dhis2-users team mailing list archive

[Ola Hodne Titlestad <olati@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Olav,

A recommended setup for offline district offices (at least of some size) is
to use a local network with 1 ubuntu server running DHIS 2 and multiple
clients (mostly Windows), allowing users to share the same
installation/database of DHIS. Often there are more than one DHIS user at
the district office and this setup provide more flexibility and access to
the data. Having the DHIS run on a virus-free ubuntu machine compared to a
Windows machine makes a huge difference in terms of tech support needs and
DHIS 2 up time. Of course setting up a local network requires some more
initial tech work, but in the long run it is probably worth it.

This has been used in the offline deployment in Sierra Leone.

Ola
------

----------------------------------
Ola Hodne Titlestad (Mr)
HISP
Department of Informatics
University of Oslo

Mobile: +47 48069736
Home address: Vetlandsvn. 95B, 0685 Oslo, Norway. Googlemaps
link<http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Vetlandsvn.+95B,+0685+Oslo,+Norway>


On 19 August 2011 13:46, Olav Poppe <olav.poppe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Yes, sounds like disabling some modules might be something to consider.
> We're waiting for a document detailing the connectivity at various offices
> at the moment, hopefully that will give a better overview of how big issue
> this will be.
>
> As for the HW, the only thing I know at the moment is that the machines
> (windows) running the current system will be used for DHIS 2 as well. So it
> will probably vary quite a bit from location to location.
>
> Olav
>
> Den 18. aug. 2011 kl. 15:34 skrev Bob Jolliffe:
>
> > On 18 August 2011 16:14, Knut Staring <knutst@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >> On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 4:25 PM, Bob Jolliffe <bobjolliffe@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> On 18 August 2011 14:40, Olav Poppe <olav.poppe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >>> I wonder about the merits of a stripping out the metadata maintenance
> >>> modules in a such a lite-lite install?  Not sure how crippling this
> >>> would be.  Metadata import being the only way to update metadata.
> >>> Maybe that's too draconian but it could work for ultra-offline data
> >>> entry.
> >>
> >> I would recommend being quite draconian and pretty much disable the
> whole
> >> Maintenance menu and quite a bit of the services menu as well. And then
> >> train them really well on the remaining parts, and creating a targeted,
> >> short and simple manual (ideally accompanied by some video clips) so
> that
> >> support can be kept to a minimum (or at worst done over the phone).
> >
> > And I thought I was the draconian one :-)  Still if its only a matter
> > of removing some modules from a custom pom it could be worth looking
> > at.  Olav maybe you want to try and see how it looks.
> >
> >> The emphasis on eliminating moving parts and sources of error of course
> also
> >> harks back to you "DHIS appliance" idea, Bob. One could even think of
> >> running DHIS Live with H2 off USB sticks (though they are flimsy), which
> >> could even be made to boot up something like DamnedSmallLinux.
> >
> > I'm not too convinced by the usb stick idea.  Not that its not doable.
> > And I think its probably great for demos (WHO-on-a-stick) but in
> > real-life I don't think these sticks are well suited for database
> > read-writes.
> >
> > One of the issues people do tend to have with h2 is a lack of
> > supporting tools to diagnose when things go wrong.  And I'd hate to be
> > on the phone to someone stepping through openoffice+jdbc setup or the
> > like.  If I were to ship h2 into the darkness of many remote districts
> > I think I would write a couple of really simple and small diagnostic
> > tools to test the integrity and health of the database and ship that
> > too.  Just the "where there is no doctor" common sorts of faults.
> > Then when I get the call "help!  my dhis2-ultra-lite doesn't work",
> > I'd ask them to run the diagnostic tool and read out the diagnosis
> > over the phone to quickly figure out if the h2 file is corrupted, or
> > metadata is misconfigured or what have you.  Planning for 170 offline
> > installs (or some reasonable proportion of that number) is no picnic.
> > The more work up front to make those calls easier the better.
> >
> > Cheers
> > Bob
> >
> >> Knut
> >>
> >>>
> >>> Bob
> >>>
> >>>> Olav
> >>>>
> >>>> Den 18. aug. 2011 kl. 13:32 skrev Jason Pickering:
> >>>>
> >>>> I agree with both Bob and Ola.
> >>>> We have tried not quite yet succeeded in getting DHIS2 installed with
> >>>> Tomcat/Postgres on Windows with a one-click installer, this my caveat
> >>>> about
> >>>> a "supervised" install. There are a lot of things which can happen on
> >>>> users
> >>>> machines and maintenance becomes a huge issue. DHIS is still under
> >>>> intense
> >>>> development, and a lot of things change quickly. Upgrading a single
> >>>> server
> >>>> is a piece of cake. Upgrading dozens or hundreds of off-line machines
> is
> >>>> a
> >>>> true nightmare and a serious risk and resource drain to any
> deployment.
> >>>> I agree with Ola. Totally exclude an on-line server as an option
> first.
> >>>> If
> >>>> you have already done that, all I can say is, be prepared for a LOT of
> >>>> tech
> >>>> support.
> >>>> Regards,
> >>>> Jason
> >>>>
> >>>> On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 3:15 PM, Ola Hodne Titlestad <
> olati@xxxxxxxxxx>
> >>>> wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Olav,
> >>>>> How offline are these districts? Can they not get connected through
> >>>>> mobile
> >>>>> usb modems/dongles? There is so much to gain from online deployment
> >>>>> that I
> >>>>> would check out every alternative of connectivity before deciding to
> go
> >>>>> completely offline. The mobile Internet solution is working very well
> >>>>> in
> >>>>> Kenya. With the offline data entry capabilities in the upcoming 2.4,
> >>>>> the
> >>>>> districts do not have to be online during the data entry process,
> which
> >>>>> is a
> >>>>> major advantage in areas with poor/unstable connectivity.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Further recommendations on deployment can be found in the
> >>>>> implementation
> >>>>> guide here:
> >>>>> http://dhis2.org/doc/snapshot/en/implementer/html/ch04.html
> >>>>> And a presentation on the same topic in the zip file with
> >>>>> implementation
> >>>>> guide slides here:
> >>>>> http://dhis2.org/download/presentations/presentations.zip
> >>>>> Ola
> >>>>> -------
> >>>>>
> >>>>> ----------------------------------
> >>>>> Ola Hodne Titlestad (Mr)
> >>>>> HISP
> >>>>> Department of Informatics
> >>>>> University of Oslo
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Mobile: +47 48069736
> >>>>> Home address: Vetlandsvn. 95B, 0685 Oslo, Norway. Googlemaps link
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On 18 August 2011 15:02, Jason Pickering <
> jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx>
> >>>>> wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> One strong reason not to use it is the relative lack of testing. In
> >>>>>> theory, it should work, but just as with MySQL, much more testing
> has
> >>>>>> occurred with Postgres than with the other database systems.
> >>>>>> We have some beta-level Windows installers, which might be of
> interest
> >>>>>> to
> >>>>>> you, which work pretty well under supervised circumstances. It might
> >>>>>> be
> >>>>>> something to consider if you want a relatively automated install of
> >>>>>> the
> >>>>>> DHISLive/Postgresql stack, with automated restore of the database.
> >>>>>> Regards,
> >>>>>> Jason
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 2:48 PM, Olav Poppe <olav.poppe@xxxxxxxxx>
> >>>>>> wrote:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Hello,
> >>>>>>> we're looking at what do to with offline installations for the
> >>>>>>> implementation here in Ghana. Are there any reasons not to use DHIS
> >>>>>>> Live?
> >>>>>>> Can H2 be used (importing the metadata into an empty database), or
> >>>>>>> should
> >>>>>>> postgres be set up as well?
> >>>>>>> There are 170 districts here, and about half of them might have to
> be
> >>>>>>> offline installs so an easy-to-use solutions would be good.
> >>>>>>> Thanks,
> >>>>>>> Olav
> >>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> _______________________________________________
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> >>>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> _______________________________________________
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> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
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> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Cheers,
> >> Knut Staring
> >>
>
>