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Kel-Tek Newsletter Usually, we find one of two problems. Problem #1. Large emails being sent. Email was originally intended to be just that, electronic mail. It was not meant for the exchanging of files, particularly large ones. But over the past decade and a half, everyone has become accustomed to using email to send office documents. Now, we find people frustrated with being unable to send larger documents, PDFs, and CAD drawings. Again, the answer is simple, the email protocols were not intended for file transfer. Email is a best effort delivery system. There are literally dozens of reasons a small email can fail to deliver, and adding a file attachment increases the chances of failure drastically. Many Internet Service Providers will not allow emails with large attachments on their networks, and many email hosting companies will not allow those same large attachments either. Its very common for us to talk to an email hosting company such as AT&T, and we're told the maximum email size they will accept is 8mb (sometimes less than that). Solution. For home users, using a web-based file transfer service to host your file (such as YouSendIt), so someone else can download your Disneyland videos is probably sufficient. For small businesses or corporate environments however, you probably don't want your big financial spreadsheets or sensitive legal document packages sitting on someone else's servers (where they can be viewed by unknown staff or leaked to unknown persons on the Internet). The solution we have used for years to transfer files at the office, is an FTP server. This server has one task to do, transfer your files over the Internet. You simply give the person you are working with the address of your FTP server, and they can download the files you put there, as well as upload files directly to your office. This server does not have to be an expensive one. In fact we've often used recently retired equipment and simply replaced the hard drive, to create a FTP server running on Linux, that is of very minimal cost. For companies that would make heavy use of FTP (such as contractors), you probably want to add a second DSL line to go with this server, as people constantly uploading and downloading files to your FTP server will slow things down quite a bit. Unlike email however, your files WILL GET THERE. End of problem. Problem #2. Streaming media. Your basic DSL and T1 lines have a speed of only 1.5Mbps or less. If only 6 people stream radio all day at 128kb/s (which we see in almost every office with a staff of over 10), then literally half of your bandwidth goes to that task. And that task is usually non-stop ALL day (unlike sending a large email, which only consumes a lot of bandwidth momentarily as it is being sent). As a result, web pages load slowly, and your Outlook send/receive operations are slow. Should you have remote users working via GoToMyPC, LogMeIn, Remote Desktop, or Citrix, then they are likely experiencing speed issues, pauses, and even dropped connections. Because streaming media often occurs over the same communications ports as web pages, it very difficult to block them with your router/firewall. Solution. Since many users ignore warnings about such activities, implementing a proxy server can help. Again, this server does not have to be an expensive one. Just like FTP servers, we've often used recently retired equipment and simply replaced the hard drive, to create a Squid proxy server running on Linux, that is of very minimal cost. Using a proxy server, we can monitor web activity, and any streaming media sites, then block them. End of problem. In addition, web pages will load more quickly with a proxy server. A proxy server caches, or stores, copies of web pages, so the second time a web page is requested, that copy is given to the user requesting it. Only the changes of a website have to be downloaded again, and this means less bandwidth being used. You also have the ability to see what your staff is using the Internet for on a regular basis. By blocking those websites where you will often obtain spyware from (social networking, music, adult), you will see a reduction in the number of virus/spyware service calls you have to make in the future, thus cutting IT related costs. Final statement. By making use of FTP and proxy systems, you eliminate troubles with large email attachments, and your Internet being so slow. You reduce the number of service calls needed in the future for problems with these troubles (lowering costs), and often we can use working retired equipment to implement these solutions. In the event there is not any retired equipment laying around in good condition, don't worry. The hardware cost to run these solutions on brand new hardware, for an office of 30 users or less, is under a thousand dollars. |
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