Azure VM + SQL + Remote Access

[cogrady84]

Hi Guys,

 

Never used Azure before, but my finance team are looking for a cloud solution to work across multiple sites.

 

It would be a single windows server with an SQL database requiring remote access for multiple users and possibly a web server to host a form also.

 

Is this possible, what kind of pricing would I be looking at?

 

I am not confident we could securely host a service like this onsite and provide secure remote access. The company selling the software offer a hosted solution which is around £5000 p/a so looking at any potential cheaper solutions!

 

Would I need other services in Azure like virtual networks or remote desktop services etc?

 

Thanks!

Edited September 26, 2016 by cogrady84

[2ilent8cho]

We are moving to Software | HCSS Education for our accounting software in our MAT. Its fully web browser based / cloud, our Bursar seems to really like it.

[cogrady84]

We are moving to Software | HCSS Education for our accounting software in our MAT. Its fully web browser based / cloud, our Bursar seems to really like it.

 

Any ideas on pricing?

[2ilent8cho]

Any ideas on pricing?

 

Unfortunately not , as its bought via the county council with other bits added and she cannot get a figure to hand, but the bursar saids its very reasonable priced.

[cogrady84]

Spoken to my finance team and they have looked at HCSS and they were concerned they are relatively new and reluctant to go with them due to that. So still considering the Azure option...

[cogrady84]

Is the front-end application cloud-designed? The company offer a hosted solution in their own cloud infrastructure which I believe is accessed via RDP, so it will be designed to support that presumably.

How many users will the database be required to support? 3 users of the database directly and upto 50 users of a website that hooks into the database, hosted on the VM also.

Database size and estimated growth? According to the recommended specification of the software, 10Gb is required for the software/database, more for additional databases.

Required hours of availability - i.e. 24/7 or core business hours only? 24/7

Requirements for fault tolerance & disaster recovery? The SLA currently provides a 4 hour turnaround during a DR scenario, uptime is essential.

Do you already have a license agreement that includes SQL Server? Yes, we have a Software Assurance agreement with Microsoft covering SQL

Internet connectivity/bandwidth from user locations? This will vary between 10Mb-100Mb

Security & compliance requirements? Not sure about this, will have to ask them and get back to you.

Edited September 26, 2016 by cogrady84

[Matt_Renato]

Do you need a full blown SQL server? Azure has SaaS options for SQL, which could work out cheaper and will require less maintenance in the long run.

[cogrady84]

Would the software client need to be developed to be able to connect to a cloud sql service? I get the feeling it might not be currently

[Matt_Renato]

Would the software client need to be developed to be able to connect to a cloud sql service? I get the feeling it might not be currently

 

Not necessarily, but you'd need to check with the software provider to see if it is something which would work and that they would be prepared to support.

[cogrady84]

I'm 99% sure the client won't have been developed with a cloud connector of any kind, as they are reliant on RDP to get a full blown desktop to the end user, complete with client install and backend database. So I think i'll rule out SaaS for now and go for full blown sql pricing.