NetCare Blog

NetCare renews membership of Australia's leading IT helpdesk assocation

Thu, 24 May 2012 07:04:00 GMT

I'm pleased to report that we've renewed our annual membership with HDAA - the Help Desk Association of Australia. We are one of a handful of IT Support Providers that are members - most other members are the IT Departments of large enterprises. We continue to be associated with HDAA because of their range of training programs for professional development in the areas of customer service and service delivery. Rather than the actual technology itself. All their training is based around the ITIL standard, which we are committed to within our own business.

NetCare Backup Services - FAQs

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 04:34:00 GMT

Q: For NetCare OnSite Backup, what happens if the staff member forgets to swap the external drive?
A: Because it’s a two step operation, the day’s data is still backed up so you are still fully protected against a hardware failure.

Q: What data is backed up each day?
A: A full backup is done one day per week, and then daily incremental backups are performed for the next 6 days.

Q: How many days of data are stored on-site?
A: If space on the disk sub-system permits we recommend keeping three full backups onsite, extending back 21 days.

Q: What happens if a file is accidentally deleted and we don’t realize for some time?
A: All files deleted since the earliest full weekly backup can be recovered from the on-site disk backup. If the recommended three full backups are kept, this means up to 21 days.

Q: For NetCare Onsite Backup, how many external drives do we need?
A: As a minimum, we recommend one drive for each working day (so either 5 or 7). We also recommend one full backup be done each month, and that this external drive then be permanently archived off-site.

Today's best server backup strategy

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 04:33:00 GMT

We think the best backup strategy available today is a 2-step process based on the principle of BUDR (Backup Up, Disaster Recovery, often pronounced bud-r):
1. BU – protecting against critical hardware or software failure by backing up to a network storage unit that is directly connected to the network; and then
2. DR – protecting against a disaster event like theft or fire by backing up from that disk sub-system to an external source – either across the internet to a physically separate location, or to removable hard drives that are then manually taken off-site daily.

NetCare Remote Backup (powered by Acronis)
NetCare Remote Backup is a comprehensive backup and recovery service that ensures backups are done consistently and reliably. It provides regular backups of your server every night, so that the amount of data potentially lost is always minimized. This is complemented by an overnight backup of changes in your data across the internet to a secure offsite location (for instance your branch office server or a NetCare-approved third party backup provider). The whole backup process is monitored by our system and automatic alerts are generated if any problems occur.

This effectively means you’ve got two restore options available to you at all times – the on-site copy and the off-site copy.

We believe NetCare Remote Backup is the “absolute best” backup option. But, it can only be used when there is an SHDSL (synchronous) internet plan in place – the upload speeds of an ADSL plan are simply not fast enough to back up the amount of data that is stored on a server. Pricing for these faster internet plans have come down significantly over the last 12 months, and with the NBN rollout in the years to come, this option will become more and more viable.

NetCare Onsite Backup (powered by Acronis)
If the only cost-effective option for internet access at your location is an ADSL link, then our “second best” option is NetCare Onsite Backup. We still backup your servers every night so there is always an onsite disk backup available. But for the second step, instead of backing up across the internet, we backup to a series of external drives.

These drives are then swapped out every day by a trustworthy employee who also takes responsibility for taking the external disk media off-site, just like they may well do now with tapes. The big advantage over your current tape-based solution though is that even if tapes don’t get swapped over every day, a backup is still done every night to the onsite disk system.

The price for peace of mind
Both NetCare Remote Backup and NetCare Onsite Backup are provided as a service and can be cancelled at any time. The monthly service fee is $33, and includes all monitoring, configuration changes and software upgrades.

Additional off-site storage fees typically apply for NetCare Remote Backup, whilst our clients also need to purchase the appropriate removable disk drives for NetCare Onsite Backup. An indicative price for our standard disk backup hardware solution is $1600, including installation.

In my final blog post on server backup I'll post the answers to some common questions we get asked about our NetCare Backup services.

Backing up in 2012

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 04:31:00 GMT

Today, there is a strong trend in the computer industry away from backing up to tape and towards backing up to disk. There are five main reasons for this:
1. In our experience, every tape backup drive fails at some point in its life. And when it does it’s a stressful time for all diagnosing the problem, convincing the manufacturer that its faulty and putting in place an interim solution until the replacement tape drive is installed;
2. The ever-increasing amount of data stored on a server means the time taken to back it all up onto tape is increasing. Sometimes the “backup window” continues into the working day, slowing down network performance for everyone. This problem gets even bigger when there is more than one server or when the amount of data grows over time and it no longer fits onto one tape;
3. Swapping tape cartridges on a daily basis involves a human process, and is thus prone to forgetfulness and mistakes;
4. These days, disk drives are not only cheaper than tape drives devices, they’re also far more reliable over the long term; and
5. Restoring data from tape will always be a clumsy, tedious, slow and mistake prone process. And all at the exact point in time when there’s pressure on to get everything operational again as soon as possible.

In a nutshell, the backup process and the restore process is a lot faster, a lot simpler and a lot safer with disk drives than it is with tape drives.

In my next blog I'll outline what I think is today's best server backup strategy.

Introducing NetCare ServerCare

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:30:00 GMT

NetCare ServerCare is a mix of both proactive and reactive services that we provide to all clients on our Essentials, Gold and Platinum plans. It’s not just an insurance policy – it also maximises our chances of nipping a problem in the bud because we actively monitor and respond to the event logs on your server(s) all day every day.

We can do this as a result of new remote monitoring software we installed recently. This software allows us to now monitor your hardware as well as your operating system.

And ServerCare extends beyond hardware failure to also cover your server for any catastrophic operating system failure that may occur.

Essentially, we do our absolute best to keep your server operating reliably and optimally and in the event that a worst case scenario does occur and your server ends up needing a full software rebuild, we will do it as quickly as we can as part of the ServerCare service. You do not receive an ugly bill for the rebuild.

There’s also a fantastic ServerCare feature that we use to ensure your downtime is minimized – we install specialized image copy software that makes daily copies of your complete server image. Following a catastrophic server failure, we use this image copy to get your server back up and running again within a few hours. To implement this we provide a high capacity external disk drive and we use this disk drive to store multiple image backups as an additional safety net to your normal backup process.

Initial installation and testing of NetCare ServerCare is $390 (plus GST) which includes the cost of the 2TB external hard disk drive.

ServerCare covers you for catastrophic server software failure caused by the following events:

- Catastrophic server hardware failure;

- Sudden power loss resulting in a server crashing; and

- Unrecoverable Operating System software corruption (for example a crash caused by a virus that has got through the anti-virus defences).

ServerCare is more than just an insurance policy. An insurance policy covers you for rectification if something bad happens. This is certainly a feature of ServerCare but it also goes one significant step further because it also reduces the chance of something bad happening in the first place.

NetCare recommends that all our clients use ServerCare in addition to their standard backup solution because of the additional peace-of-mind it offers.

The cold hard reality of the warranty on your server

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:26:00 GMT

I’d like to start this blog by declaring openly that I think the ProLiant range of servers are fantastically reliable, superbly engineered and designed from the inside out for high performance. They’ve been my favourite brand of server since I started providing them to clients in 1992.

The standard warranty that comes with every ML350 HP ProLiant server is three years, on-site next-business-day. In most case our clients elect to upgrade this at the time of purchase to a 4 hour response and/or a warranty extension to 4 years.

However, it’s important to clarify what the standard on-site warranty provided by HP actually covers. In two words – “hardware only”. So in the unlikely event that a hardware component in your server fails over the course of its warranty life, HP will come on-site and replace that hardware component in a quick and effective fashion.

Sometimes that’s not enough… Recently, a client of ours had a server crash late one afternoon. The 3 year old server was in a dusty environment, its power supply fan became blocked, the main board heated up and some components failed. An HP engineer was onsite early the next morning to replace the necessary parts and after testing, announced that the hardware was now operational.

Unfortunately for the client, whilst the server hardware was fixed, the software still wouldn’t operate. And fixing this part of the problem is not done by the HP engineer - someone else (read NetCare) needs to fix the software. This important detail is covered off in the fine print of the warranty agreement and is common to all manufacturers – not just HP.

Fixing a software problem at this point often involves a lot of work. If NetCare can get the server operating again within a few hours, then all is pretty good. But if there’s still no sign of life at the 4 hour mark, then a big, expensive and complicated decision needs to be made. Do we keep going trying to recover, or do we cut our losses and rebuild the server software from scratch, incurring a fee to the client of up to $4000? And that doesn’t begin to count the business cost due to lost productivity.

In my next blog, I'll introduce our solution to this significant problem - NetCare ServerCare.

Question #10 – Do they encourage you to perform reference checking on their existing clients?

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:39:00 GMT

The most important action to take when choosing a new IT support provider is to find out what their existing clients have to say about their standards of service. Anonymous quotes on a website mean virtually nothing. An IT support provider that is proud of its service levels will have multiple client testimonials for you to read through, and will actively encourage you to make contact with them.

Question #9 – Do they provide fixed price quotes for all their work?

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:37:00 GMT

In the past the IT support industry based the price of services on an hourly charge-out rate. The big problem with this method is the potential for a slow, poorly trained beginner to cost the customer more money to fix a problem than a quick, well-trained IT expert. These days, almost all professional IT support providers base their prices on a fee for service arrangement. Commonly known as “Managed Service Providers”, these organisations can tell a client EVERY TIME how much it’s going to cost to perform the work before the work is started – whether it’s a small issue or a major project.

Question #8 – Do they provide a clear and concise report every month on the health of your system?

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:35:00 GMT

As well as having all your day to day issues resolved in a timely manner, it’s also very important to know whether your system is ticking over smoothly and that there’s not a big problem looming. This is best achieved by choosing an IT support provider that uses a comprehensive software solution to provide all their clients with a regular report on the health of their network. We recommend this report be automatically generated (no “manual adjustments” allowed!) and distributed on a monthly basis. We also recommend this report clearly shows a health score marked out of 100, along with colour coding, so clients can very easily gauge the overall system health of their system. And finally, this score card should be based on the measurement of a number of different system factors so that the score displayed is an accurate representation.

Question #7 – Do they absolutely promise to check that your backups worked EVERY day?

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:36:00 GMT

Checking backups every day for a week for one client is easy. Checking backups every day FOREVER and for multiple clients requires a procedure, a checklist, an audit process, the right checking tool and sufficient trained staff to cope for absences. Actioning this vital process takes a company-wide commitment to do the right thing and check client backups EVERY day, as promised.

Question #6 – Do they monitor networks continuously so that issues can be fixed before they become big problems.

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:32:00 GMT

Every IT support company likes to use the phrase “we’re proactive, not reactive”. The big question is how do they achieve that? Most IT support guys simply use a range of cheap ad-hoc tools to monitor a few client sites for different things like internet access, network performance, server uptime and so on. But to be able to utilise a comprehensive range of tools that are integrated into one solution is vital for any IT support provider that has more than two staff and is looking after more than 10 clients.

Question #5 - Do they have a HelpDesk system in place to provide their IT support?

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:30:00 GMT

It's one thing to have a guru who just jumps in and starts “fixing” your problem. And it’s another thing completely to have a systemized approach to recording the details of your requirements, recording the actions taken to resolve the issue, and following through to ensure the task has been completed to the client’s satisfaction. Every IT support provider – big or small – must have an industry-recognized HelpDesk software system at the heart of their service delivery operation. A system that adheres to the ITIL standard and that integrates into your monitoring and remote access systems will provide ongoing efficiency, consistency and reliability.

Question #4 - Do they have multiple staff on hand to provide both quick response times and a wider spread of knowledge?

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:28:00 GMT

The most common reason we get new clients is because the previous IT support provider was a small one-man-band consulting firm. Or they were relying on someone who was supporting their network on the side (moonlighting). By doing this they think they are saving money because these individuals typically charge less than established IT support firms. The challenge comes when they can’t respond to your emergency or complete your project on time or provide support on your new solution because they have too many clients, they don’t have enough time to keep up-to-date, they get sick, and they go on holiday. Many go out of business because they can’t make enough money, leaving their clients high and dry.

Question #3 - Do they have relevant tertiary qualifications and CURRENT Microsoft certifications?

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:26:00 GMT

The IT profession is unlike most others as it has no mandatory accreditation system. For example, organizations that provide engineers, architects, lawyers, dentists, doctors and accountants are regulated to protect their client base from receiving sub-standard or unqualified services. You need to find a provider who’s entire technical team is qualified with some form of IT tertiary qualification (in my experience, a TAFE diploma in IT is a great base). And because the IT industry does not stand still, it’s important that your new provider keeps its staff up to date by investing in their ongoing education with current Microsoft certifications (warning - Microsoft certifications that include the phrases Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 are NOT current!).

Question #2 - Do they have a formal agreement document that defines exactly what they do and what the cost is?

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:22:00 GMT

Like most things in business these days, there is too much at stake to rely on a handshake with your new IT support provider. They need to have a plain English written agreement that precisely identifies the scope of the services and the costs for those services. You also need this Agreement to include a confidentiality clause as you are effectively handing the keys of your business secrets to an outsider. And finally any Agreement you sign needs to be fair to both parties – not heavily slanted in the provider’s favour (unlike, say, most insurance, utility and telco contracts).