Requirements

The e-Community Suite includes the e-Pledge, e-Volunteer, Allocations & Outcomes, i-Attend, i-Access, and Information & Referral modules. These modules allow remote users to access information through the Internet.
e-Pledge allows donors to manage pledging; e-Volunteer allows individuals to manage volunteer opportunities; Allocations & Outcomes allows agencies to manage their grant proposals; i-Attend allows online event registrations; i-Access allows online access to account dashboard information; and Information & Referral allows controlled access to a searchable database of community programs and services.

In order to ensure that information is kept private, a number of security measures should be implemented. First, the customer should have a properly configured firewall. Andar Software does not recommend or support any specific firewall hardware or software. Andar Software recommends a separate server for the web site. This will help isolate the web site and would-be hackers from the database server. The web server should be attached to the DeMilitarized Zone (DMZ) port available on most firewalls. The DMZ allows for extra barriers between the Internet and the web server as well as between the web server and the rest of your network. Information on web pages should also be protected by implementing "Secure Socket Layer" (SSL), also known as "https." With SSL, all communication between the browser (donor/agency) and the web server is encrypted. To implement SSL, the customer must obtain a server-specific certificate from an authorized vendor such as www.VeriSign.com. Similarly, Andar's e-Pledge module can automatically authorize credit cards through PayPal or CyberSource. See below for additional information on Credit Card Processing.

Because each web page is constructed from countless pieces of information stored in your Andar database, both the database server and the web server must be located on the same high-speed local network. Andar Software does not recommend that the web server be located off-site while the database is on-site. An Internet communication link between the web server and the database server would seriously degrade performance of the web site. For smaller organizations, the server should be a dual core 2.7GHz processor with 4Gb RAM or better, while larger organizations could configure a quad core 2.7GHz processor with 16Gb RAM or larger. The web application is not very disk intensive so 18GB of available disk drive space (in a RAID-1 configuration optional but recommended for redundancy) should be sufficient for the operating system and other required software. Some large organizations may wish to implement multiple load balanced web servers.

The web server requires Windows Server 2019 64 bit or newer (Andar Software recommends Windows Server 2019) with Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) installed and configured. Other operating systems and web servers are not recommended at this time. 

Check with your service provider for available services. In all cases, an external fixed IP address is required for your web server.

Andar’s e-Community (e-Pledge, e-Volunteer, etc.), as provided, is very lightweight but highly customizable. Customers can add graphics, optional web pages, and other content, all of which will affect internet bandwidth requirements. Performance will be impacted by unrelated traffic such as email, general web surfing, video streaming, etc., from staff sharing the same internet connection. In light of all these variables, Andar Software cannot estimate the customer’s internet bandwidth requirements.

Andar Software does not recommend opening SQL server ports to the general Internet. This could be used to allow remote users to access the Andar database directly, but it exposes your database to hackers and sniffers. This scenario is not recommended.

Virtual Private Networks will allow remote users to become part of your network through the Internet. Once on the network, they can install Andar on their computer and use it like any other users. A high speed Internet connection is strongly recommended for this scenario. Performance may not be suitable for heavy users and is recommended for the occasional, low usage users only.

A separate server with Terminal Services installed will allow remote users to access Andar securely through the Internet. Andar Software recommends at least 1Gb RAM plus 256Mb per concurrent user on the terminal server. Other services such as Citrix may also be used. A Gigabit LAN path between this server and the Andar database server will significantly improve performance.

Andar requires a license server software called the “Client Manager Console” (CMC), provided with Andar, to run on a machine where a provided USB device is connected. Although this software can be installed anywhere within your TCP/IP network, it is normally recommended that the CMC be installed on the same machine as your Andar database.

Andar will run in Virtualized environments.

Although SQL can be virtualized, Andar Software recommends that SQL be run on bare metal.

Andar Texting requires a texting service from EMS. Please contact Tom Evans at tom@emsmail.org.

Andar Texting also requires the e-Community Suite Base module.

MIG and Executive Plus are also highly recommended to take full advantage of conversation workflows and personalized messaging.

Andar API requires the e-Community Suite Base module and Executive Plus.