IT-Service Arno Lehmann
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Software to keep your Business running

Backup
Monitoring

Once you have more than one computer that needs to be running correctly you need some strategy to make sure everything works as it should be. You will want to be informed of any case where a vital service is unavailable, and you want to make sure you can recover after any sort of disaster strikes. And either case will happen, sooner or later: Hardware fails, software has bugs, and people make errors..

So, you need the right tools that take the work out of observing and caring...

Backup

If you depend on your data, you need a reliable backup solution.

In many cases, bacula is the solution you need:

• Open source: no license costs, security can be audited.
• Wide range of supported operating systems: Linux, BSD, unixes, Mac OSX, Microsoft Windows (only as a client).
• Network support: Backup any supported system reachable by network.
• Support for a wide variety of backup media: Harddisk, tape, CD + DVD.
• Reliability: Even if all else fails, you can access the backup volumes as well as the metadate without the bacula core programs.
• Scalability: The same software works for single computers as well as networks with dozens of systems to back up.
• High quality support, both from the main developer and from a number of well-informed users.
• An extensive manual documenting all the settings and tweaks and giving helpful examples.
• Stable development with a dedication to stability in the first place.
• A history of improvements and a roadmap for future enhancements.
• Many more – see the manual and the website

Although there are features still missing, compared to the big backup software from vendors like Veritas, bacula supports the features most businesses expect.

For more information, the Bacula web site is the best starting point.

If you want to know how bacula can support your IT systems and are located in northern Germany, contact me and arrange for a more in-depth introduction. Or, have a look at what I offer concerning data backup. Further reading in German, though.

Monitoring

Once you have more networked equipment than you can see from your desk, or you have external services like your web site or mail server to monitor, youu need something to help you. Nagios is network monitoring tool than can be tailored to your needs. Checking of hosts, services and connectivity are the basics, and flexible notifications, a simple web interface and detailed reporting add to that.

Using extensions, you can store data and events to allow for more detailed historical reports.

Information, downloads and manuals are best found on the the Nagios web site.

If you want to have your services monitored or you want to set up your own in-house monitoring system (and are located in northern Germany) contact me.