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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.

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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.

 

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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.

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What Do Our Microsoft Competencies Mean?

February 3rd, 2013
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

What do our Microsoft competencies mean?  They are something we’ve worked very hard to achieve and we’re quite proud of them.  There are 640,000 partners in the Microsoft Partner Network, but only 5 percent of partners worldwide can distinguish themselves with a competency and having attained this high degree of proficiency.

AIS Network has attained Microsoft competencies in hosting and in mid-market solutions.  AISN’s Microsoft competencies show you our demonstrated expertise — and our commitment — to staying deeply informed about the latest Microsoft products and technologies.

AIS Network Microsoft Competencies

Attaining Microsoft competencies is a rigorous process but the outcome is highly rewarding.

By attaining our Microsoft competencies, we have met extensive requirements through rigorous exams — culminating in Microsoft certifications.  And, we have also been recommended by our customers for our skills, support and knowledge.  A Microsoft competency allows us to accelerate our customers’ success by serving as technology advisors for their business demands.

When customers look for an IT partner to meet their business challenges, choosing a company that has attained Microsoft competencies is a smart move.  These are highly qualified professionals with access to Microsoft technical support and product teams.

See how we can put our expertise to work for your business.  Contact us today.

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Is the Big Data Market Growing by Billions? You Bet!

January 28th, 2013
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

Big data, big data, big data.  It may sound like an overused buzzword of the day, but it’s an incredibly important phenomenon that will have a lasting impact well into the future as large enterprises – particularly health care, banking, retail and educational organizations – focus their operations around developing more sophisticated big data tools and technologies to collect, manage and analyze large information sets.

Goodbye, filing cabinets. Online storage is a convenient, collaborative and flexible solution to creating and managing a centralized, secure data store.

Big data is a fast growing market, and it has enormous potential to transform your organization (as it simultaneously transforms your customers, partners and competitors).  Just how big is the big data market?  Well, according to a recent report by Transparency Market Research, the global big data market was worth around $6.3 billion last year.  The projections are staggering, however.   Projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of about 41 percent, the big data market will be worth $48.3 billion by 2018.  The research firm said that North America will be responsible for roughly 55 percent of the market through 2018, followed by Europe.

What is driving this market growth?  Well, mostly, unstructured data.  Conventional database management tools just don’t cut it when it comes to unstructured data, so better tools are required.  “The exponential growth in the quantum of big data is leading to the development of advanced technology and tools that can manage and analyze this data,” confirms Transparency Market Research.

IDC industry research also supports the healthy growth of big data.   IDC projects that the global market for big data technology and services will expand at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 32 percent between 2012 and 2016.  Roughly speaking, that’s seven times faster than the information and communication technology market.  IDC indicates that by 2016, we can expect to see revenue from the big data sector near $24 billion.

Unquestionably, big data is not just the trend of the moment.  It’s here to stay.  Companies will continue to capture, analyze and store enormous volumes of data.  According to The McKinsey Quarterly, “In 15 of the U.S. economy’s 17 sectors, companies with more than 1,000 employees store, on average, over 235 terabytes of data—more data than is contained in the U.S. Library of Congress.”

It’s becoming increasingly clear that businesses that succeed in managing these enormous information sets, while grasping fully how to find value in them, will improve their ability to make strategic decisions and enhance their customer service.  That’s a likely recipe for more business expansion and revenue growth.

So, what does this mean for the hosting industry and AIS Network?

The big data technology and services industry represents a global opportunity for companies like ours, not to mention job seekers with the right industry domain expertise.  Increasingly, the spotlight will be on the hosting industry’s ability to host these new database technologies successfully and provide secure, reliable, easy-to-use online storage for massive amounts of data – much of it quite sensitive.

Because most of our clients have stringent security and compliance requirements tied to SOX, PCI, HIPAA and FISMA, they use our online storage for their big data needs.  Rather than choosing to store their data on physical, local storage devices, most have opted to store it to a secure, remote database in the cloud that may be accessed via the Internet.

Cloud storage is rapidly becoming the go-to solution for managing and analyzing big data.  It eliminates the need for unsecure physical storage devices and allows authorized employees, partners and vendors ready access to the data.  It’s a convenient, collaborative and flexible solution to creating and managing a centralized, secure data store.   Let us know if you’d like to learn more about online storage.

Are you interested in learning more about big data technologies and tools?  Check out this conference, Big Data DevCon, which is scheduled to take place in Boston this spring.

Happy data crunching!

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Welcome, Josh Darrin!

January 22nd, 2013
Posted by: Jay Atkinson

By Jay Atkinson
AIS Network CEO

If you have seen a new face at AIS Network, be sure to welcome him.  We have added Josh Darrin to our team as Director of Operations.  Josh has been helping us as a contractor on many operational issues as part of network operation initiatives, additional compliances and many important projects that have facilitated our recent growth.  He has been especially helpful in projects related to our new role as a provider of eGov hosting services to the Commonwealth of Virginia, which has required not only technical and network “know how” but also the business experience that helps create new processes, services and policy.

Before AISN, Josh had over 20 years of experience as a technology entrepreneur.  Be sure to check out more on our press release.

We are very excited to have Josh as part of our permanent team and know his business experience and technical expertise will really help us in our growth plan.  Welcome, Josh!

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Congratulations to Terry Engelstad!

January 22nd, 2013
Posted by: Kurt Baumann

By Kurt Baumann
AIS Network Chairman and CTO

Today, we announced the promotion of Terry Engelstad to the position of VP of Network Operations.  It’s a much deserved promotion, as Terry has been such an important part of all our recent growth.  Terry started with AISN in 2007 and has since helped us double our network.  And we are on path to do that again this year.http://www.aisn.net/wp-admin/post.php?post=3025&action=edit

With Terry, AISN has gained not only over 20 additional certifications in Microsoft, Cisco and Oracle, but also over 2 decades of network and software engineering experience.  Terry’s leadership has also helped us expand into new locations (Virginia) and new markets including our Virginia eGov initiative which has been very fruitful for the company.

Interesting tidbit: Terry, who is a born and bred Chicagoan, actually was a professional soccer player and played with the Chicago Mustangs.

Find out more about Terry on his bio or read our press release here.

 

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Welcome, Ron Cornelison, to the AIS Network Advisory Board

December 11th, 2012
Posted by: Donna Hemmert

Respected Tech Executive and Recent Chairman/CEO of AMCAD Joins AIS Network Advisory Board

By Donna Hemmert
AIS Network Vice President, Strategic Development

We are pleased to announce the addition of Ronald Cornelison to the AIS Network Advisory Board, who brings 35 years of entrepreneurial and government contracting experience to AISN.  Cornelison’s expertise in government contracting has led to building multiple companies in the defense, technology and financial services sectors. During Cornelison’s tenure at AMCAD, the company received the Fast 50 and Fast 500 awards from Deloitte, earning the title as one of the fastest growing technology firms in Virginia and North America, respectively.  AMCAD was also a Smart 100 Best-Run Company for 2012, continuing the growth pattern Cornelison started.

While Cornelison will be advising us on all areas of business including operations, strategy and product/services, his expertise in government contracting will round out AISN’s team of technology leaders and help guide strategy as our government cloud computing business continues to grow.

You can read more in our press release and in Cornelison’s full bio.

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Bob McDonnell, Virginia’s Governor, Calls for 4% Reduction in Agency Budget

December 6th, 2012
Posted by: Donna Hemmert

By Donna Hemmert
AIS Network Vice President, Strategic Development

AIS Network is a proud provider to the Commonwealth of Virginia and its agencies and so we are always concerned where our customers are concerned.  We know the pressure many of the Virginia agencies are under to provide top-of-the-line IT services so recently when Bob McDonnell, Virginia’s governor, called for a 4% reduction in agency budgets, we knew our eGov customers would be looking to us to collaborate on ideas.

Luckily, there are strategies in IT that definitely allow you to cut costs without cutting service.   The place where most organizations have recently found savings is by moving to the Cloud and a Software as a Service (SaaS) model.  According the KPGM, the Cloud/SaaS market has been growing for this very reason – cost savings.  SaaS pricing is helping organizations do more IT with less money.

With this model, you really are focusing your IT budget on resources, as opposed to hardware or software.  The benefit is that you can purchase the exact resources you need (processing, storage, memory) and upgrade them quickly as required.  This eliminates planning around hardware including the expensive hardware replacement cycle.

An additional benefit of Cloud and the SaaS model is that the ability to apply temporary IT resources becomes very easy and is no longer nearly as costly.  This can be beneficial if you have a temporary project, such as a website around a promotion or project, or in the case of software development where developers really appreciate the flexibility of quickly deploying virtual machines as needed.

Because in the cloud, the cloud provider does all your support, maintenance, and performs any emergency support, man-hours are reduced and the need for around-the-clock staff is reduced.  This is especially relevant in the case of mission-critical applications where the servers need to be working around the clock.

So, if you want to save money while still delivering top-level service, consider the  Cloud and SaaS.  And, as always, we are here to answer any questions.

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Understanding Cloud Deployment Models

November 27th, 2012
Posted by: Donna Hemmert

By Donna Hemmert
AIS Network Vice President, Strategic Development

Public Cloud, Private Cloud or Hybrid Cloud?  Which one is for me?

First of all, let’s define the Cloud.  A Cloud is a consolidation of hosted computer services (storage, computing power) and is delivered as a service.

Cloud services are often fully managed by the provider and are usually sold based on usage (for example, per hour or even by the minute). One of the main benefits of the Cloud is that it is elastic, allowing organizations to use as much resources as they need.  They can easily add or reduce those services without the need to deploy equipment.  This can be really useful in situations where companies have a project (for example, a development project or marketing promotion that requires a special new temporary website) or their business has a lot of associated seasonality (i.e., they need more computing resources for the Christmas season).  In that case, a company can call a company such as AISN and simply request another “virtual machine” or more storage.

Many of our customers like the cloud model also since they don’t have to put out upfront capital for equipment and software, but instead can pay a set amount each month.  It’s more predictable and it is captured as an operational expense, which can be beneficial.

As for the deployment models, here are the main types of Cloud:

  • Public Cloud is a cloud that is available to all customers and these customers share the resources of the cloud.  Examples of public clouds are Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure  and Google Cloud.
  • Private Cloud allocates resources to be used solely by your organization from a shared infrastructure.  Your data is stored in dedicated, segregated silos.  With Private Cloud, adding more storage or CPU is easy and often instantly available.
  • Dedicated Private Cloud is a cloud infrastructure built solely for your organization’s use – with all services and hardware dedicated to your organization.  Some organizations prefer dedicated private cloud for additional security but the down side is that there are reduced economies of scale. That being said, adding and reducing computing resources is much easier to do as with any cloud.
  • Community Cloud shares infrastructure between several organizations from a specific community with common concerns (security, compliance, jurisdiction, etc.).  This allows the community to customize the cloud based on these concerns and spread the cost – making it generally more cost effective than a private cloud, but less so than a public cloud.
  • Hybrid Cloud is a combination of more than one cloud type.  For example, you can combine a private cloud with a public cloud.  This will give you benefits of more than one deployment model.  Often an organization will deploy hybrid clouds to provide the flexibility of in-house applications with the fault tolerance and scalability of cloud-based services.

 

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