I've mostly used TrippLite and Dell rack KVMs. Just the standard ones that have a 17" monitor and rails so I can see what's going on with a server that is down.

The scope is to check on servers that are in a critical state so using software based solutions like Multiplicity I don't think would work, since the machine isn't booted up to be able to load the software, right? Unless I'm mistaken somewhere on that...

What KVM are you using? Got any recommendations before I buy something like this:

http://www.tripplite.com/netdirector-8-port-1u-rack-mount-console-kvm-switch-17-in-lcd~B02000817/

After about an hour on the phone I have info for you... I also was researching T-Mobile during that time. I asked how someone in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada would get service, or where the nearest brick and mortar store was.

So T-Mobile International AG (headquarters Bonn, Germany) has many subsidiaries in the US, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Europe, and others but not Canada. One of those subs is Telekom Romania which is why you're able to find them with a different name.

Since they have no subsidiaries in Canada, you can't originate your account from Canada, even if you call in to start an account. You can get service in Canada if your account originates from a subsidiary region.

So I was deploying images with WDS but it didn't give very much control so I setup MDT 2013. After stripping out all the drivers/images from WDS and doing everything in MDT then importing the WinPE image into WDS. Now the target computer I'm testing with is taking a very long time to download the WinPE image.

When testing the new SCCM release, I had to modify the registry on the SCCM server to speed things up but WDS didn't require that (had to do with block sizes/etc).

Any ideas why MDT/WDS might be very slow? Our network throughput is very high and the servers have plenty of resources so I'm thinking it's a configuration of MDT/WDS on my part...

If I remove the boot image in WDS (created in MDT), and just create one in WDS, it is just as slow. So taking MDT out of the equation, it looks like a configuration issue with WDS specifically...

We went back to SCCM so I had to configure the right-click tools. Here's one I started with, if you haven't tried them out, they make your job easier. They add more functionality, this one adds the ability to remove a deployment that is being advertised to clients.

https://gregramsey.net/2013/04/16/how-to-add-a-delete-deployment-action-to-right-click-actions-in-configmgr-2012/

@BBigford said in Light Gaming Desktop:

@scottalanmiller said in Light Gaming Desktop:

@travisdh1 said in Light Gaming Desktop:

@Kelly said in Light Gaming Desktop:

In that price range it is hard to build for better or less than OEMs. I've had good experiences with iBuyPower machines, but there are so many options. A refurb might be a good direction to go too.

Yeah, it's hard to beat iBuyPower or CyberPower most of the time. A couple weeks ago I got some friends kid a system from CyberPower, I don't think they've seen him since we got it plugged in.

We found a super cheap CyberPower that might be the way that she goes.

I.... very much disagree. As a prior boutique builder, there is a lot to be said about pre-built rigs vs. building your own. Has little to do with the experience, or saving money. It's the exact comparison I would use as another thread going on that's based around buying a Synology box or building up a SAM-SD. They both serve pretty much the same function, one just performs a lot better but doesn't have a single point of contact for support.

But if price is the bottom line, that's hard to compete with because pre-built ones offer pricing that is super competitive.

@TAHIN said in MS System Center Licensing:

I'm not a fan of VMM. Literally every time I log in there's something about he console I have to fix. Or the constant WMI queries to the hosts killing my backups. The virtual switch/logical switch/logical network concept is a overly complicated knockoff of VMware distributed switches.

I am very interested in 5nine Manager however. Have you run a demo in your environment?

Haha ooooh I am SO done with VMM. I tore that stuff out months ago. Never again.

Looking for an alternative to group policy for our Apple computers. We have one Mac Pro and a dozen MacBook Pro laptops. Our contracts state we have to have computers connect to WiFi based on the PC, not based on the user. This means that auto-connect has to happen prior to CTRL+ALT+DEL (computer configuration settings in GPO) rather than after CTRL+ALT+DEL (user configuration settings in GPO)...

I've looked at Apple Configurator 2, I've looked at Profile Manager in OSX Server (server.app is currently deployed to a Mini in our colo here). I can't find anything that acts like Group Policy on the Apple side of things.

Any way I can deploy an SSID policy to these computers?

Per this link, I know that lots of people are just using the capture task sequence & the litetouch.vbs script to capture images:

But I found this video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6Y0Lb7ARIs (FF to 6:05) which shows that MDT is capable of having a machine PXE boot to the task sequence without having to use the script.

• I've made sure that the TS is enabled.
• I've tried sysprepping the machine first (like how WDS-only environments require the machine sysprepped first... but since MDT uses the same engine as SCCM, it's not totally necessary).
• I've updated my deployment share.
• I've re-imported the boot image (not really necessary) into WDS and updated the deployment share again.
• I've deleted and created a whole new task sequence and OS reference image from \sources.
• I've made sure that "SkipCapture=NO" is a line entry in customsettings.ini

What am I missing here?

Nice! You should get a job at the NSA. Looks like they need all the help they can get on pentesting.

@scottalanmiller said in Vendor Harassment Black List:

So propose an alternative... just allow anyone and everyone to continue to call without setting up an appointment and getting approved to call? Under what condition would an IT professional ever want an unsolicited vendor call? I say... literally never.

The only reason, ever, I'd want a call from a vendor is I asked them to call me during a certain time to show me a demo or talk about their product. That's about it... and even then, most of that can be taken care of via email.

@RojoLoco said in Vendor Harassment Black List:

@Veet said in Vendor Harassment Black List:

So, how would this black-list work ? Would it be moderated ? How ?

"I'm thinking NTG is direct competitor .. wait, I have an idea .. let me add their name to vendor black-list ... just for shits n giggles ...hehehe ... :rowboat_tone4: "

How do we avoid a situation like this ?

How many phone calls have you gotten from NTG??? And that's why such an attempt at a BS entry would fail. Companies who phone harass are well known, as many here would have received harassing calls.

Anyone who tried to put a reputable company (regarded by many) on the black list would get some serious criticism and questioning.

"Derrrp let's put @BradfromxByte on the black list cause I'm a competitor!" ..... yeah I don't think so.

@zuphzuph said in Remote connection manager:

@BBigford Please do tell more.

Someone did something they were told never to do... overwrote a production database with a broken, outdated dev one. Happened by putting a dev database on a production SQL server. Tried to do a roll back... turns out he's been messing with it for a week. Oops. Interested to see how this turns out... looking over my monitors, I can see sweat forming on his brow.

@scottalanmiller said in SMB resources on the move:

@BBigford said in SMB resources on the move:

@scottalanmiller said in SMB resources on the move:

@BBigford said in SMB resources on the move:

@scottalanmiller said in SMB resources on the move:

@stacksofplates said in SMB resources on the move:

So now, the only way for someone to get my info is to physically come in my house and take it (which is a different discussion).

There is always another means of compromise, just thinking that there isn't itself is a security risk. One that I guarantee AWS' security team (ranked the best in the world) doesn't make. They also have monitoring and people there 24x7 always watching everything with the best AI and the best human I that there is. Nothing you do gives you the tools that they have, nothing.

But beyond that, the fact that someone could grab your stuff physically alone is enough to end the discussion. Amazon effectively removes that risk. You can't physically target data at Amazon. You can't target it via software tools, you can't target it with guys and a trunk and guns. You have to attack through different vectors.

This.
I keep getting shot down for so many services we could have hosted because our Sprint contracts say we can't use a hosting provider because the cloud is insecure. Same goes for anything HIPPA. But cloud security and monitoring is far superior to anything I could offer on a budget. If I had a ton of time... Maybe. But I don't, and that would cost the client a ton more even if I did.

HIPAA does NOT undermine security.

I would hope not. Intentionally not looking at every secure resource is just flat out negligent and naive. But I haven't had to do anything with HIPAA, yet. I've only talked to some of the admins at our local hospital about it.

HIPAA just has statements like "equal to or above standard industry security practice". It's very general and puts it on the IT and security teams to ensure that they are meeting basic security practices. If anything, having data not on an enterprise cloud should be a red flag and trigger an audit generate a sysadmin resume.

FTFY.

@BRRABill said in VMWare OSx:

@Dashrender said in VMWare OSx:

@scottalanmiller said in VMWare OSx:

@IRJ said in VMWare OSx:

@scottalanmiller said in VMWare OSx:

@IRJ said in VMWare OSx:

@JaredBusch said in VMWare OSx:

@IRJ said in VMWare OSx:

I am curious why you would want to run OSX in a VM anyway?

What advantages does OSX give you over Windows or Linux Distros other than the obvious video or music editing which probably isn't ideal in a VM anyway?

He said a couple posts up that he hopes it was good for learning. So maybe self education.

In the IT field, that would be the last OS I would be interested in learning. Especially if your company doesn't have any so you have to download a poorly made image.

Depend what kind of support and IT you are interested in. Lots of people work in OSX support areas.

I have yet to meet one in person. Maybe it's an east coast thing. Macs seems to be much more popular in business on the west coast.

West coast is primarily Mac, believe it or not. Especially in the Valley. It's to the point that people are surprised when people use Windows.

Drop Box was 99.9% Mac when I visted last year.

What was the .1%?

The one I usually get is licensing. "Well there is no way for us to get the licensing key read..."

Me: "Well there's three ways off the top of my head I can think of... one is a key that calls home every 30 days. In which case we just need Internet connectivity, which we have, and then input a license key, which you could provide us. The other way is setting up a subscriber locally, and tie that into some subscription web client, similar to the first option works. The other is sending us a USB license, which we'd plug into the host so the VM can access it 24/7."

Rep: "Mmm yeah that just won't work."

That won't work for me, or for you? Cause those options consistently work for me. Probably won't work for you, cause you're not making any money off the appliance I don't need.

@scottalanmiller said in Serious question about Linux security...:

@BBigford said in Serious question about Linux security...:

@scottalanmiller said in Serious question about Linux security...:

@BBigford said in Serious question about Linux security...:

I've been under the impression that's how it always was... Red Hat patches a vulnerability or changes something, then CentOS does.

It's how it was when CentOS wasn't part of Red Hat. Now CentOS isn't a company, just a product of Red Hat. So Red Hat is patching both. So your statement above can be rephrased to...

I was under the wrong premise. Whoops... thanks for the clarification. Did not get those answers over at SW. Another reason I love ML.

http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/Red-Hat-Adopts-CentOS

Lots of big time CentOS users here It was good before RH bought them, but way better since they did. Used to be even months behind in releases. Not like that at all anymore.

RH has to keep CentOS patched to maintain their reputation as the most enterprise OS option in the SMB and commodity spaces.

Yeah I live under a rock. We don't get updates about that kind of stuff in the desert. Also, please send food and Internet.

I'm an idiot. I hurried through the filter and didn't see "Team View". Sorry for wasting everyone's time. You can configure the team from there. BACS 3 had Team Management on the main page, BACS 4 has a filtering option.

@scottalanmiller said in Moving education services to the cloud:

@BBigford said in Moving education services to the cloud:

The reason I ask is because I just came out of a meeting where we were asked point blank by management why we couldn't have all of our servers on AWS. We have around 70 servers (mix of Windows/Linux, various distros & versions).

Size is only a factor when it is very, very small. You are too large of an environment for cloud computing to make sense because you are so tiny that you can't justify a single server. That's just a threshold number. You are over, say, 30 VMs so cloud computing can't compete based on size.

So the question becomes - how much do you scale up and down? If you are not scaling up and down, why would anyone have even mentioned a cloud platform? That doesn't make much sense. You'd pay so much and get nothing for it.

I'd ask them... what made them consider cloud computing in the first place - because they've not listed a factor that would apply yet. So something is missing from the equation. What factor led them to this question?

Honestly I was taken by surprise... I actually suggested Scale Computing because it would make more sense financially than moving all of our servers to a cloud provider. We spin up new servers but they aren't temporary... One of our new projects required 4 servers for a geographic information system (we lay a lot of fiber as an ISP), we also added a couple more servers for accounting that will remain. But nothing we setup and take down within even a year of it's creation. We try and eliminate redundant services (like the 4 new GIS servers, they displaced a really expensive older application).

What's a bad moment that comes to mind? I'll start:

That moment when you realize your LANSchool recommendation sucks because you didn't realize they were acquired by Stoneware, who were acquired by Lenovo.