Our Blog – SCG – Stadia Consulting Group

Managed Service vs Managed Services

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 15:51:11 GMT

Managed Service vs Managed Services:

Why the Difference Matters for Compliance and Control

As Head of Managed Services, many of the conversations I have with mid-market leaders today are no longer just about support or performance.

They’re about confidence.

Confidence that systems are secure.
Confidence that changes are being made deliberately, not accidentally.
Confidence that, when asked, the organisation can clearly explain how its technology is being operated.

This is where the distinction between Managed Service (Singular) and Managed Services (Plural) becomes genuinely important, not as terminology, but as an operating reality.

Professional Services: Designing a Compliant Platform

Before any service can be managed properly, it has to be designed properly.

This is where Stadia's Professional Services play a critical role. It’s the phase where platforms are:

Designed with compliance and resilience in mind
Built to support security, availability, and auditability
Properly documented, so intent and configuration are clear

Using Citrix as an example, Professional Services focuses on:

Architecture aligned to business and risk requirements
Secure access models and appropriate segregation
Clear documentation of design and build decisions
A defined transition from project delivery into operations

This work establishes a compliant foundation.

But design alone is never enough.

Compliance isn’t something you “finish” at go-live, it’s something you have to operate, every day.

Managed Service: Operating a Specialist Capability

A Managed Service (singular) is responsible for running a specific platform or capability once it’s live.

In the case of a Citrix Managed Service , that typically includes:

Day-to-day platform operation
Performance and availability management
Patch and configuration maintenance
Specialist support and optimisation

This ensures the platform continues to operate as it was designed to.

However, on its own, a Managed Service only answers a narrow question:

Who is running this platform?

It doesn’t fully answer questions like:

How are changes governed across the wider environment?
How are risks identified, tracked, and reduced over time?
How is evidence produced when assurance is required?
How does this service align with other business-critical services?

To answer those questions, you need a broader model.

Managed Services: Operating for Assurance

Managed Services (plural) is the operating framework that brings structure, consistency, and accountability to IT as a whole.

This is the model we operate under.

Managed Services provides:

Clear ownership for service outcomes
Consistent processes for incidents, changes, and access
Visibility into service health, risk, and trends
Ongoing governance and continuous improvement

From a compliance perspective, this is where confidence is actually built.

Managed Services ensures that:

Changes are controlled and traceable
Operational decisions are visible and reviewable
Responsibilities are clearly defined
Evidence exists, not just good intentions

Individual Managed Services, such as Citrix, operate within this framework, not alongside it or outside it.

How the Pieces Work Together

Our structure is deliberate.

Professional Services; Design and deliver a compliant platform and establish clear documentation and intent.
Managed Service (singular); Operates the platform day-to-day, maintaining performance, security, and stability.
Managed Services (plural); Governs how that service is operated, controls change, manages risk, and provides assurance.

Each layer supports the next. None are sufficient on their own.

Why This Matters to Mid-Market Organisations

Mid-market organisations are increasingly subject to regulatory, contractual, and security expectations, often without the scale or resources of large enterprises.

In this context:

Informal processes don’t scale
Reliance on individuals increases risk
“We’ve always done it this way” provides little assurance

By combining:

A compliant platform design
Specialist Managed Services
A Managed Services operating model

IT becomes predictable, auditable, and resilient , and remain agile.

Citrix as a Managed Service Within Managed Services

Citrix platforms are often central to business continuity and secure access. They also require specialist expertise to operate effectively.

By delivering Citrix as a Managed Service within our Managed Services model , we ensure that:

The platform continues to meet its original design intent
Changes are controlled, reviewed, and visible
Operational risk is actively managed
The service supports broader compliance objectives

Citrix is not treated as a standalone tool. It’s treated as a governed business service .

In Closing

Professional Services establish a compliant foundation
Managed Services (singular) run specialist platforms
Managed Services (plural) provide governance, accountability, and assurance

The distinction isn’t academic.

It’s the difference between having systems and being able to stand behind how they are operated.

For organisations seeking confidence in their IT environment, this model provides the structure, clarity, and control that modern operations demand.

Interested in discussing further?

Are You Cyber Essentials Ready?

sunil.modhvadia@stadiacg.co.uk (Sunil Modhvadia) — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 15:10:32 GMT

Cyber Essentials certifications can open doors for your business.

With ever-increasing focus on cybersecurity, securing your systems is now more important than ever.

Cyber Essentials Plus certification shows your business takes cybersecurity seriously – helping you win new contracts , build customer trust , and reduce the risk of cyber attacks . Certification can also help your business lower cyber insurance premiums and meet supply chain security requirements , opening up new opportunities to work with larger organisations and government contracts.

At Stadia Consulting Group, we understand that every business is different. Whether you're a small business taking your first steps towards cybersecurity compliance or a larger organisation needing more advanced infrastructure, we offer tailored solutions to fit your size, needs, and budget. Our experts will design and implement the required IT infrastructure, including solutions like Microsoft Intune for device management, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to protect user accounts, and Microsoft Defender for advanced threat protection.

We'll guide you through every step of the certification process – giving you the confidence that your business is secure , compliant , and ready to grow .

Here are some questions you may consider:

If one of my company devices went missing, would I be confident that my data remains safe?
Microsoft Bitlocker safely encrypts data on your devices, preventing unauthorised access.
Having your devices managed by Microsoft Intune allows remote wiping of your corporate data from lost/stolen devices.

Is a lack of company cybersecurity accreditations proving a barrier to new business for our company?
Increasingly, supply chain requirements insist upon companies being Cyber Essentials plus accredited before they can bid for new opportunities.

Do our current systems enable us to efficiently deploy the latest patches and report on compliance status?
Microsoft Intune can simplify the management and patching of your devices. The built-in reporting functionality makes it really easy to prove you are doing so.

Interested in discussing further?

We can get you through this. We can help your business achieve Cyber Essentials Plus certification.

We Graduated!

sunil.modhvadia@stadiacg.co.uk (Sunil Modhvadia) — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 10:57:26 GMT

Stadia has recently graduated from the AWS Accelerated Development Program

Exciting news! We have officially graduated from the AWS Accelerated Development Program and achieved the status of an AWS Select Tier Services Partner ! This milestone reflects our unwavering commitment to excellence in cloud solutions and highlights the trust that our clients and partners place in our capabilities. It is a testament to our team's hard work, expertise, and dedication to delivering innovative, reliable, and scalable solutions on the AWS platform.

As a Select Tier Services Partner, we are now even better positioned to help businesses accelerate their digital transformation with AWS. This achievement unlocks enhanced resources, training, and tools, allowing us to provide an even higher level of service to our clients. Whether it’s cloud migrations, architecture design, or managed services, we are committed to leveraging AWS's robust ecosystem to drive success for our customers. Thank you to our team, clients, and AWS for your continued support on this journey.

Special thanks to Ingram Micro for helping us along the path to graduation, take a look at what Ingram Micro have had to say about our graduation here . We are looking forward to reaching even greater heights together!

Read more about our AWS services here .

New Sponsorship Deal Announced

sunil.modhvadia@stadiacg.co.uk (Sunil Modhvadia) — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 10:01:47 GMT

Proud Sponsors of Chelmsford City FC

Stadia are delighted to announce their recent sponsorship deal with Chelmsford City FC. Managed by Robbie Simpson, Chelmsford City’s First Team currently compete in the Vanarama National League South, which sits in the sixth tier of the English Football League.

Originally founded in 1878, Chelmsford City FC became a professional side in 1938 and have a long history of achievements since then. Known as The Clarets, the club plays an important part in the local community and benefits from a loyal following of supporters and volunteers.

In July 2024 new ownership of CCFC was announced and exciting developments are underway. Stadia are thrilled to join the club on their ambitious journey to the football league.

You can find match highlights and interviews on the club YouTube channel ClaretsTV here .

Chelmsford City FC are based at The EMJ Community Stadium, Salerno Way, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 2EH.

Main website: https://chelmsfordcityfc.com/

Our New Microsoft Solutions Partner Designation!

sunil.modhvadia@stadiacg.co.uk (Sunil Modhvadia) — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 15:49:37 GMT

We are proud to announce that Stadia has earned the Microsoft Solutions Partner Designation for Azure Infrastructure.

We are happy to share some exciting news with our clients, partners, and the wider community. After rigorous assessments and a sustained commitment to delivering excellence, we have achieved the prestigious Microsoft Solutions Partner designation for Azure Infrastructure. This accomplishment marks a significant milestone in our journey and reaffirms our dedication to providing top-tier cloud solutions.

What This Means for Us

Achieving the Microsoft Solutions Partner designation is no small feat. It recognises organisations that have demonstrated deep expertise in delivering Microsoft Azure solutions. Our team has worked tirelessly to meet the stringent criteria set by Microsoft, which includes certifications, customer success stories, and proven capabilities in deploying and managing Azure infrastructure. This designation is a testament to our technical proficiency, industry knowledge, and our unwavering commitment to staying at the forefront of technological advancements.

What This Means for You

For our clients, this achievement brings added assurance that you are partnering with a team that is not only knowledgeable but also recognised by one of the world’s leading technology companies. As a Microsoft Solutions Partner for Azure Infrastructure, we are equipped to help you design, implement, and manage your cloud environments with the highest standards of excellence.

Whether you are looking to migrate to the cloud, optimise your existing Azure setup, or build a robust infrastructure that scales with your business needs, our team has the expertise to guide you every step of the way. This designation also provides us with direct access to Microsoft’s resources and support, enabling us to offer even more value to our clients.

A Commitment to Continued Excellence

Our journey doesn’t stop here. Earning this designation is not just a one-time achievement; it represents our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement and innovation. We will continue to invest in our people, processes, and technology to ensure we remain at the cutting edge of cloud infrastructure solutions.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to our clients and partners for their trust and support. Your collaboration has been instrumental in helping us reach this milestone. We look forward to continuing our successful partnerships and to achieving even greater heights together.

Looking Ahead

As we celebrate this accomplishment, we are also excited about the future. The cloud landscape is rapidly evolving, and we are ready to tackle new challenges and opportunities. With our Microsoft Solutions Partner designation for Azure Infrastructure, we are more prepared than ever to help our clients harness the power of the cloud to drive growth, innovation, and success.

Thank you for being a part of our journey. Here’s to many more successes to come!

For any enquiries or to learn more about how we can support your cloud infrastructure needs, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team. We’re here to help you navigate your cloud journey with confidence.

Read more about cloud migrations here and our Azure support services here .

Stadia & Ingram Micro - AWS Services

sunil.modhvadia@stadiacg.co.uk (Sunil Modhvadia) — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 14:21:59 GMT

Exciting New Relationship with Ingram Micro.

Elevating AWS Services to New Heights.

We are thrilled to announce our new strategic relationship with Ingram Micro, a global leader in technology and supply chain services. This collaboration is set to enhance our capabilities and expand our offerings, particularly in the realm of Amazon Web Services (AWS). With Ingram Micro’s extensive expertise and resources, we are poised to provide a comprehensive suite of AWS services, including migrations, DevOps, architecture services, and reviews of existing AWS deployments.

Why This Relationship Matters

Ingram Micro brings decades of experience and a robust global infrastructure, making them ideal to help us scale our AWS services. Their deep understanding of the technology landscape and commitment to innovation aligns perfectly with our mission to deliver cutting-edge solutions that empower businesses to achieve their goals.

Comprehensive AWS Migrations

Migrating to AWS can be a complex and daunting task. Our relationship with Ingram Micro allows us to streamline this process, ensuring a seamless transition with minimal disruption to your operations. Whether you’re moving a single application or your entire data centre, our combined expertise will ensure a smooth migration that meets your unique needs and maximises the benefits of the AWS cloud.

Enhanced DevOps Solutions

In today’s fast-paced digital world, efficient and effective DevOps practices are crucial for maintaining a competitive edge. Through our collaboration with Ingram Micro, we are enhancing our DevOps offerings to help you automate and optimise your workflows. From continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines to infrastructure as code (IaC), we provide the tools and expertise needed to accelerate your development processes and improve your operational efficiency.

Expert Architecture Services

Building a robust and scalable architecture is essential for leveraging the full potential of AWS. Our relationship with Ingram Micro equips us with the resources and knowledge to design and implement top-tier AWS architectures tailored to your specific requirements. Whether you’re looking to build a new application from the ground up or optimise your existing infrastructure, we offer expert guidance and support every step of the way.

Thorough Reviews of Existing AWS Deployments

Regular reviews of your AWS deployments are critical to ensure they remain efficient, secure, and cost-effective. Together with Ingram Micro, we provide comprehensive assessments of your current AWS environment, identifying areas for improvement and offering actionable recommendations. Our goal is to help you optimise your AWS resources, reduce costs, and enhance security and performance.

Looking Ahead

This relationship with Ingram Micro marks a significant milestone in our journey to provide unparalleled AWS services. By combining our strengths, we are better positioned to support your business in navigating the complexities of the cloud and achieving sustained success. We are excited about the possibilities this collaboration brings and look forward to delivering enhanced value to our clients.

Stay tuned for more updates and insights as we continue to innovate and expand our AWS service offerings. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about how this relationship can benefit your organisation, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Together with Ingram Micro, we are ready to take your AWS experience to the next level. Let’s embark on this exciting journey together!

Thank you for your continued trust and commitment. Here’s to new beginnings and unprecedented growth.

About Us

Stadia Consulting Group is dedicated to providing innovative cloud solutions that drive business success. Our expertise in AWS services, combined with our commitment to customer satisfaction, ensures that we deliver the highest quality solutions tailored to your needs.

About Ingram Micro

Ingram Micro is a global leader in technology and supply chain services. With a comprehensive portfolio of IT products and services, they help businesses around the world realise the promise of technology.

For more information, please contact us here.

Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation achieved! (again)

sunil.modhvadia@stadiacg.co.uk (Sunil Modhvadia) — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 13:01:53 GMT

Another year, another achievement for Stadia Consulting Group

We are proud to announce that we have achieved Cyber Essentials Plus certification, the higher-level qualification of the Cyber Essentials scheme. This certification is a government-backed scheme that demonstrates our commitment to protecting our organisation and our clients from cyber threats.

What is Cyber Essentials Plus?

The Cyber Essentials scheme is a Government-backed framework aimed at helping businesses protect themselves against cyber-attacks. Developed and managed by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), CE is considered the best first step to a more secure network by protecting against 80% of the most common cyber threats. Achieving Cyber Essentials certification demonstrates a commitment to protecting business operations, ensuring cyber security, and safeguarding the data of customers and partners.

What does this mean for Stadia Consulting Group?

We understand that the protection of client data is of the utmost importance, and this certification is a testament to our commitment to keeping our clients' information safe. We will continue to maintain and improve our cybersecurity measures to ensure that we remain up-to-date with the latest threats and that our clients can trust us to protect their data.

To achieve Cyber Essentials Plus, we underwent a third-party hands-on technical verification to ensure that we met the requirements of the scheme in full, and had effectively implemented each of the five basic control themes (access control, secure configuration, software updates, malware protection and firewalls and routers). This technical assessment was conducted by the accredited certification body URM Consulting Services , and involved a comprehensive vulnerability scan.

URM’s assessor commented, “Stadia Consulting Group were an easy company to assess, they had an excellent security posture with a comprehensive set of policies and technical controls which showed they were compliant with CE. Additionally, their knowledge of cloud infrastructure and services were observed to be exemplary.”

In conclusion, achieving Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation is a significant milestone for our organisation and it demonstrates our commitment to providing a secure environment for our clients. We are proud to have been recognised for our efforts and will continue to invest in cybersecurity to protect our organisation and our clients.

Having achieving certification against Cyber Essentials Plus, Stadia Consulting Group is now listed on a directory of certified organisations, which is available on IASME’s website, the National Cyber Security Centre's (NCSC's) Cyber Essentials scheme delivery partner.

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Cloud Migration - Is It For You?

sunil.modhvadia@stadiacg.co.uk (Sunil Modhvadia) — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:23:09 GMT

Cloud Migration – Everyone is doing it, should you?

Maybe. Migrating applications and infrastructure to the cloud offers several benefits that can positively impact organisations in various ways. Stadia has enjoyed bringing the benefits of cloud computing to many of our clients. It isn't necessarily for everyone, but if you haven't migrated some or all of your applications/infrastructure to the cloud, are you missing out?

Let's take a look at the various aspects, starting with some of the key benefits:

Cost Efficiency: Buying, maintaining, and refreshing your own hardware can be costly. Cloud computing often reduces capital expenditure on physical hardware and data centres. You pay for resources as you use them, which can lead to cost savings, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.

Scalability: Cloud services allow for easy scaling of resources up or down based on demand. This elasticity ensures that your applications can handle sudden spikes in traffic or growth without the need for significant upfront investment in hardware.

Automatic Updates: Keen to see the back of those out-of-hours patching rotas? Cloud providers handle hardware and software updates, including security patches and upgrades, reducing the maintenance burden on your IT staff.

Flexibility and Agility: Cloud platforms provide a wide range of services and tools that enable rapid development and deployment of applications. This agility allows organisations to respond quickly to changing market conditions and customer needs.

Global Reach: Cloud providers have data centres in multiple regions worldwide. This global presence allows you to deploy applications closer to your users, reducing latency and improving performance for a global customer base.

Security: Cloud providers invest heavily in security measures, often surpassing what individual organisations can achieve. They offer features like encryption, identity and access management, and compliance certifications to help protect your data and applications.

Reliability and High Availability: Cloud providers offer robust service-level agreements (SLAs) that guarantee high uptime and availability. Redundancy and failover capabilities are built into their infrastructure to minimise downtime.

Disaster Recovery: Cloud services make it easier to implement disaster recovery and backup solutions. You can replicate your data and applications across multiple regions or data centres, ensuring business continuity in case of disasters.

Collaboration and Mobility: Cloud-based applications and services can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. This promotes remote work and collaboration among geographically dispersed teams.

That is a lot of potential benefits, are there any downsides?

It's important to note that while the cloud offers many benefits, the actual advantages experienced by an organisation can vary depending on factors such as the specific cloud provider chosen, the migration strategy employed, and how well the organisation leverages cloud services to meet its unique needs and goals. Proper planning and ongoing optimisation are crucial to maximising the benefits of cloud adoption.

There are some instances when a migration may not be the ideal solution for some or all your applications and infrastructure. Here are a few examples:

Data Sensitivity: If your organisation deals with extremely sensitive data, such as classified government information or intellectual property, you may have concerns about entrusting this data to a third-party cloud provider, even with strong security measures in place.

Network Latency: In some cases, applications with very low latency requirements (e.g., high-frequency trading systems or real-time control systems) may not perform optimally in a cloud environment due to the inherent latency introduced by internet connectivity and the cloud provider's network infrastructure. Nowadays, there are some clever technical solutions available to help get around many network latency issues.

Cost Considerations: While cloud computing can be cost-effective for many organisations, it may not be the most cost-efficient option for all workloads. In some cases, especially with consistently high and predictable workloads, on-premises or co-location solutions might be more cost-effective in the long term.

Lack of In-House Expertise: Migrating to the cloud and managing cloud resources effectively requires a certain level of expertise. If your organisation lacks the necessary skills and resources to manage cloud deployments, it may result in security vulnerabilities, performance issues, or cost overruns. If this is a concern for you, it probably makes sense to speak with the experts. Our contact details can be found at the end of this article.

Hybrid or Multi-Cloud Complexity: In some situations, managing a hybrid or multi-cloud environment can be complex and may require additional tools and expertise to ensure seamless operation. This is another area we can help simplify for you.

Before deciding on a cloud migration strategy, it's essential to conduct a thorough assessment of your organisation's unique needs, constraints, and goals. A well-informed decision should consider these factors and carefully weigh the potential benefits against the challenges and limitations of cloud adoption. In some cases, a hybrid or multi-cloud approach may be a more suitable solution that combines the advantages of both cloud and on-premises infrastructure.

At Stadia, we have a wealth of experience in planning and delivering cloud migrations, why not get in touch to discuss further?

Could we just migrate to the cloud “as-is”?

Ah, the Lift and Shift approach. We will talk about this in more detail in a moment. The answer is maybe. But it might not be the best approach for you. Let’s take a look at some of the established migration approaches, (you may have heard these referred to as "the Rs"):

Rehost (Lift and Shift): This method involves moving your existing applications and infrastructure to the cloud without making significant changes to their architecture. This approach is often used for quick migrations when you want to leverage cloud benefits like scalability and cost savings without rewriting the entire application. Common tools and services for rehosting include AWS VM Import/Export, Azure Migrate, and Google Compute Engine. These tools can vastly simplify/expedite such a migration.

Replatform (Lift, Tinker, and Shift): In this approach, you make some minimal modifications to your applications or infrastructure to optimise them for the cloud. You might update the underlying operating systems, databases, or application servers to take advantage of cloud-native features. It strikes a balance between quick migration and optimizing for the cloud.

Rearchitect (Rebuild): This method involves redesigning and rebuilding your applications to be cloud-native from the ground up.

You can take full advantage of cloud services and architectures, such as microservices, containers, and serverless computing.

While it offers maximum cloud benefits, it's also the most time-consuming and resource-intensive approach.

Refactor (Re-engineer): Refactoring means making significant code changes to adapt existing applications for the cloud. This could involve rewriting parts of your application. It's a good choice when you want to modernise legacy applications and take advantage of cloud capabilities.

Retire or Retain: During the migration process, evaluate each application and infrastructure component. Decide whether to retire (phase out) or retain (move to the cloud). While assessing your environment, you may discover unused applications or infrastructure that is no longer required. It rarely makes sense to migrate unnecessary components. Not all applications may be suitable for migration, and some may be replaced with cloud-native alternatives.

So, is it for us?

If you have read the list of potential benefits above and can see how these could relate to your business, then it is probably worthwhile exploring your options. Remember, cloud migrations are not a “one size fits all”, thorough assessment and planning is key to success. Migrating applications and infrastructure to the cloud is a complex process that requires careful planning, execution, and ongoing management.

The prospect of a cloud migration can seem daunting. That is where Stadia could help. We are experienced in planning and executing cloud migrations and would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

Feel free to contact us to discuss your cloud migration options. There are various ways to contact us: https://www.stadiacg.co.uk/contact

It would be great to hear from you. Thanks for reading.

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Stadia's InfoSec Remediation Services

sunil.modhvadia@stadiacg.co.uk (Sunil Modhvadia) — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 09:38:43 GMT

Keeping you secure

Cyber threats and attacks are becoming more frequent and sophisticated, and businesses need to take proactive measures to protect their sensitive data and systems. There are many aspects to cyber security which need to be effectively managed. Understanding and prioritising risk is key to securing your environment.

Our InfoSec remediation services are designed to help businesses identify and remediate security vulnerabilities and risks and strengthen their security posture.

Leave it to the experts

Perhaps you have already had a penetration test or similar assessment of your environment? In which case, you may have received the output and find yourself left with a mountain of data to unpick and take appropriate action on. It can be difficult to know where to start…

Our team of security experts can take this data, prioritise the items and create a plan of action to remediate any highlighted issues in a structured format which works for your business, and complies with your change management processes. It is crucial to ascertain the criticality of each item and the potential impact of deploying the proposed solution. These aspects are covered and explained in full by our experts ahead of any proposed deployment.

Stadia offers a comprehensive range of remediation services, including patch management, security configuration management, access control management, and group policy deployment. We can also provide ongoing monitoring and support to ensure that security risks are continually assessed and addressed.

Security requirements keep evolving

Methods used by hackers are forever changing, therefore it is vitally important that your approach to security is as proactive as possible. Regular patching of operating systems and applications is important, as is keeping up to date with the latest vulnerabilities to ensure you remain protected. The National Cyber Security Centre has some great resources on this topic: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/keep-up-to-date/reports-advisories

However, it is almost impossible to constantly keep on top of all the latest security vulnerabilities/exploits without appropriate tooling. Zero-Day vulnerabilities are a prime example of why real-time monitoring is becoming a must in the fight to stay secure.

As a Tenable Partner, we can provide ongoing monitoring and reporting for your environment using Tenable’s cloud-based exposure management platform “Tenable One”. This state-of-the-art platform provides visibility across the modern attack surface to prevent likely attacks and accurately communicate cyber risk. You can read about the great features offered by this platform here: https://www.tenable.com/products/tenable-one

Our InfoSec remediation services can help businesses improve their security posture, reduce the risk of cyber-attacks, and protect their sensitive data and assets. We work closely with our clients to ensure that remediation efforts are aligned with their business objectives and that they meet compliance requirements.

If you need help remediating existing issues or would like to improve your security stance with the introduction of an exposure management platform, why not get in touch? We will be happy to discuss your requirements.

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Stadia's Microsoft 365 Licensing Services

sunil.modhvadia@stadiacg.co.uk (Sunil Modhvadia) — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 09:38:34 GMT

Licensing can be confusing....

Many organisations are very familiar with Microsoft 365 due to the legacy of popular applications such as Word and Excel. The origins of Microsoft 365 can be traced back to Office 365, which was launched by Microsoft way back in June 2011. Simplified deployment and management of applications is central to the appeal of Microsoft 365.

However, navigating the complexities of Microsoft 365 licensing can be a daunting task for many businesses. The multitude of license types and bundles available can be overwhelming. Which combination of licenses is optimal for your business needs? You need to make sure you are compliant but also do not want to overpay for licenses which are not actually needed.

This is where Stadia’s Microsoft 365 licensing services come into play, providing invaluable assistance in optimising your licensing model and ensuring compliance. In this article, we'll explore the benefits of our Microsoft 365 licensing services and how they can simplify your business operations.

What are these services you speak of?

There are several aspects covered in Stadia's Microsoft 365 Licensing Services:

Licensing Reviews

Stadia offers expert guidance and consultation to help you understand the intricacies of Microsoft licensing. These services are provided by professionals who have in-depth knowledge of the various licensing options available and can assess your business requirements to determine the most suitable licensing model for your organisation.

We can provide valuable insights into the different licensing plans, including Enterprise, Business, Education, and Non-profit, ensuring that you have the right licenses to meet your specific needs.

Licensing Optimisation

One of the key advantages of utilising our Microsoft 365 licensing services is license optimization. These services can analyse your existing licenses, identify any redundancies or underutilised licenses, and recommend necessary adjustments to optimize your licensing costs.

By eliminating unnecessary licenses and aligning your licensing structure with your organisation's needs, you can save money and maximise the value you derive from your M365 investment.

Compliance and Security

Maintaining compliance with Microsoft's licensing policies is essential to avoid legal issues and penalties. Stadia’s Microsoft 365 licensing services can ensure that your organisation remains compliant by conducting thorough audits of your licensing agreements, monitoring usage, and implementing effective license management practices.

Moreover, these services can help enhance the security of your Microsoft 365 environment by ensuring that all necessary security features and protocols are in place, protecting your data and sensitive information from potential threats.

Scalability and Flexibility

As your business grows and evolves, your licensing needs may change. Our Microsoft 365 licensing services can adapt to your organisation's requirements by providing scalability and flexibility in licensing. We can assist you in adding or removing licenses, upgrading to higher-tier plans, or transitioning between licensing models, ensuring that your licensing structure remains aligned with your business goals and objectives.

Training and Support

Another significant benefit of Stadia’s Microsoft 365 licensing service is the provision of ongoing support and advice for license related topics. This ensures that you have access to our knowledgeable professionals should any related issues arise, or if you simply have license related questions.

In Summary

Microsoft 365 licensing can be complex. By leveraging our licensing services, you can focus on your core business activities while leaving the complexities of licensing management to the professionals. Ultimately, this translates into cost savings, increased productivity, enhanced security, and the ability to adapt to your organisation's changing needs.

If you would like to discuss your current licensing situation, feel free to contact us today, it may even save you money:

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Stadia Consulting Group achieves multiple UKAS ISO accreditations!

sunil.modhvadia@stadiacg.co.uk (Sunil Modhvadia) — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 10:23:11 GMT

In today's digital age, the importance of data protection, quality management, and environmental management cannot be overstated. As businesses continue to expand their operations, they face a growing number of risks related to data security, quality control, and environmental impact. That is why it is essential for companies to obtain accreditation from globally recognized organizations that certify compliance with established standards. At Stadia Consulting Group we are proud to announce that we have achieved ISO 27001, ISO 9001, and ISO 14001 accreditations.

ISO 27001

ISO 27001 is an international standard that outlines the requirements for an Information Security Management System (ISMS). This standard ensures that businesses have robust systems in place to protect their sensitive information from unauthorized access, theft, or corruption. Achieving ISO 27001 accreditation demonstrates our commitment to ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our clients' information.

ISO 9001

ISO 9001 is an international standard that outlines the requirements for a Quality Management System (QMS). This standard helps businesses ensure that their products and services consistently meet customer requirements and regulatory standards. By obtaining ISO 9001 accreditation, we have demonstrated our ability to provide high-quality products and services to our clients.

ISO 14001

ISO 14001 is an international standard that outlines the requirements for an Environmental Management System (EMS). This standard helps businesses manage their environmental impacts and reduce their carbon footprint. Achieving ISO 14001 accreditation demonstrates our commitment to environmental sustainability and our efforts to minimise our impact on the environment.

Obtaining these accreditations was a significant undertaking that required much effort and dedication from our team. However, the benefits of these accreditations are substantial. They provide assurance to our clients that we have implemented rigorous systems to manage their data, ensure the quality of our products and services, and minimize our environmental impact. In addition, these accreditations give us a competitive advantage by demonstrating our commitment to excellence and continuous improvement.

In conclusion, achieving ISO 27001, ISO 9001, and ISO 14001 accreditation is a significant achievement that highlights our commitment to data security, quality management, and environmental sustainability. We are proud of our accomplishments and will continue to strive for excellence in all areas of our business. By choosing to work with us, our clients can be confident that they are partnering with a company that takes their data security, quality, and environmental responsibilities seriously.

What is Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)?

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 10:11:00 GMT

Is your user authentication secure? Stadia can design and implement an MFA solution to meet your security requirements without inconveniencing your users.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) provides additional security layers to your user sign-in process.

When trying to log in, a user must provide two or more forms of verification to access certain services, accounts or platforms.

Essentially, MFA asks a user to prove that they are who they say they are.

Microsoft asserts that: “Based on studies, your account is more than 99.9% less likely to be compromised if you use multi-factor authentication.”

It’s well worth your consideration then!

How does MFA work?

There are three main types of authentication:

Knowledge Factors – something the user KNOWS, such as a password or pin number.

Possession Factors – something the user HAS, such as a mobile phone.

Inherence Factors – something the user IS. For this, they might have to use a fingerprint, hand, or thumbprint. Other inherence recognition features could be voice or facial recognition. Obviously, a user would require certain hardware to make this type of authentication possible, and it may also negatively impact the end-user experience if it takes too long to do.

There are further, lesser-used authentication factors that some businesses employ. One of these is known as a location factor , which requires geolocation checks to confirm the location of a user before log-in is permitted.

A further example is a behavioural authentication factor . This one is based upon unique user behaviours exhibited when a user interacts with a certain device.

How many authentication factors do you need?

Bill Gates predicted the death of the password at a conference in 2004, saying:

“There is no doubt that over time, people are going to rely less and less on passwords. People use the same password on different systems, they write them down and they just don’t meet the challenge for anything you really want to secure.”

He was right.

A password alone is, these days, not considered sufficiently secure for business use. Passwords can be easily guessed and are more susceptible to brute force attacks. Therefore it’s common practice to have at least two authentication factors in use.

Each authentication factor has its own strengths and vulnerabilities, so combining will add more cohesive security layers to your login process. Which factors you choose to select, are largely down to your business requirements (and your preferences).

There are various ways of setting MFA up from least secure to most secure, but you also have to consider convenience. How much is this going to disrupt your end-user and what are you comfortable with from a security perspective?

You’ll need to work out what is suitable for your business and consider what is also fit for purpose. If you’ve got a low value app that you want to provide access for, a four factor authentication is going to be overkill.

But if you’re looking at something more financially focused, you’re probably going to want to put more authentication factors in place.

Just make sure you weigh up the risk level vs the impact on the end-user.

What are the business benefits of MFA?

There are many.

Enhanced security: This is the most obvious benefit of multi-factor authentication. By asking users to provide multiple credentials at login, you’re reducing the chances of hackers accessing your systems.

This has become increasingly important with the rise in remote working. Cybercriminals can more easily gain system access when workers are remote, so it’s more important than ever to make sure your business is protected.

Easy implementation: MFA costs little to nothing to implement, depending on your requirements. If you’re already using the Microsoft Azure Active Directory, you can likely access MFA for no added cost.

Compliance with data protection laws and regulations: MFA implementation is often a key requirement for data protection compliance, and will also provide reassurance to customers that data security is front of mind in your organisation.

Flexibility of set-up: While there are many types of user authentication on offer, you can select which is the best approach for your business. You can tailor your set-up to suit the logistical, end-user and security needs of the business.

Compliance with your Single Sign-On (SSO) solution: Your MFA solution can work hand-in-hand with your SSO. This means your team doesn’t have to waste time (and struggle to remember!) multiple passwords when logging into an MFA protected system.

How secure is your user authentication? Have you enabled multi-factor authentication yet?

MFA services are offered by the big cloud providers. Both Microsoft and Google have their own MFA license options.

With Microsoft, there are multiple ways to enable Azure AD multi-factor authentication for your Azure Active Directory users based on the licenses that your business owns. Basic multi-factor authentication features are available to Microsoft 365 and Azure Active Directory users and global administrators for no extra cost .

MFA should be a core element of your Identity and Access Management Policy, so it’s well worth doing – and doing right.

Is your user authentication secure? Stadia can design and implement an MFA solution to meet your security requirements without inconveniencing your users.
Call us today .

The post What is Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)? appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

Server Virtualisation - Which technology is right for your business?

sunil.modhvadia@stadiacg.co.uk (Sunil Modhvadia) — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 13:20:58 GMT

What is Server Virtualisation?

Server virtualisation is a way of using one physical computer to act like many computers. This is done with the help of special software called a hypervisor. The hypervisor lets many different "virtual" computers run on the same physical computer, each with its own operating system and applications.

This technology allows businesses to save money on hardware costs by running multiple virtual servers on a single physical server. It also makes it easier to manage and use resources more efficiently.

Virtual servers can be easily moved between physical servers or data centres, which makes it easier to scale up or down as needed. This technology also provides added security by keeping different applications and workloads isolated from each other.

What are the main Server Virtualisation technologies?

There are several major server virtualisation technologies, including:

VMware : VMware is a proprietary virtualisation platform that is widely used in enterprise environments. It offers a wide range of features, including support for multiple operating systems, live migration of virtual machines, and a robust management interface.

Microsoft Hyper-V : Hyper-V is a Microsoft-branded virtualisation platform that is included with some versions of Windows Server. It has similar features to VMware and is often used in Windows-based environments.

Citrix XenServer : XenServer is a virtualisation platform developed by Citrix. It is based on the open-source Xen hypervisor and is often used in large-scale environments for cloud computing and server consolidation.

KVM : KVM is a Linux-based virtualisation platform that is built into the Linux kernel. It is open-source and is often used in smaller environments or as part of a larger virtualisation strategy.

OpenVZ : OpenVZ is a container-based virtualisation platform for Linux. It is less resource-intensive than traditional hypervisors, but also provides less isolation between virtual machines.

Which Server Virtualisation technology is best for you?

All of these virtualisation technologies have their own advantages and disadvantages and the best one for you will depend on your specific needs and requirements.

VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V are considered to be the most feature-rich and enterprise-ready, while KVM and OpenVZ are more lightweight and can be a better fit for smaller environments or those looking for a more cost-effective solution.

Want to discuss your options? Contact us using the details below.

The post Server Virtualisation - Which technology is right for your business? appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

Is Citrix DaaS the right virtual desktop solution for your business?

Fri, 09 Sep 2022 10:03:00 GMT

Stadia can design and implement secure, effective solutions to enable your workforce to work from anywhere.  Give us a call to explore Citrix DaaS today.

Secure remote working with Citrix Desktop as a Service

Systems and solutions that enable secure remote working have never been more important.

Or more valuable to your business.

With more staff than ever now working away from the office, businesses need to equip employees with remote access to a range of programmes, apps, data and more.

It’s imperative they secure their network and any sensitive company data for an increasingly dispersed workforce.

But with remote working, comes increased security threats…

A secure remote working solution is paramount. As is access for your staff to an efficient, tailored virtual desktop.

So what’s the answer?

Is Citrix DaaS the virtual desktop solution for you?

Citrix offers a whole range of secure remote working solutions that will allow your company to not only meet but surpass security standards. Hundreds of thousands of organisations worldwide use Citrix to provide a seamless hybrid work experience.

Today though, we want to focus on the Citrix Desktop as a Service solution in particular. We’ll look at how it can enable a premium virtual desktop experience for your team, while also minimising the threat of cyberattacks.

Citrix DaaS allows secure remote access to apps and company data through virtual desktops that are hosted in the cloud (as opposed to a virtual desktop infrastructure or VDI, which is hosted on-premises).

DaaS enables secure access from anywhere in the world. A user can simply go to a page/URL, enter their credentials, and click on an icon to launch their very own Windows desktop.

Behind the scenes, you can set up your core business apps, Office 365 and any other apps you might want your team to access in this desktop set-up. But users only see what’s relevant to them – so someone in the finance team will only see the finance apps they need for example.

It’s a simple and secure way of presenting your users with all of their applications, wherever they are and on whatever device.

If your current remote working set-up isn’t up to scratch, Citrix DaaS is well worth considering. Give us a call to discuss your options .

Benefits of Citrix DaaS

The main priority when setting up remote workers is to ensure they can quickly and seamlessly access a tailored, online desktop solution, from wherever they are in the world.

That is just one of the benefits of Citrix DaaS, and we’ve rounded up some others below:

Why should you consider Citrix DaaS?

Citrix DaaS is a simple and easy-to-manage virtual desktop solution. It allows you to deliver DaaS and VDI apps and desktops to any device, over any network.

DaaS will also allow your IT team to be completely hands-off in terms of maintenance and infrastructure if that’s what you’re seeking.

It’s an ideal solution for hybrid environments, which blend public and private clouds and on-premises data centres, making it a good fit for even the most regulated industries.

Secure remote working is no longer optional – can your staff work effectively from home? 

Stadia can design and implement secure, effective solutions to enable your workforce to work from anywhere.   Give us a call to explore Citrix DaaS today .

The post Is Citrix DaaS the right virtual desktop solution for your business? appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

How to protect M365 data with ORIIUM

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 15:32:00 GMT

The ORIIUM Data Protection Platform and M365: A Guide

There are few things more important than data in your business. In this post, we explore market-leading data protection platform ORIIUM and look at how it can help safeguard vital company data in Microsoft 365.

Data security: the state of play

According to the University of Texas,

“94% of companies suffering from a catastrophic data loss do not survive.”

Data is, of course, everywhere. Whether you store it on-premise or opt for a cloud-based system, it’s more difficult than ever to keep it secure.

Threats from hackers and malware are more advanced. Constantly evolving and improved systems are required to stay ahead of new techniques used to target your data.

According to the 2022 Cyberthreat Defense Report :

So what can you do to protect your data and valuable business assets?

The ORIIUM data protection platform:

It’s never been more important to ensure you have a comprehensive data protection platform to safeguard your business against a host of fraudulent activities, from hijacking to phishing and more.

“ORIIUM SaaS is a cloud based complete data protection platform which delivers market leading backup (BaaS) and disaster recovery (DRaaS) services, enabling businesses to protect, store and recover their data and servers on demand no matter where they reside or where they want to recover to .” ORIIUM

The service is completely configurable, so you can select from just BaaS or DRaaS or both BaaS and DRaaS service options depending on your requirements. There’s also a choice of whether you opt for a managed or unmanaged service and a range of payment options too, based on consumption. So you really can tailor the service to work for your business.

So, is ORIIUM the right fit for your business – just what are the benefits?

With ORIIUM, you can both protect your data, and also target your chosen cloud or on-premise platform of choice for speedy restoration. There are plenty of other benefits which might make it a good fit for your organisation, some of which we’ve listed below.

ORIIUM Managed Service:

As mentioned, with the ORIIUM managed service, your data is monitored 24/7/365 by a team of experts to ensure all backup jobs complete successfully.

Any issues are immediately flagged, reviewed by the ORIIUM team and addressed with the customer. The service provides:

The managed service can help you to reduce the complexity, risk and cost of your data protection operations. This unlocks multiple business benefits such as:

How to protect M365 data with ORIIUM

Your M365 data is backed up by default, right?

Not quite…

Though Microsoft will offer certain tools to manage compliance and data loss, much of the responsibility still falls to your organisation to protect M365 data against the myriad security threats that are prevalent today.

The retention policy at Microsoft will only hold data for 30 days after a user has deleted it (active deletion) or for 180 days after a subscription ends (passive deletion).

With ORIIUM’s M365 protection, you’ll get complete control of your data retention duration. You’ll be able to source deleted data for years to come.

ORIIUM’s backup and recovery solution also extends and enhances your data protection outside of M365 to any cloud storage target of your choosing. This is a far safer option.

The good news for businesses is that ORIIUM integrates directly with M365! ORIIUM can also provide a backup solution for a multitude of other platforms, such as Microsoft Azure.

You can protect your business from a range of potential threats such as user deletion, accidental deletion, service interruptions and plenty more. Further to this, you can restore individual emails that were deleted years earlier, not just whole folders.

The ORIIUM service also mitigates the risk of ransomware attacks. Ransomware is an ever-evolving threat that attacks both production data sets and backup data, but ORIIUM will employ ransomware protection at multiple levels.

As you can see, there is an array of benefits to backing up your platforms to ORIIUM.
If you’d like to discuss how you could improve your data security, give us a call today .

The post How to protect M365 data with ORIIUM appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

Microsoft Teams: how does it work, what are the business benefits and what else should you know?

Mon, 29 Aug 2022 10:54:00 GMT

What is Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based, online hub for teamwork. It’s a centralised workspace for teams of people, where they can:

Plus a whole lot more, which we’ll cover off later.

Teams is a major step forward in terms of working collaboratively.

It’s a part of the Microsoft 365 (M365) subscription service, along with other familiar Microsoft business applications and services such as Excel, Word, Outlook and Sharepoint. Check out our blog post for more information on M365 .

Both Teams and the wider M365 offering are designed to enhance end-user productivity, with a varied and integrated set of tools.

How Microsoft Teams works:

As with many of the apps and services in the Microsoft range, Teams is an ever-evolving platform. There are a host of popular features, which Microsoft continues to add to constantly behind the scenes.

Capabilities:

Teams works on all major operating systems too. In terms of price, well – that all depends on the plan you select for your business. There are free versions available too.

The increasing demand for effective remote collaboration

The need for an efficient solution for remote team working has never been greater. During the global pandemic, millions of people were, of course, forced to work from home. This massively increased the demand for platforms such as Teams.

In fact, in 2022, Microsoft Teams reached a massive 270 million users , which is up from the 145 million that was reported in 2021.

Teams has become known as the corporate go-to for effective collaboration and teamwork in remote working scenarios.

Let’s take a look at why…

What are the benefits of Microsoft Teams?

Where to begin…

Teams is unparalleled in its ability to connect a remote workforce. Below are just some of the many benefits it could bring to your business.

The Evolution of Teams…

Microsoft Teams was launched worldwide in 2017, announced by the Microsoft team at an event in New York. Before that though, Microsoft had launched several other communications and collaboration tools, which have since been merged into the Teams platform many know and love today.

For example, in May 2017, Microsoft announced that Teams would replace Microsoft Classroom in Office 365 Education.

Then in 2019, Microsoft phased out Skype for Business in favour of Teams, and Skype was discontinued completely in July 2021. Teams of course, provides all the capabilities of Skype but with plenty more alongside. Before Skype for Business, there was also Microsoft Lync and Office Communicator.

As you can see, it’s been an ongoing evolution and, with Teams now being Microsoft’s fastest growing app, the work has clearly paid off. It’s a huge success story.

Did you know?

In 2016, Microsoft considered bidding 8 billion dollars for competitor Slack, but Bill Gates was opposed to the idea – preferring to improve Teams as a competitive solution instead. The decision appears to have worked out well!

As you can see, Teams is a LOT more than a messaging and video conferencing platform.
If you need help to unlock the full potential of Microsoft Teams – we can support. Contact us to find out how .

The post Microsoft Teams: how does it work, what are the business benefits and what else should you know? appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

Microsoft 365 for business: what you need to know

Thu, 25 Aug 2022 09:48:00 GMT

Are you considering migrating to Microsoft 365? We can help. Contact us to find out how.

What is Microsoft 365 (M365)?

Microsoft 365 is Microsoft’s subscription service. It’s a collection of some of Microsoft’s best-loved apps and services, all available in the cloud. M365 consists of many well-known apps, such as Word and Excel, that people are more than familiar with, but which have now been made available in a different way.

Where traditionally, these applications would have been usable through installation at local level (on end-user devices or via company virtual desktops), everything is now available via the cloud. This unlocks a multitude of benefits for businesses.

With everything now living in the cloud, M365 makes everything available, from anywhere, on any device.

The apps and services available under the M365 banner can enhance team productivity, streamline management processes and provide that all important security support for your business.

How Microsoft 365 works

“ Microsoft 365 brings together best-in-class productivity apps with powerful cloud services, device management, and advanced security in one, connected experience .”

Microsoft considers M365 their one-stop solution to all your business productivity and security software requirements. Everything is in one place and all apps are connected seamlessly, offering a smoother end-user experience.

What’s more, M365 is paid for by a monthly, per-user license fee. This makes it much easier to deploy applications for specific users, without having to take an ‘all at once’ approach, which can leave team members waiting a long time.

There’s also a wide range of M365 plans available, to suit everyone – from personal to family to business users. As the M365 plans increase in price, you’ll unlock additional security and business tools.

What Microsoft 365 includes

Microsoft 365 includes all of Microsoft’s most popular business applications and services:

M365 also includes premium security features such as EM+S (formerly Enterprise Mobility Suite)

What are the benefits of Microsoft 365

Productivity:
M365 harnesses the power of the cloud to make remote work easy for your team – wherever and whenever – with no interruptions. They can access files from anywhere, make use of the latest Microsoft app updates, and liaise easily with your team – from wherever they happen to be that day.

Collaboration:
Microsoft Teams offers reliable and safe communication between team members, providing virtual voice and video calling features within a user-friendly platform.

Administration:
Access for staff to the full range of M365 products and services via the cloud helps to reduce the administrative load on the company. There are no long wait times for software updates, as this is overseen by Microsoft. This also reduces in-house maintenance costs.

Cost reduction:
As a cloud-based solution, there are, of course, no requirements for onsite hardware – both saving space and reducing costs. File servers, applications etc. have all moved to the cloud within M365, significantly reducing IT overheads.

Security:
M365 offers an array of security features that you can make the most out of, depending on the type of license you select.

Just some of the security capabilities on offer are:

Are Microsoft 365 and Office 365 the same?

In April 2020, the consumer and small business segments of Office 365 became known as Microsoft 365. Microsoft 365 contains everything you will be familiar with from the Office 365 offering, with some additions (such as AI features and additional cloud-based productivity tools).

It is ever-evolving – offering cutting-edge productivity, connectivity and security solutions for your business.

Stadia is a proud Microsoft partner, having satisfied all the requirements for demonstrating and validating the technical capabilities in the Microsoft Partner Network program. We offer a range of tailored M365 migration services.

We’ll analyse your business requirements, develop a proposal, design and implement a bespoke migration plan on your behalf.

Are you considering migrating to M365? We can help. Contact us to find out how .

The post Microsoft 365 for business: what you need to know appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

What is Microsoft Intune?

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 09:07:00 GMT

Stadia is a Microsoft Gold Cloud Platform Partner. So we manage the Microsoft Endpoint environments for many of our customers. It’s a technology that is scary to some, but the benefits are huge.

Microsoft Intune (formerly known as Microsoft Endpoint Manager) can appear confusing and a tad overwhelming to set up, with a host of apps, profiles, and security options to consider. If you already have Microsoft 365, you’ll have an Endpoint license, without paying any extra. So it’s a service that’s well worth exploring for your business, no matter the size.

Here, we review Microsoft Intune in more detail and look at how it could support your business.

What is Microsoft Intune?

Intune is a cloud-based and on-premises solution that provides everything needed to manage and monitor all the devices in a business.

It enables employees of a company to use any device (whether personal or corporate), and still have access to the relevant company data and information to do their work. From an organisational perspective, Intune also helps companies ensure that their data is secure, protected and easily managed remotely across devices.

“Microsoft Endpoint Manager helps deliver the modern workplace and modern management to keep your data secure, in the cloud and on-premises.” Microsoft.com

Many workers were forced to work from home during the global Covid-19 pandemic, and the future looks set to feature much more hybrid ways of working. Staff are increasingly splitting their time between the office and home. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), ‘ The proportion of homeworkers planning to work mostly from home rose 12 percentage points between April 2021 and February 2022.”

Ever-increasing amounts of employees now use personal devices for work, and utilise mobile apps for work-related activity. This means that secure systems for remote work are more important than ever.

What does Microsoft Intune do?

“Endpoint Manager meets organisations where they are in their cloud journey. Companies can secure, deploy, and manage all users, apps, and endpoint devices without disrupting existing processes.” Microsoft.com

Intune essentially allows anyone to pick up a laptop from anywhere in the world, follow a simple set of instructions and within a couple of minutes, start deploying the right applications. So at the end, they are left with a corporate build that’s been approved by the company. It will feature all the necessary security systems and be locked down, so the individual can’t install anything unwanted.

So Intune allows for a fully corporate build – but made easy. This is a powerful modern management tool, offering a slick user-experience.

Why choose Microsoft Intune? What are the benefits?

The full Microsoft Endpoint services list can be found here :

Here at Stadia, we offer an ‘Intune as a Service’ package, for those who are looking to take the stress and confusion out of setting up and using Intune. We can manage all your user accounts on your behalf.

Take the fear factor out of Intune – contact us today .

The post What is Microsoft Intune? appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

What is Microsoft Azure and is it right for your business?

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 09:26:00 GMT

Microsoft Azure is one of the most popular and successful cloud computing platforms on the market. Azure technology enables businesses to run some or all of their computing operations virtually. It also provides over 200 additional Microsoft products and services, that can be easily accessed via the internet.

Azure is, in its simplest form, a data centre in the cloud. More and more businesses are choosing to opt out of physical and on-premises data centres, which can take up huge amounts of space. They also lack flexibility when it comes to scaling.

An on-site data centre is likely to consist of a multitude of hardware – from print servers to file servers, domain controllers and more. The larger a company grows, the more servers are required and the more space needed, which presents problems.

At some point in the near future, every company that utilises information technology as part of their business operations, will need to have a presence on a platform such as Azure. It’s only going to become more important.

So, in this blog piece, we explore Microsoft Azure in greater detail and also look at the multiple benefits it may offer your business. All you need is an active internet connection and you’re on your way. Could this be the new storage platform for your business?

What should you know about Microsoft Azure?

What else does Microsoft Azure offer?

Alongside a host of cloud services, Azure also provides a vast range of other services, from AI, to logic apps, API management and much more. These are all able to be integrated with on-premises systems, for those seeking a more hybrid approach.

“The Azure cloud platform is more than 200 products and cloud services designed to help you bring new solutions to life – to solve today’s challenges and create the future. Build, run, and manage applications across multiple clouds, on-premises, and at the edge, with the tools and frameworks of your choice.” Microsoft

You can check out the full list of services here . We’ll take a closer look at some of these in future blog posts too.

So, is Microsoft Azure the right fit for your business – what are the benefits?

Microsoft Azure is a great solution for many small to mid-sized operations, looking to both expand and future-proof their businesses. It removes any limitations to fast growth and opens up an abundance of cutting-edge technology to support expansion. There is a lot to love about it.

Stadia is a proud partner of Microsoft Azure, having satisfied all the requirements for demonstrating and validating the technical capabilities in the Microsoft Partner Network program.

W e can help with the planning, design, documentation and transition to Microsoft Azure. We’ll create the necessary frameworks for you to safely land your data, and provide support packages to ensure a seamless transition and smooth ongoing operations.

Are you ready to migrate from on-premises to M365/Azure? We can help. Contact us on (0)207 0399 266 or info@stadiacg.co.uk to find out how.

The post What is Microsoft Azure and is it right for your business? appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

Why backup Microsoft 365?

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 12:17:00 GMT

Over 80% of organisations worldwide have switched at least some of their core IT to the cloud, and approximately half of these are on Microsoft 365.

Some organisations conflate Microsoft 365 and other cloud services with backup solutions. Their assumption is that because the data is stored offsite from their own premises, this means it is backed up.

As this article will detail, doing so can be a costly mistake both from the perspective of regulatory compliance, and business continuity. Increasing numbers of UK organisations now keep some or all of their critical data in the 365 suite including SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive and Outlook.

In the event of a ransomware attack, accidental deletion or overwriting of files, or a compliance audit, it is vital to be able to return to a specific point in time prior to an incident occurring. The inbuilt tools within Microsoft 365 do not provide this ability.

‘Data retention’ versus ‘data backup’

According to Microsoft’s user license agreement , it provides ‘data retention’ – there is no mention of backup. In the vendor’s own words, its data retention policy does not provide backup.

The implication of this is that if data is deleted, Microsoft only retains it for a 90 day period before it is permanently deleted with no potential for recovery. Worse, if files or folders are overwritten by users either in error or deliberately, then crucial data objects can be instantly lost.

Microsoft 365 and backup

The best way to think of Microsoft 365 is a suite of collaboration tools. It allows users to efficiently share work, ensure availability, and create logical folders in SharePoint.

The crucial point to note when talking about backup is that although SharePoint and Teams files may look like archives, they are not automatically backed up to provide historical snapshots.

Compliance considerations

As well as the internal disruption that can be caused by data being overwritten, other implications can be even more undesirable. Because it is not methodically backed up or archived, files and folders hosted in Microsoft 365 do not satisfy many regional, national, or regional the data retention policies.

As a consequence, a failure to backup Microsoft 365 can leave organisations exposed to data erasure or loss, either as a result of genuine user error or more malicious intent. This can mean vital data cannot be provided for an audit or to satisfy a regulatory obligation. Similarly, it can lead to the loss of key financial data, contracts or product development documentation.

How to properly backup data in Microsoft 365

Because of the way Microsoft provides ‘data retention’ as opposed to backup, additional measures are required to properly backup 365 data. This ensures key documentation is not overwritten, and that compliance obligations can be met.

To plug these gaps in Microsoft 365’s native functions, ORIIUM SaaS integrates directly with the Microsoft 365 tenant to backup to a variety of storage targets. It can also carry out full or granular restores of protected data to protect against threats such as accidental deletion, user deletion, ransom attacks, and other service interruptions.

The solution provides further guard against Microsoft 365 outages by using an organisation’s own cloud targets or on-premise storage destinations. The process is also fully automated which means no manual configuration is required to setup new users – it works with a simple policy-based automatic backup.

As an additional layer of safeguard to protect against accidental deletion, users cannot access the backed up data. This ensures no accidental deletion or malicious purges can take place.

A complete solution

ORIIUM SaaS provides comprehensive protection for all Office 365 data. This reduces cost and complexity by eliminating the need for multiple backup protection platforms.

It also provides a complete vision of all data sources including Microsoft 365, G Suite and Salesforce. To satisfy regulatory compliance obligations, it also enables long-term retention policies to be created. In the event of data loss or ransom attack, the solution also provides a granular search, specified point-in-time recovery, and out-of-place data restore options to enable data to be redeployed onto a different device if required.

Find out more

Contact us on (0) 20 7 0399 266/ info@stadiacg.co.uk to find out more about how ORIIUM SaaS can protect your Microsoft 365 data.

The post Why backup Microsoft 365? appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

What is Cloud RPA

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 18:20:00 GMT

What is RPA?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is software technology that’s easy for anyone to use to automate digital tasks.

What is Cloud RPA?

Cloud automation refers to business process automation using cloud-native, web-based, Robotic Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence (RPA+AI) software.

In a word, it means RPA-as-a-service: automation software that’s simple to access and use for anyone with an internet connection, on any device, that executes and orchestrates processes and workflows across the organization.

Cloud-based automation is also designed for automation self-service, with intuitive drag-and-drop actions and visual flow charts empowering non-technical teams to automate on their own. Cloud RPA enables users to automate any process via a web-based interface accessed in their browser.

How secure is Cloud RPA?

GDPR

Data encryption

Cloud RPA must ensure data is always protected, in motion and at rest, and provide for stringent authentication protocols for compliance.

Control with privacy

Secure cloud services

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Event 1069 – Terminal Services – Remote Connection Manager

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 18:34:00 GMT

We recently had an issue on site where a random couple of servers where experiencing Terminal Server Licence issue. The servers in question were getting Event 1069 – TerminalServices-RemoteConnectionManager messages in the system log with the following detail;

The RD Licensing grace period has expired and Licensing mode for the Remote Desktop Session Host server has not been configured. Licensing mode must be configured for continuous operation

As this was a large Citrix environment (1000s of servers), the resulting impact was the end user was unable to log on or identify what servers they were hitting. The correct GPO settings to set the Remote Desktop License Server was already set and for reasons unknown the keys or a setting was corrupt so the server stopped connections both ICA and RDP).

To resolve the issue, you needed to find (see Blog – EventCombMT.exe) and log onto the affected server

Run GPEDIT.MSC

Navigate to Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Terminal Services\Terminal Server\Licensing

Double Click on Use the Specified Remote Desktop License Server

Click Enabled

Add the Remote Desktop License Server hostname

Click OK

Then Restart the following Services

Remote Desktop Services

Remote Desktop Configuration

Once this had been done, you should be able to remove the setting and the GPO should take effect. We had a call open with Microsoft and they were unable to shed light on why this had happened but setting the key locally seemed to kick start the RDS License Acquire Process.

Regards

Nathan Browne

The post Event 1069 – Terminal Services – Remote Connection Manager appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

Surveil SLIM

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 10:05:00 GMT

If you require further information please do not hesitate to contact SCG via email on info@stadiacg.co.uk or via telephone on +44 (0) 20 7 0399 266

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SentryBay Armoured Client for Citrix NetScaler Configuration Guide v1.0

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 18:00:00 GMT

NetScaler / SentryBay Armoured Client for Citrix Configuration

This guide is an example of how the Armoured Client’s browser user-agent string can be detected and routed accordingly. There are many methods of doing this with NetScaler by using either of the following features:

This guide uses NetScaler Gateway Session Policy as is the easiest and works with all editions of NetScaler and NS Gateway, plus allows the configuration of the end user instructions to easily be controlled and applied in a separate Storefront Store.

If the user successfully authenticates the Session Policy will try to detect the user agent string set in the SentryBay Armoured Client and if it does will route to the normal Storefront Store.

A second Storefront store is configured whereby only web links to internal sites will be present, where the user will find instructions on where to download and install the Armoured Client. It would also be possible to publish un-restricted applications to this store in this scenario where the Armoured Client is not being used, if desirable.

Figure 1 below shows the concept, with the relevant Polices and Profiles as detailed in the remaining sections of this document.

Disclaimer:

The User-Agent string can easily be spoofed so is not a 100% safe security control, but does allow the organisation to easily distribute and run a basic enforcement policy. However, the user must authenticate in the normal way, using existing Access Controls that are configured and enforced on the Citrix NetScaler today by the individual organisation.

A future document will be provided on how to set up client based certificates with the NetScaler and Armoured Client, to further prove authenticity.

Figure 1 – NS Gateway Session Policies with 2 StoreFront stores

Armoured Client Detection Policy & Profile

Create and configure a Session Policy and Profile for Users who:

This will be configured to point at the compliant StoreFront store.

Trusted Session Profile

add vpn sessionAction PF_GW_WB_192.168.0.45 -transparentInterception OFF -defaultAuthorizationAction ALLOW -SSO ON -homePage “https://sf1.ad.XXXXX.com/citrix/uatweb/” -icaProxy ON -wihome “https://sf.ad.XXXXX.com/Citrix/uatweb/” -ClientChoices OFF -ntDomain ad -clientlessVpnMode OFF -storefronturl https://sf.ad.XXXXX.com/Citrix/uatWeb/

Trusted – Session Policy

add vpn sessionPolicy PL_WB_192.168.0.45 “REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent NOTCONTAINS CitrixReceiver” PF_WB_192.168.0.45

Note the spelling of “ArmouredClient” as has been hard coded. In future releases this may change and also we plan to allow this to be a ‘per customer’ setting in the individual build.

Non-Armoured Client Detection Policy & Profile

Create and configure a Session Policy and Profile for Users who:

The standard Web Session Policy and Profile will catch all other Web Client requests where the user- agent string does NOT contain “ArmouredClient” and be configured to point to a different Storefront store which will have only published link/s to internal web page/s instructing the user how to download and install the Armoured Client.

Note: You will need to create a StoreFront store for Untrusted Sessions which is beyond the scope of this document, but straightforward to do.

Untrusted – Session Policy

add vpn sessionAction PF_WB_192.168.0.45 -transparentInterception OFF -defaultAuthorizationAction ALLOW -SSO ON -homePage “http://sf1.ad.XXXXX.com/citrix/storeweb/” -icaProxy ON -wihome “https://sf.ad.XXXXX.com/Citrix/storeweb/” -ClientChoices OFF -ntDomain ad -clientlessVpnMode OFF -storefronturl https://sf.ad.XXXXX.com/Citrix/storeWeb/

Set the Web Interface Address in the Session Profile to be the Untrusted Store URL / Name that you have configured in StoreFront.

Untrusted – Session Profile

add vpn sessionPolicy PL_WB_192.168.0.45 “REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent NOTCONTAINS CitrixReceiver” PF_WB_192.168.0.45

Policy Binding to Gateway

Both Session Policies must be bound to the Gateway Virtual Server.

The first policy created which catches the “ArmouredClient” string if present should be bound with a lower priority number (so that it gets processed first).

bind vpn vserver _XD_ag1 -policy PL_WB_192.168.0.45 -priority 110
bind vpn vserver _XD_ag1 -policy PL_WB_192.168.0.45 -priority 110

Testing / Expected User Experience

Finally test by:

If you require further information please do not hesitate to contact SCG via email on info@stadiacg.co.uk or via telephone on +44 (0) 20 7 0399 266 .

The post SentryBay Armoured Client for Citrix NetScaler Configuration Guide v1.0 appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

Introduction to Ivanti Application Control

Sun, 02 Feb 2020 21:53:00 GMT

Ivanti further enhances and simplifies Application Control and Privilege Management.

The post Introduction to Ivanti Application Control appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

SCG and deviceTRUST announce a Strategic Partnership.

Tue, 07 Jan 2020 14:55:00 GMT

The post SCG and deviceTRUST announce a Strategic Partnership. appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

What is Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)?

sunil.modhvadia@stadiacg.co.uk (Sunil Modhvadia) — Thu, 26 Dec 2019 14:56:38 GMT

The new season is a great reason to make and keep resolutions. Whether it’s eating right or cleaning out the garage, here are some tips for making and keeping resolutions.

Search Multiple Event Logs across Multiple Servers – EventCombMT.exe

Thu, 05 Dec 2019 19:37:00 GMT

Found this neat little tool from the peeps at Microsoft, available for download as part of the Account Lockout and Management Tools – https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=18465. The tool allows you to search for specific details (Event IDs, Sources etc) across multiple event logs over multiple servers at lightning spends.

It’s pretty simple to use and the following example searches for servers affected with the Event 1069 Issue.

Once downloaded run EventCombMT.exe

Click Options, Set Output Directory – C:\Temp\Event1069

Click Options, Select Only Get One Matching Event – this speeds up the search process as typically 1 event means there is an issue.

Click Options, Set Date Range, specify a suitable period as this also speeds up the search process.

Domain will auto populate with a logged in domain user, if not just add the domain FQDN.

—-
All other options should match above screenshot

Right Click the Highlighted Section above and Select Get Servers From File

Select C:\Temp\Event1069\Servers.txt (easier to have a text file with the full list for hundreds of servers)

Click Searches > Save This Search > 1069 – This will save the search for future use.

Click Search

Click Yes on the Left message

Once complete, open folder C:\Temp\Event1069 and see if any files have been generated.

Simples

Christopher Tracy

The post Search Multiple Event Logs across Multiple Servers – EventCombMT.exe appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

Ivanti User Workspace Manager Agents Silent Install

Sat, 05 Oct 2019 15:36:00 GMT

If you need to install the Ivanti User Workspace Manager Agents as part of a sequence or other silent install, the commands below should assist. Replace with the URL of the Ivanti UWM Management server or the load balanced address. If required, change the log file location/name. The install is slightly different to previous versions as the individual agents no longer require the URL of the Man Server, they now use the CCA URL.

Client Communications Agent

msiexec.exe /qn /i”ClientCommunicationsAgent64.msi” WEB_SITE=”” /norestart REBOOT=ReallySuppress /l*vx “c:\windows\AppSenseCCA.log”

Application Control Agent
msiexec.exe /qn /i “ApplicationManagerAgent64” /norestart REBOOT=ReallySuppress /l*vx “c:\windows\AppSenseAMA.log”

Environment Manager Agent
msiexec.exe /qn /i “EnvironmentManagerAgent64” /norestart REBOOT=ReallySuppress /l*vx “c:\windows\AppSenseEMA.log”

Performance Manager Agent
msiexec.exe /qn /i “PerformanceManagerAgent64” /norestart REBOOT=ReallySuppress /l*vx “c:\windows\AppSensePMA.log”

Application Control Analysis Service

msiexec.exe /qn /i “ApplicationManagerAnalysisService64” /norestart REBOOT=ReallySuppress /l*vx “c:\windows\AppSenseAMAS.log”

Regards

Nathan Browne

The post Ivanti User Workspace Manager Agents Silent Install appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

Ivanti AC – How to Disable an exe via Computer AD Group Membership (PowerShell Scripted Rule)

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 18:38:00 GMT

The Script below can be used within Ivanti Application Control to check if the local machine is a member of a specific group. This can be used a scripted rule to prohibit or allow access to certain binaries on a per machine basis. The example below searches for a group called disable_wordpad. It can be run per user or per computer, per user will mean a slight overhead on processing but allows the rule to be more flexible if the AD membership changes between logons.

#——————————————————————————

# https://www.stadiacg.co.uk/ – 02-10-2015 # Script to get the SID of the Current Logged on User and save to environment variable

#——————————————————————————

$MyGroup = “disable_wordpad”

$OutPut = ([adsisearcher]”(&(objectCategory=computer)(cn=$env:COMPUTERNAME))”).FindOne().Properties.memberof -replace ‘^CN=([^,]+).+$’,’$1′

IF ($OutPut -eq $MyGroup) { exit 0 } ELSE { exit 1 }

#——————————————————————————

Enjoy

The post Ivanti AC – How to Disable an exe via Computer AD Group Membership (PowerShell Scripted Rule) appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

Ivanti User Workspace Manager – Windows Server 2016 Pre-requisites using PowerShell

Tue, 10 Sep 2019 18:45:00 GMT

Below I have detailed the commands to install the Ivanti User Workspace Manager prereqs for Windows Server 2016.

The .NET Framework 3.5 isn’t part of the base image, instead the required media is downloaded from the Internet. If you don’t have an Internet connection you can specify the source location. The steps below assume that the Windows Server 2012 Source is at hand – the media contains the framework source files within the D:\sources\sxs folder.

It also assumes that you have no features or roles installed, running all the command won’t be an issue, any roles or features that are installed are skipped. In addition, adding the roles will install any pre-re features (and vice versa) which speeds up the commands below.

If you have the GUI not core version of 2016 installed then you will already have .NET Framework 4.5 Features installed.
Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-Features -Source D:\sources\sxs

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Server

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Security

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Basic-Auth

Add-WindowsFeature Web-IP-Security

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Windows-Auth

Add-WindowsFeature Web-App-Dev

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Net-Ext

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Net-Ext45

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Asp-Net

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Asp-Net45

Add-WindowsFeature Web-ISAPI-Ext

Add-WindowsFeature Web-ISAPI-Filter

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Mgmt-Tools

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Mgmt-Console

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Mgmt-Compat

Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-Core

Add-WindowsFeature NET-HTTP-Activation

Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-45-Features

Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-45-Core

Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-45-ASPNET

Add-WindowsFeature NET-WCF-Services45

Add-WindowsFeature NET-WCF-HTTP-Activation45

Add-WindowsFeature BITS

Add-WindowsFeature BITS-IIS-Ext

Add-WindowsFeature WAS

Add-WindowsFeature WAS-Process-Model

Add-WindowsFeature WAS-NET-Environment

Add-WindowsFeature WAS-Config-APIs

The post Ivanti User Workspace Manager – Windows Server 2016 Pre-requisites using PowerShell appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

Ivanti DataNow – What’s the Hype?

Tue, 02 Jan 2018 19:43:00 GMT

The guys n gals at the Ivanti have been pretty busy over the last 12 months and one of the apps that have hit us is Ivanti Datanow (formerly known as Project Orca) and soon to follow they will be releasing Ivanti File Director.

Citrix have always pushed the premise of Any Device, Anywhere and this has been a glimmer into what we now see as a fundamental part of everyday working – BYOD and other flexible mobile work style solutions.

Ivanti DataNow and the soon to be released File Director have taken the requirements of the modern day organisation and enabled the parts we require.

So what is it in and why is it key to enabling the BYOD lifestyle? Three perspectives below;

The Sales 1 Liner – “Simple and secure user access to enterprise data across Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android platforms”

My 1 Liner – “A corporate data access solution that can allows access from multiple devices”

The Ivanti 1 Liner – “The design principle behind DataNow is to allow an organisation to deliver data from disparate storage methodologies (SMB, FTP, Cloud, SharePoint, Saas Services, etc) and present that to a user as a single pane of glass”

Even though my 1 liner is fairly simplistic, the product is a foundation to a whole lot more, and remember it’s not a cloud storage solution, just a product that enables access to one, whether that be public or private – and that’s just the start. The AppSense 1 Liner or should I say paragraph nails this.

—
So what’s next….

Hope that helps explain it a bit better from a techies point of view.

The post Ivanti DataNow – What’s the Hype? appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

Task Manager Lite

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 18:37:00 GMT

After quite a few people grumbling about not being able to do much customisation of Task Manager within Windows, especially in a Citrix / SBC environment, we decided to create our own.

It’s pretty self-explanatory, it only shows the Current Users windows within the task manager so a user can close any open applications. It excludes all non-window processes which protects the users from doing something that could accidentally kill their session.

It also creates a file in Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments called tmlite_<username>.txt which details the Computer Name, Date, Time, Windows Name and Process that was killed by tmlite. This can be used to work out any common application deaths amongst users.

Download 〉

Enjoy

The post Task Manager Lite appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

PowerShell Script to get Current User SID

Fri, 07 Aug 2015 19:22:00 GMT

Script below to get the CU SID and save it to an environment variable called USERSID.

#——————————————————————————

# https://www.stadiacg.co.uk – 22-08-2019
# Script to get the SID of the Current Logged on User and save to environment variable
#——————————————————————————

# Get Username from CU Environment variable
$CurrentUser = Get-CU-SID ([Environment]::UserName)

# Parse Function to get SID
Set-Item -path env:USERSID -value ($CurrentUser)

# Set USERSID CU Environment variable
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable(“USERSID”, $CurrentUser, “User”)

#——————————————————————————
# Function to get Current User SID
#——————————————————————————

function Get-CU-SID
{
Param ( $CUIdentity )
$MyID = new-object System.Security.Principal.NTAccount($CUIdentity)
return $MyID.Translate([System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier]).toString()
}

#——————————————————————————

Enjoy

The post PowerShell Script to get Current User SID appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

Double Hop Drive Mappings

Sun, 26 Jul 2015 18:48:00 GMT

A good friend of mine ran into the problem below where users were unable to map their drives in a double hop environment. The whole solution looks something like this:

Situation A : User is connecting to Windows 7 VM via XenDesktop from Windows 7 Desktop. Then, from the VM he goes on and launches an application from XenApp 6.5 farm.

Result : User can see his network drives mapped in XenApp 6.5 session from Windows 7 VM.

Situation B : User is connecting to Windows 7 VM via XenDesktop from Wyse Terminal (RX0L). Then, from the VM he goes on and launches an application from XenApp 6.5 farm.

Result : User can’t see his network drives mapped in XenApp 6.5 session from Windows 7 VM.

Same network, same user with the same access rights, same Windows 7 VM and the same application hosted on XenApp 6.5. Wyse support didn’t really have any ideas, although they mentioned that this will probably be related to the version of Citrix client they use on their terminal. It is not a proper Citrix Receiver or anything like that. It is a custom client which is based on god knows what version of receiver or PNagent.

Anyway, I came across this article http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX127872 which described a similar situation, but with double hop being two XenApp servers rather than XenDesktop-XenApp. This reminded me the way ICA traffic functions. When you are connecting in a double hop environment, older clients by default will enable a pass-through connection. This means the last hop, in my case XenApp 6.5 server, is trying to map drives from the Wyse terminal because it thinks that it Wyse terminal is your local device and XenDesktop VM is just a jump-box.

It works fine when source device is a Win7 desktop because it is running Receiver 3.3 which by default does not use pass-through session mode. Obvious solution would be to disable pass-through mode on the source device, but as it is a Wyse terminal – we can’t really do that. So, I applied registry tweak on VM to modify drive mapping behavior to make sure that it thinks that is the starting point in this chain of connections and the problem was solved:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\ICA

Client\Engine\Configuration\Advanced\Modules\ClientDrive

Create the following registry value:

Value name: NativeDriveMapping

Type: REG_SZ

Value: True

Thanks for this, hopefully it should help some peeps out.

The post Double Hop Drive Mappings appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

Shadow Key 2012 – Update for Windows Server x64 / 64bit

Mon, 08 Jun 2015 19:29:00 GMT

For those of you who remember the shadow key in terminal services, is it used anymore and if so how. Hopefully the following faqs will shed some light on the matter.

What is the Shadow Key?

When an application is installed onto a terminal server (either natively on Windows x64 or by Change User Install command), the terminal server monitors the system calls in a few keys areas.

Any registry keys added to HKCU\Software are “shadowed” (copied) to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Install\Software – this is typically known as the Shadow Key location.

Any registry keys added to HKLM are “shadowed” to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Install\Machine

Any queries to the Windows directory return the %SYSTEMROOT% variable.

Any .ini file entries are added to the .ini files under the %SYSTEMROOT% directory.

The last 3 are not so much an issue for newer applications, the majority of applications that need to be aware have entries for HKCU\Software

Why is the Shadow Key needed?

So imagine what happens when you install an application on a server that has 1 HKCU location and multiple users will be connecting to it to launch a specific application.

Let’s take application X – this basic application installed onto a server that when installed writes a key to HKCU\Software\x\ImABadApp. This key is required for the application to run.

Now let’s see how it was installed, a service called domain\serviceinstall was used to install it. Well now you can see that the when installed the HKCU entry was added to the account that was logged on or run to install the application.

So if user domain\sunil logs on, he has no entry in HKCU\Software\x and the application fails.

The change user install mechanism monitors this key and when an entry is added, it gets shadowed so now if user domain\sunil logs on, the shadow key area is checked and added to the HKCU of users domain\sunil.

Is it required for Windows x64?

Yes, although there are now 2 locations, one for 32bit (WoW64) and one for native 64bit processing. WoW64 is a subsystem within x64 that intercepts any 32bit calls and redirects them to an “emulator” capable of handling 32bit processing.

x86 : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Install

x64: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Install

What if both Shadow Key locations have the same entry x86/x64?

Any duplicate Shadow Keys are merged together, any direct conflicts are won by the 32bit location.

If you have anymore questions, let me know via the comments and I will get them added.

Regards

Chris

The post Shadow Key 2012 – Update for Windows Server x64 / 64bit appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

Event ID 1035 — Terminal Server Listener Availability

Sat, 16 May 2015 15:06:00 GMT

I had an issue on the terminal server stack on one of my Citrix XenApp 6.5 servers recently.

The event log ID was 1035 and the message was Terminal Server listener stack was down

The OS was Windows Server 2008 R2 so unlike the previous versions of Windows, I was unable to rebuild the listener. It shows the reliance that ICA now has on RDP even though the protocols are supposed to be “independant”.

Initially I tried the compulsory server reboot and shockingly, it didn’t make any differencem Below are some of the areas I looked at, turns out that disabling and re-enabling worked for me but some more checks and options below.

Some quick checks that helped me below

1. Can you RDP to the server

2. Can you telnet the server on 3389

3. Have you checked the listener in the TCP stack – netstat –a

Some possible fixes

1. Try to disable and re-enable the remote desktop connections ..

a) On the terminal server, start the System Tool – Start, Run, Control Panel

b) Under Tasks, click Remote Settings .

c) In System Properties > Remote tab , select the Don’t allow connections to this computer option.

d) Repeat as above and re-enable the connections

2. Restart the Terminal Services Service

3. You can manually recreate the Listener by restoring the following registry key from another server that works fine (use the registry at your own risk).

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\ICA-TCP

4. As a last resort it may be an issue with Remote Desktop Services and the
windows Feature may need re-installing. However you will also have to reinstall
Citrix XenApp.

Regards

Nathan Browne

The post Event ID 1035 — Terminal Server Listener Availability appeared first on SCG - Stadia Consulting Group .

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Managed Service vs Managed Services:

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Cloud Migration - Is It For You?

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The ORIIUM Data Protection Platform and M365: A Guide

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So what can you do to protect your data and valuable business assets?

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How to protect M365 data with ORIIUM

Microsoft Teams: how does it work, what are the business benefits and what else should you know?

What is Microsoft Teams?

How Microsoft Teams works:

The increasing demand for effective remote collaboration

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The Evolution of Teams…

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What is Microsoft 365 (M365)?

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