Until now, the full recovery of a server after a catastrophic failure could take several hours. Bare Metal Recovery technology is able to quickly recover an unusable system. It can restore both system and data in a single pass, eliminating the need for multiple backups and significantly reducing downtimes.

Bare-metal restore is a technique where the backed up data is available in a form which allows one to restore a computer system from “bare metal”, i.e. without any requirements as to previously installed software or operating system. Typically, the backed up data include the necessary operating system, applications and data components to rebuild or restore the backed up system to an entirely separate piece of hardware. Bare-metal restore differs from simple data backups where application data, but neither the applications nor the operating system are backed up or restored as a unit. It also differs from the local disk image restore. The local disk image restores from a copy of the disk image and the software performing the restore is invoked by booting the server with the setup/installation disk. Such server backup application supplied with the OS is not designed to be an enterprise-level solution. Bare metal restore for rebuilding a server from ground up is offered by many disaster recovery solution providers.

Vendors offer an optional “bare metal” restoration for rebuilding a computer or server from scratch. Using a separate storage device, the vendor creates a mirror image of the client’s complete system. The device is then shipped to the data center and stored. In case of a system crash, the system can be restored to its original configuration.

The virtual machine technology enables multiple operating systems to run concurrently on a single machine. Virtualization increases the efficiency and the effectiveness of the disaster recovery process and offers cost-savings opportunities. Virtualization is hardware-agnostic; systems can be restored without identical or near-identical hardware. This creates flexibility and expands options regarding the type of hardware one can recover to in case of hardware failure. The virtual server software creates a generic hardware platform that’s consistent, regardless of the physical hardware used to host the virtual servers. This simplifies the “bare metal” restore process, because it is possible to perform a bare metal install on dissimilar hardware.

Outsourcing the disaster recovery solution to a vendor that specializes in

Virtual machine technology along with integrated bare metal restore is the best possible DR solution for an enterprise dealing in mission-critical data.

The business today is no longer solely operating within the confines of their buildings. Today many businesses have employees who travel, who work in different geographic areas, or who occasionally work from home. These remote workers need access to the same type of data and voice services that their fellow internal employees have, and in some cases need it faster.
Hosted terminal service (also known as Remote Desktop Computing) enables businesses, software publishers and others to deploy applications across the Internet using Microsoft Terminal Services.
The protocol used for communications between the client and server is called Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and includes encryption capabilities up to 128-bit. This allows administrators to provide secure access to applications and administration tools over even low-bandwidth connections.

Terminal Services can be enabled in one of two modes: “Terminal Server” mode, that allows multiple remote clients to simultaneously access windows applications running on the server, and Remote Desktop for Administration” mode, which is used to remotely manage Windows based servers.

One advantage of hosted terminal server is that instead of installing programs individually on each user desktop, applications are installed once on central servers. End-users connect to these applications using Microsoft Terminal Services. For example, end-users that use Windows XP desktops run the “Remote Desktop Connection” program which is included with all copies of Windows XP to connect to your application programs.

When they connect they are presented with a remote desktop that displays a list of available programs and users simply click and execute the programs they wish to execute as normal.

Remote Desktop sessions are available to the employees no matter where they are, and no matter what time of the day or night they need to connect. Employees from multiple office locations can connect to the hosted service, with each obtaining the same levels of support and availability. Employees that work from home can access the business applications they need to do their job, whether full time or part time.

Individuals that travel can connect to their office applications from just about anywhere. Employees can even connect using local dial-up connections while still seeing having similar performance to high speed connections.

This unique service provides businesses of all sizes with a secure, cost effective solution for deploying windows applications to their employees, no matter where they are located.

One of the prime objectives of every business is to reduce cost. Cost reduction in a business is synonymous to profit. Finding ways to cut cost is an ongoing process in every organization. It has become even more significant in the present scenario of global economic recession. How can the IT department in a company be run in a more cost-effective manner? It is quite possible that the department is struggling with technologies that are facing obsolescence. The servers are old, maintenance costs are on the rise. Software upgrades are costlier. To achieve higher business productivity, one of these business systems like CRM or ERP should be used. So where is the option to cut down your IT costs? Luckily, there is a solution – the CLOUD. You may have heard about cloud based services which offer all sorts of business applications on lease. But you may have a muddled view about it and there are issues which need to be clarified before one can accept it as a viable and cost-effective option.

Some of the ongoing myths about cloud-based services are that these are diluted versions and are less reliable and less secure than those that can be deployed at your data center. There are also apprehensions about the negative views of the in-house IT professionals, who may be loath to relinquish control. In truth opting for cloud based services is a great way to improve your IT infrastructure. With cloud hosted services, the job of installing an application and maintaining from day to day like installing patches and upgrades, monitoring reliability, ensuring high availability, etc., are all handled by the provider. Installation of large business-critical software systems, such as ERP and CRM applications, can cost significant amount of money in hardware, licensing and recruitment of a large number of IT personnel. Cloud-based services can be inventory control, database processing, human resources, accounting, procurement, billing, customer relationship management (CRM), sales and marketing, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and business intelligence (BI). All applications offered are complete and latest versions, regularly patched and upgraded. Data and your application reside on servers under your control. Backup needs are already addressed as your data is replicated in data repositories into the cloud storage. To meet increased needs, you simply add more virtual servers. Cloud computing is the solution to increase IT capacity or use new applications without investing, training new personnel, or paying for new software license. Cloud service is a subscription-based or pay-per-use service that can greatly extend your IT infrastructure as well as cut down the costs.

Small Business Server is a term coined by Microsoft to hide the seriously crippled software that first appears to be a cheaper option for small business users looking to roll out their first

Windows Small Business Server 2008 also includes Microsoft Exchange, Outlook, SharePoint and Microsoft SQL Server, bundled with anti-virus, spam protection and a comprehensive data backup service.

The main reasons because of which the hosted SBS is beneficiary to small scale business are:

• Affordable, All-in-One Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint® Services, SQL Server and more.
• Now you can get a fully managed enterprise-class e-mail and messaging solution
• Small business price
• Totally customized to your business.
• Easy migration path from a premise Windows servers to a hosted SBS 2008 system.
• Your licensed software or SPLA (rented) licenses

Today in the age of globalization we need to travel from one place to another at a regular frequency. It is not possible to carry all the vital information with us. So anytime anywhere access of our data is the key for success. This is the main advantage of hosted SBS 2008. With SBS 2008 one can connect to critical e-mail, calendar and contact information from any Windows XP Pro or Vista PC, MAC 10.4+, Windows 7, Windows Mobile 5.0+, Blackberry 4.0+,iPhone, or any device with Microsoft Active Sync to Exchange through the Internet. The only limitation being the speed of the internet connection.

Another advantage of SBS 2008 is that it is always up and running. All SBS servers are backed by an ironclad SLA that guarantees continuous availability. So there is minimum chance of lose of data due to any reasons.

SBS 2008 also reduces the operation cost of the business. With a dedicated hosted SBS server, there’s no need to store your critical e-mail and business data on a system shared with other companies. You can configure and customize the solutions to meet your unique business requirements.

There are optional services also which the business unit can opt for. The optional services are:

• Advanced Backup Solution for Microsoft Exchange and SQL
• Server Additional Backup Storage
• Blackberry Exchange Plug-in
• Terminal Server and Office Professional 2007
• Firewall Appliance
• Remote SBS Administration
• Remote PC Management
• Remote Mobile Device Sync to Exchange (Blackberry, iPhone, Nokia, Windows Mobile)

SAAS refers to Software as a Service. It is also referred as On-demand Applications, and On-Demand Software, which are referring to a software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers over a network, typically the Internet.

The current slowdown has pushed a large number of enterprises to look at more cost-effective IT models such as SAAS (software as a service). According to a research SAAS-based ERP and CRM applications are likely to see highest demand.

In today’s complex environment, one must use fully-integrated accounting and management systems to operate the business effectively. Unfortunately, the in house models of SME’s are either too complex and expensive, or too simple minded and/or disconnected to cater to individual needs.

Currently, growth for SAAS is largely driven by the mid-sized companies compared to large enterprises, and makes up a major chunk of the market for on-demand players. SAAS and cloud computing is enabling a new class of entrepreneurs who are all looking for easy to use, reliable and scalable applications that enable good business growth.

Having one business management system that efficiently integrates all core operational functions allows you, your employees and your business advisors to work seamlessly together is the motto of current business.

It is no longer efficient to have a bookkeeper, keying in data received from other departments as is the case of in house accounting model. Instead, data needs to be entered where and when it is generated and integrated to provide the management information needed to support ongoing decision-making. Here comes the need for SAAS based accounting system.

The main advantages of SAAS based accountancy system over in house models of SMEs are:

• Faster and less expensive implementation makes the new systems more digestible.
• A total business management solution for small business needs
• Powerful enough to run your whole business, yet simple enough that everyone in your company can use it
• Multi-platform for either Windows of Mac applications
• Fully redundant, continuous data back-up
• Security equal to that in place by leading banking institutions
• Free support, upgrades and training
• Affordable, fixed pricing guaranteed
• Full control over who accesses what
• Avoid time and costs associated with maintaining in-house software solutions
• Improve profits while maximizing decision making capabilities and minimizing costs.

Some of the common causes of data loss are hardware failure, human error and natural calamities. Data loss due to a natural disaster can be recovered by storing backup data in a physically separate location. File system corruption can frequently be repaired by the system administrator with proper software tools. Deleted files in most occasions can be successfully recovered. Data loss due to hardware failure can never be foreseen and forestalled and can spell a major disaster for business continuity. The cost of a data loss event is directly proportional to the value of the data and the length of time of unavailability when required, and results in financial loss, tarnished business image and in an extreme case can stop all business activities. Businesses nowadays have to protect data at all costs.

When backing up data from a computer system, there are many different methods available, some more reliable than others. The most common method is to copy the files on the system, to the archive device, a file- backup. File-backup has many variations depending on the volume of backed up data, such as, incremental, differential, full, grandfather – father – child, etc. Another backup method is based on the process of mirroring the entire contents of a disk volume. This creates the backup by copying each sector on the disk volume as raw data, creating an Image of the entire disk. This last method is referred to as image-based backup.

Though both these backup processes have their pros and cons, image-based backups are the choice for businesses handling mission-critical data or for enterprise-level organizations. The image can actually be mounted as a virtual drive and can be used as a regular physical drive.

Another use of an image-based backup is while performing a bare-metal recovery. Bare Metal Recovery technology is able to quickly recover an unusable system. It can restore both system and data in a single pass, eliminating the need for multiple backups and significantly reducing downtimes. Bare-metal restore is a technique where the backed up data is available in a form which allows one to restore a computer system from “bare metal”, i.e. without any requirements as to previously installed software or operating system. For such restoration the image includes the necessary operating system, applications and data components to rebuild or restore the backed up system to an entirely separate piece of hardware. Image-based backup of servers or server imaging is an essential ingredient in a disaster recovery solution.

QuickBooks was first developed by INTUIT, California, and USA. But now there are have many other companies providing the service.

Small businesses units use QuickBooks for most of their financial business processes, like entering sales receipts, tracking expenses, preparing and sending invoices, sales tax tracking and payment, preparation of basic financial statements and reports, purchase order processing, and inventory management. For most tasks, QuickBooks doesn’t require users to understand standard accounting procedures, including double-entry bookkeeping. Most transactions are recorded using on-line screens that closely resemble paper based forms such as invoices or checks

QuickBooks Hosting is just like having QuickBooks Pro Accountant Edition on the web. And unlike boxed software, you’ll always have the latest features.

The user pays a monthly subscription fee rather than a onetime fee and accesses the software exclusively through a secure logon via a web browser.

Until recently, the only browser supported by QuickBooks Online was Internet Explorer. However, Mozilla Firefox is now supported on PCs and Safari is now supported on the Mac platform. One may also access QuickBooks Online via an iPhone and BlackBerry web app.

Online QuickBooks Hosting can reduce your expenses, and increase your productivity. The ability to work from anywhere, anytime, with a single source for all of your data allows you to:

• reduce your travel time and expenses
• simplify PC maintenance

Additionally, for Quickbooks hosting allows:

• increased client satisfaction with remote support
• additional revenue stream for your business through reselling our services
• increased efficiency through access to live company files
• QuickBooks Hosting removes the need to install or run QuickBooks on your PC.  You run your software via a web-browser
• increase your revenue by serving more customers in more locations with less travel time and travel expense

Some of the business units believe their access to financial data from anywhere at any time through Quickbook hosting is the best advantage of the service

While others say having the ability to allow their accountant to have access to their critical financial data protects and enhances their business – while giving them back their “time” to focus on their business.

QuickBooks Online does not support all features of the desktop versions of QuickBooks. Specifically, inventory, purchase orders, and online bill payment are not included and are only supported via third-party add-ons.

Virtualization technologies date back to IBM Mainframes in the 1970s. From that time, virtualization has been used to run multiple, separate processes on the same hardware. A virtualized environment consists of one or more virtual machines (VMs), in which multiple guest operating systems reside and run one or more applications simultaneously. The physical hardware on which the virtualization is done is called the host. The host CPU is manufactured with advanced hardware features so as to be compatible with the virtualization software. The current AMD Opteron family of CPUs and Intel Xeon family of CPUs has advanced hardware features needed for virtualization. The host operating system runs the virtualization software, which is called Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM). This software can either be a special firmware concerned only with virtualization, or the operating system itself can do the job if it supports virtualization. The former is termed type 1 virtualization or type 1 hypervisor while the latter is known as type 2.

Virtualization is primarily intended to increase server utilization, which translates to reduced expenses for server deployment, server maintenance, IT center floor space and cooling systems.

VMware is the market leader in virtualization software for x86. ESX 3.5 being the most common x 86 virtualization platforms. Hyper-V is Microsoft’s virtualization layer, and is simply a feature of Windows Server 2008.

Virtualization technologies have revolutionized DR systems. Virtualization deployed as a feature of online backup service can reduce the amount of hardware required and simplify recovery operations. Implementing a disaster recovery solution can be simplified using virtual technologies and result in a much lower overall cost. In the past, it has been expensive to get one server to replicate to the other because those two servers had to be basically identical. In order for them to be identical, the same hardware was needed in both the main and backup locations. With virtualization, those hardware costs are cut down significantly because of the ability to host several machines on one server. The DR solution should be such that, each workload running on a physical server can replicate and failover to a dedicated virtual machine on a single physical server, eliminating the need to deploy and manage multiple physical servers at the recovery site. In a virtual machine at the DR solution provider’s end, a number of the client’s physical servers can be protected. The result is a very high level of application protection and availability for the clients with a much lower TCO as virtual machine solutions offer improved efficiency and lower IT costs.

Disaster recovery and business continuity planning are processes that help organizations prepare for disruptive events like a hurricane or simply a power outage.

Disaster recovery planning is now accepted as basic requirement for every business and organization. It is widely accepted that a detailed business continuity / disaster recovery plan should not only exist, but should be effective also. Although disaster recovery plan is implemented by most of the large business but still many small scale industries tends to neglect them.

Small business owners have an enormous amount of responsibilities on their shoulders. Most don’t have the time to think about planning for a natural or man-made disaster. According to a recent poll, almost forty percent of small businesses experience disaster within two months of their operation. That statistic is broken down to ten percent man-made and thirty percent natural (flooding, hurricane, fire etc.). In the survey it is also found that 60% of small businesses don’t have proper disaster recovery plan implemented. So if any disaster happens then the business runs into huge loss. As a side effect of this the customers also suffers huge losses.

The main reasons small business owners neglect disaster planning is-

• Lack of Resources like staff, outside resources, etc.
• Limited budget.
• The owner doesn’t see the need for a disaster recovery plan.

When developing a disaster recovery plan, one can use the online resources to put together one on your own or you can search for a third party company that can help you. There are a number of disaster recovery companies that will help you plan for alternate work space, communication contingencies and computer storage and back-up in the event of natural disasters like flooding, a fire or any other disaster destroys part or all of your business facility.

One of the most important and useful resources you can reach out to for disaster plan assistance is a document restoration company. These companies will assess your businesses, document storage facilities and mechanisms and provide you with recommendations for how to better prepare for a water or fire disaster.

Too often small businesses realize the importance of disaster recovery plans once it is too late. Take the time to do some research and develop a plan for your business so that it can exist for a long, healthy while.

In the modern era we all know how important it is to have our data safe. With technology involved in our everyday life more than ever we have almost all of our critical information stored in some form of data. So it is very important for us to prevent any kind of data loss. The major causes of data loss are:

• Natural Disaster
• Human Error
• Software Failure
• Viruses
• Mechanical Failure

To prevent data loss due to natural disaster, online backup is the most convenient form of disaster management. Through online backup you send your critical data over the internet to another computer, and this other computer acts as a remote backup. In case of any disaster you connect to that remote computer and restore it. Thus your company is disaster proof. Also the added advantage of online backup is that you need not carry the vital data with you when you are traveling. If you have your data backed up online them you can download them when and where required. This also minimizes the risk of data loss.

Online backup is of two kinds:

• The first form is to download the software provided by the online backup provider, install it in the computer then connect to the internet and transfer all the vital data to the online backup providers server. So if you happen to lose your data all you need to is to connect to the server and download the data. This is suitable when the data is of large volume.
• The second form is the case where you directly connect to the online backup provider website through internet and upload all the data directly to their server. When the data is of less volume then this method is best.

Advantages of Online Backup:

• The cost is less to set up and run than other options.
• No need to buy or maintain hardware.
• It can be completely automated releasing time for more productive tasks.
• Simple to manage, all that is required is to turn it on.
• Some online data backup programs can offer features unavailable in media based backups, such as remote data access and synching.
• All your backup files are available online, from anywhere in the world, at any time.
• All your backup files are encrypted by your computer before sending, and stored in that format ensuring a very high level of security.