Centralising anti-virus protection for business

Disinfectant for the desktop, with less swabbing. Many small businesses’ anti-virus software strategies are a mess: here’s how you look after it for them, with minimal fuss.

Using SharePoint for document management for the small office

Project management, version control, group calendars, no more duplicates… SharePoint offers the small business a lot more than fancy file sharing and often it’s free. Julian Jordan from London based  IT support consultancy Network Fish shows them how to get the most from it.

SQL Server: diagnosing and fixing performance issues

Many SMEs have applications that run on SQL Server. In the more recent versions, SQL Server 2005 and 2008 is largely self tuning so it may well run for months unattended. However, performance issues can still raise their ugly head.

Setting up Windows Home Server in the office

The stay at home server turns out to be the little server that could, with plenty of business friendly features.
Even the smallest business will find a server useful, whether it’s just for sharing files and connecting them to the Web or delivering applications.

Set up event subscriptions in Windows Server 2008

Set up an event subscription between two Windows Server 2008 systems

Open the Reliability and Performance Monitor console, right-click on Data Collector Sets > User Defined, and create a New > Data Collector Set. Name the Data Collector and choose to Create manually (Advanced).

Considerations when installing or upgrading SharePoint

Choosing a server
SharePoint in all its forms has several dependencies, including ASP.NET, IIS and SQL Server. It becomes the default Web site on the server where it is located.

Virtualising SBS in the SME: choosing a hypervisor and planning a virtual infrastructure

Virtualisation is a powerful tool. You can use it to consolidate multiple applications on a single piece of hardware, or use several different operating systems at the same time. Often seen solely as the province of the enterprise data centre or the development lab, virtualisation is rapidly becoming a powerful tool for the SME as well, providing new routes to disaster recovery, and helping future-proof legacy applications.

Install Virtual Server 2005 R2 with our 16 step tutorial

Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 is a good introduction to the world of virtualisation. It’s a free download, and it’ll run on most current hardware — and will support a wide range of legacy and current guest operating systems.

Managing virtual machines with System Center Virtual Machine Manager and PowerShell

Virtualisation is meant to make your life easier. Instead of racks full of humming hot servers, you’ve got much less hardware doing the same work, simplifying your clients’ networks and keeping the power bills down.

Backing up: save the data, save the day

All hardware fails – and backup is seen as boring and unreliable. That combination is the perfect opportunity for you to provide a service that provides business continuity and ongoing revenue. But how do you design the right backup system?