What are
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The most popular Products mentioned in /r/ITdept:
The most popular Services mentioned in /r/ITdept:
TechNet
AlternativeTo
PDQ Deploy
Snipe-IT
Macrium Reflect
OS X Daily
join.me
Professor Messer
Server Fault
freenode
Channel 9
WampServer
Clonezilla
Microsoft Office Sway
Taiga.io
The most popular reviews in /r/ITdept:
> I would like to take a ghost copy of the disk stock before I start with the aim of reverting back if I screw it up.
A factory restore function is most likely available.
> another ghost copy of the final config to revert back should I need to.
If the ghost days are the last time you've touched imaging, a lot has changed and IMO for the better.
Cheers.
PS: Clonezilla is a great option too. Try both.
Start with the basics. CompTIA A+. These two exams 901/902 will cover the basics of troubleshooting computers covering Linux, Windows, and OSX devices. A good place to look at training material is Professor Messer. He actually frequents /r/CompTIA fairly often.
Once you get the A+ done, you can look at networking. Here there are two routes you can go. Again, CompTIA Net+ is the basic, and is typically the next cert most people get. However, if you think you will want to be more networking than sysadmin than you may instead look at the CCENT/CCNA. The CCNA is made up of two exams, passing the first exam nets you the CCENT which covers a lot of the same material as the CompTIA NET+. So if a CCNA is goal, skip Net+ and go get the CCENT.
Lastly, the CompTIA Sec+. As a military person, this will be a required certification if you end up working with computers/networks within the Military. It covers one of those DoD requirements. It builds on the knowledge of both A+ and Net+/CCENT.
After nabbing the trifecta, you should have a very good understanding with the basics of computers, networks, and how to secure them. You should also have a general idea of what aspect/part of IT you want to do. From here you can branch off and start nabbing certs in those career paths.
Another good resource for training is Cybrary.
EDIT: You may also check out /r/comptia, /r/ccna, /r/homelab, /r/networking, /r/sysadmin, /r/IT_CERT_STUDY/
There was a good presentation at TechEd2014 about using the Windows Performance Analyzer to troubleshoot slow logons. It allowed detailed reporting on what part of the logon was taking too long.
I work with OP, and overheard the solution to this problem with another colleague.
Our in-house wizard discovered that the shared mailbox this user is trying to open has more than 500 folders, which is crossing a threshold for this exchange 2003 user. The reason it was only happening to this user is because she uses the optional check box to open shared folders, and the other users do not have this check box enabled.
EDIT: Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff477612.aspx
Look into geo location meta tags. first hit, but there are other resources, such as semrush: https://dohmaindesigns.com/adding-geo-meta-tags-to-your-website/
You probably also need a business listing: https://moz.com/blog/how-to-optimize-your-google-my-business-listing
Do you know why bonjour is shutting down the network connection? That is not typical behaviour. While I don't like having the extra service running on my systems, I have noticed 0 effect from it.
That being said, you can reboot into safe mode by opening msconfig from the command line and selecting 'Safe Boot' on the boot tab - but you'll need access to the machine. And I'm fairly sure that remote desktop will not launch in safe mode, so you will probably need a third party program, but startup items don't run in safe mode, so that's going to be a trick. Here's an article suggesting TightVNC service...so that might be worth a shot.
http://serverfault.com/questions/55063/remote-restart-into-safe-mode-windows
DokuWiki has both corporate and community support.
Both are pretty good, though I only needed the latter once as the documentation about DokuWiki is that damn good.
Apart from that, DokuWiki setup is a matter of seconds (uploading it to the web server, editing config, done) whereas MediaWiki seems more complicated to set up for me. Maybe that's because I set up ~20 DokuWiki instances and only 2 MediaWikis?
If you are looking for just Room/Resource scheduler, take a look at Booked Scheduler. It's open source and easy to set up on any OS. It just needs a web server, PHP, and MySQL.
For Windows, just use WAMP server to get going quickly.
There's this thing called a mousemate, I think they are made by Human Scale they are usually like $10 or less (sorry I'm on mobile, will find a link later), they sit on top of a regular mouse and provide a larger surface to support your hand. It might help with the pain your talking about.
Edit to include links: http://www.thehumansolution.com/humanscale-mouse-mate-mm10.html
Looking up while I'm reading your post... wall hooks. We label each hook.
We have a ton of them that go around our IT room. You can buy them here on Amazon or look for something similar:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0076AZEAI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
In the three hours I had at the end of my friday I basically went with a free install of Hotspot Shield Elite (which I think prevented me from posting this reply until I turned it off) and a trial version of Log Me In. This should get me through the weekend while I cram as much network administration knowledge as I can from home.
The best thing I think the setup has going for it is my double password protection, and the ones I use are pretty solid. I'm sure that's a fool's hope, but we'll start with it until I decide I've got it secure or tell the man to sack up and pony up the three hundy.
This is network administration, right? God, why did I major in English?!
Check out the book Peopleware. There's some good science in there. One take away for me was that not saying no can lead to productivity loss, which in turn hurts you and the customers you support.
I learned a good trick from The Practice of Networking and System Adminstration. If someone asks you for help that's outside of your scope, be helpful, but state upfront a time limit. Like, "Oh I'd happy to help you set up your email! But I can only have fifteen minutes or so, then I'll have to get this TPS report completed." They feel good that you are helping and you can usually help get them pointed to the best person for follow up.
How about a USB switch like Ugreen's 3.0 model?
This would allow you to switch from one to the other.
https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Selector-Computers-Peripheral-Switcher/dp/B01N6GD9JO/ref=sr_1_1_sspa
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wT7A9yqKcNoNG5t22hncOB4DmyEiRhIURUG_g5SrWSw/edit
Here are my suggestions! It'll be a vague since I don't know you and your history, so ask questions and re-post your changes.
Also - http://osxdaily.com/2009/09/22/check-your-macs-uptime-and-reboot-history/
Every user lies about how often they actually shut down their machine, these tricks will have you outing them in no time.
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/ht201585
This will also help you discover battery health, which can be good if someone complains about battery life.
Here are two solutions with your existing setup. One is cloud-based and the other not
We have our AppleTVs at work connected to an AppleID for work. Then when someone takes pictures for a party, etc. They just make sure to share them to that photostream or their default photostream.
Instant update of all photos wirelessly on all AppleTVs. Just be VERY careful you don't tie a device to this and then use it for anything that isn't work related.
Sorry for the late response, but you might want to present training to your company in the form of CBTNuggets of similar to your users. Word 2013 for example. Pick though the specific videos that you think would be helpful, present it and be the hero. :)
I use Growl Alerts for Windows via command line to keep me updated when some scheduled tasks run. For example, this runs when Server 1 restarts.
growlnotify /t:"Server Restart Success!" /p:2 /host:192.168.1.XXX /port:23053 /pass:"XXXXXXX" /enc:DES /hash:SHA256 "Server 1 is Running."
Not sure if this would be a good fit as it been a while since I look at it. But back when I was using Norton Ghostsuite we had look at https://fogproject.org/ as a potential replacement. I left that company before the project went anywhere but it maybe worth a look.
Easy to boot--> http://www.easy2boot.com/
I had multiple issues with yumi not quite working right, and hated having to sit for 5-15 minutes waiting for it to do its thing.
There are many youtube videos, but realistically you just format the device with rmprepusb and the extract the e2b zip to the flash drive.
I don't really know much about it, someone on reddit told me about it.
Some Googling finds this: http://serverfault.com/questions/362938/is-this-a-hacking-attempt-centos-nginx-log-file but doesn't actually say what the vunerabilities are. Probably as long as it is up to date and properly set up it is fine.
If all your VMs are Windows, just enable remote desktop and connect to them via remote desktop client (Start > Run > mstsc) this is faster and often lighter on bandwidth.
Virtual PC does not offer a nice multi-connection client as far as I remember, some of the later versions (like Windows 7 XP mode) might not even let you run multiple VMs at the same time.
There are "better" options IMHO...
Oracle's VirtualBox https://www.virtualbox.org (free)
MS Virtual Server 2005 R2 http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/downloads.aspx (free, but since 2007 this has been replaced by Hyper-V)
There is also VMware, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but it's all trial-ware at this point.
BitDefender is my go-to but it's always worth checking independant reviews. I've found https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/business-windows-client/ to be quite honest and accurate throughout the years.
In practice, it would be something like this: https://xkpasswd.net/s/
And use the following config to generate 5 passphrases at a time:
> { "num_words": 3, "word_length_min": 4, "word_length_max": 6, "case_transform": "LOWER", "separator_character": " ", "padding_digits_before": 0, "padding_digits_after": 0, "padding_type": "NONE", "random_increment": "AUTO" }
The end effect (as an example) are sets of passphrases to choose from:
- reach apple famous
- during chance done
- base table island
- melody peru body
- tell waves rule
- kiss fresh egypt
- early fear hang
- amount block except
- middle dance taste
- wave give more
- hang book bread
- summer most choose
- niece family uranus
- white spell began
- scale offer weak
And, as an example, choosing base table island shows at https://howsecureismypassword.net/ as being brute-forcible in 10 billion years.
By comparison, Isl@nd7! shows as brute-forcible in 9 hours.
Firefox/Chrome - adblocker like ublock origin too. MS AV is good enough, but if you want the peace of mind of a dedicated AV, then Bitdefender Free is well regarded.
^^whispers ^^Ubuntu ^^in ^^passing
Do you know what the internship entails? Just brush up on basic troubleshooting and A+ type stuff. That's all I really want from my interns who work in support.
Professor Messer has a great video playlist for all things A+ http://www.professormesser.com/free-a-plus-training/free-a-plus/
Well as another poster said if you are looking for inexpensive and simple, going with an Office 365 subscription to Onedrive makes a lot of sense for what you are doing.
If you are set on using a server there are numerous options for cloud backup. All of them require setup though and some can be complicated.
Crashplan is probably the simplest out of the options out there - however it doesn't yet support Windows 2016, it's probably coming soon: https://www.crashplan.com/en-us/business/features/
For the adding a computer to a domain: Yes you can but it is a manual process that is somewhat involved. As long as you have experience editing the registry and changing permissions on the files though and follow the instructions very carefully you can probably do it.
However, you do need certain editions of Windows to join a domain in the first place. You can't use any "Home" editions of Windows to join a domain, you need Windows 10 Professional, Enterprise, or Education editions to join the domain in the first place.
You can also access files on a share without joining a domain. The best way to do it is to first setup Windows 10 with a local user account and password. Then create a domain account with the same username and password.
Just browse to the file share and when prompted type the password.
Clonezilla on a USB works.
Pros:
- Freeware
- Can store the image on the USB. (Faster than network)
- Can store multiple images
- Can be password protected and encrypted
- Can read from network
- Easy to create the boot disk with RUFUS
Cons:
- The menus are a bit verbose at first.
- Uses Linux terminology. (easy to learn though)
- Can't be automated easily
you can code your own mobile interface for OSTicket and give it back to the community ;)
There's also an OS Ticket app which I didn't try yet because I'm an Android fanboy: http://osticketapp.com/
I try to do that since a long time but I simply have no time at all. I can however vouch for OSTicket's stability and feature-set, it even has plugins now.
>It would make it more complicated than it really needs to be.
And that's why I favor the KISS approach. We don't need Calendar integration, because we have an agile management structure. We might move from OSTicket to Taiga in the far future because it seems to fit better.
Start from a known point, meaning: rip it all out and start anew.
Just kidding, but you don't really know what's set up until you did it yourself. That's my "admin master checklist", maybe it helps: https://wiki.crunchweb.eu/admin/checklist/start
Most importantly you have to establish regular updates and backups. I'd re-image all computers and don't give users admin rights. Please also incorporate the truck factor into your considerations.
And most importantly: Let them pay you. Maybe find out what an IT consultant in your area costs and bill them half the amount.
>Setting up a private company network or shared drive / Managing/storing documents containing sensitive information such as employee records, tax forms, payroll data etc.
Maybe Nextcloud?
Try this one:
I have a VIVO mount, different one, that I have zero issue with, but mines a dual monitor single post fixed position one.
I have this one for two 27in monitors. I think it would work ok for you. I'm not sure about the curved monitor, depends on the curve. I used to have the Ergotron single arm double monitor stand... That thing had a really low weight limit.
TLDR: No.
Slightly longer version: As long as you do not do anything on your work computer, other than work, you are safe. You can assume anything done on your work device, they can see, anywhere, anytime. However your work device cannot "infect" your home network or device to see what is going on.
Yes, there is very specific technologies they could use (on your work device) to potentially see your personal device is making requests for reddit, under very specific circumstance, however your connection to reddit is private (hence the padlock icon) between your computer and reddit. Not your router nor your ISP can tell what pages on reddit you are on - or what you're saying.
To be clear, if your employer was using your work machine to spy on your local network or your wifi, that would be extremely illegal. It would probably violate some federal wiretapping laws, not to mention the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. It would be no different than you hacking into a random company.
This all assumes your work computer is even on while you're doing personal stuff. If you're really paranoid, turn it off and put it in a faraday bag.
This is what i found for a cable https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NW1JKHY/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A1JDVQBTNMED4K&psc=1
Here's an extender that might work?
​
This is what you are looking for, and what u/jhiggs was talking about.
It wouldn't need to be in a rack, but it is built to be in one. I'm sure there are different priced options out there... this is just one I found on amazon.
Also, do your servers not have iDracs/ILOs?
I got this one a few months ago and it's the best one I've ever had. Lots of compliments on how good it looks too.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XN3RKQ8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's expensive, but you'll only buy it once.
It's not on your list, but if you don't have a STATE/IDE to USB adapter, consider it. I've restored data from countless failed external drives and such with one of these things.
Vantec SATA/IDE TO USB 3.0 Adapter (CB-ISA225-U3) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01E7EPKUO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_g67yybHF7ZQGC
I don't have this model because the USB 3.0 version didn't exist, but I do have this brand and I like it.
surface 3 dock here for those, thought we have also used the pro 2 older dock as well. However, we have coupled this to an accel multiport adapter sometimes it forgets it's linked and we have to open the dock and close it again, but other than that it's pretty damn good.
This is good if you have a power outlet: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B2F3KDQ ...runs a little hot on "white" all the time at full brightness - I mounted mine on a piece of aluminum bar and then screwed the bar to under the desk.
If all you have is a POE port, then there is this POE work light: http://jpelectron.com/hardware/