FRBA Toolkit

Florida Rural Broadband Alliance



Training

The following are websites that provide training in broadband and technology.


Self-Diagnostic Websites

The following are websites that will assist you with improving your network.


Tools

The following are tools to assist you with managing your information technology resources.

Tool Price Web Address Description
RAPID7 Nexpose Free (or paid) rapid7.com A free network vulnerability scanning tool. Alerts system administrators to potential threats.
NMAP Free (open source) nmap.org A very popular, free network scanning tool that shows potential vulnerabilities and devices with open ports on your network. There is a Windows and Linux version, with GUI's.
Solarsinds WMI Free http://goo.gl/7PSwX A free, extremely easy to use monitoring tool to ensure critical services remain online on servers.
Likewise Free likewise.com/products/index.php A Linux application that allows you to configure Linux-based systems to easily authenticate using Active Directory Servers.
Adeona Free (open source) adeona.cs.washington.edu A fee anti-theft tool that you can install on laptop computers to track in case of theft.
TrueCrypt Free (open source) truecrypt.org

A free tool that can encrypt entire computers, hard-drives, or folders.


Procedures & Documentation

Recommended Standard Operating Procedures to have in-place:

  1. Setting up, changing, or decommissioning servers
  2. Setting up, changing, or decommissioning employee workstations
  3. Setting up, changing, or decommissioning public terminals
  4. Configuring new employee accounts upon hiring/position change
  5. Removing/disabling employee accounts upon termination/position change
  6. Inspecting or running backups
  7. Restoring files from backups
  8. Restoring servers from backups
  9. Applying operating system and application patches to employee workstations and public terminals
  10. Applying operating system and application patches to servers

Recommended Recurring Procedures:

  1. Periodic review of IT budget and development of an operational IT plan, including budget.
  2. Apply patches to software, malware protection, and operating systems.
  3. Distribute training procedures to personnel to remind each person of their contribution to network security.
  4. Review authentication logs for attempted brute-force attacks or other abnormalities.
  5. Review firewall traffic logs for nefarious traffic and other abnormalities.
  6. Review backup logs or backup email notifications to ensure that backups are functioning correctly.
  7. Spot check backups by attempting to access files from the backup volumes and restore them.

Other documentation to have on-hand:

  1. Per physical network device:
    1. Type of device (server, workstation, network switch, etc.)
    2. Make, model
    3. Serial Number / Service Tag Number
    4. Date of purchase
    5. Length of warranty/service-contract
    6. MAC addresses of all interfaces
    7. Responsible party
    8. Physical location assigned to
    9. Purpose
    10. Technical Specifications, including:
      1. CPU, Memory, Hard Disk
      2. RAID configuration (if any)
      3. Redundant power configuration (if any)
      4. Other specs, depending on the device
  2. Basic network map showing subnets and network devices
  3. Schedule for:
    1. Checking UPS batteries
    2. Scanning network for vulnerabilities