Opensource applications in cloud platforms

TC "Network Technologies" invites IT specialists, web-developers, developers of scalable systems, developers and administrators of network services, as well as other IT specialists: IT-architects, network and system engineers, IT security specialists for a special practical training on the development of open source applications in cloud platforms. The event is supported by Microsoft Ukraine.

Recently, the term "cloud computing" has become very popular. He is talked about everywhere: in blogs, in the news, in magazines and newspapers, at numerous seminars and trainings, on forums and on mailing lists.

However, despite the overabundance of information and advertising hype, much remains in the fog. The fog makes it difficult to see the clouds.

There are many questions: aws solution architect associate salary

What is a cloud platform? What is actually behind this term? What are the differences between different approaches to organizing cloud systems? What is the fundamental difference between IaaS, PaaS, SaaS? What it is?

What are the main cloud service providers today? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each of them?

How difficult is it to run your application in the cloud? What needs to be done for this?

In general, is it possible to take an open source application, change it as you want, and make it work in the cloud? What do you need for this?

How much is it? Is it advisable?

Does it make sense to move part of your already existing infrastructure to the cloud? If so, which one? What problems can this be associated with?

How can you quickly use the power of the cloud to solve your urgent task, or simply overcome the peak load with its help?

And most importantly, can we now, right now, without delay, take and start our application from scratch from scratch?

Using a pen, a lick, Internet access and nothing else, solve a problem for which others will need a data center with hundreds of servers:

Analyze a multi-terabyte dataset?

Calculate and render a 3D movie?

Pinching ten thousand photographs?

Launch a model of a projected computer network with thousands of computers, routers and firewalls and test how it will behave?

Build a website that can handle a peak load of tens or hundreds of thousands of hits per second?

During the day we will try to answer all these questions, using practical examples to show the real capabilities of cloud systems.

The fog should disappear, only clouds should remain.

Listeners:

The training is designed for:

IT specialists,

web developers,

developers of scalable systems,

developers and administrators of network services,

as well as other IT specialists: IT architects, network and system engineers, IT security specialists.

The training is aimed at those who:

Experienced in the development and use of scalable network applications, but have a cursory or no experience with cloud architecture systems;

Experienced in developing and using scalable network applications on some cloud architecture systems, most notably Amazon EC2 and Google AppEngine, and who wanted to get to know other cloud systems.

Requirements for initial training of participants:

Understanding of the basic concepts behind the Internet and the Web (TCP / IP protocol stack, HTTP protocol, client / server model) and scalable systems;

Experience with network services;

Minimal programming experience;

Basic knowledge of at least one scripting programming language is a plus.

Dates and times:

June 16-21, 2013

November 24-29, 2013 

from 9:30 to 17:30. The duration of the event is one day!

Participation fee:  free, subject to prior registration

Location: Kiev, st. Degtyarevskaya 48, office 411, Training Center "Network Technologies"

Contact information:

Olga Yurchenko, TechExpert company

e-mail: oyurchenko@techexpert.ua; tel .: +38 (044) 390-73-36 (ext. 633)

Limitations:

Participation of students is not provided

No more than one representative can participate from 1 company

The main objectives of the training:

show the advantages of cloud architectures over traditional ones;

highlight the main advantages and disadvantages of various cloud platforms such as Amazon EC2, Microsoft Windows Azure, Google App Engine and others;

show the ease of development and implementation of new applications, as well as porting existing ones to cloud platforms;

Demonstrate the ease of integrating applications running on cloud platforms with applications running on traditional systems;

interest in the breadth of capabilities of cloud platforms and encourage further exploration and experimentation with it.

Description

The training consists of two parts:

theoretical-practical

practical *

The first part discusses various principles of approaches to building cloud architecture systems: IaaS, PaaS and SaaS; demonstrates the capabilities of each type of cloud system. More detailed attention is paid to IaaS and PaaS platforms, such as Amazon EC2, Google App Engine and Microsoft Windows Azure, the device and the purpose of its main components, the procedure for working with the system (registration, initial setup, application implementation, testing, use) are considered.

In the second part, the training participants install and launch their own application.

Practical examples are discussed based on various programming languages, including:

Python;

PHP;

JavaScript / Node.js.

Summary:

Overview of various cloud solutions and architectures

Brief comparison of IaaS / PaaS systems with each other

Main components of IaaS / PaaS systems

Virtual machine

Storage

Map / Reduce

Load balancing

Content delivery

SQL-Databases in cloud systems

NoSQL databases in cloud systems

Practical examples of using cloud systems

Cloud-based file service

Working with NoSQL databases in cloud platforms

Big data processing with MapReduce algorithms in a cloud platform

Scalability + Automatic load balancing

Using a cloud platform for storing backups

About the instructor

Igor Chubin has been an instructor at the Network Technologies Training Center since 2002.

Main directions:

Opensource systems (Unix / Linux) and virtualization systems (Xen, VMware);

Cloud systems (Amazon EC2 and Google AppEngine);

Web Development (Python / Django, JavaScript / Node.js / Backbone.js);

NoSQL databases (MongoDB, Redis, Hadoop);

Development of UNIX / Linux applications (Python, Perl, C).

Certified Linux Specialist (LPI-3, the first in the former USSR).

Since 2002, he has conducted over 250 trainings on UNIX / Linux systems and virtualization systems for several thousand IT specialists, system administrators and developers from Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and other CIS countries.

Developed more than 20 original trainings, including programs for landfills commissioned by Hewlett-Packard, Citrix and others.

Created and is developing the xgu.ru Internet portal intended for knowledge exchange on UNIX / Linux systems, opensource systems, virtualization systems and programming for these systems.

*  Each student will need a valid Windows Azure test account to complete the practice. You can create such an account in advance by simply following the instructions on the Windows Azure website . To do this, you need a credit card with the ability to make payments via the Internet to verify your identity.

Webinar "Revelations of the Staff Chronoanalyst"

There are many ways to look into the future, many of which are so technologically advanced that they are indistinguishable from magic. Great topic for Halloween discussion, right?

So, October 31, at 12:00 am in Kiev we invite you to join the webinar "Revelation staff hronoanalitika: how to predict the future by having access to the past", which will be discussed topic  of divination  analysis of aggregate business information and forecasting the development of the situation in the future

Webinar program

Clark's Three Laws

Intuition: from Plato to the present day

Fertility rituals in business, or Divination on dashboards

Forward into the future, or is it hard to predict without an almanac, Marty?

Business strategy in numbers: choosing the best option.

Comparing model predictions.

Stages of implementation of business intelligence systems.

Webinar for those who: aws architect salary

suspects that he does not know something about his business;

does not have time or does not dare to deal with new (for himself) methods of information analysis;

wants to correct or prevent fundamental mistakes in the development strategy;

looking for new ideas or approaches to improve / speed up / simplify the work of an analyst, marketer, financier or sales specialist of any rank;

implements or plans to implement systems of reports, analytics, forecasting.

What's new in Microsoft 365 Business

Modern business is dynamic and complexly organized. Even small businesses have remote subdivisions and representative offices or, for example, points of sale located over a large territory. Companies often employ mobile and remote employees. Cloud services help to optimize interactions within companies, create new opportunities for employees for effective work and professional growth, unite specialists into a single team, working harmoniously to solve business problems.

Microsoft 365 Business cloud applications simplify the company's IT infrastructure and make the provision of IT services stable and continuous, and significantly improve security performance. Provides the ability to work with classic versions of office software Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access and Publisher on personal computers, as well as with web-versions of these software products. At the same time, the results of work on employees' devices and in the cloud are synchronized. Based on the functionality of SharePoint as part of Microsoft 365 Business, effective work with corporate information is organized, it is possible to create internal and external websites without involving programmers architect pay rate.

The solution provides a reliable email service for collaboration and organization of communications both between employees within the company and with clients. Video conferencing software helps employees conduct full meetings, discuss tasks, plan and work with documents as easily as if they were in the same room.

The business works where the customers are. Mobile workers connected to the cloud-based Microsoft 365 Business can use all Office 365 apps and email, plus 1TB OneDrive storage. Even while on the move, they fully work with documents, communicate comfortably with clients and partners by mail, using instant messaging programs, audio and video communications. Notably, OneDrive's secure vault functionality provides an even more secure "Personal Vault" that is accessed through two-factor authentication. In it, users can store especially important data.

Many growing companies are realizing the benefits of working with remote workers or freelancers. Microsoft's cloud-based business applications provide them with the same convenient and secure software tools to work with as office workers. You can also work safely with them on devices that belong to employees.

Microsoft 365 Business delivers industry-leading malware protection. Automatic comprehensive implementation of security policies in stationary and mobile workplaces, timely installation of software updates increases the security of working with services. Data encryption on employee devices significantly reduces the risk of data leakage.

The Training Center "Networking Technologies" teaches courses for employees of enterprises and organizations on how to work effectively in Microsoft 365 Business. It also provides knowledge and skills in administering the solution, ensuring information security of users and protecting corporate data.

Digital Revolution 2020: Ten Best Practices for CIOs

The state of uncertainty that has accompanied digital transformation for several years has changed with the proclamation of an orientation toward the "enterprise of the future", IDC said. So what does the future hold for IT organizations?

The current state of digital enterprises can be summed up in the words of renowned science fiction writer William Gibson, "The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed."

While some of the CIOs have plunged into the nirvana of hyperspeed, hyperscale, and hyperconnectedness, others are grappling with the fragmentation of digital transformation initiatives, and are being hit by competitors and other market forces.

Payback time for digital CIOs has yet to come, but they have little room to maneuver. Competitors are stepping up their digital efforts. Under these conditions, CIOs can and should take concrete steps to create the digital "enterprise of the future."

Predictions based on IDC FutureScape: Worldwide CIO Agenda 2020 Predictions provide up-to-date information on technologies, markets and ecosystems to help CIOs understand future trends, their impact on the enterprise, and take action to succeed in 2020.

By 2024, 80% of digitally advanced organizations will change the “walled garden” model, in which everything is in charge of the IT department, to a self-service model. Providing libraries of cloud solutions, functions-as-a-service (FaaS), and tools that require little or no coding and are easily digestible by employees without good IT training helps businesses respond quickly to changes market needs without the involvement of IT specialists. We only need guarantees of the security and compatibility of these solutions.

For such a transformation, IT directors need to clearly understand the desired future state, which is determined jointly with business leaders and line managers (line of business, LOB) and serves as a reference point for employees of the enterprise and its partners g & k services salaries.

Recommendations

Invest in the training of developers who design and build such digital tools, maintain relationships with tool vendors, and leverage their expertise.

Build digital platforms with data, API services, and microservices to create open self-service environments.

Open labs and centers of excellence to share knowledge between LOB developers and IT staff.

By 2023, 65% of CIOs will lead their organizations in establishing innovation hubs, sharing best practices, and engaging engineers across the enterprise. Since the line divisions are actively using new technologies, technically competent managers and specialists work there, the CIO should turn the IT service into a center for the exchange of best practices and knowledge about digital technologies. This will enable the architecture and integration of digital efforts across the enterprise. The CIO and IT staff need to think ahead about making changes to meet the evolving business needs, enable incremental evolution of IT services and platforms, gain new skills, and empower IT to influence in real time.

Recommendations

Work with business leaders to focus on creating a culture of peer learning and mentoring.

Develop a plan for expanding skills at each stage based on the pace of evolution that can be foreseen.

Build partner networks to fill skill and competency gaps.

Due to the increase in the number of cyber threats and the need for new functionality, 65% of enterprises will intend to modernize their legacy systems and invest in new technology platforms by 2023. Updates and support for legacy systems will not keep pace with growing cyber threats and costly upgrades, but convincing business leaders to upgrade their systems will be challenging. The implementation of new functionality and capabilities seems to be more realistic.

Recommendations

Prepare a business scenario that reflects critical business needs, such as improving customer experience, to justify the expense of a large-scale legacy replacement.

Develop an optimization and modernization plan, get the support of line managers.

Use security first architectures and design approaches to avoid new security vulnerabilities.

By 2023, 70% of IT services will use a containerization strategy and APIs, and will also try to expand the portability of applications and improve hosting flexibility. Successful organizations will implement containerization strategies and redouble their efforts to leverage APIs and microservices to further modernize, automate procedures, ensure compute independence, isolate applications, improve quality, and increase scalability. CIOs who do not use container-based approaches will feel the lack of flexibility, mobility and scalability, which will ultimately lead to a significant loss of competitiveness.

Recommendations

Microservices, together with containers, should form the basis of architectural models for all new applications.

Implement and extend DevOps for continuous evolution.

Use serverless models and features that are provided as services to meet the demand for on-demand compute resources.

Until 2022, 70% of IT services from implementers and operators will turn into designers and integrators of digital solutions and will define each product, service and process. The challenge for IT is that line units through vendors will begin to strengthen their role in technology creation and deployment, regardless of the nature of IT support, which will also change. If IT service leaders refuse to change roles and responsibilities when implementing technological solutions in line departments, the consequences for them will be very sad. It is much better for the CIO to plan and manage the transition in collaboration with line leaders.

Recommendations

Build a digital platform and API strategies to enable secure and fast integration of diverse applications and systems.

Invest in in-depth design and user experience expertise.

Create centers of excellence for selecting and validating digital software and tools.

By 2023, 80% of organizations will accelerate software development. This will deploy updates and review code at least once a week. Many IT departments have already moved from waterfall to agile application development (at least in theory), but so far they are not always able to cope with the rapid implementation of reliable code in small chunks for the continuous creation of new business value. IT departments should be able to deploy updates every week, even if only individual applications need it. The CIO needs to redouble efforts to move towards true agile development and DevOps.

Recommendations

Think about products and business results, not projects.

Use a modular approach to improve adaptability.

Accelerate DevOps adoption, continuous integration and deployment.

Trust subordinates to find new approaches to the creation and implementation of software.

By 2022, 40% of CIOs will lead innovation in their organizations. The choice of CIOs as leaders of the digital transformation process is quite logical. They are uniquely positioned to be innovative leaders, have a deep knowledge of digital technology, are able to predict business changes driven by new technologies, and, more importantly, understand how business works. CIOs who succeed as an innovation leader are able to articulate their digital vision with conviction and engage others in its implementation. The technical savvy of IT professionals remains essential, but their success will depend on their ability to communicate, build relationships, and deliver on their commitments.

Recommendations

Form the foundation for reliable delivery of IT services and prevention of potential problems.

Promote a digital vision co-developed with line leaders.

Highlight limited but significant digital initiatives and demonstrate their business value.

Through 2022, the introduction of artificial intelligence tools to expand, optimize and accelerate IT operations will remain a major transformational initiative for 60% of corporate IT services. IDC's August 2019 CIO Sentiment Survey showed the following. Representatives of 54% of organizations are convinced that artificial intelligence is a significant value for automating IT operations and optimizing IT. The challenge for CIOs is not to automate IT, but to focus on the capabilities that deliver the most value. The CIO should start by defining his strategic goals, such as cutting costs, realigning talent, increasing IT bandwidth, and the like.

Recommendations

Partner with universities, consortia, start-ups, other organizations and associations to increase the number of AI specialists.

Automate AI operations and initiatives to connect disparate components and streamline processes.

Make quality of service an important metric for the effectiveness of your automation operations.

By 2024, 75% of CIOs will rethink the resources available to them, in particular budgets, assets and talent. Allocating resources in real time and ensuring enterprise agility will result in huge cost savings. CIOs strive to speed up processes and increase their agility, but face various obstacles. The most significant of these is perhaps the lack of flexibility in allocating the necessary funding and resources. Flexible resource allocation is a significant competitive advantage for CIOs. It is a necessary foundation for achieving true organizational agility, which is one of the leading IT directors on the list of IT transformation priorities.

Recommendations

Work closely with HR and Finance to build new systems for recruiting, performance management, and budgeting.

Keep in touch with line managers, create technologies to synchronize resources and budgets for IT and line departments.

Leverage flexible cycles for continuous planning and balanced IT resource allocation.

By 2023, 60% of CIOs will implement employee development programs approved by senior management. After a series of failed, scattered and unrelated employee engagement initiatives, the most effective CIOs will embark on strategic, targeted programs that include lifelong learning, engagement and innovation in digital workspaces. Immersive experiences and workspaces will drive productivity growth and attract the best talent. In most cases, such programs are a critical component of enterprise initiatives.

Recommendations

Build a culture of designing human-centered IT products and services and understanding the motivations, wants, and needs of target employee segments.

When evaluating and designing workspace and employee perceptions, maintain interaction with HR and line managers.

Use agile and iterative approaches, combined with ethnographic research and design thinking, to create learning and workspaces.

Cloud technology trends in 2020

Cloud computing is one of the most promising and rapidly growing areas of IT. Information technology experts believe that cloud services will soon be in the first place among all technologies for solving most business problems and achieving business goals. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), at least half of IT spending is in the cloud, and according to Forbes, in 2020, 83% of enterprise workloads will be in the cloud.

We've listed the top five cloud computing trends in 2020. So be prepared to invest in the best technology and knowledge to maximize your ROI and stay in the loop.

Hybrid cloud amazon architect

Hybrid cloud computing involves a mix of both on-premises and public cloud services. Hybrid cloud gives users the flexibility to easily move workloads between on-premises and public clouds based on their computing needs. It provides stable and reliable server performance, advanced security features, SaaS capabilities, high performance, and customized settings.

According to a report released by Marketsand Markets, the hybrid cloud market is expected to grow to $ 97.64 billion by 2023. Tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft are already investing heavily in hybrid cloud computing as a product.

Training Center "Networking Technologies" conducts courses on Microsoft Azure and Office 365 , which train specialists who can prevent and solve problem situations in the operation of cloud IT infrastructure, connect to cloud services, deploy or migrate familiar corporate applications to the clouds, and integrate them with external systems.

IoT platform

In the era of the hyper-connected world, one of the most popular cloud computing trends is the rise of IoT platforms. The Internet of Things (IoT) platform is a cloud platform that acts as an intermediary and allows computing devices to transfer data among themselves over a network. This means that data is collected and transmitted over the Internet using embedded technologies without any manual intervention.

A Gartner study says the number of networked machines and systems will grow to 25 billion by 2021.

Growth and development of Kubernetes

Kubernetes is an open source, extensible portable platform designed to handle containerized workloads and services. This facilitates both automation and declarative customization. Kubernetes is a Google product currently managed by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and is the result of 15 years of extensive experience running production workloads, combined with the best ideas and community practices. With the rise of containerized architecture, tools like Kubernetes will become more and more important in the future.

Redmonk conducted a survey that says Fortune 100 has already had 54% Kubernetes usage and is now the established standard for container orchestration.

Learning Center "Networking Technologies" implements comprehensive  training programs  for containerization and management on the Docker platform.

Artificial Intelligence

As technology advances, artificial intelligence is a cloud computing trend to watch out for as it drives an organization's workflows more efficiently. Artificial intelligence relies heavily on cloud computing and enables computing platforms to be more efficient. Artificial intelligence empowers organizations to automate and intelligently manage processes, scale quickly, and adapt to changing business needs. Tech giants are increasingly using artificial intelligence to process large amounts of data.

An IBM study shows that 65% of organizations believe artificial intelligence is essential to their growth and success.

Cloud Security

Data leakage, data theft, deletion is a serious problem even for traditional IT infrastructures. But as more companies move to cloud platforms, it is imperative that cloud service providers can build strong security and ensure the safety of their customers' data.

Cloud security is not just a trend in cloud computing this year, but a necessity that is put at the forefront of every organization. With the introduction of General Data Privacy and Governance (GDPR) in late 2018, organizations are faced with the need to comply with security requirements. Consequently, in 2020 there is a huge demand for specialists who are able to provide cloud security and data protection in the cloud.

How to avoid the pitfalls

How to be a cloud architect

But not every surprise in the cloud is unwelcome. For Pacific Life, the ease of host-based security has been among the pleasant surprises, says Vigil. “In the cloud, there is way better security than we could ever hope to offer on-premises --without the cost,’’ he says.

The elasticity of the cloud has also been a big bonus. “On-premises we could do virtualization, but to scale up and down still requires that we have peak capacity in the form of hardware and in the cloud, we only rent what we need,’’ he says.

Salari has enjoyed being able to test something out in the cloud. He says he goes into his AWS lab account, buys compute in the marketplace and plays around with it for a week, all for around $7. “I love being able to kick the tires a little,’’ he says. “I would have loved to do this more when I was an engineer. It would have made things so much easier.”

PwC has also experienced happy surprises, says CIO Sigal Zarmi. The agility, efficiency and simplicity of the cloud have been a bonus, she says, and PwC’s employees view the cloud as a new way of working, rather than the technology itself.

“A great ‘gotcha’ moment for us was a recent survey of our people, where they estimated they were saving around nine hours a week by collaborating differently, having access to online communications tools and access to information when and where they needed it,” Zarmi says.  

Salari anticipates Pacific Life will have all its web pages migrated to the cloud by the end of 2018, with the goal of getting all of its disaster recovery infrastructure into AWS by then as well. Within three to five years, he expects they will have most of their workloads and apps in a cloud environment. “We will only have things on-premises for licensing or practicalities,’’ he says. “We’re a big mainframe organization because we’re financial, so we’ll always be hybrid.”

How to avoid the pitfalls

Like Pacific Life has found, observers and users say a lot of education and re-education is required on how the cloud works and what the benefits are and how the model differs from an on-premises infrastructure.

“The more your engineering staff and leaders learn about cloud and see other companies are doing things with it, the less anxiety they have and the more comfortable they are talking about what we can do -- and not what we can’t,’’ says Salari.

Both Salari and Vigil also recommend that IT staffs get comfortable using native and third-party tools, especially as they utilize multi-cloud providers. Having cloud-agnostic tools is also very important, says Vigil, especially ones that can be used on-premises, too.

Organizations should also plan accordingly because of the breadth of services available in the cloud, advises Cancila. Although they want to leverage “this endless capacity and innovation curve” that cloud computing offers, “for many … it can become quickly overwhelming, especially as they think about the ways they go about budgeting, architecting and managing those ongoing services on an ongoing basis,” she says.

Understand what your current data footprint is and what it will be in the cloud world – and the cost, says Kiely.

“If you’re looking to move major business systems to cloud like manufacturing software and ERP systems, really map out your business processes as part of your implementation plan,’’ he says, “and look at what you’re doing today in the different business units and map out how that can be mimicked or not in the new world order. Cloud is a double-edged sword. It unlocks amazing possibilities,” including the ability to tap into an ecosystem of partners for best-in-class systems. “That’s the beauty of this thing, but in our experience, part of the challenge is things aren’t necessarily as customizable on the fly as they might be with an on-premises system.”

Utilizing cloud technology is an opportunity to “spring clean what you’ve got, and why, even if it means having difficult conversations with the business,’’ says Zarmi. It also requires creating new ways of working with risk and security teams, rethinking disaster recovery, cybersecurity and resilience, she says. “But never overlook the basics: giving people a fast moving, more responsive environment relies on strong change management processes.”

What should be the considerations for a CIO when moving to the cloud?

We must face the facts: cloud migration is on the rise. Indeed, infrastructure deployments in the cloud will double by 2015, and nearly 200,000 UK cloud jobs will be created.

Therefore, CIOs must acknowledge that the clouds are here and not going anywhere. So what questions should a CIO be asking himself when moving to the cloud, even if he is completely unwilling to do so?

Below are some tips for any CIO who is either contemplating a move to the cloud or pushed to do so by their CFO or CEO.

How do I understand what clouds are and what they can do for the company?

Just as the "understanding" and "adoption" of the cloud grows, so does the hype around the clouds. Everyone is talking about the benefits that can be achieved by moving to the cloud, but can the CIO truly understand what the clouds can do for their business?

Consequently, the CIO needs to define the business case for the cloud — first identifying the company's needs by engaging board members (management and company owners) to figure out what's with the business now and what plans the company has for the future. And based on the information received, together with your IT team, select those cloud solutions that best match the business model and goals.

How can I be completely honest in disclosing how much my IT department is costing the company?

Despite the fact that the budget announced by George Osborne (UK Treasury Secretary) is not entirely pessimistic, the UK continues to have difficult economic times. Therefore, costs are now closely monitored across all parts of the business (like never before), and this affects the IT department as well.

However, can the CIO spend their budget more efficiently? Can the IT department independently create a good, well-maintained infrastructure, similar to what, for example, service providers can do? Probably not. So why do we constantly see teams of five IT professionals in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), where at least two of them are dedicated to just supporting the infrastructure?

This is clearly not the best use of their time, and certainly not an option to use an already meager IT budget technical support technician.

After all, people are not only the best asset of the company, they are also the largest investment of the business, and if you can reduce costs by moving your business to the cloud, why don't CIOs want to do it?

This budget can be used in other areas within the IT department in order to acquire useful new applications or new skills that will enable the IT team to meet key business challenges. This will certainly give the CIO some significant points (merit) to the CEO.

Am I clear enough about my reasons for moving to the cloud to management?

From the way the business is moving, CIOs need to literally embrace the cloud if they want to stay strong in the company.

Very often, fearing for their jobs and the work of their teams, CIOs “deceive” their management by overloading them with too many technical terms to confuse them, so that they do not have to move to the clouds on the orders of management.

But if the CFO gets the facts on his own about how cloud technologies can potentially save companies hundreds of thousands of pounds, then the CIO's job will be in question.

That is, the CIO must not only provide the facts about what the cloud can do for the business, but also speak honestly with management about the true value of the IT department. He simply must present to management the cost-saving path that can be achieved by moving to the cloud, and state the reasons for the transition to the cloud that will be most appropriate and relevant for the company.

Is IT the best protection for the business?

One of the key challenges for a CIO is to keep the business as safe and secure as possible, and there are two separate areas that need to be considered: how is data security ensured and does the company have a clear Disaster Recovery (DR) policy?

Data security will always be one of the top priorities for business - after all, violation of security rules can lead to the fact that competitors steal your ideas, take your customers away, and your confidential data (for example, data for the next financial year) will become public. All this can be a real disaster for the future of any business.

But how many organizations can confidently say that their data would be more secure if stored “at home,” versus storing data in a well-secured Tier 4, ISO 27001: 2005 data center from accredited cloud providers? These options are simply not comparable.

Second, the importance and significance of a Disaster Recovery (DR) policy cannot be underestimated. In the event of a fire in a company's server room, without a DR policy in place, important data could be destroyed, or at least damaged, seriously damaging the company's shareholder value and reputation.

Why risk it? How much does it cost a company to lose all its data ?!

IT specialists of the company can hardly afford to create a secondary, redundant infrastructure, purchase equipment and equipment necessary to launch the infrastructure, site, database in case of natural disasters. And it's much easier to build a DR policy in the cloud.

Ask if the provider cares about the legal security of services?

It is important that the company provides a competent agreement with a clear distribution of the areas of responsibility of the parties. Also, clarify how the provider responds to requests to seize customer or equipment data it technical support job description.

We work on the basis of a detailed public offer , the same for all clients.

Find out about the possibilities of encrypting information and communication channels, the availability of additional services for data protection

Pay attention to the possibility of encrypting data and channels. Has your provider provided special templates for virtual machines with disk encryption enabled? Is communication channel encryption easily accessible?

It's also good when the provider has additional security services. We have, for example, "Anonymity on demand." The service allows you to anonymously visit sites and work with applications that use TCP protocols.

All kinds of solutions and functions to protect information - a benefit for you and a plus in the karma of your provider. :)

Find out if the provider provides a range of services

It is convenient when one supplier has everything you need for work and personal use! For example, not only virtual machines, but also a backup storage service immediately to them.

In Tucha, in addition to providing a virtual environment for the removal of workplaces and individual applications ( TuchaBit / TuchaFlex + ), there is a whole line of services that, as a rule, cover the company's basic need for cloud services.

TuchaBackup service is a secure storage of backups of your data on remote servers outside Ukraine. Placing copies in the cloud ensures the physical security of data, their protection from loss and access by unauthorized persons. You can choose any configuration of the service, and the scaling step is 10 GB.

TuchaHosting service allows you to securely host websites and mail in the cloud on virtual servers in Europe (mainly Germany). Traffic, databases, mailboxes, FTP-accounts are not charged or limited. Configurations are available in 2 GB, 10 GB, 25 GB and 50 GB and higher. We will also help with the transfer of sites and mail.

With TuchaSync cloud storage to sync and share files , you can upload, download and edit files on any device. Information is stored in reliable data centers outside Ukraine, and you can access it at any time. If, of course, you are an authorized user. All you need to work is an internet connection.

We are always happy to help you choose the right service and its configuration. Contact 24/7 !

Check out the cost of services

The price should be adequate, so study the price offers for the services in advance. Beware of too expensive and suspiciously cheap offers. Overpricing does not always guarantee super quality, and an unnaturally low price may indicate dubious technologies and the risk of data loss.

Many providers place special calculators on the site, for example, as we do. Calculators will help you quickly calculate the cost of any service.

Find out if the company's pricing is transparent

The cost of services should not only meet the price-quality ratio, but also be transparent for all customers. What does it mean? If a provider is ready for anything in terms of price, this is, of course, tempting, but at the same time, and a reason to be wary. Either the provider does not quite clearly understand its math, which means the stability of the company (and your data) is in question, or you will run into pitfalls and overpay for moments that are not immediately obvious. Our prices are available on our website and are the same for all clients.

Check if there is a free test drive of the services

The test period is a great opportunity to try the provider in action, evaluate the service and the work of technical support.

In addition to technical factors, pay attention to the quality of communication with company employees. Is it easy to find a common language, is there a mutual understanding? If you are uncomfortable with communicating at the initial stage, long-term and effective cooperation is unlikely to work.

We offer 7 days of free trial use of any of our services . The test period is good because it allows you to become a client for a while and evaluate whether a provider is right for you or not.

Check provider reviews and recommendations

Ask what other customers are saying. User reviews and personal experience are a powerful tool for forming an opinion about a company and making decisions.

In addition to reviews on the website of the provider itself, do not be too lazy to read independent resources (objective reviews of hosting companies, reviews on social networks ). And although we put this point at the end, reviews are what to start looking for a cloud provider with.

Choosing a reliable provider is a crucial step. We have collected for you the main tips on how to find your own among many companies and not be mistaken. Read, study, and we are always ready to help you and become your reliable provider of cloud solutions. Contact 24/7 !

We have prepared a convenient download checklist for you ! Save yourself, mark in the table the characteristics of each potential supplier according to all the main criteria and choose the best provider.

TOP-5 applications and services for which it is better to use a VPS server

VPS is often perceived as a reliable hosting for sites with demanding CMS, or sites with a large number of visitors. In fact, a virtual server can not only cope with the usual tasks of a regular server, but also make your work more productive.

To clarify the situation for our readers, we have prepared TOP-5 situations in which a VPS server is really irreplaceable.

1.VPS for the site

With all the versatility of a virtual server, in most cases VPS is purchased for hosting sites. We have already written about the advantages of VPS for hosting sites in comparison with regular shared hosting. Let us briefly recall: IT technical support job description

VPS is:

More guaranteed resources for the site (CPU; RAM; HDD). Most hosting providers set a limit on the use of CPU time when site traffic starts to exceed the allowable threshold. This comes with many possible annoyances. First, a slow site will make it difficult for users to interact with content and find information. There is also a risk that the site will simply be disabled for exceeding the permissible limit. To prevent this from happening, site owners and responsible administrators choose VPS.

The ability to organize the workspace according to your needs (choice of CMS, database and control panel for the site). If you administer a large number of sites, it is much easier to manage them using one control panel, as well as settle accounts with one service provider and not switch between different accounts.

Full administrative (root) control.

2. Organization of a mail server on a VPS

The organization of the mail server is an important stage in ensuring external and internal communications. When the number of users exceeds 100, or the company switches to 24/7 operation and activity does not stop day or night, it is important to ensure the continuity of the process.

Some business representatives, in order to reduce the cost of the process, use old methods and deploy a mail server on equipment that is installed directly in the enterprise. Thus, they sacrifice the availability and stability of work. In this case, the performance depends on the stability of the Internet channel and the power grid. There is a need to adapt to planning and technical work on the side of the provider and put up with possible power outages.

Services such as Google mail or Yahoo mail guarantee a high degree of online accessibility, but in this case you are sacrificing control flexibility. The privacy and security policy does not even allow an administrator to have access to user accounts and to save mail databases locally. If they choose Google or Yahoo, users will also need to grasp the new email client interface.

Why is VPS useful?

On a virtual server, you can install a mail client familiar to users (Outlook, The Bat, Thunderbird and others).

Full control and extensive administration options.

Stability of access and independence from the Internet connection and the power grid in the office.

 

3. VPS for organizing work with shared programs

The larger the company becomes, the more difficult it is to ensure the coordinated work of all its departments and effective communication between employees. If you know how to use VPS hosting at full capacity, you can solve the lion's share of problems. Cloud VPS is great for programs in which a large number of employees work at the same time, such as accounting and CRM systems.

Thanks to cloud storage and daily backup of information, you can not be afraid of losing data accumulated by a large number of people, even in case of a hardware failure.

Mobility of access, safety of information, control of execution - and all this in a non-stop mode. Exchange of views, prompt decision-making, assignment and delegation of tasks - all the advantages and opportunities can be enumerated for a long time.

Project management programs are now the "market standard" in marketing, software development, and engineering organizations.

VPS for joint work programs provide:

Data security guarantee:

the virtual server is located in a reliable, regionally remote data center (data protection from seizure or theft);

the ability to transfer information over an encrypted channel;

the responsibility for the hardware operation is removed.

Mobility of connection (there is Internet - there is access to the workspace).

4. VPS for organizing a private private network (VPN)

In short, a VPN is a protected private network over another network, the ability to transfer data over an encrypted channel. The reasons for creating a VPN tunnel can be different. For example, for the transfer of payment data or other information of a commercial nature that is of strategic importance or is intended for internal use only. When the leak of this information can negatively affect the reputation of TM. To access Internet resources banned in a particular region, it is important to overcome the "Great Chinese Firewall" (the official name is "Golden Shield") or to anonymously connect to various services (often online gambling simulators).

5. Cloud PBX on VPS

A service that is actively developing and gaining popularity. Replacement of a physical office PBX with its virtual analogue. What virtual (or cloud) PBXs give a business:

Mobility is independence from the availability of a ready-made infrastructure of the provider in your region. Accessibility outside the workplace, the ability to use a single office number.

Functionality - flexibility of configuration and management, the use of additional functions that are difficult to implement on a classic mini-PBX, such as video communication or integration with a CRM system.

Cost effective - there is no need to monitor the health of the hardware, communication via IP-telephony is cheaper than a traditional public telephone network.

Reporting - information about calls is stored in the database in digital form, giving more opportunities for analyzing activity and using information for marketing purposes.

How to configure port forwarding to a server located on a private network

We share useful information for users of virtual machines. Clients often contact Tucha's technical support service with a question on how to configure port forwarding to a server located on a private network, and each time we send a detailed and clear instruction in response. Now we decided on the basis of these letters to create a useful article that will help other users to understand this process.

Why configure such port forwarding at all? Let's look at an example. By following all of the following steps, you can establish a TCP and UDP connection to a server connected to a private network. In this case, port 3389 of this server will receive what will arrive on port 13666 of the external interface of the virtual router.

By the way, if you are interested in how it all works, we recommend that you look at the article "What happens when connections inside and outside the VPN tunnel", namely, the sections "Position two" and "Position three".

So, setting up port forwarding to a server located on a private network is very simple: it analyst job descriptions

1. Go to the Network section, select our network (NET-2019111913000635), and then select View IP Address:

2. Next, select the IP address - 195.3.205.13 (since we have several addresses, select the one for which Source NAT is enabled):

3. Now we need the Configuration tab:

4. Select the firewall settings mode

5. After that, select the source prefix (Source CIDR), the protocol (Protocol) and the range of ports (Start Port, End Port), access to which must be allowed. Next, click the Add button:

6. Then we return to the previous menu and go to the port forwarding control mode:

7. Select the range of ports on the server to which traffic should be redirected (Private Port), select the range of ports on the virtual router (Public Port) and the protocol (Protocol). Next, click the Add button:

8. The last step is to select the server to which this traffic should be forwarded, and its address:

How clouds change the world. Interview with Tucha partners

Quarantine has brought important new experiences to companies around the world, teaching them how to quickly adapt to changes. In many ways, clouds helped to organize remote work at this time and to keep the business running. We learned from our partners how their companies went online and asked a few questions: support.tech

How do clouds help to organize remote work of a business during quarantine?

For which specialists and departments in the company have the clouds been most useful?

What other tools besides cloud solutions help to work remotely?

How do you plan to use the clouds for work in the future?

How would business around the world work now if there were no clouds?

Saranyuk

Nikolay Saranyuk, owner of the web agency Red Chameleon

Clouds during quarantine.

Our customers, owners of online stores who use Tucha services, were able to quickly start working remotely. All data is in the cloud, the servers are closely monitored by administrators, everything works.

For many clients, 1C is also in the cloud, so this did not affect the usability in any way.

Many people use the Plafix cloud-based CRM system, which can be customized for themselves, or other CRMs. IP telephony continued to work.

Also, if earlier documents were sent by New mail, Ukrposhta, now all documents are sent through the Vchasno service, ME Doc or analogs.

For many who switched to modern tools and methods of work long ago, everything remained the same. The only thing is that everyone does not work in the office, but at home.

For whom it is useful.

I would say that the cloud has become one center for everyone, because the work is not dependent on location.

Helpful tools.

You also need a smartphone, laptop and internet connection to work.

Clouds for the future.

We plan to move 1C to the cloud in the future, since some of our clients have 1C on a laptop.

If not for the clouds ..

Business would not work at all.

Koval Oleksandr     

Koval Alexander

Clouds during quarantine.

Without clouds as without hands. Anywhere in the world, in any weather and time of day, you can take any gadget and continue working. Isn't that cool?

For whom it is useful.

Without exception, all departments of our company and their work are directly tied to the clouds. All the services employees use are all in the cloud. Only giant companies should keep servers in the office and maintain them on their own. Although here I would not be so sure ...

Helpful tools.

Spent 10 minutes of time thinking what other tools have become useful. And nothing came to mind. All we use is cloud solutions.

Clouds for the future.

In the future, we also plan to use the clouds to the fullest. There are simply unrealistic solutions. There are cool solutions that greatly improve the performance. And there are those who tried and were disappointed. But you still find those that are useful to you. I would like to draw your attention to the prices of such solutions. Sometimes it seems that it is too expensive, they say, the company has not yet "matured" in the processes to the need to use this or that service. But the longer you doubt, the faster your competitors are.

How to use KeePass easily

We often hear about the need to create strong passwords. However, there is neither time nor desire to invent and memorize complex combinations. Plus, there doesn't seem to be much of a need for it.

And creating a password that hackers can easily pick up is not a whim, but an important cybersecurity event. Proper storage of passwords is equally important. For example, writing them down on sheets of paper, using a single combination for all accounts, or assigning them to your own memory is the key to your data, which you give to the attackers yourself. However, this is easy enough to prevent. Password managers come in handy. More passwords only for specialized applications with a good reputation. In this article, we will look at one of the most common programs for generating and storing passwords - KeePass. We have prepared a visual instruction for you: functions, features and a description of the main operations. We'll also show you how to properly set up and use KeePass support tech.

General introduction to password managers

Password Manager is software that helps you securely manage passwords and PINs. In such programs, usually a local database or files containing encrypted password data. Some password managers also act as form placeholders. This means they fill in the User field and Password data automatically in the forms. These types of software are predominantly installed as a browser extension.

KeePass features

KeePass is one of the first free open source password managers that has all the basic password manager capabilities for personal use. The utility supports not only Windows, but also Mac, iOS, Android, Linux. KeePass itself is saved in a file that can be synced using Dropbox or removable media. In KeePass, the password database is encrypted using the AES-256 algorithm. In addition, various security methods can be used, for example: Master password, Key file and / or Windows user account. If you will only use the Master password to open the database, you must remember it well. In case you will use the Key file, you can select any file. However, we advise you to stop at something that has a lot of random data. The key file must not be changed, as it might prevent the database from opening. If you need to use a different key file, you should change the master key and use a new (or different) key file. Key files should be backed up. This is important to avoid the hassle of opening the database in the event of a hard drive failure, modification, or repair.

Let's take a look at another KeePass feature. This password manager can create a database according to the current Windows user account. If you enable this option, you will be able to open the databases only when authorization in the system took place with the same Windows account and when these databases were created. However, you can confidently change the password for a Windows user account: it will not affect the KeePass database.

And remember, there are no backdoors or generic keys to open KeePass databases!

Description of the main operations

1. The first step in working with KeePass is software configuration. At the beginning the password manager is automatically installed with an English interface. In order to change the interface language , go to the View -> Change Language ... tab and select the desired language:

KeePass_1

To ensure maximum protection and preservation of the password database , use the special program settings: Tools -> Options -> Security .

KeePass_2

2. The next step is to create a database. You can create a new Password Database as follows: go to the File -> New tab or press the Ctrl + N key combination :

KeePass_3

Next, you need to confirm your actions

KeePass_4

After confirming the actions, KeePass prompts you to select a location to save the database and come up with a complex Master password :

KeePass_5

You can also use Key file and Windows user account for additional protection of the password database (Composite Master Key). Then all the main sources (password, key file, Windows account), if any, will be required to unlock the password database .

Next, you can set personalized parameters for the base that you just created, namely: default login, base color, encryption algorithm, and the like. In the program, it looks like this:

KeePass_6

3. Now let's go directly to working with the database. There are several ways to save the password to the database : click the corresponding button in the quick access panel, go to the Edit -> Add Entry tab, or press Ctrl + I :

KeePass_7

As you can see in the image, the following parameters can be specified in the database: Title, User name, Password, URL (address), Note (Note).

In addition, we can immediately change the password display icon:

KeePass_8

To introduce changes to an entry that already exists , right-click on it and select Edit / View Entry . Or you can do it differently: go to the Edit -> Edit / View Entry tab or press the Return key :

KeePass_9

Now let's look at how to copy the username to the clipboard . To do this, click on the desired entry with the right mouse button and select the Copy User Name item , or press the Ctrl + B key combination . The button on the quick access panel is also used for this:

KeePass_10

Let's go ahead and find out how to copy the password to the clipboard . Click on the required entry with the right mouse button and select the Copy Password item . Another option is to press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + C. For this, there is also a button on the Quick Access Toolbar, it looks like this:

KeePass_11

In both cases, in the lower right corner of the program window, we will see that a counter (strip) has started, during which the data will be available for insertion:

KeePass_12

Records can be organized , grouped and sorted . A simple drag and drop (copying) and the creation of appropriate groups will come to the rescue. Create a new group as follows: right-click on the directory, exists, or on the root (name of the base). You can also just go to the Edit -> Add Group tab :

KeePass_13

Groups can be easily edited ( Edit Group ), as well as give them different names, add descriptions and change icons.

To take advantage of additional grouping and sorting functions, select the View -> Sort By / Grouping in Entry List menu :

KeePass_14

A neat advantage of KeePass is that you don't have to manually fill in the form every time. For this there is an autocomplete form. To use the provided option, just leave the first login data field active for authorization and switch to KeePass. And the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + V or the button on the Perform Auto-Type quick access panel will do everything for you and start the auto-complete process:

Virtual router: what it is and why you need it

What is it

A virtual router (or virtual router) is a small virtual machine with special software. Its purpose is to route between a virtual private network (VPN) and the Internet. Actually, the operation of this VPN connection is provided by the virtual router.

We provide such a virtual machine to customers free of charge and manage it ourselves.

What is a virtual router for?

First, let's consider in what ways you can connect a virtual server to the Internet:

1. The virtual server is connected directly to the Internet. In this case, directly on the virtual server itself, the network interface will have an IP address that is accessible from anywhere on the Internet. Usually these are addresses from such blocks: what is it support

193.151.89.0/24 (in Germany);

193.151.90.0/24 (in Germany);

193.151.91.0/24 (in Germany);

195.3.204.0/25 (in Ukraine);

195.3.206.64/26 (in Ukraine);

195.3.206.240/28 (in Ukraine).

In some cases, other IP addresses may be used. Note that this list is current at the time of publication of the article, however, it can and will change.

What features does this type of connection have? In this case, we do not filter traffic between the client's server and other machines on the Internet. The client regulates all access policies at the operating system level.

2. The virtual server is not connected directly to the Internet, but to a separate virtual private network that belongs to this client. These networks often have addresses from ranges that are provided in RFC1918:

10.0.0.0/8;

172.16.0.0/12;

192.168.0.0/16.

This list is also subject to change.

Thus, the server receives an address from this network to the interface, and it is the virtual router that provides routing between the private network and the Internet. Note that this only happens when the client wishes this routing to occur, since it is possible to create a private network without access to the Internet.

The advantage of this method is that the VPN allows you to set up a secure and more reliable connection to the virtual server.

How to set up the ability to connect from the Internet to a server that is on a private network

When connecting through a virtual router, client servers can connect to the Internet (although this can be disabled). But in order to configure the ability to connect from the Internet to a server located in a private network, you should already register the forwarding policies for incoming connections. This can be done with our help or on your own. How to perform this procedure with our own hands, we told in a separate article . 

In this case, the network services that the client wants to make available will currently be available at one of the addresses from such blocks (although sometimes there may be others):

193.151.88.0/24 (in Germany);

195.3.205.0/24 (in Ukraine);

195.3.207.0/26 (in Ukraine).

When else come in handy for a virtual router and VPN

A virtual router and VPN will also be useful if the client needs to build secure VPN connections with remote sites or mobile users. We have already shared visual instructions on how to set up a site-to-site VPN in the cloud and a client-to-site VPN in the cloud . But you can read in detail about what happens to packets when connecting inside a VPN tunnel between the user's office and the environment in the cloud, as well as when connecting outside the VPN tunnel, here .

What happens with connections inside and outside the VPN tunnel

Real articles are born from letters to Tucha technical support. For example, a client recently contacted us with a request to clarify what happens during connections inside the VPN tunnel between the user's office and the environment in the cloud, as well as when connecting outside the VPN tunnel. Therefore, all the text below is a real letter that we sent to one of the clients in response to his question. Of course, we changed the IP addresses so as not to de-anonymize the client. But, yes, Tucha technical support is really famous for its detailed answers and meaningful emails. :-)

Therefore, we explain in detail what happens between the server in the cloud and the office if they are connected by a site-to-site network. Note that some of the services are available only from the office, and some - from anywhere from the Internet tech support jobs.

Let's explain right away that our client wanted the 192.168.A.1 server to be able to come from anywhere via RDP, connecting to AAA2: 13389 , and to other services only from the office ( 192.168.B.0 / 24 ), connected via VPN. Also, the client was initially configured that it was also possible to go to the 192.168.B.2 machine in the office via RDP from anywhere, connecting to BBB1: 11111 . We helped set up IPSec connections between the cloud and the office, and the customer's IT professional started asking questions about what would happen. To answer all these questions, we, in fact, wrote to him all that you can read below.

Now let's look at these processes in more detail.

Position one

When something goes from 192.168.B.0 / 24 to 192.168.A.0 / 24 or from 192.168.A.0 / 24 to 192.168.B.0 / 24 , it hits the VPN. That is, this packet is additionally encrypted and transmitted between  BBB1 and AAA1 , but  192.168.A.1 sees the packet from  192.168.B.1 . They can communicate with each other using any protocol. Reverse responses are transmitted in the same way via VPN, which means that a packet from 192.168.A.1 to 192.168.B.1 will be sent as an ESP datagram from  AAA1 to BBB1, which the router will open on the other side, extract that packet from it and give it to  192.168.B.1 as a packet from  192.168.A.1 .

Specific example:

192.168.B.1 contacts 192.168.A.1 , wants to establish a TCP connection to 192.168.A.1: 3389 ;

192.168.B.1 sends a request to establish a connection from  192.168.B.1: 55555 (he chooses the port number for feedback himself, hereinafter we will use the number 55555 as an example of such a port number that the system chooses when forming a TCP connection) at  192.168.A.1: 3389 ;

the operating system that runs on a computer with an address  192.168.B.1 , decides to transfer the packet to the gateway address of the router ( 192.168.B.254 in our case), because other, more specific routes for  192.168.A.1 , she no, therefore, it passes the packet along the default route (0.0.0.0/0);

to do this, it tries to find the MAC address for the IP address  192.168.B.254 in the ARP cache table. If it is not detected, it sends from the address  192.168.B.1 broadcast who-has a request to the network  192.168.B.0 / 24 . When  192.168.B.254 responds with its MAC address, the system transmits an Ethernet packet for it and stores this information in its cache table;

the router accepts this packet and decides where to send it: it has a policy according to which it must transmit all packets between  192.168.B.0 / 24 and 192.168.A.0 / 24 over the VPN connection between  BBB1 and AAA1 ;

the router generates an ESP datagram from  BBB1 to AAA1 ;

the router decides who to send this packet to, it sends it to, say,  BBB254 (ISP's gateway), because it has no more specific routes to AAA1 than 0.0.0.0/0;

in the same way as already mentioned, it finds the MAC address for the  BBB254 and sends the packet to the gateway of the ISP;

ISPs broadcast an ESP datagram from BBB1 to AAA1 over their networks  ;

the virtual router on AAA1 receives this datagram, decrypts it, and receives a packet from  192.168.B.1: 55555 to 192.168.A.1: 3389 ;

11) the virtual router checks who to send it to, finds the 192.168.A.0 / 24 network in the routing table  and sends it directly to 192.168.A.1 , since it has the 192.168.A.254 / 24 interface  ;

for this, the virtual router finds the MAC address for 192.168.A.1 and transmits this packet to it via the virtual Ethernet network;

192.168.A.1 receives this packet on port 3389, agrees to establish a connection and forms a packet in response from  192.168.A.1: 3389 to 192.168.B.1: 55555 ;

his system forwards this packet to the gateway address of the virtual router ( 192.168.A.254 in our case), because it has no other, more specific routes for 192.168.B.1 , therefore, it must forward the packet along the default route ( 0.0.0.0/0);

as in the previous cases, the system running on the server with the address 192.168.A.1 finds the MAC address  192.168.A.254 , since it is on the same network with its interface  192.168.A.1 / 24 ;

the virtual router accepts this packet and decides where to send it: it has a policy according to which it must transmit all packets between  192.168.A.0 / 24 and 192.168.B.0 / 24 over the VPN connection between  AAA1 and BBB1 ;

the virtual router generates an ESP datagram from AAA1 to BBB1 ;

the virtual router decides to whom to send this packet, sends it to AAA254 (the gateway of the Internet provider, in this case, this is also us), because it does not have more specific routes to  BBB1 than 0.0.0.0/0;

ISPs broadcast an ESP datagram from AAA1 to BBB1 over their networks  ;

the router on  BBB1 receives this datagram, decrypts it, and receives a packet from  192.168.A.1: 3389 to 192.168.B.1: 55555 ;

he understands that he should be sent exactly to  192.168.B.1 , since he is on the same network with him, therefore, he has a corresponding entry in the routing table that forces him to send packets for all  192.168.B.0 / 24 directly ;

the router finds the MAC address for  192.168.B.1 and sends this packet to it;

the operating system on the computer with the address  192.168.B.1 accepts the packet from  192.168.A.1: 3389 to 192.168.B.1: 55555 and initiates the following steps to establish a TCP connection.

In this example, it is rather concise and simplified (and here you can recall a bunch of details) what happens at levels 2-4. Levels 1, 5-7 are not considered.

CRM systems in the cloud

The days when managers kept track of customers and call history in notebooks or, at best, in Excel are a thing of the past. Now there are many more effective tools for interacting with customers, improving the quality of work with them, increasing sales and optimizing marketing. These include, in particular, CRM systems that help manage customer relationships. However, in order for these systems to work stably and quickly, they need quality hosting. And cloud solutions from Tucha will help to provide it better.

CRM systems: what is it and what they are eaten with

In Ukraine, CRM systems are on the way to gaining popularity. Of course, it will take us a long time to catch up with the number of enterprises using CRM systems, for example, in the USA: there this figure is about 90%. However, the dynamics in Ukraine is also positive: over the past year, the number of companies that are adopting such newest solutions has doubled.

Therefore, we will consider what a CRM system is, what are its advantages and how it simplifies the work of companies.

CRM-system is an application software for enterprises that helps to more effectively interact with customers, organize, plan and manage work with them.

In particular, this solution helps:

Collect and store information about each client, record all calls and messages. Thus, not a single customer request will remain unanswered, and managers will not forget to call the user in time.

Combine all channels of communication with clients in a single space.

Track the needs and preferences of customers, segment users.

Control the entire sales process (generate reports).

Receive analytics in real time.

Maintain document flow.

Work with a billing system and online payments.

Track calendars with workflows, projects and tasks and the like.

Despite such a number of possibilities, CRM systems help to improve the performance of the company, because they provide the following advantages:

High conversion of leads by collecting and processing customer needs.

Increasing customer loyalty through building customer-oriented work.

Simplicity and transparency of all work processes.

Increased sales performance.

Planning the development of the enterprise based on the obtained statistics and analysis.

Optimization of marketing campaigns.

Among the most common CRM systems used by Ukrainian companies are amoCRM, Bitrix24, Terrasoft, Hubspot, Zoho and the like. And most often those companies that are engaged in sales organize work thanks to CRM systems; provide services; related to the IT industry, industry, transport and communications.

Therefore, such a set of tools and capabilities in a single system is a powerful tool for increasing the efficiency of the company and increasing sales. However, unstable or slow software operation can negatively affect the operation of the entire enterprise. To prevent this, take care of a reliable hosting for your CRM system.

Benefits of clouds for CRM systems

Tucha cloud hosting for CRM systems is: System support analyst

Stable and fast software operation. Tucha cloud services help to ensure high-quality operation of the CRM system, because they have guaranteed availability of 99.0 and 99.9%, depending on the location of the data centers. In addition, the systems do not depend on the capacity of the IT equipment used in the office.

Reliable data protection. All information is stored outside the company, namely, on virtual servers, so it is much more difficult for intruders or just outsiders to gain access to this data. In addition, additional protection is provided by system snapshots (snapshots), which are already included in our TuchaFlex + and TuchaBit services, and the ability to make and save data backups with the TuchaBackup service.

Reduced costs. With clouds, you do not need to spend money on purchasing powerful IT equipment, updating and replacing it. You can configure the service that is necessary to solve a specific task, and all resources can be easily scaled in accordance with the needs of the company.

Mobility. You can work with a CRM system anywhere, anytime, and you don't need heavy-duty hardware to access the software. Therefore, you can connect to the work environment from anywhere in the world from a smartphone or tablet. The main thing is the availability of Internet access.

Virtual versus physical servers: what the experts recommend

Almost every company has a choice between virtual and physical servers. The decision is usually influenced by several factors, including: Help desk analyst job description

personal experience in the past;

advice from colleagues or acquaintances;

user reviews on the Internet and more.

How can you make a smart choice? Our experts, well-known specialists in the IT industry - Spartak Polishchuk , founder of Rubicon , and Roman Gershtun , founder of ProCRM , share their opinions, which were formed on the basis of personal experience and the experience of their clients.

1. Despite the fact that more and more companies are moving to the cloud, some business owners are still convinced that only the presence of iron in the office guarantees them peace and security for data.

This is also noted by Roman Gershtun : there is one point that clients often talk about is the desire to have their own server and manage it, in a word, to have a certain ownership right. But in fact, if you have your own server, you need to invest in it and constantly look after it. That is why a physical server works well only if the company has its own IT department and the ability to administer these servers, keep them operational and timely upgrade. Therefore, if you do not have your own IT staff, it is best not to set up physical servers in your office.

Spartak Polishchuk noted that in the IT field, prejudices, in the literal sense of the word, do not exist. Most likely, they can be called fears. For example, fears about the security of their personal data, coupled with a lack of fundamental knowledge of the cloud, can lead customers to use physical servers.

2. In addition to possible biases, there are still many myths surrounding virtual servers. For example, that clouds are expensive or dangerous. But how is everything really?

Roman Gershtun notes that there are usually three such myths. The first is cost, the second is security, and finally privacy. “Let's consider each of them. For example, that clouds are expensive. What is expensive? When you invest in a physical server, you pay the cost, the work of the system administrator. Then spend money on upgrades and technical support for that server. And with clouds, all these services are already included in the cost of services, ”says our partner.

The second point, as Roman Gershtun notes, is safety: “Let's simulate two situations. Fire in the office or "visit" of intruders. If the server is located in your office, its level of security is significantly inferior to virtual servers."

And the third point is confidentiality. According to the expert, if even the American Pentagon can be broken, then it is easy to guess which server is more secure: a server of a specialized organization providing cloud solutions, or a server run by a system administrator who may not even have sufficient qualifications to ensure the proper protection level.

Roman Gershtun also expresses the opinion that one should not be afraid that information may be lost on a certain server, but that data may disappear. This is a much bigger loss than just copying data to another resource. Of course, any cloud service has a much higher level of security than a physical server.

3. Let's say you have a choice right now. Need to decide: work on an iron or cloud server? The choice is not easy, therefore, for it to be thoughtful, our experts share their experience, what to look for and what characteristics to compare.

Spartak Polishchuk asserts: “With an eye to the future, I would never compare a cloud with a physical server. The fact is that if you need to scale, expanding clouds is much easier than a physical server. This can usually be done in a matter of minutes. A physical server requires significant financial and time costs. For example, one of our clients wanted to scale their server by adding RAM to it. And as a result of the transition of the whole world to new memory standards, he had to look for this RAM in the secondary market, since the motherboard did not support the modern standard. And moving to the clouds would be much cheaper and easier. "

4. Of course, there are specific cases when you can consider both physical and virtual servers to work. What exactly are these cases? And what types of business should definitely be preferred to clouds?

According to Spartak Polishchuk, there is a certain law in the implementation of CRM systems that requires the placement of data on physical servers among companies in the banking and medical sector. In all other cases, it is better to use the cloud, for example, to host the boxed version of Bitrix24.

Roman Gershtun says that the main thing is the principle, not the size of the business. “A simple example: you have an IT company that provides system administration services. There is a staff of IT professionals that makes up the core of the business. Considering a physical server is possible when you have the appropriate staff and the necessary resources for this, ”our partner is convinced. "If you are a startup and do not have this opportunity, then, of course, you should give preference to the clouds." Using the clouds, you can save on the maintenance of a staff of specialists and get more profit from the sale of goods or services. “For example, you need to build a website, install a CRM system and automate it all. If you purchase your own physical server, you will need to have staff to maintain it. With clouds, you can easily increase the amount of space, without buying additional hardware and saving time. And now it is the most important investment in business. If you understand that it is more profitable for you than maintaining a state and your own server, then, undoubtedly, you should give preference to the clouds, ”Roman Gershtun shares his opinion.

Life hacks for working with technical support from our technical director

The technical support service that assists users is also a system that works in accordance with certain algorithms. The actions of this system are quite predictable, and the goals are quite obvious. The main tasks of such a system are to provide the user with comprehensive support and make sure that the user confidently recommends the company's services to everyone who may be interested in them.

And, if most mature systems, as a rule, are well documented, then it will not be superfluous to provide recommendations for using the most important system - one that helps to interact with everyone else. By using these guidelines, the client will get as much benefit as possible in the shortest possible time.

Even without these recommendations, each client of our company always receives qualified assistance in the shortest possible time. This is confirmed by the invaluable feedback for us about our work . The secret is that during our work we have not only developed techniques that allow the user to provide the most comfortable and effective interaction with all our services, but we continue to consider this the most important principle of our work. Just like in the early days of our company. At the same time, we do not stop there and create more and more comfortable working conditions for our clients. The publication and distribution of these notes serves the same purpose.

Contact technical support

No matter how trite it may sound, but the most important thing is that if something goes wrong, it is better to immediately contact the specialists who will be happy to help.

Of course, if you sit on the river bank long enough, sooner or later you will see the corpse of your enemy floating along it, but it is better not to wait for this very enemy to sneak up behind him with a weighty stone in his bosom, and there is no point in wasting precious time.

Even if a problem arose, and then somehow magically "everything went away", you should not relax. If no one else found out about the problem that you encountered and did not take measures to prevent its recurrence, sooner or later it may repeat itself.

Of course, our monitoring system collects and analyzes thousands of various indicators around the clock and constantly performs thousands of checks on the operation of all infrastructure nodes. But total control over the work of each user is still impossible, since this is contrary to the principles of privacy. Therefore, in most cases, we will only be able to find out about the problem if you report it to us yourself.

 

Why is it important it support specialist job description

This will reduce wasted customer time.

Having learned about the problem, we can quickly eliminate it, as well as reduce, or even eliminate the likelihood of its recurrence.

If the source of the problem lies outside our area of ​​responsibility, we will be able, at least, to suggest who can help in its elimination and, as far as possible, contribute to this.

Where and how to apply

The faster the appeal gets into the hands that will process it, the earlier work on the task will begin, and accordingly, the faster we will present the result. Of course, regardless of which representative of our company you contact, sooner or later it will get to the address, but is it worth the wait?

The technical support service works around the clock, without holidays, weekends, lunch breaks, indigestion and atomic war, so it's best to contact us right away. Of course, if it somehow happened that you became aware of the personal contact details of one of the employees, you can, of course, write at night in ICQ to the courier who came to your office with acts of work performed and exchanged contacts with the office manager. But it should be borne in mind that information about your appeal may arrive at the technical support service with some delay.

To avoid this, please use only guaranteed communication channels. There are two channels through which you can always get in touch with us:

If the appeal is of a consulting nature, we will also be happy to receive a message and a call, it all depends on how it is more convenient for you to present the essence of the issue. Of course, a clearly formulated question already contains a significant part of the answer, and therefore in this case it is better to rely on which of the formulation methods you see as the most effective.

If the essence of the appeal comes down to the need to make certain changes, we will nevertheless show some caution and ask you to describe these changes in a message and send it to us by e-mail. Without written confirmation from an authorized contact person, we simply cannot enter them.

 

Why is it important

By eliminating unnecessary steps and links in the chain of interaction, we will be able to process the request as soon as possible.

How long to wait for a response

If you call on the phone and within the first few seconds the connection with the technical support employee did not happen, this does not mean that no one is at home. Our clients do not have to wait for a connection longer than 1 minute, because we make sure that a sufficient number of specialists are on duty at any time to provide assistance. Just wait a few seconds and do not drop the connection, and we will definitely answer.

If you wrote a message and no one answered within a minute, please don't worry. The statistics that we have at our disposal shows that the first response to a message sent to the technical support service, we give within 13 minutes after its receipt. However, sometimes it happens that 5 minutes is enough for us to complete the task in full, and sometimes it takes some time to get into all the details, but we definitely won't have to wait longer than the 60 minutes guaranteed by us. If there is a need to promptly clarify the status of a particular application - do not hesitate to call us, we will be happy to provide comprehensive information on the progress of work and estimated deadlines.