The Comms Room

ewwhite

7:00 PM

@Iain ask Sir Mix-A-Lot.

tombull89

I coudln't tell if it was a proper producct or a piss-take

ewwhite

@chopper3 maybe you have some guidance on the treasure I found today.

MDMarra

I recently applied to a place that does SaaS and felt dirty just because of the buzz words

ewwhite

@MDMarra Apply to the Chicago job.

MDMarra

April

Iain

7:03 PM

after your wedding ?

MDMarra

yeah

ewwhite

@MDMarra better to start talking now

MDMarra

@ewwhite Speaking of jobs, though. I'm still unclear whether you need anything more from me in LA?

ewwhite

you'd be surprised.

yes, I do.

MDMarra

Ok, want to send it in an email and I'll take care of it?

ewwhite

7:06 PM

@MDMarra trying to get them to agree to a particular order of deployment.

- Bring Microsoft Exchange online. All incoming mail will be directed to the new mail server.
- All new mail will be accessed via the webmail URL: http://mango.ConfidentialLSIDocs.com
- Mobile devices will need to be configured with Exchange accounts.
- Users can see their old mail in Outlook, but no new mail will show up in Outlook. All new mail will be on the webmail. Users will be able to send from Outlook, though.
- This allows people who have not been converted to the new Terminal Server to still be able to function where they are, but keeps their PST files static so I can import them …

MDMarra

bahahaha "confidentiallsidocs"

Ok, and what part do I play?

ewwhite

making sure that the TS profile looks good... I'm trying a few test accounts. I'm getting the Microsoft UAC error when I open Office, for example.

MDMarra

what's the specific error?

ewwhite

Oh, I'll have to check again

was consumed with the new server

MDMarra

right

I made a few test accounts too and made sure the redirection was working correctly and verified the ACLs and all of that, but I didn't check the actual apps on the terminal server

ewwhite

7:15 PM

also need a magical fix for this...

2

Q: Exchange 2010 - Change "Conversation View" default setting in Outlook Web App

I'm converting an organization to Exchange from an older Linux-based Sendmail/Dovecot POP3 setup. In an attempt to ease the transition, I'd like to leverage Outlook Web App to help acclimate users to the concepts of server-based mail. One of the nagging issues I've encountered in training is the...

MDMarra

probably some EMC command

My Exchange-fu is weak though

ewwhite

I don't believe it's possible to change globally.

but this is the problem with dealing with old-school users.

in a normal company, one would not have to take these sorts of steps.

MDMarra

A Microsoft PFE in Exchange says you can't

So...I'd say you can't

:(

Michael Hampton

Phone rings on Sunday, it's one of my clients, can't be good, right? He just called to say he referred somebody to me.

ewwhite

@MichaelHampton "Yeah... security breach... company name is LSI"

Michael Hampton

7:26 PM

@ewwhite Oh, I heard that one already.

ewwhite

@MichaelHampton I have a client who's looking for a new solution for their comments because of the spam

Michael Hampton

Gawd, comment spam. Hate hate hate. Maybe I'll just do my own hosted comment solution, since it seems nobody else can do it right.

ewwhite

@MDMarra for Valley, I need print server build support

MDMarra

sure

ewwhite

add it to the file server, probably.

I've done this before, but maybe you have a better way

MDMarra

7:29 PM

gpo deployment and all that too?

Michael Hampton

@ewwhite help.disqus.com/customer/portal/articles/…

ewwhite

@MDMarra well, since it's a terminal server, hmm... probably just need to have devices defined on the file server and added on the terminal server.

wouldn't automatically push devices to PC's, since there are usually a LOT of printers in produce companies.

Michael Hampton

@ewwhite If they're still on Disqus, turning on the Akismet feature is the best thing they can do. Though if they just have one site, it could be pricey.

MDMarra

printer mappings are per-user though, and can be controlled via AD groups

ewwhite

I have 81 printers there.

MDMarra

7:31 PM

fun

ewwhite

@MichaelHampton I'll relay... they have four main sites.

@MDMarra but only a few need to be available to all users... How would I fit groups into this scenario?

should more OU's be defined? Because i have warehouse people, accounting folks, office staff.

MDMarra

theres a few ways. You can just put them into AD groups or do it based on OU

if users are already in an Accounting group or Warehouse group or whatever, you can just filter print deployment based on them

Michael Hampton

@ewwhite Apparently Disqus' own internal anti-spam techniques are pretty crappy, if Google results are any indication. But Akismet has always been quite good. (I should know, I worked on it...)

ewwhite

@MichaelHampton I'll bring it up in our meeting

@MDMarra selective presentation of printers?

even though it's a terminal server?

MDMarra

yeah

item-level targeting

ewwhite

7:36 PM

I have users who move around... and sometimes want to print to another location

I mean, this is a place where they try to load print drivers via CD.

MDMarra

do you just present all 81 printers to all users now?

ewwhite

well, I have 81 printers defined on the Linux server... production printing is different than user printing.

let me check on how many are defined on the existing TS

@mdmarra The printers are screwy...

MDMarra

that's on the terminal server itself?

ewwhite

This is the old TS. I want to prevent the auto-population of printers from thin-client-attached devices

MDMarra

there's GPO for that, but then how would those users print?

ewwhite

7:46 PM

but yeah, everything else is either HP or Brother Laser or large Konica MFP device.

MDMarra

that could be a mess to migrate but it can be done

ewwhite

"Microsoft XPS Document Writer" from Christina-HP

actually, in this case, I'll probably just redefine onto the pear server

MDMarra

Yeah. Printbrn.exe is your friend

ewwhite

what is that?

MDMarra

Migrates all queues drivers etc

Assuming they're configured acceptably now

ewwhite

7:50 PM

they are not

I'm going to add them to DNS and fix things up.

MDMarra

Publish them to AD too

ewwhite

@MDMarra oh? How?

MDMarra

Right click > properties > sharing > publish to directory

Or thereabouts

Populates the list for the "find a printer" dialog

ewwhite

right, that's a given

@MDMarra how much time have you eaten up?

MDMarra

~6h

ewwhite

7:58 PM

okay, good... enough time.

gotta close this project out by Tues.

Ryan Ries

Check this out

2

Q: WMI object to get current sessions with client name?

I want to be able to create a powershell script that will tell me, for all RDP sessions currently active on a machine, who the user is, and what their clientname (machine name) is. I can use a combination of win32_loggedonnuser and win32_logonsession to get the username information, but I can't ...

windows-server-2008-r2

I spent all morning this morning answering that guy's question :P

MDMarra

Ok. Well let me know what you need if anything, @ewwhite. I've got time later this evening

ewwhite

I'll be in Cali next week to look at the place with the 30-50 PC's

who need to get onto the domain

MDMarra

Ok. Well let's get this place finished, cut a check, and move on to the next :)

Chopper3

@Iain not great I'm afraid

ewwhite

8:02 PM

@Chopper3 what's up?

Chopper3

@ewwhite sorry, what treasure?

Iain

@Chopper3 Friday's medication kicking in?

Chopper3

just going through missed messages Edd, Iain was asking how I was, which is awful, and yes, from that lot

ewwhite

Oh, not good at all.

Iain

@Chopper3 2 more to go ?

Chopper3

8:04 PM

yep, 1st Feb then the 22nd will be the last - then about 4 weeks after that I do 3 weeks of radiation (this won't be at home though) and then I'm done bar the three-weekly herceptin doses until Nov'13

this is the most I've done all day :)

MDMarra

You're getting there, at least. Hang tough

ewwhite

@Chopper3 I bought an HP DL380 G7 box on the eBay because it seemed to be a good deal. It arrived Friday and I took the morning to examine it...

Chopper3

@MDMarra doing all I can, very nice to get so much support from you guys

ewwhite

It's your community!

Chopper3

whose?

ewwhite

8:08 PM

Well, the SF community is your community.

a bit of a support base.

Chopper3

I see, guess so, talking of which are you getting enough sleep, you're never off here?

how did that box work out for you anyway, good deal by the looks

ewwhite

But the server had Linux... and on it were all sorts of tech documents, confidential information, visio diagrams, schematics... email... source code...

hundreds of gigabytes of it

oh, and virtual machines...

shit

it was all from LSI.

really not good

8:10 PM

presume you did a full wipe and dropped them a polite warning line?

Ryan Ries

Are avatars missing for anyone else?

RobM

I can see them fine @RyanRies

Chopper3

@RyanRies not me

MDMarra

Nope, but I'm on mobile

ewwhite

@Chopper3 The person I bought from is just an ebay seller... looks like he buys stuff from businesses... research labs, etc.

Chopper3

8:12 PM

oh I see, still, I'd just wipe it - anything else wouldn't be my kind of thing at all, odd though

ewwhite

I did not wipe yet. I was originally interested to see what was on the box... and how they were using it. SInce it had fibre cards, 16 disks, SSDs, two RAID controllers, 1200W power supplies.

Chopper3

and a very good deal

Ryan Ries

All I see missing images for all avatars both here and on SF... hrm

Chopper3

@RyanRies we don't support the site here btw

ewwhite

But the info is actually interesting... I'm just not sure if I should let someone at LSI know.

MDMarra

8:12 PM

Stop your proxy from blocking gravatar :)

ewwhite

it seems to be a bit of a developer Wiki, too

Iain

@MDMarra you can upload them direct to SE now too

Chopper3

@ewwhite I would put maybe 30 mins into trying to let them know, pro-to-pro if you know what I mean, no more though, you're not a private detective

MDMarra

Oh really?

ewwhite

@Chopper3 I asked the eBay seller for info.

Chopper3

8:14 PM

best idea

Iain

@MDMarra go to your user page and hover over your avatar

ewwhite

but there's a lot of HP stuff in here, too...

Raid controller specs, benchmarks, a Bugzilla

Chopper3

right, I'm pooped, back later, should be on my way up again by say Friday, be excellent to one-another - or at least funny :)

ewwhite

we'll try

RobM

take it easy @chopper3

Chopper3

8:15 PM

:) love you guys

RobM

and we'll be nice to each other and abusive to newbies. The normal, really.

MDMarra

When you're feeling down, remember - it could always have been in your nuts

RobM

^ @MDMarra good advice for anything in life, right there.

Ryan Ries

Yeah, it was a bloody IE10 tracking list that was blocking the gravatars

MDMarra

I used a surface for a few minutes today. RT on a tablet seems like much less of a mess than W8

But I still wouldn't pay for one over an iPad. I probably use it if it were free though

RobM

8:20 PM

that makes sense. I suspect it would suck in desktop mode though

MDMarra

No desktop mode in RT which is why it isn't terrible

Native metro only

RobM

I thought there was one for Office at least

because they couldn't be bothered to properly metro-ise office

MDMarra

I don't think so. I think they shipped the metro office beta to fix that

RobM

ah maybe

Dan

8:34 PM

Evening

ewwhite

@MDMarra better to just define the printers with IP ports than DNS names?

MDMarra

I always do

Really not sure what the "best practice" is but since I do dhcp reservations for them I mess with the IPs anyway

ewwhite

I'm old-school... I like handling that with DNS/host files.

but I'll do IP here since the printer names are just ridic.

Mark Henderson

Morning all. Need some shopping help.

Iain

G'day

Mark Henderson

8:44 PM

My current web host has informed me they're discontinuing their web hosting side of theirbusiness so I'm looking for somewhere to move my websites to.

I'm not interested in maintaining it myself, and gaps shock horror they're all on a cpanel host at the moment and I want to just transfer it to another cpanel host so I don't have to fuck aroudn with it

ewwhite

need it to be in Aus?

Mark Henderson

Any suggestions?

@ewwhite Nope

ewwhite

how much you wanna pay?

Michael Hampton

@MarkHenderson webhostingtalk.com

Mark Henderson

@MichaelHampton Yeah checked that out already, seemed to mostly be self-spruikers

Iain

8:48 PM

@MarkHenderson I use PoweredByPenguins for a couple of sites

Mark Henderson

@ewwhite $USD10-$15/month seems to be about the going rate for something with unlimited MySQL databases and domains

But if they're good and have a history of staying online, thats worth more

ewwhite

I was going to recommend singlehop.com

or you can pay ME!

Mark Henderson

@Iain After conversion they're not too bad

@ewwhite They're a bit more than what I'm after I think :P

ewwhite

you need cheaper...

yeah, any VPS will do :)

why no Amazon?

Dan

I'm using HostGator for cheap hosting

it is cheap and cheerful, but their support are helpful. I'm on a reseller package and its pennies

Michael Hampton

8:52 PM

@MarkHenderson I had to Control-Shift-Google that.

Mark Henderson

@ewwhite Cos then I'd have to manage it all, and I just don't have the time for that. I could "borrow" a VM from work if I had the time to do that

Plus my wife might struggle with it, she finds cpanel very simple and easy to use

@Dan Hostgator, I've heard of them

Iain

@MarkHenderson avoid 123-reg

Michael Hampton

Also avoid one-and-one

ewwhite

true

Dan

Yeah 1&1 are the devil

Mark Henderson

8:56 PM

@Dan Yeah I've seen a bunch of questions on SF about them a while ago

They don't allow anything but A or CNAME records in their DNS

Michael Hampton

@MarkHenderson What, your wife isn't a sysadmin too?

Mark Henderson

9:07 PM

@MichaelHampton She's a registered nurse, but she's very good with technology. She's got more gadgets than I do

tombull89

9:19 PM

Eh...I use 1and1. I signed up with them back in 2006 when I was in.college, never had any issues with them. I guess if I tried to migrate stuff away from them it it would be a bit more interesting.

Mark Henderson

9:46 PM

HP Servers with P410 RAID controller - that's a real RAID controller, or a crappy one?

ewwhite

@MarkHenderson It's a real high-performance controller.

Mark Henderson

@ewwhite Wicked

ewwhite

the P410 was used on systems from 2009 until 2012.

Mark Henderson

HP are offering us them as an incentive on our next purchase on some G7's

ewwhite

which server model?

Mark Henderson

9:48 PM

@ewwhite 380's

ewwhite

since the P410 is on the motherboard for most 300-series and up systems

Mark Henderson

I think they have a bunch of stock they want to move

Oh, so it's not that much of an incentive then lol

ewwhite

Right... I just bought 34 DL360's at $4k each, loaded

through the HP renew channel

Mark Henderson

These are $1499/each unconfigured

Single E5606/4Gb and 8x2.5" bays (no disks)

ewwhite

oh, slow.

hmm, what's your business?

Mark Henderson

9:50 PM

These are for dev SQL servers

Mostly OLTP services

ewwhite

you want E5620 CPU's and above

should I check if my guy can sell to Australia? :)

Mark Henderson

@ewwhite That would be great. I'm getting a bit sick of our current HP reseller

@ewwhite They have a 5620 bare model for $1799, which doesn't seem to bad as well

ewwhite

well, what are your storage requirements?

Mark Henderson

@ewwhite Very little. Will just be the internal disks, probably a few 600Gb 15k SAS in RAID10

We'll be keeping them single-processor as well

They're replacing the current dev SQL servers which are 1st gen i7's

(yes, a desktop i7 processor)

Hennes

Well, if it is a dev server and not production

Mark Henderson

10:03 PM

@Hennes Yeah. They're being replaced because they are starting to bluescreen about once a week

They

're actually performing just fine

ewwhite

10:16 PM

@MarkHenderson (nobody buys 15k disks anymore)

well, possibly...

Why single-CPU?

doesn't save much on cost at this level

Mark Henderson

@ewwhite We do :P And single CPU because like I said, it's replacing an i7. Waste not, want not.

The few hundred bucks I can save here I can do something else with later on

(We have a pretty tightly controlled budget)

ewwhite

the RPM difference won't have an effect on these type of controllers. Bigger issue is that 15k disks aren't available for the DL380's in question

I just did a few SQL server setups.

$3k for the box, X5680 CPUs.

singular, CPU

Mark Henderson

Oh. So what do you suggest then? SSD or just 10k?

SSD's in the capacity we're after will be cost prohibitive I think

ewwhite

10k.

these are 2.5" disks

Always cache on the controller

Goatmale

Sups.

Mark Henderson

10:25 PM

@ewwhite Fair enough. thanks for the input.

If I can save money on disks then that will help for the processor upgrade

ewwhite

I asked my guy if he will ship direct and costs.

Mark Henderson

Hey @Goatmale

@ewwhite Awesome, thanks

ewwhite

we can build them any way you want.

Cole

Evening

ewwhite

so right now, the hot deals are X5680 CPUs (3.33GHz), 300GB 10k disks, 8GB DIMMs

in a DL360 or DL380 platform

Mark Henderson

10:28 PM

Sounds good. If he charges in $USD and ships from the US I bet it will still be viable because we pay a premium for buying from $AU - for absolutely no good reason either.

And if the PSU's are dual-voltage then there shouldn't be any power conversion problems either

ewwhite

Dual voltage

Matt Simmons

Hey Wesley David, are you around?

I guess not! ok then

Ryan Ries

@MattSimmons Try to get his attention like so

Mark Henderson

@MattSimmons He's probably busy licking his balls

Cats do that

(I would know)

Ryan Ries

Ugh I just went and got my cat spayed a few days ago. It's pretty awful

Mark Henderson

10:36 PM

@RyanRies Better than having them fuck everything in sight, meowing at the front door for hours because they're horny and want to fuck the staircase and then having a dozen litters which become stray and destroy the local wildlife

Ryan Ries

@MarkHenderson True, that's why I did it... still hate having to see her addle around with a cone around her neck acting depressed and in pain... and I'm not even a cat person really, she's a stray that showed up on my doorstep

Goatmale

daw

Mark Henderson

@RyanRies We had a stray that came with the house we bought. We had to have it put down, but I didn't feel too bad about it

I've always had the opinion that animals are just animals. I'm not the sort of person who would spend $4000 getting their cats broken leg mended

Shit they even sell Pet Insurance these days. What a joke that is.

Ryan Ries

Shit there are only a select few humans whose broken legs I'd pay $4000 to have mended.

Michael Hampton

11:11 PM

Ooooh, I just stumbled across the source RPMs for RHEV. Thinking about running them through my buildserver and playing with the result.

Hennes

11:22 PM

@ewwhite It is probably to expensive for me and not your selling point, but.. do you sell those CPUs without system around them?

Goatmale

People drop a few hundred on their rats, which is insane to me.

I love my rats, their lifespan is only about 3 years.

MDMarra

I thought John Gardeneirs was relatively on the ball...

Mark Henderson

@MDMarra but?

MDMarra

@MDMarra, I'm not advocating the use of .local but I also don't advocate using a public domain internally. In most cases it causes far more problems than it solves. — John Gardeniers 7 mins ago

Goatmale

Oh my god that beard

epic

Mark Henderson

11:33 PM

@MDMarra shrug He lives in a place called Lilydale which is where a lot of hippies and alternative-lifestyle people live

MDMarra

He's saying not to use something like internal.company.com for AD because it causes problems.

Ryan Ries

@MDMarra There's nothing wrong with split-DNS

@MDMarra imo :)

MDMarra

Are you serious?

Ryan Ries

@MDMarra Me? Yeah I'm serious. Split DNS is a valid architecture

A hell of a lot more valid than a .local domain

Michael Hampton

What's wrong with split DNS (other than NAT)?

ewwhite

11:48 PM

@Hennes Yes, we sell CPUs.

Hennes

My home desktop is a i7 920. I think the X5680 is compatible with it, but:
1) I never found a cheap enough trustworthy source (e.g. no first seller on ebay)
2) I am not even sure it is worth it, unless I am rebuilding world (or doing lots of other compiling)

ewwhite

The CPU comes in a kit for HP. So it's with a heatsink and such.

Cole

My home desktop is an i5 3470

Michael Hampton

@Hennes You could throw an i7 960 in there and OC it a bit. Which would save you about $500 bucks.

Cole

Wow, a girl actually messaged me on OkCupid

and she's cute

win

Hennes

11:54 PM

@MichaelHampton Aye, I doubt it is worth it.

Michael Hampton

@Hennes But if you're in that price range, you may as well just grab an i7 3970x and a new motherboard. A couple hundred bucks more, and would do a lot better in CPU intensive stuff.

Hennes

But I also doubt that I can get any 1366 CPU in a few years

Michael Hampton

Yeah, 1366 is dead, Intel kind of abandoned it almost right away

Hennes

Sad, because it was a decent step up from core2

Michael Hampton

The 3rd gen chips are a very nice step up from where you are now, too :)

Mark Henderson

11:56 PM

Hey @Cole - thoguht you were away this week?

Cole