Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Security and monitoring of the server in the data center

A local company Typent offers a service in I.T. Outsourcing. I engaged them to look into the security of my dedicated service, which is located at a data center. I did not experience any security issues previously, but I wanted to make sure that if there is a security threat in the future, I will be ready to respond.

Typent run a tool to scan the server over a few hours. They were able to identify a few potential security threats that could arise in the future. They advised the installation of a firewall and anti-virus software on the server and also for the server software to be updated. As a hardware firewall is expensive, I decided (on their recommendation) to implement a software firewall to provide first level protection. They assisted me in the implementation of these measures. They also helped me to install a virtual server, which can be used in an emergency.

I also engaged Typent to provide a regular monitoring service on my server. This service allows them to be alerted on any potential threat to the server or the possibility of a potential failure of the hardware. The monitoring is continuous and an email alert will be sent immediately on any of these incidents. This allows Typent to see if any corrective action needs to be taken immediately.

The cost of the initial and regular service is quite small and is easily within the budget of any small enterprise. I recommend that any enterprise that users a server for their business, should have this type of monitoring service. Take precaution before any failure or threat occurs, and be ready to respond when it arises. If you are interested to use the service of Typent, send an email to kinlian@gmail.com.

Typent also recommend the creation of a virtual machine (that contain a copy of the image of the operating system) that can be called in an emergency.

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