Peer Software have just announced the release PeerSync 7.3.3. This new version includes several product enhancements and fixes. These are included in the following categories:

• Support for Windows Vista Operating Systems
• ByteReplicator*
• Admin/Email Reporting
• User Interface Display
• TCP WAN Connector
• and more…

This is a minor release of the PeerSync 7.3 version. Any user on versions 7.2 and below will first need to request an upgrade code to bring the license up to date. Please contact support for details.

* If you are using the ByteReplicator make sure you also download the latest release(v2.0.3) for your target machines. Again, please contact support for details of how to obtain the upgrade.

If you want to know more about PeerSync, please have a look on its product page.

Back in April we announced the release of Peer Software’s latest product, Peer DRS, which allows you to replicate up to the minute changes in SQL Server databases to cold or warm standby systems. There are so many scenarios where DRS can work for you if you’ve got SQL Server 2000, 2005 or version 7. Well they’ve just released a new version and a new entry-level edition.

Peer DRS now has a new independant management console to configure and control the service which is at the heart of the product. European as well as US date formats are now supported. Small Business Edition has been created which runs on all the SQL Server versions as the Standard edition, but with a few limitations:

• Maximum of 2 systems acting as source and target machines
• Maximum of 4 databases per source server
• Maximum of 1 warm standby target servers
• Transfers via SSH and SFTP are disabled

The good news is the price. Only £382 for the SBE, as opposed to £573 for the Standard. It’s hard to know how companies can do without Peer DRS. You get up to the minute protection, the ability to bring a warm standby on line within minutes, and be totally up to date. What more could an IT person need, apart from the resulting undisturbed nights’ sleep. More information can be found here.

Back in March I wrote a short piece on identity management between Windows® and SuSe. This was partly in response to comments I’d read from various commentators on the pain (or pleasure) of marrying to diverse OS together.

This week Dell® announced that they will now buy SLES coupons from Microsoft® and establish a services and marketing program to migrate existing business Linux® users to SuSe. Now with three major players in concert, the incentives for moving to a heterogeneous environment have become much greater, and it seems that firms are taking up the baton. Since the start of the Microsoft-Novell® agreement, more than 40,000 new certificates for three-year priority support subscriptions to SLES have been activated.

The question for the cost conscious IT manager is how to manage multiple dissimilar platforms, in a centralised and consolidated manner, without dramatically increasing administration and support costs. Management of user accounts and authenticated access will be one major nightmare. Configuring those new, bright, shiny Linux boxes that now inhabit his Windows network is another without experienced staff.

There are tools available you could use to ease the process, but precious few that are of a strength and maturity to survive any size of corporate environment. Thankfully there are two products that come to the rescue. Likewise Identity and Likewise Admin are two products from Centeris’ stable that fully address identity management and interoperability.

Likewise™ Identity 3.0 is a cross-platform identity management solution that allows seamless integration of Linux® and UNIX® systems with Microsoft® Active Directory™. Organisations of all sizes running mixed networks and identity management systems (such as non-networked authentication and Network Information System (NIS) can use Likewise Identity to allow UNIX, Linux and other systems/applications to use Microsoft Active Directory for their authentication needs. You can quickly realize the value of Likewise Identity because it is the only solution that allows you to download and deploy to Active Directory with or without schema extensions in less than 5 minutes. Likewise Identity will improve the efficiency of your IT staff, strengthen network security and help you comply with regulatory requirements and Sarbanes Oxley.

Likewise™ Admin is a Linux® management and administration solution that makes Windows® and Linux work well together, reducing the challenges of running a mixed network. Likewise Admin makes it simple to configure server roles, provides familiar Windows-based tools for day-to-day management of Linux servers and improves Windows/Linux interoperability. Whether you run a small business or a large enterprise, Likewise Admin 2.1 is a cost-effective, easy way to manage your Linux and Microsoft network so you can focus on managing your business, not your network.

There is much more information on Likewise from the Purple Rage website.

Had a very interesting conversation over coffee with an accounting friend this week. He was cursing the problems he’s having with his newish laptop, and lamenting the stability of an old Tosh that’s still working faultlessly. I knew he was thinking about a Macbook Pro as a replacement, but now it seems thinking and getting have changed places. Why? Apparently the word on the grapevine in accounting circles is that if as an accountant you want a very stable platform for running your accounting packages like IRIS and Sage, you cannot go very wrong by getting yourself a Macbook Pro, and a copy of Parallels Desktop for Mac. He described it as bullet-proof!

You get the stability of Mac OSX, the ability to run all Windows operating systems in a Parallels virtual machine, and the option to run a new install of Windows or “virtualise” your old PC into a virtual machine that you can then run in Parallels. Furthermore, you’re able to run multiple virtual machines so if you need to have multiple versions of, say, Sage, to meet the various needs of clients, you can.

Need to keep prying and nosey eyes aware from the applications and data held in a virtual machine, its easy with Parallels. Simply switch the virtual machines network settings to host networking, and its immediately blocked from the rest of the world. If it must have access to the Internet, you can turn it on only when you need it. Pretty hard to hack a system when its not on the network!

A Macbook these days, even with 3 GB of RAM, is pretty much the same price as a good PC laptop. And Parallels? If you go to the Purple Rage store, its only £49.50 inclusive of annual maintenance and support.