HP Network vs Cisco Network. Who is cooler?

A worthy player has long appeared on the market that is undermining and capable of eventually overthrowing the global hegemony of Cisco in the field of networks, the name of this competitor is Hewlett-Packard Networking. Many have heard, and other small, medium and large customers have already appreciated the benefits of working with Hewlett-Packard.

So let's make a quick HP vs. Cisco comparison with the facts and without any emotion.

Brief introduction

Warranty and support

Key differences in network architecture

Wired and wireless networks

Network infrastructure for the data center

Firewalls

Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS)

The battle of new technologies

Useful Resources

Brief introduction

Cisco www.cisco.com is an American company founded in 1984 and is a leader in networking equipment developers. Cisco has created a tiered certification system for network experts. Cisco certification is one of the most respected and recognized in the industry. The company's first successful commercial product is a multi-protocol router aws solutions architect professional salary.

The company's total revenue for 2012 was $ 46.061 billion. The cost of one CISCO share as of June 2, 2013 is $ 24.11.

Hewlett-Packard www.hp.com is an American company founded in 1939 and is the largest manufacturer of information technology (IT) in the world. In addition, HP is one of the world's largest IT integrators and has vast experience in building IT infrastructure. HP is the leader in many products, including servers and number 2 (after Cisco) in networking equipment. The first successful commercial product of the company is the HP200A oscillator.

The company's total revenue for 2012 was $ 119.895 billion. The cost of one HPQ share as of June 2, 2013 is $ 24.42.

Warranty and support

Cisco and HP have very different views on warranty and support for their products.

Most Cisco products only have a 90-day base warranty initially when purchased. Data center equipment has a 1 year warranty. However, you cannot update your software, and you cannot use Cisco support if a difficult situation arises. To extend the basic Cisco warranty - you need to buy SMARTnet licenses, which significantly add to the final price of the product. Dealing with these licenses is not so easy, although the Cisco Commerce Workspace is launched, which simplifies this matter.  

At HP, however, things are completely different. Most HP switches come with a lifetime warranty for as long as you own the switch. Some switches have a 3 year warranty. The same goes for wireless access points (APs), the top-end MSM4xx and MSM3xx come with a lifetime warranty. Many of the products also have Lifetime Phone / Email / Electronic Case support.

Data center switches, routers, and outdoor APs have an extended 1 year warranty that includes 1 year of Phone / Email / Electronic Case support. The warranty is renewable. A brief table of products and warranties / support for them .

Key differences in network architecture

HP's approach to architecture is different from Cisco's.

Cisco Network Architecture Diagram

Cisco supports a three-tier architecture that includes access, distribution, and core layers.

The kernel layer is the backbone of the entire network. There are no routing or traffic control policies to maximize performance at this level. Distribution level - responsible for the proper routing of packets, traffic policies. Access level - serves to connect clients to the network.

There are many different products to manage all network components: Cisco Prime Collaboration, Cisco Prime Infrastructure, Cisco Virtual Network Management Center, Cisco Prime Data Center Network Manager, Cisco Network Services Manager.

HP network architecture diagram - FlexNetwork

HP promotes FlexNetwork architecture.

The HP FlexNetwork architecture is an open and standardized solution. HP believes that proprietary (proprietary) protocols limit customer freedom of choice, resulting in limited business flexibility and increased costs. By using standardized solutions, customers can select the best product in their area of ​​interest and easily integrate it with other products using open standard protocols. 

HP FlexNetwork architecture makes the network more efficient. HP is reducing the architecture from three tier (Cisco option) to two or one tier. This approach simplifies planning and implementation, while also lowering operating costs and total cost of ownership.

HP also insists on a unified management and monitoring system that works with all network blocks in the data center, campus and branches. HP IMC can manage devices from 35 different network equipment manufacturers.

NT-Docker Course: Containerization and Management

Everything you wanted to know about Docker but were afraid to ask. Training Center "Networking Technologies" launches a new author's course on working with the Docker software platform in November!

The NT-Docker course is designed for engineers and developers who have a basic knowledge of Docker containerization and want to gain hands-on knowledge of the toolkit.  

The main topics covered by the NT-Docker course are: aws certified solutions architect salary

building image using Dockerfile;

launching containers;

work with Docker Hub and local registry;

fixing vulnerabilities and updating the Docker image;

networking in Docker, interaction of applications in containers;

Docker Swarm clustering system;

monitoring Docker containers using Advisor and Prometheus.

Note! For effective teaching on the course, students must have the following knowledge and skills:

have experience with Linux;

possess basic skills and knowledge in the field of network technologies;

have the skills and experience to support cloud solutions such as Amazon cloud.

Training Center "Network Technologies" in 2019

For the Training Center "Network Technologies" the past 2019 was filled with productive work and interesting projects. Success is easily measured using numbers. So, as of January 1, 2020, at the Network Technologies Training Center, 38,810 students studied 7068 courses and managed to pass 9,910 certification tests and exams. Our curriculum is ahead of trainees' IT learning needs. We have created interesting exclusive courses that are specific to certain types of IT activities or combine knowledge of related technologies. We regularly update courses on the most common programming languages ​​Java , JavaScript , Pyton... Knowledge of updated language releases, additional libraries and modules provides developers with new opportunities aws software engineer.

In 2019, Pearson VUE® Authorized Test Center Select and Certiport Authorized Testing Center continued to operate at the Networking Technologies Training Center, which operates under the auspices of TechExpert. This means that we continue to provide the best conditions for passing certification exams and testing for the products of companies, world leaders in the IT industry. We would like to inform you that in 2019, the greatest demand was for role-based certification services for Microsoft products, as well as Microsoft Office Specialist certification, Linux Professional Institute certification exams, and training and certification services for project managers. Only in our training center can you take the GMAT certification test, it is a must for those wishing to study in MBA programs. In addition, we note that the corporate training and testing system NTExpert helps our students prepare for the exams. It began to be effectively used just last year.

Our special project, the creation and expansion of the functionality of the Personal Account... According to the plan, the Personal Account should become the only convenient platform for working with students of the Network Technologies Center and customers of TechExpert, in close cooperation with which the Training Center works. The personal account accompanies the educational process of the students. Here is the schedule and cost of training for all courses, mandatory post-training support is provided. The personal account maintains the listener's certificate in electronic form. It can be downloaded even after successful completion of the training. Electronic certificates have significantly more advantages over paper ones. In addition, in your Personal Account you can order virtual computing resources, in particular, for testing, get technical support or advice.

Also last year we created a new website for the Network Technologies Training Center, which has become a convenient way to communicate with students, teachers and clients. It publishes information about promotional offers, discounts and new training programs. Our team is working on the content of the site. We make sure that the expert opinions of the teachers of the training center about the events in the information technology and IT education market always arouse great interest of IT specialists. We are also working on optimizing the site for search services and making it convenient for users and visitors. Another important area of ​​work, a large audience from social networks is attracted to the pages of our website.

The past 2019 has determined the development directions of the Network Technologies Training Center for the future. We plan to continue working on the company's website and dream of turning it into a powerful information resource with interesting training programs and expert reviews of IT events. The functionality of the Personal Account will expand, all interactions with existing customers on the products and services of the Network Technologies Training Center and TechExpert will be built on this platform. After all, it is convenient for users, and in this way the company will be able to provide omnichannel relationships with customers. We will continue to create new, original curricula, this will provide our students with additional advantages in the labor market and new career opportunities.

Remote training in the training center "Network Technologies"

For successful training in a remote format at the Network Technologies Training Center, the student needs the following.

Internet.

Stable at normal speed.

The program is a Skype , which is preinstalled on your computer. For many years we have been using this particular program for remote learning, it has proven itself well and works stably robert half technology new york.

Mobile phone.

For prompt communication with you, to check the connection to the group.

Personal email.

Even for corporate customers, we recommend using a personal email address for easy registration and laboratory work.

A few days before the start of the course, our technician will contact you and check your connection to the classroom. He will be in touch at the beginning of the course and until its completion to promptly eliminate any malfunctions.

All laboratory and practical work can be easily performed remotely via an RDP connection or a connection to the Microsoft environment.

The training center "Network Technologies" has been conducting training for over 20 years, including in a remote format. And we can say with confidence that in 90% of cases, listeners do not see the difference between online or face-to-face training. The exceptions are custom courses and specific courses for engineers, in which, in order to successfully master the material, it is advisable to visit the training center in person.

Free Linux for work and creativity

Operating systems and applications of the Linux family are created by the global community of programmers and are freely distributed. Users can install and use, distribute and modify the software free of charge, and use it for commercial purposes.

For several decades, Linux distributions have been developed, supported and successfully used, targeting different users and different technical capabilities of computer technology. Distributions for beginners and home users, musicians and computer artists, cybersecurity specialists and hackers, system administrators and application developers have been created. There are lightweight distributions for legacy but working computers. There are specialized distributions that provide anonymity on the Internet, high performance, or, for example, optimized for scientific calculations. Enterprise distributions can be distributed commercially or free of charge amazon data engineer.

Everyone wants to take advantage of Linux. Major IT companies create and maintain their Linux distributions, this helps them to better understand technology trends. Even Microsoft Windows 10 provides Windows Subsystem for Linux, a software compatibility layer for running Linux applications without virtualization. Note that the operating systems for iOS and Android mobile devices are also based on Linux technologies.

The Linux ecosystem is extremely diverse and therefore very resilient. It is admirable that the most complex software, which was created on a voluntary basis and distributed free of charge, is used all over the world on personal computers and servers, for the functioning of the Internet, in powerful data centers and even in supercomputers.

The complexities of administration and work in operating systems of the Linux family are easily overcome thanks to the support of the world Linux community, as well as specialized courses of the Network Technologies Training Center.

At our Learning Center, we love Linux very much, so we teach Linux courses in a comprehensive manner. Author's Linux courses have been developed for users, administrators and network specialists. There are courses on working with application containerization and databases. These are good, methodically verified study programs containing a large amount of theoretical material and, most importantly, practical exercises.

Take the Linux Professional Institute certification exams to prove your Linux expert knowledge. Several levels of certification are provided. You can prove your knowledge of the basics of the Linux operating system or become a certified professional who can administer the system, design and deploy small and medium networks, and create a secure enterprise-scale IT infrastructure with the ability to virtualize and integrate Linux services. For experienced professionals, there is an opportunity to obtain a DevOps engineer certification. Linux Professional Institute certification significantly increases the chances of an IT specialist to get a high-paying job and take part in interesting projects.

Processes and data: The little things add up

When John Matouk & Co. migrated its ERP and manufacturing systems to Salesforce.com, officials found some of the simple things they were used to — like pressing a button to print out a Fedex label — required a change in processes. “That simple mapping of the different peripherals [and] thinking through where that stuff outputs to requires thought,’’ observes Stuart Kiely, vice president of digital strategy at the 90-year-old manufacturer and distributor of fine linens and luxury bedding. “We took it for granted in the old system and now we have to think it through in how we re-architect the packing process.”

The cost of transactional data storage has also been a surprise, Kiely says, and they went over their limit about a month in when the cloud systems went live in January. Because John Matouk & Co. deals with a lot of customer information, they are storing data around contacts, cases, opportunities and leads. “When you move an ERP system to the cloud, the data you’re generating is 10x more because every single time a piece of inventory moves you’re generating a cost transaction.”

Now Kiely’s team is working on moving some systems back on-premises and “connecting the dots there so our finance team doesn’t have a heart attack,’’ he says. This also requires careful planning “because there are so many relationships in the cloud you can’t just delete a record. There’s so many dependencies on other records so data just grows and grows and you can’t downsize in some instances.”

Tactical issues: Governance, workflows, and licensing

The 145-year-old Pacific Life is not using a lot of agile methodologies, says Vigil. “We have a couple of pilot groups that have helped us move to cloud, but most of the organizational structure is, ‘You do your part and when you’re done, you pass it on,’” he says. “It’s kind of like the Henry Ford assembly line, and we’re in the midst of trying to shift to having a cross-functional team servicing an app. We’re working to try to overcome that challenge now.”

IT also didn’t expect the complexity that moving to Amazon can bring “because you can do so much in there you need a way to control that and visualize that,” says Vigil. Pacific Life is using Dome9 for network security, which he says gives IT visibility into their workloads in AWS and the ability to troubleshoot if one application or system can’t talk to another.

Another so-called “gotcha” was the amount of governance required in the cloud. “On-premises, there are siloed functions, so you may have a couple of engineers that do firewalls and others doing engineering, so it’s more difficult to make a mistake, whereas in AWS, you assign a system admin a particular amount of access,’’ Vigil says. “So it’s quite easy to do the wrong thing quickly if they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Yet another surprise has been the need to figure out whether existing enterprise licensing agreements still apply, adds Salari. “Our contracts guys have been burning the midnight oil to figure out what is limited to on-premises, or do we have to purchase new licenses,” particularly with Microsoft, he says cloud architect requirements.

Then there have been mindset challenges. For a lot of his peers in IT, “the biggest anxiety was the lack of control and lack of being able to visualize in their mind what the cloud environment looks like,’’ says Salari. The biggest resistors have been the ones who haven’t seen the AWS console, he adds. It was helpful to do a lot of education on the cloud and the use of third-party tools so they could make sense of it, he says.

“I won’t say it was a complete light switch that was turned on,” he notes, “but once we showed them the console and what was there and the third-party tools and how they could interact with them, it reduced a lot of the anxiety, and while they’re not cloud converts, they’re no longer resistors.”

Silver linings

But not every surprise in the cloud is unwelcome. For Pacific Life, the ease of host-based security has been among the pleasant surprises, says Vigil. “In the cloud, there is way better security than we could ever hope to offer on-premises --without the cost,’’ he says.

The elasticity of the cloud has also been a big bonus. “On-premises we could do virtualization, but to scale up and down still requires that we have peak capacity in the form of hardware and in the cloud, we only rent what we need,’’ he says.

Salari has enjoyed being able to test something out in the cloud. He says he goes into his AWS lab account, buys compute in the marketplace and plays around with it for a week, all for around $7. “I love being able to kick the tires a little,’’ he says. “I would have loved to do this more when I was an engineer. It would have made things so much easier.”

PwC has also experienced happy surprises, says CIO Sigal Zarmi. The agility, efficiency and simplicity of the cloud have been a bonus, she says, and PwC’s employees view the cloud as a new way of working, rather than the technology itself.

“A great ‘gotcha’ moment for us was a recent survey of our people, where they estimated they were saving around nine hours a week by collaborating differently, having access to online communications tools and access to information when and where they needed it,” Zarmi says.  

Salari anticipates Pacific Life will have all its web pages migrated to the cloud by the end of 2018, with the goal of getting all of its disaster recovery infrastructure into AWS by then as well. Within three to five years, he expects they will have most of their workloads and apps in a cloud environment. “We will only have things on-premises for licensing or practicalities,’’ he says. “We’re a big mainframe organization because we’re financial, so we’ll always be hybrid.”

Expert will help!

Recalling an interesting study by Cisco of many companies in different countries, one can cite funny statements, not only of company leaders, but even of CIOs about the transition to the cloud: supporter jobs

They consider themselves "more competent at playing Angry Birds than moving corporate networks and applications to the cloud." These statements look somewhat strange, because IT specialists are always aware of new IT trends, but fact is fact.

We also once did our mini-survey and, among others, asked clients what exactly scared them in the context of moving to the cloud. To our surprise, the overwhelming majority of respondents admitted that they were most worried about the unknown technology and lack of understanding of all its capabilities.

“How to manage Tucha, how to add new jobs, how long does the transition take, and what will happen if ...” - it turns out precisely with the help of competent answers to these and many other questions that we helped them make a meaningful decision on cooperation. Since this exploration, the Expert package has been our main secret weapon.

And today we are happy to offer extended Expert technical support for a period of one month at the base price when concluding a contract until August 31, 2012.

We remind you that the Expert package, in addition to the increased priority of processing requests and a special level of service availability, includes consulting support for the client's IT specialists on how to effectively use the capabilities of Tucha's IT infrastructure.

Checklist: How to choose a cloud provider

So, you've decided that you can't do without cloud services. The next step is to find a reliable provider. You drive the query "cloud provider" into the search engine and ... your eyes run up. There are many offers, and all suppliers seem to you to be the same person: "quality service", "affordable price", "individual approach" and the like. How not to get lost among so many similar-looking sentences?

We share with you practical tips and a useful tool in the form of a table. For ease of use, you can download the checklist . Be sure to ask questions from the list below to potential suppliers, mark the answers in the table and choose the best option according to the criteria that are most important to you.

Download checklist

Find out the reliability of the data centers where your data will be stored

This is one of the main selection criteria. The reliability of data centers consists of several factors: geographic location, degree of security, physical security, availability of necessary communication sources (uninterrupted power supply, air conditioning, etc.). Let's consider everything in order.

Location of data centers. Data centers are located both in Ukraine and abroad. Each of the options has its own characteristics. Basically, data centers outside Ukraine boast a higher level of availability. The advantage of Ukrainian data centers is the budgetary cost of services it support job.

We offer two options for virtual servers with different locations of data centers: TuchaBit and TuchaFlex + with data centers in Ukraine and Germany (mostly), respectively.

Physical security and security of data centers. It includes protection from unauthorized persons on the territory of data centers, the presence of electronic protection systems, centralized uninterruptible power supply, air conditioning and power supply systems, duplication of the main systems for ensuring the operability of the data center. A reliable data center must be certified.

It makes sense to trust only those providers who place equipment in data centers of Tier III and IV levels. Why? In the event of errors and system failures in data centers with Tier I and II security levels, work can be completely paralyzed. Tier III and IV keep systems up and running even during data center failures, repair and maintenance work.

For example, we only work with data centers with Tier III and higher levels. This ensures high levels of resiliency and data integrity in the clouds, as well as stable operation even during power outages.

All important communications (power supplies, the Internet, power lines, backup channels, cooling systems, etc.) are duplicated in our data centers. Thanks to this, the recovery processes are carried out without stopping the operation of the equipment.

Make sure your provider provides snapshot service

Before entrusting your important data to a provider, it is imperative to make sure that the company provides a snapshot service. Snapshots are a guarantee of the reliability and security of storing your data in the clouds. And also the indicator of the provider's responsibility.

Alas, not all companies provide such a service, since it requires additional investments in equipment. But we took care of this to ensure the complete safety of your data. TuchaBit and TuchaFlex + services already include the cost of creating and storing the last two images. And if you need more snapshots, you can order additional snapshots as needed.

A snapshot (snapshot) is an image of a virtual machine disk, that is, the entire system with software and data stored on it, at a certain point in time. The snapshot helps to restore the system to its original working state after any critical changes. For example, after a virus attack, use a snapshot to restore a machine disk to the state it was in when it was created. Pictures are usually taken at night (from 8:00 pm to 6:00 am), but you can always change the time frame.

Do not confuse snapshots and backups (data backup). Making only backups is not enough, since they only create copies of individual files. Copies will help restore certain files, but only snapshots can restore the state of the system. Therefore, it is best to use these tools together.

Read more about snapshots, how they work and how useful they are in our article .

Determine the quality of technical support work: availability, speed and efficiency of response

The availability of technical support in itself does not guarantee you a quick response to requests and quality assistance. Find out more about the technical support service of your provider: work schedule (for your convenience it should be 24/7), response speed, interest in the client's tasks. To check the availability of technical support in practice, contact it through various communication channels.

It's good when there are several ways to reach technical support: phone, mail, ticket system. In technical support Tucha operate all of these channels. And you always have the opportunity to make sure of our availability.

Check out support levels, server administration capabilities

In order not to be left without help at the right time, check out the types of support from the provider in advance.

What kind of support does the provider provide? Let's take an example of the work of our company. We provide 4 types of support :

Free basic support . Employees of our service maintain the operability of our infrastructure, ensure its stability and availability. We do not have access to the operating system on your server, so we do not interfere with its work, limiting ourselves to professional advice.

Server administration is permanent. We gain access to your system and can not only advise you, but also solve emerging problems related to the operating system and software installed on the server. Service cost - 50% of the server cost, but not less than 30 euros / month.

Server administration hourly... Administrator rights are issued to us only for the period of one-time work to eliminate errors on the side of the OS and software. The cost of the service is 20 euros / hour.

Warranty support . Essentially the same as server administration, but free. An important condition is a new virtual machine and only our employees have administrator rights. Only works for hosting websites, email, domain zones and files.

As you can see, there is where to roam.

Before starting cooperation, check the availability and conditions of support with the provider.

Ask if the provider provides migration to the cloud, does it help "make friends" with cloud technologies

Often, when moving to the clouds, users need to transfer data (websites, mail, etc.).

Tucha is a provider who understands this kind of customer request. There is a migration service for this. We will not only quickly transfer your workplaces, sites, mail or other data to the cloud, but also answer your questions about migration and more.

Find out the level of guaranteed service availability

If uninterrupted access to the cloud is important to you (and we know for sure, it is important :)), check the indicators of guaranteed availability of services. The availability of services is a guarantee of their fault tolerance in specific numbers. For example, the TuchaFlex + (Europe) service has 99.9% availability. This means that service interruptions can take no more than 7 hours per year. TuchaBit (Ukraine) availability - 99.0%.

Bitrix24 box hosting in the clouds

Recently we talked about what CRM systems are, how they are useful for business and how to ensure the most effective operation of this software. Now we propose to dwell in more detail on the most popular CRM system not only in Ukraine, but also in the CIS countries - Bitrix24. And also on how Tucha cloud solutions are beneficial for different tariffs of the boxed version of this software product.

In general, Bitrix24 is more than just a CRM system. This is a whole set of tools that helps to simplify the company's work processes, provide better communication with employees and customers, allows you to control the execution of tasks, etc. The main feature of the boxed version of Bitrix24 is the ability to place the product on your own server. There are a number of advantages to this, which we will discuss next. Of course, given the reliability, security and convenience that clouds provide, we recommend placing the boxed versions of Bitrix24 on virtual servers. So, let's consider all the benefits in more detail.

What is Bitrix24 box

Bitrix24 is a whole set of tools at once that helps in optimizing the company's work. It includes the following main components: CRM system, Tasks and projects, Contact center, Websites and shops, Office. 

The functionality that the user receives depends on the chosen edition. The following functions are now available: CRM system, online store + CRM, Corporate portal (with versions that depend on the number of users) and Enterprise. The choice of the tariff depends on the number of users who will work in Bitrix24 and the required number of tools.

The box version of Bitrix24 is a license that the user buys once and renews it once a year. The main difference between this version and the cloud version is that you need a server to host it. 

As already mentioned, the system can be placed on a physical or virtual server, which allows the owner to monitor the state of the system independently (or through the provider on whose servers the box is located). With the boxed version, you can independently influence the quality of its work thanks to the selected server (usually, you cannot influence the work of the finished cloud version, therefore, in case of problems with the server, all the portals that work on it can fail at the same time).

The box has a slightly more advanced functionality, it is not limited by the supplier in terms of the number of simultaneously running business processes, it allows you to modify the internal modules due to the permitted access to the file structure. In addition, this version allows the system administrator to independently launch portal updates. This makes it possible to control all updates and install them at the right time, so that, for example, it does not interfere with the work of users.

Perhaps the main factor that influences the operation of the box is the server that hosts the software product. What exactly depends on the quality of hosting?

The speed and stability of access to Bitrix24.

Fault tolerance of the system and uninterrupted operation even during heavy loads.

Security and reliable data storage.

Fast scaling, that is, the ability to quickly add resources to provide the required capacity at the moment.

The speed of response of technical support to inquiries.

Hosting Bitrix24 in the clouds from Tucha will help ensure high performance of each of these factors.

Why clouds from Tucha?

First of all, we note that Tucha is a certified Bitrix24 hosting partner. This means that the software manufacturer has tested their system in our cloud and recommends Tucha for the application to work well. Placing boxes in our cloud provides users with a number of benefits: IT support job

Reliable and fast work . The software product is hosted on safe and secure servers far beyond the user's office or even the country. In addition, the speed and quality of the box does not depend on the technical characteristics of the equipment installed in the office.

Fault tolerance of the system and stable access to Bitrix24 from anywhere in the world . Tucha's services are highly resilient: for example, TuchaFlex + guarantees this indicator at 99.9%, and TuchaBit - 99.0%.

Reliable and secure data storage . Data is additionally protected thanks to snapshots - snapshots of the system, which, in case of critical changes, will help return it to the state in which it was at the time of taking the snapshot. Additional data security will be taken care of by the TuchaBackup backup storage service .

Scaling and reducing costs . There is no need to buy powerful IT equipment, spend money on its maintenance, as well as replace and modernize resources in the future. All resources are easy to scale if user needs change over time.

Server health support . We undertake to ensure stable operation of the cloud environment. If necessary, you can order the administration of a virtual server. Responsive competent multilingual support Tucha 24x7.

Tucha services for hosting Bitrix24

We have many years of experience in selecting services and configurations for hosting Bitrix24 boxes in the clouds. Thanks to this, we managed in a practical way to select the configurations that are optimal in terms of content and cost for each version of the Bitrix24 box. In general, all configurations were selected based on two services - TuchaFlex + and TuchaBit:

TuchaFlex + - virtual servers of arbitrary configuration with data centers outside of Ukraine (mainly in Germany). TuchaFlex + is a kind of constructor, as it allows you to create any configuration of resources.

TuchaBit - virtual servers of balanced configurations (units) with sites in Ukraine.

In order to learn more about each configuration and its cost, please contact our solution selection service . Tucha specialists will send presentations describing all configurations and answer any questions.

Forwarding a local printer to a terminal server

Planning to use Remote Desktop over RDP in your work? Then you will surely come across the question - how to print a document on a local printer? So we are often asked about this. In fact, everything is very simple, and now you will see for yourself.

Configuring RDP Access to a Local Printer

1. Enable forwarding in RDP settings. For this:

right-click on the RDP shortcut and click "Change" ;

go to "Local Resources" and check the box "Printers" ;

save your changes.

remote desktop connection technical support job description

If you are using TS Easy Print technology, you will most likely be able to print to a local printer after the first step. But note, more is not better. If you use both TS Easy Print and a standard printing system on a terminal server in parallel, this can only harm and cause a number of problems. Therefore, we recommend that you implement TS Easy Print only if the operation of the standard system does not suit you at all.

2. Install the printer driver on the terminal server. If you are not using TS Easy Print, you need to install the drivers for the correct printer model on the server:

download the driver from the official website of the printer manufacturer;

go to Server Manager and add the Print and Document Services role ;

server manager

add your account in the "Print Operators" group through the server manager ;

add the driver in the Drivers section and run log off / log on on the terminal server.

3. Configure access rights. Users must have Read, Write, Execute, and List Folder Contents rights to use the printer .

Printing problems and solutions

If you have installed the drivers and configured permissions and the printer is still silent, please note the following points.

Identity of drivers. Here, probably, everything is clear as two or two - the printer drivers for the user and the server must be identical.

Printing system. If the standard printing system fails you, try TS Easy Print. The main advantage of this technology is that you do not have to install drivers for each individual printer, just one is enough - Remote Desktop Easy Print.

The value of partnership for business. Recommendations of Tucha partners

Partnerships are an important part of our business development. At the same time, partners for us are, first of all, like-minded people, with whom it is much easier to make customers happy. Not so long ago, we wrote about the principles on which our company builds partnerships and why cooperation with Tucha is much more than just financial benefits. Now we decided to talk with partners to find out from them the answers to such important questions: technical customer service

What is a partnership for you? What is the place of partnership in business development? Who are your partners?

What do you pay attention to when choosing partners and what do you think is the most important thing in a partnership? What principles of cooperation with partners are guided by?

What do you yourself never allow in a partnership and what do you consider unacceptable in relations with partners?

Tell us how you became a Tucha partner. What do you value in cooperation with us the most? 

The slogan of our affiliate program is “Recommend with confidence”. How confident are you in recommending Tucha to your clients? Does cooperation with us increase the loyalty of your customers, does it make them happier?

Zhigalkin

Sergey Zhigalkin, managing partner of Cursor

On the importance of partnership.

Partnership is always about reliability. For us, partners are those companies and people from related fields in which we are 100% sure and which we are always ready to recommend as reliable service providers. 

Our partners are, of course, Tucha, also the Bitrix24 dealer company, the Ukrnames domain name registrar, the Unisender e-mail newsletter service and the Publica SMM agency.

On the principles of choice.

As mentioned earlier, this is, first of all, reliability. We also consider experience in the service market and the ability to satisfy the needs of the most demanding customers as important qualities.

About inadmissible in partnership.

If we transfer a valuable client who requires a special approach, we always explain the specifics of such cooperation. And we also expect that the partner will listen to us and will not allow a situation when the service level is below the proper level.

About partnership with Tucha. 

We worked on one of the projects that is hosted on Tucha servers. Before that, we also repeatedly encountered sites hosted in Tucha's clouds, but this was the first interaction experience when working on a large project using the company's services and technical support. We were pleasantly surprised and satisfied as much as possible with the result of this cooperation. After that, little by little, communication with the partner department began, which turned into a reliable partnership.

About Tucha's recommendation to his clients.

For both cloud hosting and other tasks, we 100% recommend Tucha to our clients. As a hosting provider, you are # 1 on our list.

As for whether cooperation with Tucha increases the loyalty of our customers, we think that it is.

Why storing your data abroad is right

This year, the pressure on business has increased significantly. In the last few months alone, such large IT companies as Intertelecom, Fs.to, Nic.ua, as well as many smaller market players have suffered. At the same time, contrary to the law, in almost every case, the seizure of servers occurs, which for a long time disrupts all business processes of the company, breaks the infrastructure, especially if the local servers contained data important to maintain operability suport tech.

Obviously, the intensity of such actions will only grow, and the danger hangs not only over those who violate something, but also over completely honest businesses that work according to all the rules. After all, until it is proven that the company is not at fault, and the court decides to return the equipment, you can lose all customers, lose orders and personnel. The only effective way out in this situation is the transition to the cloud. In this case, attacks on the IT infrastructure become meaningless - all important data is stored on remote servers, ideally outside the country.

Benefits of moving business data to the cloud

The physical remoteness of servers is not the only plus that cloud technologies provide to businesses. With the right organization, the cloud provides ample opportunities for a fundamentally new construction of business processes in a company, a new level of freedom for employees and managers. Judge for yourself:

the cloud is cost savings. Instead of purchasing and maintaining a large fleet of equipment and network infrastructure, it is enough to rent certain capacities from a provider (just enough to cover the needs of the company), and to organize the work of an office, you can use terminals or thin clients that are significantly cheaper than conventional workstations. Additional savings - on software, maintenance;

the cloud is the safety of data due to the simple creation of backups. The backup-as-a-service add -on is a handy tool for system administrators to automate the creation of backups of your data. Thanks to this service, the human factor is minimized (for example, the administrator forgot to create a backup in time), and the copies themselves are stored on a reliable remote server. At the same time, backups are available from anywhere in the world, and thanks to the high level of security of the data center, they are reliably protected from force majeure situations;

the cloud is a simple and straightforward expense. With cloud technologies, you can always accurately plan your IT infrastructure costs, since you pay a fixed amount per month and only for the used capacity. No hidden fees, commissions or overpayments;

the cloud is about mobility and freedom. Employees of the company, using cloud solutions, can work from anywhere - from a conference, on a business trip, from home, office, hotel or restaurant. In addition, nothing prevents from creating an international team in which each of the members can work from their own country, and the results will be no worse than if they were all under one roof;

the cloud is scalability. Changing the allocated computing power (for the changed company size and number of employees) is easier than in any other network infrastructure option. For example, during periods of maximum load, you can increase server resources, and when there is no such need, reduce them to save money;

the cloud is reliability. If you choose the right provider, data in the cloud will be protected from all types of threats much better than using local servers. So, for example, we use a data center in Germany to host the servers on the basis of which the Tucha cloud is built, which in terms of security level corresponds to the Tier 3 category. This means that all network, engineering and information components are duplicated and have reserves in case emergencies, and service work is carried out without shutting down servers. The efficiency of the data center is supported by highly qualified technical specialists, and the round-the-clock support service allows you to solve any problems in the shortest possible time.

How clouds change the world. Interview with Tucha partners

Quarantine brought important new experiences to companies around the world, teaching them how to quickly adapt to changes. In many ways, the clouds helped to organize remote work at this time and to keep the business running. We learned from our partners how their companies went online and asked a few questions: tech support rep

How do clouds help to organize remote work of a business during quarantine?

For which specialists and departments in the company have the clouds been most useful?

What other tools besides cloud solutions help to work remotely?

How do you plan to use the clouds for work in the future?

How would business around the world work today if there were no clouds?

Saranyuk

Nikolay Saranyuk, owner of the web agency Red Chameleon

Clouds during quarantine.

Our clients, owners of online stores who use Tucha services, were able to quickly start working remotely. All data is in the cloud, servers are closely monitored by administrators, everything works.

For many clients, 1C is also in the cloud, so this did not affect the usability in any way.

Many people use the Plafix cloud-based CRM system, which can be customized for themselves, or other CRMs. IP telephony continued to work.

Also, if earlier documents were sent by New mail, Ukrposhta, now all documents are sent through the Vchasno service, ME Doc or analogs.

For many who switched to modern tools and methods of work long ago, everything remained the same. The only thing is that everyone does not work in the office, but at home.

For whom it is useful.

I would say that the cloud has become one center for everyone, because the work is not dependent on location.

Helpful tools.

You also need a smartphone, laptop and internet connection to work.

Clouds for the future.

We plan to move 1C to the cloud in the future, since some of our clients have 1C on a laptop.

If not for the clouds ...

Business would not work at all.

Koval Alexander

Clouds during quarantine.

No clouds like no hands. Anywhere in the world, in any weather and time of day, you can take any gadget and continue working. Isn't that cool?

For whom it is useful.

Without exception, all departments of our company and their work are directly tied to the clouds. All the services employees use are all in the cloud. Only giant companies should keep servers in the office and maintain them on their own. Although here I would not be so sure ...

Helpful tools.

Spent 10 minutes of time thinking what other tools have become useful. And nothing came to mind. All we use is cloud solutions.

Clouds for the future.

In the future, we also plan to use the clouds to the fullest. There are simply unrealistic solutions. There are cool solutions that greatly improve the performance. And there are those who tried and were disappointed. But you still find those that are useful to you. I would like to draw your attention to the prices of such solutions. Sometimes it seems that it is too expensive, they say, the company has not yet "matured" in the processes to the need to use this or that service. But the longer you doubt, the faster your competitors are.

If not for the clouds ..

I don't even want to imagine work without them.

Meet the updated version of TuchaClient!

We are pleased to announce that an updated version of the TuchaClient mobile application is now available. This means that working with Tucha cloud services has become even easier and safer!

We remind you that TuchaClient is an application for managing one or several Tucha virtual machines. With its help, from your phone you can turn on or off the machine at any time, reboot it, and also get data about it: configuration, IP address, contract number, etc.

What's new in TuchaClient?

First of all, the ability to save the details of access to multiple accounts has been added. This feature will be especially useful for partners who cooperate with several clients with different accounts at once.

In addition, user authentication using FaceID and TouchID has become available. Therefore, access to and use of the application has become even more secure.

What is an it analyst

You can install the updated version right now for Android and IOS

Download the TuchaClient app and see that managing virtual machines is now even easier!

If you have additional questions or need help, please contact us . We are glad to see you 24x7!

3 reasons why a website should live in the cloud

Today without a website anywhere. Even if the business works offline, having a page on the Internet is no longer a whim, but a necessity. Indeed, no matter what kind of business we are talking about, the overwhelming majority of customers learn about it from the Internet. And it doesn't matter what it is: an online store, a website for a medical company or Stone's business event.

But in order for the site to really interest visitors and bring new customers, it is not only its design and content that is important. Initially, if the site loads slowly or crashes, visitors will quickly get bored. Therefore, they will either search for what they need among competitors, or simply close such a site without giving it a second chance. Therefore, to prevent this from happening, take care of a reliable hosting for the site right away. The best solution for this is clouds from Tucha. Consider the benefits of this.

Why reliable hosting is so important

Why is fast page loading and website stability so important for business? Let's consider some data on statistics.

For example, the average website loading speed is 2 seconds, the speed is considered slow, which is more than 3 seconds, and the optimal speed is less than 1 second. Therefore, if the site is loaded for more than 3 seconds, it has every chance of leaving its owner without 50% of visitors already at the first stages of interaction with potential customers. Prior to that, Google previously reported that website loading speed has become the main ranking factor for mobile search results since 2018.

And how does this relate to hosting? In fact, in many respects the stable operation of the resource depends on the hosting. In addition to the listed characteristics, a reliable hosting should ensure uninterrupted operation of the site even during heavy loads and withstand critical influx of visitors. This means to be resilient. Low-quality hosting simply will not be able to work well in such conditions. Therefore, there may be malfunctions of the site, slow down its work and even there may be a temporary unavailability of the resource.

To prevent this, we recommend using a trusted hosting. And of course we believe that Tucha hosting is the best fit. ;-)

Clouds are suitable for sites of all kinds

Since there are many types of sites, let's consider which of them the clouds will be useful for. Spoiler first: Clouds are good for all kinds of sites. :-)

And yet, among the main types there are: Customer support analyst

A business card site is the simplest type of site with up to 10 pages. This is a kind of company directory containing basic information about it: company description, list of goods or services, contacts.

Landing Page (or Stone). This is a one-page site, the purpose of which is to encourage the visitor to take action (order, purchase, visit, etc.).

Online shopping is a super popular type of website listing a company's products.

Corporate website representing the company on the Internet.

A portal site containing useful materials: articles, news, services, polls, etc.

A showcase site (or a catalog site) is a kind of showcase containing information about a company and a catalog of products or services.

Benefits of cloud hosting for websites

What will the site get if it is hosted in the cloud?

Stable and fast hosting. Tucha cloud services provide a guarantee of service availability of 99.0 and 99.9%, depending on the territorial location of data centers (in Ukraine or abroad, and this is mainly in Germany).

Safe and secure placement. Hosting a website in the cloud is more secure by hosting it on physical servers. This means that it is much more difficult for attackers or unauthorized persons to gain access to the site and all its data.

Resource scalability. Cloud resources are flexible, so they can be easily scaled if more power is needed or, conversely, the load on the site will decrease. Typically, a new configuration will be agreed within minutes.

And what does the business owner get from this?

Prompt and round-the-clock technical support. Tucha technical support service is available 24x7, so if you have any questions, you can contact us and get prompt help.

Saving. The clouds save funds for the purchase and maintenance of IT equipment. You can independently (or with our help) determine how much and what resources are needed. In addition, large initial financial investments are not required.

An increase in the number of visitors will remain on the site and stable work under high load. Cloud hosting will help the site load faster and work more stably. This, in turn, is extremely important for website visitors.

Overclocking: How to use the power of the clouds 100%

Practice shows that not all customers are aware of the real capabilities of cloud servers and do not always use their resource 100%. Therefore, we described several cases using the example of TuchaFlex + on how to "squeeze" the maximum benefit out of the cloud. Let's start with one accountant and gradually work our way up to a network with an office and branches.

I am an accountant tech support analyst

One of the most common mistakes is that an accountant transfers part of data and applications to the cloud, and stores the rest on a local computer. In part, this makes working with the server meaningless. And the law of meanness says that data from a local machine will be needed exactly when the computer is not around. What to do?

Example. The accountant places 1C in the cloud , client-bank, Word and Excel documents, mail, works from the cloud in MEDoc, sends reports. He gets access to all work data from anywhere in the world and becomes truly mobile. By the way, he also does not worry about the physical safety of data, because the data center is located in Germany under the round-the-clock supervision of specialists.

By the way, if an accountant runs more than one company, it is also not a problem, you can put several databases in the cloud at once, and they will not interfere with each other's work.

Accountant + office (3-5 people)

The next situation is that besides the accountant, the company has several managers. How do you organize their collaboration in the cloud? Just give your employees a point of access to the cloud - everything will do, right down to the home PC or tablet. In this case, access rights to various data can be configured individually.

Example. The company stores in the cloud everything that is used in its work: Word and Excel documents, 1C, mail, CRM. In general, everything that was previously stored on the local machine. By the way, peripheral devices (printer, scanner, cash register, etc.) are also launched from the cloud - this is not a problem. One day the manager decides to expand the staff, calls his cloud provider and after a few minutes changes the configuration of the cloud so that the connection of new users does not interfere with the quality of work.

Accountant + office + branches (6-10 people)

Now let's imagine that, in addition to an accountant and managers, an enterprise has a branch, a store, another division, etc. In this case, the cloud is simply irreplaceable.

Example 1. The first store of the enterprise is located in the capital, the second - in a large industrial center. The director moves the entire IT infrastructure to the cloud and connects both stores to the base. The bottom line is that the accountant no longer needs to combine data from different cities into one whole, and branch employees can work according to the same standards with the main enterprise, because everyone uses common databases (within the framework of the allocated access rights, of course).

Example 2. Managers of a company travel around the country and conclude contracts. The director and accountant need to constantly monitor the process. To carry their workplace with them, employees connect their laptops or tablets to the workspace and leave "to the fields", and the manager monitors all transactions online.

General recommendations

1. Set up the cloud. Each business has its own specifics, therefore, the cloud must be configured individually. If you need help from specialists, please contact us, we are always happy to help.

2. Cloud - for work. Of course, you can upload a movie, an album of your favorite artist or an archive of photos with cats to the server, but is it worth it? Leave entertainment for your local machine and use the cloud for work.

3. Fewer tabs. You shouldn't open a million tabs in the cloud and keep them open all the time - it overloads the processor.

4. Change passwords.Change them at least occasionally and do not store them written on a sticker next to the keyboard. A folder on your computer desktop is also not a good place.

5. Internet connection from 10 Mbps. Remember that you need the internet to access the cloud. Its speed and stable performance are not the last factors.

6. Fall in love with the cloud. Everyone needs care - a person, a car, and even a cloud. Therefore, from time to time, check what is happening inside the server and whether everything is working as it should. Fix the slightest problems yourself or contact us.

We hope our guidelines will help you get even more value out of your cloud experience. Ready to get started? We will always help and advise. If you have additional questions, please contact us for competent advice 24/7 .

Maintaining the required level of knowledge

In the work of the technical support service, we strive to regulate everything that is regulated, to be transparent for the client, as well as formalize and digitize any information that may later be useful and applicable. Feedback from customers, the level of knowledge of our employees, their achievements and failures - all this is meticulously digitized, analyzed and subsequently influenced by management decisions.

Within a few days off of a technical support engineer, some regulations may change, new "introductory" ones will appear, which means that at the beginning of the shift, you need to take care of checking the relevance of the engineers' knowledge. This is done using situational modeling technology, through training to resolve situations in which the specified knowledge is in demand. We call one situation a use case. At the beginning of the shift, the engineer receives a portion of several use cases. This approach allows engineers to keep the knowledge they need in mind and keep it updated. As a result, the quality of work is improved. To reduce stress, the deadline for solving use cases is set at the end of the shift, although in fact ten minutes are enough for the specialist.

What exactly does a typical use case consist of?

There are 4 semantic blocks in it: IT support technician job description

Information block

It contains useful information that needs to be learned.

Link

block This block allows you to link new information with the "transport" of this information in the memory of a person.

Variants of answer

In fact, this is the "transport" of information into memory.

Proof Link

A link to a trusted source where you can study this information.

standard use case based on historical material

This is how a standard use case looks like on the example of historical material.

All blocks of a use case are related in meaning and theme. Ideally, the information block should contain a hint at the answer option, and for clarification, you need to open a prooflink and study the issue under discussion in detail.

While introducing this practice, I encountered one unpleasant moment: there is not a single full-fledged tool on the market that would allow you to store a knowledge base, “smartly” distribute use cases among employees and check their answers.

At the moment we are using a bunch of several tools.

Request Tracker (RT)  - defines the logic of interaction between systems.

Google Calendar  API "gives" a list of employees and the number of use cases for each.

Google Spreadsheets  provides information for the formation of a use case.

In fact, the system works as follows:

A list of employees participating in knowledge training is formed.

Use case topics are defined for each employee.

A use case is created for each topic and transferred to the employee.

During the working day, the engineer must solve all the use cases.

The answers are checked, and the result of checking each use case is saved in the system.

A good engineer solves one use case in about a minute. Cheating and “cheating” is quite problematic, we also took care of our own anti-cheat system.

Remember: in no case try to manage the level of knowledge of employees in those departments where you do not control motivation.

Gun, parrots and motivation

I talked in some detail about how the technical support service works. There is one more important point to understand: why does it work at all? :)

Everything rests on two pillars. These pillars are non-financial and financial motivation.

The famous gangster Al Capone said: "With a kind word and a pistol you can achieve much more than just a kind word." Sadly, in this metaphor, financial motivation is a good word, and non-financial motivation is a good old gun.

Non-financial motivation

Three pillars of non-financial motivation

Three pillars of non-financial motivation:  hunger, cold and calmness,  objectivity of assessment, obviousness of accrual, ease of administration

Any person reacts very negatively to fines expressed in money ... but fortunately, it is much easier to worry about fines in “parrots”. Meanwhile, parrots, if you know how to cook them, very, very significantly motivate employees.

We chose as. parrot day off, but theoretically you can choose something else. Day off is good because we feel it by all employees, it is in demand for its intended purpose and there is no need to explain to subordinates what it is and what it is for. First of all, when choosing a unit of account, one should proceed from the fact that it should not be a “spherical horse in a vacuum”. The unit of account must be tangible to the employee.

As part of non-financial motivation, employees are deprived not of money, but of time off and, accordingly, opportunities to enjoy the benefits of non-financial motivation. This is unpleasant, but not like a monetary fine: there is an incentive to grow, and a person's loyalty to the company does not suffer. "Feats" are encouraged by taking time off. An employee can use the time off for its intended purpose: for example, to lie around at home, but this is not so interesting. It is more interesting  to go to a casino with blackjack and mademoiselles to  pay with time off for any significant events for oneself or the company, for example: medical services outside the VHI, obtaining professional certificates, fitness or a tour, finally.

The only disadvantage of taking time off in comparison with money is that each use case, either in direct or in monetary terms, must be separately approved by the authorities, which is not always convenient. The price of a day off with us is 3000 rubles, you can have more or less. The main thing is mutual comfort from using a unit of non-financial motivation.

Let me give you a living example of a particular job being rewarded in a non-financial way.

Writing good documents with use cases for a knowledge base is not so much a task as a process. Every month something new appears: clients, equipment, software. All this, for the reasons already mentioned above, requires careful attention and documentation.

If at the very beginning I worked on compiling these documents on my own, now the knowledge base replenishment system works almost autonomously. My task is to direct employees in the right direction, to give them a vector of movement and to exercise final control.

My experience shows that the "price" of one good document with a sufficient number of use cases is three days off.

An engineer receives two days off for a document that does not require significant corrections.

A person gets one day off if a lot of corrections are required, and it is easier to make them yourself than to explain how to do it right.

We tried to give more time off for this job - 10 days or more. But practice has shown that too much reward scares away, and there are practically no people willing to receive it. Therefore, it is important not to overdo it with employee rewards. This can get you sideways in the most unexpected way. Experiment, but do it carefully.

Financial motivation

Each application made by a TP engineer is rewarded with bonuses. The amount of the bonus is directly proportional to the complexity of the application and the qualifications required to complete it. The final salary of an engineer is determined by the sum of these bonuses. Of course, in the case of a “crooked” order execution, the bonus for it will expire.

Another nuance: the salary of an engineer is always in the range determined by his position. In the laziest month, a person will not receive less than the lower end of this range, nor will he receive more of the upper one in the most productive one. Nevertheless, no one will leave offended: all shoals are punished, and overwork is encouraged through non-financial motivation.