Re: Collection of Telemetry Data

[Douglas Cryer via 4D_Tech]

Robert,

I am up for exchanging ideas and I recognise some of the things that you want 
to do as things that have been done in a variety of ways in the past in various 
systems I have worked on.

For one of our systems licenses are managed via a simple file placed on an FTP 
which the system with the corresponding license code picks up and either starts 
a count down or in severe cases can put them on immediate stop.  Of course 
there is a mechanism that kicks in when the "call home" fails over a period to 
prevent in house servers from going into off-line mode to keep using the 
license.

We also make use of the REST API built into all our systems now to obtain 
version data and counts of key data that affects billing.  This is a "call in" 
rather than a "call home" method.

What you suggest could be implemented very simply from the systems using a 
HTTP/S call to a simple 4D database receiving the calls.  You would need very 
few methods:  A logging method which saves the telemetry data to a file or a 
table in the database and a method to run on a scheduled basis to send the log 
data to the telemetry system.  You could even send some messages in real time 
if required.

Background
I have a support team of 4 to 5 people who log and resolve customer issues, 
raise change requests, carry our testing and train customers on the system use 
for one of the systems I work on.  For several years they have been using OTRS 
with ITSM which is a very good "open source" web based ticket system.   But it 
was getting increasingly frustrating trying to upgrade it; it was too complex 
for our requirements and we could not (cost effectively) integrate the growing 
amount of installation and customer data that is required to manage the many 
systems.  This led to too many excel spreadsheets being managed by the support 
team.

So we started building our own in-house system.  Step one was to move the 
change requests out, stage two was to include some of the customer and 
installation data.  The next stage to be completed soon will be to switch on 
the ticket system which involves a lot of email threading, merging an more 
complex issues.  We are currently also working on providing more telemetry data 
for billing and management to expand what we already have.  Every change we 
make is driven by a business need to make the small team we have more efficient.

One of the biggest challenges has been that this system had to be fully web 
based for the users and we have few web development skills.

Regards,  Dougie


telekinetix Limited- J. Douglas Cryer
Phone : 01234 761759  Mobile : 07973 675 218
2nd Floor Broadway House, 4-6 The Broadway, Bedford MK40 2TE
Email : jdcr...@telekinetix.com  Web : http://www.telekinetix.com 


 



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Re: Collection of Telemetry Data

[Jeremy French via 4D_Tech]

For communicating, take a look at:
http://doc.4d.com/4Dv17R2/4D/17-R2.1720/HTTP-Request.301-3856768.en.html 



> On Nov 9, 2018, at 2:39 AM, Robert ListMail via 4D_Tech 
> <4d_tech@lists.4d.com> wrote:
> 
> I imagine this data would be collected in local tables and synced to another 
> 4D database every night.

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Collection of Telemetry Data

[Robert ListMail via 4D_Tech]

I know that Jody has some expertise on this where he rolled his own remote data 
mirror. In my case, I just want my apps to phone home via the magic of the 
internet.  I’d like to collect usage data to see what areas and features are 
used. I imagine this data would be collected in local tables and synced to 
another 4D database every night. In addition, I suppose licenses for vertical 
market apps could be verified or could be extended or validated after payments 
for continued service is satisfied. So, I have a lot of ideas on what could be 
measured. I’m not sure how best to get that data over the internet to another 
database. I assume this type of data could be sent via http without special  
port forwarding on corporate routers. Thoughts? How does your app phone home? 
And do you like what it has to say? :)

Thanks,

Robert

Sent from my iPhone
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