Oh, 1C, how much merged in this sound for the heart of a Khabrovian, how much resonated in it ... In a sleepless night of updates, configurations and codes, we were waiting for sweet moments and updating accounts ... Oh, something pulled into the lyrics. Still: how many generations of system administrators beat the tambourine and prayed to the IT gods that the accounting department and HR would stop grumbling and calling for every click on the “yellow pentagram”. We know for sure: 1C is a standard for accounting software, a powerful program that its counterparts simply cannot grow up to. But that would be a little more convenient, a little easier. Has already: . This service has its pros and cons, there is a business segment that needs it more than ever. We tested, evaluated, drew conclusions and of course brought them to Habr.
Not child's play, but now it's just as easy
Any business is aimed at saving on costs, but small and medium - especially. And, most interestingly, more and more costs fall on IT infrastructure. It is understandable: all PC workers have specialized software, a whole zoo of systems, applications and utilities. All this needs to be paid for, supported, developed ... A huge burden falls on finances and the IT service (which in SMBs most often comes down to an unfortunate lonely system administrator, sometimes even coming like that). Fortunately, on the threshold of the 20s, there are solutions that help to cope with most problems. One of these virtual servers, on which, like on regular hardware, you can put anything you want. Including 1C. Only manageability, flexibility, reliability and cost of ownership are better. Well, let's reassure the accounting department and tell you about VPS with 1C?
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And then - let's not talk too much.
For whom?
At all suitable for almost everyone, each company will find its advantages: large-scale organizations with a branch structure will appreciate simple synchronization, small organizations will appreciate the economic benefits, everyone will be surprised by the convenience and accessibility, and admins will appreciate the convenient control panel, reliability and stability.
Of course, first of all, VPS with 1C on board is valuable for small businesses that can literally save on the entire infrastructure and flexibly manage connections. Judge for yourself: a very average own iron server will cost you 200-300 thousand rubles, plus licensed software from Microsoft, plus the 1C licenses themselves, plus maintenance and electricity. VPS with 1C on board is incomparably cheaper. In particular, this is an ideal option for online stores, wholesale companies selling goods on electronic orders, for individual entrepreneurs and self-employed accountants who manage several companies at once - without any hardware, you can create several 1C databases on a professional infrastructure and work with them completely independently.
Also, 1C on a dedicated virtual server will close many operational problems of a business with a branched structure and remote employees. Why - we will explain in more detail.
Advantages of VPS with 1C
▍Reduce maintenance costs
When a company buys 1C and starts using it, it becomes dependent on the company that sold it a copy of 1C. As a rule, an agreement is concluded for ITS (information and technical support) - comprehensive support that must be provided by the partners of the 1C company. From this point on, any improvements, settings, configuration changes will occur for additional money by a specialist. There are alternative ways: to have your own system administrator (he is not always in the subject of working with 1C) or a full-time 1C programmer who is ready to configure, administer, and train internal users. However, the option with a programmer can cost much more than ITS, and hiring a girl with the ability to write three forms of primary education in 1C is a dubious story.
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If a company chooses a VPS with 1C, the services of an engineer are not required - just register on the provider's website and start working. Accordingly, there is no need for the services of a system administrator. All support work falls on the provider's employees, on whose facilities the VPS is hosted: they carry out updates, general technical support, solve problems, and perform backups. And yes, the problem with failed hardware no longer concerns you, because the server is virtual.
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▍Change the number of licenses
On a virtual server, you can easily increase and decrease both the number of licenses and the capacity of the VPS. Such flexibility is especially relevant if we are talking about a small company that is just forming a staff and has to constantly change the number of users. With the boxed version, this flexibility is not possible, all because of the notorious relationship associated with ITS.
▍Savings on server hardware
1C is a rather loaded and resource-intensive ecosystem that places special demands on server hardware. Therefore, if you have a not very powerful server that has 1C, you can no longer rely on other tasks. At the same time, maintaining and updating corporate hardware also costs money, and a lot of it. In the case of VPS, 1C runs on a powerful provider server and does not "eat off" your corporate resources. Moreover, if your company has an Internet connection with good speed and stability (which is not a shortage nowadays), the work of employees on a virtual server will be much faster than work in the local version - thanks to the settings from the hoster and the constant support of the VPS pool in the optimal state .
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By the way, stable VPS speeds are an additional convenience for field employees, business travelers and workaholics who cannot live without work on vacation (or work cannot live without them).
▍Remote workers and branches nearby
The next advantage of VPS with 1C is related to remote work. For several years now, companies have overcome the superstitions associated with remote work, imbued with unconditional advantages and are actively hiring remote employees. Installing boxed 1C for remote employees is not easy, expensive, unsafe and often useless: an employee may not synchronize data, not use the program, or may leak the database to competitors and other interested parties.
Thanks to VPS with 1C, all employees will work with one database (bases), which is stored on the server of the cloud provider (the same VPS). Architecturally, in front of the base on a remote virtual server, all employees are equal, wherever they are. Accordingly, there is no unpleasant routine task of synchronizing data between departments and employees.
Obviously, the same advantage is relevant for companies with extensive branch structures. Not a single branch will be able to live a separate life or arrange a couple of free days without sales to write off synchronization problems. This is an important factor in information and economic security.
▍Your bases are only yours
Working with 1C on a virtual server, we came across an interesting myth: it is believed that it is impossible to take away a remote database from a provider, and thus it keeps companies in its customer base. Of course, this is not the case - all 1C bases belong only to you and you can take them from the provider at any time for any purpose: at least to transfer to a provider that is more profitable in your opinion, even to switch to the server version on the company's own hardware.
▍A couple of ultra important technical points
1C, like any corporate software, has two “pain” points, without attention to which you can not only start to work inefficiently, but also lose the most valuable thing - company data.
- Updates. Unlike the boxed version, updates to 1C on VPS are rolled by the hosting provider quietly and painlessly. You will always have an up-to-date version and the only thing you need is to fulfill the operator's request and close all active sessions for employees at the time of the update.
- Backups (backups) are “our everything” of any business (which does not prevent us from treating it as negligently as possible). In the case of using 1C on a VPS, the backup task lies with the provider, who will conscientiously create backups of your 1C databases.
By the way, it would be useful to mention that 1C on VPS works with all commercial equipment in the same way as the boxed version. Therefore, all assets will be under control.
Thus, all the advantages can be combined by three principles: convenience, economy, safety. But the most interesting thing is that these same principles can also combine disadvantages.
Cons 1C VPS
▍Internet connection dependency
It may seem strange to you, but while you are reading this article during your working hours, in some parts of the country (not necessarily remote), entire work teams are forced to make do with mobile Internet or sit without it at all. Somewhere this is due to the real remoteness, and somewhere this situation is the fruit of the greed of the owners and management companies of business centers: they offer the services of a “baited” operator at a price almost higher than rent, while other cables are simply not allowed. Companies are not ready to pay that kind of money, and work with PSTN and desktop applications. Of course, in such exceptional cases, working with 1C on a virtual server is technically impossible, since it is accessed via the Internet. Fortunately, such exceptions are becoming less and less common (largely thanks to mobile operators).
▍Dependence on the provider
Pretty far-fetched flaw, but it must be identified. The VPS provider may have preventive maintenance on the infrastructure during your working day, unnecessary system updates may roll in that will affect the usual business processes. This leads to downtime. Let's put it this way: it happens, but not with top hosting providers, which include RUVDS. Our capacity and capabilities are sufficient to carry out all the work without affecting the work of customers. However, force majeure has not been canceled, but it can also happen with the "selfhosted" server version - if, for example, the lights are turned off in your office 🙂 Nevertheless, always pay attention to the SLA and uptime of your provider.
▍Difficulties with refinement
Now this is a real problem, which is worth thinking about in advance. If you are a company that needs complex 1C configuration and continuous refinement for changing business processes, you should take care to purchase a boxed version and conclude an ITS agreement. However, if improvements and configuration are irregular, VPS with 1C is quite suitable.
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▍Cost of ownership
Purely arithmetically, the cost of owning a VPS with 1C can cost more than the cost of owning a boxed 1C - everything from the fact that you pay for the box once, and even get access to all configuration options, and for a VPS server with 1C on it you will pay a monthly subscription fee. That's how it is, but do not forget that for the boxed version of 1C you will need an ITS or a 1C programmer (consider that payment under a contract or salary is also a periodic payment), a server, security systems, a system administrator, and so on. In addition, all these costs will form part of the capital costs of the company. As a result, the 1C version on VPS can be much more profitable. Not to mention how much nerves you will save.
▍Safety
Yes, you can remove data from the database on a virtual server, but with remote access, it’s generally a couple of trifles. But in the same way, you can withdraw data from the local database, even easier. And the point here is not in the form of delivery, but in the general problems of working with the human factor and organizing information security in the company. With a strong desire, you can hack everything - as well as protect everything. It depends on you.
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What to look for when choosing a supplier
Suddenly, you didn’t read above, but the 1C company as such does not provide services by itself - it works with companies through its gigantic partner network. Some companies supply boxed solutions and offer ITS services, some refine software and sell custom configurations, some provide 1C services in the cloud. It depends on the capabilities of the company, the skills of the staff and the infrastructure. We, as a major hosting provider, have chosen to supply 1C on VPS, primarily because we are able to provide a reliable, fast and stable VPS to host your 1C databases. But often companies are driven by only one desire: to make money.
▍Therefore, when choosing a supplier, pay attention to a number of important points
- Choose only reliable providers that guarantee security and stability. An unverified provider is, first of all, low security and unverified employees who can use your commercial information for their own purposes.
- Find out where the provider's servers are located - it is important that there is a good data transfer rate and there are no problems with the legislation of the Russian Federation on the storage of personal data (and 1C is often personal data).
- If the provider refuses to provide terminal access via RemoteApp and RDP, don't even start a relationship - he just doesn't know what he's working with.
- Check the reputation of the provider by ratings and reviews - if you come across reports of drops, leaks, continuous accidents in data centers, this is not the best choice.
and is responsible for the reliability of its servers. You can configure and choose your own tariff, depending on the set of needs and requirements for databases. And we'll do the rest.
Let 1C give you success, not stress. Lyric again. In short, let's virtualize :)
Source: habr.com