Computer Code Solutions Inc.

Services provided

My role is to provide the solutions you want, in a timely, efficient manner. Since all the products I install are free, it is possible to "Do It Yourself" (just like you could build your own car, or paint your house). However, for those who don't have the time or inclination to learn how all this technology works, I charge $35 per hour. Think of me as a mechanic for business automation. I bring 10 years experience and learning to the table, and will provide enough documentation to keep the systems running for years to come.

Computer Networking:

Very cost effective Linux servers available (licence/royalty free), plug-in replaceable for Windows Servers.
Network installation, configuration and maintenance.
Support for Linux networks.
Support for Windows.
Turnkey business/commercial Internet networking solutions
(including firewalls) with on-site service and installation.

Internet services:

Web page production & HTML coding.
- from single page to entire web site, whatever help you need
How to host your website from your home or office for FREE.
Register your domain (.com) for $14.95 per year.

Systems Programming:

I've been a professional programmer for 10 years.
- Highly skilled in C, C++, COM, Perl, SQL.

Solutions:

Email | Spam | Firewall | VPN / Remote Access | Web | File | Backup

You are no more at the mercy of commercial vendors who may choose to stop supporting packages that they may consider as old or obsolete although these packages may remain crucial to your product's continued existence and development.
Open-source software is often more mature, stable and maintainable than its commercial counterparts. This is partly due to the availability of the software's source but is also a testament to the community of developers that maintains and contributes to open-source software continuously.

Firewall

The number one requirement for any computer or LAN connected to the internet is to be protected by a firewall. You can either buy a device to do this job, or build the firewall into your linux server. A good firewall device is made by Linksys for around $80. Some come with additional VPN capability.

With a Linux server configured with two network ports, you can benefit from a sophisticated firewall that is built in to the kernel. This is a highly configurable solution and also the most robust. In fact, many firewall devices actually run Linux internally just for the firewall. The Linux firewall (as well as the better firewall devices) can be configured to selectively give access to your critical business resources. Say for example that you need to access your office database when travelling, and you use Terminal Services to log in remotely. Windows is notoriously insecure when connected directly to the internet, so the firewall can forward TCP/IP port 3389 to that machine so that you can securely log in when out of the office. Instead of exposing your whole Windows Server to the barrages of hacker attacks, only the specific login door is made available.

See VPN below.

Related links: firewallguide.com

VPN / Remote Access

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. A VPN is all about allowing some combination of computers and networks to communicate without a number of unpleasant security risks. Having a cable directly joining two computers is a private network. Putting the Internet in between makes the communications between these two computers suddenly fraught with risks. How can you securely link these two computers then? That's where the VPN comes in - using modern cryptographic techniques we can make it seem that for all intents and purposes that the two computers are joined by their own private, safe cable.

When you set up a VPN between two locations you would refer to the connection as a tunnel. Traffic from different computers or networks can be set up to share a tunnel, or separate tunnels can be set up. A VPN doesn't have to be across the Internet, it's just that there are so many perils in the Internet that it's an ideal medium to protect yourself and your company from. A VPN isn't the answer to all security - you still risk that the computer or network at either end of a VPN could be compromised which means they must be protected by their own security which really just begins by such protections as a firewall technology.

Related links: routerlinux.com | PPTP Server for Linux | Tech notes

Email Management

Businesses of 2 or more active users can really benefit from a centralised email server. Using server storage for your email means that when you delete a message on one PC, it disappears from all other PCs. When you send an email from one PC you can find that sent email even if you have moved to another PC.

There are other benefits of centralised mail storage:

Mail in and out can be archived for legal purposes.
A legal notice (or "visit our website" tag) can be appended to all mail sent from your office.
Spam can be filtered at the server and placed in a "potential spam" folder.
Viruses can be detected at the server, protecting your PCs from dangerous email.
Servers typically implement a backup scheme, protecting your email as well as valuable files.

Here are some popular solutions for centralised email:

IMAP This is an email protocol for centralised storage, there are two implementations both developed by universities in the United States. As such it is free and highly robust. Runs on Linux and can support thousands of users equally as well as a handful. Combined with Sendmail, this is the preferred solution for small businesses since it is free. All standard email programs are supported, including Outlook Express.
Microsoft Exchange Server The most well known. Requires you to buy in to the Microsoft solution path, with the potential pitfalls of forced upgrades and licencing fees. Otherwise a pretty good solution. Requires that the clients also use Microsoft email programs (MS Outlook). MS Exchange Server costs ~$1000 for the server plus per client (a prerequisite is that you have bought Windows Server before you can install Exchange Server).
Lotus Notes It has an additional groupware features such as databases and forms that can be customized by users. Only the Lotus Notes email client supported. Limited web access, called iNotes. Very expensive!
Oracle Collaboration Suite Oracle has been advertising its email solution which appears to be Microsoft Exchange (or an Exchange compatible product) on some big iron hardware and an Oracle database on the back end to store the email. This may be a good solution for LARGE corporations, they claim they saved $11MIO per year by consolidating 100 email servers to one. If you can afford $100K per year for email, maybe this is the one for you.
SuSE Linux Openexchange Server SuSE, better known for their Linux distribution, put together standard open-source components together with some proprietary ones to produce a competitive product to MS Exchange. "Starting at $1,249"
Bynari Insight Server Intended as a plug-compatible replacement for MS-Exchange Server with full support for all the special, proprietary MS-Exchange protocols for group discussion, scheduling, contact management, task lists, etc.. Review: linuxjournal.com

Spam Solution

Spam is a real problem and it is made worse if you read your email from more than one PC. Say you receive 50 emails a day, two of them may be important and the other 48 unsolicited advertising (a.k.a. spam). Unless you are a highly organized person, the junk email will pile up in the inboxes of those computers preventing you from sorting out the real (customer) emails from the spam, effectively taking away the benefit of communicating electronically.

With a Linux based email server you can run software that will heuristically detect spam and mark it such that it shows up in a special "junk" folder, therefore enabling real emails to be dealt with first.

Related Article

Related links: MIMEdefang | Sendmail | SpamAssasin

Web Server

The Apache web server is the most popular and widely used on the internet, with currently a 63% share of the market. This is not surprising since it is free and has benefited from open review for 10 years.

Requirements:

An internet connection which is always-on so that people can reach your site.
A computer on which to run (not necessarily a dedicated machine though).
A DNS forwarding service if your IP address is not static (e.g. dyndns.org).
A domain name.

This web site is run from such a system.

If you want your email to come to the same domain name as your web site (e.g. fred@fredsdomain.com) you will also need to run an email server.

Related Article

Samba File Server

The Samba file server is a plug in replaceable file server for networks of Windows clients. Benefits include:

Free, no licencing fees.
Files may be automatically backed up to tape.
Linux reliability.

Go to Main Page (or hit the back button).

Tape Backup Server

Automatically back up your valuable data to a DDS tape daily. Benefits include:

Automatic daily process.
Reliable tape backup hardware priced under $250.
Can back up data from the local machine and others on your LAN.