Whatever the case, security is in the media forefront and that brings both pros and cons.  Malaise can set in from overexposure to “just another security incident” or denial in that users think they will never be “targeted” because of their seeming anonymity.  Businesses and websites are continually being scanned and probed for open security vulnerabilities.  Are those openings producing more breaches, likely not, but with compromised businesses delaying or avoiding disclosure the statistics are debatable?  Advanced computer and network security exploits are certainly more readily available today than they were just a few years ago.  Not all tools are designed for nefarious purposes, see metasploit, but nonetheless there are seemingly good tools and others that even elementary computer users and criminals may implement to breach a company’s server, bring down websites and more commonly steal user data.

So what are typical users and business to do?  Are they at risk or it is only towering conglomerates and DoD contractors?  What businesses need to understand is that the initial scans and probes are completely automated and will eventually hit their servers, websites, etc.  If those automated tools find open vulnerabilities then additional higher-level tools may be implemented or even a real person may be alerted to the possibilities of exploiting your site.  That is why it is so important to keep up with current patches and security updates for your routers, firewalls, servers, computers and other devices.  If you keep the most obvious holes plugged you are better off than many businesses and users.

Another common unwanted entry into systems and accounts is from poor passwords.  We’ve all been bothered and badgered by different systems requiring 8 or more characters in a password, and sometimes using uppercase and special characters.  There are different thoughts to the usefulness of changing passwords frequently, another common practice, but the length and especially complexity of passwords does help to mitigate threats.  Depending on the security in place, some passwords can be cracked in under 10 seconds and many in under 17 minutes (again this is all done by automated programs checking for common passwords and lower security systems).  Realistically, your password is more likely to be exposed from a larger database hack, seen from several breaches of banks and online commerce sites.  If you use the same password at many, or all, sites as a significant number of people do then all your data can be compromised.  The recent CitiBank hack and some of the gaming and pornography site hacks had the stolen passwords posted to the Internet with a suggestion for others to try logging in with the exposed email addresses and passwords on the users’ Facebook accounts, etc.

There is obviously a need for skilled computer and network security professionals to implement best practices but the above shows us that an old adage of “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is true for online and data safety.  If you keep up with the current best practices for known threats and secure passwords you can help yourself, and your data, have a better chance of staying safe and secure.

Using robocopy makes many tasks easier with its robust switches and command line options.  One thing that is not easily determined and is not readily defined in the help or online is how to use robocopy with file names and folders that contain spaces.  After some quick trial and error I determined one way to make it work without using scripting code.

I came across this issue recently when migrating a small business server, sbs2003, to sbs2011, which as an aside is much easier than migrating to sbs2008. For example, if you have a share on a server named server01 and want to copy it to the local server from which you are working and the server share has space in the filename such as “Health Benefits,”  normally you would open a command prompt using runas administrator and then enter:

robocopy \\server01\Health Benefits\ C:\Data\HealthBenefits\ /E /R:10 /COPY:DATSOU /LOG:C:\Copy_HB_results.txt

However, this does not provide the correct input syntax for robocopy and the copy does not run.  It sees the destination incorrectly as the word immediately following the space, in this case Benefits.

robocopy /”\server01\Health Benefits\/” C:\Data\HealthBenefits\ /E /R:10 /COPY:DATSOU /LOG:C:\Copy_HB_results.txt

I hope this helps others as it will make it much easier, imho, than scripting for those not familiar with specific scripting syntax.  I know I’ll be using it more for sbs 2011 migrations and other server maintenance.

A few years later (end of 2002) there was an article in PC Magazine that asked “Are Tablet PCs the Next Big Thing?” The author was optimistic at that time, but here we are, over 8 years later and we are just (hopefully) getting there.

Are we there yet?

I don’t know, but I have high hopes because I received notification that my ASUS Eee Slate has shipped from Amazon. In addition to hoping it meets my goal of replacing my work laptop, I want to evaluate it to determine where it makes sense for L5 Solutions small business customers. I plan to use blog entries to provide some insight into the latter.

Why I waited for the ASUS Slate

I needed something that could do more than just allow me to play games, surf the internet, and watch video. I needed a business computer. Since most of our business applications are Windows based, I needed a machine that would run standard Windows. Also, I wanted speed, handwritten note taking ability, decent size, and expandability.I will provide more information on my experience in future posts. If you are looking to buy or see the specs, check it out at Amazon. When I ordered mine on March 22^nd, it said out of stock, but it ended up shipping April 7^th. So don’t hesitate to get in line if you want it.

ASUS Eee Slate EP121

What is the cloud?

When I saw a commercial on tv from Microsoft saying something to the affect of “go to the cloud” I knew this tech buzzword was finally mainstream. So, what is the cloud? And, more important, why should I care of about the cloud?

What is the cloud? Instead of storing your data (mail, photos, spreadsheets, etc) locally on your computer on your business servers it is stored on servers usually located at a large data center anywhere in the country, or world. The cloud name comes from the picture or diagrams used to describe networks which showed the data centers out on the Internet in a cloud. So, the cloud is really just a bunch of servers, which are just computers, located in a big building with specialized cooling, power backup generators, fire suppression systems, etc that allow users to access their data from anywhere on the Internet.

The cloud can be a good idea for you and your business or maybe not such a good idea.  It really depends on your view and needs regarding security, availability and other factors.  If you consider that something like Google’s Gmail or Yahoo mail is really just a cloud mail application then it is easy to wrap your head around what the cloud is and what it offers.  In the above two examples, your mail is stored on servers and you may access it from any Internet connected computer with a web browser.  As some Gmail users experienced over the past year or so, sometimes your mail is not accessible if the servers are down or there are Internet connection issues to the servers.

Why you should care about the cloud matters how you use technology. One example of how the cloud benefits business is that it allows mobile/remote users to access information through the Internet directly. That may not seem all that revolutionary because many businesses already allow remote users access to business information, and I agree.  However, for some small businesses without IT experience they can quickly and inexpensively setup document sharing and email for their employees.  There are always caveats, though, such as, are your emails and documents being crawled, stored and searched by the companies hosting your information on their servers?  That may be disturbing for some users and especially for some businesses.

I don’t want to give the impression that the cloud is bad in all respects and I recently came across a particularly useful cloud application scenario: storing virtual server backups and even hosting the virtualized servers during disaster recovery situations.  This is an example that illustrates both some of the advantages and limitations of the cloud.  Utilizing on site servers and data storage in most cases reduces costs and allows for faster access.  Internet connection speeds have come a long way but sitting in your office at 100Mbs or even 1000Mbps is much faster than an air card or a wireless connection at Starbucks (trust me I frequent the coffee titan daily).  However, in the event of a disaster having your server data and images of the server drives stored online in the cloud can literally save a business if their server room or entire building is destroyed or more commonly the case, flooded.

I’m beginning to digress, into the technical world, so I’ll wrap up by reiterating; the cloud simply allows you to store data on servers out on the Internet.  Again, this is not revolutionary, we’ve been storing mail on the Internet for many years.  The revolution, if it does happen, is when most of your applications run from, and store data on, the Internet and not on your computer.

The technology side should be easy, at least from my standpoint.  Implement a proven backup and disaster recovery process to securely protect your data.  By that, I mean you need to have a stable server or platform to store your current data.  Next, your current working data needs to be backed up to another stable device onsite with large storage capacity to not only recover current data but also archived data in the event you need to restore files from a long while back.  The last point in the process is to securely transfer and store the backup data at an offsite location.  This last part of the process is the true disaster recovery preparedness in any good business plan.  If your current location is fully or partially lost, for example in a fire, you can recover data from the offsite location and resume business in a relatively short period of time.

The business side of a backup and disaster recovery plan should be equally as simple.  However, in reality, nothing is as easy at it seems.  Backup software and hardware devices require resources, not only money to purchase the applications and servers but also time to research, implement and test. The failure of so many businesses to address their data backup and recovery need lies with the disproportionately low value they place on their servers and computer systems that store their company data.  Every business, regardless of industry, is reliant on their computers to perform daily business operations.  With my previous statement, I am continually amazed at how many companies have inadequate or no backup plan or process in place.

For instance,

• many companies do not review what data is backed up.  The consequence of this is usually discovered when they attempt to recover a needed file and it is not there because the data they need was never part of the backup routine.
• many companies do not test their backups.  This is the most often frequent issue with backups I’ve seen with desperate companies. Many businesses still use notoriously unreliable tapes for backup because that is what has always been used in the past.  Did you know tapes have failure rates often cited at over 50%?
• many do not backup data offsite.  Offsite or online data storage used to be very expensive, but that is not the case anymore.  There are still places that charge $3-$5 per GB of offsite data storage but that is no longer the norm.  If your data is only available on the server or system and a drive close to that same location, a small event may destroy both instances of your data, both your current and backup storage.  For example, power events, like lightning strikes or power surges are the most common event to destroy data and water damage such as a water pipe breaking or sprinklers are close behind.

What are the results if a business tackles both the technology and business side of safely securing their company data for any event?  Easy, their data is always available to them. Their data is recoverable whether they accidentally deleted a file and need to recover it from yesterday , or a mail server crashes and all their documented correspondence is gone until they quickly recover from their onsite backup, or better yet run a virtual mail server off their backup device until their mail server is restored.  And in the rare event of a true disaster, their data is immediately available online, fully encrypted, from any Internet connection. Additionally, a new backup server, fully loaded with images of their servers to run virtual machines, is overnighted to any location.

Are you interested in comprehensive and secure backup and disaster recovery options?  Contact us for proven data backup solutions.

I’m often asked which smartphone is best for small business users.  My gut response from dealing with pretty much every make and model of mobile phone and smartphone is the Apple iPhone.

With that said, there is often a better answer for small business users than simply stating the iPhone is best.  If you are a small business owner or sales person traveling far from major metropolitan areas, the accompanying and mandatory AT&T mobile service may not be the best fit for you due to smaller coverage areas outside big cities and major highways.  If AT&T’s coverage is a deal breaker, then I suggest going with Verizon and one of their smartphone options.  I’ve managed, configured and used Droid phones and am not a big fan of the size of the devices.  There are other smaller, and less expensive mobile device options that will serve the same purpose and more easily fit into your pocket.  I’m several sentences into an opinion on choosing a mobile phone for small business and have nary a mention of the ubiquitous Blackberry; the crown jewel of enterprise business users and the leader of the free world.  I am not a big fan of Blackberry devices.  However, I do see many successful business owners and companies using Blackberries who all love them.  And that is really where the gut reaction of my first sentence could be completely wrong for a particular user.  If you “grew up” on a “Crackberry” then that is likely the best mobile device for you.

As a side note for Blackberry users: If you’ve always wanted the experience of the Blackberry Enterprise Server that large organizations use but didn’t know how or didn’t want to pay for the data plans and licensing you’ve got another option now.  Blackberry offers another option, Blackberry Professional & Express Server.  Get real-time synchronization of mail, calendar and contacts to your company’s Microsoft Exchange mail server.  Here is the best part, though, you do not need the upgraded and more expensive BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) data plan anymore for all the advanced sync features.  On top of that, the new Blackberry Server option is FREE.  Correct, 100% free licensing for the server and user licenses.  If you want more information on how to sync your Blackberry to your Exchange mail server with no license fees or upgraded data plans just let us know.

If you are open to change and are not put-off by the AT&T iPhone data plans, then I strongly recommend opting for an iPhone.  It does not need to be an iPhone 4 or even the iPhone 3GS.  The iPhone 3G and the newer ones mentioned all provide a large screen to more easily read emails, pdfs, web pages, view pictures, follow the built-in map function and GPS and obviously has a whole truckload of available apps.  Oddly enough, as cool as the multitude of iPhone applications are, and as entertaining as so many apps can be, there are actually many useful iPhone apps available to grow your small business and allow you to be more productive and effective in your daily work.  But, alas, that is for another post.  Cheers.

Business technology really can help your business and not just exist as a necessary evil. If you’re interested, you can learn more by talking to us and our customers.

According to some local telecom providers, new customer interest and demos are growing, with significant increases in the past several weeks.  Telephony is a good barometer of the overall business climate because nothing is more basic and necessary as voice and data connectivity to a business.  With that said, voice and especially data purchasing has been down significantly since the recession hit and was realized in Oct of 08.  So when business cut back even on the basics the overall cascading affect hit most businesses, some harder than others.  Again, the point to note is that business executives and small business owners are increasingly optimistic about the direction of the economy and business in Indiana.  According to several online job sites, new job postings are up, but to temper expectations it is also reported that there is only 1 job for every 6 job seekers.

So with those tempered expectations, I think that with the recent experiences over the past year we’ll see businesses focus more on vetting their business partners, vendors and other relationships more thoroughly.  What that will mean is a leaning out of local small businesses.  A few will prosper and the others will most likely struggle or fail.  The successful businesses will drive each others bottom line and grow together.  Will we see Indianapolis business again invest in their core processes, business infrastructure and technology?  The indicators look good.

As a business executive, CIO or business owner do you know where most threats are coming from that target business networks, computers and users?  Most likely it is not something you have seriously researched.  As business consultants, we focus on knowing as much as possible about threats to business so we can effectively combat their tactics.

Most people, including many IT professionals, assume spam most predominantly originates in China, Nigeria and the former Soviet Republics such as Russia.  Oddly enough spam, its viruses and more importantly rootkits/trojans that allow those criminal enterprises free access to steal information from your computers and use your computers to launch other attacks that steal from additional business originate in some countries not usually associated with online threats, South Korea, Brazil and… the United States.

There are definitely larger and more aggressive threats targeting business networks as well as their servers and computers.  But you cannot minimize or dismiss the serious consequences of a single computer on your company’s internal business domain network.  The reason is, that single compromised computer can be used as a pinhole opening for criminals, either foreign or domestic, to launch more complex and sophisticated attacks to steal your business data, personal employee information or make it appear your computers are attacking other organizations.

Knowing what you know is as important as knowing what you do not know.  If you have any doubts about your business’ current security posture ask a qualified business consultant.

- Tsung Tzu, Art of War, Chapter 3 “Attack by Strategem”

“So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a thousand battles without a single loss.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.”

Email is still at the core of business communications providing exchange of information and documents.  However, document sharing and collaboration has taken on its own specialized applications, servers and platforms.  The biggest concern with collaboration is security and tracking.  In a previous post I wrote about Google Wave and their push to expand collaboration beyond document sharing to live sharing of ideas, text, photos, media… a digital conversation really.  Microsoft has been in this arena for some time and has an established solution in its SharePoint brand.  SharePoint services and SharePoint Portal Server allow for extremely customizable online sharing of documents, projects, teams and more.

Exchange Server 2010 - Unified Communications, archiving, flexibility, data protection and more

Unified communications was a big buzzword several years ago; however, lately it is not thrown around in the media as much as it used to be but it is in practice at most businesses.  In fact Microsoft’s upcoming next version of it ubiquitous Exchange Server 2010 touts unified communications as one of it core features.  Unified communications allows for multiple communication channels to funnel to one platform to access, send and receive email and voicemail.

The recurring themes in this post and many of my previous posts are security and access to content.  As we’ve been hearing with cloud computing and hosted applications (Software as a Service – SaaS) security is an issue that is not fully addressed.  I recently read that even Amazon admits the platform is not compliant to store credit card numbers (EC2 and S3)…  In fact Amazon has come back to clarify their position on security in the cloud after the initial comments.  Hosted Exchange mail with Outlook Anywhere was the first widely accepted hosted solution.  It offers some good features for different businesses: remote access, web interface, mobile device integration, and more.  But there are some industries that cannot  (due to laws, regulation, compliance policies) move their entire organization’s mail to a hosted mail server.  So security will continue to be an issue that will garner much attention from the developers, CIOs & other executives, the media and the tech community.

Accessibility to data and ease of that access is the other theme that seems to play out in many solutions to business need and vision.  Users want to access their documents from the mobile device, whether it is a BlackBerry, iPhone, Palm Pre, etc…  They want to document and data to look and function the same on that mobile device (which is really a very powerful mini computer) as it does on their laptop and their desktop.  Something we’ve overcome for business recently was offering not just the ability to view data on mobile devices, but actually manipulate data, run applications and utilize the full functionality of the application from the mobile device.

I’ll trail off on that note for now.  There is so much common ground on the vision and implementation of technology driving business today.  Business evolves, and the businesses that adopt the right technology will reap its rewards…  waxing philosophic about technology, although, I am an engineer