By default the Windows 7 firewall prevents WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) connections from remote machines. The following command will open up all the ports neccessary for remote machines to access WMI on Windows 7.

In a command window (cmd.exe) running as “administrator”, type:

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”windows management instrumentation (WMI)” new enable=Yes

you should see a response like this:

C:\Windows\system32>netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”windows management instrumentation (WMI)” new enable=Yes

Updated 8 rule(s).
Ok.

Barracuda Backup Competitive Analysis to i365

Company Overview

• Headquarters: Campbell, CA
• Type: Privately Held
• Company Size: 201 employees
• Founded: 2002
• Revenue: $70.7M (2007)
• Products: Security appliances for email, Internet, Website, and IM protection
• Primary Industries: Financial services, manufacturing, technology, consumer goods, utilities, and retail
• Related News:
• Acquired BitLeap in November 2008
• Acquired Yosemite Technologies in January 2009

Key Products/ Services

• Barracuda Backup Service – A hybrid approach with a local appliance and offsite cloud-based backup and storage
• Yosemite Server Backup – A software solution for protecting data on Windows, Linux and Netware servers
• Yosemite Desktop/Laptop Backup – A software solution for protecting data on your Windows-based PC

Their Positioning and Messaging

• Strong competitor in spam filtering and virus
• Known for their spam filtering / virus firewalls
• Disruptive pricing strategy to quickly gain market share
• Focus on appliance-based solutions

Pricing

• There is an upfront charge for the appliance, and then the monthly subscription fee:
• Backup Server Appliance: $1000 – $45,000
• Monthly Subscription Fee: $0.50/GB in Tiers
• (No overage fees, No agent fees, and No per fees)

Their Strengths

• All-in-one solution for easy deployment
• BMR included at no extra charge
• Easy-to-use Web interface with reporting and statistics
• Replication to two locations within the cloud

Their Weaknesses

• New to backup space.  Barracuda’s main focus is the security space.  Entered backup space in 2008 with acquisition of BitLeap
• Limited references. Only one customer reference for backup service on their website.   
• Security. Barracuda data centers aren’t SAS70 certified.  Barracuda does not provide end-to-end encryption, only encrypts from the appliance to their data center
• Requires an appliance. There needs to be at least one appliance at each of the customer’s physical locations.
• No BMR integration.  Barracuda supports BMR with Yosemite BMR, which not integrated with BBS, meaning more complexity.
• No DR option.  Barracuda does not provide a DR solution – cannot help customers that have a complete site outage.
• Technology efficiency. Barracuda only supports bandwidth throttling from the appliance to the cloud.  This could cause a bandwidth bottleneck when backups are running, disrupting business.
• Limited platform and application support.  Barracuda does not support virtual machines or desktops.  It also does not support Oracle, SharePoint, Solaris, HPUX, IBM AIX, IBMi.

Things to watch out for

• They will tout that they are the lowest cost solution; They are aggressively competing on price
• They will state they provide six ways to Restore
• Barracuda says that software solutions are difficult to install and manage. What’s more, the hardware required is difficult to manage and support
• They say that appliance-based backup solutions put minimal burden on production servers
• They will state that they give you the opportunity to selectively replicate data offsite
• They promote the fact that they backup to two geographically dispersed data centers

Feature Comparisons 

• Encryption: They only encrypt data starting at the appliance. EVault offers end-to-end security with encryption starting from the agent and through the entire data transfer process and while the data is at rest
• Local backups: Keeping a local backup onsite is good for quick recoveries. This can be done from the Barracuda Backup Server. i365 also offers Express Recovery Appliance or Plug-n-Protect
• Delta-Processing & Deduplication: With an Agent, Barracuda uses similar delta-processing and backend dedupe techniques to EVault
• Platform Support: Barracuda offers support for Windows Server, Linux, Novell, Mac OS X. We offer support for Windows Server, Novell, Linux, Unix VMWare, Windows Desktop
• Bare Metal Restore: Barracuda includes Yosemite BMR, but it's not integrated into their BBS solution; customers must have locally attached storage.  Our BMR is sold separately, but it is integrated; customers can back up over the network
• Multiple restore methods: Barracuda offers similar restore methods: Over network or shipment of storage module
• Bandwidth Throttling: Barracuda touts bandwidth throttling, but it only offers bandwidth throttling from the appliance to cloud. EVault offers dynamic bandwidth throttling starting at the agent. EVault also offers compression starting at the agent. These two features minimize the impact to a customer's network and enable the customer to deploy agents in remote locations (without the need of an onsite appliance/vault
• Centralized Management: Both solutions offer centralized management via a web-based interface.

I365 Silver Bullets

• Has been a full service data protection company for over 12 years, with deep expertise and a range of DR products and services that extend way beyond backup.
  • DR Experts, Consulting and Tests (Barracuda doesn’t offer DR services or PS)
  • Over 25,000 customers doing millions of backups and tens of thousands of restores per year.
  • 100% success on declared recoveries and backup is no good without a recovery!
  • 96% satisfaction with customer service
  • Integrated DR with Remote Disaster Recovery (they don’t have it)
  • Integrated BMR (theirs is not)
• Offer a wider range of deployment options – on premise, edge, cloud, in any configuration. All based on the same technology platform – designed to grow and scale with you.
  • Long Term Investment
  • Offer a wider range of deployment options – on premise, edge, cloud, in any configuration.  All based on the same technology platform – designed to grow and scale with you.
  • D2D, D2C, D2D2C
  • SaaS, Appliances, Software, Managed Services
  • Scales to hundreds of TB
  • Barracuda is appliance to cloud only;  maxes out at 3TB
• Technology is designed from the ground up for WAN-based backups. You’ll get higher security, better performance, and greater bandwidth utilization
  • Cloud infrastructure (SAS 70 Type II certified, Barracuda is not)
• Bandwidth throttling – from agent to appliance AND from the appliance to our data center.  Save your bandwidth for your business, not your backups. (Barracuda does not support bandwidth throttling from agent to appliance)
• Has Barracuda provided you with information on how their backups impact bandwidth?
• Failover – If our ERA appliance goes down, you can backup and recover directly from our data center. (Barracuda’s is a single point of failure for file-based backups which are agentless.  If the appliance fails your file backups stop until the appliance is fixed.)
• Security – Offer 6 levels of encryption choices for your backup data AND encryption from agent to appliance (Barracuda does not support encryption from agent to appliance and only provides one option for encryption. Does this meet your security requirements?)

Questions to ask?

Company History/Experience

• Do you want an experienced company safeguarding your data or a relatively new entrant in backup?
• Has Barracuda provided you with any reference customers using their service?
• Can Barracuda provide you with a full array of professional services that provide you with advice on how to design a backup solution, implement one, validate one with DR testing, and assess it if your environment changes?

Security

• Do you want assurance and peace of mind knowing that your backup service uses the industry standard certification for security, redundancy, and production operations?
• Do your auditors demand SAS 70 certification?

Appliances

• Do you have space at each of your locations to store an appliance?
• Do you have the IT resources to manage an onsite backup appliance at all of the locations?

Recovery Options

• What happens if your entire site goes down due to a disaster? 
• Can you meet your RTO with Barracuda? 
• Do you need offsite BMR protection? Have you thought about the complexity of doing 2 backups to protect an entire system – one for data/applications and another for the operating system?

Technology Efficiency

• Has Barracuda provided you with information on how it impacts network bandwidth during backup windows?

Platform/Application Support

• Are you using VMware or do you plan to use virtualization now and in the near future?
• Do you need to protect any of your employees’ desktops/laptops?
• Do you need to protect Solaris, HP-UX, IBM AIX, IBMi, Oracle, or SharePoint?

VMware has a great guide for deploying WinXP through VMware View. But there isn't one out yet for deploying Windows 7. The steps below show of the tweaks to perform on Windows 7 32 bit OS to prepare it for deployment through VMware View.

1. Uninstall Tablet PC Components
2. In IE8, Remove Suggested Sites, and use Default settings
3. In IE8, Set Google as default seach provider
4. In IE8, Delete existing bookmarks
5. Visual Effects set to "Adjust for Best Performance"
6. Turn off System Protection
7. Delete all previous Restore Points
8. Set desktop Background to a solid blue
9. UnPin Windows Media Player from Taskbar
10. Launch Windows Media Player, Set recommended settings
11. Install Adobe Flash Player
12. Install Adobe Reader, launch Adobe Reader and accept license agreement.
13. Remove Adobe icons from desktop
14. Set Taskbar buttons to "Never Combine"
15. Disable "allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties" for C: Drive, do it for all folders and sub folder
16. in msconfig, set "No GUI Boot"
17. in msconfig, uncheck Adobe startup items
18. in a cmd window running as administrator, set: fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1
19. turn off defragmentation schedule
20. Disable checking for Automatic Updates
21. Run all Windows updates
22. Delete "Games" start menu folder
23. Delete Start Menu Items shown in screen shot to right ->
24. Remove all Recently Used icons from Start Menu
25. Disable "Windows Search" service
26. Disable "Super Fetch" service
27. Disable "Themes" service
28. Disable "Windows Defender"
29. Install vSphere Client
30. Install VMware View Agent, accept all defaults
31. Install CCleaner (don't install Yahoo toolbar in the install of it)
32. Join Domain
33. Active Windows
34. Run CCleaner.

35. Shut down VM, take SnapShot for VMware View to run from

Article on page 31

Storage Magazine March 2010

Click on the link above and then scroll to page 31 to read the article.

Nominal capacity, also know as the "advertised" capacity, is based on the standard base 10 numbers instead of the base 2 mathematics that disk drives use.  In bae 10 one Megabyte equals one million bytes while one Gigabyte equals one billion bytes. This isn't too much of a problem with small numbers such as a Kilobyte, but each level of increase in the prefix also increased the total discrepancy of the actual capacity compared to the nominal capacity.

Check out the table below which has some rough estimates of the formatted capacity of standard disk drives. 

  List of ports used by VMware vCenter 4.0.x:

We get aksed alot about VMware's licensing in terms of processors vs. cores vs. sockets. Hopefully this short article will clear it up.

VMware vSphere is licensed based on the number of processors on the physical host.

Each processor in a socket may contain multiple cores. VMware customers may deploy VMware vSphere on physical processors that contain up to six processing cores at no additional charge.

VMware vSphere Advanced and VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus editions provide an expanded core entitlement and allow customers to deploy on processors that contain up to 12 processing cores.

Additional information may be found at http://www.vmware.com/download/eula/multicore.html

Reports To: VP of Technology

 

The following document outlines the job description and duties for the position above.

The Systems Administrator will primarily be responsible for the day to day operation and maintenance of the our Clients Desktop support and open systems.  The position will report into the VP of Technology.  The goal of the position is to maintain a high level of availability and end-user satisfaction that meets or exceeds the performance requirements.  Much of this work is currently spread across external vendors and internal staff.  This position also needs to be focused on making the most efficient use of time and the environment.  This should include all of the day to day hands on activities for desktop support, basic server administration and management and escalation of issues with vendors involved in the managed services.  As a part of the managed services offering Penn Treaty will leverage the call desk services provided by Contour.  Those services will augment and provide ready access and tracking for support issues.  This includes extended coverage and backfill for the onsite resource when that resource is not available due to illness or other absence.  This position will also function as an escalation tier for network operations issues.  This will help network operations fulfill their responsibilities in addition to the dedicated desktop support.

He/She will be responsible for the following on a day-to-day basis:

Manage current desktop environment

o   Resolve any hardware related issues

o   Alert and resolve any performance issues and notify end-users

o   Function as an escalation point and remote hands for the call center

o   Manage issues with the vendors

o   Work with the IT staff to respond to and resolve alerts related to systems and/or  integration with the managed services offering.

o   Monitor current environment usage, performance, and availability  

o   Install, configure, test, and implement software and components as necessary on a day to day basis.  Larger projects such as organization wide upgrades amy be identified as out of scope and defined as a separate project.

o   Applicable patch releases and maintenance are included in the day to day responsibilities of the resource.

o   Responsible for planning and coordination of any new systems installation as it relates to the overall offering from Contour

o   Perform any host-level tasks needed to access the systems

Application support

o   Work with application developers and Contour to assist in troubleshooting infrastructure related issues

Backup

o   Maintain proper backup schedule

o   Restore and recover data as requested including the management of snaps and replication

o   Coordinate with off-site storage as necessary

Strategic Planning

o   Capacity planning and forecast growth

o   Identify processes and policies that will improve the overall performance of the project.   Work with management to implement these initiatives

o   Work with IT staff to identify upcoming needs and report back to management

o   Review tools regularly to identify abnormal growth

o   Provide input on vendor proposals

Network Operations

o   Escalation point for server and system related issues.

o   Second Tier advisory role to desktop support call center

o   Validation of tasks completed by the administrators as needed

o   Lead and/or participate in the creation and maintenance of system related policies

Qualified Candidates must have

o    At least 5 years experience in Windows desktop support and customer service

o    At least 1-2 years experience with basic Mac desktop functionality

o    At least 3 years windows server administration

o   Familiarity with basic concepts around Back-up maintenance and Disaster Recovery Procedures.

o   Experience with Help Desk software and ticket management procedures

o   Experience with Trouble ticket escalation and vendor management

o   Excellent interpersonal and communication skills

o   The ability to work independently and provide documentation in compliance with Contour and Customer needs.

Interested Candidates should provide their resume and cover letter to:

Att: Recruiting

640 Freedom Drive

King of Prussia, PA 19406

Or email to:           careers@contourds.com