Cloud Hosting of AdBase with NCS in AWS
Presented by Stewart Willis, Gatehouse Media
Cloud Hosting – Welcome!
› Hello, my name is Stewart Willis
 Director of Advertising Systems for Gatehouse Media
•
•
•
•
120+ Daily newspapers
440+ Community papers
500+ Websites
…and growing.
 Focusing on NCS advertising products for future growth
• AdBase for larger / complex groups and locations
• AMP for the smaller / simpler groups and locations
• Aiming to move to an all hosted solution
2
Cloud Hosting – NCS Hosting Experience
› Four instances hosted in the cloud:
 Providence Journal – Providence, RI (100 ~ 14 months)
 Stockton Record – Stockton, CA (40 ~ 5 months)
 Local Media Group (150 ~ 3 months)
•
•
•
•
Times Herald Record, Middletown, NY
Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, MA
Standard Times, New Bedford, MA
Pocono Record, Stroudsburg, PA
 Telegram-Gazette – Worcester, MA (80 ~ This week!)
3
Cloud Hosting – NCS Hosting Experience
› Four instances moving to the cloud:




News-Journal – Daytona, FL (75)
Pennysaver – Daytona, FL (70)
Dispatch – Columbus, OH (150)
Stephens Media (160)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Southwest Times Record - Ft. Smith, Arkansas
Courier-Tribune – Asheboro, NC
Tribune – Ames, IA
Examiner-Enterprise – Bartlesville, OK
Daily Herald – Columbia, TN
Commercial - Pine Bluff, AR
Herald Democrat - Sherman, TX
4
Cloud Hosting – Why go hosted?
› Benefits –
 Modernize infrastructure
• New servers and databases
• Citrix front end
• Mobile access
 Improved support from NCS
 More software management
• Upgrade cycles and patching
 Reduce on-site staff requirements
•
•
•
•
Centralized / cross site support
Reduced hardware staff
Reduced capital requirements
Reduce desktop support
5
Cloud Hosting – Why go hosted?
› Drawbacks –
 Less control and customization
• Not always a bad thing
 Harder integration
• Outside environment for file shares
 More software management
• Expectation on keeping current
 Reduce on-site staff requirements
• Cost sharing for other IT needs goes away
6
Cloud Hosting – Why go hosted?
› Our decision to go hosted :
 Aging infrastructure
• Some sites with equipment over 10 years old
• Other acquisitions would require full build out
• More flexibility with AWS
 Centralized support team
• Covering management and operations of 8 locations
• Standardizing of operating processes
 New options for sales teams
• Easy mobile access
• Central team development
• Common tool setup
7
Cloud Hosting – AWS
› Amazon Web Services
 Massive cloud hosting environment
 A simple point and click environment to build a cloud infrastructure
•
•
•
•
•
Networking
Firewalls
Servers
Databases
.. And much more.
 Multiple regions, with multiple data centers
• Huge capacity
• Extreme redundancy
 Allows quick setup, changes, and growth
8
Cloud Hosting – NCS Architecture
› Citrix front end
 Public access using Citrix VPN Concentrator
 NCS Controlled domain for authentication
 Shared storefront (for multi-instance setups)
› VPN Tunnel to site for back-end processes if needed
› FTP Automation tool (LimagitoX) for file movement
› Possible customer servers in environment if needed
9
Cloud Hosting – NCS Setup
›
›
›
›
›
›
›
Database servers (Oracle or MS-SQL)
Citrix servers
AR Server for Finance team (RDP by users for ISN Printer, Statements, etc.)
PGL Server for Production (Distributor, Graphic Importer, etc.)
BG Server for background tasks (BI Populator, XML Exporter, etc.)
AdBase-E Server for websites
Custom servers:
 Ripplestone (Report management)
 Script server (data massaging)
 Asura (graphics workflows)
10
Cloud Hosting – Experience
› Overall – very good!
› Migration has been a challenge at times
 Going from old sites (3.1 on XP) to new environments (64-bit servers)
• Could not upgrade prior to move, so not really a hosting issue
 Fonts, fonts, and more fonts!
• Always a challenge getting that right balance of all the parts
• May be complicated by new environment and versions
› Post migration
 Very stable and responsive
 Good system management (system maintenance)
 Databases have been reliable and quick
11
Thank you!