HP Desktop Management with AMD: DASH

Hewlett-Packard, AMD, and the Networking Technologies Learning Center are inviting IT managers, system administrators, engineers, and technicians for a series of free training sessions on AMD DASH technology for Hewlett-Packard-based desktop management.

Training objective: to acquaint specialists with the capabilities of AMD DASH technology and consider practical problems solved using this technology.

Tuition fee: free.

Organizers:

HP company

AMD

Training Center "Network Technologies"

Dates: July 21-24, 2013

Training duration: 1 day (8 hours).

Classes are held: from 9:30 to 17:30 with breaks for coffee breaks and lunch.

Place of training: Training Center "Network Technologies", Kiev, st. Degtyarevskaya 48, 4th floor, office. 411

The training is aimed at: specialists in security issues, support of the performance of user PCs, IT managers.

Required level of training: what does a solutions architect do

Confident knowledge of computer hardware, basic understanding of network operation, knowledge of best practice in security matters. Concepts for ensuring smooth operation of custom PCs.

AMD DASH technology

What is DASH?

Purpose

DASH implementation requirements

Overview of the main components of DASH

DASH management capabilities

Main functions:

In-band and Out-of-band solutions

Power management: turn on, turn off, reboot

Boot management: remote boot from local media, boot over network

Client status monitoring: temperature, fan, statistics, event logs

Inventory: hardware, software

DASH security features

Transport-level security

User-level security

DASH technology application examples

System recovery and update

Overwriting damaged disks

Flash new BIOS

Integration with System Center products

Hewlett-Packard Business Desktops

Positioning of product platforms

HP Desktops Form Factors

HP Compaq Pro 6305 Series

Specifications

Practical lessons

DASH technology activation

Configuring Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 SP1 to Support DASH

System performance tests, client status monitoring.

Completion Document:

Certificate of the Training Center "Network Technologies".

Limitations:

Only 1 participant can be registered from 1 company.

Participation of students in the event is not provided.

Participation of employees of IT companies is not provided.

The principles of organizing the IT department according to ITIL 4.0

The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), which standardizes the rules for providing IT services, began development in the mid-1980s. Later it became the basis for the international standards for IT service management ISO 20000.

Now in the Learning Center "Networking Technologies" you can study the updated library ITIL version 4.0. It was created to standardize methods of managing modern information technologies, allows you to use their potential in full and greatly increases the efficiency of the IT management system in organizations aws certification salary.

The ITIL 4.0 course examines the processes and fundamental aspects of IT service management and the creation of their customer value. ITIL-based management practices are studied.

The course is essential for everyone who provides IT services. And successful training on the course is guaranteed for those who have experience of active interaction with IT departments.

We invite you to courses on the updated ITIL 4.0!

Workflow Automation Webinar

TechExpert webinar "Electronic Document Management : Automation of the Processes of Agreeing Agreements and Contractors", where they will demonstrate how: sustainable architect salary

put things in order in affairs;

reduce the time for the approval and approval of documents;

ensure full control over the movement of documents in the company;

automate business processes in your company.

In the webinar program:

Instead of an introduction:

Briefly about our many years of experience in the implementation of EDMS.

Why do we use SharePoint for building EDMS.

Features of the contract management system:

System components, their functionality.

Counterparty management.

Management of contracts.

Features of the correspondence management system:

Work with incoming mail.

Working with outgoing mail.

Nice bonuses instead of a final word.

This webinar is for those who:

Already uses the EDMS, but knows that there is no limit to perfection, and wants to expand the functionality of his system;

I have not yet switched to electronic document management, but he understands that it is time to automate business processes in the company, and is ready to get rid of the paper flow of corporate documents;

He believes that electronic document management systems are unreasonably expensive, take a very long time to implement, and that their business does not require automation.

Exploring the new Exchange Server

How to administer the new Exchange Server, they will tell on March 23, 2020 at the Learning Center "Networking Technologies" on the course M20345-1 "Administration of Microsoft Exchange Server 2016/2019". This is an updated course that covers the deployment, administration, and support of Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 and 2019. It goes deeply into information security and performance monitoring approaches. The possibilities of integrating the application with Microsoft cloud services are also considered idc technologies jobs.

Microsoft has released the next version of Exchange Server and updated the curriculum for this subject. And the Training Center "Network Technologies" has prepared its own authorized course on two versions of the application at once. The course on Exchange Server 2016 and 2019 will be read by Andrey Shokhanov, one of the best specialists in Ukraine on product administration and security. Students of the course will receive a large amount of theoretical knowledge, as well as learn about the practice of implementing Exchange Server in different organizations directly from a specialist who has successfully implemented dozens of projects.

We add that in the Learning Center "Networking Technologies" you can study Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 and 2019 remotely. Register online or by phone and learn everything about the new Exchange Server.

How to develop project management skills?

In recent years, the profession of Project Manager has grown from a popular profession into a really necessary one. But, like any new profession, it was faced with the fact that demand outgrew supply. And many specialists were forced to quickly retrain for new realities. What skills do you need to become a good project manager? How to develop skills through learning?

Project management is challenging, and the project manager is the liaison between the top management or client who is challenging them and the development team who says how difficult it is to achieve those goals. To cope with this stress requires a set of skills: enterprise architect jobs

High communication skills. The project management role is the starting point for most lines of communication. These lines are addressed to a wide range of stakeholders: business, user communities, suppliers, customers, developers, and other stakeholders. The project manager should act as the project telephone exchange, ensuring effective and consistent communication between all of these parties.

People management skill. Projects on how to get people to work together. Thus, the project manager must be able to create effective teams, motivate people to work productively, clearly delegate authority and resolve possible conflicts.

Emotional intellect. Projects bring about massive changes to which people respond in different emotional ways. The project manager must recognize these emotions in himself and in others and deal with them intelligently. The project manager must be a calm stone in the storm of the project environment.

Common sense. Projects can be a minefield with winners and losers. The ability to identify these two groups and understand what affects them can help the project manager move the project forward.

Time management. The project manager is faced with a number of tasks, most of which are urgent, so he must be able to prioritize tasks and make the most of his time.

Knowledge of project management techniques. A thorough understanding of approaches to project management, such as BPM CBOK and Agile-methods (in particular, SCRUM) , help the manager to understand what should be done at any stage of the project. This helps to validate the health of the project by comparing it to best practices and finding out what is missing.

Application of project management tools. A lot of information comes in during the project management process: budget updates, task updates, lessons learned and expertise. It is very important to track, store and communicate this information with the right tool. The manager needs to understand how to use project management tools ( Microsoft Project ), knowledge sharing ( Sharepoint ), and collaboration tools (Slack) to improve interaction between participants.

This list can be continued for a long time, for example, financial skills are needed to track the project budget and business situation, and in some cases, the manager needs special knowledge in the field of information technology, construction or engineering to understand the scope of the project. But the range of skills listed above indicates how challenging it is to master the project manager role, and at the same time how important it is to develop project management skills.

The training center "Network Technologies" conducts original business trainings on project management , which are based on an updated process model created on the basis of two modern standards "Project Management Guide (PMBoK)" and "International Project Management Standard ISO 21500". Today these standards are considered basic in world practice.

Hidden cloud migration gotchas — and how to avoid them

From a lack of visibility into infrastructure to licensing and governance issues, frustrating surprises await your migration to the cloud. Here’s a real-world look at how traditional companies are navigating the cloud’s less-documented challenges.

Building a technology stack from scratch in the cloud can be a dream -- if you’re a startup. But if you’re an established company steeped in on-premises solutions, shifting to the cloud can mean unexpected hurdles and headaches beyond belief.

Companies looking to make good on the benefits of moving to the cloud need to go in with eyes wide open. To be sure, the much discussed benefits of the cloud -- in terms of time to market, cost savings, the ability to scale resources as needed, and so on are real. But enterprise cloud adopters say they have been surprised by some of the lesser-documented challenges migrating to the cloud brings, such as the difficulty in changing traditional mindsets, the lack of visibility into the new infrastructure, the cost of data transfers, governance issues and how licensing agreements need to be revised or new ones negotiated.

Here, we take a look at hard-earned lessons from real-world cloud migrations and how traditional companies are navigating the hidden hurdles involved in moving to the cloud rightscale careers.

Making the mental shift

Financial and actuarial models are the lifeblood of Pacific Life. Running those calculations requires a lot of high performance computing, but only for a few hours a week, making the cloud an ideal solution for the Fortune 500 insurance company.

So about four years ago, rather than purchase additional hardware, Pacific Life’s IT staff began renting compute capacity and moved the workloads to Amazon Web Services.

“A lot was driven by the fact that we have a very expensive data center to operate here in Newport Beach [California], which as you can imagine, is not the best place to run one,’’ says Reza Salari, manager of cloud security and service transformation at Pacific Life. The insurance company also has a data center in Nebraska that it uses for disaster recovery.

Once the company saw the benefits of being able to scale up and down in the cloud it generated increased internal interest. More recently, Pacific Life began hosting its first application on AWS, data visualization software from Tableau, so that employees can generate custom reports from anywhere, globally. Currently, Pacific Life is working on migrating 28 websites to AWS. But as the company moves deeper into the cloud, along the way there have been some surprises.

Tableau required “a big mindset shift to conceptualize how the pieces come together,’’ says Salari. “First was conceptualizing the architecture and rethinking our tools; we couldn’t just move our on-premises firewall and put it there.”

Both the hosting of Tableau and the migration of the websites is requiring “a lot of security rethinking,’’ as they bring in a new ecosystem of vendors and products Pacific Life hadn’t worked with before, adds Jason Vigil, a solutions architecture consultant at Pacific Life.

“We always assumed that moving to cloud was a simple matter of, ‘OK, we’ll teach our engineers to do Amazon and poof, we’ll have cloud engineering,’’’ says Salari. “We didn’t really understand the depth of the migration and the people organization challenges. We thought we’d have Amazon come in and do a couple of classes and we’d be a cloud organization. That was a huge shift change.”

Dealing with endless capacity

Today, some four years after Pacific Life launched its cloud journey, there are only a handful of people who have caught onto the “cloud fire,” says Salari, and there are those within the two 280-person IT organizations who perceive the cloud as hosted infrastructure that requires a simple “lift and shift” to move something off premises.

But it is far more complicated than that, experts say, stressing that organizations should prepare for cloud migrations well before starting the actual transition, especially when it comes to expected consumption and usage.

“You have to plan for capacity differently than when it was in your data center,” says Mindy Cancila, a research vice president at Gartner. “Most organizations overbought their capacity [when first moving to the cloud] because what you didn’t want to have happen is not ask for enough, and then have to go back and ask for more infrastructure and not have it approved.” That approach ends up being quite a bit more expensive, she adds. “So it’s a paradigm shift for organizations to think about their consumption and usage, which is very different.”

Yet, Cancila finds that most of her conversations with clients are often reactionary and she councils them on the need to put better controls around governance, cost, and usage. “I often will share with clients that it’s not that anyone’s doing anything wrong, it’s the inherent nature of cloud: on demand, self-service, pay as you go; so organizations have unique challenges around putting a governance structure around that endless capacity.”

Evaluating and rearchitecting workloads should be an active part of a migration plan, notes Deepak Mohan, a research director at IDC. “If you don’t change, then what happens is you use the same resources and all you’ve done is shift from a PC I’ve paid off versus one I pay for on a monthly basis.”

About responsibility

Sometimes a client, planning to move to the cloud, does not have a clear idea of ​​who is responsible for what in the cloud IT infrastructure: one believes that the cloud provider is entirely responsible for his IT system, while the other believes that the provider does not bear any responsibility at all.

If the client is always right, then where is the truth?

As is often the case, in the middle: support.tech

If earlier, in the classical model of IT infrastructure, the client was responsible for everything and assumed all the risks associated with the support of IT systems, then with cloud services, some of these worries fall on the shoulders of the provider. Let's take a look at how the roles are distributed between the Tucha cloud service provider and the user.

Tucha:

ensuring uninterrupted operation of equipment in the cloud (electricity, light, air conditioning);

setting up cloud equipment and its physical protection;

increasing fault tolerance and ensuring data safety through redundancy and clustering technology;

management of virtualization system components;

constant monitoring and control of network activity;

scheduling and load balancing of cloud computing power.

Customer:

management and maintenance of user identification systems;

management of policies and user access rights, including password protection;

maintenance and analysis of logs;

monitoring user activity.

How to set up a site-to-site VPN in the cloud

We help our clients to make business convenient, and safe storage and exchange of information. Therefore, we quickly respond to requests with which users of our virtual servers contact support, and prepare clear instructions for solving important problems.

Earlier we wrote about how to set up a client-to-site VPN , and in this post we will show you how to set up a site-to-site VPN in the cloud.

Site-to-site VPN is a type of connection in which two routers are combined into one local network. The connection takes place through an encrypted tunnel, provides secure storage of information and eliminates a number of problems that may arise when connecting to a remote desktop.

The VPN connection is operated by a router. It also acts as a gateway for the local network to which computers are connected. Therefore, nothing changes in the way your computers work. You continue to work in the same mode.

Site-to-site VPN connection diagram: support analyst job description

Site-to-site

It's simple. Read each paragraph carefully, follow the step-by-step steps and you will succeed.

To establish a tunnel, the type of IPsec connection is used, which must be supported by the router.

Step 1. In the server control panel, go to the Network tab , select Select view - VPC and click the Add VPC button.

Step 2. Fill in the required fields in the window that appears and wait 1-3 minutes. the system will process the request and create a VPC.

Please note that the CIDR for the intended network must be different from the CIDR of the local network or some other local network within the Apache CloudStack account.

CIDR is limited to addresses intended for building a private network. That is, use addresses from the rfc1918 network, namely:

10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255 (10/8 prefix)

172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255 (172.16 / 12 prefix)

192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 (192.168 / 16 prefix)

Step 3. After completing all operations, you will see the VPC in the panel. Click Configure here .

Step 4. Fill in the fields:

Please note that Gateway and Netmask must be part of the CIDR specified in step 2.

Step 5. In the Router section, select Site-to-site VPNs and click Yes . This confirms your desire to create this particular type of VPN:

Step 6. Upon successful creation of Site-to-site VPNs, you will see the following window:

Step 7. Return to the Network tab , select Select view - VPN Customer Gateway and click Add VPN Customer Gateway :

Step 8. Fill in all the required fields:

Please note that the CIDR must be part of the local network of the remote office, and the Gateway must be the external address assigned by your ISP.

Important: the settings of all parameters must be coordinated with the router to which the tunnel is being built. The screenshot is just an example.

IKE and ESP encryption must be negotiated, just like keys. Also, ESP lifetime must be a multiple of 3600 (one hour).

Step 9. After completing the procedure that we described above, return to the Network tab , Select view - VPC .

Select our newly created VPC-1 , click Configure and select Site-to-site .

Here replace Select view with VPN Connection :

Step 10. Click Add VPN Connection and select the previously created VPN Customer Gateway :

Step 11. Wait 1-3 minutes for the operation to complete.

All is ready. Upon successful creation of Site-to-site, you will see a window like this:

“Connected” must be from both the cloud and the router side.

If you have any additional questions or something is not working out, please contact our support team . We help clients around the clock. You will quickly receive answers and help in solving your problems.

HideMyAss Fake IP!

Recently, there was an urgent need to go to one completely official site, which, as it turns out, is accessible only from the United States. It was immediately decided to use a web proxy as the easiest and fastest way to become an American, at least in the virtual space.

To solve this problem, the web proxy  HideMyAss.com was selected . It is about him that will be discussed in our article, but first, let's say a few words about what such services are in general.

What is web proxy support analyst job description

A web proxy is a web application deployed on a web server that allows its users to load websites not from their own IP, but from the IP address of this server. Everyone, using such services, pursues their own goals, but, as a rule, the following motives are hits:

desire to keep secret your real IP address;

the need to access websites that are closed for viewing by users of a given country.

According to the principle of operation, all web proxies are similar to each other: the user visits the application site, enters the required site address and activates the transition. The requested resource opens directly in the same window. Such applications differ, as a rule, in additional parameters: the geographic location of the server, Flash support and others like them.

Anonymity from HideMyAss!

HideMyAss.com is a universal service that provides not only web proxies, but also anonymous mail, anonymous file storage, and a list of proxy servers. Initially, it was included in the draft of the note “ Burn after reading. Overview of disposable mail services ”, which described anonymous mail services. Subsequently, he had to be excluded, since he completely refused to understand Russian, and for a note about the web proxy HideMyAss.com came up just right.

There is nothing difficult in using the service. It is enough to go to  HideMyAss.com , enter the site address in the appropriate field (for example: http://crashinformationky.org/KCAP/Public/Home.aspx) and click the "Hide My Ass!" Button, the site will open in the same tab. File uploads are supported and the following settings are available.

Enabling SSL support.

Selecting the geographic location of the server: USA, UK and Holland.

Selecting the "Encrypted" mode. Its essence lies in the fact that the viewed link becomes inaccessible from the history of the browser after it is closed.

Enabling / disabling Javascript and Flash support.

The service also allows you to change the server host country and IP address on the fly. To do this, in the address bar of the browser (for example: N.hidemyass.com/IP-X/link), you must change the first number (N) and the number (X) after "IP-". The first changes the country, and the second changes the IP address. Countries are numbered in the following order from 1 to 4 - these are servers in the USA (Chicago), and from 5 to 7 - servers in Europe (5 and 6 - UK, and 7 - Holland).

For the convenience of using this web proxy, you can install extensions for  Chrome  and Firefox .

How to connect to a desktop in the cloud. RDP clients for Windows, Linux, Mac OS, iOS and Android

The theater starts from the coat rack, and the computer starts from the desktop. Everyone knows how to get to the desktop of their local computer. There is nothing tricky about connecting to the cloud table either, you just need to follow the simple instructions that we have prepared for you.

So, you ordered a trial period and do not know what to do next? There are several ways to connect remote desktop, and you can choose the most convenient one. Below we will take a closer look at RDP connection options for different OS.

Windows

To connect to Tucha Remote Desktop, you can use the built-in RDP client, which is available in all recent versions of Windows starting from XP. Alternatively, download Parallels Client (formerly 2X Client) for Windows. A step-by-step guide to RDP connection from Windows can be found in the instructions that we have prepared for you application support analysts.

Instruction: RDP connection from Windows .

Download for Windows: Parallels Client .

Linux

Ubuntu, like Windows, has a built-in RDP client - Remmina. In addition, you can use the same Parallels Client (2X Client) to connect via the RDP protocol.

Instructions : Remmina , Parallels Client .

Download for Ubuntu: Remmina , Parallels Client .

Mac OS

You can work with a remote desktop from Mac OS using Microsoft Remote Desktop (yes, Microsoft) or Parallels Client. You don't have to flip a coin to make the hard choice between them - read our instructions and choose the one that suits you.

Instructions : Microsoft Remote Desktop , Parallels Client .

Download for Mac OS: Microsoft Remote Desktop , Parallels Client .

iOS

As for iOS, we have previously prepared a broad overview of RDP clients for this OS. And today we have collected for you instructions for working with the most popular clients and links to download them.

Instructions : Parallels Client , AccessToGo .

Download for iOS: Parallels Client , AccessToGo .

Android

We also have a wide overview of RDP clients (as well as detailed instructions and links for downloading software) for Android OS. Use it to your health.

Instructions : Microsoft Remote Desktop , Parallels Client , AccessToGo .

Download for Android: Microsoft Remote Desktop , Parallels Client , AccessToGo .

RDP connection in the browser

To make the cloud desktop appear immediately in the browser, play a little with your Google Chrome. To speed up the process, we have prepared for you step-by-step instructions and links to download the Chrome RDP and Parallels Client browser clients.

“Tucha knows its client well,” says Alexander Frolov, director of BX-master

Spring has been a particularly rich meeting and conversation with partners. At the seminar "Anatomy of Business" in Zaporozhye, which took place on April 12, 2019, we talked to Alexander Frolov, director of the BX-master web studio. It was the BX-master company that organized a large-scale event in Zaporozhye together with Bitrix24.

Alexander sincerely shared with us what inspired him to create his own business, and told us what field of activity should be chosen. About cloud myths, fears and benefits of cloud solutions for business - in our interview.

About myself and the company:

Tell us a little about your company: how long ago did you open your business, inspired you to create your own business:

We opened the web studio 6 years ago. It happened quite spontaneously, and now we continue to move in the direction of what we like best. During this time, we have collected interesting cases, so, we can say, there is something to brag about. In general, they created a web studio not from the position of making money, but from the position of what they like to do the most. This, in fact, was the inspiration for creating a business.

“We created the company not from the position to make money, but from the position of what we like to do the most”

Fakaps and life lessons:

Important things you would like to know about when starting your business

There is such a good proverb "If I knew where you fell, then you would spread straws." We never know where we will fall, so it is impossible to single out any parameters that could be recommended to others. It seems to me that it is most correct to say this: what you do should be liked and bring enough money. The latter is also important so as not to look towards some other areas of business that you do not like, but have a higher marginality.

Share a top advisor on how to find your industry:

You must like what you do. And, of course, you shouldn't feel hungry.

Character traits and skills that help you achieve your goals:

This is persistence and perseverance. It is important not to deviate from your goals and, despite everything, go towards them. Sooner or later you will come to your goal. We have a poster in our office that says “It doesn't matter which way you go, the main thing is that you move”. Therefore, the road will be mastered by the walking one.

“You should like what you do. And, of course, you shouldn't feel hungry. "

About Tucha and partnership:

How did you meet us? Share your impressions of Tucha.

We met at one of the seminars "Anatomy of Business", where we were the organizers, and Tucha.ua - info partners. You are funny and cool. In general, it is always pleasant when partners who know how to sell themselves and understand what the client needs take part in our conference. Unfortunately, there are also companies that simply participate in events and do not realize why they came here, and sometimes do not even know their client. Tucha, on the contrary, knows his client well and always offers them useful things, and not just considering “to sell”.

"Tucha knows his client well and always offers them useful things."

About clouds:

What are the reasons for using clouds in business:

One of the main advantages of cloud solutions is constant uptime, that is, uninterrupted server operation. You also don't need to worry about technical support. Employees of the company control everything and also maintain in proper condition any software product or application that you have installed on the server.

Have you come across myths related to clouds?

Some users fear that their information will disappear from the clouds, that someone will take it away, steal it, or distribute it further. Such fears are not uncommon, and this myth stops some from going into the clouds. But don't worry. It is important to choose a reliable provider.

Advice for those who have not yet moved to the clouds: Support skills

One thing to recommend here: just go to the clouds!

"One of the main advantages of cloud solutions is constant uptime"

Thanks to Alexander Frolov for the invitation to the seminar "Anatomy of Business", sincere interview and fruitful partnership. We are sure that there are still many meetings and bright joint events ahead. We wish the entire BX-master team continued success!

How to set up a VPN server based on Windows OS

The topic of safe surfing the Internet, perhaps, will never cease to be relevant. Therefore, we continue a series of publications about a secure VPN connection to the server. Not so long ago, we published instructions on setting up a client-to-site VPN in the cloud and a VPN client in Windows Server , and today we will tell you and show how to build a VPN tunnel using Windows OS entry level desktop support.

1. Start Server Manager and click Add Roles and Features.

Start Server Manager

2. In the next window, click Next .

In the next window, click Next.

3. Then select Install Roles or Features and click Next .

Then select Install Roles or Features and click Next.

4. Leave the box next to Select a server from the server pool , select your server and click Next .

Leave the box next to Select a server from the server pool

5. In Server Roles, select Remote Access and click Next .

In Server Roles, select Remote Access

6. In the next two windows, Components and Remote Access, simply click Next .

7. In Role Service, check DirectAccess and VPN (RAS) .

In Role Service, check DirectAccess and VPN (RAS)

8. The Add Roles and Features Wizard will open. Select Add Components .

Select Add Components

9. Click Next .

Click Next

10. In the confirmation window, click Install .

In the confirmation window, click Install

11. When the installation is complete, select Run the Initial Configuration Wizard .

Starting the Initial Configuration Wizard

12. Select the last item Deploy VPN only .

Select the last item Deploy VPN only

13. On the top menu of the next window, click Action and select the Add Server option . In the window for adding a server that opens, click OK .

 Configure and enable routing and remote access

14. Next, right-click on the server and select Configure and Enable Routing and Remote Access .

15. In the next window, just click Next .

16. Then select Custom Configuration and click Next 

17. Then select Access to Virtual Private Network (VPN) and then Start Service .

18. Almost done, it remains to set the address pool for remote desktop users. Right click on the server and go to Properties .

go to Properties

19. Go to IPv4, select Static Address Pool and click Add .

20. Enter the address range and click OK . Well, don't forget to Apply in the final window.

Pavel Mantulo, IT director of the group of companies

About the importance of partnership.

For me, partnership is joint cooperation, where both parties understand, and, most importantly, fulfill their responsibilities, tasks and achieve their goals. This is a separation of functions for an effective result. 

In the process of implementing projects, there were people, companies that successfully cope with the tasks assigned to them, fully meeting expectations. This is how proven, "trodden paths" of technical solutions appear. Verified many times. And with the next such task, you do not even think about who you will solve it with. Who are these people? There are software developers, 1C programmers, a web studio, Tucha and others.

On the principles of choice.

When meeting potential partners, I look at interest, willingness to engage and solve a problem. Not everything is always going smoothly, so honesty and openness are priorities in communication. This is what I expect from partners and, accordingly, I propose from my side. 

I appreciate honest, open, mutually beneficial relationships. 

About inadmissible in partnership.

I consider partnership unacceptable for the realization of private interests, and not for the achievement of a common goal.

About partnership with Tucha. 

When I tell potential clients about Tucha, I focus on reliability, quality of technical support, attentive approach to any issue and to each client. 

Over the years of cooperation, I am sure of this, and over 15 years of acquaintance with Tucha (from dsl to vps), none of my clients have complained about an unsolved problem on your part. 

Yes, the tasks were different. But we knew about them, we knew the deadlines and each time we received a high-quality service.

About Tucha's recommendation to his clients it techsupport.

If I need to refer clients, I recommend Tucha. In 90% of cases, if a service is required, it will be ordered here. How much it makes them happier is difficult to say, but it adds calmness for sure. And a calm client is good for everyone. Both me and Tucha.

Thank you for your partnership. 

We thank our partners for their trust, reliable cooperation and confident recommendations. And, of course, for openly sharing the value of the partnership for their business and the experience of working with Tucha. We wish you even more loyal partners and happy clients! 

Ask if the provider provides migration to the cloud, does it help "make friends" with cloud technologies

Often, when moving to the clouds, users need to transfer data (websites, mail, etc.).

Tucha is a provider who understands this kind of customer request. There is a migration service for this. We will not only quickly transfer your workplaces, sites, mail or other data to the cloud, but also answer your questions about migration and more.

Find out the level of guaranteed service availability

If uninterrupted access to the cloud is important to you (and we know for sure, it is important :)), check the indicators of guaranteed availability of services. The availability of services is a guarantee of their fault tolerance in specific numbers. For example, the TuchaFlex + (Europe) service has 99.9% availability. This means that service interruptions can take no more than 7 hours per year. TuchaBit (Ukraine) availability - 99.0%.

Ask if the provider cares about the legal security of services?

It is important that the company provides a competent agreement with a clear distribution of the areas of responsibility of the parties. Also, clarify how the provider responds to requests to seize customer or equipment data.

We work on the basis of a detailed public offer , the same for all clients.

Find out about the possibilities of encrypting information and communication channels, the availability of additional services for data protection

Pay attention to the possibility of encrypting data and channels. Has your provider provided special templates for virtual machines with disk encryption enabled? Is communication channel encryption easily accessible?

It's also good when the provider has additional security services. We have, for example, "Anonymity on demand." The service allows you to anonymously visit sites and work with applications that use TCP protocols.

All kinds of solutions and functions to protect information - a benefit for you and a plus in the karma of your provider. :)

Find out if the provider provides a range of services it technical support job description

It's convenient when one supplier has everything you need for work and personal use! For example, not only virtual machines, but also a backup storage service immediately to them.

In Tucha, in addition to providing a virtual environment for taking out workplaces and individual applications ( TuchaBit / TuchaFlex + ), there is a whole line of services that, as a rule, cover the company's basic need for cloud services.

TuchaBackup service is a secure storage of backups of your data on remote servers outside Ukraine. Placing copies in the cloud ensures the physical security of data, their protection from loss and access by unauthorized persons. You can choose any configuration of the service, and the scaling step is 10 GB.

TuchaHosting service allows you to securely host websites and mail in the cloud on virtual servers in Europe (mainly Germany). Traffic, databases, mailboxes, FTP-accounts are not charged and are not limited. Available in 2 GB, 10 GB, 25 GB and 50 GB and higher configurations. We will also help with the transfer of sites and mail.

With TuchaSync cloud storage for syncing and sharing files , you can upload, download and edit files on any device. The information is stored in reliable data centers outside Ukraine, and you can access it at any time. If, of course, you are an authorized user. All you need to work is an internet connection.

We are always happy to help you choose the right service and its configuration. Contact 24/7 !

Check out the cost of services

The price should be adequate, so study the price offers for the services in advance. Beware of too expensive and suspiciously cheap offers. Overpricing does not always guarantee super quality, and an unnaturally low price may indicate dubious technologies and the risk of data loss.

Many providers place special calculators on the site, for example, as we do. Calculators will help you quickly calculate the cost of any service.

Find out if the company's pricing is transparent

The cost of services should not only meet the price-quality ratio, but also be transparent for all customers. What does it mean? If a provider is ready for anything in terms of price, this is, of course, tempting, but at the same time, and a reason to be wary. Either the provider does not quite clearly understand its math, which means the stability of the company (and your data) is in question, or you will run into pitfalls and overpay for moments that are not immediately obvious. Our prices are available on our website and are the same for all clients.

Check if there is a free test drive of the services

The test period is a great opportunity to try the provider in action, evaluate the service and the work of technical support.

In addition to technical factors, pay attention to the quality of communication with company employees. Is it easy to find a common language, is there a mutual understanding? If you are uncomfortable with communicating at the initial stage, long-term and effective collaboration is unlikely to work.

We offer 7 days of free trial use of any of our services . The test period is good because it allows you to become a client for a while and evaluate whether a provider is right for you or not.

Check provider reviews and recommendations

Ask what other customers are saying. User reviews and personal experiences are a powerful tool for forming an opinion about a company and making decisions.

In addition to reviews on the site of the provider itself, do not be too lazy to read independent resources (objective reviews of hosting companies, reviews on social networks ). And although we put this point at the end, reviews are what to start looking for a cloud provider with.

Choosing a reliable provider is a crucial step. We have collected for you the main tips on how to find your own among many companies and not be mistaken. Read, explore, and we are always ready to help you and become your reliable provider of cloud solutions. Contact 24/7 !

We have prepared a convenient download checklist for you ! Save yourself, mark in the table the characteristics of each potential supplier according to all the main criteria and choose the best provider.

5 benefits of clouds for the oil and gas industry

The Ukrainian oil and gas industry now has certain systemic problems that reduce its efficiency. In the field of IT, these are outdated equipment, insufficient funding for powerful resources, and the riskiness of running an oil and gas business. Let's see how cloud technologies can help here.

Features and needs of the oil and gas industry

The oil and gas complex (OGK) of Ukraine is becoming more and more technological: the newest developments are replacing simple mechanisms. For example, manual petrol stations have evolved into systems that require minimal human intervention, and all work is automated.

In addition, oil and gas enterprises, even the smallest ones, are businesses that often involve risks. Firstly, the products themselves are highly valued and are of great importance for the economy and the entire state as a whole. Therefore, the competition in the field is extremely high. Secondly, storing important data (databases, document archives, accounting software, specialized applications, etc.) on office servers is not a very secure solution. Unauthorized persons or intruders can gain access to servers and all data is extremely difficult to recover.

Since CDD involves specialized software, it requires powerful IT resources that need to scale from time to time. Physical resources, of course, can also be scaled, but this is an additional cost of finance and time.

An equally important need for the industry is mobility. For example, the emergence of the newest mobile laboratories for the study of the quality of petroleum products has led to the need to organize the work differently. It is important that you do not carry additional IT equipment with you to store the collected data. And also - to share data with all employees in a single space without time delays.

In addition, the entire oil and gas industry is based on the collection and processing of large amounts of information. Such data include:

monitoring of oil and gas wells, pipeline and gas compressor stations;

data collection and control over installations;

archiving and storing previous indicators;

attraction of process automation services, analytics systems and the like.

So what are the main IT challenges facing the oil and gas industry?

Provide efficient and stable management of oil and gas equipment from anywhere in the world.

Reduce IT equipment costs.

Establish management and automation processes for oil and gas enterprises.

Provide continuous communication between all parts of the industry.

How clouds solve the challenges of the oil and gas industry

Cloud technology simplifies and improves the operations of oil and gas companies of all sizes. They solve several problems at the same time and provide a number of advantages:

1. Provide reliable and secure data storage

You can transfer to the cloud both the entire IT infrastructure of the company, as well as individual applications or specialized programs, for example, a CRM or ERP system, accounting, telephony, and the like. All data is located outside the office or even the country, so it is protected from access by intruders and physical loss.

2. Save money on IT equipment and maintenance

Even the smallest oil and gas enterprises need powerful equipment to ensure reliable operation. The more a company is, the more resources it needs. With clouds, you save money to buy, maintain, and replace equipment. And also - you pay only for those resources that you really use.

3. Provide mobility and access to data 24/7 from anywhere in the world

Working in the clouds is convenient for everyone in the enterprise-supplier-customer chain. And not only because the office lacks bulky and noisy servers.

Clouds are a high level of service availability, the ability to work from any corner of the world and instantly track all changes in workspaces. In addition, thanks to the clouds, there is constant communication between employees, and each of them quickly receives information about joint processes.

To access the clouds, you only need the Internet. You can connect to remote desktop even from your phone and stay in control of your workflow at any time.

4. Allows you to scale IT resources to fit your needs

From time to time it becomes necessary to change the amount of resources. Physical servers, of course, can be scaled, but you need to spend time and money on new equipment every time. And vice versa, if some of the resources are not used, the hardware will be idle unnecessarily.

Scaling any resources in the clouds is easy: you just need to contact our technical support, and in a few minutes you will receive a new service configuration.

5. Provide additional protection for your data (snapshots and btcaps)

To achieve even more reliable data storage, snapshots (system snapshots) and the ability to make backups (backups) will help : IT description

snapshots are disk images of your virtual machine. They help return the system to the state it was in when the snapshot was taken. The cost of our two virtual servers TuchaFlex + and TuchaBit already includes the cost of snapshots, so we are guaranteed to save the last two snapshots of the system;

backups - backup copies of your data, provides the TuchaBackup service and stores them in reliable data centers outside Ukraine.

Why storing your data abroad is the right thing to do

This year the pressure on business has increased significantly. In the last few months alone, such large IT companies as Intertelecom, Fs.to, Nic.ua, as well as many smaller market players have suffered. At the same time, contrary to the law, in almost every case, the seizure of servers occurs, which for a long time disrupts all business processes of the company, breaks the infrastructure, especially if the local servers contained data important to maintain operability.

Obviously, the intensity of such actions will only grow, and the danger hangs not only over those who violate something, but also over completely honest businesses that work according to all the rules. After all, until it is proven that the company is not at fault, and the court decides to return the equipment, you can lose all customers, lose orders and personnel. The only effective way out in this situation is the transition to the cloud. In this case, attacks on the IT infrastructure become meaningless - all important data is stored on remote servers, ideally outside the country.

Benefits of moving business data to the cloud

The physical remoteness of servers is not the only plus that cloud technologies provide to businesses. With the right organization, the cloud provides ample opportunities for a fundamentally new construction of business processes in a company, a new level of freedom for employees and managers. Judge for yourself: Help desk skills

the cloud is a cost savings. Instead of purchasing and maintaining the operability of a large fleet of equipment and network infrastructure, it is enough to rent certain capacities from the provider (exactly enough to cover the needs of the company), and to organize the work of the office, you can use terminals or thin clients, which are significantly cheaper than conventional workstations. Additional savings - on software, maintenance;

the cloud is the safety of data due to the simple creation of backups. The backup-as-a-service add -on is a convenient tool for system administrators to automate the creation of backups of your data. Thanks to this service, the human factor is minimized (for example, the administrator forgot to create a backup in time), and the copies themselves are stored on a reliable remote server. At the same time, backups are available from anywhere in the world, and thanks to the high level of security of the data center, they are reliably protected from force majeure situations;

cloud is a simple and straightforward cost. With cloud technologies, you can always accurately plan your IT infrastructure costs, since you pay a fixed amount per month and only for the used capacity. No hidden fees, commissions or overpayments;

the cloud is about mobility and freedom. Employees of the company, using cloud solutions, can work from anywhere - from a conference, on a business trip, from home, office, hotel or restaurant. In addition, nothing prevents the creation of an international team in which each of the members can work from their own country, and the results will not be worse than if they were all under one roof;

cloud is scalability. Changing the allocated computing power (for the changed company size and number of employees) is easier than in any other version of the network infrastructure. For example, during periods of maximum load, server resources can be increased, and when there is no such need, they can be reduced to save money;

the cloud is reliability. If you choose the right provider, data in the cloud will be protected from all types of threats much better than using local servers. So, for example, we use a data center in Germany to host the servers on the basis of which the Tucha cloud is built, which in terms of security level corresponds to the Tier 3 category. This means that all network, engineering and information components are duplicated and have reserves in case emergencies, and service work is carried out without shutting down the servers. The performance of the data center is supported by highly qualified technical specialists, and the round-the-clock support service allows you to solve any problems in the shortest possible time.

Technical support Miran: how everything works

For the convenience of the reader, I will divide this article into several semantic parts.

 

In the first, we will talk about the basic elements of the TP - staffing, application lifecycle, prioritization.

In the second part, we will touch on the issues of maintaining the knowledge of technical support engineers at a given level.

In the third and final part, we'll talk about how to make all of the above work.

I'll talk about motivation, in particular, non-financial, and also give a couple of tips for organizing corporate rewards and punishments.

Support Basics

To organize the work of technical support, you need to answer a few simple questions:

Support for one product (service) is required or we are talking about multi-product support, i.e. support for several completely different products?

What SLA is required for technical support calls?

Do I need to provide 24/7 support?

The first

Single-product support requires a minimum number of specialists. For example, if you expect about ten requests per shift, you can try to shift support to a specialized engineer.

Multi-product support requires either dedicated product specialists or separation of call traffic by complexity, resulting in multiple support lines.

We took the path of dividing engineers according to their knowledge and competencies into three components: the first, additional and second lines of technical support.

Second

The tighter the SLA, the more resources the company will need to comply with it. These are a variety of resources: qualified engineers, information systems, equipment, regulatory documents, and more. Consider the state issue. To meet the SLA requirements, the staff must be proportional to the average number of calls to technical support, taking into account the time and quality standards.

Based on the above, the staff of our engineers is as follows: IT technical support

first line - 10 people;

additional line - 4 people;

the second line - 5 people.

Third

24/7 technical support is not cheap. High-quality execution of this service in 24x7x365 mode will require at least 5 engineers, and this is in the simplest case, i.e. in case of single-product support. If you need to organize round-the-clock support, feel free to multiply the costs by 5. But, first of all, think about whether you really need it (whether you can get by with a self-service portal, etc.). If you still need it - is it possible to outsource it.

Technical support employee of the Miran data center at the workplace

What are all these people doing

The task of the first line engineers is to quickly and efficiently process the client's request. To process means to correctly classify and send to work.

After processing, the engineer of the first line either decides the request on his own, if it is from the section “make it quickly, here and now,” or transfers the request to another line, if it is “long-playing” or it is about “faults”.

The task of the additional line engineers is to work with orders that take more than one day to complete.

The task of the second line engineers is to eliminate faults as quickly as possible and solve complex requests “here and now”.

Engineers work modes

First line: Schedule - 2/2, 12-hour shifts from 08:00 to 20:00.

Additional line: schedule - five days, 8-hour shifts from 08:00 and 12:00.

Second line: schedule - 2/2, 12-hour shifts from 08:00 and 20:00.

Engineer shift schedules are maintained using Google Calendar.

Workplace of a technical support employee

Life cycle and status of applications in TP

The easiest way to trace the life cycle of an application is according to this scheme:

Application life cycle in technical support

I will explain each of the points separately.

 Any request received from an external source acquires the new status  . The task of the first line engineer is to initially process the received application and transfer it to the contractor.

The open status is   assigned to an application when a specialist is busy with a solution.

If the ticket has been identified as spam, it gets the deleted status  .

If the ticket is not spam, but also does not contain an essential request to technical support, it is assigned the rejected status  .

The resolved status is   assigned to the application after solving the problem / problem in the opinion of the contractor.

The stalled status   means that the work on the application is temporarily suspended at the initiative of the client or in agreement with him.

The close d status is  assigned after the client considers that his task has been successfully completed.

Typification of applications

The type of application is the most important criterion. It determines the reaction speed and time to fix the problem indicated in the ticket. In Miran, according to ITIL, requests are divided into the following types. I list them in order of importance:

Incidents

Incidents include equipment malfunctions and malfunctions, as well as any other events that lead to a significant deterioration in the quality of services. Orders of this type are executed in order of priority and take precedence over other types of orders. Only incidents can be prioritized for processing.

Examples of incidents: service unavailability, hardware failure.

RFS - Service Request A

customer has a service need within the service provided. The request is not related to a failure or failure in the IT infrastructure. It is executed immediately in the order of the general queue in the absence of priority applications.

Example: request to restart the server.

RFC - Request for Change

Request to change the composition and / or volume of services provided to the client. The processing time is determined by the management of the company individually in agreement with the client.

Examples: request to switch equipment.

RFI - Request for Information

Service information has been requested, including electricity consumption reports, service reports, and more. It is executed immediately in the order of the general queue in the absence of priority applications.

The priority of the application, which affects the speed of reaction and decision, is calculated based on the information received from the client, taking into account a number of internal rules and orders. There are two priorities: initial and final. The initial priority is set according to the client and determines the speed of the incident processing. The final priority is set by the engineer after completion of the work and reflects the actual level of degradation of services. Often these priorities are not equal.

Priorities are allocated as follows:

the functioning of the network segment is disrupted (the communication node is inaccessible, the reference switch is out of order) - 40;

significant degradation of several services provided to the client - 30;

significant degradation of one of the services provided to the client - 20;

degradation of services, which does not have a significant impact on their essence - 10;

there is no impact on client services - 0.

I think this can smoothly finish the analysis of the theory. The timing of responses to incidents and requests, escalation levels, financial motivation and other information that is more or less standard for other companies will remain behind the scenes. Let's move on to more interesting things.