Category: communication

Attention #CEO, is your #network #Secure? #Sony thought so!

I received an email from someone asking me about the internet outage in North Korea.

Firstly, if we, (America) had anything to do with it, I think it analogous to punishing a pugnacious brat, by taking away their computer. This kid really needs a good spanking! For you who think that corporal punishment belongs in the dark ages, well you’re wrong, unless of course you consider North Korea is still in the Dark Ages!

This country, as stated in another blog; keeps its people in the dark. Looking at a picture from space one can tell that electricity is not even well distributed much less the internet or the free exchange of information and thoughts.

Contained inside the Red Outline is North Korea.

If you want to control a people, take away weapons, power, their ability to communicate with others, and feed them a constant feed of Bullshit daily! Prevarication is called for if you want a submissive people who will do what you say without question.

The people of this country are brainwashed into “loving their dear leader” and believe anything that they are told. Any type of truculence on their part is met with swift, brutal retaliation.

If the evidence indeed points to North Korea in the attack of Sony, (the only people with motive,) Most assuredly, there was someone on the inside at Sony. Sony should be looking real hard with forensic experts to determine what happened!

As a security geek, I would love to be part of that team!

The sad truth today is that there could be a spook! Money talks, with our lack of morality on the rise, it could be anyone.

Most firewalls today are pretty good at keeping bad people out so, planting a spook or a Trojan or worm of some kind on the inside of the firewall, enabling communication from the outside through some spoofed port that is normally open like 80, would have to be employed.

Many of the remote control desktop software out there today which some people use, violate all security protocols. The problem is that a lot of companies don’t hire a security officer or have a limited IT staff who are too busy resetting passwords and posting on Facebook to be bothered with doing nothing more than putting out fires.

If you look at the OSI model (which I dare say few are familiar with, consist of 7 layers. The OSI model (open system interconnection model) is a packet-based structure of layers, or protocol stack.

Starting at layer one, we have the physical layer which is basically your cable and associated hardware which allows your computer to communicate with the host. This layer is responsible for the “frame bit.”
Layer two is the layer that established the protocol used to communicate whether it is frame relay or Ethernet or what have you. This layer is called the data link layer.
Layer three is known as the network layer and is responsible for transmitting data from node to node. This layer provides switching and routing information.
Layer four or transport layer is responsible for such things as error recovery and end to end flow control.
Layer five or session layer sets up, coordinates, and terminates conversations, exchanges, and dialogues between the applications.
Layer six or presentation layer works to transform data into the form that the application layer can accept.
Layer seven or application layer is just that Everything at this layer is application-specific. This layer provides application services for file transfers, e-mail, browser, Google, and other network software services, and yes, Facebook. This is the layer that the end user has the most to do with in that applications exist solely at this level.

Now that you have a small idea of how one communicates over the internet, looking at this model, how would you interrupt traffic between them and us?

Keep in mind that North Korea gets internet from China and most probably through a Russian satellite. Neither of these do we have control over, so pulling the plug leaves out the physical layer.

Again, I could not use layer two; as again I don’t have control over that either.

Ah, now layer three I do have control over. What if I change their known ip addresses to non internet routable or private, much like the 192,172 or 10 subnets? Now they have to go to Russia or China and beg for another subnet and… as soon as they do, we kill that as well.

Why do we have private addresses you ask? Most reading this far probably already know this however, there are simply not enough addresses to give every company that wants one, a block of private addresses.

If you look at RFC 1918 a private addresses scheme was created that are not assigned meaning, that they cannot route through the internet. In this way business’s and homes and even North Korea can use them to their hearts content, on their private networks and then using something called NAT or network address translation can make your home computer look as though it is talking on a public address.

This BLOG’s intent is to underscore the need to have a good CIO and a good security officer. Your company could be the next Sony and as you can see, if some rogue country like North Korea who has a very limited pool of talent can take down a giant like Sony, just think what a Russia or China or other country who does not stagnate its citizens, and keep them in the stone age could do.

-Best to you and those that you care about and if I don’t get to write again by Christmas…Have a Merry Christmas!

Single point of #failure, #programming and why a #CIO is important.

A few weeks ago we talked about, single points of failure. We talked about power lines and data lines having more than one place of ingress to the building. We spoke of multiple power sources, as well as multiple data paths; much like the internet has multiple data paths. See that post for more information about hardware single points of failure.

Today the subject closely relates to this but it is “software.”

Some companies use off-the-shelf solutions and some decide to “roll their own.”

Today we are going to look at the pros and cons of this practice.

Off the shelf:

PRO—

Ready to go with a company to back you up.

A “normal” IT guy or gal can install it and most probably support it as most of these types of software companies have classes on their software. They offer such classes because they want their product to be successful and they most probably offer some sort of certification for it as IT folk seems to be “gaga” over certifications!

If there is a problem there is a support path.

Depending upon the complexity of the software there may be add-on-modules for your particular needs. That translates to a cost savings of only buying what you need.

IT personnel are much less expensive than in house programmers and unlike in house software, there is an end to the expense.

Canned software is also easier to find IT people who can work with it vs some home grown software that no one has ever seen before.

Hiring your own in house programmers is like hiring a carpenter to do some project for you that charges by the hour and the project that you want him to do is ill defined.

There was a show not too many years ago called Murphy Brown who had Eldon the painter in her house. Eldon was always doing something and was in her house for the entire show doing something. While Eldon was a bit player and supposed to be there for this part, the analogy is that she left everything up to him and he had a job for life.

You don’t want an Eldon working for you, unless you really like his company.

With off the shelf or canned software you work within its limitations.

Scope Creep:

Having managed programmers in the past and reporting their progress to the president and or board, it never ceased to amaze me that someone would ask the question, what would it take to make the software do X.

The way that this works is the decision makers come up with a defined set of expectations, which allow a budget to be created. Once that process is done, so is the definition of the project. It is then up to the manager to manage the project and make sure that certain milestones are met and in budget.

The danger of developing things in house is that inevitably someone modifies the definition after the budget has been blessed. If you have no “extra” built in for unforeseen events, than you have to go back to the board and beg.

You can explain it is because they wanted something else but you still come off looking bad. You should have foreseen that they were going to ask for that and put it into the budget. (There is a little truth to that last statement.)

With canned software, the project is much more manageable as the cost is pretty much set in stone. Support contracts are easily budgeted for as is training of your people.

Designing in house software has more risk than payback.

Most probably you keep your staff small so if one person does this part of the project and another that part of the project and then something happens to them, well, you have a single point of failure.

Documentation of the software developed in house must be meticulously managed and like a DR plan, it must be tested! If it is not done in this manner the software becomes worthless when that developer is no longer there.

Around 10% of development time is or should be documentation time. Documentation should contain a version number much like the rev level of the software. Outdated documentation is worthless.

Unlike the mindset among some IT people that do not document anything, the programmer must document their software in such a way that a future programmer can pick it up and run with it. This documentation might include things like UML diagrams and key design features. Comments in the code are nice, but are not enough.

As with any DR, there is a “living document” as it also is with code. The documentation is a live process and must be updated as the code is developed.

Programmers certainly know the best practice techniques of this process but the CEO may not. Some people develop self documenting code.

The old adage “Don’t expect what you don’t inspect.” Is salient, germane and just damned important!

There are no good surprises in business and if you keep with that as your mantra, you will be served well.

The Cons to off the shelf are that it is fixed. Whatever you purchased is only as flexible as it was designed to be, “a one size fits all” solution. For most companies this may be enough.

Most companies are generic enough that they can work with that.

Some projects are just foolish to try and roll your own as the cost will not justify the ends.

I know of one company who has someone in the upper echelon of the company that is a developer. Instead of using canned software for such things as DNS, they wrote some scripts with pointers to a LMhost file. Of course there was no documentation so as an engineer figuring out why there were duplicate IP addresses or why IP addresses did not match the device and so forth was a nightmare! Wireshark to the rescue.

There are standards in the industry for a reason.

Canned software allows the CEO to get the best talent for the job and allows him a wider field to choose from. If their set up is so unique that only a select few can manage it, he is paying way more for a system that dies when the creator of it dies or just gets upset and quits. The golden handcuffs are than on the business owner as he must necessary play nice with his programmers.

Remember, no employee should be sacrosanct. Everyone must necessarily be treated as expendable because of the “hit by a bus scenario.”

In house code must be tested to make certain that it is supportable by outside people. If it is not, it should be fixed, scrapped or replaced with something that is, or is off the shelf.

This is a very important reason to have a “good CIO!” Any good CIO has the companies’ best interests at heart and knows better to save a penny here and waste thousands there. The CIO must be incredibly technology savvy as well as possess business acumen.

I have worked for many over the years that were one or the other or neither, but they did go to school with the president so they were buds.

Failure to plan is planning to fail!

Hire a CIO that knows his or her stuff.

If you are uncertain, hire a DR consultant to come do an audit.

The consultant, if met with truculence on the part of the IT staff, would be a good indicator that your staff know that they have bones buried.

Plan to look carefully at your software needs and if you decide to develop in-house, make sure that your CIO knows what his or her programmers are doing.

Programmers make lousy CIO’s, just like a surgeon makes a lousy GP.

If you have a belly ache and go to a surgeon for advice, what do they do? They cut flesh. Their first thought is to open you up and see why you hurt!

You go to a GP who takes your history and discovers that you had sushi some time back, has you checked for the helicobacter virus; a few antibiotics later you are fine and you don’t have some scar on your belly, not to mention a long recovery time.

Bad decisions in business cost money and bad decisions with your health also cost money and could cost you your life.

Programmers not only make bad CIO’s, they make bad managers. Most programmers are very myopic. They have to be to code. When you take someone with that skill set and throw them into management, they do not have the breadth of experience necessary to handle a wide variety of issues. I have seen too many over my career that started out as programmers and made convoluted programmatic solutions for an easy fix situation.

There was an old cartoon many years ago where there were two computers in a room. The Secretary and the exec, both on their computer. The IT guy played as Goofy, or a Goofy look-a-like was asked to find a way to get the file on a diskette from this computer to that one. Goofy takes the disk, scratches his head for a second and then like a Frisbee, tossed the disk to the secretary. K.I.S.S.

The CIO must know enough about all things IT, to know when smoke is being blown up his or her southern most orifice. The CIO must also have enough business savvy to be able to negotiate with the CFO who has a different skill set, as well as deal the CEO and those on the board of directors.

What you don’t want is some sycophant working for you and you don’t want a control freak either. The CIO must be very well rounded with lots of experience.

Management must not become your single point of failure.

-Best

The Time Dok explained

Wow, I get a lot of questions about DOK. Like I can’t spell or something!

DOC would be very presumptuous of me as I am no doctor. I don’t have a PHD so I can’t even claim it that way. I do specialize in working on a type of clock that is very unique in the industry. It is more mechanical than electric and the design has been around since, well, 1939 I think.

There are few around who really know how to work on them and do it right, and I happen to enjoy working with my hands so, I took on the challenge in 1995, when a friend ask me if I could fix it for him.

I have a reputation around church as the guy that can fix anything. I have had more apparatuses brought to my home from toasters, lights, fans, VCR’s, DVD players, stereo’s, TV’s, laptops, computers of all sorts, and well if it plugs in or takes batteries, chances are I have worked on them.

I have even repaired a number of regular clocks although that is an area that I try to stay away from as that is “very time consuming,” no pun intended.

It was no surprise when this clock came to me via that reputation, and it was no surprise to him when I asked him to get specific parts from the vendor and was able to repair it and put it back together for him.

As these things are sold around the world and the only animal that can survive the pounding that they get, the design has reached its zenith and will most probably stay that way until paper is outdated.

Since that day, I have repaired thousands of these clocks and am one of the few who do it correctly, with OEM parts, and get them back out there for another few years of service before they need to come back and be cleaned, and so forth.

As the hobby turned into a business I created a website www.timedok.com where it was, “That is Dok with a K!” I was going to spell it correctly as Timedoc, however someone has that domain and I was not about to let someone profit for sitting on a name. There are those that have, but this guy was not, at least not from me.

I have been doing IT stuff since before the internet, when it was called Data Processing so my computer, network, all things IT acumen; is probably as good as anyone’s out there. (Now that is an example of presumptuous!) On top of that, I possess copious amounts of business prowess; I am one of the few that get it!

I started with computers when CPM, Trisdos and finally DOS 1.0 were what you dealt with. Cobal, basic and machine language were the languages around with Pascal. Acoustical modems were in vogue and 300baud over the twisted pair was awesome!

As a brief aside, I also write science fiction, have a fascination with time, physics, particle physics, celestial mechanics, astronomy and electronics. I paint, study scripture, read way too much, and like photography and nature. Philosophy interests me a lot, but it is often difficult to find someone to talk with about any or all of these things.

Because of that I have many friends who may have an interest in one or more of these things that I can talk with about them, but finding someone intellectual enough to keep up with me is not easy. Snob you say! No, not at all.

I have never met a stranger and talk with just about anyone. Everyone has a story and just because their interest may not have the latitude of mine, that does not mean that they are any less interesting. I value everyone. I make a point to get to know the janitor, as he or she too has a story to tell..

Some folks lead a very simple life that focus around family, friends, horses or something like that, and I admire that. I try and find time to quite my mind with things like painting, walks in the woods, or sitting by the ocean, just listening to the birds and waves and the screams and giggles of young children as they play in the sand, or get into the water with their parents in tow.

I restore old electronic equipment, as a hobby and get great joy out of bringing some 50 plus year old apparatus back to life after it has sat dormant in some closet or garage collecting dust.

I enjoy meeting people on this media or via ham radio and have for most of my life. As I said, we all have a story to tell and some should be preserved in book form, others anecdotally noted, and referenced as fodder for possible stories in books, yet to be written.

I have been called Dok and I don’t mind it. My name is Scott and I answer to both when the phone rings or an e-mail is crafted to pique my interest enough to open it, and not think it spam.

Now you know, (as Paul Harvey used to say,) the rest of the story.

-Best

#Scam of the day… No time off for the Holidays #virus

In today’s e-mail there were several different scams from well known companies. Most of them deal with “order status.” Be wise about clicking on any of these things as most of them are fraught with danger… Yes DANGER…. The link could be as innocuous as some ad for Viagra or it could be a link to Cyber Locker or some other virus waiting to just ruin your day.

If you are not expecting something like that, don’t click it!

Have a good Monday!

State of the Union & What’s Next! #thefive

With unemployment numbers at 5.8 percent and the Dow Jones closing at record highs, one has to wonder why polls show that Americans are worried about the economy.

“There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies and statistics!”

The truth about unemployment is that once you fall off of the unemployment benefits you are no longer considered unemployed, thus you are no longer part of the statistic. If you are under employed; you are still employed and thus no longer a statistic. If the truth was told, unemployment would be around 20%, higher in the African American community.

The racial divide in this country is mostly a fictitious agenda foisted upon us by people who stand to benefit from there being one. Much like the fabled war on women, it suited the Democratic party for there to be one, so they invented it, sold it to the American people under the precepts that men hated women and just wanted them barefoot pregnant and in the kitchen or we wanted to take away their right to vote and or drive or whatever nonsense that they could dream up! Most any man knows that if momma isn’t happy, aint nobody happy! “Momma” by the way can be a metaphor for “the women of the house.”

The plan worked; it helped get Obama elected to a second term and got Sandra Fluke name recognition which will be someone to watch in the future for the political arena, or to take Rosie’s place on the View, when too many people get tired of her nonsense.

I bet her parents are proud. Really, you get on national TV and tell the world that you want taxpayers to pay for your $6 birth control pills! I can’t get into the liberal mindset however. California is one of the most screwed up states in the union, yet they keep electing those that are responsible!

While the war on women and racial strife propagated by this administration was to divert your attention from the “real issues of the day.” Sadly it worked.

Benghazi and our people were not protected or vindicated. Fast and Furious turned into “they acted stupidly and if I had a son!” America was played by the ideas of Saul Alinsky in rules for radicals and “never let a crisis go to waste.” What if you don’t have a crisis when you need one, invent one or don’t send help when it was needed. Look, there is a video on YouTube which some might find offensive, make that a talking point with the main stream media which is full of sycophants’, all wanting a one-on-one interview with the president, or first question at the press briefing and have no journalistic integrity left what so ever! They have traded it for ratings.

I picture Obama sitting at his desk with a bird cage in the corner, containing a bald eagle. The cage is just large enough for the eagle to barely fit. At the bottom of the cage is a journalism diploma covered in poop, and in his lap is some small dog with the head of some main stream journalist of whose diploma is in that bird cage.

No sitting president has ever weighed in on such issues and this president has been a lighting bolt for this type of activity! His efforts to foment racial tension have actually been one of his most successful endeavors! Between him, Jessie Jackson Jr. and Good old Al, we have racial tensions at an all time high. Mr. Sharpton is reported as owing over $4.5 million in back taxes, why is he not in jail? Who is protecting him?

If blood is spilled over this Ferguson deal, they will all have it on their hands. Of course if it starts looking bad for them, they will all slither off, and deny ever being there. Kind of like Nancy Pelosi disavowing any knowledge of who Gruber is.

If you don’t know who Gruber is, you are watching or reading the wrong news.

The truth about Obama Care came out from the creator or architect of it, bragging about how stupid Americans are. If you tell them there is a Santa Clause; they will believe you! You can keep your doctor and health plan and it will be cheaper. Enough people that know nothing of math believed it; and voted for the regime that created it and installed it against the will of the American people. When they found out just how much they were lied to about that and other things well, there was a “wave” of unhappy voters. Of course the disillusioned voters sent a message too, by simply staying home.

That has not slowed Prince Obama down though. No, Thursday night he will announce some executive action that is well beyond his constitutional powers “and he knows it” allowing 5 million “undocumented aliens” in the country to register and work here. While the voters clearly want him to stop he is thinking that the vote was really telling him to plow ahead at full speed!

Who really wants this? Who benefits from it?

The American people don’t want it. Even after all of the spin the liberal media has done, most Americans don’t think that this is a good idea. At least they are thinking… except of course for the 14% who had no opinion! 14 percent of you have no opinion? What color is the sky in the world that you are living in?

How do you think that someone comes up with a billion dollars to use in a campaign?

We already have a high number of unemployed Americans in this country. Because of Obamacare, companies are trying to skirt the law and hire more part time folks than full time. If you bring in 5 million more people, who need jobs, into this economy; you now create more competition for the few jobs that are here already.

With that many more “workers” you have people who have had a tough life and lived in shanty towns, so to speak, and will do it again putting many families in single family dwellings where Americans are used to going to college, getting a decent job and moving out of mom and dad’s house, into an apartment or buying their own place. These kids are returning home living in the room that they grew up in! Mom and dad are supporting them again and don’t even get the puny tax break, which was something!

Not only do you have more competition for the jobs out there but, you know that these folks will get government assistance; their kids will need schooling which the taxpayers will pay for. They will need housing which I can bet the taxpayers will subsidize and medical assistance which may be simply to overwhelm the emergency rooms of this country.

His plan will act like a magnet to other countries who know that the border is not only porous but, we pick you up and give you a ride to the processing center!

How many people can the country absorb?
How many cheap workers do companies need to be competitive?
How many of these do the Democrats hope to turn into voters?
Will the voter ID laws become a hot topic in 18 months or so?
What happens to the Americans who pay taxes who can’t find a job?
How much debt is too much before we default?
At what point Mr. Gruber, will this country fold as our money will become worthless? How much money can you print before we use it to wipe our backsides with it, as we can’t afford toilette paper!? Well Mr MIT smart guy?

Americans are not stupid by the way…

We have all we can do to make the rent each month, pay for groceries and keep the kids in shoes. We are currently experiencing a small reprieve from gasoline prices; although I have noticed that those prices are going back up as we get close to thanksgiving.

We send people to Washington to represent us so we can pay attention to the things that matter to us; family, friends and taking care of our own. While we are generous to a fault, to steal from our kids and their kids, to serve some hidden agenda; is reprehensible. Your Actions Mr Gruber and Mr prince Obama, have consequences.

There are companies out there who utilize unemployment benefits to keep their employees viable during down time in the economy. They furlough them while orders are slow and then bring them back after there is a backlog of work. These are not small companies by the way, these are giants in the industry, hidden under some sub company of the giant.

There are companies who hire folks on SSI or welfare, to work one or two days a week being careful not to give them enough hours or money that their employees loose their “taxpayer subsidized form of living.” These companies have egregious hiring practices and get away with it!

There are more companies who take on contract workers who “work” for another company that is in the business of supplying cheap labor. All of this to keep the number of FTE’s under the magic number of 50.

Then there is retail:

They hire many people part time, promise them that after they have been there a while that they see management potential in them and they will be full time! This story is repeated time after time after time. Yes, they get them to work like dogs and pay them minimum wage. When they have their fill of being treated like crap, they move on and there are a dozen more waiting to take their place. After we get 5 million more “legal to work aliens” in the country, do you really think it will help this?! It will be great for the retail giants who need Spanish speaking sales clerks or people to work in the warehouse.

So here is how it will work:

You have to be the “best of the best” to get a decent job in this country that has any benefits and pay to it. Or, you have to “know” someone.

You can get on the government tit and get your free Obama phone, and government subsidized food and health care until that runs out in two more years; or until the country goes bankrupt. You have to be impoverished which I know of people who have purposefully impoverished themselves, to get into the system.

You can get two or three part time jobs, getting about 20 hours a week from each job and maybe make enough to get a cheap apartment, take public transportation or walk and live “survive” frugally!

You get on the government tit, and work at jobs where you are payed in cash so there is no paper trail anywhere. As far as the “system is concerned” you don’t make any money and are living on the few hundred a month that they give you. It never dawns on them to look and see that your style of living is much better than what it should be.

You can become an inventor and invent something that no one else has thought of, except… it cost tens of thousands of dollars to protect your idea, just in this country; never mind each and every other country in the world where major corporations have some business in that country and can do with your idea as they wish; and they have the means to tie up the case in courts for eons.

You can become an entrepreneur. Start your own business and compete with the big boys.

You can hope and argue against the legalization of drugs and become a drug dealer. There is a huge demand for successful dealers and the margins are great! You can even sample the product and sell your client a little light, they will hopefully never know.

Of course, a slow pay client could cost you your life but, when you deal with an unregulated group of businessmen, what do you expect?

I understand that Chicago and Detroit have some good areas for training in how to do this; the competition however will kill for their clients. If you get killed there, you truly become a statistic. It will never be investigated.

As more and more people become desperate, more and more criminal activity will take place leading to jobs that might be around for a while.

You can become the MAN! You can work for the people that arrest drug dealers, and put them behind bars! That too has its risk as “the man” has little respect in this community.

You can become a jailer, working with the criminal element on a daily basis, being rest assured that there will always be an abundant supply of “product.”

What are the answers?

Jobs to shoot for in trades would be plumber, air conditioning heating, electrician and automobile mechanic or airline mechanic. These folks make good money and will always have work, if they have any ethics and or honor.

A military career might look promising, if you don’t mind being told what to do, and when to do it, having little or no say so about it. There is travel involved, and you do get to work in a team environment. Currently there is no shortage of supply, so you need to be a college grad to qualify as cannon fodder.

IT jobs are being farmed out faster than they can be created. India, the Philippines, and anywhere but here, are where programming and engineering jobs are going.

With tens of thousand of IT folks out of work, the government still allows thousands of H1-B workers in the country each year. If you ever go to a career fair for IT folks you will see thousands of applicants for a half dozen jobs. Somewhere in there a company that farms out IT jobs to such countries as India will come in and negotiate a deal with those companies and money talks! A DBA could easily get a $100K a year. That can be farmed out for a third that, and the “farmer” can still make money!

There are companies out there that you can request a bid on some piece of software that you need developed. They in turn act like the GC on a job, and get it done for you in some corner of the world at a competitive cost and yes; there is enough in it that they make money acting as the PM and go between.

IT support or customer service is demanding but, requires someone with good communication skills and customer service skills. If you settle for cheap you get a reputation like HP had for years. Companies are still working this issue as people in the Philippines are getting better than Peggy in Russia or Kim in India.

Factory jobs too are being farmed out to countries that have horrible human rights issues and no concern for the environment. While we have a president who has stopped the coal industry and hurt many workers and caused our energy prices to sky rocket, that same coal that is so dangerous here is being sold to, you guessed it, China and other third world countries that have no tree huggers, no Sierra Club and no EPA. Magically, all of this global warming talk has nothing to do with selling coal to countries that could care less about pollution. Obama must think that the polluted air and green house gasses in China, stay in China!

The obvious choice for anyone with a brain is anything medical. Keep in mind that they are lowering the standards for doctors and nurses so you truly can be tomorrow’s “worst doctor,” and still get called doctor! With millions of new people being dumped into an already over utilized system, medical professionals will be in high demand! If you have a penchant to play god, (most doctors that I have worked with felt as if they were gods,) this field might be for you. Nurse or medical technician or dentistry is a field worth looking into as well.

I fear that this has been in the works for sometime as they have been working on reforming law suites regarding mal practice for years. Tomorrow; when you go to the worst doctor in the world, and he screws you up, you won’t be able to sue him.

Here is a billion dollar idea!

I have always felt that owning a tattoo removal shop would be a burgeoning business. You could actually have both, have one shop where they put the tattoos on, and another in an upscale part of town where they can be removed! You could even sell insurance that if you got the tattoo and later decided that you did not like it, or changed your mind, you could go to the other shop and get it removed, for free; if you kept up your modest yearly insurance fee. You could make a deal with other tattoo shops to sell your insurance for you, and they get a commission for selling it! You get the yearly renewals.

The insurance would be “per tattoo” and underwritten by the size, colors used, type of skin and whatever other technicality that that industry could think of.

People are mutilating themselves in wholesale fashion so maybe even offer a clinic where this type of thing can be “undone.” Plastic surgery could have a whole new line of business besides boobs, butts, and tummy tucks!

Salesman is a vocation that requires good people skills, and communication skills. If you are good, you can make a nice living. Being a sales person would require that people can afford to buy what you are selling.

There are always government jobs. The IRS is going to need a lot of new folks to administer Obama care so this is a place to apply to today!

And lastly for this diatribe, you could be a politician! It requires the ability to act and have little or no scruples. Most politicians were once lawyers. Most doctors and lawyers deserve every joke that has ever been written about them.

I used to do field service. During that time I dealt with lots of both! I dealt with some of the most famous doctors you would ever want to know, as well as some of the most notorious lawyers that you might want representing you, if you had screwed up.

To me that was always a “tell” as to if the guy was innocent or guilty. Take OJ Simpson for instance. He had the dream team and he got off! Why did he need the dream team if he were truly innocent?

I once had a lawyer confide in me that it was easier for him to get you off, if he knew that you were guilty than if you were innocent. This was a very high profile attorney which If I mentioned his name you would know it. Between the OJ Simpson trial and that statement, I lost a lot of respect for the “system.” It was truly “justice” is for those that can afford it. Justice of course not being truly about what justice is, actually quite the opposite.

I had another lawyer who met me at the door who was totally apoplectic! He looked as though you might expect a rabid dog to look before it bit your head off! He had never met me before but he wanted to scare me into believing that he was all kinds of bad and I had better do my best for him! They sent me in to deal with customers who were pissed off by someone else, as I could “fix things.” I could make nice with the customer and fix things! I stood there and let him rant for over 5 minutes, I took out a notepad and acted as though I were making notes while he quite literally spit on me, while he was expounding his thoughts about my company, our product and where he thought that our company rated. After he started winding down as he was not getting the desired response from me, I asked him point blank; “are you finished?”

His demeanor changed immediately, he had been acting as I suspected. He actually reached up and wiped some of his spittle off my face and then, we went about taking care of his problems. Another such lawyer, a woman, pretty much gave me the same treatment. She told me flat out that she was a bitch! If I did not “fix” things, she would be my worst nightmare! I extended my hand and she was taken aback at first, and then took mine. As we shook hands, I told her how much I appreciated her sincere honesty!

A smile broke out on her face and from that moment on, I was the only guy that was permitted in her office from my company. For the rest of my years with that company I looked forward to working with her, as she me.

This is where politicians come from. Reagan was the consummate politician, as he was a good actor! Now if we could find another actor with some scruples; that might be a good candidate! Morgan Freeman would make a good president. He has many believing every week that he knows something about physics! Besides, I really like his voice? Have you ever noticed that when you read something that they wrote you read it in their voice? I Digress…

So, what’s next and why is Obama rushing this immigration stuff?

The last thing on his agenda, probably one of his last promises to those that put him in office or who control him now, is climate change!

Why, does he care about green house gas? Does he really know anything about it? If he can make something happen who would benefit from it?

In order for someone to benefit financially, someone has to spend money. Al Gore has lost most credibility but they may drag him out again to see if he can convince you that there are no more polar bears and all the penguins are turning into BBQ. Who knows what crazy crap they will come up with and what Pelosi or Reid will say? One lies and the other one swears to it.

Here is the problem and the reason for the rush on immigration. What he is doing is illegal. The republicans are going to have to spend a lot of time and juice in chipping away at Obama Care and they are going to have to spend a lot of time dealing with his immigration antics which will leave him time to further is final agenda. During this same time there is an election in which the Republicans are going to try and get a candidate into office. The main stream media will spend their time excoriating the republicans at each and every chance and we know that they have a little less than half the country watching them. Fox will continue to try and keep up however there are a lot of things in the air which is what this administration wants. And let’s not forget about the Middle East and any disruptions and or killings there. If there are too many targets, it all turns into noise; and the public tunes out. Football or any other type of sport wins out and American Looses!

Never waste a Crisis…!

The bottom line to this last 6 years and future 2 years will be higher energy prices, and people like Warren Buffett getting at least 7 years of hauling tar sands and oil and what have you on his railroad. They may even use his rail road to haul parts for the pipeline!

The Keystone will pass early next year and many of the workers will most probably be immigrants from you guessed it, tomorrow’s executive order. So instead of Americans getting a decent salary, they will use Mexicans as slaves, and put them on jobs paying them less than what they would have to pay the 46,000 Americans.

Republicans will have their hands full creating legislation for Barack Obama to Veto as they will be fully engaged in making the Democrats look bad “like they would have to try,” so Hillary won’t have a chance. They will try and stop Obama and like I said, chip away at the things that he has created but, basically nothing will get accomplished of any consequence as remember, politics is all about raising money and campaigning!

The damage from this administration will take years to undo. There is going to be $20,000,000,000,000.00 of debt and this administration is responsible for half of it! When the president took office the national debt was $10.6 T.

Obama will have fundamentally transformed America. The next President will have one hell of a job on his or her hands. There is no telling where this President and his wife will retire, but my bet would be Dubai. Once there he can try to be a king or at least prince, as he will have experience!

Don’t agree? Leave a comment and let’s talk about it. Just keep it clean if you want a response.

-Best

Technology, Have we gone too far?

There are days that I long for the twisted pair; you know the POTS line or (plain old telephone service.) Yes, the one that hooks up to the one phone, on the wall or in the hallway in that special little nook that was designed by the architect for it. I would even go back to the dial phone, as I think that it was not only a simpler time, but probably a more reliable form of communication. OK, maybe not, but since we were not on it all of the time we had no idea when it was not working. The phone after all was not for kids..

I don’t know how many of my friends had a dial phone but, if you did not, you missed out. Calling a radio station to be the 25^th caller was a real chore back in the day. If you won and I did once, it was a real conquest!

Speaking for me personally, I have at least 6 email addresses, the cell phone, the business phone, fax lines, house phone and of course SMS text messaging and even IM on FaceBook. I am also a ham radio operator and have half a dozen radios that can all be going at the same time, but most of the time not.

No, not me, but my station back then looked a lot like this!

It would seem that I should be able to be reached. Back in the day, I had a pager as well although, that thing was really nothing more than an electronic leash; for whoever had the number.

When I was a kid if I wanted to talk with a friend, I would go get on my bike and ride to their respective homes and ask the “parent who answered the door” is “fill in the blank” home and can they come out and play? Yes, a little like the Cleavers..

When I was a little more sophisticated, (8years old,) I used a Walkie Talkie to talk with my friends that lived within a half mile or so. That in a large part prompted me to get my ham radio license at a whopping 13 years old. With that; I have visited with thousands of folks all over the world, but that is another story for another day.

The Smart phone, which is why I am writing today, is a marvel of technology. It is the Swiss army knife of communication! With that device I can call anywhere in the world from just about anywhere. I can send text messages and pictures of whatever interest me. I can get them as well. I can send a video to someone or receive the same. With Facetime or Skype, I can live video chat with people too! I can watch movies or play games and yes, I can poke someone on facebook from the waiting room at the Dr.s office. The camera quality is such that if I had the mind to I could take a “quality picture of my dinner” and post it on facebook as we all want to see what you ate for dinner, right? Wink wink. The camera part is really quite true, it is a really decent camera for a phone!

There are some issues with this however; of which I wish to expound upon. First and foremost, SMS text messages (at least with my phone and service) are not guaranteed to make it. Back when e-mail was new, the common greeting on a phone call was “did you get my e-mail?” E-mail is not 100%, it never has been, and it never will be. E-mail is more reliable today as the servers are more persistent and the internet is more robust. It is still not guaranteed to get there.

Text communication whether SMS or e-mail or chat on some service can be dicey as you don’t get the facial queues that you do; well… in person. One can discern some queues in tone of voice when on the phone but, without emoticons and “LOL,” we might not know if the person was serious or kidding! That type if communication leaves lots of room for miss-communication.

We are in fact a world in transition regarding our communication. I have many “friends” on Facebook but, how many of them know me personally? How many of them know my favorite colour or type of food, or I theirs for that matter? So one has to ask, just how good of friends are we? Would they even want to be my friend in person?

When is the last time that you spoke with your neighbors? Do you know their names or anything about them? I have two new neighbors of which I have made a point to introduce myself to, welcome them etc but, I also made a point to know their dogs name, and introduce myself to him as well. You should have seen the owners face light up when I took the time to get to know his pooch! I am not bragging about myself; or chastising you, I mention this because I realize that most of us pull into the garage, and close the door behind us. We leave the same way and “in my case” I use a lawn service so I don’t even have the opportunity to meet while I am butchering my grass. “hence the lawn service, I ruined the yard when I cut it the first time.” It was tiff grass I think, and my mower was not made for it…. I think. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it!

Don’t depend on text or e-mail as it is not super reliable. There are times my phone will go off in the middle of the night, with all sorts of text messages, from days ago! I keep it with me most of the time but I have to admit, it too feels a little bit like a leash at times.

You know the old story about the lost invitation to the party, it may really have gotten misplaced. If something seems out of character with the person that you know, trust your instinct and call. If the invitation to the party does not arrive, call. If you were not invited well, re-evaluate that friendship. If you sent them a text, they may not have responded because they did not get it!

Finally, turn off the computer, phone, and tablet and unless you are watching a movie with the family, turn off the TV too. Spend time with those that you love, as you never know when or if you might have the opportunity to do it again (if ever.) Life is too short to have regrets and when I see complete families out at expensive restaurants, all on some phone, or some device well….it makes me a little sad for them. What memories will the children have? What about mom and dad when the kids are gone?

To me eating out is an event. To some, who do it all the time it is simply eating. I can eat at home but there is the preparation and the cleanup. If I eat out I am “served!” There is not preparation and no cleanup and there is also the friendly exchange of conversation not only between whom I am eating with but, I also make a point to learn the servers’ name, and use it. While they are, “serving me;” I make certain that they know I appreciate them.

Life is about making memories. Good or bad, life is what it is. One day, not too many years ago I was taking my daughters friend to a college across town. After we left her college I picked up a bolt in one of my tires which left me and my daughter stranded on the side of the road in a less than great area of town. It was summer about 110 degrees on the side of the highway. It was about 300 after I got the car jacked up and about 500 when I discovered that the oil change service that rotated my tires had not put the tire lock key back in the glove box! We had no water, and now I was back out in the heat taking the jack back from under the car all the while having her call the auto service. You know *4357… Yeah that one.

After getting back in the car, the auto service had no information on me or the account and would not send a wrecker. Even after I told them that I would pay the wrecker just please send one! They refused to help because I was not a customer they were not obligated to lift a finger. The auto service was paid for through the cell phone carrier and it is insurance that you pay for monthly. We were a customer and the customer service girl just fat fingered it when she looked up the phone number, you know the 10 digit phone number that should have been on the screen in front of her!?

Very long story short, after witnessing drug deals, going through gas to keep the air on and doors locked and wondering if the car would overheat, and having to go to the bathroom, we finally got a wrecker right at 5 in the afternoon, rush hour traffic! We had been out since 9am without food or water or bathroom, on the side of a busy highway since about 10 am.

Even though that was not a great memory, it is a memory, and I did get to spend the entire day with my daughter with no computer to compete for my time with her. OF course in retrospect, I don’t think either of us was real great company…

Is a poke on Facebook, or a text to someone, more important that being with friends or family in person? I too am guilty but, I try to be aware of it and resist the temptation.

-Best to you and those that you care about!

Single Point of Failure

One of my recent clients was desiging their data center and during the process of doing so, the CEO had read one of my blogs and called me in to look things over.

It is sometimes awkward for me to go into someone else’s shop and poke around as the relationship between their staff and I, sometimes is seems tenuous, if not adversarial. Not on my part mind you; I am there to help. “I fix things,” that is what I do. I do ask a lot of “why questions.” which I think starts the ball rolling.

The resident staff however is the expert that their boss trusts, so they “the CEO” go along blissfully ignorant of their exposures because he or she “the CEO” is not an IT person. The resident IT people usually don’t encourage an outside person to come in “such as myself,” because of two reasons. I think first and foremost, it is an ego thing. They are the best at what they do and if you don’t believe them, just ask them. Secondly, they don’t want their boss to find out just how bad things are. Or possibly their staff has no clue just how tenuous the situation really is.

If you see any of this this in your data center or wiring closets , you need some help.

When I was working as a Manager, or Director of same, I always welcomed this kind of assistance and frequently brought it in as often times we get mired in the woods; and cannot see the forest for the trees. I know that this is oversimplified but as a manager, I always tried to hire people as smart, if not smarter than myself. As a manager, one gets tied up in the day to day business of the company, as well as the technology; and often times do not see what is in front of them, or, can even loos their objectivity.

If you decide to bring in someone like myself, your staff needs a heads up. They need to be told to make themselves available. They need to know that this person is there because you requested it, are paying for it, and expect them to work with this person as needed. This understanding up front, saves you money.

When planning a move to a new building; one can go in and design and install everything correctly the first time, much more cost effectively than going back in and re-do things later.

Notice the nice manner in how the cables are dressed and notice the Velcro cable ties on not “zip ties.”

Why not Zip Ties you asked?

Poor cable management and “zip ties” lead to this. This could cost you your entire company.

This is the charred remains of someone’s data center.

Having said that, during a data center design one of the things that is often overlooked are single points of failures (SPOF). When designing a data center, one builds redundancy into their infrastructure as to avoid a downtime, or a total shut down. Few people truly understand soft dollars; and how the loss of productivity effects the bottom line.

Most everyone knows of raid, redundant switches, vmware, the cloud, and this is about where it stops.

What about an alternate path to get data in and out of your building? What about an alternate path or source for power?

One of my clients, (a law firm) lost power due to construction in the street below. The UPS only held their servers up for 30 minutes or so and they had no UPS’s on workstations. Guess what, the courts do not care if you can or can’t get to your files, your problem, not theirs! If you cannot feasibly get power to your data center from an alternate location, you have a generator or a warm site.

In their case the power took several days to get back online. The elevators of course were not working so they had to physically remove and re-install their servers in another location trucking them down the emergency stairwell.

Failure to plan is planning to fail!

The same is true of your data lines. Generally one installs two trunks diametrically opposite of the other on either corners or sides of the building. If that is not feasible you look at RF links. Yes they are slower than fiber but slower is better than nothing.

Your individual needs will dictate your level of redundancy needed.

During the design of your data center, each and every risk must be defined and be part of the risk assessment. During a move, a site selection team must evaluate all sorts of factors regarding your data center before the lease is signed, or the building is purchased or even built, if you are going to go that way.

Data Centers large or small all should have the basic fundamentals covered. It is your company after all.

One of my clients had me travel around with their folks to look over prospective sites. They were a little edgy with their people that they had doing this so hiring me to go do this with them hedged their bet. When I arrived at the first location they were ready to sign the lease. They were not happy when I discovered that the ceiling was loaded with asbestos. The extra cost to get someone that was certified to run cable in such an environment was over the top, not to mention that it was in an earthquake prone part of California. There is a reason that the lease was “cheap.” On another site the cable plant had been added to as the previous tenant grew. They has spliced wires in the ceiling, which you just don’t do. Some of these had been spliced to cat 3 wires. I can well imagine what the data throughput looked like and the error rate that those persons suffered.

We start with the basics: power, voice/data, air handling. We look at the hardware required for all of this. We calculate the power requirements and the amount of air-conditioning needed. What about a redundant air conditioner? How about fire suppression? I like to install dust filtration systems, as this investment will extend the life of your equipment. How about remote monitoring of your data center. What about security both physical and well as data?

We look at risk factors, where is it geographically? What historic data can we find on that area regarding disasters? I also look at permit cost, union involvement cost etc. I work with the architect and GC to make certain that all of the I’s are dotted and T’s crossed.

In 35 years of doing this I have never had a “good surprise” and my goal is to keep the customer from having a bad one.

One thing that I recommend is a sensor that “sniffs for smoke.” This sensor triggers an emergency shut down of the UPS if smoke is detected. Why on earth would I want to do this?

“Where there is smoke there is fire.”

Maybe, maybe not however; this equipment runs 24X7 and 2/3 of that time is unattended. Generally, poor cable management which I see in more data centers than not, is the cause for smoke and fire. This sensor shutting the power off to the data center stops the fire in its tracks as it generally will start smoking before actually catching fire. This sensor hooks up to the big red button and serves as the emergency shut down if smoke is detected. It can also be wired to the building security systems and trigger a call to the fire department as well as sound alarms so people can get out of the building.

A lot of data centers use the cheapest fire suppression techniques out there “again designed by a neophyte.” So, a cable rubs raw, starts smoking, catches on fire and the suppression system is activated. Water… Water and electronics do not mix. You now have your entire data center ruined because your “people” were lazy and failed to properly dress the cables and you did not have a modern fire suppression system. The smoke sniffer is the next best thing. Stops the fire before the water starts.

The devil is in the details, and brother there are tons of details. As part of a DR; we cover as many as we can find. Once we think we have it, we hire an outside technical staff to re-create your data center in an offsite location, with your run-book, documentation and backups. We give them everything that we “think” they should need and then we sit back and take notes. You’re CIO and I watch, and take notes. We get them the answers that they need, note them, and then move on until it either works or fails. If it fails, we do a root cause analysis, take corrective action and try it again.

Yes, this is a shameless plug for Sungard.

DR plans generally do not work the first time. There are way too many details to catch them all but, as they do their thing and they hit a stopping point, we find the answer, make notes and then let them proceed until they get everything working as we expect it to be. Then we have a Skeleton crew come in and try to work. We make notes of everything that they run into, fix what we can through the rent a geeks, and press on.

Part of the process is to determine what an acceptable down time is and that can even be broken down into individual systems. “Payroll before sales?”

After that, we go back and alter the run book, provide more software or whatever was needed and then we get another team of rent geeks and do it again. Same process until we get it to such a point that the rent a geek can draw on their own knowledge to fill in any holes.

An inventory of the skill set necessary for the geeks is yet another bit on information to document.

Having a disaster recovery plan, like a data backup strategy; is only as good as your last successful test. Once you have a successful test, it is incumbent upon your people to devise a scheme to keep it updated. I do this through a process called change management.

Is this your disaster recovery plan?

We use rent a geeks as we must assume that your staff has all been part of the disaster. If we can make it work with technical people that you can hire from your VAR then, if there is a disaster and your staff was not involved in the disaster, your chances of a successful recovery are very high.

If you look at my other blogs regarding information technology, there is plenty of good advice out there. If you are in need of a DR plan or someone to assist your technical team get through a migration, a move or what have you; I have over 35 years of experience, and a valid passport. I speak English with a smattering of Geek.. 🙂

Yes, if these were real people and not actors, I could converse with them easily, I actually know what a Higgs-Bosson is

Artist idea of what it would look like.

If you are moving and need a data center designed in the new location that is probably one of the least expensive things that I do; assuming that your documentation is up to snuff. The size of your company and time frame will determine the scope of work (SOW,) and if I will need more than myself to accomplish the task. I work with some fine people here in the DFW area, and they too can travel. If you have a relation with a VAR already, I can work with them. I must admit that I will evaluate them on your behalf, as I do not believe in wasting your money or my time.

My character closely matches this guy although, I am easier going and my vernacular is well suited for all people, most of the time.

There is plenty of good advice here on my site, so feel free to peruse and glean what you may. I do reserve all rights to the information contained herein, so please do not copy or disseminate without permission. Thanks!

-Best

Security update 11/8/14

The following is an update to the title page on Security

To underscore the need for security and for a security officer, Russia “as in the government thereof,” has been working to place a virus or trojan in the utility networks of this country. Most probably this Trojan supplants a small piece of code that does something normal however it is waiting to be “Activated” when the time is right to something much more malevolent.

The government is being rather tight lipped about how the bug was discovered but, needless to say we have a big job on our hands to clean all of the systems of this bug.

Programmatically, a bit by bit comparison of each and every program and or file will need to happen to look for and isolate this bug.

Russia if it were so inclined could activate this “bug” which its intent would most certainly be to attack the power grid or other utility making them inoperable at a critical time.

There was show on TV with a similar scenario but here now we have the real deal.

Forensic computing allowed us to “see” that the infiltrations were coming from Russia during a typical 9 to 5 day over there; which implicates government workers. Hackers are not 9 to 5 folks but rather those who burn the midnight oil and are able to work when the phone is not ringing and the world around them is at rest.

Those of you who were not alive during the cold war, well this is it only it once more but, is taking place in cyber space.

This is why it is patriotic to have your computer and associated networks hardened against such attacks. This is also a real good reason to use anti-virus software that is not created or maintained by Russians, or any other world power that does not like Americans.

While I dislike the fact that this administration appears clueless on foreign affairs; and we are much worse off than just 6 years ago, the world is what it is.

Until this regime leaves office and adults take back the White House, you will need to take the necessary steps to secure your business networks as well as your home computers including your smart phones and other “smart” devices.

Remember the bug may be on your home computers waiting to be activated which could cause a DOS attack on some system somewhere. Make certain that you use a program that is better than Microsoft Essentials or anything that is free. Free anti-virus software is not worth what you pay for it!

If you have any questions regarding this please don’t hesitate to ask. If I don’t know the answer off the top of my head, most certainly others that read this blog will, or I will do my best get it for you.

-Best

Virus for Macs, iPhones and Tablets?

While it is not unheard of, they are rare. Today we learned that a virus has been unleashed to attack Apple products including Iphones, Ipads and of course anything running the MAC OS.

The Virus effects MAcs and Smartphones and I suspect was written for the Chinese as they have Jailbroken their phones and are downloading apps from other sources besides ITunes.

While one could speculate that such a virus that only affects those devices that are Jailbroken might be written to punish those that do this type of thing; or to discourage those who might want to do this, you would really have to be a conspiracy nut to think this way.

That would be like thinking that most viruses are written by the folks that make the antivirus programs. Totally nuts…. right…nuts… why would they do that?….Crazy talk….! Have you purchased antivirus software lately. $50 and up for one year! With millions of computers and millions more smartphones and tablets, those that write anti-virus software have a goldmine and a half!

To write viruses one must necessarily have intimate knowledge of the code that makes up the OS. Likewise, if one wants to foil and antivirus program, one would need intimate knowledge of that code.

While I have no doubt that groups like the Russian Mob who made more money on hacking and getting information from people’s computers then selling drugs might find this work easier, some of these hacks are just crazy.

Who does this kind of thing?

I have Trend Micro for my phone and iPad and I update the OS after a short period of time that the new release has been tested by those a little more eager than I, you can still not be too careful. While I would like apps on my phone that Apple will not host, I have not even thought about jailbreaking it.

If your secret family recipe for chocolate cake is on your phone, and you want it secure; you might want to look at Trend or some other anti virus software for your MAC products. It is more than simple recipes however; people store all sorts of information on there including banking, health, credit card info, passwords for your online accounts, text messages, e-mails; all of which is vulnerable.

If you want to talk conspiracy, what if the bad guy wanted to listen in on your conversations; could the microphone be turned on, or worse yet, the camera?

How often do you find your smartphone warm to the touch and the battery almost exhausted and you have done nothing to get it that way?

There was a case not too long ago where some school sent kids home with laptops. Someone was turning on the built in cameras remotely and watching them in their home, bedrooms etc. This was most probably and immature geek that lived in his mothers basement, or was it.

Folks, smart devices have tons of information including your coordinates down to a few feet! If Apple does not make this thing where I can pull the battery; I am seriously thinking about going away from Apple to another type of smart phone that will let me A) pull the battery if I want to make certain that the thing is dead and B) change the battery “easily” when it no longer holds a charge!

The same is true of the tablet devices. These toys are for my amusement, not for some “hacker” or twisted peeping tom to use for their entertainment or source of revenue.

-Best

Moving?

If you are a CEO, or owner of a company, you know that the logistics of moving are a nightmare!

I have moved data centers while keeping the existing company going. That is what got me interested in Disaster recovery. If you are going to provide business continuity during a disaster, providing the same for a move is a little simpler.

If you have a disaster recovery plan, this would be an excellent way to test it. If you don’t; may I suggest you create one before the move and then use the move as a way to test it?

The simple facts are that most CEO’s are oblivious as to the true state of their data infrastructure. It seems to work and beside the occasional glitch, business continues.

As a DR specialist I see things way too often that are far from “best practice” and usually so sub-par that the person in charge of the mess does everything they can do to get me out of there before their boss learns the tenuous situation that they have going on.

Rule of thumb.

You don’t have to understand too much of the technology to know if you are being snowed.

Go into the wiring closets and or data center and look at how things arranged.

Are the cables dressed as they should be or are they simply plugged in with no rhyme or reason?

Is everything in the computer room labeled?

Can your CIO or manager or sysadmin produce an up to date network map?

Can they produce your software licenses in case the SBA comes for a visit?

Can they produce an accurate inventory of all of the software in your company?

Can they show you the “run book.”

These are just real simple things that you can look for to get a feel for how prepared your company is to either move, or recover after a disaster.

Usually the turnover in such a company results in messes being piled on top of messes. Before the Gordian knot becomes truly inexorable; a review is necessary.

The review turns into an audit which inevitably makes those who are responsible anxious. My job is not to point fingers, but simply point out that which needs to change.

See my blog “attention Ceo CiO etc…”

Attention #CEO #CFO #President #CIO and #hr

There are many things in there to ask of your staff.

The point to this writing today is simple this. If you are pondering a move, using your disaster recovery plan as an outline for the move, has lots of advantages.

The main advantage is that you get to test it, and work on it. While it may not be complete it is a starting point.

We live in difficult times; not having a DR plan is like driving without insurance, risky. While driving without insurance could get you a ticket, or paying for the other guy out of your pocket, not having a DR plan could cost you the entire company.

Feel free to contact me if you need some help.

Staylor AT guard-protect.com

Yes, robots see e-mails and spam me so simply replace the AT with the @

-Best