Bravura Networks Blog

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services (RDS)

Microsoft has dramatically improved Terminal Services with the addition of Remote Desktop Services on its Windows 2008 R2 platform.   Remote Desktop Services is designed to provide a centralized desktop strategy for your organization.  This type of design helps your organization or remote users improve access to your company’s data.  This is done in a secure and efficient way, using as little of your network bandwidth as possible.

Here are some of the Key features in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 as listed on Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services Website:

• Microsoft RemoteFX introduces a new set of end user experience capabilities, enabling local-like access to media-rich applications for virtual and session-based desktops; it can be deployed to a range of thick and thin client access devices.  RemoteFX also supports a broad range of end user USB peripherals for virtual desktops.
• Full-Fidelity User Experience significantly improves the user experience of remote users, bringing it closer to that enjoyed by users accessing local computing resources. RDS provides multi-monitor support, support for Windows Media® Player redirection, bi-directional audio as well as support for rich media content such as Silverlight.
• RD Connection Broker creates a unified administrator experience for traditional session-based remote desktops and applications (session virtualization or “Terminal Services”), and emerging virtual machine-based remote desktops (VDI).
• RemoteApp™ applications appear no different than local applications, performing seamlessly with the new task bar in Windows 7. RemoteApp helps improve the end user experience and reduce training requirements.
• RemoteApp and Desktop Connections simplify access to a set of resources, such as RemoteApp programs and Remote Desktops that perform seamlessly with Windows 7. These connections are easy to set up and are automatically kept up to date so the user always has access to the latest resources that are being made available.
• App-V for RDS helps solve application compatibility on Remote Desktop Session Hosts and helps consolidate RDSH servers. Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) for RDS now supports 64-bit operating systems.
• RD Web Access helps simplify application and desktop deployment by making those resources available to Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP clients from a web page or a SharePoint portal.
• RD Gateway helps provide a secure connection between internal applications and data to users outside the firewall. It delivers critical applications and data to mobile employees without additional VPN infrastructure.

Article Sources:

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 – Remote Desktop Services:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/rds-product-home.aspx

Delivering Business Value with Remote Desktop Services. March 2009
http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/B/D/5BD5C253-4259-428B-A3E4-1F9C3D803074/RDS_Business_Value_Whitepaper.docx

Brett Knight is a Business Systems Engineer with San Diego-based Bravura Networks, Inc.

Contact Brett at bknight@bravuranetworks.com

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010

Microsoft’s latest version of their email server software, Exchange Server 2010 was released on November 9th 2009. Microsoft made big changes with this version of Exchange Server in regards to availability, accessibility, compliance, and integration with their Office Communication Server program. Exchange Server 2010 is an upgrade from the previous release of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 which was a very successful version of the software.

Although not something the end-user will see when an upgrade to Exchange Server 2010 occurs they can appreciate its availability. With Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft has made changes to their Clustering / High Availability offering to allow for easier configuration and management of a high availability configuration. Microsoft has also reduced the operations per second that occur to the hard disks of the Exchange Server which allows for cheaper hardware in regards to disk cost without loss of speed or performance and also allows for larger disk space on the server. With the changes to the configuration behind High Availability in Exchange Server 2010 the underlying infrastructure has been improved to allows for easy configuration, low-cost, and high availability of the Exchange Server instance in most business which would have been previously out of reach.

With the changes in the industry and the discussion of the “Cloud” over the past few years Microsoft has made a large number of changes and additions to this version of Exchange to allow more access to the end-user from outside of the company. One of the changes that Microsoft has made with this version is by using Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and the Exchange Server platform to deliver real-time access to the end-user through hundreds of devices. Users are able to email, voicemail, rights-protected messages, calendar requests, RSS feeds and even instant message conversations through the Exchange Server synchronization. With new features also including speech-to-text voicemail preview and Conversation View mobile users who previously may have had access to the information are able to view and respond to the email or voicemail more efficiently with Microsoft’s new offering.

Changes in regards to the archiving and compliance within Exchange 2010 will help a lot of companies which currently use expensive third-party programs for archiving and discovery or are currently in need or archiving and do not have a solution in place. Exchange 2010 allows for automated archiving on the Exchange Server level to an online and available archive. This is now available to the end-user automatically through Outlook or the Outlook Web App and fully configurable like a normal Inbox so that the user is familiar with how to use the Archive. This allows the data to be migrated out of the main Exchange Database storage without losing access to the end-user or relying on the end-user’s PC to keep the archive safe. Microsoft has also granted new access and tools which can be configured for Compliance Offers or Company Owners to run automated or on demand searches against other user’s mailboxes or all mailboxes in the company through a simple web interface. One of the other features which I know is exciting to our clients is the ability to place users on “Legal Hold”, maybe the user is of question or will be let go in the near future, this ability will keep a copy of all edits and deletions the user makes without knowledge to the user, allowing you to audit any changes they may make to their mailbox prior to termination. Something that was not possible in previous versions of Exchange.

These new features are exciting for all parties involved with the Exchange Server and Network for your companies. With new management tools and greater reliability for the IT team, lower cost for hardware and higher availability for management and few features for access and ease of use for the end user it’s easy to see why Exchange 2010 is being migrated to or implemented at so many businesses. Exchange Server 2010 is available now and we can help with your installation, migration and support if needed.

Daryl is a Business Systems Engineer with San Diego-based Bravura Networks, Inc.

Contact Daryl Jennings at djennings@bravuranetworks.com

By Brad Reeves, Technical Writer

It’s not just a firewall and it doesn’t just audit. It can block, it can allow. It is a great solution for keeping your company safe from cyber attacks and malware. It is Websense.

Websense is a great tool for auditing and protecting your company’s network and sensitive data. With employees constantly on the web for business critical applications you can no longer completely deny access to the internet in order to prevent abuse or malicious attacks. This is why it is important to use a piece of software developed from a company you can trust to manage internet usage. There are numerous companies that offer products similar to Websense, however, Websense is by far my favorite. Why do I prefer this product over others? I mainly prefer Websense over its competition because it is extremely easy to set up and use. Here’s what it can do for you:Web Security
Websense Web Security solutions provides the industry’s best security against modern threats. They use their state of the art web filtering technologies to classify and flag web sites so you know where you’re going before you click. The best way to protect your network is to simply filter out all malicious sites by not allowing your employees to visit them. This is done easily from Websense’s web interface.

With Websense you have the capability to limit the amount of time spent on certain sites or a certain kind of site. For instance you can set filters that only allows user to access Facebook from the hours of 11-1. Or limit the time spent on a site for a certain user: let’s say Bill can only use “Social Networking” sites for 30 minutes per day. Not only can you set limits but you can also monitor connections in real time or create reports on an ad hoc basis or have them emailed to an administrator daily, weekly, monthly or anything in between.

Data Security
Websense data loss prevention (DLP) technologies are part of the Websense TRITON solution and provide market-leading DLP capabilities designed to secure sensitive information and intellectual property, as well as manage and enforce regulatory requirements. With the ability to identify and monitor organizations’ sensitive data, Websense DLP solutions help prevent data loss through data transmission and exchange including email, Web, USB, and other channels.

Email Security
Websense email security solutions integrate best-in-class email security with web security and data security technology to achieve unparalleled visibility into emerging threats and one of the highest levels of email protection from inbound and outbound email security risks. Increase email protection with leading security against spam, viruses, and converged email and Web threats, backed by the power of the Websense ThreatSeeker Network.

We’re protected, our clients are protected, are you? Call us for more information and we’d be happy to answer any questions.

Contact Brad Reeves at breeves@bravuranetworks.com

By Brad Reeves, Technical Writer

Computer networks have evolved into complex operations throughout the years with the addition of many new technologies such as: switches, servers, boosters, firewalls, phone systems and much more. It takes a huge knowledge base to set up and maintain these systems and unfortunately wallets can feel the pain. The answer is here however. Virtualization will save you money in power and payroll, enable new technological capabilities, and reduce network complexities.

Virtualization is the method of partitioning one physical server computer into multiple “virtual” servers, giving each the appearance and capabilities of running on its own dedicated machine. Each virtual server functions as a full-fledged server and can be independently rebooted. The term virtualization broadly describes the separation of a resource or request for a service from the underlying physical delivery of that service. With virtual memory, for example, computer software gains access to more memory than is physically installed, via the background swapping of data to disk storage. Similarly, virtualization techniques can be applied to other IT infrastructure layers: including networks, storage, laptop or server hardware, operating systems and applications.

Using virtual technology such as VMware will help reduce operating costs up to 50 to 75%. The main money saver when it comes to virtualization is power. Today power is an enormous expense to all companies but by utilizing virtualization, power hungry server costs can be cut by as much as 6 times! Just the power consumption alone can sway a customer to virtualize, and by doing so they save hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month! Another way virtual technology will save money is by having the capability to cut payroll. Consolidation is the key here. If there is less to manage physically, there is no reason to have as many people on staff to manage the physical hardware. One person can easily manage literally hundreds of servers.

By implementing virtualization it not only can save hundreds or thousands of dollars a month in power and payroll, it also enables new capabilities for engineers to manage and test new solutions. VMware vCenter displays a comprehensive view of all the VM (Virtual Machines) across all virtualized servers and clusters. This function displays performance reports including: CPU usage, RAM consumption and more. With this information engineers can easily match VM’s that work well together in order to utilize hardware capabilities. Or even better they can turn on load balancing which does everything automatically. It is easy to add or delete VM’s on an as need basis. This is a perfect solution for test environments with little to no cost incurred to the company.

Please call us today and talk to one of our experts on VMware and virtualization

We are both VTSP and VSP certified!

Contact Brad Reeves at breeves@bravuranetworks.com

By Brad Reeves, Technical Writer

Sleep well knowing your data is safe

In such a technologically driven world virtually everything, businesses especially, rely on computers to generate reports, place orders, and even get lunch. Have you ever thought of what would happen if your computer died? Even worse, what if one of your business critical servers went down? I took numerous classes on “risk management” in college but I have never once thought about the subject for more than a minute since then.

A recent study discovered that, of companies experiencing a “major loss” of computer records, 43 percent never reopened, 51 percent closed within two years of the loss, and a mere 6 percent survived over the long-term. Now that we know the statistics what is the most reliable solution to stay protected? I’m glad you asked.

If you Google “backup and recovery software” you will literally get millions of links about possible solutions. Let’s take a look at some of the most common solutions and discus the advantages and disadvantages:

Tape
A tape drive is a data storage device that reads and writes data stored on a magnetic tape. Although many argue this is the most cost effective way to create backups, which I’m not going to argue, it is also the most unreliable. Analysts estimate that anywhere from 42 to 71 percent of tape restores fail. So in the unlikely event of a failure your odds of retrieving data are rare. If for some reason the tapes were good, even though they have been sitting in the closet for 4 years with an inch of dust on them, the process of retrieving the data is painstakingly long and tedious. Because they are literally “tapes” and are not random access the tapes first have to be analyzed entirely to be able to see the data, which takes time.

Ray Schikschnus, a business system engineer who deals with backup configurations for many large companies said, “If tapes are so good why does everybody want DVD’s and not VHS’s?” He highly suggests sticking to hard drives to back up data.

External Hard Drive
Backing up to an external hard drive is better than not backing up at all but still an ancient method. When a failure does occur and the data is backed up, the greatest cost incurred is now time. It can take days if not weeks to resolve hardware damage and if you have 30 people on payroll that can add up.

Hard drives are of course more reliable than tapes but corruption is still possible. It is recommended that someone checks the data by opening some of the backup files to check for data integrity. This kind of backup configuration may be the most cost effective because all one needs is to purchase an external hard drive and connect it to the server or PC, however, the more individual backup units you have the more likely it is that one of them will fail.

BIT Support™ COP
Continuous Operational Protection is by far the most comprehensive backup solution on the market. This solution combines the idea that backups should be on hard drives and addresses the many problems of conventional backup solutions. This method consists of one physical machine in house. Let’s look at the BIT Support™ COP in a little more detail:

Near real time backups: Bravura’s “Incremental Forever” methodology captures all changes to the initial image in increments of 15 minutes. The Incremental Forever technology not only backs up recent datasets but also allows end users to reconstruct the state of their data as it stood at the end of various 15-minute restoration points.

On site virtual Server: If any of your servers fail, our server virtualization technology embedded in the Network Attached Storage (NAS) allows customer servers and applications to be restored and rebooted in less than 1 hour in most cases. As you may sometimes endure a wait of several days in order to receive replacement servers from vendors, your NAS can have your business up and running. The NAS multitasks so that, even while functioning as a virtual server, it can continue to back up data from other devices plugged into the NAS. Our technology thus allows you to remain in business without any significant loss of data backup, server functionality, or application downtime.

A complete image: We generate an image of all hard drive partitions via an agent, which is warehoused on the NAS device physically located at your location. The data is stored using AES-256 bit encryption and compressed. We employ a block-level, not file-level, backup, which means that data is captured at the level of 1’s and 0’s. Block level data is raw data which does not have a file structure imposed on it. Database applications such as Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange Server transfer data in blocks. Block transfer is the most efficient way to write to disk and is much less prone to errors such as those that result from file-level backups. Additionally, block level backups are not affected by open files or open databases. The block-level image is an exact digital duplicate of the on-site server.

Secure remote Storage: After imaging the servers to which it is attached, the NAS device then creates an independent 256-bit encrypted tunnel and transmits the imaged data to a secure offsite location where it resides in an encrypted, compressed format. That remote site then replicates again to an alternate data center, creating a total of three copies of the data in three geographically distinct regions. Since the data is encrypted and only you have the key, no one has access at any of the remote storage facilities.

This method protects against virtually any kind of failure, from hardware to software to a natural disaster. For more information please call Bravura Networks and ask about our award winning BIT Support™ COP.

Ray Schikschnus is a Business Systems Engineer with Chicago-based Bravura Networks, Inc.

Contact Brad Reeves at breeves@bravuranetworks.com