In This Issue:

• Message from the CEO
• Corporate News
• Operations
• Log Harvesting
• Forestry & Engineering
• Environmental Management
• Safety
• Manufacturing
• Information Systems
• Calendar

Download PDF version

Adobe Acrobat Reader is
required to view PDF files.

• News Top

By George Rose, IT ManagerInformation Systems

ur new firewall was brought online in January and is functioning well. The upgrade went smoothly with only a few minor glitches the first day. This new appliance is not just a firewall but also performs virus and malware scans on all traffic from the Internet, before it gets to our network. This is called ‘Perimeter Protection’ and is an integral part of the upgrade to our overall network security design. Before installing this unit, a virus in an email would not be detected until it reached our mail server, or in the case of a virus or malware downloaded from the Internet, until it hit the computer that was on the Internet.

The new SSL-VPN appliance is also online and working well. For users that are authorized, accessing our system from remote sites, be it California, Australia, or from their homes, is as simple as going to a web site and logging in. Coulson Aircrane Engineers are now able to log into corr-terminal and review internal documents, run vendor applications, and login to our Corridor aviation software program to order parts etc. This should prove to be a major time saver for everyone.

The last step in this process, currently a work in progress, is to replace corr-terminal, which is running Windows Server 2003, with a server running Windows Server 2008. The reason for this has to do with remote printing. Unfortunately, when using Remote Desktop with Windows Server 2003, unless the server and the remote computer both have identical printer drivers installed users are unable to print. Although we can attempt to install the required printer drivers as required this quite often does not work as the drivers are not be compatible between the different operating systems.

Windows server 2008 has a cool feature called ‘Easy Print’ that allows remote printing regardless of whether or not there is a compatible printer driver installed. Easy Print is a proxy for that simply redirects all printing-related work to the user's local machine without the need to install any print drivers on the server.

As always, user feedback is important so be sure to email the IT department with any questions, concerns or ideas.