1.

• Best Practices From

The Spiceworks IT Network

September 2008

Running A Sound IT Shop 2. What Well Cover I. What is Spiceworks? II. Where do these best practices come from? III.Running a sound SMB IT Shop 3.

www.spiceworks.com

What is Spiceworks?

Spiceworks answers:

• What do I have?

• Is it all working?

• What do I have to do?

Free Network Management Software For SMB 4. Who Uses Spiceworks? and 400,000 other SMB IT Pros... 5. The Value of the IT Network

What do others like me do?

What should I avoid?

Will it work in my industry?

How do I convince my boss?

What if I dont have the budget?

6. A Tour of the Community Home Page 7. Spiceworks Community

275+ Groups

Technology, Industry, Best Practices, and just for fun!

8. Conversations 9. SpiceLists 10. Ratings and Reviews 11.

community.spiceworks.com

Running A Sound IT Shop

Best Practices from the Spiceworks community

Options not prescriptions

Distilled from:

Discussions

Ratings and Reviews

SpiceLists

See for yourself and join the conversation

12. Sound SMB IT Shop I. Setting Up Your Network II. Setting Up Messaging III.Maintaining Your Shop IV.Supporting Your Users V. Documentation 13. Part I: Setting Up Your Network

Design Your Network

Select a topology

Select an addressing scheme

Select a machine naming convention

Server Rooms and Closets

Power / HVAC / Fire Supression / Running Cable

Connecting To The Internet

Security

Firewalls / VPN / User Access Control

14. Part I: Naming Your PCs

Department-port numberRoomname-numberAsset NumberUsername+ modelSite-Device-OS-asset tagAirport Code - OS TypeSchool type-teacher-room-idUser InitialsDepartment - Job Title

15. Part I: Setting Up Your Network

Design Your Network

Select a topology

Select an addressing scheme

Select a machine naming convention

Server Rooms and Closets

Power / HVAC / Fire Supression / Running Cable

Connecting To The Internet

Security

Firewalls / VPN / User Access Control

16. Part I: Network Closets How does your network closet look? 17. Part I: Network Closets We asked.... 18. Part I: Running Cable

Label both ends

Number (jack #)

Purpose (WAN / Router / AD Server, etc)

Color code cables

(Servers - blue, etc)

Label Voice and Data separately

19. Part I: Designing A Server Room

Raised FloorProper GroundingFire supressionPhysical SecurityCheck door sizeCoolingTemperature Monitoring

20. Part I: Setting Up Your Network

Design Your Network

Select a topology

Select an addressing scheme

Select a machine naming convention

Server Rooms and Closets

Power / HVAC / Fire Supression / Running Cable

Connecting To The Internet

Security

Firewalls / VPN / User Access Control

21. Part I: Connecting To The Internet

Determining Capacity Needs

Selecting an ISP

• Price / Performance / Reputation

Service Level Agreements

• Document outages

22. Part I: Setting Up Your Network

Design Your Network

Select a topology

Select an addressing scheme

Select a machine naming convention

Server Rooms and Closets

Power / HVAC / Fire Supression / Running Cable

Connecting To The Internet

Security

Firewalls / VPN / User Access Control

23. Part I: User Access Control

Authentication

• Active Directory

• OpenLDAP

User Name / Password schemes

Policies

24. Part I: User Name Schemes Plan For Growth. Avoid Problems Later First Initial Last Name jsmith First Initial, Middle Initial, First 5 characters of last name jhsmith First 5 chars of last name, 2 chars of first name smithjo First Name.Last Name John.Smith First char of First Name First 2 chars of Last Name JSM / JS2 / JS3 Department, machine type, initials, computer # DeLaJS01 25. Sound SMB IT Shop I. Setting Up Your Network II. Setting Up Email III.Maintaining Your Shop IV.Supporting Your Users V. Documentation 26. Part II: Setting Up Email

Hosted vs Internal Email Server SoftwareAnti-Spam Hosted vs Internal

• Hosted vs Internal

27. Part II: Hosted vs Internal

Why? FeaturesCost Why Not? PrivacyBandwidth

• PrivacyBandwidth

PrivacyBandwidth

• PrivacyBandwidth

Buying Guide / Reviews 28. Part II: Setting Up Messaging

Hosted vs Internal Email Server Software Anti-Spam Hosted vs Internal

Hosted vs Internal

Hosted vs Internal

• Hosted vs Internal

29. Part II: Email Server Software

Exchange

MDaemon

Lotus Notes

Zimbra

Kerio

and 25 others...

30. Part II: Setting Up Messaging

Hosted vs InternalEmail Server Software Anti-Spam Hosted vs Internal

Hosted vs Internal

Hosted vs Internal

• Hosted vs Internal

31. Part II: Anti-Spam Solutions Buying Guide / Reviews SpiceList 32. Sound SMB IT Shop I. Setting Up Your Network II. Setting Up Messaging III. Maintaining Your Shop IV.Supporting Your Users V. Documentation 33. Part III: Maintaining Your Shop

Backup

• Hosted vs internal backupBackup softwareMonitoring your network

• Monitoring your network

Monitoring your network

34. Part III: Backup Strategy

Select a backup strategyDetermine systems that need protectionDetermine RTOSet up backup schedulesPerform, monitor, and test backups

35. Part II: Online Storage Cable Contest Submission Product Pages / Comparisons 36. Part III: Maintaining Your Shop

Hosted vs internal backup Backup software Monitoring your network

37. Part II: Backup Software Best investment we ever made, easiest and most reliable way to backup and restore servers or even migrate to VMware... Acronis True Image Enterprise Server JB Awesome for recovery and can be used for incrementals to mount image to pull just one file.Easier than ghost! adamroof 38. Sound SMB IT Shop I. Setting Up Your Network II. Setting Up Messaging III.Maintaining Your Shop IV. Supporting Your Users V. Documentation 39. Part IV: Supporting Your Users

Why Use A Help Desk?

• Centralized

• Communication

• Reporting

How Do You Get Your Users To Use A Help Desk!

40. Part IV: Help Desk Adoption

Create shortcuts and bookmarksPriority for help desk ticketsNew user orientationManagement supportTough Love

41. User Avoidance Techniques 42. Sound SMB IT Shop I. Setting Up Your Network II. Setting Up Messaging III.Maintaining Your Shop IV.Supporting Your Users V. Documentation 43. Part V: Documentation

Developing a Runbook

• How everything works on your network

Keep it up to date

• Version control

Keep it secure

44. Part V: Documentation 45.

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