Continue reading »]]> There are a lot of companies out there that provide the same products or services as each other, whether in IT or any other area of business.

How do you decide?

So when your company needs a product or service, how do you choose which company to use?  You could start by asking the company you are considering using how they stand out from any other company that provides similar products or services.

At Himebaugh Consulting, Inc., we continuously ask ourselves that question about our own company – here is our answer in a nutshell:

In addition to employing experienced and highly skilled people, we have built a culture whereby we are intensely committed to rapidly responding to a customer’s needs and highly committed to always “being there”.  That is not marketing gibberish – plain and simple, it is who we are.

Additionally, it has been our goal from day one of being in business to provide a highly diverse set of services and solutions.

Himebaugh Consulting, Inc. has been in business for 20 years and throughout those years has always been equally focused on both the systems/networking and software/web development sides of information technology.

As the business has grown over the years we keep a continuing commitment to maintaining a balance between systems/networking and software/web development – not only because it provides diversity from an economic standpoint, but also because it provides us with a competitive advantage in that we are able to be a true single-source solution, meeting whatever requirements a customer may have.

Himebaugh Consulting, Inc. (in conjunction with our sister company CanNet Internet Services, Inc.) has also built and maintains a full-service data center that provides managed and unmanaged co-location services, hosting services, high-speed dedicated Internet bandwidth and other related Internet-based services.

Our goal is to make available a broad base of quality IT services in order to meet a variety of customer needs via a single, rapid-responding source.

So, again, in summary Himebaugh Consulting, Inc. has a number of strategically defined core differentiators but two of the top ones are being very quick to respond to a customer’s needs and having a very wide breadth of solutions.

P.S.:     How do you answer this question about your own company?

Continue reading »]]> First of all, what and where is your digital front door?

Most companies today have high speed Internet access delivered from their Internet Service Provider (ISP) via a T1, T3, DSL, Cable, MPLS, Metro Area Ethernet, etc.

These Internet connections usually come into your building and then connect to a router, network switch or similar device.

So your company’s digital front door is the point at which your company’s network connects to the Internet.

Now the question becomes, is your digital front door secure?  If you do not know the answer, you should find out.

How to secure your network

There are a number of ways to secure your network from unauthorized access and to prevent external Internet-based attacks from compromising your systems and data.

First and foremost is implementing a firewall.  A firewall is a device that allows you to define rules controlling what types of network traffic are allowed into OR out of your network.  It is basically a 24×7 digital security guard that no company should be without.

Firewalls can be implemented a number of ways and exist in a variety of forms.

One of the most common ways of implementing a firewall is through the use of a dedicated firewall device or appliance.  While there are many different firewall appliances on the market, one of the most popular and reliable is the Cisco ASA.

A firewall appliance in general has two ports.  It has what is referred to as an “outside interface” and an “inside interface”.

The “outside interface” is connected to your ISP at your digital front door and the “inside interface” in turn is connected to your network.  The firewall appliance exists as the gatekeeper that can “see” and “control” all network traffic wanting to enter or leave your network.

The goal is to place the firewall appliance at a point in your network where nothing can get in or out of your network (from/to the Internet) without passing through the firewall appliance first.

Once the firewall appliance is in place, rules are defined within it that dictate what traffic is allowed to pass in or out.  For example, in a highly secure environment, the firewall appliance rules might be setup such that any traffic can pass from within your network to the Internet, but any traffic that originates outside your network and that attempts to come into your network is blocked.

Beyond firewall appliances, other devices that have firewalling capabilities can also be used to protect your network.  For example, if your digital front door is connected to a router, some routers have firewalling capabilities.  A router’s firewalling capabilities are not usually as extensive as those of a dedicated firewall appliance, but a router with firewalling capabilities can sometimes serve general firewalling needs.

We still might not be secure?

“So, as long as our company has a firewall appliance or other similar device in place, we are secure, right?”  NO, NOT NECESSARILY.  “Say what?”

After a firewall is setup it needs to be tested to ensure that no mistakes were made when defining the rules.  Plus there are always new threats and vulnerabilities being discovered which your existing firewall rules may not protect against.  A good way to test your firewall is to have what is called a network penetration test.

A network penetration test will attempt to break through your firewall and will give you a report showing what “holes” were found.  This allows you to then proactively adjust your firewall to prevent any unauthorized access.

Summary

If you do not have a firewall protecting your company’s network and data, it should be on your “extreme hot” list for 2012.  If you are unsure whether you have a firewall and/or whether it is appropriately configured, you should immediately contact your IT support company and find out.

If you would like more information on this subject please feel free to give Jackie Hanshaw a call at (330) 493-9700 or e-mail at jhanshaw@hcd.net.

Continue reading »]]> What is Microsoft Terminal Services (Remote Desktop Services)?

It is not a stretch to say that Microsoft Terminal Services (now known as Microsoft Remote Desktop Services) is one of the best advances in desktop computer technology.

With proper implementation Remote Desktop Services will save money in hardware costs and greatly reduce costs associated with IT maintenance and IT management.

In a PC-based desktop / server environment you typically have a PC for each user in your company.  Each PC runs an operating system (such as Windows XP or Windows 7) and has a variety of applications installed as required for each individual user’s needs (such as Microsoft Office, maybe accounting or ERP software, etc.).  Each PC then accesses data from various servers, such as Microsoft Exchange Servers, Microsoft SQL Servers, Application Servers, File Servers, etc.

In a Remote Desktop Services (or Terminal Services) environment the PCs are replaced with a device known as a “thin client” and these thin client devices access a server known as a Terminal Server.  The Terminal Server then accesses data from various servers, such as Microsoft Exchange Servers, Microsoft SQL Servers, Application Servers, File Servers, etc.

The thin client has a monitor, keyboard and mouse, just like a PC does.  The thin client accesses the terminal server via the remote desktop protocol (RDP) and the terminal server presents to the thin client a desktop that looks and functions 100% identical to what you would see on a PC.  For example, if you are running a Windows 2008 Terminal Server, the desktop presented to the thin client looks as if it were a Windows 7 PC.

A thin client can be thought of as a “portal” into the terminal server.

This technology has been around for quite a while, but only in recent years has it gained significant traction as its capabilities and performance have dramatically increased to where it is now highly functional and very scalable.

Microsoft Terminal Services was first introduced 15 years ago (in the days of the Microsoft NT operating system).  It gained significant improvements as Windows Server 2000 and Windows Server 2003 were introduced and then made additional considerable leaps in capabilities and performance with Windows Server 2008.

When Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 was released they changed the name from Terminal Services to Remote Desktop Services, which really is a better name as it more accurately describes it.

Benefits

From a high-level overview, Remote Desktop Services allows you to remove the repetitiveness of configuring and managing multiple PCs by centralizing what multiple PCs do onto a single terminal server.  In one way you can think of a terminal server as a multi-user “PC” (although with much more capability and capacity).

As a quick example of how Remote Desktop Services saves time/cost, let’s say a new version of Microsoft Office comes out and you have 30 PCs.  What do you do when it is time to upgrade?  You have to go around to each of the 30 PCs and upgrade Microsoft Office and then download and install any additional security updates and patches there are.  Let’s reinforce this – you have to do this process 30 times.

How would this work in a Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) environment?  You would logon to the terminal server and install the updated version of Microsoft Office once and any associated security updates and patches once and that’s it.  It’s that simple.

In our example above, in the first scenario you have to perform the Microsoft Office upgrade 30 times for PCs versus only once if you are using Remote Desktop Services and this saves a tremendous amount of time/cost.

The benefits of using Remote Desktop Services cannot be emphasized enough.  Unfortunately, the number of benefits are so vast they could not all be discussed in detail in a single article.

For a highly detailed explanation of the many benefits of using Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services), please read the article Terminal Services & Remote Desktop Services: The Many Benefits.  It covers the following areas.

• Implementation process & cost
• Application software management
• Cost of adding PCs versus thin clients
• Hardware failures: PC versus thin client
• Enhanced security & easier management
• Increased mobility
• Performance, scalability & redundancy
• Hardware upgrades
• When Remote Desktop Services is not a good solution

Summary

In a nutshell Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (previously known as Microsoft Terminal Services) and thin clients, results in a highly cost effective management of your company’s end-user desktop infrastructure at a much lower cost than the alternative of using individual dedicated PCs.

The benefits of Remote Desktop Services can be condensed to the following:

• Reduces time to implement end-user desktops
• Reduces hardware costs
• Increases security
• Enhances mobility both inside and outside the office
• Provides scalability
• Provides performance
• Lowers costs of upgrades
• Reduces power consumption (“green footprint”)
• Dramatically reduces cost to maintain and manage end-user desktops

If you would like more information on this subject please feel free to give Jackie Hanshaw a call at (330) 493-9700 or e-mail at jhanshaw@hcd.net.

Continue reading »]]> Have you thought to yourself, “yeah, we really should update our website” or “our company should probably have a website”, but then thought of a reason (excuse) why not to do it now or worse yet – why you think you don’t need to do it at all?

If so, please read this brief article – it might give you a GOOD reason to change your mind!

The economy is down so I am waiting

We all know the economy has had a certain amount of stress over the past few years and you might be tempted to say you don’t want to spend money on your website right now until the economy fully rebounds.

Don’t fall prey to this mindset!  If your business is down you need to REACT – not wait. If you wait, you might not be around to react down the road.  This is the PERFECT time to update your website to show customers you are still here, ready to do business.

A website is one of the most effective and cost-effective ways to get your message out there. Use your website to increase your market share. When your competition goes out of business where are their customers going? Are they coming to your highly visible and highly effective website?

I don’t have time

If you have so much business you don’t know what to do with it, that’s great, keep doing what you are doing! But if you are like the majority of businesses and want to increase your market share then FIND THE TIME. It’s all about priorities.

For most companies, key elements of (sales) success are increasing prospects, increasing leads and creating opportunities. A website will help in all of those areas. If you really cannot find the time then make at least a little time to contact a full-service website design and development company who can take the lead for you and get your message out there.

I don’t want to spend the money right now

“A penny saved is a penny earned” – that is one school of thought, but another, more proactive and successful plan goes with the saying of “you have to spend money to make money”.

Saving money is a good thing; so go ahead and lower the electric bill, lower telecomm costs, etc., but when it comes to marketing you must spend money to make more money. A website is a highly effective marketing tool and it is well worth the money you spend on it.

I think my website is just fine

Are you married to it because you designed it or it’s familiar to you?  Take a good look at it.  Is it truly serving the needs of your customers (or prospective customers)?  You may think your website is fine, but do your customers or prospective customers think it is just fine?

Fact: Websites that are maintained and updated often, will get ranked higher by the search engines than stale, outdated websites which means more organic traffic to your website.

So the bottom line is … keep your website updated in order to have one of the best low-cost marketing tools available that will work tirelessly for your business, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you would like more information on this subject please feel free to give Tracey Hershey a call at (330) 493-9700 or e-mail at thershey@hcd.net.

Continue reading »]]> Microsoft Terminal Services (now known as Microsoft Remote Desktop Services) results in a highly cost effective management of your company’s end-user desktop infrastructure at a much lower cost than the alternative of using individual dedicated PCs.

The following areas and benefits are covered in this article:

• Implementation process & cost
• Application software management
• Cost of adding PCs versus thin clients
• Hardware failures: PC versus thin client
• Enhanced security & easier management
• Increased mobility
• Performance, scalability & redundancy
• Hardware upgrades
• When Remote Desktop Services is not a good solution

Implementation process & cost

There are two areas where implementing Remote Desktop Services typically reduces cost.

One is just the pure hardware cost as the thin client device is often less cost than a PC, however you must also factor in the cost of the terminal server itself.  This means in small implementations the hardware cost might break-even compared to that of a PC-based implementation whereas in medium and large implementations there is typically a cost savings directly related to hardware.

However, saving money on the hardware is not where the real cost savings is at and is not the primary reason for implementing Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services).

The enormous cost savings that is gained from a Remote Desktop Services implementation is in the reduced time it takes to do the implementation and even more so in the time saved with ongoing maintenance and management of your company’s end-user desktop infrastructure.

First let’s look at the implementation and deployment.  Let’s say you are faced with replacing your existing PCs with new PCs.

In a PC-based implementation you have to do something along the lines of the following on each PC:

• Install the operating system (e.g., Windows 7)
• Download and apply all the security patches for the operating system
• Install each piece of application software (e.g., Microsoft Office, etc.) necessary for a given user
• Download and apply all the security patches for application software (e.g., Microsoft Office, etc.)
• Connect the PC to the network
• Join the PC to your Windows domain

In an equivalent Remote Desktop Services environment you have to do similar steps for the terminal server itself, however, you only do these steps once on the terminal server as opposed to doing the steps for each and every PC.

Then in a Remote Desktop Services environment, for each thin client (again, this is the device that takes the place of the PC) you only have to do the following:

• Minor thin client configuration (such as telling it the name of the terminal server to connect to)
• Connect the thin client to the network

So in a Remote Desktop Services implementation, where the time savings really comes into play is the minimal number of steps that have to be done for each thin client and that time savings increases proportional to the number of users/devices.

In a PC-based environment it is just the opposite – the time cost to deploy increases proportional to the number of users/devices, due to the greater number of steps required for prepping each PC (as opposed to a thin client).

You have to also add the new users to your Windows domain, set their passwords, etc. but those steps need done under either scenario so are not part of the comparison.

Application software management

Let’s say a new version of Microsoft Office comes out and you have 30 PCs.  What do you do when it is time to upgrade?  You have to go around to each of the 30 PCs and upgrade Microsoft Office and then download and install any additional security updates and patches there are.  Let’s reinforce this – you have to do this process 30 times.

How would this work in a Remote Desktop Services environment?  You would logon to the terminal server and install the updated version of Microsoft Office once and any associated security updates and patches once and that’s it.  It’s that simple.

In our example above, in the first scenario you have to perform the Microsoft Office upgrade 30 times for PCs versus only once if you are using Remote Desktop Services.

Another example might be if you bought a new software package that say 15 of your 30 users needed to use.  You would be faced with installing this new software package 15 times if you are using PCs.  If you are using Remote Desktop Services you only install it once.

In the simple example of upgrading or installing new software you benefit by …

• Extremely rapid deployment of new or upgraded software because you only have to install it once.
• All users simultaneously have access to the new or upgraded software as opposed to some users being outdated until your IT staff gets to their PC (and in larger installations this is often a significant factor).
• More consistent installation and upgrades.  If you are doing the same install or upgrade 30 times, you have 30 opportunities to make a mistake or to do it inconsistently.

With Remote Desktop Services, there is less time invested and less room for error.  So the cost in time is greatly reduced and you gain a better, more consistent experience for your users.

Licensing Note:  It should be pointed out that even though you only have to install the software 1 time in a terminal server environment, you still need to have a license for each user that will use the software.  In other words, implementing a terminal server does not usually change software licensing requirements.

Cost of adding PCs versus thin clients

What if you hire 3 new people, for example?  This means you have to buy 3 new PCs and go through all the steps described above under the Implementation process & cost section for each of the 3 new PCs.  This will take hours to accomplish.

If you have Remote Desktop Services, you simply buy 3 thin clients, do the basic configuration pointing them to your terminal server, plug them into your network and you are up and running.

The amount of time to prep a PC versus a thin client is much greater and as such the time savings rapidly adds up under a Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) implementation.

You have to also add the new users to your Windows domain, set their passwords, etc. but those steps need done under either scenario so are not part of the comparison.

Hardware failures: PC versus thin client

What if a PC or thin client has a hardware failure?  Well for starters the MTBF (mean time between failure) for a thin client is much greater than a PC.  In other words, thin clients fail much less often than PCs.  That fact alone is a cost-saver over time.

This lower MTBF is due to a number of factors including there being fewer moving parts in a thin client.  For example, most thin clients use flash memory to store their configuration rather than hard drives – hard drives are a major part of PC failures.  Additionally, because thin clients use less energy they typically do not require fans to cool them, which is another moving part that frequently fails in PCs.

However, if a thin client does fail, the process of replacement is quick and easy.  You plug the replacement thin client into the network, tell it the name of the terminal server to connect to and you are back up and running with very little time impact to your user and your company.

In contrast, if a PC fails, depending on what failed, you are most likely faced with going through all the steps outlined above in the Implementation process & cost section for the failed PC.  The time to get your user back up and running will be much greater than if you were using Remote Desktop Services.

Enhanced security & easier management

With Remote Desktop Services, because all users are receiving their “desktop” from a central terminal server, controlling what a user can access is much easier than in a decentralized PC environment.

The Remote Desktop Services environment is configurable such that various security switches can be used to control which users have access to which applications and data.

Also, because a thin client is only a “portal” into the terminal server, it is more difficult for a user to install unauthorized software thereby enhancing your security.

In the area of software management, if you have a software application with 5 users using it, and all the sudden should you need a 6^th person to use it, you can easily assign that 6^th user access to the application within minutes if you are using Remote Desktop Services.  The software is already installed on the terminal server so it is only a matter of updating a simple security switch which prevents unauthorized users from accessing the software.

On the other hand in the PC scenario, you would have to install and configure the software on the new user’s PC – a much more time-consuming process.

Increased mobility

A great feature of using Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) is increased mobility, both internally and externally.

Internally, for example, say you are in logged in to your desktop via a thin client in your conference room during a meeting and the meeting ends and you want to go back to your office.  However, you don’t want to have to close down all your applications, just to reopen them all again a few minutes later.

Well, with Microsoft Terminal Services (again, known as Remote Desktop Services in the latest Windows Server 2008 R2), this is a snap.  Instead of logging out you do a “disconnect”.  This is a way of detaching your running session from the current thin client without stopping any of your running programs.  When you go back to your office and log back in to the terminal server, it automatically reconnects you to your session right where you left off.

From an external perspective, gaining access to your terminal server is easy as well.  Say you are at home and want to login to your desktop at work.  All you have to do is run the RDP Client from your PC or laptop at home, specify the name of your terminal server and you will be able to get logged in (assuming your VPN and firewall have been setup to allow this).  The RDP Client acts as a thin client in this situation.

Further, say you are working on a large project at work and have a lot of documents and applications open, but it is the end of the day and you want to go home and resume working.  Well, instead of closing down all the documents and applications, you just do a “disconnect”, go home, run your RDP Client to log back in to your terminal server and everything is right where you left off.

For anyone who is on the go and moves around a lot, Microsoft Remote Desktop Services makes mobility quite nice.

Performance, scalability & redundancy

People often ask about performance.  How can a single server have 30, 50 or even 100 or more users logged in to it and still be able to run with acceptable performance?

The answer is multi-fold.  The amount of resources (e.g., CPU power) required to run the average user’s applications are relatively low, with respect to the power of today’s PCs and servers.

Nearly every PC and server sold today has way more power than is required to run most business-type applications, such as accounting software, Microsoft Office, etc and the “leftover” resources such as unused CPU cycles simply go unutilized.  This fact is leveraged in a terminal server environment where these previously under-utilized resources can be applied to powering the applications of many users.

In addition to increasing the utilization of a server’s resources to support many users, when determining the hardware specifications of a terminal server, typically a “high-end” server with more than average capacity will be used.  There are formulas and guidelines for determining what the necessary resources are for a terminal server based on number of users, types of applications being run, etc.

Another aspect of performance is in the operating system itself.  Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) has been specially built to accommodate many users and is tuned specifically for this purpose.  There were great performance strides made from Windows Server 2000 to Windows Server 2003 and even more performance enhancements were made when Windows Server 2008 was released.

In very large installations where a single terminal server will not handle the load, terminal server clustering comes into play.  Terminal server clustering groups multiple terminal servers into a cluster with the ability to automatically load balance users across different terminal servers.  Using this method, scaling is nearly unlimited as to how many users can be supported.

In addition to using clustering for scalability, it can also be used for redundancy – if one terminal server fails, the remaining terminal servers in the cluster are still available to support your users.  While this is a requirement for some customers, with today’s enterprise level hardware, failures do not happen often.  Most of today’s enterprise class servers have many built in redundancies that reduce the likelihood of a catastrophic crash.  For example, enterprise class servers typically use RAID for maintaining redundant hard drives, they have redundant power supplies and they even have items such as redundant fans.

Another option for recovering from a crashed terminal server is simply to keep a “cold spare” on hand.  Servers are relatively low cost nowadays and having spare hardware for immediate use is often a low cost insurance.

Hardware upgrades

A typical life cycle for a PC is 3 years, after which time companies begin upgrading their PCs.  So how does this work in a Remote Desktop Services environment?

Stop and consider if you have 30 PCs in your organization what the upgrade process is:  You are essentially faced with buying 30 new PCs, installing the operating system 30 times, installing all of your software 30 times, applying security updates and patches 30 times, etc.  Most of the same processes described in the Implementation process & cost section above.

So beyond the cost of buying 30 new PCs, there is a significant time investment to upgrade.  Some companies buy preloaded PCs, but even with that you are still faced with configuring all 30 PCs and installing all the necessary software for each user, plus the physical deployment of the 30 PCs.

Preloaded PCs: While PC manufacturers like to tout selling you a PC already preloaded with the operating system and some software such as Microsoft Office, what they don’t tell you is you also get a lot of unnecessary software (“bloat”) preloaded.  This “bloat” often slows the performance of the PC and causes other issues.  If you are using a PC-based implementation, it is a best practice to always “clean slate” the PC and install only those items that are needed for your company.  This allows you to not only remove the “bloat”, but also be fully aware of what is installed and how it is configured.

Remote Desktop Services to the rescue!!!  If you are in a Remote Desktop Services environment, when the time comes to upgrade hardware you simply upgrade the terminal server hardware and instantly all 30 users are simultaneously upgraded.

So instead of doing the various upgrade tasks 30 times, you do them once at the terminal server and all the users immediately receive the benefit of the upgraded hardware.  Whether you have 30 or 300 users, the upgrade process is the same and all the users receive immediate benefit.

There is also less hardware cost.  When first implementing Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) it was noted that hardware cost is not the primary reason for implementation.  However, once you already have a Remote Desktop Services environment, Remote Desktop Services does play a role in keeping hardware costs down when performing upgrades.  How?  Well, you do not have to replace the thin clients each time you upgrade your terminal server.

Again, remember that the thin client device is a “portal” into the terminal server and is essentially a dumb device and plays very little role in the performance the user experiences.  The terminal server itself is what provides the performance.  Thin clients do have to occasionally be upgraded, but they can easily last 5-8 years.  We have even seen one customer make them last nearly 12 years (although we don’t recommend pushing it that far).

So when it is time for hardware upgrades to increase performance or scalability, your business will save money in hardware cost and experience significant time cost savings to perform the upgrades.  There will also be much less interruption to your users and your company.

When Remote Desktop Services is not a good solution

While Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) is an excellent solution for the majority of businesses, it is not always the best fit in certain scenarios.

If you have highly graphic intensive users, Remote Desktop Services sometimes can be the wrong solution.  By highly graphic intensive it is meant, for example, if you have a company with 30 graphic designers then putting those 30 users on a terminal server would not be the best solution.

The reason is that graphics programs are often “resource hogs” and are the exception to most business applications in that they do often utilize most or all of the resources of a system.  Additionally, depending on the types of graphics you are doing – for example 3D modeling – the requirement on the video processing system can be so intense that a dedicated PC is required.

However, the majority of businesses do not have this issue on such a large scale.  If your business does have a graphics designer or two, you can still use Remote Desktop Services for the majority of your users, but dedicate a PC to those few users whose business applications require dedicated resources.

Fortunately, Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) does not have to be an “all or nothing” solution.  It can easily be used in a hybrid situation in order to still realize the many benefits it provides.

Summary

There are many more benefits than those described in this article, however, what was discussed can be summarized as …

• Reduces time to implement end-user desktops
• Reduces hardware costs
• Increases security
• Enhances mobility both inside and outside the office
• Provides scalability
• Provides performance
• Lowers costs of upgrades
• Reduces power consumption (“green footprint”)
• Dramatically reduces cost to maintain and manage end-user desktops

If you would like more information on this subject please feel free to give Jackie Hanshaw a call at (330) 493-9700 or e-mail at jhanshaw@hcd.net.

Continue reading »]]> On Feb 3, 2011 the last remaining blocks of Internet IP (IPv4) Addresses were handed out by IANA (the global authority overseeing all IP address allocation) to the 5 regional organizations designated for maintaining IP addresses in various regions throughout the world.  There are no more IPv4 address blocks.

Quick Refresher (for the non-technical):
An “IP” is a number that is assigned to each device (e.g., server, PC, router, firewall, etc.) in your network and uniquely identifies that device.  They are also used to uniquely identify such items as websites, databases, etc.

You can sort of equate an IP address to your social security number.  Whereas your social security number uniquely identifies and tracks you, IP addresses do the same for networks and computer equipment.

An example of an IPv4 address is 69.84.36.113 which is the IPv4 address uniquely identified with www.hcd.net.  An example of an IPv6 address is 2001:4860:8006::63 (this one uniquely identifies ipv6.google.com).

Of the last remaining blocks of IPv4 addresses handed out by IANA, ARIN, the regional organization responsible for IPs in the United States, has only approximately 15% of its IPv4 addresses left as of Jan, 12, 2012.

The solution to the depletion of the IPv4 addresses is the implementation of IPv6 addresses within all businesses in order to maintain full connectivity with the Internet.  IPv4 and IPv6 both represent Internet Addresses, with IPv6 simply being the newer version.

The primary reason it is necessary to ultimately migrate to IPv6 is that as time progresses, more and more websites, e-mail servers, etc. will only be accessible via IPv6 addresses due to the complete depletion of the IPv4 addresses.

Fun Facts:
The current, soon to be depleted, IPv4 address scheme supports 4.3 billion IP addresses.  The new IPv6 address scheme supports 340 undecillion IP addresses (that is 340 trillion trillion trillion IP addresses).  IPv4 uses a 32-bit number whereas IPv6 uses a 128-bit number which is how it achieves the virtually unlimited number of IPs.

So why are we running out of IPv4 addresses, because 4.3 billion sounds like a lot?  It is because the growth of the Internet and technology in general.  There are more and more devices on the planet and they are growing at a dramatic rate and they each need an IP address.  For example, did you know your mobile phone and cable boxes have IP addresses?  Now even many TVs also have IP addresses and can be hooked directly to the Internet.  These are just a few examples of the many devices requiring IPs and it will just continue to grow and grow.

While it may be tempting to ignore it until it becomes a problem, the repercussion of doing nothing is that as more and more IPv6 is implemented you will begin to have problems reaching websites, getting e-mail through, etc. and this is the last thing any business needs.

The earlier IPv6 is adopted the better.

Depending on the age of equipment and software at a particular organization there are potential upgrades required to support IPv6.

Additionally, even if IPv6 is supported by your hardware and software, the implementation procedure for IPv6 is not an “overnight” process and requires well-planned implementation and testing.

If you would like more information on this subject please feel free to give Jackie Hanshaw a call at (330) 493-9700 or e-mail at jhanshaw@hcd.net.

Continue reading »]]> In our article on “Cloud Computing: Should your business use it?” e-mail was given as an example of a cloud service.  This article focuses on a few of the pros and cons of using e-mail as a cloud service versus maintaining an in-house e-mail server such as Microsoft Exchange Server.  It is not meant to be all-inclusive, but rather to provide some general points to consider.

One general benefit is reducing your capital expenditures by eliminating the need to purchase an e-mail server and associated e-mail software (e.g., Microsoft Exchange Server).  The disadvantage is you normally pay a monthly fee based on the number of users or the volume of e-mail your business utilizes.

A cloud-based advantage many do not think of is the maintenance side of the equation.  If your business opts to build in-house infrastructure, again such as a Microsoft Exchange Server, there is still some level of on-going expense.

For example, as time goes by your users e-mail boxes grow larger and larger and this in turn requires more disk space (cost) which requires the purchase of larger hard drives and paying someone to install the hard drives and configure your e-mail software to make use of the additional disk space.

With respect to Microsoft Exchange another common maintenance issue that occurs is the size of the “information store”.

Quick Fact: The “information store” is essentially the database Microsoft Exchange Server uses to store e-mail and other information.

In many versions of Microsoft Exchange there is a limit on how large its “information store” can be and when this limit is reached your e-mail stops working until the “information store” size is reduced or re-configured.  There is a cost in reconfiguring the “information store” size or even in just the time chasing after users to reduce the size of their individual e-mail boxes.

So the advantage of e-mail as a “cloud service” from the maintenance perspective is your ISP is the one dealing with most of the maintenance related issues.

However, there are also many advantages to having an in-house e-mail server.

If it is initially sized properly, you can go years before having some of the maintenance issues discussed above.

Many businesses also like the fact that their e-mail is stored locally as it increases the level of security of stored e-mail.

Businesses can also have tighter control over e-mail use within their organization if it is in-house; for example, it is easier to control how and when e-mail is accessed and it is easier to monitor what is leaving or entering your business via e-mail.

Another advantage of having an in-house e-mail server such as Microsoft Exchange Server is the ability to have global (centralized) contacts, which is more problematic if your e-mail is in the cloud.

For many smaller businesses the cloud is commonly used for e-mail, but for mid to larger sized businesses more often than not in-house e-mail is used.

So there is no right or wrong answer as to whether e-mail should be implemented in-house or as a cloud service – the advantages and disadvantages simply need weighed for a particular businesses need.

If you would like more information on this subject please feel free to give Jackie Hanshaw a call at (330) 493-9700 or e-mail at jhanshaw@hcd.net.

Continue reading »]]> What is Cloud Computing?

When you hear people and businesses talk about the “cloud”, “cloud computing” or “cloud services” do you ever wonder what it really is?

In a nutshell, the cloud simply represents access to information technology and services provided by a third-party, without having to have the in-house IT infrastructure to support that information technology or service.

It is interesting to note that cloud computing or cloud services are nothing new.  The term “cloud” started surfacing a number of years ago and has been gaining a lot of traction and momentum recently, but in reality the “cloud” has been with us for a very long time.

For example, a term that pre-dated the cloud was SaaS, or Software as a Service.  Guess that wasn’t cool enough for many of the marketing gurus out there so they had to come up with a new term.

However, while SaaS is part of the cloud, the cloud often represents more than just application software services.  Our first examples will focus on applications (software).

Applications (Software)

Most commonly, application-based cloud services are accessed via your web browser.

A simple example of a cloud service that has been around for many years can be found in e-mail.  Every business uses e-mail, but not every business has the in-house IT infrastructure to support it.  Many businesses simply access their e-mail via a web browser using their Internet Service Provider’s (ISP) e-mail servers.

The purpose of this post is to discuss cloud computing in general, however, if you are interested in the pros and cons of specifically whether e-mail should be a cloud service or not, feel free to check out this article: E-mail: Should it be in-house or a cloud service?

Another example of a cloud service is customer relationship management (CRM) software.  Two popular companies in this space are Salesforce.com (www.salesforce.com) and SugarCRM (www.sugarcrm.com).  Salesforce.com is a well-known company that provides CRM functionality as a “cloud” service whereas SugarCRM provides a full CRM suite that can be purchased as either a cloud service or as an on-premise (local) solution.

Inside Fact: Our company uses SugarCRM as a localized, in-house (non-cloud) solution.

Cost Saving Fact: SugarCRM has a free open source version at www.sugarcrm.org.  The paid version has more features, but for many businesses the free open source version meets the need.

Online collaboration applications that facilitate web conferencing, online meetings and desktop sharing such as Cisco WebEx, GoToMeeting, etc. are also examples of cloud applications.

As a final example, a newer trend of cloud service is that of office productivity applications such as Google Docs and Zoho that are working to compete with Microsoft Office.

To summarize, cloud applications are simply applications or software that are hosted at another location and typically accessed from your business via your web browser.

Data & Hardware

As indicated earlier, cloud computing is not only about software and applications.

One cloud trend is that of storing data “in the cloud”.  For example, there are many companies (including our sister company CanNet Internet Services, Inc.) that provide services whereby a business can remotely store their data at a secure facility.

Typically this type of storage is used for the purposes of disaster recovery or sometimes as simply a secondary storage location.

Another trend that is gaining a lot of traction is that of “cloud servers”.

Hosting (or co-locating) your business servers “in the cloud” can be a cost effective way of striking a balance between still having access to dedicated servers and software, but without the hassles of maintaining the hardware, performing upgrades, dealing with backups and the necessary supporting IT infrastructure.

Inside Fact: We have many customers who host (co-locate) some or all of their servers in our secure data center and simply access them remotely from their office.  Being in our “cloud” alleviates many of the costly headaches associated with maintaining in-house servers.

Therefore, the cloud as it relates to non-application based services can extend to data and even hardware (servers).  Access to cloud data and servers is then done remotely from your office.

Pros / Cons of using “the cloud”

Pros

• Reduced capital outlay (infrastructure)
• Easier “anywhere” access (web-based, remote access)
• Less maintenance (upgrades, backups, general issues)
• Lower barriers to entry (cost, infrastructure, time)
• Disaster recovery (offsite so not affected by localized disasters at your business)
• Less affected by hardware issues (redundancy is built into most cloud infrastructures)

Cons

• Monthly expense (per user, usage or other metrics)
• Must use secure access methods such as VPN, SSL
• Limited “offline” capabilities and access (dependent on being Internet-connected)
• Often a more limited ability to integrate with locally hosted applications or equipment (really depends, not always the case)

The bottom line …

So while there is a lot of buzz about the “cloud”, it is nothing magical or mysterious and has been with us for a very long time.

The cloud simply references the ability for a business to access information technology and services provided by a third-party, without having to have the in-house IT infrastructure to support that information technology or service.

Many times the cloud can be a cost-effective way for a business to gain access to information technology and services as well as reducing some of the barriers to entry, but on the other side many businesses like the benefits of having their infrastructure in-house.

For each potential use of the cloud, the pros and cons must be weighed as they relate to your specific business need.  Sometimes the cloud is the right answer and other times it is not and for most businesses it is often a mixed use.

If you would like more information on this subject please feel free to give Jackie Hanshaw a call at (330) 493-9700  or e-mail at jhanshaw@hcd.net.