The Suretec Blog - Dojo

A Catalyst Appliance?

nospam@example.com (Gavin Henry) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:21:30 +0000

We have had some interesting discussions about offering a locally hosted version of a Catalyst Web Application called Flexi Time Manager.

The question was also raised on the Catalyst Mailinglist, with no replies...so we raised it on the PerlMonks forums at Offering a locally hosted solution?

A very interesting response about doing an appliance:

Gavin,

I've been pondering these questions in anticipation of some stuff i'm working on. Some corporations prefer to have the stuff in-house for a few reasons. These come up alot:
1. Security - they may feel unconfortable having their data outside the company. it may even be policy
2. Network outages - if its internal, your site or their network connection going down won't affect the in-house application (unless you use the light frontend that goes back to your servers)

Thoughts to consider:
1. How much control do you want to give them in terms of access to the source code and the ability to break things even if well meaning. Will they need to sign an NDA?
2. How is the application maintained? Do you have a tunnel into their environment to fix things? (will they consider this a security risk?)
3. How are updates applied? Onsite cdrom/flash drive? Downloads (like IPCop), automatically downloaded and installed? How do you deal with a failed update.
4. What happens when they want to connect some other system to your database to pull the timesheet data?
5. Security. What liability is involved if the appliance is the mechanism for the breach. And would the appliance provide a method for securiy breach (see #2 and #3).
6. Legality - if you have gpl code, you're ok when its a service, when leasing hardware/software youre approaching a greyer area the RMS wanted to kill with GPLv3 (it didn't make it into the final cut)
7. If your model is based on usage, how do you guarantee you're sending back the appropriate data and a firewall isn't getting in the way.

I'm personally leaning towards the leased appliance model. You "lease" a box with the software installed on it. Providing in that fee is an "update" subscription service, where the software will poll the update server and pull the encrypted & signed updates down. Perhaps with a web interface for the company admin to decide whne to apply the updates. Of course the leasing is noticably more expensive that the web version (for the updates and support).

Applications that do some of that I was talking about:
1. IPCop - downloadable signed updates
2. Tivo - ideal model in my mind (at least for the hardware end result)
3. Google search appliance (to they offer the google office apps as an appliance yet?)
4. Vigilant Minds security appliance - (was originally nessus with a rockin web interface)
5. Salesforce.com and SugarCRM i think also have appliance versions as well.

You want the corporate types to think of the box you provide like a Tivo, not like software they purchased. In the latter you end up with the companies wanting you (or themselves) to make customizations to the app. Enough of those and you become a development shop and not a service provider.

Now all that said, the Xen/Vmware image idea might work well. I've dabbled with using a single Xen image on a piece of hardware just to cope with the fact that hardware continually improves and unless you're buying in bulk from Taiwan you're guaranteed to not hav ethe same platform to install on year after year. It will also offer greater flexibility for larger companies who have migrated to a Vmware setup. The downside is that if they stop paying, they can effectively keep the Vmware image and get into it whereas an appliance can be reasonably locked down to make it less likely. (Downloads are something people put little weight WRT to stealing.)

How does this relate to perl? There are dozens of modules out on cpan that can help with accomplishing the task of remote updates, package signing, etc...

dratsab

Food for thought.....

Gavin.

Dedicated OpenLDAP GUI?

nospam@example.com (Gavin Henry) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 19:42:00 +0000

We know there are various desktop apps like gq, Jxplorer etc. and web based like gosa and phpldapadmin, but do we want a GUI specfically tailored for OpenLDAP?

Suretec do.

So, what style?
We've already done a nice Web 2.0 style app using Catalyst, Dojo and PostgreSQL. Why not one like that or Google Desktop?

Probably speed. Loading up LDIF data etc may be too slow.

It would probably have to be something OS independent and written in C or C++

I would prefer using C for making use of libldap for possibly a benchmark suite to include in the app with a plugin API for others to contribute. Then you could use GTK+. I don't know, these are just minor details really, feature set is the key here.

So I'm thinking of features like:

- Standard LDAP^[?] stuff
- OpenLDAP Configuration Wizard
- Monitoring stats and graphs
- Tuning wizard
- Benchmark wizard
- Importing from various sources
- many more etc..

The interesting thing about the import part is you could then hook up to various Social Web Apps to get address book info and then import that to your directory. Just a thought.

The main thing I want is configuration tools for cn=config made easy and monitoring with stats etc.

I know it's all just LDIF and LDAP and that you can use any existing GUI, but it would be nice to dumb this down a bit for clients and not find different solutions all over the place for handling the same old task.

But should this be a fresh new app, or could we add to say gq. It might be worth looking into to speed things up.

Feel free to add your comments.

Gavin.

Flexi Time Manager - A Cost Effective and Time Efficient Solution for SMEs to administer flexible working

nospam@example.com (Suretec) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:12:38 +0000

Flexi Time Manager is a web application that provides a cost effective and self-contained administration system for recording and calculating flexitime. Designed to help small and medium sized businesses introduce or extend flexible working for staff, the system can be accessed at a mere 54 pence per employee per week (£30 per employee, per year) and does not require specialist software or hardware, just an internet connection. For firms that already operate flexible working, Flexi Time Manager will ease the administrative burden associated with calculating employee flexi time. Employee hours are input by the user at any time and their data is then automatically calculated, totalling the working time, flexi credit or debit and flexi carry forward.

Louise Wreathall, creator of Flexi Time Manager explains,

“Due to the changes in legislation, employers have to seriously consider how to put the necessary procedures and protocols in place for effectively managing flexible working. Smaller firms often don’t have the money, resources, or expertise to put flexible working into practice. Flexi Time Manager offers these organisations the means to efficiently administer flexi time at considerably lower cost than by manual calculation. The database includes all of the features of a sophisticated flexi system and can be used on any PC. This makes it ideal for those who work remotely. As it is web-based there is no expensive hardware or software needed, only an internet connection and web browser.”

Flexible working has been the hot topic of many government announcements this year. Both Tory leader David Cameron and the Labour Minister for Children, Young People and Families, Beverley Hughes, have called for an extension to the right to request flexible working. Changes in legislation and the Government drive to promote better work life balance has led to almost 95% of requests for flexible working being granted by employers*.

Flexi Time Manager is suitable for users from a wide range of industry sectors from University departments, medical surgeries and voluntary organisations, to accountancy firms and solicitors. The versatility of the system allows it to be tailored to individual user needs, as Louise explains,

“Each person can set up their own unique profile on the database, inputting basic weekly hours, limits to the working day, minimum lunch times, core working times and minimum daily hours. All subscribers are provided with a unique username and password, so that each time they use Flexi Time Manager their settings will remain. Individuals can log into the system at any time to view their total hours and flexi balance ‘as they go’. Flexi Time Manager can also record holidays, sick leave or any other form of absence.

“The system is beneficial for organisations that employ a high percentage of part time (often female) staff. With the new laws granting carers with children under six or disabled children under 18 the right to request flexible working, it is necessary for all employers to plan and prepare for the introduction of dynamic patterns of work for some or all staff.”

For further information on Flexi Time Manager log onto www.flexitimemanager.co.uk or call 01224 649484.

Flexi Time Manager is a Suretec Web Project.

* sourced from the CBI