yuck

@Dashrender said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@pmoncho said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@hari

I would look at the T430 through www.xbyte.com. I believe Sean @xByteSean still hangs around here and can point you in a specific direction as you can explain your entire needs.

As for Hard drives, RAM and CPU requirements, that is based on your knowledge of the requirements of the CDMS.

AD/DNS/DHCP requirements are minimal (1vCPU with 2GB RAM and 60GB HD)

Exactly. Likely any of those four servers will do the job for you, assuming they'll hold the storage that meets your needs.
You need to spell out the requirements for each VM, than add them together to see what you need for the host for those VMs.

Don't forget backups - I don't see that listed.

I agree with Dashrender, backups should be like priority number 1 beyond actually deploying the hardware. I wouldn't bother trying to figure out all the other steps like how many VM's and what services you need, without also thinking about how you will back them up. You might find that you have a choice between two different services that provide the same functionality, but one fits your backup model better. Do not neglect backups, the moment you need them, they are the most important thing to the business.

So I got a quote from xbyte, but it includes this. I had been expecting that I would just load the hypervisor on the raid 5 array and that having a seperate R1 array for the OS was an old way of approaching this. Thoughts?

@scottalanmiller said in What Are You Currently Reading Outside of Tech:

Started reading A Wrinkle in Time to the kids today. Through the first chapter now, "Mrs. Whatsit".

the audiobook is great, its read by the author.

@travisdh1 said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

Waiting for WinDirStat to finish a scan and getting ready to image a couple machines.

Already know that the Program Files directory is the culprit on the WinDirStat scan. The question is going to be, which database got messed up.

try this, I recently found it to be much faster than WinDirStat. It is also able to understand dedupe which was a bonus.
https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

4 years ago, I pulled out 10mb switches, or they may have been hubs, not sure.

My company started using email in 2011. They've had computers since the mid 80's (at least in engineering), but none of them had internet access until around then too.

@scottalanmiller said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

@Donahue said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

I'm looking for a good vendor to buy microsoft licenses from.

We use PCM.

link?

I'm looking for a good vendor to buy microsoft licenses from.

@scottalanmiller said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

@Donahue said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

@scottalanmiller said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

https://www.ecisolutions.com/uk/m1/solutions/cloud-based-erp-for-manufacturers/

"Cloud computing is nothing more than securely storing and accessing data—and programs—over the internet rather than on your local computer's hard drive."

Never trust an ERP manufacturer that doesn't even know basic computing terms. And is so bold to try to pretend like they do to a point that they pretend to tell others about them!

haha, thats my ERP!

I know, I'm in a meeting talking about making something to compete with it

do you know someone else using it?

@Donahue said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

@scottalanmiller said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

https://www.ecisolutions.com/uk/m1/solutions/cloud-based-erp-for-manufacturers/

"Cloud computing is nothing more than securely storing and accessing data—and programs—over the internet rather than on your local computer's hard drive."

Never trust an ERP manufacturer that doesn't even know basic computing terms. And is so bold to try to pretend like they do to a point that they pretend to tell others about them!

haha, thats my ERP!

I am also not aware of any cloud based options, thats a new one

@scottalanmiller said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

https://www.ecisolutions.com/uk/m1/solutions/cloud-based-erp-for-manufacturers/

"Cloud computing is nothing more than securely storing and accessing data—and programs—over the internet rather than on your local computer's hard drive."

Never trust an ERP manufacturer that doesn't even know basic computing terms. And is so bold to try to pretend like they do to a point that they pretend to tell others about them!

haha, thats my ERP!

I've always read it as mon-god-b

@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:

@hobbit666 said in Non-IT News Thread:

BBC News - David Schwimmer: 'I didn't steal beer' from Blackpool shop
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-45971252

He sure denied that quickly. Hmmmm... suspicious.

that sure looks like him though!

at this point, I would have to get management buy in to really consider cloud, I want to evaluate the options before hand to know how much I should or shouldn't be pushing for the cloud. Recent conversations with @scottalanmiller have me questioning our historical reasons and motivations for why we use what we use. In my case, we have a mix of prior misinformed speculation and my limited personal experience.

I don't see a reason to emulate tape if I'm not going to use tape, but I really don't know

@scottalanmiller said in Adding tape drive:

@Donahue said in Adding tape drive:

@scottalanmiller said in Adding tape drive:

@Donahue said in Adding tape drive:

is this a good drive?

Also, If I am considering the cloud as an option, what is the prefered way to get backups into the cloud? it seems like VTL is one way to go, but I can't tell if that is appropriate for my situation because I have zero existing tape infrastructure. I can do something like copy to a synology, and then just sync that with backblaze. Thoughts?

VTL doesn't get you to a cloud store, it just makes a cloud store look like tape when your backup won't talk to cloud.

It seems like a common middle man to get veeam -> to cloud. Thats why I want to know if it is something I should look into or not.

yes, specifically for Veeam going to unsupported cloud, it will act as a middle man.

is it better to go straight to one of veeam's cloud partners?

@scottalanmiller said in Adding tape drive:

@Donahue said in Adding tape drive:

is this a good drive?

Also, If I am considering the cloud as an option, what is the prefered way to get backups into the cloud? it seems like VTL is one way to go, but I can't tell if that is appropriate for my situation because I have zero existing tape infrastructure. I can do something like copy to a synology, and then just sync that with backblaze. Thoughts?

VTL doesn't get you to a cloud store, it just makes a cloud store look like tape when your backup won't talk to cloud.

It seems like a common middle man to get veeam -> to cloud. Thats why I want to know if it is something I should look into or not.

@Dashrender said in I have to change cloud drive service yet again:

@Donahue said in I have to change cloud drive service yet again:

@Dashrender said in I have to change cloud drive service yet again:

@Donahue said in I have to change cloud drive service yet again:

Now if the OS had the ability for tags to be created automatically based on say the words in a document, then you might start down a better path. But let's say that your data was images. This cannot be done outside of things like neural networks, and even then only to a point.

Not sure you need to leave this to the OS - but I get your point. And just look at google photos - it does a pretty awesome job or knowing what a bird vs a dog is.

As for auto tagging - some apps can and do have that - I have no personal experience, I just know that some can do it.

But regarding making a user 'tag correctly' well they aren't tagging or naming correctly today. Creating a list for them to choose from, plus allowing them to make their own hopefully only makes things better for them, I can't see how it would be worse than what they have today.

I'm not saying it would be worse, I'm saying you can't fundamentally make it better via programming.

I guess I disagree with that - it's better via programming because it can auto fill some tags based on rules you setup. How is that not better? It might not be perfect, but I assume it must be better, even if only by the tiniest bit. Again at absolutely worse - it would be the same.

That's why I used the word fundamental. It wouldn't be an innovation, just an improvement of existing tools or methods, and those existing tools and methods are still subject to human error and indifference.

is this a good drive?

Also, If I am considering the cloud as an option, what is the prefered way to get backups into the cloud? it seems like VTL is one way to go, but I can't tell if that is appropriate for my situation because I have zero existing tape infrastructure. I can do something like copy to a synology, and then just sync that with backblaze. Thoughts?

@scottalanmiller said in Adding tape drive:

The reason that we use "starting point" as OBR10 is because a few reasons...

1. With spinners it is the "most commonly correct choice". So if you were to randomly throw the dart, it's the choice most likely to be hit correctly.
2. If you mess up and choose the wrong RAID level, OBR10 is at least a reasonable and safe fallback. When wrong, it's not so wrong. Meaning, the risks of choosing OBR10 when, say, OBR6 is better for you, is minor. But choosing OBR5 when OBR10 is best for you could be a disaster. The only risks to OBR10 are about overspending up front. Whereas the risks to OBR5 could be losing tonnes of critical data.

tonnes? how much does data weigh?