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KEYWORDS=net, use, contentkeeper, visionfs, samba, DAVROM CONSULTING Newsletter - Issue # 24 - Dated: Mon Jun 21 13:35:55 EST 2004




From the desk of David Clark

DAVROM turned three years old on the 1st of June 2004 and we would like
to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our customers, our suppliers
and all those who helped us continue servicing customer needs in the
UNIX/Linux I.T industry.

Welcome to some of the new readers of the DAVROM Newsletter - seems every
time we do the e-mail-out we always have 5 or so more added to the list
just prior to sending.... and then some who drop off due to failed
e-mail addresses after sending. If you need your e-mail details changed,
want to leave a quick comment or be removed from the newsletter list,
please visit our newsletter registration/update page:

http://www.davrom.com/newsletterreg.html

In this issue we have put in two articles on new products DAVROM has
started selling/supporting. The first one, SureBack, we believe fills a
large gap in the area of individual Windows PC backup.
The other product, ContentKeeper, also based on Linux server technology,
helps control Internet access by users within organisations.

Support for us lately continues on to be SCO, Linux, SnapGear, ePipes and
all the good UNIX/Linux technologies they encompass.

My personal thanks to Simon who gave me a nudge to get this newsletter out.

I would like to thank the reader for their time in reading this newsletter.

David.M.Clark


UNIX Quote

Linux on your desktop - a real alternative.

SureBack - A Vital Solution for PC data

Recently I have started working with a product that I believe fills a huge
void in the backup process of most companies. Most organisations are
server-centric and the focus of backup and disaster recovery lies purely on
the UNIX/Linux/Microsoft servers - as they are as close to 100% uptime as
well as the speed of recovery in the event of failures. For an organisation
this is vital and has been well covered.

For the most part, the individual PCs and Laptops in an organisation have
been left to "fend for themselves" when it comes to backups - if it isn't
burnt to a DVD or CD (floppies are too small now), copied up to a server
when there is a window of time and opportunity (and who has that), copied to
another disk somewhere in a drawer or on the network - and the PC goes down,
it is just bad luck.... Until SureBack.

SureBack offers a non-intrusive backup of a PC's vital data to a central
server via the intranet/Internet without requiring the user or an
administrator to sit there and safeguard the process. The user can continue
working on the PC as the backup process remains in the background in a fully
automated, secure and monitored state.

Please find here, some extracts from the article "(Sure)Back to the Future":

"...The need to protect mission-critical data from loss or unauthorised
access, is in many cases critical to the continued viability of any
organisation. Blueprints, financials, specifications, communications and
general intellectual property a company wants to keep confidential are at
risk. SureBack International data-backup specialists, operate in Europe, the
United Kingdom and Africa are now in Australia.

"The recent move towards mobility has further complicated the process of
securing company data", says Richard Dewing, SureBack director. This has
placed many organisations at risk from data loss and theft of critical
information.

Legal recognition is given to any document created on a palmtop, laptop or
desktop PC and can be used for evidentiary purposes in a court of law. This
can leave any unprepared company more nervous than a Zimbabwean batsman
without padding. A major liability faced by virtually every company, relates
to protecting data from both loss and unauthorised distribution. It is
critical that organisations establish access and security policies for both
their active as well as their backed up data. SureBack excels in offering
specialised backup service for Desktops and Laptops. "We provide a unique
managed solution which tracks and monitors all backup activity", says
Dewing.

Management and Monitoring: SureBack allows for easy server management,
reporting, policy and permission modification, individual and group profile
management, as well as an array of other monitoring tools. Complete
management of both the iServer and iClient applications require only basic
IT knowledge and the programmes have been designed for maximum ease of use.

Disaster Recovery: It is critical that companies have fast and efficient
Disaster Recovery Programmes in order to minimise downtime and lost
productivity. Yes, Time is still Money . . . SureBack minimises downtime by
providing an easy to use restore function that can restore all, or part, of
a directory to its original, or any user-selected, location. The ease
of use also drastically reduces manpower requirements when restoring data.
Users cannot delete data or make any irreparable changes to his/her file
structure.

All data is uniquely encrypted for every individual PC for storage at 448
bits and re-encrypted for transfer at 1024 bits. This encryption is
unbreakable by any current technology, assuring that confidential, backed-up
data remains just that...confidential.

SureBack offers flexible, 24/7 access to your data whether you are in your
office, or in another country. Can you afford marching off into the future,
without first securing your past?"

We would welcome the opportunity to present SureBack to you and show you the
power of this awesome remote backup system - and of course the central
backup server runs on Linux for guaranteed uptime and reliability.


ContentKeeper

MPA Systems, DAVROM's primary supplier of SCO and UNIX/Linux related
hardware and software, have announced the release and availabilty of
their new product: ContentKeeper.

ContentKeeper is an appliance and associated update service designed
to fit easily and transparently into large or small computing network
environments and is used to monitor web surfing traffic.

Some key features of ContentKeeper are:

- Montioring non-business related web surfing.
- Allows organisations to develop and enforce their own Internet acceptable
use policies.
- Helps better manage an organisations access to Internet resources.
- Manage non-business related file downloads.
- Controls pornographic and illegal Internet content entering the workplace
by blocking, coaching and/or authentication.
- Block and/or monitor staff usage of Internet free e-mail accounts.
- Implement rules to allow staff to access non-business sites/e-mail
accounts outside business hours.

ContentKeeper requires its own stand-alone PC/Server and is based on Linux
server technology.

Nice product with loads of features.


Some News-worthy items

SnapGear have relaced the aging SnapGEAR Lite and Lite+ with the
new and more powerful SG300. The SG300 is a compact, feature-rich
network security appliance that is perfect for securing very small
networks and remote workers. The onboard 4 port 10/100 Ethernet switch
enables a small business to implement a LAN quickly and easily, and
connect the network to the Internet via broadband (ADSL, cable,
SHDSL, etc.) or narrow-band (modem or ISDN) connections. If the
broadband connection is lost, the SG300 can fail over in seconds to
the narrowband connection, ensuring maximum uptime.
Visit - http://www.cyberguard.com/snapgear/SG300.html

SCO UnixWare 7.1.4 - SCO announces product and availability details for
SCO UnixWare 7.1.4. In addition to new features and support for the latest
hardware, this release introduces significant enhancements to the default
configurations for most current editions of the product and introduces
the new Small Business Edition designed for small business and edge of
network applications.
Visit - http://www.sco.com/products/unixware714

SCO Vintela Authentication - enables one user identity for Windows and UNIX
logins. Vintela Authentication from SCO enables UNIX user logins to be
authenticated in the same manner as Windows user logins, through Microsoft
Active Directory. Users need only remember a single username and password for
logging into Windows and UNIX resources.
Visit - http://www.sco.com/products/authentication/

Red Hat launches new desktop Linux Red Hat Desktop will be targeted at
corporate users - May 04, 2004 Tuesday, RedHat unveiled a new version of the
Linux operating system software designed for the corporate desktop.
Visit - http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/05/04/HNredhatdesktop_1.html


Tech Tip

Sometimes you need to map drive letters on your Windows PC to a
UNIX/Linux server running Samba or VisionFS. Drive letters often make it
easier for users to identify where they need to go from within
applications such as Word (or OpenOffice) or in "My Computer".

By inserting the following lines in a file called C:\mydrives.bat you can
easily substitute these lines to get the results you want:

@echo off
cls
net use h: /home
net use p: \\kanga\public
net use t: \\kanga\tmp

net use

The above lines are for a DOS/Windows batch file and the "net use"
command is the old Lan Manager command used to manipulate access to
drives (share folders) and printers. The line:

net use h: /home

tells the MS PC to map the drive letter H: to the users $HOME directory
on the UNIX/Linux server. This location may be something like
/u/home/fred in reality.

The next two lines:

net use p: \\kanga\public
net use t: \\kanga\tmp

map the drive letter P: to the Public share folder on the UNIX/Linux
server and the T: to the Temporary share folder on the UNIX/Linux server.
You cannot just make up the share folders, they must physically exist on
the UNIX/Linux server and you can see what share folders the server has
available by browsing the server via "Network Neighbourhood" or "My
Network Places" in Windows.

Placing a script like this in your Windows startup will cause the drive
mappings to happen each time the PC starts up.

In Samba on UNIX/Linux, the above batch file example can be placed in a
netlogon area on the server to be executed each time you log into the
server and network.


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