local backups to BackBlaze B2. Thanks everyone for the insight. Thanks for steering me in the right direction. The Unitrends deal was looking good on paper, and didn't like having to make a decision based on the Unitrends sales rep year end numbers. Let me mention that the Unitrends sales staff are absolutely relentless. Almost as annoying as Know4Be before sales reps.

@JaredBusch said in Looking to migrate backup service to Unitrends.:

https://rhyshammond.com/veeam-backblaze-b2-create-the-backblaze-b2-bucket/

This link is for when backing up to a Synology though. I plan on using a SAM-SD.

@JaredBusch said in Looking to migrate backup service to Unitrends.:

@magicmarker said in Looking to migrate backup service to Unitrends.:

Looking at the Veeam scenario. If I create a SAM-SD as my Veeam repository for local backups. Can someone point me to what middleman software I should be looking to replicate those local backups to the cloud on the SAM-SD to Backblaze B2? This is easy with a Veeam cloud connect partner since I can do this within the Veeam console, but what about going to a third party cloud backup provider?

https://www.starwindsoftware.com/resource-library/starwind-vtl-for-backblaze-b2-and-veeam

Thanks Jared. I was already on the website reading this when you posted this link.

Looking at the Veeam scenario. If I create a SAM-SD as my Veeam repository for local backups. Can someone point me to what middleman software I should be looking to replicate those local backups to the cloud on the SAM-SD to Backblaze B2? This is easy with a Veeam cloud connect partner since I can do this within the Veeam console, but what about going to a third party cloud backup provider?

@travisdh1 said in Looking to migrate backup service to Unitrends.:

For the online storage, Wasabi or Backblaze B2. Wasabi is cheaper, but I haven't used it myself yet like have B2.

Very familiar with Backblaze B2. I'm using it at home for my offsite backup. I was looking for a more polished integration with my backup software. This is why I looked at a Veeam cloud connect partner. Maybe I overlooked Backblaze integration with Veeam. I know Backblaze is nicely integrated with Cloudberry. How does that look on the Veeam side?

@DustinB3403 said in Looking to migrate backup service to Unitrends.:

Seems like a lot of tie in. What if you don't want to use the backup appliance any longer, but want to use the cloud or vice versa?

Great point. This is the kind of insight I'm looking for.

@DustinB3403 said in Looking to migrate backup service to Unitrends.:

@magicmarker said in Looking to migrate backup service to Unitrends.:

@DustinB3403 said in Looking to migrate backup service to Unitrends.:

As others have said Unitrends is likely out of your affordable range. To ask more questions, what kind of systems are you needing to protect and backup, how does your backup environment look today?

What functionality do you required?
What would be nice to have?

I'm running VMware and backing up Windows VM's. Need the software to be MS SQL application aware. Would like a dashboard, like I currently have with Carbonite to view backup status and management of jobs. It would be nice to also have the ability to complete granular backup of AD. I know Unitrends currently does not support that granular AD backup. I don't need any fancy retentions. I'm happy with 30 day daily retention (locally) and maybe 6-12 months monthly retentions.

This sounds like Veeam would be a really good option then. Have you used it and found some issue or is it simply not an option for some reason?

I should have mentioned that I want a cloud storage backup for disaster recovery as well. I've used Veeam before and know it's good software. I was just looking at all my options. Unitrends is coming in lower than Veeam for local and cloud storage. I priced out a Veeam cloud connect partner.

@bnrstnr said in Looking to migrate backup service to Unitrends.:

@Dashrender said in Looking to migrate backup service to Unitrends.:

Yeah, when renewal time comes, you'll likely have to buy a new appliance meaning it will likely be outside your desired price range.

Quickly looking at the promotion, he might even have to purchase 3+ years of support upfront. That alone would probably cover the cost of buying a better server from xbyte

I'm not having to pay anything upfront. Unitrends has offered 36 months financing on all the line items. This is including Forever Cloud service and premium support. I'm also getting Unitrends Enterprise Plus. The free items include the hardware (10TB recovery appliance) and initial installation support which is normally a $2k line item. The monthly financing quoted is very affordable and will save me thousands per month from what I'm currently paying with Carbonite.

@DustinB3403 said in Looking to migrate backup service to Unitrends.:

As others have said Unitrends is likely out of your affordable range. To ask more questions, what kind of systems are you needing to protect and backup, how does your backup environment look today?

What functionality do you required?
What would be nice to have?

I'm running VMware and backing up Windows VM's. Need the software to be MS SQL application aware. Would like a dashboard, like I currently have with Carbonite to view backup status and management of jobs. It would be nice to also have the ability to complete granular backup of AD. I know Unitrends currently does not support that granular AD backup. I don't need any fancy retentions. I'm happy with 30 day daily retention (locally) and maybe 6-12 months monthly retentions.

Is anyone using Unitrends to backup their infrastructure? I'm currently using Carbonite Business (formerly Evault). Carbonite has served me well overall, but it's expensive. My contract with Carbonite expires in a few months and I was researching other vendors. I looked at Veeam and Unitrends. Initially, Unitrends was going to be out of my price range, but they are now offering me free hardware to get me to switch before the end of the year. I'm leaning towards Unitrends now with all the end of the year incentives they are offering me. Anything I need to know about Unitrends, good or bad? If you are using Unitrends now, are you happy? I've gotten some feedback that the entire strategy hinges on the recovery appliance. This could be a problem if their turn around time is lacking to get a new box. I'm being told their is a 24hr turnaround in the event they need to send a new recovery appliance which is reasonable to me.