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Free Network Resource Guide
How does your network measure up?
Are your current service
providers doing a good job?
Unless you are a
computer hobbyist or technician yourself, it can be very hard to determine
how well your current service providers are treating your network. Many
small businesses don't even have any other experiences to compare their
current service with! There is a list of questions to ask yourself about
your provider or technician, but the ultimate measuring stick is the
workmanship itself:, so you need to ask:
How stable is your
network?
The following
items are key elements that every business network, from small shops to
large corporate enterprises, should address if they use applications and
store data that are critical to their operations. Examine your network or
ask your current providers how you are equipped on the following items. Use
this guide to evaluate where your business is and to help you build a solid
infrastructure for your technology solutions.
Small Business Resource Guide
for Building a Stable Network Infrastructure
While not an
exhaustive list of every important network element, this guide outlines and
explains the most critical parts of building a stable and reliable network
infrastructure. This guide also focuses on the network and assumes that the
software you are using is reasonably stable and compatible on the hardware
you are running it on. If your hardware and software is flaky, then the
following points for building a stable network will probably not be of much
value to you! Following each item are scenarios for ideal, acceptable, and
minimum practices.
1.
The ideal
scenario is usually typical of a larger company that highly depends on and
values their computer data and applications.
2.
The
acceptable practices might be more typical of a smaller organization that
relies on computer data but has limited resources available for their
computer systems.
3.
The minimum
practices are stop-gap measures and usually inexpensive workarounds to
address these risks and problems.
At the very
least, the minimum practices should be followed. All of the items listed
below are critical areas which no true professional would overlook or
neglect! If your service provider has done NOTHING about any of the
following items, then be sure to do SOMETHING about it!
Data Storage – We all
know what happens when hard drives die: your data is lost! Not only can
data be lost, but the loss of critical applications usually means
additional loss of business/productivity until the systems are restored.
Critical data and applications should always be stored on or backed up to a
network server that is resilient to hardware failures. The most common way
to address this is to use a RAID array. This spreads critical data across
several hard drives so that if one hard drive dies in the server, the
server can continue to operate allowing the drive to be replaced with
minimal or no downtime. A cheaper but less efficient (performance-wise)
alternative to a RAID array is Disk Mirroring, where the data is written
simultaneously to 2 drives and if a hard drive dies, the other drive takes
over.
1.
Ideal Setup:
SCSI hard drives (3 or more) with data spread into a RAID array (on all
servers with critical data).
2.
Acceptable
Setup: 2 SCSI hard drives with data being mirrored onto each drive (on all
servers with critical data).
3.
Minimum
Setup: At the very least, Disk Mirroring with less-expensive IDE hard
drives should be used (on all servers with critical data).
Data Backup – Even
having a solid Data Storage model should not replace backing up your data
daily. Consider what happens when a file is lost, an operating system file
becomes corrupted, or a virus sweeps through your server! Data backups will
enable you to restore your data to a point before your system became
unusable or damaged. In addition, it may be several weeks until you
discover that your data is missing! Consider the case where one company
didn’t discover that some of their accounting information was damaged
until it was time to file their quarterly taxes! Luckily they had a simple
but effective Data Backup procedure in effect.
Data can be backed
up to magnetic tapes, zip disk, cd-r media, or even floppy disks, depending
on the size of the data that you need to backup. Special consideration (and
software) is often needed to backup data in locations such as databases,
email information stores, and applications that are constantly running or
open.
1.
Ideal
Setup: It is best to purchase specialized backup software that can be
scheduled to backup selected data at specific times. Tape backup devices
are best because they can backup large amounts of data in a relatively
short period of time. Ideally, not only the data, but also the
server’s system and configuration files should be backed up. Backups
should occur daily, and restore sets should be saved everyday from the past
2 weeks, then monthly, and yearly. In addition, save backup sets whenever
major configuration changes or upgrades take place.
2.
Acceptable
Setup: An acceptable compromise for the ideal backup situation would be to
back up data manually although this often adds up to more overhead than just
purchasing a simple backup software and storage device. If storage space is
an issue, then only critical data (rather than system and configuration
files) are backed up. An alternative to tape, zip, or cd-rom backups may be
to store the backups on another computer on the network.
3.
Minimum
Setup: At the very least, daily backups of critical data should take place
even if the backups are stored on the same hard drive that you are backing
up! This is much better than not having daily backups at all! Even Windows
98 has a built-in Backup program that could be utilized to schedule daily
backups. If your data is important to your operation, there is no excuse
for not having daily backups!
Power Management - Power management refers to the controlling of power
surges or blackouts to computer devices. Though all computers are affected,
Power Management can potentially be very cost-prohibitive and is usually
only implemented on the Server and other key systems (such as the phone
system). Voltage spikes and drops can harm computer equipment and need to
be regulated. In addition, if a server suddenly loses power, critical data
could be damaged, corrupted, or lost (especially in databases!). Power
Management is accomplished with battery-backup devices called Uninterruptible
Power Supplies (UPS). They act as surge suppressors and also have a battery
that can power a computer for anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours.
This way, if a power outage occurs, the system can be shut down gracefully
by hand or even automatically.
1.
Ideal
Setup: The ideal setup would be to have UPS devices powering all key
computer systems and network devices. The UPS devices would be programmed
to automatically shutdown the systems gracefully if power is not restored
in a timely manner. (Note: usually several devices can be plugged into one
UPS device; the battery power is just used up more quickly.)
2.
Acceptable
Setup: An acceptable compromise is usually to only have a UPS device on key
systems (such as the server, the accounting computer, phone system, etc)
and have someone assigned to shut them down manually if power goes out and
stays out for an extended period of time.
3.
Minimum
Setup: The very minimum precaution would be to have a very small UPS device
(10-minute battery, for example) on the server, and normal
surge-suppressing power strips on all other computer equipment.
Anti-Virus Measures -
Antivirus software, along with user training on how to avoid suspicious
email attachments and files, will help prevent damage and security breaches
caused by viruses, worms, and Trojan horses being spread on the internet.
(Note: Anti-Virus measures should be used in conjunction with Internet
Security Measures listed later in this document).
1.
Ideal
Setup: While “ideal” antivirus setups are still being dreamed
of, best measures to take include installing anti-virus software on both
your servers and your desktop computers. If your organization has email,
anti-virus scanning should also be present on your email gateway, and your
email clients. In combination with these precautions, users should be
educated in identifying suspicious emails and files and avoiding
questionable sites on the internet.
2.
Acceptable
Setup: There’s not much middle ground when it comes to anti-virus;
either you run it or you don’t! One (less-common) practice might be
to isolate some or all computers from the internet and email altogether!
This is not usually very practical for most companies, though.
3.
Minimum
Setup: The bottom line is that if a computer has email and internet
connectivity, anti-virus software should be installed and users should be
trained on avoiding suspect messages and files. There are even free
anti-virus programs that can be downloaded! If your systems and data are
important to your business, then don’t take a chance!
Internet Security - This
refers to protecting your network from attackers, viruses, and other
harmful traffic on the internet and is usually adequately addressed by
installing a firewall. These network security devices prevent unauthorized
access to network assets such as databases, accounting information, client
information, or other information that you would not want a hacker or snoop
to have access to. Some may wonder “Why would anyone want to hack
us?” but would be surprised at the answer. Even if a hacker were not
particularly interested in your data, they are constantly looking to
compromise systems and networks for their own purposes. Some of their
purposes include: using your network to hack from in order to cover their tracks,
using your network to host pirated software and illegal files, or using
your internet bandwidth to attack another host or network. Also, more and
more viruses are now spreading from the internet right onto unprotected
networks (rather than spreading in emails or hiding in files).
1.
Ideal
Setup: Ideally, a firewall device should be purchased and configured on
your internet connection to block any unwanted traffic from entering your
network. Hardware firewall devices are most dependable and also will have
many useful added features (such as VPN) that can be useful to your
business. Arguably, software firewalls can additionally be installed on
each desktop computer although this can be hard to manage!
2.
Acceptable
Setup: The popular alternative to buying a hardware firewall is to load
firewall software on a computer and route all of your internet traffic
through it. A common example would be taking an old computer and installing
Linux on it and installing and configuring firewall software on it. It
would then be placed between your network and the internet.
3.
Minimum
Setup: An alternative to buying a full-featured firewall is to use a device
that can do Network Address Translation (NAT) to hide your computer devices
in a private network. While not being the most secure solution, this is
usually adequate to stop viruses and automated search and probe attacks.
While there are many other aspects of a computer network that will affect
your business such as purchasing the right computers and the right
software, we find that these 5 items are the ones that most often prove to
be disastrous to your business when not addressed properly. Ultimately, the
level to which you adhere to these standards will depend largely on how
highly you value your computer data and rely on your computer applications
in your business. A risk analysis and cost-benefit analysis should be done
to determine the amount of resources you should invest to keep your network
running as stable, secure, and available as possible.
For more information or questions visit us at www.lockesystems.com
or find out how you can get a FREE network
consultation by visiting http://www.lockesystems.com/consultation.htm.
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