Imaging & Document Solutions - Tips & Traps: Orphaned Software

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Keep The Scanners Running

High-availability features on storage systems and servers are a given, but you won’t find too many on high-end scanners. If scanners go down in a high-volume environment, documents can quickly backlog and business activity grind to a halt.

How can you ensure that your scanners will be there when you need them? To improve scanning uptime, follow these tips:

1. Set up redundant scanners at central production facilities. Most choose a combination of one or more production scanners and one or more back-up mid- or low-speed scanners. The higher-end machine(s) should be able to handle your average daily workloads, while the lower-end backups will take up peak loads or keep things moving if the main scanner(s) goes down. It’s not a bad idea to have separate scanners on separate, isolated power systems. Fire suppression systems should be dry rather than water-based to preserve documents and equipment in the event of a fire.

2. Spread your scanning over several workstations. This is a variation of the “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” rule. Each scanner should have its own computer. You might also consider a distributed scanning environment in which the people closest to the paper scan where they work. This can lower scanning and shipping costs while capturing documents earlier.

3. Choose between high-volume scanners or mid- to low-volume scanners. Production scanners are more robust, and their manufacturers offer 24-hour replacement and service contracts. Low-speed scanners are easier to deploy in larger numbers and may be a better choice in shops where loads vary widely.

4. Keep spare parts on hand. Scanners, like printers, are mechanical devices that suffer wear and tear. Most include a number of user-replaceable components including lamps and rollers. Keep extra parts on hand.

5. Clean and maintain your scanner on a regular basis. All paper generates paper dust, which builds up and affects image quality and paper transport. Vacuum or blow out the transport at least once per week. Clean rollers with isopropyl alcohol or a manufacturer-recommended cleaning fluid. Higher-end scanners include calibration kits and/or software. Calibration adjusts for changes in bulb intensity and improves image quality. Recalibrate monthly or weekly depending on scanning volumes.

Set Up a Sticky Trap To Catch Malicious Hackers

If your system is plagued with break ins by malicious hackers, you can lure them away from your real network and find out how they operate with a honey pot.

A honey pot is a computer that is set up as an ordinary server behind your fire wall. Using “packet sniffers” and applications designed to trace visitors and track changes as they are made, you can learn how these hackers (or “crackers”as some call them) work — where and how they’re entering your system, what types of viruses they’re downloading and what types of information they’re looking for.

Set up the honey pot with sweet offerings by giving it a high-profile tag like “Name Server” or “Mail Server.” Then sit back and watch the lure work.

Be sure to wall off a honey pot from the rest of your network, and make sure it can’t be used to mount attacks on other systems by blocking outbound traffic at the fire wall.

Cram Course: Have a Sip of WINE

Though the Linux operating system has gained popularity and a growing number of mainstream applications are being written for it, few specialized applications have been developed for vertical markets. How can longtime Windows developers build Linux applications without reprogramming their products from the ground up?

It turns out that the open software movement has had a solution since 1993 with WINE (Windows on Unix), which makes DOS, Windows 3.1, and 32-bit APIs available on Unix and Linux systems. Some applications may be able to run unmodified on Linux under the WINE APIs, but most require some amount of reworking. With WINE, however, the number of modifications needed to port applications from Windows to Linux is reduced.

WINE is open source, which means developers can modify it to suit applications. It is distributed under the Berkeley Software Distribution license, so software projects that incorporate WINE don’t have to be distributed as free or open source. WINE supports winsock.dll and other important Windows libraries. Each application that runs with WINE functions in its own protected memory space. If the application crashes, the rest of the system remains safe. Applications using WINE should run at or near full speed.

WINE’s downside is its restriction to x86 implementations of Linux and Unix. If you are running Linux on a PowerPC or Solaris on a Sparq, WINE will not work. Also, WINE doesn’t talk directly to hardware.

For more information, visit: www.winehq.com; www.willows.com; and www.codeweavers.com.