Monthly Archives: October 2009

10 posts

One Easy Way To Destroy Your Backup

Backup Business Systems Support

As you leave the office this chilly afternoon, I’ll give you one more thing to think about, courtesy Yahoo Finance and The New York Times, "Eleven Easy Ways to Destroy Your Company". Don’t let an extension cord destroy your business data backup.

extcord

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve read and heard about business people allowing their tape and disk backups to stay on top of the computer they are backing up. When your computer burns up, your backup burns up.

Please use an online, offsite backup product to backup your data. Then, recover your backup every month to demonstrate the viability of your backup-restore process. 

Paying It Forward With WordPress MU

Marketing WordPress

If you arrived here from pumprecord.com, you are at the right place. Please read on. Several months ago, WordPress MU, most famous for being the power behind wordpress.com and a host of other premium websites on the web, became my software choice for a multi user, multi site product offering designed for me to give back something to an industry that I grew up in.

wpmu

I love the WordPress “Freemium” model used to capture an amazingly large user base at wordpress.com, so much so that I used the model for pumprecord.com, a multi user site devoted to offering free web space to owners and managers of concrete pumping equipment. The intention was to provide a mechanism to store documents

My value proposition although simple and clearly stated on the main page of the site, apparently was no match for the current state of the construction industry in the US and other parts of the world.

“pumprecord.com makes insurance, sales and equipment records easily available to your present and future customers by providing a Secure Documents Site, where your customers can download your documents. Not only is our service free, but you also control the look, feel, location and security of your unique site. If you were to add secure document sharing to your own website, you would spend thousands of dollars on new website development and increased hosting charges.

My motivation for building the enterprise was to promote safety and transparency in the concrete pumping industry. I was hopeful to gain enough advertising income to cover the investment of time and resources into the project. However, I had no illusions about the difficulty of obtaining advertisers.

I’m thankful for the the support of  Todd Bullis, the pioneer of the “webification” of concrete pumping, who graciously offered to provide some exposure for pumprecord.com early on. To be fair, there was quite a bit of interest, primarily from the UK and Australia; but, I did not anticipate the terrible toll that the economic crisis was and still is taking on the very people that might use pumprecord.com

So, I’m reallocating my resources. However, if you found your way here from pumprecord.com. please know that the offer still stands. I am interested in helping out anyone that wants to make their records available online to their customers and potential customers, without charge. Just contact me and we can talk.

If you are considering a similar endeavor, look no further than WordPress MU. It operated flawlessly. I would not hesitate to use WordPress MU in my next multi site project. And now a screenshot for old times sake.

prsmall

Trouble With Outlook PST Files?

Backup Business Systems Support

This Microsoft Support article “How to manage .pst files in Outlook 2007, in Outlook 2003, and in Outlook 2002” is the best knowledge base article that I know about.

This article describes how to use personal storage folders, also known as .pst files, to back up data that you created in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, and Microsoft Office Outlook 2002. You can back up messages, contacts, appointments, tasks, notes, and journal entries in .pst files.

If you know about other great Outlook resources, please comment.

QuickBooks Multi User – The 2003 Version In 2009

2 comments
Business Systems Support QuickBooks

Recently, I received an inquiry about installing QuickBooks Multi User, the 2003 version. I thought this situation fits many small businesses and the conversation might help you out.

We own a new, unused QuickBooks Pro 2003 2 user license. Our aim is to put it to good use and to dedicate a Windows XP Pro workstation or a Windows SBS 2000 server for using QuickBooks in a server environment so that it can be accessed on a local network and from the Internet using VPN simultaneously by two users.

We plan to centralize all company accounting, documents, email etc.

Is all of this feasible? With reference to your eBook "Build Your Own QuickBooks Production Server” you make no mention of QuickBooks 2003. Would the principles in the book apply to QuickBooks 2003, easily?

We would appreciate pointers in the right direction and any advice would be much appreciated as we are trying to keep this project as simple and painless as possible

The first thing I would do if I were seriously considering a QuickBooks multi user production environment, even a two user environment, would be to purchase QuickBooks 2009. I would not yet consider 2010 because it’s too early in the product cycle.

Your requirements seem to be, to have (1) a multi user accounting software installed in a server environment, (2) accessible from client computers on the LAN and (3) accessible by remote users on the Internet, although you are only considering two simultaneous users right now; as well as (4) the need to centralize all company docs, email etc.

Your potential resources seem to be a Windows SBS 2000 server and some Windows XP Pro workstations.

With reference to my eBook, the basic design principles would apply to QuickBooks 2003, however all of the installation screens look different and newer versions of QuickBooks multi user deploy differently. My book focuses on QuickBooks 2006, 07, 08, 09 and 10; my preference being 09.

Also, the design applies to a client/server five user installation on a gigabit LAN with throughput exceeding 200 mb per client pc. A client/server installation of QuickBooks does not work well using less than a gigabit switch and gigabit nics for LAN connectivity. 

A client/server installation of QuickBooks does not work at all using low bandwidth VPN connectivity.

I would not install QuickBooks on any version of Microsoft Small Business Server. I prefer to dedicate an SBS box to Microsoft; too much going on to jeopardize it with QuickBooks.

If you want to meet all four of your requirements and plan to add users in the future, consider the option to install QuickBooks on a Terminal Server using Windows Server 2003 or 2008 with Terminal Services or Citrix. Some versions of QuickBooks will scale to thirty users. It’s important for me to know business details and plans before I could size your environment and make more detailed recommendations.

If you will always have only two to five users for QuickBooks, purchase my eBook and use it to help build an XP Pro server dedicated to QuickBooks. You could even repurpose your SBS 2000 hardware by adding a gigabit nic, installing 2 gig of memory, installing a fresh copy of XP Pro on it and using it as the QuickBooks dedicated XP Pro server. I’ve done this many times.

You might also consider dedicating a desktop to your remote user and using a desktop remote control product to access that desktop from the Internet. That desktop would also need a gigabit nic as well as any additional desktop you use to access QuickBooks.

Don’t forget to plug all of your QuickBooks computers and server into a gigabit switch and plug the switch into your network.

If you wish to use your QuickBooks 2003 version, follow all of the instructions in my eBook, including installing QuickBooks on the server, but pay close attention to the networking instructions that come with your 2003 software. It’s a bit different that the newer versions. If you’ve lost the instructions, I’m sure that are on the Internet.

Good luck! If you need help, contact me. I’ve remotely assisted people all over the world.

Millions tricked by 'scareware'

Business Systems Support Cyber Security

Great article on BBC this morning detailing the “security” software forced on unsuspecting computer users. Fortunately, two simple solutions will stop this dead in it’s tracks.

Use OpenDNS when configuring your home or office network. Your web browser will not go where a name cannot be resolved to an ip address.

Use a UTM device for your firewall. Unified Threat Management should be the choice of any educational or business entity. This year, UTM is now affordable to home network users.

If all else fails, buy your security software from a reputable manufacturer.

Secret to Google Apps

Business Systems Support Google Apps

There is no secret. Transitioning to Google Apps is hard work and not for the faint of heart!

It’s also no secret that Google targets Microsoft Outlook used with Exchange Server or with just plain old POP3 to build the APPs market share. Consequently, using Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook for deployment requires those supporting Google Apps for small business to understand all of the nuances of Outlook. (yes it’s a blank page)

Although I am admittedly new at Google Apps, I come to this with many years of Outlook and Exchange experience. So, I would like to give you my steps to successfully sync Google Apps with Microsoft Outlook. Then, please comment with your insight to Google Apps deployment so we can all learn something.

My focus here centers on working with the Microsoft Outlook PST file created from standard email or as a backup of an Exchange mailbox. There are other tools available for migrating Microsoft Exchange mail boxes.

1 – Start by checking Google mail to confirm that the Google Apps account you are working with receives email correctly and that sent email carries the correct name and reply address and comes from the correct domain. If there are problems here, you must work out the issues before you attempt a Google Apps Sync with Microsoft Outlook.

2 – Insure that the computer operating system and Outlook software that you are working with meets system requirements for Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook. Remove any malware or virus and optimize the computer so that it runs correctly.

3 – Work to clean up the PST file associated with the Outlook profile that you plan to sync with Google Apps. Delete any old information and compress the file. Then, create a backup of the PST file.

4 – Run scanpst.exe, the inbox repair tool in Outlook, to repair any errors with the PST file you are working with. Backup the newly repaired PST file, because you might have to recover this backup to return Outlook to it’s original functionality, when or if Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook fails.

5 – Restart the computer you are working with.

6 – Download the Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook tool to begin the sync process. Enter the account information, then select options to turn “AutoArchive” off. Google created good instructions for first time users.

7 – Set the Google APPs email profile to be the default profile and the only profile to open up when Outlook starts up.

Te recap; take a look at the Google Apps with Microsoft Outlook video below and again, please comment about your experience with your Google Apps deployment. We can all use the help.

 

QuickBooks Multi User On Terminal Server 2008 Decisions

Business Systems Support QuickBooks

No question about it; if you can fit Microsoft Server 2008 with Terminal Services into your budget, QuickBooks Multi User will scale to thirty users and will function with incredible performance. But first, you will need to do some soul searching and answer several important questions before you plan to deploy.

Can you comfortably place your mission critical data in someone else’s data center or do you have to physically possess your own hardware so that you can “touch” your data? This fundamental decision revolves around your personal preference. This might sound strange to some computer people, but much of the argument for remote data boils down to personal preference exercised by those business people that “own” the data. It’s a big reason for continuing sales of LAN based servers and will determine where your instance of QuickBooks will sit.

Will you scale beyond thirty users within the next seven years? If you plan to grow beyond thirty users, now is the time to begin considering products other than QuickBooks. Commit to the fact that you cannot reuse generic users without introducing many interconnected points of failure into your systems. There are reasons beyond legality and profitability, to require a unique user for every person that logs into QuickBooks, or any other multi user line of business software.

Will you be prepared for a technical and methodical installation process and all of it’s configuration nuances? The installation challenge proves not so much in it’s level of difficulty, but it requires much time to knock down the step after step task list and to test functionality.

Will you craft your business processes around functionality in your chosen version of QuickBooks? Change will come in the way you do your business processes. But, it’s not enough to plan for only the new and different installation of QuickBooks Multi User on Microsoft Terminal Server 2008, you must plan for each new change in your business processes. 

Are you prepared to lock down the way that you deploy QuickBooks on Terminal Services? This is Windows, so there will be more than one way to do almost everything. However, for the sake of uniformity, minimizing points of failure and support costs, decide to deploy either the server desktop or the application only, then stick with one or the other. Also, decide to deploy using distributed RDP files or a web interface, then stick with one or the other. Do not mix client server with terminal server deployment. Avoid the temptation to install that one client on that special desktop pc. It will come back to hurt you.

Finally, are you ready to deal with printers, including label printers? Work out your printer plan before you deploy. Use either dedicated server printers, or carry local printers to the unique terminal server session. You might also consider remote printer servers for sessions that cross the WAN.

Secure WordPress With Proactive Upgrade Management

Business Systems Support Cyber Security

Frank Corso wrote an excellent plugin called Quote Master. It adds a widget that displays random quotes, as well as others features, which I’ve used to display "Murphy’s Law" on my sidebar for some time now. With a bit of a hack, I added my "Murphy’s Law" tidbits by replacing Frank’s quotes.

ml

With Frank’s latest plugin release, his architecture completely changed, so I’ve removed "Murphy’s Law" from my site for a while. This situation got me to thinking about my view of WordPress security and the necessity to proactively perform upgrades.

Once upon a time, the upgrading ordeal consumed much of my time. Today, thanks to Matt and team, upgrading is a breeze. My favorite quote from Matt’s article, "How to Keep WordPress Secure" reads like this:

“A stitch in time saves nine. Upgrading is a known quantity of work, and one that the WordPress community has tried its darndest to make as easy as possible with one-click upgrades. Fixing a hacked blog, on the other hand, is quite hard. Upgrading is taking your vitamins; fixing a hack is open heart surgery. (This is true of cost, as well.)”

I use "Upgrade Notification by Email" By Konrad Karpieszuk  to send me a daily notification if any of my WordPress installations are out of date. I believe in proactively upgrading the WordPress core as well as plugins and themes, so much so that I will loose functionality such as Murphy’s Law, for a brief time.

If I manage your WordPress installations, you can rest assured that your WordPress will be up to date and secure. If I don’t manage your WordPress installations, contact me.

No Plan For H1N1 Swine Flu Then Work From Home

Business Systems Support

I caught a statement on TV last night that 65% of American companies have no business continuity plan to mediate the impact of a localized flu outbreak. I hope I heard wrong.

As Swine Flu heated up around here this week, a local school district shut down because of absenteeism from the flu. Flu patients are flooding North Texas children’s hospitals. It’s almost past time for us to seriously consider enabling working at home.

In light of the fact that 63% of adult Americans now have broadband internet connections at home, I thought I would offer a quick and easy, more productive, full screen remote desktop solution, one that allows an employee to work from their home computer, almost as if they were sitting in front of their work computer.

Setting up connectivity from your home desktop computer to your office desktop computer takes only a few minutes to complete a few simple steps.

First, forward your office telephone extension to your cell phone.

Next, turn on the "Remote Desktop" functionality from the "Remote" tab in "Systems Properties" again in "Control Panel". Then, download and install an easy to work with software VPN product from LogMeIn Hamachi

I’ve never seen a firewall that Hamachi can’t cut through.

Follow the Hamachi instructions to set up a VPN network.

Then, make sure your office computer will not go into standby or hibernate when left alone. Nose around in the "Control Panel" to change the power settings.

Hang around long enough to test it out.

Now, go home! Use your cell phone to answer work calls. Wash your hands frequently and learn to twitter.

On your home computer, download and install LogMeIn Hamachi², connect to your VPN network, open up Remote Desktop. Then using the VPN IP address of your office PC, connect full screen and get to work.

Or, if you can deal with a small screen and advertising, install LogMeIn Free on both computers and begin working.

Building Data Closets

Business Systems Support

My hobby might be building data closets, unfortunately those days have come to an end. Information technology real estate quickly evolved to a services oriented architecture.

IM001006

As both HaaS and SaaS, Hardware and Software as a Service, matures, I find that not only are local file services becoming obsolete, but the entire application arena has up and moved to the remote data center.

Frankly, that’s where they all belong. My critical business applications on demand, any time, any place and on any computer philosophy no longer seems a dream but an every day reality.

I think I may not install any local servers anymore.

But, that’s OK; you don’t need them anyhow.