Exchange 2010

Many organizations make use of the best available technology to improve their operations. While investigating the need for organizations to have an efficient email platform, Microsoft introduced Exchange Server in 1996. It met with huge success, and as a result many versions followed. Its latest version was launched early in 2010. This email platform consists of server software designed to receive and send emails combined with a additional software to manage calendars, tasks and contact lists. Along with email, it also helps with collaboration through computers and other hand held communication devices like iPhone, Blackberry and PDAs. When a company thinks of self hosting Exchange Server, it should critically examine the pros and cons, as it is a big investment.

No Monthly Charges.
For hosting your own Exchange Server, you will need to make an investment on hardware, software, and licenses. However, once you make these investments, you will not incur monthly expenses as you do in the case of outsourced Exchange or external email hosting. If you have a large workforce, it will significantly reduce your monthly bill.

Flexibility.
When you have a self managed Exchange Server, you have greater flexibility in customizing the software. Any changes planned can be implemented quickly.

Protection.
One of the main concerns for most of the organizations is the security of their data. When you outsource email or Exchange hosting, the hosting company will take care of the protection of your data. So, you have to carefully check the protection systems employed by the hosting company and know how the law can protect you in case of a security breach before entering in to agreement with the company. But, in case of a self managed Exchange Server, the IT staff will be able to ensure the security of the data. You can employ the best virus protection systems and other data protection systems according to your requirements.

Support.
When you have a self managed Exchange server you are responsible for its maintenance. You will need to ensure that trained and qualified professionals are available to keep the system operating 24/7. Also, once you have a dedicated IT partner, you can be assured that the system will be upgraded from time to time as necessary.

IT Consultant.
To maintain a self hosted Exchange Server, you will require an IT staff or a dedicated Kennewick based IT partner such as networkTask. System administrators, and hardware and software professionals have to work on the system to ensure 100% up-time. If you already have surplus IT staff that can manage an Exchange Server for your company, then it might be fine. But if you do not have IT professionals on hand to do this job, we know some who can help!

Everyone is familiar with the potential of damage to computers and networks when exposed to a voltage spike on the electrical grid, and most of us use surge protection to prevent it.

Unfortunately, surge protectors don’t protect you from all of the power issues than can potentially damage your equipment.

Over the past decade, as the use of computers has grown commonplace, people have become acutely aware of the need for surge suppressors to protect their computers. But when hardware fails, I often hear the question “Why did it fail? I have a surge suppressor.”

Well, the truth is there are a number of reasons why hardware might fail from electrical reasons from manufacturing defects to mishandling of components that causes electrostatic damage. Two serious evil-doers to your computer system are blackouts and brownouts. These can have significant impact on your computer systems and cause devastating damage.

Most people know what a blackout is – the power goes away. In a brownout, electrical service isn’t stopped completely, but the voltage on the electrical grid drops below normal limits… potentially wreaking havoc with your network or computer system.

When the grid voltage drops below normal levels it causes components – like drive motors and power convertors – to draw more electrical current. The lower the voltage drops, the higher the current draw goes. As an electrical device, computers are really quite delicate. The sudden change in current draw and related heat buildup that accompanies a brownout (and in some cases a blackout) is more than enough to kill power supplies, hard drives and motherboards with ease. And a simple surge protector won’t protect you against this.

Let’s talk about the various ways to protect your system from damage.

Everyone is familiar with surge suppressors which cost anywhere from about $6.00 to over $30.00. Surge suppressors are relatively simple devices that are designed to block electricity when the flow exceeds normal limits. However, a surge suppressor will not protect your computer from the significant surges of power that are associated with brownouts and blackouts.

Another form of common protection hardware is the basic Uninterruptable Power Supply, or UPS, which has a battery and inverter built into to it. The UPS is designed to take over and generate electricity for your computer when power goes down during a blackout. These devices range in cost from about $50.00 to thousands of dollars for elaborate versions than can easily fill entire rooms.

The best form of power protection is called an Online UPS or Active UPS. These are very similar to a basic UPS in that they contain an inverter and batteries, and can generate electricity for your computer in the event of a blackout. But there is one distinctive difference. The term “Online” or “Active” in the name signifies that they are always generating electricity and are, essentially, replacing the electricity from the electrical grid with pure, clean, and stable electricity freshly generated on the spot for your computer.
This difference has several advantages, most significantly: protecting from power fluctuations of both the spike and brown/blackout variety while also protecting you from RFI (radio frequency interference). This is the gold standard in power protection. These devices range in price from about $350.00 to thousands of dollars.

Now let’s look at the costs of repair which can be incurred if you are not protected. Without getting into the potential costs caused by the loss of data or the loss of income due to down time, I would like to discuss the basic costs of hardware replacement. Labor rates vary greatly in the computer repair market from $35.00 per hour for your backyard mechanic/kid next door type technician, to well over $100.00 for premium service vendors. For the sake of this article, I am going to use a labor rate of $100.00 per hour, since it will cover the majority of the market. For basic repairs of desktop computers to replace failed power supplies, hard drives, and mother costs (parts and labor) easily range from $200.00 to $500.00 or more. When dealing with a server or more complex computer systems, those costs will easily double or triple.

With a basic UPS to protect a desktop computer running $50.00 to $75.00, and a solid Online UPS starting at under $400.00 for a single server solution, it is easy to see the cost to protection benefit of using basic and Online UPS solutions instead of surge suppressors for all of your computer and network hardware.

This is a fairly common question, and many hardware and software vendors will still tell you “Yes!” Their reasoning has more to do reliability than it does hardware performance. The concept is: it is better not to have ALL of your internal resources down in case of a server crash. And, with multiple servers in your office, you can spread your resources across those servers for added protection in case there is a system malfunction.
One of the reasons for this potential instability that can occur when running everything on a single server, is incompatibilities in software. Most small business offices run Microsoft’s Small Business Server for their primary server. In this case, Microsoft has already crammed as many functions and features as they could into one server while maintaining a semblance of stability. Pile on top of that a database server – that any database admin will tell you should always run by itself – and a application server that often ends up being the bad boy in the mix, receiving the most updates from your software vendor, and you end up with a server that is just itching to crash.

However, the multiple server solution requires a sizable hardware investment which comes with a 3 to 5 year upgrade cycle, meaning another potential outflow of cash for your servers.

So how does the small business owner weigh the pros and cons of multiple servers?

I’m going to take a look at this by focusing on two hardware options:

1. Multi -server setup
2. Virtual server setup

A multi-server setup is pretty straight forward . Generally, you have a domain controller which is the central hub of your network, handled all of you users. Users are assigned permissions for what they can access on the network. In many small businesses, the multi-server setup also acts as the mail and scheduling server using Microsoft Exchange.

Other servers can play the role of database server, application server. Often, one of these machines would serve as a backup to your domain controller.

An application server could have an interruption of service, and your network would remain functional because the role of user permissions is handled elsewhere. If that server crashes or has hardware failure, that doesn’t take all of your office functions down with it.

The downside of this: significant hardware costs and not very green friendly, as these servers generate tons of heat and use excessive amounts of electricity.

The concept of a virtual server setup is a little more complex. Think of it as a carton of eggs. The master server itself is the overall carton and the eggs represent a section of this master server divided into what I will call “mini-servers” within the carton.

Each egg functions like its own server, has its own copy of Windows and its own software. If one egg breaks, the rest of the eggs still remain intact, you merely replace the broken egg. But if the carton fails (master server) then you will have larger problems as all the eggs fail with it.

The benefits to the virtual server setup are in the cost. One really well-planned, highly developed virtual server will cost much less, create a lot less heat and noise, and use considerably less power.

Either server system requires a good backup plan, and the right backup plan would make the virtual server concept a very realistic cost-saving option.

Have a question on these or other technology needs? Contact us! You can also follow us on twitter, @networkTask and on Facebook!

My IT Club is happy to continue as an HP Partner and offer the full suite of products including servers, network switches and workstations. It is HP’s reliability and solid customer support that has helped us maintain our faith in them. Some of the leading edge server technologies, such as the energy efficient G6 line of servers, can even pay for themselves over time in cost savings over previous servers and those of other companies on the market.

They honor their warranty commitments, and often expedite replacement parts, which is important to the way we do business! Your time is money and downtime is not a long term option for any small business. So when you work with us, you know you are getting name brand products that we feel comfortable with.

Want to learn more? Check out this video showing some HP customers thoughts…

My I.T. Club welcomes new customer, Tri-City Radiology, to our new method of helping customers save money via fixed costs for IT work. We are happy to be of service to them and look forward to assisting them well into the future.

Security of Computer Systems is still one of the most important ways to defend yourself from Identity Theft. It is a good idea to make sure you have a good Anti-Virus, Anti Spyware and Malware solution in place along with regular monitoring of your systems to keep yourself as locked down from threats as possible. Give us a call today and see how AVG Internet Security and My I.T. Club can help you protect yourself!

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