Self-Hosted Softrip Instances - Your Responsibilities
- Vincent Josset
If you are hosting your own Softrip instance, note that there are some core responsibilities that will fall on your IT team to set up, maintain, monitor, secure, and troubleshoot.
Your Responsibilities
Networking and Infrastructure
Your team is responsible for maintaining, monitoring, and securing your own network and infrastructure. This includes DNS, firewall configs, routing requests, WAF, load-balancing and sticky session routing, file share access, user and group permissions, domain accounts, service accounts, VPN, etc.
Maintenance Tasks
Standard maintenance tasks for your servers and applications are your responsibility to set up, maintain, secure, and monitor.
Database
Database maintenance tasks such as data backups, log backups and truncation, and other standard maintenance tasks are your responsibility. Softrip has a standard set of recommendations that you may choose to follow here:
Database Maintenance - Softrip Recommendations
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)
SSRS is the reporting platform used by Softrip for all reports and documents (e.g. Invoices and Travel Documents/Vouchers). Maintaining, monitoring, securing, and troubleshooting SSRS is your responsibility.
Documentation on Softrip’s use of SSRS and setup recommendations are available here:
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) Custom Data Extension Setup
Advanced SSRS Setup - Wildcard Certificates and TLS 1.2
Mail Server Configuration
To set up and maintain the SMTP integration in your Softrip instance (for automated emails from queues and supplier messaging for example), make sure you have the correct setup on your mail server and in Softrip settings. More information can be seen here:
Troubleshooting Mail Server Settings and Errors
OS and Software Updates
Softrip applications run on Windows Server. Your server instances (VMs) are your responsibility to maintain, secure, and keep up to date with regularly-scheduled patching and updates. In addition, it is your responsibility to apply updates to supporting software such as MS SQL Server and Redis.
This includes securing your servers with proper anti-virus/anti-malware solutions, enforcing secure cipher suites and protocols (see also Nartac Software’s IISCrypto tool), and file system and OS monitoring.
Redis Configuration
Securing, maintaining, and monitoring your Redis instance is your responsibility. Note that Redis on Windows is out of support since 2016. If you haven’t already, upgrade your Redis instance to the latest stable version on a Linux VM, or use a cloud-managed Redis instance.
Logs and Attachment Retention
It is your responsibility to set up data retention in line with your own company’s policy. Softrip has some tools and recommendations available for Softrip-specific files available here:
Logs and Attachments - Retention and Archiving
Monitoring
Ensure you have the proper mechanisms and assignments in place for monitoring all aspects of the applications, network resources, and machines that host your on-premise Softrip instance. Standard monitors for available disk space, CPU/RAM usage, and network metrics (e.g. ping etc.) are advised.
To monitor your Softrip applications and their uptime, see the Softrip HealthCheck documentation available here:
Log Pulls
If your team needs to review what happened for a given process, pulling and reviewing the associated logs are your responsibility. If during this log review you have questions about specific log lines and what they mean, you can submit a Support request to Softrip to provide details on the interpretation of those log lines.