I got to thinking about “resilience” as a word that expresses what we want in our systems. Engineers are trained to look for “single points of failure” and reduce or eliminate them to make a system reliable. If you have two of everything the system needs, then you will have a very reliable system because if one part breaks, you have another part to take over. It is expensive, but reliable.

We don’t want to have a breakdown when we are very busy, but most people can’t afford to have two computers for each function just in case a computer breaks. But we can afford some redundancy in our computer systems. For example, we can have mirrored drives on a server. A “mirror” is two hard drives
set up so they both have the same data. That way if one hard drive fails, the
other one has the data. Hard drives are cheap, but replacing data is not.

What happens if some other part besides the hard drive breaks? That usually means unplanned down time. Big servers are built with more dual parts such as two power supplies. Even fancier redundancy is having two servers that work as if they are one. That is called a cluster. If you are constantly processing financial
transactions or if any down time at all would cost your business big bucks, then
you should consider setting up a cluster. Sonic is happy to provide rack space
in their data center for a tidy monthly fee if you want to house a cluster in a
secure place with very resilient connections to the Internet, backup power and
so forth. That is the higher end approach.

There are lower cost steps you can take to make your computer systems more resilient. One way is to use a virtual server to make it quicker and easier to recover from a sudden equipment failure. If your server is a virtual machine, we can get it back up and running more quickly after a hardware failure than if it is not virtual. Restoring a standard server from a backup to a new computer can result in a system that does not run because it lacks the drivers it needs to run on the new hardware. Drivers are special programs that enable computers to use the hardware like network cards or printers. Hunting drivers can take a lot of precious time.

But what does “virtualization” mean? A virtual computer runs as a program on another “host” computer. Often the host has no function beyond the ability to run a virtual computer, called a “guest”. The cool thing for businesses with several servers is you don’t need a separate piece of hardware for each server, just one big host computer that runs them all. But even if you don’t have several servers, you can have your desktop run as a virtual computer.

My top recommendation is to put your money into excellent backups and doing a test restore on a fairly frequent basis. Then think about virtualization for any computer that stores files that many people work on.

In the case of my friend with the bad outage last Christmas, his computer systems would be resilient if he converted his server to a virtual computer and ran image backups frequently. His whole network would be more reliable because if there were a breakdown, he could restore that virtual server on a different computer and get by until he could replace the hardware.

The software you need to run a virtual computer is free. Microsoft has a program called Hyper-V, and VMware has a similar program. They hope to make their money on the software tools to manage virtual computers because once you have several, it takes some organizing to keep them all running properly. But for a small operation with one or two virtual servers, you don’t really need the tools.

Bottom line is virtual computers combined with good backups make for a resilient computer set up.

Switching Internet
Service Providers

I recently switched Internet providers to Sonic Fusion
service because the switch promised greater speed for less cost. The savings
come from combining landline telephone service with DSL for the amount I had
been paying for DSL alone. In the past the process of switching Internet
providers has been gruesome with days of down time, so I began the process this
time with some anxiety. But it went pretty well. There was no significant
interruption of Internet access and the home phone number switched right away.

I did have a problem with email because I run my own email
server and Sonic blocks the port an email server uses unless you go for static
IP address. A static IP address isn’t a bad thing, but it costs $20 more a
month and that would wipe out any cost savings. I would still have faster
Internet speed, but I found a way to keep using my Exchange email server and
keep the lower cost dynamic IP address. It is all working now. For businesses
running Exchange it makes sense to get static IP. Most of you rely on your
Internet provider or domain hosting service for email which is very sensible,
especially for organizations with fewer than about 20 email addresses.

I didn’t want to give up the Exchange server because I like
how well it syncs my email, contacts and calendar with my smart phone. All
these things can be done with separate apps for email, calendar and contacts,
but with Exchange it is very simple. Fortunately, there are multiple ways to
set up Exchange to retrieve email, so I picked a different way to get email to
Exchange and it all worked out.

Microsoft is offering Exchange server on line so small firms
can have the advantage of syncing their email, contacts, calendar, notes and
tasks across computers and the ability to manage the mailboxes easily. But you don’t need to buy a server and run it yourself. The Microsoft service does
require you to change your email password every 90 days which can be a pain, but changing passwords does help keep your data safe. It costs a modest monthly fee of six dollars per user per month, Which leads us to the topic of the next post: “rent versus buy”.

You may have seen my recommendations encouraging you to use online backups. Some of you have adopted one of the services. I have tried all the ones I recommend – Dropbox, iDrive, SkyDrive. I have discovered a couple of considerations to take into account when using online backups.

The first thing I discovered is the amount of time it takes to upload data. The iDrive program has a handy bandwidth calculator. It says that based on my upload speed of 800 Mbps it will take three hours for each GB of data. Many of you will have upload speed on the order of 150 Mbps which means it will take about 18 hours to upload 1 GB of data. While your data is uploading, your work on the Internet will be slower.

If you have ten GB of data it will take several days to complete the initial backup. The good news is that once the initial backup is complete, only changes to the files will be backed up, so if you create a new file or change a file, only the new data is backed up online and that will not usually take very long, unless you are creating lengthy videos. Another exception is Outlook PST files which can grow very large. Every time you send or receive a message, the file is changed and that can trigger a backup. (Windows Live Mail stores email as individual files instead of one big file, so it works better with online backup.)

There is a sister service to iDrive at iBackup.com that provides an initial backup by sending you a USB drive or a NAS. You do a full backup to the drive and send it back to them. They load it on their server and you do the incremental backups from there. It saves a lot of time on the initial backup. iBackup is costs more than iDrive, but not crazy bad prices.

Suggestion: Strike a balance by using online backups to back up only critical files, e.g., QuickBooks backup files, Word documents, and spreadsheets, and so forth. At one time I thought if I could set up an image file of my computer on line and just update the changes, that would be cool. But on further reflection, it would take days to download an image file, so in case of disaster like fire or theft where I lose my computers and backups, I plan to get new hardware, install the OS and applications, and then recover my data.

Side note: I ran into an issue with my iDrive account. I have it set to back up my desktop and every morning I saw a confirmation that it had succeeded until one day I downloaded a very large file to the desktop. It put my backup over the 2 GB limit for the account. iDrive stopped doing  backups and displayed a message saying to upgrade the limit or reduce the size of the backup.

No biggie, right? I removed the big file from my desktop and followed the directions on the iDrive site for removing the file from the backup, but that didn’t work. I sent a support email. They said use Chat on their web site. I also telephoned. A human answered the phone in a couple of rings which was promising. The human said to use the chat feature on the support page. I initiated a chat. The chat person was available, but didn’t solve the problem right away. But here is the cool part – the support person said they were sending the problem to level two support. I really appreciate prompt escalation when standard moves to resolve a problem don’t work. It took a couple of days with no backup, but it was resolved.

Ihad a try at making a Mac work in a Small Business Server domain. Being a bit cheap, I bought a used MacBook. The laptop runs nicely and has the latest Mac OS called Snow Leopard.

For small organizations using both Windows and Macs, getting them to work together is not a big problem. But for organizations that are using Small Business Server, the logins are controlled by Windows Active Directory. I had read that a Mac can be added to a Windows domain. But how?

The documentation about Active Directory on the Apple site has a lot of information about how older versions of the Mac OS work with Windows Active Directory. It used to be a little complicated to get a Mac to join a Windows domain, but Snow Leopard makes the process pretty easy.

I watched a video on the Apple site about new features in Snow Leopard and how the Mac works well in a Windows domain. I was encouraged. I dived right in and hunted in the Network Utility for where to tell the Mac about the domain. No luck. I searched the web for a “how to” with no luck. It turned out that I needed to go into the Accounts area to do this. That advice was right there in the Snow Leopard help. No need to go to the Web for the information.

I went into System Preferences and clicked on Accounts. After I filled in some blanks in the Login options and logged out, I got a new login choice on booting up the Mac. I click on “Other” at the login screen , enter my Windows domain login name and password, and I am in! I was in the domain and could access the shares on my SBS server, just as if I were using Windows. Apple says things like password policy that are set up in Active Directory will be enforced on the Mac. That is good for control freaks.

One thing I noticed is that you don’t get a chance to specify what Windows domain you want to use. For smaller organizations it is not a problem because they only have one domain, but for large organizations you need this. There are third party apps that fill this need.

If you have the Windows license, you can use Boot Camp to make it so you run Windows on the Mac instead of the Mac OS. That makes it even easier to integrate with a Windows domain! Boot Camp is a free utility included with the Mac. It works by making a special partition for Windows and also provides the drivers to help Windows work with the Apple hardware. The down side of using Boot Camp is you have to reboot to switch between the Mac OS and Windows. You don’t get them both at once.

You can also run Windows as a virtual computer using special third party software that sets up a virtual hard drive. Parallels and VMware are the most well known of this type of program. The advantage to a virtual computer is you just boot up as a Mac and you don’t have to reboot to use Windows. The downside is you need more RAM to run them both and the virtual computer (Windows) runs a little slower than it would if you reboot into a “native” Windows partition.

There are several ways to get Mac and Windows working together. What is best for you depends on how you work. If you spend a lot of time in Windows and your Mac “world” is separate, the dual boot option is attractive. If you just need occasional access to Windows, the virtual computer approach makes a lot of sense.

I tried again to upgrade my Vista system. It failed to upgrade in place, so I tried using LapLink software’s PCMover Upgrade edition to upgrade.

My experience was mixed. The software did its job, but the result was not what I hoped. My upgrade was from Vista Ultimate 32 bit to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. The process is to install the LapLink software and run it as the “old” computer. Install Windows 7, install the LapLink software on Windows 7 and run the software as the “new” compute – even though the hardware is the same. Along the way, you get the opportunity to pick which programs you want to migrate to Winbows 7. I weeded out old programs I no longer use.

Results: The fundamentals worked, but some important functionality was lost. For example, iTunes has a 64 bit version. It found my music library which is important, but it did not recognize my iPhone – even more important.

Microsoft Office 2007 worked right away with no hassle. My hopes were high.

The 64 bit version of my all-in-one printer downloaded and installed and the printer worked, but PaperPort was no longer in the mix. PaperPort is really good software that is bundled with my printer. It helps me scan to PDF and email the results all with one convenient program. I didn’t want to do without it.

Microsoft Security Essentials 32 bit version was included in the migration. That turned out to be a big mistake because it would not run on the 64 bit version and would not uninstall. I had to download a different anti-virus program.

The bottom line is the ability to move programs as well as data and settings is a mixed blessing. I found that I had a lot of troubleshooting to do and I encountered several sticky issues. My recommendation is to spend the time installing the programs you use after making sure they are going to work on Windows 7 instead of troubleshooting after migrating your programs. Everything I use either runs on Win 7 or has a 64 bit version, so the chances are that you will be able to use your programs.

I rolled my upgrade back to Vista so I use the computer and will take my own advice and do a fresh install without migrating programs. For most people, it is much simpler to just buy a new computer, install your apps and migrate your data and settings from your old computer. Reusing the computer you have is a little trickier than going to new hardware. I am reusing my hardware to learn about upgrading and because I am cheap. I am learning a lot!

For those of you who are upgrading to Windows 7 the way ahead looks good. There has been a flurry of clients getting new computers and having me migrate their data and settings to the new system. Microsoft has a program for that (Windows Easy Transfer) which is working well. The Windows XP migration program was not so good. This time it is slick.

If you want to migrate your programs as well as data and settings from Win XP to Win 7, you can do it with PCMover from LapLink. It costs $19.95 to upgrade in place (until March 31 when they say the price will go up). If you get a new computer with Win 7 and you don’t want to reinstall all you programs, LapLink has a version for that.

I tried out PCMover on a few computers. MS Office had to be authenticated again, but otherwise it went smoothly. Overall it was a satisfactory experience. I say “overall” because with one system, the authentication process for MS Office was glitched and it was a struggle to get the telephone authentication done. I finally got Office tech support involved and the problem was resolved soon afterwards, but figuring out that process was tricky. But that only happened once so far.

If you are like me you may be looking to keep your current computer hardware instead of getting a new computer with Windows 7. That can make the upgrade process more time consuming.

When you install Windows 7, it captures all your old data in a directory named windows.old, so it is right there when if you have to go hunt something down. That is a comfort.

My next post will be about my experience on the weekend attempting an upgrade that didn’t work out as I had hoped.

As the new year gets rolling, take a look at your computer security. There are three key aspects to consider:

1. A good automated backup system
2. Effective anti-virus such as Microsoft Security Essentials
3. Stay up to date with patches especially for Adobe and Microsoft software.

I like Acronis for backup because it provides a quick way to restore if something goes wrong. Windows 7 has image backup software included, too. You will neeed A big external drive (or two so you can have an off site copy of your backup for disaster recovery such as from fire or theft) and a daily automated backup should do the trick for item one above.

I like MS Security Essentials for Windows because it works, it is not a big drag on the system, and there is no fee for this download.

There are regular patches issued by the most commonly used software publishers like Microsoft and Adobe. The bad guys are constantly uncovering ways to attack your computer. The most common way to get to your system nowadays is through an infected web site. It might be a bogus site or a legitimate web site that has been hijacked. Having the latest patches is a good primary defense against such attacks. The best secondary defense is a good backup from yesterday.

A lot of us click “No” or “Not Now” when prompted for permission to run an update. That is understandable since we are usually unwilling to slow down for an update when there is a task at hand. If you don’t want to take the time, consider requesting a PC tune-up. Details at this web page.

My recommendation is to set up a routine to take care of your system in the coming year.

The following narrative breaks down the steps for replacing a hard drive to an orderly process that includes steps you might not think of at first, but that will help assure a happy result.

1. Delete old files and temp files — Clean up the old drive by deleting your temp files. Run Disk Cleanup in Accessories/System Tools. Delete old files you don’t really want any more. The less data you move to the new drive, the better your system will run.
2. Run chkdsk /f. To run chkdsk, open a command prompt which is the accessory that has a black square for an icon. (You can also open a command prompt by clicking on Start/Run, entering cmd then clicking OK.) You will see a black window open up. Enter chkdsk /f and press Enter. You will see some text that says it can’t run right away, but do you want it to run on reboot. Press Y and Enter. Then reboot. The computer will run the chkdsk utility before it gets back to the desktop. This utility makes sure that there are no orphan files that will get in the way.
3. Add the new drive — Open the computer and connect the new drive. If this intimidates you, ask for help. The new drive need not be permanently attached until after the data is transferred to it and the old drive removed. Some computers don’t have a bracket that allows for attaching more than one drive very easily. But there are always power and data connections.
4. Install Easeus. This is just one program that will do the job, but it is one of the best. You can find a free copy on the Internet.
5. Run the Copy Drive wizard. Follow the prompts on the screen.
6. Shut down the computer.
7. Remove the old drive and attach the new drive in a bracket. (You can keep the old drive if you format it, but that is more trouble than it is worth for most people. You won’t really use it.)
8. Boot up and resize the partition on the new drive using Easeus if there is unallocated space. The Copy Drive wizard does not take advantage of a bigger drive. The resize maneuver goes very quickly.
9. Reboot the system and verify that it is working as expected. Enjoy the added disk space.
10. Make sure your backup system still works.

If all this does not sound easy, you can have any shop that sells hard drives do it for you. Or call MC Solutions and we will take care of it. Doing it yourself is not hard, but you may be more comfortable having it done for you.

We help you get rid of toolbars you don’t use and other clutter. Your antivirus will be up to date. If appropriate we replace your antivirus with Security Essentials from Microsoft.

The work is done remotely using a tool that requires you to get us started by going to a web page and clicking a few times. Once the session is started, you are free to leave the vicinity of the computer. The process takes about three hours.

We advise you any problems that require more attention. That would include discovering evidence of malware.

We charge $125. What a bargain!

Call me at 707 827-1524 or call Bruce at 707 703-1601 today and schedule your PC Tune up!