In part one we talked about the physical network infrastructure. Those are the tangables, items that you can easily see and make on-the-fly adjustments to. In this segment we will be dealing with the human component. Policies and Procedures are the strategic link between the Company’s Vision and its day-to-day operations. But why is that so important? It’s because well written policies & procedures allow employees to understand their roles and responsibilities within predefined limits. Basically, policies & procedures allow management to guide operations without constant management intervention.

Sounds great doesn’t it? Our experience with companies show us that in a typical network environment people, for the most part, just perform their jobs. Not much though is given to policies and procedures unless it is for disciplinary action. This is why it is so important to: 1.) Regularly review what you have for policies and procedures and 2.) implement some sort of electronic system to enforce, where practical, those policies.

Here is a perfect example: XYZ Corporation has an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for the internet. This AUP specifically states that users are not allowed to download and install software from the internet to install on their computers. Experience tells us that while there will be a few users that will not do this, most will do whatever they want. It is not out of malicious intent but the somewhat misguided belief that “this is my computer” and “I need this software”. Unlike your IT manager, most of your users do not have the experience to know what applications can be installed without causing problems with other applications already on the system. This behavior exposes the company to serious viral threats as well.

We take people through our Security Readiness Profile (SRP) to flush to the surface what policies and procedures that have been lost by the way side on your quest to sustain and grow your business. Without solid and enforced polices and procedures all of the work placed on shoring up the network and implementing a full DR solution could be for naught. Take a look at some of the questions from our SRP:

1. What security measures do you have in place to: 1.) Protect your data from being taken off-site through the use of removable media (e.g. CD’s, DVD’s, flash drives, etc.) and 2.) Protect your network from people bringing in something from home that could compromise your network?
2. What type of auditing is performed on the logs generated by your firewall to ensure your network has not been compromised?
3. Is there an enforced formal process for making users aware of what is and is not acceptable use of Internet access in the work place? Is that information tracked or logged?
4. Is your networks VPN access audited to ensure that there has been no unauthorized access?
5. What is the procedure to ensure that your network routing equipment is not operating under excessive capacity?
6. Have your network workstations security levels been hardened (e.g. administrative privileges removed)  to prevent users or viruses from installing software?
7. Are all virus incidents managed in a secure manner, in that they are cleaned up, investigated, reported to management, and properly documented?
8. What type of monitoring is currently in place to track what is considered to be normal network traffic? What alerts have been put in place to notify network administrators of unusual traffic?
9. If your building is damaged or destroyed, is the media required to install software and the backup media to restore the data located at a secure off-site location?
10. With what regularity do you test your disaster preparedness/recovery plan?

These were only the 10 most commonly missed questions out of our SRP. Most people cannot answer more than 5 or 6 of those with a positive answer. That may look like a failing grade. The problem with industry standards is that they do not take into consideration that operating environment of the organization. For example: It’s best to change your password every 30 days, however if none of your information is private then why is it nessisary?

There are hundreds of questions in 10 different sections that we cover when we go through this process with you. The entire report is prefaced with an executive summary of each of the categories red flags that we recommend receive your attention. That is why this step of the process must be done with an outside company. Our goals are to help you build the necessary foundations for a solid disaster recovery plan. We do not have an emotional stake in the policies and procedures that you have in place, giving us an unbiased view.

In the next section we will start talking about prioritizing. In the interim if you would like to talk to one of our team members for more information please give us a call at 860.450.1737 or email us at sales@pds2k.com!

• In most cases a copy of all your emails.
• Do you use the save password feature in your web browser?
• When was the last time you cleared your browser cache and history?
• What documents are on your computer and what type of data do they contain?

The list can go on. Before you say “But I have a password on my computer!” there is one more important piece of information you should consider! In a few minutes more than it takes to download a small compressed CD image and burn it, hackers can unlock the Administrator password on almost any Windows laptop. Once they have administrative access to the computer, they can get at anything. There are even a host of applications that will pull the saved usernames and passwords out of web browsers. Applications that can, in mere seconds, provide them with the password to Office documents.

To expand upon the problem, people are using their tablets and smart phones to access corporate data. The question then becomes how does one incorporate all of these devices their your network infrastructure while maintaining the integrity and security of the network infrastructure. To do this you must do the following three things:

1. Define your IT requirements
2. Define your legal requirements
3. Implement some type of mobile management software

1. Define your IT requirements

To begin, you must select the types of devices and operating systems that you are willing (and able) to support. It is not possible to standardize management for mobile devices since each operating system and even the hardware itself can impact IT capabilities. For your Mobile Device Policy, here are baseline criteria to use for assessing operating systems and device types:

Based on these criteria, you should be able to define the list of form factors and operating systems you will support.

Network Accessibility

Next, you must create an environment that will support employee-owned devices during the enrollment process. The simplest solution is to set up a guest wireless network that is separated from the internal network. This can serve as the enrollment network for employee-owned devices. Once enrolled, your MDM solution should automatically evaluate and assign privileges and restrictions based upon the policies you’ve created.

Basic privileges include access to company email, company Wi-Fi, and VPN configurations. These privileges should be tied to a policy that defines the security requirements of the company. Devices that do not comply with the security policy should be blocked. For instance: devices that are jailbroken, rooted or have blacklisted apps installed.

Provisioning access through your MDM solution benefits the organization and the employee:

• Employees receive access immediately
• IT doesn’t need to manually provision devices
• Wi-Fi passwords are not shared with employees
• Remediation of future violations will be automatic since access is tied to the security policy

If you are like most businesses you rely on your computer systems to be available at all times. An outage of any kind will have a serious impact to your business and your bottom line. Without a tried and tested backup solution you can loose more than just your data.

A recent survey conducted by a major backup software vendor showed that while almost 90% of business owners understood the importance of data backup, less than 23% of small to medium businesses actually perform regular backups. Many of the reasons revolve around the fact that managing your backup can be time consuming, complex and in many instances very expensive.

This is where the pds2k.com Cloub Backup solution comes in. There is no need to throw away thousands of dollars on a tape drive that you will have to replace every time your organization out grows it capacity. No need to spend hundreds of dollars every year on tapes that, in the best of conditions, are unreliable.

Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of using a cloud based backup solution:

1. Protect your data: Your data is one of your organizations most important assets. The data is collected, compressed, encrypted and stored at a remote site. The data is not decrypted until it is restored to one of your servers so the integrity of your security is maintained.
2. Consistent Automated Backups: Backup systems must be monitored, there is no way around that. Using a managed system that provides automated reporting can allow you to focus on running your business and not running your backups.
3. Automatic Off-Site Protection: The traditional practice of taking a backup off-site is a good one, however, it either requires you to assign someone the responsibility to take a tape off-site every day or hire a company to come by and pick up the tapes. Using the cloud backup solution removes the need for you to physically transport anything. The backup is transported off-site as a natural course of action. It also means that since there is no physical media, then there is no media to fail, further increasing the reliability of the backup system.
4. Protect Remote Sites & Branch Offices: Many remote and branch offices have limited or no backup in place, or no way to monitor backups to make sure they are occurring. By using an online backup service, remote offices are protected by regular and automated backups even if they lack local technical staff. Larger organizations wishing to protect remote workers or smaller satellite offices can back up to the cloud while still using traditional software at the main office.
5. Fast Backups: With the backups happening at regular automatic intervals after the initial backup, the service runs in the background, backing up only the changed items. This allows for more frequent backups than just once a day, in many cases not taxing any existing network connections!
6.  Helps to keep data available: Online backup preserves data for small businesses with aging computers or data stored on hard drives that are not backed up regularly. Data center redundancy plans help keep information and applications available.
7. Reduces costs and allows access to advanced systems: With a subscription-based model, the cost of building and maintaining the infrastructure to support the backup application is spread across numerous customers, allowing the service provider to offer a sophisticated service at a lower cost than would otherwise be possible.
8. Increases business focus: A common complaint from IT managers  is that they have little time to think about the growth of their network. Business owners are focused on so many other issues they do not have time to see how they can further leverage technology to boost profits, revenue, and productivity. When companies no longer have to worry about data recovery, they’re free to focus on the core business. With fewer servers to manage and fewer client computers failing, there’s time to build competitive strategies that allow the company to grow.

Online backup allows a company to leave data protection to our experts. Optimized to work over limited bandwidth connections between corporate locations and the vendor’s data center, online backup is ideal for companies with one or many servers per site.  There are even options to backup a few or even several dozen PCs, and for smaller remote offices and mobile workers.

You should consider online backup if at least two of the following applies to your business:

• Small or overtaxed IT staff: In companies where IT is overtaxed, or there is no onsite IT staff.
• Smaller data sets: When network bandwidth is a consideration and data sets are large.
• No hardware for backup or an aging solution: Businesses who have no plans to invest or upgrade hardware, and no desire to own or manage it.
• A preference for Software as a Service (SaaS): More and more companies have adopted SaaS elsewhere in their business and prefer the benefits (agility, low initial price, pay-as-you-grow) over in-house solutions.
• A growing number of remote offices and mobile workers: Online backup helps to relieve remote offices of backup duties so they can focus on business operations.

Cloud-based backup offers important benefits for small businesses. With the promise of significant cost savings, flexible options, and a workforce that is free to focus on their company’s core goals, businesses are starting to move their backup operations to the cloud. pds2k.com’s cloud backup solution provides essential disaster recovery and backup protection in the cloud. With pds2k.com, you can rest assured knowing your data is being backed up automatically and continuously without disruption to your business.

I can tell you stories about people that did not take our advice and suffered a major outage. The cost of that outage was significant in terms of lost man-hours, missed client orders, etc. The need to implement a disaster recovery plan is so obviously important the question becomes: “Why don’t you have one?” I believe the reason is because it seems like such a daunting process. Over the next few weeks I will be outlining what some of our best steps are to a Disaster Recovery plan. This framework is part of our process and it has worked for many. This series of articles will help you understand disaster recovery and what it will take for your business. It is by no means a complete guide. If you would like more information or you are ready to get started, please contact our team at sales@pds2k.com or call us at 860.450.1737.

Step 1: Getting to know your network

Anything you do from a disaster recovery stand-point will be built on top of your existing infrastructure. Most networks did not grow out of a predefined plan, and even if they did, odds are good that it does not resemble that plan any longer. This is not a bad thing, a network is very much like a child, it is constantly growing and changing. That growth is not always easy; changes and fixes will have had to be made on the fly so business can continue. It’s those undocumented changes that you know about but really did not plan on having in the first place that come back to bite you later. To identify these changes and avoid potential recover issues, our technicians at pds2k.com will perform a Network Capabilities Profile or NCP.

The NCP gives you a snapshot of your current network status. We will provide you with a straight to the point bulleted list of what improvements are recommended to allow you to meet your goals. This phase focuses on your network hardware and infrastructure, getting us familiar with your network and business and allowing us to provide the information you need to build a solid foundation on which your disaster recovery plan will sit. For example: If your business relies heavily on Internet traffic, clustered firewalls and multiple ISPs will be some of the areas of focus.

Obviously it will be different for every company, but one thing is common to call. It is called “single points of failure”. A single point of failure is analogous to a house of cards, if you pull one card they all come crashing down. For instance, almost all networks have their computers connected to a hub or switch. If that switch fails then none of the computers can connect to the server. That would be a single point of failure. There are less obvious ones though. Let’s say you have only a single domain controller. If that server goes down, you will most likely lose that ability to connect to the Internet, access your stored files, and so on. If your phone lines go out, how will you communicate with the outside world? These are the things that you need to make a list of and prepare for.

Once you have that list you can start making decisions about what to do first. That is where our experience will prove valuable. We work with dozens of networks every month, so we can bring together a much larger array of options as we are drawing from a much range of experiences. We can show you several different ways to solve your problems based on how much you can budget for this phase of the project.

In the next segment we will look at policies, procedures and best practices. In the interim, if you would like to talk to one of our team members for more information please give us a call at 860.450.1737 or email us as sales@pds2k.com

Every business owner wonders when, not if, a network failure will occur. Many purchase a basic firewall and anti-virus software, and hope that everything works. These days that is not enough. Some of our clients have carefully considered and chosen to utilize the following at our recommendation.

Centrally-Managed Anti-Virus Software:

Viruses are more sophisticated and a greater threat to your business than ever before. They enter your network through web browsers, e-mail, and attachments. Some viruses require no user intervention whatsoever. Anti-virus software intended for home computers is not sufficient to protect your network. To be effective, every computer on the network must be examined at least weekly to check for infection and that virus definitions are updated.
For most of our customers, having a centrally-managed server based virus solution saves time and consolidates effort. This means that there is only one computer to check, regardless of the size of the network. The job gets done and warning messages are sent to the administrator.

Managed Firewalls:

A firewall is like a door locks. They require frequent checking. Our firewall systems provide more than just packet filtering and web filtering to block spyware, Trojans and non-work related websites. One prospective client suspected a key employee was spending company time searching on the Internet for jobs and ways that he could sue the owner. After hours spent to recreate the employee’s Internet activities, the evidence was limited to the recent three week period. We installed a more advanced firewall system that tracks, logs and reports all web traffic by individual user almost indefinitely. Problem solved.
Other product features we offer block all websites from installing software on protected computers and VPN (virtual private network) access that allows secure server connections by remote users. PDS Managed Services update all client firewalls real time, so your firewall is up-to-date and reliably secure.
Another key feature to our firewall system is firewall clustering. Firewall clustering allows a primary and secondary firewall to work in tandem. The secondary firewall is constantly monitoring the primary firewall, when the primary firewall fails to respond the secondary will assume the role of primary. Every time you update the primary firewall the secondary receives a copy of the configuration so they are always in sync.

Network & Server Redundancy:

Many potential clients have neither the time nor expertise to complete and update a disaster plan. A recent Forbes study estimates that between 70 and 90 percent f businesses close their doors within two years of suffering a major disaster. We have been assisting clients for over 23 years design and maintain their networks. Those that have taken our advice have suffered catastrophic server failures and storage loss, yet maintained normal business operations as if nothing had happened. They had the tools and resources already in place so that the problems they encountered were non-issues.
We will evaluate your network and provide guidance on these and other valuable services at an initial meeting without cost or obligation to you. All you need to do is call today and get the ball rolling. Ask for either me or Mark Lee, our Sales Manager. We are ready and able to assist you.

Sincerely,

Christopher J. Tarricone
Director of Technical Services
pds2k.com

• RAID Controller Failure: The data remains on the hard drives but is inaccessible until the controller is replaced.
• Power Supply Failure:  Although a server with multiple power supplies will most probably be undamaged, there is a very good chance that there will be a surge of power when the power supplies fail causing damage to other equipment.

The possibility of server failure creates an additional need to put some type of fault tolerance in place for software.  However, these systems typically require either proprietary hardware or modified software, and usually support only a handful of operating systems.  More often, administrators use software-based solutions such as clustering to provide high availability.  However, such clustering solutions are difficult to set up and are often tied to specific applications and operating systems.  Let us take a closer look at how a typical network is configured and see where the excess computing power of a typical server can be utilized.  At minimum, a typical network that adheres to accepted standards will have a File Server, Two Domain Controllers and a Print Server.  The File and Print Server in many organizations is the same server so this means that there are likely 3 servers in use.

A File Server can have many roles in an organization.  It might be a central file store for user data files, or it could be a file server supporting a specific application or need.  It may even be used to support user roaming profile data.  Whatever the use, it is certainly a critical, integral component in any network.

A Print Server’s responsibility is to act as a central print management entity through which all users send their print data.  Using a print server provides a simplified, single point of management for print queues, priorities and controlling the availability of a specific printer or set of printers on the network.

A DNS Server could easily be considered the most critical server in any network.  Many components of corporate network infrastructure rely heavily on proper DNS functionality.  Active Directory relies upon it, as do applications that rely on domain name references or SSL encryption.  It is critical that DNS be working properly or users may not be able to log onto the network.  If a user is unable to log on, they will not be able to use any of the applications or resources available on the network.
Considering how integral and essential these components are to the proper functioning of any network, the need for an almost “bullet-proof” implementation is vital.  A typical physical server in any corporate environment will usually have a certain level of redundancy built in.  Redundant power supplies, redundant fan kits, and multiple NIC cards teamed together are commonly found in most servers.  In many cases, RAM and processor specifications in a given server far exceed the actual needs of the services running on the server.  This means that the machine is idle most of the time, with most of the hardware investment not being realized fully.  Not only is the hardware typically underutilized, but the level of redundancy included only applies to this one server and must be addressed over and over again for each server added to the environment.  Compounding the issue is the fact that not only must the hardware be redundant, but so must the service hosted on that hardware.  This usually means adding a second server to the environment to host another instance of DNS, File and Print services, etc.  Now there are two redundant, yet underutilized servers on the network.

Hardware efficiency and redundancy are key issues, but so are backup/restoration scenarios and disaster recovery.  Most servers in an environment are typically backed-up individually.  As more servers are added to an environment, backup windows become more challenging to maintain.  Disaster recovery and business continuity present a completely separate set of challenges.  How do you guarantee a server will be available? Which servers are deemed critical to business operations and how do you ensure their availability? What if disaster strikes and the physical hardware is no longer available? Perhaps a replicated datacenter is critical to business operations. The solution to address these key concerns is to build a Redundant Infrastructure that meets the common needs of all of these components as a whole, not individually.  By creating a redundant infrastructure, new services can be easily rolled out without needing to revisit the challenge of availability with each new implementation.  Virtualization is the solution to this challenge.

“Real World” Examples:
Company 1:  A Consumers Products Retailer
Problem:  A supplies company asked us for a testing platform for their new online ordering system.  The system manufacturer required that there be a Web Server, Application Server and Database Server.  In order for the mfr. to even consider supporting the product, each set must be on a different server.  Now for the reliability aspect, if any one of those servers goes out, the entire ordering system goes offline.  Standard disaster planning conventions would require at least a fourth server on stand-by for use in the event of a system failure.  Let’s take a look at the math:

Traditional Setup
Server max draw:  2.4KW
Number of Servers:  4
Nominal power draw:  33%
Hours Per Year:  8,736
Total Kilowatts Used:  27,675
At $0.15/KWH, this translates to an annual cost of over $4,151 in electricity.  Add $6,500 per server and the first year’s costs are:  $30,151.

Solution:  Virtualization made a huge difference in this project.  First, just two servers instead of four were purchased.  With the server running VMware’s ESXi Server, we effectively ran all three servers (Web, Application and Database) as three separate servers on a single physical computer.  The second server is the standby server.  We used the same server specs as our previous scenario.  Now because of the heavier workload, we can expect the servers to draw more power, however only one of the server will draw power, as the standby server does nothing unless there is a failure.

Virtual Machine Setup
Server max draw:  2.4KW
Number of Servers:  2
Virtual Server power draw:  66%
Spare Server draw:  20%
Hours Per Year:  8,736
Total Kilowatts Used:  18,030.28
At $0.15/KWH that means an annual cost of over $2,704 in electricity.  If the servers are $6,500 each the first year’s costs are:  $15,704

Company 2: A Central Connecticut Grocery Chain
Problem: This Company had a single server performing all the functions required on the network.  All of these features, with the exception of a Secondary Domain Controller, were being performed by a single server.  When that server needed to be rebooted or was off-line for any reason, the organization came to a halt.  The configuration of their network at that time was causing an endless array of problems and productivity issues.  Adding to the problem, the server that everything ran on was over 7 years old (3 years beyond the recommended life expectancy of any server).  As shown in the list above, the various software vendors required at least 9 servers.  That does not take into consideration any type of disaster planning or backup.  Their network required the following server features:

1. Active Directory (Primary and Secondary)
2. E-Mail Server
3. Intranet Server
4. Time Clock Server
5. Server for managing Price Changes
6. Server for Registers
7. Server to manage Scales
8. Terminal Server for Clients
9. File Server

This is what the network would look like at their main office if they went with individual servers.

Solution: Leveraging the latest Virtualization Software from VMware, we provided a solution that split the services between three physical servers.  All of the data is stored on their SAN, so if any one of the servers fails, the Virtual Host can be brought online on one of the other servers.  This may impact performance, depending on what server fails, but the organization will continue to run with little or no interruption of service.

Virtualization layout for main and DR Sites

The above illustrations show the three virtual servers in the main office.  The SAN is a set of 4 Mirrored Partitions with a Hot-Spare.  Using RAID 1 or Mirroring does reduce the overall available space but provides the highest read/write performance while still providing for data integrity.  Since this organization has multiple locations throughout central Connecticut, we were able to use their furthest location from the main office as a DR Center.  The data from iscsi-array01.hpm.local is replicated in real-time to iscsi-array02.hpm.local in this remote location.

Conclusion:
Progressive Data Systems, Inc. has overseen many other implementations of virtualization.  In every instance the company has been excited about the results.  Our client’s executive management team is pleased to know that their investment is being used to its fullest potential.  Their IT department can rest easier knowing that when (not if) disaster strikes they can continue to provide the services that their users demand and depend on.  Moving to virtualization is a process that we can and should help you through.  Progressive Data Systems has been in business for over 20 years helping organizations from Community Activism to Manufacturing organizations with an international presence.  Our approach has always been the same:  Provide the best possible solution that fits the organization; deliver it on time and with integrity.  We can help you. Contact us at sales@pds2k.com or call at 860.450.1737

What is Cloud computing?

Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet. These services are broadly divided into three categories: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). The name cloud computing was inspired by the cloud symbol that’s often used to represent the Internet in flowcharts and diagrams.

A cloud service has three distinct characteristics that differentiate it from traditional hosting. It is sold on demand, typically by the minute or the hour; it is elastic — a user can have as much or as little of a service as they want at any given time; and the service is fully managed by the provider (the consumer needs nothing but a personal computer and Internet access). Significant innovations in virtualization and distributed computing, as well as improved access to high-speed Internet and a weak economy, have accelerated interest in cloud computing.

A cloud can be private or public. A public cloud sells services to anyone on the Internet. A private cloud is a proprietary network or a data center that supplies hosted services to a limited number of people. When a service provider uses public cloud resources to create their private cloud, the result is called a virtual private cloud. Private or public, the goal of cloud computing is to provide easy, scalable access to computing resources and IT services.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service like Amazon Web Services provides virtual server instance API to start, stop, access and configure their virtual servers and storage. In the enterprise, cloud computing allows a company to pay for only as much capacity as is needed, and bring more online as soon as required. Because this pay-for-what-you-use model resembles the way electricity, fuel and water are consumed, it’s sometimes referred to as utility computing.

Platform-as-a-service in the cloud is defined as a set of software and product development tools hosted on the provider’s infrastructure. Developers create applications on the provider’s platform over the Internet. PaaS providers may use APIs, website portals or gateway software installed on the customer’s computer. Force.com, (an outgrowth of Salesforce.com) and pds2k.com Hosted Exchange, Sharepoint and Office Web Apps are examples of PaaS. Developers need to know that currently, there are no standards for interoperability or data portability in the cloud. Some providers will not allow software created by their customers to be moved off the provider’s platform.

In the software-as-a-service cloud model, the vendor supplies the hardware infrastructure, the software product and interacts with the user through a front-end portal. SaaS is a very broad market. Services can be anything from web-based email to inventory control and database processing. Because the service provider hosts both the application and the data, the end user is free to use the service from anywhere.

So what is cloud backup?

Understanding that  cloud computing needs to be part of a heterogeneous network, a cloud backup solution must be an extension of your network. Many of the applications that I have seen do nothing more than copy files from your server to a server on the Internet.   Based on the above definition that is not a true cloud backup. You have no direct control over the destination. If you desire you cannot manage the device or make changes to how it operates. Not very heterogeneous is it?

When we implement a solution, we provision a complete environment that is part of the companies network. This provides them with the ultimate level of control. We actually go for a hybrid cloud solution. Hybrid cloud backup works by storing data to a local disk so that the backup can be captured at high speed to a server with sufficient local disk storage. This server is configured initially by our engineers to capture backups according to a schedule that you define.

If the server that the backup appliance is polling is fast enough, backups can be configured to be taken every 15 minutes. Not many people need that level of protection, but it is available to those that need it. Those incremental backups are stored locally on your network. Since the backup is local you do not need to maintain an internet connection that can support a continuous backup stream. It also provides the ability to restore data over the network at hard drive speeds and not the substantially slower internet speeds. Nightly the server encrypts and transmits data to our facility. The remote copy can also provide business continuity should something happen to the client facility.

Speaking of business continuity…

Our cloud backup solution does make use of Windows backup features for both System State and Bare Metal Recovery (BMR) backups. BMR recovery can be performed to virtual servers. What this means is that if you have a catastrophic server failure, we have the option of provisioning a virtual server for your use in your private cloud. This will allow restoration of data instantaneously. In a traditional environment you would need to wait for a server to be ordered, the server built, configured, setup and then installed. That can take days or even weeks. Then you still have to wait for the data to be restored, which is not a very efficient means of restoration.

If you would like more information or would like a no charge evaluation of your backup solution, call us at 860.450.1737 or email us at sales@pds2k.com.

Our hosted customers found that their email, applications, desktops and storage were all available to them. The following three products made the difference between getting work done or losing the opportunity to:

Hosted Exchange: We have made the investment and commitment to keep your electronic communications services always available. All of our servers have substantial UPS power and for long term outages like the Halloween snow storm of 2011 or Hurricane Irene we run on generator power. This means that we have full services, not just key ones that can run on battery. Our Exchange customers were able to have full access to their email either through Microsoft’s enhanced Outlook Web Access or via their smart device.

The benefits to Hosted Exchange do not stop with disaster recovery. With Hosted Exchange your company can have all of the benefits of Exchange without any of the headaches of actually having to manage it. Hosted Exchange gives you amazing communication tools while minimizing your cost and freeing up valuable IT resources. Your company will be able to take advantage of our experienced technical staff. We manage the available storage, archiving and backups. Our promise is to provide you with “Always On^™” Exchange

Private Clouds & Hosted Networks: For our customers that had their networks completely hosted at our facilities they were able to make use of internet cafés or if their home had power they were able to work from home. Hurricane Irene caused an estimated $18.7 billion dollars in damages making it the sixth most costly hurricane of the Atlantic in the last 62 years. This does not include the money lost because people were not able to work and perform their job functions or the costs associated with high insurance rates. Some of those costs could have been avoided.

It does not take a lot to get started either. In many cases there is nothing to purchase. The server, Microsoft licenses (Windows, Office, etc) and storage are all rented. If you have software applications like QuickBooks or MAS90 that you already own, can be loaded onto the server. Like  our other hosted services you only pay for what you need. If your employee count goes up or down, a quick phone call to us is all it takes to adjust your limits.

Hosted VoIP PBX: We are also very proud to announce the release of two new hosted products. pds2k.com now offers Hosted 3CX PBX and Microsoft Lync solutions. These solutions take the PBX and voice communications out of your offices and move them to our data center. The 3CX solution offers you an enhanced PBX solution with Call Center features and rich media. The Microsoft Lync solution offers you the latest in unified communications and team collaboration. Like with the Hosted Exchange and Private Clouds, we can keep your communications running even when your office or facility is not.

One of the areas of concern with hosted voice communications has always been: “This is a shared service so how can I be sure my company information is secure and separate from other companies?” Unlike many hosted systems, we are offering you a dedicated server. Just because your system is hosted does not mean that you should have to give up the benefits of having a dedicated system. You can have access to the administrative control panel, or if you prefer to have a fully managed solution our technicians will do everything for you.

Now we are making it easier than ever to take control of your network and technology. Call us today at 860.450.1737 or email us at sales@pds2k.com. We can show you how to take advantage of these solutions and harden your business against disaster!

The world is entering a new phase of technological features and services. In advance of that, we are proud to announce the release of the completely redesigned pds2k.com. We have made it easier than ever to navigate our website and find the information that you are looking for. Please visit us today at http://www.pds2k.com. We also have a suite of new products that many of our clients have already started taking advantage of. For your benefit, please take a look at the following:

Hosted Exchange: With Hosted Exchange your company can have all of the benefits of Exchange without any of the headaches of having to manage it. Hosted Exchange gives you robust communication tools while minimizing your cost and freeing up valuable IT resources.

Private Clouds: PDS will provide you with the benefits of having internet connectivity to every facet of your network infrastructure. Globally access Office® applications, email, QuickBooks® and other applications from most internet enabled devices.

pds2k.com IP PBX: Easy to manage, cost effective and with hardware manufacturer flexibility. We have a phone system solution that will meet all of your needs!

pds2k.com has gone social!

You can find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pds2kcom. “Like” our page to get updates about new products, blog articles and the latest pictures of recent projects or events. For those of you that like to have your notifications on the go, we have also launched our pds2k.com Twitter account. You can follow us at http://www.twitter.com/pds2k. By “following” us on twitter you can receive up to the minute notifications and special invitations to pds2k.com hosted events.

The pds2k.com blog!

We are now offering in-depth articles to go along with our regular mailings. Informational and multi-part articles will be published regularly, to provide you with information about new services and technology that we offer. The URL for our blog is http://blog.pds2k.com.

The same company only better!

We continue to provide our core services like our four phase process to disaster recovery. Click on a Phase for more information about that section. Starting with Phase 1: Network Capabilities Profile (NCP): Get a snapshot of your current network status. We will provide you with a straight to the point bulleted list of what improvements are recommended to allow you to meet your goals.

Phase 2: Security Readiness Profile (SRP): The SRP compares your physical network, operating policies and procedures against industry standards. There are over 10 different categories that we review. The report is prefaced with an Executive Summary showing the numeric grade for each section with a bulleted list of items that we recommend be attended to.

Phase 3: Disaster Preparedness Plan (DPP): The final phase of this process is the Disaster Preparedness Plan (DPP). Creation of the DPP is a collaborative process that uses the culminated information of the previous two phases as a foundation. We assist you in choosing which action items need to be addressed now, later or not at all.

Phase 4: Project Implementation & Support: At this point our technical team will have a unique understanding of your business and disaster recovery goals. We have the experienced people to help you complete the project by providing as little or as much support as you need.

The tech world is filled with “buzz words” and statements that mislead and promote a very false sense of security.  For example:  “Our data is safe and we can recover quickly, because we have a backup tape.”  In a very strict sense you can restore data from tape. The question now becomes what exactly does that mean.

The 1951 UNISERVO tape drive

The truth is that tape drives are slow and a technology that have been around since 1951 and have not really changed. Tape drives and the media that goes in them have gotten smaller and can store billions of times the amount of data. Yet they still must seek through the entire tape to get at the information that you want, and that takes time. If you have a catastrophic server failure and need to restore from tape you will need to be restoring to the exact same hardware, otherwise you need to restore the operating system, applications and then recover your data. This add valuable time that you do not have to the restoration process. Does that really make sense?

Capacity is another issue with tape. When you purchase a tape system they tell you what the compressed capacity of the tape is, which is twice the native capacity.  This is often misleading because in our experience you never actually reach the compressed storage capacity.  One of the leading tape drive manufacturer’s largest tape drives costs about $2,000.  In addition, the tapes cost about $90 each (almost $1,000 for two weeks of retention). That provides 800 Gigabytes (GB) or .8TB.  Most desktop computers come equipped with a Terabyte (TB) hard drive storage.  So what happens when you need more storage?  Do you have someone swap the tape mid-backup process?  Do you spend an additional $5,000 to get a tape library that will hold more tapes, and lose your initial $2,000 investment?

We ask you to consider the following questions before making this very common and dangerous assumption that tape will resolve my backup and recover issues:

• Are your backup tapes tested frequently to see if they will actually work?
• What is your plan for restoring data if the tape is not useable?
• Even if the tape works, what else needs to happen to get you back up and running again?
• How long to get another server, if yours has a meltdown?
• How long to reload the operating system?
• How long will it take to reload the applications on the server?
• How long to restore the data from tape?
• Undocumented changes exist in every network and on every server. Those changes you make on-the-fly to quickly resolve an issue. How long will it take to restore those changes?

If you can’t answer all the questions, honestly, it’s time to call us.  We provide solutions that save time and money, and cut through the meaningless jargon.  Call us today: 860-450-1737.  We’ll analyze your backup process and offer the very best solutions to keep your business up and running.

Sincerely
Christopher J. Tarricone
Director of Technical Services
pds2k.com