Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2 – Briefing

Backgrounder:

Like everything Microsoft, downloading and applying updates and patches are the key to keeping your computer running efficiently.  Today, we are focusing on Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2.

It has been more than a year (December 2007) since Microsoft has released a single service pack to keep computers up-to-date without having to download a bunch of little patches.  This significantly reduces deployment times for any oganization.  Furthermore, while most service packs are just a compilation of previous released patches and fixes (through February 2009), Office 2007 SP2 will also include feature enhancements and performance enhancements.  Will the PDF support mean the end of downloading Acrobat Reader?  We’ll see…

Release Date:

End of April 2009.

Changes, Fixes, Patches, Enhancements:

  • Support for Open Document Format (ODF), XML Paper Specification (XPS) and Portable Document Format (PDF).
  • Improved Outlook Calendaring reliability.
  • Improved Outlook performance.
  • Enabling Object Model support for Charts in Microsoft Ofice PowerPoint 2007 and Microsoft Office Word 2007.
  • Improved cryptographic functionality by supporting all cryptographic algorithms offered by the operating system.
  • Improved functionality in Microsoft Office Excel 2007 charting mechanism.
  • Ability to ungroup SmartArt graphics (and as a result, the ability to add animations to them in PowerPoint 2007).
  • Ability for Visio 2007 to export UML models to an XML file compliant with the XMI standard.
  • Tool that enables the uninstallation of Office client Service Packs

Where can you get it?

Direct File Download Link

Downloads page link

Release info link

Conficker (aka Downadup) – FAQ

What kind of damange can this virus do?

  • Create administrative accounts on your PC
  • Prevent you from downloading security and antivirus updates
  • Use your computer as part of a Denial of Service (D.O.S.) attack.
  • Could steal personal information
  • Populate your computer with malware pop-ups
  • Erase data on your computer

What computers are affected?

  • Unpatched Microsoft Windows operating systems (Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Vista, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008 systems)

What are some of the symptoms of being infected by the Conficker worm?

  • Windows Security Center will not work.  You can verify this by Start -> Control Panel -> Security Center
  • Account lockout policies are being tripped.
  • Automatic Updates, Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), Windows Defender, and Error Reporting Services are disabled.
  • Domain controllers respond slowly to client requests.
  • The network is congested.
  • Various security-related Web sites cannot be accessed (Symantec, McAfee).
  • Disable commercial antivirus software
  • Turn off Microsoft’s security update service

How do I prevent infections?

  1. Patch your Windows operating system with the following patches:  MS08-067
  2. Install the latest security updates from Microsoft
  3. Make sure you are running up-to-date antivirus software and definitions from a trusted vendor (Mcafee, Symantec, Eset, Microsoft, etc…)
  4. Disable the AutoPlay feature through the registry or using Group Policies
  5. Exercise caution in what websites you visit
  6. Don’t open file attachments unless you have verified that you know the person who sent them and that they really meant to send the attachment.

How does the software spread?

  • Exploitation of the vulnerability that is patched by security update MS08-067 , MS08-068 a MS09-001
  • The use of network shares
  • The use of the AutoPlay functionality

How do I remove the worm from an infected computer?

  1. Disconnect the infected  computer from the network and the Internet.
  2. Install the patches below.  Use an uninfected computer to download the patch if necessary:  MS08-067 , MS08-068 a MS09-001
  3. Reset your system passwords to admin accounts using more sophisticated ones.
  4. Download and run the Conficker remover
  5. Reconnect your computer back to the network
  6. Update your antivirus application and definitions
  7. Install Microsoft updates

How do I protect my computer from similar threats?

  1. Enable Automatic Updates for your Windows computer
  2. Set your antivirus and definition update schedules to be more frequent (1 or 2 times a day)
  3. Exercise caution in what websites you visit
  4. Use caution when you see pop-ups on your screen (e.g. false virus notifications)
  5. Don’t open file attachments unless you have verified that you know the person who sent them and that they really meant to send the attachment.

What can Windows Server 2008 do for you?

I know there are many websites that lists a bunch of features of Microsoft’s latest Windows Server 2008.  I also know that these lists sometimes forget the fact that technology in the workplace is only as good as the business value benefited from it. I understand that during these tough economic times, migrating and upgrading your systems to Windows Server 2008 will be an option that is heavily scrutinized.  Hopefully, this blog entry will help you create an informed decision for your business.

Below are the features that stand out to me when deploying Windows Server 2008. I will try to explain how these features can translate to a more secure, efficient, and stable network.

Active Directory

  • Restartable Active Directory Domain Services (RADDS)
    Essentially, this increases uptime for a domain controller and it’s installed services. Currently, when security patches must be applied, offline defragmentation or authoritive restores must be performed, the entire server has to be rebooted.  This equates to significant downtime for ALL the services provided by the server. If this was a heavily used server, such as a file server, a lot of users would end up calling the IT department.Scenario:

      Lets say an Active Directory object needs to be restored from backup. Previous to Windows Server 2008, a server would have to be restarted in Directory Services Restore Mode.  During this time, ALL services provided by that server would be offline. Then, once the restore is complete, we must restart the server again. Now, with RADDS, you only need to stop the service, perform the restore, and restart the service.  Meanwhile, your other services are still working.

Translated Value:

    Increased uptime, Simplified restoration of Active Directory objects.

Business Circumstance:

    This is useful for all businesses.
  • Read-Only Domain Controller (RODC)
    Back in the good ‘ol NT4 days, Microsoft had primary and backup domain controllers (PDCs and BDCs).  The backup domain controllers would be Read-Only.  Then, they touted the multi-master capabilities of Active Directory for Windows 2000/2003. What they didn’t tell you was the best solution was “C. All of the Above“. In Windows Server 2008, we can have multi-master domain controllers AND read-only domain controllers. When would you use either of these scenarios?  Well, you would want multi-master replication for Fault Tolerance and Management Simplicity.   Now, an RODC would allow for increased security since the LDAP database can not be tampered with. Unfortunately, there are limitations that might negate the benefits of this.  Essentially, the RODC needs to have access to a writable Domain Controller in order to perform basic functions, such as DNS updates, password changes, and user authentication (if not cached on RODC). There could also be software compatibility issues.Translated Value:

      This is a feature that’s great to have, but wouldn’t benefit an existing organization tremendously.

Business Circumstance:

    This is most useful for medium/large businesses with multiple locations.

OS Enhancements

  • NTFS Self-Healing
    As with previous operating systems, when a file on the NTFS filesystem becomes corrupt, there’s no way to know unless you a) run chkdisk b) try to open the file.  Of course, if you periodically run chkdsk to detect corruptions or try to open a corrupt file, you would have to reboot your server to fix it. This is not the case with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.  In 95% of the cases, it will automatically detect a corruption in your filesystem and attempt to fix it at the same time.  This eliminate the need to reboot.  I’m sure everyone knows the disadvantages of having to reboot a computer by now (read previous sections).Translated Value:

      Higher uptime, important data is recovered

Business Circumstance:

    This is useful for all businesses.
  • Server-core
    Everyone can agree that Microsoft has it’s GUI advantages over Linux, while Linux has it’s high stability and security aspects due to it’s lack of “fluff”.  Well, as Linux tries to enter the Desktop market, Microsoft is trying to imitate Linux with Server-core. IT provides a minimal (non-GUI) OS environment for running specific server roles, which reduces the attack surface for those server roles.  Similar to Linux, in which you would manage your server from an SSH connection, Server Core could be managed from the local command console, Terminal Server connection, or using the MMC console. Once again, Server-core can only provide a subset of the full roles available to a full installation.  Server-core can provide the following roles: Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS), DHCP Server, DNS Server, File Services, Print Services, Streaming Media Services, Internet Information Services (IIS), Windows Virtualization.Translated Value:

      Increased security and performance gains, and ease of deployment due to low footprint.

Business Circumstance:

    This is most useful for medium/large businesses with multiple locations.
  • Terminal Services Gateway (TS Gateway)
    Lets say you had to remotely connect to multiple servers at the Office, yet you are prevented from using a VPN connection. What do you do?  Well, there are many ways around this, including the use of 3rd party applications, but Microsoft has blessed us with their solution. A TS Gateway securely proxies applications running the RDP protocol (Remote Desktop, Remote Applications, etc..) through SSL encryption.  This negates the typical firewall configurations necessary to allow VPN tunnels to be created.Translated Value:

      Mobile Office is even more robust. You can truly access your servers and workstations from anywhere.

Business Circumstance:

    This is most useful for businesses running Terminal Services or those with lots of servers.
  • Terminal Services Remote Application (TS Remote Application)
    Aligned with their virtual application technology, TS Remote Application uses the RDP protocol to allow users access to specific applications stored on a server. Instead of using more computing resources than necessary and  providing access to an entire Desktop, users can now be limited only to the capabilities of the application. Advance connection policies can be set in place to maintain compliance with security policies set within the company.Scenario:

      Accounting staff requires access to the Quickbooks server when they are offsite.  Using a VPN connection alone is not an acceptable solution since the data transfer size is too large. The use of Remote Desktop through a VPN connection would work, but that can cause unecessary confusion for users. With TS Remote Application, the Quickbooks application RDP file can be exported on a users’s desktop.  When they run the file, either locally or remotely, they will see the Quickbooks applications open on their computer. This application is actually running on the remote computer, but the interface is exactly the same as if they opened it locally on their computer.

Translated Value:

    Granular access to applications, secure access to network resources, improved capacity and performance for Terminal Services applications

Business Circumstance:

    This is most useful for businesses running Terminal Services or those with lots of servers.
  • Windows Deployment Services (WDS)
    This service allows is the needed replacement for Remote Installation Services (RIS). Windows Deployment Services enables you to deploy Windows operating systems, particularly Windows Vista, using images and PXE booting. I know there are 3rd party applications that provide this capability in a more simplified manner, but they are often too costly. Once setup, WDS is a pretty cool application.  It works well and have few heart-stopping limitations.Translated Value:

      You can setup new Microsoft workstations quickly and in an automated way.

Business Circumstance:

    This is most useful for new businesses or ones that are growing in the near future.
  • Hyper-V
    Here’s the deal.  The IT industry is realizing that on average, the load on a server is pretty low due to minimal resource usage and advancing. This results in wasted Energy Costs and lower Return on Investment (ROI) in the hardware. Hyper-V is a hypervisor-based virtualization technology that allows servers to run multiple instances of Microsoft and certain Linux distributions. What is sometimes overlooked when it comes to virtualization is the ease and consistency in obtaining a solid backup and recovery of files using snapshoting technologies.  Also, the management of these virtual servers are simplified since there is only one platform to work off of.Translated Value:

      Increased efficiency of resources, increased stability, reduction in cost for new server deployments, High availability, increased security.

Business Circumstance:

    This applies to all businesses.  From consolidation to saving on energy costs, virtualization is beneficial for all businesses.

High Availability, ISP, VPN, Servers, and Your business.

You see and hear the buzz word swarming around the internet of networks with special setups that tout “High Availability” or sometimes commonly known as “H.A.”. What is it? What does it do for my business? Ultimately in today’s economic climate… Can I afford not to have it?

There are actually different types of HA that you can implement into you IT infrastructure. At its core, HA is a system designed implementation that ensures a certain absolute degree of operational continuity during a given measurement period. In simple business terms, HA makes sure your employees are able to continue working even if primary service providers or servers or your local network experiences some sort of an outage. Yikes!

As an example:

  • Can you afford to send your employee’s home because your office internet connection is down? And your ISP is telling you sometime between 9am-6pm repair ETA.
  • Can you afford half or potentially a full day of employee downtime because the file server is being re-built from the Ground, Up?
  • Can you afford to have your website, email server, FTP server, and/or other in-house hosted services go down!?

For small to medium sized business, you need a solution – High Availability.

Most administrators of small to medium sized networks are probably already assuming you need twice the amount of hardware, extra connectors, licenses, and more. Depending on the current network equipment you have, High Availability to a certain degree can very easily be a viable option.Lets take a very common scenario as a prime example of what High Availability can do.

Your Users: You have a user base of 30 people. All with varying job tasks which rely heavily on internet access to go about those tasks.

Your Network: Your have DSL service from your local ISP. You have a Cisco router/firewall, medium grade switch, a file server and a Directory server, and a few occasional remote VPN users.

The Outage: Your internet is somehow disconnected or cut off! Covad can’t help until they send a 1st level support tech to check their field equipment, someone between 12pm-6pm. And this may not even be a field equipment problem.

  • you have 30 people grumbling they can’t get work done.
  • you have 30 people grumbling they can’t access your online company email.
  • you have 30 people standing around the water cooler.
  • you have the CEO at a remote location unable to access the internal company files.
  • your travelling remote sales associate can’t make the sale because they can’t VPN to access the internal company sales files.
  • you’re at the mercy of your local ISP’s support to fix the problem in a timely manner.

With a very simple High Availability setup, you could be saved. This is a very common and possible situation and a High Availability setup may alleviate the frustration, anger, and the ever possible firing of office employee’s.By choosing a business level Cisco router, you get the benefit of a very customizable and upgradeable platform. You may think the price for Cisco equipment is high, but their products are truly made for business. You would never want to trust “home” equipment to run your core business infrastructure do you (this is another topic)?

The Answer: To avert a potential disaster, you have a very short shopping list. All you would need to implement a “High Availability – Dual ISP – Redundant internet connection – Redundant VPN” office network is a specific Cisco hardware module aka “WIC” module, a secondary DSL internet provider (other than your primary -Covad), and a few minutes during office downtime to get it all installed and configured. Total hardware cost can easily be had for under $300, and total monthly cost for a secondary DSL line might be $25 (shop around). If you didn’t have a High Availability setup, you may have lost MORE due to the office down. Lost employee production, lost sales, lost clients, lost trust, and who knows… a Lost Job.

“The Outage” has been avoided. Your High Availability Cisco router setup automatically switched over to the secondary ISP, and you were alerted of the switch over. Your employee’s continue along with their tasks, and may not have even noticed the internet disruption.
And because you were alerted of the ISP failover, you can easily send out a “Daily Tech Update” to your remote and C-level staff, letting them know to use the secondary Cisco VPN profile or to call you for assistance.

  • The failover change was nearly invisible.
  • Staff keeps working.
  • Staff trust of the network maintained.
  • President, CEO’s and Management trusts you’re the right guy.
  • Staff maintains or gets new sales, customers, service.
  • You’re still employed!

Windows 2008 Server – Easily Secure your FTP server

Today, it’s all about security. If you aren’t practicing good security, you are probably going to be held accountable for the information that sneaks into your network, and especially the information that can find its way out of your network.

Script kids and hackers alike all begin their first “hacking” by targeting what’s easy – The poor, unsuspecting FTP server. All day long, doing its job of blindly sharing and accepting files. Here are the four key parts of FTP (and its cousin Telnet) that make it insecure.

  • Clear-text transmission: all communications are done in clear text, including usernames and passwords
  • Weak client authentication: both FTP and Telnet authenticate users through usernames and passwords, which, time and time again, have proven to be unreliable authentication methods. There is no support for more advanced authentication methods such as public/private key, Kerberos or digital certificates
  • No server authentication: this means that users have no way to be sure that the host they are communicating with really is the FTP server and not an attacker impersonating the server
  • No data integrity: problem here is that, assuming the same scenario as above, anyone could alter and corrupt the data being transmitted between the server and the client without being noticed

So you have your brand new shiny server with tons of disk capacity, and a clean install of Windows 2008 Server. You’re tasked with setting up the new company FTP site. If you have experience with setting up IIS and FTP services on Windows 2000/2003 server, then you know exactly how easy it is to setup FTP service. With Windows 2008 server, securing your FTP server became just as easy. And the benefits, immense!

Windows 2008 Server utilizes the method FTPES aka FTP Explicit mode. In explicit mode, an FTPS (FTP Secure) client must “explicitly request” security from an FTPS server and then step-up to a mutually agreed encryption method (usually the minimums are defined on the server). It currently isn’t packaged onto the Windows 2008 server install media, but information and the download can be found here http://www.iis.net/downloads/default.aspx?tabid=34&g=6&i=1619
Without this extra handshaking and communication, your server-to-FTP client communication is susceptible to snooping and hijacking. With these simple steps, your server avoids the pitfalls listed above, that plague many FTP servers out on the web.

Securing your new Windows 2008 based FTP server comes down to these steps:

  • Make sure your users and clients have a current FTP client that supports the few FTPSecure methods.
  • Install IIS7 on your Windows 2008 Server
  • Install the required Microsoft extras (all available on the “roles” menu) for Microsoft FTP Publishing Service for IIS 7.0.
  • Install the Microsoft FTP Publishing Service for IIS 7.0 update. Now you’re nearly 80% complete
  • Create and apply security ACL’s to your FTP repository. The top 10 rules that very much still apply today are published at http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/Secure_FTP_Server.html
  • Create a self signed server certificate, or purchase a server Certificate and import.

Tada, you’re done! Now your Windows 2008 FTP server is protected. From beginning to end, Connection, Authentication, Authorization, Data Request, Data transfer. It’s all encrypted.

Slipstreaming RAID and SATA controller drivers to your Windows XP, 2003 installation media

It still amazes me how many critical IT related tasks still require a floppy disk.  I came upon one of these situations when trying to install Windows 2003 Server R2 on an extra Dell Workstation I had.  Of course, it wanted the drivers on A:, which didn’t exist.  Of course, you could always install a disk drive… Below are instructions how to address this issue without using a disk drive.  The term is slipstreaming because it injects the files just as if it was part of the original installation media.

  1. Download nLite (http://www.nliteos.com/).  You could also download the Vista version called vLite (http://www.vlite.net).
  2. Install the application
  3. Select your original Windows XP, 2003 installation media location.
  4. Select a target location to copy the installation files
  5. Select the tasks you would like to perform (ie. install drivers, install service packs, remove components, etc…)
  6. Choose to create an ISO image from your previous selections or Direct Burn to create a new CD image.
  7. Install the OS using your CD, but this time, you don’t have to press F6 to try to load drivers.

Advantages of Voice over IP (VOIP)

What Is VoIP?
Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, is the current technology that allows people to transmit voice signals through the internet instead of over the phone. Most people have already become acquainted with the idea of sending voice over the internet through the use of headsets or microphones, but only a few realize the unique differences between the two.

While a direct connection to a single person or a separate server allowed users to chat with each other using microphones, users still had to have telephone services in order to receive out of network calls. VoIP eliminates the obvious limitations of in network voice communication, and expands it above and beyond our expectations as the Cleod9 Voice identifies voip services in Texas as well.

Much like an e-mail, users don’t have to pay to send or receive them. E-mails can go anywhere users have set up a mailbox, at any time. Imagine e-mail transforming from text into voice, and virtual mailboxes becoming phones. The result is a completely free, new form of voice technology capable of sending voice from an internet line and converting it into a signal anyone with a phone can receive.

Cost Advantages:
Businesses, especially smaller or medium sized companies, are always in need of more cost-effective tools and solutions. Businesses invest thousands of dollars in order to save money over a longer period of time. VoIP is a service that can potentially provide the results companies are looking for, in an even shorter amount of time. By instantly cutting costs with fewer drawbacks, VoIP has become a popular solution.

  • Telecommunication systems can be merged with current networks, allowing a business to save on the cost of network infrastructure.
  • Remote Web-based interfacing eliminates the need for on-site representatives to repair or troubleshoot phone network issues.  Costs associated with on-site repairs are practically negated.
  • While saving money, VoIP users have found that the service provides much more than the average office phone services. While there were certain limitations with phone services (such as busy lines and expensive remote location calling bills), VoIP has sought to break these limits. Not only do clients receive phone services for nearly no cost, but they also receive tools tailored to make manage and design the network how they want it to be. VoIP puts the client in control.
  • Single IP networked VoIP lines enable extension dialing to expand to multiple, or even distant locations.
  • Applications are all extended to employees at any corporate location (including temporary or remote locations), including, but not limited to: conferencing, voice mail, unified communications, and click-to-dial services.
  • VoIP telecommunications systems are easily simplified into a single network (combined with data networks), allowing for easy management, and the elimination of multiple networks.
  • Remote troubleshooting and management through web-based interfaces. Settings can be changed for specific employees remotely, and without the need to contact service providers or phone system manufacturers.

The 10-step guide to a Disaster Recovery plan

Problem: You need a plan for responding to major and minor disasters to let your company restore IT and business operations as quickly as possible.

1. Review Your Backup Strategy

  • Full daily backups of all essential servers and data is recommended.
  • Incremental and differential backups may not be efficient during major disasters, due to search times and hassle
  • If running Microsoft Exchange or SQL servers, consider making hourly backups of transaction logs for more recent restores
  • Store at least one tape off site weekly, and store on-site tapes in a data-approved fireproof safe
  • Have a compatible backup tape drive

2. Make Lots of Lists

  • Document Business Locations
  • Addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, building management contact information
  • Include a map to the location and surrounding geographic area.
  • Equipment Lists
  • Compile an inventory listing of all network components at each business location. Include: model, manufacturer, description, serial number, and cost
  • Application List
  • Make a list of business critical applications running at each location
  • Include account numbers and any contract agreements
  • Include technical support contact information for major programs
  • Essential Vendor List
  • List of essential vendors, those who are necessary for business operations
  • Establish lines of credit with vendors incase bank funds are no longer readily available after disasters
  • Critical Customer List
  • Compile a list of customers for whom your company provides business critical services
  • Designate someone in the company to handle notifying these customers
  • Draw detailed diagrams for all networks in your organization, including LANs and WANs

3. Diagram Your Network

  • LAN Diagram: Make a diagram that corresponds to the physical layout of the office, as opposed to a logical one
  • Wireless access using Wi-Fi Protected Access security (WPA2) in order to operate in a new location

4. Go Wireless
5. Assign a Disaster Recovery Administrator

  • Assign Primary and Secondary disaster recovery administrators.· Ideally, each admin should live close to the office, and have each other’s contact information. Administrators are responsible for declaring the disaster, defining the disaster level, assessing and documenting damages, and coordinating recovery efforts. When a major disaster strikes, expect confusion, panic, and miscommunication. These uncontrollable forces interrupt efforts to keep the company up and running. By minimizing these challenges through planning with employees, efficiency increases. Assign employees into teams that carry out tasks the Disaster Recovery Administrator needs performed.

6. Assemble Teams

Damage Assessment/Notification Team

  • Collects information about initial status of damaged area, and communicates this to the appropriate members of staff and management
  • Compiles information from all areas of business including: business operations, IT, vendors, and customers

Office Space/Logistics Team

  • Assists in locating temporary office space in the event of a Level Four disaster
  • Responsible for transporting co-workers and equipment to the temporary site and are authorized to contract with moving companies and laborers as necessary

Employee Team

  • Oversees employee issues: staff scheduling, payroll functions, and staff relocation

 

 

Technology Team

  • Orders replacement equipment and restores computer systems.
  • Re-establishes connection to telephone service and internet/VPN connections

Public Relations TeamSafety and Security Team

  • Ensures safety of all employees during the recovery process.
  • Decides who will and who will not have access to any areas in the affected location.

Office Supply Team

7. Create a Disaster Recovery Website

  • A website where employees, vendors, and customers can obtain up-to-date information about the company after a disaster could be vital.· The website should be mirrored and co-hosted at two geographically separate business locations.
  • On the website, the disaster recovery team should post damage assessments for business locations, each location’s operational status, and when and where employees should report for work.
  • The site should allow for timestamped-messages to be posted by disaster recovery administrators. SSL certificates should be assigned to the website’s non-public pages.

8. Test Your Recovery Plan

  • Most IT professionals face level one or level two disasters regularly, and can quickly respond to such events. Level three and four disasters require a bit more effort. To respond to these more serious disasters, your disaster plan should be carefully organized.· Plan to assign whatever resources you do have control over in such situations. Test the plan after revisions, and discuss what worked and what didn’t.

9. Develop a Hacking Recovery Plan

  • Hacks attacks fall under the scope of disaster recovery plans.
  • Disconnect external lines. If you suspect that a hacker has compromised your network, disconnect any external WAN lines coming into the network. If the attack came from the Internet, taking down external lines will make it harder for the hacker to further compromise any machines and with luck prevent the hacker from compromising remote systems.
  • Perform a wireless sweep. Wireless networking makes it relatively simple for a hacker to set up a rogue Access Point (AP) and perform hacks from the parking lot. You can use a wireless sniffer perform a wireless sweep and locate APs in your immediate area.

10. Make the DRP a Living Document

  • · Review your disaster recovery plans at least once a year. If your company network changes frequently, you should probably create a semi-annual review. It’s best to know that an out-of-date disaster plan is almost as useless as having none.
  • WAN Diagram: Include all WAN locations and include IP addresses, model, serial numbers, and firmware revision of firewalls

Troubleshooting Backup issues

Backing up files can be troublesome. Speeds can reach disasterous new lows, and files tend to get corrupted along the way. It might just seem like more trouble than it’s worth, but in our experience, it makes the difference of hours and days. However, with the correct tools and information, it is possible to narrow down the problem, and even solve it. Below is a troubleshooting guide for common reasons why your server backup process may be causing errors.

1.Here is a summary of what we will be examining in order to better realize a potential problem:

oDocument any noticeable problems

oWhen did you notice the change or error(s)?

oHave there been any changes to the main backup server, media servers, or backup clients?

oWhat, if anything, have you done already to troubleshoot this problem?

oDo you have any site documentation?

oWhat are your expectations once the problem has been ratified

2.Hardware Related Slow-down

oThe speed of the disk controller and hardware errors caused by the disk drive, tape drive, disk controller, SCSI bus, or even improper cabling/termination can slow performance.

oTape drives are incompatible with SCSI Raid Controllers.

oFragmented disks (act of data being written on different physical locations of a disk) take much longer to back up. Not only will it affect the rate at which data is written, but it will affect your overall system performance. A solution to this is simply by defragmentation.

oThe amount of available memory greatly impacts backup speed. A lack of free hard disk space is a commonly overlooked issue. This is generally due to improper file paging settings.

3.File Types and Compression

oThe average file can potentially compress at a 2:1 ratio if hardware compression is used. Backup speed could potentially double if average compression is used prior.

oThe total number of files on a disk, and the relative size of each file is important in calculating backup speed. The fewer large files, the faster the backup.

oBlock size has an important role in compression, and thus, affects backup speed. The bigger the block size, the more capable the drive is to achieve better throughput and increased capacity. It is not recommended to increase the Block Size above the default.

4.Remote-Disk Backup

oThe backup speed for a remote disk is limited by the speed of the physical connection. The rate at which a remote server’s hard disks are able to be backed up depends on the make/model of network cards, the mode/frame type configuration for the adapter, the connectivity equipment (hubs, switches, routers, and so on), and the Windows NT 4 or Windows 2000 settings.

oA commonly overlooked reason for slowdown on network backups can be the configuration of the network itself. Certain features such as “Full-Duplex” and “Auto-Detect” may not be fully supported in every environment. Setting the speed to 100Mb and duplex to half/full on the server side, and 100 MB on the switch port is the common practice. Dependent on the resulting speeds, half or full duplex will be the better solution.

5.Methods to potentially improve tape backup performance

oMake sure the tape drive is properly defined for the host system. It is common for a SCSI host to disable the adaptive cache on the drive if it is not recognized. The cache enables features like drive streaming to operate at peak performance.

oPut the tape drive on a non-Raid controller by itself.

oMake sure all settings in the controller’s Post Bios Setup Utility are correct.

oMake sure the proper driver updates have been applied for the SCSI Controllers.

oConfirm proper cabling/termination for the devices being used.

oUpdate the firmware on the tape drive to the latest level. In some cases, the firmware may actually require downgrading to improve performance.

oCheck the tape drive and tape media statistics to see if errors occur when backups run.

oCheck the Windows NT or Windows 2000 Application Event Logs for warnings/errors.

The 3 evils of Voice over IP (VOIP)

Many of the world’s largest telephone companies are committed to replacing their existing circuit switched systems with voice over IP systems. These packet switch voice over IP systems allow them to transport a significant portion of their traffic with IP. Surprisingly, many calls made over telephone company equipment are already being transported with IP.
Packet switched voice over IP systems are in principle as efficient as a synchronous circuit switched systems, but only recently have they had the potential to achieve the same level of reliability as the public switched telephone network or proprietary PBX equipment. With the invention and implementation of RTP (real time protocol) and SIP (session initiation protocol,) voice over IP has the technological base to obsolete the circuit switched public switched telephone network.

– BY Paul Mahle
Asterisk and IP Telephony / Paul Mahle
Copyright 2003, 2004 by Signate, LLC.

VoIP provides enhanced teleconferencing and remote teleworking to maximize internal productivity, save money and simplify management.

So, you are interested in implementing a VoIP system for your small business, but are unsure of the capabilities of your network. It can be broken down into 3 steps:

1.Determine how well the network is running

2.Deploy the voice over IP service

3.Verify that the service levels are working correctly.

How do you know if you current network is up to the task? What criterias determine if your network is Voice-enabled capable? What are the optimimum factors in running a smooth and clear voice over IP system?

The 3 evils of Voice over IP networks.

1.Delay (minimum of 150ms, use Cisco RTPC + LFI)

This is the time it takes voice to travel from one point to another on the network. It can be measured in one direction or for the entire round trip. The calculations of delay usually involves Network Time Protocol (NTP) and clock synchronization and reference clocks.

2.Jitter (the optimal jitter buffer should fit the network’s differential delay, Cisco’s LFI)

This is the variation in delay over time from point to point. The higher the variation, the more degraded the call quality will be. The amount of tolerable jitter on the network is affected by the depth of jitter buffer on the network equipment in the voice path. When more jitter buffer is available, the network is more able to reduce the negative effects of a broad variation. Unfortunately, a buffer can also be too big. This would increase the overall gap between packets.

3.Packet Loss (less than 2.5-5%, use QoS that differentiates between data and voice packets.)

Packet loss refers to the packets of data that are dropped by the network to manage congestion. Data applications are very tolerant to packet loss, as they are generally not time sensitive and can retransmit the packets that were dropped. Dropped packets in a VoIP network appear as noise in the conversation and may require the speaker to repeat or retype the last word or sentence, which is clearly undesirable.