@Minion-Queen said in NTG Lab is moving!:
We are going to cut across 40 from NC to Las Vegas going to do the whole Grand Canyon thing
That is awesome, Grand Canyon is totally worth the stop. I'm quite surprised how much I enjoyed the Grand Canyon on my visit last year. I'd like to go back sometime and do a rim to rim hike.
@Minion-Queen You might consider a brief stop in Monument Valley as well, it is quite impressive. The four corners might be another quick stop too.
If you hit an animal or anything else with a vehicle you stop and check to see what you hit. If you don't, you might as well be committing vehicular manslaughter, especially if it is on a road that is dark enough the driver couldn't discern WHAT he/she hit.
If you hit an animal and your first reaction isn't to stop and see what you hit, and subsequently try to help the animal if it is a pet, you're probably an asshole. All legal obligations aside, I'd hope you have a moral obligation to ensure the well being of any living thing that you might inadvertently cause harm to. People incapable of empathy toward animals are a waste of space.
I create sub-accounts with VOIP.MS and register my cell phone with their service directly via CSipSimple andoid app, no PBX required. It will work over WiFi or cell data.
I'm going to be doing some upgrades to our production hypervisors (white boxes built just before I started) and I'm looking to add hardware raid. Any recommendations on specific cards?
@MattSpeller Yeah, I'll probably be going the ebay route if I do get them. Right now I'm in the planning phase of the upgrades and this is one of the "nice to haves" that I'm gunning for...
@MattSpeller said in RAID card for server upgrade:
@RamblingBiped said in RAID card for server upgrade:
@Dashrender No, it doesn't have hot swap bays
Dude - no hot swap == no user serviceable hdds
Unless your users are exceptionally well trained I wouldn't even suggest it. I'd get a relationship started with a local IT company and have them send a tech to learn and document what you want done if you're away and poop occurs.
They are well trained engineers that I wouldn't fret about having crack open a server case. That said it is a lot of work to go through for an inconvenient added convenience. I'll have to see what other options I have, maybe I can find bays that will work.
@scottalanmiller said in RAID card for server upgrade:
Also seems an odd place to spend money... cut corners on white box server... but then splurge on hardware RAID. Just a weird mix of spending.
Especially when there is Linux software RAID available for excellent reliability without the hardware RAID. If this were Windows it would make more sense to me.
Fair enough, I'll probably just stick with software RAID. If I would have been here before they were built I would have suggested getting refurbished units from somewhere like xByte instead of building by hand. Everything they had when I came on was built in-house, including all workstations. I've finally got that thinking shifted and we're moving toward a unified hardware lifecycle. Unfortunately/fortunately the servers are adequate for our current workloads, so I can't realistically justify replacing them. I'm going to be moving them into new chassis with redundant power supplies and updating their operating systems and implementing a new backup schedule/process for VMs.
@MattSpeller said in RAID card for server upgrade:
@RamblingBiped said in RAID card for server upgrade:
@MattSpeller said in RAID card for server upgrade:
@RamblingBiped said in RAID card for server upgrade:
@Dashrender No, it doesn't have hot swap bays
Dude - no hot swap == no user serviceable hdds
Unless your users are exceptionally well trained I wouldn't even suggest it. I'd get a relationship started with a local IT company and have them send a tech to learn and document what you want done if you're away and poop occurs.
They are well trained engineers that I wouldn't fret about having crack open a server case. That said it is a lot of work to go through for an inconvenient added convenience. I'll have to see what other options I have, maybe I can find bays that will work.
I'm super jealous of your user base lol
Double edged sword... I get some very interesting problems that come along with it. lol
@MattSpeller said in RAID card for server upgrade:
@RamblingBiped What are your goals with the upgrades? Maybe there's another way to skin this cat so you can take time off and not sweat it
Primary goal is to get the Hypervisors updated and inside a new case that takes up less space and has redundant power supplies. Hardware RAID was just an additional nice-to-have.
@Dashrender said in RAID card for server upgrade:
@RamblingBiped said in RAID card for server upgrade:
I've finally got that thinking shifted and we're moving toward a unified hardware lifecycle.
What does this mean, exactly?
I used to be of the mindset, auto replace every X years was a good plan. Now I'm to a point where I don't replace unless a machine suffers a failure of a motherboard or powersupply (OEM machines I don't worry about trying to replace PSs).
I currently have around 10 laptops/desktop that are from 2011, probably won't replace them, as I said, until they die. RAM upgrade, sure, HDD to SDD, maybe.
They were just buying components and building a new workstation everytime they hired a new engineer or employee. I've got so many different builds floating around that it is nuts to try and keep track of everything. I'm moving toward one or two different configurations of laptop for ease of management. They are less expensive to maintain, and as they age out I'll just move them into the lab as test systems.
We basically run our systems into the ground as well. Every old desktop that I've replaced has been put back into the wild as a system for an Intern or into a lab for testing.
The tough part when it comes to dealing with containers (at least for me), is picking the platform you are going to run them on and then learning all the tools.
Do you use Docker? Rocket? LXC?
Do you automate configuration management and deployment using Puppet? Chef? Ansible?
Do you run them bare metal or nest them in VM instances on a Hypervisor/Cluster?
And those are just the tools that come to mind. You also need a certain level of proficiency when it comes to shell scripting, and many of the other frequently used languages (Python, Ruby, Javascript, PHP...).
There are so many pieces of the puzzle that really need to be in place before containerization of workloads can become a viable replacement for current virtualized infrastructures. There are many projects that have already adopted the format and written their own scripts/APIs to really simplify the process of deploying and maintaining their products in containers. Discourse forum software is a great example. Everything is managed from a single script, instead of having to interface with Docker directly.
We use Google Apps for email and I'm looking to put some SPF records in place for our email service to ensure we are not blacklisted by spoofing of our mail domain. From what I've researched is it really as simple as entering the following text record in my DNS provider's record entries for our domain?
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all
Option #1 up and running. Now to work on the OpenVPN part of the equation... 
If you're looking for something small, portable, and secure, TiddlyWiki is a decent option. I use it for most of my documentation as it is standalone and doesn't require a separate server/service to be running to use it. If you're needing to supply multiple users with access and/or have multiple people editing documents, it probably isn't the best choice.
I'm in the process of re-working my resume as I haven't touched it nearly 3 years, and I'd appreciate some criticism. I know the actual format is a bit rough, I do plan on cleaning it up with better font choice, addressing the formatting issues with the table, and overall giving it a better balance and appeal. However, I'd like your thoughts on the current structure and presentation of information aside from those obvious faults (clunky table, font choice).
Are there technologies/experience that I have or probably have that I'm leaving out? Some things that I shouldn't have on here? Glaring omissions?
Thanks!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9uxfC380LxKLXBIeTAzRTZXRUk/view?usp=sharing
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm going to look at making revisions when I get home later this evening. At that point I'll try to get an updated PDF posted for further critique.
@thwr said in Resume Feedback:
@RamblingBiped said in Resume Feedback:
I'm currently working on a degree in Software Development, should I put the unfinished degree on my resume as well?
Keep in mind that (serious) development requires years of experience and analytical skills. Mention that, but don't put it above everything else.
It's like writing a book: Most people can write, but writing a good book is a whole different story.
Yes, and my goal for pursuing this degree specifically is to eventually transition into a Development Operations role of some sort.
@thwr said in Resume Feedback:
@scottalanmiller said in Resume Feedback:
@RamblingBiped said in Resume Feedback:
@thwr said in Resume Feedback:
@RamblingBiped said in Resume Feedback:
I'm currently working on a degree in Software Development, should I put the unfinished degree on my resume as well?
Keep in mind that (serious) development requires years of experience and analytical skills. Mention that, but don't put it above everything else.
It's like writing a book: Most people can write, but writing a good book is a whole different story.
Yes, and my goal for pursuing this degree specifically is to eventually transition into a Development Operations role of some sort.
I'll just throw out there that to get into development you can do that much faster without going down the degree path. One year of self study should be able to get your farther than a four year degree.
Good point.
@RamblingBiped : If you really want to get into development, do something useful. Either start your own project, not something you will never use but something that is useful and fun to do. Get a Raspberry, Orange Pi, Banana Pi for example and do whatever you want. Maybe a cloud-enabled toaster or a home alarm system?
Another way could be to contribute to a small open source project. Maybe a mod for Minecraft (one of my students is doing exactly this with great success and learned a lot from this)?
Either way, you will learn much more.
I do regularly work on things that are outside of the scope of my work, as well as outside of the scope of my studies. One of the reasons I am considering using Bootstrap to create an online version of my resume is to familiarize myself with it for future use.
I'm also going to be working in C soon to write some software that functions as a notification system for our fire alarm at work. Our entire alarm and door entry system was designed by a couple of our software engineers. I'm going to be tying the fire alarm system into it all and then making it work with our PBX to automate notifications of a tripped alarm via phone/text/email. If I'm lucky it will also qualify as the project for finishing up my degree.
I've had that suggestion of creating a Minecraft mod from others as well, I just don't have enough time to devote to Minecraft at this point to work on a mod... lol
Can you think of any specific open source projects that I could benefit from contributing to/monitoring? I'm keen on anything to do with Python or Java at the moment.
@DustinB3403 said in Who here plays Pokemon Go?:
@Kelly said in Who here plays Pokemon Go?:
It would be neat to build a bluetooth display that is similar to google glass, just so that people can go about their normal business, but still enjoy the game.
Eh... how would you throw the pokeball?
If it didn't make you stop and do the Team Rocket dance sequence to initiate a Pokeball toss I wouldn't want them to develop the technology.