1. Scalability

When your business grows, your IT needs may change. In many cases, a company’s IT needs evolve simply based on advances in technology and new industry-related requirements. That is why scalability is so vital. With a scalable architecture, you can ensure your IT structure and resources will be able to handle your company’s needs as they change. Building this sort of system with in-house resources is often extremely challenging, but most managed IT support services are designed to provide scalable solutions.

2. Reduced Costs

While you may have to increase your budget initially to pay for the managed services contract, chances are you will save money over time. Managed service providers can give your business the IT support it needs without requiring you to pay for all the hardware and network elements yourself. Additionally, you can avoid paying for upgrades every time there is a technological breakthrough, as most MSPs provide cutting-edge technology as part of their service.

3. Improved Productivity

When you don’t have to assign IT tasks to your staff members, you can keep 100% of your employees’ creativity, innovation, and focus on your company’s core mission. Outsourcing your IT support can ensure your in-house team has the time and energy to perform their roles well, making your business more competitive and successful.

4. Better Security

Security is one of the most important aspects of IT. Keeping your network secure is easier when you have experts focusing on security and compliance tasks. A reliable managed service provider should dedicate the resources to make sure your network and data are safe. In most cases, having an MSP will also reduce downtime related to security issues.

Outsourcing your IT support may provide numerous benefits for your business. You can rely on a managed service provider to handle security and build a scalable solution that meets your company’s needs. When you hire experts for your IT support, you can remove that responsibility from your in-house employees, giving them more time and energy to focus on their unique jobs and goals.

The post Top Benefits of Outsourcing Your Company’s IT Tasks appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

PHP, as a program language, has its only life cycle.

The main three version of PHP is 5.3, 5.4, and 5.5.

PHP5.3 will be supported until July, 2014. It is still the main default version in CentOS.

PHP5.4 will be supported until March, 2015

PHP 5.5 will be supported until June, 2016.

Each version of PHP has three years life from the release date.

I have a performance test with real forum environment. It is running based on phpBB 3.0.11 forum software.

PHP 5.3
542.2ms

PHP 5.4 with OPcache
516ms

PHP 5.5 with OPcache
514ms

If possible, I will recommend to use the latest stable version of PHP, PHP 5.5. But in the realistic world, I can not do that, because some software I use doesn’t support it. I have to use the old version PHP5.3.

And the problem bothers me is how to use multiple PHP version in same VPS, or even in same website.

I am doing research and testing. I will post the results later.

p.s. PHP 5.6 is in beta now. Official release day is not confirmed.

The post PHP 5.3, PHP5.4 and PHP5.5 appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

Google Voice: Not Supported on OBi Devices After May 15, 2014

Back at the end of October, Obihai announced Google would end its support for the XMPP communication protocol. This announcement came on the heels of Google’s announcement that as of May 15th, XMPP would no longer be supported for third-party VoIP applications. The Google Voice service uses XMPP to connect the OBi to the service. With that, after May 15th Obihai will no longer support the Google Voice service on its OBi devices.

So, it is time to find a alternative service provider. Maybe I will choose one from the following:

• Anveo
• Broadvoice
• Callcentric 
• CallWithUs 
• Localphone  
• OneSuite 

The post Can not use Google Voice with Obi device anymore appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

Microsoft has announced the Windows XP end of support date of April 8, 2014. After this date, Windows XP will no longer be a supported operating system*. To help organizations complete their migrations, Microsoft will continue to provide updates to our antimalware signatures and engine for Windows XP users through July 14, 2015.

Microsoft anti-malware support for Windows XP.

The post Microsoft extend the partial support for Windows XP appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

Today, I sign in LogMeIn account and saw this news.

To continue using remote access, you’ll need to purchase an account subscription of LogMeIn Pro. As a loyal user, you’re entitled to discounted introductory pricing, with packages starting at $49/year for two computers.* Your new account includes our signature remote access with premium features like remote printing, file transfer and cloud data access, plus desktop and mobile apps to improve your experience.

Please note: If you do not take action, the Free computers highlighted in your account will become inaccessible on 1/28/2014. Only 7 days left!

The post LogMeIn Free will no longer be available appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

After that, I reboot the VPS, then, lost the connection to this VPS and web site.

• Can not access the web site on it from browser.
• Can not access the VPS through ssh
• Can not access the VPS through Serial Console.

I create a ticket on servermania support.  The support team replied in 20 minutes.

After two conversation between Andrew and me.

He told me that the problem is:

The yum update had broken the iprouting on the OS which caused the venet to not come up.

He fixed the problem and the VPs is back now.

Now the VPS powered by CentoOS 6.5.

The post Site is down due to the network issue appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

There are certain terms of Microsoft support lifecycle.

Mainstream support: Microsoft will offer mainstream support for a minimum of 5 years from the date of a product’s general availability, or for 2 years after the successor product is released, whichever is longer. For example, if you buy a new version of Windows and five years later another version is released, you will still have two years of support left for the previous version.

Extended support: Microsoft will offer extended support for either a minimum of 5 years from the date of a product’s general availability, or for 2 years after the second successor product (two versions later) is released, whichever is longer.

Regarding Windows XP

• Mainstream support ended on April 14, 2009
• Extended support will be ended on April 8, 2014

So, I remove the Windows XP installation from my Acer Aspire One netbook. It is so old. I only changed the SSD from the original poor performance 8GB SSD by a new 32GB SSD.

Then, I installed the CentOS 6.4 on it. It works very smoothly.

The post Windows XP: End of the life appeared first on David Yin's Blog.