Back to Newsletters KEYWORDS=net, use, contentkeeper, visionfs, samba, DAVROM CONSULTING Newsletter - Issue # 24 - Dated: Mon Jun 21 13:35:55 EST 2004 From the desk of David Clark DAVROM turned three years old on the 1st of June 2004 and we would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our customers, our suppliers and all those who helped us continue servicing customer needs in the UNIX/Linux I.T industry. Welcome to some of the new readers of the DAVROM Newsletter - seems every time we do the e-mail-out we always have 5 or so more added to the list just prior to sending.... and then some who drop off due to failed e-mail addresses after sending. If you need your e-mail details changed, want to leave a quick comment or be removed from the newsletter list, please visit our newsletter registration/update page: http://www.davrom.com/newsletterreg.html In this issue we have put in two articles on new products DAVROM has started selling/supporting. The first one, SureBack, we believe fills a large gap in the area of individual Windows PC backup. The other product, ContentKeeper, also based on Linux server technology, helps control Internet access by users within organisations. Support for us lately continues on to be SCO, Linux, SnapGear, ePipes and all the good UNIX/Linux technologies they encompass. My personal thanks to Simon who gave me a nudge to get this newsletter out. I would like to thank the reader for their time in reading this newsletter. David.M.Clark UNIX Quote Linux on your desktop - a real alternative. SureBack - A Vital Solution for PC data Recently I have started working with a product that I believe fills a huge void in the backup process of most companies. Most organisations are server-centric and the focus of backup and disaster recovery lies purely on the UNIX/Linux/Microsoft servers - as they are as close to 100% uptime as well as the speed of recovery in the event of failures. For an organisation this is vital and has been well covered. For the most part, the individual PCs and Laptops in an organisation have been left to "fend for themselves" when it comes to backups - if it isn't burnt to a DVD or CD (floppies are too small now), copied up to a server when there is a window of time and opportunity (and who has that), copied to another disk somewhere in a drawer or on the network - and the PC goes down, it is just bad luck.... Until SureBack. SureBack offers a non-intrusive backup of a PC's vital data to a central server via the intranet/Internet without requiring the user or an administrator to sit there and safeguard the process. The user can continue working on the PC as the backup process remains in the background in a fully automated, secure and monitored state. Please find here, some extracts from the article "(Sure)Back to the Future": "...The need to protect mission-critical data from loss or unauthorised access, is in many cases critical to the continued viability of any organisation. Blueprints, financials, specifications, communications and general intellectual property a company wants to keep confidential are at risk. SureBack International data-backup specialists, operate in Europe, the United Kingdom and Africa are now in Australia. "The recent move towards mobility has further complicated the process of securing company data", says Richard Dewing, SureBack director. This has placed many organisations at risk from data loss and theft of critical information. Legal recognition is given to any document created on a palmtop, laptop or desktop PC and can be used for evidentiary purposes in a court of law. This can leave any unprepared company more nervous than a Zimbabwean batsman without padding. A major liability faced by virtually every company, relates to protecting data from both loss and unauthorised distribution. It is critical that organisations establish access and security policies for both their active as well as their backed up data. SureBack excels in offering specialised backup service for Desktops and Laptops. "We provide a unique managed solution which tracks and monitors all backup activity", says Dewing. Management and Monitoring: SureBack allows for easy server management, reporting, policy and permission modification, individual and group profile management, as well as an array of other monitoring tools. Complete management of both the iServer and iClient applications require only basic IT knowledge and the programmes have been designed for maximum ease of use. Disaster Recovery: It is critical that companies have fast and efficient Disaster Recovery Programmes in order to minimise downtime and lost productivity. Yes, Time is still Money . . . SureBack minimises downtime by providing an easy to use restore function that can restore all, or part, of a directory to its original, or any user-selected, location. The ease of use also drastically reduces manpower requirements when restoring data. Users cannot delete data or make any irreparable changes to his/her file structure. All data is uniquely encrypted for every individual PC for storage at 448 bits and re-encrypted for transfer at 1024 bits. This encryption is unbreakable by any current technology, assuring that confidential, backed-up data remains just that...confidential. SureBack offers flexible, 24/7 access to your data whether you are in your office, or in another country. Can you afford marching off into the future, without first securing your past?" We would welcome the opportunity to present SureBack to you and show you the power of this awesome remote backup system - and of course the central backup server runs on Linux for guaranteed uptime and reliability. ContentKeeper MPA Systems, DAVROM's primary supplier of SCO and UNIX/Linux related hardware and software, have announced the release and availabilty of their new product: ContentKeeper. ContentKeeper is an appliance and associated update service designed to fit easily and transparently into large or small computing network environments and is used to monitor web surfing traffic. Some key features of ContentKeeper are: - Montioring non-business related web surfing. - Allows organisations to develop and enforce their own Internet acceptable use policies. - Helps better manage an organisations access to Internet resources. - Manage non-business related file downloads. - Controls pornographic and illegal Internet content entering the workplace by blocking, coaching and/or authentication. - Block and/or monitor staff usage of Internet free e-mail accounts. - Implement rules to allow staff to access non-business sites/e-mail accounts outside business hours. ContentKeeper requires its own stand-alone PC/Server and is based on Linux server technology. Nice product with loads of features. Some News-worthy items SnapGear have relaced the aging SnapGEAR Lite and Lite+ with the new and more powerful SG300. The SG300 is a compact, feature-rich network security appliance that is perfect for securing very small networks and remote workers. The onboard 4 port 10/100 Ethernet switch enables a small business to implement a LAN quickly and easily, and connect the network to the Internet via broadband (ADSL, cable, SHDSL, etc.) or narrow-band (modem or ISDN) connections. If the broadband connection is lost, the SG300 can fail over in seconds to the narrowband connection, ensuring maximum uptime. Visit - http://www.cyberguard.com/snapgear/SG300.html SCO UnixWare 7.1.4 - SCO announces product and availability details for SCO UnixWare 7.1.4. In addition to new features and support for the latest hardware, this release introduces significant enhancements to the default configurations for most current editions of the product and introduces the new Small Business Edition designed for small business and edge of network applications. Visit - http://www.sco.com/products/unixware714 SCO Vintela Authentication - enables one user identity for Windows and UNIX logins. Vintela Authentication from SCO enables UNIX user logins to be authenticated in the same manner as Windows user logins, through Microsoft Active Directory. Users need only remember a single username and password for logging into Windows and UNIX resources. Visit - http://www.sco.com/products/authentication/ Red Hat launches new desktop Linux Red Hat Desktop will be targeted at corporate users - May 04, 2004 Tuesday, RedHat unveiled a new version of the Linux operating system software designed for the corporate desktop. Visit - http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/05/04/HNredhatdesktop_1.html Tech Tip Sometimes you need to map drive letters on your Windows PC to a UNIX/Linux server running Samba or VisionFS. Drive letters often make it easier for users to identify where they need to go from within applications such as Word (or OpenOffice) or in "My Computer". By inserting the following lines in a file called C:\mydrives.bat you can easily substitute these lines to get the results you want: @echo off cls net use h: /home net use p: \\kanga\public net use t: \\kanga\tmp net use The above lines are for a DOS/Windows batch file and the "net use" command is the old Lan Manager command used to manipulate access to drives (share folders) and printers. The line: net use h: /home tells the MS PC to map the drive letter H: to the users $HOME directory on the UNIX/Linux server. This location may be something like /u/home/fred in reality. The next two lines: net use p: \\kanga\public net use t: \\kanga\tmp map the drive letter P: to the Public share folder on the UNIX/Linux server and the T: to the Temporary share folder on the UNIX/Linux server. You cannot just make up the share folders, they must physically exist on the UNIX/Linux server and you can see what share folders the server has available by browsing the server via "Network Neighbourhood" or "My Network Places" in Windows. Placing a script like this in your Windows startup will cause the drive mappings to happen each time the PC starts up. In Samba on UNIX/Linux, the above batch file example can be placed in a netlogon area on the server to be executed each time you log into the server and network. Back to Newsletters 
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