We therefore implemented Microsoft Hyper-V based on Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise, a powerful host machine and a completely seperate Storage Area Network.

The system is almost ready to go, just finalising some last minute modifications.

Due to continued expansion a customer in Livingston has decided to re-locate their main office into a larger building with purpose built facilities.

Not only do they require a re-design of their current infrastructure, but they also require a complete overhaul of their Servers and Storage Solution.

We have therefore decided to implement virtualisation based on Microsoft Hypervisor and a complete Storage Area Network.  The upgrade of the core network also requires Cisco devices including Switches, Routers and Access Points.

The network design phase has already been complete, hardware is being delivered and the office move will commence in the new year.  All going well the company will have completely relocated by the end of February.

An in-house project this one, a few months ago we decided to replace our current helpdesk system with something more robust and efficient.  However everything we looked at just didn’t seem to provide what we needed, so we turned to Windows Sharepoint Services.

We found that Sharepoint is an ideal platform to use as a helpdesk system, we can connect to it from almost any device, integrate it with Exchange, track workflows and assign people very easily at the touch of a button.

It’s taken us a few weeks but we are now almost ready to launch our new Helpdesk System completely built using Sharepoint Services.  The system has been designed and built from scratch, using Sharepoint, but engineered to work for us.

All going well the new system will be launched by the end of this month and another major Sharepoint Project will be complete.

A recent project currently underway is a major overall of an existing Fife customers WAN connectivity between their Head Office and Satellite Offices.  Our company had a range of issues recently from their current WAN provider and received a poor level of customer service whilst attempting to upgrade or deal with issues relating to WAN connectivity.

Working with our customer we have designed an ideal WAN solution and negotiated with several business grade telecommunication companies to find an ideal partner to implement our solution.

The WAN itself consists of a mixture of technologies, based on each locations requirements, but essentially includes ADSL Annex M, Fibre Leased Lines, ISDN and SIP.  The company also already utilise Cisco equipment throughout their network and so as usual all network designs are based on Cisco best pratice and the Cisco Enterprise Composite Model (ECM).

The new WAN should be ready within the next four weeks.

A recent VPN project for two customers required configuration of Port Address Translation through a NAT Device (one Cisco ASA and one Sonicwall) onto Remote Access Servers.

We decided to post some information regarding port forwarding of PPTP and L2TP Ports, specifically when the RAS is behind a NAT Device, so here goes:

PPTP

PPTP tunnel maintenance – TCP 1723
GRE – Protocol ID 47

L2TP over IPSec

L2TP traffic – UDP 1701
Internet Key Exchange (IKE) – UDP 500
IPSec Network Address Translation (NAT-T) – UDP 4500

The port forwarding setup is quite straightforward, as long as you know how to configure your NAT Device.  However one thing to consider is a small detail whereby Windows Vista, Windows 7 and the Windows Server 2008 operating system do not support NAT-T security associations to servers that are located behind a NAT Device by default (it’s not recommended).  A small registry fix has to be applied, you can find further information about this, plus the necessary steps on the Microsoft Support Site:

How to configure L2TP/IPsec in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008

Active Directory is a directory service implemented by Microsoft and used to store information about network resources across a domain, centralising and securing the network with a system of integrated services.

We were tasked to completely re-design a company’s Active Directory Infrastructure to enable expansion across the UK whilst retaining centralised Administration of network services.

Although this would obviously involve rolling-out Servers across the UK, our first step was to re-design the current IP Addressing Scheme to allow for the proposed number of new hosts required at each location and to allow for future expandability into Europe. We decided to use Classless Inter-Domain Routing and VLSM, breaking down subnets into areas and sites, with top level country addresses. We have done this based on IPv4 but have also added the option of using IPv6.

The Microsoft Active Directory Design involves a detailed architecture of Active Directory elements (such as Sites and Services, DNS, Forests, Trees, Domains and Replication). All of these elements have been brought together in a detailed plan to allow for a controlled roll-out of new Domain Controllers and integration into the companies new Active Directory Domain.

The whole project will be managed by local Enterprise Administrators with Aerovision IT providing professional consulting and hands-on support for the roll-out and configuration of Servers.

A leading application development company approached us seeking to deploy Microsoft Exchange Server 2010™, to replace their current POP3 solution. As a provider of critical web based systems to their clients that rely heavily on the ability to send email, reslience and up-time was of paramount importance.

In addition to all of this, all email sent needed to be 100% secure during transmission and securley stored/archived. A cost-effective solution needed to be found that provided all of the functionality that the client wanted, whilst at the same time minimised the risk of downtime or loss of service.

We decided to base the solution on an Exchange server solution hosted on the client’s premises. This solution was configured very tightly with all of the mailboxes and distribution groups. All email transmission was secured using dedicated SSL certificate. In addition Remote Access to email via OWA, Blackberry™ and iPhone™ was secured using SSL, following best practice.

Finally, the Exchange installation has been prepared to integrate fully with Microsoft Sharepoint Services.

More Information

For more information please click to see our Microsoft Exchange Support overview.

A new website has now been launched for Brechin Castle Garden Centre.

The website theme is bright and fresh, relaying to the user the garden centre services they provide.  We will publish more information in our Portfolio section in due course, but for a quick look you can simply visit the Brechin Castle Centre Website.

Work however is still continuing on this site with the creation of a new Garden Club Members area.

More Information

For more information please click to see our Website Design overview

After a couple of months in development we have launched a new website for Hospitalfield, the Centre for Art and Culture, based in Arbroath, Scotland. Hospitalfield has been dedicated to the arts for over 100 years and provides artist from all over the world with a tranquil, peaceful and historical place to be inspired.

With this in mind we felt the best approach for their new website would be to keep it clean and simple, acting as a canvas for the various images and photography of artwork.

A large amount of events are to be held at Hospitalfield this year and so the website also needs to be an information portal for anyone wishing to attend.

For more information, take a look at the Hospitalfield Website.

We were tasked to assist an Edinburgh based company migrate their current network infrastructure (within the Head Office) to a Cisco Network based on the Cisco Enterprise Composite Model (ECM).

The network migration involved removing older networking devices and cabling, installing new Cisco equipment throughout and configuration of networking and security policies.

The new network uses Cisco’s ECM, breaking down into Core, Distribution and Access Layers. The IP Addressing scheme uses Classless Inter-Domain Routing with Variable Length Subnet Masks, designed around a scalable addressing scheme organised by Country, Site and Office Locations. This further reinforces the requirement of route summarisation as the company grows.

Security is built on top of the network using Cisco’s guidance for the Self Defending Network, which is the integration of all Cisco Devices including Firewalls, Routers and Switches, into one manageable security system.

Ultimately the company will have a very reliable and secure network infrastructure, which can scale up over time without interrupting the business process.