Originally published on April 19, 2011 in our free BigLaw newsletter. Instead of reading BigLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.
The ten technologies discussed in this issue of BigLaw make great additions to a large firm's technology toolbox to help manage your environment. Most are free or cheap. And even those that require you to incur a moderate expense are so important and useful that you really shouldn't manage your law firm without them.
1. Lights Out Management
This technology is now free with most servers for basic functionality. Pay to upgrade to a more robust feature set. Lights Out is one of those technologies that is, if not life-saving, then nights and weekends saving at the very least. And from a business perspective (it's not all about you), it will get your troubled system back online faster because you won't have to drive to the office.
Highlights: Your NIC dies but you can still administer your server remotely. You can "load" virtual media for installs, updates, and diagnostics. You can power on or off the server. You can establish a remote console session — and even access the BIOS of a server from the comfort of your living room.
HP Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) Advanced
Dell Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC)
2. Remotely Manageable Power Distribution Units (PDU)
Not free, but darn cheap. You needed power anyway, so why not buy the PDUs that are remotely administrable? Something's hinky with your Lights-Out Management interface? Your firewall, VPN device, or network switch is misbehaving? Log into the Web interface, power off the device in question, and then power it back on.
3. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) From Your Smartphone
RDP from your Android, BlackBerry, or iPhone (free "lite" versions exist for at least Android and iPhone). Remotely manage a server, or even perform real, light work, from your phone. The nominally priced pay versions give you some features you'll want (such as improved mouse controls) if you find yourself doing more than password resets and server reboots. (Got an iPad? Even better.)
4. Application Virtualization
You might not know that Microsoft includes this technology for free along with the rest of its MDOP Suite if you have current Software Assurance on your desktop OS. Free! Or at least included with the price of admission to your volume licensing. So why aren't you using it?
If you don't have Software Assurance (you like to buy your software shrink-wrapped, or perhaps just take the OEM OS that came with your PCs), or if you'd simply prefer to throw money around, you may want to invest in ThinApp, or one of the many other players out there.
Why virtualize applications? The most obvious use case is to solve the problems of application compatibility and application conflicts. It can be a bear to ensure that every application in use at your firm plays nicely with your other applications and is compatible and stable on your new OS.
5. Multipath I/O (MPIO)
The enabling technology for MPIO is free from your SAN vendors (e.g., Dell Equallogic hit kits), and also included functionality of VMWare.
So what is MPIO for? Single points of failure are bad. Like a fighter jet's fly-by-wire operation where systems are not only duplicated, but sometimes quadruplicated in case one or more of the control channels fails. That's what you want for your firm's data channels. Redundant paths for your server to ensure it can always keep in touch with its SAN-provided data. You want MPIO. Trust me on this one.
6. Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)
Another freebie. Manage your Microsoft Updates proactively — from your desktop to your server operating systems to SQL to Exchange, and to infinity and beyond. See which clients are up-to-date and which are not. You can fully or partially automate it or go completely manual depending upon your comfort level and preference.
Windows Server Update Services
7. Microsoft Security Essentials
Free anti-virus, from Microsoft. Enough said. This utility is no Windows Defender. This product is effective and proving (finally) to be a legitimate anti-virus solution alternative from Microsoft. Also available as an enterprise-class, managed product under the name "Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection."
8. Two-Factor Authentication
Free. No need for a key fob. Set up a Certificate Authority (CA) server on your network. Issue digital certificates to your clients, vendors, and employees. And control access to your Web-facing resources with not just what they know (their passwords), but also what they have (their certs).
9. Secure File Transfer
There are free ways to go, like opensource SSH. But if you do that, you have to build an SSH server, support it, ensure that it has sufficient disk space and bandwidth, and supply your clients, co-counsel, etc. with an SSH client or a custom GUI for uploading and downloading files.
Possible? Sure. But just not worth it. But, you may say, FTP is also free — and easy, right? So why not just use that? In short, it's not secure. Passwords are passed in plain text. Don't kid yourself. Don't risk losing your files.
So what's the right answer? Try one of these solutions. They aren't free, but they get the job done and won't get you fired.
10. System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)
Not even a little bit free but worth every penny. Monitors everything. Or near enough. If what you're monitoring is a Microsoft product, then the Management Packs are free. For non-Microsoft applications and devices, you can either buy a ready-made Management Pack from a third party or build your own.
For example, if you really know what you're doing you could monitor VMWare with the product out of the box. But if you don't, or don't want to take the time, you can buy a third party SCOM add-on solution like those from:
Cool Tools
Hopefully these tools resonate with you. Maybe you didn't know about them. Or maybe you only had a vague sense that you should look into them more closely. But if you haven't done so yet, take my advice and make the effort to integrate these technologies into your own toolkit.
Written by Matthew Berg, Director of IT at Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C..
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