@Dashrender said:

@BBigford said:

What you really need is a template. Let me see what I can find from something I previously submitted.

Mind sharing that with me too?

I couldn't find one from an item that was purchased as quickly. I'm still looking.

So you need something that has the basics:

*Purpose
*Scope
*Policy
*Price
etc

For instance, when it was proposed what acceptable encryption policies would be, the following was written:

Acceptable Encryption Policy

1. Purpose.
   The purpose of this policy is to limit the use of Encryption by Authorized Users to methods that receive substantial public review and work effectively. Additionally, this policy provides direction to ensure compliance with Federal regulations, and to ensure legal authority is granted for the dissemination and use of Encryption technologies outside of the United States.

2. Scope.
   This policy applies to all Authorized Users including <company name> employees and affiliates.

3. Policy.
   Proven, standard Encryption methods (e.g. DES, Blowfish, RSA, RC5, IDEA, etc.) must be used as the basis for Encryption technologies. These methods represent the actual Cipher used for an approved application. For example, Network Associate's Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) technology uses the IDEA method in combination with RSA or Diffie-Hellman methods, while Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology uses RSA Encryption. Symmetric Cryptosystem key lengths must be at least 128 bits. Asymmetric Cryptosystem keys must be of a length that yields equivalent strength.
   Authorized Users may not use Proprietary Encryption Algorithms for any purpose, unless reviewed by qualified experts outside of the vendor in question and approved by Information Security personnel. Be aware that the export of Encryption technologies is restricted by the U.S. Government. Residents of countries other than the United States need to be aware of the Encryption technology laws of the country in which they reside.

4. Enforcement.
   Any Authorized User found to be in violation of this policy will be considered an Unauthorized User, and as such are subject to disciplinary action pursuant with the Enforcement section of the Unauthorized Use Policy.

What you really need is a template. Let me see what I can find from something I previously submitted.

If that wasn't the response coming from someone that high up, I would be deeply concerned.

@ntoxicator As to the email though, that sounds 100% like a response I would expect. There is nothing that is unreasonable about any of that. For anything over $2500, we have to submit a breakdown of all those things that were mentioned, and a little more, to the engineering manager. Anything over $5000 goes to the director of IT. Anything over $20,000 goes to the VP of operations. To simplify things, we now just report to the VP of ops. But nonethelss, we still have to do a breakdown and submit it for approval. It ensures quality, return on investment, and that everything is being vetted through the proper channels.

@ntoxicator Keep in mind this is a public forum. If the CEO or CFO saw you were posting verbatim of an email, they might look down upon that...

@scottalanmiller said:

@BBigford said:

I absolutely refuse to use my own gear. It just allows the company to continue to put off spending money.

Yes, it's empowering in a bad way.

Not covering it up with janky work arounds (when you KNOW the company has the money to upgrade critical services) and dumping your own money in, makes the situation glare its ugly face. If the higher ups start experiencing the problem, then things start getting funding real quick.

I know when something pisses our CEO off, like an old server that is hindering company performance, and the bottom line has been money, we have that "thing" (hardware or software), overnight.

I absolutely refuse to use my own gear. It just allows the company to continue to put off spending money. I just keep proposing something. Every time something gets complained about, I just bitch about under spending on infrastructure. If it gets to me, I simply quit and go work for someone else that refuses the concept of spending money to update and scale infrastructure.

Looks like there is quite a bit included in the free version for up to 10 premium users, and 10 basic users. Interesting.

@MattSpeller said:

@BBigford said:

@DustinB3403 said:

@scottalanmiller said:

@BRRABill said:

@scottalanmiller said:

I drink a lot That's the real solution. If you are not drinking heavily, IT is likely not for you

Do you drink and IT?

I drink and everything.

Scott has just admitted to drinking and driving folks.

We have it in writing, now someone send the Rochester Police to go and fetch him.... </sarcasm>

SAM probably has a few cops on retainer for just such an occasion.

Not where he's living right now. We could probably pool our couch money and bribe him into some trouble

You have a couch?! Lucky...

@MattSpeller said:

@BBigford said:

@DustinB3403 said:

@scottalanmiller said:

@BRRABill said:

@scottalanmiller said:

I drink a lot That's the real solution. If you are not drinking heavily, IT is likely not for you

Do you drink and IT?

I drink and everything.

Scott has just admitted to drinking and driving folks.

We have it in writing, now someone send the Rochester Police to go and fetch him.... </sarcasm>

SAM probably has a few cops on retainer for just such an occasion.

Not where he's living right now. We could probably pool our couch money and bribe him into some trouble

touche.

@DustinB3403 said:

@scottalanmiller said:

@BRRABill said:

@scottalanmiller said:

I drink a lot That's the real solution. If you are not drinking heavily, IT is likely not for you

Do you drink and IT?

I drink and everything.

Scott has just admitted to drinking and driving folks.

We have it in writing, now someone send the Rochester Police to go and fetch him.... </sarcasm>

SAM probably has a few cops on retainer for just such an occasion.

@scottalanmiller The only time I've traded out drives intentionally when things hadn't failed was a rock bottom budget, we had to expand the storage, and couldn't afford a new appliance right then and there. Traded out one drive at a time for larger drives (backups were taken), and eventually scaled up to about double the size. Bought a different appliance the following year and reused the old appliance as a non-critical.

@scottalanmiller said:

@BBigford said:

If you were going to exchange disks for completely different drives (model/speed/etc), they should have recommended moving the data off, destroying the volume, and completely rebuilding it.

Even for the same drives... although why would you swap out good identical drives.

I wouldn't swap out good identical drives... But if the OP really wanted faster mechanical drives, or SSDs for that matter. I don't see 7200 rpm drives vs. 10k rpm drives being an enormous leap. Now 7200 rpm vs SSD is a different story in performance (dependent on the SSDs used of course), but also a bit more expensive per GB. Nonetheless, I wouldn't be breaking a RAID intentionally without moving all the data off and just rebuilding. I don't see any other reason with how unstable you are making it.

Web hosting would be really difficult to make a decent living in to justify the work. I would personally focus on delivering other IT services like setting up networks/troubleshooting/etc. Remote and on-site to start. Then you could move into all remote down the road if you wanted and the business grew. Possibly hosting your own Colo if businesses wanted their gear offsite and cloud costs weren't feasible or possible with customer contracts. That's where I see the real money at, and overall the best customer service experiences. When you deliver a solution and people are in a panic because their network is down, you get big money and big thank you's.

If you were going to exchange disks for completely different drives (model/speed/etc), they should have recommended moving the data off, destroying the volume, and completely rebuilding it.

@scottalanmiller said:

@DustinB3403 said:

@scottalanmiller said:

I drink a lot That's the real solution. If you are not drinking heavily, IT is likely not for you

The trouble with that is drinking when you don't have to IT the next day... (which for many of us, isn't often).

Why would that be a problem?

Wouldn't that just make drinking all the more fulfilling? Not having to do anything IT related the next day...

@scottalanmiller said:

I drink a lot That's the real solution. If you are not drinking heavily, IT is likely not for you

...and I think I'll be venturing to that brewery later this afternoon. No studying will be completed this evening. Merely wind down, then go home and lay in the hammock in the back yard.

@scottalanmiller said:

I drink a lot That's the real solution. If you are not drinking heavily, IT is likely not for you

I have a membership card to a local brewery.