LMS Local Hosting: Advantages, Disadvantages & Requirements

Hosting Your Own LMS System Advantages, disadvantages and requirements.

What exactly does ‘hosted’ mean?

A learning management system (LMS) is fundamentally a software – a software which needs a home to store all its data.

This home is where the data is ‘hosted’.

Two Types of LMS Hosting

Locally Hosted This is when an organisation hosts the data on their own internal server. This makes the LMS simply a product sold to the supplier.

Cloud Hosted This is also referred to as a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform. Cloud hosted systems house their data on the suppliers server and an organisation will access it through the internet.

Where is it stored?

For a cloud hosted system, it is important to consider exactly where your data is hosted. While suppliers may be based in one country, they may host the data elsewhere to reduce costs.

While hosting offshore may seem cheaper, it also means the data stored there may be subject to that country’s privacy laws.

Locally Hosted vs Cloud Hosted

Advantages and Disadvantages When comparing these two hosting locations, it becomes important to weigh up the pros and cons.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution. What is beneficial for one business may hinder another.

Locally Hosted Advantages

Disadvantages

• Flexible customisation options in terms of branding, dashboard layouts etc.

• Free reign to update, integrate and develop with an internal team • Control over data security • Data can be cut off from the internet completely.

• Need to have appropriate programming expertise and knowledge internally • Large upfront investment for software, infrastructure (servers) and staffing • Reliance on internal infrastructure may limit the amount of users who can access the system offsite.

Cloud Hosted Advantages

Disadvantages

• Cost effective: You only pay for what you • Depend entirely on the internet to run use • Less customisation options available • Low learning curve: Typically designed for • You are at the mercy of the supplier for the non-IT savvy where your data will be hosted.

• Accessed from anywhere, anytime, on any device • More readily available support • Scale more elastically – matching growing inputs with the right amount of resources • Rapid deployment.

Locally Hosted Systems: Key Requirements

Data Storage For small to midsize businesses, the server costs will vastly outweigh any benefits as hardware eats up limited space and resources. Servers themselves will require round-the-clock attention.

Accessibility & Connectivity Content needs to function on a wide array of devices, browsers and operating systems.

HTML5 compatibility is now industry standard.

Considerations for employees with disabilities is also required.

Dedicated IT Team Expertise is required to ensure the software runs smoothly and is maintained. For a business of any size, this means a team. A team is a fixed cost, with multiple salaries.

Domain Name Organisations will likely want a domain name (web address) so users of the system can find it. Without a domain, users may also be unable to access the LMS outside a local network.

You can learn more about this topic by checking out the full article: https://acornlms.com/resources/hosting-yourown-lms