The Comms Room

3:00 PM

@TheCleaner @ewwhite Nearly all our phones are 100mbit, but it's OK really.. all they do is RDP or light network usage

back then gig phones were expensive as hell

and now management wants us to dump the entire VoIP infrastructure and go for Lync instead. Great times :)

@TheCleaner I'm not sure if upgrading our wireless made that better or worse... We're on 802.11n 2SS (300Mb), so it's hard to tell the difference until you open a particularly large file, or many people are on it.

HopelessN00b

Hmm. Is there a particularly clean and easy way to give a couple users RDP and limited user access to all servers? Or is this a PowerShell/funky GPO situation?

Dan

@HopelessN00b You can use a GPO to add them to the correct groups

tombull89

@ChrisS we're migrating our wireless from Meru to Ruckus in the next two weeks...apaarently Ruckus will let us handle 3000+ wireless devices but I'm not completely convinced.

HopelessN00b

@Dan Yeah, which "groups" though?

TheCleaner

3:02 PM

@pauska I agree with this venture. Let me know how it works out....or I can read about your crazy killing spree on the news...either way.

Dan

@HopelessN00b RD Users group

Tom O'Connor

@Dan So's your face.

@tombull89 At a rate of 50 devices per AP, yes.

@Dan OK!

Dan

@TomO'Connor ...in Sochi

HopelessN00b

@Dan Well, yeah, but that doesn't cover the "Servers" part. Don't think that shoving them out as RDP users on the ~1000 workstations as well would make me any friends, or do me any favors.

Tom O'Connor

Who the fuck flagged that?!

6

Dan

3:04 PM

Who the hell flagged that

bai dan :(

Oh, FFS.

:D

Yeh can't flag mods :D

Dan

Thanks @TomO'Connor :D

HopelessN00b

3:05 PM

@TomO'Connor (That one was me... couldn't resist.) Flagging your comment, I mean.

Dan

@HopelessN00b No, I meant the servers

kalina

hmmmm!

Tom O'Connor

And for your information, that's what I plan on doing tomorrow. Sucking dick!

3

kalina

It's unsurprising that flag got validated, but it was obviously just the flow of the conversation.

TheCleaner

@ChrisS speaking of wireless...I don't really care for Extreme's wireless gear overall, but this idea is just cool...wall plate replacement becomes an AP and wired connectivity.

Dan

3:05 PM

@TomO'Connor Great, pop in anytime

TheCleaner

Tom O'Connor

Welcome to The Comms Room, where sucking dick is normal.

10

HopelessN00b

@Dan Right. So what group would I use that defines all my servers?

Dan

@kalina They really need to work on the inter-room flagging

Chris S

@TheCleaner Hrm... That is interesting

Tom O'Connor

3:06 PM

@Dan by turning. it. off.

kalina

@Dan I have asked for it to happen

Dan

@HopelessN00b OIC - you could either add them individually to the GPO, or create a new group I guess?

HopelessN00b

@TomO'Connor Can we sticky this, and/or add it to the title? ( @TomO'Connor )

kalina

15

Q: Could we require a user to be present in the channel a chat flag originated from before being able to validate it?

This isn't about a specific instance that has happened today but more a general idea relating to the way that handling chat flags works. There are instances in chat where somebody will say something which, in context, is acceptable. However, due to the way the flag system works, only the singl...

show your support, etc

Tom O'Connor

Seriously though, whomever flagged Dan's comment "go suck a dick" please make themselves known to the moderation team.

kalina

3:07 PM

@TomO'Connor mods can find out who flagged

Chris S

There's only a couple dozen clients on our WiFi right now. Can't really say anything about capacity...

kalina

I will admit I validated it without fully reading the context

I didn't cast the initial flag though

HopelessN00b

@Dan Yeah, that's what I figured. Messy/PowerShell. The only other thing I could think of was a GPO in the domain root with WMI filtering on server OSes, but I don't want to do that. So, PowerShell time.

Dan

@HopelessN00b Wait wait

kalina

@TomO'Connor speak to... Manish, he's aware of the process

there's no UI for it

Dan

3:08 PM

@HopelessN00b I'm confused, you want to give certain users the ability to RDP to certain servers, yes?

TheCleaner

@ChrisS They were marketing it for dorms, etc. Basically a way to provide simple coverage while still giving wired access when needed.

Dan

@kalina Is it an auto ban when validated?

HopelessN00b

@Dan To all servers, and only all servers.

kalina

@Dan yeah

Dan

@HopelessN00b What? You mean excluding workstations?

kalina

3:09 PM

think it's 5 validates = ban

Dan

@kalina Ah

kalina

might be 6, think it scales with invalidates

Chris S

@TheCleaner Smart.. Works well with existing infrastructure, and don't need to worry about cement walls. Wonder about the port features (802.1x and centralized reporting)

Tom O'Connor

I literally didn't get a chance to invalidate it

HopelessN00b

User X and User Y should be added to the Remote Desktop Users group on all servers, and only all servers (so not to the 1,000 workstations) in our environment.

Dan

3:09 PM

@TomO'Connor Too busy su....never mind

kalina

@Dan oh yeah, and mod votes during the process are binding

Tom O'Connor

Sadly not.

jscott

@HopelessN00b Yeah, you'd need to WMI filter, or move your servers into seperate OUs.

Dan

@HopelessN00b Okay, that's fine - create a Security Group called "Servers", add your servers in there and create a new GPO at the Domain levwel

kalina

like all other mod actions

jscott

3:10 PM

@Dan ^^ Or that

kalina

anyway gentlemen, a pleasure as always o/

HopelessN00b

@Dan Ah, that will be slightly easier than the PS script. Excellent. Thanks!

Dan

@kalina I've never seen this place described as a pleasure

TheCleaner

@ChrisS I know it'll do 802.1X but reporting not sure. Extreme has never been wonderful with their reporting period. Epicenter never was that wonderful and their wireless controllers don't have much beyond logging. Their gear used to be rebranded Aruba stuff, not sure anymore.

Dan

@HopelessN00b Use GPP's to alter the group, by the way - I'm not 100% on how well it works for removing people, though

jscott

3:11 PM

Just remember to update your server deploy confg to add the new servers to that group.

Dan

Actually, no

Better idea!

Dennis Kaarsemaker

#sochi good news , I have Internet , bad news, it's dangling from the ceiling in my room... http://t.co/WPp560Nr5c

Tweeted by Stanleigh77 on February 2, 2014 at 5:14 PM

HopelessN00b

@Dan Get out more. Meet some masochists.

Dan

Do what I said, but also create a security group called "RD Access To Servers" (Or whatever), then add THAT security group to the RD Users group on the servers, using Group Policy Prefs

HopelessN00b

(because it don't onebox the picture too)

Dan

3:12 PM

Then you can add/remove people to/from that group at your leisure

jscott

Yes, use groups, not users.

Tom O'Connor

Apparently Vladimir Putin was responsible for the flag. That guy gets everywhere.

HopelessN00b

@Dan Yeah, that's the plan, because I'm gonna need to a) make more of these groups and b) shuffle people into and out of them a lot.

Dan

@jscott We might actually get some basic administration done if we all work together.

@HopelessN00b Should work good

jscott

@Dan What you've described is exactly what we do, but we have our servers in seperate OUs from workstations (so no need for computer groups). Only difference is we use Restricted Groups, not preferences.

HopelessN00b

3:14 PM

@Dan It won't. But because of our internal paperworkings, not for any technical reason. I think this will work the least bad of anything else, though, so thanks much for taht.

Dan

@jscott Restricted groups overwrite the current groups, that's the only problem

jscott

@Dan Not a problem here :)

Dan

@jscott Job done then

@TomO'Connor Are you in Birmingham next weekend?

Mathias R. Jessen

I have a shitty question for you guys...

TheNSA

@TomO'Connor pfft, Putin? He's got nothing on us...erm...I mean, nothing to see here.

Mathias R. Jessen

3:16 PM

FTPES vs. SFTP - which is faster?

Dan

@MathiasR.Jessen Good answer here: superuser.com/questions/390349/…

Tom O'Connor

@Dan Yes. On the 15th

Dan

@TomO'Connor Time for a drink/lunch?

Tom O'Connor

@Dan I'd have thought so!

Pester me on FB. I'm about to go home for the day

Dan

@TomO'Connor Cool - I don't think I have any specific plans, so let me know when is good

Tom O'Connor

3:20 PM

Cool

Dan

Is @Cole coming to the UK still?

Dennis Kaarsemaker

@Dan close the border!

TheCleaner

►

Nathan C

Such a fun error..."CreateDefaultSubscription failed. Exception: System.Net.WebException: The request failed with HTTP status 503: Service Unavailable."

Oh hey, deleting the WSUS IIS site made it work. winning

Chris S

eBay trying to unfollow feeds: There was an error, please try again.

HopelessN00b

3:35 PM

Alright kids... I don't know what a Windows AD "Logon group" is, or why it appeared in AD, but I am not amused!!

ram esh

Hi everyone, I have a question regarding the VBA execution in multiple machines.

It is really not programming related..Can I post it here?

HopelessN00b

@ramesh Excellent idea. Execute VBA. Any VBA developers you find too, just to be safe.

ram esh

ha ha, I sure will execute it sir..

HopelessN00b

@ramesh Yeah. Might not get an answer (This is NOT a place for 'Live Support',), but feel free...

jscott

@HopelessN00b That entire tree is OUs, none of it would appear in a default install of AD.

TheCleaner

3:38 PM

@HopelessN00b looks like someone just created an OU...EDIT: yeah...jscott said it first.

ram esh

The problem is I have 2 billion rows and if I run the VBA code, it might take 3 to 4 months to complete..

HopelessN00b

@jscott Yeah, someone added a Logon OU under our Administrators -> Groups OU.

Like I said, I dunno what a "Logon group" is in Windows AD, but I'm not amused.

ram esh

If I use virtualbox, can I run the program in parallel?

HopelessN00b

@ramesh Depends on how you coded it. You code it for parallelism?

ram esh

No..I can make it parallel by splitting one huge table into multiple small tables..

If I do so, will virtualbox be useful?

HopelessN00b

3:40 PM

@ramesh Then no.

@ramesh Yes. Have one VM crunch the first table, the second VM crunch the 2nd table, and so on.... (I assume)

ram esh

yeah exactly that's how am planning to do..But for virtualbox, does it rely on host computer's processor speed?

HopelessN00b

At least, that's what I'd do, if I couldn't figure out how to write my VBA code to take advantage of all my procs.

Tanner

@ramesh Nope. VirtualBox VMs run on cheetah's blood and magic.

HopelessN00b

@ramesh Not sure what that means. Generally you'd assign a VM a certain number of [virtual] processors, which would be limited by the number of physical processor cores, and of course, the clock speed of those physical CPUs

ram esh

@Tanner, expecto patronum :P

@Ho

HopelessN00b

3:44 PM

@Tanner VirtualBox does that too? I thought that was just databases...

ram esh

@HopelessN00b, ok..I get it. So if my CPU is dual core, I can execute 2 processes simultaneously without installing virtualbox..However, if I install Virtualbox, I will be assigning some physical memory to the Virtualbox..

HopelessN00b

@ramesh Well, with a dual-core, you could have two VMs (with one CPU each) simultaneously running a single-threaded process, yeah.

ram esh

Hmm, ok thanks a lot for the info.

HopelessN00b

@Dan Yeah, after all that, I forgot to check, and now that I've set up the groups and memberships... all the OUs that contain servers have group policy inheritance blocked. <slams forehead into desk>

Dan

@HopelessN00b Ah, just link it - no biggy

Or Enforce it

Actually, do the latter

HopelessN00b

3:59 PM

@Dan Just gonna add a GPP into one of our GPOs that applies to those OUs.

Dan

@HopelessN00b Noo, don't do that

Enforce your new policy

HopelessN00b

@Dan Why not?

Dan

@HopelessN00b Transparency etc

And it means you can apply this gpo to anything else in future

HopelessN00b

@Dan Oh, yeah, well, the thing is.... 1) we don't roll that way, preferring the 1 massive GPO with 863 settings approach and 2) I don't want it to be transparent. If people can see it, they'll ask where my change control was, and I'm not waiting 3 freaking weeks to give theses users RO-rights to shit, because they need to inventory things next week, or else I have to do it.

Dan

@HopelessN00b Oh, fair enough then

I'd never sneak a change into a big GPO

:D

HopelessN00b

4:09 PM

@Dan Yeah, you haven't worked here. I would have said the same thing myself, a couple years ago.

Tanner

@HopelessN00b inheritance blocking pisses me off

HopelessN00b

Yeah. Don't be lazy with your GPOs, and you don't have to deal with that crap.

Dan

@HopelessN00b It was sarcasm ;)

@Tanner It has it's place - especially if you don't want user OU GPO objects applied when logging in

HopelessN00b

@Dan Oh, maybe I'm still green, but I would have actually meant it before I started it here.

@Dan I prefer to deal with that via WMI/Security Filtering.

Dan

@HopelessN00b I don't have enough time to hang around for the most part - I tend to do whatever I like and sometimes I just e-mail it out at the end

@HopelessN00b I wouldn't advise that, though. Deny filtering doesn't show up in the GPO security tab

HopelessN00b

4:14 PM

@Dan Fair point. Seems like MS could easily do a much better job and make AD administration a lot less horrible than it is.

Dan

@HopelessN00b Maybe, but I don't know. It's extremely flexible, but the flipside is that there are numerous ways to accomplish things

HopelessN00b

@Dan Yeah, which don't all show up where/when they "should" in the UI. That's more what I meant about making it easier.

Dan

@HopelessN00b Oh yeah, agree there

Because I work on a consulting basis, I always try and make everything I do as clear as I can so that the next guy stands a chance

HopelessN00b

That's mighty kind of you. Wish my predecessors shared that attitude, but so far, not one of them have.

Tanner

@Dan Well do me a favor and don't do stuff like this:

Dan

4:19 PM

@Tanner I do it all the time :)

Tanner

dude moved a bunched of servers that had no GPOs linked anyway in there. I have no idea why...

Dan

Works great with loopback processing

Tanner

@Dan Hmm, explain?

Jacob

rugged laptops are expensive, I don't need it to be bullet proof...

Dan

@Tanner If you don't block inheritance then every GPO that's on that users OU will be applied at login. Fine for your average workstation, but may not be useful for a terminal services server, or a VDI client. So, I block inheritance and then manually apply all required GPO's to that OU, including user GPO's.

TheCleaner

4:21 PM

@Jacob who are you speaking to?

HopelessN00b

@Jacob Who needs a bulletproof laptop? I just need mine to be rugged enough not to break in half when I smack a user over the head with it.

Tanner

@Dan ohhhh

wow, I've actually run in to that problem too haha

handy

Jacob

@TheCleaner It was supposed to be an IM, but I guess it's now here

Dan

@Tanner :)

Jacob

@HopelessN00b I need some for an HVAC company that will survive heat and mild shock, but 2000+ is way out of budget

Tanner

4:24 PM

@Jacob let me know if you find a decent one. we're looking at some rugged tablets that are $5k...

they mostly need to be blood-and-guts proof

HopelessN00b

Oh, well, good luck, I guess. I wouldn't even know what to do with a sub-$2000 laptop. Play Angry Birds on it, maybe?

Dan

@HopelessN00b Door stop

Jacob

@Tanner hospital?

HopelessN00b

@Dan Nah... the cheap laptops break to easily to stop doors...

Tanner

@Jacob close, ambulance

Jacob

4:26 PM

@HopelessN00b They're using a simple web app to create invoices and charge people's credit cards. Not too resource intensive

@Tanner Even worse... The people are still bleeding all over the place

HopelessN00b

@Tanner Oh, easy. Just get a normal tablet and run it through a laminater. That way, it'll be protected by blood-and-guts by the plastic film! Brilliant, no?

Tanner

@HopelessN00b hahaha

Jacob

@HopelessN00b How did the expense sheet go over?

Tanner

@Jacob ipad + otterbox

Magellan

@HopelessN00b Snob.

Jacob

4:29 PM

@Tanner Too much text for ipads. plus they may have to research things.

HopelessN00b

@Jacob Yeah, I think the problem, though, is that being "rugged" is considered an "enterprise" feature, and therefore hideously overpriced, and only available on higher-end stuff. Thus has been my experience, anyway.... maybe look at older/used models?

Magellan

@HopelessN00b refurb Lenovo laptops.

HopelessN00b

@Jacob Boss hasn't gotten into the office yet.

Chris S

@Jacob Pany ToughBooks are the only ruggedized laptops I'd trust with "non-technical workers"

But they're kerspenive.

Jacob

@HopelessN00b Everything I've seen is a core 2 duo with XP

voretaq7

4:30 PM

@ChrisS and the users still break them

HopelessN00b

@Jacob and still over 2k? Jeebus, man... that's... more of a rip off than usual, even for enterprisey things.

Jacob

@voretaq7 Exactly it would be cheaper to replace a standard one annually than buy a toughbook.

@HopelessN00b No that grade stuff is right around 1k

voretaq7

@Jacob depends on your use cases

if you users tend to spill shit on the machine frequently a toughbook is going to cost less because it's not going to fry every time it gets damp

We used to give our users (doctors) these: ruggedpcreview.com/3_notebooks_getac_a770.html

HopelessN00b

@voretaq7 Institute a you-break-it,-you-eat-it policy. "Sorry you broke your laptop, dude... that's gonna suck. You want me to get you some ketchup or something?"

voretaq7

see that handle on the front? It's a solid cast magnesium alloy

Chris S

4:32 PM

@voretaq7 Yes, well.. You remember the Unbreakable Cell phone, right?

►

voretaq7

We've received units back with the handle snapped off.

@ChrisS no but I remember Unbreakable Linux :-D

Jacob

@HopelessN00b Anything beyond "normal wear and tear" the users get to pay for.

HopelessN00b

@ChrisS Well, obviously. It didn't come with a warning label saying I couldn't store it in my fish tank.

Jacob

^^ We issue those, and they're nearly indestructible. They have a decent screen and LTE as well.

Magellan

@HopelessN00b There are in fact quite a few people that will treat equipment more carelessly if it's rugged. I think we should be making laptops out of glass so that lusers are careful with them.

voretaq7

4:34 PM

@Magellan doesn't work with cell phones...

Tanner

@Jacob I had the old version of that phone. Loved it.

Magellan

Set it down on the desk too quickly? Too bad! Lose a finger!

MikeyB

(oops) missed ctrl

voretaq7

@MikeyB and we'll make fun of you for it forever

Jacob

@Tanner We've played catch with it off 5 story buildings, and it never had any issues.

HopelessN00b

4:35 PM

@Magellan My solution, which I much prefer, is to treat the users in a similar manner to how they treat their IT equipment. "Oh, sorry, dude... was I not supposed to dump my coffee on your head? I didn't know better."

MikeyB

Hey, anyone use Saltstack? :) I'm tasked with building a lab for doing repeated load/functional testing of an appliance and am looking for a good way to control a bunch of Windows clients for load generation.

Magellan

@HopelessN00b Just as long as you don't expose yourself to them if you find porn on their laptops.

HopelessN00b

@Magellan Is slapping them in the face with my penis considered "exposing myself?"

Magellan

@HopelessN00b Very much so.

MikeyB

@HopelessN00b Only if their eyes are open.

Tanner

4:37 PM

"Close your eyes. I don't want to expose myself to you."

HopelessN00b

@Tanner I'll have to start saying that first, from now on.

ewwhite

@MikeyB Yeah

MikeyB

@ewwhite Good path to go down? I'm thinking some sort of combination of Jenkins and Salt

youtube.com/watch?v=miK25mDV9ik&feature=youtu.be OH MY GOD DUDE stop licking the mic, brushing it with your beard, dropping it on the table, etc.

HopelessN00b

@MikeyB "Dear users... please do not lick the electronics."

Magellan

@MikeyB What is it with people choosing product names that make it impossible to get clean Google results?

MikeyB

4:41 PM

@Magellan too bad salt -nacl doesn't work :/

voretaq7

Wow. IBM wants to get out of the chip-making business now

Magellan

@MikeyB Is it like find, where you have to gut a sheep to have your command-line arguments accepted?

HopelessN00b

@Magellan That's what happens when you let the marketing guys, who don't know there's an internet outside of Facebook, pick product names.

Magellan

@voretaq7 I'm not sure about this new CEO they've got. If IBM gets out of all the business lines where they have historically done R&D, they're going to be in a world of hurt in about 5-10 years.

MikeyB

@Magellan No, I meant the google search: salt -NaCl

ewwhite

4:43 PM

@Magellan Salt, scrog, lick, moist, gimp, smegma... all terrible product names.

Magellan

@MikeyB oh. yes. I plead having just woken up.

MikeyB

@Magellan find is easy, just put the options after the path.

Magellan

@MikeyB except for the options that go after the search rules

HopelessN00b

@Magellan So what? CEO will have retired with his 250 million dollars by then.

Jacob

@MikeyB Salt was an exellent movie

MikeyB

4:45 PM

@Magellan oops that's what I meant :D

Magellan

@HopelessN00b That would be Ginni Rometty. I wasn't terribly impressed with her, but then I rarely am impressed by the people coming out of their Sales & Marketing org.

IBM doesn't makes sales on technical merits or value, they make them on the golf course.

HopelessN00b

@Magellan Right, well it worked in the '50's, so why change now?

Isn't that the motto of their mainframe division, in fact?

Magellan

@HopelessN00b the only reason IBM is making enough money is they keep buying companies and moving all the jobs overseas and shoving the product into their sales org which can sell that stuff far better than any startup's meager sales force.

HopelessN00b

Yeah, sounds about right.

voretaq7

@Magellan Ayup.

Magellan

4:50 PM

buy your innovation, slash costs, and sell as much of it as you can before something better comes along.

voretaq7

I'm fine with them selling off the xSeries division, it's not really a major profit center

MikeyB

@voretaq7 But dammit, they made really good servers :(

voretaq7

but if they stop designing and building Power then their core profit center (people locked in to the AS/400 and Z/Series) will evaporate.

@MikeyB yes, it's going to suck when Lenovo ruins the line.

ewwhite

@voretaq7 As I battle the two AS400's at a produce site this week...

Magellan

@voretaq7 I think it'll reflect poorly on IBM when they do. Most people that I talk to still think of the Thinkpad line as IBM.

reality, of course, having nothing to do with perception.

MikeyB

4:51 PM

curl -L http://bootstrap.saltstack.org | sudo sh -s -- -M -N cries a little

HopelessN00b

@ewwhite Think you'd be willing to pit them against our two AS400's in a cage match or battle to the death? I really want our AS400's to die.

Magellan

@MikeyB Because DevOps!

Danila Ladner

IBM has ruined OS/2

ewwhite

@HopelessN00b They don't die... they multiply

voretaq7

@Magellan well IBM had Lenovo keep their logo on it for years

Magellan

4:52 PM

@voretaq7 hmm. true. I've blanked out much of those years.

HopelessN00b

@DanilaLadner Well, yeah. That's what IBM does to things. Oh, it's like the mSO of technology companies - where good ideas go to die.

ewwhite

Quick... if you needed to make $300 really quickly, what would you do?

Magellan

That or I spent so much time working that nothing else memorable happened during them.

voretaq7

@ewwhite Sell crack?

Dan

@ewwhite Sell my things

ewwhite

4:53 PM

@voretaq7 hmm...

HopelessN00b

@ewwhite Hit the my co-worker in the head with something and grab his wallet.

(Repeat as needed)

ewwhite

Family member is trying to hit me up for cash for rent.

Danila Ladner

@ewwhite send my sister to go-go dance

or brother

MikeyB

@ewwhite Consulting.

Danila Ladner

go to casino, either win fast or lose fast, craps

HopelessN00b

4:55 PM

@ewwhite Do you like this family member? (If so, all my ideas are gonna be useless.)

ewwhite

nope

voretaq7

@ewwhite do they make a habit of this?

HopelessN00b

@ewwhite Shove his ass into a thong and pimp it out for beer money.

MikeyB

@ewwhite Rob a liquor store? Visit the casino? Sell their xbox? Sell their kidney?

ewwhite

@voretaq7 yep

landlord will file eviction if payment not received by today, 2pm.

HopelessN00b

4:58 PM

Actually, in all seriousness, I subcontract out plenty of work I don't want, so "clean my house (bathroom, car, whatever) twice a week for a month?"

ewwhite

Not local... but yeah.

HopelessN00b

"Type up these TPS reports..." "Pick up my groceries..." etc. You do have errands and the like you'd rather pawn off on someone else, right?

ewwhite

They'll have the money by Monday, but not today.

Tanner

@ewwhite Me? Hit an ATM... That guy sounds like he needs to suck it up and eat a payday loan though.

ewwhite

I'd think that landlords would be open to this.

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