Love the questions - here's some answers. Keep them coming #h5yr
Limitations:
You can't mod the core as it'll be automatically upgraded
If you use property editors that stores custom ids they'll need a Courier (and later "Umbraco Deploy") provider. Exists for most popular add-ons, though
If you use packages or custom code that stores data in the database, you'll need to handle deployment of those data yourself
Data Center:
Currently in the West Europe Azure datacenter (Netherlands). All data in redundant data centers
SQL Server Connectionstrings:
The connectionstring are updated realtime via dark magic (thus they appear as SQL CE when you look at web.config). You can always find the connectionstrings and open firewalls from the project page via the "Connection Strings" menu under "Settings":
FTP:
No FTP. But you can upload files using the Kudu Debug Console (drag and drop)
Version:
New projects are always latest version (currently 7.3.4) and automatically gets upgraded to latest patch (mandatory to ensure you always have the latest security and performance upgrades). Minor upgrades will be available from when 7.4 is out but will be optional (but just require a click of a button from the project page)
In other cases If the property editor doesnt have a resolver but requires one - thats a b * * * to have to do discover and solve for many. There's an example on how to do it here:
In project connection details I only have url to git repo. Maybe my project is old/wrong type (project aaaaa).
Turns out it's a (quite) old trial project from when were experimenting with the cheap plans that didn't used SQL Azure. That's also why it's on an old version
Versions
From this month patch upgrades will roll out automatically (for instance 7.3.4 to 7.3.5), minor upgrades will be optional from 7.4 (so once 7.4 comes out, you'll get a button in the portal asking you if you want to upgrade from 7.3 to 7.4)
Concerns
Valid concerns. We're working on simplifying the way this work (we've already done quite a lot of work in regards to this in the core over the last year) as well as coming up with a replacement for these resolvers as well as create resolvers for the most popular add-ons. For now it's a manual process where you can use the integrated live support to get help.
Also, remember that Archetype is probably the most complex property editor out there, so it'll naturally look overwhelming. You only need custom resolvers for property editors storing ids in a special format.
Commercial packages
I know that a couple of projects already got Merchello up and running on UaaS and it'll likely be the first (of the big ones) to get the "Approved for UaaS" stamp. There's already a number of smaller add-ons that works already
Baseline
I won't be free - all projects use ressources and comes with an associated cost for us.
Backup/restore
Databases are GEO Replicated SQL Azure databases with 14 days point-in-time restore
Files are using the Azure P30 Premium Storage (triple-redundant) and are version controlled in git thus giving you easy restore back in time.
UaaS - bunch of questions
Hi guys,
We've been testing UaaS and absolutely love it. But there's always questions.
Are there any major known limitations and problems like anything that typically should be avoided?
Which country are servers and data located in?
SQL server on dev? on Live? connectionstring says umbraco.sdf in live env (web.config found via kudu). It's an old project so maybe.
Access to sql server via management tool? How to find connect strings?
Is FTP access possible? (supporting simple filebased integrations dumping and fetching files)
UaaS always current Umbraco versions or is how many versions behind?
Thanks for your help!
/Jesper
Love the questions - here's some answers. Keep them coming #h5yr
Limitations:
Data Center:
SQL Server Connectionstrings:
FTP:
Version:
Thanks for all the answers. A followup on some of them and some new ones. I did look in the docs for answers - if I missed them I'm sorry :)
connectionstring to sql server
In project connection details I only have url to git repo. Maybe my project is old/wrong type (project aaaaa).
FTP
Kudu drag and drop makes it rather difficult to do any file transfer automatically. I do think it would be great to have.
Versions
How does upgrading work? I can se my example project is 7.2x
Concerns about differencies from "standard"
If a custom property editor (homemade or from a package) doesnt work we have to create a resolver like this one from Archetype:
https://github.com/imulus/Archetype/blob/master/app/Umbraco/Archetype.Courier/DataResolvers/ArchetypeDataResolver.cs
In other cases If the property editor doesnt have a resolver but requires one - thats a b * * * to have to do discover and solve for many. There's an example on how to do it here:
https://github.com/umbraco/Courier/blob/master/Documentation/Developer%20Documentation/Data%20Resolvers.md
... but it's probably less simple for some.
Yay that all projects display if they are compatible on our projects.
Commerce packages
Does any of the big ones work with UaaS soon?
Baseline
Is a fantastic idea. Any considerations about making them free and maybe limited in some way?
Backup/restore
How is the backup strategy and how is the restore procedure?
Thanks!
/jesper
Turns out it's a (quite) old trial project from when were experimenting with the cheap plans that didn't used SQL Azure. That's also why it's on an old version
From this month patch upgrades will roll out automatically (for instance 7.3.4 to 7.3.5), minor upgrades will be optional from 7.4 (so once 7.4 comes out, you'll get a button in the portal asking you if you want to upgrade from 7.3 to 7.4)
Valid concerns. We're working on simplifying the way this work (we've already done quite a lot of work in regards to this in the core over the last year) as well as coming up with a replacement for these resolvers as well as create resolvers for the most popular add-ons. For now it's a manual process where you can use the integrated live support to get help.
Also, remember that Archetype is probably the most complex property editor out there, so it'll naturally look overwhelming. You only need custom resolvers for property editors storing ids in a special format.
I know that a couple of projects already got Merchello up and running on UaaS and it'll likely be the first (of the big ones) to get the "Approved for UaaS" stamp. There's already a number of smaller add-ons that works already
I won't be free - all projects use ressources and comes with an associated cost for us.
Thanks Niels for taking the time to clarify it all. It seems that you have covered it all. Really looking forward to using UaaS on projects.
best
/Jesper
ps. "UaaS is mine"
All kudos should go to the early adopters and beta testers of UaaS to which we really, really owe a lot. It's not been without pains for them!
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