Blog

Secure Communication From Your iPad, iPhone, or iTouch using Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client

October 30, 2011 By Michael O'Coners Leave a Comment

The Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client provides an excellent solution for connecting your iPad, iPhone, or iTouch to your critical business resources. Staying productive is a key ingredient to having a business edge on your competition. If you already enjoy your “i” product for personal use Cisco AnyConnect now provides justification for all those gadgets. Now your iPad can really be for work and not trying to beat your friends high score in Angry Birds! It gets hard to justify Angry Birds as strategic planning learning credits.

Using SSLVPN technology, Cisco AnyConnect establishes a secure connection to your ASA5500 series firewall with ease. The network administrator bears the brunt of most of the work while end users just download Cisco AnyConnect from the Apple AppStore and configure a few settings.

Let’s get started with the necessary requirements.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

• AnyConnect is designed specifically for Apple iOS 4 (4.1+) (And now version 5)

• Apple iPhone 3G, 3GS, and 4

• Apple iPod touch (second, third, and fourth generations)

• Apple iPad support available after Apple iOS 4.2 – November 2010 release

I have confirmed Cisco AnyConnect works well on iPad2 and iTouch running the new iOS version 5.

Connectivity has been tested and verified with Cisco ASA5500 Series 8.3 and 8.4 code using RADIUS authentication.

You must have AnyConnect for Mobile licenses installed on the Cisco ASA5500 series firewall for each active mobile node. Note that if you are running ASA failover the license propagates to the failover unit. Here’s an example of the “show version” on a Cisco ASA5510. Note the bolded line.

Licensed features for this platform:

Maximum Physical Interfaces    : Unlimited      perpetual
Maximum VLANs                  : 100            perpetual
Inside Hosts                   : Unlimited      perpetual
Failover                       : Active/Active perpetual
VPN-DES                        : Enabled        perpetual
VPN-3DES-AES                   : Enabled        perpetual
Security Contexts              : 2              perpetual
GTP/GPRS                       : Disabled       perpetual
SSL VPN Peers                  : 2              perpetual
Total VPN Peers                : 250            perpetual
Shared License                 : Disabled       perpetual
AnyConnect for Mobile          : Enabled        perpetual
AnyConnect for Cisco VPN Phone : Disabled       perpetual
AnyConnect Essentials          : Disabled       perpetual
Advanced Endpoint Assessment   : Disabled       perpetual
UC Phone Proxy Sessions        : 2              perpetual
Total UC Proxy Sessions        : 2              perpetual
Botnet Traffic Filter          : Disabled       perpetual
Intercompany Media Engine      : Disabled       perpetual

This platform has an ASA 5510 Security Plus license.

INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION

Go to the AppStore and search for “cisco anyconnect”. For example, from the iTunes store I perform a search for “cisco anyconnect”

You should find the following options: My screenshots show DOWNLOADED since I’ve already downloaded them. If you haven’t downloaded them they will display FREE.

Download and install the iPhone version for your iPhone or iTouch. Download and install the iPad version for your iPad.

Once you have the AnyConnect app installed ensure you also have the following:

3G/4G or WiFi access to the Internet. The AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client runs over an SSL connection to your Cisco ASA5500 series security appliance.
Server URL or IP address (portal.yourdomain.com for example)
Username and password configured for remote access

You can now begin the configuration process.

Tap the AnyConnect Icon from your touch screen.

Tap “OK” When asked to enable this software.

Tap “Add VPN Connection” to create a new connection. The following screen will open.

Enter a description. For example “My Work Network”

Enter a server address. For example “portal.yourdomain.com”.

Select if you want Network Roaming ON or OFF. Choosing ON tells the AnyConnect client to try to establish a connection until it succeeds. I personally find this “always on” feature very helpful if I’m roaming from a 3G connection to a WiFi or the 3G connection is lost for a moment.

Select if you want Use Certificates ON or OFF. For the purpose of this article we will use OFF since we are using RADIUS only. Certificates do offer improved security but also require a more complex configuration.

When done tap Save.

Now it’s time to launch the connection. To do this swipe the AnyConnect VPN from OFF to ON. This will automatically launch your new connection you created.

Once connected, the AnyConnect App will show you statistics about your connection. You can close the screen and launch your network application(s).

A very common use is Windows Remote Desktop connectivity to servers and or workstations. I use Jaadu or Jump Desktop. Both work well. With the plethora of apps in the AppStore you are bound to find one that meets your needs. The Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client definitely does its part to securely get you connected.

If you need assistance setting up a Cisco Secure Mobility Solution for your business contact Miocon. We have over 15 years of Cisco firewall and security experience.

MORE INFORMATION:

Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10884/index.html

Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Solution:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns1049/index.html

iPad User Guide for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/vpn_client/anyconnect/anyconnect24/ios4.2-user/guide/ipad-ugac-ios4.2.html

Jaadu RDP:
http://www.jaadurdp.com/

Jump Desktop:
http://jumpdesktop.com/

Filed Under: Apple, Decisions for Business, iPad, iPhone, iTouch, Security Tagged With: anyconnect, cisco, iPad, iPad2, iPhone, iTouch, mobile, secure

Installing Webmin on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

October 16, 2011 By Michael O'Coners Leave a Comment

If you are using the RPM version of Webmin, first download the file from the downloads page at http://www.webmin.com, or run the command:

wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin-1.570-1.noarch.rpm

Then run the command :

rpm -U webmin-1.570-1.noarch.rpm

The rest of the install will be done automatically. The administration username is set to root and the password to your current root password. You should now be able to login to Webmin at the URL http://<YOUR-IP-OR-HOSTNAME>:10000.

You will more than likely need to open up port 10000 so modify iptables with the following:

-A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 10000 -j ACCEPT

I just use vi since I’m used to it but you can use your editor of choice.

vi /etc/sysconfig/iptables

Typically SSH is open so I just insert the access list entry below it.

Example of iptables (very basic):

# Firewall configuration written by system-config-firewall # Manual customization of this file is not recommended. *filter :INPUT ACCEPT [0:0] :FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0] :OUTPUT ACCEPT [0:0] -A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -p icmp -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 10000 -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited -A FORWARD -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited COMMIT

Restart the iptables (firewall) services with the following command:

/etc/init.d/iptables restart

Example Output

# /etc/init.d/iptables restart

iptables: Flushing firewall rules: [ OK ] iptables: Setting chains to policy ACCEPT: filter [ OK ] iptables: Unloading modules: [ OK ] iptables: Applying firewall rules: [ OK ]

#

If you launch a connection to the URL http://<YOUR-IP-OR-HOSTNAME>:10000 you should see the Webmin login page. Enter the default root username and root credentials.

Additional Information:

Webmin website
http://www.webmin.com

iptables website:
http://www.netfilter.org/

Filed Under: Open Source, Red Hat Tagged With: iptables, Webmin

How to Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 in Microsoft 2008 R2 Hyper-V

September 30, 2011 By Michael O'Coners Leave a Comment

The following tutorial provides a road map to install and configure Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 in Microsoft 2008 R2 Hyper-V. This tutorial assumes you have an understanding of Hyper-V and Red Hat operating systems.

Create Virtual Machine in Microsoft Hyper-V

Select your Virtual Host. Right click it then click New then Virtual Machine….
Click Next at the Before you Begin (if you haven’t disabled this screen).
Create a Name for your RHEL virtual machine and choose a location to store it.
Select the memory allocation.
Select a network connection that provides access to the Internet. Note that the Network Adapter will not work until after the Linux Integration Components are installed. As mentioned shortly you will get network access through the Legacy Network Adapter.
Name the VHD file, confirm the location, and size.
Select install an operating system from a boot CD/DVD and choose image file. (assuming install from ISO)
Finish
Upon virtual machine completion and before powering on the virtual machine to begin the install go into the virtual machine settings and select “Add Hardware” then select “Legacy Network Adapter”. Make sure to choose your connected network that has Internet access. You will need this for Red Hat Network (RHN) registration and yum updates should you decide to update your system. This can be removed later after you confirm your Network Adapter is working.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 Installation

Connect to the console of the virtual machine you just created then power it on.
Press Enter to select “Install or upgrade an existing system”.
Choose whether or not you want to perform a media check. It’s always best to test to ensure your ISO or media source isn’t corrupt. I didn’t look into this at all but sometimes after the media check is performed you have to restart the install process. Seemed the restart was quicker than investigating why.
At the Splash screen for RHEL press Enter for “Next”.
Select your Language then press Enter for “Next”.
Select your keyboard then press Enter for “Next”.
Select the Basic Storage Devices then press Enter for “Next”.
When you receive the Storage Device Warning select “Yes, Discard any data” then press Enter. This assumes a new virtual machine with no data on it.
Assign a host name to this RHEL server. At this screen make sure to select “Configure Network” since the Legacy Network Adapter will be used for network access. Select “Edit” to modify System eth0. Ensure the connection is enabled so it’s active at boot. Do this by selecting “Connect Automatically”. By default IPv4 DHCP is enabled. Apply your changes, select “Close”, then press Enter to proceed.
Select the time zone then press Enter for “Next”.
Set the root password then press Enter for “Next”.
Select “Use All Space” then press Enter for “Next”.
Select Write changes to disk.
Choose Basic Server installation then tab down to “Customize Now”. We will want to customize the software installed. Press Enter for “Next”.
Select Desktops in the left pane. Then in the right pane select Desktop and Graphical Administration Tools.
Reboot at the end of installation.

Post Installation Tasks

At bootup you’ll be prompted with a series of tools you can execute to simplify post-installation settings. Select RHN Register. Registering your RHEL server will allow you to get critical updates, etc. Select Next. Enter your RHN credentials then Next. At system profile if everything looks good then Next. Next at Packages. Next to Send Profile. At Revew system select OK then Finish.
Select Quit at the Tools menu.
After a few moments you will find yourself at the RHEL login.

Installing Linux Integration Components v3.1

Now it’s time to install the Linux Integrated Components from Microsoft. You can download them here http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26837. You will need version 3.1 since previous versions will not work with the kernel in RHEL 6. Download this to a location you can access in the next step.
From your RHEL virtual machine console in Hyper-V select File then Settings. Select the DVD Drive under IDE Controller 1 then select the “Linux IC v3.0.iso” file you just downloaded. Click OK.
Run the following commands from the RHEL command line now that the ISO is mounted in Hyper-V:
1. mount /dev/cdrom /media

For 64-bit version of RHEL run these two commands

rpm –ivh /media/x86_64/kmod-microsoft-hyper-v-rhel6-60.1.x86_64.rpm
rpm –ivh /media/x86_64/microsoft-hyper-v-rhel6-60.1.x86_64.rpm
reboot

For 32-bit versions of RHEL run these two commands

rpm –ivh /media/x86/kmod-microsoft-hyper-v-rhel6-60.1.i686.rpm
rpm –ivh /media/x86/microsoft-hyper-v-rhel6-60.1.i686.rpm
reboot

Special Notes

You may notice that you can no longer mount a cdrom after running the RPM installs. There’s some fine text in the Linux Integration Services v3 Read Me.pdf file that can be downloaded here – http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26837

To mount an ISO file in the virtual machine, the following command must be run before executing the mount command:

# insmod /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/ata/ata_piix.ko

Alternatively, copy the ISO file into the virtual machine and mount it using the -o loop option.

Filed Under: Hyper-V, Red Hat Tagged With: Hyper-V, Microsoft, Red Hat

Improving Communication with Blackberry Messenger Groups

September 24, 2011 By Michael O'Coners 1 Comment

Blackberry Messenger Groups provide a powerful, but often overlooked, method of communication. Of all the Blackberry applications Blackberry Messenger has always been one of my favorites. Blackberry Messenger provides excellent chat capabilities between contacts and has always been very reliable. Unfortunately many organizations never use one of Blackberry Messenger’s most powerful features – Blackberry Groups. Here’s a brief overview of Blackberry Messenger groups as provided by Blackberry support documents:

You can use the BlackBerry® Groups feature of BlackBerry® Messenger to create or join a group of people that you want to stay connected with, such as family, friends, or co-workers.

You can share pictures, lists, and appointments with the members of your group. You can also chat with members and comment on shared items. A group can contain up to 30 members and can include members who are not part of your BlackBerry Messenger contacts.

The groups that you belong to are listed on the contact list screen of BlackBerry Messenger. You can also add a shortcut icon for the group to the Home screen of your BlackBerry device so that you can quickly access the group.

Depending on your wireless service provider or organization, this feature might not be supported.

Setting up groups is easy and any time you need to collaborate with multiple team members I highly recommend setting one (or more) up.

Here’s how:

1. On the Home screen or in the Instant Messaging folder, click the BBM icon.

2. On the contact list screen, press the Menu key.

3. Click Create New Group.

4. Name the group appropriately (Spaces are accepted)

5. Type the group description

6. Click Create Group.

Instructions for inviting contacts to join your group are available from the BlackBerry Help Center.

Common Uses:

Here are some examples of the many ways to use groups:

Emergency Response teams
Information Technology support teams
Sales teams
Small businesses (all employees)
Field Technicians
Engineering groups
Business units or departments
Collaboration groups

More Information:

Blackberry Group Basics
http://docs.blackberry.com/en/smartphone_users/deliverables/13195/Group_basics_title_841303_11.jsp

Managing Group Members
http://docs.blackberry.com/en/smartphone_users/deliverables/13195/Members_title_881182_11.jsp

Filed Under: Blackberry Tagged With: Blackberry Messenger Groups

How I Value Technical Certifications

September 18, 2011 By Michael O'Coners Leave a Comment

As an engineer I had to evaluate whether or not a technical certification would be of value to me. Much like buying into an investment I had to ask myself if I’d see a return. As the owner of a technology company I now have to evaluate whether or not an individual would be of value to me and the team. An individual in this case must be able to produce a return just like an investment. For after all, they are an investment. This leads me to the crux of this article. How do I value technical certifications as both an engineer and a business owner?

*When evaluating an individual there are many things to observe. For this article I’m going to skip over the long list a human resources expert would give you and focus on certifications only.

Before delving into the value of certifications I’d like to first offer up my opinion on the current state of technical certifications. Over the past 15 years technical certification tests haven’t changed much. Candidates report to a testing center and after proving their identity sit at a computer and take a 60-100 question test. The biggest advancement in 15 years is the use of “simulators” within the test engine. Simulators offer up a much more hands-on testing of skills compared to the very old style multiple choice questions. The biggest problem with certification exams like this is the massive explosion of testing material geared towards simply memorizing all the answers. Candidates can purchase their particular test and memorize all the answers. It’s important to keep in mind that these methods aren’t supported or sponsored by the vendor responsible for the certifications but rather originate from oversees testing centers in Pakistan, etc. who basically record all the test engine output, package it in a usable format, and then sell them for $60-125 per test. Ultimately this leads to what’s called “papering” a certification test. Papering a test simply means you passed the certification without actually obtaining the knowledge to have passed “legitimately”.

Although the above methodology is questionable I will say that the same resources do come in handy for candidates wanting to confirm they truly know the material. I personally wish more vendors would create top-level certifications similar to the Cisco CCIE and Juniper equivalent. These two top-level certifications provide a proctored lab exam where candidates must prove they know material. Given their own network equipment and a lab book with design requirements candidates must design a solution according to specifications set forth in the lab book. There is no way to “paper” a test like this and it does prove a candidate knows what they are doing as it pertains to a certification checklist. It does not however prove that the engineer is “good” at what they do. It only proves they know what they are doing. Being “good” at what they do will always be left to personal qualities, references, experience, and the interview process.

My point for explaining this is as follows. A certification will only be as good as the candidate who holds it. I know CCNA-level engineers who are far smarter and knowledgeable than a CCNP. I know some people who have no Cisco certifications but they could hang with Cisco CCIEs. So after I’ve just said all this you may be wondering how I value a certification if the certification is only as good as the beholder.

I value certifications as more of a personality gauge than I do a technical gauge. An individual with legitimate (not paper) certifications prove several things to me:

The candidate has a strong desire to prove what they know
They seek recognition
They value achievement milestones
They value structured learning
They are taking an active effort to improve themselves
They want to grow as a person and engineer

When I receive a resume from a candidate with 15 years of experience and no certifications it’s a big negative and very often the resume goes straight to the trash. It’s not to say they aren’t a good engineer but they often end up lacking one or more of the above qualities. All too often I hear them complain that “I don’t need them”. This is code for “I’m too good for certifications”, or “I’m afraid I could fail at certifications when somebody who knows half as much has them”. Some candidates might have worked in the private sector and never had a “need” for them. One could argue they lack the qualities mentioned above as well. As a mentor I always suggest the achievement of certifications on any candidates behalf.

If you come across a candidate with no certifications always ask why they don’t have them. Sometimes life just happens and candidates don’t have the money for it or they have a family and kids. Obstacles like this make it very difficult to work on certifications. But even with these obstacles certifications are obtainable. Just look at what single moms do in a day and ask yourself if you don’t have the time.

In conclusion I’ll say that there are a lot of really good people without certifications and there are a lot of less talented people with lots of certifications. But, when it comes time to evaluate between two good candidates the one with the certifications most often has the edge. Good personal qualities are a lot harder to find in a candidate than technical skills. So for anybody out there looking for a job and growing your career my advice to you is to get those certs. Remember when you were told to eat all your food because people were starving in some foreign land? Well now you have people in foreign lands starving for your job and it could be you looking for food.

Filed Under: Decisions for Business Tagged With: Certifications, value

Well Worth the Wait – Blackberry Bold 9900 Review

September 5, 2011 By Michael O'Coners 1 Comment

The long awaited Blackberry Bold 9900 (T-Mobile) was well worth the wait. Before I go into a non-technical review I’m going to give you some background on what I expect from a phone and how I use it. As the owner of a technology company I need reliable service and rock solid performance. On top of that I need access to secure business communications. Cool gizmos and gadgets are optional but not required. I use the phone extensively throughout the day and I put a phone through lots of heavy use. The Blackberry Bold delivers on all of the above.

So let’s start with the bad and wrap up with the good. Note that I’m not going to delve into technical review details. This is all about usability from an end user (me) perspective.

The Bad

The Blackberry Bold 9900 has some quirky default configurations. First, “auto answer from holster” is enabled. I don’t know how many people want to answer their phone blindly but I doubt there are many. I can’t find a single person who doesn’t want to see who is calling them before answering these days. Luckily this is easily disabled by going to Options – Call Management – In-call Settings. Change “Auto Answer Calls” to Never.

The depth of applications isn’t as deep as the iPhone or Android – but it’s getting much better. However, for business applications I don’t have any problems finding applications for Blackberry that you won’t find for Android and iPhone, such as great encryption software. Once again, if looking for games go get a phone designed for gaming.

Here’s my biggest gripe. And this gripe isn’t even related to actual phone use but rather the charging design. All my previous Bolds could be holstered and have the charger plugged into the wall. The 9900 has to be unholstered or slightly pulled out of the holster to charge it. This is a very annoying quirk because your Blackberry and its holster are made for each other (you Blackberry users know what I mean) and taking them apart to charge them just isn’t a natural thing.

The Good

The 9900 boots so much faster than previous versions. I can remember waiting over 5 minutes for the Bold to boot and it would drive me crazy. Now it boots in less than a minute and it’s noticeably much faster.

The balance between touch screen and keyboard is perfect. My fingers flow between either as I learn which method is faster. The flexibility to choose between either is actually quite usable. Prior to this I thought it seemed overly redundant but after using it for a few weeks it’s a well-balanced feature. This phone deserves an accolade just for the keyboard itself. When typing on this keyboard I can type paragraphs at a time with ease without having to use abbreviated words over and over. This is great when you need to compose a professional email without chopped up, misspelled words. Hands down the built in keyboard is far better than any touchscreen keyboard on the Android or iPhone. The disadvantage to such an easy to use and reliable keyboard however, is you sacrifice screen real estate. The screen real estate is smaller than an iPhone but the screen quality is just as good. The screen is beautiful.

The phone itself is rock solid and almost feels ruggedized. When I first pulled the battery to test usability I was quite impressed. I didn’t feel like I was going to break the battery cover like other phones. The size of the phone is thinner but slightly larger (wider) than previous and fits great in the hand. This comes in handy for single handed Blackberry Messaging, texting, email, etc.

Installing applications is easy with Blackberry App World. No problems there. Using T-Mobile’s 4G network I’ve been able to download applications quickly and easily.

I haven’t had any trouble with dropped calls. That’s not to say I haven’t had them but nothing outside of normal dropped calls while traveling long distances roaming from tower to tower. Calling reliability has been excellent.

Internet speeds are noticeably faster. One complaint I’ve always had with the Blackberry was slow Internet performance. Although it’s greatly improved it’s still not where I would like to see it – but no complaints so far.

Blackberry devices have always had great battery life. The 9900 continues with that tradition but I’m guessing because of the additional horsepower and better screen as well as touch screen technology the battery life has taken a bit of a hit. On a very heavy day of phone call usage I do find myself approaching low battery levels in “the red”. Granted this was a lot of talk time but with previous versions I never got in the red after a full day’s use. The standby battery life continues to impress. When holstered I can go weeks without charging.

The built-in 5 megapixel camera takes great pictures for a phone. I do hear complaints from many people about how disappointing a 5 megapixels camera is when other phones have 10 megapixels but come on…. It’s a phone! I’m not buying my phone so I can be a photographer or take high quality home movies. I’ve got work to do on my phone. Once again, for me it’s a rock solid business class phone. And besides, for non-professional pictures and video recording it works great. My on the fly videos turn out great. If I want to take HD quality pictures and video I’ll break out my digital camera which was designed for such things.

On top of all these other features, businesses can much more affordably utilize Blackberry Enterprise features. You can now get the free Blackberry Enterprise Express server to keep your workforce productive at a very low cost while providing excellent security features to your phones. For example, one of our client’s employees lost their phone in Paris. With a few mouse clicks we wiped the phone remotely. With a few mouse clicks her new phone was added to the server and she was “in sync” again. Blackberry offers wonderful business class tools.

The End Result

The Blackberry Bold 9900 is a great business class phone that offers many of the features that take the edge off “business only”. It’s rugged and dependable while providing usability that is fluid to the end user making it easy to use and navigate – especially with one hand. The navigation is top of class and far surpasses iPhone and Android. It’s the best phone I’ve ever had thus far but no phone is perfect so aside from some of the quirks I’m giving it 4.75 out of 5 stars. I would have given it 5 out of 5 if it weren’t for the battery charging issue with the holster.

More Information

Blackberry Bold 9900/9930 (United States)
http://us.blackberry.com/smartphones/blackberrybold.jsp

T-Mobile (Please don’t let the AT&T disaster go through)
http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Phones/cell-phone-detail.aspx?cell-phone=BlackBerry-Bold-9900-4G-Black

Filed Under: Blackberry Tagged With: blackberry bold 9900

Blackberry – Phone Displays New Email But No New Emails Found

August 30, 2011 By Michael O'Coners 1 Comment

At some point in time most Blackberry users will find themselves perplexed as to why their beloved Blackberry displays new email but no new emails can be found. I don’t run into this issue often but when I do it becomes an unwanted game of hide and seek. The emails do exist (typically) so its just a matter of finding them.

Here’s how you find those hidden messages for Blackberry OS versions 5, 6, and 7. Note that 5 is slightly different from versions 6 and 7. I’ll display version 5 first.

Version 5

Try a soft reset first. Here’s how if you don’t know already. If that doesn’t work continue.

From the home screen go to your Messages folder
Select the BlackBerry menu key.
Then select search

You will want to fill in the search criteria to be as broad as possible. Set it as the following:

Services = All Services
Folder = All Folders
Show = Unopened Only
Type = All
Then select search.

This method will show all unread messages on your phone in any folder. From here you can take action on these messages as you normally would.

Version 6 and 7

Try a soft reset first. Here’s how if you don’t know already. If that doesn’t work continue.

From the home screen go to your messages folder
Select the BlackBerry menu key.
Then select search
Scroll to the right and select “Change Criteria” (The magnifying glass)
Select Advanced Search

You will want to fill in the search criteria to be as broad as possible. Set it as the following:

Services = All Services
Folder = All Folders
Show = Unread Only
Type = All
Then select search.

This method will show all unread messages on your phone in any folder. From here you can take action on these messages as you normally would.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Filed Under: Blackberry Tagged With: Blackberry, Email

Blackberry Bold 9900 – Soft and Hard Resets

August 28, 2011 By Michael O'Coners Leave a Comment

If the time should ever arise where you need to reset your Blackberry you should always think in terms of your personal computer. A soft reset in the Blackberry world is similar to a “Control+Alt+Delete” in the PC world. Unless you are locking/unlocking your computer, “Control+Alt+Delete” typically reboots your computer. Power remains supplied to the hardware and the PC goes through a software reset – or “soft” reset. A hard reset is similar to just unplugging your PC power cord or pulling out your laptop battery.

The same types of resets apply to Blackberry devices. You can perform a soft reset or a hard reset. Be sure not to confuse a soft or hard reset with a “factory reset”. A factory reset in Blackberry is considered a security wipe and is beyond the scope of this post. When having troubles with your phone you should always perform a soft reset first. If that doesn’t work then perform a hard reset. Luckily smartphones are designed to survive through hard resets much more than a PC but because there are not so literally millions of moving parts it’s always best to avoid them.

To perform a soft reset on a Blackberry 9900 perform the following. Note that this same soft reset applies to most Blackberry devices manufactured in the past 5 years. So this will work on older Bolds, Curves, etc.

From the Blackberry keypad press “alt”, “Right Shift (Caps key aA)”, and “del” all at the same time.

The phone should “reboot”.

To perform a hard reset, just pull the back cover off while taking great care not to break it. Then pull the battery, wait 30 seconds or so (I never do), and put the battery back in.

More Information

http://www.blackberry.com/support

Filed Under: Blackberry Tagged With: 9900, Blackberry

How to Configure and Troubleshoot Call Park on Cisco Unified Communications Manager

August 27, 2011 By Michael O'Coners 2 Comments

The following post applies to Cisco Unified Communications Manager 8.6 but will also work on version 7 through 8.5.

The Cisco Unified Communications Manager Call Park feature allows a phone user to place a call on hold so it can be retrieved from another phone in the Cisco Unified Communications Manager system/cluster (assuming proper call routing). While on an active call, a phone user can “Park” the call to a Call Park extension by pressing the Park softkey or the Call Park button. This of course depends on the type of phone in use. Another phone user can pick up the parked call by dialing the Call Park extension used to place the call on park.

A usage example would be a phone call coming in to the operator. The operator answers the call and the caller asks to have a party paged over the intercom system. The operator presses the Park softkey and the call park number assigned displays on the phone screen (9201, for example). The operator pages “Bob you have a call parked on 9201”. Bob hears the page over the intercom system and dials 9201 to retrieve the call.

The configuration is rather simple but don’t let its simplicity fool you. As with all aspects of configuring a phone system, there are still things you need to consider.

Configuring Call Park

From Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) go to Call Routing then Call Park. Determine how many call park extensions you need. Note that a single directory number or a range of directory numbers can be configured as call park extension numbers but a wildcard format is used so you can add ranges in quantities of 10 or 100. Ensure that a unique call park range is configured on each CUCM in the cluster to ensure redundancy. In this example we will use ranges of 10 in a CUCM cluster of two servers (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Configure the Call Park Number/Range. I’m using 920X in this example. This will provide 10 call park numbers starting at 9200 through 9209.
Configure a description.
Assign to a partition. Note that if you need to prevent classes of users from parking calls or restrict parking, assign the call park numbers to a partition then place that partition in corresponding calling search space (CSS). For example, you may not want courtesy phones to have call park functionality so you will need to make sure they don’t have the call park partition in their CSS.
Assign the CUCM. Ensure, once again, that you assign a unique range for each CUCM.

That’s it. The end result for two CUCMs would look something like this (Figure 2).

Figure 2. (Click for larger view)

Troubleshooting Call Park

Troubleshooting Tips for Call Park
Problem Description	Recommended Action
User cannot park calls. When the user presses the Park softkey or feature button, the call does not get parked.	Ensure that a unique call park number is assigned to each Cisco Unified Communications Manager in the cluster. See the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration Guide.The partition that is assigned to the call park number does not match the partition that is assigned to the phone directory number. See the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration Guide.
The call park number does not display long enough for the user.	Set the Call Park Display Timer to a longer duration. For information on setting parameters for call park, see the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Features and Services Guide.

More Information

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/admin/8_6_1/ccmfeat/fscallpk.html

Filed Under: Cisco, Unified Communications Manager Tagged With: call park

Saving Money (Cautiously) with Open Source Solutions

August 21, 2011 By Michael O'Coners 1 Comment

So there’s a fisherman, a Microsoft guy, an open source guy, and a preacher sitting in a boat. The fisherman looks over to the Microsoft guy and asks “Can I save money by going with open source?” The Microsoft guy answers defiantly “No. And the good news is our licensing model is far more complex and expensive.” With a perplexed look on his face the fisherman turns to the open source guy and asks the same. In a proud tone he responds “Yes. And the good news is our licensing model is free as is the software but you’ll have to hire a full-time Linux geek to support it.” Now even more confused the fisherman scratches his head and sighs “Neither one of those plans sounds good. What do you have to say preacher?” The preacher responds “Can you pass me the bait? The fish are hungry”. I know. I know. You were hoping for a punch line. Suffice it to say I’m no comedian but I do have the answer to the fisherman’s question if you are now intrigued.

For the purpose of this post open source is defined as software provided free of charge by the authors of the software code. Typically developed in collaboration with the Internet community this code is freely available and can be modified and distributed per the Open Source Initiative (OSI). In contrast proprietary software code is closed to the public and customers pay for the software. There are many advantages to either and over the years open source has gained lots of traction in business environments.

This leads us to this post, which not only proves I am not a comedian but also, and more importantly, begs to answer the question “Is open source a fit for my company?”

The short answer is “yes” it can be a fit – but use caution. There are many factors to consider. What role is the software playing? What kind of support do you need? Do you have somebody (employee or partner) who can support it? Will the end user be comfortable with the software?

Let’s start with some examples of how open source can fit.

Example 1 – GIMP

On occasion I like to work with graphic design and tweaking images for the web. The de facto standard today for image editing is Adobe Photoshop. Knowing this I head out to Adobe’s website to look at pricing. Ouch! Close to $700 for the latest Photoshop CS5. Hmmm….. No thanks. This is something I do every now and then and don’t make a living out of it. After searching around a while I find a comparable open source solution called GIMP. After a test drive I was thoroughly impressed. It did everything I needed. And for free! GIMP is an incredible tool that saved me money and I’d recommend it. As you can see in this example GIMP fit my needs just fine.

Example 2 – OpenOffice

A small company with a tight budget wants to order Microsoft Office products for Word and Excel use. However, spending $4000 ($400 x 10 users) is not in the budget. This is where open source products like OpenOffice come in handy. You can open Word, Excel, and Power Point files in OpenOffice and save in the same desired file types to share with other Word/Excel/PowerPoint users. The catch here is Microsoft Outlook. If you are using Microsoft Exchange you will more than likely want Outlook as well to ensure full functionality. You could still purchase Outlook licensing only and go with OpenOffice for the rest of the Office suite. It’s still money saved.

Example 3 – DNS and Web Server

Open source operating systems run very well on old hardware and don’t require the system resources a Microsoft 2008 R2 server would cost. For this example let’s look at building a company web server and DNS server on an Ubuntu (Linux) platform vs. Microsoft operating system. This example applies to two customer projects we’ve run into recently where the budget is tight but business must move forward so alternative solutions are required. For one project we needed a tertiary DNS server. For the other a web server to host a new web site with light traffic. Let’s compare the two solutions we came up with.

	Windows-Based	Open Source (Linux \| Ubuntu)
Server	$3,000	$0 (recycled old server)
Operating System License	$800	$0
Services	$750	$750

Total Cost	$4,550	$750

As you can see in the table above we not only achieved a significant savings (with open source) but we also achieved a win with our Green Initiative by reusing equipment rather than recycling.

The previous three examples showed ways in which open source can be effective at saving you money while completing business objectives. But use caution. Just as proprietary software has disadvantages so does open source. From my experience, the biggest area of concern when switching to open source is when savings on software licensing get diverted to services thus ending in a wash or worse yet, a loss.

Let’s take a look at the fourth example.

Example 4 – Backup/Disaster Recovery

Caught with a dwindling budget a media company is forced to look at alternatives for technology solutions. Backups are critical but aren’t being performed. If they go with proprietary software they will need $2,000 in Symantec Backup Exec software. The other option is to go with a great open source product called Bacula. The decision maker compares $2,000 to $0 and goes with Bacula. Remember when I mentioned earlier to be careful that software costs get diverted to services? Well in this case this is what happened. The staff spent two weeks trying to figure out Bacula and ultimately had to call in a partner who knows Bacula. The time spent by the staff cost an estimated $4,000. Add in the $900 charged by the technology partner to properly configure Bacula and you have a total project cost of $4,900 with a net loss of $2,900. Bacula is a great software application but just like any software deployment use caution. In this case the staff felt they could learn the product without support but ultimately needed to contact a partner familiar with it. Had a system failure occurred in that two week window this could have been an even bigger loss.

So going back to the fisherman’s question…. I answer with confidence and a bit of caution “Yes. You can save money with open source. Just use caution in your decision and look at all the angles. Now hand me a worm so we can fish.”

More Information:

Open Source Initiative
http://www.opensource.org/

GIMP
http://www.gimp.org/

OpenOffice
http://www.openoffice.org/

Ubuntu
http://www.ubuntu.com/

Bacula
http://www.bacula.org/

Filed Under: Open Source Tagged With: open source, saving money