Easylib Cloud

Why Easylib 6.4a Web Cloud version is preferred over local deployment? 

  1. Easylib is continually undergoing upgrades and it is almost impossible to keep the local version (when deployed at your servers) in sync with cloud version due to the effort involved in the upgrades. It may be recalled that there is a new version for last 36 months in a row from Easylib. 
  • Server size, Deployment of various supporting software components, RAM Requirement, Maintenance Efforts is pretty huge both for Easylib and College Staff. Entire set up needs to be replicated at your server, which is a cumbersome and avoidable activity. Going with Easylib cloud makes it faster and cheaper.  
  • Things like enabling SMS, Email Configurations have effort when setting up at local servers. This is all pre-configured on Easylib server and features come without any additional effort.
  • The extra effort needed to take the local server online on Anydesk or TeamViewer or Amy Admin every time something needs to be looked into. This consumes bandwidth and speed of resolution and support level by Easylib is limited by the internet speed to run these applications. 
  • In case of local deployments, to provide any service, the timings of 
  • System Administrator to give server online, 
    • Library staff to explains the issues and 
    • Easylib staff to address the issues 

all need to be coordinated. This is found to be a bottle neck many times as both System Administrator and Easylib staff are shared resources. We find that speed of resolution improves by over 200% when issues are being reviewed when software is deployed on Easylib cloud. 

  • To let all your students have access to OPAC and make full use of the library, you need a real powerful sever i.e. Intel Xeon 8 Core Servers, 64 GB RAM, Windows 2012 and above, Static IP Set. Procuring such a server at your college is an expensive proposition.   
  •  When college procures own local server, tendency is to load the server with many applications. Multiple types of applications on one server may conflict with each other causing undue issues and inconveniences.  
  • In case of local installation, college system admin to keep the server OS with latest patches, schedule daily batch jobs, ensure all services are on and so on. This is an activity that requires a good amount of attention. 
  1. In case of local installation, college also needs to take care of Disaster Recovery best practices in case of any machine crash etc. College staff is also responsible for scheduling and safekeeping of backups. We have seen a few instances where timely back ups was an issue and caused difficulties later. 
  • To give home access to your students, you need to maintain a high speed internet data center along with 24 x 7 power supply and cooling system. Not keeping the servers on 24 hours undermines your investment on going with cloud version. 

Overall, keeping all points above in mind, the convenience is higher when going with cloud version. You focus your energy on running your library rather than running a data center and maintain the servers. In addition, total cost of ownership for the college is much less when going with Easylib cloud version.

Last updated 4th November 2020

Please direct any questions to info@easylibsoft.com