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Cover Story: MooseSentry^TM for Better Backups!
Toy Safety After the Holidays
7 Tips for Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions
Moose Logic to Resell Clear's 4G WiMAX Wireless Internet Service
Moose Views Index Moving On-Line
Moose Logic Coming Events
January Recommended Reading

(Moose Views is a monthly newsletter prepared by Moose Logic to bring you information and tips on maintaining a trouble-free network)

If you’ve been receiving Moose Views for the last couple of months, you have no doubt seen the flyer we enclosed that talked about our new MooseSentry^TM backup appliance. You may also recall that our November issue contained an article that was very critical of tape-based backup strategies.

Moose Views readers being the intelligent folks that you are, you’ve no doubt figured out the connection between these things: we simply believe that the MooseSentry is a better way to handle backups.

Industry experts have been telling us for over 20 years how dangerous data loss can be to a business. A recent HP White Paper summarizes some of these statistics:

• A company that has a computer outage lasting more than 5 days will never fully recover. 50% of them will be out of business within five years.
• An estimated 25% of businesses do not reopen following a major disaster.
• An estimated 43% of businesses do not reopen following a catastrophic data loss. Of those that do, only 29% are still operating two years later.
• 80% of companies that do not recover from a disaster within one month are likely to go out of business.

So we know that we need to back up critical business data. Yet a national survey of 597 computer users conducted by Harris Interactive in 2002 revealed that, while 85 percent of computer users say they are very concerned about losing important data:

• 37% said they backed up their files less than once per month.
• 9% admitted they had never backed up their data.
• 22% said that backing up their data was on their “to-do” list, but they seldom do it.

Moreover, according to the University of North Carolina, 40% of Small and Medium Sized Businesses don’t back up their data at all.

So why, when backups are clearly so important, do so many businesses struggle with how to manage them? We believe it’s because traditional approaches to backing up data are complex, difficult to manage, and inherently unreliable.

After years of telling ourselves that there had to be a better way, we decided to build one ourselves.

MooseSentry is built around Windows Server 2008 R2 and System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM) 2007. It allows us to take incremental “snapshots” of your servers as frequently as every 15 minutes. That means you’re not limited to just restoring to last night’s backup.

SCDPM does a great job of just sending the bits that have changed, so backups are fast, and bandwidth utilization is extremely efficient.

The standard MooseSentry model has a 6 Tb short-term storage pool to hold backup data. We also reserve two 1.5 Tb drives for tape emulation. Each of these two drives appears to SCDPM as a tape autoloader handling as many as 50 virtual “tapes.” This serves as long-term storage — and if you purchase some additional hot-plug drives, you can swap them in and out the same way you would rotate tape sets. Pull one out and put it on a shelf for a monthly, quarterly, or annual archive if you want.

One of the best things about the MooseSentry is that it can automatically send data to a secondary MooseSentry across a VPN connection. Once again, the bandwidth usage is very efficient, thanks to SCDPM’s ability to send only the bits that have been changed. So it can automatically take care of that critical objective that we keep harping on: getting a copy of your data out of the building!

MooseSentry can back up critical workstations, too. That UNC report also said that 60% of all data is held on desktop and laptop PCs, despite our best efforts to get people to save critical stuff on servers, where we can back it up. And trying to get users to back up their own workstations is like trying to push wet spaghetti uphill.

It may be tempting to say, “Hey, I told them to save their data on the network drive. If they don’t listen, and they lose their data, it’s their tough luck!” But that’s really not true—the business paid them to create that critical data, and it will have to pay them again to try to recreate it. So, in a very real way, it’s the business’ problem.

SCDPM has an agent for workstations, so whenever that critical workstation is on the network, the MooseSentry can back up the important folders.

So what’s not to like? Regular, automated backups; snapshots as frequently as every 15 minutes; server images as well as file and folder backups; automated backups of critical workstations; automated off-site replication; and all at a price that’s competitive with a small tape autoloader.

As Scott (our President) commented a couple of weeks ago on an email thread discussing one of our first customer deployments: “...for the first time ever, I actually enjoy managing a backup solution.”

Give us a call and find out why.

Now that all the presents have been unwrapped, take some time to make sure that all of your child's gifts are safe ones. Choking is the number one cause of toy-related deaths and injuries. You should look for labeling on toys that say they may not be suitable for children under the age of three. This means that the toy can have parts that come off and are small enough to cause a choking hazard. Be aware that some toys just barely meet government safety standards, so every toy should be inspected to look for small pieces.

Another hazard can come from toys that make noise. Nearly 15 percent of children between the ages of 6 and 17 show signs of hearing loss. Part of this is the result of noisemaking toys, including toy cell phones. Since these types of toys are often used close to a child's ear, you should take care to protect your child. Check to see if the toy has a mute switch and switch the toy off if the noise level is too loud. Some toys have a low setting for the sound it makes, so take advantage of that if it is available to you.

Finally, although the Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act of last year did enact tougher standards for lead levels in children's toys, some products still contain this chemical. Lead poisoning can cause irreversible learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and at very high levels, seizures, coma, and death. Keep toys out of your child's mouth and wash his or her hands after playing.

Virtually everyone has made a New Year's resolution--and then quickly broken it. While your intentions may be good, reality makes it hard to keep those promises. This year, use these seven tips to help you achieve your goals.

1. Be realistic.
   Don't make too many resolutions or make your goals unattainable. It might be better to just have one resolution that is within reach. For example, if you want to pay off your debt in the new year, you might resolve to eat out one less time per week and put the difference towards your debt. Saying you want to eliminate a large debt amount in a month or two might not be attainable.
2. Plan ahead.
   Spend some time ahead of New Year's Day thinking about your goals. (Oops, too late for that now...maybe next year!) With some forethought, you can come up with a good plan. Include in your planning a way to make yourself accountable and think about how you are going to get support.
3. Get a buddy.
   Keeping your resolution a secret is a sure-fire way to slip up. Tell a friend or family member what you are hoping to accomplish. Even better, find someone who has the same goal as you. For example, if you are trying to lose weight, it is more productive to have someone who will exercise with you on a regular basis. This accountability can be the extra motivation you need to succeed.
4. Give yourself a reward.
   Set some goalposts that you can reach along your resolution journey. Once you've accomplished a smaller goal, give yourself a reward. That doesn't mean that you should get an ice cream sundae once you've lost your first five pounds. Instead, get a new outfit or see a movie.
5. Keep track of your progress.
   A journal or chart can be a good way to watch your progress. Even something as simple as a notation on a calendar each day can be a good motivator. If you are trying to pay off debt, keep track of the amount as it goes down. A person trying to quit smoking can count the days on a calendar.
6. Hang in there.
   Behavioral scientists say that it takes about 21 days to form a new habit. It can take up to six months for it to become a part of your personality and feel second-nature. Give yourself some time to get used to your new way of thinking.
7. Don't be too hard on yourself.
   If you do fumble and slip on occasion, you can still continue with your resolution. One reason many people give up is that they have slipped up. They then feel there is no use in continuing to tackle that goal. Instead, take each day one at a time. If you do have a lapse, simply restart your resolution again. You don't have to give up completely or wait until next year.

If you watch TV or listen to the radio, you’ve probably already started hearing about the new 4G “WiMAX” wireless service being offered by Clear Wireless. Don’t confuse this service with the older Clearwire wireless service. It’s both faster and more reliable, and up to four times faster than your cellular carrier’s 3G Internet service.

As a convenience to our customers, Moose Logic will be acting as an agent for Clear in offering this service and the associated hardware devices.

Think of the possibilities of having mobile connectivity at better than T1 speeds. Or perhaps a wireless Internet connection would make sense as a backup to your current business wired connection.

For coverage and plan info, see http://www.clear.com.

In the past, we’ve provided you with a printed index of each year’s Moose Views articles. This year, instead of providing a printed index, we will have an on-line index at www.mooselogic.com/mooseviews that will have live hyperlinks to the articles in our on-line archive. Check it out, and tell us what you think!

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