October 2020 - EstesGroup

Epicor System Monitor: Canceling a Hung Task

by Brad Feakes | Oct 24, 2020 | Epicor, Epicor 10, Epicor Administration, ERP Consulting

Epicor’s System Monitor is a handy ERP tool that can be used for one of many purposes in working with the background processes and reports that Epicor’s Task Agent orchestrates. The Epicor Task Agent handles all server-side tasks for a given application server. These can be scheduled tasks or “immediate run requests” that are triggered by end users. Additionally, these can be SSRS reports or long-running processes like MRP or PO Suggestions. Whatever the tasks may be, the Epicor System Monitor is the perfect tool for viewing their status as they run, and their history once they complete.

Chalkboard Sketch of Planning Steps Including Tasks

On occasion, a task may hang or get stuck such that it prevents further processing. Imagine that a process such as PO Suggestions hangs up and stops processing, for one of many reasons. Tasks are stored in Epicor’s SysTask table, and if an active task such as PO suggestions is stuck in the System Monitor, it will prevent any subsequent attempts to run PO Suggestions. This can be a great problem to a company that needs to get new suggestions in the hands of its purchasing department.

Epicor System Monitor Generate PO Suggestions

Fortunately, there are a number of steps one can take to cancel or complete a stuck task.

When troubleshooting a stuck task in Epicor, look to address it in the following order:

Cancel the task in the System monitor
Bounce the Task Agent
Bounce the AppServer instance
Update the rogue SysTask record directly in SQL

Cancel the Task in the Epicor System Monitor

The simplest way to kill a task is using the Epicor System Monitor itself. This can be done by navigating to the “Active Tasks” tab, selecting the task you intend to cancel and clicking the delete (“X”) icon. If successful, this task will fall out of the “Active Tasks” queue and fall into the “History Tasks” queue as a task with a status of “Cancelled”:

Bounce the Task Agent

If the task will not cancel through the System Monitor, you can try to bounce the Task Agent itself, which may free up the task and allow it to cancel. This is a relatively noninvasive method and will generally go unnoticed by the user community. From the AppServer, launch the Epicor Administration console, and from the Admin console, launch the Task Agent Configuration utility. Select the task agent you wish to cancel and from the “Actions” menu, select “Stop Agent…”:

Bounce the AppServer Instance

If a Task Agent bounce is ineffective, bouncing the AppServer itself may work. This is a much more invasive solution, so it should be done when the user load is low, or else at a prescribed time such that the user community will be prepared. From the Admin Console, navigate to the server you wish to bounce, right-click the server node and select “Stop Application Pool.” Once stopped, right-click it again and select “Start Application Pool.” In my experience, this will normally shake loose the stuck task:

Epicor System Monitor Admin Console to Stop a Hung Task

Update the rogue SysTask record directly in SQL

If all else fails, your last recourse is to update the SysTask record through SQL Server. Opening an instance of SQL Server Management Studio, navigate to the Database in question and create a new query. Enter the script below, adjusting the SysTaskNum to reflect the specific task number as found in the System Monitor. Run the query to update the record. While I am never a fan of direct SQL updates, this is one case in which such an update may be necessary.

update ice.SysTask set EndedOn = GetDate(), TaskStatus = ‘Complete’, History = 1 where SysTaskNum = 55228
delete ice.SysTaskKill where SysTaskNum = 55228

The Epicor System Monitor Lets You View, Manage and Cancel Tasks

At times, Epicor tasks need to be stopped. Hopefully, this article helped you understand the steps to take when trying to kill a task. This Epicor screen shows you which tasks are active, and it enables the initial steps for task resolution. You might even use this ERP feature daily. Due to its usefulness, the System Monitor is a classic. If your ERP system is a labyrinth, then your Epicor System Monitor is a golden thread, helping you navigate the maze and kill the wrongful task. As I’ve always said, it’s better to monitor than to minotaur…

For more ERP tricks from our Epicor consulting team, ask us for a case study on CTO and ETO implementations.

Or click here to watch our Epicor Summit to learn about Planning Workbench, SQL Server Administration, and SSRS Reports.

Benefits of Managed IT Services For Your Business

by EstesCloud | Oct 23, 2020 | Cloud, Hosting, Managed IT Services, Network Security

Is IT at the heart of your company?

Imagine your company is a heart, and managed IT services provide the health benefits to sustain your entire business system. You do the work you love, and your customers, your employees, and your products keep the beat. Technology is the energy that feeds each beat, helping you keep your rhythm. On that note, let’s look at the top benefits of managed IT services and how outsourcing some of your technology infrastructure can bring new value to your business.

Benefits of managed IT services for IT networks

Attention from an IT managed services provider gives you freedom.

If you’re a small business owner, you might have core people wearing the hats of IT, without the time or resources to fully engage new technology. Whenever you supplement your internal resources with external IT consulting experts, you open up time to focus on what you do best. Likewise, you free your people, meaning they’ll have more time for creativity and thought leadership in your organization. By freeing your core team from the responsibilities attached to the fast-changing complexities of technology, you ensure focus on your products, your processes, and your customer service.

Risk management, as a central feature of IT solutions, ensures uptime.

Straightaway, one of the top benefits of managed IT services is that you don’t have to worry about your backups. Similarly, your cybersecurity infrastructure and your compliance adherence is always at its best. As a result, you experience more uptime. Less time is lost to researching the latest security software or the most recent regulations affecting your industry. Moreover, a managed services provider (MSP) provides a solid risk management plan:

Data management, including backup solutions and backup testing
Network care, including network administration and security
Systems and software support, including 24/7 incident response monitoring and assistance
User training and testing capabilities, including penetration testing and real-time analytics
Audit and assessment management, including planning and scheduling

Supporting in-house talent with out-house IT skillsets

You wouldn’t want to ask your employees to beat your heart for you. Many companies find themselves in this sort of “CPR for IT” scenario. A break-fix methodology might work for a glitch in your network. However, more robust attacks can quickly sap the life from your core.

Sooner or later, you’ll find yourself in a situation that needs a more heroic save. Eventually, an aging server or a spear phishing attack will make you consider outsourcing some of the more difficult technology management. Whether you’re looking at cybersecurity or private cloud hosting, a good MSP doesn’t only provide a mere lifeline for your business. Rather, a managed services provider should prevent attacks and disruption.

Partnership with proven IT consultants and solutions gives you predictable costs in a scalable and adaptable framework.

Why choose an outsourced IT service? An information technology scramble can feel similar to a panic attack. If you fall behind on patches or updates, either on the software side or the hardware end of things, you open yourself up to ever-evolving threats. One of the great benefits of managed IT services is lower risk, and this means increased stability for your IT budget. Furthermore, you can know your investment brings your business the top solutions available to your industry.

Your partnership with a consulting firm of technology experts gives you talent aligned with your unique needs. Service level agreements define the relationship and the commitment. An MSP partnership acts as your metronome, meaning your technology is predictable and always set at the pace you’d like to keep.

Advanced technology means the sky’s the limit for business growth and success.

If your heart’s wish is to be a Boeing or a Lockheed Martin but you only have 100 employees to set your pace, rather than 100,000+, then partnering with an MSP levels the playing field by integrating advanced technology early in your game.

Why not implement advanced IT solutions in-house?

Malware is the tip of the spear in cyberthreat management, and compliance goes far beyond CMMC or HIPAA. MSP consultants let you focus on core business initiatives, while your outsourced resources reduce risk at lower monthly costs than if you’d solo the challenge. Especially if you’re caught in a cycle of break-fix services, you know how unpredictable technology can be, and managed services takes all the worry out of IT.

An MSP opens your doors to highly qualified, certified and experienced IT technicians, engineers and architects. In the end, your managed services provider holds the responsibility of keeping your technology competitive and secure. New solutions can be implemented while you’re thinking about future products and new customers.

With cloud solutions on the rise, you can stay above the storm by utilizing a team specifically trained for virtualization. You can work in Loveland, Colorado (home to the EstesGroup headquarters), or you can work from any airport or hotel or office building in the nation.

Benefits of managed services for cloud solutions

Advanced persistent threats are moving businesses into the secure lining of cloud technology. Moreover, the cloud provides the most economical long-term infrastructure to scale your business. New challenges to data management surface daily. Cloud services prevent revenue loss by keeping you up-to-date and secure. Cloud-based IT circumvents natural disasters and human errors. Across systems and devices, your backups and your real-time data are secured against ransomware and other malicious attacks. This is especially true when considering complex cloud ERP architecture.

Due to complex sync and share capabilities, workers are empowered through remote enablement, including virtual office deployment. As a result, your business is keeping pace with new, mobile technology. Meanwhile, your sensitive information and valuable business assets (the heart of your business) are secured by SECaaS (security as a service) in the cloud. Remote monitoring keeps track of your hardware and software for you. With telemedicine on the rise, a managed services company enables privacy protection that exceeds regulations like HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability). Unquestionably, the cloud makes compliance cost effective, and your in-house IT team is free from monitoring new governance and regulation.

EstesGroup tailors managed IT services through solutions that meet everything from basic needs to advanced requirements. In addition, our EstesCloud managed services provide private cloud hosting to support advanced IT needs, and we call our hosting platform ECHO. Our data centers protect sensitive data. Our IT services division is headquartered in Loveland, Colorado, but we have happy clients throughout the nation. Please ask to speak to them. EstesGroup also leverages the benefits of managed IT solutions with enterprise resource planning.

Learn more about managed IT

Learn more about what it means to be an MSP (Managed Services Provider) by chatting with us today. EstesGroup can Monitor, Protect, and Serve your business. See why companies choose managed IT by asking to talk to our happy customers.

How to Stop Social Engineering Attacks

by EstesCloud | Oct 16, 2020 | Cloud, Managed IT Services, Network Security, Security

Cybersecurity in the Ballot Box, the Bistro and the Bedroom

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a time when organizations across America join together to educate the public about cyberthreats like social engineering (especially phishing attacks). This year, it’s also the last full month to decide your vote for the 2020 election. As citizens consider the future of our country, we see the tech giants coming together to prevent election crime, while tech users struggle to keep up with device security. With online fraud on the rise, how do you know your business is protected from a cyberattack, especially when considering advanced techniques like social engineering?

How to stop social engineering attacks with access, login, passwords, security

Digital integrity continues to drive decisions in both the public and private sectors. Your online presence creates data that can be used to influence you. How many times have you seen an ad in your web browser and thought, “How in the world!? I was just thinking about that!” Because everything we do online can be tracked, documented, exchanged, and sold, we need to be aware of the risks. However, there’s no need to fear for your online safety. Our security consultants can quickly scan the dark web to see if your data is in the wrong hands.

National Cybersecurity Month comes to us from organizations that promote assertiveness, rather than paranoia. We don’t have to be afraid of our connectivity or our devices. On the contrary, we need to embrace them holistically and attentively (and with a little help from the cybersecurity experts).

How to stop social engineering attacks at work and at home

Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart.

Home Connectivity: This week’s cybersecurity awareness theme is “Securing Devices at Home and Work.” When reviewing the year, did you spend time working from home? Did you have children suddenly in Zoom classes, rather than in a traditional classroom? Did you have the resources you need (virus, malware, and ransomware protection) to stay safe online?

Business Technology: Your business couldn’t operate without digital interactions with devices outside of your office walls. Furthermore, your business can’t operate without a dedicated plan for protecting employee and customer data. How do hackers get into your system? Common external penetration methods include baiting, phishing, and spear phishing.

Baiting: Curiosity killed the network

First of all, baiting attacks can begin with hardware or with software. For example, a hacker can leave a corrupted flash drive on your desk, and the attack begins with the physical action of a user plugging it into a laptop and then clicking through files that install malware throughout the system. How to stop this social engineering technique from attacking your business begins with employee cybersecurity awareness training.

October is a perfect month for bringing in external cybersecurity resources to help bolster your team. To begin, we can provide system assessments that surface hacker access points. Then, our engineers can test your users. For example, our security technicians can engineer a scareware drill to make users think they’re clicking to patch, when really they’re getting tricked into a click. If your employees understand the various forms of baiting, then you can prevent a data breach.

Phishing: The one that got away

Did you ever see a prompt to “click here” or “download now” from an email that was obviously fake? In the past, phishing emails were more obvious. A strange font or a missing signature was clue enough. Unfortunately, advanced social engineering technology now lets a cybercriminal twin a real user’s software behaviors.

Because phishing is the most common social engineering tactic, NIST recently developed the Phish Scale, a cybersecurity tool that helps businesses surface network vulnerabilities by assessing cues, click rates, and user interactions in regard to phishing email difficulty levels. This new method of testing phishing attempts assists cybersecurity experts by evaluating spoofed emails through advanced data analysis. CIOs, CISOs, and other technology experts can use this tool to optimize phishing awareness and training programs.

Spear Phishing: In IT together

Often, a phishing email comes to your inbox addressed specifically to you but without personal information as part of its composition. Therefore, signs of imitation are more easily observed. “Click to download” prompts hesitancy if the email comes with a generic invitation.

When an email comes through with more personalized data, like a personal email signature or an attached thread of coworkers, it can trick you into thinking the sender is legit. In this case, a hacker follows the digital footprints of a user and engineers that data to create a personalized phishing attack. Think of this as the Shakespeare of social engineering, and the play is written for you and with you as the inspiration.

When organizations create security strategies in an effort to prevent social engineering attacks, phishing prevention is always a sign of a thorough plan. When considering phishing emails, keep in mind that malware can stay undetected in a system for months before the IT department discovers the penetration. Spear phishing can prompt a sly malware that quickly infects an entire network.

Vote to Stop Cybercrime

At EstesGroup, we know how to stop social engineering attacks from harming your business. Furthermore, we know how to take the worry out of IT (with managed IT). Protecting everything from saved credentials to individual clicks, our cybersecurity experts defend your business while you do the work you love. Do your coworkers need practice in recognizing the fraudulent behaviors fueling social engineering attacks? October is a perfect month to initiate new security policies and procedures, and to test your cybersecurity plan.

EstesGroup is a 2020 National Cybersecurity Awareness Month Champion. We provide the most secure cloud solutions available to businesses. Read more about National Cybersecurity Month at the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) or at the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Phishing prevention is a challenge even for tech companies. Our information security tips can help you avoid a data breach. Talk to our cybersecurity experts today about how you can protect your business.

Private Cloud Solutions For Businesses Webinar

What is Disaster Recovery as a Service?

by EstesCloud | Oct 9, 2020 | Backup, Cloud, Managed IT Services, Security

A DRaaS Solution For Drastic Measures

A look at word origins surrounding business continuity can help answer the question, “What is disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS)?” The word “disaster” contains the ancient weight of misfortunate heavens. As history goes, disaster is simply a bad star, and recovery is the return from unfortunate fate. In today’s technological culture, “recovery” (to the core of IT) means a return to digital health following a software or hardware mishap. On this note, let’s take a closer look at the fate of your business to help you clarify both the “what” and the “if” of your disaster recovery as a service strategy.

Is Your Data on a Close Cloud or on a Faraway Star?

It would take you more than 1000 human lifetimes to reach the closest star in our galaxy. If your current disaster recovery plan is at that same pace, then you might need to bet your luck on a different disaster recovery plan. This is where DRaaS services benefit companies. With real-time backups and fast restore solutions, the hybrid cloud architecture of DRaaS keeps your business operating on proven luck, rather than on hopeful wishes.

First of all, your lucky stars in IT (especially when it comes to disaster recovery) are always at a distance. Your business creates volumes of data, especially if you’re operating in an ERP solution. You need a backup that isn’t directly on-site in case a natural disaster takes out your IT infrastructure. By creating a virtual office environment, for example, you can securely work from home if your office has a fire.

If you’re asking “what’s DRaaS?” then it might be a good time to revise your disaster recovery policies. Data recovery services contain, in essence, a distance of time. Therefore, you need to consider how long can you survive before a data restoration returns your business to normal activities. How much downtime is acceptable? Hours? Days? A week or longer? Hopefully, you’re not merely wishing on stars for things like business continuity and business resiliency.

Backup and Data at a Distance

Distance is a protective step for backup and disaster recovery planning. However you choose to copy your data locally, you need to protect your on-premise data with a remote recovery solution. As a feature of top DRaaS solutions, co-located data centers ensure that nothing you want to keep is lost in the shuffle of a disaster recovery. DRaaS allows you to exclusively focus on your business, while data recovery specialists carry the weight of replication stability and everything else, like clean rooms and compliance regulations.

Fundamentally, if you’re a business owner, you need two things when developing your disaster recovery plan:

A protected (often remote) environment that holds your backups
A plan for data recovery in the event that you need to tap into your backups

What’s DRaaS According to Fate?

A DRaaS solution is simply a private cloud computing environment on a partner’s server. Your data backups sync to a secure cloud, and an auxiliary server comes to the rescue when disaster strikes. For example, if your system goes down, and you’re using our DRaaS solution, your business seamlessly moves to a cloud-based server reserved for your data during the duration of a disaster data loss. What exactly happens following a disaster? Is your data recovery software ready?

First, you experience a hardware or a software failure. This might be ransomware, or this might be a hurricane.
Next, you realize your system is in the middle of a disaster, but you don’t worry because you’ve chosen DRaaS as part of your business continuity plan.
Then, business goes on as normal because your solution keeps your business running in a third-party computing environment. Your virtual server prevents downtime and data loss by moving you to a comprehensive virtual office. When your physical servers are compromised, your hybrid cloud infrastructure serves to keep your company running smoothly, ensuring productive employees and happy customers in your near future. This often means working remotely because what’s DRaaS good for on-premise if your facility is in shutdown mode?
Finally, you’re restored to business as usual, according to your recovery and restoration plan. The disaster is over. Your business continues, and your customers don’t even know you were compromised.

How to Choose Between Basic Recovery Solutions and DRaaS

DRaaS is a robust solution, allowing complex manufacturing facilities to operate without the threat of server failure. But how do you decide if you need the best available disaster recovery services? First, consider your luck. Then, consider your backups. What is the likelihood that your business will experience a disaster?

Do you live in an area with hurricanes, tornadoes, or earthquakes?
Are you on a rural grid with frequent utility outages?
Are you light on cybersecurity, and therefore at risk of a cyberattack?
Did you ever spill a coffee on your keyboard and delete important data in the cleanup?
Do you have old hardware that might fail from normal wear and tear?

More than half of data loss is caused by human mistakes. From cyber attacks to deleted files, human error is as steady as the constellations. Unfortunately, 58% of small and midsize businesses are not prepared for any level of data loss. On the same note, 29% of hard drive failures are due to accidents, and this data loss in such an event is entirely preventable.

At first and at last, consider your losses. If you were to experience a “bad star” data disaster, what are your expectations for your data restore?

Can your business survive a few days of downtime?
Can your employees and your customers handle a few days or weeks of data erasure?
Do you need failover and failback to maximize uptime and secure data by the minute or the hour?

We “R” in the Cloud

Replication, Retention, Recovery, Restoration, RPO, and RTO

Data replication and retention couple for data protection. You create copies of your data so that you can recover any losses in your future. Data replication can create real-time copies in the cloud. Backup services for data replication and retention can also migrate data into cloud storage for backup or even for analytics. Data from physical servers can be replicated, or copied, to support easy availability during a disaster recovery. Because data retention is often a requirement for compliance, companies benefit from data replication services, even if they don’t require a hot site during a disaster.

Data recovery and restoration couple for data continuity. To create a disaster recovery plan, you need to consider RPO and RTO. Understanding these helps you define your best options when recovering data.

What’s DRaaS RPO?

Recovery point objectives are based on your data replication needs in terms of frequency of application backup. At the end of the day, how much data loss can your business withstand?

What’s DRaaS RTO?

How much time can your lose? Your recovery time objective refers to your accepted timeline to data recovery and application restoration. Do you want your business to live on the cloud until on-premise resources are restored? Or can you handle a day or two of downtime?

What is Disaster Recover as a Service for the Future?

Do you want seamless cloud environments to allow for full business continuity during a disaster? Future-focused, a virtual server provides 100% RTO by moving your work into a failover cloud computing environment, regardless of your disaster scenario. The fate of your business with private cloud hosting keeps you thanking your lucky stars that your disaster recovery plan continuously protects your digital well-being.

Learn how ECHO can echo your data

EstesGroup can help define and design your recovery process based on your operating systems and your private and public cloud usage. We can even perform data and backup testing so that you can rest easy knowing that your data is safe, secure, and always protected. We’ll count your data stars for you, so you can focus on the work you love.