Server upgrade for not-for profit organisation

A not for profit client in London,NW3, had for a long time run their operations on an out-dated server providing only 130 GB space, greatly limiting the opportunities of file sharing to a point where they would no longer save larger data files on the server for fear of running completely out of space. The existing server dated back to 2003 and there was no option of adding more disk space; so a new server was necessary.

London Data planned a project to install a brand new low-energy server with over 1TB usable disk space, which would drastically increase the available capacity, providing a much needed and lasting upgrade. We took the opportunity to move the physical location of the server to release office space by setting up the server in an existing managed rack in a controlled environment. This will prolong the life of the server and also ensure maximum stability, while minimising the nuisances of noise and heat generated by a server.

The client has busy peak seasons where downtime of the server would cause major inconveniences; this is taken into account both in designing the solution and the setting up of the server. Everything was installed onto the new server and thoroughly tested before the server went live. We spent three days on site; migrating data, testing and ensuring a smooth transition.

The result is a high-performance server solution that provides the necessary stability and data security that is needed for the client to carry out their work in a dynamic and busy setting.

Cloud computing

IT network diagrams often include a symbol for the internet, a fluffy cloud. Just like it’s natural namesake, ‘The Cloud’ as an application service delivery model is a mysterious, organic, opaque and immeasurable entity and just as likely to show a silver lining as conceal then release a malicious electrical storm. As a customer of a Cloud service ­provider you place your data into a system that deliberately, in the name of commercial confidentiality and security, reveals nothing about it’s internal workings. Sure there are reassurances and even guarantees but watch out for the caveats; in the same way insurance companies disclaim with force majeure, The Cloud service provider will only guarantee what he can directly control and IT history tells us that’s very little.


One could, and is near forced to, blindly trust the provider -relying on your perceptions that they are an honourable company, who know what they are doing and that they can be trusted to protect your data come what may. From a security point of view (not to mention matters of operational, privacy or compliance) the concept of blind faith has a difficult place in an organisation’s business.


Once signed up to a cloud service you and likeminded peers are close together, sharing the service and it’s resources but where in nature there can be safety in numbers. In technology, if part of the service is under attack, there’s a fair chance you’ll be caught up in the collateral damage and suffer along with the intended target. So a question for the service vendor is ‘am I sited anywhere near a prolific, controversial or combative organisation?’
One counter argument could that these companies have excellent reputations, that nothing so far has ever compromised a client’s data security and that they make every possible effort to keep it that way. The service provider will give assurances that you and any other organisation are electronically separated by a large margin and that they have an infrastructure resilient to power outages, theft of hardware, theft of intellectual property (data), single point of failures and digital attack or denial of service. They will say they perform x number of penetration tests per year. But it will always be in your mind; you may have hired the IT equivalent of an unknown person looking after the kids overnight.


Keeping your servers and it’s data locked up in your own office or server room, with your own internet connection or two (which is wise) paying your own power bills, making sure your antiviri and system security patches are up to date, making sure when employees leave they don’t leave with the accounts or the master client list, means you are master of your own security and system availability.
If you don’t trust yourself to do this properly, there is the option is offload these IT functions to a cloud service provider out there, in the internet, amongst many others. Better, get to know and a trustworthy and proven IT solution provider but keep the data and it’s dependencies under your lock and key.

Is cloud computing safe?

No, all you have is blind faith.


The cloud service provider will only guarantee what it can directly control and IT history tells us that's very little.
One could, and is near forced to blindly trust the provider - relying on your perceptions that it is an honourable company, that knows what it is doing and that it can be trusted to protect your data come what may. From a security point of view (not to mention matters of operational, privacy or compliance) the concept of blind faith has a difficult place in an organisation's business.


Keeping your servers and their data locked up in your own office or server room, with your own internet connection or two (which is wise), paying your own power bills, making sure your anti-virus and system security patches are up-to-date, making sure when employees leave they don't leave with the accounts or the master clients list, all mean you are the master of your own security and system availability.
If you don't trust yourself to do this properly, there is the option to offload these IT functions to a cloud service. Better is to get to know a trustworthy and proven IT solution provider but keep the data and it's dependencies under your lock and key.


Paul Appleby, Owner and Technical Director
This article was first published in Civil Society IT, Sept 2009


London Data is now offering a private cloud computing solution reaping the benefits of the cloud in a managed and controlled way.

Windows recovery malware

At London Data we have noticed an insurgence of drive-by-downloads of so called antivirus solutions for Windows 7, Vista and XP. These come in many guises but the most common will appear as a pop-up when visiting a website before ‘scanning’ your PC for malicious software. At this point if you are very vigilant and quick you can get out of this process by simply clicking the close button on the window – no harm no foul. However if you are unfortunate enough to have this scan complete and then attempt to remove these ‘malicious’ items (which are in fact nothing more than made up names) this rogue software installs itself on your system and all but cripples your computer.

Symptoms vary from preventing any applications running and warning you again and again that your system is infected to changing all your file attributes to ‘hidden’ so it appears the non-existent plethora of malware that this utility claims to have detected have deleted all of your files. Whatever it tries to do its main goal is to panic you in to buying the software – therefore getting your credit/debit card details. Not good news. Even worse is that these little nasties seem to be very adept at bypassing even the most adept of virus protection suites, it seems that as they do not self-propagate in the way that is expected of modern malware it slips through the net of most zero day threat detection algorithms… sneaky…

However, these can be removed with a little patience and a lot of cunning by simply using the tools that are available to you as standard with Microsoft Windows XP, Vista and 7. You may have noticed your operating system installing something called the Malicious Software Removal Tool once a month, and believe it or not Microsoft really seems to have hit the nail on the head with this one. Called by running the rather comforting ‘mrt’ command from a command prompt it scans your system much like a normal AV system, but like Mr.T seems to do so with much more aggression and success.

In short, if you are hit with one of these viruses the first thing I would recommend trying is a quick boot in to safe mode, clear your startup group and add a shortcut to mrt.exe in to that folder. Reboot in to normal mode and Mr T will run before the malware allowing you to get in there and clean it out before it starts denying you access to your programs. If you still find you are stuck, drop us a line at support@london-data.co.uk and one of our experts will be glad to help.

Matt Manning, Maintenance and Projects Manager