News & Case Studies
Case Study
MYOB running slow over the network
Multiple users accessing MYOB Premier over a network is a common requirement. Many businesses will often start with one or two employees accessing a small MYOB database, and then gradually grow.
The performance of MYOB Premier over a network can degrade significantly once a business moves beyond a few people accessing MYOB at once, or once the MYO database grows to a point where it significantly slows down the program.
A common solution for this problem is to install a costly Windows Terminal Server and use MYOB Enterprise edition. Such an installation can easily exceed $15,000 once all licensing and hardware requirements are fulfilled. This is not a feasible option for many small business owners.
ITswitch have developed a more cost effective solution that allows you to continue using your existing MYOB Premier license and greatly increase the speed and stability of the software. The solution is stable and secure, and has been proven in practice with many of our satisfied clients.
For more information please call 03 9038 9499.
Article
Support legacy Linux/Unix Systems
We have come into environments where the business has Unix based servers (Linux, IBM AIX, HP UX, Solaris, *BSD) running a mission critical application. These may be supplied by a big name vendor (eg. IBM, HP, Sun) or simply constructed with commonly available parts.
Because these systems tend to be incredibly reliable, some of them might be old by today's standards, yet still fulfilling their function within the business. Finding support for these machines can be difficult; many IT companies are only willing to support the most common systems available at the moment. However, the right experienced engineers with a solid background in these platforms can take care of these systems easily.
In one instance the server was an IBM pSeries running AIX, previously serviced by IBM. The server was responsible for running a mission critical CMS application at the core of the business information processing. In this instance we were able to supply ongoing support for the server for a reasonable rate helping our reputation as leaders in Network support Melbourne The client can continue to run their mission critical application with the assurance that any issues will be supported well into the future, something very important to the business.
In another instance, we came into an environment with a FreeBSD server running on commodity hardware, and were asked to address a problem with that server. Unfortunately the cause was a serious hardware failure made worse by poor maintenance practices. We assessed all the factors and decided that replacing the entire server with one running proper server hardware and Fedora Linux, and transferring across the old server's data and functions was the best course of action. This server has since been reliable and proactively services by the leaders in computer support Melbourne - ITswitch.
Case study
Standardised antivirus
We recently took over management of a client environment with 5 Servers and 115 workstations spread over multiple locations. In the initial audit of their environment we identified a range of antivirus products in use. Different versions, different editions from different vendors and in some cases subscription status had expired and the software was no longer receiving virus definition updates.
This can be a common situation in small business where workstations have been added to the company network over time and the IT infrastructure has not been properly cared for.
It is critical that anti-virus software is current and correctly receiving updates from the vendor. While old definitions still provide some measure of protection, it is the most recent malware that poses the greatest threat of infection. It only takes one malicious application to slip past the company defences to open the way for more and cause damage. In an environment where all the anti-virus is different with different subscription periods, ensuring that updates are happening correctly can be a logistical nightmare.
One of the first things we will do when taking over a new environment is to standardise the antivirus and centrally manage it. This ensures that the company is properly licensed and malware definitions are up-to-date, and that all workstations are covered. Our monitoring software alerts us of any issues that arise and our helpdesk staff can address them remotely as required.