[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Setting up demo for smallish mixed consortium

[Justin Hopkins]

Hi Jill,

With a database of only 500 records, and assuming the server isn't going to get a real pounding from those doing the demo, you could run this on a modestly spec'd desktop machine. Say something having 4 CPU cores and 4Gb of RAM. In terms of accessibility, that should be a simple matter for your network admin.

If you want more detailed advice about the equipment that you'd need for your consortium's production server, you would need to provide more information about your current system such as:

* Number of bibliographic records
* Number of patrons
* Number of staff stations
* SIP devices (like self checkout, etc)
* Etc

One lesson we've learned is that there isn't going to be just one answer to the hardware question. One of Evergreen's strengths is its ability to support a highly scalable and redundant setup. Unfortunately for people like you and me, that means that there isn't a single "right" way to build it. You will have many options that will form a spectrum… on one end you'll have simple/cheap/good enough and on the other end you'll have complex/expensive/awesome. You will have to find a balance between the quality you want and the budget you have.

There are lots of people on this list that can provide assistance to you, and the documentation for installing Evergreen itself can be found at http://docs.evergreen-ils.org/2.1/html/server_install.html You also may want to consider contracting with someone to help you get started if you can't find the technical staff in house.

HTH

Regards,
Justin Hopkins
IT & Web Services Coordinator
573-808-2309
justin at mobiusconsortium.org

On May 4, 2012, at 10:57 AM, Jill Minor wrote:

> We are a mixed consortium straddling the Virginia/Tennessee border. We need to know how to set up an Evergreen demo and so far, we have not been able to make head or tail of anyone’s advice. There are two public library systems and two small college libraries involved.  We have given up on the idea of cloud hosting because we hear it is very slow, and we don’t want to spook our staffs any more than necessary. We would like to host our own demo. It must be accessible to every consortium location and handle a sample of 500 records. Please, in plain English, what equipment do we require for our demo? Would it be advisable to just go ahead and purchase a server that will eventually contain the entire Evergreen installation and put our demo on it? How large a server would we need to buy?