At a recent event, I found myself talking to a lot of MSPs about patching and upgrading to Windows 11. So, I thought it would be a good idea to look at this subject in more depth in a blog. We tend to see our MSP partners and their SMB/SME customers fall into two distinct and opposing camps on this: Over the past six months, Microsoft has been making a huge push towards shifting everyone to Windows 11—even by force if necessary.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Cove Data Protection includes several plugins we refer to as data sources (or datasources/sources), for example, Exchange, MsSQL, and MySQL. However, if you are running software we do not have a datasource for, you must ensure the resulting restore will be consistent and error-free.

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.

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.

Developed by Microsoft, PowerShell has become a modern standard in Windows administration, scripting, and automation. Combining a command-line interface with a scripting language, PowerShell has transformed the Windows management landscape.