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Overview

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Main Office / Adonis Cloud

The Adonis HR solution exists out of four systems or applications developed by Adonis.
These are;

1. The Adonis Personnel Manager (APM),

2. The Adonis Personnel Portal (APP),

3. The Adonis Web Recruitment (AWR),

4. The Adonis Replicator (AR).

The following five network components are required;

1. Microsoft SQL Database Server

2. Microsoft IIS

3. Microsoft File Server

4. Microsoft Terminal Server

5. FTP Server / Azure Storage Account with SFTP enabled

Employees, Applicants, Manning-, and Home -offices are accessing the system via the Public Cloud. The employee and applicants use the APP and AWR running on the ISS, the Manning - and the home office using the Microsoft Remote App.

Local Vessel Installation

The onboard installation is similar to the Main Office. The difference is that the Terminal Service Server is redundant. If the Adonis Personnel Manager is needed onboard, it can be started directly from a shared drive.
When installed onboard, the Adonis Personnel Portal functions as the Adonis Crew Portal and supports the Adonis Time Clock and Adonis Gangway Access Control.

Online Vessel Installation

Suppose the vessel operates in an area covered by a stable broadband connection with a low response time. In that case, a vessel installation is redundant, and the vessel connects to the application using the Online Vessel Installation Configuration. Accessing the application via the Public Cloud.
The system supports vessels using a Local Vessel Installation and other vessels using the Online Vessel Installation. However, a vessel can't use both configurations.

Database Server MSSQL

Adonis supports the following versions of MSSQL: 2022, 2019, 2017, 2016,2014
For the host installation, we recommend going for a full version of MSSQL, but for the lesser installations on board, it will be enough to install the express versions. Express versions are free to use but have a restriction in database size and the amount of memory they can access. (It is important to remember when you replicate scanned documents to the vessels).
If a site is close to limiting what is supported by the express version, it is effortless to upgrade to a full version of MSSQL.
Limitations for MSSQL 2017 Express (Limitations for previous versions see Microsoft.com)

• Maximum database size 10 GB

• No SQL Server Agent Service

• Uses no more than 1Gb of Ram

Host Installation:

Database Server: MSSQL Server 2022, 2019, 2017, 2016, 2014
Hardware Requirements: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143506.aspx
Recommendation:
Memory: 6GB RAM (or more)
Hard disk: 120GB or more for the Adonis database (Estimated a 20-40 GB database on the office side. multiplied by 3 to have enough space for a backup to disk and restore as a secondary database)

Vessel installation

Database: MSSQL Server 2017 Express
Hardware Requirements: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143506.aspx
Recommendation:
Hard disk: The database will probably not grow over 10GB
Memory: 1 GB RAM reserved for SQL Server for maximum performance (so 2-3 GB RAM for the entire server may be enough)
For numbers of crew greater than 100/ 150 with an average of 15 to 20 scanned documents each, you should consider a full version of MSSql (see host installation)

Applications

Adonis Personnel Manager

Location: Vessel, Host
This is the main application and is a Windows client executable running on any standard Windows PC. The application is generally installed on the file server and accessed by the client via a shortcut.
The application is developed in

• Embarcadero Delphi 10.2 using 3^rd party components for the user interface

• The application is compatible with Windows 7, 8, 10, and 11

Adonis Personnel Portal (Public/Local Cloud)

Location: Vessel, Host
Developed in Microsoft .Net 4.7
Microsoft Internet Information Server 7.5
Hardware / Software Requirements: Standard Windows server requirement.
Recommendation:
Memory: 6GB RAM (or more)

Adonis Replicator

This runs as a service, which can be the database server or the file server. In addition, a program called Replicator monitor is installed to monitor the service running on different sites. Hardware requirements: Standard Windows server requirements
Bandwidth:
The replicator checks the bandwidth of the available connection, and if it is below a user-definable offset, the replicator only replicates the most relevant metadata. For example, Scanned documents are put on hold and replicated on request or when the bandwidth is above the given offset.
Only data relevant to the vessel is replicated.
The replication schedule is user-definable, and Adonis advises replicating as often as every 5 or 10 minutes. This keeps the data packages small.

Azure

It is said that for every task to perform, there are at least three different ways of doing it in Azure. So, the details provided here are not requirements but more suggestions, considerations or guidelines when using Azure as the platform for providing the service.
You may utilize IaaS (Infrastructure as a service – read virtual machines) or PaaS(Platform as a service) services, or you may combine them to provide the services.

IaaS

When using IaaS, consider it the same as you would host it from virtual servers in your network but accessing it from a remote location.
To avoid latency and/or bandwidth issues(read performance issues), you should run APM in a terminal services solution (like Windows Virtual Desktop or Citrix) in the same data centre as your database server. Running the Adonis Personnel Manager (APM) on a client computer with the servers in Azure, although technically possible, will most likely result in performance problems.

PaaS

SQL Database

Instead of running a SQL server in a virtual server, you may utilize the SQL Database offer in Azure. Our current minimum recommendation is an S2-level database. For production databases, we would recommend geo-replication to one or more additional data centres to establish a disaster recovery solution.

App Service

For the Adonis Personnel Portal, instead of running a virtual machine with the portal, the App Service offer in Azure can be used.
However, be aware that the Personnel Portal installation/upgrade is an installation executable that is executed on an IIS server, so you would either have to run the installation/upgrade on a local computer or a virtual machine in Azure and then upload the installed directory structure to the App Service.
The recommended service level has not been determined yet, but a standard small App Service Plan can be a starting point.
An App Service Environment can provide better security but also come at a much higher cost. So you may have to consider your requirements for security v.s. the additional cost.
The App service should run in the same data centre as the database(both for performance and cost).

Virtual machine

For Adonis Replicator and Adonis Notification service for APM, we are not aware of any suitable PaaS services, so you need to use a virtual machine (IaaS) to run these services. A B2-level virtual machine may be suggested as a starting point.

Windows Virtual Desktop

Windows Virtual Desktop is a comprehensive desktop and app virtualization service delivered on Azure. It can run APM in the same data centre as your database server in Azure to avoid latency and/or bandwidth issues in the communication between the application and the database server. Ensure the session hosts are in the same datacenter as your database server.