Recommendations on what computer/server get
-
Hello all, INTRODUCTION Given the new accounting laws in our country, every company will need an accounting software that sticks to those laws. Even freelancers (as me) will have to adopt a software like that. I don't trust the cloud + I don't want to pay a fee every month to be able to use my accounting data. Now I own a NAS which is more than enough for my needs but is not capable to run the accounting programs I will be able to use in my country. Most of the accounting programs I could use require SSD and Windows to run. Getting a server would mean: * Getting a server, some SSD and HDD disks. * Getting an UPS. * Getting a small rack. * Getting a Windows server license. * Using our current NAS as backup for that server and keep doing our NAS extra backups with external USB HDDs. QUESTION What server / option would you recommend for this kind of job? Would it be better to get a tower server? or a rack server? As soon as we have children the server, NAS, UPS... will have to be placed inside a rack anyway. It would be nice to be able to have a mix of SSD and normal HDD, SSD for the OS and the accounting program and HDD to store everything else. +/- 8TB of data space available would be nice. +/- 32GB RAM available would be nice. Would it be better to install the accountant program inside a virtual machine? just to make it easier to move it from one server to another one in the future (if needed). Do you agree that it's better to get a server than a normal workstation for all this? And as a bonus... what would you use that server for apart of all mentioned before? Any additional hint/idea? Thank you all!
www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming
Joan M wrote:
As soon as we have children the server, NAS, UPS..
Yeah that probably isn't a good design idea. With children you need an entire room with a bolt lock at the top of the door. Where you can reach and they cannot (even on a chair.) That should work until they get big enough to understand and respect 'no'. Even better if you make sure that there is never anything fun in that room. Then even when they get older they will stay out.
-
By now I am using a software in a pentium 3 computer with Windows XP which works perfectly well but that don't cope with the new legal requirements, been trying another one in my NAS PHP+MySQL based that works perfectly (performance wise) and almost well (accountant wise), but the ones I am seeing require to be able to execute Microsoft SQL Server and therefore they ask for: Intel Xeon (*1) + 8 Gb RAM + 100 Gb SSD or SAS. Given their crazy requirements I thought of getting something that could run that software and some of the things I have now in my NAS at the same time and make it a little future proof... so go figure...
www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming
Joan M wrote:
the ones I am seeing require to be able to execute Microsoft SQL Server
Yeah, that's probably where the requirements are coming from. I love SQL Server, but a full-blown enterprise-level relational database like that is serious overkill for a single-user system. You also might have to look into the licensing for SQL Server if that isn't included, and it ain't very cheap. Are there alternatives that don't require SQL Server?
-
Joan M wrote:
The requirements on their web site are:
I pulled the previous post from their website. Click on "Hardware and operating system requirements" https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/product-system-requirements/system-requirements-quickbooks-desktop-2023/L36CSOf2x_US_en_US[^]
Disk Space...2.5GB of disk space
What it does say is the following. However that is just marketing noise because ANY software that is sourced on a SSD drive is going to be faster because SSD is faster. Absolutely does not mean it is required.
For the best performance, store your QuickBooks data file on a solid-state drive (SSD).
Also repeating what I said QuickBooks is likely overkill and there are alternatives. You can google the following
"QuickBooks Desktop" single user alternative
I already have an accountant software that is super old, but it works well, the only issue is that it's not maintained anymore by the manufacturer and currently it won't pass the new legislation. And I was trying to start another one that is based on PHP and MySQL and it makes more than what I need + it's free... but it won't cope with the legal requirements. The idea behind that legislation is that you can be charged 60k € only because you have a program that doesn't have a hash between invoices, that doesn't keep a log of any change made in critical documents and soon that it doesn't automatically send the invoices to the government as soon they are issued, you don't have to be doing something wrong with your program, but as you could do something wrong, they can punish you... This is crazy and creates stupid needs: the small companies can't follow up those rules and can't update their software on time and the big ones have softwares with crazy requirements that for sure I don't have. I guess the next year will be funny for lots of small companies here...
www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming
-
I know, in fact our NAS with MySQL should be more than capable to move any amount of data we can require, but... those guys seem to point to very big companies unless you want to store everything in the cloud, then there are plenty of options. The software is SAGE 200, don't think this will be available out of Spain. I am looking at ODOO, let's see if those guys allow me to install their software into our NAS.
www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming
Sage 200 is widely used in the UK, too. Is that the only option your government requirements allow, or is it just a recommendation?
-
Sage 200 is widely used in the UK, too. Is that the only option your government requirements allow, or is it just a recommendation?
Nope, the government issued a set of requisites for programs to follow and a few manufacturers will. Searching for an accounting program that can do this without being cloud based is becoming more complicated than expected. I've seen Sage 200, Vortex, A3ERP, SAP One, and a few others, maybe Odoo will be installable in the NAS we already have as it is based in PHP and Postgres and there are docker packages for that one. Let's hope this Monday the two Odoo partners I contacted will tell me their software follow the new regulations and that I can use it with the hardware I already own.
www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming
-
Hello all, INTRODUCTION Given the new accounting laws in our country, every company will need an accounting software that sticks to those laws. Even freelancers (as me) will have to adopt a software like that. I don't trust the cloud + I don't want to pay a fee every month to be able to use my accounting data. Now I own a NAS which is more than enough for my needs but is not capable to run the accounting programs I will be able to use in my country. Most of the accounting programs I could use require SSD and Windows to run. Getting a server would mean: * Getting a server, some SSD and HDD disks. * Getting an UPS. * Getting a small rack. * Getting a Windows server license. * Using our current NAS as backup for that server and keep doing our NAS extra backups with external USB HDDs. QUESTION What server / option would you recommend for this kind of job? Would it be better to get a tower server? or a rack server? As soon as we have children the server, NAS, UPS... will have to be placed inside a rack anyway. It would be nice to be able to have a mix of SSD and normal HDD, SSD for the OS and the accounting program and HDD to store everything else. +/- 8TB of data space available would be nice. +/- 32GB RAM available would be nice. Would it be better to install the accountant program inside a virtual machine? just to make it easier to move it from one server to another one in the future (if needed). Do you agree that it's better to get a server than a normal workstation for all this? And as a bonus... what would you use that server for apart of all mentioned before? Any additional hint/idea? Thank you all!
www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming
You REALLY should also backup your data to the cloud, even if it means you have to encrypt it yourself. If you get a fire, everything could be gone and that is NOT and acceptable situation for the tax department. The good thing is that accounting software has no special hardware requirements and yes, put it in a VM in order to easily move it around. Aside from the other concerns: don't you use an accountant to do all those things for you?
-
You REALLY should also backup your data to the cloud, even if it means you have to encrypt it yourself. If you get a fire, everything could be gone and that is NOT and acceptable situation for the tax department. The good thing is that accounting software has no special hardware requirements and yes, put it in a VM in order to easily move it around. Aside from the other concerns: don't you use an accountant to do all those things for you?
That's why I rotate the HDD used to make copies and I place them in a different physical location every month. I really don't like to send lots of important and sensitive data into the cloud... More if that data occupies a lot of space. Precisely the bad thing here is that any accounting software that copes with the new laws in my country have crazy requirements. Otherwise, I would have not made the post. Nope, making the repetitive tasks (invoices, expenses, ...) reduce a lot the monthly fee of the accountant... And I can check any results, payment dates... at any moment, it's much more convenient, cheaper and fast. Thanks for your post!
www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming
-
That's why I rotate the HDD used to make copies and I place them in a different physical location every month. I really don't like to send lots of important and sensitive data into the cloud... More if that data occupies a lot of space. Precisely the bad thing here is that any accounting software that copes with the new laws in my country have crazy requirements. Otherwise, I would have not made the post. Nope, making the repetitive tasks (invoices, expenses, ...) reduce a lot the monthly fee of the accountant... And I can check any results, payment dates... at any moment, it's much more convenient, cheaper and fast. Thanks for your post!
www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming
It should be easy enough to zip your backups into a file, encrypt the file with 256 bit AES encryption, and store the encrypted file in a dropbox account or onedrive or something else. Trusting your backup only to USB has a high risk of going wrong if a disaster should happen on the wrong moment.
-
It should be easy enough to zip your backups into a file, encrypt the file with 256 bit AES encryption, and store the encrypted file in a dropbox account or onedrive or something else. Trusting your backup only to USB has a high risk of going wrong if a disaster should happen on the wrong moment.
Leaving apart the safety/privacy concerns and several legal documents between our company and our customers which, in some cases specifically prevent us to use the cloud for anything, I really don't know how to automate the storage of database data in snapshot files that could be compressed and uploaded into the cloud in an easy way, now, I have the backup done automatically by my NAS, storing the settings for the NAS itself, the application settings and the data of everything (even the databases) into an external HDD to be able to perform a bare metal recovery. I can see the advantages of having backups decentralized but I can see also the problems related to all this starting with the amount of data to be backed up, which is too big to be possible every single night and don't let me start with incremental backups nor separating that data in smaller zip files, that really don't work...
www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming
-
Leaving apart the safety/privacy concerns and several legal documents between our company and our customers which, in some cases specifically prevent us to use the cloud for anything, I really don't know how to automate the storage of database data in snapshot files that could be compressed and uploaded into the cloud in an easy way, now, I have the backup done automatically by my NAS, storing the settings for the NAS itself, the application settings and the data of everything (even the databases) into an external HDD to be able to perform a bare metal recovery. I can see the advantages of having backups decentralized but I can see also the problems related to all this starting with the amount of data to be backed up, which is too big to be possible every single night and don't let me start with incremental backups nor separating that data in smaller zip files, that really don't work...
www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming
I don't say this to be mean but when you say "I really don't know how to..." don't you think that you should learn how? Or if you can't, you pay a consultant to do that for you? You say you have clients. Those clients depend on you. Don't you think you owe it to the clients to make guarantees about disaster recovery? You say you keep USB disk offsite but you rotate them. Suppose something happens while you rotate them, (a fire breaks out of there is a big power surge) and everything is gone. Let me turn the question around: you say there are specific documents prohibiting you from using the cloud. Does that mean your customers have agreed with being only 1 disaster away from losing their data?
-
I don't say this to be mean but when you say "I really don't know how to..." don't you think that you should learn how? Or if you can't, you pay a consultant to do that for you? You say you have clients. Those clients depend on you. Don't you think you owe it to the clients to make guarantees about disaster recovery? You say you keep USB disk offsite but you rotate them. Suppose something happens while you rotate them, (a fire breaks out of there is a big power surge) and everything is gone. Let me turn the question around: you say there are specific documents prohibiting you from using the cloud. Does that mean your customers have agreed with being only 1 disaster away from losing their data?
Not everybody wants to work with the cloud, a few of my customers ask to avoid it specifically in their contracts given the confidential nature of their software. I work for my customers since 1998, they are happy with what they get from me (which is an excellent service as they deserve). My customers have a weekly copy of their software (or in the worst case at the end of the project, because they decide to go this way). Copy #1. I have a NAS at the office (multiple disks with RAID 10). Copy #2. All is inside my laptop (of course fully encrypted). Copy #3. And of course, the backups are rotating monthly in different places. Copy #4 (which in fact is #4 and #5 as I rotate the building where those backups are placed every month). When I said I didn't know how to do it, I meant, I don't know how to send multiple GB of data daily to the cloud, just because it would not be enough time to send all that every single night. I can do incremental backups and... yes... maybe being older gives me the experience of having an incremental backup unusable because one of the tapes decided to fail, making it impossible to recover something. So no, thanks. If all my customers, my NAS my laptop, and the external location where the rotated HDD lays burns at the same time (or get a super-massive power surge), maybe we would be facing the WWIII and then I would not really be worried for that except to spend time with my wonderful wife (maybe in the cloud already / the real one). Hope it is clearer now, but in any case, I wanted help to choose a server... which maybe it won't be needed after all as it seems Odoo could work even in my NAS, let's cross fingers and hope this will work. Thanks for your post Bruno.
www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming