Written on
March 17, 2011
by
Jerson
Now you all may think how is SharePoint beneficial for a Utility sector, right? For any industry, communication is the key passage for information sharing, decision making, so on and so forth. SharePoint helps provide this benefit to all the industries across the spectrum. Same payback it will provide to the utility industry as well. Using SharePoint Server 2010, employees or workforce of the utility sector can collaborate, communicate and manage documentation and data ingeniously.
Using SharePoint server 2007, you can update, share, and discuss data such as customer communications; employee authored content, interactions with service providers and experts engaged on projects; and news related to the company, that too all under one roof. Taxing to and fro of emails can be dodged. In SharePoint Site, staff and management will be able to glance through or make changes in the company content right at one place. Less storage space is also required. News stories meant for the company’s intranet folio which essentially needs to be analyzed by the concerned superiors before getting posted can be done swiftly concurrently at the central space.
Using another such solution from Microsoft, i.e., Dedicated Exchange Server, employees and employers can enhance their email communication. The main advantage using Hosted Microsoft Exchange is that it can be integrated with SharePoint site. It also allows for wireless synchronization, archival of emails, download of heavy attachments even on the phone, access to contact list, so on and so forth. Cheap Exchange hosting services are available in the market. Also, application hosting and free hosting templates for project management, content management, document management, etc. are easily available these days.
Posted in : : Business - Computers And Technology - Information : : No Comments »
Written on
March 2, 2011
by
Jerson
The corporate world today has deemed SharePoint Site as the full-bodied web solution, however there is much more to find out about SharePoint and its usability features. So why do you think SharePoint is the finest tool for social computing?
Whilst you make a social network by means of SharePoint, users, private spaces, etc. are by default being developed for each user you adjoin. These individual spaces are known as My Sites, which operates similar to other existing social network sites, however with additional features and abilities. The My Site feature in SharePoint allows to see and administer data, links, calendar, associations, and other private data.
Originally speaking, in SharePoint Server 2010, each My Site has an integrated blog. Additionally, users can generate new SharePoint sites and fasten them to an on hand Team Site. This provides a blog to the team that adjoins additional content and value along with their document repositories, calendars and lists. SharePoint also allows for blog archiving which can also be indexed. Thus, it makes the blog a storehouse for combined facts and data.
People Search is an imperative SharePoint Server 2007 feature for big or emergent organizations. It helps search and find exact people much easier. Several kinds of search features are available to use, for instance the By Expertise search feature. Also, search results can be differentiated by tabs such as job title or by social distance.
Microsoft SharePoint Services also has integrated wikis for information sharing and information and group collaboration on content. SharePoint Wiki features include approval workflows and permissions, document check-in, and version history. There is also an option to use hyper-V hosting with a dedicated SharePoint server. SharePoint price is also not too expensive.
Free hosting templates, hosted blackberry, and Exchange host are also available through SharePoint hosting providers.
Posted in : : Business - Computers And Technology - Information - Internet And Businesses Online : : No Comments »
Written on
December 10, 2010
by
Jerson
Internet Security Technologies : Firewall
A firewall is an application that allows the user to control and filter packets flowing in and out of the network. Firewalls effectively block probes like ping, operating system fingerprinting, port scans and other types of intrusions. Many companies offer free firewall for personal use only.
A firewall may be software or hardware. A firewall is at the entry point of the network it protects. The most basic firewall performs packet filtering. In packet filtering, the firewall is the first program that receives and handles incoming network traffic and the last to handle outgoing traffic. The policy of filtering the packets may be based on allowing or disallowing packets based on:
- source IP address
- destination port
- protocol
Circuit Relay or Circuit Level Gateway provides additional security. This operates on the Transport Layer. This firewall also determines whether the connection between both ends is valid according to a set of configurable rules. It then opens a session and permits traffic from the allowed source for a limited time period.
Application level gateway acts as a proxy for applications. It performs all data exchanges with the remote system on behalf of the applications. It also allows or disallows network traffic according to specific rules. This is the most secure type of firewall.
Source
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Written on
November 24, 2010
by
Jerson
Cloud computing is the buzzword nowadays, and a lot of major players in the tech scene are jumping into this bandwagon. What is cloud computing really, anyway? Why is it such a big deal?
If you want to get a grasp of what cloud computing is in the simplest way possible, I suggest that you check out Google’s newly released book, 20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web. It does cover 19 other topics aside from cloud computing, but the way it presents the concept is simple enough for practically anyone to understand.
To paraphrase, cloud computing is tapping into the power afforded by the plethora of computers connected to each other all over the world. Data is stored in these computers located in various areas, and the same data is accessed by people from the four corners of the globe. Simple but powerful, isn’t it?
What are the advantages of cloud computing?
One, it is more cost effective for small to medium sized enterprises. There is an enormous amount of power afforded by the infrastructure, and since this is shared by many, the cost is spread out.
Two, cloud computing is supposed to be “greener,” again by virtue of less resources being used by more people.
Three, cloud computing offers data safety. A simple example: if your data is stored in the “cloud,” then your hard drive can crash, you can lose your computer, or whatever, and still your data can be easily retrieved.
One element that is critical to the efficiency and effectiveness of cloud computing is the role that data center services play. Entities offering these services have various set ups, but there is no doubt that they play a central role in storing data and managing access to it.
Whether it is for business or personal purposes, cloud computing certainly will be changing the landscape more in the years to come.
Photo via Brian Keith May
Posted in : : Computers And Technology : : No Comments »
Written on
November 10, 2010
by
Jerson
SSL (Secure Socket Layer) :
Netscape Communications Corporation developed SSL for providing security and privacy over the Internet. The protocol supports server and client authentication. Since the protocol is application-independent, it allows other protocols like HTTP, FTP, and Telnet to be transparently layered on it. An Secure Socket Layer (SSL)-enhanced browser encrypts the data sent from the browser to the server. SSL uses encryption and certificates to authenticate websites and web users.
Ssh (Secure Shell) :
Ssh is a program used to:
1. log into another computer over the network
2. execute commands in a remote system
3. move files from one system to another
Ssh provides:
1. strong authentication and secure communication over unsecured channels
2. secure connections and secure forwarding of arbitrary TCP connections
3. provides encrypted communication
4. Ssh is proposed as an alternative to the traditional BSD ‘r’ commands-rlogin, rsh, and rcp. It replaces Telnet. The free version of the SSH protocol suite can be downloaded from http://www.openssh.com/.
Source
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Written on
October 19, 2010
by
Jerson
Online business markets are fiercely competitive and site owners are becoming increasingly aware that they have to outperform their rivals in order to succeed. There are many ways to help your business to stand out from the crowd and be noticed and some of these methods are ethical and some of these are not.
If you are currently tempted by unethical techniques which may help you to do better than your online competitors, stop and think about it carefully. Unethical and even illegal techniques are not beneficial for online businesses in the long run. You may think you can use them, achieve results quickly and get away with it without any repercussions but this is highly unlikely. Whatever search engine optimization services you opt for, they reflect on your business reputation and brand too. Please tell me more! »
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Written on
October 19, 2010
by
Jerson
Email hosting is very important for all kind of business—be it small, medium, or large. Keeping this in mind, consequently Microsoft designed its Small Business Server package including significant components like Microsoft Exchange in it. As you know the Microsoft Exchange Server features electronic mail, calendaring, managing contacts and tasks; support for mobile and web-based access to information; and support for data storage, etc. Microsoft Small Business Server package would have been incomplete without this component, isn’t it? Yes!
Hence, if you glance through, Microsoft has been upgrading the SBS versions over the period of time which also meant upgradation of the Microsoft Exchange Server. For instance, Small Business Server 2003 includes Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 which is 32-bit only and doesn’t install on the various 64-bit versions of Please tell me more! »
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Written on
October 10, 2010
by
Jerson
Internet Security Technologies : Encryption
Encryption is the process of rendering data unreadable for snoopers. The designated receiver must have the correct key to decrypt the data. Hackers can intercept data over the network by eavesdropping, tampering, or impersonation. The strength of the encryption depends on the key length.
An encryption system can be of two types: public or private. In public key encryption, a pair of keys called the public key and the private key is used. The public key can be given to anyone and the sender uses it to encrypt the message. The receiver then uses his private key to decrypt the message. The private key is obviously not revealed. In private key encryption, the same key is used to encrypt and decrypt the data. The private key must be sent to the receiver through a secure connection.
Source
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Written on
September 22, 2010
by
Jerson
What is Word Automation Services in SharePoint Server 2010?
Ever tried to transfer .docx files into PDF? Most of us try to perform server side conversions of Open XML files (.docx) into fixed formats (PDF and XPS) using the Word desktop application. Now this conversion can be done hassle-free with Word Automation Services.
As an element of SharePoint Server 2010, Word Automation Services allows you to perform file operations on the server that previously required automating desktop Word:
* Converting between documents formats (e.g. DOC to DOCX)
* Converting to fixed formats (e.g. PDF or XPS)
* Updating fields
* Importing “alternate format chunks”
Features of Word Automation Services
Features of Word Automation Services include the following:
o Reliability – Word Automation Service was built from the ground up to work in a server environment, which means that you no longer have to worry about issues like dialog boxes that bring the process to a halt, expecting a user to provide input; creating interactive user accounts under which to run the application to avoid running into permissions issues, etc.
o Speed – The service is optimized to perform server-side file operations, and in doing so provides performance significantly better than existing solutions.
o Scalability – The service can take advantage of the processing power available on typical server hardware (multiple processors, additional memory). For example, although a single instance of WINWORD.EXE can only utilize a single core of processing power, with Word Automation Services, you can specify the number of simultaneous conversions (and the # of processing cores) to use based on the available hardware.
What Word Automation Service doesn’t do in the SharePoint Server?
One of the most important things to understand about Word Automation service is what it doesn’t do. Word Automation Service is not intended to be a 1:1 replacement for the existing desktop object model. Instead, the server is one half of a replacement for the existing object model – the other half being the Open XML SDK.
o The SDK is designed to handle tasks that don’t require application logic, such as inserting or deleting content (paragraphs, tables, pictures), inserting data from other data sources, sanitizing content (removing content, accepting tracked changes), etc.
o The service is designed to handle those few tasks that do need application logic: reading the entire document formats that Word supports, converting to the entire output format that Word supports, recalculating dynamic fields, etc.
Word Automation Service is not featured in SharePoint Foundation 2010. Nevertheless, there is still life left in SharePoint family of products including Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 and WSS 3.0 that has free SharePoint templates for business use.
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Written on
September 20, 2010
by
Jerson
SharePoint Server 2010, without doubt, is a bunch of exciting features and options, some of which were not available in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007. And one of the features that really enthuses me in SharePoint 2010 is the Logging Database feature. Logging Database, named as WSS_Logging, helps aggregate logging data or information from the server farm into one central location. SharePoint aggregates all of the raw logging data accumulated in the text files under the 14 hive and imports it into this wonderful logging database. This is the only database in SharePoint that Microsoft will be happy to let the developers directly read, query and build reports against it. For someone who spends time in front of customers helping them to maintain a healthy and stable farm, logging database will be a constructive app in SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint Foundation.
The logging database by default contains the following information from all servers within the farm and it is fully supported to query this database directly.
• ULS Logs
• Event Logs
• Selected Performance Monitor Counters:
o % Processor Time
o Memory Available Megabytes
o Avg. Disk Queue Length
o Process Private Bytes (OWSTIMER and all instances of w3wp)
• Blocking SQL Queries
• SQL DMV Queries
• Feature Usage
• A host of information on search crawling and querying
• Inventory of all site collections
• Timer job usage
The Logging Database in SharePoint Server is one of the many new concepts that will make the life of many SharePoint administrators quite a bit more enjoyable. So catch up on this soon! There is a lot of juice in the SharePoint family of products including Server 2010, SharePoint Foundation, SharePoint Server 2007, and associated free SharePoint templates!
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