MLS Backup time

Discussions around using and interfacing with the Church MLS program.
rolandc
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#21

Post by rolandc »

mrrad wrote:I live in an area where power blips and power failures have been common. I hesitate to leave the computer unattended all week in any power state other than completely off.

I would talk with Bishop and buy a 50.00 255 watt UPS (staples), even the small one will maintain a PC in standby for days. The church does advise to leave it on at least once a week (4 to 5 hours) so that sophos and TEM can do there thing

Just received this yesterday

July 2012 newsletter - Sophos

Sophos, is the official meetinghouse computer anti-virus/firewall software, approved for Church-owned computers. If you have or are using other anti-virus or firewalls please remove them and install Sophos.
Over the past several months, the client side engineering and operations teams have been working on improving desktop security.We have implemented some new best practices; upgraded server consoles, resolved many virus and potential issues in our environment, along with improving Sophos performance and capabilities.
The Sophos anti-virus system allows us to proactively manage the church’s entire fleet of computers worldwide from a central console(s) at Church Headquarters. We push updates, clean viruses remotely, and manage desktop firewall policies from Church Headquarters.
We have found some instances where Sophos has been disabled, removed or other anti-virus software is being used. We need your help to make sure that only Sophos is installed on Church owned computers. In addition, some computers are not being left on long enough to get all of the required updates and security patches. Please make sure Church computers are turned on four to five hours a week to receive updates for, but not limited to, Microsoft, Sophos, Adobe, and MLS.
New enhancements for Sophos:
Roland
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jeromer7
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Location: Bellevue, Nebraska

#22

Post by jeromer7 »

jeromer7 wrote:I haven't bothered talking to LUS as I figured this was something that everyone was seeing. I guess not!
I sent a query through MLS about the lack of the "Remove" option for finance statements and received the following: "This is a known problem with MLS. Programmers are working to correct the problem. At this time there is no time frame provided for when this will be resolved."
JLR
lajackson
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#23

Post by lajackson »

rolandc wrote:The church does advise to leave it on at least once a week (4 to 5 hours) so that sophos and TEM can do there thing

Well, that would be Sunday, then.
KenRichins
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Location: Live Oak, California, United States

#24

Post by KenRichins »

I think it would be wise to have the 4 to 5 hours be on any day BUT SUNDAY! Sunday is a VERY busy day for Church computers and trying to ADD maintenance and update task on Sunday would just add to the overloaded servers.
rolandc
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#25

Post by rolandc »

If the computer is set to go into standby after five hours of no user input, then all updates should run Wednesday night.
Roland
lajackson
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#26

Post by lajackson »

KenRichins wrote:I think it would be wise to have the 4 to 5 hours be on any day BUT SUNDAY!
I agree. But that is the only day the computer is attended for 4 to 5 hours.
rolandc wrote:If the computer is set to go into standby after five hours of no user input, then all updates should run Wednesday night.

Can the computer be set to turn off after five hours? I am not sure we have that capability on our older models, but that would be an option.

And is it possible that the 4 to 5 hours does not need to be contiguous? If the computer is on two hours during activity night and three hours (probably more) on Sunday, does that give time for the updates?
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gregwanderson
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Location: Huntsville, UT, USA

#27

Post by gregwanderson »

I only use Windows XP (haven't moved on to Windows 7 yet) but I also use a Mac, where start-up and shut-down times can be scheduled for specific days of the week... and I LOVE that. It's one of those things I expect Microsoft to adopt (aka steal the idea) but I don't know if it's a part of Windows 7. (I've seen suggestions about how this can be done with the cumbersome task scheduler, but on the Mac it's pretty simple.) Meanwhile, for my XP computer I like a nice, little freeware program called "Timed Shutdown" by Tinnes. Not sure if it's okay according to church software policies but I use it at home.
KenRichins
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#28

Post by KenRichins »

That is a feature of the BIOS not the OS and has been used on PC since 1980! However it has lost popularity in the consumer market as a whole. You are more likely to find it on older computers than newer one.
jpjones~ogr
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Location: Brigham City, UT, USA

#29

Post by jpjones~ogr »

Don't know yet what TEM is, but it sounds promising. Searching for it offers a lot of temple and statement findings.

Now I have new reasons to cite for slow PC function and back-ups. But I also can't suggest removal of financial statements any more.

It sounds like maintenance perspectives need a little flexibility. Because I work with other people I've learned to attack projects on flexible time frames. The unit PC is one of about 6 I currently access. Because I'm a somewhat busy person, like most other clerks I know, I reserve unit PC work for Sunday's. Luckily its on for about 9 hours those days because of a big time separation between leader meetings and block meetings. Leaving the PC on all week is problematic at least. I like the idea of having the PC power up for a specific day and time, but until now I hadn't heard of reasons or instructions to do so. Shouldn't STS's have been instructed to establish some off peak maintenance time?

It would be a nice surprise to have the unit PC respond much faster than it does, but, as my current boss would say, it is what it is, and, to paraphrase an early hero of mine, that's all that it is.

I'm curious as to when the back-up and security functions will become more invisible to power users.
ericwerny
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MLS Needs A Complete Re-Write

#30

Post by ericwerny »

MLS should go through a complete re-write or completely pull it to the web for domestic use. And yes I know there are many still stuck on dial-up.

But the back up problem needs to be address correctly.
sammyko wrote:I find that the backup time for MLS is over 2 mins.

Does it sound reasonable?

MLS will always ask for backup after changing finance data. I wish a backup can take a shorter time.
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