Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

August 2023

How to Download Files from URLs with a Bash Script

In today's dynamic IT environment, automation, and scripting are essential tools for IT professionals and Managed Service Providers (MSPs). Whether it's for deploying applications, managing infrastructure, or troubleshooting, scripts can save countless hours of manual labor, increase efficiency, and reduce human error. One common task that professionals often need to automate is file downloading from a URL using a shell script, specifically a bash script.

How to Disable Fast Startup in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016

As IT professionals and Managed Service Providers (MSPs), understanding and controlling system features is a part of the job. Fast Startup (also known as Hiberboot or Fast Boot) in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016, while generally beneficial, may sometimes require to be turned off. In this post, we delve into what Fast Startup is, its implications, how to disable it manually or via PowerShell, and the differences between Fast Startup and Hibernation.

Active Directory Certificate Services: Definition & Configuration

Numerous organizations rely on Windows Server as the backbone of their IT infrastructure. Many also use PKI to address diverse security requirements, including web server security (SSL), certificate-based authentication, digital document signatures, and email encryption (S/MIME). Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) is a Windows Server role that connects these two elements together. In this article, we'll dig into what AD CS is, best practices for using it, and details on configuring it.

How To Containerize an Application Using Docker

Most development projects involve a wide range of environments. There is production, development, QA, staging, and then every developer's local environments. Keeping these environments in sync so your project runs the same (or runs at all) in each environment can be quite a challenge. There are many reasons for incompatibility, but using Docker will help you remove most of them.

How to Secure IoT Devices: 5 Best Practices

Internet of Things (IoT) devices, computing devices that send and receive information via the Internet and that run very specific applications, can be anything from smart thermostats to smart TVs. The main advantage of IoT devices is their constant connectivity, which allows users to access information and control the devices remotely at any time.

Securing Company Data With Enterprise Access Control

Access control is a vital security measure that manages user interactions with systems, networks, or resources, safeguarding sensitive information and preventing unauthorized access. By granting or denying specific permissions based on user roles, organizations ensure that only authorized individuals have access to data, mitigating the risk of data breaches and cyberattacks.

Hard Drive Data Recovery: How to Recover Data From a Dead Hard Drive

Hard drives, or hard disk drives (HDD), are one of the many options available for storing data. They offer benefits such as a large storage capacity, portability, high performance, and provides easy access to your data. Unfortunately, there are multiple different ways a hard drive may malfunction or become “dead”. In this article, we provide an overview of hard drives and their possible failures, data recovery solutions, hard drive data recovery steps, and more.

How to Use Nmap: Complete Guide with Examples

In the constantly changing cybersecurity landscape, staying one step ahead of malicious actors is crucial - and understanding the intricacies of your networks is an integral part of that. A tool that can help you do this has earned its reputation as a cybersecurity stalwart - Nmap. Nmap, short for Network Mapper, holds the keys to unlocking valuable insights in your network infrastructure.

IT Budgeting: Tips and Best Practices

One of the more important parts of organizational strategic planning for IT departments is IT budgeting. While this can be challenging, creating and following this budget can provide teams with guidance, drive innovation, improve efficiency, and contribute to accomplishing organizational goals on schedule. There are a lot of components to consider in a good IT budget, including hardware, software, services, and personnel costs.

Key Steps for a More Secure Linux Server

Linux server hardening means fortifying and securing a Linux server in order to protect it from vulnerabilities and threats. While total security will always remain a moving target in the security arms race, this article explores some important fundamental steps you can take to help keep your servers safe and secure.

NinjaOne Insights: Strategies to Help Your IT Team Thrive

Legacy operations and technology are often unable to support growing organizations, leading to several inefficiencies as business continues to evolve. The way IT teams manage 50 devices will be fundamentally different from the way they manage 500 devices. In response to these evolving business needs, organizations have started looking to process automation to reduce time and money wasted on repetitive, tedious tasks.

Safeguarding the Skies - How NinjaOne Protects H.E.R.O.S. from Ransomware Threats

In the dynamic world of aviation, precision and reliability are paramount, and Helicopter Engine Repair Overhaul Services (H.E.R.O.S.) stands as an industry leader, offering top-notch maintenance and repair services for helicopter engines. As a crucial player in the aerospace sector, H.E.R.O.S. acknowledges the non-negotiable need to secure its sensitive data and systems from cyber threats.

Does Microsoft Intune Do Patch Management?

Patching is a huge concern within IT environments since the attacks on unpatched vulnerabilities makes up 95% of all cyberattacks. IT teams want to ensure that the IT management tools they choose are capable of delivering reliable patch management. Microsoft has a family of products called the Intune product family. Its focus is on endpoint management in the cloud (whereas Microsoft Configuration Manager is used for on-prem management).

Understanding Linux Logs: Overview with Examples

Logging and program output are woven into the entire Linux system fabric. In Linux land, logs serve as a vital source of information about security incidents, application activities, and system events. Effectively managing your logs is crucial for troubleshooting and ensuring compliance. This article explores the importance of logging and the main types of logs before covering some helpful command line tools and other tips to help you manage Linux logs.

Understanding IT Strategic Planning: Overview with Examples

Just as proactivity is a necessary virtue for a great IT team, the capacity for IT strategic planning is also essential. A good strategic plan will be an IT roadmap that clearly directs your organization’s IT goals and strategies for the next few years. Strategic planning should also align your service goals with the organization’s broader goals to ensure business continuity and effective disaster prevention and recovery.

Information Technology (IT): Fundamentals & Core Concepts

Simply defined, Information Technology (IT) is the use of computers and related technology, such as software, cloud-based applications, and networks to communicate or transmit data, build organizational infrastructure, and secure information. Anything a business or organization uses an endpoint device for could technically be classified as IT.