Real SMB IT: DNS, MX, What Is It? (And Why Should I Care?)

Could your business be kicked completely off the Internet?

The answer is yes!By kicked off the Internet, I mean invisible. Impossible to find.

So lets start with a little background.

At its most basic, all computers on the Internet communicate with each other with a unique number called an Internet Protocol (IP) address. As an analogy, just imagine this number as similar to a phone number.

But! when you visit a Web Site, or send an e-mail, you are using words, not numbers. you type in the www.yourcompany.com, or you send me an email by typing elliotross@company_name.ca

Since the computers communicate with each other via IP address numbers, and we humans prefer text and words, something is needed to translate those human readable words, into the machine readable numbers.

Enter DNS!

If you think of a phone book, you look up the words Elliot Ross which points to the listing for my telephone number. The domain naming system (DNS) provides a similar ability for our computers to translate human readable text we type into the machine IP address.

If you want to see this in action, simply open your Web Browser and paste these numbers into the address bar: 74.125.45.100

You will see the Google Web Site appear. (at least at the time of this writing!) I say at the time of this writing, because the machine readable number can be changed, and just like the phone book, If I change my phone number, as long as Elliot Ross is pointed to that new phone number – you won’t have any problem.

That little MX just stands for Mail eXchanger, in other words, when you send me an e-mail, that little MX tells the internet that to reach me by e-mail, “send that e-mail to this server over here!”

And Why Should You Care?

The first and easiest, if you think you cannot get on the Internet when you type in a company name, DNS problems are a common source of the issue.

But that is NOT what this is about

A SMB that I am acquainted with had an issue where an unknown individual tried to hi-jack that DNS information from them, and make it point to servers that were not associated with their business.

To continue with my phone book analogy, imagine that when you look up my name, the phone number that my name points to is yours, not mine.

So I would never get any calls.

Except on the Web, it is not missing some phone calls, it means that you completely disappear from the Internet. No Web Site, no e-mail. Nada.

There are checks and balances to make this difficult to do, but it goes to emphasize;

You must make sure all critical information about your on-line presence is owned by you.

Not your supplier.

Not your contractor.

That includes the contact information for your Internet domain and its DNS records. They may help you set that information up, but the contact name and information must be yours.

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Photo Credit merfam via flickr

Real SMB IT: Do you know who your web developer is?

OK, it sounds like a ridiculous question!

But lets look at this seriously for a moment. At some time in the past you hired a firm to build a Web Site for you. Unfortunately you have not touched it in years.

Perhaps from reading this blog (OK, most likely because one of your peers or staffers convinced you) you realize that it it is time to give that poor old Web Site a face lift.

So! where do we start?

Well, if you are like most SME’s, your Web Site is probably hosted with a third party hosting provider.

Great, who is that provider? and where?

Next, modifying that Web Site needs a log in ID and password, do you have it?

If there is some custom code using Flash or other products, do you have that source code?

Your Web Site, You Own It!

Lets back up a bit.

When you do printed brochures or marketing materials, do you maintain the original copy so that you can you can use any print shop? or are you hostage to one print shop that has all of your proofs?

I doubt it is option number 2.

So consider this a list of the key pieces you need to maintain and monitor when dealing with contractors on Web Site work.

* The web hosting provider must be chosen by you. Sure you can go with a recommendation, but the account is yours. The contact information is yours. Do not allow any contracting firm to just say that they will host it for you.

* Your domain name, or Web address is yours. You must own it, you must get the notification e-mails when it needs renewing, your name must appear on the contact information for it. Again, your contractors name and contact information must not be there. They do  not own or supply that domain name.

* Your contract with a Web design firm must clearly state that they are only contractors and that the data and code and Web Site content belongs to you.

* Your Web design firm must provide you with the source code for all work done on the Web Site. If that contractor is not meeting your expectations, you are free to take your business to another contractor.

* If they place pictures or video on the Web site, either you must provide them, or they must provide proof that the image is not a stolen copyrighted image.

The SMB Takeaway

Contracting for Web site creation is no different than contracting to have your kitchen remodeled. The contractor does not own your kitchen, you do.

Your Web site is no different.

Utility Computing: And What’s In A Word?

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I believe that computing will become more utility oriented. That there will be less reliance on what we currently look at as internal technology infrastructure.

My belief in this came about in the mid 80’s when I read that every automobile manufactured in North America had more computing power built into it than the NASA moon shots.

If you have read Nicholas Carr’s IT Doesn’t Matter you will notice one key difference, I never saw it as the world of software that we currently have, the way I saw it back then was along the lines of intelligent hardware devices. Similar to the “smart” thermostats in most new homes.

This type of Utility IT has often been compared to electricity – just plug it in, and pay by the sip. I have used that analogy myself.

But there is an excellent warning by Andrew McAfee, formerly at Harvard, now MIT. He argues that we should not try to simplify this concept down to the simplicity of an analogy like electricity.

His argument is that even in a more utility environment, IT is not as simple as 110 or 220 volts (North America) coming out of a socket. There is no decision to made there, no decisions or management is required around an electrical socket.

So using terms like electricity may overly simplify, or “dumb down” our thinking of IT.

And that is dangerous.

When was the last time you talked about electricity at a management meeting?

Exactly!

And even if get your IT through a wall jack (eg Salesforce.com)  There are still management decisions that must be made. We use technology to create or consume information. To do that there are work flows, business processes and certain business metrics and capabilities.

All of these will still demand management attention, demand decisions, and need to be top of mind for all businesses.

So, you can consider me a convert!

Will more and more of our IT resources continue to come from outside our walls? Yes,

But will you be able to plug in a cable and by magic have exactly the information, processes and work flows just appear? No!

It will still need management attention – lots of it.

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Have A Busy Holiday!

OK, maybe a bit cynical!

I have written before on this blog that I don’t even have much of a data centre.

As many of the applications we provide are pretty much 24-7, I outsource the physical servers to a large provider that has the 24-7 Network Operations Centre experience.

One issue (that I have also mentioned) with this model, is the famous (or notorious?) upgrade process.

When you have your own servers, in your own data centre, you purchase and install your new server or servers. You then can stage your migration from old server to new server in what ever time frame and order that you wish.

And when all is done, close down the old server.

A Forklift Upgrade

In a hosted model, your old server cannot co-habitate for too long with the new server.

Simply; You are paying for both – but generating revenue from one.

The Skinny

I have a major upgrade kicking off over the holiday (tentatively starting the 24th) that is an upgrade of both hardware, and many databases to a new database engine version.

We are hoping to have the whole thing pre-tested, migrated, and post tested in two to three weeks.

I am sure that there will be some gotcha’s that appear.

I plan for them, But I still can hope not!

Virtualization – What SME’s Want

Courtesy of the Ottawa Network and Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP I had the opportunity to attend a casual panel on the concept of virtualization.

The technology aspects of the discussion ranged from abstracting hardware right up through the application layer and the current buzzword of cloud computing.

But for the my audience in the SMB / SME space.  Outside of the panelists, there were two questions that I found say it all,

He Says; IT Doesn’t Matter

Just Plug It In

One gentleman, (A small business owner) whose name I was not able to get, asked when he would just plug in a display type of device into a wall and have his computing environment.

(If I was able to, I would have given him copies of Nicholas Carr’s IT Doesn’t Matter and the Big Switch )

She Says; She Can’t Give it Away

The second interesting point was from Fay Khazai, President of a SMB that supplies a software suite for some SMB verticals.

These business are reluctant to use her hosted offering – for one reason. They cannot rely on their internet connections.

These SMB’s rely on lower end offerings connectivity from their providers such as DSL and cable for their internet connections. No connection – no business.

There you have the SMB dichotomy. Can I give you an answer for this?

No, sorry I cannot.

Panelists:

Mike Kemp: CTO Liquid Computing

Jean-Marc Seguin: Chief Architect, Embotics

Miro Adamy: Founder, Thinknostic

Socket Image Credit

Internet Image Credit

Managed Hosting For SMB’s

Karen Schwartz has an article on eWeek Midmarket called Managed hosting may reduce costs for SMBs.

The article references a white paper by a hosting provider. I found that it leaves out some more basic information for SMB managers who may be evaluating hosting. I have used several types of hosting over the years, and there are key differences.

This will be about traditional hosting, not the current market in virtual hosting. The traditional hosting models usually fit into these categories;

Colocated Server

In a server colocation hosting agreement, the hosting provider physically sells (or leases) the server platform to you. The physical server is then installed in their data center. The hosting provider maintains the power, security, fast and redundant Internet circuit speeds and will usually service hardware failures.

But all software and server software maintenence (ie security patches) are your responsibility.

The benefit is that you maintain complete control of your platform, with the benefits of the high availability and redundancy that the provider has built into their data center.

Co-Managed Server

In this form of hosting, the hosting provider leases you the server, and again, the physical server is then installed in their data center. In a co-managed scenario you have negotiated roles regarding server maintenance. For example, the hosting provider may do the maintenance of the Operating System, or the database engine.

You remain responsible for your tools or applications that are installed on the server. If you have custom applications, or complex applications that you can modify – this will be what the hosting provider will want. Simply becasue they cannot be responsible if your internal developers blow up the application from poor coding practices.

Managed Server

A fully managed server environment has the provider fully maintain the server environment. You just use the server. While this requires the least work on your part, it also has the least flexibility. Simply because to ensure that you don’t kill the server and cost them money fixing it, only limited supported applications (ie a web application) are supported. If you wish to add anything (ie support for an environment such as PHP),it is to the negotiating table with your provider to see if it is a suported environment.

Which is the Right Choice?

The choices all come down to your needs. The less you need to change any server configuration, the more fully managed it can be.

I have posted previously that we currently outsource hosting to a third party. In our case we are using the co-managed model. The hosting provider takes care of operating system updates and database backup etc.

Our on-line LCMS (learning Content Managent System) tools require frequent updates and modifications, so we maintain those.

A Good Reason To Outsource Anti-SPAM

As reported by e-Week in this article called Backscatter Spam is Back. A recent report by Symantec outlines a resurgence in an old SPAM attack vector called “backscatter”.

How it works is this, you accidentally miss-spell a friends email address, that friends email server sends you back a message called an NDR, (or Non-Delivery Report) saying something like “email address xyz@company.com does not exist.”

In your case – you realize that you spelled the email address incorrectly, so you send it again.

However, in some cases, by using that NDR functionality, these SPAM operators can manipulate the FROM email address fields of their SPAM messages, send it to that email server, and just let that email server do all the work of forwarding it all over the world.

As well as the extra load and bandwidth that can cause your network to grind to a slow death, there is the risk that because the NDR contains a “real” name of “you@yourcompany.com”, some of your partners or suppliers anti-spam tools may allow that to pass to those same partners.

(Out-of-Office Messages can be manipulated in this same way)

As the above article states, correct configuration of your email server goes a long way in protecting your from this, but to help that along, make sure that you have an excellent internal or hosted anti-spam system. Stop the crap before it even reaches your email server. I use a hosted service that costs a couple of dollars per mailbox. Well worth it.

The numbers change weekly, but Symantec states that currently about 80 + percent of email on the Internet is SPAM. You know some is coming at you, you don’t want your email server helping them out.

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