Whether you’re a small startup or a multinational corporation, the way you manage and maintain your network can significantly impact your operations, security and overall efficiency—especially when you’ve got bandwidth-hungry applications to handle and a growing number of devices connecting to your network. Managed network services enable businesses to alleviate routine tasks and focus on strategic initiatives. With a managed network services provider, you can delegate these mundane responsibilities and concentrate on building an IT infrastructure that fuels business growth.

What are Managed Network Services?

A managed network is a communication network overseen and maintained by a specialized third party known as a Managed Service Provider (MSP). With an MSP partnership, businesses engage a third party to handle basic IT operations, including managing complex networking environments, troubleshooting, improving performance levels and operating system maintenance—tasks that were traditionally handled by in-house IT staff.

How do Managed Network Services Differ from Traditional In-house Services?

Managed and traditional in-house services have notable distinctions that make them suitable for different types of businesses.

• Ownership and Responsibility—In a managed network, the organization outsources the responsibility for network management to a third-party provider. In a traditional network, the organization is responsible for all aspects of its design, implementation, management and maintenance.
• Proactive vs Reactive—Managed network providers actively monitor network performance to anticipate issues before they arise. In contrast, traditional network management is often reactive due to time and resource constraints.
• Scalability—Managed service providers (MSPs) can quickly adjust resources to accommodate changing business needs. Scaling a traditional network often involves procuring and configuring additional hardware at a significant cost in time and money.
• Cost Structure—In a managed network, the organization pays a recurring fee to the managed service provider, simplifying budgeting. Costs for a traditional infrastructure include hardware and software, as well as staff salaries, training and maintenance.

Choosing a Managed Network Service Provider

Choosing a managed network service provider is an important decision. You want to find a trusted partner capable of managing the entire network infrastructure that your internal teams rely upon daily.

Here are some factors to pay attention to when selecting the right managed network solution provider for your business.

Company Reputation and Track Record

A provider’s track record of handling diverse challenges is a strong indicator of their expertise. Select an MSP that has had its mettle tested. One who is adept at overcoming various obstacles is likely better equipped to handle unforeseen issues with your network. A thorough evaluation of customer reviews, case studies and LinkedIn profiles can provide valuable insights into the experience of each potential partner.

Technical Expertise

This might be obvious, but it still needs to be said: Choose an MSP that does more than monitoring and device management. Your provider’s services should align with your long-term initiatives and deliver integrated security intelligence that aligns with IT infrastructure and back-end technology. To avoid the future cost of technology changes, make sure your MSP can protect your existing investments by requesting a list of platforms the provider is certified to manage.

Customizability of services

Every organization has unique network requirements based on its industry, size, operations and objectives. Look for providers that offer a wide range of services, provide multiple service levels, give you the ability to mix and match and have prepackaged offerings. This kind of customizability allows you to pay for the services and features you actually need, rather than being locked into a fixed package that may not be applicable to your needs.

OneNeck Delivers Customized, Comprehensive Managed Network Services

Choosing managed network services enables businesses of all sizes to secure their digital assets by leveraging new technology and experienced IT professionals.

With industry-leading technology, OneNeck delivers operational excellence and compliance through rigorous, flexible and accessible network management services. Contact us to learn more about our managed security services.

On October 10, 2023, Citrix released a security bulletin concerning the discovery of two critical vulnerabilities. This announcement highlighted vulnerabilities in their flagship products: NetScaler ADC (formerly Citrix ADC) and NetScaler Gateway (formerly known as Citrix Gateway). These vulnerabilities are particularly concerning as, if successfully exploited, they could compromise the integrity and security of systems and data. Specifically, the vulnerabilities could lead to:

• CVE-2023-4966: Sensitive information disclosure
• CVE-2023-4967: Denial of service

Source: Citrix

Affected NetScaler Versions

The following versions of NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway are affected:

• NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway 14.1 before 14.1-8.50
• NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway 13.1 before 13.1-49.15
• NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway 13.0 before 13.0-92.19
• NetScaler ADC 13.1-FIPS before 13.1-37.164
• NetScaler ADC 12.1-FIPS before 12.1-55.300
• NetScaler ADC 12.1-NDcPP before 12.1-55.300

These vulnerabilities do not directly impact customers utilizing Citrix-managed cloud services or Citrix-managed Adaptive Authentication, and, as such, no immediate action is required.

Another important item to note is that NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway version 12.1 is now End-of-Life (EOL) and remains vulnerable.

For more detailed information, please refer to the official Citrix security bulletin on the Citrix Knowledge Center.

Recommended Action

In light of these recent discoveries, OneNeck cannot emphasize enough the importance of timely action. We strongly urge all affected customers to prioritize the installation of the updated versions of NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway. By doing so, you can ensure your systems’ continued security and integrity, safeguarding them against potential exploits.

We have some reassuring news for our valued customers utilizing OneNeck’s managed services. We’ve already initiated contact and are actively supporting you in addressing these vulnerabilities. Rest assured, we’re on top of this situation to ensure your systems remain secure.

OneNeck’s Commitment to Customer Security

At OneNeck, we prioritize the security of our customers. We understand the complexities and challenges of managing and updating IT infrastructure. Beyond these immediate concerns, we also offer Citrix Assurance Services as well as comprehensive patch management to ensure long-term system security and stability. As a trusted partner, we stand ready to help any customer needing support, whether for installing the necessary patches or for broader IT management solutions.

Additionally, we invite you to check out our Monthly Patching Blog series. It’s a valuable resource to keep you informed on the latest critical updates from our vendors, ensuring you’re always ahead of potential threats.

If you require assistance or have any concerns, please contact our Customer Care Center. Our team is ready and available to guide you through the update process and beyond, ensuring your systems remain secure and resilient.

The cyber threats that organizations face today have evolved beyond the computer viruses of decades past. Attacks are more sophisticated, well-planned and stealthy than ever. Organizations must stay alert and be ready to deal with cyber threats anytime and anywhere, with a strong response plan for what is, these days, inevitable.

What is Managed Threat Detection?

Managed threat detection and response (MDR) is an outsourced security solution that monitors for threats to ensure fast response and remediation of security incidents. Managed detection can address today’s common threats, such as ransomware, denial of service (DoS) attacks, phishing and attacks that blend two or more threats.

The Challenges of Managing Threat Detection

One of the reasons cyberattacks are so hard to defend against is that as organizations evolve, so do attackers. For every advance in security, attackers come up with a new way to get around it. IT teams can face these additional challenges in managing threat detection:

• Too many alerts. As security technology grows more sophisticated, it also has more false alarms, making it a constant struggle to determine which threats are real, and which are just noise.
• Not enough skilled staff. Many organizations are short-staffed already and don’t have the cybersecurity expertise needed to implement and run managed detection in their environment.
• Too many endpoints. Between office and remote workers, networks today have more geographically dispersed endpoints, resulting in a larger attack surface — and more stuff to protect.
• A growing number of threats. Worldwide cyberattacks were up 38% in 2022 compared to the previous year. Many of them targeted collaboration tools used by remote workers.
• Disconnected tools. When an organization’s security tools are pieced together from different vendors, they may not work well together to enable a cohesive response.

As organizations grow, keeping up with these challenges will only get more complex, taking time and resources away from other business priorities.

4 Reasons Businesses Partner with Managed Detection Providers.

One of the best ways to stay on top of cyber threats is to partner with a managed detection provider. Managed detection providers are specialists with the expertise and resources to focus on advanced threat protection to keep your organization’s devices and data safe from breaches. Here are four reasons why you should partner with a managed detection provider:

1.   Save time and resources

To stay on top of the latest emerging threats, you need a comprehensive suite of the latest security tools and the time to configure and monitor them. However, the cost of investing in those tools, as well as setting them up and monitoring them, is beyond many organizations’ reach. It’s far more cost effective to work with a managed detection provider who already has the technology and monitoring capabilities and the skilled staff to keep your environment safe.

2.   Leverage industry experience and expertise

Even with the latest security tools, you and your team need to keep your finger on the pulse of new threat actors, attack vectors and attack techniques. When you engage a provider that works with a diverse range of problems in your industry, you get access to their real-world experience. Their trained staff also keeps a close eye on new and unexpected developments in cyber threats so you know what might be coming before it hits you.

3.   Gut-check your cybersecurity strategy

The threat landscape evolves so rapidly that yesterday’s strategy might not work against today’s attacks. In addition, it is difficult to address every potential threat vector with a third party to check your work. Working with a managed detection provider who is experienced in security strategies ensures that you’ve cemented every crack in your security posture to keep your network and devices safe.

4.   Gain support amid cybersecurity talent shortages

With a reported 700,000 cybersecurity positions unfilled in 2022, you may not be able to hire the staff you need to manage cyber detection and response at your organization. Outsourcing to a managed detection provider that already has a full staff greatly eases the burden and cost of recruiting, hiring and training in a very competitive market.

Modern Businesses Need Managed Threat Detection

No organization is too small to be immune to a security attack. Cybersecurity should be at the top of everyone’s priority list. But for many organizations, lack of staff or budget pushes security farther down the list, leaving their environment vulnerable to attack.

Fortunately, there’s a solution: Experts who continually monitor your environment, with access to the latest research and analytics, who are ready to respond when threats arise.

OneNeck IT Solutions has partnered with Fortra’s Alert Logic to bring you round-the-clock managed detection and response services. Our security experts, along with the award-winning security platform from Fortra’s Alert Logic, collect and analyze real-time data to assess and mitigate every threat, any time of the day and night.

Are you ready to learn more about how OneNeck and Fortra’s Alert Logic can provide you with next-level managed detection and response services? Read more about managed detection here.

Database management is becoming increasingly complex due to growing data volumes and security concerns, which require significant infrastructure investments and specialized skills. Many organizations rely on the guidelines provided by ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) as a framework to manage their database environment effectively, deliver services efficiently, and optimize overall performance.

However, more organizations are going one step further to employ database managed services—the adoption of managed services is growing steadily with a compound annual growth rate of 12.44%.

What are database managed services?

Database managed services are cloud-based offerings that handle the administration, monitoring, and optimization of databases, allowing organizations to focus on their core operations. These services often include patching, security management, and incident diagnosis.

The unique value of database managed services

Organizations primarily invest in database managed services to offload the operational complexities of database management, and there are numerous benefits. Overall, these services enhance efficiency, reliability, and scalability while freeing up valuable time and resources.

Managed services providers (MSPs) offer deep expertise and dedicated resources to ensure optimal performance, high availability, and data security. With automated backups and disaster recovery mechanisms, organizations can safeguard their data without manual intervention.

Additionally, organizations gain the ability to seamlessly scale their database resources based on demand, allowing them to handle varying workloads effectively. Managed services also reduce the need for upfront investments in hardware and software, resulting in cost savings.

Companies with an SQL, PostgreSQL, or Oracle environment further benefit from advanced querying capabilities, robust security features, and comprehensive ecosystem support.

Key aspects of database managed services

Database MSPs provide organizations with access to a team of experts that handle database tasks, ensure optimal performance, safeguard data, and minimize downtime. Some of the key aspects of database managed services include:

Upgrades and patches

Database MSPs handle the responsibility of installing updates, upgrades, and security patches for the supported database systems. They stay current with the latest releases and ensure that databases are running on the most secure and efficient versions. This minimizes the risk of vulnerabilities and security breaches.

These upgrades and patches also save organizations time and effort by eliminating the need to track and implement updates themselves. Regular upgrades and patches also help optimize database performance, introduce new features, and ensure compatibility with evolving technologies, enhancing the overall stability and reliability of the database environment.

Security management

Protecting sensitive data from breaches is another critical aspect of database managed services. Database MSPs leverage encryption to safeguard data at rest and in transit, and implement authentication mechanisms to prevent unauthorized access. They also monitor databases for vulnerabilities, perform regular audits and apply necessary patches.

Moreover, database MSPs employ intrusion detection and prevention systems to detect and mitigate potential threats. With proactive measures in place, database managed services enhance data security, ensuring compliance with industry regulations.

Incident diagnosis and resolution

A database administration team monitors for any performance issues or anomalies and when incidents occur, they promptly identify the root cause of the problem. Once the issue is identified, the team works diligently to resolve it and ensure minimal downtime, lowering the impact on business operations.

This often involves troubleshooting, performance tuning, and implementing necessary fixes or optimizations. With their specialized expertise, managed service providers can efficiently handle complex database issues, ensuring prompt incident resolution.

Performance tuning

Database MSPs optimize performance and ensure fast query execution time by analyzing database performance metrics, identifying bottlenecks, and fine-tuning configurations, indexes, and query plans. Additionally, they monitor resource utilization—such as CPU and memory—and scale them as needed.

Performance tuning also involves database schema optimization, query optimization, and implementing caching mechanisms. By continually optimizing and fine-tuning the database environment, database MSPs help organizations improve user experience and support critical operations efficiently.

24/7 support

With round-the-clock support, database MSPs ensure prompt assistance in the event of database-related issues or emergencies. Their support teams are available at all times to address queries, provide troubleshooting guidance and resolve critical incidents.

The support includes monitoring systems for potential issues, responding to alerts, and offering timely resolutions. Businesses can rely on the expertise of database MSPs, and 24/7 support means that assistance is readily available regardless of the time zone or the nature of the problem. This ensures minimal downtime and uninterrupted access to critical databases.

Get started with OneNeck’s Certified DBAs

Database managed services allow organizations to offload the operational complexities of database management. Due to growing data volume and security concerns, and the rising workload of IT departments, the reliance of organizations on database managed services will continue to grow.

You can trust OneNeck’s certified database administrators with performance tuning, database optimization, security implementation, and proactive monitoring—regardless of whether your environment is SQL, PostgreSQL or Oracle. Companies of all sizes rely on OneNeck to ensure reliable, efficient, and secure database operations.

Read more about our Managed Database Services and learn how OneNeck’s experts can help you maintain and protect your databases.

ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is nothing new to IT departments. For decades, organizations have followed the best practices outlined in the ITIL framework to deliver high-quality and cost-effective IT services.

In the search for a managed services provider (MSP), you might find it difficult to discern the value of one provider over another. To receive the best services, today’s organizations should engage an MSP that follows the ITIL framework.

The Value of ITIL to Today’s Organizations

The importance of ITIL has only grown as IT environments have become more complex and distributed. Today’s organizations use ITIL to align their IT services with their ever-evolving business needs and customer expectations.

The primary focus of ITIL is to automate processes, improve service management, and integrate IT departments. The ITIL service lifecycle comprises five main stages:

• Service Strategy focuses on understanding the business objectives and customer needs by defining a strategic approach to IT service management.
• Service Design means designing new services or modifying existing services based on the defined requirements and strategies.
• Service Transition involves implementing new or modified services in the operational environment of the organization.
• Service Operation refers to the actual delivery of services to customers, including incident and problem management.
• Continual Service Improvement aims to optimize service delivery through performance assessment and change implementation.

These five stages provide today’s organizations with a structured framework for managing IT services and improving service quality on an ongoing basis.

ITIL has gone through several revisions and consolidations since it was introduced in the late 1980s to accommodate new technology developments. ITIL 4, the latest version of the framework, was released with updates that help IT departments like yours foster greater agility and flexibility.

What is a Managed Service in ITIL?

A managed service for ITIL is the outsourced delivery and management of an organization’s IT services by a third party known as a managed service provider. They support the IT infrastructure and systems of their clients based on the optimized processes outlined in ITIL.

Top Reasons Companies Invest in ITIL-based Managed Services

You might engage an ITIL managed services provider for a number of reasons. You might want your employees to focus more on your organization’s core functions and strategic initiatives. You may be looking for opportunities to achieve greater scalability, flexibility, and cost advantages through economies of scale.

Here’s a closer look at some of the primary reasons companies use ITIL managed services providers.

Streamlines customer onboarding.

When a managed services provider uses the ITIL framework, they build standardized procedures for customer onboarding, ensuring that the process remains consistent and efficient. From there, they work with you to define roles and responsibilities within the onboarding process, which eliminates confusion and enables coordination between all teams involved—ultimately leading to a better experience for your team.

MSPs may also use ITIL to build a knowledge base for customer onboarding based on best practices and lessons learned. This knowledge can be shared throughout your organization to further improve consistency.

Helps MSPs deliver excellent customer service.

MSPs can use ITIL to align their service offerings with your business requirements, which ensures that the services they provide are valuable and relevant. With Service Level Agreements that establish clear expectations, metrics, and targets for service delivery, you and your MSP will have a basis for measuring and reporting service performance. Moreover, ITIL provides MSPs guidelines for effective incident management so your issues are resolved promptly with minimal impact on business operations.

Increases the value your MSP can deliver.

ITIL allows MSPs to implement well-defined processes, which minimizes errors in service delivery. It also provides guidelines that enable MSPs to manage incidents systematically, allowing errors to be detected and resolved faster—which means fewer fires for you to worry about. In addition, ITIL lowers the risk of disruptions during change implementation so MSPs can deliver more stable and reliable IT services.

Includes process review cycles for continuous improvement.

ITIL provides MSPs with a structured approach to constantly update their IT service delivery. The process review cycles involve periodic assessments of service management processes, which help MSPs to pinpoint areas that require improvement—within their organization and within yours—including bottlenecks and inefficiencies.

With this information at their fingertips, MSPs can work with you to define key performance indicators (KPIs) based on ITIL’s standards to track performance and gain insights into the gaps in service delivery.

Engage with a Leading ITIL Managed Services Provider

Organizations are embracing ITIL managed services because MSPs establish a robust framework that guarantees service quality and reliability when managing and delivering IT services. This significantly lowers the risk of disruptions and improves customer satisfaction for your organization.

OneNeck is a leading ITIL managed services provider with an extensive portfolio of managed services, including managed database services. OneNeck’s experienced database administration team proactively monitors systems to ensure peak performance at all times, while standardizing and optimizing routine tasks to reduce costs.

Learn more by reading about our Managed Services.

Just a decade ago, IT professionals were abuzz about “the cloud.” Today, more than 60% of corporate data is stored in the cloud, and by 2025, research suggests that more than 200 zettabytes of data will be stored in the cloud — roughly half of all the world’s data.

Managed cloud storage solutions can help organizations safely, securely, and efficiently house their data without requiring additional staff or expensive capital expenditures (CapEx).

In this blog post, we’ll explore what managed cloud storage is and provide some examples of how businesses can use it.

What is managed cloud storage?

Managed cloud storage is a service provided by a third-party organization in which the provider manages the entire storage infrastructure — including hardware, software, and data management responsibilities. Common cloud management operations include cloud migration, service optimization, and security monitoring that help companies offload the responsibility of installing and maintaining storage infrastructure so they can focus on core business activities.

What’s an example of managed cloud storage?

Many well-known companies offer managed cloud storage services on a subscription basis in which the provider charges a fee based on the amount of storage used. Popular managed cloud storage services include Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud.

These services enable an organization to conveniently and securely store important information such as data from their customer relationship management (CRM) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms off-site and managed by someone else.

Managed vs. Unmanaged Cloud Storage

Unlike managed cloud storage, unmanaged cloud storage is the sole responsibility of the company that owns the data. With unmanaged cloud storage, an organization is responsible for selecting a data center and deploying the storage array. The company is also responsible for increasing storage capacity, updating and upgrading infrastructure, and troubleshooting any issues that arise.

How to Choose the Best Cloud Storage Management Solution for You

As cloud storage continues to gain popularity, businesses have a wide range of cloud storage options available. Determining which is the best for your business frequently comes down to a handful of specific factors. Here are some steps to take when choosing a cloud storage management provider.

Determine the location of the data center

Cloud-based storage solutions require a data center to house the physical infrastructure upon which virtualized infrastructure can be run. Choosing the right data center is often a matter of its location.

A data center’s proximity to sufficient power and connectivity services is an important consideration when choosing a location. Having adequate power helps to ensure that storage systems can run uninterrupted as expected, while proximity to public cloud provider availability zones is necessary for maintaining a strong, stable connection to cloud resources.

Evaluate the provider’s security features

Data privacy and security are paramount in today’s high-risk, data-driven business landscape. Cyber attacks continue to increase in frequency and sophistication, causing an average of nearly $4.5 million worth of damage per incident, leading governments to impose regulations such as GDPR in Europe and CRPA in California to compel organizations to bolster their data security efforts.

For organizations using managed cloud storage, it’s important to evaluate the various security safeguards the provider has in place. These measures include physical security at the data center site to prevent unauthorized access to storage hardware, as well as software-enabled security like network intrusion detection, built-in firewalls, and advanced data encryption.

Look at performance data

Like other areas of a business, managed cloud storage should be evaluated with measurable performance data. Cloud storage systems are typically measured by the data transfer rate to and from storage media, which is an indication of the overall performance of the system.

It’s also important to look at broader performance metrics such as service availability (measured in “nines”) and how quickly the storage system comes back online following an outage or interruption, called recovery time objectives (RTOs).

Assess integrations and APIs

One of the biggest benefits of managed cloud storage is that it enables any user to access information from virtually anywhere. But for that to happen — accessing, adding, updating, or deleting data from cloud storage — applications must connect to the data store via an Application Programming Interface or API.

APIs typically come in either a REST (Representational State Transfer) or SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) architecture. Regardless of the design, it’s important that your managed cloud storage provider offer a wide variety of APIs, as each storage system must be connected by purpose-built APIs for that storage unit.

In general, a managed cloud storage service provider with a broader range of APIs will offer a more flexible and robust suite of solutions for your business.

Forward-thinking Infrastructure for Growing Organizations

Managed cloud storage is an excellent way for businesses to offload their storage infrastructure management tasks and focus on their core business activities. Managed cloud storage providers can help businesses reduce operating costs while improving scalability and data security that enable greater and more sustainable growth.

Download our Ultimate Buyer’s Guide to Managed IT Services to learn more about managed cloud storage and other essential solutions.

Microsoft has significantly changed its licensing subscription services by moving to the New Commerce Experience (NCE) platform. The old rules still apply to a few subscriptions, and the latest rules apply to new subscriptions. This change has created confusion among Microsoft clients as there are now two rule sets for CSP licensing to follow: one for legacy subscriptions and another for those converted to NCE.

We will likely live in both worlds for a while. Microsoft originally planned to retire Legacy subscriptions upon expiration and only provide NCE subscriptions upon renewal. However, Microsoft retraced its steps and allowed existing Legacy subscriptions to renew indefinitely. Currently, academic, nonprofit and government/GCC licensing remain on Legacy subscriptions, with no specific dates for when they may be compelled to convert to NCE.

Managing CSP Licensing with NCE and Legacy Subscriptions

Let’s examine what is essential to know about managing Microsoft CSP licensing and working with Microsoft’s NCE cancellation policy.

• Cancellations– Legacy subscriptions may be canceled or reduced at any time. Under NCE policy, subscriptions are cancelable with a prorated refund within the first 168 hours of any term. After the 168-hour window, cancellation is no longer available. The client will be billed for the entire duration, even if the customer stops using the subscription (applicable to any billing plan).
• Adding Subscriptions– For legacy subscriptions, you can add anytime, whereas, for NCE subscriptions, you may also add anytime, but the cancellation policy clock starts ticking. After 168 hours, users may not cancel until the term expires.
• Upgrading– Legacy subscriptions are not capable of receiving an upgrade. NCE subscriptions allow upgrades to qualifying packages and can cancel included add-ons through a qualified CSP, such as OneNeck, via a support ticket to Microsoft.
• Auto-renew– Automatic renewal occurs for Legacy subscriptions until cancelation. NCE subscriptions will also, by default, auto-renew. However, to cancel the subscription at the end of the term, one only needs to uncheck the auto-renew option.
• Alignment of Subscription End Date– Aligning with a subscription end date is not possible for Legacy subscriptions. With NCE subscriptions, you can pick an end-of-term date when ordering that matches an existing subscription.
• Schedule Changes– Legacy subscriptions can make changes at any time and are not tied to an end-of-term. NCE subscriptions have some limitations in their ability to change during the term. However, customers can schedule many changes, including quantity modifications, term date alignment and term change to occur at renewal.

Strategy for Managing CSP Licensing

Managing CSP licensing is a daunting task for any organization. Knowing the best strategy to manage licensing and improve productivity can be challenging with so many options and promotions available. Fortunately, OneNeck provides a comprehensive plan for managing CSP subscriptions that helps businesses navigate this complex landscape.

Maintaining Legacy Subscriptions

One of the components of the OneNeck CSP licensing strategy is to advise organizations to consider keeping Legacy licensing until they feel it is necessary to move to NCE. While Legacy licensing might not seem as appealing as newer options, in many cases, it may be helpful to maintain until Microsoft further incentivizes clients to move. For example, organizations can reduce or add to the quantity of Legacy licensing whenever needed. OneNeck’s self-service portal allows clients to make these changes quickly and easily. Organizations with a regular need for licensing fluctuation would be wise to maintain their Legacy subscription.

Moving to NCE Subscriptions

There are several reasons for organizations to consider the move to NCE licensing, including upgrading to a higher-level package, taking advantage of promotions and moving to OneNeck CSP.

Upgrading Licenses– If an organization needs to upgrade to a higher-level package, Legacy licensing won’t be sufficient. Customers will need to order new NCE subscriptions for commercial or corporate clients. Microsoft is currently offering promotions for first-time subscribers to Microsoft 365 Business Premium. This subscription includes basic security functionality, such as MFA, conditional access policies, endpoint management and protection. If an organization currently uses Legacy Microsoft 365 Business Basic or Microsoft 365 Business Standard licenses, this promotion may be a reason to convert. While the current promotion is good until June, other incentives will undoubtedly be forthcoming.

Moving to OneNeck as your Microsoft CSP– OneNeck’s Microsoft CSP Program delivers superior support, customer success, advanced managed service options, and a focus on security and productivity for clients. If an organization is not a client of OneNeck, they will need to order new NCE subscriptions through OneNeck and cancel their Legacy subscriptions with their old provider.

Adoption Score– OneNeck’s CSP licensing strategy includes turning on Adoption Score, a free tool provided through Microsoft 365 Admin. This tool recommends how to use licensing to improve user experience and productivity. After a listening period, Adoption Score gives feedback based on the organization as a whole rather than singling out individuals.

The information provided gives businesses a holistic view of how their organization utilizes Microsoft licensing and highlights areas where they can improve. Adoption Score allows companies to understand which licenses are used most and which are underutilized. Based on this data, they can make informed decisions about reallocating licenses to improve user experience and boost productivity.

Aligning subscription end dates– Organizations can align subscription end dates, making it easier to renew all subscriptions simultaneously. By doing so, businesses can manage licensing more efficiently and effectively.

One way to achieve good alignment is to request that subscriptions be aligned to existing ones at order or renewal time. This approach ensures the management of licenses from a central location and eliminates overlap or duplication. It also streamlines the management process by allowing businesses to simultaneously change and update all licenses.

License Assignment Hygiene– One essential part of good hygiene is periodically unassigning licenses from old users who no longer require them. By doing this, businesses can avoid wasting licenses and reduce their overall cost. An apple a day, …

In addition to unassigning licenses, it is also important to establish reasonable account control. Businesses can achieve this by implementing group-based licensing assignments through Active Directory. This approach reduces the number of steps and possible mistakes when assigning licensing while simplifying provisioning and making licensing management easier.

Annual Renewal Cycle Planning– Finally, participating with OneNeck in the annual renewal cycle is crucial for organizations that want to be as efficient as possible with their Microsoft licensing usage. This annual planning process, determined by when your subscriptions expire, can help organizations stay updated with the latest licensing rules and ensure they take full advantage of all available options.

OneNeck, A Microsoft CSP That Has Your Back

Managing CSP licensing can be a complex and challenging task. As a Microsoft Gold Cloud Service Provider OneNeck offers a broad range of solutions for organizations looking to optimize their use of M365. Our services include consulting, implementation and ongoing support to help organizations maximize their M365 investment.

Our experienced team is ready to assist you throughout your Microsoft licensing experience. Through our work with hundreds of customers, we know the ins and out of M365 and use that hands-on expertise to help our customers save time, reduce costs and get maximum value from their M365 subscriptions.

Contact a OneNeck Microsoft expert today to discuss a CSP solution tailored to your organization’s needs.

With 70% of breaches today originating at endpoints—such as servers, laptops, Internet of Things (IoT), and mobile devices—it’s increasingly important for organizations to implement a robust security strategy like managed threat detection and response to protect against threats. But navigating the threat detection and response solutions landscape can be confusing, especially for businesses that lack deep cybersecurity expertise.

This article describes two popular approaches to threat detection and response and helps you choose the right one for your business.

What Is Managed Threat Detection and Response?

Managed detection and response (MDR) is an outsourced cybersecurity solution offered by a managed security service provider (MSSP). MDR comprises a

comprehensive array of network, host, and endpoint security tools that perform ongoing monitoring to identify and respond to threats pre-emptively. MSSPs also provide specialized cybersecurity expertise.

What Is MDR vs. EDR?

Unlike MDR, which is a service, endpoint detection and response (EDR) is a cybersecurity platform that helps organizations identify and respond to threats that target vulnerable, network-connected endpoints. The biggest difference between EDR and MDR is scale.

Managed Detection and Response Addresses Common Security Threats

To manage threats effectively, organizations first need to know what kinds of threats MDR can help mitigate. This list covers the most common types.

Ransomware

Ransomware is malware that attacks a computer, network, or server. Malicious software locks the victim’s device, then a cybercriminal demands payment to restore it.

Phishing

Phishing attacks target individuals using social engineering methods, such as email, phone, texting, and social media. They aim to manipulate the recipient into revealing sensitive information like their password or credit card number. Some phishing attacks install viruses on the victim’s device.

Denial of Service

Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks target organizations with the goal of disrupting business operations by inundating a network or server with spam requests. When the target becomes overwhelmed, necessary business services become unavailable, so employees can no longer perform their tasks. Although DoS attacks rarely exploit ransomware, the disruption they cause can be costly.

A Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack is a more serious type of DoS attack. Here, multiple machines overload an edge network device—such as a router or switch—rather than targeting a server.

Man in the Middle

Man in the Middle (MitM) refers to a category of identity-based cyberattacks in which a bad actor surreptitiously eavesdrops on an online communication between a client and a server. The most common MitM attack exploits vulnerabilities in the victim’s browser to inject malware into their device. Cybercriminals commonly use MitM attacks to capture sensitive financial data in real time by intercepting traffic between a user and a banking website.

Other cybersecurity threats

Today’s cybersecurity environment includes many other dangers, including blended threats that leverage multiple methods and previously unseen zero-day threats.

As the IT perimeter continues to blur, organizations need to stay ahead of threats, such as

• Sophisticated mutating software
• Advanced persistent threats (APTs) that gather intelligence through surveillance
• Cloud vulnerabilities
• Web application attacks, such as a SQL injection (SQLI)
• Supply chain attacks that target trusted relationships and third parties
• Spoofing attacks disguised as legitimate websites and email addresses

How to Get the Protection You Need

OneNeck partnered with Fortra’s Alert Logic to bring together a powerful set of capabilities that ensure businesses get all the security protection they need:

• The Platform—Provides comprehensive security coverage, regardless of whether your workloads are in one or many clouds, containers, serverless, or on premises
• The Intelligence—Includes dozens of seasoned security researchers, data scientists, and engineers with vast industry experience
• The Expertise—Fortra’s 150 skilled security operations center (SOC) analysts partner with OneNeck’s security experts, who act as your point of contact. As your managed services provider, we understand your IT environment and are committed to keeping it safe.

Let Fortra’s Alert Logic and OneNeck Protect Your Network

No organization is too small to experience a breach. Make sure you don’t become a victim.

Do you need a better security strategy for the cloud or expert security talent to help protect your IT infrastructure? Or maybe you just want to reduce your total cost of ownership (TCO)?

Together, One Neck and Fortra’s Alert Logic can help you implement a managed threat detection and response strategy that provides comprehensive security in today’s risky IT landscape.

Contact us to learn how you can protect against threats in real time.

Frequently asked questions…

Does MDR replace SIEM?

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) are both security solutions, but they serve different purposes and are not direct replacements for each other. SIEM is primarily focused on log management, correlation, and event analysis to provide a comprehensive view of security threats, while MDR is a more proactive solution that combines threat intelligence, behavior analytics, and expert analysis to detect and respond to advanced threats.

What’s the difference between MSP and MSSP?

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) both provide managed services to clients, but their focus areas differ. MSPs primarily provide managed services for IT infrastructure and operations, while MSSPs specialize in managed security services, such as threat detection, incident response, and compliance management. MSSPs typically offer a broader range of security-focused services and have more specialized expertise than MSPs.

Is EDR the same as antivirus?

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and antivirus (AV) software are both security solutions that protect against malware and other threats, but they have different approaches and capabilities. AV software uses signature-based detection to identify known threats and prevent them from infecting the system, while EDR is a more advanced solution that uses behavior-based analysis and machine learning to detect and respond to both known and unknown threats.

What is endpoint security?

Endpoint security refers to the practice of securing endpoints, such as desktops, laptops, smartphones, servers, and other network-connected devices, from cyber threats. The goal of endpoint security is to protect these endpoints from unauthorized access, data theft, malware, and other types of cyberattacks by using a combination of technologies, tools, and policies to detect, prevent, and respond to threats.

It’s October, which everyone knows means time for trick-or-treating, pumpkin-spiced everything and cybersecurity awareness. Ok, possibly you didn’t immediately think of that last part. However, October is Cybersecurity Awareness month and with it comes the announcement from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) that this year’s theme is “See Yourself in Cyber.” The goal is to highlight that whether one works in network security or is exclusively an end user, everyone has a role to play in strengthening cybersecurity.

After years of highly publicized ransomware attacks and expensive data breaches, it has become clear that organizations must allocate considerable resources for cybersecurity. This emphasis is necessary to protect company data, promote customer trust, and maintain compliance with the government and other regulatory agencies. Investment in secure and resilient infrastructure and applications such as next-generation firewalls, advanced backup and disaster recovery solutions, and utilizing IaaS and SaaS continues to significantly increase. However, broader cybersecurity awareness campaigns have yet to obtain such ubiquitous adoption status.

While most organizations acknowledge the importance of cybersecurity mindfulness, investing in and committing to cybersecurity awareness initiatives still lag significantly behind this stated recognition. This lack of prioritization, in many cases, is originated at the Board of Directors (BOD) level. There are many reasons for potential BOD hesitancy to support fully implementing cybersecurity campaigns, but some of the more common themes and means to address them include:

• Budgetary Concerns– All organizations have a limit to the resources designated for security. In many cases, it is often easier to convince board-level members to allocate these assets for infrastructure, applications or even additional staffing. Garnering support to assign these resources to less-tangible elements, such as security awareness training, is often challenging. Bringing to the BOD assessments that demonstrate how security training aids an organization while concurrently underscoring the costs of inaction can go a long way in convincing board members of the elevated ROI they will see from implementation.
• Lack of Cybersecurity Understanding– Education is vital. Company leadership will not support or approve campaigns they do not understand. It is common for leadership to view cybersecurity as an “IT issue” and not something that involves the entire organization. To raise the levels of understanding, one must ensure board members themselves are involved in cybersecurity training and are aware of not only the benefits of proactive company-wide approaches to cybersecurity but simultaneously understand the financial and reputational ramifications of breaches or attacks.
• Resistance to Change– Technology is evolving, and so are the threats. The modern workplace requires a modern approach where everyone is part of the solution. Ultimately individuals, including board members, don’t like change and often want to continue doing things as they have always been. A prospective way to combat this inertia is by increasing board member involvement in planning cybersecurity activities and training. When you have full board-level support for a cybersecurity awareness initiative, all employees and team members will eventually be able to “see themselves in cybersecurity” and recognize that compliance with training exercises or policies is a core component of their profession.

When asked about obtaining board-level support for cybersecurity awareness campaigns, Katie McCullough, Chief Information Security Officer at OneNeck, advised, “At its core, cybersecurity is about assessing, managing or removing risk to the availability of customer’s critical data and services. By ensuring cybersecurity is included as part of any Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), one can typically help drive the awareness and support of these campaigns through scheduled reviews of the ERM, by the Board of Directors.”

Clarification of why organization-wide cybersecurity awareness matters before successfully bringing cybersecurity campaign concepts to the BOD’s attention is imperative. Begin by stressing that critical concepts such as data protection and holistically solid security posture are at their core intelligent business decisions. This can be followed by emphasizing awareness training provides significant ROI, with expenses for designing and implementing awareness campaigns being greatly overshadowed by the cost of a breach. Finally, it is wise to highlight the short-term inconvenience of awareness training will materialize into significant long-term gains. Ultimately, the goal is to work with your BOD to answer questions and provide information, so they feel comfortable making informed decisions.

Another area to underscore to board members is that they are accountable for the organization’s cybersecurity. We see an extreme example of this accountability by analyzing the well-publicized breach of SolarWinds. In November of 2021, investors sued the BOD, claiming knowledge of cybersecurity vulnerabilities before a data breach and subsequent failure of action.

While a lawsuit may not be the most likely outcome of a cyberattack, it nonetheless serves as a stark reminder to board members that they are ultimately responsible for how organizations secure themselves. Having proactive board-level conversations about cybersecurity awareness helps protect the organization’s customers, profits, reputation and the Boards of Directors themselves.

Encouraging professional education for board members is another technique for getting board-level buy-in. Katie McCullough notes, “More and more companies are looking for Board of Directors to consider certifications such as NACD Certification program, which includes a certification for Cyber-Risk Oversight as an emerging area of board oversight.”  Board members can use training resources to:

• Learn foundational principles for board-level cyber-risk oversight.
• Increase comprehension of issues, including allocating cybersecurity responsibilities, legal implications, setting expectations about the organization’s cybersecurity processes and ways to improve employee engagement in security practices.
• Gain the ability to apply procedures and tools to improve organizational practices by focusing on specific risk components, including insider threats, third-party exposures, merger and acquisition due diligence, and adequate risk disclosure.

Board of Director buy-in is key to any organization having an effective cybersecurity awareness culture. For everyone in an organization to “see yourself in cyber,” the impetus must come from the top. Implementations of awareness campaigns, whether specifically designed to coincide with Cybersecurity Awareness Month or throughout the year, will only be effective if they are supported and promoted by company leadership.

While we have discussed several strategies and potential tools that can be used to secure top-level support, the essential thing to remember when dealing with board members is that despite their lofty positions, they are ultimately still just people. Effective communication, proper education and comprehensive information on the organization-wide benefits of cybersecurity awareness campaigns will go a long way in securing board-level support and approval.

If you were to survey your employees about aspects of their jobs that could be improved, you’d likely find better collaboration tools and meetings at the top of the list. In fact, in a PwC survey, 73% of respondents said they know of systems that would help them produce higher quality work.

While employees don’t always think executives listen to their concerns, that’s not often the source of collaboration problems. As your company grows, you’ve had to assemble your tech stack on the fly — trying your best to provide the tools employees need while staying focused on the company’s larger goals.

But eventually, you get to the point where your tech stack starts having a cumulative effect on productivity, whether for better or worse. In this article, we’ll consider some factors that can hinder or help your utilization of collaboration tools.

Under-utilization Leads to Fragmentation

The problem with collaboration tools not being used to their full potential is that it can lead to fragmentation. When employees don’t have the same tools, it becomes difficult for them to communicate and collaborate effectively. In some cases, this can even lead to employees working on different parts of the same project without realizing it.

Nowadays, there are many collaboration services available that can help your team work more effectively. These services can provide a common platform for employees to share files, communicate, and collaborate on projects. By leveraging a collaboration service, you can ensure that your team is using the same tools and is working together towards a common goal.

Choosing a collaboration service isn’t as simple as using a product the technical team finds appealing. It’s crucial to leverage data, employee input, and company goals to ensure you’re committing to the right platform.

1. Define your needs. To select the ideal collaboration service, you must first decide what you want it to do for your team. During the selection process, employee feedback is critical. Is executive opinion aligned with what employees actually need? From there, you can ask questions about your technical needs. Are you looking for something that will allow employees to share files and communicate easily, or are you looking for a service that facilitates meetings and client communication? You may also need a service that provides an all-in-one solution. Getting clarity on your actual needs will help you use your budget more effectively.
2. Research and test different services. There are many services available today, so it’s important to find one that fits your needs. In your previous analysis, you may discover that your team only lacks a rock-solid communication app. With that knowledge, you may decide to use a niche app that does the job superbly. However, it’s good to keep in mind that the biggest collaboration boosts will come from tools that allow you to do many jobs within the same ecosystem. So, while your needs today may not be as intensive, you may opt to choose your tools planning for future growth. Some popular communication apps include Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Zoom.
3. Deploy the collaboration service. Often, deployment can be the most challenging step since it requires training, technical capabilities, and administrative management. A solid transition plan will ensure that collaboration services are deployed uniformly across departments. Additionally, instituting a regular training program will help employees make the switch faster, increasing adoption rates.

Implementing new technology can be a phase that employees dread or are excited about. Much of their feelings will depend on the groundwork you do to get buy-in from your team. You can generate excitement by including your team in the decision-making process — clearly articulating why you’re making the change and providing training. When your team is excited about the change, you’ll have the momentum you need for successful integration.

Facilitate Deployment with a Collaboration Services Partner

Many businesses hit a roadblock when they get to deployment. Their team is excited about migrating to tools that provide a holistic collaboration experience. But they lack the technical expertise and migration experience to get started. If you feel stymied by the prospect of migrating your tools, we can help.

OneNeck offers managed collaboration services that give you the tools you need without the technical headache. We partner with companies like Cisco and Microsoft to provide complete solutions that cover the A to Z of your collaboration needs. And if you’re looking for something more streamlined, we can adapt our solutions to fit your needs. Contact us to learn more.

The concept of managing storage is simple: as computing needs grow, you should add more storage. But doing this in a business is anything but simple. That’s because factors like speed, location, type, data architecture, access requirements, and, yes, size are all important to your storage infrastructure decisions.

On top of choosing the proper storage solutions for your current business needs, you must also plan for the future. Will the storage solution you implement today be viable in three years? How soon will it be before you need to scale your infrastructure once again? These are just a couple of questions that give your IT team nightmares.

Managed storage is when an organization outsources its storage management to a third-party provider. Depending on the organization’s needs, this may involve cloud storage, offsite storage, onsite storage, or a combination of the three.

Leverage the Benefits of Managed Storage

With a traditional storage setup, once you run into the limits of your capacity, it’s time to upgrade or add to your hardware. As your organization grows, adding to your infrastructure becomes more complex because you must fully integrate new resources and make them accessible to your team. In contrast, a managed storage provider lets you scale storage resources on demand and only pay for what you need. How does managed storage benefit availability and scalability?

• Dedicated storage administrator. One of the challenges of IT infrastructure is procuring the talent to manage essential components. Working with a managed storage provider allows you to leverage their team’s storage administrators for an instant injection of storage expertise.
• Scale with advanced hardware. When managing hardware in-house, the goal is to get the most ROI out of every component. Reaching this goal often requires teams to use hardware for as long as feasible. A managed storage provider will have access to modern infrastructure with low latency capabilities. They can also provide node-based infrastructure, which is essential for scaling out your network.
• Scalable security. Security is another concern when scaling resources since your attack surface grows as your business grows. Many teams lack the internal expertise to ensure systems stay secure. But working with a managed storage provider gives you access to their security team and partners. Your provider should also be able to adapt and secure onsite and offsite storage to fit your needs.
• Near zero downtime. Managed storage providers have the infrastructure to provide redundancies at a level that’s hard to emulate for those doing it independently. Additional redundancies make possible techniques like live migration, allowing you to move systems without taking them offline. Moreover, systems can be backed up and restored, and resources can be allocated to workloads without users experiencing a hiccup.
• Operational efficiencies. Working with a managed storage provider simplifies tasks like deploying additional resources and billing, providing an accurate view of existing storage resources. Since your storage provider takes care of management, you also remove this workload from your IT team’s plate so they can focus on company applications, services, etc.

Typical in-house storage infrastructure gets updated every three to five years, which likely happens when teams look at how well the previous system served their needs. Managed storage solutions are attuned to your business’s needs and can be optimized actively — leading to systems that perform better throughout their entire lifecycle.

Managed Storage for Your Evolving Infrastructure Needs

We don’t expect our personal computing devices to handle applications that come up five years from now (thus, the average replacement time is under three years). So, why should we expect differently from our business infrastructure where machine learning, computer vision, and blockchain applications are becoming more common?

Organizations are using their computing resources to power virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), analytics software, private clouds, and more. Managed storage provides elastic infrastructure that allows you to allocate resources for a number of different needs and manage growing user bases. But how can you get started?

OneNeck is an IT solutions provider that offers managed storage services and more. We can help you use Azure, HPE, Cohesity, Commvault, NetApp and many more solutions in your storage strategy to ensure your data is always available. If you want to control your infrastructure and save money while harnessing deep storage expertise, contact us today.

Imagine that your network is experiencing a surge in activity. You decide to respond by investing in infrastructure. However, weeks later, the surge drops since it was an anomaly, and you return to normal activity levels. Your business is now stuck paying for an investment they didn’t really need.

Companies often face fluctuations in demand, forcing them to consider infrastructure investments long before they’re ready. That’s why many businesses are weighing the pros and cons of setting up their own on-premise network services or leveraging a managed service provider. Instinct tells us that it will be cheaper to run our own services, but the numbers tell a different story. A 2021 report by Mordor Intelligence found that businesses that use managed services can save between 25% and 45% on their IT budget. So, what contributes to the lower IT costs of managed services?

Save Money by Offloading IT Management

Every job in your company has an associated cost; it may come from employee time, hardware, software and other tools used to get the work done. IT management requires a combination of all these factors to operate smoothly, and teams that leverage managed network services can save money in seven key ways:

1. Less downtime. Managed network service providers have large amounts of IT infrastructure in addition to the people and processes to ensure system continuity. They also have system redundancies (a significant capital expenditure) that work seamlessly so that users don’t realize when a server or system crashes on the provider’s side.
2. Constant monitoring. In conjunction with redundant systems, these providers monitor their systems 24/7 using IT professionals and specialized software. For a company to achieve this level of monitoring would be costly and difficult given the market’s overall need for IT professionals.
3. Costs as an operating expense. Setting up your own network services requires substantial upfront hardware investments, which must also be maintained and secured. In contrast, managed services are charged as a flat fee in which the provider takes care of the people, power, hardware, and software required to provide the service.
4. Increased focus on the core business. Today most companies require some type of IT department, but running all your IT infrastructure on-premise will significantly increase hiring needs. Using managed services allows you to keep team efforts primarily focused on your core business, including the talent you try to acquire.
5. Scale with ease. Whether you are a small or large company, managed services can scale to your needs. You can scale up and down based on current demand without making costly changes to your infrastructure.
6. Speed of implementation. Implementing new technology takes research, time, and labor. All of which can slow down operations and distract from your team’s main tasks. Managed services can be implemented in a fraction of the time as on-premise solutions and be easily added to additional departments.
7. Unified software solutions. Mismatched software solutions limit the potential for sharing data and extracting insights within your team. They also often lead to duplicative work and lower productivity. Managed service providers offer unified software platforms that allow you to manage everything from a single place and upgrade solutions without needing to upgrade your underlying infrastructure.

Offload IT Management by Leveraging Managed Network Services

Your company’s network infrastructure should help your team get work done instead of hindering productivity and frustrating your people. You can use managed network services to offload your day-to-day network operations and maintenance responsibility. This includes installing, monitoring, and maintaining network hardware, managing security, and troubleshooting any issues that arise.

At OneNeck, we help our customers lower costs through managed network services. We provide the expertise you need to deploy efficient and fully secure network hardware — analyzing usage trends to help you plan for the future. If you’d like to learn more about the ROI of managed network services, talk to our team today.

Analyzing the Pros and Cons of Cloud Storage

There’s no denying that cloud storage is convenient. The challenge is figuring out if cloud storage will provide the performance and security your business needs. Another consideration is whether your company will move 100% to the cloud or use a hybrid setup. Let’s consider a few pros and cons to help you decide which storage solution will satisfy your team’s requirements.

The Pros of Cloud Storage

• With physical infrastructure, you have to invest in hardware when you need to scale. These purchases can be costly, and they take time. Cloud storage allows you to scale up and down on-demand to keep your capacity aligned with your current business needs.
• Updated technology. It’s unlikely that your company updates its IT infrastructure very often. The competitive nature of cloud storage solutions forces providers to keep up with modern technology, giving you access to updated hardware without the costs.
• Storing your files in the cloud ensures that your people have access to important data wherever they have an internet connection. Accessibility is vital for teams with remote workforces and traveling sales people.
• Disaster recovery. Every business should have a plan for recovering its data when disaster strikes. A crucial part of these plans is an offsite location for storing data. Cloud storage is ideal for the job as it is often located in a completely separate region and providers have their own redundancies in place.

The Cons of Cloud Storage

• Security and privacy. Unless you host a private cloud, a third party will store your data. Their security policies and infrastructure will directly affect your complicity with regulatory and industry requirements. Additionally, some industries have more stringent rules for how you can store your data, like healthcare.
• Long-term costs. Depending on your storage needs, on-premise solutions can be cheaper in the long run. To understand the big picture, your procurement team needs to factor in hardware costs and upgrade frequency, bandwidth costs, and performance and accessibility requirements.
• Integration. Your systems may differ quite a bit from the data structure of some cloud providers, making integration difficult. You must make sure you have alignment beforehand to ensure a smooth transition.

Even though there are downsides to cloud storage, many solutions can be adapted to your needs — eliminating or mitigating these cons. For example, organizations that handle sensitive data can apply a hybrid approach to cloud storage. In this scenario, they may have a private storage infrastructure for data that isn’t uploaded to the cloud and use a cloud provider for other data needs. Additionally, many top-tier providers offer solutions that are compliant with strict industry regulations. How can you choose a storage solution for your company?

Tailor Data Storage to Your Needs

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for data storage. Some companies need ultra-low latency, others need scalability and accessibility, and yet others are just looking for a simple solution that can be implemented immediately. At OneNeck, we help our clients implement cloud solutions that range from a fully private cloud to a fully public cloud, and hybrid options in between.

Security and accessibility are crucial to getting the most out of your data. Our team can help you create a roadmap that prioritizes these qualities in your data storage solution. We’ll also analyze your business and technical requirements to ensure you have a final product tailored to your needs. Contact us to learn more.

How would you like to pay your employees to do nothing? Paying people for nothing is not likely in your business plan. But without sufficient preparation, that’s exactly what many companies do when faced with a disaster or an outage. Systems go down for hours, days, or even weeks, and operations get shut down.

The consequences of critical systems going down for extended periods are self-explanatory. To protect your company, it’s important to prepare for disasters before they disrupt operations. The first step in tackling this daunting task is understanding the fundamentals of backup and disaster recovery.

Learn the Differences Between Backups and Disaster Recovery

Owning a parachute doesn’t mean you can use it in an emergency. The same holds true for using your backups. While it’s essential to make regular backups, you may not have a plan for how to use them during a natural disaster or outage. This example brings us to the first point: What’s the difference between making backups and disaster recovery?

• A backup is a copy of your data. Backups can be stored on-premise, in the cloud, or a combination of the two. Additionally, they can be performed continuously or intermittently.

• Disaster recovery refers to the plans and processes you’ll use to recover your data and applications (using your backups) after an outage. These plans will vary depending on the type of outage, which can range from a simple server glitch to a natural disaster.

For your plans to be successful, you need both a backup strategy that considers your company’s needs and a disaster recovery plan that helps you effectively use your backup data.

When you experience an outage, speed is critical. The longer employees sit idle, and applications are unavailable to your clients and team, the more damage it will do to your business. Planning is essential if you want to get your hardware applications running quickly. Below are five steps to help you cover the critical areas of backup and disaster recovery:

1. Prioritize your business’s most vulnerable applications and data. While you’d like to get everything restored after an outage immediately, some applications will impact your business more than others. For example, a financial institution’s customer portal is more important than the software the development team uses to design new features. So start by evaluating which data and applications impact immediate operations the most.
2. Calculate how long you can be without your applications. Gauging available recovery time is crucial to choosing the methods you’ll employ for disaster recovery. You’ll have different processes for applications that need to be restored immediately compared with those that can wait a few days. This knowledge will help you establish your recovery time objective (RTO), which is the time it takes to recover normal business operations.
3. Determine how much data you can stand to lose. It may seem counterintuitive to plan on losing data, but it’s essential for determining your backup frequency. If losing even a small amount of data is unacceptable, then your team may opt for continuous backups.
4. Choose where you’ll back up your data. Once you know your backup frequency and restoration needs, you should also consider your data privacy requirements. These three factors will help you determine backup location. For example, if speed is of the essence, you may choose a hybrid cloud model where data is stored both on-premises for speed and in the cloud for better distribution. Either way, a good rule of thumb is to store backup data in separate locations in case the disaster impacts your physical location.
5. Document your restoration strategy. If you’re working with a disaster recovery plan that’s managed for you, your provider will handle failover during an outage. In a more hands-on approach, you’ll need to determine when and how your backup servers will activate during an outage as well as how you’ll handle power failures and the other effects of a natural disaster. Everything should be documented, easy to access, and in a format conducive to training.

A lot more detail and planning will go into your backup and disaster recovery plans, but these are some great steps to help you start the conversation. If you get stuck, don’t feel that you have to navigate the process alone.

Work With a Partner to Manage Backup and Disaster Recovery

A backup and disaster recovery plan is essential to a speedy response that mitigates the damage of an outage. However, navigating cloud backup and recovery options can be daunting. OneNeck’s team is experienced in both and can help you traverse the topic successfully.

Our managed backup services are hands-on and ensure that your backups are monitored continuously and always ready when you need them. We also tailor our disaster recovery solutions to your unique needs to ensure your applications are prioritized correctly. Contact us if you’d like to learn more about our managed backup and disaster recovery solutions.

Today the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) released a statement regarding the threat actor, NOBELIUM, who launched a campaign against cloud service providers (CSPs), managed service providers (MSPs) and other IT services organizations. By targeting IT providers, they are attempting to gain access to privileged customer accounts so they may move laterally throughout the cloud environment and gain access to downstream customers and systems.

Microsoft Recommendations to Protect Privileged Access

Microsoft recommends that customers that use service providers with elevated privileges review and implement the following actions to help mitigate and remediate the recent NOBELIUM activity.

1. Review, audit, and minimize access privileges and delegated permissions

• Review, harden, and monitor all tenant administrator accounts: All organizations should thoroughly review all tenant admin users, including those associated with Administer On Behalf Of (AOBO) in Azure subscriptions and verify the authenticity of the users and activity. We strongly encourage the use of strong authentication for all tenant administrators, review of devices registered for use with MFA, and minimize the use of standing high-privilege access. Continue to reinspect all active tenant admin users accounts and check audit logs on a regular basis to verify that high-privilege user access is not granted or delegated to admin users who do not require these to do their job.
• Review service provider permissions access from B2B and local accounts: In addition to using the delegated administrative privilege capabilities, some cloud service providers use business-to-business (B2B) accounts or local administrator accounts in customer tenants. We recommend that you identify whether your cloud service providers use these, and if so, ensure those accounts are well-governed, and have least-privilege access in your tenant. Microsoft recommends against the use of “shared” administrator accounts. Review the detailed guidance on how to review permissions for B2B accounts.

2. Verify multi-factor authentication (MFA) is enabled and enforce conditional access policies.

• MFA is the best baseline security hygiene method to protect against threats. Follow the detailed guidance on setting up multifactor authentication
  in Microsoft 365, as well as the guidance on deploying and configuring conditional access policies in Azure Active Directory (Azure AD).

3. Review and audit logs and configurations.

• Review and audit Azure AD sign-ins and configuration changes: Authentications of this nature are audited and available to customers through the Azure AD sign in logs, Azure AD audit logs, and the Microsoft 365 compliance center (formerly in the Exchange Admin Center). We recently added the capability to see sign-ins by partners who have delegated admin permissions. You can see a filtered view of these sign-ins by navigating to the sign-in logs in the Azure AD admin portal, and adding a filter ‘Cross-tenant access type: Service provider’ on the ‘User-sign ins (non-interactive)’ tab.
• Review Existing Log Availability and Retention Strategies: Investigating activities conducted by malicious actors places a large emphasis on having adequate log retention procedures for cloud-based resources including Office 365. Various subscription levels have individualized log availability and retention policies which are important to understand prior to forming an incident response procedure.

What does OneNeck do to keep our customers safe?

As noted in Microsoft’s statement, MSPs like OneNeck are primary targets of this type of cyberattack. To ensure we have appropriate protections, detections and response, we leverage the Center for Internet Security’s (CIS) Critical Security Controls which are a series of cybersecurity actions prioritized by their criticality in preventing cyberattacks. OneNeck completes a CIS Critical Security Control’s assessment annually, along with incorporating the controls as part of any new service.

While we assess against all the controls, we also adhere to other top priority controls:

• Inventory and control of hardware and software assets:Our ReliaCloud environment is maintained in secure data centers that meets or exceeds all physical and environmental controls (per our ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification.) We complete regular scans of our environment to assure only known devices are within the environment, and we maintain a CMDB (Configuration Management Database), per ITIL good practices, for all managed devices and software.
• Vulnerability management:OneNeck continuously acquires, assesses and takes action on new information in order to identify vulnerabilities, remediate and minimize the window of opportunity for attackers. Activities include:
  • Identifying vulnerabilities through vendor notifications, industry leading security research organizations and OneNeck’s own security testing program.
  • Completing regular authenticated scanning and determining the appropriate risk rating for the vulnerability type, the system’s usage and the impacted system’s architecture.
  • Closed loop activities are completed through automated software which ensures that operating systems are running the most recent security updates provided by the vendors.
• Controlled use of administrative privileges:OneNeck uses non-default and unique passwords for all assets within ReliaCloud. Privileged accounts are managed in a secure password management system. Additionally, OneNeck leverages a remote access system that requires multi-factor authentication and tracks all privileged access and activities.
• Secure configurations:OneNeck maintains security configuration standards for all authorized operating systems and software. We store all master images and templates on securely configured servers and assure that only authorized changes are made to the images.
• Monitoring and analysis of audit logs:OneNeck has local logging on all critical infrastructure, and ensures all appropriate logs are aggregated to a central log management system for analysis and review. OneNeck’s Security Operations Center (SOC) leverages our Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platform which provides correlation and analysis of all presented logs. Additionally, our SOC monitors and is alerted on critical situations 24×7 to assure the security of all OneNeck environments, in particular ReliaCloud.

As identified in the CIS Controls, we annually use third-party penetration (pen) testers to ensure the controls put in place are effective. A recent pen test revealed OneNeck has “Strong External Network Security Controls” in place and that our systems and services are well-patched and maintained.

Additionally, we stay informed through various mechanisms (vendors, industry, governments, dark web monitoring, etc.) to ensure we are aware of any emerging threats, in particular against MSPs. In a recent release by the FBI, they identified most of the attacks involved compromised credentials, and from there pivoting between MSP and customer shared networks. The most common attack vectors include spear phishing, malicious web content and credential theft. We have multiple controls in place for email including requiring MFA, blocking phishing emails, alerting for risky sign-ins and impossible travel alerts, along with regular end user training and testing. Additionally, there is a whole series of controls we focus on as an MSP which include:

• Ensure MSP accounts are not assigned to administrator groups.
• Restrict MSP accounts to only the systems they manage.
• Ensure MSP account passwords adhere to organizational policies.
• Use a dedicated Virtual Private Network (VPN) for MSP connection.
• Restrict VPN traffic to and from MSP.
• Ensure internet-facing networks reside on separate physical systems.
• Separate internal networks by function, location, and risk profile.
• Use firewalls to protect server(s) and designated high-risk networks.
• Ensure internal and external Domain Name System (DNS) queries are performed by dedicated servers.
• Disable or block all network services that are not required at network boundary.

Along with all the controls we manage/review above, our annual attestations for SOC1 Type II, SOC2 Type II, and HIPAA, further validate our commitment to a secure environment.

We understand that maintaining a strong risk profile is daunting as the threat landscape continues to grow. But as your partner, we are here to help. Don’t go it alone. Talk to one of our experienced security specialists today.

As a uniquely positioned group of Microsoft experts, the Redmond Channel Partner team advocates for Microsoft partners, offering advice on growing their Microsoft services and building productive partnerships. So, their recent recognition of OneNeck in their top 350 US Microsoft partners was evidence of OneNeck’s continued commitment to our partnership with Microsoft and growing our Microsoft portfolio of services.

RCPmag.com uses their 16+ years of experience in the Microsoft channel community to develop their list of 350 partners, intended for customers looking for an experienced Microsoft partner among the multitude of options. They list the technical expertise of each partner, making it simple to navigate the list and find a right-fit partner.

Microsoft’s 90,000+ ecosystem of worldwide partners creates a vast global community. This brings an array of opportunities to OneNeck as a provider, but even more to our customers as we bring data, infrastructure and modern workplace solutions to their organizations.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. At OneNeck, we take this mantra to a very personal level with our customers. We succeed when they succeed. Ultimately, we’re here to help our customers build a strong foundation that spans on-premise, private and hyperscale cloud environments, and our Microsoft solutions bring myriads of options to our customers that meet them wherever they may be in their journey.

Learn more about Microsoft solutions offered by OneNeck in this eGuide.

From time to time, we still get questions related to Microsoft’s continuing effort to clarify product offerings and make it easier to use Microsoft Online Services such as Office/Microsoft 365. To do this, last year Microsoft made multiple product name changes to be more reflective of the range of features and benefits in the subscription. So, I thought I’d recap for those still wondering, “Is it O or M?”

On the table is O365 vs M365. Last year Microsoft shifted O365 subscriptions to M365 subscriptions, made it easy so that existing subscribers did not need to reinstall or purchase another subscription, and kept pricing the same.

Microsoft 365 includes everything you knew in Office 365. Microsoft 365 is designed to help people and businesses achieve more with innovative Office apps, intelligent cloud services, and world-class security.

Microsoft has the following Microsoft 365 plans available:

Microsoft 365 for home plans

• Microsoft 365 Family
• Microsoft 365 Personal

Microsoft 365 for business plans

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium
• Microsoft 365 Apps for business

Microsoft 365 for enterprise plans

• Microsoft 365 E3
• Microsoft 365 E5
• Microsoft 365 F1
• Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise

The existing Office 365 subscriptions for home and business have been moved to one of the existing Microsoft 365 plans or remain the same as follows:

• Office 365 Personal becomes Microsoft 365 Personal
• Office 365 Home becomes Microsoft 365 Family
• Office 365 Business Essentials becomes Microsoft 365 Business Basic
• Office 365 Business Premium becomes Microsoft 365 Business Standard
• Microsoft 365 Business becomes Microsoft 365 Business Premium
• Office 365 Business becomes Microsoft 365 Apps for business
• Office 365 ProPlus becomes Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise
• Office 365 E1 will remain available under the same name
• Office 365 E3 will remain available under the same name
• Office 365 E5 will remain available under the same name

If you still have questions, we are definitely here to help. Don’t hesitate to reach out and talk with one of our Microsoft experts…

Learn more about M365 for Business

Learn more about M365 for Enterprise

SOURCES:

• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/office-365
• https://www.techrepublic.com/article/office-365-is-now-microsoft-365-what-you-need-to-know/

Nowadays, many organizations eagerly use IT outsourcing to remediate IT skills shortages, control cost and gain access to world-class capabilities. Statistics show that the market size of the outsourcing industry in the US in 2020 is $132.9 billion and it is going to grow by 1.6% the same year. And while this approach has many benefits, it is not without challenges. 

Here are top 4 IT outsourcing challenges companies facing today and how to overcome them:

1. Choosing the Right Capabilities to Outsource – It’s important before an organization asks if they can outsource, that they know why they want to outsource.

Solution: Take a functional approach. Determine your reason for outsourcing:

• Tactical – Eliminating cost, reducing investment or freeing up resources 
• Strategic – Gaining strategic advantage or operational value from having an expert third party manage their IT infrastructure. 

The right option should be selected based on your unique business requirements and the outsourcing motivations of your company. Finally select a partner whose core competencies address your requirements.

2. Lack of Control – You’ll experience a perceived lack of control as you’re now relying on a third-party provider’s expertise, resources, infrastructure, and skill to manage and maintain your environment.

Solution: The key to overcoming risk and fear is proper management of the relationship. If they are managed correctly through well thought out policies and procedures, these problems and fears can be mitigated.

3. Unforeseen Costs – Additional service requests or projects not covered by the scope in your initial contract may cause you to spend more than your contract suggests.

Solution: Make sure you clearly define the scope of work to help reduce the chance of unexpected costs. Get acquainted with pricing models offered by the provider and choose an engagement model that best fits your requirements.

4. Vendor Lock-in – Becoming dependent on a single managed IT services provider and technology implementation can lead to substantial costs, legal constraints, or technical incompatibilities.

Solution:The best way to avoid a potentially unpleasant and hostile situation is to negotiate both an entry and exit strategy upfront with your vendor. And remember there are plenty of managed services providers in the sea, so don’t settle if the provider isn’t a good fit for your organization – don’t be afraid to shop around.

Outsourcing your IT needs can help you lower costs, focus on core competencies, and ultimately achieve increased productivity. With the right approach, and the right managed services provider that has your back, you will easily resolve the aforementioned IT outsourcing challenges and ensure your customer/service provider relationship is mutually positive for both parties.

For any modern organization, protecting business-critical data is vital. Yet protecting data assets has become complex and difficult as the rising tide of data grows in double to even triple digits compounding year over year.

Businesses are also facing increasingly stringent regulatory compliance and IT governance mandates. The bottom line is that this is putting data at risk – and creating enormous pressure on IT budgets and resources.

However, very few organizations have evolved their data protection processes with the times, leading to the perception that backup is complex, and change will bring unnecessary risk. In short: it’s too hard.

If your organization falls into the backup challenged, then it could be time to consider a managed backup as a service (BaaS) solution for an easier, more efficient way to backup your data and applications across the enterprise.

What is BaaS?

Managed backup service provides backup and recovery operations from the cloud. The cloud-based BaaS provider maintains necessary backup equipment, applications, processes and management in their data center. So, there is no need to buy backup servers and software, run upgrades and patches, or purchase dedupe appliances.

What are the benefits of BaaS?

BaaS offers many benefits including the ability to:

• Replicate your data to the cloud without the capital and operational costs of deploying, managing, and maintaining one.
• Hire backup expertise, without adding headcount.
• Keep your data and applications protected and easily accessible in the event of a major outage or disaster.
• Reduce costs (CapEx and OpEx).
• Improve security, disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC).
• Enable faster implementation which leads to faster speed to market.

OneNeck’s BaaS solutions provide a resilient, cloud-based backup and recovery service offering the high levels of reliability demanded by organizations today. Our BaaS solutions offerings are powered by best-in-class technologies and services.

Let us conduct a Backup and Recovery Assessment to identify the first steps towards creating an efficient, reliable and appropriate backup and recovery solution for your business. Contact us today.

As services move into the cloud, more vendors are publishing the WAN latency requirements for their platform or application. These requirements could specify a maximum latency among computing nodes in a cluster, between a computing node and a storage array, or for an application-specific data flow like vMotion. Being able to estimate network latency between locations will help you identify which connectivity options are viable solutions. Use the latency calculator below to help.

The following are some items to consider when calculating (estimating) WAN latency:

1. One-way versus round-trip

Many vendor requirements specify a maximum supported latency, in milliseconds, but do not say whether it is round-trip time (RTT), or one-way latency. You can usually assume that the vendor’s intention is “round trip time,” but due to the large costs involved in WAN circuits, it’s good to ask for clarification.

2. Electronics

Modern network switches and routers have a forwarding latency of a fraction of a millisecond, depending mostly on frame/packet size. It is usually safe to assume that all the switches, routers and telecommunications equipment across a typical WAN circuit will add one millisecond in each direction (2 msec RTT, or round-trip time).

If you’re testing latency using the “ping” command, note that “ping” also measures the speed at which the remote device answers pings.  In many cases, that adds a millisecond to the ping results, above and beyond the latency of the network itself.

3. Distance

The biggest factor in typical WAN latency is the speed of light, through fiber-optic cable, which is about 124 miles per millisecond. A typical wavelength circuit within a metro area may travel from the data center to the serving telephone central office (e.g. 5 miles), then travel across the metro area on a metro fiber ring to another central office (e.g. 50 miles along a “beltway loop”), then travel to the destination data center (5 miles). The path will vary, depending on the local layout of your carrier’s fiber network, but a fiber path within a single metro area will usually be fewer than 100 fiber-miles in length. This should usually keep in-metro round-trip latency below 2 msec (fiber) plus 2 msec (electronics), or 4 msec., well within most clustering/application requirements.

How to Calculate Latency

To estimate latency of a wavelength between metro areas, take a look at your carrier’s proposed fiber route. Their fiber map is probably available on their website. An online mapping website can provide a rough estimate of highway distance between two cities, along the path used by your carrier.

• Take the highway distance and add 10% to account for a few twists and turns at river crossings, freeway junctions, etc.
• Add 100 miles for the local metro fiber path at each end
• Double the result (to get the round-trip distance)
• Divide by 124 miles/msec
• Add 2 milliseconds (for the electronics)

WAN Latency Calculation Example:

For example, a Chicago/Dallas wavelength latency estimate might be:

• 925 miles x 110% = 1017.5 miles
• + 100 miles (Chicago local fiber) = 1117.5 miles
• + 100 miles (Dallas fiber) = 1217.5 miles
• x 2 = 2435 miles (round-trip)
• / 124 msec/mile = 19.6 msec
• + 2 msec = 22 msec (electronics)

Note that your carrier may provide a guarantee for latency which is a generic number of milliseconds (e.g. 50 msec for any wavelength within North America). It’s useful to name the fiber path to be used, on your contract or service order with the carrier, to ensure that your circuit is not routed through a fiber route which is unnecessarily long but is still within the carrier’s SLA.

4. Switched networks

The latency example above is primarily for “wavelength” services or dark fiber. For circuits which travel over a carrier switched network (e.g. MPLS), congestion at any point in the network path may increase latency by tens of milliseconds.  Additionally, the carrier may reroute traffic during maintenance, or may reroute traffic around a congested POP for days or weeks, using a longer network path.

5. Encryption and fragmentation

For VPNs such as IPSec tunnels, fragmentation/reassembly and encryption/decryption may significantly increase latency.

OneNeck provides our customers with remote, enterprise-wide network management and monitoring with uptime SLAs backed by security, power and redundancy requirements that exceed industry standards. Contact us to learn more about how our hosted managed services can help your network running at peak efficiency.

Does selecting an IT vendor and deciding on the right direction for your company seem to get more complex with every conversation? Without a crystal ball to reveal precisely which vendor is a perfect fit, knowing you’re making the right decision is virtually impossible—but it doesn’t have to be.

There are many directions you can turn for insights. 360Quadrants, for instance, combines expert analysis with crowdsourced insights on technology vendors to provide a bias-free comparison. Powered by Markets and Markets, 360Quadrants strives to help businesses simplify their IT buying decision while managing the risk involved in such a complex decision. Specifically, 360Quadrants’ analysis provides businesses with critical insights that can help remove some of the complex decision-making risk involved in selecting a vendor partner. Quarterly, 360Quadrants produces the Top Vendors by Category report, which analyzes more than 2,500 vendors in over 500 markets.

Recently, the Top Vendor reports focused on three categories, in which OneNeck was proudly named a top vendor:

• Managed Services
• Disaster Recovery as a Service
• Colocation

“It’s extremely rewarding to be named a top choice, in multiple categories, by a resource that was created to empower businesses to make better decisions,” says Corey Livingston, VP of Marketing at OneNeck. “With the abundance of IT services and solutions choices available, your business needs a partner that truly has your back.”

In addition to 360Quadrants, G2 Crowd and FeaturedCustomers offer insights and neutral reviews, along with customer reviews, to help you assess what’s best for your business.

Have you upgraded or migrated your server to the cloud yet?

With SQL Server 2008 support having ended in July 2019 and Windows Server 2008/R2 support ending in January 2020, if you haven’t, now is the time to upgrade or migrate your workloads to the cloud.

What does end of support mean?

Basically, there are no more security updates, which is bad news for any IT professional. Not only could compliance become an issue, with cyberattacks becoming more sophisticated and frequent, you’ll want to protect your server in ways that 2008 products (Windows/SQL) just aren’t capable of. That’s what makes an upgrade or migration so important.

Should you upgrade or migrate?

If you’re using Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 or SQL Server 2008, you should consider either upgrading your server to the latest version or migrating to the cloud with Microsoft Azure.

If you need to keep your Windows Server 2008/R2 on-premise, you will need to upgrade to Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 before you can upgrade to the more recent Windows Server 2016 or 2019. However, not every older operating system has a pathway to every newer version. Ultimately, migration might be the best solution. Since every workload is different, having your architecture and machine properly evaluated by OneNeck IT Solutions can help avoid any potential issues.

If you’d prefer to migrate your Windows Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 off-premise to the cloud, Azure is an optimal solution for migration because it has familiar features, lowers your TCO and is fully managed. It enables you to seamlessly lift and shift server applications to Azure without making changes to your code. And, it provides a portfolio of migration tools that can help you choose the right mix of cloud and on-premises solutions for your business. Other benefits include:

• Increased business innovation with Azure SQL Database, Azure App Service and Azure laaS
• Reduce infrastructure costs
• Free security updates
• Meet compliance with the most certificates of any cloud provider
• Protection against sophisticated cyberthreats with secure cloud foundation

While you could likely handle a migration on your own, without a deeper knowledge of Azure and a thorough analysis of your systems, things can go wrong. OneNeck IT Solutions can help make migrations efficient and stress-free. The important first step of your migration is a thorough evaluation, understanding the architecture and any interdependencies that exist.

“Many organizations don’t have the skills, expertise or time to drive a successful cloud migration all on their own. Working with partners that specialize in cloud migration can make the difference in ensuring that your migration is successful. Cloud migration specialists can help you identify opportunities, create a detailed plan and choose the right cloud solution providers.”

– Scott Morley, Principal Application Architect, OneNeck IT Solutions

Leveraging OneNeck IT Solutions Azure Cloud Services  will give you proactive, enhanced 24/7 monitoring, internal staff flexibility to focus on important projects and hybrid capabilities that optimize workloads across a variety of locations.

Our Managed Azure solutions include:

• Azure Compute—Virtual Machine (VM) and Operating System Management
• Azure Network Management—Networking and Connectivity
• Azure Backup and Restore Management
• Managed Database for SQL database installed on a VM
• Managed Storage
• OneNeck Monitoring and Management—OneNeck 24/7 operations, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) best practices

With OneNeck IT Solutions, the process you may have been putting off will be easier than you think.
Start now with these eBooks!

All businesses have to transform and adapt to do business in an increasingly digital world. But to transform, they must first address the foundation that their business sits on, making converged infrastructure (CI) and hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) a great fit that enables efficiency and scalability on validated infrastructure. 

Since 2012, HCI technology has offered even greater hardware and workload consolidation than its predecessor, CI. HCI has accelerated IT transformation through its software-defined infrastructure approach that does not require the level of storage and server management expertise needed to utilize CI.

Where is HCI now?

Over the last nine years, HCI has been leveraged by a number of large organizations looking to modernize their data centers and to build out public and private and cloud infrastructure.

In a recent survey conducted by ESG, more than 98% of transformed companies said they are using either converged infrastructure (CI) or HCI, and are running 35% of their applications on either platform. Moreover, the global HCI market size is expected to grow from USD 4.1 billion in 2018 to USD 17.1 billion by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 32.9% during the forecast period. (Source)

These growth projections likely come as no surprise to organizations already using HCI. That is because most are seeing firsthand how HCI is supporting transformation and driving meaningful business value for their organizations.

Time is Money
Unlike the legacy approach, HCI is already engineered and validated prior to installation, so teams do not have to worry about spending time integrating components. This saves a significant amount of effort from IT management and staff, and frees up their time to work on more strategic and higher value projects.

Similarly, thanks to HCI’s consolidated interface that provides a comprehensive look at all IT components and significantly smaller hardware footprint, IT staff spend much less time monitoring components and allow for more reliable and consistent operations overall. 

In fact, according to the ESG survey, organizations utilizing CI/HCI spent 31% less time on routine system management.

Not only is time saved, many of these organizations have seen significant cost savings. A smaller hardware footprint requires less levels of management thus translating into decreased operational costs like labor, power and cooling, and more. IT management in HCI/CI organizations reported a 21% to 30% reduction in operational expenditures.

Agility and speed lead to better service and competitive advantage
HCI technology accelerates IT transformation through faster application deployment and completion of integration tasks in a greater speed than ever before. This also increases the chances of getting to market faster than the competition. 

Organizations using HCI/CI reported they were seven and half times more likely to complete most app deployments ahead of schedule, and were two and a half times as likely to be significant ahead of their competitors in time to market.

Through allowing for greater IT agility, HCI also creates a more cloud-like environment, enabling teams to provide IT as a service (ITaaS) experience to its users. This opens the door to even greater flexibility and faster response to business priorities, helping the organization work toward their digital transformation objectives. (Source)

These are just a few of the many benefits of large organizations have experienced integrating HCI technology into their businesses. The significant impact it has on saving time and costs are allowing IT to focus more resources and efforts into digitally transforming their organizations, and to contribute to greater strategic imperatives to the business.

———

Interested in learning more? Check out this informative report from ESG on the role of CI and HCI in IT transformation.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

When it comes to selecting the best backup— NAS (network-attached storage) or cloud-based—there are a multitude of factors IT leaders must consider. To break it down, a recent TechTarget article written by John Edwards highlights the pros and cons of the two approaches, and includes insights on which backup, NAS vs Cloud, might be the best choice.

In the article, Scott Morley, Principal Application Architect at OneNeck, told Edwards, “Both have a place in a comprehensive backup approach, and the business requirements around recovery time objective [RTO], recovery point objective [RPO] and long-term retention should drive the decision on when to use which.”

With more than 20 years of IT and business experience, Morley has expertise working with Microsoft Dynamics AX and Azure solutions in the areas of architecture, performance engineering, application integration and leveraging hybrid cloud solutions. When it comes to NAS vs. cloud-based back-up, Morley suggests NAS allows for a much shorter backup window because the data copy will be local.

John Hein, Product Director added, “Even if a cloud-based solution is selected exclusively, some amount of local storage needs to be planned for, to keep backup windows small and allow for a trickle copy to the cloud. The same is true for a restore. Copying hundreds of Gigs across a WAN or internet connection will not meet most company’s RTO. An improved or dedicated network connection may be required for cloud-based solutions.”

NAS vs Cloud backup- 5 factors to consider:

1. Security: Both can be made equally secure; maintaining native encryption is the key.
2. Cost: Cloud storage is among the cheapest components in the cloud, so cloud generally wins here. It also offers near infinite capacity without need for additional hardware.
3. Reliability: Storage reliability is typically much greater with a cloud backup solution since it can be configured for geo-redundancy; most major cloud providers also offer a 5+ 9s SLA on storage.
4. Accessibility: Because they are local, NAS solutions are generally more accessible; however, in the case of a local disaster, a cloud solution will be available almost immediately, at any location, with an internet connection.
5. Control/ownership: A NAS solution comes with a guarantee of control and ownership, though version upgrades can make existing backups unusable or in need of conversion. On the other hand, cloud backup solutions are generally provided by companies that guarantee access and ownership of data; they are also generally simpler to use, which reduces the need for specialized management knowledge.

As IT leaders review the options, Morley points out, “NAS and cloud-based backups have complementary strengths and weaknesses and a hybrid solution will provide the best overall backup strategy. The speed and availability of a NAS solution teamed with the cheap and easily expandable storage of a cloud solution for long-term retention can allow a company to meet most RTO/RPO objectives while keeping storage costs under control.”

I need backup for Office 365? Isn’t it already included?  In short, no. The misconception that Microsoft fully backs up your data on your behalf is all too common.  To the contrary, Microsoft is primarily focused on managing the infrastructure and ensuring uptime; you are responsible for your data.

According to 451 Research, data backup remains one of the key principles in data protection for several reasons, and while SaaS vendors focus on providing infrastructure resiliency and application availability for their own platform, the traditional 3-2-1 backup rule still applies as a best practice for ensuring data protection and resilience.

Bottom line, businesses using Office 365 need to backup their data and here’s why:

Critical Reasons to Backup Office 365

Veeam, a data backup and recovery, data protection and data security company and OneNeck partner, surveyed hundreds of IT professionals across the globe who have migrated to Office 365, six vulnerabilities in data protection rose to the top in their findings:

1. Accidental Deletion- If you delete a user, whether you meant to or not, that deletion is replicated across the network, along with the deletion of their personal SharePoint site and their OneDrive data.
2. Retention Policy- Gaps & Confusion- Office 365 has limited backup and retention policies that can only fend off situational data loss and is not intended to be an all-encompassing backup solution.
3. Internal Security Threats- Businesses experience threats from the inside, and they are happening more often than you think. Organizations fall victim to threats posed by their very own employees, both intentionally and unintentionally.
4. External Security Threats- Malware and viruses, like ransomware, have done serious damage to organizations across the globe. Not only is company reputation at risk, but the privacy and security of internal and customer data as well.
5. Legal and Compliance Requirements- Legal requirements, compliance requirements and access regulations vary between industries and countries, but fines, penalties and legal disputes are three things you don’t have room for on your to-do list.
6. Managing Hybrid Deployments & Migrations to Office 365 – Organizations that adopt Office 365 typically need a window of time to serve as a transition window between on-premises Exchange and Office 365 Exchange Online. Some even leave a small portion of their legacy system in place to have added flexibility and additional control. These hybrid email deployments are common yet pose additional management challenges.

Comprehensive Backup from A Trusted Partner

We’ve worked with many organizations to safeguard their data with a flexible, secure and efficient cloud-based backup and recovery service your business can rely on.

OneNeck can enable and support your Office 365 backups helping to eliminate the risk of losing access and control over your Office 365 data.  Our backup solution give you the power to securely backup Office 365 and:

• Protect your Office 365 data from accidental deletion, security threats and retention policy gaps
• Quickly restore individual Office 365 email, files and sites with industry-leading recovery flexibility
• Meet legal and compliance requirements with efficient eDiscovery of Office 365 items

Let us help you gain complete access and control of your Office 365 data and avoid the unnecessary risks of data loss. Contact us today!

Topic: Microsoft Office 365

The landscape for Network Managed Services (NMS) providers continues to become more challenging, especially as application, management and compliance requirements keep evolving. Proactive support is a core component. At the same time, IT budgets for small- and medium-sized businesses keep shrinking while there is heightened focus on finding ways to squeeze more productivity out of limited resources.

NMS can provide a path for existing staff to spend more time in proactive, business-oriented pursuits vs. mundane, reactive tasks. In this CIOReview article, Brian Clarke, Solutions Architect—Networking and Collaboration, describes the Application Landscape, Network Management and Visibility, and Compliance Requirements. He also details how much of it should be the responsibility of an NMS provider.

—————————

Brian Clarke is a Solutions Architect of Networking and Collaboration at OneNeck^® IT Solutions. In this role, Brian works with customers to clarify needs, identify potential solutions and provide ongoing support to ensure their continued trust and confidence in the OneNeck partnership. Brian is primarily responsible for designing Cisco-based network-related solutions, including Enterprise Networking, Data Center and Collaboration services. Brian joined OneNeck in 2010 with more than 20 years of experience in the IT industry.

How can a CIO be confident that IT will perform 24/7/365?

 According to Zerto, in today’s always-on, information-driven organizations, IT resilience depends completely on IT infrastructures that are up and running 24/7. The costs of downtime are huge and data loss can put a company out of business. Data loss is not only caused by natural disasters, power outages, hardware failure and user errors, but more and more by software problems and cybersecurity related disasters.

Therefore, thorough security and business continuity strategies are crucial for modern businesses, minimizing data loss and downtime. Especially now, as data centers become more and more software defined, these private, hybrid and public clouds become more vulnerable to these kinds of threats.

Download Zerto’s Disaster Recovery Guide: Primer for CIOs for insights into the challenges, needs, strategies, and available solutions for disaster recovery, especially in modern, virtualized environments and the public cloud.

A Strategic, Trusted Partner

OneNeck is here to help you maximize uptime, become more efficient and be able to adopt and accelerate with new technologies such as hybrid clouds, while running at the speed of business. We start by conducting a disaster recovery assessment to ensure a planned approach to Disaster Recovery (DR). Taking the time upfront, before implementation, to determine what’s critical to your business and your customers, ensures that you deliver on your commitments no matter what. Then, we tailor our solutions to your situation.  So, breathe easy – we got this. Execute your disaster recovery strategy with OneNeck today.

As a consumer, we utilize applications on a daily basis. How many times have you found yourself asking, “There’s got to be an app for that?” It’s quite simply the expectation in today’s app-centric world. And when an app doesn’t function the way it’s supposed to? Well, no one has time for that, and we simply move on…

But with the increased demands of today’s consumer, the complexity of modern applications is also growing. Software can now be deployed on-prem, in the cloud or utilizing both in a hybrid model; however, the shift to using microservice architectures has led to highly-distributed, multi-tier applications that are made up of millions of lines of code, which in turn require multiple teams to develop and manage them. This in turn makes troubleshooting issues an often tedious and complex process, which then ultimately impacts the business bottom line when an app has performance issues or is completely offline.

So, how can a business give their applications the love and attention they deserve to ensure they’re up and running, meeting the demands of their customers? The first step is understanding why applications fail to start with.

Why Applications Fail

Applications fail for many numerous reasons, but here are some of the big ones:

• Human Error: The majority of application failures can be attributed to human error. These errors can be simple mistakes with big impact, such as rebooting the wrong database or systemic errors in the overarching architecture design. While this can be mitigated by using a test/dev environment before pushing to production, the human factor will always remain a factor to consider.
• Coding Mistakes: Untested libraries, frequent changes and poor exception handling (just to name a few) can wreak havoc on an application’s ability to function correctly.
• Not Enough Capacity: Just because an application worked in development and testing doesn’t mean it always will when it goes live and is put to the test by real users. And while testing an application against the expected load and beyond would be ideal, it doesn’t always happen, often due to time and budget constraints. So, it can be tricky knowing exactly what capacity will be needed.
• Hardware Failure: Sometimes it’s as simple as a hardware device crashes. And while this might seem simple to resolve, in more complex environments, it can be challenging to pinpoint in a timely manner.
• Network Issues: Beyond congestion, a bad switch port, incorrect configurations or even link failures can lead to network issues that affect the application performance or even access.

At the end of the day, there are multitudes of other reasons an application could fail, making it critical to embrace an application performance management (APM) strategy. And just like applications themselves have evolved, the meaning of what it means to monitor applications has evolved as well.

APM a Must in Today’s App-Driven World

In order to ensure that every critical swipe, tap and click are monitored and then correlated to business outcomes, it requires an end-to-end approach that ensures that every part of even the most complex environments—from software to infrastructure to business outcomes—is highly visible, optimized and driving the growth of the business.

At OneNeck, we’ve partnered with Cisco AppDynamics and can offer our customers an APM solution that tracks the behavior of components, such as physical hardware, virtual machines where applications reside, JVM executing the application environment, web containers, associated databases, caches, external web services and the code running the application itself.

In addition to the technical aspects of the application, it also provides detailed insight into the end-user experience, giving visibility into the quality of service you’re providing to your customers.

By monitoring applications and tracking customer behavior, AppDynamics APM can alert stakeholders of any issues related to key business transactions — like a broken checkout link that could impact revenue or a slow login page that’s hurting customer experience. The power of being alerted to application performance issues in real time allows business owners to fix the problem before it hurts the company’s bottom line.

So, is it time to show your apps some love and in turn, earn the love and devotion of your customers? Then let’s talk APM.

Traditional wide area networks (WANs) bring numerous challenges to the enterprise, ranging from increasing cost, performance issues and flexibility challenges. And with the onset of the cloud, today’s IT teams are searching for solutions that meet the data accessibility demands from inside the organization to the edges of the earth.

In an effort to address these challenges, Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) has emerged. It’s a whole new approach to distributed networks that offers better performance, agility, operational flexibility and potentially huge cost savings.

IDC states that, “The most significant driver of SD-WAN growth over the next five years will be digital transformation (DX) in which enterprises deploy 3rd Platform technologies, including cloud, big data and analytics, mobility, and social business, to unlock new sources of innovation and creativity that enhance customer experiences and improve financial performance.”

This all sounds amazing, but like any new technology, there are always things to consider before adopting it. I recently worked with one of our SD-WAN architects, Adam Gray, on an eBook that dives into some of the SD-WAN questions that are floating around out there right now, like…

• What actually is SD-WAN, and how is it different from SDN?
• What does SD-WAN accomplish?
• How does an organization know if they’re a right fit?
• And if you are a right fit, where do you start?

If like me, you’re not quite sure about the ins and outs of SD-WAN, stop back in the coming months as we explore some of our learnings with our experts around SD-WAN in our blog.  And in the meantime, check out the eBook: SD-WAN – Hype or Reality?

A database management transformation is underway. Some say it threatens the long-term future of database administrators (DBAs). As more enterprises shift to multi-cloud and hybrid cloud solutions, automating their products with self-driving, self-patching and self-healing features, it has some in management thinking they don’t need managed DBA services anymore.

While the role of the DBA may change, this transformation does not mean the DBA will disappear. According to Biju Thomas, Principal Solutions Architect at OneNeck, “Data is—and will remain—the lifeblood of business. DBAs will continue to play a central role, providing valuable insights into how organizations will best harness their data to produce business value.”

In a recent CIOReview article, Thomas discusses the six traits you should expect from the future DBA and the ways in which they will add value to the business in the cloud era.

When it comes to Oracle cloud certifications, there are three broad categories says Oracle ACE Director Biju Thomas, who is also a Principal Solutions Architect at OneNeck. He recently discussed the categories and his insights on Oracle cloud certifications with Alan Earls of TechTarget noting that, “Within each category, you’ll find a variety of choices requiring an array of skill sets.”

Thomas, an author for several Oracle Database & SQL Certification Study Guides (published by Sybex & Wiley), believes in taking certification exams to learn new technologies. It is possible to upgrade your existing certifications to cloud certifications. In fact, when it comes to Oracle database certification levels, Thomas says Oracle Database OCA or OCP are required to earn the “Oracle Database Cloud Administrator Certified Associate” or “Oracle Database Cloud Certified Administrator” certifications. He adds, “There are also a few SaaS certifications, especially Enterprise Resource Planning, which helps one achieve the equivalent cloud certification.”

When it comes to navigating your options and selecting the Oracle certification best-suited for your interest and skillsets, Thomas recommends newbies take time to review the cloud tracks and tests. He says, “There are a ton of choices, so pay attention to the area of expertise you are interested in.”

To be competitive, enterprises need to deliver new products, update processes and improve services that will drive new business, increase profits, and cut costs – all while asking IT to do more with less. As the pace of innovation increases, many IT organizations find themselves stretched impossibly thin and struggling to keep pace.

Where is IT struggling to keep up?

When being asked to do more with fewer resources and limited budgets, critical projects take a back burner — for example, monitoring and maintaining systems become a low priority, cloud migration projects are delayed and proactive security measures may suffer.  End users become frustrated by the lack of IT support, and business units adopt solutions that are not sanctioned by IT, creating Shadow IT. The results are application conflicts, duplication of services between departments and new vulnerabilities in the network. 

Outsourcing application and database management can ease the burden on your IT department, tap into the resources you are lacking, improve efficiencies, free up your in-house IT staff to focus on those projects that make a positive impact on your growth, and even improve your overall security posture.

Benefits of outsourcing application and database management include:

1. 24/7 support: Today’s businesses are always-on, and lean IT staffing makes it difficult to provide true 24/7 support, especially for global organizations. Pushing current staff to handle after-hours support cannot only get expensive, but it often results in reduced team engagement and job satisfaction. Outsourcing some support functions means that your staff is freed up to focus on core projects that can improve overall support.
2. IT agility: When IT organizations are stretched thin, the can only do the minimum to maintain application and database servers. This means that they don’t have time to focus on more strategic tasks, like developing new applications or improving operational efficiencies.
3. Ease the talent crunch: Good IT talent is hard to find and comes with a premium. With limited qualified candidates, it can be difficult to construct an IT team that delivers the breadth and depth of the expertise that is needed. Outsourcing provides you with a pool of available experts to help you meet your goals.
4. Free up resources: When working with a quality IT service provider, you gain access to top-quality talent, on-demand, freeing your internal team to focus on other IT initiatives, like cloud migration, virtualization or other mission critical projects to bolster the business’ bottom line.
5. Save money: There are economies of scale to be gained when outsourcing application and database management tasks. Access to a larger variety of resources ultimately saves you the budget and burden of hiring a consultant or another full-time employee.  Outsourcing services can also provide you with access to innovative technologies that you would otherwise have to budget for.

Read more in our eGuide: IT Outsourcing Pros and Cons.

A recent MI and RCA brought this to light, and I thought it important enough to share with all of you.  This blog should provide detail, not just as to the best practice of having consistent disk sizes per +ASM diskgroup, but why it’s a best practice and  the impact of not following such best practice.

 When Oracle +ASM writes data to a diskgroup, it attempts to stripe that data across all disks in the group.  It will do so proportionally on a per disk basis.  So if you have 4 by 100Gb disks in DATA diskgroup, and you create a new tablespace with the SQL command CREATE TABLESPACE NEW_TS;  the database will create a tablespace of default size of 100M in the DATA diskgroup (provided of course, the parameter DB_CREATE_FILE_DEST is set to +DATA in the init or spfile.)  So the database will send the call to +ASM to create that new datafile, and +ASM will stripe that datafile proportionally, to all disks in the diskgroup, ultimately placing 25mb on each disk.  Great!

 But consider a DATA diskgroup with varying sizes – for instance 4 disks, with sizes 25Gb, 50Gb, 75Gb, and 250Gb.  When creating that same 100M tablespace, Oracle will attempt to create that datafile proportionally, attempting to write around 6mb to the first disk, 12mb to the second disk, 24mb to the third disk, and 58mb to the fourth disk.  Later, a decision is made to standardize on 100G lun sizes, so in a single operation the DBA issues an ‘Alter diskgroup DATA add disk DISK4, DISK5, DISK6, DISK7 drop disk DATA000, DATA001, DAT002, DATA003  [rebalance power x ] ;’   The database migrates the data from the old disks to the new disks, without interrupting the database operation.

 Unfortunately, the diskgroup is now in an ‘IMBALANCED’ state.  The imbalance, will may cause misinformation or at least implied misinformation to be presented.  This recently occurred in a production environment for one of our customer’s most important databases. The +ASM diskgroup via sqlplus and asmcmd showed more than 140Gb of free space, in a 4Tb DATA diskgroup.  However, when attempting to extend an existing table or create a new tablespace, the following errors were returned:

ORA-17502: ksfdcre:4 Failed to create file +DATA

ORA-15041: diskgroup “DATA” space exhausted

 So how could this be?  Both the +ASM instance and asmcmd clearly showed plenty of free space!  Here’s an excerpt from the Oracle documentation, (I added formatting for emphasis):

• TOTAL_MB is the total usable capacity of a disk group in megabytes. The calculations for data in this column take the disk header overhead into consideration. The disk header overhead depends on the number of ASM disks and ASM files. This value is typically about 1% of the total raw storage capacity. For example, if the total LUN capacity provisioned for ASM is 100 GB, then the value in the TOTAL_MB column would be about 99 GB.
• FREE_MB is the unused capacity of the disk group in megabytes, without considering any data imbalance. Therefore, there may be situations where the value in the FREE_MB column shows unused capacity but because one of the ASM disks is full, database writes fail because of the imbalance in the disk group. Make sure that you initiate a manual rebalance to force even data distribution which results in an accurate presentation of the values in the FREE_MB column.

How can we tell if we have disk imbalance in a +ASM diskgroup, as this is not something we monitor for?  The attached sql file asm_imbalance.sql will report imbalance.  Simply supply the diskgroup name when prompted.  Below is sample out from the script:

 SYS@+ASM>select max(free_mb) biggest, min(free_mb) lowest, avg(free_mb) AVG,

  2  trunc(GREATEST ((avg(free_mb)*100/max(free_mb)),(min(free_mb)*100/avg(free_mb))),2)||’%’ as balanced,

  3  trunc(100-(GREATEST ((avg(free_mb)*100/max(free_mb)),(min(free_mb)*100/avg(free_mb)))),2)||’%’ as imbalanced

  4  from v$asm_disk

  5  where group_number in

  6  (select group_number from v$asm_diskgroup where name = upper(‘&DG’));

Enter value for dg: DATA

   BIGGEST     LOWEST       AVG BALANC IMBALA

———- ———- ——— —— ——

     73280      54524     69863 95.33% 4.66%

One would think 4.66% is a tolerable amount.  However, in a 4Tb database 4.66% is 190Gb.  While the database and asmcmd reported 140Gb free space in the diskgroup, which was technically accurate, refer to the portion of FREE_MB description:  , without considering any data imbalance.  So because one of the disks was actually full, due to the data imbalance, database writes failed because of the imbalance in the disk group.

Follow up action for all DBA’s

The imbalance experienced here was extremely rare, however, it’s important to understand, this diskgroup WAS CURRENTLY using consistent sizes.  The diskgroup was made of 8 x 512Gb disks.  It was not, however, always that way.  Prior to January 2016, the diskgroup consisted of multiple different sizes.  It’s also important to mention the last sentence under FREE_MB is NOT entirely accurate:    Make sure that you initiate a manual rebalance to force even data distribution which results in an accurate presentation of the values in the FREE_MB column. 

According to Cisco, modernizing the workplace through digital technologies is one of the defining movements of our time. The disruptive impact of digital transformation is affecting every industry as organizations massively scale up their initiatives.

Unified communications (UC) is critical to digital transformation because it provides employees, customers and partners with a wide range of modern collaboration tools and technologies empowering them to message, meet, and call instantly; strengthening relationships and increasing productivity across the enterprise.

By utilizing the right UC solutions, organizations will increase productivity and improve customer service. In addition, they will be able to:

• Modernize their workplaces to meet the needs of a changing workforce, thus helping improve employee recruitment and retention.
• Expand their potential talent pool by supporting enhanced and secure mobility, collaboration, device ubiquity and geographic diversity.
• Reduce total cost of ownership through lower facility and travel costs

We know that digital transformation is the future. It’s imperative that IT leaders embrace and lead the coming change. But how do you get there? How do you adapt your current UC technology to satisfy the needs of today’s more mobile and distributed workforce? Cisco recommends the following 10 considerations to keep in mind when moving to more modern collaboration and UC solutions:

1. Take inventory of what you have: This goes beyond technology. Make sure you also understand your corporate culture and how it works. Collaboration and UC are enabling technologies; how they are used, and by whom within your workforce will determine their success.
2. Set reasonable goals: Determine if it makes sense to work with a specific team or department and develop a proof of concept. Remember that each organization will have its own challenges and expectations, and make sure that you have the resources in place to deliver upon the expectations you set.
3. Involve users and line-of-business managers: Collaboration and unified communications only work if they provide users with an experience that they value. Don’t just make technology available to your users. Involve them in the process from beginning to end, including providing the training needed to facilitate adoption.
4. Focus on ease of use: This gets back to the previous point. If the user experience is compromised, or if the deployment is time consuming and difficult to manage for IT, then the technology will not be used to the extent you may desire.
5. Quality counts: This is a new world. IT consumerization means users expect a glitch-free, high-quality experience. If you are offering collaboration tools such as VoIP and video, choose a supplier that understands these technologies and can deliver the underlying infrastructure required. Also, make sure your technology vendor has longevity in meeting the needs of the most demanding enterprise customers and service providers. In the UC market, there have been too many instances of failing providers leaving customers without future support.
6. Ensure a great mobile experience: Mobility is one of the most important considerations in empowering today’s collaborative workplace. Your mobile connectivity and collaboration tools must assure a great mobile experience no matter which device is being used at whatever time and from whatever location. And remember, mobility is not just for your workers
7. Modernize your infrastructure: Now is the time for all companies, large and small, to root out those last pockets of TDM and ensure a fully digital experience for the workforce. Don’t allow your organization to be stuck with an obsolete technology when there are far better and more cost-effective alternatives available.
8. Embrace the cloud: This is not to say that you should use cloud models for all of your collaboration and UC requirements. But you should work with a technology provider that gives you flexibility to use cloud models whenever and wherever you deem them appropriate. Consider providers that offer commercial solutions that allow you the flexibility to deploy some services on premises (where it makes sense) and to consume others from the cloud. And no matter what approach you take, make sure the result is a consistent and simple-to-use experience for end users and IT.
9. Embed collaboration into your line of business applications: To ensure that your organization maximizes the business value of collaboration, it is important to embed communication and collaboration into your applications and business practices. This can best be achieved using application program interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs).

10. Choose an experienced technology partner: Collaboration and UC solutions together represent one of the most important investments your company will make to ensure a successful future. You can’t afford to go wrong, and you don’t want to be in a situation where you have to swap out partners or technologies down the road. It is important to choose a technology vendor that is a leader in providing all elements of your collaboration and UC solution from end to end. This way, you will ensure a successful deployment for today and a clear path for the future.

“Cisco Essential Guide to Workplace Modernization”

Ready to modernize your UC solution? OneNeck® IT Solutions, with our partner Cisco, is here to provide world-class collaborative services that bring people together and enable them to achieve extraordinary things. Contact us today to learn more.

IT support teams never have enough time, enough people, enough expertise, enough resources…and so it goes. There comes a time when an IT executive has had enough of not having enough! That’s when outsourcing can be the best option to lighten the day-to-day load, improve operations, decrease costs and – most importantly – help you succeed.  When outsourcing, however, you want to make sure your provider follows ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) best practices.

What is ITIL Managed Services?

It’s easy for frequently under-resourced IT departments to spend most of their time going from incident to incident, leaving little time for other initiatives. As a result, their internal customers may not be satisfied with what they get, especially when it doesn’t quite meet their business needs.

Enter ITIL, a set of process-oriented best practices that drive efficiency, quality and better ROI. Since its beginning in the 1980s, ITIL has helped countless IT departments optimize their processes and costs, provide better service quality and improve delivery of services. Another key advantage is that ITIL provides a common language and framework for better alignment between IT and its customers.

That’s not to say ITIL doesn’t have its detractors. One critique is that ITIL’s focus on “not failing” can dampen the spirit of innovation and efforts to anticipate issues before they become problems. Another is that its complexity makes it difficult to put into practice. However, the growth of ITIL, with its millions of adherents, is the best measures of its success.

Managed Services Providers in an ITIL World

Growing pressures on IT spurred the rise of managed service providers (MSPs). Much like following ITIL best practices, outsourcing to MSPs are a good way to optimize processes, decrease overall costs and enable IT to go beyond incident response.

It’s only logical that ITIL-focused companies would want ITIL managed services providers. It’s a powerful combination that magnifies the advantages that ITIL and MSP share in common. These companies have a lot to gain by outsourcing to a service provider that thoroughly understands ITIL, speaks the same language and aligns with how they do business. Your MSPs ability to collaborate with your other ITIL vendors also brings value. Even for companies that don’t use ITIL, MSPs bring a lot to the table:

• Greater consistency and predictability of IT operations
• Well-defined and transparent definition of costs and assets, with granular budget control.
• Detailed processes for creating, deploying and moving IT services, reducing total risk
• Increased stability, with techniques for making process adjustments as needed.

What to Look For in an ITIL Managed Services Provider

When looking for your ITIL managed services provider, look for experts with ITIL certification who can help you put together an approach and plan for overall IT development. Learn what you can about the company’s accountability and success in staying on task. Ask about their experience adjusting to changes in clients’ businesses. And see what they provide to clients, such as a service catalog outlining its framework, or a runbook.

OneNeck leverages an ITIL-based activation and delivery methodology that assures smooth transition into the managed services model and enables a productive partnership throughout the engagement. Contact us today to learn more!

During Oracle Open World 2017, Larry Ellison announced Oracle Database 18c, nicknamed “World’s first Self-Driving (Autonomous) Database.” Few DBAs got worried hearing this and started panicking. Few others said, “We heard this before, nothing to worry.” There are several blogs and videos on the “Autonomous Database.” And, we now know:

• Oracle Database 18c version number is not because of significant jump in features such as “self-patching”, “self-upgrading” or “self-tuning” (nowadays prominent features are announced in component specific releases – for example, In-Memory feature got introduced in Oracle Database 12.1.0.2 and not available in 12.1.0.1).
• There are no significant architecture changes.
• Oracle Database 18c by itself is NOT Self-Driving, when installed on-prem it will “drive” the same as Oracle Database 12c. It is the Oracle Autonomous Database Cloud Service that brings the “Self-Driving” in.
• DBA jobs are not going away. But, the DBA role is evolving, and the mundane day-to-day activities are getting automated everywhere. DBAs need to spend more time on architecture, business process and application design activities.

Well, if these statements are true, why such a massive jump in version number. What happened to 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17? From the past release history, it usually takes over 20 years to get to version 18 from 12!!

My Oracle Support (MOS) Note 742060.1 has the answer. “New releases will be annual, and the version will be the last two digits of the release year. The release originally planned as 12.2.0.2 will now be release 18, and the release originally planned as 12.2.0.3 will be release 19. Releases 18 and 19 will be treated as under the umbrella of 12.2 for Lifetime Support purposes. The current plan is for Oracle Database 19 to be the last release for 12.2. This may change in the future to Oracle 20 as the last release for 12.2. “

That says it all! From 2018 onwards, the “full release patch sets” will be named with release year as the major version. Remember, back in the old days, patch sets were indeed patch sets. DBA installed a 10.2.0.4 patch set on an existing installation of 10.2.x software binaries, and the patch sets were smaller in download size than a full release. Starting with 11.2.0.2, Oracle began to release the patch sets as a full release. You install the 11.2.0.4 database on its ORACLE_HOME and not on top of existing 11.2.x installation. So, from that standpoint there is no difference to the DBAs, the difference is only in how Oracle names the patch set version.

Since 18c and 19c are also under the 12cR2 support policy, I think naming each patch set with a major version number would cause some confusion especially in support policy and certification exams. Not sure what is the plan to release support policy and Certification exams after 20c. If I were deciding the names, would have called the 2018 release (12.1.0.2) as “Oracle Database 12c Release 2018” instead of 18c and “Oracle Database 12c Release 2019” instead of 19c. Let’s say the next major release is in 2021, it could be called “Oracle Database 21c Release 2021”, so we know the major release year easily, and a new certification exam and support policy could be tied to that major release (21c). Each subsequent year versions would be “Oracle Database 21c Release 2022” instead of 22c and “Oracle Database 21c Release 2023” instead of 23c and so on.

Coming back to 18c, there is also a significant change in how proactive patches are bundled for the Oracle Database and Grid Infrastructure. Today we have Proactive Bundle Patches (BP) and Proactive Patch Set Update (PSU) patches. With 18c (and also with 12cR2 – see MOS Note 2245178.1), there will not be BP and PSU anymore; the model changes to Release Update (RU) and Release Update Revision (RUR). Consider “Release” as the major version, “Release Update” may be considered equivalent to a BP with a version number (18.2.0, 18.3.0, 18.4.0, so on) and “Release Update Revision” may be considered as a PSU with a version number (18.2.1, 18.2.2, 18.2.3, 18.3.1, 18.3.2, and so on). RU and RUR patches are cumulative. The release cycle is explained in MOS Note 2285040.1.

Still, there are a lot of unanswered questions and concerns about the patch release cycle and version numbering. For example, in 2019 Q3 are we going to get 18.8.0 RU and 19.4.0 RU? In the same quarter, are we going to get 2 RUR for 18.x and 2 RUR for 19.x? That makes a total of 6 releases in a quarter. How about 2020 Q1? The other concern in my mind is little personal. How often is Oracle going to release a certification exam? I have been authoring Oracle Certification books every version since 8i. I had 4 to 5 years gap between publishing the books as Oracle released updated version of exam only for major releases. Hope it stays that way!

In the modern workplace, employees are often geographically dispersed with almost half (43%) working remotely at least some of the time, and they typically rely on some combination of voice, email, text and video communications to coordinate their efforts with business associates. Furthermore, they increasingly use multiple devices to access business resources and communications wherever and whenever they want to work.

Unified Communications (UC) emerged some time ago to support these needs. But as digital transformation continues to dramatically reshape how we do business, organizations need to ensure their communications solution is optimized to support the integrated, 24/7 collaborative experiences employees demand.

Is your UC solution keeping pace?

UC integrates all of the different communications channels into a unified user experience, enabling employees to improve productivity and remain in tight communication with each other regardless of geography.

Organizations with modern UC implementations are better able to address IT consumerization, save money and foster more productive collaboration between employees. And while most organizations already have some UC solution in place, it’s critical to continue evolving UC capabilities to meet growing demands. To ensure your UC solution can scale with your business, you need a solid modernization strategy based on careful planning and resource allocation. This checklist can get you started:

1. What resources do you have available? How do you use them? Consider both technology and cultural norms, especially with respect to collaboration and communication.
2. What are your long-term UC goals? Develop a realistic plan for meeting your goals by putting resources in place and delegating responsibility to teams as appropriate.
3. How are users and managers benefitting from UC technologies? A UC solution is only useful insofar as it accrues tangible benefits to users. Evaluate how employees are using the technology and involve them in the optimization process.
4. How easy is it to use your UC system? In order to improve employee buy-in to your UC solution, it needs to be easy and convenient to use.
5. How are you ensuring the quality of UC systems? Technologies such as VoIP and video conferencing are dependent on the quality of vendors and infrastructure. If you’re not seeing strong performance from your UC, it’s time to consider other options.
6. What kind of mobile experience does your UC solution provide? As more employees use mobile devices, it’s critical that UC securely supports reliable anytime, anywhere access to smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc.
7. How well does your infrastructure meet the needs of a modern UC solution? An outdated infrastructure will hinder efforts to implement a modern UC strategy, even if other technologies are cutting-edge.
8. How does your organization use the cloud in conjunction with UC tools? While not all UC technologies need to be hosted in the cloud, considering UC’s place in your cloud strategy is important and needs to be a part of your technology roadmap.
9. How do your business applications facilitate collaboration? Evaluate your most commonly used business applications. Do they enable easy collaboration, or do users go through other channels?
10. What technology partners are you working with? UC will touch on virtually every aspect of your business, so you need experienced partners to ensure quality.

Digitization is transforming the modern workplace into fluid, connected environments where mobility and quick access to applications are imperative.

Oracle Database 12c was released back in June 2013. After upgrading database to 12c Release 1, the biggest problem faced by DBAs was the unpredictable performance of SQL queries. And it was determined that the new behavior of optimizer is causing the performance issues. Hence the natural solution for many DBAs was to set OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE database parameter to 11.2.0.4 so that the optimizer behaves similar to 11gR2 database. This works, but then we are missing out all the right things the optimizer learned and implemented in 12c database. The problem feature causing performance issues may be the “Adaptive Query Optimization.”

Adaptive Query Optimization is a collection of features that work together to allow the cost based optimizer (CBO) to improve the accuracy of execution plans. This feature helps the optimizer adjust the plans based on the real time data during run time.

Adaptive Query Optimization

The Adaptive Query Optimization feature has two components.  Adaptive Plans allow plans to change during execution and Adaptive Statistics allow plans to be built based upon the results of previous executions.  In 12.1 database both components are controlled by one initialization parameter and the DBA can disable adaptive query optimization feature by setting the parameter OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_FEATURES=FALSE. In 12.2 database, Oracle de-supported this parameter, instead introduced two new parameters.

In 12.2, when you create a new database, the default for OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_PLANS is TRUE, and OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_STATISTICS is FALSE. After the 12.2 release, Oracle released patch 22652097 for 12.1 database by which you get the two parameters in 12.1 similar to the 12.2 database.

Read more about adaptive features in the Oracle white paper “Optimizer with Oracle Database 12c Release 2“.

Options After Upgrading to Database 12c

In summary, after upgrading an 11g database to 12c, you have these options:

Upgrade to 12c Release 2 (12.2)

• For most OLTP databases, default behavior is good. No DBA action required.
• Adaptive Plan enabled (OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_PLANS=TRUE), Adaptive Statistics disabled (OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_STATISTICS=FALSE)

Upgrade to 12c Release 1 (12.1)

• Option 1
  • Apply October 2017 (or latest) Database Proactive Bundle Patch (MOS Doc ID 26635880.8)
  • Though October 2017 BP includes the recommended patches, the fixes are not enabled by default. To enable set “_FIX_CONTROL”=’26664361:3′.
  • Turn off Adaptive Statistics (OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_STATISTICS=FALSE) and turn on Adaptive Plans (OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_PLANS=TRUE).
  • Set AUTO_STAT_EXTENSIONS to OFF using DBMS_STATS.SET_GLOBAL_PREFS.
• Option 2 (if you do not wish to apply Bundle Patches)
  • If set, remove the OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_FEATURES parameter from the pfile or spfile.
  • Apply Patch 22652097 and Patch 21171382.
  • Turn off Adaptive Statistics (OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_STATISTICS=FALSE) and turn on Adaptive Plans (OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_PLANS=TRUE).
• Option 3
  • Turn off adaptive features by setting OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_FEATURES=FALSE or
  • Do not act on adaptive information collected during query execution by setting OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_REPORTING_ONLY=TRUE
  • Do not change the OPTIMIZER_FEAURES_ENABLE parameter.

Remember to remove all the Adaptive Query changes you made in 12.1 database (init parameters OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE* and _FIX_CONTROL) before upgrading the database to 12c Release 2 (12.2).

If you have already applied individual patches 22652097, 20243268 or 21171382 on your 12cR1 (12.1) database, read the MOS Note ID 2312911.1 “Recommendations for Adaptive Features in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 and Changes to Adaptive Feature in Release 2 (Adaptive Features, Adaptive Statistics and 12c SQL Performance)” before applying the October 2017 Proactive Bundle Patch.

A look inside many of today’s SOCs will show stressed out security teams who are spending more time responding to emergency issues than they are developed strategies to improve their security ecosystems.

Security teams typically rely on reactive tools that lack the visibility they need to effectively and proactively strategize for emerging security challenges. Most SOCs are struggling with operations challenges, which has given rise to Everything-as-a-Service.

the lack of skilled staff needed to navigate through the complexities of a modern network. By 2021, more than 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs need to be filled. It is also predicted that cybercrime will increase at a rate three times faster than jobs, which will inevitably result in increased spending on security.

Managed security service providers (MSSPs) offer much-needed solutions, but how do you choose the most reliable MSSPs to monitor, manage and get ahead of threats to your business?

7 Points to Evaluate When Choosing an Managed Security Services Provider

1.  A mixed bag of services: Your business risks are unique, as is your budget. In order to deliver the most in-depth security coverage, you should look for providers that offer a wide range of services, provide multiple service levels, give you the ability to mix and match and have prepackaged offerings.
2.  Align intelligence: Make sure your MSSP does more than monitoring and device management. Look for providers whose services align with your security initiatives and deliver integrated security intelligence that aligns with IT infrastructure and back-end technology.
3.  Dedicated research resources: Extensive internal and external resources that deliver insight on the latest threats, vulnerabilities and strategies for remediation are strong indicators of a mature MSSP.
4.  Solid reputation with vision: As with any service provider, customer satisfaction tells an important story. Review analyst reports and understand the provider’s vision for the future as well as the actions they are taking to ensure their direction supports your security goals.
5.  Infrastructure and integration: You’ll get more value from an MSSP that offers integrated technology services and demonstrates a deep understanding of security best practices related to hardware, software, data center and network requirements.
6.  Manage beyond its own suite: To avoid the future cost of technology changes, make sure your MSSP can protect your existing investments by requesting a list of platforms the provider is certified to manage.
7.  Sustainable, stable resources: A sustainable business model demands significant resources that will ensure financial stability. A successful MSSP has the resources and capabilities to invest in new technologies and attract highly skilled staff.

Defending against today’s threats demands an MSSP that can help you reduce risk with a higher level of efficiency. With industry-leading technology, OneNeck’s security controls deliver operational excellence and compliance through rigorous, flexible and accessible management services. Contact us to learn more about our managed security services. 

If you’re looking for a competitive IT advantage, maybe it’s time to look at partnering with a managed service provider (MSP). These trusted IT partners work in conjunction with your IT department— freeing them to focus on strategic projects that impact your bottom line. MSPs can take over tedious daily tasks, increase your return on investment, shrink operational costs, improve security and safeguard data backup. 

More companies are recognizing the need for MSPs. MarketsandMarkets forecasts the Managed Services Market to grow from $107.17 billion in 2014 to $193.34 billion by 2019, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.5%, with North America expected to be the largest Managed Services Market in terms of revenues generated.

If you’re ready to start considering a managed services partner for your organization, then consider these five signs it’s time:

#1 You Have No IT Strategy
Every business needs a long-term IT plan to stay competitive.  Your strategy needs to be more than simply putting out fires and keeping up with the daily, mundane tasks that demand attention. 

Your IT department is filled with top talent that would best be used to promote your business goals.  For instance, you could have your IT department come up with custom-built software solutions to boost productivity or provide data analysis and real-time insights.

Additionally, your in-house IT department is an important line of your cybersecurity defense.  By laying out a clear strategy, the IT department can work closely with those in the C-suite to manage risks and diminish the chances of data loss and security breaches. 

#2 You’re Understaffed
Basic IT maintenance can sap your IT department’s energy, so it’s essential to make the best use of limited resources. You want your IT staff to have time for strategic endeavors that will propel your business to the forefront of your industry.  So, leverage the expertise of an MSP—and save your IT staff’s talents for in-house projects. That will lead to more satisfaction for them and greater results for you. 

#3 You Can’t Keep Up with Security Demands
Keeping up with the latest cybersecurity threats can be a full-time job – yet with the average cost of a breach at $3.6 million, you can’t afford to fall behind. An MSP specialized in cybersecurity can implement innovative policies to safeguard your business. This includes 24/7 management and monitoring to protect your data from breaches. With an MSP, you’ll have access to the latest anti-virus software, patching will happen automatically, and all your firewalls will be up to date.

#4 You’re Not as Efficient as You Should Be
Is your help desk inundated with requests? Are users complaining about slow IT service?  If you’re not meeting user demand, it’s not good for anyone. Slow IT response can squash efficiency and frustrate internal and external stakeholders. What’s more, bottlenecks can kill business initiatives and lead to downtime that hurts revenue. A skilled MSP can be used to offload tasks as your bandwidth becomes stretched. 

#5 You Lack Certain Expertise
No one’s an expert in every area, and this is especially true with a small IT department.  Yet it’s notoriously difficult to find skilled, qualified IT professionals. In fact, the ISACA, a non-profit information security advocacy group, predicts there will be a global shortage of two million cyber security professionals by 2019.

It may be tempting to use contract workers as a stop-gap, but it takes time to find and train temp workers, and it’s difficult to find ones that have the exact skills you need for a project. An MSP, on the other hand, gives you the flexibility to supplement your staff as needed. 

OneNeck can help free you from necessary, but time-consuming, IT tasks like monitoring and managing your IT infrastructure. You’ll be free to focus the right people and resources on the right things. Your strategic initiatives will fall into place, all while increasing efficiency and productivity. Plug into the power of OneNeck’s managed services expertise today!

As a leader responsible for the IT security and infrastructure of a state and local government agency, you face the same daunting challenges as your private sector colleagues. Rapid advances in cloud technology, IoT and compliance, combined with ever-more dangerous and sophisticated security threats, have IT resources stretched thin. Compliance and security departments are at their breaking points in both the public and private sectors. Not to mention that government agencies must deal with aging, legacy infrastructures that escalate costs beyond approved budget thresholds. Here’s the good news: You’re not alone.

The High Cost of Government’s Legacy IT
State CIOs surveyed by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers in 2016 reported that 90 percent of their systems were in need of modernization or replacement, while two-thirds considered over 40 percent of their systems “legacy.”  These legacy systems are having a disproportionate impact on agency budgets.  A GAO report concluded that the federal government spent more than 75 percent of its fiscal year 2015 budget supporting legacy systems, resulting in “a $7.3 billion decline from fiscal years 2010 to 2017 in development, modernization and enhancement activities.”  Agencies need to improve legacy systems while moving forward with solutions that improve security, all while leveraging the latest cloud and data center technologies.

A Rise in Managed Services
To meet these challenges, government agencies need to build a robust, hybrid infrastructure that securely integrates legacy systems with cloud-based resources. While the ideal approach would be to replace outdated technology, the large number of critical legacy systems in use makes this impractical for most agencies. Legacy systems must be upgraded, secured and made reliable until they can be migrated to new platforms, without preventing the deployment of important new technologies. Government Technology Magazine states that with “lofty technology upgrades and modernizations and lack of funds in 2017, outsourcing will only grow…as agencies turn to technology companies for help with everything from data center management to encouraging citizen application development through easy access to government data.”

BUT, seeing is believing, right?

How One City Saved $3 Million
Like many municipalities, the City of Minneapolis found itself with an aging infrastructure and a lack of internal resources. With 70 locations, 4,700 users and 250 servers to manage, the City turned to OneNeck for our managed services expertise, based on our track record dealing with large customers making complex transitions. However, like any project, it wasn’t without its challenges, as the City faced a 10-month deadline for completion.  

Even though the city’s legacy systems were at the end of their lifespan, the OneNeck’s technical team jumped in feet first, improving their security and reliability and ensuring the City could continue to serve its residents without disruption. They also leveraged the ReliaCloud environment for rapid scalability to accommodate the City’s large number of locations, users, applications and servers. These improvements allowed the City to be more flexible and responsive to stakeholders’ needs, and not only was the project completed on time, but the City expects to save more than $3 million annually by partnering with OneNeck.

READ the FULL CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS CASE STUDY

Modernize with OneNeck
Government agencies are realizing that maintaining their applications and associated infrastructure components in a legacy environment consumes a disproportionate percentage of their IT budget and precious time. As a result, they’re turning to experienced service providers like OneNeck to adapt and modernize. Whether it’s cloud, colocated infrastructure, managed services or advanced engineering services, OneNeck’s team of technology professionals is here to help. So, don’t go it alone. We’ve got your back!

LEARN MORE in this Q&A with OneNeck’s CTO – Digital Transformation – An Imperative or Simply a New Buzzword?

Flash storage is critical for businesses that emphasize performance and move quickly. When milliseconds matter, flash just might be the solution to boost your I/O performance and stay ahead of the competition…

Flash storage is any device that uses flash memory, such as a USB flash drive or video game. Flash works by storing data on a charge on a capacitor and is usually packaged in surface-mounted chips fixed to a printed circuit board. As there are no moving parts in a device, this allows flash memory to retain data in the absence of a power supply. Offerings in flash storage now include an all-flash array (AFA), a data storage system that holds multiple flash memory drives.

In many ways, an AFA is an improvement over spinning disk hard drives (HDD). An AFA allows a business to use about 1/11^th of the rack space than for HDD. Flash storage cools easier and faster, and it requires less staffing than other methods of storage. The primary reason an AFA uses less energy is it contains no moving parts. The device generates less heat and consumes less power, and it also requires less maintenance. Since it has less potential for spontaneous breakdown, an AFA is less likely to need repair. Finally, flash storage usually takes less than an hour to set up, and is compatible with cloud services.

Understanding the Benefits of Flash Storage
Flash storage provides 12 realized benefits to your bottom line:

1. Flash storage works well for applications that have intense input/output (I/O) workloads.
2. Flash storage benefits applications that require lower latency. Latency is the amount of time that it takes for a message to reach a system. Since flash storage runs smoothly, it causes few spikes in latency. Technology has developed a great deal and delays are now down to microseconds.
3. Flash storage allows data to transfer at faster rates than HDD. With flash, your system can perform real-time analytics. Flash operates three to 10 times faster than HDD. Even with the increase in speed, you should see better performance than that of HDD, including faster startup times and better network performance.

   As an example, without flash, it took one government agency about an hour and a half to run a report. With flash, the agency can run the report in under five minutes. Being able to gain more insight more quickly will help you meet your customers’ needs and show that you can lead in your field.

4. Flash storage is known for its ability to protect data and maintain a system that functions reliably. It has built-in protections that ensure data will be guarded even if the system fails or needs to be maintained. This makes flash ideal for disaster recovery, while also helping you keep property taxes and insurance costs low.
5. Flash storage does not require a lot of maintenance, so it frees time for your IT staff to perform other responsibilities.
6. Flash helps your data remain secure. You can transfer data between cloud services and on-premises technology, and the appliances in your office become a proxy. Using encryption at rest and in transit, you ensure that the information your business utilizes remains safe.
7. Flash storage is scalable. You can install a single server or an array. It is also cheaper than DRAM and is block addressable. There are many price, performance and cost options for flash.
8. Flash is compatible with a wide variety of systems, from legacy systems to next-generation digital apps. No matter what type of infrastructure you have, you can automate it with flash.
9. You can use flash on its own or combine with DRAM, NVDIMM and hard drives. This helps you address the different needs of your business without driving up cost.
10. Your data center sees a reduction in power, cooling and floor space costs.
11. Flash storage is very light, so your portable devices are easy to carry. You can also make your server rooms smaller and more manageable.
12. Unlike HDD, flash operates silently and electronically, so you will see a decrease in noise reduction.

What can flash-based storage do for you?
Are you interested in experiencing some of these benefits firsthand? OneNeck offers cloud-based storage that is 100% flash-based, ready to scale-out as needed for your enterprise storage array. This top-tier storage option delivers not only high levels of performance and scalability, but also brings new levels of ease-of-use to your SAN storage. We have seen customers maximize their performance for consistent low-latency response times and supercharge their databases from milliseconds to microseconds – benefit you can measure!

At OneNeck, we are constantly innovating to offer you options to meet your specific needs. Our cloud-based storage offerings deliver performance based on your unique environment and your business’s demands. Let’s talk about whether or not a flash storage solution could help improve the performance of your environment, enabling you to respond faster to your business demands.

LEARN MORE: 10 Considerations When Choosing Flash Storage

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 has been a popular and viable ERP platform for the past five years. Following the release of the next generation Dynamics AX (initially known as AX 7, now named Dynamics 365 for Operations) in the fall of 2016, we started seeing an interesting trend in which a segment of Dynamics AX companies is opting to delay their migration to Dynamics 365 for Operations. Their hesitation – or perhaps watchfulness is a better word – comes from many angles.

Over the last several years there were a number of announcements about, and even early access to, what was known as AX 7. This new release generated a lot of excitement in the community, and appeared to be destined to meet a lot of desires for deployment options, functionality, cost and manageability. When rumors began that AX 7 would be delayed, the community thought, “There must be a lot of work going on, we’ll just wait and see.”

Then Microsoft announced a product named Dynamics 365 (now known as Dynamics 365 for Finance). It was not based on Dynamics AX, which raised the question, “What will happen to AX 7, and will it become part of this new Dynamics 365 portfolio?” This initial Dynamics 365 didn’t look like AX at all; it was more SaaS-like, without an on-premises option. Yet it had bundling and packaging similar to Office 365.

Then when Dynamics 365 for Operations was announced as the next generation of AX, it was initially defined as a SaaS platform, and as Azure-resident only. Some customers were OK with that because they were already moving toward SaaS or were leveraging Azure as a natural progression.  After all, as they were following the AX 2012 trends and the AX 7 announcements, they were beginning to see this progression toward a “SaaS-first” model from Microsoft. However, those in industries where the business application needs to be very close to part of the business, like on a shop floor, in a warehouse or call center, were not sure they were ready for Azure, much less a SaaS model. Additionally, the first release of D365 for Operations was for new implementations only, leaving AX 2012 shops to wonder if they needed to re-implement or wait a couple of years.

The uncertainties just kept building. From the name change to the new suite, the deployment model trends and so forth. And for a long time, there was no statement from Microsoft saying, “Here’s how we’ll take care of you,” they just kept forging ahead. Even now, though Microsoft has provided clarity on the migration paths and deployment options, conservative companies are still being, well, conservative.

Customers will choose the most stable product path

The initial release of Dynamics 365 for Operations runs in Microsoft data centers, with administration and management of the product delivered by Microsoft. Most know Microsoft’s “managed services” from their Office 365 experience, but there is doubt that the same support model is sufficient for something as complex as ERP. So, a segment of customers is waiting for assurance of the product’s stability, delivery model and support structure.

At the same time, Microsoft has extended support timelines for AX 2012 to the 2020/2021 timeframe. They have also committed to producing updates, bug fixes, legal changes and tax code updates for several years, which leaves customers noting that, “Even Microsoft thinks it has to support AX 2012 for a while because Dynamics 365 has to stabilize. If they’re going to support AX 2012 until 2020/2021, why would I rush forward?”

It’s a fair question.

Waiting does not mean standing still: stability engagements and AX health checks

OneNeck has seen an uptick in what I would call stability engagements and health checks of Dynamics AX installs.

Many customers we talk with want to ensure that Dynamics AX 2012 will continue to last — and be solid — for three to four more years. These customers are often looking to ensure the longevity of their current ERP platform in order to allow the new D365 for Operations offering to stabilize. That has them asking, “Is my application environment tuned well enough? Is there an opportunity for me to invest in the underlying technology platform?” With the advances in technology, faster storage, a faster compute and faster networking, this is certainly a great question.

Those customers that are on the early releases of AX 2012 wonder if, because Dynamics 365 for Operations functionality is based on the later releases of AX 2012, they can leverage newer AX functionalities in the near term, such that the move to D365 for Operations is more of a purely a technical upgrade rather than a re-implementation or major change in functionality.

In either case, customers know that leveraging standard functionality and the core Microsoft code base, reducing their customizations, and doing what they can to perform data cleanup, will reduce the migration workload later. Many customers found the requirement to customize the early releases of AX 2012 to meet their business needs. Now, they are analyzing their environments and looking for opportunities to leverage standard “vanilla” functionality so they can minimize the possibility of code upgrades and customization re-writes.

Cloud & Azure Migrations

Regardless of what customers determine they need to do to stabilize or prepare their ERP environment for the future, the D365 for Operations release has renewed their need to understand and analyze potential deployment options.

These cloud options shouldn’t be new to AX users, but let’s review them quickly, and then explore the benefits and implications of each for Dynamics AX:

• A hosted private cloud, such as OneNeck’s ReliaCloud. We essentially take infrastructure that is very similar to what would be installed on-premises, install it in our data center, and provide administration and management of the platform. That’s a very popular model across ERP platforms, and has done well in the Microsoft space in particular.
• The Azure public cloud. One way to think of this model, is as a next generation hosted private cloud, in which you use a Microsoft data center and Microsoft hardware.
• A hybrid cloud, with some applications and modules on-premises and some hosted; or, that hosting split between two or more locations.

The OneNeck customer Sunny Delight Beverages is an example of a customer leveraging Dynamics AX in a hybrid cloud environment. They are also an example of a company who has teed itself up for a smooth migration to Dynamics 365.

Since 2004, OneNeck has hosted Sunny Delight’s Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 implementation. More recently, Sunny Delight decided to implement Dynamics AX’s Warehouse Management module in place of a third-party application. But, they wanted the superior capabilities of the AX 2012 WMS over that of AX 2009.

Their options were either a full upgrade from AX 2009 to 2012, or implementing just the AX 2012 WMS functionality as a separate installation and then integrating the two. They had a tight project timeline (three weeks), and saw that second option as more expeditious.

They also wanted to take advantage of the public cloud, Azure specifically, but wanted the continuity of support from a single partner. Today, OneNeck is essentially leveraging Azure’s compute and storage capacity that Sunny Delight has provisioned. In addition, OneNeck provides Sunny Delight with the administration and management services for the implementation, as well as go-live support after.

Sunny Delight was motivated by improved WMS functionality in Dynamics AX 2012 over AX 2009, but also saw it as a launch pad for a D365 for Operations future migration. That should be an easy migration, as the 2012 WMS offers the same functionality of Dynamics 365, based on the information we have from Microsoft today.

Is there such a thing as “too customized” or “too many add-ons for the cloud?”

Customers with highly-tailored environments or ones with a lot of third-party extensions (or “shoulder applications”) tend to stay on-premises if they are OK with staying in the data center business and the resultant capital expenditure. Those customers are also very well suited for working with a partner like OneNeck for a hosted private installation, where we can run both AX and all of those complementary applications on one platform.

It’s when you get closer to Azure that the game changes. Where we’re leveraging Azure capacity, you have a decent amount of capability to run and tailor AX, but not all shoulder applications are Azure-friendly. If those shoulder applications are vital to you, then a hybrid environment of Azure and on-premises is certainly possible but more complex — performance, network and integration wise.

So, if your business is a highly-tailored Dynamics AX environment, on-premises and hosted private environments are very well-trodden paths. As you get closer to leveraging Azure data centers, as some companies have done, a lot of uncertainty still exists.

Dynamics AX users are simply not used to uncertainty. They depend upon AX to be highly reliable, and upon Microsoft to develop and support AX with vigor. Regardless of how confusing the roadmap to Dynamics 365 is, wise AX customers are taking charge of their own roadmaps, rather than waiting for the path ahead to clear on its own.

With all the moving pieces in today’s technology landscape, new security concerns continue to emerge. Add onto that the constant threat of attacks, there is no end to the onslaught.

According to Cisco’s 2017 Annual Cybersecurity report, the proliferation of mobile devices creates more endpoints to protect, the cloud is expanding the security perimeter, and users are, and always will be, a weak link in the security chain.  The attack surface is expanding, giving attackers more room to operate. Bottom line, security is more important than ever—and far more complex to address. An Advanced IT Services partner can help you identify your unique security risks and develop a plan to mitigate those risks and defend your critical data.

An Advanced IT Services partner can help you develop a security strategy that addresses the broad scope of security needs that your business may face. This can include a mix of the following services and solutions:

• Network Security. End-to-end solutions from design architecture and deployment to configuration review related to all aspects of network security including firewalling, intrusion prevention sensors, VPNs, and traffic encryption/decryption.
• Secure Application Delivery. Protect your applications from external and internal threats with traffic managers and web application firewalls that offer SSL/TLS visibility & control, deep packet inspection, federated identity, and DDoS protection.
• Web and email security. The top two attack vectors for malware continues to be email and web browsing. You need a solution that uses advanced tactics to block malicious websites and emails whether on the corporate network or off.
• Public/Private Cloud Security. Protect your resources from incurring outages and your data from exfiltration through proper design, system segmentation, and access control. Identify shadow IT and public cloud risks by employing a cloud access security broker (CASB) solution.
• Identity and Secure Access. Provide authorized and secure access to your network with identity and secure access solutions.
• Endpoint Security. Running anti-virus with an encrypted HD isn’t enough these days, you need a next gen solution to prevent endpoints from being breached and remediating them if they are.
• Secure Enterprise Mobility. Enforce mobility policies, regulate behaviors, contain costs and manage risks across multiple device platforms with an MDM solution to address BYOD risks.
• Security Monitoring and Threat Hunting. You need to when a security threat is in progress so you can respond in time to protect against it. And since no security solution is 100% effective, you need a comprehensive SIEM solution in place to reduce you time to detection and breach remediation.
• Security Assessments. Security assessments using best practice or other industry standards like HIPAA or PCI are essential to identifying security and compliance risks and keeping your security program on track.

Organizations that utilize an Advanced IT Services partner for security services and solutions can more-effectively manage risk and ensure that IT is meeting the needs of the business.

At OneNeck, our security services address the security needs that businesses face. We have years of experience in assisting our customers with their security needs, and our team is made up of highly-skilled security experts who stay current on emerging threats so you don’t have to. We’re here to help – Bring IT On!

Technology has become increasingly critical to business success. As a result, more businesses are turning to mobile, cloud, Internet-of-Things (IoT) and Big Data initiatives to quickly and more efficiently deliver innovative products and services while getting a jump on the competition. This means that IT is under increasing pressure to ensure that the solutions they deliver – and how they deliver – fully supports business goals and strategies.

In fact, all the technology in the world is no good unless it closely aligns with business goals and consistently delivers to support the bottom line. That’s the idea behind the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) – and why we at OneNeck leverage the ITIL framework within all our managed services.

ITIL is a public framework of best practices guidance for IT service management designed to foster technology-business alignment and business success. Developed in the late 1980s in the UK, ITIL offers practical, strategic guidance for IT service management, designed to optimize the people, process, technology and suppliers within IT to improve business service. The main idea behind this framework is that IT should always view their offerings from the end-user or customer perspective, and continually ask themselves how IT services can best be delivered to meet user requirements and achieve optimal business outcomes.

The ITIL framework specifies best practices for IT service management delivery across five key stages – strategy, design, transition, operation and continual improvement. ITIL enables organizations to achieve:

• Stronger IT-business alignment: As IT processes and lifecycles become standardized, IT can deliver business benefits more predictably and cost-effectively. The idea is to optimize IT to better support business processes.
• Better service delivery and customer satisfaction: Since IT is optimized, it no longer under- or over-provisions services. Instead, the business receives exactly the service it expects, along with clear metrics to support business decision-making.
• Reduced costs and greater visibility: IT optimization also means that IT costs and assets are clearly delineated and understood, enabling the business to better predict overall spend and achieve more granular control over IT budgets.
• Improved risk management: ITIL recommends implementing IT-wide processes for creating, deploying and moving IT services, which lets organizations reduce total risk since each part of the transition is detailed rather than assumed. Similarly, designing (and testing) a business continuity plan focused on business impact and time to recovery lowers the risk of catastrophic loss due to severe weather or equipment failure.
• Increased stability despite constant business change: ITIL ensures IT builds in a feedback loop of process improvement, ensuring that IT remains effective and stable, even as it continues to support new business initiatives.

At OneNeck IT Solutions, we embrace ITIL because we realize that IT’s activities have value only to the degree they support an organization’s business goals. In addition, all of our processes are validated by our commitment to annual audits (SSAE 18 SOC 1). OneNeck delivers our best-practice IT service management via:

• Service Catalog: Our services are defined within a published service catalog, which provides a framework to clearly communicate responsibilities and service levels.
• Standardized Operations Procedures (SOPs): Every process and procedure is standardized and clearly spelled out in the SOP manual.
• Customer Operations Handbook: All customer services are optimized, provisioned and delivered via easy-to-understand processes contained within a customer handbook.
• Customer Runbooks: We also have flexibility via documented procedures specific to our customers in runbooks.

At OneNeck, we believe in adding structure to an unstructured world through tried and proven best practices, because when it comes to our customer’s business, there’s no room for error.

Get more insights on what to look for in a MSP in our Ultimate Buyers Guide to Managed Services.

Topic: managed services

It’s that time of year. The brackets are filled out and the money has been exchanged. Now college basketball fans anxiously await that first bounce of the basketball and that first squeak of the shoes that means “The Madness” has commenced. Welcome to the 2017 NCAA Tournament! Fans are betting on what they hope are the winningest teams to advance to the Final Four and the championship game. The stats have been analyzed, players assessed and the pools finalized.

Madness is defined as a “state of frenzied or chaotic activity.”  March Madness gets its name from the unexpected upsets that create a whirlwind of outcomes that no one could predict. While it’s what makes the basketball tournament so exciting, unexpected outcomes in business are not so fun. Chaos in your infrastructure gets incredibly costly, very fast — and fixing chaos takes IT resources away from working on mission critical projects.

Because of the challenges that come with monitoring and managing your own systems, an increasing number of companies are turning towards managed service providers (MSPs), to either supplement their team or completely outsource their infrastructure management. The logic is similar – don’t take chances on unexpected outcomes, invest in the security of knowing your systems are running at optimal levels. Choosing the right IT systems and investing wisely in your technology team is paramount to keeping your business running strong.

Unlike March Madness, where a longshot might pay off, gambling on an MSP is not the answer. Due diligence is necessary as many MSPs do not offer a turnkey, full-service that goes beyond the basics of managing network and software infrastructure.

Considerations when choosing an MSP

1. Depth: Look for a deep bench of talent with experience deploying a wide range of delivery options to cover your needs now and into the future, whether you choose traditional IT, public cloud, private cloud or a hybrid deployment.
2. Continuous Improvements: You need a team who is proactively working to continuously improve operations, from performing backups and patch updates to addressing exploits before they become a threat.
3. Forward Thinking: Ensure your team is up to date on the latest advancement in technology and can demonstrate how they and training their staff to handle all situations. Look for industry certifications and best practices that align with your business goals.
4. Broad Coverage: Review and understand your SLA to understand all provisions from backups and disaster recovery to uptime guarantees, power standards and redundancy plans.
5. Flexibility and Versatility: Your business needs will change, and you need a partner who is a team player, can easily adapt to grow and change with you.
6. The Right Tools: Investigate what tools and partnerships your MSP has, as well as the talent on staff, to ensure the knowledge base is there. Is the MSP utilizing predictive monitoring services to ensure uptime and higher service levels via proactive and reliable notification of potential issues? Do they have a ticketing system that automates workflows for triage, prioritization, scheduling and escalation?
7. Stability: What is the history of the MSP? Are they a team that will win in the final four? How long have they been in business and are their business goals based on instant results or long term relationships?
8. Availability: You need 24x7x365 coverage for your systems that is monitored and managed around the clock. Who mans the Network Operations Center (NOC) and monitors the health of your infrastructure and are they available at any time, day or night?

When going up against your opponents, madness is ok for basketball, but not for your infrastructure.

OneNeck IT Solutions is a trusted partner that you can count on. With a deep portfolio, we deliver depth of experience, a proactive approach to keeping your systems on the cutting edge, a wealth of knowledge, and guaranteed coverage to ensure you are always on and monitored. We ensure stability by leveraging the latest and greatest technologies, using the right tools, continuously monitoring for issues, and ensuring uptime/availability that meets your specific requirements.

So, keep the madness in the arena, and gain control over your IT environment by choosing OneNeck as your trusted managed services partner. We are here to bring relief from the sidelines so you can focus on growing your business and winning against the competition.

Need additional information on managed services selection? Check out OneNeck’s eBook for more info.

Application and database workloads on the cloud gives tremendous opportunities for IT organizations to have better scalability and security, as well as valuable cost benefits.

On January 23, 2017, Oracle updated the “Licensing Oracle Software in the Cloud Computing Environment” document to add clarity on licensing Oracle products in the public cloud, especially Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. If you are a customer on AWS or Azure running Oracle products, or if you are planning to move your Oracle workload to the cloud, the announcement has a huge impact on the license costs.

Most on-premises databases run on Intel Xeon, Intel Itanium, AMD Opteron or Sun SPARC CPUs. All of these processors enjoy a “processor core factor table” benefit of 0.5 when calculating Oracle licenses. Oracle’s latest announcement targets and negatively affects the licenses for Oracle databases and other Oracle products on AWS and Azure – your on-premises license availability is reduced in half when you move to Azure or AWS. The new policy says: “When counting Oracle Processor license requirements in Authorized Cloud Environments, the Oracle Processor Core Factor Table is not applicable.” Oracle’s hope may be that this change and make the Oracle cloud offering more attractive to customers.

On AWS, by default hyperthreading is enabled, though no hyperthreading is enabled on Azure. The “Licensing Oracle Software in the Cloud Computing Environment” document spells out hyperthreading on Amazon and considers two vCPU on AWS equivalent to one processor license when hyperthreading is enabled (on AWS a vCPU is an Intel thread, so 2 vCPU make a core). For non-hyperthread AWS and Azure, one vCPU is equivalent to one processor license. The following table will help to visualize the license difference between various cloud providers (IaaS offering, bring your own Oracle license model) on how an “Intel Xeon 8 Cores” is licensed by Oracle.

If you are planning to run Standard Edition on AWS or Azure, please note: “Under this cloud computing policy, Oracle Database Standard Edition may only be licensed on Authorized Cloud Environment instances up to 16 Amazon vCPUs or eight Azure CPU Cores. Oracle Standard Edition One and Standard Edition 2 may only be licensed on Authorized Cloud Environment instances up to eight Amazon vCPUs or four Azure CPU Cores.”

Every day IT teams are being asked to do more with less. Yet managing and maintaining your own IT infrastructure and services can be daunting. Because of the challenges that come with monitoring and managing your own systems, an increasing number of businesses are turning towards partnering with managed service providers (MSPs) to either supplement their team or completely outsource their infrastructure management.

But it’s not just IT teams that have had to evolve. MSP partners have had to evolve as well to meet these new customer demands. In the past, cost savings were seen as the primary benefit of MSPs. Now cost benefits are considered table stakes, and customers are looking for more benefits like generating revenue and helping the organization run more efficiently. Even security has evolved from being considered a roadblock to using MSPs to a reason for outsourcing.

So, what’s really driving organizations to outsource?

•  Reducing and controlling operating costs. The demonstrated cost savings of outsourcing are widely accepted as one of the primary reasons to consider managed services. The reduction of CapEx and OpEx is also key, as outsourcing removes the need to purchase physical hardware and space to keep the hardware, as well as the maintenance costs.
•  Gaining access to world-class capabilities around the clock: Outsourced IT specializes in managing and maintaining your IT needs and is able to service those needs 24/7 while going beyond what an internal team could do.
•  Freeing internal resources. Your business probably isn’t IT, so IT maintenance tasks often get in the way of more strategic projects. Managed services can help alleviate this burden and help maximize your IT team’s time.
•  Latest technology. With all the different technologies like cloud, security and networking, you have access to the best in the field, along with the latest and greatest technology to give your company the edge it needs to compete in a crowded marketplace.
•  Streamlining or increasing efficiency. Using a MSP partner to augment your in-house IT staff can be a great way to increase the efficiency of your business operations. No matter what arises, a MSP is there to pick up the slack when needed, allowing your business to run smoothly and your employees to focus on core business needs.
•  Shared risk. MSPs heavily invest in the most resilient systems that handle disruption better than less powerful systems can. Backed by robust SLAs, MSP partners guarantee the safety of your data, in ways an on-premises solution cannot.

Managed Services to Help You Grow

According to Gartner, many IT organizations report being overwhelmed with business demand, unable to meet rapidly-changing business requirements and struggle to retain the IT talent needed to face modern IT challenges. With the right partner, IT can leverage managed services and outsource complex IT tasks such as security, network administration, database management and disaster recovery, to get the most out of their technology while delivering maximum value to the business.

The proliferation of technologies like cloud and mobility across different industry verticals has powered the growth of the managed services in the market. Managed services provide a bridge, connecting today’s rapidly growing enterprise to new levels of operational functionality, efficiency, security and growth.

So, you understand the benefits of managed services, but what should you look for in a managed services provider partner?

Managing and maintaining your own IT infrastructure and services can be daunting, and most importantly it takes time away from your IT staff that could be spent working on mission-critical projects that will impact your bottom line. Because of the challenges that come with monitoring and managing your own systems, an increasing number of businesses are turning towards IT managed services provider (MSPs), to either supplement their team or completely outsource their infrastructure management.

Businesses are finding that managed services are increasing the reliability of their systems, improving worker productivity and reducing overall costs. However, many MSPs do not offer a turnkey, full service that extends beyond managing network infrastructure and basic software infrastructure. The decision of which service provider to partner with will shape the future of your business, so it’s important to know what to look for.

1. Depth
   A great managed service provider has experience in deploying a wide range of delivery models, including traditional IT, managed services and a choice of cloud models: public, private and hybrid. Even if you’re currently using one model right now, that may change in the future. You need a partner that can make a transition without having to vet yet another service.
2. Proactivity
   Despite the proverb that claims “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” a reactive approach is the wrong approach for managed IT services. Managed service providers need to be proactive and constantly working to improve operations to prevent problems such as unplanned network downtime or a data breach.
3. Knowledge
   Managing your systems and infrastructure is your managed service provider’s primary business, and therefore, they need to be up to date on the latest technology and employ best practices, especially utilizing the ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) approach. ITIL aligns business goals with IT requirements – ask your IT managed services provider for a list of their best practices to ensure your needs align.
4. Coverage
   Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are critical for you to review and understand.  An IT managed services provider should include provisions such as guaranteed uptime, security, power and redundancy. The SLA should spell out procedures for backup and disaster recovery, as well as physical and cybersecurity. Be diligent in your SLA review to make sure that you have a strong contract in place that covers all your critical requirements.
5. Flexibility
   As your business grows and changes, your managed service provider needs to assure you that they are your true partner and accommodate your changes – with flexibility. Require that your SLA spells out exactly how your IT managed services provider will address issues such as spikes in traffic, overall growth, migration to other operating models and even downsizing.
6. Versatility
   Providers should be able to offer services in multiple IT environments, regardless of the deployment model. Ask any potential partner about their experience in managing services in a diverse range of environments.
7. Stability
   Make sure that the provider you select is a stable business that will be around for years to come. Check customer retention numbers and their financial history, as well as growth in a variety of vertical markets.
8. Availability
   Your IT needs aren’t limited to 9-5 business hours. One of the major advantages of managed services is being covered 24/7/365. Ask potential providers about their availability and ensure that they will be monitoring and managing your systems around the clock, year-round.

Whether you are looking to outsource all or part of your IT needs, be sure to read the Ultimate Buyers Guide to Managed IT Services before making a decision.

For a number of years now, software vendors have been working at modularizing their monolithic applications with the intent of providing consumers the opportunity to mix and match best-of-breed functionality without being tied to one specific package. The interaction between ERP and CRM is a prime example of this.

Looking at the Microsoft offerings in this space, we see Dynamics AX and Dynamics CRM dominating the market. AX does include CRM functionality; however, it is not considered to be as robust as Dynamics CRM. Many customers prefer Dynamics CRM’s inherent online functionality and tight integration with Outlook, something that AX will likely never have. So when a business requires ERP and CRM functionality, they will generally invest in both products to provide the best experience to their user base.

Although both AX and CRM could be considered monolithic applications, each offering a full suite of functionality, the actual implementation of each package can be very modular. For example, a number of companies implement AX strictly for financials, leaving the rest of the functionality unused.

This works very well, with one (very big) exception: the database. For both systems, regardless of what functionality is used, there is a certain base amount of data that needs to be maintained. In this regard the databases can also be considered monolithic.

In traditional deployments, this was never really a big issue because the software was likely running in the same data center and probably on the same server. So although integration may have been required, distance was not a factor. From within AX, we could write code that could access the CRM database via ODBC to provide a real time view into CRM activities. We could also link the databases within SQL server if they were running on different servers, streamlining the access. In a hybrid world, the databases could be hundreds of miles apart, and the latency alone would be enough to frustrate end users waiting for a data pull.

The real solution to this is for application developers to take database interactions into account as they are writing software, as the alternative can and will cause significant issues as companies move towards a hybrid world. It can no longer be assumed that databases will be running on the same server, or even in the same LAN. This makes it so that real-time database sharing methods may no longer be realistic.

Ok, we’ve dealt with this issue before, where we have disparate systems that need to share data; however, all of those solutions are built around the monolithic architecture where the data must reside completely within both systems. Anyone who has worked with integration software knows that it can be a real headache. Like it or not, for the short term at least, integration may be the only solution.

Even with the recent announcement of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 offerings, the applications are not truly sharing a common database. Each component is still a stand-alone application, but what Dynamics 365 offers is a better integration experience.

By providing the Common Data Model (CDM) platform, Microsoft is facilitating the data exchange between the monolithic databases. CDM is not just available for out-of-the-box AX and CRM. It can be expanded to include custom entities and even other databases. 

CDM, and the companion app Flow, are not the first integration offering from Microsoft; however they are the only cloud-first offering. SQL Server Master Data Services offers a similar level of integration; it is just managed and deployed differently, and therefore requires a different skillset. 

Microsoft is also not the only vendor offering these tools. Other contenders, such as Atlas, have been around for years and offer many out-of-the-box connectors.

Ideally, as development efforts around cloud offering mature, we will start to see more and more native integration options, which could easily evolve into something as complete as a software-defined database. Although this would not resolve the latency issue, it would make integration a lot easier as software could consume data natively from the source without having to worry about duplicating adds, changes and deletes across multiple instances of the truth.

Until then, data imports, exports and transformations are going to become the norm for companies who are not ready to shift their entire application portfolio to the cloud at the same time. It will also be required for companies looking to take advantage of a globally-available offering, such as Azure IaaS. If a company has a significant sales presence in 2 or more countries, wouldn’t it make sense to have data center presence in those countries to alleviate latency and networking costs? The monolithic database becomes the limiting factor in this kind of deployment.

Any company developing a cloud migration strategy needs to include database dependencies in their workload selection criteria. Data is not always thought of until after the fact and can cause a significant delay in the project as workarounds/solutions are put in place. Selecting the data integration solution(s) ahead of time and determining where that skillset will reside – either with internal experts or with a partner/solution provider – will greatly improve the success rate of any cloud migration strategy.

Organizations are continually challenged to align IT initiatives with business goals. While the top business initiatives are centered around the financial metrics of optimizing profits, growing revenue and driving down costs, ensuring innovation, customer satisfaction and market penetration are critically important. Meanwhile, enterprise IT is tasked with maintaining the efficiency of the existing infrastructure, supporting new initiatives such as mobility, social media, cloud and big data, rapidly scaling to respond to critical business events, managing security and disaster recovery planning.

To transform IT functions that will closer align with the business, enterprises are turning to managed services. The resulting hybrid IT environment combines internal and external resources and may consist of some combination of traditional on-premises, hosted solutions or cloud-based SaaS, PaaS or IaaS services. Hybrid IT offers improved cost savings, better security and increased flexibility by outsourcing some IT functions and keeping others in-house.

Benefits of managed services to enable hybrid IT include:

• Business agility: A recent IDC study found that nearly 25% of U.S. enterprises need to respond to events such as natural disasters or security breaches in 24 hours or less, while 50% must respond in 48 hours or less. Managed services organizations are able to react faster to market conditions or business disruptions with a rapid response. Robust analytics help IT more readily assess current and future needs.
• Optimization of productivity and performance: Using managed services to augment IT helps improve resource utilization and staff productivity since the managed services provider can offload rote tasks and enable IT staffers to focus on more mission-critical activities.
• Integrated management across all IT environments: Managed services provide support across both traditional data centers and cloud-based initiatives, ensuring more efficient single-pane-of-glass control and management.

Not all managed services are alike. An enterprise considering a hybrid IT configuration should look for managed services providers that are:

• Cost-effective: If your managed service provider is unable to construct a hybrid IT environment to drive down costs while speeding time to market, they are not a good fit. Your provider should provide assurances of faster service provisioning, continued investment in infrastructure and technology improvements to meet ongoing business needs.
• Secure: Your provider should offer complete security protection, from managed firewalls to intrusion detection and virus protection, in addition to top-tier solutions for disaster recovery and business continuity.
• Transparent: Enterprises want to maintain control over their Hybrid IT, whether it’s provisioned via a managed service or not. The best managed service providers ensure complete visibility across all services, both traditional and in the cloud.
• Flexible: Every organization has needs specific to them, and those needs will change over time.  Your managed service provider should match their technology and governance systems to your specific enterprise needs. By offering a range of options (private/dedicated, public/shared or hosted/onsite), that are easily reconfigured as needed and support contracts tailored specifically to protect an enterprise’s critical intellectual property (IP). Your managed service providers flexibility is critical to your ongoing relationship.

Hybrid IT offers the best of both worlds, maximizing your investment with just the right level of third-party support. Whether it’s being aware of security patches and exploits before you are compromised, using predictive analytics to discover problems before something breaks or adherence to documentation and structured communication, OneNeck IT Solutions can provide you with the right mix of hybrid IT management. Far from replacing IT, we strive to augment your IT staff and relieve them from the mundane, so they can focus on the strategic tasks that matter most to your business.

Did you know that TV dinners have Thanksgiving to thank? In 1953, someone at Swanson misjudged the number of frozen turkeys they would sell that Thanksgiving – by 26 tons! Salesman Gerry Thomas, inspired by the aluminum trays airlines had started using to serve in-flight meals, came up with a brilliant plan: Why not slice up the meat and repackage it with some trimmings? Thus, the first TV dinner was born!

Today’s organizations face similar challenges. How can we ensure an IT environment in which there are no extras? One in which every IT resource – people, processes and technologies – is allocated to deliver optimal business outcomes while minimizing cost and inefficiencies? While the answer’s not as simple as repurposing extra turkey in an aluminum container, there are steps today’s organizations can take to alleviate and prevent excess IT resources while optimizing current investments.

• The first step towards avoiding excess and achieving more optimized IT resources begins with simplifying the existing infrastructure. This begins with an evaluation of the applications used in your IT infrastructure. Not only can it help eliminate redundancies, it can also identify any network issues. There are numerous tools available to facilitate this evaluation, or you might also utilize a partner, like OneNeck, to assess and recommend necessary steps to optimization.
• Expand resource utilization-many organizations waste valuable compute and storage with an excess and unnecessary amount of hardware, which leads to increased energy and labor costs. Operating your IT infrastructure with optimally-utilized hardware and a fully-developed virtualization strategy can have a dramatic positive effect.
• Increase DR site utilization-many organizations have excess server and storage resources sitting idle at their disaster recovery (DR) site. If this sounds familiar, consider leveraging your DR site resources for dev/test – at least until they become necessary should a disaster strike. Another consideration: use your DR and snapshot technologies, to make it easier to create a local or remote copy of your production data. The use of deduplicated data greatly reduces in-use storage, and replica data sets can be made almost instantly.
• As virtualization and the cloud continue to proliferate, businesses are looking for more ways to automate processes in order to reduce the excessive time it takes to perform a wide-range of IT functions. From provisioning to updating and providing ongoing management, the need for increased automation is even more critical when servers, storage and networks are managed from a centralized location.
• Automation is one step toward simplification and removal of excess, especially when it comes to provisioning and managing infrastructure. You can also simplify deployments by eliminating excessive tools. You might also look at only deploying tools that truly complement each other, are full-featured and fit your IT environment and methods. Using effective tools means spending less time learning, which can lead to enhanced productivity.
• Reduce the on-site data center footprint-with the ever-increasing growth of information, there’s a constant need for more space. Yet, it can be difficult to access capital to build a new data center or renovate and increase the current data center. There are other options to building and managing your own space, including colocation and cloud. With a trusted partner, like OneNeck, these options could help you reduce your excessive capital expenditures while providing cost-savings, flexibility and scalability.

In an increasingly complex and hybrid world, IT infrastructures must evolve to address the changing requirements. IT has to be faster, more agile, easily scalable and cost-efficient. To move your business from excess to efficiency, consider teaming with a trusted IT partner, such as OneNeck, for help. OneNeck takes a pragmatic approach to evaluating each customer’s current IT resources. With a keen focus on your short-term and long-term business objectives, OneNeck’s unique ability to view your business through a technology lens truly sets us apart. We look across functional silos and technology boundaries. For your company, it adds up to realizing new opportunities, better prioritization and greater optimization of your IT investments — moving you from excess to efficiency.

Today’s healthcare organizations face unique challenges to provide a high standard of care, all while protecting sensitive patient data. The delivery of quality healthcare requires technology that provides physicians and medical staff with “anytime, anywhere” access to view patient’s X-rays, radiology, MRI images, etc. from their mobile devices. Patients expect fast, accurate answers — providers need immediate access to up-to-the-minute data from any device they choose.

Real-time access to patient records from anywhere inside the medical office or hospital means that providers are using laptops, tablets and other Wi-Fi-enabled medical devices.  Bandwidth intensive applications, such as medical imaging for radiology and cardiology, pose challenges to delivering fast, stable and secure Wi-Fi access. Patients also expect convenient Wi-Fi access during their visit or stay for their applications and streaming services, whether it is from their beds or the waiting room. As a result, separating provider and patient Wi-Fi access is critically important to the security of the data on the network.

Securing Healthcare’s Wi-Fi

As healthcare organizations increasingly rely on mobile access to advanced clinical applications, electronic health records and connected medical devices, they must commit to investing in the right Wi-Fi solution that improves both staff productivity and patient satisfaction — and protects patient privacy and data.

At OneNeck IT Solutions, we leverage Cisco’s mobility technology to design and implement a customized approach that provides seamless and reliable access to data that physicians and staff need while enabling them to focus on the patient, not the technology in their hands – all while providing all patients and guests with reliable Wi-Fi.

Our highly-certified experts develop mobility solutions that meet the needs of each unique healthcare organization with reliable, robust, secure, always-on connectivity to improve the efficiency of medical staff and patient satisfaction.

Benefits include:

• Always-on, robust wireless network for staff and patients across the entire campus, regardless of location.
• Highly reliable connections for all medical devices and applications for up-to-the-minute patient health status.
• Privacy and security protection by quickly identifying questionable devices on the network.
• Consistent Wi-Fi, mobile check-in and real-time notifications that improve patient satisfaction scores.
• Faster access to medical files and laboratory images at the patient’s bedside by identifying high-congestion areas and throttling bandwidth as needed.
• Separate health data from guest access, protecting data privacy and complying with HIPAA mandates.
• Customize and scale the solution based on your organization’s unique needs.
• Centralized policy and management to provide uniform and secure connectivity and real-time analytics for faster resolution of wireless issues.

OneNeck’s mobility architects have extensive experience working with healthcare organizations to transform their infrastructure to meet modern demands. As a Cisco Gold Partner, we will work with you to design a robust mobility solution that meets medical staff and patient requirements, giving you the freedom to do what you do best — provide excellent care to your patients.

When it comes to deciding what technology expertise to develop and staff internally and which can be trusted to a managed service provider, however, there are no one-size-fits-all answers.

Some of the top IT outsourcing challenges that affect strategies include:

• Balancing In-house Resources with Outsourcing. To gain synergies and reduce costs, many providers are bundling packages of services together, sometimes pushing enterprises to outsource more than they wish in order to get a better deal. Rather than take an all or nothing approach to outsourcing, many enterprises are going the hybrid IT route, keeping mission-critical applications in-house, but outsourcing those that need to leverage the scalability, expertise or cost-efficiencies that managed service offers. The best arrangements foster both efficiency and innovation for both parties.
• The Effect on Information Security. Some technology areas, such as information security, are too complex and fraught with risk for IT to manage alone, but on the other hand, the sensitive nature of security means it’s hard to trust the responsibility to outside sources. In the Deloitte survey, 23% of respondents indicated that cyber risks affect outsourcing decisions, but shows that the majority were adjusting their approach to view outsourcing as part of the solution, not the problem. Many midsize enterprises consider security-as-a-service outsourcing as a way to gain access to the latest technology and expertise while reducing their exposure.
• The Demands of Disaster Recovery. Disaster recovery is another demanding area ripe for outsourcing. Managed business continuity and disaster recovery services are built to provide cost-effective, on-demand availability and scalability few in-house IT departments can match. The Computer Economics IT Outsourcing Statistics 2015/2016 study found that 92% of IT organizations that outsource their disaster recovery said their costs were the same or lower than managing it in-house, and that outsourcing of disaster recovery has the highest potential for successfully lowering costs when compared with 10 other commonly outsourced functions.
• The Right Services to Outsource. The Computer Economics study also found that the outsourcing of Web-ecommerce systems, IT security, data center operations and application hosting have the highest success rates for improving IT service levels over performing the same functions in-house. When deciding which functions to outsource, organizations need to assess their current talent pool and IT initiatives and determine where the highest need and return from outsourcing will be.
• Keeping Up with Technology Integrations. According to Mary Shacklett, president of Transworld Data, a technology research and market development firm, system and technology integration is the hardest work in IT. She goes on to state there simply isn’t enough staff bandwidth to integrate all the diverse technologies that corporate IT departments are expected to implement. CIOs see this, so they’re looking to providers who have integration consulting experience or do the integrations themselves.
• Meeting Compliance Mandates:  Deloitte reports that 75% of the respondents felt confident in their outsourcers ability to stay on top of legal and regulatory issues. Choose a provider who understands IT governance. In most instances, a managed service provider will provide a higher level of initiative to meet compliance.

An outsourcing partner with the expertise and flexibility to provide a range of services to meet your needs will bolster both efficiency and innovation. Read our eGuide IT Outsourcing Pros and Cons for more information.

Your employee arrives at the airport, mall or coffee shop. What’s the first thing they do? Look for the free Wi-Fi network and log-in. In theory, free is great. The problem, however, is that the first Wi-Fi network they find may not be safe.

To illustrate how this happens and show just how quickly your business can be put at risk, the Republican National Convention (RNC) recently teamed with their IT services provider Avast and conducted an experiment. They set up a number of fake Wi-Fi networks around the convention center and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Some of the networks had politically-themed names like “I vote Trump! free Internet” or “I vote Hillary! free Internet.” The networks were purposely named to appear as if they were created for the convenience of convention attendees. They also set up networks using legitimate-sounding names (e.g., Google Starbucks and AttWiFi).

The results: more than one thousand RNC attendees were lured onto one of the fake networks during the convention. In fact, during the course of a day, more than 1,200 users connected to the fake Wi-Fi and transferred 1.6Gbs of data. This allowed Avast to learn a great deal about convention attendees, including:

• 3 percent had exposed their personal identities; in fact, nearly 40 percent had Facebook or Facebook messenger on, which provided access to their personal information.
• 9 percent used an Apple device.
• 4 percent used an Android device.
• 2 percent used a banking application or website for online banking.

If Avast could learn this information as part of an experiment, think of how easily hackers can gather data to use against your business.

Using the bait of free Wi-Fi is a common tactic used by hackers to gain access to sensitive data —personal data as well as company data. Once an employee logs onto one of these networks, hackers can perform a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack to eavesdrop or spy on them. A MitM attack also allows a hacker to copy 100 percent of the traffic on the employee’s device — to and from the internet.  

According to Gary Davis, chief consumer security evangelist for Intel Security, once in, the hackers can do just about anything. “They can also use the connection to tunnel into your device to access files, drop malware and other bad things,” said Davis.

For organizations who allow employees to access company data on personal devices, this is sobering news. In order to protect themselves, organizations must have network security in place. In addition, and most importantly, they also must educate employees about the dangers of their Wi-Fi habits.

Once employees are educated about the dangers, you’ll want to share some standard security practices with them. Here are a few practices you might consider requiring employees to practice:

• Using a personal hotspot. Frequent travelers and others who find themselves using public networks frequently, oftentimes find it worthwhile to use their own hotspot. It’s much more secure than public Wi-Fi.
• Avoiding certain activities when on uncertain networks. Activities such as accessing sensitive data and online banking are best done on known and trusted networks.
• Using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) when remotely accessing the corporate network. This effectively encrypts data while using a public network.
• Not allowing computers or mobile devices to automatically connect to open public networks. If an untrusted network was accessed once, you don’t want to be automatically logged in again.
• Asking for verification. Ask employees at the coffee shop for the name of their network to avoid fakes.
• Always use the encrypted version of a website that starts with “https” in the URL bar. Encourage your employees to install a browser plugin like “HTTPS Everywhere,” which seeks out HTTPS connections and tries to enforce their usage at all times.
• Keep software up to date. Software patches are critical to protecting devices against the known vulnerabilities that hackers prey upon.

Unfortunately, there’s no bulletproof defense against threats to data security. While website owners and software providers do their part to stay ahead of security issues, like using Wi-Fi Protected Access

(WPA) encryption, individuals must also do their part to protect against threats. By inculcating good habits into your employees, you will lower your company’s risk of exposure.

Not sure where to start?  OneNeck can help. Contact us to meet with one of our security experts. They’ll help you understand your security risks and protect your organization before it’s too late.

Widespread usage of mobile devices in the workplace has become the new normal. The initial surge of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) presented security challenges for businesses. IT departments responded to the growing number of employees bringing personal devices to work by implementing Mobile Device Management (MDM) technology. MDM instituted security measures and prevented unauthorized devices from entering corporate networks. Soon, it became apparent that BYOD actually increased employee productivity and was a huge business benefit.

But technology is changing—as are threats. MDM is no longer sufficient for mobile-friendly workplaces. Here are five mobility trends to know about in order to protect your business:

1. Enterprises are shifting from MDM to EMM.
   Traditional MDM works through password lock-swipes on individual devices. But now, an Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) strategy is necessary. With EMM, businesses can create entire infrastructures to centrally manage all devices connected to corporate networks. EMM allows businesses to deploy mobile application management, data privacy features, and integration with software applications. As businesses increasingly rely on advanced software solutions, this integration can greatly increase overall productivity.

2. Security and privacy are both prioritized.
   Mobile technology gives employees more options for flexible schedules and working remotely. However, these benefits need to be balanced against security concerns. Devices can be lost or stolen, and increasing the number of endpoints for a network opens up new avenues of attack for hackers.

   With corporate data more vulnerable, EMM allows enterprises to exercise greater controls over which apps can be installed on connected devices. Security and usability are enhanced through multi-factor authentication and single sign-on (SSO).

   Yet many employees may be understandably concerned about their privacy. EMM solutions, such as VMWare’s AirWatch, allows for segmentation that protects employee privacy. This means that while businesses can control their own data, they cannot (for example) look in on employees’ personal e-mail accounts.

3. Apps are increasingly critical.
   Mobile apps aren’t just for playing Angry Birds any more. Employees are increasingly using mobile applications for work purposes, and IT organizations need to allow users to easily access productivity apps and Software as a Service (SaaS) applications on mobile devices. Many organizations are working on setting up an “app store” for employees to download sanctioned apps and are developing their own apps for internal use.

   A comprehensive EMM solution (like AirWatch) provides IT departments with the ability to exercise oversight over apps in order to protect sensitive information.

4. Analytics can improve business operations.
   Data analytics is revolutionizing all aspects of business, including workforce management. With a quality EMM solution, businesses are able to collect and analyze data about how employees utilize mobile applications. These insights can help improve applications and guide managers in supporting the workforce.

5. All devices, including desktops and laptops, are moving to the cloud.
   With the advent of the cloud and the blurring lines between mobile devices and desktops, IT needs tools that allow them to manage traditional computers as well as mobile devices. Thanks to the cloud, employees now can switch seamlessly between devices. Therefore, EMM solutions need to allow IT teams to manage laptops like smartphones and tablets. The AirWatch solution does just that.

In Summary…
There is a great opportunity to turn mobile devices from a liability into a strategic advantage. EMM provides the ability to apply policies and integrate mobile devices to integrate security, identity, application and content management into a management framework. For help in implementing an EMM solution, the mobility experts at OneNeck IT Solutions will ensure you make a successful transition to a secure, mobile-enabled workplace.

Manufacturing has become largely an automated process, especially with the rapid adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) technology. As a result, manufacturing processes have become incredibly complex. With computerization, the focus has shifted from an understanding of the inner workings of manufacturing processes to supply chain management (SCM), enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions and managed IT services software to oversee operations.

With this evolution the manufacturing responsibilities, the skills required have changed. The industry experts who have been with a company for decades and understand the ins and outs of production and quality control either have had to upgrade their computing skills to encompass managed services, or find the right partners to take over the technology components. Many smart manufacturers understand that you can’t let the tools get in the way of production, and forcing company experts to become IT experts detracts from their core competencies and is ultimately counterproductive. Rather than forcing the industry experts to take on a new discipline, more companies are seeking out partners like OneNeck who understand managed IT services for manufacturing.

Managing the Cost of ERP

The cost of managing ERP services once you deploy them depends on a number of variables, such as the size of the business and the number of users that need to be supported, and the amount of customization required as part of the ERP infrastructure. The more users and the more customization, the higher the price tag. And if you are in a highly-specialized industry, customization can add up as well since you have to build in additional flexibility for production planning and resource management.

In general, the deployment model will dictate operational costs. Deploying ERP in-house as opposed to using hosted managed services is typically much more expensive. In general, cloud-based ERP systems are paid on a subscription basis, typically per user per month, and tend to cost 20 to 30 percent of the cost of a perpetual license for an enterprise software package.

In addition to licensing fees, you also have to take into consideration maintenance and support. The ERP hosting provider often includes maintenance and support as part of the subscription fee. For in-house ERP systems, users still have to pay between 10 and 20 percent for service in addition to the licensing fee.

Performing a cost analysis for managed services using an in-house strategy versus a hosted provider will reveal which approach will be best for your operation. Chances are you will find that using hosted managed services provides substantial savings from the outset.

Focus on Core Competencies

To maximize profitability without disruption, manufacturers need to understand what’s working and what isn’t in their production process and supply chain. The right managed services experts can work with the IT team and in-house experts, so each department brings their own expertise to the table and together they can analyze end-to-end processes.

To maximize value from managed services, you want each party to bring a unique skillset so they can concentrate on areas that will value from their expertise. For example, working with a managed services provider should free up the manufacturer’s IT team to focus on areas strategic to their business, such as managing the control system to ensure smooth production operations or tracking goods within the warehouse to make sure that orders are being shipped properly. By working with a hosted managed services provider, the routine operations of the company can be outsourced so the in-house experts can focus on the systems that are core to manufacturing operations.

OneNeck has the capabilities to deliver hosted managed services customized to complement manufacturing and production. We bring the expertise to monitor and manage the IT infrastructure so our customers can focus on their business, not their enterprise infrastructure. At OneNeck, more than half of our staff are experienced engineers who provide a full-service, turnkey IT solution for customers. We also have an extremely high degree of customer satisfaction backed by service level agreements that guarantee satisfaction.

The reason so many of our customers are leaders in their industries is because OneNeck’s managed services team frees the in-house staff to excel at managing internal operations. We take on the hard stuff in managing the business so they can focus on making better products and delivering better customer service. And every engagement is customized to meet each of our customer’s unique needs.

Let us help you unlock new doors to success. Our managed services team can handle the heavy lifting of day-to-day operations so your organization can shine by doing what you do best.

OneNeck can help your manufacturing keep pace with the changing needs of your customers. Listen in as Jeff Budge, OneNeck’s VP of Application Consulting and Product Management further discusses nimble manufacturing in an ever-changing technology world here.

One of the biggest lures to Azure right now is for backup and disaster recovery (BDR). There are a number of ways that this can be implemented, including Azure Site Recovery and Azure Backup; however, when we look at options for SQL Server, we can really start getting into the business continuity aspect of BDR, with the potential for zero downtime in the event of a catastrophic failure. We’ll take a look at how we can put that in place and how Azure can be a key component.

Since the release SQL 2012, we have had the option of creating Highly Available (HA) AlwaysOn clusters when using the Enterprise Edition of SQL Server. With AlwaysOn, each SQL server is set up with its own set of data and changes are replicated real-time. In this configuration, all but one of the SQL servers in the AlwaysOn cluster can be lost and data accessibility will continue. At the time this was a big change from traditional clustering where there was a single source of data with multiple SQL servers, making the data the single point of failure.

One important thing to understand about AlwaysOn is that read/write access only happens on the server designated as the Primary. This is not a distributed transaction model, you cannot use the Secondary servers to uptake additional load, with one exception. Secondary servers can be tasked in a read only mode, allowing reporting, data extracts and the like to pull data from any of the secondary machines, freeing the primary server from this demand. From a licensing perspective, the secondary servers do not need to be licensed unless they are being used in a read only capacity.

Setting up an HA group is relatively easy and has a wizard that can be run from within management studio. There will need to be at least two servers, however more than two is a common and valid configuration. Servers can be added and removed from the cluster at will, so it is not necessary to start with your end-goal configuration. Other than the Enterprise edition of SQL, the only other components really needed are Windows clustering and to have a listener IP address configured. The listener is really what directs the traffic to the primary server, so a failover can take place and applications do not need to be updated to point to a new server, the listener handles the redirection automatically. The listener can also be used to direct the read-only traffic to a secondary server as long as the application has the ability to set the query intent to read only. This is known as a read-intent connection request. If this is not set, the listener will direct the request to the primary server. If the application cannot send a read-intent connection request, it can be pointed directly at a secondary server, but there would be no automatic failover in this case.

Once the Window’s failover clustering is in place, SQL server needs to be configured to allow an HA group. This is done in the SQL Server Configuration tool. Right clicking on the SQL service and selecting properties will open up a window where it can be enabled.

Once we have the ability to configure it, we need to plan the configuration of the AlwaysOn group since the physical location of the secondary servers is significant, but not limiting. They can be in the same data center or halfway around the world, including Azure. As long as there is a persistent network connection into Azure, an IaaS SQL Server could be provisioned as a secondary server. Similarly, in a scenario where the workload lives in Azure, an on premise server could be set up as a secondary, allowing local reporting to pull from the on premise server. Azure VPN tunnels can work for this connection, keeping in mind the Internet is in the way. Microsoft also offers ExpressRoute, a service that allows for a more direct and consistent connection from an on-promise data center into Azure.

Where location becomes significant is in the latency of the SQL commit. When configuring AlwaysOn cluster nodes, you have to configure either synchronous or asynchronous commit configurations. Synchronous ensures that data remains consistent among the servers as the commit on the primary does not occur unless it hears back from the secondary server(s) that they have performed the commit. While ensuring data integrity, this will also inject a delay. The greater the distance between the primary and secondary servers, the greater the delay. For servers in the same data center this is negligible and can be ignored. For servers sending updates across the internet this will lead to performance degradation. The fix is to configure the commit to be asynchronous.

When asynchronous commit is used, the primary server sends out an update and does not wait for a reply. This means that to SQL Server the data on the secondary is in an unknown state. This has a direct impact on failovers since when a server is in asynchronous commit mode, SQL will not automatically failover to that secondary. It can still be failed over to; it just becomes a manual process as a person has to decide if the data is in a consistent state or not. Fortunately, it is possible to have mixed commit modes between secondary servers. For example, the secondary that is connected across ExpressRoute to an Azure region in the same State as the primary server may have a fast enough connection that it could be used in a synchronous commit.  A different secondary, connected via VPN and on the other side of the continent for geo-redundancy, would have to be in asynchronous. Both of these secondary servers could be connected in the same AlwaysOn group, providing the flexibility needed to handle almost any DR scenario.

Once we have our configuration planned out, we can start the setup wizard. Simply open SSMS and expand the AlwaysOn High Availability branch. Right clicking on the Groups will allow you to start the wizard.

AlwaysOn must be set up at the server level, however the choice around what is replicated is done at the database level. It is possible to have two databases running on a server designated as a primary, but only have one of the databases be part of an availability group. This is actually a desired state for temporary databases or databases that are not needed for BDR. Ultimately, it is up to the business as to what needs replication. The only effect of replicating more databases is a slight overhead for monitoring and synching and additional space. All the servers in an availability group need to be able to store the full database/log files and need to have the same default configuration for database file locations. The servers themselves can be different specs, as long as they can handle the load required of them.

Note that there will be a check on the database state to make sure it is available for replication. It will have to have had at least one full backup, the wizard will specify what (if anything) needs to be done to begin replication.

With the databases selected, the final step before beginning replication is to select the destinations. By default the server the wizard is run on will be added to the cluster. Adding additional servers is done right in the wizard, as is setting the replication parameters.

To have a server setup for automatic failover it must be configured for synchronous commit. Leaving all the boxes unchecked will leave the server configured for asynchronous commit. It is not required to have automatic failover configured, in the case of a failure on the primary node, manual intervention would be required. Note the setting for readable secondary. If that is set to false, the server will only be used for replication and the listener will not be able to send read-intent queries to it.

The final two considerations in an Azure connected AlwaysOn configuration are monitoring and security. Management and monitoring should work seamlessly with a VPN or ExpressRoute in place. Any monitoring or management tool that is currently touching local servers can be extended to run in Azure, making it appear as just another node or site. From an operational perspective this means that the additional servers simply join in on the existing method of operation. Latency may need to be considered, for example in ping tests that monitor network uptime, but once that is adjusted for, everything will work as if the resources were on premise.

Security, often a heated topic around cloud deployments, can be extended using either an IaaS VM configured to be a DC set up as a remote site across the VPN/ExpressRoute, or by using Azure Active Directory. This seamless integration allows for strict security control and single sign on capabilities making the final solution almost completely transparent to the end user. Having a VPN/ExpressRoute in place will also enable companies to direct their Azure communication across a protected connection allowing them to limit the need for direct internet access for servers that do not need to be public facing.

So now that we understand what SQL AlwaysOn can do and how we can leverage Azure to take advantage of it, let’s look at a specific case.

A company headquartered in Minnesota has branches in seven different states. The main financial application is considered a legacy application since it is not web based and it is accessed via terminal servers located in the headquarters’ data center. The data center has redundant power but only a single high speed Internet connection. The application uses SQL server and it has already been configured in an AlwaysOn HA group. Both SQL servers reside in the local data center, so are configured with synchronous commit. The total server count supporting the app is 10 – broken down into 3 application servers, 2 batch servers, 2 SQL servers and 3 terminal servers.

With this setup, the main exposure to downtime is the single Internet pipe, however the company has experienced a few unexpected downtime occurrences based on networking issues in their data center. The risk, they have decided, of having no one be able to process anything due to a failure in the main data center is too great and so they are looking at options. 

Azure appears to be a great fit, but the company is hesitant to invest the time and resources to move the entire legacy app at once into an unknown environment. When they dig a little deeper into what Azure can do, they decide that having Azure be the BDR site would actually work out really well as the machines they provision would not need to be running unless they were needed. Having Azure be the cold spare would require some time to switch over to, but they calculate their exposure would be no more than an hour and that is determined to be acceptable.

When engineering the solution, the architects determine the following information: The application hardly ever changes, so the need to update the Azure application VMs would be minimal. The current infrastructure is designed to handle peak load during year end, however for most of the time, the demand is about ¼ of what is supported. Finally, although an hour of downtime is acceptable, replicating their database – which is currently 300 GB compressed, would take far longer than that, assuming it was even available to replicate.

By simply creating an Azure VPN, standing up a SQL VM and joining it to their existing AlwaysOn cluster, the company has removed the dependency on their data center for access to the data. Due to the latency of the VPN connection, the Azure SQL Server will be configured in asynchronous commit, requiring a manual failover, however they will need to do manual work to get the application failed over anyway.

The last piece of the configuration will be to allow their branches to continue processing, which means the application will need to be made available in Azure as well. Since the company has decided this scenario will be to mitigate a critical failure, the batch servers are deemed optional as they can survive a day or two processing what they need to manually. Similarly, a single application server and a single terminal server can support the typical demand, which is ¼ peak demand. Even if it is a bit slow, at least they will be able to process. Using the Azure VM import tools, they actually copy two of their existing VMs into Azure, and with a few networking changes, they are ready to use.

So the final Azure configuration consists of a SQL server that will be left running all the time to accept data updates, one application server and one terminal server, both of which will be left off, costing virtually nothing until they are needed.

In the case of a data center outage, company engineers can simply start up the two VMs – which would already be configured to use the SQL server listener – and perform a manual SQL failover. Users would connect to a different terminal server; however even this could even be hidden by a quick DNS change. After a brief outage, the users continue their work as if nothing has happened.

When the data center issue is resolved and the on-site SQL servers are available again, they will come back in secondary mode. After ensuring the data has been correctly synchronized back down from Azure, the company can switch back to having the primary on-site and resume using the onsite terminal servers. The SQL server in Azure switches back to secondary mode and the app and terminal servers can be shut down again.

This example may seem over simplified, however there are tools in Azure that would allow for continuous VM updates and automatic failover as well. The actual setup can and will be as varied as the companies that require them.

One additional benefit of operating this way is that if the company does decide they want to move their application fully into Azure and have their onsite be the BDR location, the main operations are already configured and there will be very little time required to switch over.

Microsoft has really put some thought into the design of SQL AlwaysOn and now provides companies with a very robust replication system. When coupled with the simplicity of Azure, almost any BDR requirements can be met. Only requiring a few additional hours of setup and the licensing impact being minimal (when the secondary servers are not put into rotation as read only access points), even small companies that traditionally struggle with BDR justifications should be able to find a solution that fits their needs.

• Businesses run on Data – We help manage it effectively
• SAP: A Powerful Solution – Effective management is critical
• We Get to Know You – Intimate understanding of your business operations
• Partner With Us – Make your business run better

SAP Hosting and Application Management

Your business was founded on ideas, but it runs on data. With the increase in availability of customer data, the high complexity of supply chain data, and the ever increasing amounts of data related to other business processes, it’s critical for modern businesses to manage their data effectively.

The significant growth of spending on Hosting and Application Management (HAM) services shows that businesses are investing in solutions to reduce the costs and complexities of running their own data centers, and take advantage of the ever-expanding Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solution, thereby freeing their staff to focus on their core business.

SAP Delivers a Superior Solution

For many midsize businesses, SAP applications offer an affordable solution to deliver the power, security and functionality they need. SAP, like any enterprise system, can present significant challenges to business in terms of application management and maintenance. That’s where OneNeck comes in.

OneNeck: Your SAP Hosting and Management Partner

Offering comprehensive, reliable and flexible application management solutions, OneNeck helps mid-market and enterprise companies improve system performance and deliver measurable business benefits. We have experience helping businesses across a wide array of industries including healthcare, financial, transportation, shipping, insurance, retail, utilities and manufacturing.

OneNeck’s Hybrid IT solutions for SAP applications includes a host of valuable services customized to your business needs. OneNeck’s industry-leading capabilities allow us to offer a private, public or hybrid cloud platform using physical, virtual or dedicated physical servers. We can offer full database management, application system administration, 24/7 Enterprise security monitoring, regular performance tuning, and much, much more.

OneNeck prides ourselves on our customer relationships. We get to know you and your business and only then develop strategies to manage your IT systems productively, efficiently and economically. We design solutions with your organization’s growth and success in mind.

In an increasingly competitive business world, OneNeck offers a difference: We help optimize your SAP environment to enable your company to reach its peak performance.

Though the cost of ownership for flash array is on the decline, it is still not at a level to replace all spinning disk arrays yet. Flash disks provide performance improvement magnitudes better than traditional hard disk drives (HDD). Flash eliminates rotational delay and seek time, functions that add latency to traditional storage media. For customers who are not ready to spend on adding too much memory and flash disks to their database servers may utilize the Smart Flash Cache, a feature introduced in Oracle Database 11gR2.

In the Oracle database instance configuration, the data buffer cache is part of the SGA and is kept in the RAM of the server. Though Flash storage is non-volatile, the database smart flash cache is a volatile memory structure of the database used to cache data blocks. In simple terms, smart flash cache is an extension of buffer cache using flash storage.

It is important not to confuse the Database Smart Flash Cache feature of the database (supported on Oracle Enterprise Linux and Solaris platforms) with Exadata Smart Flash Cache. The database SFC is an extension of SGA, whereas the Exadata SFC holds frequently accessed data in very fast flash storage. The Exadata SFC is smart because it knows when to avoid trying to cache data that will never be reused or will not fit in the cache. The Exadata SFC is read/write, but Database SFC is used only for read operations of the database.

When the very first read operation happens, the database block is read from disk to SGA (buffer cache). After sometime, the block is aged out to the smart flash cache. When the block is required again, it is read from the smart flash cache instead of disk into the SGA, thus reducing the I/O operation on the disk.

Database smart flash cache improves read operations, and hence reduces the I/O operations that go on the storage array. Reduced I/O improves the performance of the array as well.

Though database flash cache can be any flash device or LUN from a flash array, better performance is achieved by having PCIe Flash card attached to the server (no need for any interaction with flash array disk controller).

Configuring Database for Smart Flash Cache

Once the PCIe flash card is attached to the server and mounted, you can specify the device location in the database parameter db_flash_cache_file and specify the size of the flash cache using parameter db_flash_cache_size.

• SQL> alter system set db_flash_cache_file=’/dev/raw/sda’ scope=spfile;
• SQL> alter system set db_flash_cache_size=1000g scope=spfile;
• SQL> show parameter flash_cache

NAME TYPE VALUE
————————————————————————————-
db_flash_cache_file string /dev/raw/sda
db_flash_cache_size big integer 1000G

The database parameter filesystemio_options should be SETALL. Oracle also supports ASM diskgroup name as db_flash_cache_file value. If you have mulitiple PCIe flash cards attached to the server, create an external redundancy diskgroup in ASM using the flash devices and use the diskgroup for db_flash_cache_file.

If you are running a RAC database, the device file name or diskgroup must be different for each instance of the RAC database.

Below is an image from an Oracle WHitepaper summarizing the smart flash cache operation:

It is also possible to pin database objects into the flash cache area.

• alter table applsys.fnd_concurrent_requests storage (flash_cache keep);
• alter index applsys.fnd_concurrent_requests_n1 storage (flash_cache keep);

The data dictionary view V$FLASHFILESTAT displays statistics about Database Smart Flash Cache.

Database Smart Flash Cache is an efficient and low cost solution to improve the performance of database by caching more and reducing I/O operations. The smart flash cache technology can make a big difference to application throughput for workloads that are disk bound. The transaction response times are reduced from 5ms range to 0.05ms range.

Technology is seen as a key driver of innovation and efficiency. As such, CIO’s are no longer solely responsible for the management of IT. Today, CIO’s are also supporting business growth by reducing costs, increasing efficiencies and driving innovation — all in effort to build a strategic advantage.

Keeping an IT environment running smoothly requires constant attention and the availability of a highly skilled team. Companies today use a wide range of technologies, but seldom can afford to employ the IT experts for each one. By taking advantage of managed services, IT can get the most out of their technology and their employees while delivering maximum value to the business.

What is Managed Services?

Managed services is the practice of offloading the day-to-day management and firefighting of an IT environment as a strategic method for the delivery of IT services. Managed services include a wide range of support and maintenance which are designed to make sure IT “just works.”

What Is the Impact of Using Managed Services?

With managed services, IT departments, and businesses as a whole, can benefit from a centralized and comprehensive solution. They can off-load the day-to-day focus of managing IT operations to a third-party expert. And, most beneficial, are the guaranteed levels of service from the vendor, even during a disaster.

All these features add up to centralized operations, optimized performance, reduced risk and predictable costs.

CIO’s who manage in-house IT operations need to carefully analyze their current situation against available external options. Working with a proven managed services provider can transform the company by improving performance and lowering costs.

The first step for a CIO is to identify the multiple components that could be affected by an outsourcing decision. Second, the CIO will want to accurately determine the actual cost of those areas within the business. Understanding where you are now, as it relates to costs, is crucial to assessing the real cost of in-house versus outsourcing your IT services. The final step, compare the strengths and weaknesses of each service delivery model, paying close attention to cost impacts.

OneNeck® IT Solutions has all the managed IT solutions your business needs, plus the technical expertise and support you won’t find anywhere else.OneNeck’s managed services are designed to free you from the necessary, yet time-consuming chores of monitoring and managing your IT infrastructure.