Matt40k

I was just working on dbSend and the clean up code and it reminded of Becta document with regards to data security. http://schools.becta.org.uk/upload-dir/downloads/data_encryption.pdf

Basically it got me thinking about wheither or not I should include file shredder, or if I should recommend a 3rd party application like most applications.

Securely deleting protected data

A normally deleted file can be recovered, since only the directory entry and not the file contents are removed from the disk. Even if the file is later overwritten by a new file, it may still be possible to recover part of the content.

For example, in a simple file system, with 1Kb blocks, if a file of 973 bytes is overwritten by a file of 744 bytes, there will be 229 bytes of the original file which will not be overwritten. Depending on how sensitive that data was, this may be a problem.

Government guidelines mandate the secure deletion of files (when they are no longer needed) by randomly overwriting files to government standards (usually seven times). This functionality is provided by the use of encryption software.

Good practice in information handling: Data encryption / Becta

I’ve basically be looking for a single ZIP library that does everything I want. Well I’ve failed. I’ve found two however, 1 solely for compression DMS. Quite simply put, it’s fast. It backups just as fast as you do one of the databases.

As for the remaining compression task, it does it well, rather impressioned too. It can zip, split it up into little chunks if need (bad internet connections) and do AES 256 bit encrypt, all still 100% compatible with WinZip and WinRar!

Few details from my test machine.

• AMD 2GHz uni-core CPU
• 2GB DDR400 NON-ECC (Dual Channel)
• SATA2 7,200RPM (fragment as hell)
• WinXP Pro SP2, Kaspersky AV v8 (and other apps running)

Backing up Capita’s Waters Edge SIMS database and the FMS database (I think is actually for Green Abbey) and Water Edge’s DMS.

fms.bak    106,706KB
sims.bak   617,620KB
dms.zip    123,247KB (Note ZIPPED, on disk is 164 MB)

Compressed zip 148MB

1x  8,580KB  .zip
14x 10,240KB .zippart

So that’s 151,940 KB compressed and 847,573 KB uncompressed (well DMS technically compressed)
About 1:5 compression ratio!

He’s the snippit of the log:

25/04/2009 14:52:54  Started
25/04/2009 14:53:09  Backup of SIMS started
25/04/2009 14:54:29  Backup of SIMS ended
25/04/2009 14:54:29  Backup of FMS started
25/04/2009 14:54:53  Backup of FMS finished
25/04/2009 14:54:53  Backup of DMS started
25/04/2009 14:56:54  Backup of DMS finished
25/04/2009 14:56:54  Compression started
25/04/2009 15:06:29  Compression finished

Note that started is from dbSend is clicked, not actually start button being pressed.

I’ve managed to do a bit more today. I’ve add an icon, not sure if I like it, so it might (well highly likely) change before a stable release (1.0.0).

I’ve made it so you can select and copy the autogen password now, also I’ve added a button to open the backups folder (another new feature in 0.0.5).

I’ve also updated the /config switch, you can now either use it to point to another location for your SIMS.ini or use a (dbsend) ini file.

Example:

[dbsend]
SIMSServerName=SIMSSERVER\sims2005
SIMSDatabaseName=sims
SIMSSQLAppsDirectory=C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\binn
FMSServerName=SIMSSERVER\sims2005
FMSDatabaseName=fms
FMSSQLAppsDirectory=C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\binn
DMSDirectory=C:\DOCSTORAGE\SIMSSERVER\sims2005\SIMS

I’ve spend so more time on dbSend today, not quite ready to release it as another version to the public yet.

Current bug fixes are:

• Resolved GUI issue with SFTP enable\disable
• Add place holder for ad (with URL)
• First attempt at resolving GUI bug issue with status bar
• Resolved GUI bug where SFTP is not displayed on status bar
• Status messages admended
• New zip library resolves issue with DMS and extremely poor performance (now sub-5mins rather then ~5hrs)
• Add /config switch
• Add folder for non-SFTP backups

The /config switch solves issues with central hosting, allowing the user to point dbsend to a non-standard location. Thanks Jonathan for the info.

As for SFTP, I’ve fixed a lot of the problems that I created in 0.0.4. Basically I wanted remove the hardcoded user\pass quickly after Simon pointed out the floor, so I didn’t waste much time testing. On the plus side, dbSend can now be used for UAT, not something I really wanted to do, but hey, it’s not really a problem.

I’ve add a place holder for an Ad. The idea is to get a company to sponsor dbSend, rather then me having to rely on Google Ad money to fund the project, which could be something I have to look at soon. So far my desktop holding up, still not sure how good dbSend is on multi-core systems, what with having only 1 core, everything is currently guess work.

I’ve add a new folder, backup, within dbSend, this will have all the zip of any non-SFTP backup. I’ve done a little playing around with the .msi, however I haven’t done anything that’ll go towards the final build. I won’t prob do any else with the .msi until I get the icons sorted.

I’ve just finished downloading the Vista VHD from Microsoft. So I’ll be doing some Vista based testing, hopefully it should work out-of-the-box. Assuming my desktop can handle the load

From a basic testing I’ve done so far there are still some basic bugs that need resolving. I’ve also really got to start adding debugging information too, for if the internet goes down mid SFTP transfer and such, ready for the first stable release, 1.0.0. Final thing I’m thinking about is way of pulling the information for central hosted. I have an idea, how well it works is another thing, still if it doesn’t work, they’ll be stuff using the /config switch

Current reported bugs.

• Unticking SFTP does not disable SFTP user\pass
• When start is clicked, SFTP group is not disabled
• Bug with Friendlyname – SIMS connect.ini
• Problem backing up DMS if IP address is used in connect.ini
• GUI visual bug with status bar
• Possible move non-SFTP to subfolder with shortcut

Following a user request with regards to security, I have removed the hardcoded user\pass for Capita’s SFTP server.
You can get Capita’s SFTP username and password from the Capita helpdesk.