Grand Central is a collection of API endpoints, services, and databases that enables keeping records of fobs used to unlock the doors and fobs used to access our equipment.

In mid 2020 Ace Makerspace moved Grand Central from DigitalOcean to Microsoft Azure. Ace Grand Central now runs on the Microsoft Azure platform which provides hosting and databases services for staging and production instances. Azure provides vendor managed services, so Ace doesn’t have to worry about provisioning server hardware and operating systems. Azure also provides the ability to integrate with common development tools and processes.

Ace has a Microsoft Azure Sponsorship subscription. The pricing is apparently 100% off standard published Pay-As-You-Go rates, however Ace needs to be disciplined in ensuring that the nonprofit credits from Microsoft Azure Sponsorship subscription are applied to the subscription. Ace also needs to ensure that the yearly application for the Microsoft Azure Sponsorship happens before the deadline or risk being charged for use of Microsoft Azure.

We use Grand Central to do the following:

• Manage the Asset Database including feeding data to wiki pages
• Log fob activity on doors
• Manage Laser Billing
• Manage Booking Record and Sessions
• Mange Laser filters for the custom Access point
• Manage Laser Access logs

Access to Grand Central

Access to Ace Grand Central is limited and managed by the team of Ace officers. Members and volunteers who need access can refer to specific how-to articles, which include login instructions for the Django Dashboard and other commonly used services.