Archive for the ‘Disaster Recovery’ Category

« PREVIOUS

PRIMER: How are Disaster Recovery and Backups Different?

April 16th, 2013
Posted by: Donna Hemmert

So, you are working through your go-forward IT strategy and need to make sure that you have things covered should something go wrong. Pretty quickly, you notice that the terms “Backup” and “Disaster Recovery” are quite often being used interchangeably. But, the truth is, they are different. Related, yes, but different.

Backup

Backup really can be defined very simply. Backup is just a copy of your files on another disk (or tape, cloud, etc.). In fact, if you copied each and every file to a DVD (and we are not sure why you would do that), that would be a backup. Having a full backup that is up-to-date means that when you lose a few files or a whole drive or more, you can take the time it takes to copy those files back once your systems are ready to rock. But, it can be a time-consuming disruption. You will likely need to setup a new server(s), re-install the OS, and reinstall all the applications, etc. There are two ways to backup your systems:

  • Onsite Backup: This is when you backup locally to some kind of physical storage option. These solutions are capable of imaging servers and storing data locally so you can recover from incidents.
  • Offsite Backup: This is when you backup your data to an entirely different location. This, of course, helps protects you in the case of an entire geographic location being affected by a disruption. Also, often organizations need offsite backup to be in line with compliances such as those rules defined by Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, FISMA, NASD and NYSE, etc.

Disaster Recovery

So, what is Disaster Recovery? Disaster recovery is beyond backup. The big benefit of disaster recovery is that rather than taking what may be days or months to recover for an unplanned outage, Disaster Recovery will greatly shorten that time.

With Disaster Recovery, a complete image of your disk drives and servers are mirrored. This is sometimes referred to as a “bare-metal” backup, meaning the backup isn’t just the files, but the OS and everything. For example, with AISN’s Disaster Recovery service, we replicate the “bare-metal” backup image to another geographic site so in the event of a disaster in one geographic location, it can be restored from an entirely different geographic location. This gives you added protection and the image(s) allows you to restore systems more quickly – there is no need to reinstall an OS and copying files. The amount of time it takes to actually continue operations after a disaster also depends on whether you choose “Hot Site” or “Cold Site.” So what is the difference?

  • “Hot Site”: Environments are available at a moments notice. So, in the case of an outage, all data processing can quickly be moved to the “Hot Site” and operations continue.
  • “Cold Site”: Critical applications are available at a secondary location. This is similar but is supplied as basic office space, but with “Cold Site” the customer provides and installs all the equipment needed to continue operations. It is less expensive but will take longer for full operations to continue.

So, that’s really all there is to it from a high level. You really need to understand what your goals and objectives are. Do you need systems available in minutes, hours or would days be just fine? Is backup just fine, or do you need Disaster Recovery? And what level of Disaster Recovery do you need? There are lots to consider, but remember, we are always here to help you think through your IT plans.

TAGS:

CATEGORIES:

No Comments »

Windows Server 2012: Navigating the New Licensing Structure

March 20th, 2013
Posted by: admin

 

By Bill Peters, AIS Network Director of Sales

Windows Server 2012, which was released last fall, is the latest among Microsoft’s Windows Server product offerings, and it delivers a dramatically simplified licensing experience.

What went away? Away went the Enterprise edition, which was retired.  Windows Server 2012 Standard edition includes all the premium features previously included in Enterprise edition.    Away went the Web Server, and now web workloads running on a Windows Server 2012 edition will continue to receive the “CAL waiver” that is in effect for these workloads today.  Windows Server CALs will not be required to access the licensed server if it is only being used to run web workloads.  Away went HPC Products.  Microsoft will now deliver the HPC Pack 2012 as a free download that can be used with any Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter license.   HPC workloads running on Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter editions will continue to receive the “CAL waiver” that is currently in effect for these workloads.

So what’s new? Well, now there are just four Windows Server 2012 editions from which to choose.  And, shaped by feedback from customers and partners, the new Windows Server licensing approach should help make choosing the right Windows Server a whole lot easier too.

Windows Server 2012 Licensing Overview

Microsoft holds that its new licensing approach will deliver the following benefits to its Windows Server customers:

Simple. It’s easier than ever to determine the right Windows Server edition for you.  Choose from just four editions of Windows Server 2012, based on the size of your organization and your requirements for virtualization and cloud computing.

Economical. All editions of Windows Server 2012 deliver excellent economics and ROI for your business. For example, the Datacenter edition, with its unlimited virtualization rights, provides the benefits of cloud-level scale with predictable, lower costs. The Standard edition now offers all of the same enterprise-class features as the Datacenter edition and is differentiated only by virtualization rights.

Cloud-optimized. Businesses today are rapidly adopting a hybrid approach across private and public cloud computing.  Windows Server 2012 offers the right edition for you, no matter where you are on your path to the cloud.  Use the Datacenter edition for highly virtualized cloud environments, the Standard edition for lightly virtualized environments progressing toward cloud, or the Essentials edition for an ideal cloud-connected first server.

Here’s the Windows Server 2012 licensing at a glance:

*CALs are required for every user or device accessing a server. See the Product Use Rights for details.

Why a streamlined licensing model for core infrastructure? In short, this new model enables easier assessment and management of your server environment.  For one thing, a single licensing model makes it easier for you to purchase the right product for your organization’s needs and also compare the cost of alternatives.  Another plus is that it allows for a single, familiar and easy-to-track metric for all infrastructure products (reducing management overhead).   Finally, as part of the alignment with the Microsoft private cloud licensing model, Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012, as well as Enrollment for Core Infrastructure (ECI), now all have the same licensing and packaging structure.  Simple and convenient, right?

Choosing Between the Windows Server 2012 Standard and Datacenter Editions

Obviously, the Foundation and Essentials editions are for small business.  If you are a mid-size business or a large enterprise, like the majority of AISN customers, your choice lies between Standard and Datacenter.  When it comes to determining which of the two editions is best for your enterprise, there are only two words to keep in mind: virtualization rights.

Both the Standard and Datacenter editions provide the same set of features (including high availability features like failover clustering).  The only differentiator between the editions is the number of Virtual Machines (VMs) being used.  If your strategy calls for a highly virtualized environment, then the Datacenter edition provides you with optimum flexibility, since it allows for unlimited virtualization.  If you aren’t ready to heavily virtualize your environment, a Standard edition license entitles you to run up to two VMs on up to two processors.

Calculating Your Windows Server 2012 License Needs

So, how do you decide how many licenses you’ll need? Good question.  Because the Datacenter edition allows for an unlimited number of VMs, only physical processors need to be counted when determining licenses for the Standard edition.  Here’s a quick formula:

1 license = 2 physical processors

To determine the number of licenses needed to fully license a physical server, simply count the number of physical processors in the server and divide that number by two.  That will tell you the number of licenses you need.

Each Standard edition license provides you with the right to run up to two VMs.  If you want to run additional VMs but do not require the highly virtualized environment that Datacenter provides (which is unlimited VMs), then you can simply purchase additional Standard edition licenses and assign them to a single physical server in order to increase your VM entitlements on that server.

Now for the nitty gritty.  What activities are NOT allowed under theWindows Server 2012 licensing?  You cannot:

  • Mix Windows Server 2012 Standard and Datacenter licenses on the same server.  All of the processors on a given server must be licensed with the same version and edition.
  • Split your Windows Server 2012 license across multiple servers.  Each license can only be assigned to a single physical server.
  • Assign a Windows Server 2012 license to a virtual machine.  A license is assigned to the physical server and each license will cover up to two physical processors.
  • Use your Windows Server 2008 CAL to access Windows Server 2012. The CAL accessing the instance of Windows Server must be equivalent to or higher in version than the server being accessed.

Factoring in Software Assurance

A number of enterprise customers will be concerned about how Software Assurance will work with Windows Server 2012.  Here are some scenarios.

Software Assurance and the Datacenter Edition. If you have Software Assurance on the Datacenter edition, you are entitled to the Windows Server 2012 Datacenter edition.  On the old version, a Datacenter license covered up to 1 processor.  With Windows 2012, a Datacenter license covers up to 2 processors.  So, for every two current Datacenter licenses with Software Assurance, you will receive one Windows Server 2012 Datacenter edition license.

Software Assurance and the Enterprise Edition. If you have Software Assurance on the Enterprise edition, you’re entitled to receive two Standard edition licenses for each Enterprise edition license that you have.

Software Assurance and the Standard Edition. If you have Software Assurance on the Standard edition, you’re entitled to receive one Windows Server 2012 Standard edition license for each Standard edition license that you already have.

Software Assurance and the Web Server Edition. If you have Software Assurance on the Web Server edition, you’ll receive an additional Windows Server 2012 Standard edition license to use while also maintaining your right to run your current Web Server license.  For every two Windows 2008 R2 Web Server edition licenses, you’ll receive one Windows Server 2012 Standard edition license.

What if I want to upgrade to the Datacenter edition? Remember that the Step-Ups from the Enterprise edition to the Datacenter edition are being removed from the price lists.  Therefore, if you’ve decided to move to a more highly virtualized or private cloud environment, you should consider taking advantage of the Software Assurance Step-Up benefit to upgrade to the Datacenter edition prior to the Windows Server 2012 General Availability.

Purchasing Windows Server 2012 Licensing

Okay, now how do you get going?

You can purchase Windows Server 2012 licenses through multiple channels, which provides you with optimum flexibility and choice to acquire the software.  Microsoft Hosting Partners like AIS Network are an excellent resource in evaluating your Windows Server 2012 licensing needs.  We can help you evaluate, plan, deploy, and manage any type of hosted system—from a small business implementation to supporting the largest enterprise applications built on the latest technology.

At AISN, we recommend Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA) licensing (as opposed to other volume licensing), based on ease of deployment.   How does it work?  AISN tracks and manages the licensing for you.  We provide a monthly subscription-based pricing plan, including software assurance.  This eliminates any large, upfront costs needed to purchase the right amount of licensing as well as the over-purchasing of unused licenses.  However, if you own volume licensing we can utilize those licenses in our hosted environments.

Why so many options for licensing?  The various licensing options enable you to choose the program that works best for your management and operational needs.  We’d be happy to discuss with you in more detail all of your options and how they can be delivered via a custom hosted solution.  For a conversation about this and a free quote,  email me now and let me know your needs.

AISN is ready and eager to work with you on all of your hosting needs and on helping to save your business money too.

TAGS:

CATEGORIES:

No Comments »

10 Dangerous Risks to Your Server Security

February 27th, 2013
Posted by: admin

GUEST BLOG

By Sarah Morris
KirkpatrickPrice

Security.  That’s usually the first thing on the minds of those in the IT world.  To keep up with changing technologies, we are constantly changing and improving our security standards, so that we can remain one step ahead of malicious attackers in defending our confidential information.

Royce Howard, of Global Knowledge, offers some tips about the 10 most dangerous risks to your server.  These tips are important to remember when developing and securing your IT infrastructure.

Physical Attacks. Make sure no one has physical access to your server.  Server rooms should be kept secure, and sensitive data should be encrypted.

Password Policies. Create complex passwords and change passwords every 90 days.

Privileged Accounts and Social Engineering. Vulnerabilities can be mitigated by removing administrator rights.

Email Attacks. Beware of phishing emails.  Never open an email from an untrusted source and avoid clicking on links in emails.

Worms. Worms are self-replicating programs that copy themselves from machine to machine, using up computer processing time and bandwidth.

Increasingly Malicious Malware. Scheduling regular scans can help detect and prevent against malicious malware and spyware.

Unauthorized Network Access. Network Access Control and Network Access Protection can help control network access of a computer host while using a set of protocols to define and implement a security policy.

Not Updating Patches. Automatic updating of patches can help avoid threats.

3rd-Party Applications. Check security platforms of 3rd-party vendors and applications from independent developers and manage exploits.

The Human Factor. People are the weakest link in security initiatives.  Develop strong policies and procedures so that people are prepared.

At KirkpatrickPrice, we have years of experience in information assurance by performing assessments, audits, and tests that strengthen information security controls.  Contact us at info@kirkpatrickprice.com for more information on how we can help you in your compliance efforts.

Sarah Morris is a technical writer for KirkpatrickPrice, a provider of world-class audit services. Visit www.kirkpatrickprice.com.

TAGS:

CATEGORIES:

No Comments »

Top 10 Security Risks Found by Your Auditor

February 21st, 2013
Posted by: admin

GUEST BLOG

By Sarah Morris
KirkpatrickPrice

At KirkpatrickPrice, we strive to provide the proper assurance and resources to help our clients maintain security within their organization.  Recently, we held a client webinar focused on the “Top Ten Security Risks” that your auditor finds during your auditing process.  Below is a summary of the most common risks that we find.

1.      No Formal Policies and Procedures

Formal guidelines of policies and procedures help provide your employees with clarity of what’s expected of them.  They define the accountability for each employee and also establish necessary training. Information security policies are mandated by the FTC Safeguards Rule, PCI Data Security Standards, and the HIPAA Security Rule. This means they are mandatory.

2.      Misconfigurations

Standards need to be applied consistently. Organizations should utilize benchmark configuration standards from a recognized entity such as: Center for Internet Security (CIS), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), SysAdmin Audit Network Security (SANS) Institute, and the National Institute of Standards Technology (NIST).

3.      No Formal Risk Assessment

Assessment should cover assets that are critical to your enterprise to continue business operations for the following: hardware, software, human resources, and processes (automated or manual). Some important things to consider when thinking about risk assessment are the threats to your assets as well as the likelihood of vulnerability being compromised. Threats can be both internal (employees or third party contractors or partners) as well as external (natural events or social engineering). Developing a proper risk assessment can help to mitigate potential risks that you face.

4.      Undefined Incident Response

It is always important to have clear instructions on reporting procedures when determining incident response. It is suggested to build a culture within your work environment that encourages reporting of all incidents the moment they present themselves.

5.      Lack of Disaster Planning

Disaster planning is important in a situation where written plans were available for others to follow in the event that key personnel are not available. A business impact analysis can help quantify what level of redundancy is required for disaster planning. Proactive arrangements should be made to care for the staff and to communicate with third parties. Walkthroughs and training scenarios can benefit organizations so employees are properly prepared in the event of a disaster.

6.      Lack of Testing

The concept of testing applies to all areas of your security. If your security is not tested, there is no way to determine whether or not vulnerabilities are present.

7.      Insecure Code

Developing secure coding is something we find lots of companies struggling with. To develop secure coding, training must be implemented as well as specific development standards and quality assurance.

8.      Lack of Monitoring/Audit Trails

Log Harvesting, parsing, and alerting methods must be determined to efficiently deal with massive event logs. The responsibility for review must be formally assigned as part of daily operations.  Audit trails should be stored in such a way that system administrators cannot modify without alerting someone with and oversight role.

9.      Data Leakage

Some things we often forget are where the data is located and how long should it be retained? How is encryption implemented and verified? How is access to data granted and audited?  These things are all very important, and if not corrected, can keep you from complying with federal and industry standards and regulations.

10.  Lack of Training

A lack of training can prove to be a striking blow to the security of your organization. Employers should recognize the importance of properly training all employees on safety and security best practices. Standards and guidelines should be clearly set and determined in each organization. Several training opportunities are offered through KirkpatrickPrice to properly train you and your company on the basics of security awareness, awareness for managers, awareness for IT professionals, and awareness for credit card handling.

Determining your individual risks is the first step toward the mitigation process.  Maximum security of your sensitive information is KirkpatrickPrice’s number one priority.

If you’re ready to get started with your assurance process, you’ve come to the right place. We’re ready to help. Let’s work together.

Sarah Morris is a technical writer for KirkpatrickPrice, a provider of world-class audit services. Visit www.kirkpatrickprice.com.

 

TAGS:

CATEGORIES:

No Comments »

Disasters Happen. Is Your Business Ready?

February 14th, 2013
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

Preparing for an emergency is a key factor to business continuity after a disaster. Wherever the threat comes from – whether it’s physical, virtual, network failure or cybercrime-related – it’s important that your business is equipped to deal with the problem.

In fact, the U.S. Department of Labor estimates that over 40 percent of businesses never reopen following a disaster.  And, when we consider these potential consequences, it’s important that you have a disaster preparedness plan ready.

We consulted Cindy Bates, Microsoft US SMB Vice President, for some tips.  As you create your business continuity plan, she recommends that you keep in mind the following:

Communication strategy.  Make a plan about how you will communicate any disaster and its impact on your internal and external audiences.  Remember that 40 percent of businesses will never reopen following a disaster.

Financial management. Ensure that you can still access your company accounts, pay bills on time and make the payroll.

Data backup.  Keep your company information safe by backing up assets and storing a copy offsite on a regular basis.

Cloud-based software. Move software to cloud-based versions of the programs that you use today.  This acts as a great alternative to data backup and enables your employees to have access to email, important documents, contacts and calendars – anytime and from virtually anywhere.

Technology updates.  Maintain vigilance when it comes to keeping your technology updated with security patches to safeguard your network against the latest threats.

Your digital assets are extremely important to business continuity in the aftermath of a disaster.  Do you need help protecting them?  Contact us for a free assessment.

TAGS:

CATEGORIES:

No Comments »

The Datacenter Tiers – What Are They?

October 20th, 2012
Posted by: Donna Hemmert

By Donna Hemmert
AIS Network Vice President, Strategic Development

We’ve heard from some of our clients recently that there is some confusion about what the hosting tiers are and why they matter.  Well, we’d love to shed some light.

So, why are there tiers at all? The tiers help people understand the capabilities of a datacenter by describing the availability of data from the hardware at the datacenter. The Tiers are the requirements for “each level” of data center infrastructure. Overall, the higher the tier, the greater the availability.

Tier One

  • Basic site infrastructure with expected availability of 99.671%
  • Single non-redundant distribution path with non-redundant capacity components
  • Planned work and outages will require most or all of the site to be shut down

Tier Two

  • Meets or exceeds all Tier 1 requirements
  • Redundant site infrastructure capacity and single, non-redundant distribution path with expected availability of 99.741%

Tier Three

  • Meets or exceeds all Tier 1 and Tier 2 requirements
  • Concurrently maintainable site infrastructure with expected availability of 99.982%
  • Multiple independent distribution paths, but only one path required
  • Equipment is dual-powered & fully compatible with the topology of site’s architecture

Tier Four

  • Meets or exceeds all Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 requirements
  • Fault-tolerant site infrastructure with electrical power storage and distribution facilities with expected availability of 99.995%
  • Fault-tolerant with multiple, independent, physically isolated systems that provide redundant capacity components and multiple, independent, diverse, active distribution paths simultaneously serving the computer equipment.  Independently powered Cooling and power provided after infrastructure failure.

I hope that answers some of  your questions.  Feel free to comment with questions.

TAGS:

CATEGORIES:

No Comments »

Cloud Computing Benefits for Accounting Firms

August 19th, 2012
Posted by: Julia Uglietta


By Julia Uglietta
Associate, Marketing and Sales

Accounting firms deal with data day in and day out. The volume of numbers that go through an accounting office each day is unimaginable. The number of emails that go in and out of the offices is inundating.

It’s not only the size issue that challenges accounting offices every day.  Rather, it’s also the need to work faster while remaining efficient – in addition to improving better client and interoffice communications. These goals sound fairly standard for a successful business, right?  But in fields such as accounting, where large amounts of data are being received and stored, achieving these goals can be onerous.  The good news is, however, that new technology known as cloud computing is helping accounting firms attain these goals and save money too.

AIS Network accounting

Taking business to the cloud allows accountants to work from anywhere, at any time.

Taking accounting firms to the cloud is a way to reduce costs, improve efficiency and make data more accessible.  Throughout the industry, the discussions about cloud computing and how many accounting practices are moving to an outsourced cloud computing model has people thinking.  Accountants can see clearly that cloud computing is moving up and moving fast.  Now, more firms are looking into cloud solutions before they buy that next new sever.  They’re performing a cost benefit analysis, and in the process, they’re discovering that the operational expenditure associated with implementing an outsourced model is more desirable than the large capital expenditure associated with buying and maintaining all those new servers.

Not only does migrating to a cloud-based, paperless environment cut costs for accounting firms, but it also introduces new efficiencies.  When you put your data and applications in the cloud and entrust a cloud provider to care for them round-the-clock, you’re achieving IT efficiencies such as:

  • Eliminating the need for physical storage (throw out those old filing cabinets!)
  • Upgrading to industrial strength physical security (including partial or full fault tolerance, fire protection, etc.)
  • Improving backup and disaster recovery processes
  • Enhancing data security
  • Increasing availability (through improved power redundancy,  etc.)
  • Extending IT resources with a 24x7x365 team of hosting experts

For many accounting firms, this makes the decision to switch to the cloud even easier.

The most brilliant feature of the cloud is, in my opinion, its “anywhere” accessibility – which is an aspect that most accounting firms will find appealing.  When your data and your applications are in the cloud, they are accessible via any Internet-enabled device whenever you need them and wherever you are.  It just makes life easier.  Allowing the staff to work faster (and, I might add, without necessarily increasing billable rates) allows them more time to focus on the clients’ needs.

Most customers prefer communicating with their accountant via the Internet, and in many ways, the new cloud-based dashboards, reporting applications and unified communications systems that are now available only make this easier.  By enabling better collaboration and communication among geographically diverse staff and clients, accounting firms’ processes and workflows are vastly improved and the work gets done much faster – often with greatly reduced travel costs.

Life in the cloud has changed many industries’ ways of operating.  Slowly but surely, accounting firms will ease into cloud computing and reap benefits that were previously unachievable any other way.

 

 

TAGS:

CATEGORIES:

1 Comment »

Why Email Archiving?

August 3rd, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

Why email archiving?  Well, from the knowledge management perspective, valuable information is contained within our everyday email conversations, and yet that vast knowledge repository is typically not documented or stored using any formal means or framework.  Email archiving solves this problem, especially if it is designed with simple yet robust search capabilities.

email archiving

Email archiving addresses legal readiness and regulatory compliance needs, among other business requirements.

However, information archiving also addresses several key business requirements, particularly for enterprises.  To start, consider:

  • legal discovery readiness
  • regulatory compliance
  • email storage optimization

Being prepared for legal discovery and regulatory events means knowing where data is stored and being able to collect, search, and retrieve that data in a short period of time.

Organizations must also be able to establish and enforce policies, which reflect specific regulatory and geographic market requirements that align with internal information governance strategies. When managed improperly, exposure to legal and compliance risks can be significant and challenge an organization’s ability to defend its processes. This can lead to costly fines, guilty verdicts and damaged reputations.

Also, keep in mind that because regulations mandate that data must remain in its original state (native format), robust search capabilities are needed.  An archive provides a centralized, searchable repository that provides end users with access to historical information.  We believe that this access should be simple and intuitive, with a familiar user experience that fits existing work habits and enables greater productivity.

Finally, an information archive should address all of these requirements while also supporting the dual IT objectives of centralizing email storage and reducing the cost and management complexities of exploding data volumes — both within managed systems as well as in the wild.

AISN has recently introduced a new cloud-based offering for enterprise email archiving — one that has a variety of attractive features, especially if you need to meet high compliance standards.  AISN’s next generation email archiving, Proofpoint Enterprise Archive™, offers a proven email archiving solution architected explicitly for the cloud.  It features ultra-rapid parallel email search capabilities for discovery, DoubleBlind Encryption™ as the industry’s only email archiving solution to secure against hacking or legal challenges, and unlimited storage with straightforward flat-fee pricing.

Read more about our new email archiving solution on our site’s email archiving page; it’s also briefly highlighted in our disaster recovery section.  Because we price email archiving on a case-by-case basis, you won’t find a pricing guide, so please be sure to contact us for a free quote.

TAGS:

CATEGORIES:

2 Comments »

Cleaning Out the SharePoint Site Recycle Bin

July 16th, 2012
Posted by: admin

By Terry Engelstad
MCP, MCSE, CCNA, MCDBA, MCTS, MCITP
AIS Network Operations Manager

Recently, a SharePoint hosting customer asked us to perform routine maintenance on his SharePoint site.  As part of that, he asked us to clean out the Recycle Bin and have the automatic deletion mechanism disabled for the Recycle Bin.  He said that his company hadn’t cleaned its SharePoint Recycle Bin in over one year.

There are some things you might find interesting about the Recycle Bin, which is the first line of defense in recovering data. As you probably know, SharePoint uses a two-tier Recycle Bin. The first tier is at the User level where an item deleted from a List or Library will drop into the User Recycle Bin. This way, the Users can recover deleted items themselves. Then after a period of time, items will be moved from the User Recycle Bin to a Site Collection Recycle Bin. The duration for which an item sits in the User Recycle Bin is determined by a parameter in SharePoint Central and is specific to an entire Web Application.  The duration for which items will sit in the Site Collection Recycle Bin is determined by the amount of space available to hold these items and is also configurable via a parameter in SharePoint Central.

Currently, our customer’s User Recycle Bin is configured to never delete items.  There are quite a few items in various User Recycle Bins. There are two ways to clean them out.  First, somebody can go to each of the User Recycle Bins and remove items manually.  Or, second, the retention configuration parameter could be changed to a very low value, and after a period of time, the items will flush out on their own.

The difference between these two techniques is that the first one requires human intervention to find all the Recycle Bins and to make decisions about which items should be deleted or not. The second option is global and will affect all items in all Recycle Bins.

Naturally, if our client wants us to clean out the User Recycle Bins individually, they would also need to define the rules for deletion of those items (i.e., delete everything older than 30 days, for example).

On the other hand, if the customer wants us to change the configuration parameters, we’d be happy to do so.  That’s easy.

More questions about your hosted SharePoint?  Leave your comments below.

TAGS:

CATEGORIES:

10 Comments »

AISN’s Redundant Power and Connectivity Protect Customers From Power Outages in Aftermath of Massive DC Storm

June 30th, 2012
Posted by: admin

By Jay Atkinson
AIS Network CEO

data center reliability

Unplanned outages are costly. Redundant power and connectivity are critical values that managed hosting providers offer.

Can the AIS Network data center reliably maintain data availability when a massive storm hits?  Yes!

Last night, the Washington, DC, metropolitan area suffered a massive, highly destructive storm replete with high winds, thunder, lightning and heavy rains.  This afternoon, more than 1.3 million households and businesses across the area are still without power.  In fact, power company officials are predicting a “multi-day outage.”  All this bad news comes in the middle of a heat wave when weather forecasters are calling for dangerous heat levels and still more storms.  We sympathize with those who are still without power and who have suffered property loss.

Last night’s storm, which crippled many businesses with a primary utility power outage, underscores why it’s tremendously advantageous to host your mission critical data in an SSAE 16 Type II-compliant data center.  Outages are costly.  Customers don’t really care if there was a storm, an earthquake, a rolling blackout or some other issue responsible for an outage.  They  simply expect perfect availability of and connectivity to their data, and that is understandable.

Reliable, redundant power and redundant IP connectivity are two of the most important safeguards that a managed hosting provider can offer its customers, especially when a natural disaster strikes.  Yet, what many hosting providers offer falls short of that.  AIS Network’s Tier III data center in Virginia came through with flying colors and kept our customers’ data up and running.  No hiccups, just solid availability.

Choosing to move your mission critical applications and data from an on-premise hosted environment to a fully managed hosted environment within a secure data center definitely makes good economic sense but it’s also a decision that provides for more reliable protection against power and Internet connection outages.  That’s a critical value proposition.

Managed hosting support systems must be predictably available, and system availability is only as predictable as the availability of power to those systems.  When you host your data in AISN’s data center, you are choosing to add a level of built-in redundancy for failover protection during common and extreme conditions.  AISN facilities are designed for redundancy and high availability of power to our clients’ critical server systems, and high density Internet connections.  Clearly, to build this sort of environment for your data on-premise would be cost-prohibitive.

Some data centers promise redundant/ backup systems, but nonetheless, it’s still very important for a prospective customer to confirm precisely what that promise entails.  In some cases, a physical inspection may be necessary or advisable.  If you’d like to learn more about AISN’s data centers or take a technical tour, please contact us.

TAGS:

CATEGORIES:

5 Comments »

« Older Entries