In reviewing my blog I see I promised an update on my progress with the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo. It's been several weeks now and the Duo has perform beyond my expectations. The system has performed flawlessly and even survived one power outage where it was able to shut itself down by monitoring the UPS attached to it. Impressive.
I have recently begun to use it's "web browser interface" features to allow friends and family members to download pictures and home movies.
I'd mark this down in the "win" column.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Home Network Security
I've had a recent run on home users who are asking for my help to secure their home networks. In this day and age that is actually much easier than at any time before. There are several things you can do, even if you consider yourself to be "technically challenged", to protect yourself and the users on your home network from harm.
The first line of defense is a good hardware firewall. I am still surprised when I find users connecting their PC directly to the cable or DSL modem provided by their ISP. There are several really good products available. I myself have always been a fan of Netgear products, not to say they're perfect. Linksys is also a good choice, as is Trendnet. I have not had a good track record with D-Link wireless firewalls. Not to say they are bad, rather they are more difficult to set up and maintain than other brands (IMHO). Linksys products can be modified with un-approved firmware from dd-wrt to allow the firewall to offer more advanced features unavailable under the standard Linksys firmware. Use of dd-wrt firmware should only be attempted by the experienced technician, however.
The second line of defense may come as a shock ... don't use the ISP's DNS settings. Instead I recommend using the free service OpenDNS (http://www.opendns.com/). By default it automatically protects you against most known spyware and virus worms. And if you take the time to set up an account and follow their posted instructions you can also use it as a way to prevent users on your network from accessing porn, illegal downloads, peer-to-peer sharing sites, etc. The thing I like about it the most is I make those changes in OpenDNS and they automatically extend to any and all "users" on my network, even if a friend brings a laptop onto my network. Check it out.
Lastly, I also do not recommend you use the ISP's e-mail service. I strongly advocate using Google's Gmail for 3 very important reasons. First, it's free. Second, Google recently purchased Postini arguably the number one anti-spam service on the internet. And all your Gmail is Postini filtered (for free). Lastly, Gmail has programs for many smartphones (such as BlackBerry and iPhone) to allow you to receive and send Gmail right on your smartphone (for free). Did I mention all this was free? Check it out.
From my experience, user's who adopt these 3 simple policies have a much more secure home network and find themselves free from many of the "risks" we read about in the press periodically. These steps are simple, easy to implement and help to make your home network a safe and secure place for your family to work and play.
Enjoy the future.
The first line of defense is a good hardware firewall. I am still surprised when I find users connecting their PC directly to the cable or DSL modem provided by their ISP. There are several really good products available. I myself have always been a fan of Netgear products, not to say they're perfect. Linksys is also a good choice, as is Trendnet. I have not had a good track record with D-Link wireless firewalls. Not to say they are bad, rather they are more difficult to set up and maintain than other brands (IMHO). Linksys products can be modified with un-approved firmware from dd-wrt to allow the firewall to offer more advanced features unavailable under the standard Linksys firmware. Use of dd-wrt firmware should only be attempted by the experienced technician, however.
The second line of defense may come as a shock ... don't use the ISP's DNS settings. Instead I recommend using the free service OpenDNS (http://www.opendns.com/). By default it automatically protects you against most known spyware and virus worms. And if you take the time to set up an account and follow their posted instructions you can also use it as a way to prevent users on your network from accessing porn, illegal downloads, peer-to-peer sharing sites, etc. The thing I like about it the most is I make those changes in OpenDNS and they automatically extend to any and all "users" on my network, even if a friend brings a laptop onto my network. Check it out.
Lastly, I also do not recommend you use the ISP's e-mail service. I strongly advocate using Google's Gmail for 3 very important reasons. First, it's free. Second, Google recently purchased Postini arguably the number one anti-spam service on the internet. And all your Gmail is Postini filtered (for free). Lastly, Gmail has programs for many smartphones (such as BlackBerry and iPhone) to allow you to receive and send Gmail right on your smartphone (for free). Did I mention all this was free? Check it out.
From my experience, user's who adopt these 3 simple policies have a much more secure home network and find themselves free from many of the "risks" we read about in the press periodically. These steps are simple, easy to implement and help to make your home network a safe and secure place for your family to work and play.
Enjoy the future.
Monday, June 1, 2009
College Preparations Begin
Wow. The last few weeks has been littered with graduation parties. I guess that's what happens when you have friends with kids, right? Thankfully we have a couple more years until our next one is ready for the jump to college (whew).
As some of you may know, I am a Microsoft Registered Partner. In that capacity I received notice of a deal for college students that is just too good to pass up. The Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Steal promotion, the details of which are at this URL:
http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx
In a nutshell your college student can get Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate for $60. Check the URL for details, limitations and restrictions. Enjoy the summer. ;-)
As some of you may know, I am a Microsoft Registered Partner. In that capacity I received notice of a deal for college students that is just too good to pass up. The Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Steal promotion, the details of which are at this URL:
http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx
In a nutshell your college student can get Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate for $60. Check the URL for details, limitations and restrictions. Enjoy the summer. ;-)
Friday, May 29, 2009
NAS Conversion
After over 2 years of faithful service I finally retired my D-Link DNS-323 and replaced it with a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo. Not because I was necessarily dissatisfied with my DNS-323. More because I felt like I'd outgrown it.
The ReadyNAS offers the option to upgrade from the two slot Duo to the multi-slot NV+. Plus the ReadyNAS offered features the DNS-323 didn't have (without "tweaking the system"). One that I think will be truly useful is the option to connect an external USB hard drive to one of the three USB ports on the Duo and back up the NAS's contents for safe keeping (presumably off site). Another cool feature allows the ReadyNAS to be set up to allow users to browse the ReadyNAS via a web browser.
I also like that the ReadyNAS is running a true RAID 1 (ReadyNAS calls it XRAID). The DNS-323 has very limited integrity checking on the RAID which concerned me greatly after one of my drives dropped offline. The front panel LED's clearly showed it was offline, but the system maintained it wasn't. Further investigation proved the LED's were right, so out goes the DNS-323.
The conversion process was fairly straightforward. I pulled the "failed" drive from the DNS-323, wiped it clean and inserted it into the ReadyNAS Duo. The ReadyNAS detected the drive, formatted it and set it up for normal use. I then matched the settings from my DNS-323 and set about copying the files from one to the other. The whole process took about 24 hours. Not back for 300 some odd gigabytes of data.
So today the ReadyNAS takes it's place as my main NAS with twin Seagate 1 TB drives in RAID 1. I look forward to the experience ...
The ReadyNAS offers the option to upgrade from the two slot Duo to the multi-slot NV+. Plus the ReadyNAS offered features the DNS-323 didn't have (without "tweaking the system"). One that I think will be truly useful is the option to connect an external USB hard drive to one of the three USB ports on the Duo and back up the NAS's contents for safe keeping (presumably off site). Another cool feature allows the ReadyNAS to be set up to allow users to browse the ReadyNAS via a web browser.
I also like that the ReadyNAS is running a true RAID 1 (ReadyNAS calls it XRAID). The DNS-323 has very limited integrity checking on the RAID which concerned me greatly after one of my drives dropped offline. The front panel LED's clearly showed it was offline, but the system maintained it wasn't. Further investigation proved the LED's were right, so out goes the DNS-323.
The conversion process was fairly straightforward. I pulled the "failed" drive from the DNS-323, wiped it clean and inserted it into the ReadyNAS Duo. The ReadyNAS detected the drive, formatted it and set it up for normal use. I then matched the settings from my DNS-323 and set about copying the files from one to the other. The whole process took about 24 hours. Not back for 300 some odd gigabytes of data.
So today the ReadyNAS takes it's place as my main NAS with twin Seagate 1 TB drives in RAID 1. I look forward to the experience ...
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Blog Opening Day
Well after many months of prodding and consideration, here I am. I'm blogging. If you had told me 10 years ago I'd be writing a blog on the web I'd have laughed.
But the simple fact is in our technology driven world blogging is a unique tool to allow us to record our thoughts and even our unique technical gifts, talents and insights (in my case) to a larger world.
Will I post every day ... I doubt it. But this new medium affords me the opportunity to record my technical knowledge and impressions in a very new and different way.
As Captain James T. Kirk says in the original Star Trek, "Prepare for Warp maneuvers."
But the simple fact is in our technology driven world blogging is a unique tool to allow us to record our thoughts and even our unique technical gifts, talents and insights (in my case) to a larger world.
Will I post every day ... I doubt it. But this new medium affords me the opportunity to record my technical knowledge and impressions in a very new and different way.
As Captain James T. Kirk says in the original Star Trek, "Prepare for Warp maneuvers."
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