Cisco, VMware, Virtualization, Vizioncore, Wyse, Citrix, Terminal Server Solutions Brisbane Queensland based

Recently we wrote about Vizioncore and their vReplicator software which provides cost effective file level replication for virtual environments. This time we are covering another excellent solution from Vizioncore, this time for backing up in virtual environments, called vRanger Pro. Those who attended our Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity lunch and Learn earlier in September were given a good overview of how this technology works and where you would use it, and we will be running another of these sessions later in the year.

Vizioncore make solutions purely for virtual environments so they don't have legacy issues of trying to port over traditional technology to virtualisation like some vendors. vRanger Pro is widely deployed as a backup and restore solution for virtualised environments. Administrators can schedule regular image-level backups of virtual or physical machines — while the machine is still running. Images can be stored either locally in the SAN or sent as compressed files over a WAN to remote locations to support disaster recovery strategies. vRanger Pro also enables restore of individual files efficiently with an explorer tree through which users can easily identify and "grab" needed files.

vRanger Pro is designed from the ground up for virtualised environments to take advantage of the unique DR capabilities of virtual machines. It provides a full-image restore to any VMware ESX Server without users needing to know the prior configuration. vRanger Pro will reduce or eliminate the need to create manual installs and configurations to the backup image. Restores are efficiently relocated and up and running fast because the image is compressed and all configurations are included.

A differential engine backs up only the changes made since the last full backup image, reducing the size of the backup files on disk. Differential characteristics and retention policies can easily be configured to suit customer needs.

The latest version of vRanger Pro, 4.0, was announced at VMWorld. Enhancements in this version include:

You can download a trial of vRanger Pro, and any other Vizioncore solution from:

If you're interested in finding out more about Vizioncore products, or as we have found before, purchased them elsewhere but are struggling to get support for implementation, talk to NewBase on 3216 0776 or email to info@newbase.com.au

Cisco Troubleshooting Services:
If your organisation has a Cisco networking infrastructure you will know that the power and complexity of the technology offers provides a lot of benefits for your network, but because of its depth trying to diagnose where the issues are and their cause can be challenging. It is all too easy for a simple configuration error to cause problems within the network but tracking down the source of the problem is the issue.

Getting the right design and avoiding any conflicts between the devices is important, and these are common issues we face as organisations grow and add to their infrastructure. Once a problem has been diagnosed, it is not only important to fix it, but to put in place steps to ensure that it doesn’t recur in the future, which all too frequently does happen.

NewBase has network engineers who are highly skilled and experienced in Cisco environments so they know the processes to follow for troubleshooting of Cisco problems. We are often brought in to identify the cause of problems with Cisco switching or firewalling, with organisations thinking that they will need to replace equipment but often we are able to diagnose issues with the set up and configuration, which when rectified will result in no new equipment being required.

NewBase’s networking and communications specialists can provide advice on design and help to sort out networking issues with Cisco or other network devices.

To discuss your networking challenges talk to NewBase on 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

Citrix have announced that on September 10th they will release the new version of their flagship Presentation Server product, now called XenApp. This is version 5 and its key features include:

Many of the features are only available in the Enterprise and Platinum Editions. Customers with up to date Citrix Subscription Advantage will be able to download the new version shortly. For a copy of the Citrix XenApp Comparative Feature Matrix email to info@newbase.com.au and we will send it to you. This is quite a good comparison of the product on Windows 2008 and 2003, as compared to previous versions of Presentation Server so allows you to see clearly what new features are available.

Some VMware users have been hit by a code issue with the recently released update to ESX 3.5 and ESXi 3.5 (Update 2).

When the time clock in a server running ESX 3.5 or ESXi 3.5 Update 2 hits 12:00AM on August 12th, 2008, the released code causes the product license to expire. The problem has also occurred with a recent patch to ESX 3.5 or ESXi 3.5 Update 2. When an ESX or ESXi 3.5 server thinks its license has expired, the following can happen:

The issue was caused by a piece of code that was mistakenly left enabled for the final release of Update 2. This piece of code was left over from the pre-release versions of Update 2 and was designed to ensure that customers are running on the supported generally available version of Update 2.

In remedying the situation, VMware released an express patch for those customers that have installed/upgraded to ESX or ESXi 3.5 Update 2. Within the next 24 hours after that they expect to issue a full replacement for Update 2, which should be used by customers who want to perform fresh installs of ESX or ESXi.

Does your organisation issue grants or handle funding requests and need a better way to handle it? NewBase were approached to create a software application for an organisation that needed a more efficient method of handling grant applications and approvals.

In many grant/funding approval processes the application needs to meet certain standards, and then be referred to overseers who can recommend for or against approval, depending on the content, and then must progress through the finance department to pay the funds out. Pulling all these parts together including the ease and time for reports to be produced is difficult for organisations which becomes very time consuming and an overload of paper.

NewBase has developed a Grants Management application that automates these processes with smart workflow. This allows applicants to apply online with all of their details, and once complete the application information is then automatically forwarded to the correct people for approval, confirmations produced and the funding paid into the nominated account, removing many of the hurdles. Find out more about this and our other software solutions here.

If this sounds like something that your organisation needs contact NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

If you are looking for an email content filtering solution, or if you are already using MIMEsweeper for SMTP then you will be pleased to know that Clearswift have just released the latest version of this leading mail filtering software - MIMEsweeper for SMTP 5.3.

MIMEsweeper for SMTP is undergoing constant development to keep its security, management, data loss prevention and deployment capabilities as the best-in-class. In this version, MIMEsweeper for SMTP 5.3 the following new features are released:

Probably the most widely used business technology is email, and we all know that managing the email datastore and dealing with PST files is an unpopular task. But it is necessary, as without it locating emails with relevant business information is a difficult and time consuming task.

There is a better way. Intelligent archiving of emails allows all the old emails to still be accessible and visible to users, but instead of them sitting on the mail server sitting there ‘just in case’, they can be archived off to lower cost storage, for long term retention of data, resulting in a lower overall cost of messaging-related storage.

It allows them to be searchable, making knowledge contained in emails available and accessible. Tests have shown the accuracy and speed of locating email content when searching for keywords is greatly improved when the email is archived in an intelligent archiving system.

In addition, intelligent email archiving can not only eliminate the need for PST files, but also locate existing ones, ingest data from them that needs to be retained, and then delete the original files. By migrating all existing PST file data into the archive, it enables IT to effectively achieve PST file eradication, which assists with management of email data.

To find out more about intelligent email archiving and how it could improve your email management talk to NewBase on 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

:: Vizioncore vReplicator:
With so many organisations adopting a virtualised infrastructure implementing the right tools to allow for high availability is important. One of the most effective solutions we have found is from Vizioncore, who develop software that is designed for virtual environments. Their high availability solution, vReplicator, provides a software-based approach to replication, enabling full, differential or hybrid backups of virtual machines to dissimilar hardware, thereby reducing the cost of the overall solution while enabling more productive use of existing system resources.

It allows for selective replication of individual virtual machines, replicating the entire virtual machine, including configuration settings, patches to the OS, the applications themselves as well as the data and all other OS-level changes.

It also offers the ability to replicate a VM to more than one destination, thus allowing users to accomplish multiple HA and DR objectives based on their specific needs.

If you are looking for a replication solution for your virtualised environment talk to NewBase about Vizioncore and how it could benefit your recovery objectives. Contact us on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

Is your organisation still running Novell NetWare and looking to migrate away from it? These days most organisations have moved away from NetWare in their network but there are still some who are struggling with how to make the transition and cope with the change.

NewBase has experience with migrating from Novell to Windows, and from Groupwise to Exchange, and we can help you with planning the migration, deploying the new systems and ensuring that the cutover works well. Also we can smooth out the licensing challenges.

To discuss your requirements contact NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

:: Energy Savings Through IT:
Energy consumption is a critical issue for IT organisations today, whether the goal is to reduce cost, save the environment or keep your servers running. We can’t miss the growing focus on carbon reduction and IT equipment makes a big contribution towards power consumption in any organisation. Co-location in data centres removes the problem from your site but you will still face the cost of cooling that the data centre has to cover. Here are the three fundamental reasons that lead to this power and cooling challenge:

1. While a typical server 10 years ago consumed 100W of power, the average server today consumes four times as much. So per unit, energy consumption per server has increased dramatically.

2. The size of servers have been decreasing, so per rack, companies now can squeeze more servers, and each one of these servers consumes more power, so the power density per square metre in the data centre, or the power requirements, have been increasing significantly.

3. The cost of energy has been going up in recent years all over the world, and it’s hard to see how energy costs will go down anytime soon. Hence customers find themselves under this triple whammy: individual servers consume more power; more servers per rack; and the cost of electricity is going up.

Virtualisation can reduce the energy costs and consumption by as much as 80-90%. Most servers are in use only a fraction of the time they are powered on, yet most hardware consumes 60-90% of the normal workload power, even when idle.

As virtualisation technology has matured it has introduced advanced resource and memory management features that enable consolidation ratios of 15:1 or more which increase hardware utilisation to as much as 85%.

New features like VMware Distributed Power Management add to this by monitoring utilisation across the datacentre and intelligently powering off unneeded physical servers without impacting applications and users. When resource requirements of workloads increase, it brings powered-down hosts back online to ensure service levels are met. This allows organisations to dramatically reduce energy consumption without sacrificing reliability or service levels.

If you are looking to reduce the power consumption of your IT infrastructure then talk to NewBase about virtualisation and how it could apply in your organisation. We have extensive use and knowledge of this technology through working with many small and large customer implementations over the past 5 years. Contact NewBase on info@newbase.com.au or phone 3216 0776.

:: Cyber Storm:
The awareness of the need to counter the threat of cyber attacks on government systems and key infrastructure is growing and as a result the governments including the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK will conduct a series of cyber war games this month to test its ability to recover from and respond to digital attacks. They will enact a scenario in which fictitious adversaries launch an extended attack using websites, email, phones, faxes and other communications systems. The exercise is designed to strengthen coordinated responses.

Code-named 'Cyber Storm II,' this is the largest-ever exercise designed to evaluate the mettle of information technology experts and incident response teams from government agencies, and private sector organisations across several countries.

In the inaugural Cyber Storm two years ago, planners simulated attacks against the communications and information technology sector, as well as the energy and airline industries. This year's exercise will feature mock attacks by nation states, terrorists and saboteurs against the IT and communications sector and the chemical, pipeline and rail transportation industries.

The exercise is designed to be a situational pressure-cooker for participants. Attack scenarios have been devised aimed at testing specific areas of weakness in the disaster recovery and response plans of the target organisations. Those involved will receive information about the latest threats from a simulated news outlet, and at least a portion of the feeds they receive will be intentionally misleading to them off the trail of the real attackers. Those who adopt the proper stance or response to a given incident are quickly rewarded by having to respond to even more complex and potentially disastrous scenarios.

Australian participation includes companies and government agencies here, as the simulated attack scenario is designed to spread through multiple countries in order to disguise where the real target might be located.

Last month we advised of the name change from Citrix Presentation Server to Citrix XenApp. Now they have made announcements about how Citrix are trying to package their products as part of a product family.

Citrix have announced the Citrix Delivery Centre, a new overarching product family brand for its infrastructure solutions.

• Citrix XenServer - The XenServer product line is an enterprise-class solution for virtualising application workloads across any number of servers in the datacentre as a flexible aggregated pool of computing resources.

• Citrix NetScaler – The NetScaler product line is a purpose-built web application delivery solution that accelerates application performance up to five times while improving security and reducing web infrastructure costs.

• Citrix XenApp –previously known as Presentation Server, the new XenApp name was chosen to better reflect the product’s core focus on application Virtualisation, and to underscore the importance of providing customers with an end-to-end Virtualisation system that incorporates servers (XenServer), applications (XenApp) and desktops (XenDesktop).

• Citrix XenDesktop - XenDesktop is Citrix’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) system designed to ensure the simple, secure and cost effective delivery of Windows desktops to any office worker with an unparalleled user experience.

• Citrix Workflow Studio - a new tool (currently only in beta) for automating IT processes, orchestrating workflows across technology silos, and driving data centre automation. This is closely tied to Microsoft’s Powershell component of Server 2008 and is pre-populated with task libraries that interface with all Citrix products, Citrix-ready solutions and 3rd party offerings, providing out of the box capabilities to drive provisioning, configuration and other management functions in an automated fashion.

This doesn’t mean that you have to purchase all of these products – many organisations will continue to just run their normal Citrix (XenApp under the new name) environment, and this may be combined with server virtualisation via VMware or XenServer.

Contrary to what many people think, NewBase have found that XenApp/Presentation Server can be successfully deployed on virtualised servers - we have done it with VMware VI3, and this speeds up the process of deploying Citrix environments and there is no loss of performance.

If you want to talk to someone about Citrix or virtualisation, or a combination of the two, then talk to NewBase – we work extensively with the Citrix application deployment and server virtualisation. Call us on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

Companies have spent the last few years learning to deal with inbound malicious content like viruses, Trojans, spyware and spam. But implementing firewalls and putting anti-virus and antispam software at the gateway have failed to deal with a threat that has stealthily been growing in importance and impact: data leakage.

Whether accidental or on purpose, data breaches could cause you to lose vital information to outsiders or competitors. It’s a threat not many people consider, but can affect any company in any industry.

With the personal electronic devices there is even a name for this growing trend: it’s called pod slurping. The latest versions of these MP3 players have huge storage capacities, yet these gadgets are small enough to easily conceal and sneak in behind the corporate line of defence. Some MP3 players can easily go up to more than 100Gbs - that’s all of the data of a typical workstation.

A user simply plugs the device into a USB or FireWire port and they are up and running – no drivers or configuration required. So many of your users will have these devices but do you know how they are using them and the risk to your information? This is where access control technology comes in, restricting the ability to attach these devices to a company machine.

In the past network access control has not been widely deployed but it is an area of increasing need. Sophos are introducing it into their high end offerings and Windows Server 2008 will also introduce elements of access control, so we expect to see more uptake in this space as organisations recognise the risks they face.

The growth in Web 2.0 use has provided an additional challenge for security vendors to look for improved solutions to counter data leakage. Leading email and web filtering specialist Clearswift have been dealing with this challenge for their MIMEsweeper Web Appliance and have now added full HTTPS content analysis to it as well as reverse proxy deployment to protect web servers from Malware and inappropriate content.

The reverse proxy aspect is in response to demand from Web 2.0 developers for policy based content security proxy to protect web servers from malicious, profane or inappropriate file uploads. This capability allows organisations to deploy a reverse proxy to protect their web servers from malware. They can also apply full content control policies to any type of upload.

Unless an organisation is putting in place protection against data leakage how will they know whether they are losing information? To discuss how you can protect your organisation talk to NewBase about your security options. Phone (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

:: Data Archiving and Electronic Discovery:
How well could you locate emails or documents with keywords in them if asked to find them under Discovery requirements in a legal dispute?

Discovery is the process by which opposing parties in a court case request documents from each other prior to trial, relating to the facts in dispute. Squabbles over the discovery process, and the ability to locate the information in question are blamed for the exhausting length of court cases, including some large corporate cases in Australia recently.

These days, with so much of communication being electronic, the Federal Court is finalising a practice note aimed at changing the methods in which the legal community should approach electronic discovery in matters before the court.

Once introduced, the practice note will encourage electronic documents to be produced in their original electronic form, rather than be converted - i.e. printed - on paper. It will also dictate that admissible electronic evidence is submitted in a form that is electronically searchable.

Experts in the legal field have commented that many organisations may have implemented document retention and destruction policies in relation to hard copy documents, yet have not given appropriate consideration to electronic documents. The growing trend towards e-Discovery will motivate many organisations to develop policies and procedure around document retention. They will need to put in place suitable storage and archiving for their data, and make it accessible.

That means taking proactive steps and having more control over where and how their electronically stored information is managed, how their integrity can be guaranteed, and how electronically stored information can be collected and searched with minimal disruption to the business.

If you want to find better ways to manage your data so that it can be discovered and managed then we can assist. NewBase has experience with archiving and managing email and Windows files to make finding and accessing the data seamless and simple for your users while reducing backup windows. Talk to NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

In the past Microsoft has played around the fringes of virtualisation but not really promoted it heavily. Their products like Virtual Server were limited in their usage, and the Soft Grid application was not widely available as a standalone product, instead being incorporated into a desktop optimisation package. However as server and desktop virtualisation continues to grow in interest, and with VMware being so widely used, Microsoft have started to show a great deal more activity in this space.

What does this all mean for end user organisations? It is a confirmation of the benefits of virtualisation technology and what it can offer. It is also an acknowledgment that this area of the marketplace is moving ahead quickly, so Microsoft need to be active in it so that they retain control of the business computing desktop moving forward.

NewBase are a Microsoft partner as well as a partner with Citrix and VMware, so we are well placed to advise organisations on the virtualisation options available and what may be most suitable for your requirements. Talk to NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

:: Email Data Management
So often we come across organisations who are struggling with the management of their growing data, especially email. The use of email is so important for most of us that users don’t want to let go of any of it, so they end up with out of control PST files and this places extra challenges on the IT personnel to preserve these files and make them locatable if required.

The time taken to try to manage this and the administrative overhead of trying to avoid Exchange server data stores reaching their limit can be easily overcome if organisations put in place a suitable solution for archiving and management of their email data.

• How do I store this information?
• How do I manage this information?
• How do I find this information again when needed?
• How do I reduce both costs and risks in data management?

This is a challenge that we have worked with many organisations on, and the solution lies in putting in place an email data management system that not only stores the mail but is easily searchable to identify and retrieve mail from, without the users noticing any difference.

Simply backing up email servers doesn’t help in making recovery of specific emails easy, as this would require someone to go through backup tapes looking for missing information and doesn’t help with the optimisation of storage.

A good data management solution would index the email messages carried by the mail server, making them searchable at a later date. It also reduces the load on the storage by automatically migrating mailbox content from live storage to an archive when a set percentage of a user’s quota is reached. This can result in users never running into mailbox quotas while allowing IT to maintain or even reduce the size of these quotas. Backup windows can be shortened by reducing the amount of live storage on mail servers and transferring this to lower cost storage.

The end result is reduced backup times, quicker times for locating information, and not having to badger users about their mailbox sizes. That sounds positive all round.

If you’d like to discuss email data management solutions talk to NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

Clearswift have just announced the availability of ‘MIMEsweeper for SMTP Edge Server'as a free download. This is a new easy to install software upgrade that adds spam reputation services and TLS encryption to your existing content filtering defences for dedicated email hygiene.

If you are an existing Clearswift SMTP customer, you can download MIMEsweeper for SMTP Edge at no cost and start enjoying all of the following benefits today:

• The best anti-spam technology around – TRUSTmanager reputation services, SpamLogic & Grey Listing
• Industry standard Transport Layer Security encryption
• Dedicated email firewall that resides within your DMZ
• Lights-out operating infrastructure

This only works with the latest version of MIMEsweeper for SMTP so if you haven’t already done so, now is the ideal time to upgrade to the latest version. The Edge Server is available exclusively to existing MIMEsweeper SMTP V5 customers and upgrading makes it easier to integrate. You can download Edge Server at:

If you have any queries about content filtering talk to NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

:: New VMWare Releases:
VMware have announced the release of ESX 3.5 and VirtualCentre 2.5 which will allow greater levels of automation, increase overall infrastructure availability and boost performance. The new release will also include updated packaging and pricing, including new offerings specifically targeted at midsize and smaller IT environments.

Existing VMware Infrastructure customers with valid support and subscription contracts will receive the new products and features included in each edition at no additional cost.
VMware is introducing Acceleration Kits based around the Foundation, Starter and Enterprise packages which will be aimed at midsize and smaller IT environments. These will be available towards the end of 2007.

To find out more about these forthcoming releases and how virtualisation could benefit your organisation talk to NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

:: Blade Servers for Mid Sized Businesses
Blade servers have been an appealing option for many larger organisations with data centres due to their reduction in use of rack space, and in fact this has been the fastest growing segment of the server market. However for most mid sized Queensland businesses, the number of servers required to make a blade server solution viable was too high. This is now changing with the two main server vendors, IBM and HP, both bringing to market their mid sized blade offerings, which use standard power and cooling and are designed to be used in organisations or branch offices where dedicated server rooms are non existent.

These blade solutions can sit on a desk, or under it, and this greatly expands the options for many businesses. Some of the key benefits that the mid sized blade offerings provide are:

• Reduced cost compared to standard servers
• Use up to 30% less power and 40% less space when compared to equivalent 1U rack mounted servers.
• Reduced cabling requirements
• Easy to house for growing businesses without space in server rooms
• Uses standard 10 amp power plug
• Capacity for servers and additional storage in one blade cabinet

With the move towards consolidation of servers using virtualisation technology many organisations require less servers than previously so they find that they need less space and a more compact environment. These smaller blade chassis’ meet that requirement and are being referred to as a "data centre in a box".

These mid market blades will be readily available at the end of 2007, but expect to see a lot of publicity in the lead up. For organisations who are limited in space and struggle to find dedicated IT areas, these new blade solutions could be the answer. To find out more take a look at the following links:

If you want to see a demonstration of the units in action get in touch with NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au and we can arrange it.

There is widespread usage of Citrix Presentation Server but for this to be effective it is reliant on all the elements it comprises to be working efficiently; from the desktop, to the back-end server. As the customer facing element, Citrix can often be targeted as the point of blame for a poor application experience.

To overcome this a form of application performance monitoring is required. Most people are familiar with the concept of server centric monitoring tools that monitor the performance of key components of the network like disk space usage, link latency etc, but these are looking just at the back end processes and fail to capture user-level performance for individual sessions and processes in the Citrix environment. Quite often the problem is reported after the event, which makes problem resolution and analysis difficult.

By putting in place proper application performance monitoring tools you can gain end-to-end system visibility and performance information, which in turn decreases the time to resolution for reported application problems. It allows IT administrators to see whether problems are with the Citrix servers, devices or with applications. You can analyse what happened at a particular time, by user, application, link or server.

Citrix have introduced their EdgeSight application performance monitoring tools and these are proving popular with organisations who are now getting much greater insight into what is going on in their Citrix environment. Real time application crash and fault information collection removes the need to recreate problems, which saves support, and user time. System and application health monitoring enables the IT staff to proactively address potential issues, avoiding costly fire fighting so when crashes, errors, and hangs do occur you immediately have the information and forensic data required to pinpoint the root cause of the issue.

Data Leakage Prevention:
Today most organisations have some protection over the data entering their networks; however, they don’t have the same control over the information that leaves. This lack of security can put your business at risk to fraud and financial loss; damage your reputation; result in fines from regulators; or compromise your competitive advantage.

Businesses today hold a vast amount of sensitive, confidential and legally protected data, such as:

Clearly, securing this data is essential. Unfortunately, email has made it all too easy to leak confidential information – whether in the body of an email, in an attachment or in a file buried deep within an innocuous looking attachment. Every organisation needs a way to detect sensitive data before it leaves the email gateway so it can be stopped and reported.

The Three Es
So what protection do you have against this form of data leakage? Effective Data Leak Prevention comes down to what we call the Three Es:

Establish a Policy – Decide exactly what is allowed to be sent by email and what is forbidden, for any and all user groups.

Educate Users – Make the policy clear to all staff and get their explicit agreement. Include it in orientations and reviews. Update and educate regularly.

Enforce the Policy – Your policy is only as good as the technology that enforces it. Use the best content filtering you can find and the easiest to manage.

To fin out how to protect your organisation against data leakage and secure your network; talk to NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

Citrix to Enter Server and Desktop Virtualization Markets with Acquisition of XenSource:

Citrix have made an interesting move by purchasing virtualisation software company Xensource, a lesser known competitor to VMWare. Xensource is based upon the open source Xen hypervisor and has positioned itself as a lower cost alternative to VMWare, but has been lacking some of the higher level tools that VMWare offers. This has come as a surprise to many people and with plenty of questions being asked we aim here to clarify some key points:

Citrix see that what XenSource injects into Citrix that benefits customers is agility. An organisation can make all the components of their infrastructure dynamically interchangeable, applications won’t have to be hard-coded to servers or to hardware etc. Customers will have an ability to build an infrastructure one time that can take any kind of change. This ties into the idea of an Adaptive Network Infrastructure which is able to change on the fly every time a user changes or an application changes, giving organisations much greater flexibility going forward.

Over the past 2 years Citrix have purchased a large number of companies with different technology that they have consolidated into their portfolio. These have included application streaming, content switching and load balancing, application monitoring, wide area network optimisation, application firewalling and desktop virtualisation. Now with the XenSource acquisition it brings an underpinning to all of it. If there is more virtualisation baked into the core infrastructure, then it provides an entire infrastructure in which these pieces can be moved around in a much more agile fashion.

As a Citrix partner with a strong interest in virtualisation NewBase will be watching how Citrix integrates XenSource and will keep you updated on what this means to existing Citrix users and how it may benefit those not already using Citrix. If you want to discuss your Citrix or virtualisation options contact NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

Previously we had been told that the expected release date for the new Microsoft Windows Server product would be late December this year, but the official date is now February 27th, 2008. The company will also launch Visual Studio 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 at the same event.

The new operating system, formerly code-named Longhorn Server, includes the PowerShell scripting language, role-based deployment options as well as network access protection features.

While Microsoft have always been a target for security critics, they have been improving the security in each release and Windows Server 2008 will be the most secure Windows Server ever. This new version will have hardened operating system and security innovations, including Network Access Protection, Federated Rights Management, and Read-Only Domain Controller.

In the past it has been difficult for Citrix administrators to get a clear picture on what has been happening with their applications, and pinpointing where any performance problems might lie. Now with the advent of Citrix Monitoring, it is possible to identify the cause of bottlenecks, down to individual applications, or to spot what server in a farm might be causing the problem and what is different about that server.

Those who attended NewBase’s ‘Citrix New Technologies’ seminar recently will have seen the detailed intelligence that Citrix’s EdgeSight Monitoring could produce and the ability that this then provided to identify where the application issues were occurring. There is a high level of detail that can be drawn out of the monitoring and this can be used to resolve user issues that previously were difficult to identify the cause of.

Many organisations have system management tools that provide an high level view of their servers and networks, but lack a similar view of application performance and availability as experienced by the end-user. What Citrix Monitoring tools provide is the ability to:

NewBase have customers successfully running these Citrix monitoring tools and it has given them the capability to make better decisions and improve support of applications to their users. If you want to improve your application monitoring in a Citrix environment talk to NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

If your organisation, like many, has not upgraded your Office software to the latest 2007 version, then you might find that any outside party who sends you a file written in an Office 2007 product, will not open for you. This is frustrating, and as a result of what must have been a collective unhappiness globally, Microsoft has developed a Compatibility Pack for the Office Word, Office Excel, and Office PowerPoint 2007 File Formats. This will help ensure that you can exchange documents between Microsoft Office releases,

By installing the Compatibility Pack alongside Microsoft Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able to open, edit, save, and create files using the Open XML Formats new to the 2007 Microsoft Office system. Office 2000 users, as well as users of Windows 2000 SP4 and later, can convert Open XML Formats to binary file formats from within Windows Explorer.

Microsoft have finally given an official name to their forthcoming server, that they had been calling Longhorn – it now has the catchy title of Windows Server 2008, and is due out late in 2007 – you might be able to put it on your Christmas wish list.

Seriously though this release will have some very interesting features, focused around 3 key areas:

Server Manager is a new feature that is included in Windows Server 2008. It is a "one-stop shop" designed to guide IT administrators through the end-to-end process of installing, configuring, and managing server roles and features that are part of Windows Server 2008. It accelerates server setup and configuration, and simplifies ongoing management of server roles via a unified management console.

Windows PowerShell is a new command-line shell with more than 130 tools and an integrated scripting language that enables an administrator to automate routine system administration tasks, especially across multiple servers.

Server Core is a new installation option for selected roles that includes only the necessary components and subsystems without a graphical user interface, to provide a highly available server that requires fewer updates and less servicing.

Terminal Services in Server 2008 provides a substantial upgrade in functionality, performance, and user experience. Terminal Services now provides centralised access to individual applications without the need to provide the whole remote desktop. Applications running remotely are integrated with the local user’s desktop—looking, feeling, and behaving like local applications. Organisations can provide more secure access to centralized applications or desktops, and other resources from the Internet, by using HTTPS, without needing to provide access via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or opening up unwanted ports on firewalls.

Server 2008 includes IIS7 as a platform for developing and reliably hosting Web applications and services. They are touting IIS7 as also being the backbone that supports and unifies the next generation of Windows Web platform technologies, including ASP.NET 2.0, Windows Communication Foundation Web services, and Windows SharePoint Services.

Server 2008 introduces a network access control capability which gives you the power to isolate computers that don’t comply with your organisation's security policies, and provides network restriction, remediation, and ongoing compliance checking.

Active Directory Rights Management Services provides persistent protection for sensitive data; helps reduce risks and enables compliance; and provides a platform for comprehensive information protection.

Read-Only Domain Controller allows you to deploy Active Directory Domain Services while restricting replication of the full Active Directory database, to better protect against server theft or compromise.

:: Going Green – Reducing Hardware Usage to Reduce Power Consumption:
Increasingly we are seeing organisations being required to demonstrate how they are reducing power consumption and energy usage. In fact some large organisations are purchasing carbon tax credits to offset their energy usage. When organisations get pressured to reduce their output they will look at all aspects of the business, and this includes IT. Given that IT is all about electronic devices, this can create some challenges.

As networks grow, so does the power consumption, and this is particularly an issue for large organisations with high numbers of servers and storage. Data centres take into account the cost for power and cooling, and with the overall push to reduce power consumption, those responsible for networks need to look at how to do more with less hardware.

An approach that has been taken up by a number of corporate and government organisations who use Citrix, is to apply AppSense Performance Manager software, so that many more users can be deployed on each Citrix server, thus reducing the number of servers required in the Citrix farm.

This not only reduces the amount of power consumption but it also reduces hardware costs and as a result of less hardware, if you’re in a co-location data centre where they charge by the amount of rack space used, you will reduce your rack space rental costs as well. Overall this is a win – win.

In a couple of Australian examples, organisations have managed to halve the number of servers that they required to run Citrix, giving them a considerable reduction in power usage. This helped contribute to the organisation overall achieving a sizeable reduction in energy usage, and in one case they were nominated for an environmental award.
This is an area that will become increasingly important for many businesses as their key customers start putting the pressure for compliance on them. To look at how your business could prepare itself talk to NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

How well could you locate old emails or files with keywords in them if asked to find them for either a Project problem or a legal dispute?

This is a scenario that many organisations are facing, and it is a time consuming and costly process to go through. Email has become the primary medium for how businesses communicate. The consequence is that email has become a de facto record repository, and this creates added challenges. Take these statistics from the USA:

While this is not Australia, much the same applies here. So what are the challenges?

And added to this, how do you achieve this without making the process difficult for your users to utilise? After all, we know that if things become difficult for users then they will try to find ways around it.

If this is something that you are not on top of then you will likely find that you will soon need to be. Many organisations are dealing with this challenge or preparing for it so that they are not caught out.

If you want to find better ways to manage your growing data then we can assist. NewBase has experience with archiving and managing email and Windows files to reduce backups and make finding and accessing the data seamless and simple for your users. Talk to NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

Applications deployed across the WAN are inefficient and slow due to these limitations.
Further to this, repetitive data is sent across the WAN, increasing total utilisation and introducing congestion.
More applications further compete for these limited WAN resources causing congestion and degradation of critical applications.

IT Managers are demanding far more economic and effective ways to manage and optimise their existing infrastructure by understanding how it is used, defining what’s important for the business and accelerating application performance.

Reduce the size and complexity of link, hence reducing costs
Defer expensive upgrades
Enable business applications across IP networks
Increase staff productivity by allocating more bandwidth to critical users or applications

NewBase have been testing WAN Optimisation solutions to identify what benefits can be provided. If you’d like to get more out of your WAN without having to get bigger links then talk to NewBase about WAN Optimisation. Phone (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

Recent media coverage of a major backup failure in a government owned corporation (www.zdnet.com.au/news/hardware/soa/EnergyAustralia_suffers_back_up_catastrophe_/0,130061702,339273094,00.htm) has raised the question of how organisations know whether their data backups are actually working as they should be and what testing is being done? Apparently in the reported example the back ups were being affected by an underlying, undetected software problem which had been damaging the back-ups for several months. This was only discovered when a server failure caused data loss, and attempts to recover the data from backups found that the data being sought was apparently not there.

Overall it is a very expensive lesson to learn, and one which can be avoided by early detection. We recommend regular testing and checking of the backups, not just whether the backup appears to work, which in this example had appeared to be happening, but whether the data was actually backing up and would be able to be restored if needed.

NewBase can provide this review and ‘fire drill’ service for customers, so that you can have confidence in your backup solutions, and not find out too late if something is not working as expected. Data loss can have a major impact on an organisation so why take that risk? It is useful to take an outsiders view of your installation ensuring that common ‘easy’ beliefs of the system that are taken for granted are NOT increasing your RISK overall.

Contact NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au to discuss reviewing your backups.

NewBase is pleased to announce that AppSense Management Suite (AMS) 7.0 is now available. Some of the features contained within the AMS 7.0 release are:

• Custom Rules and Actions, allowing full scripting of the rules and resultant activities, extending flexibility and integration capabilities.

• Import / Export of Configurations, including partial configurations. Enables a 'library' of configuration templates to be created.

• Office Lockdown Wizard, enabling granular lockdown of all MS Office toolbars, menus and dialogs.

• User Interface Improvements, including drag and drop, find and replace, and simplified rule creation and maintenance.

• New Reporting Module, allows trend analysis of resource utilization, including drill-down on CPU and memory utilization by user and application.

• AMS 7.0 now includes a module for deployment and management of AppSense software via secured Web communications. It also includes extensive alert and event monitoring.

For a comprehensive description of all new features in this release, please see 'What's New in Version 7.0' document on http://www.appsense.com.

A detailed list of enhancements and fixes for each product contained within AMS 7.0 can be found in the Product Release Notes, which are available from the Product Download Pack.

Customers with a valid AppSense Software Subscriptions License are eligible for this maintenance release upgrade to their licensed AppSense software products at no additional charge.

High availability is a common request that we get, no-one wants to have to explain downtime. In previous years the cost of a high availability solution would have been prohibitive but now, as the major technology vendors have successfully scaled down their offerings to meet the demand and price point of the size of organisations most represented in Australia, so providing high availability through clustering can work for all businesses.

It’s our view that all business, small medium and large, would benefit from having a clustered backend to provide business stability and redundancy, and this is a leveraged technology. This view is based on reducing the Business owners IT distractions and providing them with a stable, redundant asset that allow other parts of their business to receive attention. The price point of SANs and Clusters are now affordable by every customer small, medium and large. Also ask about our “Infrastructure as a monthly service charge” pricing as well.

By coupling this cluster with virtualisation such as VMWare or Virtual Server, and putting a Citrix Presentation Server on the front end, it makes for a secure, flexible, first stage Disaster Recovery site situation that can be leveraged to extend the reach of the network, thus providing greater flexibility for your users and making your business well placed for rapid change and adaptation.

Disaster recovery and the ability to continue as a business is of increasing importance to most organisations, and with the reliance on information systems there is a need for minimum network downtime. By putting in place a clustered solution the ability to restore systems quickly is greatly improved, and NewBase have been able to provide these solutions to a number of organisations to provide stability and redundancy. To discuss how a clustering solution could benefit your organisation, talk to NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au

As businesses grow the need to consolidate their IT infrastructure in a secure area is important. Through our dealing with large numbers of organisations we see a wide diversity in how businesses locate their IT equipment, and usually the move is to allocate a lockable space to store their servers and associated equipment.

Sometimes this lockable space can create its own issues, as it is often not originally or specifically designed to provide the ideal environment for IT equipment. This leads to challenges such as a lack of air conditioning causing the Server and networking products to overheat if they are kept in a space that is too enclosed. For larger organisations who have server rooms and data centres with separate air conditioning this is not usually an issue, although when they start moving to technologies such as blade servers they are faced with additional power (15A circuits) and cooling requirements. However for smaller growing businesses, trying to look after that critical infrastructure is a challenge.

Thankfully there are now more options to cope with this and the cost of storage racks has come down significantly, and additional products can be included that remove hot air to prevent re-circulation and air mixing before it reaches the equipment. Whether it is a large environment or small, the need to avoid overheating is the same. Overheating can create issues not only for hardware as we have experienced heat related problems with Tape media in the past.

The huge range of things to consider in this area now can be confusing, but with identification of the base requirements, solutions can be found. NewBase work with the vendors like APC who specialise in power availability and server room solutions, so we can assist if you need to improve the way that your IT infrastructure is stored and managed. To improve the way your organisation locates its IT infrastructure, no matter what your limitations, talk to NewBase on (07) 3216 0776 or email info@newbase.com.au