General Consultant Discussion

Anyone have a client using Microsoft Azure to host either Sage 100 or Sage 500? If so, how is it going?

I have one client running 2018 Advanced on Azure and it's running very well. Unfortunately, a second client, also running 2018 Advanced, isn't have such a good experience at the moment. The second client is in pilot mode and I've advised them not to go live until their performance improves. Their IT company are working on finding a solution to the poor performance.

I have one running 2017 Advanced on Azure. Performance is OK at best. Printing in particular is slow.

I have a distribution customer that we moved their whole infrastructure into Azure (using Citrix) earlier this year. Sage (2015 Adv) performance has been great, with the usual 'printing back to a local site is slow' caveat. In their case, anything urgent is PDF'd and emailed and the initial print delay on their Orders or Picking Sheets doesn't really bother them.

@Steve Iwanowski Do you know anyone using Sage 100 Premium on Azure recently?  Seems like the Sage 100 installer cries "uncle" when connecting to the SQL instance since the Azure user can't be a member of the SysAdmin role when using the managed Azure SQL databases. ​

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Rob Neal
ServiceWorld Business Solutions
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2018 07:14
From: Steve Iwanowski
Subject: Anyone have a client using Microsoft Azure to host

I have a distribution customer that we moved their whole infrastructure into Azure (using Citrix) earlier this year. Sage (2015 Adv) performance has been great, with the usual 'printing back to a local site is slow' caveat. In their case, anything urgent is PDF'd and emailed and the initial print delay on their Orders or Picking Sheets doesn't really bother them.

Hey Rob, I don't think its possible to cleanly install to an Azure Managed SQL Instance just yet.  I believe @Nicole Ronchetti got it to work a few years back by manually creating the databases and users, but I haven't heard of any supported method of installing to a managed instance yet.  When I've run the numbers for my customers, the Azure Managed SQL Instances are still too expensive for what you get and we've ended up rolling our own VMs in Azure with SQL SPLA licenses (IaaS).

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Steve Iwanowski, NextStep Technology Advisors, aka DSD Lancaster PA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-23-2019 15:50
From: Rob Neal
Subject: Anyone have a client using Microsoft Azure to host

@Steve Iwanowski Do you know anyone using Sage 100 Premium on Azure recently?  Seems like the Sage 100 installer cries "uncle" when connecting to the SQL instance since the Azure user can't be a member of the SysAdmin role when using the managed Azure SQL databases. ​

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Rob Neal
ServiceWorld Business Solutions
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2018 07:14
From: Steve Iwanowski
Subject: Anyone have a client using Microsoft Azure to host

I have a distribution customer that we moved their whole infrastructure into Azure (using Citrix) earlier this year. Sage (2015 Adv) performance has been great, with the usual 'printing back to a local site is slow' caveat. In their case, anything urgent is PDF'd and emailed and the initial print delay on their Orders or Picking Sheets doesn't really bother them.

@Steve Iwanowski I did but that was with DSD SQL Mirroring and that was a bit tricky too. I haven't done it with Premium, but based on my experience with Azure and knowing Premium I dont think its possible.  ​

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Nicole Ronchetti
DSD Business Systems
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-24-2019 00:11
From: Steve Iwanowski
Subject: Anyone have a client using Microsoft Azure to host

Hey Rob, I don't think its possible to cleanly install to an Azure Managed SQL Instance just yet.  I believe @Nicole Ronchetti got it to work a few years back by manually creating the databases and users, but I haven't heard of any supported method of installing to a managed instance yet.  When I've run the numbers for my customers, the Azure Managed SQL Instances are still too expensive for what you get and we've ended up rolling our own VMs in Azure with SQL SPLA licenses (IaaS).

------------------------------
Steve Iwanowski, NextStep Technology Advisors, aka DSD Lancaster PA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 09-23-2019 15:50
From: Rob Neal
Subject: Anyone have a client using Microsoft Azure to host

@Steve Iwanowski Do you know anyone using Sage 100 Premium on Azure recently?  Seems like the Sage 100 installer cries "uncle" when connecting to the SQL instance since the Azure user can't be a member of the SysAdmin role when using the managed Azure SQL databases. ​

------------------------------
Rob Neal
ServiceWorld Business Solutions


Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2018 07:14
From: Steve Iwanowski
Subject: Anyone have a client using Microsoft Azure to host

I have a distribution customer that we moved their whole infrastructure into Azure (using Citrix) earlier this year. Sage (2015 Adv) performance has been great, with the usual 'printing back to a local site is slow' caveat. In their case, anything urgent is PDF'd and emailed and the initial print delay on their Orders or Picking Sheets doesn't really bother them.

Thanks @Steve Iwanowski and @Nicole Ronchetti.  The managed instance does seem to be the issue for sure.  Thanks for the quick replies!​​​​

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Rob Neal
ServiceWorld Business Solutions
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-24-2019 06:58
From: Nicole Ronchetti
Subject: Anyone have a client using Microsoft Azure to host

@Steve Iwanowski I did but that was with DSD SQL Mirroring and that was a bit tricky too. I haven't done it with Premium, but based on my experience with Azure and knowing Premium I dont think its possible.  ​

------------------------------
Nicole Ronchetti
DSD Business Systems
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 09-24-2019 00:11
From: Steve Iwanowski
Subject: Anyone have a client using Microsoft Azure to host

Hey Rob, I don't think its possible to cleanly install to an Azure Managed SQL Instance just yet.  I believe @Nicole Ronchetti got it to work a few years back by manually creating the databases and users, but I haven't heard of any supported method of installing to a managed instance yet.  When I've run the numbers for my customers, the Azure Managed SQL Instances are still too expensive for what you get and we've ended up rolling our own VMs in Azure with SQL SPLA licenses (IaaS).

------------------------------
Steve Iwanowski, NextStep Technology Advisors, aka DSD Lancaster PA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Original Message:
Sent: 09-23-2019 15:50
From: Rob Neal
Subject: Anyone have a client using Microsoft Azure to host

@Steve Iwanowski Do you know anyone using Sage 100 Premium on Azure recently?  Seems like the Sage 100 installer cries "uncle" when connecting to the SQL instance since the Azure user can't be a member of the SysAdmin role when using the managed Azure SQL databases. ​

------------------------------
Rob Neal
ServiceWorld Business Solutions


Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2018 07:14
From: Steve Iwanowski
Subject: Anyone have a client using Microsoft Azure to host

I have a distribution customer that we moved their whole infrastructure into Azure (using Citrix) earlier this year. Sage (2015 Adv) performance has been great, with the usual 'printing back to a local site is slow' caveat. In their case, anything urgent is PDF'd and emailed and the initial print delay on their Orders or Picking Sheets doesn't really bother them.

------Original Message------

Hey Rob, I don't think its possible to cleanly install to an Azure Managed SQL Instance just yet.  I believe @Nicole Ronchetti got it to work a few years back by manually creating the databases and users, but I haven't heard of any supported method of installing to a managed instance yet.  When I've run the numbers for my customers, the Azure Managed SQL Instances are still too expensive for what you get and we've ended up rolling our own VMs in Azure with SQL SPLA licenses (IaaS).

------------------------------
Steve Iwanowski, NextStep Technology Advisors, aka DSD Lancaster PA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
------------------------------

Ha, always be pimpin', Bob :)


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Steve Iwanowski, NextStep Technology Advisors, aka DSD Lancaster PA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-24-2019 09:21
From: Bob Tobey
Subject: Anyone have a client using Microsoft Azure to host

You don't have any problems running Sage 100 Premium in the I-BN Cloud. 

 

Bob Tobey | Channel Manager

o    678.627.0646 x231   |   f  678.627.0688

m  770.356.9395____________________

 

 

2617 Sandy Plains Rd., Ste B, Marietta, GA 30066

www.I-BN.com

Powerful Business Technology Made Simple

 

 

Original Message------

Hey Rob, I don't think its possible to cleanly install to an Azure Managed SQL Instance just yet.  I believe @Nicole Ronchetti got it to work a few years back by manually creating the databases and users, but I haven't heard of any supported method of installing to a managed instance yet.  When I've run the numbers for my customers, the Azure Managed SQL Instances are still too expensive for what you get and we've ended up rolling our own VMs in Azure with SQL SPLA licenses (IaaS).

------------------------------
Steve Iwanowski, NextStep Technology Advisors, aka DSD Lancaster PA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
------------------------------

The question you have to ask in each instance is whether they are running Sage using Remote Desktop in Azure or whether they are running Advanced with a locally installed client. The latter will always have slow printing because Advanced (client/server) is only 'thin' on the client, not on printing. If they want it to 'feel like local' they should have a Terminal Server in azure as well. We host numerous client's on Dynamics, Epicor and SAP in Azure and have had excellent results.

I had a customer move to Azure - similar setup to @SteveIwanowski with remote clients - no issues. They moved to premium as well.

We tried using Azure for a while with our Sage 100 hosting and were dismayed that MicroSoft would periodically reboot servers with no warning. They explained to us that it was standard procedure and they reserved the right to do so. They also pointed out that even with a periodic reboot, they still maintained the advertised uptime. We moved to Amazon Web Services and have had none of that type of problem. I hope that Microsoft has changed the practice.

We have several clients on Azure. Have found that Sage 100 Standard works well. If the client has Sage 100 Advanced it is VERY slow if it is on the terminal server. Thus a two server environment in Azure would provide better performance for Sage 100 Advanced; One for TS and the other for Sage.

@PhilipWhirley, that used to be true, but now if you use virtual machines with Premium storage, they will give you a 99.9% SLA (~8 hours downtime / year). https://buildazure.com/2016/11/24/single-instance-vms-now-with-99-9-sla/

Thanks! Glad to know about the Premium Storage!!!

@SteveIwanowski, although it was several years ago, the plans we had with Azure allowed for 99.9% uptime. That's typically enough, except that we found that Microsoft took our servers down in the middle of the day on more than one occasion. They were still within their uptime guarantee because the servers didn't stay down for long. It just really irritated us when they would go down with no warning at 10:00 AM EDT. No excuse. They were unapologetic at the time, but I'll just bet they've got that under control now. I certainly hope so. It's not a big deal for web servers and REST services, but it's a really big deal for Sage 100.

It's ironic, @PhilipWhirley, when I 'won' a one-hour conversation with one of the Azure Product Managers, he told me that all their maintenance is performed during that datacenter's normal business hours (8am - 5pm) since they didn't want to pay the engineers overtime. \\_(?)_/

Hello, 
You will have to confirm this but it's my understanding that MS Azure only offers an OS for Win. Server "Datacenter".  It looks like no version of Sage 100 is supported on any version of MS "Datacenter" per the SPM, see "Not Supported".  I do not know why its not supported, I'm told its mainly a licencing model difference on the Microsoft side.  I have encountered errors installing Sage 100 on "datacenter" but it ran afterwords.  I have also have heard of someone who has a Sage 100 Premium running on one and reportedly it works fine.  Since Sage will possibly deny any support it would be important to let the end user know, maybe make them sign a waiver, and of course if you go for it test the heck out of it.

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Bruce Kern
SWK Technologies Inc.
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Good point, Bruce.  It's a bit more work, but you are able to upload an existing Windows Server Standard edition disk on top of a Datacenter virtual machine deployment and swap out the OS disk.  Or, even easier, we've used Azure Site Recovery (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/site-recovery/) to replicate and migrate an on-premise Standard server to Azure, which can be free if you do it fast enough (within 30 days).

------------------------------
Steve Iwanowski, NextStep Technology Advisors, aka DSD Lancaster PA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2019 09:15
From: Bruce Kern
Subject: Anyone have a client using Microsoft Azure to host

Hello,
You will have to confirm this but it's my understanding that MS Azure only offers an OS for Win. Server "Datacenter".  It looks like no version of Sage 100 is supported on any version of MS "Datacenter" per the SPM, see "Not Supported".  I do not know why its not supported, I'm told its mainly a licencing model difference on the Microsoft side.  I have encountered errors installing Sage 100 on "datacenter" but it ran afterwords.  I have also have heard of someone who has a Sage 100 Premium running on one and reportedly it works fine.  Since Sage will possibly deny any support it would be important to let the end user know, maybe make them sign a waiver, and of course if you go for it test the heck out of it.

------------------------------
Bruce Kern
SWK Technologies Inc.
------------------------------

Thanks again, everyone.  Quick update:  we definitely weren't getting around the SysAdmin SQL role issue while using Azure Managed SQL instance, so we opted for the Azure server template that has SQL Server built in.  They have been on Sage 100 Advanced on Azure for about 4 years, but now that they're moving to Premium they wanted to at least try the managed SQL option.  FYI we are going to explore a hosted solution soon.  They have about 50 users, most of whom are remote users.  ​

------------------------------
Rob Neal
ServiceWorld Business Solutions
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2019 11:15
From: Steve Iwanowski
Subject: Anyone have a client using Microsoft Azure to host

Good point, Bruce.  It's a bit more work, but you are able to upload an existing Windows Server Standard edition disk on top of a Datacenter virtual machine deployment and swap out the OS disk.  Or, even easier, we've used Azure Site Recovery (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/site-recovery/) to replicate and migrate an on-premise Standard server to Azure, which can be free if you do it fast enough (within 30 days).

------------------------------
Steve Iwanowski, NextStep Technology Advisors, aka DSD Lancaster PA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2019 09:15
From: Bruce Kern
Subject: Anyone have a client using Microsoft Azure to host

Hello,
You will have to confirm this but it's my understanding that MS Azure only offers an OS for Win. Server "Datacenter".  It looks like no version of Sage 100 is supported on any version of MS "Datacenter" per the SPM, see "Not Supported".  I do not know why its not supported, I'm told its mainly a licencing model difference on the Microsoft side.  I have encountered errors installing Sage 100 on "datacenter" but it ran afterwords.  I have also have heard of someone who has a Sage 100 Premium running on one and reportedly it works fine.  Since Sage will possibly deny any support it would be important to let the end user know, maybe make them sign a waiver, and of course if you go for it test the heck out of it.

------------------------------
Bruce Kern
SWK Technologies Inc.