Sourceanywhere Hosted - The 'perfect' Online Source Control Solution

By Author: scottcarlos18
Total Articles: 162
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Having been using Dynamsoft SourceAnywhere Hosted for 14 months, I am now feeling that I should write something about my experience with it - the best online Source Control system I've ever used.

Part I. Four reasons make me choose SourceAnywhere Hosted.

Here I summarize several reasons the first time I chose this solution and I am still happy about the decision I made :-)

* 1. Perfect back-up mechanism used by Dynamsoft.
a) All the data is hosted in a world-class data center - Primus Data Center. It is SAS70 and CICA5970 certified;
b) All the data are backed up onsite every 20 minutes;
c) All your data are backed up offsite to a separate data center several hundred miles away every day;
d) Furthermore, Dynamosft allows you to download the real-time back-up of your database to your local disk.
* 2. It's doing anything we're expecting of as a source control tool and more.
a) Basic source control operations: Add, Check Out, Edit, Check In, Branch, Merge, Show difference, Show History, Search …
b) Wide IDE integrations: Visual Studio 6/2003/2005/2008/2010, Eclipse, ...
... Dreamweaver CS3/CS4/CS5, MS Access and more. I am using VS 2008 and 2010. SourceAnywhere works very well for me.
c) It allows me to manage the user rights on both repository level (i.e. who can/can't access some repositories) and project level (i.e. who can/can't access some projects in a repository).
d) It has a similar UI as MS VSS. Although I was not a VSS user, it didn't take a long time for me to figure it out. Thanks for the friendly and easy design of the user interface. LOL
* 3. Fast and steady connection from anywhere, anytime.
You can access your data in SourceAnywhere 24/7. Besides, I am impressed a lot by the high & steady performance of this online source control system. In the past 14 months, I didn't experience any interruptions except for the normal server maintenance.
* 4. Excellent technical support team.
Of course, no product is perfect! I did encounter some issues/questions when using SourceAnywhere Hosted. However, what really impress me a lot is that all my questions are always handled timely and satisfactorily :D

It's always easy to get support from Dynamsoft: ticket system, email support (sawh[at]dynamsoft.com), online chat support, online meeting and phone support.

The superior support really makes SourceAnywhere Hosted a "perfect" product. :D

Part II. Get Started with SourceAnywhere Hosted in only 10 minutes.

The first time I met SourceAnywhere Hosted, I got confused a bit about the Web Portal, Server Manager and GUI Client. One reason is that I don't like reading help doc ;)
Anyway, I will list the easiest way to get started with SourceAnywhere Hosted.

1. Choose a SourceAnywhere Hosted Plan to sign up.
Hosting PlansNote: the 'Space' here means shared space size. For example, I have 3 team plan users, so all the 3 users can share 3000MB space.
2. Enter your information to finish the sign-up.

NOTE:
1. You need to enter your cc info since it is not optional here. If you dont want to use your real cc info before the 30-day trial expires, you can also temporarily enter a fake cc info. (see screenshot)
2. Personally, I entered my real cc since it is easy to pause the service (How to?) if I was not satisfied with it after 30-day trial.
3. After sign-up, you will get an email with an activation link. Please click on it to activate your account. A few seconds later, another email containing your login info(Organization ID, user name, password) will be sent to you.
4. Ok. The last step is to install SourceAnywhere Hosted client and Server Manager. Download Page. After installation, you can use the login info you got in step 3 to connect to the hosted server and start your evaluation :)

SourceAnywhere Hosted Client:where you can upload files, check in/out files and check file/project history etc.

SourceAnywhere Hosted Server Manager (For Admin only): admin can create/delete users, assign user access rights on both repository level and project level.
5. Make a decision if you want to go with SourceAnywhere Hosted after evaluation period. :D
Yes - Check your billing info (credit card info) in Web Portal to make sure your account can be charged successfully by Dynamsoft.
No - Log into Web Portal, and go to Manager number of users or Space Sizeto cancel your account (i.e. reduce your user number to ZERO).
Q: What's Web Portal?
A: A portal where you can update your account profile, registered credit card info, add/reduce users. Below is the link to web portal:
https://www.dynamsoft.com/Secure/SAWHosted_Signin.aspx

BTW, there was FREE Plan (permanent free, 3 users + 25 MB space) available before, you may need to contact Dynamsoft for it since it's not available on website now.

Logan is recommending SourceAnywhere Hosted free source control plan.