Globalize Networks blog

Some clients insist on having mobile broadband cards in their laptops which is pretty cool.  But why pay for the extra data plan when so many of these same users already have a smartphone with data.  Just configure the device and laptop and you can access the internet wherever there is a cell phone signal.   I have gotten BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices up and running in this way (on AT&T and T-Mobile, other carriers might block this and try to charge extra for it).

Here is a guide to setting up Blackberry devices as “modems”

http://www.blackberryforums.com/blackberry-guides/2019-user-howto-use-blackberry-modem-laptop.html
Windows Mobile setup is pretty simple:

http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/archive/2007/03/30/internet-sharing-the-most-underutilised-unknown-feature-of-windows-mobile.aspx

I haven’t setup Treo’s for this.

After much abuse from my associates, I have finally caved in.  I’m all for using http://Postini.com to filter out spam.  It’s cheap and it works well.  It keeps the spam off the network, and I like how it just sends a quarantine report to the end-users each day.

Of course, now we have to turn off that pesky Outlook junk mail filter:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ork2003/HA011402621033.aspx

To enforce Outlook Junk E-mail Filter user interface options for users

1. In Group Policy, load the Outlook 2003 template (Outlk11.adm).
2. Under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office Outlook 2003\Tools | Options\Preferences, click Junk Mail.
3. Double-click Junk E-mail protection level.
4. Click the Enabled radio button to enable configuring the policy.
5. In the Select level drop-down list, select a protection level to enforce.
6. Click OK.
7. Set other policies, such as specifying to permanently delete junk e-mail messages.

(Found this http://www.myitforum.com/forums/m_148505/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm#148505 via google on “disable junk mail outlook” – thanks to kdsrazor)

Why am I so turned off by online backups?  Well I’m not entirely turned off, I use http://filesanywhere.com to backup my personal workstation. Here are some things that bother me:

1. special files – The performance of online backups relies on being able to perform incremental backups (and compress these?).  But some special files are problematic to incrementally backup: SQL & MS Access databases, Exchange Information Stores, Outlook PST files, Active Directory, etc.  Of course I trust Backup Exec to perform incremental backups of databases and information stores, but many online services don’t even offer that feature.
2. Ok, let’s say that you have to restore EVERYTHING.  How long will that take?  Say you have 150 GB of data and a T1.  (Is it over 13 hours at the theoretical maximum? T1 = 1.5 megabits per second /8 = 187 megaBYTEs per second, 150,000 MB / 187 MBps /60 = ~13 hours.  But when do we ever get full 1.5 mbps transfer rates?  1.2 is probably more realistic so > 16 hours.)  Of course that probably does compare with other off-site solutions like sending tapes to Iron Mountain…

Well, everyone keeps talking about http://mozy.com and they claim to be able to backup all of these special files and they can overnight a DVD in the event of a full restore scenario.  So I guess that I just need to get an account and do some intense testing. (Of course General Electric is already using it for client backups, so who am I to question them? )

• One problem is that for clients with very large data sets, this gets really pricey.  Mozy charges $1.75/GB so 500 GB of data is $875 a month!  We can do it by hand to tape at an hourly rate  and use Iron Mountain for cheaper than that.
• I might look into idrive.com which is much cheaper ($49.95 for 500 GB) but they don’t advertise exchange or sql backups.
• ibackup.com claims to do exchange and SQL for about $1/GB, but do they have the high-profile clients that mozy can boast?