@Oksana said in If you are new drop in say hello and introduce yourself please!:

Hi guys,
My name is Oksana and I am super happy to be here

Welcome to the community!

@scottalanmiller said in When You Think That You Need a Physical Server...:

@EddieJennings said in When You Think That You Need a Physical Server...:

It seems to make sense to keep one on its own physical server as if the hyper-v host goes down...

Thats the point of the article here... if you feel that way, step back because somewhere there is confusion. There definitely should never be a physical DC.

Yep. Such articles give still-learning folks like me some clarity and confirmation about things we've considered. Since joining Mangolassi, my eyes have been opened to many things -- inside and outside the scope of this article.

@coliver But, but. It still powers on, and "runs like a charm."

@JaredBusch Oh the things I've learned, realized, and finally thought through during my first 3 years in IT.

@coliver said in When You Think That You Need a Physical Server...:

@EddieJennings said in When You Think That You Need a Physical Server...:

@coliver said in When You Think That You Need a Physical Server...:

@EddieJennings said in When You Think That You Need a Physical Server...:

I know there is a best practice that discourages an environment with only one domain controller.

Why? Do you really need two domain controllers? How many authentications are you doing? How much downtime can you afford? Would it be better to have a single domain controller on a VM that you can backup and restore in a few minutes versus having two running at all times?

Why = because a document from Microsoft said so and at the time when I made our domain I didn't know any better :).

What you're asking me is what I'm asking myself, which moves me to the conclusion that when it's time to make the VM for the accounting software, the old box should just go away. Especially since my tiny number of users would be able to log into their workstations with cached credentials until I can get the domain controller VM functioning again.

Right. On the other hand how usable is the old box? Could it be a VM host?

Possibly. It's a 7 year old machine with a Intel Q8400 processor, 8 GB (max) RAM, and Intel FakeRAID. It was purchased when I was still a band director.

@coliver said in When You Think That You Need a Physical Server...:

@EddieJennings said in When You Think That You Need a Physical Server...:

I know there is a best practice that discourages an environment with only one domain controller.

Why? Do you really need two domain controllers? How many authentications are you doing? How much downtime can you afford? Would it be better to have a single domain controller on a VM that you can backup and restore in a few minutes versus having two running at all times?

Why = because a document from Microsoft said so and at the time when I made our domain I didn't know any better :).

What you're asking me is what I'm asking myself, which moves me to the conclusion that when it's time to make the VM for the accounting software, the old box should just go away. Especially since my tiny number of users would be able to log into their workstations with cached credentials until I can get the domain controller VM functioning again.

I'm thinking about the setup in our office. We have two servers: one that's a hyper-v hypervisor that's hosting several VMs, one of which is a domain controller; one that's a server by name / desktop by hardware that's also a domain controller and is the server for our accounting software.

On my list of things to eventually get done is to spin up another VM that would be a server for our accounting software. I know there is a best practice that discourages an environment with only one domain controller. Is it worth keeping the old box as a second domain controller, or having two domain controllers as VMs?

It seems to make sense to keep one on its own physical server as if the hyper-v host goes down, there's still a functional box serving as a failover domain controller. On the other hand, since all of the other services would be on VMs on said host, what good is having a functional domain controller when there are no other services available to use?

@scottalanmiller said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

Some serious silliness.

https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1986356-full-disk-encryption-with-no-pre-boot-password

Wow. I wonder if this would go in the server room that has the locked door that you can open without using any kind of key.

@scottalanmiller Normal.

Back to the never-ending documentation project grind.

How I wish I could respond to lazy users:
Youtube Video

@scottalanmiller said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

@dafyre said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

@EddieJennings said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

@scottalanmiller Thanks! So many things I want to do and learn. Just have to remember to approach things the same I do when eating an elephant.

Step 1: Find the elephant gun.

Step 2: Bring a big fork.

And eat one bite at a time

@scottalanmiller Thanks! So many things I want to do and learn. Just have to remember to approach things the same I do when eating an elephant.

My Dell R310 has arrived

Conversation from earlier today.

Me: Listening to $ITDeptMember explain this makes me think there is a good chance of a train wreck occuring.

personWhoUltimatelyHasToDealWithIt: Indeed

@EddieJennings Ok, I have failed my attention to details test today. Amazing the things you learn when you click "About."

I'm thinking through what my travel schedule would look like for this. The last day of the conference is the 28th. Does the conference last the entire day on the 28th? If so, then I'd plan my return trip to be on the 29th.

I look forward to the day where I might be supporting a FreePBX system rather than Altigen MaxCommunication Server 8.

I'm trying to estimate how much it would be for me to attend. I called the Holiday Inn and they said the block is around $119 / night + taxes. It's been over 10 years since I've traveled to New York. What percentage should I estimate the hotel tax to be for Rochester?

@nadnerB haha