Hey to all the Modx gang!
OK, so I have a particular situation for an upcoming contract, and I’m looking for a bit of advice.
Client is a medium-sized music store that focuses on wind and brass instruments. They have a current site with a pseudo e-commerce solution that works (I think, since I haven’t been allowed to actually see all the details of their current network) in the following fashion:
Store is using a POS/inventory management system that runs on a server on their local network. I’m thinking this is either an oracle or MS database driven application- this is running on a windows based server.
Current e-commerce pages run on a separate web server in their building on the same local network. This site is scripted in php, so I imagine that the code uses ODBC to connect to the POS/inventory database via a ODBC/DNS share on the network (again, I haven’t had a chance to look at the code, but this makes sense).
I’m going to port and clean up the current php code to access the Inventory database to modx and build my own shopping cart solution using cookies. This doesn’t scare me.
Problem is, I’m not sure what to suggest to the client in terms of how to host this site, since the store POS database is on a local network in their store. Obviously, the easiest thing to do is deploy the modx site on their current in-house web server- no fuss in terms of accessing the POS/Inventory database. However, the issue is getting a fast enough pipe to actually handle any real traffic. Currently they host their "non-store" pages with a web host, and only host the e-commerce portion in-house. I want the entire site in one location, and to access their POS/Inventory database for item listings for the shopping portion of the site.
Has anybody ever encountered this type of situation before? I’m not sure if there is a reliable, persistent mechanism to access the in-store database using a site hosted externally- let’s say a VPN of some sort- that I’ll be able to suggest that would be solid and stable.
As well, being in Canada, our options for ISP’s are limited: no $100.00/month synchronous 10mbit/second fiber available here! Cost is of concern. This would be the best option: get a good upload pipe into the building and run a hosting box locally, no headaches and complex mechanisms to connect to the in-store database!
Any ideas/thoughts/experiences would be greatly appreciated.
