The economic shift we’ve faced in these recent years has inspired many businesses to discover new ways of optimizing efficiency while reducing cost. A major expense for companies, both small and large, is managing the infrastructure to handle their IT needs. For industries across the board, it has never been more important to increase IT efficiency. The question then becomes—How do we lower IT costs while maintaining efficiency?

In a follow-up post, we’ll look closely at lowering operating cost. For the purposes of this post, we are looking at how managed Windows hosting is a crucial factor in optimizing efficiency. Specifically, we will look at the way this is done through:

• Managed services by Microsoft certified specialists
• Security validated by QSA auditors
• Proactive systems and application monitoring

Managed Support Via Microsoft Certified Specialists
Often with new ventures, the founder ends up wearing many different hats in the company. While you may have started out managing your own system, you quickly realize that growth requires delegation.

More than ever companies must rely on increasingly complex systems to stay current and improve their online presence. You can hire staff to work around the clock, ensuring these systems are implemented and maintained, but what better way to increase efficiency than by relying on managed hosting support provided by Microsoft certified professionals who know the ins and outs of your Windows hosting needs? The benefits of having highly-trained professionals to assist with mundane, yet crucial tasks will make a significant improvement in your company’s overall efficiency. And not only is your managed support team trained in the technologies your business depends on, you can rely on around-the-clock support when you need it most.

End-to-End Security
Protecting your systems and data is more important than ever, but your time needs to be spent in growing your company, not constantly defending it. This is the perfect task to hand over to your Windows hosting provider, who will deliver the highest level of protection for your site and guarantee the most current security measures available. They will ensure all stored information is protected by handling everything from Firewall services to vulnerability scans. To take matters a step further, they’ll even work with you to establish and maintain security measures required for your industry—measures such as an SSL certification, virtual private networking (VPN) and PCI compliant hosting solution.

As for the actual hardware, you receive 24/7/365 security from theft and intrusion by use of multi-level security, including biometrics, pin-codes and card scans—on top of environmental monitoring systems to detect variations in temperature and humidity. This is just one more responsibility you can entrust to highly equipped experts.

Proactive System and Application Monitoring
Regardless of your industry, page errors and slow load times need to be avoided at all costs quickly in order to ensure your traffic has the best experience possible. Not only can your managed Windows hosting company monitor all angles of application and server activity, you can also rest in knowing that these experienced professionals will be able to identify the cause of such errors and resolve them quickly. Depending on the level of service you receive from your Windows hosting provider, they will also perform SQL server monitoring to ensure there are no back-end database issues. Instead of worrying and searching for these potential problems, you can rest in knowing industry experts have you covered, and will notify you at the first sign of irregularity.

Optimize Efficiency with Managed Hosting
As you hand over these important tasks, you will not only optimize your company’s efficiency by trusting experts to handle your essential IT needs, but you will also free your in-house IT department to lead innovation within your company by:

• Preparing your organization for new technologies
• Optimizing tasks and infrastructure
• Developing new projects rather than just maintaining existing ones
• Working more closely with programmers on new projects

Choosing the right Windows managed hosting provider will create many options for delegating more responsibilities as your business grows and demands increase.

To learn how OrcsWeb can help you maximize the efficiency of your business, check out our Windows Cloud Server Hosting or our Windows dedicated server hosting, paired with Complete Care Managed Services. Feel free to contact us and discuss how we can provide unmatched support, handle your maintenance and monitoring, and allow your company to grow like never before.

In our commitment to develop long-term relationships with our clients, we’ve spent the last 16 years making it our driving goal to offer “Remarkable Service. Remarkable Support.” to all who choose us as their managed Windows hosting provider. As a result, we are proud to have developed exceptional service in areas like our dedicated support team, unmatched redundancy throughout all our systems, and an exceptionally high standard for excellence within our organization as a whole.

One of the ways we achieve this goal is by maintaining our status as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the Microsoft Partner Network. We recently renewed our status, which further testifies of our unrelenting drive to provide the best Windows server hosting—period. Maintaining our status is key in communicating our dedication to the highest levels of Managed Windows hosting solutions to new and existing clients.

Check out the Press Release for more information on our recent renewal, or visit the Microsoft Partner Network site to learn more about the program. And if you’re looking for more information on the services that set us apart, check out our Windows cloud hosting and dedicated Windows hosting solutions, as well as our Complete Care Managed Services (CCMS).

One very important role as a managed Windows hosting provider is to take complex matters and translate them in a way that is understandable for everyone. One of our finest, Rick Barber, has done just that to help us make sense of reading SMTP logs.

I like to think of myself as an average Joe. Or an average Rick, as it may be. A lot of writings I have found on the topic of SMTP logs assume a certain level of expertise. Here I will break down Microsoft SMTP logs in simpler terms for every other average Joe.

Before you can start looking at Microsoft SMTP logs, it is great to have some logs with data in them. You can refer to this blog post to ensure that your Microsoft SMTP server is logging: http://www.orcsweb.com/blog/rick/is-your-microsoft-smtp-server-logging.

Take a look at a SMTP log snippet below of the complete communication between your server, MyServer, and a remote mail server at yahoo.com, where a single email is sent from someone@domain.com to someone@yahoo.com.

That looks Greek, right? Or at the very least, like some creature jumped on the keyboard and took over. It’s really not as complicated as it may look. Let’s break it down and help you make sense of the logs starting from the top.

2012-02-03 00:38:39 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX OutboundConnectionResponse SMTPSVC1 MyServer - 25 - - 220+mta1331.mail.mud.yahoo.com+ESMTP+YSmtp+service+ready 0 0 56 0 281 SMTP - - - -

Here in line 1 we see the response from the receiving server, mta1331.mail.mud.yahoo.com after MyServer attempted to open a communication channel to it over port 25. Much of the information in the line above is helpful, but what we’re looking for right now is the reply (sometimes called response) code. In this case, the reply code of the connection is 220, which means the service is ready. If the service wasn’t ready, you would see 421, meaning that the service is not available.

2012-02-03 00:38:39 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX OutboundConnectionCommand SMTPSVC1 MyServer - 25 EHLO - smtp.mydomain.com 0 0 4 0 281 SMTP - - - -

The next line is a command that MyServer sent to Yahoo saying Hello (EHLO in this case) and identified itself by its fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of smtp.mydomain.com. You will note the OutboundConnectionCommand in the line above indicating that it is a command being sent from MyServer (since it’s in the MyServer SMTP logs). Responses from the remote mail server are indicated by OutboundConnectionResponse.

2012-02-03 00:38:39 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX OutboundConnectionResponse SMTPSVC1 MyServer - 25 - - 250-mta1331.mail.mud.yahoo.com 0 0 30 0 312 SMTP - - - -

This line is the response from the Yahoo mail server. Once again, the most important thing we’re looking for in this line is the reply code. You will see it is a 250, which is essentially an acknowledgement, or in more technical terms, the requested mail action is ok and any action needed was taken. In SMTP server logs, a 250 reply code is good. If it is a different reply code, you can make yourself look brilliant through an Internet search on the reply code.

2012-02-03 00:38:39 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX OutboundConnectionCommand SMTPSVC1 MyServer - 25 MAIL - FROM:someone@domain.com+SIZE=1889 0 0 4 0 312 SMTP - - - -

Now we’re done with all the pleasantries and are getting down to business. Our SMTP server is telling Yahoo that we’re sending an email FROM: someone@domain.com and even telling them how large the email is. Isn’t our SMTP server polite?

2012-02-03 00:38:39 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX OutboundConnectionResponse SMTPSVC1 MyServer - 25 - - 250+sender+someone@domain.com+ok 0 0 49 0 359 SMTP - - - -

This is the response from Yahoo. Notice the infamous 250 reply code, which in this case means that they are giving us two thumbs up for the sender. A different status code would indicate to us that the remote mail server didn’t like that email address, for one reason or another, and once again you would head to your trusty search engine.

2012-02-03 00:38:39 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX OutboundConnectionCommand SMTPSVC1 MyServer - 25 RCPT - TO:someone@yahoo.com 0 0 4 0 359 SMTP - - - -

Here’s where MyServer tells the remote mail server who the email is being sent to, which in this case is someone@yahoo.com. You can sleep better tonight knowing that isn’t your email address.

2012-02-03 00:38:39 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX OutboundConnectionResponse SMTPSVC1 MyServer - 25 - - 250+recipient+someone@yahoo.com+ok 0 0 39 0 391 SMTP - - - -

Yahoo responds to us once again with a 250 reply code. If there was something wrong with the email address, the mailbox was full, or a variety of other reasons, a different reply code would be sent letting us know that. Do I need to say what you would do in this case?

2012-02-03 00:38:39 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX OutboundConnectionCommand SMTPSVC1 MyServer - 25 DATA - - 0 0 4 0 391 SMTP - - - -

Here’s where our mail server tells Yahoo that it is getting ready to send the whole email by issuing the DATA command.

2012-02-03 00:38:39 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX OutboundConnectionResponse SMTPSVC1 MyServer - 25 - - 354+go+ahead 0 0 12 0 422 SMTP - - - -

Yahoo responds with a 354 reply code, saying, go ahead and send it. You will notice by looking at the timestamps that all of the above communications between the two mail servers happened nearly instantaneously.

2012-02-03 00:38:41 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX OutboundConnectionResponse SMTPSVC1 MyServer - 25 - - 250+ok+Thu+Feb++2+16:38:41+2012:++ql+106947680,+qr+0 0 0 52 0 1562 SMTP - - - -

After Yahoo receives the data, it sends another 250 reply code letting us know that it was received. If you have a calculator handy, you can easily figure out that it took approximately 2 seconds for this email to be transmitted.

2012-02-03 00:38:41 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX OutboundConnectionCommand SMTPSVC1 MyServer - 25 QUIT - - 0 0 4 0 1578 SMTP - - - -

Our server has done its job and everything worked properly so it sends the QUIT command saying that we’re done.

2012-02-03 00:38:41 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX OutboundConnectionResponse SMTPSVC1 MyServer - 25 - - 221+mta1331.mail.mud.yahoo.com 0 0 30 0 1609 SMTP - - - -

We get our final response from mta1331.mail.mud.yahoo.com acknowledging that we are done, with a 221 response code. This means that the email transmission is done, and the communication channel is closed.

This ends our short journey through the task of demystifying Microsoft SMTP server logs. Here is some additional information that you may find helpful.

In a perfect world, all mail servers would be running the same software so all mail logs would look identical to the one above. In reality, there are a variety of mail server software applications. Because of that, what you see in your logs will vary somewhat from this example. Most, if not all of them, will follow the basic standards making it possible for people like you and me to read mail logs from any SMTP server and get an idea of what is going on.

If your SMTP server is particularly busy, your total communication will not be conveniently logged in a group together like my example. While the Microsoft SMTP server doesn’t give a helpful ID to each individual mail being sent, you are usually able to easily extract the lines you need by matching up the IP address in the third column.

While I didn’t include it in the mail snippet above, you may want to refer to the very first line of the log file that starts with #Fields: That gives you a template to help you decipher what each ‘column’ represents. You will note that not all the columns show up in all the log files so a little common sense is required to decipher it.

I hope this helps you get one step closer to finding value in those elusive Microsoft SMTP logs that many are scared to open, much less read.

If you found Rick’s explanation helpful, you’ll be amazed at the wealth of knowledge and ability that make up the OrcsWeb Webteam. We believe this team is so great that we created Complete Care Managed Solutions (CCMS), a service that offers more than any other Managed Windows hosting provider. If you’d like to learn more, let us know at webteam@orcsweb.com or give us a call at 1-888-313-9421.

Here at OrcsWeb, when we’re not resolving issues, we’re looking ahead to help prevent them; that’s just the way we think Windows cloud hosting should look. In the following how-to, our Senior Support Specialist, Rick Barber, does just that by showing you how to easily enable SMTP server logging before you find yourself needing to troubleshoot mail issues.

If you've ever had an email disappear into the black hole of cyberspace, you know one helpful place to look is in the Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) logs. I know, you're beyond excited to be able to dig into the raw logs and track down the problem. That is, until you look for the log files and find the folder...empty!

This is a common occurrence, because many people don't realize that the default installation of Microsoft SMTP server has logging turned off. I will guide you through setting it up so that logs are being created and filled with exciting information before you actually need them.

In Internet Information Services 6 (IIS6) and earlier, SMTP server was easily found in IIS manager. If you are running IIS 7 and later, you can find it in IIS 6.0 Manager. Now that you have found it, right click the SMTP server and choose 'Properties.' You will be greeted with a dialogue box similar to this:

Near the bottom of the window you will notice the empty check box indicating that there is no logging going on. Checking that box will magically bring light to the drop-down box, allowing you to chose the log format. I prefer to keep it at the default setting although there are other options that you can explore.

So we're all done, right? Not so fast! Click on the 'Properties...' button and you will see that enabling logging isn't enough. While a log file will now be created, there will be no information in it. Click on the 'Advanced' tab and you will see what I'm talking about. Right now, your SMTP logs will have as much detail as a painting of an albino cow in an arctic blizzard.

Through creative clicking techniques, you will want to select all the check boxes. Feel free to click away, ensuring that you check each box. Don't be afraid of information overload, as an expert Windows cloud hosting provider, we are well versed in information overload; take our word for it. You seldom know what you need before an issue happens, but it never fails that you didn't collect enough information, which is always obvious after the fact. You should note that the additional logging fields that we checked will add minimal size to your logs and minimal overhead to the server unless you are doing massive mailings. If that is the case, you would be better served exploring options for SMTP server solutions that are created specifically for very large mailings, or you may want to keep a very low profile.

Now, you're set to collect all the available information in your SMTP logs to help you troubleshoot mail issues.

If you'd like to know more about how our Webteam can help manage your Windows cloud server hosting needs, check out Complete Care Managed Services (CCMS), give us a call at 1-888-313-9421, or shoot us an email at sales@orcsweb.com. We would love to hear from you.

Occasionally, the topic of UK Hosting comes up. It is seen in social media and online forums - "Can anyone recommend a good UK host?" - and we sometimes get the direct question here at OrcsWeb. The interesting thing to consider though is that, due to the nature of managed server hosting, it doesn't necessarily matter where the host is physically located.

Managed dedicated server and Windows cloud server hosting is actually location independent. What matters is a managed hosting provider with quality infrastructure, including multiple redundant Internet connections that assure an optimal experience for users worldwide, regardless of their personal location.

At OrcsWeb we have clients in over 70 countries, including some rather large clients in the United Kingdom. One client in particular is credEcard, Ltd. It is a crucial factor for this six-year client that they can rely on the system availability for both uptime and connection speed. Their entire business model - processing financial transactions - depends on a quality managed hosting infrastructure. Being in the financial services business, security is critical, which is why they depend heavily on a tightly controlled PCI compliant hosting solution. This solution assures adherence to industry standards safeguarding credit card transactions.

To find out more about credEcard, their solution, and why OrcsWeb managed hosting in the US is actually a great "UK Hosting" option, read their case study here:

http://www.orcsweb.com/Case-Studies/credEcardLtd.pdf

To find out more about our solutions, check out the links below our contact us at sales@orcsweb.com

Managed Windows Dedicated Server Hosting
Managed Windows Cloud Server Hosting
Managed Shared Windows Hosting

If you would like to speak with a couple of overseas (non-US) client references - which is always a great idea when selecting a key business partner such as a hosting provider - just let us know and our sales team can certainly provide those references for you.

In Managed Windows Server Hosting it is critical for the supporting teams to be current on the latest technologies. At OrcsWeb every one of our support staff are Microsoft certified, some with advanced certifications covering topics like Microsoft Windows, Microsoft SQL Server, Cisco, and others.

Recently Desiree, one of our dedicated support specialists, passed the required tests to upgrade her older SQL Server administrator (MCDBA) certification to the MCITP:Database Administrator 2008 level. As Microsoft states about the MCITP certification level:

"The Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) certification helps validate that an individual has the comprehensive set of skills necessary to perform a particular job role, such as database administrator or enterprise messaging administrator. MCITP certifications build on the technical proficiency measured in the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certifications." Furthermore, MCITP certified professionals "are IT professionals capable of deploying, building, designing, optimizing, and operating technologies for a particular job role. They make the design and technology decisions necessary to ensure successful technology implementation projects."

Desiree spans multiple groups here at OrcsWeb to assist with advanced issues as needed. Clients running Windows cloud servers and physical dedicated Windows servers with SQL Server installed have a further level of comfort and confidence knowing that their support team is comprised of top-notch individuals like Desiree.

To learn more our managed dedicated Windows or Cloud Servers, or our Complete Care Managed Services, contact us at sales@orcsweb.com or 888-313-9421

We recently received an email from long time client Jim McJessy of GolfTech, Inc. It brought so many smiles to our team we just had to share it with you...

"Up on the rooftop I heard such a clatter, I ran to the window to see what was the matter. And what in my wondering eyes do I see but eight Webteam professionals looking down at me. And I heard them exclaim as they rode out of sight, we migrated your broken web server and everything is alright!"

If you’re interested to know why clients like GolfTech, Inc. depend on us as their managed Windows hosting provider, check out our migration process, and our Complete Care Managed Services (CCMS). Our representatives would love to answer any questions you might have, so give us a call or send us an email.

Happy hosting!

Here's a good tip for our managed dedicated server and Windows cloud server hosted clients from Rick, one of our many top-notch support specialists working to assure Remarkable Service and Remarkable Support here at OrcsWeb!

While working on your server you may come across the following error in the Application logs.

Event Type: Error Event Source: Group Policy Local Users and Groups Event Category: (2) Event ID: 8194 Date: 11/26/2011 Time: 6:37:36 PM User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM Computer: SERVER1 Description: The client-side extension could not remove computer policy settings for 'Domain Policy Name {SPID}' because it failed with error code '0x8007000d The data is invalid.' See trace file for more details.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

This is usually caused by a corrupt or malformed XML file in the local server's group policy cache. This usually happens when there is a crash or unexpected shutdown of the server while a Group Policy update is taking place.

To resolve this issue, clear the Group Policy cache on the local server and have the Group Policy cache repopulated.

1) Open Windows Explorer 2) Paste %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Group Policy\History in the address bar 3) Delete all the sub folders in that location 4) Open command prompt 5) Type the following gpupdate /force 6) Verify that sub folders have once again shown up in the Group Policy cache location above.

The above clears the Group Policy cache on the server and puts a fresh copy of the Group Policy preferences on the local server.

We provide Windows hosting for some of the largest eCommerce companies, SaaS providers and full service ad agencies in the industry. One of the reasons these companies trust us with their assets is because our solutions meet their needs and don’t involve unnecessary or complicated procedures to do so.

We have extended these benefits to our new clients by making it even easier to sign up with OrcsWeb. The new design allows you to fully customize a cloud server deployment with all the hardware, software and management options.

We feel this newly designed signup process is the nicest of any hosting provider, and makes building complex hosting configurations easier than ever. After signing-up, leave your feedback below to let us know how we can continue to improve this process.

Go ahead! Signup today, it's really easy.

Our people here at OrcsWeb not only geek-out about providing Remarkable Service and Remarkable Support on our dedicated server and Windows cloud server hosting platforms, but on a wide variety of technology - like iPhone's! Jeff has a great tip to share below...

I've been dealing with an unresponsive iPhone 4 Home Button for some time. Clicking the home button registered roughly one out of every 10 clicks. I had a tough time getting to the home screen or getting the task manager to load. During halftime of last night's Pats/Jets game (Go Pats!) I decided to see if I could find a fix for it.

As I suspected, most resolutions were about heading to the Apple store for a replacement or taking apart your iPhone and replacing the home button PCB membrane & flex cable - not a quick or easy fix. I had replaced the battery on my original iPhone once, so I was not really keen on attempting to take apart the phone and I opt'd not to purchase AppleCare so I'm out of warranty. However, I stumbled across this YouTube video that had an easy fix.

The gist of it is that there's a "gunk" build-up around & behind the home button (makes sense - just look at your keyboard). The user recommends using rubbing alcohol to attempt to clean it out and ensure good contact. I gave it a shot as described in the video, and voila! My iPhone 4 now registers every home button click without issue.