Sequentum Cloud FAQ

There are lots of scrapers on the market - why is Sequentum better?

• Sequentum Cloud offers seamless configuration of scalable agents that effortlessly meet complex requirements. 

• Built-in change tracking, de-duplication and strong proxy management capabilities as well as Sequentum's exceptional resistance to bot-blocking and new nested text format keep Sequentum ahead of the curve. 

• Our unique nested text format instructs our absurdly powerful web data extraction and robotic process automation software to interact in deeply customizable ways with all manner of web accessible data – websites, documents, databases, files, audio streams, images, video, whether via browser, parser or injected JavaScript calls. 

• Maintaining end-to-end data quality, from ingestion to delivery, exemplifies Sequentum's dedication to excellence and the edge we provide to our clients. These are just a few examples of what makes us the tool to choose for those seeking the Sequentum Edge. 

Why did we build Sequentum Cloud?

• As data is democratized, the tools that support users from students to data engineers at startups, small, medium and even enterprise companies need to be as well. 

• Our vision includes users from students to data engineers who can get started immediately and leverage our best-in-class technology and be part of our community on our Marketplace where users will be able to publish their agents to be licensed.

Does Sequentum Cloud impact Sequentum Enterprise Data Platform or Sequentum Bespoke, our Managed Services?

• Sequentum Enterprise will continue to be supported and updated with the highest of standards as usual.

• Sequentum Cloud has a growing team to ensure our same level of customer support.

• Our expanded team is in place to onboard customers during these initial months and will be working to ensure our customers are set up for success and are leveraging every powerful component of Sequentum Cloud.

How do I register for an account on Sequentum Cloud?

• Go to the https://dashboard.sequentum.com/register registration page and fill out the form to request an account. Due to high demand, we are putting all new account requests onto a waiting list. We will review your request and respond when we are able to remove you from the waitlist and approve your account.

How long does it take to get off the waiting list?

• It may take up to a week or more to approve new account requests at this time. If you have submitted a request and are still waiting, please email cloud.support@sequentum.com for an update on your position in the waitlist.

What do I get with my account?

• When your account is approved you will be invited to sign in to Sequentum Cloud. Your account comes with full access to the Sequentum Cloud Editor, which allows you to create online agents to gather data from websites. You also get access to the Cloud Control Center where you can deploy and monitor your agents while they run.
  All accounts come with an initial $5.00 worth of credit that you can use to test run your agents. When the $5.00 of credit is used up, you will need to purchase additional credit to continue to run any agents that you have created.

What is an agent?

• When we talk about an “agent” at Sequentum, we mean a semi-autonomous application that you write using the Sequentum Cloud Agent Editor. The purpose of an agent is to extract data from a website. It does this by navigating to a site and following the paths that you have instructed it to follow to find specific data, such as product and price information, and then collecting that data into a file. At the end of the process the agent aggregates the data and delivers it to you in a structured format, such as .csv or JSON. Using the Control Center, you can schedule an agent to run periodically to gather new data.

How do I build my first agent?

• Please use our walkthrough of how to build your first agent.

What can I do if a website is blocked?

• Sometimes when you set up an agent to gather data from a site, you find that your agent is blocked by the site. Blocking is a complex subject with many possible causes. The Sequentum Cloud Agent Editor offers tools for overcoming some types of blocking. Also, using our Residential Proxy Service, as opposed to our standard Data Center Proxies, can help get around certain types of blocking. A good place to learn more about overcoming blocking is in the Sequentum Cloud Manual page on Agent Configuration.

Can I schedule an agent to run automatically?

• Yes! Once you have built and tested an agent, you will Publish the agent to the Control Center, where you will be able to set up a schedule and run your agent automatically. See Scheduling the Agent for more information.

How do I know what my agent did? Was the run successful, or did it fail?

• The Control Center is the part of Sequentum Cloud that provides a view of all your agents. You can see the status of the latest run, as well as drill into the full run history of each agent. See Sequentum Cloud Control Center for details.

How do proxies work in Sequentum Cloud?

• A proxy (or proxy server) is an intermediary between a user's device and the internet, acting as a gateway that allows users to access websites or services indirectly by routing their requests through the proxy. The user's actual IP address is replaced by a proxy or a list of proxies, which can be rotated with each page load based on the user's requirements.
  All agents that are running on Sequentum Cloud will be using one of the two types of proxy service that we offer. Our standard proxy is a Data Center Proxy. This is a pool of IP addresses associated with a data center. These IPs can be rotated, but they can be identified and blocked by sites that are trying to prevent web scraping.
  If you find that you need a higher level of proxy service, you can switch to our Residential Proxy service. A residential proxy pool consists of a wide array of residential IP addresses that can be rotated to help avoid blocking. The residential proxy service is a premium service with associated higher costs.

What APIs does Sequentum Cloud offer?

• At launch, Sequentum Cloud does not offer any API services. We do expect to launch API services in the next few months.

How do users and organizations work in Sequentum Cloud?

• When you create an account on Sequentum Cloud, a new organization will be created for you. You can have multiple users associated with an organization, and those users will have shared access to the agents and the Control Center for that organization. For more, see the Organization and User Screen section of the manual.

How much does Sequentum Cloud cost?

• You can create an account on Sequentum and get started for free, with a $5.00 credit toward running your agents. Costs are determined by the resources that your agent will use when it is run. There are a few different factors in the cost:

  • Runtime per hour

  • Data export per GB

  • Proxy usage

• Each of the above has a base price that is determined by our tiered pricing on the Sequentum Cloud product page. The pay-as-you-go tier does not require an up-front annual commitment, but the usage prices are higher. If you make an annual commitment and move up to the Starter, Advanced, or Enterprise tier, you per-unit usage prices go down.

Why do I have to buy credits in advance?

• This is to protect you from incurring unwanted costs. When you buy credits in advance, they are consumed when your agent runs. If your agent starts to run longer than you expected, or to use more resources than you budgeted for, then the agent will stop when your credit runs out rather than continuing to run and adding to your bill.

How do I know how much I have spent on my agents?

• Click on the Usage link under Your Account on the bottom left of the Control Center.

Can I import existing Sequentum Enterprise agents to my Sequentum Cloud account?

• We have not yet released an automated tool to migrate Sequentum Enterprise agents to Sequentum Cloud but we plan to do that at some point.

How do I get started?

• Create an account, login, and follow the instructions in our our walkthrough of how to build your first agent.

What other materials are available?

• Use our Cloud Training page to view a getting started video

• Attend a weekly training webinar.

• Read the manual

Can I purchase training for myself and my team?

• Yes! Contact us at sales@sequentum.com if you would like to schedule a private training session or sessions for a fee.