Client Server Management HandiGuide®
The client/server model has become one of the central concepts used in network computing. Most applications written today use the client/server model as does the Internet’s main program, TCP/IP and the DNS addressing model. In marketing, the term Client Server has been used to distinguish distributed computing by smaller dispersed computers from the “monolithic” centralized computing of mainframe computers. But this distinction has largely disappeared as mainframes and their applications have also turned to the client/server model and become part of network computing.
The Client Server Management HandiGuide contains over 155 pages of practical ways to manage the Client Server operating environment. The Client Server Management HandiGuide is available in both PDF and WORD 2007 and WORD 2003 formats.
Topics covered include:
- Client Server Management Process
- Client Server Management Structure
- Business Resumption Program
- Back-Up And Recovery Program
- Application Development Standards
- Security
- Minimum and Mandated Security Requirements Defined
- Access Control - Physical Site
- Access Control - Software And Data
- Access Control - Midrange and Mainframe
- Operational Management Overview
- Risk Assessment Program
- Insurance
- Personnel Practices
- Local Area Networks
- Controls
- Facility Requirements
- Services Requests (Change Control)
The Client Server HandiGuide comes in three versions:
- WORD (2003 and 2007)
- WORD and PDF with the bonus of the "Threat and Vulnerability Assessment Tool" and the "Backup and Backup Retention Policy
| Book Review |
Information Technology and Client Server News
Salaries fall according to one suvey
08/18/2011
According to Foote Partners, the average market value for 265 noncertified skills dipped slightly (-0.2 percent) from April to June following consistent gains in the previous five calendar quarters, while pay premiums for 237 IT certifications continued their abysmal performance" for the 18th time in the last 19 quarters, posting an overall loss in market value of nearly 2 percent for the quarter.
Only one category of certifications - database - grew in overall market value (+2.6 percent) in the latest quarterly benchmark update from Foote, bolstered by gains in three Oracle certifications. For noncertified IT skills, four of eight skills categories showed improvement: management, methodology and process skills (+2.4 percent in pay premiums), messaging and communications skills (+1.7 percent), database skills (+0.6 percent) and SAP & enterprise business applications skills (+0.3 percent).
Declines were more widespread, with IT certifications taking the biggest hit, such as entry-level and training certs (-5.9 percent in pay premiums), Web development (-4.0 percent), IT security (-2.9 percent), systems administration and engineering (-2.5 percent), applications development and programming languages (-2.3 percent), and networking certifications (-0.2 percent). Only four of eight categories of noncertified skills recorded losses in market value, though these losses were not as steep as those recorded in the certifications groups.
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Security Policies Required to Stop SPAM
08/14/2011
Security policies and audit procedures are required if enterprises look towards stopping spam. Courts and lawsuits do not help.
For example, spammers allegedly obtained the login credentials for Facebook accounts. The accounts were then used to send spam to those users' friends. The spam either linked to other phishing sites that sought to collect more Facebook account credentials or linked to other commercial Web sites that paid spammers for referrals.
The same spammer was found guilty of violating the CAN-SPAM act and was ordered to pay $230 million for spamming and phishing on MySpace. The spam led to gambling, ringtone and pornography sites.
Facebook may choose to close the file once the default judgment is entered against the spammer, the court filing said.
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Why Disaster Recovery Plans Fail
08/08/2011Because of their complexity and lack of standardization, traditional disaster recovery infrastructures often fail to meet enterprise requirements for recovery speed and integrity at a reasonable cost.
Downtime, whether planned or unplanned, often translates into lost opportunities and increased costsand for many enterprises today, any amount of downtime is unacceptable. Having an effective recovery strategy and a set of coherent disaster recovery plans is essential to helping avoid downtime during a crisis.
The need for enhanced quality, efficiency, and predictability for disaster recovery and business continuity has increased significantly, highlighting the necessity of a well-defined set of recovery plans and regular testing. However, as the required scope of critical processes, production applications, and enterprise demands increases, sustaining the timeliness and effectiveness of a recovery plan can become increasingly difficult. For most organizations, disaster recovery is extremely labor intensive, often requiring the manual coordination of hundreds of recovery tasks. So although the importance of having an effective disaster recovery plan is clear, organizations often find it difficult to achieve the level of protection they need.
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Disaster recovery plans suffer in recession
07/29/2011According to a HP survey of IT managers at small businesses across the United States, 93 percent of companies have placed cost concerns over the best IT solutions, leading 89 percent of those companies to experience IT-related problems.
The study found that the top three IT problems reported by cost-conscious companies are low-performing hardware (46 percent), out-of-date hardware (37 percent) and unreliable hardware (23 percent), leading to suboptimal computing efficiency and an overall loss of productivity.
The survey also revealed that 54 percent of small businesses cite summer as the peak season for working remotely. With 58 percent of IT managers stating that they have not invested in network security this year, companies will find they are adding pressure and potentially greater security risks to their already stressed IT networks.
The survey was conducted among 500 IT managers at small businesses, between May 31 and June 6, 2011, using an email invitation and an online survey.
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Hackers attack "secure" servers
07/13/2011
The Anti Security hacking campaign announced July 11 that it has broken into an unsecured server at government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, copied about 90,000 military e-mails and password hashes, and made them available for downloading.
The announcement gave no details of the exploit used to enter the system, but saidt, "we infiltrated a server on their network that basically had no security measures in place. We were able to run our own application, which turned out to be a shell and began plundering some booty."
The incident is the latest in a list of embarrassing and possibly connected breaches of government and contractor IT systems and Web sites, including the Senate, CIA, the Atlanta chapter of InfraGard and others.
Using its pirate-themed language, it described other "booty" as "maps and keys for various other treasure chests buried on the islands of government agencies, federal contractors and shady whitehat companies. This material surely will keep our blackhat friends busy for a while."
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Who are the Million Dollar CIOs
07/13/2011The numbers are in! Janco Associates has released its mid-year 2011 IT Salary Survey. The company uses information from submitted survey forms and public sources (SEC filings and the like), and while the overall mean for IT jobs is up a mere 1.13 percent over 2010, the survey reveals a baker's dozen CIOs who are doing just fine, thank you.
Million-Dollar CIOs
Timothy Shack PNC Financial Services $510,000 $5,942,093 Gregor Bailar Capital One Financial $466,667 $4,522,681 Steven Sadoff Knight Capital Group $250,000 $1,993,434 Mahvash Yazdi Edison International $364,247 $1,878,848 Kenneth Tye Total Systems Services $375,000 $1,849,341 Byron C. Vielehr Dun & Bradstreet $325,000 $1,633,033 Karen Austin Sears Holding Corp. $454,744 $1,557,136 John J. Sullivan Liz Claiborne $491,666 $1,499,176 Gregory Tranter Hanover Insurance Group $330,385 $1,294,731 Richard Connell Selective Insurance Group $375,385 $1,268,134 Larry Thomas Landstar System Inc. $200,000 $1,251,925 Bruce Marcus McGraw-Hill $350,000 $1,239,883 Bobby Spaid Beckman Coulter $304,881 $1,100,079 Source: Janco Associates' Mid-Year 2011 IT Salary Survey
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Cloud computing deploment
07/07/2011Cloud computing is a flexible, cost-effective, and proven delivery platform for providing business or consumer IT services over the Internet. Cloud resources can be rapidly deployed and easily scaled, with all processes, applications, and services provisioned "on demand", regardless of user location or device. As a result, cloud computing gives organizations the opportunity to increase their service delivery efficiencies, streamline IT management, and better align IT services with dynamic business requirements. In many ways, cloud computing offers the "best of both worlds", providing solid support for core business functions along with the capacity to develop new and innovative services.
In addition to the usual challenges of developing secure IT systems, cloud computing presents an added level of risk, because essential services are often outsourced to a third party. The "externalized" aspect of outsourcing makes it harder to maintain data integrity and privacy, support data and service availability, and demonstrate compliance.
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Who gets paid what?
07/06/2011Different groups get paid differently and have different experiences at work. A survey from CareerBuilder shows wide disparities in pay, although it does not fully address the reasons for such disparities. Workers with disabilities, for example, make considerably less than their colleagues, while lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) professionals are earning more than any other group.
The survey reveals other disparities with respect to career advancement and perceived discrimination, among other topics. "The U.S. workplace has experienced fundamental shifts over the last two decades," said a senior director of talent intelligence and consulting at CareerBuilder. "While companies have made strides in creating an inclusive workplace for all workers, there is still work to be done." Six diverse segments served as the prime focus of the research: African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, women, workers with disabilities and LGBT. More than 1,300 employees representing these groups took part.
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Factors to Consider in a Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Plan
07/01/2011The Janco Disaster Recovery Plan & Business Continuity Template takes into consideration all of the items related to various layers of operations that most enterprises need to consider if they want to continue after a disaster occurs. These include:
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