I think it’s only worked twice for us, then an update kills it.
Has anyone actually been using this for real world work? Like you don’t have to think about it after its set up?
If so, what platform are you on?
I’m on bog standard, although high-end, shared hosting as most of the internet, had multiple open source (since 2005) project deployed without alot of fuss.
SuiteCRM has never really worked here.
FWIW, we started a slow roll out a few months ago and now have about 40 users and the 7.8.X LTS branch has been very stable. I’m integrating the back end with our ERP software (Macola) for Accounts/Purchase History/Inventory/Quotes. There are certainly some improvements needed but in all fairness it is working and we can’t beat the cost and the ability to customize it to fit our needs. The only add-in we’ve purchased so far was Gantt Ninja for drag and drop project scheduling. The biggest outstanding item that we need is better integration with our web based email (MDaemon) and I’m writing code for that now. FYI, we attempted to use the built in email but our test users didn’t care for it and did not like switching between the SuiteCRM email client and the web based email that they are accustomed to. (We are not Microsoft Exchange/Outlook users but the Outlook client did seem to work well using the latest source code). We have also recently used the email campaign module with success. The returned stats are addictive to watch. (The html editor does tend to change the HTML a bit but we use an external editor and just copy HTML code in.) There are a few nagging issues such as Account history does not always include the Contacts history which means that users need to drill down into Contacts and other sections to see the complete picture. Our users would like to see additional items such as new notes and corresponding user images added to the activity feed. They would like to open a module such as ‘Accounts’ and only have the sections expanded that actually include data. (The empty sections collapsed on load). I should be able to code much of this myself in time but it really is working and I’d like to say thank you to Sales Agility for supporting the project. (Thank you!)
I don’t know if this helps but I do run the server on a dedicated virtual Ubuntu 16.04LTS server instance using 7.8.12 LTS and the SuitePImproved theme. I’ve found that the key to making the upgrades simple is to just stop the virtual server and copy the entire vm directory structure to a backup folder. That way you can quickly roll the entire server back to a known good point if you have trouble without restoring the db and files individually. Since I’m making changes to the code, I also copy the Ubuntu files to my local Windows development machine running native MariaDB and Apache where I then attach the free Microsoft Visual Studio Code editor/debugger.
Thanks - I wonder if the 7.8.X would be a better choice. I don’t think we can downgrade though.
Thanks for sharing that experience!
Just one comment: if you have a virtual server, doesn’t it offer an option such as a VM “Snapshot” (or “Checkpoint”)? That is the perfect way to manage upgrade risks, a one-click solution to go back to the past.
You’re correct. I’m just using VirtualBox during the initial phase and my past experience makes me a bit leery of using their snapshot function. I know for sure that copying the entire vm is safe and easily undone. When this moves to one of our production servers with Hyper-V or Vmware I’ll be using snapshots.
That may have something to do with it. I was planning on using the 7.9 branch since it was getting the new bells and whistles but I ran into some issues and since I needed a production system I opted for the 7.8 LTS version. I made that call before rolling it out to our test users so I didn’t loose any data. I believe that you are correct about not being able to downgrade due to db differences. I believe that the 7.10 release is a LTS version and should be released soon. If I were in your shoes and I already had data in 7.9.X that I didn’t want to loose, I’d probably take the plunge and try 7.10 LTS when it becomes available.
been using it since 2009 (obviously under another name… ) or so!
we have less than 40 real users plus some occasional users.
running on our own Windows servers and IIs with MsSQL (yes M$ which brings it’s drawbacks).
Usually we keep current to latest version, but we do not use 7.9.x due to email modifications from my preliminary experience with it, I did not like it while testing the early 7.9 releases, having said that, there are many 7.9 happy users out there…
we are at 7.8.x LTS and most likely will go 7.10 when available …