Ed, > > 1. If RackSpace's entry level offer is a physical server > machine (perhaps > > supplied or the customer's own), how does a small > businesses (who only > > needs, say, one virtual Windows 7 machine) to test with and > get started? > > Stated diffently, what's the cheapest way for a small > business to get > > started with RackSpace's cloud offer? > > "Cloud" servers are virtual machines.
Okay, now I get it. > > Windows servers run at double the price, due the > Redmond tax, but are still around $22/month for the basic server. That's not unreasonable, assuming the service is right on. > > > Thanks for the explanation. I understand what you're saying > and it makes > > sense. What I'm struggling to understand is how a VFP app > that uses a LAN > > file server would work. I can imagine (as I did) the server > running a bunch > > of virtual Windows machines, one for each connected user, > all sharing the > > same file system, to mimic a LAN implementation. > > File-server apps really only have one server and a > bunch of workstations, so to "cloudify" it, the file server > would be replaced with a cloud server, and the workstations > would be unchanged; they would simply connect to the cloud > server via the IP address, and mount the server like you > would normally. In almost all cases this will be much, much slower. > > Now if you had a true RDBMS running on a high-powered > server, that would be a lot more straightforward to move to a > cloud arrangement, as you would simply point the apps to that > address rather than have to deal with remote mounts. If the mount is just a startup thing, not a problem for a 24x7 server. It's interesting to think of RackSpace as a "software as a service" provider, with me/my customer buying a (virtual) Windows server as the service. What I'm exploring is whether I could effectively use RackSpace to market a "software within a software as a service" to a customer who doesn't have or want a server, just the use of my program, by multiple people on his staff, each possibly using different devices. Essentially what he gets from a LAN implementation today, except the server would be online. Importantly, I'd need to be able to set this up without software changes. I have a feeling this can be done, but there are a lot of links in the chain. Even so, I'd still like to explore possibilties. I guess a test case would be helpful. This is longer term thinking for me, but I'll keep an eye out for a business who might be interested in such an arrangement. I quite understand - and share - your conviction on using "real DBMS's", and for some applications I do, but I've got a lot of LAN-centric stuff that works just fine. So, if I can find a way to "virtualize a LAN configuration" using the Internet, I'll see if I can find a paying customer. I imagine this to be of interest to others with VFP LAN centric apps. That must be a very interesting place to work! Bill > -- Ed Leafe > > > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/0b4cbcd05c3a4771a544e0fa89d2d...@bills ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
