I couldn¹t find much information on mifos.org, but I think we need to add a page talking about some options people can use for monitoring Mifos.
Any ideas? Tools? Strategies?
I think the areas we would cover are 1. Monitoring Mifos 2. MySQL 3. Tomcat 4. System Performance
We should primarily focus on Windows, but I think we can also invite feedback on other platforms as well.
Ryan Ryan Whitney Mifos Technical Program Manager rwhit...@grameenfoundation.org Mifos - Technology that Empower Microfinance (www.mifos.org)
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
Disclaimer This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies and inform the sender by return e-mail. Internet e-mail is not a secure medium. Any reply to this message could be intercepted and read by someone else. Please bear that in mind when deciding whether to send material in response to this message by e-mail.
----------------------------------------
From: Ryan Whitney <rwhit...@grameenfoundation.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 12:28 AM
To: Developer <mifos-develo...@lists.sourceforge.net>
Subject: [Mifos-developer] Monitoring Tools/Strategies for Mifos
I couldn't find much information on mifos.org, but I think we need to add a page talking about some options people can use for monitoring Mifos.
Any ideas? Tools? Strategies?
I think the areas we would cover are
Monitoring Mifos
MySQL
Tomcat
System Performance
We should primarily focus on Windows, but I think we can also invite feedback on other platforms as well.
Mifos - Technology that Empower Microfinance (www.mifos.org)
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
This is pretty much out of the box and I'll probably prune some useless graphs and add some more until I'm satisfied, but I regard it as a good start. Munin also sends email notifications when thresholds are crossed.
Given that Mifos is an Open Source package and that we should be looking to minimise the implementation and ongoing cost for an MFI, I favour Linux over Windows as the platform of choice.
I'm not looking to start an OS war (let's save that effort for vi vs EMACS :), but don't believe that having a primary focus on Windows is necessarily the best way forward. In my opinion, YMMV, etc, etc, of course.
Regards Graeme
_____
From: mifos-developer-boun...@lists.sourceforge.net [mailto:mifos-developer-boun...@lists.sourceforge.net] On Behalf Of Ryan Whitney Sent: Tuesday, 8 July 2008 10:28 To: Developer Subject: [Mifos-developer] Monitoring Tools/Strategies for Mifos
I couldn't find much information on mifos.org, but I think we need to add a page talking about some options people can use for monitoring Mifos.
Any ideas? Tools? Strategies?
I think the areas we would cover are
1. Monitoring Mifos
2. MySQL
3. Tomcat
4. System Performance
We should primarily focus on Windows, but I think we can also invite feedback on other platforms as well.
Ryan Ryan Whitney Mifos Technical Program Manager rwhit...@grameenfoundation.org Mifos - Technology that Empower Microfinance (www.mifos.org)
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
You are certainly not alone in wanting to promote linux as a solution, we have quite a following internally here within Mifos (and a lot of Mifos is developed on linux ).
Unfortunately, the reality does not line up with the ideal as a lot of MFIs are windows shops. So when deploying to a new MFI, you have to take into consideration how difficult it would be for them to step up and get familiar with linux, or the cost of finding someone familiar with linux. Not to mention you¹d have to get them to buy off on it in the first place. So our focus is a reflection of that.
As for the cost comparison, I actually believe that¹s not much of an issue. As Mifos is built on top of MySQL and Tomcat, both free, the real cost would be for the server software, and a license (if the MFI even chooses to buy one...) for something like MS Server 2003 is pretty cheap (rough search brings up about $250-500 per license). In our experience, that cost is pretty negligible compared to the total cost of a deployment. So in fact linux could potentially cost more, in regards to training needs, new staffing requirements, etc.
Of course, there are also other considerations like virus, security, third party packages, etc.
All that said, here are plans to support firefox down the road (in fact, we have quite a few bugs already in the queue) but decided it was a lower priority for this release. I also know there are some MFIs that are running linux or planning too, and we¹re putting up more and more information on that topic on mifos.org. So I think there is quite a bit going on in regards to linux, but as I said, when it comes down to an actual deployment, you have to make the call that best reflects the situation. ;)
Ryan
Ps Vi(m)
On 7/8/08 12:34 AM, "Graeme Ruthven" <gra...@kula.co.nz> wrote:
> This is pretty much out of the box and I'll probably prune some useless graphs > and add some more until I'm satisfied, but I regard it as a good start. Munin > also sends email notifications when thresholds are crossed.
> Given that Mifos is an Open Source package and that we should be looking to > minimise the implementation and ongoing cost for an MFI, I favour Linux over > Windows as the platform of choice.
> I'm not looking to start an OS war (let's save that effort for vi vs EMACS :), > but don't believe that having a primary focus on Windows is necessarily the > best way forward. In my opinion, YMMV, etc, etc, of course.
> Regards > Graeme
>> From: mifos-developer-boun...@lists.sourceforge.net >> [mailto:mifos-developer-boun...@lists.sourceforge.net] On Behalf Of Ryan >> Whitney >> Sent: Tuesday, 8 July 2008 10:28 >> To: Developer >> Subject: [Mifos-developer] Monitoring Tools/Strategies for Mifos
>> I couldn¹t find much information on mifos.org, but I think we need to add a >> page talking about some options people can use for monitoring Mifos.
>> Any ideas? Tools? Strategies?
>> I think the areas we would cover are
>> 1. Monitoring Mifos >> 2. MySQL >> 3. Tomcat >> 4. System Performance
>> We should primarily focus on Windows, but I think we can also invite >> feedback on other platforms as well.
>> Ryan >> Ryan Whitney >> Mifos Technical Program Manager >> rwhit...@grameenfoundation.org >> Mifos - Technology that Empower Microfinance (www.mifos.org)
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! > Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, > along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness > and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
Ryan Whitney Mifos Technical Program Manager rwhit...@grameenfoundation.org Mifos - Technology that Empowers Microfinance (www.mifos.org)
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
-----Original Message----- From: Ryan Whitney <rwhit...@grameenfoundation.org>
Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:11:00 To: Developer<mifos-develo...@lists.sourceforge.net> Subject: Re: [Mifos-developer] Monitoring Tools/Strategies for Mifos
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
Free/Libre/Open Source Software tools for network monitoring are quite mature. Most of them run on any platform.
-- Adam Monsen
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
Hi Ryan and all, I do understand your point. And i am not trying to lengthen this conversation but i just thought i would point out the scenario here in Nepal (from our limited dealings with MFIs)
The MFIs we are working with do not have any MIS system as such, if they did (meaning that they already has the financial resources to either custom develop a solution or buy one from vendor) they are not going to be that interested in mifos (we have talked to a few that already have systems) as it lacks a lot of functionality at the local level. Additionally, because of the centralized nature of the deployment, connectivity infrastructure costs run higher (again i am talking just based on my limited experience in nepal).. Thus any saving that can be realized is really needed.
In nepal:
1. Windows Server 2008 License with 5 User Cal and Media Kit : Nrs. 65,000.00 ( Inclusive of 13% VAT ) (and you need an application server, a database server and a test server multiply that by 3) 2. Windows XP is about Nrs 26,000 3. Microsoft office ranges from Nrs 11,000 - 20,000 4. So if a MFI has 47 branches, and are going to buy computers for them, then per branch at the minimum, there is Nrs 37,000 additional cost per branch. This is excluding the computers needed a the regional offices or head offices (and they could use open office ;-) 5. Then there is the additional staffing and support requirements, because of viruses etc. (Anti viruses licenses also are not free, kaspersky is Nrs 1000 per license). 6. Currently you can get a XP cd (pirated of course) for Nrs100 and there is no monitoring thus most users (including organizations) use those. But from 2010 as nepal's WTO entry comes into effect, these things will be monitored and audited, so the cost savings issue becomes even more prominent, even for MFIs with existing systems based on windows.
thus total savings for a mid sized MFI with 47 branches would be just based on licensing cost Nrs 1981000 which is about $28,710.14
also e.g. with latest version of Ubuntu, the user training needed is comparable to windows. As for admin, at least here in nepal, the number of training centers giving linux training is growing.
Therefore, imho, if an MFI already has a MIS system and support staff then they are more likely to continue with windows. But if an MFI is going from manual to mifos, and starting from scratch, the savings that they can realize is pretty high.
At the least firefox support ;-)
Disclaimer: The prices quoted are based on vendor responses few months back, and the actual prices might differ . currrent exchange rate is about $1 = Nrs 69, per capita income $470
Ryan Whitney wrote: > You are certainly not alone in wanting to promote linux as a solution, > we have quite a following internally here within Mifos (and a lot of > Mifos is developed on linux ).
> Unfortunately, the reality does not line up with the ideal as a lot of > MFIs are windows shops. So when deploying to a new MFI, you have to > take into consideration how difficult it would be for them to step up > and get familiar with linux, or the cost of finding someone familiar > with linux. Not to mention you’d have to get them to buy off on it in > the first place. So our focus is a reflection of that.
> As for the cost comparison, I actually believe that’s not much of an > issue. As Mifos is built on top of MySQL and Tomcat, both free, the > real cost would be for the server software, and a license (if the MFI > even chooses to buy one...) for something like MS Server 2003 is > pretty cheap (rough search brings up about $250-500 per license). In > our experience, that cost is pretty negligible compared to the total > cost of a deployment. So in fact linux could potentially cost more, in > regards to training needs, new staffing requirements, etc.
> Of course, there are also other considerations like virus, security, > third party packages, etc.
> All that said, here are plans to support firefox down the road (in > fact, we have quite a few bugs already in the queue) but decided it > was a lower priority for this release. I also know there are some MFIs > that are running linux or planning too, and we’re putting up more and > more information on that topic on mifos.org. So I think there is quite > a bit going on in regards to linux, but as I said, when it comes down > to an actual deployment, you have to make the call that best reflects > the situation. ;)
> Ryan
> Ps – Vi(m)
> On 7/8/08 12:34 AM, "Graeme Ruthven" <gra...@kula.co.nz> wrote:
> I don't know about monitoring Mifos as such, but I've been running > the Munin package for a while. It's Free! :-) With a capital "F"...
> If there are performance hooks in Mifos it should be reasonably > simple to write a plugin to gather and graph data.
> This is pretty much out of the box and I'll probably prune some > useless graphs and add some more until I'm satisfied, but I regard > it as a good start. Munin also sends email notifications when > thresholds are crossed.
> Given that Mifos is an Open Source package and that we should be > looking to minimise the implementation and ongoing cost for an > MFI, I favour Linux over Windows as the platform of choice.
> I'm not looking to start an OS war (let's save that effort for vi > vs EMACS :), but don't believe that having a primary focus on > Windows is necessarily the best way forward. In my opinion, YMMV, > etc, etc, of course.
> Regards > Graeme
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > *From:* mifos-developer-boun...@lists.sourceforge.net > [mailto:mifos-developer-boun...@lists.sourceforge.net] *On > Behalf Of *Ryan Whitney > *Sent:* Tuesday, 8 July 2008 10:28 > *To:* Developer > *Subject:* [Mifos-developer] Monitoring Tools/Strategies for Mifos
> I couldn’t find much information on mifos.org, but I think we > need to add a page talking about some options people can use > for monitoring Mifos.
> Any ideas? Tools? Strategies?
> I think the areas we would cover are
> 1. Monitoring Mifos > 2. MySQL > 3. Tomcat > 4. System Performance
> We should primarily focus on Windows, but I think we can also > invite feedback on other platforms as well.
> Ryan > *Ryan Whitney > */Mifos Technical Program Manager > /rwhit...@grameenfoundation.org > Mifos - Technology that Empower Microfinance (www.mifos.org)
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! > Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, > along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness > and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
> *Ryan Whitney ** > */Mifos Technical Program Manager > /rwhit...@grameenfoundation.org > Mifos - Technology that Empowers Microfinance (www.mifos.org)
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! > Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, > along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness > and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
> Hi Ryan and all, > I do understand your point. And i am not trying to lengthen this > conversation but i just thought i would point out the scenario here in > Nepal (from our limited dealings with MFIs)
> The MFIs we are working with do not have any MIS system as such, if they > did (meaning that they already has the financial resources to either > custom develop a solution or buy one from vendor) they are not going to > be that interested in mifos (we have talked to a few that already have > systems) as it lacks a lot of functionality at the local level. > Additionally, because of the centralized nature of the deployment, > connectivity infrastructure costs run higher (again i am talking just > based on my limited experience in nepal).. Thus any saving that can be > realized is really needed.
> In nepal:
> 1. Windows Server 2008 License with 5 User Cal and Media Kit : Nrs. > 65,000.00 ( Inclusive of 13% VAT ) (and you need an application server, > a database server and a test server multiply that by 3) > 2. Windows XP is about Nrs 26,000 > 3. Microsoft office ranges from Nrs 11,000 - 20,000 > 4. So if a MFI has 47 branches, and are going to buy computers for them, > then per branch at the minimum, there is Nrs 37,000 additional cost per > branch. This is excluding the computers needed a the regional offices or > head offices (and they could use open office ;-) > 5. Then there is the additional staffing and support requirements, > because of viruses etc. (Anti viruses licenses also are not free, > kaspersky is Nrs 1000 per license). > 6. Currently you can get a XP cd (pirated of course) for Nrs100 and > there is no monitoring thus most users (including organizations) use > those. But from 2010 as nepal's WTO entry comes into effect, these > things will be monitored and audited, so the cost savings issue becomes > even more prominent, even for MFIs with existing systems based on windows.
> thus total savings for a mid sized MFI with 47 branches would be just > based on licensing cost Nrs 1981000 which is about $28,710.14
> also e.g. with latest version of Ubuntu, the user training needed is > comparable to windows. As for admin, at least here in nepal, the number > of training centers giving linux training is growing.
> Therefore, imho, if an MFI already has a MIS system and support staff > then they are more likely to continue with windows. > But if an MFI is going from manual to mifos, and starting from scratch, > the savings that they can realize is pretty high.
> At the least firefox support ;-)
> Disclaimer: The prices quoted are based on vendor responses few months > back, and the actual prices might differ . currrent exchange rate is > about $1 = Nrs 69, per capita income $470
> Thanks > Soham
> Ryan Whitney wrote: >> You are certainly not alone in wanting to promote linux as a solution, >> we have quite a following internally here within Mifos (and a lot of >> Mifos is developed on linux ).
>> Unfortunately, the reality does not line up with the ideal as a lot of >> MFIs are windows shops. So when deploying to a new MFI, you have to >> take into consideration how difficult it would be for them to step up >> and get familiar with linux, or the cost of finding someone familiar >> with linux. Not to mention you¹d have to get them to buy off on it in >> the first place. So our focus is a reflection of that.
>> As for the cost comparison, I actually believe that¹s not much of an >> issue. As Mifos is built on top of MySQL and Tomcat, both free, the >> real cost would be for the server software, and a license (if the MFI >> even chooses to buy one...) for something like MS Server 2003 is >> pretty cheap (rough search brings up about $250-500 per license). In >> our experience, that cost is pretty negligible compared to the total >> cost of a deployment. So in fact linux could potentially cost more, in >> regards to training needs, new staffing requirements, etc.
>> Of course, there are also other considerations like virus, security, >> third party packages, etc.
>> All that said, here are plans to support firefox down the road (in >> fact, we have quite a few bugs already in the queue) but decided it >> was a lower priority for this release. I also know there are some MFIs >> that are running linux or planning too, and we¹re putting up more and >> more information on that topic on mifos.org. So I think there is quite >> a bit going on in regards to linux, but as I said, when it comes down >> to an actual deployment, you have to make the call that best reflects >> the situation. ;)
>> Ryan
>> Ps Vi(m)
>> On 7/8/08 12:34 AM, "Graeme Ruthven" <gra...@kula.co.nz> wrote:
>> I don't know about monitoring Mifos as such, but I've been running >> the Munin package for a while. It's Free! :-) With a capital "F"...
>> If there are performance hooks in Mifos it should be reasonably >> simple to write a plugin to gather and graph data.
>> This is pretty much out of the box and I'll probably prune some >> useless graphs and add some more until I'm satisfied, but I regard >> it as a good start. Munin also sends email notifications when >> thresholds are crossed.
>> Given that Mifos is an Open Source package and that we should be >> looking to minimise the implementation and ongoing cost for an >> MFI, I favour Linux over Windows as the platform of choice.
>> I'm not looking to start an OS war (let's save that effort for vi >> vs EMACS :), but don't believe that having a primary focus on >> Windows is necessarily the best way forward. In my opinion, YMMV, >> etc, etc, of course.
>> Regards >> Graeme
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> *From:* mifos-developer-boun...@lists.sourceforge.net >> [mailto:mifos-developer-boun...@lists.sourceforge.net] *On >> Behalf Of *Ryan Whitney >> *Sent:* Tuesday, 8 July 2008 10:28 >> *To:* Developer >> *Subject:* [Mifos-developer] Monitoring Tools/Strategies for Mifos
>> I couldn¹t find much information on mifos.org, but I think we >> need to add a page talking about some options people can use >> for monitoring Mifos.
>> Any ideas? Tools? Strategies?
>> I think the areas we would cover are
>> 1. Monitoring Mifos >> 2. MySQL >> 3. Tomcat >> 4. System Performance
>> We should primarily focus on Windows, but I think we can also >> invite feedback on other platforms as well.
>> Ryan >> *Ryan Whitney >> */Mifos Technical Program Manager >> /rwhit...@grameenfoundation.org >> Mifos - Technology that Empower Microfinance (www.mifos.org)
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! >> Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, >> along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness >> and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
>> *Ryan Whitney ** >> */Mifos Technical Program Manager >> /rwhit...@grameenfoundation.org >> Mifos - Technology that Empowers Microfinance (www.mifos.org)
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! >> Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, >> along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness >> and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! > Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, > along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness > and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
Ryan Whitney Mifos Technical Program Manager rwhit...@grameenfoundation.org Mifos - Technology that Empowers Microfinance (www.mifos.org)
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
There is a place for both linux and windows with Mifos, but we made the assessment that the market is a bit bigger at the moment for Windows and so that's where our initial focus went. Firefox is on the path for getting support and Mifos already runs on linux ;)
Ryan
On 7/9/08 11:11 AM, "Ryan Whitney" <rwhit...@grameenfoundation.org> wrote:
> Thanks for the insight and I think it provides a good counterpoint to my > e-mail and gets to the heart of the matter.
> For any deployment (and really, any software project), you need to use the > technology that makes the most sense for that situation.
> Cheers, > Ryan
> On 7/9/08 12:16 AM, "Soham Dhakal" <so...@magnus.com.np> wrote:
>> Hi Ryan and all, >> I do understand your point. And i am not trying to lengthen this >> conversation but i just thought i would point out the scenario here in >> Nepal (from our limited dealings with MFIs)
>> The MFIs we are working with do not have any MIS system as such, if they >> did (meaning that they already has the financial resources to either >> custom develop a solution or buy one from vendor) they are not going to >> be that interested in mifos (we have talked to a few that already have >> systems) as it lacks a lot of functionality at the local level. >> Additionally, because of the centralized nature of the deployment, >> connectivity infrastructure costs run higher (again i am talking just >> based on my limited experience in nepal).. Thus any saving that can be >> realized is really needed.
>> In nepal:
>> 1. Windows Server 2008 License with 5 User Cal and Media Kit : Nrs. >> 65,000.00 ( Inclusive of 13% VAT ) (and you need an application server, >> a database server and a test server multiply that by 3) >> 2. Windows XP is about Nrs 26,000 >> 3. Microsoft office ranges from Nrs 11,000 - 20,000 >> 4. So if a MFI has 47 branches, and are going to buy computers for them, >> then per branch at the minimum, there is Nrs 37,000 additional cost per >> branch. This is excluding the computers needed a the regional offices or >> head offices (and they could use open office ;-) >> 5. Then there is the additional staffing and support requirements, >> because of viruses etc. (Anti viruses licenses also are not free, >> kaspersky is Nrs 1000 per license). >> 6. Currently you can get a XP cd (pirated of course) for Nrs100 and >> there is no monitoring thus most users (including organizations) use >> those. But from 2010 as nepal's WTO entry comes into effect, these >> things will be monitored and audited, so the cost savings issue becomes >> even more prominent, even for MFIs with existing systems based on windows.
>> thus total savings for a mid sized MFI with 47 branches would be just >> based on licensing cost Nrs 1981000 which is about $28,710.14
>> also e.g. with latest version of Ubuntu, the user training needed is >> comparable to windows. As for admin, at least here in nepal, the number >> of training centers giving linux training is growing.
>> Therefore, imho, if an MFI already has a MIS system and support staff >> then they are more likely to continue with windows. >> But if an MFI is going from manual to mifos, and starting from scratch, >> the savings that they can realize is pretty high.
>> At the least firefox support ;-)
>> Disclaimer: The prices quoted are based on vendor responses few months >> back, and the actual prices might differ . currrent exchange rate is >> about $1 = Nrs 69, per capita income $470
>> Thanks >> Soham
>> Ryan Whitney wrote: >>> You are certainly not alone in wanting to promote linux as a solution, >>> we have quite a following internally here within Mifos (and a lot of >>> Mifos is developed on linux ).
>>> Unfortunately, the reality does not line up with the ideal as a lot of >>> MFIs are windows shops. So when deploying to a new MFI, you have to >>> take into consideration how difficult it would be for them to step up >>> and get familiar with linux, or the cost of finding someone familiar >>> with linux. Not to mention you¹d have to get them to buy off on it in >>> the first place. So our focus is a reflection of that.
>>> As for the cost comparison, I actually believe that¹s not much of an >>> issue. As Mifos is built on top of MySQL and Tomcat, both free, the >>> real cost would be for the server software, and a license (if the MFI >>> even chooses to buy one...) for something like MS Server 2003 is >>> pretty cheap (rough search brings up about $250-500 per license). In >>> our experience, that cost is pretty negligible compared to the total >>> cost of a deployment. So in fact linux could potentially cost more, in >>> regards to training needs, new staffing requirements, etc.
>>> Of course, there are also other considerations like virus, security, >>> third party packages, etc.
>>> All that said, here are plans to support firefox down the road (in >>> fact, we have quite a few bugs already in the queue) but decided it >>> was a lower priority for this release. I also know there are some MFIs >>> that are running linux or planning too, and we¹re putting up more and >>> more information on that topic on mifos.org. So I think there is quite >>> a bit going on in regards to linux, but as I said, when it comes down >>> to an actual deployment, you have to make the call that best reflects >>> the situation. ;)
>>> Ryan
>>> Ps Vi(m)
>>> On 7/8/08 12:34 AM, "Graeme Ruthven" <gra...@kula.co.nz> wrote:
>>> I don't know about monitoring Mifos as such, but I've been running >>> the Munin package for a while. It's Free! :-) With a capital "F"...
>>> If there are performance hooks in Mifos it should be reasonably >>> simple to write a plugin to gather and graph data.
>>> This is pretty much out of the box and I'll probably prune some >>> useless graphs and add some more until I'm satisfied, but I regard >>> it as a good start. Munin also sends email notifications when >>> thresholds are crossed.
>>> Given that Mifos is an Open Source package and that we should be >>> looking to minimise the implementation and ongoing cost for an >>> MFI, I favour Linux over Windows as the platform of choice.
>>> I'm not looking to start an OS war (let's save that effort for vi >>> vs EMACS :), but don't believe that having a primary focus on >>> Windows is necessarily the best way forward. In my opinion, YMMV, >>> etc, etc, of course.
>>> Regards >>> Graeme
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>> *From:* mifos-developer-boun...@lists.sourceforge.net >>> [mailto:mifos-developer-boun...@lists.sourceforge.net] *On >>> Behalf Of *Ryan Whitney >>> *Sent:* Tuesday, 8 July 2008 10:28 >>> *To:* Developer >>> *Subject:* [Mifos-developer] Monitoring Tools/Strategies for Mifos
>>> I couldn¹t find much information on mifos.org, but I think we >>> need to add a page talking about some options people can use >>> for monitoring Mifos.
>>> Any ideas? Tools? Strategies?
>>> I think the areas we would cover are
>>> 1. Monitoring Mifos >>> 2. MySQL >>> 3. Tomcat >>> 4. System Performance
>>> We should primarily focus on Windows, but I think we can also >>> invite feedback on other platforms as well.
>>> Ryan >>> *Ryan Whitney >>> */Mifos Technical Program Manager >>> /rwhit...@grameenfoundation.org >>> Mifos - Technology that Empower Microfinance (www.mifos.org)
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! >>> Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, >>> along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness >>> and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
>>> *Ryan Whitney ** >>> */Mifos Technical Program Manager >>> /rwhit...@grameenfoundation.org >>> Mifos - Technology that Empowers Microfinance (www.mifos.org)
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! >>> Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, >>> along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness >>> and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! >> Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, >> along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness >> and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08
> Ryan Whitney > Mifos Technical Program Manager > rwhit...@grameenfoundation.org > Mifos - Technology that Empowers Microfinance (www.mifos.org)
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! > Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, > along with a healthy
> Free/Libre/Open Source Software tools for network monitoring are quite > mature. Most of them run on any platform.
Picking up on the monitoring thread...
It moved to a discussion of platforms and costs, which is a good and valid matter but deserves its own thread. I have my own opinions! :-)
I'm not sure what Mifos-specific monitoring would be useful, but would like to suggest that an API could follow the one used by Tomcat.
Tomcat manager will answer requests with an XML file containing a variety of information, as in the sample files below.
The Munin agent, and Nagios appears to be similar to the extent that some agents are interchangeable, simply calls Tomcat then parses the XML that's returned to store data and generate the graphs, using RRD.
An approach like that would appear to be a pretty good fit and would leave the display and monitoring to one of the applications available, rather than having to be developed within Mifos. After all, the interested parties will probably be system admins and other technically-oriented people, rather than the Mifos users, so having the data displayed elsewhere is probably a Good Idea (TM).
If Mifos maintains metrics that could be exposed by an interface like this, it should be fairly simple to code a transaction to return them. If it doesn't, and those who know what measurements would be useful in analysing and tuning the system can define them then, again, implementation should be simple.
------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/
Thanks for sharing your ideas on this! Administration and monitoring are areas that we are very interested in and it's great to get good input.
Cheers, --Van
Graeme Ruthven wrote: > I'm not sure what Mifos-specific monitoring would be useful, but > would like to suggest that an API could follow the one used by > Tomcat.
> Tomcat manager will answer requests with an XML file containing a > variety of information, as in the sample files below.
> The Munin agent, and Nagios appears to be similar to the extent that > some agents are interchangeable, simply calls Tomcat then parses the > XML that's returned to store data and generate the graphs, using RRD.
...
------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/
