EdgeSafe PST2PST comes with a built-in comprehensive alerts service that makes management and monitoring of the EdgeSafe infrastructure easier.
It can be found in the main window of control station with the following columns :
User name,Machine name,Value,Unit,Alert type,Alert received on,Confirm alert
User name : The user name for which alert is triggered.
Machine name : The corresponding machine name for which alert is triggered.
Value : Value for alert
Unit : Unit type for the triggered alert
Alert type : Type of alert generated like a failed back up or successive failed backups etc
Alert received on : The date and time stamp of when the alert was generated.
Confirm alert : This is to keep a track of alerts that are acknowledged by EdgeSafe admins.
The main advantage of alert service is that it reduces the monitoring workload of EdgeSafe admin staff and hence they no longer need to read and analyze backup log fails and check if the backups are being successfully done or not.
Further streamlining the monitoring is possible in EdgeSafe by defining set thresholds (like no backups done for x number of days) etc so that when such pre defined criteria are met,the alerts are triggered which can be investigated by EdgeSafe admin staff.
Other advantage of setting alert thresholds is that temporary conditions like an employee on the go causing the backups to fail(as he/she is not on the company network) can be safely ignored as per set thresholds thereby focusing only on real issues behind failed backups and other alerts criteria.
The alerts service is not a part of trial version and is available only to paid customers of EdgeSafe.
The biggest advantage of an alert service like this is that real time monitoring and triggering of alerts take place thereby speeding up the resolution time of issues.Other feature is that the defined thresholds can be divided among staff with a specialist for each one making the ownership of issues streamlined and easy to track.
This is important in a large scale corporate environment when recovery is to be done within the service level agreements especially when the environment is supported by external vendors.
This covers the alerts service in detail for EdgeSafe PST2PST.
How will the corporate world integrate social media into traditional business communication? Linked-In inside Outlook will be the first test case. / © 2010
Outlook may be the single most useful business applications we use. We use it for e-mail messages, contacts, appointments, notes… basically, all the communication we do at work. Now that social media sites are becoming business tools, they are starting to get integrated into Outlook. With Linked-In for Outlook plug-in the first seamless integration, there is a peek of things to come. Add to that SMS integration into Microsoft Exchange and Outlook 2010. Twitter and Facebook are not far behind. Surely even more innovative social media services will follow. How is this going to be used in a context of traditional workflows? How are we going to handle old style e-mail with tweets and Linked-In connections [WikiPedia]? How are IT managers going to regulate backups, archives, reporting and even policy management? Will the use of social media in the corporate world trickle slowly into some organizations who do not see it’s place yet? If you remember, every new “opening” innovation in Internet communication was not welcomed across the corporate world.
PST SDK (Software Development Kit) downloads and page view statistics. Peak at 721 downloads, what will come next? / © 2010
Continue reading »
Microsoft’s .pst database format is now an open specification. This will assure independent developers interoperability and less undocumented changes: extending Outlook just became easier and less risky.
Microsoft just released a complete PST format specification. Together with two utility programs and an SDK (Software Development Kit) this “opens up” the format. While Microsoft’s programs are still not really “open source” (you can not see the code for Outlook) the PST format is documented and public. DataMills, however, for three years now have already built a solid foundation to build new applications accessing the PST file. The SDK is a big change coming from Microsoft. It also assures one central place to interface with PST databases.
In a recent blog article, SeattlePI.com reported on the .pst file format documentation. The article, titled: “Microsoft continues opening up Outlook file format” reports on new documentation, two new tools and a developers SDK (Software Development Kit.) [see article here] All are in line with Microsoft’s policy in opening up their formats and enabling users and developers to use .pst files for both Outlook extension and other applications. This will be an exciting new phase for all kind of applications.
Standard Microsoft Windows design and operation, with a standard control station and backup agent, gives EdgeSafe PST2PST flexible capability. Sys-admins now have a simple and powerful method to support many different functions in any type of deployment architecture.
An important benefit in EdgeSafe PST2PST Backup use comes from wide range of capabilities. These address many different needs. From small groups of 5 Outlook users all the way to companies with thousands of users. From organizations with simple Exchange server, to complex organizations with many different type of users (and different servers like Google Apps, sendmail or Lotus Domino), EdgeSafe PST2PST Backup provides flexible topology support and interfacing. Outlook as an email application is the most used communication program. Enabling complete flexibility is a crucial element in backup and recovery capability. Also, enabling support of rapid change in Outlook use and configuration.
Outlook backup administration in complex environments need to be simple, efficient and reliable. There is no room for complex installations using custom scripts or highly specialized technical skills. This is what today’s complex IT landscape requires from suppliers: give system admins simple and flexible tools. Leave complexity and customization to exotic installations. PST backup with IT tools like EdgeSafge PST2PST Backup has become an enabling application for system administrators. EdgeSave PST2PST Backup works in a wide range of installation configurations and integrates into Microsoft Windows environments seamlessly.
