Making it easier to support our self-hosted customers

4 minute read time · Updated May 8, 2023

Our MIDAS room and resource scheduling software is available in two editions, a “cloud-hosted” edition and a “self-hosted” edition.

These days, around two thirds of our customers opt for our cloud-hosted edition. Despite this, we’re still very much committed though to offering and supporting a self-hosted edition too.

Now, one of the challenges in developing a web-based application like MIDAS is that it relies on 3rd party components.

For example, to run a web based application, you first need a web server that supports the coding language the web application is written in. You also need a database server to store data for the application.

Countless combinations

Web servers first and foremost need an operating system (like Windows or Linux). They also require underlaying web server software – such as Apache or IIS – to name just two. There are of course numerous operating systems and server software, with different variations and configurations of each.

MIDAS is written in Perl. There are a number of different “flavors” of Perl for different operating systems. For example, on Windows servers both ActivePerl and Strawberry Perl are available.

Finally database servers; MIDAS currently supports MySQL and MariaDB databases, and different versions of each of these.

Here at MIDAS HQ, we have test MIDAS systems running on a range of common setups. However, it would be virtually impossible for us to test our software on every conceivable combination of Operating System, Web Server, Perl, and Database versions.

Although rare, if a self-hosted customer encounters an issue with our software on their particular setup, we’re usually able to replicate it in our labs and provide a solution.

Very occasionally though a self-hosted customer encounters an issue which we’re not able to readily identify and reproduce.

As we (rightly) don’t have access to self-hosted customer’s own servers, this can make troubleshooting challenging.

It can be even more challenging if the self-hosted customer (or their IT provider) is not especially server-savvy. For instance, we may occasionally request files from a customer to aid in our troubleshooting…

A real-world example

In a recent support request, a self-hosted customer encountered an issue after updating their MIDAS system. We weren’t able to immediately replicate this in our testing, and so we requested additional information from the customer. The customer had to contact their IT supplier for assistance in retrieving these files from their MIDAS. Their IT supplier was slow in providing the requested information, which we didn’t receive for a couple of weeks.

Once in receipt of the additional information, however, we were able to identify and resolve the issue within a couple of hours. The customer though was understandably frustrated that it had taken two weeks to resolve (due to the delay with their IT supplier).

As a result of this, we decided to take steps to make it easier for us to support self-hosted customers in the future.

Helping us to help you!

So starting with MIDAS v4.33, there’s now an option for a self-hosted customer to send us diagnostic information directly from within their MIDAS system. This bypasses situations where a customer may have to contact or raise a ticket with their external IT support/provider in order for us to assist them.

If you run into an issue with your self-hosted MIDAS system, our support team may provide you with a “Support Code”. Simply login to your MIDAS system and go to MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Database → Database Tools, and select “Send Support Bundle”.

Easily send diagnostic data to the MIDAS support team
Easily send diagnostic data to the MIDAS support team

You’ll be prompted to enter your Support Code before clicking the “Send Support Bundle to MIDAS” button. Your MIDAS system will then self-generate diagnostic information. This information is then securely sent to our support team for further analysis.

The following data is included within the support bundle that’s securely transmitted to MIDAS HQ:

  • A copy of the program files which make up your MIDAS system
  • A copy of the settings file for your MIDAS system
  • A copy of your MIDAS database
  • A copy of any MIDAS debug logs
  • Information on your server setup

This diagnostic data can really aid our support team speed up the diagnosis of the potential issue you’re having with your self-hosted MIDAS system.

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World Backup Day – MIDAS has you covered!

4 minute read time · Updated January 14, 2024
World Backup Day 2022

The 31st of March each year is World Backup Day. This day is designed to help raise awareness of the importance of keeping your critical data backed-up.

A “backup” is an additional copy of all your important files and data – for example, your family photos, home videos, documents and emails.

Instead of keeping a single copy just in one place (like your computer), the idea is that you also keep another secondary copy of everything somewhere else as well. That way, if anything should happen to the device where your original data is stored, you’ll still have a “backup” copy stored elsewhere.

Here at MIDAS HQ, we strongly believe in the importance of regularly backing-up data you can’t afford to loose. We’ve built in a number of backup features to our leading room booking and resource scheduling software to do just that!

How MIDAS backs up your data

MIDAS seamlessly makes complete and automated backups of its own database. It does this upon the first successful login each and every day. These backups are compressed, and typically backups are less than 1MB each in size. Backups are also encrypted, and stored on your MIDAS server for a length of time you specify, typically 7-30 days.

To further protect your data, these automated daily backups can optionally also be emailed daily to a specific email address too. This feature allows you to retain your own “off-site” copies of your MIDAS data within no effort!

In addition to the automated daily backups which your MIDAS system takes, we also provide the ability to instantly generate an backup at any time too! An administrator can navigate to MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Database, and use the one-click “Backup Now” button. We really couldn’t make it easier to backup your MIDAS data on-demand!

Restoring Backups

Database backups (whether generated manually or automatically) can be easily and readily restored at any time. You can choose to partially restore a part of a backup, or restore it in full – at any time, all through a simple interface. This may be accessed through MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Database → Restore. So, should you ever wish to “roll back” your MIDAS system to an earlier point in time, or if you suffer a massive server failure and loose data, you can have your MIDAS system back up and running again in no time!

Database Backup and Restore in MIDAS
Database Backup and Restore in MIDAS

For more information on the backup and restore features of MIDAS, please see mid.as/help/manage-database-settings

For our “cloud hosted” customers, we also take complete database backups three times a day. A daily backup is then separately stored off-site for a period of six months.

So as you’ll see from the above features and processes we’ve built into our software, we take backups seriously! We make it painless to ensure your important MIDAS booking data can be easily backed up and restored with minimal fuss!

Whilst you can be confident your MIDAS data is taken care of, why not take a moment to backup your own important personal files on World Backup Day? Your family photos, home videos, documents and emails are important! Can you afford to loose them!? Yes, it may be a little tedious, but you’ll be glad you did should anything ever happen to your files!

How many backups of my important data should I make?

As a general rule, it’s a good idea to have at least three copies of your important data. At least one of these copies should be kept off-site or in the cloud. This is known as the 3-2-1 backup rule.

Here’s what it means:

  • Keep at least three copies of your data, including the original data and two backups.
  • Store the copies on two different types of media, such as an external hard drive and a cloud storage service.
  • Keep one of the backups off-site. Either in a different physical location or in the cloud, to protect against disasters like fire, theft, or flooding.

By following the 3-2-1 backup rule, you can ensure your important data is protected even if one copy is lost, damaged, or destroyed.

It’s also a good idea to regularly test your backups too! Testing a backups ensure they are working properly in the event you’ll need to access them. It’s important to update your backups regularly too – to keep them current.

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Almost a third of software vendors don’t publish pricing

5 minute read time · Updated July 22, 2023

We recently looked into how long a software’s free trial should last. In doing so, we analyzed numerous competitors who also offer room booking, scheduling, and appointment software.

As part of our research, we were quite surprised at the number of vendors who didn’t display pricing information for their software anywhere on their websites.

In fact, out of the 72 vendors we analyzed, 31% of them didn’t display pricing on their websites.

Software Vendors Displaying Pricing Information On Their Websites
Software Vendors Displaying Pricing Information On Their Websites

Of the 22 vendors who didn’t publish pricing, 10 actually made no reference to the cost of their software at all!

The 12 remaining vendors encouraged those interested in purchasing or subscribing to their software to instead contact them for a price.

Why do some software vendors not display any prices on their websites?

There are a number of reasons why a software vendor might choose not to display prices on their website:

  1. Their software is customized for each customer and the price will depend on the specific requirements of the customer.
  2. The software is sold through a network of resellers or distributors. The final price will depend on the specific terms and conditions agreed upon between the vendor and the reseller.
  3. The software is offered on a subscription basis. The price will depend on the length of the subscription and the number of users.
  4. The vendor is trying to create a sense of exclusivity or scarcity around their product. They believe that by not displaying prices they can generate more interest and demand.
  5. The vendor gives different pricing deals to different customers. If they think they can get away with charging certain customers more than others for the same product/service, they won’t publish pricing on their website.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these…

The software is customized for each customer

All of the software vendors we looked at offered standard “off the shelf” software solutions. By this, we mean that the exact same software product is supplied to multiple customers. Whilst some vendors may offer additional one-off bespoke customizations, there were no indications that any vendor supplied each and every customer with bespoke software.

Here are MIDAS, we don’t understand therefore how this could be a justification for not displaying prices.

Whilst we ourselves occasionally do the odd bespoke customization for customers, any such customization is an additional cost. It does not affect the basic price of our software, and doesn’t prevent us from displaying prices.

The software is sold through resellers

Out of the 72 software vendors we analyzed, we could only find one who didn’t sell their software directly to customers through their own website. Instead, for this vendor a “How to buy” link on their website led to a “Find a local reseller” form.

All other vendors sold directly to end-customers themselves.

Therefore, aside from the one vendor who sells through resellers, this shouldn’t be a reason for other vendors to hide their prices.

The software is offered on a subscription basis and has different pricing tiers

Some subscription based software is offered at a fixed monthly or annual price for all customers. Other vendors may adopt a simple “tiered” approach – offing perhaps a very limited “Basic” package to start with. Followed by “Standard” and “Pro” packages at increasing cost.

Other vendors may offer a wider range of prices based upon specific criteria. For instance, when it comes to booking or scheduling software solutions, the price may depend on the number of bookings that can be made over a given period of time.

However, even if there are multiple pricing points, this shouldn’t be a barrier preventing a vendor from displaying prices. If pricing is dependent upon the number of bookings, users, spaces, etc, it’s not that difficult for a vendor to provide a calculator on their website. That way, customers can see the price they’ll pay for their specific service configuration.

Creating a sense of exclusivity by not displaying prices

By not displaying any publicly visible prices, prospective customers are then forced to make contact with the vendor. This initiates a dialog to between prospective customer and software vendor. During the dialog, the vendor can employ sales tactics to “hook” the prospective customer and convince them that their software is both right for them and they’re getting a great deal.

Giving different “deals” to different customers

Some software vendors may even “inflate” their prices depending upon the type of customer. For example, if a vendor thinks that a particular organization is likely to have a big budget, they may feel that they can get away charging that customer more for the same product that they typically charge another customer with a limited budget.

If the vendor was to display pricing on their website, they wouldn’t be able to arbitrarily charge different prices to different customers.

By not displaying any prices, this gives the vendor the ability to vary the price of their software at will. The customer has no “base price” to reference the price they’re quoted back to.

Ultimately, the decision to not display prices on a website is primarily a marketing and sales strategy. Software vendors may have a variety of reasons for choosing such this approach.

How we approach pricing at MIDAS

Here at MIDAS, we’re totally transparent and upfront about the pricing of our room booking & resource scheduling software.

We clearly display pricing on our website at mid.as/pricing. There’s also a “Pricing” link at the top of every page of our site too.

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Why Does Data Center Location Matter?

5 minute read time · Updated February 10, 2025
Why does Data Center location matter?

Data Centers exist all over the world. They’re used to stored all sorts of computer data, including websites and web apps, like MIDAS.

Does Data Center location matter?

Yes – The location of the data center that houses your cloud-hosted MIDAS system can have an impact on the quality of your overall experience.

One of the unavoidable aspects of long-distance internet communications is high latency.

What is latency and why is it important?

The term “latency” describes a measure of delay between two events. 

In the context of the internet, latency refers to the amount of time it takes for data to perform a round-trip between two points in a network. In the case of your MIDAS system, these two points are represented by your web browser and the server in a data center which runs your MIDAS system. 

The amount of time it takes for a unit of data to travel from the server in the data center to your browser is considered the latency of the network. This is usually measured in milliseconds and expressed as ms. This is also frequently referred to as the response time of a server.

We recently added two new data centers to our network, including one in Europe.

In our testing, we saw lower latency leading to an approximately 30% improvement in page loading times for Europe-based users accessing a MIDAS system in our EU data center vs our East Coast US location.

How does a data center’s location help reduce latency?

Being geographically closer to a data center can have several benefits, including:

  • Lower Latency: When the distance between a user and a data center is shorter, the time required to transfer data is reduced. This results in lower latency and faster response times.
  • Improved Performance: Lower latency can result in improved performance for applications and services hosted at the data center, such as faster loading times for websites, smoother streaming, and reduced lag in online gaming.
  • Increased Reliability: By being geographically closer to a data center, users are less likely to experience network congestion, data loss, and other issues that can affect the reliability of their connections.
  • Better Compliance: Data centers located in specific regions may be subject to local laws and regulations, such as data privacy and security standards, which can affect their suitability for hosting certain types of data. By being closer to a data center, organizations can more easily ensure compliance with these regulations.

How far should data centers be apart?

Having two data centers physically located next door to each other has little benefit. The whole reason to have data centers spread further apart is to reduce risk of downtime and to increase performance.

If two data centers are built next to each other and a natural disaster – like a hurricane or wildfire – hits that location, both data centers are at risk of suffering damage and outages. Whereas, if data centers are built several hundred – or indeed thousands – of miles apart, the risk of the same natural disaster hitting them all is negligible.

Similarly, in terms of performance, if a user is located in London, England, but a cloud-based application they’re using can be run from one of two data centers both located in San Fransisco, California, it will make very little difference to the client as to which data center their application is run from. However, if the client has a choice between a data center in California or a data center in the United Kingdom, there will likely be significantly lower latency from the UK data center.

So, how far apart should data centers be? They should be far enough apart as to minimize a potential disaster occurring at one location from impacting operations at other locations.

They should also be geographically distributed based upon the location that users will be connecting from. If all users will be connecting from within the US, it makes sense to use data centers around the US. If users will be connecting from all around the world, it makes sense to use data centers spread across the globe.

Our Data Centers

Earlier this year, we significantly expanded our network into new data centers.

We added new client nodes in a data center in Europe (in Amsterdam, Netherlands), and in a data center on the West Coast of the US (in Seattle, Washington).

These two new data center locations are in addition to our existing nodes residing in our East Coast US data center (in Atlanta, Georgia).

We then looked at the location of each organization with an active cloud-hosted MIDAS service. Those which were geographically closer to either our EU or West Coast US locations were seamlessly migrated to those data center locations.

Naturally, we provided customers with advance notice of proposed migrations, and allowed individual customers to opt-out, or to choose a different data center for their MIDAS system.

The client migrations went smoothly, and have lead to noticeable improvements through lower latency for many customers.

Because our cloud-hosted MIDAS systems can now be run out of three different geographic regions (US East, US West, and Europe), we now offer all new cloud-hosted customers a choice of data center where they’d like their MIDAS system to reside.

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