Tag Archive for system down

Best practices for network security

September 4, 2012 admin Uncategorized
Twitt

While i think a lot of companies hide their head in the sand when it comes to understanding and deploying network security, it is something that will eventually bite you in the bum and can have severe consequences.

Securing the modern business network and IT infrastructure requires an end-to-end
approach and a clear understanding of vulnerabilities and how to protct against them.

While such knowledge cannot prevent all attempts from hackers, it can empower network engineers to reduce your risk by eliminating certain general problems and  quickly detect breaches. With the ever-increasing complexity and number of attacks, a keen approach to security in both large and small enterprises is critical.

Having a good think and strategy about your security policies can significantly increase the security of a network. While policies can be very complex and generally annoying to end users, it is often the simple aspects that prove most useful.

A centrally managed anti-virus update system should now be common place but consider adding a host scanner facility to detect new or out of date systems and have complete control of all your assets on the network.

In general, policies and automatic enforcement tools help reduce the obvious security flaws so that network engineers can concentrate on the more complex issues.

Here are some ideas of what a security policy should consist of:

• Scan and lock down unneeded network ports on all network devices, turn off unnecessary services

• Centrally managed anti-virus software on entire network

• Utilize central security updates, i.e. Windows Update Server

• Secure central authentication for example, Radius, Windows/Kerberos/Active Directory

• Firewalls at all public-private network transit points

• Version controlled and centrally deployed firewall rule sets

• Set-up DMZ protected zones to protect externally facing servers

• Password policy (i.e. must change every 3 months and must be “complex password”

• Proactive network scanning for new and out of date hosts

• Network monitoring systems for suspicious activity

• Incident response procedure (policies, process, etc.)

• Web Browser protection from malicious software downloads

The above list represents the key items one should have in your security policy. There are probably a lot of other items one could have in a policy. It’s important to balance factors such as company size, risk analysis, cost and business impact when determining the items to include in a security policy.

Start with understanding what exactly is on your network (especially mobile devices accessing files and email) and then what you actually need. You could have an extremely locked down and secure network but one old Windows 2000 computer that lets hackers directly into your internal network in 2 minutes flat.

Every company regardless of size should have a security policy as all computers are a potential target for a security breach.

Do you have any policy ideas to add to the list?

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7 valuable VMware infrastructure backup tips

August 31, 2012 admin cloud computing, Uncategorized
Twitt

At small companies or in brand-new virtual infrastructures, backup can be straight forward. You may be able to use a free tool that makes VMware backup deceivingly simple.

However, over time, your infrastructure will probably grow, as well as the number of virtual machines and the amount of data needing backup. As this happens, you’ll find what other virtualization experts have already figured out – virtualization backup can be much more complex that it seems and you need the right tool for the job.

In this blog, you’ll learn how to save time, prevent data-loss, and create a bulletproof VMware backup infrastructure by employing the 7 valuable VMware infrastructure backup tips from virtualization backup experts.

Selecting the right tool for the job of backing up your virtual infrastructure is the critical piece of your entire virtual infrastructure protection plan.

Here are the steps I recommend to select the right backup tool for your virtual infrastructure:

1. Don’t assume you have to select the same tool as everyone else. There are a number of good tools on the market. Just because a tool has the best marketing strategy doesn’t make it the best tool. Do your own research and find the best tool for your environment.

2. Test tools for yourself and take your time doing it. Every tool offers a free trial period that allows you to test their product on your own infrastructure (plus, if you are really interested in the product, most companies will give you a free extension to try their product longer than the original trial). Make sure that you test these tools in a test environment and not your live infrastructure. Put these tools through their paces, with your applications, and focus on features related to recovery.

Remember, you aren’t just getting a tool to backup your VMs, what you really want is them to be restored and FAST. Test things like multiple restores at a time, file level restore, and application integrity after restore.

3. Make your life easier by selecting a tool that has the latest features. Your tool should offer features like fast restore for multiple VMs, application integrity in your backups, replication, backup of multiple hypervisors, backup of physical and virtual servers, deduplication, and more. Cost make effect your decision here…

Avoid VMware Snapshots of Virtual Machines

Snapshots aren’t backup. Snapshots should only be used for very short-term and not as your primary backup method. Let’s say that you are about to perform an application upgrade, you would take a snapshot (and do a backup) before the upgrade. Then, the next day, if the app upgrade was successful, you would remove your shapshot.

A week later you needed a pre-upgrade database then you could restore if from your backup and not the snapshot.

Snapshots take up tons of disk space and space in your backup repository. Space used by snapshots is, many times, forgotten and easily overlooked, causing unexpected results.

Plan for Offsite Backup and Replication

The problem with so many VMWare backup tools is that they stop once something is backed up. They leave the files on a disk and leave it up to you to figure out how to get them offsite in case there is a disaster.

Something else to consider is that you may need to recover a virtual server on a physical server or vice versa. Can your backup product cover all of these scenarios?

I recommend moving to 100% virtualization, backing up all VMs, and then replicating those backups offsite. In the event of a disaster, you’ll be able to bring them up at the DR site. And more importantly all your data will be on another site if you just need to restore one VM.

Test your backups!

Just because your backup software tells you that backups were “100% successful”, doesn’t mean that you can restore your data. You need to either manually test your virtual machine restores AND applications inside or have your backup software do this for you.

How many VMs have you restored that bluescreened when they were booted up?

How many VMs have you restored that had corrupted Exchange or SQL server databases?

To ensure that your backups will be 100% recoverable, make sure that you test:

• VM image level restore
• VM file level restore
• The VMs boot successfully and filesystems (like NTFS) mount perfectly
• The application databases mount and services start (e.g. Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint)

Testing all of this on a periodic basis can be very time consuming but it is vital to save your bacon and your job / company should it ever be needed in an emergency.

Cloud Backup and DR

Replicating to your own secondary datacenter is an option however not everyone has a secondary datacenter, nor does it make sense for everyone to build one. Cloud-based disaster recovery services are now available that can store your replicated data pretty affordably so worth considering.

How Applications Affect Backups

End users now expect applications like Exchange, SQL, and Sharepoint to be available 24×7. There is no more backup window. Your backup software must be able to:

• Backup mission critical applications without downtime
• Verify that backups have application integrity
• Restore individual items from mission critical applications back into production

The purpose of your backups is to also protect your applications. Make sure that your backup software not only backs up VMs, but recovers your critical application data.

Agent-less vs agent-based backup

From our experience, agents may be a headache to deploy but they do tend to be more reliable communication with the agent and server. However, agent-less backups means it is very simply to deploy and manage. So look at both options and see which one works best for you.

Conclusion

Make sure that you plan for offsite backup and replication, consider cloud-based
backup, and use automated testing to ensure backups are recoverable. Selecting a backup tool that knows your applications and can reliably restore them is crucial. Finally, don’t dismiss any tool without fully understanding and testing its capabilities, personally in your test environment.

 

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Free Anti-virus vs Paid anti-virus

July 11, 2012 admin Uncategorized
Twitt

Do you remember those days when you used to go in to a pub with your friends or colleagues and you would be asked if you could leave your credit card behind the bar so that they could keep a tab for you? I remember it anyway!!  How trusting were we?

We wouldn’t entertain the idea today such is as our risk averse nature. It would appear that our fears are justified however. Over £530 million pounds a year in the UK falls foul to credit card fraud and a big chunk of this is through on line fraud i.e. somebody accessing your personal details on your computer without your consent.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus

So how do we guard against this? Well normally we download anti virus software and then don’t give it too much thought thereafter. But which software? There is a big choice out there in terms of anti virus software and some of it is free so it’s a no-brainer isn’t it ? Just download the free one….Now we all like something that is free but will it do the job you are expecting it to do? Let’s have a quick look at the two main differences between free and paid anti virus software;

Kaspersky anti virus

1.The main difference is the level of support you receive. With paid anti virus software you will have access to a support team of technicians who can handle any problems you may have and deal with your queries. With free anti virus software you are pretty much on your own. Yes you can probably access tutorials and forums but there is no technician on standby to answer your call.

AVG Anti-Virus 2012

2.Another significant difference is what features are included in the anti virus programmes. With free anti virus software many of the advanced features are removed and then you are bombarded with sales messages from the anti virus software company trying to entice you to upgrade to a paid service.

Titanium Maximum Security

Sometimes free anti virus software is an ok option. If you only use your computer for playing games and basically anything where you don’t have to access the internet then free anti virus software is fine. In many ways it performs the same as paid anti virus programmes but you just have to be a little more tech-savvy and proactive about guarding against threats. If that sounds like too much trouble and you just want an easy life with some peace of mind then paying for a more sophisticated anti virus solution is probably a safer option.

avast! Free Antivirus

Like so many other things in life, you get what you pay for. If you fall into that risk averse category and wouldn’t dream of handing over your credit card to a stranger in a bar then a paid for anti virus solution is going to be the one for you!

For advice about anti virus software and any other IT support options contact Colins-IT on 0800 107 7782 or email sales@colins-it.co.uk

Click here for more info on Trend anti virus

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The Importance of Being…..Social

March 4, 2012 admin Uncategorized
Twitt

Social Media has changed the world… a cliché but true. Wouldn’t it have been fascinating if social media had existed back in history? You can just imagine what Oscar Wilde would have done with Facebook or Twitter, though I guess the number of characters would have been frustrating for him.

I still like to think he would get more followers than Justin Bieber though!  And what about the great industrialists of the time? Isambard Kingdom Brunel might have tweeted something like “just finished designing the Clifton Suspension Bridge, please like my page.”  It amuses me to think how historical figures may have used social media but just how important is social media to your business?

It wasn’t so long ago that it didn’t even exist and businesses still managed to trade with each other so what’s the big fuss? That’s true, but the mere fact that it exists means that there are now extra channels available that you can use to promote your business and if you don’t do it, you can be pretty sure that your competitors will be.

The word social suggests that these are tools for building relationships and keeping your friends/colleagues/associates aware of what you have been up to. All of this is true but don’t under estimate the power that social relationships can have with helping to build and grow your business.

This doesn’t mean that you cynically litter your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts with promotional messages. People will soon get tired of that and before you know it you will find yourself unfriended!! There is a balance to strike here and how your business manages its social media output is important in terms of the image that you want to convey to both your friends and your customers.

Like it or not (see what I did there!) social media is here to stay and everybody from big businesses to small business owners are using social media as part of their marketing strategy. So what are the benefits? Here are a few for you to think about;

  • Through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc you can start to differentiate yourself from your competitors through your profile and the type of posts that you make
  • You can share content through blog posts, articles and videos which help demonstrate your expertise in the field that you are in and make you the go-to person for that product or service
  • You can connect with people across the world sharing your ideas, building friendships and creating trust so that people will want to do business with you
  • Through the creation of fan pages you can showcase your business and target your audience effectively

All very good I hear you mutter but when am I going to find the time to do all this? This is a problem that most businesses face and this is where Colins-IT can help you.

Ever since the launch of social media Colins-IT has been monitoring its trends, understanding its impact and measuring what works and what doesn’t. We have helped several businesses by managing their social media so that they can concentrate on what they do best…running their business.

We have helped businesses grow their numbers of followers, showcase their products and services, and helped them generate more traffic to their websites and get new sales leads. Don’t just take our word for it. Here is what one of our customers has said about our social media management service;

“Colins-it has been managing my social media for a few weeks now and I have seen my numbers of followers on Twitter increase dramatically over this time. Having Colins-it manage your social media for you is a massive time saver and the articles that they source and post for you definitely add to your credibility and show you as an influencer in your field. I would recommend this cost effective service to anyone who wants to use social media effectively as part of their marketing strategy.”

We can manage your social media for as little as £58 +VAT so call us now on 0800 107 7782 and, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, get to understand ‘The Importance of Being….Social’

Click here for more info - http://www.colins-it.co.uk/Social-Media-Management.html

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<noscript>&amp;lt;a href=”http://twittercounter.com/colinsit”&amp;gt;Colin Durrant on Twitter Counter&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;</noscript>

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New Server Install – part 1

December 1, 2011 admin Uncategorized
Twitt
Well, it was new server install time which is always an interesting journey. Our challenge is that in this instance we were upgrading the server, rather than replacing it so the old server wasn’t online post the upgrade. However we had some tricks up our sleeve to get back to the original server if required.
Essentially the server is a dell power edge 1900 with 2 x 300gb sas drives in a hardware raid. Currently running sbs 2003 server to be upgraded to sbs 2011. The reasons we are upgrading are based on
1. Exchange 2003 no longer supported by Microsoft
2. Sbs 2003 runs on 32 bit platform but Sbs 2011 runs on 64 bit which is quicker, more stable and supports a lot more memory.
3. Being a retails business, security is critical and we are subjected to PCI security scans which was failing with the older system.
4. General software improvements and stability with newer versions of exchange, SQL and the server itself.
There were a number of SQL databases that needed to be backed up and restored. There were a few applications that need to be restored on the server. The biggest challenge we ran into was that there is some custom software on the server that runs the till system.
There are loads of different modules and customisations on the whole server required to make this run and essentially we discovered that there wasn’t really a install guide for this or procedure for this.
So while the company was pretty good with eventually getting it all back up and running again, it did highlight that we need a very specific and detailed process in place should we experience a disaster and loose the server.
to be continued…
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Why do I need IT Support for our computer systems?

May 30, 2011 admin Uncategorized
Twitt

Here are a few FAQs we have put together to help explain why you need IT Support for your business. Not all these scenarios may be relevant to your business.

1) The cost of downtime!

a. Considering that generally an employee will cost your business £20 per hour.     For every hour that they cannot access the system, costs your business £20 x no. of employees.

b. If your system is down, can you customers still place orders? What value does loss of orders have to your business?

c. General process disruption and playing catch up. If your email goes down, you could face a load of important email coming in and have to find the time to go through and respond to customer queries etc.

d. You will also need the time to catch up on client work, orders etc. This all has a knock on effect to the whole business and ultimately cash flow.

e. This doesn’t even take into account if you actually lose valuable data (a day, a week, a month?) Customer orders? Accounts? Invoices?

2) This can translate to either one member of staff that can’t do their job or the whole office. How useful would it be for an engineer to logon to your user’s computer remotely and fix the problem for them? Saves time, saves money.

3) Why do computers crash?

a. Memory and other components get hot and act erratically

b. Programming errors cause Window’s crashes (i.e. 3rd party software)

c. Problems with actual Windows itself as well as constant security updates can sometimes cause unexpected errors

d. Drivers for printers and add on cards usually are the biggest culprit. Printers and other components are made by thousands of different companies all over the world and can have all sorts of varying results / problems.

e. Hard drives have moving parts which get worn out or damage / lose data if they get jarred or shutdown in the middle of high activity.

f. 3rd party software can lock the computers resources, causing it to go into a loop called thrashing. The computer will then be very slow and un-responsive.

g. A virus infecting the system can also cause file corruption.

h. Finally, an OS can crash if information it needs is corrupted on disk

4) Are your backup’s monitored and tested? Is your critical data backed up remotely / off site? How critical is your data to your business? How many days of lost customer orders, project work, invoices, other accounts data, email and documents can you afford to lose?

5) Viruses cause downtime as well as data and Windows corruption. Is your protection up to date, do you have a strategy to deal with an outbreak? Are you using good virus protection software or something free?

6) Internet access – what is the result to your business if you lose internet access? How long can you be without internet and email for? Do you have a plan in place to deal with this?

7) Peace of mind. Your IT company should be pro-actively monitoring your systems logs and systems and dealing with small issues before they turn into large issues.

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Managed Service Contract

May 13, 2011 admin Uncategorized
Twitt

The client that we spend all day with, getting their server back up and running didn’t cost them anything as they have a managed service contract with us. Therefore, we manage their IT systems and take control, if anything goes wrong like it did, then it is up to us to fix it… Which we did… Happy client still with money in their pocket…

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