@pmoncho That's an interesting idea.

@JaredBusch said in Anyone want to use enclosed shopping malls as colo facilities?:

Just no idea if something like that could be updated enough for a low enough price to be cost effective.

This is the big question!

HIPAA doesn't require encryption.

However, if your chosen encryption method meets the FIPS 140-2 standards, HIPAA will provide a safe harbor for you in the event of a data breach.

The problem is that FIPS 140-2 compliance is time consuming and not cost effective for most remote access developers/providers.

@scottalanmiller said in Meeting software - how do you handle it?:

Saying that it is your job to do the impossible simply means that they are not giving you a job description. No one's job is to actually do the impossible.

Rarely is it impossible; this whole topic is an example of how it is possible.

It's important to remember that "bosses" don't usually ask you to do the impossible, in fact they may not realize it when they say "fix it", that they are really saying "Do something, so I can do this thing, and get on with my day".

I'm sure Dashrender's boss was thinking "This is supposed to work, and I can't get it to work. I'll re-schedule this meeting and have Dashrender get me hooked up."

There was likely no thought about whether it was broke, or the vendor's fault, or Dash's fault, etc. She just wanted it working and she knew Dash would be able to do something to get her into that meeting.

And lookie here..... With this new info in his toolbox, Dash will show 5 minutes before the rescheduled meeting and get her online. Viola!

If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it's that you really need to decipher the true meaning behind a persons words when they ask for IT help. It's pretty rare that we get someone asking us to fix problem 'XYZ" when the problem actually is "XYZ". We usually have to ask several questions to find out what there real issue is.

So my point is, when she asked Dash fix it, she wasn't telling him it was broke, she was asking him to resolve her current dilemma.

If I told every person who expected us to "fix" it, that it's someone else's problem (when it really is; like in this topic) to deal with, and to call them, I would have lost my business decades ago.

@scottalanmiller said in Meeting software - how do you handle it?:

We don't push back on our customers, because they pay by the hour for our wasted time.

People tell me all the time, at the end of a support call, that I am the most patient techie they have ever dealt with....... this is why

We have several shopping malls across the US as clients. They are divided among a couple of different owners.

One of the owners approached us to inquire about the possibility of leasing space to co-location businesses.

These are enclosed shopping malls, like those built in the 70s. They all had "Majors" or "Anchors" which have left and now there hundreds of thousands of sqft (think Macy's, JC Penney, Sears, Crowleys, etc) sitting empty. Wide open spaces with power and climate controlled.

I know little about the COLO business, I'm just a customer of Co-Lo facilities.

If any of you, or friends of yours would be interested in a conversation with the man who is spear-heading this (who also knows nothing about Co-Los), please contact me and I'll put you in touch.

@IRJ said in Why big ISPs aren’t happy about Google’s plans for encrypted DNS:

this makes search engine data much more valuable

Follow the money, right? Good catch!

@scottalanmiller said in What problems can you solve on a quantum annealer?:

lowest energy state

So is this like the "Green New Deal"? Only better? (sorry, couldn't help myself....)

Did you try the DirectoryCacheLifetime I mentioned in chat?

I got aclose up view of her tattoo.

@scottalanmiller I like the idea. I LOVE cities, and have no problem being without a car. Have even done it in other countries too.

What are the reasons for going carless? My first thought is expense and storage (garage). And my answer to that is, buy a teeny car (like a smart car, or a Chevy Bolt) and only use it as a last resort. For family trips, just rent from Enterprise, they'll bring it to you.

We have a Bolt and not only do we all love it, (it's so zippy and easy to park), the maintenance is near $0.00

We live on the outskirts of a large metro area and because I have to visit customers regularly, I can't do this. If Lyft and Uber were more reliable, I could give it a go, but it is hard to get one on short notice here.

I'm purposely not going too deep, because there are so many talking points on this topic that could lead the original question astray....

But, I do love the idea, and would do it myself if I could. This is not unlike my deep evaluation about whether we cut "cut-the-cord" on TV service. Didn't do it, but would have it it made sense from every angle.

@dbeato said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@JasGot said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@CCWTech said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@JasGot said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@CCWTech said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@scottalanmiller I just had a phone conversation with Craig at Backup Assist (they are members of this forum I believe). They are in the process of rolling out a product that may fit our needs. He's going to do some research and schedule a call. I will keep you in the loop.

Just curious, what is unique about your needs that their Multisite Manager didn't address?

I'm not sure. When Craig called me and asked about what I was looking for, he mentioned that they are coming out with a new product in the very near future that may work the best. I haven't explored any further than that at this point.

Based on our conversation here, this may be all you need.
https://www.backupassist.com/multisitemanager.html

BackupAssist however is just a wrapped Management of Windows Server Backup, I used to recommend it but ever since using Veeam I have not moved back. The free version is phenomenal of the Veeam Backup Agent and if you have Exchange or SQL you can still pay for it or use the free up to 10 Community edition.

It's so much more than a wrapper.

@CCWTech said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@JasGot said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@CCWTech said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@scottalanmiller I just had a phone conversation with Craig at Backup Assist (they are members of this forum I believe). They are in the process of rolling out a product that may fit our needs. He's going to do some research and schedule a call. I will keep you in the loop.

Just curious, what is unique about your needs that their Multisite Manager didn't address?

I'm not sure. When Craig called me and asked about what I was looking for, he mentioned that they are coming out with a new product in the very near future that may work the best. I haven't explored any further than that at this point.

Based on our conversation here, this may be all you need.
https://www.backupassist.com/multisitemanager.html

@CCWTech said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@scottalanmiller I just had a phone conversation with Craig at Backup Assist (they are members of this forum I believe). They are in the process of rolling out a product that may fit our needs. He's going to do some research and schedule a call. I will keep you in the loop.

Just curious, what is unique about your needs that their Multisite Manager didn't address?

@CCWTech I hear they have been in contact with you. Let us know how your demo goes.

I have no affiliation with them other than being a long time customer. We have their products installed on every server we manage.

@CCWTech said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

Reaching out (again) to BackupAssist. trying to get a demo going.

Send me you contact info. I'll also ask them to come here......

@scottalanmiller said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@coliver said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

If the servers could be configure to reach out so there would be no need to open ports... that would be cool.

Yeah

BackupAssist does it this way.

@scottalanmiller said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@Obsolesce said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@scottalanmiller said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@Obsolesce said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@scottalanmiller said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@Obsolesce said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@scottalanmiller said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@Obsolesce said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

@CCWTech said in MSP Backup Product - Local Storage:

I'm looking for a backup product for Microsoft Hyper-V VM's. (In this case running Windows VM's).

I need a central point of management, the ability to back up to local storage as well as a NAS, optional cloud storage would be nice.

No on prem 'appliance' for the backup wanted, just a software solution.

I've been using Altaro but found out today that you can't even do a file level restore unless you have a Server OS

The built-in Windows Server Backup with Windows Admin Center seems to fit these requirements.

I can't get WAC to connect to a single server reliable, let alone multiple servers on different domains across the Internet. Wouldn't this require a VPN connecting every company to each other? Seems like an incredible risk and crazy cumbersome. How else does WAC see the machines?

If you read, you'd see I was responding to the original post, which I didn't notice any mention of cross site, cross client, cross internet, etc.

The entire thread is about an MSP "multi site / multi tenant" approach. That's the context of the whole thing.

Heh, what do ya know. It is!

WAC would be great if there was some WAC API for centralizing WAC management.

WAC does allow easy backup and replication to Azure.

Everything backups up to the cloud or a hosting environment, it's the management from a central location that no one seems to have.

BackupAssist does.

We like BackupAssist.

Backs up to Local, NAS, RSYNC, FTP, RDX, USB Drives, Private Cloud, Public Cloud, iSCSI, Tape, etc....
All with Central Management.

Been using them for 10 years or more. Have it installed on over a hundred servers right now. We also VERY much prefer the way it detects Ransomware over other providers (like Unitrends).

We use it mostly for RDX and iSCSI, but have jobs for every destination available if you look at all the installs.

https://www.backupassist.com

My closest to any of theses is Juneau Alaska. Didn't make the list, but before their JAWS system to measure wind shear off the mountains, it was a difficult landing to say the least. It used to require a 180 degree turn during last stages of descnet.