SEMblog

This is part three of a three part posting of a recent case study.

Part 1 - Part 2

Networking

With all the changes we had to look at the networking. 

Internet Access

With the server in the data centre, the issue of bandwidth over the WAN connection became critical. 

Therefore the client upgraded their line to a 2mb SDSL line, although due to the distance from the exchange, we only get about 1.5mb. 

A second internet connection was also brought in. This is a basic connection which will be used for backup purposes only. In the meantime we have put a wireless connection on to it for use as a guest wireless. No connection to the production network. In the event of a failure of the SDSL line, a cable will be moved to use the backup connection. Not completely automated, but for this client, good enough. 

The servers in the data centre are connected to the production network via a site to site IPSEC VPN. This VPN is managed by pfSense, which sits in a virtual machine. Using the VMWARE virtual switches, the internal servers are isolated from the internet. 

As I wrote in part 2 about the servers, all traffic between the two servers and traffic from the internet goes across the VPN. What this means is that if the primary SDSL link is dropped, then all I have to do is reconfigure the VPN to use the backup connection. No need to make any DNS changes, and data remains under our control. 

All three internet connections - the SDSL, ADSL backup and data centre are covered by OpenDNS to provide a first line of protection against nasty's, but also stopping staff from browsing to sites they shouldn't be. For the guest wireless, the settings are more strict, so that the link cannot be abused. 

Internal Network

A production wireless network was also introduced, using two access points that have covered most of the building. This gives freedom to locate printers and other networking hardware. 

We also used the Windows 7 excuse to remove the last desktop printers, so the only printers left are networked. Although a HP Deskjet 4 which has been recently serviced was reprieved and a Jet Direct card picked up off eBay for £20 meant it was back in action as a network printer. 

When I did the original network I implemented a dual speed network. This is where all workstations are connected to a 10/100 switch, with a gb uplink to a 1000 switch. This was retained. A further switch was put in between the router from the ISP and the software firewall. This allows a machine to be connected to be outside the firewall. 

An APC UPS with a built in network card was also retained, which has more than enough capacity for the two servers and with the APC network tool installed on all the virtual servers, it will shut them down gracefully. 

Network Documentation

The network is documented live through OneNote. An Office 2010 licence has been used on one of the domain controllers which allows access to OneNote. Of course this is replicated live. As changes are made, they can be quickly updated in OneNote. So while the network documentation isn't any kind of formal, well written format, it is in such a way that could allow the network to be rebuilt. 

Did everything go to plan?

Given the size of the job, and the massive change that went through, things went quite smoothly. 

One of the servers was dead on arrival, BT took a while to install the SDSL line, and then more time to get the backup ADSL line to run at a decent speed. 

Printer publishing didn't work correctly, I had to completely redo group policy, the VPN didn't work initially for the clients and I completely forgot about expiring passwords with the roaming users (its been a while since I ran a large laptop fleet). Drive mappings initially worked when they felt like it. 

However overall the client is very pleased with what they have. 

Finally

At the end of 2010, the client's location had issues with access due to the weather. However the replacement network configuration allows all staff with computers at home to work from home, connecting via remote desktop gateway. 

The future

Now this work has been done, we can look ahead. 

With complete control over the entire platform server and workstation side, internal applications can be developed easily. An internal web application is already under development, and I have told the web developer to develop for Internet Explorer 9. It is my intention to implement the new IE 9 jump lists. A Blackberry interface is also under development, as this can be accessed via the BES Express that has been installed. The new Blackberry Playbook is being looked at with some interest. 

This new deployment provides a firm platform for some time to come, while significantly increasing the productivity of the end users. 

Project Conclusion

By making use of VPN technology and the server that has been located in the cloud, we have removed the dependency on any one ISP. This plays a key part in any business continuity, and in the day to day use of remote access for the mobile workers. It also means that as new internet technologies, such as Fibre to the Cabinet become available, those can be easily implemented with very little disruption to the business. 

Crucially though, by using native to Windows and Exchange technologies, the complexity of the network has not increased very much. There is very little proprietary technology in the network, so there is no vendor dependency other than Microsoft and VMWARE.

By using virtual machines, we have removed most of the hardware dependency, so replacement servers could be deployed from pretty much anyone in the event of a significant problem. 

Finally, it just works. Since it went live in late September 2010, it has not provided any major problems.  The business just gets on with what it does. 

This is part two of a three part case study of a recent network rebuild I carried out. For part one - click here: http://blog.sembee.co.uk/post/Case-Study-2-Part-1-Network-Rebuild-Intro-and-Workstations.aspx 

Servers

Now to the interesting bit. 

The server design was in my head for months, and then got completely redesigned following the client wanting to go with my suggestion of replicating the data off site. 

What we had was two HP ML350s, an old IBM and a HP desktop as the BES server. 

What we ended up with is three DL380s, two on site, one in the datacentre. 

All three DL380s are running VMWARE vSphere 4.1. 

VM1 - Two Windows VMs - a DC and a SQL Database server and a Linux based firewall. 

VM2 - Three VMs - a DC, Exchange 2010 and an application server. 

VM3 (in the data centre) - a DC, Exchange 2010 and a SQL database, plus a Linux based firewall.

As we are going to replicate Exchange data using a Database Availability Group, we needed to use Windows 2008 Enterprise edition. As Enterprise edition allows multiple installations of Windows on one physical machine, I decided to split up the functions in to dedicated servers. 

Furthermore, with more and more software products using SQL, and the client using SQL for an internal task, a dedicated SQL server was used. 

All three servers lived on the same network for a week, before the third server went off to the data centre. 

Data Replication

For real time data replication of the file structure, the network uses the latest version of DFS, built in to Windows 2008 R2. This works very well. 

For replication of Exchange data, a DAG is used for mailbox data, and native Public Folder replication. 

For SQL, this is mainly in the form of a backup, which is replicated to the data centre server shortly afterwards. Nothing the client does requires live replication of the SQL data. 

Exchange

Being an Exchange MVP, the design of the Exchange part of the platform was quite important, and everything has worked as I expected. 

The server that lives in the data centre is the only one that is exposed to the internet. All email comes in and leaves through that server. This provides a number of key benefits. 

• In the event of a loss of the main office, all email is coming in to a server that is under our control. We don't have to worry about email bouncing or being lost. 
• The dependency on the ISP at the main office is also removed, which I discuss further in part 3 networking. 
• Spam filtering is being done on the faster bandwidth available in the data centre.
• I have also pointed OWA and Outlook Anywhere traffic at the data centre server, not only for speed reason but if we have to use a backup internet connection, the clients don't have to be touched. This means that all inter-server traffic goes over the WAN connection. 

An RPC Client Access array is configured for outlook.example.local which points at the local CAS server, but allowing for easy changes in the event of a full failure. 

We also updated the Blackberry Enterprise Server from a very old version 4.0 to a 5.02 Express server. This is installed on the application server, with its database on the SQL server. 

Other Bits

WSUS - there are two WSUS servers in place, with the workstations pointing at a server in their office, and the laptops pointing to a child WSUS on the Exchange server in the data centre. This means that the laptops can pull their updates straight from Microsoft, whereas the desktops pull theirs from the local WSUS server. This saves bandwidth. 

As we had to use Windows Server Enterprise edition, which allows the use of four virtual machines, the server in the data centre had a spare. Therefore I have built a web server. Installed SmarterStats on to the server, which can only be accessed from the internal network. This means the client was able to change their public web site hosting arrangement and save money there. 

SmarterStats also allows use of OWA to be tracked. 

For backups, we dumped tapes, and Backup Exec. Switched to two Iomega Network Attached drives, with the backup job controlled by Backup Assist. The drives are exchanged each day, but are being used for archive purposes only. For full scale recovery, the copy in the data centre would be used. Shadow Copies is also enabled to provide additional levels of security.

The VMWare platform is managed by a vCenter server installed on the application server, with monitoring provided by Veeam's monitoring application. 

Remote access to the site is available via Log Me In, Remote Desktop Gateway and VPN. There is also the option of accessing the network resources with their Blackberries. This came in very handy when I couldn't remember a password in the data centre and needed to look it up on the password database (SecretServer from Thycotic) which has a mobile interface. 

Server Conclusion

In effect, the client now has their own mixed cloud and on site implementation, just they aren't sharing anything with anyone else. Data is stored off site, in real time. Traffic from the internet comes in through a static location which is secure, and fast. The client almost has a complete business continuity plan for a lot less than they would ever dream of. 

Part Three - Network is here: http://blog.sembee.co.uk/post/Case-Study-2-Part-3-Network-Rebuild-Networking.aspx

Very occasionally, you get to do a job which you really enjoy. Being able to put lots of things that you have learnt over time in a single client deployment and make a very satisfying job. 

At the end of 2010 I completed just such a deployment.  

I could go on for hours about this deployment, as there are so many little things that were done, which I haven't had the chance to do before, or just make it a much better network. As I have complete control over the network, and have done for some time, I can ensure it runs exactly as it should. 

Only 40 users, so enough to use networking kit with. 

First, some background. This particular client is my oldest client. I have had them since about week six of my company. 

Just over 5 years ago I rebuilt their network, replacing their servers with a new domain, and all workstations were rebuilt. This was the first time I could try the locked down workstation method, as they had no proprietary or awkward third party application that "required" admin rights to run correctly. All desktops, and the one laptop didn't leave the building. 

Windows 2003, Exchange 2003 at the back end, on three servers, two HP and a very old clunky IBM which died last year. 

Clients were Windows XP, Office 2003. 

However it was starting to show its age. Three hours to setup a new workstation was becoming a joke, and the cost of server maintenance was getting higher all the time. 

Therefore it was decided that it was time to change the lot, all in one hit. 

Yes, you read that correctly. On the Monday they had the above, by the end of the week it was all changed. 

The first question then is how we could get away with doing a big bang change like this. 

It wasn't the original plan. I was looking at maybe changing the servers this year, then the workstations next. Office 2010 had just been released when planning started. However there was a keenness to do more, introduce laptops for some mobile workers so it was decided to make the change all at once. 

Furthermore, because the workstations were locked down, and were a basic build (Windows XP, Office 2003, AV, and a terminal application), with all relevant data redirected to a server, the amount of work that the move required would be minimal. The key company application is a database system that runs on Unix (which fortunately I have nothing to do with). The workstations are basically an office document and web browsing station. 

Then in a planning meeting I just happened to mention that we could replicate all of their data off site in real time for a lot less than they thought. So replacing the two servers became three, with replication thrown in as well. 

So this and the next two blog postings are a quick overview of what was done. If you would like to see it in action, and want me to do the same for your company, please let me know (UK Only). 

I am going to divide the rest of this blog in to three - workstations (below) and servers and networking which will have separate posts.

Workstations

This is quite easy. 

During the last 12 months of the previous XP/2003 based network, all replacement workstations were bought with the upgrade in mind. Minimum of 2gb of RAM and Windows 7 licences where possible. 

However a number had to be replaced, plus for the first time an active laptop fleet was introduced. 

This initial preparation work though made the initial deployment much easier. 

Desktops were Windows 7 Pro, Office 2010, Adobe Acrobat Reader, AV. The flash player was installed fresh, plus the terminal application. Installing off a memory stick, I was turning each machine around in about 45 minutes. 

Laptops were Dell Latitude, software as above. However we also added built in 3g cards so the users could work anywhere. Part of the plan (which I am not involved in) is to provide a web based access to their core database and inventory system. 

I also suggested, and was taken up, that every user, from the CEO down, was given a mandatory training session. So each staff member did a half day on Windows 7 and Office 2010. We found a local trainer, who created a bespoke course for the client. I explained what I wanted them to know. 

It should be pointed at this point that a large number of staff in this client are rather mature - I think I am still one of the youngest in the building when I go to visit. A change from Windows XP to Windows 7 would be quite different. The training was not only to show them how to do things, but also to simply give them confidence that they wouldn't break it. 

Therefore they were trained how to change the wallpaper, jump lists, gadgets. A brief overview on internet security and the like. They were trained on their actual workstations, so after the training was complete, there was a frantic period of machine change rounds. This meant that when they returned to their desks, things that they had done during training were still there. I felt this was important for adoption of the new platform. 

The new laptop users were given a slightly different course, which gave them a grounding in looking after the laptop. For most of them, this was the first time with a laptop. 

The client operates a conveyor belt system with desktops. New desktops go to the power users, with the slower ones going down the food chain, before eventually being removed. Therefore we started training with the power users on new desktops, while their older machines were rebuilt for the next session, and so on. This meant that during the training sessions I was rebuilding machines the users had just left. It got rather frantic. 

I rebuilt 9 machines in one day at one point, and put in 11 hour days four days on the trot. 

The end result though is that the client now has a complete desktop and laptop fleet that is on the latest OS and Office version, locked down, with the benefits that brings from a management and security point of view. 

In Part Two, I shall go over the server configuration. http://blog.sembee.co.uk/post/Case-Study-2-Part-2-Network-Rebuild-Servers.aspx 

This case study is a little different from the normal deployments I do, because it is a very small installation - only three users. However it is a very high net worth deployment, and has shown to be very successful.

Background

Three people run a company providing professional services to much larger companies. All three live out in the countryside with their families.
The company doesn't have a central office, each spend most of their time with clients, or at home in a study type area.
At the time I was asked to assist, they were using a hosted Exchange solution and files were being stored all over the place. It was becoming a nightmare to manage.

The also wanted to do something about the speed.
Being in the countryside, broadband speed is an issue. None of the three homes has a speed fast enough to run a server. With young families, there was also the concern of other demands on the computer and broadband connection. This introduces problems with dealing with network security and generally trying to split the business computer work from leisure.

I was asked to come up with some kind of solution that would give them a decent speed where ever they are, and also protect their and the client data.

The Solution

The solution I proposed, and implemented in late 2010 was very simple, but highly effective.

Hardware: This was a single Dell PowerEdge server, Eight disks, 30gb of RAM - with space for more.

Software: On to the bare metal I installed VMWARE vSphere 4.1
Then in to the virtual platform I installed six virtual machines:

VM 1: A Linux based firewall called pfSense. This protected the other machines.
VM 2: SBS 2008 Premium. Exchange 2007, commercial SSL certificate, all features enabled and turned on.
VM 3: Windows 2008. SQL Server. This also had BES Express and a monitoring tool for the VMWARE platform from Veeam.

VM 4 - 6: Windows 7 Professional. All three were identical, with Office, Adobe Acrobat Reader, AV and other tools installed.

Each of the workstation installations also had Dropbox installed.

The server was installed in to a data centre, where the data centre was able to provide backup storage for the server. Backup was provided by Backup Assist.

In Operation

The key to this implementation was the Terminal Services gateway feature of Windows 2008 and the RWW feature of SBS 2008.

What this allowed each staff member to do was connect to their virtual desktop in the data centre, from any machine and work. If they had to stop what they were doing, they could just disconnect, and come back to it.
This meant that working on the train, or in a client site was perfectly possible. Each of them had a laptop with 3g cards, wireless etc, so could get access back to the server easily. If the connection dropped for any reason, reconnecting would pick up from where they started.

Dropbox was used to allow files to be moved between the virtual workstations in the data centre and their personal computer. This could be to work on a file locally, copy it to a USB stick, because it contained video or for printing. It was found that the printers at home didn't like RDP very much, so printing was disabled.

The Blackberry devices gave access to email, and crucially the little known feature that allows access to the file system.

Benefits of This Solution

The server was in a secure location, not dependant on one place, with power or broadband issues. Email was quick, and filtering done in the data centre.
No more emailing files to each other, they could be just copied to a network share. This made collaboration much easier.
As all data was stored in the data centre, if the laptop was stolen, was damaged or simply failed, the loss would be small and it would be easy to get up and running again.

At home, if someone was relegated to a child's computer because they were using Daddy's computer for "homework", then the impact was negligible, as all the computer required was the RDP client. The home broadband speed was fine for this kind of work. No concerns with data security while the children are on the computer, as it was all in the data centre.

This also means that the home and roaming computers can be anything, they don't have to worry about compatibility with the "office" . It just needs to be something recent that has an RDP client.

RDP clients are common, one staff member is using it with an Apple iPad. Other tablets are being investigated, and I wouldn't be surprised if a Blackberry Playbook was used when those are released.

Terminal Services

We did consider using a full terminal server, but this was discounted for a number of reasons, the main one being cost of licencing it. However should the company grow, a terminal server can be quickly added to the deployment with little fuss.

Conclusion

A compact single server installation has proven to be very cost effective and given these users performance and security that they are very happy with.