Looking at Novell Teaming or Microsoft Sharepoint?

Take a look @ this article - This article focuses on Novell's Take on the differences between the two products.

http://tinyurl.com/6x225v

The Dangers of NOT having UPS Protection – True Story!

So I have been working with a customer for a few years now. In the past year or so I have strongly recommended that they replace all of their dead UPS’s, Surge Strips, and yes the PC’s and Devices that are in the wall directly with new warranty based battery backup solutions. Be it financial reasons or other, it was not done.

Well for those of you not in Tampa Bay, we are back in our heavy storm season where as almost every day we get nasty storms and lightning. This week, this customer took a direct hit from a lightning strike – and when I say direct, I mean full on direct. I am told they saw Fire come out of the phone pbx box mounted on the wall. What makes this even scarier is that the PBX was 3 feet away from the server and backup tapes.

Now in this customers defense, they are moving to a new location where as all of these issues will be resolved – but it had not happened yet. The team and I were able to get onsite that afternoon – we were shocked what what we found. The following were damaged beyond repair.

• A BrightHouse Cable Modem
• Linksys RVS400 Router
• 4 PC’s Motherboard Network Cards
• 1 PC – (3 Months Old)– Totally fried – Very important data on C:\ (not on server)
• 1 – 8 Port Network Switch
• 1 – 5 Port Network Switch
• 1 – 24 Port Network Switch (Picture below)
• 1 – Very expensive Printer/Scanner/Fax
  
  
  

It took my team about 6 Hours combined to troubleshoot all of the failures, and get them up and running with “Big Sur Loaner Gear”. This customer will now need to buy new network cards, switches, routers, etc.

I am in the process of helping them with the new building where as everything will be on UPS.

Now, how can this be prevented?

Make sure ALL of your digital equipment is on a suitable UPS with the Network Jack Protection. The above issue I just spoke about was because lightning traveled through the network cables. I am still surprised today how many people spend upwards of $1500.00 on a fancy new computer, and 1000’s more on network gear and plug it directly into the wall or directly into their cube. I even come across people who later tell me that when the power blips, the pc just shuts off even with a battery. (Just so you know - This is for 1 of 3 reasons, 1 – Your battery is DEAD – replace it asap, 2 – your PC is plugged into the surge side of the battery backup, not the battery, or 3 you do not have a battery backup) IF this customer had the UPS’s in place with network protection, we would not have had such a large scale failure if anything at all.

Battery Backup’s cost about $40-$60 for the low end models, compare that to the $1500 you spend on the hardware, and the $300-$600 – you will need to pay a engineer to fix your problem. Also add the cost of the lost productivity that that person can not work.

As you can see, the $40-$60 is a much smarter move. If you would like a quote on new batterys, or would like our team to assess your network for this type of issue, please let me know and I will be happy to help. Rember - IF you have a UPS, and fill out the warranty card - Most UPS/Battery Backup Vendors will cover your failed equipment! but only IF you keep the reciept, and register the unit.

Again, Thanks for stopping by!

Charles J. Love
Technical Services Manager
813-269-9145 x227
Big Sur Technologies, Inc.
http://www.bigsurtech.com/

Updated NetWare - Cool Tool

Hi Everyone,

Our friends over at Caledonia Network's have released the new version of BlokFile - The must have NetWare Tool.

This tool allows you to block various types of files from being saved to your NetWare servers.

This new version of BlokFile (1.5) not only blocks the saving (or retrieval if the files already exist on the server) of files like MP3s, AVI's, MPG's, WAV's - any and all unwanted, un-needed files, it also serves as an auditing tool of which users are saving or accessing these files. BlokFile 1.5 can also send alerts via email. As an auditing tool, BlokFile 1.5 can be used in place of Novell's Auditing for file systems, with a much smaller overhead and more flexibility than Novell's own solution.

If you are intrested in learning more, let me know. Good news is the tool is about $200.00 and if you buy more then 1 server you can get volume discounts!

Again, Thanks for stopping by!

Charles J. Love
Technical Services Manager
813-269-9145 x227
Big Sur Technologies, Inc.
http://www.bigsurtech.com/

What is POE Anyway? - Good Article

Found a good article today from the Petri Folks. Take a look at this if you are intrested to know more about what POE is..

http://www.petri.co.il/what-is-power-over-ethernet.htm

Again, Thanks for stopping by!

Charles J. Love
Technical Services Manager
Big Sur Technologies, Inc.
http://www.bigsurtech.com/

iPhone 2.0 Supoprts Exchange & GroupWise (with addon)

The iPhone now supports Exchange Active Sync out of the box. For those of you who have Novell GroupWise, never fear - we have a partnership with NotifyLink where for a nonimal fee per year we can setup calendar, email, and contact sync on your new iPhone - If you want more info about that let me know..

The below link is from the Exchange Blog - http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2008/07/11/449196.aspx

Novell to Open up GroupWise (a bit)

This should lead to some interesting things..

Read this interesting post in the NGW List by Dean Lythgoe, director of GroupWise engineering:

(this is a reply to a question on GroupWise API’s)

We realize that there are GroupWise APIs that have lagged far behind. The Client APIs (object api, C3POs and Tokens) and the Admin APIs have not kept up with the features and other functionalities that continue to be developed and exposed in our GroupWise Clients and interfaces.

Bonsai makes some updates to the object API, C3POs and Tokens, but very little to the Admin API. We have been building, as stated several times, a new Admin API. This will be a Web Service and may provide other bindings. However, the Admin API is not scheduled to be released as part of Bonsai. We will be using some of this API in the new Install - the System Creation part begins to utilize this new API.

As we move away from ConsoleOne, we will be using, documenting and exposing this Admin API to 3rd parties. We will do this as soon as possible. We did focus resources in Bonsai in several different areas in the Window, Linux and WebAccess Clients. We also dedicated a lot of time to further developing our SOAP on the POA. We also pushed the Admin API much further during the Bonsai time frame, but we have not been able to finish the Q/A and documentation on the parts that have been developed. We will continue this process during Bonsai SP1, but we have not solidified our plans on when to release the API.

We realize this is not the best position for all of our partners and integrators. We are committed to our API direction and believe that we will deliver a comprehensive API set to cover all of our partners - including the Linux/Mac Client.

We appreciate and recognize the tremendous efforts of our partners who have filled many of these gaps in the mean time. I encourage you to consider these products and expect them to greatly improve as they receive better and better GroupWise API support.

Regards,

Dean

Dean Lythgoe
Director, GroupWise Engineering

Big Sur Technologies Introduces Internet Based Backup Offering

Hi Everyone,

Big Sur Technologies now offers Internet Based Backup. With Big Sur Remote Backup you can now target specific data in your business that is Important to you. With the basic plan, you can be sure that that "Key Data" is replicated somewhere else other than its primary location.

Big Sur is starting to install Big Sur Remote Backup for those customers who have Critical Data on Laptops where we expect users to do their own backups (but they don’t), and for data that is on servers such as Finical Spreadsheets, ACS Accounting Data, or Quickbooks.

Bottom line, with Big Sur Remote Backup, you can be sure your data is always replicated out of the state of Florida to a Tier 3 Datacenter. Can you say that for your Tapes?

Plans for Big Sur Remote Backup start as low as 9.95 a month for 5 GIG’s of storage. If you want to know more information about this or any other offering please call into Big Sur @ 877-7BIGSUR.



Again, Thanks for stopping by!

Charles J. Love
Technical Services Manager
Big Sur Technologies, Inc.
http://www.bigsurtech.com/

Doing things with GroupWise Easier then Outlook - (Article)

Hi Everyone,

You often hear people saying that Microsoft Outlook/Exchange can do this and that, how come GroupWise Cant? - Here is a nice list of things that GroupWise can do that outlook cant :)

http://www.novell.com/communities/node/2651/what-groupwise-has-outlook-doesnt

Again, Thanks for stopping by!

Charles J. Love
Technical Services Manager
Big Sur Technologies, Inc.
http://www.bigsurtech.com/

Novell's Brainshare on Tour Event

HI Everyone,

Thanks to everyone who came out to support us at the Novell Best of Brainshare Event - It was great to see alot of you again.

If you would like to view the slide decks we used, please visit
http://www.novell.com/promo/brainshare.html


Again, Thanks for stopping by!

Charles J. Love
Technical Services Manager
Big Sur Technologies, Inc.
http://www.bigsurtech.com/

Announcing the Big Sur Technologies and Document Advantage Corporation Partnership

Hi Everyone,


Last week Big Sur made a big announcement - so far the response has been great to this partnership.


What is DocuVantage? Here is a brief overview :

DocuVantage OnDemand™ is an electronic document management application that provides document capture, text search, business process automation and records management compliance. "Electronic Document management is a key need for many of our customers in our medical and local government accounts. DocuVantage is a leader in the document management solution space and presents a great option for organizations who are trying to reduce costs, improve efficiency and remain competitive in a tightening economy", said Sam Sandusky, president and CEO of Big Sur. "We're excited to offer another solution for our clients that continue to round out our managed services offering and help them continue to grow." As a reciprocating benefit, Big Sur will provide the professional services for DocuVantage and receive all network support leads generated from their day to day activities.


More information can be found here - http://www.bigsurtech.com/about/news/062008-DocuVantage.html

Again, Thanks for stopping by!

Charles J. Love
Technical Services Manager
Big Sur Technologies, Inc.
http://www.bigsurtech.com/

Get Ready for Vista! - Say Goodbuy to an Old Friend - Windows XP

Hi Everyone,

Well that time is finally here - Microsoft will stop selling Windows XP today June 20th. As you can see below, you can still get XP, but at what cost? Let’s say you are buying a machine that comes with Vista (which can cost a bit for the better versions) You will also need to buy a downgrade license for XP, AND now you will need to pay an extra 2 or so hours for us to re-load the machine with XP and get it working they way it was with vista. This includes finding all the drivers and settings for that machine that work with XP. With the time it takes us to re-load and the licensing costs is the extra cost worth it to you? This will inflate the cost of a PC by about $300 or so. Some customers want XP because that’s what they know, some want it because their apps support it (or so they think).

My opinion is anyone can run it at this point. Microsoft has put many "Fixes” , and “enhancements" into the SP1 version of vista. Even on my laptop, Pre-SP1 and SP1 Versions of VISTA run very differently. SP1 seems to be very smooth and I have little to no problems compared to when I was running Vista with no support pack.

Now remember, if you are buying a Vista based PC, make sure you have the following - At least 4 GIG's of RAM, and Vista Business (any flavor). Follow these guidelines, and you will surely have a good experience with Windows Vista.

Below is an article I found about the change.

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. is scheduled to stop
selling its Windows XP operating system to retailers and major
computer makers Monday, despite protests from a slice of PC
users who don't want to be forced into using XP's successor, Vista.

Once computers loaded with XP have been cleared from the
inventory of PC makers such as Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.,
consumers who can't live without the old operating system on their
new machine will have to buy Vista Ultimate or Vista Business and
then legally downgrade" to XP.Microsoft will still allow smaller
mom-and-pop PC builder shops to buy XP for resale through the
end of January.

A version of XP will also remain available for ultra-low-cost PCs
such as the Asus Eee PC.A group of vocal computer users who
rallied around a "Save XP" petition posted on the industry news
site InfoWorld had been clamoring for Microsoft to keep selling XP
until its next operating system, Windows 7, is available. The software
maker has said it expects to release Windows 7 sometime in 2009.

Last week, Microsoft said it would provide full technical support for
six-year-old Windows XP through 2009, and limited support through 2014.

Again, Thanks for stopping by!

Charles J. Love
Technical Services Manager
Big Sur Technologies, Inc.
http://www.bigsurtech.com/

Novell Releases GroupWise 7 SP3 IR1

HI Everyone,

Novell has released GroupWise 7 SP3 IR1 to address some issues. The IR1 will be eventually put into SP4. For those of you who need Jim Trice's assistance on patching your GroupWise 7 Enviroment, let me know. It shound be noted, anyone with GroupWise 7 code should update their systems.

Here is the link to the download GroupWise 7 SP3 Hot Patch 1

Click here to view the list of "bugs" and "Fixes" for SP3 ir1


Thanks for stopping by!

Charles J. Love
Technical Services Manager
Big Sur Technologies, Inc.
http://www.bigsurtech.com/

Welcome to the Big Sur Blog!

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to the Big Sur Technologies Services Blog! - Please feel free to RSS this feed as I will be posting updates often. For those of you who use an RSS Feed reader like MyGoogle, MSN, or GroupWise8 - point your feeds to http://www.bigsurtech.com/blogs/atom.xml

Again, Thanks for stopping by!

Charles J. Love
Technical Services Manager
Big Sur Technologies, Inc.
http://www.bigsurtech.com/