Home Forums Discussions Problems New to AC

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If you have time, please see my post in tips and tricks.

A thumb drive is the way to go. If you're taking it home, and it's on your keychain or whatever, don't bother encrypting it.

Right click on the database folder, hit copy. Open the thumb drive, right click, hit paste. and when it's done take it home. It's that simple.

Glad it's all working!

V.

Hi Vinny

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I take backups home weekly and offsite to AC secure land nightly, but I do most of my backups of AC and more daily.

I think we do a disservice to users when we recommend thumbdrives, simply because most do ONE backup and then take it home and think that's enough. Why take it home? Do they just turn around and bring it back? Makes no sense.

What I would like to hear from users (because I really do not want to hear about one disaster) and those who talk about backups is their strategy. Maybe they are making a local backup and taking another home.

Let's face it. Backups at work are far more important than taking them home. There is FAR greater chance of something happening at work to the computer than a natural disaster. So, tens of backups at the office are worth far more than one or two at home.

Chance of virus or corrupt data or missing file not discovered for greater than seven days, probably 1 in 5,000.

Chance of a fire or flood (the big two we hear about all the time) probably 1 in 50,000.

Chance of losing a flash drive that is one 1.5 inches long and 1/2 inch wide, probably 1 in 250. Hell, I have probably lost at least five flash drives in the past few years, none that contained much of anything to worry about.

Why not encrypted when 1) the software is simple and free or 2) most flash drives over $25 come with them.

Why do we encrypt the backups we send over the Internet? This sort of rhetorical in that it's obvious, but again, it is much more likely one will lose his or her flash drive before some hacker will steal his or her data off a server between here and Houston, Texas.

To be fair, one other disaster that is much more likely than an earthquake, flood or fire, is someone just walking in and stealing your server.

All I am saying is to sit down and think of a backup strategy. There are more ways to do backups than users on AC. Consider a couple of external USB hard drives for daily backups and still take one home with you daily or weekly.

There is an overused phrase now in IT: Mission Critical Data. But, it makes sense. Your storage of letters to various patients or businesses are important, but I doubt you would call them Mission Critical.

Before you think about backups, ask yourself what would you do if you suddenly lost all of your AC data, and you had no data? Then, think about how you want to prevent that.

Cheers!

Guess we'll have to half disagree on this one.

ANYTHING that makes making a backup more difficult or time consuming lowers the chance that it will be done regularly. That's the main reason that I'm not big on encrypting backups. The best data security is to not let your data out of your sight. With thumb drives the size of a car key today, there's no reason not to put one on your keyring and make your off-site backup.

THAT BEING SAID - your ON-SITE backups you can AUTOMATE - as again, the more the user has to do, the less chance that they'll actually do it. I learned this from long, hard experience doing disaster recovery for my clients who were just too busy to put a tape in the drive and double-click on the desktop icon at the end of the day. If the stupid thing wakes up at midnight, copies the database, and goes back to sleep, then the backup is done, and no worries. There are a BUNCH of services out there now, all cheaper BTW than AC's offsite backup service (Jon? you listening??) Hell, Carbonite even has radio ads now for their backup service (although I don't think THEY'RE cheaper).

The best backup for an internet connected network would be a thumb drive to take home (in case something fails) AND an automated off-site or on-site backup.

Make sense?

Regards,

V.

To Vinny and Bert,

Isn't the database already protected? Isn't there a password on the database that makes it very difficult to tamper with the database? So if someone would steal my Amazingchart.mdb, that person would have to break through the password to get any useful data, right? That person would have to figure out a way to obtain a copy of Amazingcharts that could unlock the database.

If your medical data falls into somebody else's hands, there are only a few possible ways that it could have happened:

1. Somebody broke into your office with the sole purpose of stealing your medical data, through physical or electronic means. Why would somebody do this? I'm not saying that it couldn't happen, but how likely is it, really?

2. Somebody breaks into your place to steal a bunch of computers, which just happen to contain medical data. You have lost your data but the thief will probably just wipe the hard drive. Your database is probably safe, even if unencrypted.

It would be hard to tamper with the database directly, and it would require at least a little knowledge to open it using a bootleg copy of Amazing Charts.

A person could hang out and search this User Board and figure out how to do it.

However, why would they? They were there for the computer! They're either going to sell it, or play Halo 3 on it.

3. You lose your thumb drive with your data on it. This is actually the most likely way for your data to wind up in someone else's hands. Even if you attach it to your car keys, who here hasn't lost their car keys?

Now, the data is still somewhat hard to get at, but I think human nature will make it even more likely that someone will try, under this scenario.

Who here, if they found a thumb drive, would not take it home and open it, to try and figure out who it belonged to? And if all it had on it was an unencrypted Amazing Charts database, who wouldn't google "open Amazing Charts database"?

Which would lead you to this user board, which tells you explicitly how to open it (I will PM anyone who doesn't already know how):

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=active&q=open+amazing+charts+database

Now, I agree with Vinny that the thumbdrive/offsite backup is the most convenient way to backup, but I think it I think it would be wise to encrypt your database if you're taking it out of your office on a thumbdrive.

We are also discussing the issue in this thread:

http://www.amazingcharts.com/ub/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=4584&page=1&fpart=1

If you were using this IronKey gadget we discuss, Vinny's strategy would be a very convenient and secure strategy.

However, I also think Bert makes a good point about needing several days worth of backups available, so if yesterday's backup is corrupt, you have the one from two days ago to fall back on.

Thanks, Brian,

The thumb drive would be for the LAST backup. The automated ones would be the rotating ones. I usually tell my clients to keep a backup for each day of the week, giving them a 5 (or 6 or 7) business day rotating backup to catch any problems. Monthly archives are good too as a back-stop

The encrypted thumb drive means not having to run an encryption program - which will give your thumb drive the same security without the extra step every day.

V.

So, after pondering all these options, here's what I'm coming up with for a simple and balanced backup strategy:

EVERYBODY needs some kind of AUTOMATIC data backup. Vinny's logic is inescapable here. I would bet that most doctors can not be relied upon to manually back up their own data reliably. Unfortunately, most doctors probably don't know how to set up their computer to backup automatically.

(This being the case, why can't we make Amazing Charts Offsite Backup occur automatically?)

EVERYBODY needs REDUNDANT backups of their medical data, going back several days, and maybe even a month. Bert is absolutely right about this. Unfortunately, most doctors are not diligent enough to do this manually, and don't know how to set up their computers to do this automatically.

(This being the case, why can't Amazing Charts Offsite Backup add each nights' encrypted backup to a storage file, automatically dated to allow for easy recovery, instead of just overwriting the previously encrypted file every night?)

(Another question: does anyone know how long Amazing Charts Offsite Backup keeps our data that we upload? Can they go back and find the last functioning version of our database? If the above idea were adopted, we could do this ourselves instead of having to pester Technical Support).

THUMB DRIVES are a mighty handy method of offsite backup, but it is best if they are ENCRYPTED. Unfortunately, encrypting the data before you leave adds another step and makes it less likely that doctors will backup at all. Also, encryption means finding and learning to use a new program (most doctors won't), or else dropping $79 for an IronKey.

(Question: why can't we set the path for where Amazing Charts Offsite Backup creates its encrypted database before it uploads? If we could set the path to our thumb drive, people wouldn't have to pay for encryption software or IronKeys. Instead, they could stick in the thumbdrive, and click on Amazing Charts Offsite Backup. Their data would be uploaded to San Antonio, and an encrypted copy would be created on their thumb drive simultaneously).

CONCLUSION:

There are a few steps that everyone should be taking to secure their mission-critical data each night. Unfortunately, there are probably very few doctors that are taking any of these precautions. With a few simple changes, however, Amazing Charts could allow users to do these things with ease.

Vinny, I am no programmer, but it seems like these changes would be easily implemented, and would really increase the security and customer satisfaction of the Amazing Charts family. I think these changes would bring Jon a lot more Offsite Backup customers (and maybe even some more Amazing Charts customers). Could you talk with him about this?

Roy, having a flash drive password protected and/or encrypted is one thing, i.e. fairly secure, but having a flash drive not protected, but the database password protected is horrible. Anyone with ANY knowledge of Access could open it. And, once you open it, all of the data is there, regardless if you have the program or not. There are hundreds of free password sniffers out there on the Internet. Which is why the AC data should be encrypted.

But, most users would copy the folder to a a flashdrive with the name still on it. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out www.amazingcharts.com, click on the little download icon, enter the email address: a@a.com and download the EMR. There you go, all the info you want. Is it likely, probably not. Is it easy, very.

As to encrypted, hey I have been taking home unencrypted data for years. I just started playing with it lately. The nice thing about TruCrypt is it encryps that folder on the flash drive or the flash drive itself so it's set it and forget it. Never have to encrypt each time.

As to the backups at work which should be automated, XP Pro and Vista and even OS before then will automate things. Backup Assist is an excellent 3rd party program. Acronis home version is extremely cheap and an excellent backup imaging program.

I agree completely with Vinny and everyone that providers don't back up enough and encryption would make it that much less likely. I would rather see seven backups a week than encryption. But, it's a shame if a provider who is plenty smart enough doesn't take the time to learn or come up with a good strategy to protect his or her data. It's hard to remember to check LFTs and CBCs and Tegretol levels with Tegretol, but we do especially now that we have the reminder function.

CAVEAT: I'm not arguing with anyone or saying that anyone HAS to encrypt or do backups a certain way. Users can read and decide what's best for them. Until now, I don't think the topic was talked about much.

I have never seen how to open the AmazingCharts.mdb database on here. I must have missed it. While it is very easy to do, I know I would never post it here. Did someone actually post that here? And why would that have not been removed?

But, pleaes PM me with the thread.

Apricot, I put this question on Experts-Exchange and received an great answer. Apparently, there are software and hardware solutions. They make hard drives which are encrypted by default. But, I found this really cool software which runs the gamut from rather inexpensive to very. It encrypted the entire drive including the computer, and it appears everything that connects to it. So, if you add files to your flash drive and remove it, it is also encrypted.

The demo is really cool.

http://www.pgp.com/products/wholediskencryption/demo.html


http://na.pgpstore.com/product.aspx?sku=3118550


http://na.pgpstore.com/product.aspx?sku=3118545

vm1, I just saw your post on your final initial (??) setup. That's bascially what I set up for Dr. C and what we have now. Except we have 3 laptops and 2 desktops. My desktop is used as the server. Its all a peer-to-peer network though.

On backup, you can use an inexpensive program like SmartSync to automatically back up your database folder daily (and other folders if you like) to either 1) your laptop or 2) an external HD or 3) both. Smartsync can be downloaded, it cheap, and easy to use. You could probably also set it to back up to a thumbdrive or flash drive. Currently I have 2 backups-- the one on the computer which is generated whenever I backup the database in Admin Options,and my daily backup to the other desktop. I plan on either getting a removable drive or an external HD also. Unless we get the Windows Server. Then I'm not sure.

On encryption, I've been using a free version of a program called Cryptainer to send encrypted messages to our biller. It can create a self-extracting file if the recipient just knows the password. You can create an encrypted portion of a hard drive (internal or external) also, on which you could store a backup.

Wayne with the encryption stuff and sending encrypted messages (tell me more), you may want to post in Tips and Tricks. Just a thought.

HAPPY NEW YEAR,
Thanks for all the help getting me set up. I definitely have enough options on backing up AC. Right now there isn't much to backup but I see I have plenty of options. I will definitely refer back to this forum on a regular basis. I do notice the database is a lttle slow on the laptop in the treatment room since it is a peer to peer. Eventually I will have to get a dedicated server. Also, logmein.com is awesome. You have all been very helpful.

Everyone,
What ever else you do about back-ups, please take at least one copy "Off-Site" each and every night. That way in case you lose your office to a fire or flood, the main computer gets stolen, you will still have a good recent copy of your data.

As I've said before, I have bought two little Firelite Brand harddrives that are simple USB drives that I back up to every night. One stays on-site locked in a water and fire proof safe box, locked inside our drug cabinet, while the other goes home who whomever stayed latest that night in my laptop bag in a little semi-hard shelled zipper traveling case. Even with copying the entire AC folder, these copies probably only take about 1/2 to a full minute a piece to make. Every day with make a new folder, Named ACBU and that day's date (AC Back-up), so like ACBU 12-31-07. Once a month or so I cut and paste them all into a folder for that month ACBU Dec '07 let's say. It's quick and easy and now I've got a back-up of every day and one is "OFF-SITE", just in case.... Think Murphy my friends, Murphy.

I also back-up my QuickBooks to these drives any time I add serious numbers to it as well. At 80-250 Gigs there is more than enough room to hold all sorts of CCHIT. And every year or so I buy two new ones so even if they start to age out, now I'm working on newer healthy ones for my more recent data.

Wow Brian, that's a nice computer system -- I bookmarked the link! It really is amazing how much computing power can be purchased nowadays for a few million pesos.

Everyone:

I've been lurking here a bit and this IT topic caught my eye. I've done a bit of 'network design' as an IT professional and here's my 2 cents:

Do it yourself. And do what you are doing here. bert knows some things ... esp. where/how to get answers and information. Google is your friend. Always. :-) And don't be apprehensive about networks/computers, just read a little and do a little. If you make yourself a simple setup, then if it breaks, you can fairly easily fix it yourself. Yeah, it's very possible you'll end up with a numbskull setup, but that's okay, esp. when you are starting out.

Document your setup so that you can rebuild it if you have to.
Try to make a setup that can be reconstructed fairly quickly.
If your setup can be reconstructed quickly, then you have yourself a very maintainable and survivable solution. That's IT utopia.

Also: leave yourself another option, an 'escape', just in case. If it's important, it's worth having two or more ways to do it, or retrieve it, or store it or access it. Redundancy seems expensive, and it certainly can be (depending on how much of your setup is redundant...), but in some places it just makes very good sense, and I'd bet it's cheaper than med school. Or your entire practice. An example would be your internet connection: if that link is life-and-death important, then you'd better have another one nearby. A hotswap, a spare, a failover, a backup ... something -- don't put all your practice's eggs in one IT basket. Don't bank on manufacturers' or service providers' warranties. I've never seen them matter at all.

Buy used stuff, but replace the moving parts with new -- hard drives, for example.

Protect your setup from as much unexpected as possible: theft, hardware failure, power failure/spike, water, dust, excessive heat, humidity ... that's the sorta stuff that your IT gear won't like and will fuss about. Plan for it -- don't hope that it will never happen to you.

Our bodies are pretty much governed by the laws of nature/physics, but IT is pretty much ruled by Murphy's Law.

A true IT professional is not one who baffles you with acronyms or turns different colors when describing his latest addition to his computer collection. It's someone who understands the world around us and knows enough about IT stuff to sensibly fit IT stuff into the empty/needed spaces. Be your own.

In other words, you're bright enough. Just think (deductively and inductively) a bit about what your needs are, write some things down, ask a few questions, talk to Google and try!

You will know if/when you ever get into something over your head.

There's a ton more I could say, but it's late, and I'm probably going to be accused of trying to market myself (I'm not, I have my hands overfull with my job and my family, and no, I'm not driving anywhere to set up a 5 PC network ...) and it sounds like you'uns have all the help you need right here, already. I just wanted to throw out a framework of thinking for approaching your "IT issues".

But I am curious as to what Brian's setup really is ... two 'routers' sounds a little fishy to me. ;-) I suspect one of those routers is actually a 'switch'.

(Brian is a high school/college buddy/associate/whatever/he still remembers me, anyway ... I found him here a few weeks ago).

Hope this helps someone.

---

errr, actually, it looks like vinny is your resident expert. I'll go back to lurking now

Lurker:

Yes, you are correct, one of those 'routers' is a 'switch'. It seems that I don't know everything about everything!

Anyone who looks at that Visionman server that I linked to earlier, be warned: it has a DVD player, but not a DVD burner, which I think was a mystifying choice for a PC billed as a "server."

yup, noticed the DVD player thing. Anyone can add a DVD burner for about 30-40 american dollars these days...

Lurker,
Sure wish you were within driving distance of CNY. You sound like a nice, honest, hardworking, customer oriented tech. I used to tech in Audio, lighting and Video before we moved up here to make a doc out of my wife.

I was wanting to add a VPN router to allow access to the database from home for my Doctor as well as a home based biller. I would like to continue to use the wireless router we have because it has been very reliable for us in a fairly demanding enviornment of multiple other networks close by. Anyway, I'm sort of concerned about all the multiple "doors" and addresses that the signals have to get thru, cable modem, VPN Router, wireless router.

Not too sure how to set this up if I add the VPN one and how to get the signal to have permission and addresses to come and go thru all of them. Any advice from one and all would be greatly apperciated. And yes I'm quite scared of supposed "gurus" as I have said in the past. Wish our new "lurker" friend lived closer....
Paul

I was hoping someone can give me some direction on an issue I am having with Logmein. The only way I can access the "main" computer from home is to leave the "main" computer at the office connected at all times. In other words, it never goes to sleep. However, my concern is that this leaves my "main computer" vulnerable because if someone is sitting in front of it, their is no need to put in a password to get into thr computer. Any suggesions???

My only suggestion is to have that main pc in a room with restricted access. That's what we do.

@lurker Great advice I tinker with my Cisco PIX all the time. Stayed up all night. Of course, I use Experts-Exchange for the commands. But, it's a natural high to open that port and set up RDP or VPN. I know...I know.. about ports.

@routers -- most routers if bought at Best Buy or CircuitCity, ie. Netgear, Linksys, D-Link etc. are not routers. They are NAT devices that say they are routers. Just a thought.

@Paul -- don't do VPN. Some of thes you set up via LogMeIn as an add-on or other 3rd party ones are great. But, if you want blazing speed, use Remote Desktop. Just have to configure your firewall for 3389.

@VMan -- again listen to Lurker in that no one is always right. BUT, saying I am right, in over ten years I have never turned off a computer (I mean on purpose overnight). I don't like sleep or powerdown or whatever. I keep it full on. And, I have checked the amount of power consumption and it is nil.

Just use your screensave to auto timeout and lock your computer and have a username and STRONG password. Or, better yet, log off the computer. Quote: If someone is sitting in front of it there is no need to put in a password.

There should ALWAYS be a need to put in a password. If your PC is locked, when you unlock it, you should need a password. Logged off -- need a password. Turned off or rebooted -- need a password. Our computers in our room our locked between every patient, and I have to enter a username and 8 character strong password with multiple criteria. If you need help with this, email me. Very simple.

If you don't leave the main computer on, how do you do backups overnight (if those are done), how do you do antivirus scans?

If you have the expertise, a VPN is a very sensible thing to do for remote access. Setting up a VPN is much more involved than merely connecting a few PCs together in a single building. I can't provide much help here. (a little help later on, though).

fwiw: a 'router' is a more intelligent device than a 'switch' or a 'hub'. Routers connect networks together. To see what I mean here, you have to know all the different meanings of the work "network".

'switches' connect hosts (your PCs) on the same network together. Hubs do the same, but are pretty much obsolete nowadays, and they don't do it as smartly as switches. (but they will do just fine for small networks -- if your hub still works, don't throw it away!)

Both routers and switches do in fact 'route' network traffic, but routers do it at a 'higher level' of technology than switches do; kinda like comparing 2-dimensional space to 3-dimensional. Not a great analogy, but kinda like that.

The "router" you buy at walmart, etc., does in fact route traffic from one network to another (the two networks are your private, local network and the other is the internet, usually), but it is a router that suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome -- that's all the routing it can do. "Real" routers route traffic from any public (or private) network to another public or private network. The internet is a very large public network (actually, a large network of networks). The "network" where all your PCs are attached together is "private". (in many ways)

The main (real) distinction between a public and private network is determined by the IP addresses assigned to the hosts of that network. And I'll stop here. "Internet for Dummies" or "TCP/IP for Dummies" is what you'll need from here on out.

Good day to all you doctors, taking care of us dumb, sickly, lazy and overweight americans ... lol! Does it ever get annoying?

--

OK, this is one is a semantics issue in the tech world. A true router is a device that has the ability to intelligently route traffic based not only on static routes, but on dynamic routing protocols and can handle advanced functions pertaining to handling traffic flows that other devices aren't designed to do.

So, in other words, when you go out and buy a Linksys "router" at Best Buy, that is really not a router even though they call it that. It's really just a NAT device that may have some firewall functions built into it. It can't truly route traffic since it only has an Internet port and everything else is considered an internal port. There is no routing involved...it either passes the traffic or it doesn't depending on it's configuration.

But, this is getting kind of technical. When you connect one network (WAN) the Internet to a LAN (that is only one network) even a $600 Cisco PIX isn't a "real" router. It can play one on TV, though, letting traffic in and out, but not intelligently routing.
____

Lurker, many have tried VPN and there are many ways to set it up, but as I and others have found, it is far too slow. RWW or RDP or some commercial VPNs have been found to work better.

RDW is blazing fast -- as if you're there, but it does punch a larger hole into the firewall that most hackers know is 3389. So, I generally change the RDP port. But, XP comes with RDP anyway, so it's cheap (free) and fast and with REALLY good firewalls, it can be fairly secure.

Bert is correct ... but I wasn't going to 'go there' with a bunch of doctors!

As far as remote connectivity -- do what you can/know how. But bear in mind that if you are passing information which falls under the Privacy Act, you may have to provide some encryption of data. The Windows' Remote Desktop thing is pretty cool, and I use something like that at work/home, but I don't know how secure it is. But I don't pass any private data, either.

Also, I wasn't saying that a VPN is the best way to go -- I said it is a sensible way to go. But your needs determine your solution, I as preached a while back.

--

lurker,

A lot of people have their jobs and want to be a rock and roll star. Me? I am a doctor who wants to be an IT person.

All of us doctors on here are kind of evolving together one step at a time starting with installing AC to setting up a server with a demilitarized zone and ISA server and hosted VoIP technology. Our latest frontier seems to be encryption. RDP is probably the least secure. I love RWW*, and it is rather fast once in, but you know doctors, too impatient to wait for the logins which take, what, ten seconds.

* Limited to SBS

And to think, this was the original question

Here's why I started on the VPN thing:


Before you go treading down VPN Lane, think about what you really want/need to do. The more generic category would be "remote connection to a private network"; a VPN is one way to do that.

Remote connectivity shows up in only a few configurations:

1 -- you have one server/PC with stuff on it that you want access via some other network (like the internet) with only one PC, aka: 'host to host'

2 -- you have more than one server/PC that you want to access with only one PC, aka: 'network to host'

3 -- you have more than one server/PC (an entire network, probably) that you want to access with more than one PC (another entire network), aka: 'network to network'

I think most of you'ns are doing #1. Things like M$ Remote Desktop will work great, and as long as it meets all necessary requirements, then it's certainly okay. And I would think that bert or google could get you going with #1. #2 or #3 will require a bit more network expertise and at least one "VPN router". #3 will require 2 such 'routers'.

--

Bert and Lurker,
In the long run my ideal situation, set-up would allow a few (2-3 probably) off-site laptops or computers to reach back into the office, to our P2P "server" to read and write to the main datebase(s) here in the office, AC for now, and what ever PM software, database we settle on after this tech situation is solved. I don't want to have to worry about scheduling the home based billing lady verses Nancy's need to get work done from home, with a single access at a time solution. For right now a single access solution could work but in short time we will probably need the multi access solution, so whether to just go with the bigger one right away verses doing one and then switching to another is debatable. I lean towards just getting it done once myself.

I've been thinking about eventually getting some form of decent RAID 1 NAS device for database stuff, so as to take that traffic off of the main tower to keep things moving quicker and smoother around here, but if this makes things too crazy perhaps I could either add some RAM to our old tower here, or purchase a newer faster main computer at some point. The old tower is 2.8 mghz, hyper threaded P4, running XP Pro with only 512 of RAM. Back when I had it built in 2003 that was quite a lot, but not anymore. Anyway, when I'm sitting at this machine at the back with AC, IE and my email open it can slow down the laptops reading and writing to it a bit. Also the harddrive in there is as old at the tower (Everybody knock on wood with me here), so by getting something new be it NAS unit or new Tower, I also get to update the drives just in case....

I'm real hesitant to go full blown server route that some like Bert keep pushing simply because I believe in Lurker's phiosophy of keep in simple stupid for the "the practice manager is the IT dept" issues. As lurker said so well, I want something that I know how it went together, so I can trouble shoot it myself, maintain it myself, and take it apart and put it back together all myself, no less saving lots of green on MS Server licenses. Isn't that why almost all of us are AC users to some extent??? WE can maintain and use this thing mostly by ourselves without too much expensive "help". With this simple small office, P2P should be fine for years to come, at least until CCHITT and it's CCHITT get rammed down all of our collective throats....

Thanks for all the "collective brain trust" support fellers....
Paul

If you wanted to with a RAID 1 or 5, etc. you could use this NAS device. It will do almost anything for you.

http://tinyurl.com/296adl

If you main database is located on the computer with 512 MBs of RAM, if you had to make one purchase at TigerDirect, increasing to at least 2 GBs of RAM would make the most difference. With a hard drive that old make sure that S.M.A.R.T. (if on the motherboard) is enabled. It has saved me at least twice allowing me to clone data directly over to the new WD hard drive with the WD software.

But, my recommendation would be to pick up a new machine with plenty of RAM. And, just becaues you are not buying a computer made to be a "server," and are not purchasing Windows Server 2003, doesn't mean you can't set your system up as client/server based using a new Gateway/Dell/HP or whatever computer.

Apparently for some (or all), I worded this paragraph poorly. I do not mean to imply that bert could NOT help with #2 or #3.(!) I don't know what all bert can do. He tells me he's a doctor who wants to be an IT guy. For all I know, bert is a network ninja who just hasn't yet found his dream IT job and hence he's still here. (no, I'm not calling bert a liar!). I dunno... I suppose I did assume that most (all?) doctors wouldn't know jack about the relevant computer science theories and practices regarding these issues (every DR I've met has scorn for the knowledge of IT -- bert is a respectable guy, from my professional standpoint); in the same way, I wouldn't be offended if you all thought I was fully incompetent to diagnose a skin infection. (Ahh!! Not that I think that bert is incompetent, either!)

All I've tried to do here is NOT offer solutions ... I hardly know what your problems are! I simply am trying to help you folks think about your needs so that when you do get to where you can spend the money and hire someone, if necessary, you are not lost. That's the best I can do long distance. Why am I doing this? I found an old friend here, read some of the messages, thought they were interesting, and thought I'd try to contribute in a limited way.

All this being said, it wasn't bert who mentioned this about me, to me. If bert is offended in some way, please accept my sincere and public apology. I was not intending to denigrate his/your skills at all. IT is such a varied world, we all could come up with our own way, and they'd all be different (the science governing IT is not the same science governing our bio/physical world...), and they'd all be okay. Yeah, each would likely think his idea is better. We've all encountered the arrogant IT person... I personally cannot stand them.

--

Thanks Lurker,

I do have thin skin, but I wasn't offended.

AND, you are right! I do use Google quite a bit. I kind of learned that when I was working with and learning from a guru Microsoft MVP once where rather than go to the Microsoft Knowledebase, he would go to Google. Of course, many of the returns were to Microsoft or Experts Exchange.

All in all, the more data on here the better.

One thing is for sure: Doctors may not be good at doctoring and they may not be good at ITing, but we are all pretty good at debating, lol.

Thanks again.

oh c'mon! if doctors aren't good at doctoring ... eeek !?!

Hey, at least your profession is based on science. IT is a pure fabrication of the imperfect human 'self'! Oh how I wish I could measure my bits, apply an acceleration to them, with the proper amount of heat and get paper-predicted results!

:-)

Sorry to burst your bubble Lurker, but that is why we call it the "Art of Medicine". At some point all the data and good science aside, it still comes down to all those other things in a clinical visit. Sure the managed care company or some research scientist can show that 75% of folks respond best to treat "A" over treatment "B", but that doesn't say squat about that one particular patient in the room with that one doc right now... That is why managed care and P4P is such bunk, no two patients are ever exactly alike.

And I for one do apperciate your suggestions and assistance and I think I speak for everyone else here when I say they do too. It is really nice to finally have a real nuts and bolts tech on here now. From one old tech to another; Thanks.

Bert,
Funny you should memtion the Terra Station Pro as it was one of a few on my short list for the job. Do you know anyone who has used it and how pleased with it were they? Also if you look at the specs and features many of these NAS's now come with some form of logging onto them remotely and allowing remote access with something less than a VPN. Not knowing much about such things I was more than just a little concerned about the security of what ever means of access they might be using. But that would sure solve my remote access issue easy enough if it was of decent quality. The "My WorldBook" series, and the new HP Home Server as well as this Buffalo unit all seem to have some sort of feature like this. What might any of you know about what they are using and how safe, secure and easy to use are they???

And if I move most of the important date over to the NAS then the failure of the tower and it's harddrive become much less critical, correct? Now I can wait a day or two as long as we can live without the extra computer because all the others still have access to AC and it's data via the NAS, right? Now this 4 year old machine is fine for just being another working computer attached to the network. And what is this activate "feature" you mention? What does it do and from where and how do I activate it??? CMOS level, windows, what???

Thanks much again....
Paul

well ... rats. so much for my naive idealism... Here I thought I was being complimentary... lol!

...morning folks.
Just saw this in a Network World mag ...

"Leaf: a free IT network management tool... a networking platform from Leaf Networks which enables network and device sharing among client machines. 'it can be use like a vpn or ftp server by users who do not know the first thing about setting those servers up...'

I don't know nuthin about it ... sounds handy, though. Google for leaf networks, I'd say.

My name is Michael, btw.

Good day!

hockeyref -- I would say that you should find a good VPN router and one with wireless ability (to maintain the functionality that you have already). You can probably make a VPN tunnel through your existing cable modem/wireless router setup, but I don't know how to do that. I could probably figure it out, but I'd have to Google, etc., to find my way. It seems like it might be very simple, but what I'm not sure about is the existing NAT (network address translation) already occuring within your existing router.

The fundamental ingredients for remote access (secure or otherwise) are: 1) 'static' IP addresses assigned to the 'office network'/router and 2) a VPN/remote access "server" properly configured to allow multiple remote access sessions

#1 is so that the roamers always have the same target -- a 'static' IP address to connect to -- it seems a pretty standard feature for 'business' internet connections (if you have a T-1, I'm 99% certain you have a public, static IP)

#2 the remote access 'server' could be your VPN router and might prove to be the cleanest solution, or, it could be a PC 'server' (with appropriate software) configured via a (NAT) 'router' for remote (and authenticated!) accessibility

My blind guess is, you could set up Remote Access on your Windows XP machines behind your existing router/firewall and set up port forwards via your router. This will work and should be fairly straightforward, but I'm not certain how secure/encrypted the traffic will be. If done properly, this should 'work' for multiple remote access sessions.

A lot of corporations do this sort of thing but use a genuine VPN. With a VPN server, they can control/monitor/log/manage the 'remote' traffic mo-better, and, since they are effectively allowing a foreign-located connection to the INSIDE of their network defenses (firewalls, proxies, etc), they tend to be a bit paranoid and do all those things to maintain security. (not to mention the network folks probably want to keep their jobs...) As you may have surmised, network security is a Big Deal nowadays. Defend the network!!!

The other thing to think about is performance. What files are actually being transmitted through your VPN/remote session? The whole mdb file ?!?! Anything 'big', say, 10+ MBytes ?? If so, your internet connection is the most likely source of slowdowns/bottlenecks. This shouldn't be an issue with high-quality connections (like a T-1, which is symmetrical), but it will likely be an issue with a standard DSL or cable link. If you happen to have a good 'wireless' provider nearby, the wireless types tend to be nearly symmetrical.


Adding RAM, if you can afford it, is nowadays a must-do. That will always help. It's not a miracle pill, though, and at some point the internals of your system (very technical here: data busses, i/o throughput from drive subsystem to RAM to CPU, etc) will be too slow and you'll just have to get a new machine. Or, if you're so inclined, rip out your servers' motherboard and put a newer one in After RAM, get newer/faster drives -- don't worry about CPU unless the upgrade is to a new generation of CPU. Hence the new motherboard. Gosh, by now: get a new server!

A stand-alone NAS device makes a lot of sense to me! Esp if it's got hot-swappable drives (say 4 trays) and gives you RAID 5. There's not a whole lotta configurin' to do to make a Windows XP machine read those drives as though they were inside the 'server' itself. Do this, and you probably will get another 5-10 years of life outta your server, after adding some RAM. Oh, if your database is already large or anticipated to be large, you should upgrade your network devices to gigabit. Don't worry about your router here, I'm just talking about your network ports on your PCs/etc and your ethernet switch(es). Well, unless you are planning to get a 'gigabit' internet connection, that is! :-)

To make it all work swell, either get a monster machine and put all your eggs in it, or divide the load: put your db on a NAS and run everything else off your 'server'. Or something, generally, like that.

I think it will be easier to setup and maintain with things divided up. I'd even set up a single (small) server for each application, that way, if your 'one' server gets lost, you still have all the other functionality. Plus, you could put your big NAS inside a safe or locked room and then it's also separate from everything else.

Makin any sense here?

I purchased a netgear ready nv+ NAS for use in our practice with AC and it is working just fine. Two 500GB drives. can go up to 4 500GB drives and is hot swappable, RAID 0, 1, or 5. also, has XRAID and Flex-Raid options where you can add drive capacity if and when your database gets too big. This was better than the equivalent myworldbook and buffalo units but just a shade more expensive. Shopping on cnet.com I found one at securemart.com for about $1050.