Open Dental Forum

All:

I'm looking at adding a second location and wondering about connectivity. It appears (from my limited research) that the Middle Tier solution requires a Windows OS to run - is that correct? I'm currently using a Linux database and file server and would like to stay away from Windows if possible.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Brad

The middle tier service can only be run on a windows OS, but your machine running middle tier does not need to be the same one housing your database. Your database and file server can stay on a linux server with middle tier. Your machine running the middle tier will just need to have a direct connection to the machine that has the database.

tgriswold wrote:The middle tier service can only be run on a windows OS, but your machine running middle tier does not need to be the same one housing your database. Your database and file server can stay on a linux server with middle tier. Your machine running the middle tier will just need to have a direct connection to the machine that has the database.

Hi Travis,

Thanks for the reply. How CPU/memory intensive is the middle tier serivce? What kind of specs are recommended for the computer/server running the middle tier service - can it be reasonably done with a desktop computer or should it be something more like a quad-core Xeon with 8GB of RAM? Are multiple NICs needed?

My situation is two small locations with approximately 5 users at each location.

Thanks!

Brad

kiOak,

The short answer is that the middle tier service uses less CPU/Memory than a workstation and will run on a desktop computer or a server. The middle tier service is installed on top of Internet Information Services (IIS) which is a Microsoft product. Microsoft recommendations can be found here : https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Cc268240.aspx and they recommend 4GB of Ram, and a Xeon CPU with lots of L1, L2, and L3 cache.

Technically you can run the middle tier server on a simple desktop computer, but you will have a better overall experience if you use at least an entry-level dedicated server.