EB IT Blog

HelpAgeUSA.org, designed and programmed by Ed Bair, was launched this week. HelpAgeUSA.org is a sister site to HelpAge.org, the Web site of the HelpAge International. The mission statement of HelpAge USA is:

“HelpAge USA, an affiliate of HelpAge International, builds awareness of global aging issues among US audiences; advocates for the empowerment of older, vulnerable adults in the developing world; and raises funds to support the programs of the HelpAge network.”

We wish them great success.

Do you ever wonder if anyone has been looking at your Web site? With Google Analytics you can get that information, and much more. Google Analytics is s free service from Google. All you do is create an account and copy copy a bit of code to your Web page. Then you can track all kinds of data, like where the people are that look at you site, what pages they look at, how long they look at each page, what browser and operating system they use, what words they searched for to find you site, and so on.There is a tremendous amount of data available through Google Analytics.

What is meant by the term Cloud Computing? The word cloud is used here as a metaphor for the internet. Cloud Computing refers to computer services provided over the internet. These services fall into three categories: Infrastructure as a service, Platform as a service, and Software as a service.

Let’s define what these are:

Infrastructure as a service refers to information technology hardware, meaning the servers and the buildings needed to keep them in.

Platform as a service refers to custom software development: programmers who develop applications for businesses.

Software as a service refers to the use and deployment of standard software over the internet.

Companies use cloud computing as way of managing information technology costs. It is cheaper for them for them to pay for the use of the technology that they need, as they need it than for them to pay ahead of time for the hardware or software that will handle their projected needs. Cloud computing is made possible by high speed access to the internet and browser standardization.

You are probably using forms cloud computing yourself without knowing about it. If you have a Web site, you are renting space and using Web server software on a computer somewhere on the internet, or cloud. If you have email, you are using two more servers and software applications to enable you to send and to receive email. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing are a form of software as a service. The actual search for information takes place on a remote server, then the results of the search are sent to your computer for you to view. YouTube is a cloud application. Intuit now offers the option for customers to run QuickBooks on their servers, through a Web browser. They will also store your Quickbooks files for you. Online banking, airline reservations, restaurant reservations, even FaceBook and Twitter are all forms of Cloud Computing.

Businesses are using cloud computing on a much larger scale. Some of us have heard about Google’s server farms that they use to power their searches. It does not matter to Google where those server farms are. They are “out in the cloud,” available as needed, over the internet. Proctor and Gamble and General Electric both use cloud computing from third party vendors. IBM and Amazon are providers of cloud computing resources.

Amazon’s cloud computing business is called Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, or Amazon EC2. They have so many servers that they rent them to anyone who needs them. Take a look at the Amazon EC2 Web site if you are interested in learning more about providers of cloud computing infrastructure. (2:11)

Why would a business want to use cloud computing? Information Technology as a service is attractive to businesses for a number of reasons. First lets talk about servers. Companies use servers to run accounting software, database software and many types of software that is specific to their business. Servers are expensive and require highly trained support people 24 hours a day. The buildings that house servers are expensive, and the energy needed to run them and cool them is expensive. They also need to be upgraded and replaced fairly often. Typically a business needs the full capacity of their servers for only small amounts of time throughout the day. All these problems can be addressed with cloud computing. A business can arrange through cloud computing to have access to servers dynamically as it needs them, and pay only for the capacity it actually uses. With cloud computing the fixed costs for support technicians disappear, as well as fixed costs for buildings and energy. With cloud computing, technology costs will go up or down depending on the needs of the business. There also is no need to raise capital to buy information technology, and no fixed assets to depreciate for tax purposes. Instead information technology becomes a business expense, which is tied to production and therefore easily trackable. It also becomes tax-deductable, as an expense related to it’s actual time of use.

Similar benefits apply to platform development as a service. Programmers can be used as needed, and not paid for their down time. The size of the team can respond dynamically to the work load, with the business paying only for the resources used.

Software as a service has benefits to business similar to those of platform as a service and infrastructure as a service. The cost of software becomes related to its actual use, and not a fixed expanse at startup. In addition IT managers do not have to try to predict how many licenses are needed in a corporate environment, potentially wasting money on excess capacity, or limiting capacity by purchasing too few licenses. With software as a service, the software is paid for only when it is used.

As an example, think about an architect’s office. Architects typically use expensive CAD/CAM software, like AutoCad. With a subscription to a company providing AutoCad as a service over the internet, the office can scale up or down the number of computers available for AutoCad based on their work load. This allows them to easily link their expenses to their billings. The architect also saves money that previously would have been wasted on excess capacity when the work load slows down.

Cloud computing has the effect of lowering the requirements for the capabilities of the computers in the office. If a company’s applications and data are stored on servers off-site, then it will not need as much hard drive space for its local computers. If a company’s applications run on off-site computers, it’s local computers do not need to be as powerful. Lower cost computers, like netbooks then become a viable, low-cost option as office computers. In addition, all the resources available to a worker at the office are available anywhere that worker can get a computer with access to the internet. The office becomes completely portable.

By contrast, the importance of a company’s network increases. With cloud computing the network is now being used for your computer services, so it must be fast and robust. 100 megbits per second, or 100 base-T is a minimum, and 1000 mega bits per second or 1000 base-T is better. Wireless networks should be upgraded to the latest 802.11n spec for enough throughput to handle cloud computing. High speed internet access is also a requirement.

Google is deeply involved with cloud computing. Google Aps is a cloud product they offer for programmers. Google Ap Engine is a service that allows developers to write applications and provides them with up t0 500 megs of space to store them on Google’s hardware. More capability is available for a fee.

Google offers Google Docs for those of us who are not programmers but are interested in learning about how cloud computing can be used on a personal level. Google Docs is a suite of programs similar to Microsoft Office, including a word processor, a spreadsheet program, a presentation program and a Web form builder. The biggest difference between Google Docs and Microsoft Office is that Google Docs is free. As a cloud application, it does not run on your local machine but on Google’s servers, and Google will store all you documents for you. You need a Gmail account to access Google Docs. (6:30)

Cloud computing has the potential to change we use computers. Currently we are seeing just the beginnings of a new way to use information technology. Over time, many more options for hardware and software as services will become available for individuals.

If cloud computing becomes widespread, businesses will need less support for servers and software, as this will happen locally, where the machines actually are. But business will need to keep their networks in top condition and up to date, for the best performance with cloud computing. Your client whose business might benefit from cloud computing will want to talk to me because they will want a local technician who can advise them on when and how to take advantage of Information Technology as a service, and who understands how all the services work together to power their business. Connect us in a three way email and I will take it from there.

We all use Web sites daily to obtain information, for communication and many other things. And perhaps you have your own Web site. But we don’t often think about how it all works.

First, some background:

The United States Depart of Defense became interested in large scale data sharing networks starting in the 1950’s. By 1958 they had successfully networked radar stations across the United States. They developed their own private nation-wide network for computer data sharing in 1969. The first use of the term “internet” to describe a world-wide network of computers was in 1974. But it was not until 1988 that the internet became open to public commercial traffic. That was when dial-up access and email over the internet became available from large telecom providers around the world.

The internet is made up of routers, servers and all the interconnections between them. The department of defense wanted a data sharing network that used redundant de-centralized paths so that it could not be made inoperative by the loss of a single pathway. This is the system we still use today. There are many paths between nodes on the internet, and disrupting one path does not stop the information flow.

To simplify a bit- the World Wide Web is a set of standards that allows computers to share documents over the internet. The internet is the hardware system of wires, routers and computers that the World Wide Web runs on.

The World Wide Web was created by English physicist Tim Berners-Lee in 1991 at CERN in Switzerland. CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Scientists wanted a way to share computer files over a network with researchers in different locations. The system of Hyper-Links, markup language and a browser that Berners-Lee came up with is essentially the system we still use for the World Wide Web today.

What are Hyper-Links and Markup Language? Hyper-Links are words in a document that take you to a different location on the World Wide Web when clicked on. We do not use the word “hyper” any more, but links are a fundamental feature of the World Wide Web. Berner-Lee’s markup language is modeled after the system printers use to “mark up” a manuscript to show the printer how to set the type. The HTML, or hyper-text markup language used on the World Wide Web functions in just the same way. A Web page is essentially a text document with hypertext markup language added. This hypertext markup language tells your computer how to display the document, in the same way that traditional markup language tells a printer how to format a document for printing. The original purpose of HTML was to display text documents. The HTML specification has been modified a number of times to keep pace with the desires of Web users for Web site to have more capabilities.

What is a browser? A browser is an application that runs locally on your computer and enables you to access and display HTTP documents from the World Wide Web. The first browser that would show pictures as well as text was released in 1993. It was called Mosaic. The leader of the Mosaic team later created the Netscape browser. People from the Netscape team created the Mozilla Foundation, which developed the Firefox browser. Microsoft released Internet Explorer in 1995, and Apple released Safari in 2003. Opera is used on many mobile phones. Google released Chrome in 2008. These are the most common browsers currently in use.

How do browsers Work? When you type the name of a Web site into your browser, your computer sends a request to the servers and routers on the internet to find the computer that hosts that Web site. When it is found, your computer sends a request to it for the Web page you wish to see. What happens next is interesting. The Web server sends your computer the HTTP document for the Web page, and your browser determines how to display it, by reading the HTML code. So it is the text and HTML code that is sent to your computer, not the page as you see it displayed. And what you see depends in part on what browser you are using.

Over time we have added new capabilities to browsers, such as Flash animation, and the ability to display graphics, sound and images. All this is still controlled by HTML code on a text document. Flash graphics and media files are just files stored in a folder on the Web server. They are included on the Web page as indicated in the HTML.

In order to to have a Web site you need to rent space on a server from an internet provider. This is called hosting. In addition to hosting you need to purchase a URL and register it with your hosting company. Then the HTML files are uploaded to the server, and the Web site is live.

URLs: Each computer on the internet has to have its own exclusive TCP/IP number. This is how it is found by other computers. A computer that displays Web sites is an HTTP server, and must be running software to allow it to serve Web Pages. Originally, each computer could host one Web site. Now software enables computers to host many Web sites. Each Web site must still have its own unique name, called URL, which is associated with a TCP/IP number. URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. DNS servers on the internet keep track of what computer serves what URL.

Many interesting technologies combine to make the World Wide Web and Web sites possible.

A new Web site for Swanson Violins is now launched. The site is completely redisgned by Ed Bair, and features videos of an interview with David Swanson, and Dovid Friedlander playing Bach’s Chaconne on a Swanson violin.

There are many photos of the different models of violins David Swanson makes, as well as photos and descriptions of materials and constrction. The launch of the site coincides with David’s move to Falmouth, Massachusetts on Cape Cod.

Ed Bair provided technical support for Linda Bair Productions this week at the Georgia Center for Non-Profits annual trade show. In addition to bolstering connections with the not-for-profit community, Linda was directing and taping attendees giving short marketing messages and posting the video clips to her blog. The show was well attended and the keynote speaker was Usher.

Clips of attendees can be viewed streaming on Linda’s blog at: lindabairproductions.com/blog

There is a new development in wireless networking: In mid April, Verizon began offering a personal wireless router, the Novatel MiFi 2200. This device is a portable wireless router and access point which connects to 3G cellphone networks. The MiFi 2200 will allow you to have a personal wireless network anywhere there is cell phone service. It’s wireless network has a range of 30 feet and will allow five people to get online. The MiFi 2200 is the size of a thin cell phone, and has a battery life of four hours in use, and will got to standby to save power if not used for half an hour.

Verizon will sell the MiFi 2200 for $100 with a two year contract. The contracts range from $20 to $60 a month, depending on usage. But if you can work with a 30 foot wireless range, you could replace your home internet plan with a MiFi 2200. Then you could take your wireless access with you wherever you go, and save money on your home network, too.

Introduction
      

A network is a group of computers that can communicate with each other and share resources and information. We know that there are Wide Area Networks, and Local Area Networks. Computers on Wide Area Networks are usually connected with wires.  Very often, computers on Local Area Networks are connected wirelessly. How does this work?

First let’s describe the physical components of a typical home wireless network. A computer on a network in your home connects to the internet through a modem, using the phone line, or the television cable.
Through the phone line or the television cable, the modem connects to a server belonging to your Internet Service Provider, or ISP. This server assigns a TCP/IP address to your modem, and the modem will allow one computer in your home to connect to the internet. Typically people want to have more than one computer in their home on the internet, so they add a router and an ethernet hub to their network. The hub connects multiple computers together to form a Local Area Network. The router translates or ‘bridges” between this Local Area Network and the internet for your computers at home. The router also enables your computers to share the internet connection that the modem has established. 

The Components of a Wireless Network

For a wireless network, you also need a Wireless Access Point.  A Wireless Access Point is a device that connects to your wired Local Area Network, broadcasts a wireless signal that computers with wireless hardware can connect to, and bridges between the wireless and wired networks.

 

In the past you would have needed a modem, a hub, a router and a wireless access point, or four different devices to create a wireless network like the one I just described. Today it is common to find all these functions in one device from companies like Linksys.

 

The wireless network has all the functions of a wired network: the computers can share the IP address from the modem, so that they can access the internet, and they can share documents among themselves and with the computers on the wired network, if they are configured to do so. 

Wireless networks transmit and receive data using radio waves, typically around 2.4 GigaHertz. Computers that have wireless capabilities can be configured to automatically search for available wireless networks. Wireless Access Points broadcast their network names, which are called Service Set Identifiers or SSIDs, 10 times a second.  A computer nearby with a wireless card can receive this broadcast and then add this network name to its list of available networks. Once a wireless network is discovered by a computer, the computer can be directed by you to join that network. 

WEP, WPA, WiFi

Usually a password is necessary to join a wireless network. Originally wireless networks used WEP, or Wired Equivalent Privacy. But in 2001 it was found that WEP was actually very weak, and that WEP protected networks were easily broken into. A new security standard called WPA, or WiFi Protected Access was implemented. A WEP password is 7 characters. A WPA password can be 8 to 63 characters. A password of thirteen characters is considered sufficient to stop brute force password cracking attempts. It is a good idea to have a password on your wireless network. Otherwise any computer in range can join your network and get access to your computers.

Wireless computers are often described as using “WiFi”. WiFi is set of wireless connectivity standards based on the IEEE 802.11 protocol. All wireless devices which adhere to WiFi standards can communicate with each other. The 802.11 protocol has gone through a number of revisions. These revisions are indicated by a one letter suffix.  So far, these letters have been a, b, g, n and y. A is the oldest and slowest, and Y is the newest and fastest. Products based on the N revision are available on the market now. The older 802.11G devices connect at an average of 19 Megabits/sec and can reach up to 150 feet indoors. The newer 802.11n devices connect at an average speed of 100 MegaBits/ second and have a range of up to 300 feet indoors, if there are no obstructions or interference. 

WDS

It is possible to configure extended wireless networks using multiple Wireless Access Points. There is a protocol called WDS, or Wireless Distribution System, that allows you to create a network in this manner. You configure one Wireless Access Point as the base station, and other Wireless Access Points can then be added to the network as remote Access Points on the network. A computer using a WDS network can move among the access points seamlessly. This is a better system than having multiple adjacent networks, which require a new login as you move between them. 

As a practical matter, to set up a WDS network, all the equipment must be made by the same manufacturer. Implementations of WDS from different manufacturers tend to be slightly different, and one manufacturer’s equipment will not work with other brands.

Security

Wireless networks are very convenient. It is very nice to go to Starbucks and access the internet while you have a coffee. But there are some security issues you should be aware of. You should know that anything that you transmit over a public wireless network can be intercepted and read by someone with the proper software. The best way to protect yourself is to not transmit anything over a public network that you do not want to be public. Don’t do your online banking, don’t access your PayPal account, don’t type any passwords, don’t type any credit card numbers. If you must transmit sensitive information, make sure that you are using a Web site that has a secure login. On secure Web sites, the address will begin with HTTPS. HTTPS encrypts your transmission, and requires sites it connects to  to have identifying credentials, or a certificate of authority. HTTPS is not foolproof, but is much more secure than the HTTP protocol. Check to see if your IMAP email has a secure login. If it does, use it. And check that the pages it sends you to are also secure. Look for the HTTPS at the beginning of the URL. Some site will log you in on a secure page, and then send you to an unsecured page.

You probably heard about the Conficker worm that was supposed to cause problems on Wednesday, April first.

Well, nothing happened. But this does serve as an opportunity to once again talk about good practices for safe computing. The most important item is to have a current backup. If you are a Mac user, make sure that Time Machine is working correctly. If you are a Windows user, copy your “Documents and Settings” folder to an external drive. Just do it.

After you do that, update your anti-virus software, and install the latest patches from Microsoft.

Be prepared for the worst. It is your data that could be lost.

It used to be we all had POP email accounts. With a POP account, when you check your email, all the messages are downloaded to your computer, and deleted from the mail server. This made sense when we used dial-up modems and we hopped on and off the internet. Today, with always-on connections, and cheap storage, IMAP accounts make more sense. With an IMAP server your email stays on the mail server when you check it. This is how Web mail services like gMail and Yahoo work.

The advantage is that you can check your email from any computer on the internet. And if your computer’s hard drive fails, you won’t lose all your email messages.

If your email provider offers IMAP service, then all you need to do is reconfigure you email reader software for the IMAP server instead of the POP server. But IMAP service is not universally available. For instance, Comcast does not have IMAP servers. The solution for that is to set up a free IMAP account with someone like Yahoo or Gmail, and configure  your POP account to forward your email to your new IMAP account. Then the messages from your POP account will be available from the IMAP server on the Web.

In addition, it is also possible to configure your computer’s email software to check you new IMAP account. You will be then be able to check your email as you always have, the difference being that you can also access it from any other computer via the Web. Nice.

I will say it again: backup. Use whatever method works for you. Just pick one that is easy and that you will follow through on. Copying your Documents and Settings folder to an external USB drive is a good choice.

I think that the Macintosh users have a bit of an edge in this area. Time Machine pretty much does what a backup program should do. It makes incremental backups with no user interaction. It store the files as standard computer files, so there is no problem finding or retrieving them. It also makes restoring files a breeze. And Apple’s Time Capsule is a wireless hard drive for use as a back up destination with Time Machine. And it is also an 802.11n base station.

I am looking for back up software for Windows that is as easy to use as Time Machine.