Saturday, May 26, 2007

Adtran Atlas 550


The Adtran Atlas 550 series of IAD devices must be one of the most reliable hardware networking devices available on the market today. this series has been available and is in so mnay networks it's hard to find another device in this category as an equal. I have one of these units and I've installed them for customers to. They are easy to program and configure ( some good foundational knowledge assists greatly). They are modular and support a large number of technologies.

My Adtran Atlas 550 has two v.35 interfaces two t1/PRI modules and 4 port BRI and a another network module. I've used it for simulating frame-relay networks and also setting of equipment for customers before I going on site to the customer's office. Also used it for testing equipment. and have installed several for customers as a channel bank and a multi-point CSU/DSU.

They are reliable and because they're modular purchases for only what's needed but having room for expansion is a no brainer. I recommend the Adtran Atlas 550 to anyone. Cisco routing and switching is reliable too but they are so much more pricey than Adtran.
Adtran's support is very good too and that's very important when you have a network down emergency or even during installation. A smooth installation is very important too for customer perception and confidence building. It's good to have good network techincal support that can be counted on.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Desktop Remote Support Software

Desktop Remote Support Software

Supporting multiple desktops dispersed in a large geographical areas is challenging. In some cases, the geographic area the remote desktop computers are located are beyond the techs local or immediate area, they're globally spread out. I have posted some of the advantages remote tech support in the past (another post about supporting desktops remotely and another of pc remote support software)

Desktop remote support software provide for efficient access to desktops connected all over the world. Desktop remote support software give tech support the reach they need to connect to and provide the remote support of software applications and computer operating system support. Desktop remote support software inherently gives control to the technician enabling them to have the same desktop access as if they were right in front of the computer desktop performing the same tasks to solve the problem or add features or software to the remote desktop PC.

Often, desktop remote support software requires the end-user to give permission to the remote technician. This is a security feature built into many such applications for obvious desktop security reasons. One of which is to not enable a tech to access a computer with out the users knowledge. Other application of desktop remote support software has end-user acknowledgement as an option and often it's turned off allowing a technician to provide remote desktop support during off-hours, without the consent or knowledge of the remote desktop user.

This type of desktop remote support software is usually installed by a technician while on site or remotely as well. The installation will consist of a service being added to the computers list of service running ion the background and will also have a taskbar icon associated with it. This would be in fact the only indication that the desktop remote support program is installed at all particularly if the notify the desktop user of a remote desktop connection option has been turned off to the tech support group or person.

While there are many desktop remote support software and options, anyone can concede that the best way to provide remote support to desktops connected to the Internet anywhere is via desktop remote support software.



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Thursday, May 10, 2007

Calendaring agent failed in message save notification with error 0x80040219

Calendaring agent failed in message save notification with error 0x80040219
Exchange 2003 SP2

I had an error message like the one above show up on the exchange server application log. I never seen this message before and was kind of alarmed at what it could be. The details in the log entry pointed out inconsistency problems with several public folders. The original cause and description of the problem that required me to go to this clients office was they said their Internet access and email (and whole network) was running slowly.

Less than half an hour after the call, I spoke with the customer. They said the problem had go away but would like to know what caused it. I dug into the logs first and saw several errors similar to:

Calendaring agent failed in message save notification with error 0x80040219 on the Exchange 2003 server.

At first it didn't click-in as to why this error would slow down everything including Internet access bu then remembered that this customer had a replica server of the exchange box off-site. That site was connected via a VPN. The error had to do with inconsistencies found in the database. Exchange will normally try to fix inconsistencies and be on its merry way - and it did. In this case however, the public folder calendar that contained the inconsistencies had to be replicated to the the other server. The public folder was large and the transfer slowed Internet access down considerably.