CONTENTS *** NewsBytes *** Case Study: Brooke Hospital lightens the load Backup strategies and technologies Google Chrome: nice polish, more spit needed Script of the month: SystemMaintenance Web-based storage for online volunteers Q&A: Cure your slow, unreliable Internet connection Clicks of the Trade - Unlock your taskbar and create quick launch icons

Overview of InfoBulletin Viewing IB (online versions only) View IB Digital Book editions Subscriptions Implementation Privacy policy Contact Details Archives & index of issues coopsys.net Services Approach InfoBulletin About us Contact Us

*** NewsBytes ***
Google Chrome web browser The release today (2-Sep-08) of Google's own web browser caused an Internet storm bringing its own Chrome web site to a halt resulting in a redirect to Google's search home page. The new open source browser claims "a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier" and may turn up the heat on the Firefox/Internet Explorer 'cold war'. Under the hood is a new V8: a scratch-built, high performance engine handling JavaScript. Browsing multi-tabs are placed at the top of the window (instead of underneath the toolbar as in Firefox), each with its independent sandbox to prevent malware from self-installing, and with its own rights boundaries to avoid leaking sensitive information from the rest of the browser, such as online transactions. It also constantly updates its lists of harmful web sites to keep malware and phishing at bay. Chrome's default home page displays smartphone-style, speed dial thumbnails - links to your 9 most visited pages - and its "Incognito" window is Google's answer to IE's InPrivate feature with no cookies or temporary files being logged on the local machine. Finally, the browser bundles a universal 'omnibox' address bar with auto-completion features that offer suggestions as the user types. Time goes online, at the third stroke After 22 years of the telephone speaking clock, watch company Accurist recently ceased its sponsorship and launched its own online clock "to give the British public a time keeping service that is current, modern and useful," according to managing director Andrew Loftus. Speaking clock calls fell from 250m a year two decades ago to 70m, although the BT Speaking Clock has kept time since 1936. Originally known as as "TIM" (the 3-letter code short for "time") that callers used to dial on old-style alphabetic phones. Storage Expo 15-16th October Billed as the "UK’s definitive event for data storage, information and content management", Storage Expo is now in its 8th year and still going strong at London's Olympia venue. A long list of leading industry vendors will be parading the latest technologies and helping visitors find out how to store and manage data efficiently and cost effectively. A cutting-edge education programme will provide an in-depth knowledge of content management practices to deal with today's key storage issues. Register free for Storage Expo.	Calling all fellow desk rabbits Enjoy a bit of geek-parody? Then you'll be pleased to know that series 3 of Channel 4's cult show The IT Crowd, penned by Graham Linehan, is being recorded throughout October. "I can see why you've been having problems, this isn't actually a computer - it's a briefcase" - Roy. Making software fit perfectly American non-profit site Idealware has published Peter Campbell The Perfect Fit: A Guide to Evaluating and Purchasing Major Software Systems. As it states: "A major software package shouldn't be chosen lightly", and in this context it means large systems such as fundraising databases, CRM, network operating systems, web content management, finance and HR, and case management systems. It's all about finding software options, evaluating, deciding, and finally a considered purchase. Give me a "G", give me an "A" Credits: John Mahoney/gizmodo.com And what does it spell? "Smartphone" - probably the next biggest mobile phone revolution. Google just couldn't stay out of the news in September. It's much talked-about phone platform Android was announced by T-Mobile to launch to the US public on 22-October (in the UK by Christmas) in the form of Taiwanese manufacturer HTC's G1 handset - unsurprisingly nothing like the various hyped images of how an Android prototype called 'Dream' might look of course - but stirring enough gossip to indicate that iPhones and Blackberries would be given a run for their money. The G1 hardware sports buttons for answer, hang-up, back, home and a menu button and completely covers interactivity options by including a BlackBerry-style trackball as well as a touchscreen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. But it's the developer-welcoming, open source, Android platform combined with Google's shrewd ad-serving technologies that is the cause of all the talk and some controversy. In fact the marketing has already begun with a Google-Amazon deal giving G1 users one-click access to Amazon's MP3 music store. The Internet-friendly 3G device also includes street-view Google Maps, GPS and push Gmail support. Video training course for charities Charity Technology Trust is running a video training course designed for charities and not-for-profits. The 3-day workshops include 'surgery' sessions and covers all the steps of the process: pre-production, production and post-production. Dates for remaining are 26th September and 2nd October and members of CITRA and CTT clients benefit from a healthy discount. Windows 7 soon Microsoft has promised a first look at the 'next Windows' technology in October. The Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) and the Professional Developers Conference will showcase the efforts of developers working on Vista-based Windows 7, due in January 2010.
*** More NewsBytes ***

	^ Back to contents ^
	1. Case Study: Brooke Hospital lightens the load Responding to demand from overseas users for increased server online time, Brooke Hospital for Animals decided to shift its load on to a Storage Area Network.
Help at hand. Back issues just a click away	IB spoke to Anslem Munroe, engineer in charge of the project that would ultimately ease the load and bolster the availability of Brooke's growing number of servers, both to users in global time zones as well as in the UK. InfoBulletin: What goals did Brooke Hospital for Animals ask you to achieve in the first instance? Anslem Munroe: The Brooke, as they are known, wanted a high level of up-time as they needed to service users located both here in London and abroad, primarily based in India and Africa, so the working time of those users had to be considered. Basically they needed a 24-hour system. Also Brooke were looking at the rising number of servers and disparate backups, and wanted to consolidate this as much as possible. What is a SAN? The architecture of a storage area network (SAN) normally attaches remote devices - such as disk arrays, tape libraries and optical drives to servers - so that the devices appear as local to the operating system. Following drops in cost and complexity, SANs are becoming more popular in small and medium enterprises, as well as large ones. IB: Did Co-Operative Systems suggest the new solution that they used? AM: With this brief Co-Operative Systems put together a proposal for two solutions based around a SAN (Storage Area Network). One solution was based on virtual servers connecting to the SAN while the other was with real servers connecting to the SAN by employing the Windows Clustering Service. We put these forward as solutions that would provide high availability was well as consolidating the potential server spread. IB: What were the benefits? AM: With the SAN and Cluster solution in place, IT people at the main office could now take a server down for maintenance without disruption to users. Since the latter are on the system nearly 24x7, this was a big win, as this level of up-time could not be achieved before. Overseas users have to do things such as carry out welfare research and risk assessments on hundreds of working equines; each animal may need over 200 measurements and observations to be made! IB: What technologies did you use on this case? AM: Storage Area Networks (SANs), Fibre Switches and Windows 2003 Clustering. IB: Were these technologies new? AM: Co-Operative Systems had worked with these technologies at other clients, so we were aware of the capabilities and practical advantages for both users and administrators of the system. However it was the first time we had implemented the technology ourselves. What is a cluster? Cluster computers are linked together, usually through a fast local area network (LAN), to behave as a single computer. Such clusters aim to improve performance and/or availability over that provided by a single computer, yet be much more cost-effective. High-Availability (or 'failover') clusters) are implemented primarily to improve service availability and most commonly provide 2 HA cluster nodes, the minimum requirement to provide redundancy, to eliminate single points of failure. IB: What did the project entail, technically? AM: Dividing, or rather configuring, the SAN drives into LUNs (logical unit numbers), allowing us to assign roughly 700GB to flat data files, 900GB to SQL databases, and 600GB to Exchange mail, plus hot spares and testing. Variable RAID groupings means you can decide on the disc failure protection level that you want for each of those LUNs, weighing fault-tolerance against performance and cost. Then we set up zoning for the Brocade Fibre Channel switches – these subset zones restrict interference, add security, and simplify management by avoiding every storage device being accessed by every system connected to the SAN. For the Windows 2003 Clustering, Microsoft Windows Cluster server was set up on all four new servers. The first two servers were set up with Windows clustering and with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 in a cluster-aware scenario. A 2-node cluster was set up for the File and Exchange Servers. The Navisphere management console is really helpful in managing the SAN storage system. Host, RAID group, LUN and drive management is all done via this web interface. Lightening the loads of working animals The Brooke is the UK's leading overseas equine welfare charity, aiming to improve the lives of such working animals in the poorest parts of the world. Mobile vet teams and community animal health workers include over 750 highly-skilled staff working directly in the field and provide free treatment to animals and train animal owners across 9 countries in Asia, Africa, Central America and the Middle East. By 2016, Brooke hopes have increased the number of working animals they reach from 700,000 to the 5 million suffering horses, donkeys and mules who need help most in the world. thebrooke.org Contacts Could one of our case studies fit your needs? Follow up on this topic using the form below. Tell me more Help me set it up Send me a quote Remind me later Email* Org -IB- Acknowledgements: Anslem Munroe

	^ Back to contents ^
	2. Backup strategies and technologies Today’s variety of backup devices can be slotted into a seamless portfolio encompassing the restore of a single document to a whole disaster recovery scenario.
Help at hand. Back issues just a click away	Backup and restore technologies have been based on tapes and tape drives for decades, becoming the primary mechanism for protecting precious data from corruption or loss. However, while this 1960s-originated technology remains a good method for archiving data, its suitability for managing multi-server backups on the local area network (LAN) has waned as small organisations grow in size and their IT infrastructures grow in complexity to match. New techniques have clicked into place to fill an expanding spectrum of backup needs. So while a tape drive continues to be a large capacity solution with cheap consumables for backing up a whole server, its oh-so-last-century, lumbering, mechanical workings are now positively annoying for recovering those 'Oh no!' accidental deletions. What's more, everyday users are not generally au-fait with server tapes and don't want to have to go and find a techie to fiddle about in the server room to fetch back their time critical documents, even if they had appropriate access and could bear the humiliation. A backup device portfolio The survivors in the current debacle in financial sectors are the ones that adopted a portfolio of financial pots, spreading the risk. So too with backups: the intelligent approach is to create a portfolio of devices that fulfil your needs. A simple, fast backup solution for users and their lost documents. A big networked backup for large email and database files. A massive capacity solution for processes that have time to run such as overnight server backups and regular document archiving. The first line of backup defence is achieved by a technique called Volume Shadow Copying and is bundled within operating systems like Windows 2003 servers (see Recovery shadowing retrieves lost files) and later ones such as Windows 2008. This user-friendly, do-it-yourself file recovery works in seconds without having to bother server admin people and preserves rights and access privileges of documents and data on the server. It’s perfect for restoring data quickly up to a period of a week. The second level of backup will often be implemented as a NAS (network attached storage) box – basically a hard drive in a box with some network-ready 'glue' that means it can be plugged into a Ethernet RJ-45 port and seen on the network. In recent years such 'toaster-style' NAS boxes have dropped in price due to their huge popularity with consumers, the trend itself a result of falling hard drive costs. The two factors spawned an unbeatable market combo and brought TeraByte drive capacities to the level that makes them amenable to backing up entire data structures and - equally important - affordable for small enterprises. But the key areas where NAS rivals tape are transfer speed. Hard discs are tens to hundreds of times faster even across a network and access times (indexing and lookups) happen in milliseconds, while user privileges are preserved within the disc medium. Finally, our comforting old tape drives (but with modern, faster electronics inside) are still there for scooping up masses of data including programs, servers and everything else. With the contents stored safely on static media, tapes are still a good bet for long term archives and disaster recovery. The more assiduous organisations have worked out that they can have the best of both worlds by combining Volume Shadow Copying, NAS and tape together. Shadow Copying resolves short term document recoveries and is handles by the users themselves. A NAS box speedily backs up a whole server in few hours overnight, and then simultaneously provides high availability 'nearline storage' for on-demand recoveries for the next 24 hours, while also copying its data to tape. Effectively this gives the tape drive all day to plod through its business instead of squeezing it into the early hours of the morning before the server data has to be available again. For organisations spread over many time zones, a layered backup has already become an essential. Of course there are plenty of commercial online backup services, but while the backup side of the deal often goes smoothly, many users have qualms about storing their data in another location (or even another country). Also there concerns about how private and leak-proof the storage is and whether the restore process will actually work when used in anger. On top of all that, online backup services have to be rented at a 'per GigaByte' rate, whereas all the solutions listed above – after the setup is done – are rent-free and the data stays on your premises. Contacts Ask for help on these solutions using the Follow-up form below or use our Contact Details. Tell me more Help me set it up Send me a quote Remind me later Email* Org Learn more about backup. -IB-

	^ Back to contents ^
	3. Google Chrome: nice polish, more spit needed Chrome is certainly fast. We haven't seen a browser this slick for ages. But does it shine?
Help at hand. Back issues just a click away	Google's new Chrome browser promises a bright new future, with faster, safer, and easier handling of Internet-launched applications along with browsing and personal information better protected from nasty Internet malware. However, 'all that glitters ...' as they say. Chrome is certainly a personal affair, which installs (without alternative options) into the user's local settings, in other words, the Internet download-and-install must be repeated for every user sharing a PC; there's no saving an executable file for later installation. Once up and running, a few regular web sites didn't appear as normally expected in a Firefox or Internet Explorer browser in terms of layout, even the odd site that was A-rated by W3C standards. Remote control software logmein.com did indeed do what it says on the tin (connects to its own site), but after that failed to grab the remote machine with an error showing "The application failed to start because xpcom.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem". Unfortunately it didn't. Should we be surprised? Clever web apps giant shows off latest toy in the box, perhaps. Well not really, since Chrome is only version 0.2.149.27 which in any other developers book spells out, 'I'm so excited/in an apps race/desperate for the publicity that I really got this out in a rush'. This is a common trait for the sad, lone software developer banging away on the keyboard in his 'shed', but isn't the MO we expect from the 'big G' and all its carefully laid-out PR. As if to confirm that better things are to come, the Chrome installer polls the Internet for updates every hour, or so it seems. Hopefully it's the malware detector doing its job. But things get worse. The Chrome browser fails to display any content at all for my Lotus iNotes webmail account - just a blank page. That's a bit too minimal even for me and IBM won't be impressed. Which is a shame because the transparently encrypted email that Lotus provides is one of those shiny future technologies that we'd all love to see. And what happened to accessibility? No longer can the visually-impaired use their Braille keypads and other aids to simulate keyboard actions such as Alt+F for "pull down the File menu". It's a mater of steering the mouse to the appropriate button or nothing. Once you get into the menus via the 'Spanner' | Options menu (how are we going to describe that in multi-lingual forums?) we see tabs like "Minor tweaks" and "Under the hood", which disappointingly translates to an environment of 'geek' and 'man' respectively to any other non-tech lifeforms initially attracted by Chrome's clean and simple exterior. One might conclude: it looks like a Mac on the outside, but it runs like Windows 3.1 underneath. To bolster the analogy, a automatic download flaw was 'discovered' within a day of the 0.2 release, though not a serious one as it can be side-stepped by prompting the user for a download location - that's 'Spanner' | Minor Tweaks tab | tick "Ask where to save each file before downloading" in case you come across it. Also, for now, Google's Chrome is a Windows offering only, so that's a big "sayonara dudes" to all those Mac and Linux fans of open source. IBM's 'Turbo' Todd Watson puts it: "To add insult to injury, the Mac version of Chrome was not released concurrently with the Windows version, so we know whose heart this stake was being hammered towards." Perhaps not surprising then that Net Applications, which tracks browser marketshare, has a report showing Chrome's popularity fading rapidly from its near instantaneous market-grab of over 1% in the hours and days after release. What a great shame. If it gets to version 1.0, Chrome might really shine. I'm still using it out of interest, but it would take a lot more finish and functionality to make me click that "Default browser" tick box. Contacts Download Google's Chrome browser at: http://chrome.google.com -IB- Paul Craig

	^ Back to contents ^
	4. Script of the month An occasional series that lays out scripts that can run when your computer or server starts up.
Help at hand. Back issues just a click away	The idea is to automate many tasks that occur once-off on start-up or when a user logs in instead of having to type and run them manually. Script: SystemMaintenance The SystemMaintenance script automatically defragments all local hard discs and clears temporary files to preserve a fast-running clean machine. It also checks local Administrators and Power Users, saves and clears event logs, and emails saved event logs with a report, typically to keep tabs on the security and health of a server. Have you read the script? Co-Operative Systems is increasingly using automated scripts to improve IT services in a number of different ways, so do contact us to find out how we can help you save time and increase reliability. Follow up on this topic using the form below. Tell me more Help me set it up Send me a quote Remind me later Email* Org Discover more scripts of the month. -IB- Acknowledgements: staff team

	^ Back to contents ^
	5. Web-based storage for online volunteers A review of 17 free web-based services for exchanging files.
Help at hand. Back issues just a click away	With the assistance of several volunteers, Randy Tyler put together a useful survey of 17 free web-based services. In the budget-limited environment of volunteering and not-for-profit organisations, finding ways to exchange ever larger amounts of data often leads to file sizes too big to be handled by email. Capitalising on the expanding range of free web-based file transfer services, the Macdonald Youth Services’ (MYS) team published a categorised listing of 17 such free services, detailing parameters like maximum file sizes and bandwidth, monthly limits and encrypted transfers. With such a tight market and the falling prices of storage hardware, some suppliers have inevitably gone to the great hard drive graveyard in the sky, but adrive.com still offers its huge 50 gigabytes (50GB) of storage with a two gigabyte (2GB) file upload limit, while orbitfiles.com claims to offer unlimited storage and file encryption for $5/month. Contacts How to Exchange Files with Online Volunteers – 17 Free Web-Based Services to Use - introduction 17 free web-based services - the review (PDF) Free storage providers online InfoBulletin November 2007 -IB- Acknowledgements: staff team

	^ Back to contents ^
	6. Q&A: Cure your slow, unreliable Internet connection Question Mark Hi Mark, Our Internet connection goes slow and cuts out sometimes. Although we have had numerous conversations with our Internet Service Provider, they say it's fine but the problems continue. Can you suggest anything else? We're getting desperate!
Help at hand. Back issues just a click away	Although your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is largely responsible for your connectivity and its broadband speed, there are a few things you can check (very cheaply!) at your end before you chuck the rule book at them if you believe you aren't getting fair dues on the speed front. At the physical level it's worth checking out all the devices hanging on to your broadband connection and in the first instance just disconnecting them. That means fax machines, in-house TVs, alarm panels and old analogue socket doublers with last-century analogue phones plugged into them. Broadband speed may improve instantly and then it's just a matter of reconnecting one by one to sleuth out the duff gear. The same process of elimination applies to extension phone wiring which is hardest to diagnose without disruption, but can often prove to be a source of degradation. Where phone extension sockets are unavoidable, some experts recommend ensuring the wire doesn't exceed 3 metres. Much lauded this year was BT's launch of the iPlate. Not, as you might think, a piece of fashionable ceramic-wear, but a gizmo (an interstitial plate actually) that you can mount into your BT master socket. Just remove the screws (no engineer needed) and insert, after which it eliminates electrical interference on the incoming phone wire. For the £10 - £15 price range an iPlate could be a worthwhile investment as BT boffins have reported up to 'one and a half megs' (1.5MB/s) increase in speed difference. This only applies to multiple extensions and won't improve sites where the router is the only device plugged into the master socket. Staying at the master socket and also on the hardware front, the ADSL splitter or filter may benefit some scrutiny. Not all filters are equal and the cheaper, freebie ones often show lower speed throughputs. Other slightly more technical solutions involve digging into your Wi-fi Access Point interface (if you have one) and altering the broadcast channel so it doesn't clash with neighbouring Wi-Fi hot spots. A channel gap of 6 should be sufficient. Likewise on the router front: a little detective work on the manufacturer's web site will determine whether your router firmware needs upgrading. It's often a free download but if you're not up to installing it you could always ask us or follow up using the form below. When you're done tinkering, check your speed with the speed tester below or at http://speedtest.net/ Internet Speed Test Buy an iPlate here NTE5 compatible ADSL filtered faceplate or from buyaniplate.co.uk. Ask for help on this topic using the Follow-up form below. Tell me more Help me set it up Send me a quote Remind me later Email* Org Discover answers in more Q&A topics -IB-

	^ Back to contents ^
	Clicks of the Trade - Unlock your taskbar and create quick launch icons --- Quick tips for happier clicks! ---
Help at hand. Back issues just a click away	If you haven't yet enjoyed the benefits a Quick Launch toolbar (bottom left-hand corner), it's a dead easy 1-2-3: Right-click on an empty Taskbar space | Toolbars | Quick Launch As the name suggests, Quick Launch icons allow you to start everyday applications like Word, Excel, Outlook, Firefox or Google's Chrome with a single click. More icons can be dragged down onto the Quick Launch bar making additional single-click copies, and yes, they will grow like topsy once you get hooked! However one of the most annoying things about the taskbar setting is that it is 'locked' by default. This means continually having to click the double-arrow button to see the hidden icons. Suddenly one click has become two. But you can restore single-clicking by simply unlocking the taskbar to reveal all the icons. Again it's an easy 1-2: Right-click on an empty Taskbar space | untick Lock the Taskbar The trade-off is that you loose a bit of taskbar space for showing live applications, but as we increasingly acquire large 19-inch or wide screen monitors, taskbar space is in plentiful supply, and the boon of applications on tap is overriding. Related articles Pin-ups for your Start Bar ** try it now ** More Clicks of the Trade -IB-

^ Back to contents ^ Overview of InfoBulletin InfoBulletin is written and published by Co-Operative Systems and contains Information Technology tips that we come across during everyday research and support activities and which may be useful in improving your IT operations, either internally or on the Internet. Opinions expressed within InfoBulletin do not necessarily represent the views of Co-Operative Systems. E&OE Viewing IB This bulletin is presented as a Web page (in HTML) that can be read in any standard browser and most email clients. It is written in a compact format for fast viewing, short download time and ease of use for mobile computers. Printing IB If you prefer to read IB on paper (hopefully recycled!), think about pulling down the File | Print Preview menu in your browser and just printing the sheets you want. Implementation InfoBulletin topics can be implemented by Co-Operative Systems on a chargeable basis or via Facilities Management (FM) for those with rolling work programmes.

Subscriptions At any time you can change your subscriber address or stop receiving InfoBulletin altogether by changing your subscriber preferences or by visiting www.coopsys.net/bulletin. Links in the original email message body allow you to forward this issue to a friend, colleague or associate without subscribing them. ^ Back to contents ^ Contact details Sales & Enquiries: 020 7793 0395 team@coopsys.net Support: 020 7793 7877 support@coopsys.net Fax: 020 7735 6472 Fax us via email Web: http://www.coopsys.net Privacy Under no circumstances does Co-Operative Systems supply lists of customers to other organisations. Read our Privacy Policy in full.

Archives and Index Read recent and past issues of InfoBulletins on the Web at www.coopsys.net/ibindex.htm or search our archives and subject index. We hope you found InfoBulletin useful! If you would like to comment on any of the articles or request particular subjects to be covered, mail us here. CO-OPERATIVE SYSTEMS Interpreting Information Technology