Annual IT Networking Event
LogicalSolutions.net hosts their Annual IT Networking Event at the LogicalSolutions.net IT Campus on Thursday, August 19th, 2010 from 4-7:00pm. Every year we invite Customers, Partners and IT Professionals to network and meet the LogicalSolutions.net staff. Beer, Wine, and Happy Hour Appetizers will be provided. Registration for the event is Free, and you can Register Online Here.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Email Archiving Compliance, E-Discovery Compliance, and FRCP
Many industries (we’ve especially noticed hospitals) are dealing with a growing number of lawsuits each year. This is forcing IT Managers to evaluate their methods for e-discovery of their historical e-mail records. Most organizations are still using tape backups for all their disaster recovery as well as their e-mail archiving. This has become inadequate.
With the passing of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) a few years ago, the landscape has drastically changed. A key point to FRCP is, organizations must manage their electronically stored information, or ESI, so that it can be produced in a timely and complete manner when necessary. This includes legal matters. Here are a few things that have become reality:
- The courts no longer tolerate an organization that has not yet implemented timely programs to accurately retrieve email.
- Just implementing a policy for retention is not enough. You must prove that they are enforced at all levels.
- The penalties for failing to meet the FRCP deadlines can be much larger than putting a system in place.
- Limited staff and resources are not excuses for missing deadlines, even for small organizations.
What does this all mean? You now need to have an efficient e-mail archiving and e-discovery solution in place. There are no exceptions for company size, non-profit status, or foreign organizations. Courts are no longer lenient or patient for you to come up with the emails needed. A procedure and policy must be in place.
We have had many clients and prospective clients tell us they’ve spent weeks digging through tape backups to find the e-mails needed during a lawsuit and they plan on never doing anything like that ever again. Our archiving solution easily integrates with Microsoft Exchange. So make e-mail archiving and e-discovery part of your complete hosted e-mail solution. Contact us today for options and pricing.
Setting up Outlook Connection to Exchange 2010 using Outlook Anywhere
Use Outlook Anywhere to connect to your Exchange server without VPN. To use outlook anywhere there are server setting that need to be made on the exchange server. Why enable Outlook Anywhere? Outlook can connect to Exchange through the Internet by using remote procedure call (RPC) over HTTPS. The Outlook Anywhere feature allows you to access your Exchange account remotely from the Internet when you are working outside your organization’s firewall.
Before you attempt to use outlook anywhere check with your exchange administrator to make sure this is set up.
To make the connection
Open up the control panel
Click the Mail icon
Click on Show Profiles
Click Add
Enter name and press “OK”
Check “Manually configure Server settings” Click Next
Check “Microsoft Exchange” Click Next
Enter Server name, Username and click More Settings
This should popup a window asking for the connection information to the exchange server
Enter in your username as “Domain name\username”
Then Enter your password. Check remember password if you wish. Click OK
This will bring up the more settings Window
Click on the Connection Tab
Check the box for “Connect to Microsoft Exchange using HTTP”
Then Click on “Exchange Proxy Settings”
Enter Server name and click OK.
This will take you to the following screen.
Click OK.
Now you can click next.
Click finish.
If I have more than 1 profile I always have Outlook ask me to choose on startup
Click OK and open up outlook
Select your new user and click OK
This will ask for the login credentials again.
Enter in your username as “Domain name\username”
Then Enter your password. Check remember password if you wish. Click OK
This should open up Outlook and you should be all set, now enjoy working remote and VPN Free with Exchange!
HIPAA Email Compliance and GLBA Email Compliance
There are a lot of companies out there providing email services, even a hosted Microsoft Exchange solution. But what if you find yourself in an industry that’s heavily regulated and has many rules when it comes to handling information about individuals or cases, etc.? This is the reality that the healthcare industry and the financial industry face.
The healthcare industry falls under the Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act or HIPAA. This puts rules on organizations on how they handle their email communication. For example, all email communication must be secure or encrypted. We partner with xDefenders, a leader in information security solutions, who leverage Zix Encryption. Zix Encryption is the industry standard for email encryption. This prevents anyone from viewing the content of the email who isn’t supposed to. Another item to be concerned with is email archiving. Under this regulation, you are required to provide email communication for anything that’s under question in the event of an investigation from the previous 7 years. The easiest and most efficient way to provide logged emails is with email archiving and e-discovery services. Having the ability to easily search all archived emails and pull up what’s needed within minutes is invaluable to an IT staff. This can eliminated hours and sometimes days of searching for what’s needed.
A second industry that falls under similar regulation and compliance is the financial industry. Financial institutions fall under the Graham, Leach, Bliley Act or GLBA. This is very similar to HIPAA and we have many clients that we provide these services to as well.
Whether you’re in the health care or financial industries, our team can provide you a fully compliant email solution. We understand HIPAA and GLBA better than anyone and can provide you with the one-stop solution for your hosted email and compliance needs. Both LogicalSolutions.net and xDefenders are SAS70 Type II Certified to ensure we have you covered. Call us and speak to our team today.
Cloud Computing and Remote Desktop Services (Formally Terminal Services)
LogicalSolutions.net has been providing cloud computing services for our customers in the Rochester, Syracuse and Buffalo regions as well as across the U.S for 15 years. With the huge explosion of interest in cloud computing over the past year or two, we’ve had many current and prospective customers come to us for ways to migrate to a cloud platform. They have also heard that a cloud platform can reduce IT costs.
A great way to reduce costs is to run your application with terminal services. This method can reduce license costs for the application and streamline maintaining the software and hardware. This can free up your IT staff to concentrate on more mission critical projects. Typically, when introducing terminal services, additional layers were required. You had to purchase additional licenses for Citrix Terminal Services, for example. This can be very costly.
With Windows Server 2008 R2, a core virtualization technology available is terminal services. We can setup your architecture to take advantage of the functionality built right into the server’s OS. We utilize Remote Desktop Services (this used to be called Terminal Services and was renamed to Remote Desktop Services) to allow your users to access your applications from anywhere in the world from a hosted location. This is done directly through Windows Server 2008 without adding additional layers or Citrix licenses. Setting up Citrix Terminal Services also requires a high, upfront investment to purchase the licenses needed. With Windows Remote Desktop Services, we can provide an alternative payment structure with a small, per user, monthly cost. This can greatly reduce the strain on your IT budget and expenses.
Contact us today to speak to a Sales Engineer and see how much you can save with virtualization and our cloud computing services.
Data Center Services Checklist
When considering a data center services provider or a disaster recovery location, your selection needs to be an educated one. Your data center services provider will be an extension of your IT team and must be a trusted partner. This checklist identifies some of the more important features to take into consideration when selecting a data center services provider:
- Does the provider own the facility where the data center is built?
- What Data Center Certifications have been obtained – SAS 70 Type II?
- How many years has your provider been in business?
- On staff Engineering experience / Financial Viability?
- Age of the Data Center and its equipment?
- Does the facility have redundant power?
- UPS Details – A bus / B bus configuration, run time
- Backup Generator – size, redundant architecture, fuel type, run time, fuel suppliers
- Backup Generator Test Schedule – type of tests performed, frequency of tests
- Type of Fire Suppression? Is it water free?
- How secure is the facility? Do Biometrics, Video Surveillance and other security measures exist?
- Is the provider monitoring their PUE?
- Number of backbone providers? There should be at least two (2).
- Do multiple (redundant) points of egress exist for the providers accessing the facility?
- HVAC – 2(N+1) configuration? / Cooling density?
- Raised Floor height? Is it at least 16”?
- How is power provided and invoiced to the Customer?
- Cabinet Specs? Are the cabinets able to accommodate your equipment?
- Is facility monitored 24/7/365?
- Are “Remote Hands and Eyes” support available?
- Is the data center accessible 24/7/365?
- What is the Uptime history?
- What is the Uptime guarantee – SLA?
- Are Disaster Recovery Solutions offered?
- Are customer workstations available?
These features are important when identifying a competent data center services provider. Although this is a good starting point, it is still a good idea to consult with an expert. LogicalSolutions.net has been providing industry leading solutions for over 15 years. Contact our Data Center Services Professionals to make sure you are on the right path to choosing the best possible partner.
Hardware Loadbalancing of Applications
Hardware Loadbalancing of a Dedicated server or VPS is one way to ensure 100% uptime of your enterprise application.
To get hardware loadbalancing you must have at least 2 or more VPS or Application Servers. The Load Balancer will then divide the load between multiple servers reducing the actual load on the server. The hardware device will even take the SSL encryption off the server and carry the SSL encryption load for you.
The different modes available for Load Balancing are: Round Robin, Fastest Response Time, Least Connections, Weighted Round Robin, or a Custom/adaptive Type. A simple explanation would be to say if you run an e-commerce web site; You are like a grocery store, and you want to get a user through the checkout lane the fastest. Right now you only have one checkout lane, and customers are lining up. If you “Load Balance” and open a second checkout lane the user load or wait time is cut in half. If the register runs out of receipt tape (i.e. Server crash), users can switch to the other checkout lane. The end goal, you want ensure the fastest and most reliable service to your customers, so they do not shop elsewhere. I am sure we have all seen a customer leave a store because the line was too long, or the site was not available.
Another benefit of Loadbalancing two servers is being able to take a server offline to do an upgrade or patch on the system with Zero Downtime to the entire application. This is a common practice used in patching enterprise applications.
Want to see one in action? Call 1-800-957-4872 or Request a Consultation to find out more.
How to receive threaded text messages that are sent as emails on AT&T.
As a Systems Engineer at Logicalsolutions.net, I receive text message alerts on my cell phone from different systems in place in our Datacenter. I am sure that this is the case in most companies that run critical systems and want to make sure that they know exactly what happens in their Datacenter.
When we reboot a server, our monitoring systems sends out alerts letting us know that that particular server and all of the sites running on it are down. Although we purposely rebooted the server and were fully aware that it was down, our phones get bombarded with text messages saying that the server and sites are down. Once the server comes back up from the reboot, we will receive more text messages letting us know that the server and sites are all back up.
I currently have an iPhone. The iPhone has a cool feature where it will thread all of your text messages into one screen depending on the number from where the text messages were sent. This is very convenient. It allows you to see all of the emails from a certain person without having to click through them all.
All cell phones on the major carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint) have a unique email address. If you Google “how to send emails to my phone on AT&T?”, you will see that the most widely accepted answer is “xxxxxxxxxx@txt.att.net”. If you use this email address, you will receive the email as a text message on your phone. There is one issue with using this method and that is that you will receive each email from a different phone number. You will receive it from a number similar to “14010000360″.
This is not a big deal when you only receive a few alerts like this, but when you receive over 100 alerts, it takes a while to delete these one by one. After some researching, I found that you can use “xxxxxxxxxx@mobile.mycingular.com” and all of the text messages will be sent from the same address (36242). This has helped save me a lot of time and if you have the same issue, it should help you out too.
Remote Server Reboot added to the Client Portal
LogicalSolutions.net has added remote reboot capabilities to its client portal for new 1U to 4U colocation clients. If you server locks up and requires a manual reboot, you do not have to contact our onsite support team or drive into the datacenter facility. Simply log into our web based secure, password protected Client Area, and instantly reboot the required outlets.
To access the Remote Reboot functionality go to the Client Area, and log in. Then go to My Services -> Colocation Service Details.
To find out more about remote server reboot contact sales today or order 1U server colocation online!
Email Marketing – 2 New Features Added
In the last few months, we have been able to roll out 2 great new features in our Lightning Email – Email Marketing product, Interactive Campaign Charts and Social Sharing Tools.
Interactive Campaign Charts
With this new feature, you get an at a glance look at the performance of your campaigns over the last 12 months. You can compare month to month the following details: Number of Campaigns sent and total number of emails sent, Open Rate Percent, and Click Through Rate Percent. You can mouse over any particular month and see the specific details for that month:
The great thing about this chart is that you can try different things in your campaigns and easily tell if they are having an impact. Some ideas of ways to change up your campaigns:
- Send more, shorter campaigns in a month instead of fewer, longer ones.
- Try campaigns with more imagery one month, and less the next.
- Put an entire article in your campaign, then next time try just a few intro sentences with a link to click through and read more.
- Try different stationery or layouts to grab your readers attention in different ways.
- Send out seasonal or special event campaigns that differ from your usual mailings.
These are just a few ideas of things worth trying, but the important part is that you can now very easily see the impact these ideas have on your Email Marketing success.
Social Sharing Tools
There are lots of ways to get the word out about your business, and while Email Marketing is a great tool, it’s made even better by allowing your readers to share your campaigns with their contacts using their social media accounts. You now have the ability to easily add this feature to your email campaigns. You can select which social media sites to include and when your campaign is sent, those links will automatically get added to the sharing section at the top of your campaigns.
Of course, you will still have the ability to forward the email to your friend’s email accounts, but with these social media tools, you can allow your email readers to share a link to an online version of your mailing. It’s a great new way to get word out about your business, new products, special offers, or any other news you share with your audience. Login or signup today and see how this great new feature of our Email Marketing product can help you to get in front of more people.