7 Layers?

New Website

2006-12-27T00:41:00.000+04:00

Dear visitor, I'm working on a User Group website and not getting time to publish the post on this weblog. For the latest updates I'd like you to visit our user group website http://www.TechiesOnly.com. I'll be publishing my new blog there.

Thank You.

Prerequisites for SBS 2003 SP1

2006-08-19T12:52:00.000+04:00

Few days back I was having problem while updating service PAck for SBS 2003 Server. I've ben trying directly to update the SP but I following to be done before applying SP. I'm running Exchange server so I need to put the SP for Exchange too. So it will definitely save your time.

Windows 2003 Server SP1
MS Exchange 2003 SP1
SBS 2003 SP1

SBS2003- Having problem in outgoing fax.

2006-08-14T16:30:00.000+04:00

Well its been very horrific for couple of day for me. Last week I started using the FAX services on SBS 2003 server. At first time with default installation I could easily send and receive the fax but I did some changes in the RULES.

After that I couldn't send the fax while I've been receiving the faxes normally. Whenever I tried sending the fax there was an error

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Microsoft Fax
Event Category: Outbound
Event ID: 32028
Date: 8/8/2006
Time: 11:29:33 AM
User: N/A
Computer: GATEWAY

Description
An error was encountered while sending a fax. The service will attempt to resend the fax. If further transmissions fail, please verify that the phone line, fax sending device, and fax receiving device are working properly.

I tried fixing it nmany wat but all the time it was failure but I kept on trying and fianlly I got the answer and mind mind never went on that side. As I've been receiving the fax then it should send the fax. Sp what could be the problem.

Software or Hardware?

If Software then what it could be? Is it Service Packs, Patches, Security updates or something else?

If Hardware then either the Modem is malfunctioning or the modem driver problem or modem is not supported.

But the same modem was working at the very first time.

So I uninstalled the modem and re-loaded the modem driver.

How simple is it? Isn't it

It took more than 20 hrs to fix this issue.

So cheer uo now :)

Desktop Management-- Never Format the PC

2006-08-12T21:19:00.000+04:00

Never format the PC ! Make sure you are more than 100% sure about data.

I faced the porblems when I format the PC, mt client said. Go Ahead and I did but next day he was awake and asking for some lost file.

It was worst time for me, even it was not my mistake but I had to recover the data and it took too much time to recover it.

Now a days I don't prefer to format the PC until and unless there is a serious problem. I prefer to do the new installation on the same parition with a different Windows directory which really safe end of the day.

Most of the time what happens these people don't keep the software CD, they don't keep the additional hardware CDs and expect that the I.T guy should be having all the stuff, this quite annotying to me.

Anyway, this how we learn to face the situtations.

So do your home work first and never format the PC.

Windows 2000 Server and Remote Desktop

2006-08-08T21:09:00.000+04:00

A couple weeks back we are facing a problem. This problem become a headache to us. Actucally one of our clients wanted to print locally while workiing on the remote server. It was Windows 2000 server and the client station was Win XP Pro. We did the remote desktop easily but we couldn't print, but when you really want to do achieve this then you do your best and this what my colleague did. He has been working on it and fianll he got the technical article from Microsoft website.

Actually we had to conenc the the Printer on the LPT port and with the proper driver. That's it.

Cheers guy. Put your story here.

End of support for Windows 98, Windows Me, and Windows XP Service Pack 1

2006-07-30T14:32:00.000+04:00

End of support for Windows 98, Windows Me, and Windows XP Service Pack 1. Yes it is true.

And I'm happy for this decision from Microsoft, atleast IT PRo won't waste too much time to install tha troubleshoot these legacy system. It is very difficult that your client is using Win98 or WIN Me while you are using WinXP SP2 at your working environment. An IT Pro has to do extra efforts in order to support his/her client.

Only those companies who are from 2-5 users or desktops and don't use computer as a basic need for their business. So they follow the simple rule to get rid off the problem in Win98, Format and Re-install.

Most of the medium size businesses using WinXP Pro and they do update their PC atleat in 5 years so for them there is no problem.

so how do you feel about this decision from Mirosoft or I better call from Bill Gates. for more info clieck here.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupport.mspx

IE 7.0 Beta problems !

2006-07-18T00:59:00.001+04:00

I had been trying to renew my Action Pack susbcription for Micrsoft product last day using I.E. 7.0 but I could not. There was a message that this browser can't support. There were two option either to conhtinue or not.

I continued but there was problem and I had to use another PC to did that. Anyway it was a new experience.

If you may find this kinds stuff share with us.

2006-07-18T00:59:00.000+04:00

I.T guy should be fully loaded ?

2006-07-13T15:48:00.000+04:00

Most of the time I.T guys get stucked between the operations while doing PC maintenance, troubleshooting the problem or migrating the data. So an I.T guy should be loaded with a normal configuration notebook, USB storage , extra network cables etc or sometime more stuff according to need.

Most of the Bossses don't want their IT guy to be fully loaded. It takes time for PC support engineer to fix the problem due to lack of resources. He may spent his whole day to fix a small problem. This is very commone for them to waste the time due to lack of resources.

In his way the Boss is not making money but loosing the money and lossing the confidence of the client too. So a Boss should not act like a typical Boss.

That's it for now.

Comments are welcomed from the Bosses.

I got my answer.

2006-07-13T15:41:00.000+04:00

Todat afternoon I went to one of my client while I was troubleshooting her laptop I ahd discussion on Software Piracy and I that beautiful lady that 'Why do people use the pirated softwares ? while on the other side you pay money to buy good cars, cloths ect.

She replied beautifull 'because pirated softwares are available and there is no way she can't get a car in this way' so they spend the money buying good cars and they would spend the money to buy the licensed softwares if pirated one is not available.

So Piracy should be stopped.

comments are welcomed.

Experiencing the Betas ..!

2006-07-12T23:11:00.000+04:00

Wow Wow Wow....it's coool work done from Microsoft. I'm using Office 2007 Beta and Vista Beta 2. Office 2007 is more than imagination. I'm talking about it graphics appearence not the feature because I just loaded it into my system and I'm dying.

If you really want to epericen then you must get a free download and experience it yourself. http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/default.mspx

As far as Vista is concerned I did the installation of Vitsa Beta 1 and I faced many problem and I had to re-load the Win XP but now I"ve Vista Beta 2 and Longhorn Beta so this time I hope Beta 2 will be much better than Beta1 and I won't face those problems. I hope :)

Checkout vista website here

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/

Cheers...
must visit www.techiesonly.com The UAE IT User Group

Don't wanna pay for software!

2006-07-12T19:20:00.000+04:00

This is really a big dilemma for IT Pro in their daily life that their client's never wants to buy licensed software, specially the small business people. They are ready to pay for hardware but after very tough negotiation, for software they always want it free.

I ask them most of the time that You the money for buying a good car, for good cloths, for entertainment so why not for software. They don't have the answer but they don't to pay. They think they will buy one license, which will be enough.

Most of the time my time passes with this discussion in the meeting, trying to convince them. I'm alsways hopeful to make them buy only licensed software. They ask me why are doing all these? What is your interest? Why you promote Microsoft? and I keep on smiling :)

My answer is always .... why not? I'm having a good career becasue of Microsoft. Although I work on different network technologies like Cisco, 3Com, HP, Dell, Linksys, IBM etc etc but Microsoft's product is everywhere. You can't ignore using it. You have to have any Microsft prodduct in your daily life, it could be any Win 9x, or any game console or any Office application.

I'll continue this topic next time I'll be online.

bye for now. comments are welcomed

Free Anti Virus for UG Members

2006-02-21T16:29:00.000+04:00

Few days back I spoke to one of the AnTvirus company and they are agree to give 1 year free subscription to their Anti Virus.

So keep in touch guys.

Be A Part Of IT

IT= Techies

Cheer Up :)

CULMINIS- Microsoft NFR Software Received

2006-02-21T16:22:00.000+04:00

Few days days I've received the NFR (Not For Sale) software from Culminis for our User Group Memebers. Soon I'll be distributing the software to the community members.

Cheer Up :)

Exploring SBS2003

2006-02-21T16:12:00.000+04:00

After a very very longitme I'm updating my Blog. For the last 4-6 weeks I'm very busy and involved in many projects. As soon as I get the time I'm gonna put my experience on the ongoing projects.

Having hectic schedule it is very difficult to manage all these things together. I'm only executing the things which are on top most priority.

These days I've couple of project for SBS2003 and technically I'm exploring and enjoying it alot.

I must say say the Microsoft Is Making I.T. Pro Life Easier.

If you want to experience then you must deploy SBS2003.

Also you can keep in touch on the Website

http://www.culminisconnections.com/sites/techies

Will back soon...

CULMINIS-EMEA Press Pass. Keep Updated

2006-01-06T18:43:00.000+04:00

Visit the link below and keep updated.

In the press

WIN ME - Booting in Safe Mode only

2005-12-27T09:16:00.000+04:00

I'm facing this problem at one of my client site that whenever I turn on the PC it boots in the safe mode. When I try to select the normal mode it doesn't show anything except a blank screen. I've checked the system thoroughly but didn't find any problem with the OS.I asked the user that what had happened last time but he said he turned off the system in a usual way and next morning he faced the problem.

Do you have any idea how to solve this? I'm in hurry. :(

Free SQL Server Training

2005-12-25T16:59:00.000+04:00

Checkout the link below for Free SQL Server Training
Click Here

This link was sent by our team member Khurram.

NOD32 Comparison

2005-12-21T13:10:00.000+04:00

Hi folks...find the NOD32 AV Comparision. I've implemented different versions of NOD32 on different client's site. It's really a good product and it has very very detailed configuration which I've never imagined. Especially in the Enterprise Version with Remote Administrator you can configure the different policies which can be pushed on the network.

On the other side other than Enterprise version you can hook-up the local Mirror Server to anyone of the system or on the server (no necessary to have a domain), through which you can push the updates on your network.

You might face difficulty initially but NOD32 support is very good and if necessary their support department may call you.

For more information NOD32 Comparision

The comparision link is provided by one of our team member AJI.

Fighting with SpyWarez

2005-12-19T17:22:00.000+04:00

I've been using Win XP with SP 1 for a long time and have been browsing the internet but didn't face any problem. For the last 2 days I started surfing for some freewarez and hacking materials and I felt that there was something wrong with the system. the nextg day system got started freezing and didn't allow me to open a word file or open the any website.

I had to kill the process even it took too much time to show the Task Manager. I was pretty sure that it was due the system vulnerabilities. So I decided to install the SP2 and patch up the system and install the anti-virus. So I did the installation of SP2, Kaspersky for anti-virus but system was still freezing. Specially while opening the Internet Explorer. So for sure that IE is infected. Then I tried scanning the system with Microsoft Anti Spyware (updated).

MS Anti Spyware did not show any infected file. It showed that system status as ok but still I was facing the system freezing problem whenever I tried using the IE for windows updates or for any other reason. So I donwloaded the FireFox. Made it default browser. Stared using it and it was very very fast. So the IE is compromised, it is confirmed. I still had the doubt about the spyware so I downloaded the Lavasoft's Ad-ware SE.

I stared doing the system scanning using the latest definitions and I found that there were 35 files were infected. And all of them have infected the IE, My ocumetmts etc..

I had to delete all the files without taking any risk. Once it was done I found my system in better health. Now IE 6.0 is also working fine.

So neither IE nor MS AntiSpyware could bring my system back into the position and I had to use 3rd party solution. I read about the vulnerabilities in IE but today I faced the problem even I used the antivirus.

So the Spywares are really pain in the ass and make the system worst than a 486x machine with 32 MB memory.

I'm sure you must have faced the same problem.

New Study Shows Majority of Public and Corporations Are Vulnerable to Zero Day Threats; AV-Comparatives.org Releases New Study with Alarming Findings

2005-12-12T09:07:00.000+04:00

Checkout Anti Virus Comparison website before you make a decision to buy the antiVirus.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

Latest Sober variant set to launch attack on Jan. 5

2005-12-12T08:49:00.000+04:00

Commands hard-coded in the latest variant of the Sober worm indicate that its next major attack is scheduled for Jan. 5, according to security firm Verisign Inc.'s iDefense cyberintelligence service.

Checkout ComputerWorld for more

E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS "Diva"

2005-12-11T08:57:00.000+04:00

The Official Blog of the SBS. You must check out the blog and the Microsoft's website for SBS. you may face the problem. Keep your servers updated.

SBS Official Blog

SBS Official Website

Be Careful

Windows OneCare Live

2005-12-08T22:22:00.000+04:00

What is Windows OneCare Live?

even I didn't know before tonite but I'm surprised. I'm not surprised that what Microsoft is doing but I'm surprised that this website is launched now. It was launched in May2005 and most of us are un-aware of it. Did you know?

Anyway, since Microsoft is very serious about security they are doing their very best and launcing some new products or range of application under security very often. Windows OneCare Live seems to very interested. I've not tried this application but very soon I'm gonna test the beta version and will update the blog.

You also test this beta version and post your comments to the blog so we can get to know how good it is and what can be done to improve it.

Seeya

For more

3rd party backup application under Windows

2005-12-08T21:44:00.000+04:00

Using Tandberg Backup Under Various Windows OS.
------------------------------------------------------

For the last couple of months I've been very much involved in implemeting the backup solution on various Microsoft OS. I faced problem on almost every version of windows except Windows 2003 server. I'be installed the backup device i.e. Tandberg DLTVS 80 and 160 both internal and external on win98, win XP Pro, Winddows 2000 and Win2003 Server. I've faced difficulty while doing the device installation but on windows 2003 server it was very very simple and it don't take more than 5 minutes.

Moreover there is good feature of Volume Shadow Copy which helped to take the real-time bckup. I found the same way of installing the hardware under WinXP Pro.

Tapeware used as the backup application software which has many features, one of them is to have multiple schedules on multiple tapes. It's very very fast but the backup speed goes down while taking the network mapped drives backup.

On Windows2003 server I also tried windows backup utility and it worked fine too. This small application is also good if you want to save the money and just want to have regular backup with one schedule at one time only.

i've used Tapeware 7.x Edition for backup under all Microsoft OS. It is necessary that all the OS should service packs installed on it. Tapeware is a good application but it's a bit confusing at first time but later on you'll enjoy the feature specially with Volume Shadow Copy enabled.

For more info about Tandberg click for TandBerg & Click for Tapeware

Microsoft Events in Dubai. UAE

2005-12-08T21:39:00.000+04:00

What's happening in Dubai at Microsoft just click below.

Events [I.T.] in Dubai

Four Ways to Get a Bigger Salary in 2006

2005-12-08T21:28:00.000+04:00

You must read it...

Four Ways to Get a Bigger Salary in 2006

Hackers publish two more Windows attacks

2005-12-03T17:26:00.000+04:00

Hackers have given systems administrators two more reasons to

Click Here

Culminis UAE --- I.T. Pro Community

2005-10-28T19:44:00.000+04:00

Culminis UAE

Culminis is Delware non-profit organization organized for the purpose of supporting the I.T. Pros. There are currently 460 User Groups world wide which encompasses more than 360,000 I.T. Professionals. This user community going to be launched very soon in Dubai.

So if your reletd to Database administration, networking, web administration, digital media, enterprise system analysis and integration , technical support and technical writing as deifned by NWCET then you are eligible for free membership.

For more information please visit http://www.culminis.com

Or Email me

It's been a long time

2005-08-25T13:38:00.000+04:00

It's been a long time that I've not updated my blog.

I'm pretty busy in doing some projects and not getting the time to update this blog.

So keep checking this Blog I'll put real environment troubleshooting of Desktops and Servers which is very much technical and might be interested :)

Take Care

Securing your Desktop

2005-06-04T20:43:00.000+04:00

Microsoft is very serious towards Securing the Desktop. Of Course Win XP. For the last 10-12 months since the SASSER activated on the Internet and affected almost each and every desktop on the Internet Microsoft taking it very seriously to help the users and also putting enough information on the website to create awareness among the users.

Checkout this to get know what XP SP2 gives you more.

Click here

Check out the video ''Defending Against Viruses

Click here to reach the downlaod link directly

Protection Against Spywares

On the above mentioned link there is enough information to 'Secure Your Desktop'.

Cisco HIGHLY Recommends Microsoft Certification For one of its Design Cert

2005-05-14T19:34:00.000+04:00

Cisco Unity Design Specialist Building upon a strong foundational knowledge of Microsoft Exchange 2000 or 2003, the Cisco Unity Design Specialist can install, configure, operate, and maintain a Cisco Unity 4.0 system in both stand-alone voice mail and unified messaging environments.

Check for the details here

R U Intrested In Microsoft Certifications ?

2005-05-14T15:52:00.000+04:00

Well, if your answer is YES then the following website is for you.

Click here to check which certification interests you more?

Microsoft unveils PC security service

2005-05-13T17:38:00.000+04:00

Let see how Microsoft will capture the market in the near future.

Click here for more

Women in Engineering-- Checkout Channel9

2005-05-05T23:38:00.000+04:00

Check it out at MSDN Channel 9.

Click Here

The Remediator Security Digest

2005-04-30T23:08:00.000+04:00

Checkout the best advices related to corporate security. These are the real life experience advices by the professionals working in the IT industry for a long time.

Click Here

Microsoft in 2010.....? Any Idea...

2005-04-29T19:15:00.000+04:00

It's just an idea but believe that ideas turn into the reality.

I've started using the computer in 1997 and seen many changes till today but still I'm very new to this Tech market. There are many people who are in the I.T. industry since 1980 or before. As the time is passing on the technology is changing very fast.

By that time it used to take time to get the idea in the market but now today we experience that sometimes we have the idea in our mind and after few months that idea becomes pacticle. I must say that Microsoft is playing its role , a very big role in I.T. Industry. Thousands of people are employed by Microsoft and As Much As It Is Expending Microsoft Is Improving.

This is really mind boggling.

what I've read in these books 'The Road Ahead' and 'Business @ the speed of thought' I can see, I can feel and I'm used of it today what I read in those books. Mr. Gates have aleady thought it is almost 10 years back fowm now we are taking the technology as part of our life.

Now we have PCs with Win XP or Win 98 in each and every office and home. wherever there is a PC there is on XP or Win98.

So what Mr. Gates is thinking now?

What would be the future? How do they see the world the in 2010? what do we assume about 2010?

Why not 2015? Because what we have achieved in 10 years now we can achieve more than this in just 5 yrs. As I told technology is shifting very very fast. As we are working on Microsoft's product we are a part of Microsoft. There is a very strong
interaction between Microsoft and a normal PC user but the interaction is is hidden and is not direct.

It's a very long debate.

What my point is that

------------- --------------Microsoft 1981-2005------------------- is today

what about

------------- --------------Microsoft 1981-2010------------------------- ?

We can get the most from guys who are in the Microsoft and very close to Master Minds.

:)

Women In Engineering?

2005-04-29T17:41:00.000+04:00

Do you agree with me?

Have you seen or come across working with the women in the profession of engineering. Since 1997 I've seen very few women in engineering and I can count them on my fingeertips, hardly 8-10 females in I.T. Profession upto now. Astonishing ...isn't it?

I have laways this question in my mind Why.What is the reason?

If we look around we find most of the women in the medical profession than in the marketing or customer relationship. We hardly find a women as a mechanical engineer or electrical engineer but we find many female doctors, dentisits etc.

I don't understand why?

Whether they don't like other professions?

Whether those professions are harder or the working environment of other professions do not suits them?

or any other reason..............?

Many of us having the same question but still do not have the answer.

I think a women must have the answer for all of these questions. Do you?

Do I really Need Anti -- Spyware & Virus?

2005-04-15T21:46:00.000+04:00

These days I'm involved in a project where many users access the Internet through their Internet provider over Ethernet. As being on the Ethernet with CAT5E installed , you are having 100Mbps connectivity while the Internet backbone could be from 64kbps-512Kbps or T1 etc. depending on the number of subscriber.

I'm not going into the details about the infrastructure but my point is that there are almost 1-2 calls on customer support regarding the slow Internet connectivity. While on the same time the other users are surfing the Internet without any problem. The diagnosis phase took enough time becuase we had to check the connectivity from Server room to the clinet site but at the end the user's system found to be infected with hundreds of viruses and spyware.

So we suggested our client to have a clean installation of WinXP with SP2 and update it with new patches. Moreover the AV should be updated and they must have MS AntiSpyware.

Once a computer meets these requirements then you can say that there could be the problem with the Internet provider. Even it did happen to me and I realized after going through same procedure.

So what I mean to say here is that today installation is not the only one step to be done. There are many thing to be done after doing an installation. Still today people doen't understand the software but they do understand the hardware because this is what they get when they pay for it. Their mind do not accept to pay for the softwares and services provided by support engineer.

Anyway, a home user must have these to make his/her computer fine

--- WinXP with SP2 Installed on it
--- An AV with latest updates
--- Any Anti Spyware i.e. MS Anti Spyware with updates

Now the next step is both Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware should be scheduled to thorouhgly scan the computer atleast once in a week or daily depedning on the use of computer.

So a system has be in very good condition like a car otherwise you might end-up middle on the
way. We need motor mechanic as we can't fix the problem in our cars but we can check oil, water and gas before leaving the office or meeting, so in a same way we should have enough knowledge to keep updated the Anti Spyware and Virus and Web surfing Knowledge.

I guess its enouhg for today.

APRIL 12th. Temporarily Disabling Delivery of Windows XP Service Pack 2

2005-04-02T19:48:00.000+04:00

Temporarily Disabling Delivery of Windows XP Service Pack 2 Through Windows Update and Automatic Updates.

Please note that the mechanism to temporarily disable delivery of Windows XP SP2 is only available for a period of 240 days (8 months) from August 16, 2004. At the end of this period (after April 12, 2005), Windows XP SP2 will be delivered to all Windows XP and Windows XP Service Pack 1 systems.

This is really a good step from Microsoft towards security. This will really help those user's who doesn't know anything about computers and use the Internet for communication and surfing only. This procedure will play its part in patching up the system with critical patches so there won't be more Restarts and no abnormal activities in Wondows XP.

But the thing is that how does it go. How smooth it will be done, how much time it will take? There are many things and new issues might result while pushing the XP SP2 to all the XP accross the Planet Earth.

Let see how it will go but hope it shall be fine.

For more info click the link below.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/sp2aumng.mspx

Regards

What is Wingate ?

2005-04-02T19:30:00.000+04:00

A question is put on the blog regarding Wingate by Yasir.

Hi Yasir,
Wingate can be put in the category of Proxy server. It's an application and normally used in small busienss environmnet. It is very easy to setup and you don't need to have Windows Server for this. If you have WinXP or Windows 2000 Professional you can share the Internet on LAN.

For more information visit www.wingate.com

Regards

Defining professionalism in IT

2005-03-14T18:50:00.000+04:00

I found this artcile is very good for all of us. We should read it , not only for defining Professionalism but to adopt it.

for more on this article click here

http://uk.builder.com/manage/work/0,39026594,39239433,00.htm

The Top 10 New Security Products

2005-03-02T18:49:00.000+04:00

Check it out at Shavlik.

http://remediator.shavlik.com/e_article000360800.cfm?x=b4sBV8y,b2bQTQGC

FYI [For Your Information]

2005-03-01T18:24:00.000+04:00

Hello Dear Members. This just for your information that I've mistakenly written that Mr. Danish is a Senior Member. Actually he is the Co-founder of 7 Layers.

feedback of meeting(MSPC-KHI)

2005-03-01T17:39:00.000+04:00

The meeting was great & definatly it will be a great platform for all IT-pro.
All the credit goes to Mr. Adnan rafik.

now its all on the members that, how they will make this community more stonger.

The software giant is considering making the source code for its SQL Server database available to customers

2005-02-28T14:16:00.000+04:00

SQL Server 2005 is a candidate for Microsoft's shared-source programme, according to senior Microsoft sources within the unit responsible for the database product
Will the software industry's wave of open source databases spill onto Microsoft's turf?

for more information check this out

http://uk.builder.com/architecture/db/0,39026552,39238018,00.htm

Culminis-- Microsoft Professionals' Community [MSPC]

2005-02-27T19:32:00.000+04:00

Culminis-- Microsoft Professionals' Community [MSPC-KHI]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 26-Feb-2005--
Time: 5:20-7:20 p.m.
Location: Kaybees Mohd. Ali Society Karachi. Pakistan
Speaker: Adnan Rafik
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
According to scheduled I've successfully arranged first meeting with expected MSPC members. It was really very tough for me to bring these IT people on one platform but now I'm very much satisfied that it did happen. I'm very much thankful to all the members (now) that they have come to the meeting and we got the chance to share our thoughts and how can we play our role to promote IT and awareness among other IT-Pros and Next-Gen IT-Pros.

Below is the AGENDA of the meeting.

1- Purpose of this meeting.
2- What is Culminis? and its benefit?
3- Six- Pillars of Culminis.
4- What is MSPC, why MSPC? Founders of MSPC?
5- Why Microsoft Centric?
6- What IT-Pros do need to have other than technical skills?

Topics were highlighted during discussion.

--- Comparison of local I.T. market and International (Dubai) market
--- Piracy issues and its affect on pay scale in 3rd world country.
--- Discussion on different MS products.
--- How and what do we need to upgrade our skills.
--- Promote seminars in colleges/universities/IT centers

End of the meeting

End of meeting was done with the collection of every user’s skills and expertise. User’s are advised to select a schedule according to their convenience to update the blog. Now all the IT-Pro who have attended this meeting now have become the members of 7layers. These users are now given the username and password to manage their area on this Blog. Below are the names of our team members

Team Memebers

Adnan Rafik [UG Leader]
Danish Sami [Senior Team Member]
Irfan ahmed [Team Member]
Muhammad Ameen [Team Member]
Fawad Khan [Team Member]
Mushahid Sharif [Team Member]
Musharraf khan [Team Member]

Once these users' have activated their membership you can view their profile and can send your queries directly to them.

Bringing IT Together !

More on ISA 2004

2005-02-20T17:19:00.000+04:00

After a very long time I’m back on my track, as I’m busy here in karachi doing some projects. And I got a chance to work on ISA 2004.

ISA2004 is an application aware firewall or I better say more than a firewall. It does not only block and forwards the port; it gives you the control of each and every application running on your network. It gives full control to the network administrators to manage the clients running applications on their computer. It is almost impossible to bypass ISA2004 security if you have implemented on your LAN. It is the best of the best product I’ve ever worked. It does block everything. Here you feel confidence and get relax that no user on your LAN can misuse the network and Internet. Once you have installed the ISA 2004 on the machine then that machine is totally locked, you have to login to that machine physically then define the policies then you can work according to your wish i.e. physically or remotely.

As far as security is concerned you can have many networks in just one firewall. You need to add only network adapters and that’s it. You can have multiple networks and each and every network can be isolated easily. More over you can implement the policies on each and every network address pool, it depends how you have done the sub-netting. Even no one can guess that you are running ISA2004 server at the backend.

ISA2004 blocks all peer-to-peer applications intelligently if even these applications (kazaa, morpheus uses port 80) try to bypass the firewall.

The only thing which is not available in ISA2004 is bandwidth controlling. This is the only thing which is lacking in this product otherwise this is the best product to suit any kind of network if they are looking for security or caching or application filtering.

I’ve tested this product on a network of 50 computers where we have every kind of users, from business users to computer geeks. ISA2004 has given very tough time to computer geeks because all the time they need full bandwidth pipe and they want to download whole internet stuff on their PC.

During the implementation of this ISA2004 product I had few problems and I’m very
thankful to Thomas Shinder who helped me whenever I asked the questions on
www.isaserver.org

I suggest you to go for ISA2004 especially in a corporate network where you want full control on each and every application, on the other side if you are managing data center then you take advantages of multiple DMZs. Once you are done with this product then this will become your first choice.

If you need more info about ISA2004 then keep visiting this blog or email me at adnanrafik@yahoo.com links to visit

www.isaserver.org
www.microsoft.com/isaserver

Bringing IT Together

2005-02-13T20:58:00.001+04:00

13-Feb-2005
A meeting was scheduled with one of my friend (Iqbal Muhammad), at McDonalds Karachi. He has just come back from Dubai. The purpose of this meeting was to give him the idea about IT Community for IT Prof by IT Prof. I highlighted him about the plans I have and and how I'm gonna do it.
I also told him about our INETA group lead by Danish Sami (http://netfoundry.blogspot.com). Mr.Iqbal was really happy and he is ready to join me to play his key role. He has extensive experience in IT and he is in the market for the last 5-6 years. Thank you Iqbal.

IEEE-USA KarachiSections AGM

2005-02-13T20:58:00.000+04:00

10-Feb-2005
The Annual Generalbody Meeting (AGM) was held at AVARI TOwers karachi. All the IEEE members were invited from Karachi section. It was very good experience to be with them after a gap of 2-3 yeras. We discussed many thing like
How to promote IEEE and IT among students?
What is the advantage being a memeber of IEEE?

Also there were some good suggestions like
--To bring the academia and Industry closer
--To arrnage Workshops
--To arrange seminars on regular basis

I also got the chance to meet with IT department heads of some university colleges to share my views and ideas. Soon I'll put the summary of my meetings with them.

keep coming back for more updates about IT.

Building IT together

2005-02-04T15:43:00.000+04:00

These days I’m busy in forming A Different IT Pro Community. This idea came into my mind few months back and now it is about be to be started. Actually I've been surfing on the Internet the Internet to find out some IT organization. So I found CULMINIS.

Being a part of this community you (IT Pro) can share your ideas with IT Pros and will get the chance to learn from industry expert. Moreover we have our network in Pakistan and UAE now so we will be organizing the workshop, technical discussion, career grooming guideline etc. We will cover both technical and managerial aspects in our discussions and meetings with you. As we are Microsoft-centric so we will have access to resources provided by Microsoft and will become the part of Microsoft communities.

The important thing is that you should have good skills and you should be confident to express your expertise. We have selection criteria to join this community. You can email us anytime to join our community i.e. MSPC. Microsoft Professional’s Community.

If you have the same ideas then do join us and expand IT together.

More on ISA2004

2005-02-02T20:03:00.000+04:00

After a very long time I’m back on my track, as I’m busy here in establishing my business and some projects. This is really very good experience when you start your business. In short I was very busy for the last 6-8 weeks and I’ve given enough time on ISA2004.ISA2004 is an application aware firewall or I better say more than a firewall. I don’t only blocks and forward the port; it gives you the control of each and every application. It gives full control to the network administrators. It is almost impossible to bypass ISA2004 security if you have implemented on your LAN. It is the best of the best product I’ve ever worked. It does block everything. Here you feel confidence and get relax that no user on your LAN can misuse the network and internet.

As far as security is concerned you can have many networks in just one firewall. You need to add only network adapters and that’s it. You can have multiple networks and each and every network can be isolated easily. More over you can implement the policies on each and every network address pool, it depends how you have done the sub-netting. Even no one can guess that you are running ISA2004 server at the backend.

ISA2004 blocks all peer-to-peer applications intelligently if even these applications (kazaa, morpheus uses port 80) try to bypass the firewall.

The only thing which is not available in ISA2004 is bandwidth controlling. This is the only thing which is lacking in this product otherwise this best product to suit any kind of network if they are looking for security or caching.

I’ve tested this product on a network of 50 computers where we have every kind of users, from business users to computer geeks. ISA2004 has given very tough time to computer geeks because all the time they need full bandwidth pipe and they want to download whole internet on their PC.

During the implementation of this ISA2004 product I had few problems but I’m very
thankful to Thomas Shinder who helped me whenever I sent email to him.

I suggest you to go for ISA2004. Do not wait and get started. You’ll see what you
have never expected in any firewall. Soon I’ll put more stuff related to ISA200.

Windows XP SP2 Critical Update

2004-12-16T16:57:00.000+04:00

Latest Update--- I received this email from Tomasz Onyszko, on Patch Management User Group. It's really a serious update.

Windows Firewall in Windows XP SP2 can sometimes interpret the whole Internet to be a local subnet.

Read for more info

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=886185

Download update [only for genuine MS Windows]

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?amp;displaylang=en&familyid=da66a0ac-55ca-4591-b3e6-d78695899141&displaylang=en

Regards

ISA 2004 Server ..Out of Box Solution

2004-11-16T21:38:00.000+04:00

Well I've been thinking of this. And suddenly I found a link on the web. It sounds really good that this product is available as Hardware but providing Stateful Inspection rather than stateful filtering.

And definitely it'll work better than assembled PC because as we know that these kinds of products are benchmarked and thoroughly tested. I'm extracting some lines below from the article which I read on Microsoft's website.

“ Customers tell us they want more choice when it comes to how they secure their applications and networks. ISA Server 2004 allows customers to choose between hardware and software-based security solutions, depending on their needs and environment,"

Perera says. "We've already announced partnerships with a half-dozen hardware solutions providers to build appliances based on ISA Server, and all of them are expected to be available this year."

The HP ProLiant DL320 Firewall/VPN/Cache Server running ISA Server 2004 is one of these solutions. Built to help address network and perimeter security, it provides flexible multi-layer firewall, VPN and Web cache functionality. Tight integration with Microsoft Windows Server 2003 means customers can quickly improve network security and performance with a full-featured security package that is extremely affordable.

According to Perera, there is a large opportunity for hardware partners to extend the security features of ISA Server 2004 to appliances. Several worldwide partners have already announced such plans, including Celestix Networks, HP, Network Engines,
Pyramid Computer, RimApp Technologies and Wortmann AG.

Perera also notes that ISA Server 2004 was designed to be fully extensible, enabling Microsoft solution partners to build complementary add-ons and allowing customers to customize the platform for their needs.
This week, 10 partners announced supporting products to help customers implement their defense-in-depth strategies. They include Cloudmark (anti-spam); FilterLogix (Web filtering); Forum Systems, Inc. (Web services security); GFI Software Ltd. (content filtering and anti-virus); McAfee, Inc. (anti-virus and anti-spam); Panda (anti-virus), Rainfinity (load balancing and high availability), RSA Security Inc. (two-factor authentication); SurfControl plc. (Web filtering); and WebSpy Ltd. (monitoring and analysis) ".

If you need more info then visit the link below.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2004/jul04/07-13ISAServer.asp

Regards

'' Gotta more work done on ISA2004. Seeya soon :) ''

Messing Up with ISA2004 & ISA2000

2004-11-10T22:21:00.000+04:00

Oh my GOD! Since i've arrived here I got loads of work. I planned to work on these products thorougly but after sometime. The day I arrived here I got some problem at my branhc office in ISA2000. There are 15 clients on the network using ISA ad the proxy server. My assitant engineer gave me the report that there is problem in speed and they can't block the files on the internet and downloading and all general problems.

Now I've implemnented ISA 2004 properly and it is running very smoothly. How I did it and how much time it took and complete scenario you'll find very soon. These days I'm really busy. I've to arrnage community get-together also here. Time is going very fast. I'm gonna update this blog very soon with more informative stuff.

Till then Enjoy !

Highlights of .Net Foundry's 3rd meeting of the month

2004-10-30T19:53:00.000+04:00

http://netfoundry.blogspot.com

Below are some of the points we discussed in last meeting.

Achievements discussed what we have achieved in last 6 months.
What we planned in the month of May 2004 we achieved in Oct 2004.
7Layers and .NetFoundry have just started live support for WinXP, Network Security, Network management and SQL server. Free of charges.
Both 7Layers and .NetFoundry are trying to build better and stronger I.T. communities so the users/customers won’t have any problem while running their Desktop (WinXP) or Corporate level applications.
Both 7Layers and .NetFoundry working together for a better future.

Backup strategy for small offices

2004-10-30T19:46:00.000+04:00

If you are having or maintaining an office of 5 computers on the network then your management will always be looking for a cost-effective solution. In order to suggest a better solution you must know what the things that management wants to backup are.

According to my experience they want back of their

All Emails accounts (all emails and contact lists)
All their documents (word, excel, power point and access files)
Internet Favorites

So for this small kind of network I don’t think so that this small office would afford the Tape Drives to backup their data or DAT drives. (of course expensive). Most probably you must be having a Domain Controller on this network. If not then must be a Member server. So in this scenario share one volume as the backup volume for all the data which is on the network. If you want to make it safer then write the data on CD or DVD.

So in any worst case if you have regular backup of the above mentioned then you can recover the system easily.

As far as Desktop settings and programs are concerned you may have to re-install if you have not taken the Image of your operating system. I'm sure it will help you.

Beware of Dogs! [Adware and Spyware]

2004-10-29T02:13:00.000+04:00

Today I was in my friend’s office and we were using the Internet. We normally access the Internet and have never seen any kind of ambiguity while accessing the Internet. Last week I had downloaded the XP service pack 2 and installed on both out machines. Also the network is protecting with the Cisco PIX Firewall. So I was very sure that my PC is now secure because I’m also using SP2 built-in firewall.

If you read my last week blog in which I’ve asked question to one of Microsoft’s security guru and he said that XP firewall can’t scan the outgoing packet if any Spyware or Adware is already installed into the computer. But XP firewall shall scan the incoming packets.

So today in the morning we just got in our mind to check whether we have Spy and Adware. He scanned and he found many in his notebook. Also I used two Spy and Adwares. First I used ‘AdwareSafe’. It has found ‘KeenValue.Updater’ Adware. And it has also found many tracking cookies like atdmt.com, doubleclick.net and msn.com. I don’t know about these cookies and how much riskier are these. One Hijacker object was also found which was un-recognized.

KeenValue KeenValue.Updater Description:

KeenValue.Updater is an updater for eUniverse's products, such as KeenValue, IncrediFind and PerfectNav. KeenValue.Updater runs in the background, connects to update.thunderdownloads.com (12.129.205.220) looking for updates.

http://www.securemost.com/articles/trou_3_remove_keenvalue.htm

Then I’ve used another trial version ‘Adware Spy’. It has found PopupDefence Hijacker[a trojan]and Konitiki.

So what I get is that I should not rely only on Firewalls. I should have to have Adware and Spyware so I can block the cookies and ads. Spyware and Adware are really very important to secure your computer.

Both the above software I tried is the trial versions and I could not get the full function but I got rid of spyware and adware. So I’ll be keep checking the more Spyware and Adware to keep secure my notebook.

Your comments and suggestions are welcomed here.

.Net[DotNet]Foundry's First Official Meeting

2004-10-23T17:17:00.000+04:00

Day before yesterday, 21st of OCT 2004 we (I and Danish Sami) were having our very first official meeting of INETA under NetFoundry. It was really a good discussion and we came across many good questios. We planned how can we progress faster and faster and build up a good community. In that meeting my area was about Windows Security, I better say WinXP security where I have higlighted the features of XP SP2. There was a question where I couldn't convince him, but today in the morning I emailed to one of Microsoft's MVP and got the answer. Here is the reply of my email.

adnanrafik@yahoo.com wrote:>
Mail from MVP Jubo Security Blog:> > Sender: Adnan Rafik> Email: adnanrafik@yahoo.com>
IP Address: x.x.x.x>
=====================================>
I was doing discussion with one of my very good friend and he asked me a question about XP SP2 built-in firewall.> If we enable the firewall it'll do the port filtering and block the pop-up and un-wanted application. But shall is scans the packet which are open. Let say if msn port 1863 is open to communicate on the Internet then anyuser can send the malicious code through that port. So how this firewall gonna protect me on opened ports.

> > Regards> Adnan Rafik>

http://7layers.blogspot.com>
http://netfoundry.blogspot.com>

Hello Adnan,
The Windows firewall in SP2 will not block any popups. The firewall only blocks unwanted/malicious data from the outside/the Internet. It will not check for any outgoing data from maicious software that are already installed on the computer.

Here are some very good websites that give you more information aboutSP2 and Windows firewall:"Windows XP Service Pack 2"http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/default.mspx
"Understanding Windows Firewall"http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/security/internet/sp2_wfintro.mspx
The firewall is sufficient for most 'home users' but if you want a firewall that checks for outgoing data too then I'd suggest you take a look at ZoneAlarm:http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jspand/or Sygate:http://www.sygate.com/

There are other firewalls out there but these two are the most well known firewalls and you can configure them as you wish.
Greetigns from Holland.. Jurren
-- Jurren Bouman

A visit to Duabi GITEX 2004

2004-10-08T23:46:00.000+04:00

Like every year there are 2 GITEX in dubai. One is GITEX Shopper and other one is GITEX for ITPros. GITEX Shopper , I didn't enjoy so I'm not gonna write about it buit if you really want to good stuff at lower prices then this is the event.

GITEX for ITPros was really very very good. I attended last year's and this year. It was really very good.I've there to many companies and I found many good product related to security like firewalls, intrusion detection systems/prevention and so on. There I also got a product name Nitix, it is a self healing operatin system based on Linux.This eems to be a very good prodcut. I've seen the demo but I have not tested. I'll put the result after testing this product. For more info visit the website www.primajava.com

There I also got the chance to see the demonstration for fortinet firewall suit. It is one-end solution. They have put every thing in one box. It was very fast. They have fiorewall, Anti-virus, IDS/IPS, Content filtering etc. Each and everyting is there. You don't have to buy different prodcut to secure your network. I couldn't get the price but as a product it has got all the feature. www.fortinet.com

Then I also went to securecomputing (www.securecomputing.com) here they also have their firewall product but different then fortinet. They do proxy firewall while there is not proxy in fortinet firewall. Both of them have their valid answers why they do have proxy and why they don't.

Then about all other products there was hot topic was patch-management. Cisco professional were giving the presentation on patch-managment. TrendMicro also introduce this technology in its product too. There was another good product Bindview (bindview.com). They also have a vast variety of product, specially for Microsoft platform.

So what I observed there that things like laptop and PDAs are getting very cheaper and security is going be more and important topic. That day is very near when we all be connected every where and there will categorised internet security profesional. Someone will be giving the consultancy on handlheld devices security problem and some one will be offfering his services as Windows Security Analyst, unix Security engineer etc.

That is is very near...may be 2007.

QRIO-------Sony's QRIO

2004-10-08T22:42:00.000+04:00

Have you heard about Sony's QRIO, a word derived from CURIOSITY. Few days back here in Dubai I went to I.T. exhibition called GITEX. Actually there are every year two GITEX, one is GITEX Shopper and other is for IT Pros. I went to GITEX shooper and intilly it wasn't attractive to me because I didn't find any unusual thing over but when I reached to Sony's pavillion, it was great. What surprised me that two robot were dancing on a song.

It was un-believeable for a miment but as I.T. Geek I accepted this because it has to be done on one day and that was the day when I saw myself. Sony have done really a good job. Amazing. This innovation will give a new turn to the next genertion. The atmosphere is being created as we used to watch the movies that robot will do this and that and now it is happening when the robot is very near to you.

I couldn't get the price for those robots but it should be very expensive. Those robots even can stand itself if it is fall down. Those robots for state of the art. You can't say that there is something left in their designing. Each and every body part was moving like actual human's body.

I salute to Sony for this centuary's innovation.

An Eye on Microsoft [Part 1]

2004-10-08T22:31:00.000+04:00

Why most of the company's are having problems with Microsoft?Some says it has copied .Net from JavaSome says Windows is copied from MacintoshSome says I.E. is copy of Netscape Navigator(obselete)and also the commnents like Windows is not stronger as compared to Unix and LinuxMS SQL server is not as good as compared to Oracle or other databasesWin XP is too much vulnerable etc... and If I have to write on each and every prodcut then I may need a whole week to think over it and find the points like this against Microsoft.

I have only one question Before Bill Gates started working on Microsoft, there were already IBM, Macintosh, Unix and other companies were in the market and they were having good business. For them Bill gates was just a kid or a youth in that field by that time. He worked hard and learnt from other's experience and given a new shape to this new technology with more user firendly interface to his prodcuts (Win98 millions of copies were sold in a week).

So where were those I.T. Guru or CEO or President, why they didn't have this idea? If they had this idea the why didn't they implement? Now they claim to Microsoft!

So the thing is that He (Bill Gates) made the right decision at the right time and still he is doing the same. Now he is having a teams of more than 50,000 I.T. Pros around the world.
So he got the idea in his mind and he found the weaknesses in others product and started making his own. Now today every single computer is loaded with windows whether Win98 or XP or Windows 2000. So his opppnent are always trying to kneel him down and trying their best to file as much as case they can. Everyday they try to find some thing against Microsoft and this
war will keep going on because it is a Business War. Microsoft has taking a large part of software market and now targeting the Server End too.

Microsoft will be producing a different number of Servers and again there will be many issues like we hear every day and I'm sure Microsoft will take a significant part the Server End market too. Microsoft upgrade and enhance its prodcuts from the experience of his users (desktop users, business pros or I.T. pros). Microsoft's business strategy is very sound and and even after the Dotcom downfall Microsoft's had increased his number of offices and employee's and spreding too fast. As technogy is changing very fast and the thing which were supposed to be
happen in 2010 are exitst today in 2004. So the the way the technogly is upgrading Microsoft knows it and keeping the same pace or higher than that.

Yes I agree that there are many thing where Microsoft's products are not good enough but evry time they are improving and very soon will be having the best of the best.

May be you'll agree with my opinion or not but this is what I observed Microsoft since 1997.
So if you have any opinion then put your comments are.........

Tom Cruise [Collateral]

2004-10-02T18:18:00.000+04:00

Tom Cruise [Collateral]
-----------------------
Wow watta movies it was! Amazing, superb, nice direction, good touch. The credit goes to the director the way he made the
Tom cruise to work in this movie. The visual effects were also very good. There was scene in the movie when Tom Cruise was in
the Cab and was going to kill is next target. The cameraman took the close up of tom cruise's face, his whole face capture the 75% of the screen. This effect was just like when we do the Zoom-in zoom-out functions in the Video Games. Tom Cruise style, the way he was dressed and the way he was running and acted was just like a very hi-tech video game released by Sony SP2 or Microsoft's Xbox.

Tom Cruise (my most fav. hero). Very changed role in this movie but mind didn't accept him as villain, even when he was shot dead I hoped that he will kill his target but end was really good and he died.(sorry if u havn't watched the movie). This was about a very professional killer of the near future but the whole movie was dark, seemed like 1990s.

A professional killer with most advanced tools like Tablet PC, everytime Wi-Fi, getting the targets list online one after another...nice even he had the acces to everywhere. His reflexes was very quick, sixth sense was very good. I must say it was such a nice movie and I'll watch this movie on next weekend too.

I suggest u to watch this movie.

TechNet Script Center Sample Scripts

2004-09-25T21:23:00.000+04:00

My last visit on Microsoft's Technet website few days back and I found there really good stuff. I'm still going throug the scripts and I found all the scripts (check upto now) working properly without causing any problem in the system.

These scripts are really helpfull to the system administration. Most of the scripts includes system's informaion reterieval. When I was testing I.E. script , all the scripts are really good but I could only get the information like ,'what is the proxy server used by the I.E.', 'What is the zone for I.E. secured or un-secure' etc. I didn't find any scripts if I've to modifiy the I.E. settign by using any of these scipts.

I'm about to send the email to Script Center people, as soon as I get the reply I'm gonna put it on my Blog.

You must also get experienced with these scripts.

URL to visit is ...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=b4cb2678-dafb-4e30-b2da-b8814fe2da5a

Regards

Lack of Information (visit was unpaid)

2004-09-17T09:56:00.000+04:00

Few days back there was call from one of the Internet Cafe owner. He called me with my friend's reference and told me that
he's got some sevior problme in his network and wants me to visit ASAP.
So I had to visit there but on the phone I told him for the visiting charges.
Then I went there on next and I found total 15 computers there out of which 12 were running Win98 and 3 were running WinXp.
The problem he was experiencing was that network normally was down everyday after 3p.m till 7 p.m. and some time in the late
night too.
He was really uopset becase customer were complaining in front of me. He told me that someone is trying to hacking his
network :) .
He said me to monitor and try to check it out whether ist being hacked or not !
He Also said that he will laydown the new network cable to get ridd of this problem (amazing idea).
I was there for around 1 hr and just looking at the problem on his WinXp and Win98 machine. And found the same thing what I
had doubt about. Win98 was having Illegal Operations etc.. and WinXp without patches ...You Know.
I just swithced off his 3 computer (running XP) and after few minutes it started working properly. I told him don't switch on the computer and WinXp has to be patched or install Win98. He said he'll test for another 24 hrs.

Just because of lack of information he was re-installing the network cable and thinking about hacking on his Internet Cafe ...amazing.

Since then there is no call from him, because he has to pay.
You will may people like this. What do to do with them.

Discussion on ROI [patch management]

2004-08-17T07:36:00.000+04:00

Susan’s Reply

As a beancounter if I hear Return on Investment one more time.......

these are the same CFO's that say in the trade journals that viruses cost them billions of dollars [or millions ...who's counting?] .... add that to your ROI calculator. Now tell me they can't afford this and yet they can afford to do the cleanup? Sorry but that doesn't make any sense. Loss of productivity is not easily quantified. They aren't counting their total costs and just kidding themselves. And pardon me, but aren't these the same CFOs who just demanded that software vendors make more secure software?

So... how many local administrators you have on those 10,000 seats?

Where's your ROI on cleaning up a Windows 98 machine after it gets nailed with viruses?

Migration isn't trival period, I'll grant you. But neither is lack of control. And every day that goes by where you can't roll these patches out to any machine no matter what the operating system in a quick and timely manner, that firm is accepting the risk ....and I'd love to see the SOX 404 report on that entity.

I know I'm lucky down in SBSland. We have less people to convince. :-)

Might want to read the Wilcox blog... looks like Microsoft has changed [lengthened product support]

http://www.microsoftmonitor.com/archives/002993.html

---------------------------------------------------------------
David to Susan

Susan...excellent for you that you took the one OS, one world solution.
> But it's not a trivial thing in many organziations, and your comment
> that "....any company can afford it..." does not hold water. Talk to
> a Fortune 500 CFO and tell her why she should approve the millions of
> dollars to do a sweeping OS migration across 10,000 desktops.
>
> CFO: "Where is the ROI?"
>
> You: "Wellllll, they'll be easier to manage...we can get patches out
> and testing done faster..."
>
> CFO: "Where is the ROI for the two million dollars you are asking me
> for?"
>
> You: "Welllll, it will make life easier in IT if we only have one OS
> to worry about...we will make it secure more easily"
>
> CFO: "Will this reduce our controllable expenses by over 2 million
> dollars in the next 24 months? In other words, is IS willing to take
> 1 million dollars a year out of their expense budget if I approve this?"
>
Ahhhh but if you answer "Yes"......
Similar trajectory here albeit in a much smaller setup. We were willing to give up a (projected) additional person to buy patch management software and some licenses for semiautomated updates. Cheaper for whole, argueably more effective for IT. We may come to regret the decision (the tipping point changes over time) but it was defensible way back in late 2003 [sic].

> CFO: "You just wasted 10 minutes of my day...talk to me when you have
> a legitimate ROI...good day"
>
> NOTE: If you think I invented the above discussion, you do not/have
> not managed in a F500 environment. It's about the business and the
> bottom line. I agree that a unfified environment is a nice
> thing...but you have it backwards with regard to who can and can't
> afford it. A smaller scale organization has a much easier time driving a change like this, Susan.

Mr. A

Patch management

2004-08-17T07:06:00.000+04:00

Patch ManagementThis is the very important part to manage any network these days. This term is not a new term. You must be very well area of this. I'm not gonna write too much technical about this. There many products available for patching the systems like Microsoft’s SUS, MS SMS, Shavlik's HFTNetCheck etc. Here I'm giving a link which will tell you How does Microsoft apply the patches to their networked system.

http://www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/sample/DOMIS/update/2004/01jan/0104cpam.htm

This link is provided by ROD Trents at patch management group http://patchmanagement.org

If you want to get more info subscribe to this very informative website.

Regards Mr. A

Focus on Security

2004-08-16T21:00:00.000+04:00

The purpose of having this web presence is to share my real life experience with you (ITpeople). As I'm moving more towards the Security side so I'll try my best to put the actual scenario and daily life problem (professional ofcourse :). All my discussion will be related to Microsoft's products but you have the liberty to add irrespective of any vendor.

Today networks are laid down, systems are implemented and Internet is going to be the part of everyone's life. Now the requirement is for smooth network connectivity, virus-free network, ease of management etc. One should not do the experience but should learn from other's experience.

Here you can access to the Techtalks which I normally have with Microst's representative. It doesn't mean that I'm a Tech reporter, the thing is that I never miss the chance to attend the workshops and seminars organized by them.

I'd like to suggest some book which are not related with security or networking but these boks will give you a better idea about howto top fortune companies made the success stories.Management is very important part whether related to life or with our work. One should know howto to manage all things together. I'm not telling you to read the books on politics or about any sports but do read books on management and on numbers. To get more details on numbers and how does it work read Robert T. Kiyosaki's book.

After reading these few books I got a very clear picture about career and howto proceed. These are very famous books by Industry leaders. 'The Road Ahead' & 'Business@ the speed of thought' both written by 'Bill Gates'. & 'What Management IS' by Joan Magretta. 'Rich Dad and Poor Dad' by Robert T. Kiyosaki.

Here are some useful links
SecurityFocus, Microsoft Security, CERT, Astalavista, Very good security stuff

Regards Mr. A

Network Management

2004-08-16T09:09:00.000+04:00

Network Management, the most interesting part for me. Specially when you are having the task to manage an enterprise network where you have Webservers, Databases, File servers, and clients running common application on their desktop. So if you are going to implement a new infrastructure then you can have an ideal setup but on the other side in an existing network you may have to face many difficulties.

The most common question ever asked is 'How much', means how much is gonna cost me (your client). What is the advantage of having this and doing this. Why shoul I pay this much and what is the return on this. People sometimes ask ridiculous questions but you have to convince them. There are two important factors 1.How strong is your background in I.T.?2.Do you have the skills to convince others?

If you both of these qualities then you are the successful I.T. professional otherwise you'll lack something in your professional life.

In my next post of the Network Management I'll put articles on Proper Network Managment whether it is a corporate LAN or Data Center or a Small office network. Different network have different policies, different strategies and different priorities. I'll try my best to give you a clear picture about it.

Your comments and suggestion are welcomed.

Regards
Mr. A