Hosting Software Through Evanced Solutions

What happens when I subscribe to the Evanced Solutions software?

A copy of the software will be loaded on a server for your library. This is a server maintained by Evanced Solutions and provided to our customers for housing our applications (Events, Room Reserve, Genealogy, SignUp, Dibs, and Spaces).

How are the servers set up?

The servers reside in a ‘cloud’. Cloud computing is Evanced Solution's current hosting hardware architecture. The cloud is basically a hardware environment where there is a distinct separation between the software and the hardware. The operating system is virtualized in this environment and managed by a virtual software manager. This allows for 2 major benefits: The virtual OS can be moved or copied easily allowing for complete snapshot backups which provide quick catastrophic recovery times. The hardware can be replaced or modified quickly with little impact on the running system. In reality, this type of architecture is no different than a standard server from a user's perspective, but it does have significant benefits to the administrators.

Do Evanced servers use SSL?

Yes. SSL is a protocol that allows for an encrypted connection between the client (end user) and the server (application). Using this protocol protects the data that is passed between the browser and the server and makes it more difficult to see that data that is passed. All Evanced Solutions servers have SSL built-in. To utilize this protocol simply change all of your starting links from "HTTP" to "HTTPS".

What about downtime?

While we always do our best to ensure the highest up-times possible, downtime is bound to occur on occasion. Evanced Solutions and our hosting provider Amazon EC2, routinely monitor (and receive automatic notifications of) situations that can potentially be a downtime situation. In the event of a downtime situation, our monitoring systems will send email and text to a list of Evanced Solutions support staff. We will work with our hosting provider to determine the cause. If the downtime situation is isolated, we will directly notify any customers whose sites were potentially involved. If the downtime situation affects more than a few sites, a description of the situation will be posted to our blog along with updates and resolutions as they become available.

What about security?

A Security Breach is a situation whereby a connection to the database or server has been made by a means outside of our normal expected operation. Evanced Solutions technicians routinely monitor (and receive automatic notifications of) situations that can potentially be a security breach. In the event of a breach our monitoring systems will email and text a list of Evanced Solutions contacts. We will work with our hosting provider to determine the cause and evaluate the potential validity of the security breach. If valid, we will take steps necessary to isolate the method the breach used and we will directly notify any customers whose sites were potentially involved.

Where is the software housed?

Evanced Solutions has chosen to partner with Amazon to support our servers. We chose Amazon for their 99.999% uptime and flexibility. Amazon provides proven and reliable cloud computing and virtualization services. These high-density, flexible computing solutions are ideal for organizations that want to reduce their capital expenditures in IT infrastructure equipment and human resources.

Amazon is the same company that the world over has come to trust to provide high level services (such as shopping and data streaming). Some customers that reside on the Amazon EC2 cloud with Evanced are; Netflix, Pinterest, NASDAQ, Shazam and NASA. More information on Amazon can be found here: http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/ . Amazon's EC2 SLA can be found here: http://aws.amazon.com/ec2-sla/

Questions? Please let us know. Email sales@evancedsolutions.com.