Heard of smartphones? How about a smart car?

If you’ve bought a car recently, you might be surprised to learn what’s going on ‘beneath the skin’! Over the past few years, we’ve adjusted to the expectation of MP3 capabilities in the stereo, iPhone integration, bluetooth handsfree for your mobile phone, integrated or third-party GPS navigation, and even Internet access directly from the screen of the onboard computer. A variety of cars have also started offering remote monitoring of your vehicle in case of theft, or to provide quick and accurate roadside assistance in the event of a breakdown.

Then, in recent years, we’ve started to see production vehicles come on the market with sophisticated ‘active cruise control’ which maintains a safe distance from the vehicle in front of you as you’re cruising on the freeway, and self-parking vehicles which can size up a parallel parking spot and park the vehicle for you, while you keep your hands off the steering wheel and let the car do the manoeuvring.

But now the latest wave of sophisticated integration has arrived! Did you know that, around certain facilities such as the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex and the Parkes Radio Telescope Dish, some radar cruise control systems are banned? The Mercedes Benz C-Class is smart enough, using it’s satellite navigation, to know where you are and automatically disable the active cruise control when you are within 3km of the Canberra facility, or within 10km of the Parkes Dish or the Narrabri Observatory.

Other cars will close your sunroof and/or windows if their rain sensors detect rain.

And, of course, most modern cars have a ‘black box’ much like a plane – it records a whole host of data such as accelerator pedal movements, braking, steering wheel position, and similar data which could assist a crash investigator to determine what you were doing with you car moments before you crashed.

4 Important Considerations when Designing Data Storage Solutions

Data is at the heart of your Information Technology systems – without it, your computers would just lie dormant and you’d be out of business. For many years, network engineers and IT support staff have simply added more capacity when required, selected faster drives if budget permitted, and implemented backup systems to protect against data loss. With modern technology including Solid State Drives (SSD), cloud backups, real-time time data compression appliances, and Automated Tiered Storage (ATS) far more sophisticated, efficient, and performance-oriented solutions are emerging.

So what are the key factors to consider when designing a data storage solution?

Performance

There are a number of issues that affect performance. The goal ultimately is to ensure maximum responsiveness to application and user demands at an appropriate cost. Solid State Drives, for example, have none of the latency that is inherent with conventional hard disk drives and have incredibly fast seek times. However, they cost many times more per gigabyte than HDDs, which in turn cost more per GB than tape storage. Whilst we might dream of having arrays piled to the ceiling with thousands of Terabytes of SSD storage, it’s not financially viable to do that, and in their current format SSD drives fit less storage into a 3.5″ form factor space than HDDs.

A well-designed storage solution could therefore consist of an array based on multiple SSD, HDD, optical, and tape media, and ATS (Automated Tiered Storage) technology can assess the requirements of your applications to shuffle data between the various media according to your pre-defined rules and based on evaluation of performance metrics. This enables your system to have the most frequently accessed data stored on high-performance SSD storage, whilst data which is in less demand is stored on conventional HDD, and data which is very infrequently used could be migrated on to optical or tape media. The result is a cost-effective solution which ensures that files needing higher performance are, on the whole, available from the SSD media.

Another solution to enhance performance might be based upon a RAID array which writes a single file in stripes across multiple drives, thereby allowing the read and write operations to occur in parallel via the heads of all the drives at the same time. RAID configurations are described as RAID 0 – RAID 6, and not all RAID configurations will enhance performance. Further, the nature of the types of files can influence which configuration you would select – for example, if you were processing large terabyte-sized video footage files your objective is high performance sequential access of data blocks, whereas thousands of random database accesses would be better suited to another form of RAID configuration.

Cost

As discussed above, performance comes at a cost. Frequently the performance considerations are closely interwoven with the cost drivers. If cost were not a factor, SSD would probably wipe out HDD very quickly! Therefore most of the performance discussion above can be applied equally to the cost arguments.

Redundancy

Having plenty of high-performance storage capacity is all great – until it fails. This is when redundancy becomes important. Redundancy refers to the ability of a system to have a fail-over mode in which it can continue to function in spite of a component failure. This might occur when an entire hard drives fails, or could also occur when a single bit of data becomes corrupted.

One of most basic systems to ensure storage redundancy is ‘mirroring’. In this situation, two identical storage sub-systems are configured as a master and slave, with the slave receiving an exact replica at all times of the master system. If the master were to fail, the slave could pick up and continue working whilst the master system is repaired.

However, as the volume of storage required by an organisation grows, mirroring every terabyte of storage can become too expensive to be feasible. So storage technology companies developed a range of sophisticated solutions. One of the most common over the past two decades has been RAID 5 hard disk arrays, in which a collection of at least 3 drives, and frequently as many as 5 or 6, are grouped together to form a single virtual device with in-built error protection using parity data to cross-check against errors in the system. In a RAID 5 array data is ‘striped’ across each of the drives in the array then a final ‘parity bit’ (a mathematical check on the previous string of data) is written to confirm the validity of the data. When either reading or writing the data, this parity bit is used to check and verify the accuracy of the data.

Most RAID 5 arrays are built with hot-swappable hard disk drives, allowing for a faulty disk drive to be removed from the system whilst it’s still powered up, and a replacement unit installed. Whilst the faulty drive is missing the system can calculate the absent data and, with slight performance degradation, allow the system to continue working uninterrupted. Once the replacement drive is inserted back into the system, the RAID controller will automatically rebuild the missing data on the new drive and the system will then return to normal functioning.

Other factors to consider in designing a redundant storage solution (yes, it’s bad grammar – but it’s the accepted IT terminology!) are not only the drives but also (in mission critical situations and scenarios like high-end data centres) dual controllers, power supplies, and even redundant infrastructure such as AC power, air-conditioning, and network routing.

Data Security

Again, there are a number of angles to data security. At the most obvious level, you can’t afford to lose your data. Perhaps some more so than others, but as a general principal you need reliable and effective data backups. For decades, the most common form of high-capacity backup has been removable tape media and this continues to be at the heart of most mission-critical data backup solutions. Tape libraries and/or robot tape loaders ensure that there is adequate storage capacity and that tapes are swapped over as required. Backup procedures also provide for the secure handling of these tape, and off-site storage as required. Using Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) or other rotation schedules, companies ensure a solid historical record of data going back for months, even years, enabling a company to ‘roll back’ if necessary to a data scenario prior to a given event (e.g. the infiltration of a virus).

However, there a wide range of other considerations nowadays as well. One of the most important is the loss or theft of data from a company. With the advent of portable/external USB-attached storage, flash media, notebook computers being used outside your office, and even company staff accessing the corporate information systems from their own home computer, the potential for data to be removed or corrupted is increasing dramatically. Your data security considerations may therefore include issues such as data encryption, encrypted pocket drives, policy-driven encryption of company laptops, audit trails and access restrictions on remote access of data, and even policy-based locked down and disabling of removable media on desktop computers.

Using cloud-based backups, companies are now finding new and creative solutions to ensure that a backup of their data is held offsite without requiring the physical transport of it or storage at a staff member’s home.

Hopefully the above has helped you recognise and start to evaluate your storage requirements in a more sophisticated manner. Are there issues that I haven’t discussed that you would like me to cover? Are there issues you’d disagree with? Or would you just like some advice on a particular scenario you’ve encountered? Please do comment on this post and I’d be delighted to respond, or email philip.brookes@techeffectiv.com for more specific advice.

Speeding up Word 2011 for Mac

If you’re running Microsoft Word 2011 on your Mac, it probably started out stupendously quick (by comparison with Word 2008 or earlier). However, for no obvious reason, it may now be slower to start up than watching grass grow. It seems to make no sense whatsoever.

Fortunately, there’s often a simple explanation and a quick fix that goes with it: duplicate fonts.

Mac OS X allows you to install more than one copy of any given font. You may have done this accidentally, and it’ll slow the system down. Here’s the basic steps to fix it:

1. Close Microsoft Word

2. Open Apple’s Font Book.

3. You’ll see a yellow triangle identifying an issue with a font and if you click on the font you’ll see the message ‘Multiple copies of this font are installed’.

4. When you click ‘Resolve Automatically’ Mac OS X will disable any duplicates, keeping just one active, or you can find the offending font in the Finder if you prefer to completely delete it. This is usually the best idea, as fonts that are kept hanging around on the hard drive get reactivated in various circumstances.

5. Restart your Mac. This will trigger it to rebuild the System font cache.

You can also run the command ‘Select Duplicated Fonts’ from the Edit menu, followed by the command ‘Resolve Duplicates’ from the edit menu.

It’s usually best to run with all your fonts enabled all the time. This is because every time you open Word, it compares its own cache with the System cache and will rebuild its own cache if they’re not the same, causing a significant lag at startup. If you’re switching fonts in and out using font sets, or dynamic fonts, Word will encounter discrepancies on a regular basis and this will frequently slow it down.

Security, scams, phishing: even major corporations can become victims

Just when you think you’ve seen them all, another online scam comes along demonstrating a remarkable level of creativity, and victimising the clients of a company without even directly breaching their own security!

Realestate.com.au is one of the largest real estate web sites in Australia, trusted by millions, and the go-to site for just about any form of residential or commercial real estate in the country. Thousands of reputable real estate agents use the site every day to list the properties they’re handling, and renters search the property listings with a sense of security knowing that, on the whole, the property listings are legitimate and being handled by a professional, licensed estate agent.

However, they’ve just been hit by a similar scam to one which is played out every day around the world via reputable web sites such as Craigslist or eBay. The devious ploy actually involved two scams in quick succession, and went a bit like this:

1. The scammers first did a tricky “phishing” exercise with legitimate real estate agents around Australia:

It has been brought to our attention that a number of real estate agents were targeted via a phishing scam which resulted in their realestate.com.au account login details being revealed to a third party. This enabled the third party to access agents accounts for the purpose of sending fraudulent emails to users of realestate.com.au

2. They then used the stolen credentials to create genuine-looking listings. The only hint that these were fakes (and I’m not sure whey they made this so obvious – perhaps to have people desperate to secure the property) was to have brilliant looking apartments listed at rental rates well below the going market rate – e.g. a fantastic 2 bedroom apartment in Melbourne CBD for only $250 per week.

3. When an interested party enquires via email, they receive a response indicating that you’re now dealing directly with the owner who has, due to a corporate promotion, had to move to Rome/London/wherever they feel like dreaming up for this one.

Hello,

Firstly I would like to thank you for your reply. I really appreciate that you’ve taken the time to answer me. I am the owner of the apartment with two bedrooms and two bathrooms located in 8 Bligh Pl, Melbourne, Vic 3000. It is still available for rental at $250 p/w, including utility bills, and is available for as long as you need it. The apartment is in excellent condition and is well equipped. I bought it in 2008 and lived there with my pet until last month. At that point I received a promotion which meant I needed to move to Rome/Italy.
The apartment has the following equipment and services: fridge, freezer, washing machine, tumble drier, iron, oven, toaster, coffee maker, vacuum cleaner, wide screen TV, cable TV with basic level access, ADSL internet and WiFi. There is a parking space for one car. I have spent a lot of money refurnishing the apartment, and would like to request that you treat it as if it was your own. I’m not trying to make a lot of money from renting the apartment. What I really want is to find a tenant who will take good care of it until I return. The minimum lease period is six months.
My contract in Rome runs until October 2015.
The fastest way to complete this rental agreement (within two working days) would be to use a worldwide delivery company, TNT ( www.tnt.com ). Working with them means you will be able to visit and view the apartment before I receive any payments from you. The keys are currently with me in Rome.
I’m hoping we can arrange a viewing as soon as possible and finalize the rental agreement.

Looking forward to hearing from.
Robyn Spinley
00198 Roma (RM)
Corso Trieste 61
spinleyr@gmail.com

Naturally, the name provided has been randomly picked from a real person’s identity who is blissfully unaware their name is being used in connection with an Internet scam. They’ve also picked TNT to try to hide behind a legitimate business which people may feel a sense of trust in.

4. Once you reply to this email asking how to proceed (if you haven’t already heard the alarm bells ringing), you receive another email:

This is how using TNT as an agent would work, and how it would protect us both.

Firstly you need to pay one month’s rent plus the deposit (a total amount of $2000)

1. You should send me your full name and address so that I can fill out the lease agreement and start the transaction.

2. I will send the keys and the signed lease contract using TNT two day delivery service.  They will then email you to let you know they have received these.

And providing they have received the payment from you they will release the keys and the lease contract to you.

3. You can then check out the apartment.

4. If you like it, all you need to do is instruct TNT to release your payment to me.

5. If you don’t like it, you should return the keys and lease contract to TNT and they will refund the payment you have made.

I hope that you’re OK with this and we can close the deal.

Thank you,

5. At this point, they’re now ready to start fleecing you of your personal information and, although we haven’t spoken to anybody who’s been ‘taken’ by this, we imagine they’d also send you a spoofed email appearing to come from TNT with banking details to deposit the money.

As you can see, this is a very clever ruse which plays on people’s emotional attachment to an apartment they could otherwise only dream of affording, and leverages the legitimacy of recognised names and sites including realestate.com.au, TNT, and the names of genuine real estate agencies.

Have you been a victim of something similar? Or is your company at risk of being ‘used’ in such a damaging way? We’d love to hear about it!

New online store

Techeffectiv are proud to announce the launch of our new online computer products & electronics store at www.techeffectiv.com.au.

The store offers a broad range of computer hardware and software products from major vendors including HP, Lenovo, Acer, Fuji Xerox, Cisco, and many more – with 1500 products already available, and more continually coming online, we look forward to supplying all your corporate and personal IT needs.

In addition to competitive pricing and prompt delivery from distribution centres in Melbourne and Sydney, our goal is to offer you a level of care that you don’t normally experience when shopping online. With our experienced network engineers and computer technicians, we are able to provide not only phone assistance but also onsite installation and support as required. We believe that our customer is paramount, and we’re always here to help you. The online store is designed to be an added convenience to our existing service-oriented business model, rather than the only method of dealing with us.

We’re conscious that there will be areas of the web site that will need to be refined and improved, and not every product you want is currently listed online. We therefore encourage you to contact us with any feedback and requests. We continue to provide our corporate clients with an Account Manager who will work with you to provide a quote on any custom requirements, and to advise and assist you in selecting suitable hardware and software.

As an introductory offer, we’re also giving away free USB memory sticks to anybody who ‘Likes’ our Facebook page and signs up for our ‘Hot Deal Alerts’ emails (limited to Australia only, until 14 December 2011). We encourage you to ‘Share’ this (via the Facebook page) with your Facebook friends so that they can also claim their own free USB memory stick.