Hi Beth,<br><br>We host ours on-site and have real no IT expertise other than checking everything is plugged in, switched and how to run the ping command.<br><br>This is how we do it:<br><br>We have 3 libraries in different towns using the same instance of Koha hosted on a server in the central library. Connection is live via a standard adsl (broadband) connection. NZ broadband is crap so no faster than 512mb connection (no leased line, T1 etc).<br>
<br>The servers cost about $NZ8k each and we have 2 of them. Each one is a mirror of the other, and each one has multiple disks doing a Raid array something. (Some techie person will know exactly what that means).<br><br>
The point here is though is that we have provided for disk failure on each machine, and also machine failure. Additionally, we have a nightly data backup offsite to a server in another city, thus providing for building failure (fire) and 'city' failure (earthquake.)<br>
<br>We have the server in our main library so that if the internet goes down (no - NZ is not a 3rd world country but I sometimes think our internet is!) then at least we can still operate at our busiest site.<br> <br>Our vendor configured the servers to set up the hardware (say a days work) and then downloaded and installed Koha, managed the data migration / conversion, and fixes bugs that we report and codes enhancements that we request.<br>
<br>We do not have a service contract with our vendor. We pay as we go for actual time and materials. This is because over the last 10 years we have learnt that once the servers are turned on and running - we can ignore them. Linux boxes just keep going and Koha is rock solid. Our vendor can remotely access the servers and koha itself to run periodic updates etc.<br>
<br>There is a 'risk' in running computer systems and you have to decide as an organisation whether you are willing to take the risk and therefore just pay for whatever work your vendor does for you, or do you 'pay' for that risk to be carried by someone else ie the vendor. I would suggest that this costs you more but on the flip side gives you surety in terms of budget management. For instance we have never paid more than $NZ 8k per annum for standard IT support, although considerable more in the years we have done major upgrdes (say $NZ 20k - $NZ 30k in 3 years over the last 10) I think thee xchange rate is roughly $NZ 2 = $USD 1 : so half my prices :)<br>
<br>Is this helpful? Chris Cormack may be able to explain better what our server setup is in detail and my prices were ballpark. Bottom line is its easy, affordable and rock solid. <br><br>Cheers Jo. <br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
2010/1/21 Beth Heller <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bheller@americanalpineclub.org">bheller@americanalpineclub.org</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Thanks all for the extraordinary welcome!<br><br>The reason we were going with Express rather than installing it ourselves is that we don't have full access to our remote server, and we liked the install, cloud hosting and upgrades packaging. <br>
<br>So - is there a Koha-install work-around for not having root access to the server?<br><br>Alternatively, any recommendations if we just buy a server? I don't know anything about that but maybe we could find the money. How big, what kind?<br>
<br>Thanks again!<div class="im"><br><br clear="all">Beth Heller<br>Preservation Librarian<br>American Alpine Club<br>710 Tenth Street<br>Suite 15<br>Golden, CO 80401<br>303-384-0110 x13<br><a href="mailto:bheller@americanalpineclub.org" target="_blank">bheller@americanalpineclub.org</a><br>
<br><a href="http://aaclibrary.wordpress.com" target="_blank">http://aaclibrary.wordpress.com</a> <br><a href="http://americanalpineclub.org" target="_blank">http://americanalpineclub.org</a><br><br>
<br><br></div><div><div></div><div class="h5"><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 9:17 AM, Chris Nighswonger <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:cnighswonger@foundations.edu" target="_blank">cnighswonger@foundations.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Hi Beth,<br><br>Welcome to the Koha community!<br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div>2010/1/20 Beth Heller <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bheller@americanalpineclub.org" target="_blank">bheller@americanalpineclub.org</a>></span><br>
</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Hi. I am one of two librarians at the American Alpine Club in Golden, Colorado - all mountains, all the time. We've got about 60,000 volumes, 20,000 that circulate, and a very small budget. We do have some IT support and one amazing volunteer to help with the tech side of this project, but I am not a coder at all. We are migrating from Spectrum Winnebago.<div>
<br>
<br>I was planning to upload to Koha Express this week, but given the buyout was wondering if anyone had any information about whether this product will continue and/or any alternatives. Inexpensive alternatives. <br><br>
</div></blockquote><div><br>Yes there is a very inexpensive alternative: Host Koha on your own in-house server. This is not hard at all and with your support and volunteer, you should be up and running in no time. If you/they need help, feel free to post questions here and/or join the IRC channel #koha at <a href="http://irc.katipo.co.nz" target="_blank">irc.katipo.co.nz</a><br>
<br>You can also take a look here: <a href="http://git.koha.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=Koha;a=tree" target="_blank">http://git.koha.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=Koha;a=tree</a><br><br>You will see several files with the word 'INSTALL' in them. Simply click on the filename and you can read upon the installation proceedure. The word following the period in the name (INSTALL.foo) indicates the flavor (foo) of Linux that proceedure is customized for. They are all very similar. Using Ubuntu Server, you can setup a Koha server in a couple of hours. <br>
<br> </div><div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I would also love to hear from anyone with experience using Koha Express, and anyone who has migrated from Winnebago.<br><br></blockquote></div><div><br><br>There are several on the list who have migrated from Winnebago to Koha, iirc. Perhaps someone who has this experience will respond with help in this regard.<br>
<br>Kind Regards,<br>Chris<br></div></div>
</blockquote></div><br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Joann Ransom RLIANZA<br>Acting Head of Libraries,<br>Horowhenua Library Trust.<br>