Question about OpenDental and Amazon EC2

[jaynahar]

Hello All,
I am testing latency while using AWS (with OpenDental) in the following two cases:
1. MySQL running using AWS RDS instance
2. MySQL running on AWS EC2 instance

For #1, I am able to connect using OD without any issues but not sure how to create connection for #2. I am able to make a connection using MySQL workbench by choosing TCP/IP over SSH but there is no such option in OD (or may be I do not know about it). Anyone who has been able to do this and can provide guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks,
-Jatin

[dqadri]

You have to expose the mysql daemon from your EC2 instance to your local machine, and then allow Open Dental to connect to that. I haven't looked closely at how OpenDental can utilize port numbers, but if you don't run a local mysql daemon, then it should be relatively simple.

Basically, you need to forward port 3306 from your EC2 instance to your local machine. SSH can setup port forwarding for you. Check out: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SSH/O ... Forwarding for some tips.

at some point, you should be able to connect from your local machine to the Amazon EC2 instance by using the mysql command line tool, or other database tool. If that works, then Open Dental will work as well.

[nanfad]

You can also setup the web service to connect, they call it middle tier now. You can run it over ssh with only a single port forwarded. It helps a lot with latency as well.


I am highly interested in your results regarding RDS.

Take a look at this article

http://www.laurencegellert.com/2013/05/ ... -with-aws/

[sammyp42]

Is running MySQL on Amazon HIPAA compliant? Sounds like it is as long as MySQL is encrypted. What about Google Cloud SQL? Seem to have a high level of encryption baked in... https://developers.google.com/cloud-sql/ Is this also HIPAA compliant? If not, what needs to be done to make this setup HIPAA friendly? Google Drive is already HIPAA compliant... using Google Cloud SQL seems like a perfect fit.

[mjackson]

I've been trying to get OpenDental working with either Amazon RDS or Google Cloud SQL the last day or so, and it seems that the biggest hiccup so far is that neither of these services grant you SUPER privileges, which seem required when OpenDental connects.

At the moment, I'm getting a

Code: Select all

Unable to set global sql mode. User probably does not have enough permission.

error after connecting. A little digging indicates this is because it's running

Code: Select all

SET GLOBAL sql_mode=' '

. FYI, RDS does have some entries in sql_mode, but Cloud SQL's global sql_mode is empty, so running this SET after checking the value of sql_mode would at least make this work for the Google case, but not for RDS.

The thread at viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2587 suggests that this topic came up several years ago, but I don't see any indication of a way around it.

Anyone had any luck here?

[Arna]

We are adding an enhancement shortly to allow us to operate in a Google Cloud SQL environment. We will need to do a little more research before I can confidently say that Amazon RDS will work.

[irfan]

that would be huge . please keep us updated. im on a plane and got bored so i started to look into this and came across this thread. personally i prefer amazon over google in general:)

Would love to host OD in the cloud and not worry about server failure. imaging as well but id have to get a much better connection.

[Tralston]

The bug has been fixed and is available as of version 14.2.19.0, and we should now be okay to run in a Google Cloud SQL environment. We made an adjustment so that if the SET GLOBAL sql_mode ' ' is left blank it will overlook the permission issue.

[KevinRossen]

Just an FYI. To get a business associates agreement from Amazon you have to have your EC2 run in a dedicated environment AND there is a substantial hourly upcharge for running instances on EC2. I can't share the specifics (they told me it's confidential), but it would be an understatement to say it's not very cost-effective after the upcharge.

EDIT: Well, you can get an estimate for EC2 services from their website. Based on that data, a dedicated medium server in a dedicated environment runs $1,728/mo.

[Justin Shafer]

Whoa...... This is exciting.

[dqadri]

How is this going by the way? I think I would go Google over Amazon, but obviously pricing is imporant.

[KevinRossen]

I've been on a mission to find an affordable virtual server for a few projects. I finally circled back to Google and they're apparently the most cost-effective BY FAR. You can get a BAA from them and they don't require any advanced level servers. The cheapest I found from Amazon was over $1,000 per month. Others ranged between $500-$800. Google is pennies in comparison.

But they also offer what they're calling Google Cloud SQL, which, from what I can tell, is essentially just your MySQL database running on their own MySQL server. I don't really know all the technical details yet, but it seems like it could be an attractive option. If not Cloud SQL, then you could easily setup a virtual server with either Windows 2012 or Linux (if that's your flavor). They've really built out a great looking infrastructure service. Anyway, below is a screenshot showing what would be a Cloud SQL setup running 10 hours, 5 days a week. It's a 2GB database (WAY bigger than most would need for a long time) with 2GB of RAM. That's an attractive price.



I have not yet tested it as I haven't finalized getting the BAA from them.

[nanfad]

Has anyone followed up with this?

I don't see a web based version of OD coming anytime soon. VM is just way to expensive. Cloud SQL is probably the best stop gap at the moment.

[irfan]

My IT guy got a BAA from amazon and he isnt paying that much.

[nanfad]

Amazon has many different BAA services. Was it RDS or AWS?

[irfan]

Aws

[KevinRossen]

AWS & Google Cloud are the two most affordable options out there. The key is making sure you get a BAA from whichever company you go with AND to make sure you have access control configured properly. You'll want to make sure that you're not leaving the server/SQL exposed to anyone on the internet. I have used both AWS and Google and I prefer Google because their web tools are a bit easier to use. That said, I prefer AWS for the S3 storage as it is a bit more robust in terms of controlling access to the data.

Irfan, you should share your IT guy's contact info. He seems to be very knowledgeable on utilizing AWS.

[epicurean]

Hi,
Sorry to ask a newbie question, but what is BAA? How do you go about getting one?
I am operating out of Singapore and would be interested in a google cloud sql server as well.

[Arna]

A BAA is a Business Associate Agreement. They are required as part of HIPAA in the United States (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).
For Singapore outfits, you will need to comply with your local and federal privacy laws.