AwareIM needs an installation guide for the cloud

[JonP]

This is so frustrating! I'm not a system administrator and I don't want to become one. I don't have my own webserver. I'm not a command line ninja. I'll mess with the command line long-enough to get set up (if I'm given clear instructions) and then give me a damn GUI.

I did the 30 day trial on my computer and now that it's over, I want to set up AwareIM in the cloud so that I can develop there and not have to buy two licenses. I imagine my situation is true of many potential AwareIM customers.

I hired a system administrator to set up AwareIM on Google Compute Engine. I would have preferred to do it myself, but there's no real help in AwareIM's installation guide for the cloud. The guide talks about it, but doesn't walk you through it. He got stuck until I forwarded him some posts I found on the forum. He managed to get it installed and the login page now comes up.

But now I need access to the configuration tool and I imagine I'll need access to MySQL. Based on some digging, I think the solution has to do with VNC, but I'm not sure the best way to go about it.

It shouldn't be this hard! I shouldn't have to figure this out in the dark! Does AwareIM not want customers like me?

[customaware]

Have PM'd you Jon

[aware_support]

Have you read the Aware IM Installation Guide? It has a section on how to install Aware IM on a hosting server.

[JonP]

Yes, I did and so did the expert I hired. The installation guide is not remotely adequate. You guys don't see the problem because it's second nature to you. Give a couple examples of cloud installations in the guide at the minimum.

[BenHayat]

Yes, I did and so did the expert I hired. The installation guide is not remotely adequate. You guys don't see the problem because it's second nature to you. Give a couple examples of cloud installations in the guide at the minimum.

When you say "Cloud", are you referring to Amazon AWS or Azure or Google cloud or etc?
Each cloud setup (before installing aware) is different. Once you setup the cloud, Aware's installation is just like any server setup.

For AWS, I highly recommend buying AWS installation course from Udemy.Com and take notes and then study the AWS steps. You need to understand it well.

HOWEVER, cloud systems charge for CPU and memory usage during 24hours. Aware server runs constantly, even if you have no users on the system. I was getting bill from AWS even with no user on.

So you may want to use companies who charge monthly fee regardless of CPU/memory/bandwidth usage.

[aware_support]

As far as Aware IM concerned, it is as straightforward as it can get. Get RDP connection to your remote server and install Aware IM on this server just like it is your local machine. I am not sure I understand what the problems are.

[JonP]

As far as Aware IM concerned, it is as straightforward as it can get. Get RDP connection to your remote server and install Aware IM on this server just like it is your local machine. I am not sure I understand what the problems are.

That would have been helpful to know. You might consider including that piece of advice in your installation guide.

Again, this is second nature to someone like you. It's not to me. I didn't know about RDP (for Windows) and VNC (for Linux) 2 days ago. If you included a step-by-step example of just one or two cloud setup scenarios with a "now go to step X of the regular installation" at the appropriate point, noobs like me would have our aha moment. We could use those scenarios as a springboard to venture out to our own scenarios or just get going with one of yours. Either way, by doing that, you just widened your customer-base and/or reduced aggravation, guaranteed.

[intra]

Hiring in an 'expert' isn't such a bad thing.

My view is that if you don't have the experience needed to be comfortable with administrating cloud servers, maybe you shouldn't.

I'm sure over time it would have come naturally once you've had a play with it, however expecting AwareIM support to cater for every scenario while you sit back and reap the benefits is a little far-fetched.

Just my 2c.

[JonP]

Hiring in an 'expert' isn't such a bad thing.

It's a bad thing if the expert also struggles to figure the installation out. If you had bothered to read my post carefully, you would have seen that he too got stuck, which should raise a red flag.

My view is that if you don't have the experience needed to be comfortable with administrating cloud servers, maybe you shouldn't.

Perhaps you're right, but I prefer to learn by doing if possible and save some money in the process. I don't have deep pockets. A couple of scenarios would have allowed me to at least get started and possibly served as the springboard to setting up my own preferred scenario.

I'm sure over time it would have come naturally once you've had a play with it, however expecting AwareIM support to cater for every scenario while you sit back and reap the benefits is a little far-fetched.

You just contradicted yourself. And no, I didn't say every scenario. I said a couple. Reading skills, Intra.

Just my 2c.

That's inflating it a bit. You should pay me for your "advice" because you just wasted my time.

[JonP]

HOWEVER, cloud systems charge for CPU and memory usage during 24hours. Aware server runs constantly, even if you have no users on the system. I was getting bill from AWS even with no user on.

So you may want to use companies who charge monthly fee regardless of CPU/memory/bandwidth usage.

Thanks, Ben. I might just scrap my partial Google Cloud Platform install and start fresh with that.

[customaware]

Jon P,

As I offered you yesterday in PM.....

Connect to mean Skype and I will assist you and get you up and running. Much will be clearer after that.

In fact I did the same thing for a new user in South Africa yesterday and that seemed to help a lot.

[tford]

I feel your pain, Jon.

When I first started with AwareIM 10 years ago, while I had plenty of technical experience, I had zero experience with servers. The main aha moment for me was when I began to understand the statement that support made to you:

Get RDP connection to your remote server and install AwareIM on this server just like it is your local machine

Through the help of a couple users on the forums and a hand-holding phone calls by other users that I connected with via the forums (similar to what Mark is offering to you) , I got up and running. Over time I've learned about various server options for hosting.

By the way, it would be interested to know where your consultant got stuck with the AwareIM installation in the cloud.

[JonP]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, tford. Yesterday I was banging my head against the wall, getting nowhere and about to implode. Yes, that aha moment broke it open for me. I created a new Compute Engine instance with Windows Server 2016 that had RDP on it and was able to install AwareIM and link it to an instance of Cloud SQL (MySQL) that I created.

It runs just fine locally, but I can't access from outside the firewall, so it must be a port issue. I tried to change the port from the AIM control panel, but that gave me an error, saying I don't have access. It's not an AIM bug because I experienced the same issue trying to edit the file directly. It's weird because I have administrator privileges and the file's security profile says administrators have full control. RDP bug?

That's the next dragon I need to slay, but I'm getting there.

And yes, Mark gave me some very helpful advice about how to run the control panel as a service and still access the configuration tool. Great guy.

I don't know where the consultant got stuck. He wasn't open about his process. I know it wasn't a port issue because I asked him for his settings and he said he didn't make any changes. But he did a Linux install, so it's probably apples and oranges to my issue anyway.

[customaware]

Open port 8080 in your firewall.

Or change Aware to port 80 and then open that port.

Also, I am not sure it Google cloud has security groups like AWS but if it does you will need to create a security group for the same port.

[BLOMASKY]

While I can feel your pain JonP (and yes, i have more than once pulled out some of my remaining hair when frustrated with the way I "thought" Aware configuration should work), I have to assume that your "expert" perhaps has a different skill set than is required.

Yes, there are some config files that have to be edited (but they are well documented in the installation guide) and while it would be great to have a GUI for all of the configuration changes, This should not be that difficult.

Every remote server setup (whether you say Cloud, or AWS, or RackSpace or ....) has different ways to configure access and port forwarding. This is where your network "expert" might be of more assistance. Whether you use RDP, or a VPN, or .... once you are not on a LAN, then you might have some "fun" connectivity issues.

Btw, Mark, since so many other programs use either port 80 or 8080, I always change my Aware Port to something that I expect no one else to "hog". That seems to be easier than tracking down what other app is using one of these common ports.

While a GUI is the norm in the windows world, so many servers are LINUX based since a lot cheaper for similar horsepower (ok, forget the fact, perhaps less likely to be hacked... etc.), and there, a GUI is not the norm. Good news, once it is set up, its easy peasy to launch with a shell script but if you dont know how to start / kill processes, then you need to have access to someone with those skill sets.

I know aware's marketing says "no need to know SQL, etc. etc." to build robust applications, but I think that selts false expectations. If you don't have a knowledge of SQL, CSS, database design, and of course, the ability to not just set up your server, but to maintain it. you are severely handicapped.

Even if Aware had simple, automated installation for a server (or, in your case, the cloud), without knowing how to check or memory leakage, killing and restarting processes, you are sort of driving without a seatbelt (or airbag and not the exploding airbags)

But, this is just MY opinion, I might be wrong...
Bruce