@IRJ said:

@LAH3385

I use PDQ Inventory and Deploy Pro. It's become one of our lifelines here. I am not sure we could live without it now.

How many users/sites do you have?

So after presenting my boss with the reasons your guys provided.. he said he will try to push for PDQ inventory Pro for 1 year He still have to bring it up to his boss before final approval.

@dafyre said:

@LAH3385 said:

Do you guys use PDQ free, Pro, or enterprise for your production environment?

We don't use PDQ here, but I have used the free one in the past.

what do you use for inventory?

I am using trial for PDQ inventory and trial for Lansweeper. Got to say they are awesome. Really want to keep it forever.

@Dashrender said:

@LAH3385 said:

So here is my scenario... I have the need for an inventory application, PDQ, SW, Lansweeper, etc, for about 1-2 months. Problem that arise is the usage does not justify the price tag that come with it.

Just because you only use it once or twice doesn't mean it's not totally worth the price they charge. Also the ability to use their built in reporting tools afterwards is useful too.

If you had to visit each computer manually and collect the information, how much time would that take? That's how you justify the cost.

I don't know.. problably 60-80 hours of work after hours for 2 months period

Do you guys use PDQ free, Pro, or enterprise for your production environment?

@LAH3385 I guess a better question for you is: How did you know, or realized, AD replication has stop working?

A screen shots of the error message would be a very good start.

I once had replication issue before, but that was due to AD on one of the server contain lingering object. Not sure if it is the same as what you are experiencing or not.

So here is my scenario... I have the need for an inventory application, PDQ, SW, Lansweeper, etc, for about 1-2 months. Problem that arise is the usage does not justify the price tag that come with it. I am perfectly fine with free version of these applications, but for 2 months I want to have all features unlocked for ease of use.

Therefore I have 2 questions:
1st question: How would you approach your boss to approve the purchase of the license when the usage is very low. These licenses are yearly subscription.
2nd question: Would you run the inventory application on a virtual machine..say virtual box..scrap it after the first trial and reinstall everything again to use the same trial the second time.

Does it hurt or increase the work load if I use free version? not much. probably going to cost me couple of hours after hours for a month more than what I wanted to.

@Sparkum said:

PDQ for close to 3 years now, huge fan

I feel PDQ is solid. SW.. never try them so can't say about them. Lansweeper is very... informative.

@RojoLoco said:

@Breffni-Potter said:

@RojoLoco said:

and I'm about to install Lansweeper to test it out.

It's a great product, if you get stuck let me know and I'll try to help out

My preliminary Lansweeper tests are very promising. I like the product, it has tons of info that is easily accessible.

OMG! Lansweeper is awesome! it even tell which monitor connected to which PC! Just requested a full trail. So far very impressed.

This is my theory: you will need USB to Molex + Molex to Sata just to make it works.

I know you want it to works as temporary solution, but if it is my PC I would install Molex to Sata, and wire it outside the case. This way I have sata power + esata cable.

@RojoLoco said:

I had SW working ok, but it now refuses to inventory the new machines added recently, no matter how I set it up. I have the free version of PDQ, which is nice and fast (missing some features compared to the paid one), and I'm about to install Lansweeper to test it out.

Let us know how is Lansweeper turn out.
I don't have the time to test these out yet, it'll have to be on the weekend.

@Dashrender said:

@LAH3385 said:

@Dashrender said:

Well, we'd need to know more about what system you're using for accounting before we can really talk about it.

What caused the outage and missed payroll last time?

My accounting person has a PC, but I can move them to another computer where they will have access to all of their files and install a front-end for the accounting package, printers etc in under 1 hour.

Sadly we aren't looking to move to a fully web hosted/based solution so that all she needs is a web browser, but as I said, I can get her up and running on a completely different machine in 1 hour.

Why couldn't you (or whomever) do that for your accounting person/department?

Our accounting use SAGE 50 application. Sage 50 is configured to have service side, where all data are stored and clients side, where users would login into server data. The problem last time caused from something messed up the pathing to the server. I don't know much about it since it happened long before I joined the company.

@ardeyn said:

Wouldn't it make more sense to run the accoutning applications (would need more details here) as a VM? Would give you a lot of room to maneuvre, while giving you a chance to get some redundancy, as well as let your accounting work from any workstation.

It was not outage. it was messed up in the configuration itself. I don't know what happened. There was no documentation about it. I know this because the accounting manager told me the story.

LOL maybe that's why you have a job? you replaced the guy who got fired over that? j/k

OK MAS 50 - and in a multi-user environment it's setup with a server, as you mention you have.

This is very similar to what I have (I have Business Works Gold - the baby product to MAS 50) and it works the same way as yours does.

How many accounting people do you have who share this service/data?

You mention the desire for an i7 because you will be working DB stuff and want it fast.
question - is the DB stuff run on the server or locally on the workstation?

I'm not sure how MAS/BWG works exactly - I suppose the server DB could send data to the client, and the client could do all crunching on the data to give the desired report, but that feels wrong.

I would suggest that you along with someone in accounting call your support personal for MAS and find out where the processing happens. If the processing all happens on the server side, then having a fast local machine is pointless with the stated goal.

As I mentioned before I do not know all about their software, or how they do their work. But from what I know is Sage is like a final step before sending the information to payroll. Before that they need to compile the data on their machine first, thus the need for processing power. I don't know what they use to compile the data.

@Dashrender said:

@JaredBusch said:

@LAH3385 said:

@Dashrender said:

Well, we'd need to know more about what system you're using for accounting before we can really talk about it.

What caused the outage and missed payroll last time?

My accounting person has a PC, but I can move them to another computer where they will have access to all of their files and install a front-end for the accounting package, printers etc in under 1 hour.

Sadly we aren't looking to move to a fully web hosted/based solution so that all she needs is a web browser, but as I said, I can get her up and running on a completely different machine in 1 hour.

Why couldn't you (or whomever) do that for your accounting person/department?

Our accounting use SAGE 50 application. Sage 50 is configured to have service side, where all data are stored and clients side, where users would login into server data. The problem last time caused from something messed up the pathing to the server. I don't know much about it since it happened long before I joined the company.

@ardeyn said:

Wouldn't it make more sense to run the accoutning applications (would need more details here) as a VM? Would give you a lot of room to maneuvre, while giving you a chance to get some redundancy, as well as let your accounting work from any workstation.

It was not outage. it was messed up in the configuration itself. I don't know what happened. There was no documentation about it. I know this because the accounting manager told me the story.

Sage systems are horrible. They have silly client side things a lot of times.

You mean like Exchange has Outlook?

At least Outlook works... Sage client is all about luck and its mood. It might works, and crash within seconds for no obvious reason.

@JaredBusch said:

@LAH3385 said:

@Dashrender said:

Well, we'd need to know more about what system you're using for accounting before we can really talk about it.

What caused the outage and missed payroll last time?

My accounting person has a PC, but I can move them to another computer where they will have access to all of their files and install a front-end for the accounting package, printers etc in under 1 hour.

Sadly we aren't looking to move to a fully web hosted/based solution so that all she needs is a web browser, but as I said, I can get her up and running on a completely different machine in 1 hour.

Why couldn't you (or whomever) do that for your accounting person/department?

Our accounting use SAGE 50 application. Sage 50 is configured to have service side, where all data are stored and clients side, where users would login into server data. The problem last time caused from something messed up the pathing to the server. I don't know much about it since it happened long before I joined the company.

@ardeyn said:

Wouldn't it make more sense to run the accoutning applications (would need more details here) as a VM? Would give you a lot of room to maneuvre, while giving you a chance to get some redundancy, as well as let your accounting work from any workstation.

It was not outage. it was messed up in the configuration itself. I don't know what happened. There was no documentation about it. I know this because the accounting manager told me the story.

Sage systems are horrible. They have silly client side things a lot of times.

totally agree with you there. Any recommendation?

Which is better in your own perspective? The tasks I want to accomplish is inventory computer name along with program installed. If possible I want to know which user logged on to which computer as well.

If there are other features each program can do please enlighten me.
Thanks!

@Dashrender said:

Well, we'd need to know more about what system you're using for accounting before we can really talk about it.

What caused the outage and missed payroll last time?

My accounting person has a PC, but I can move them to another computer where they will have access to all of their files and install a front-end for the accounting package, printers etc in under 1 hour.

Sadly we aren't looking to move to a fully web hosted/based solution so that all she needs is a web browser, but as I said, I can get her up and running on a completely different machine in 1 hour.

Why couldn't you (or whomever) do that for your accounting person/department?

Our accounting use SAGE 50 application. Sage 50 is configured to have service side, where all data are stored and clients side, where users would login into server data. The problem last time caused from something messed up the pathing to the server. I don't know much about it since it happened long before I joined the company.

@ardeyn said:

Wouldn't it make more sense to run the accoutning applications (would need more details here) as a VM? Would give you a lot of room to maneuvre, while giving you a chance to get some redundancy, as well as let your accounting work from any workstation.

It was not outage. it was messed up in the configuration itself. I don't know what happened. There was no documentation about it. I know this because the accounting manager told me the story.

@Dashrender said:

@LAH3385 said:

@Dashrender Please explain.

I am more or less forbidden to touch anything related to accounting so I know very little of their infrastructure. The order came directly from CEO as we ran into "issue" in the past and cause our accounting dept to go cripple for 2 days. This affect everyone paychecks. As you can imagine... there are many unhappy people caused by the incident.

Sounds like they need to find a way to rely less individual end user devices, and the ability to work anywhere on anything.

I still not sure where you are heading with DB server. If it sound good, and improve reliability I want to present the solution to the accounting Manager. He might be looking for a new platform as well as we both know there are little redundancy, if any, in the current setup.

@Dashrender Please explain.

I am more or less forbidden to touch anything related to accounting so I know very little of their infrastructure. The order came directly from CEO as we ran into "issue" in the past and cause our accounting dept to go cripple for 2 days. This affect everyone paychecks. As you can imagine... there are many unhappy people caused by the incident.

I still want to know, or get feedback on the Intel NUC as workstation. I know skull canyon is not yet being released, but it is the only one with quad i7. With the pricing and whatnot... I want to favor M.2 if it utilize PCI-E bus.

@JaredBusch said:

@LAH3385 said:

@JaredBusch said:

@LAH3385 said:

@JaredBusch We just upgrade 20 Vostros with Optiplex 3020, aftermarket with 8GB ram. Problem with that, according to Dell account rep, is the SSD upgrade. I told him of the plan, and he told me that Dell has no problem with after market. The only problem is the warranty. Warranty only cover what is shipped from the warehouse. So if anythign happens I have to remove all after market components and replace them with factory shipped components. This make any BSOD a self diagnostic. Beside.. I highly doubt I will find anything with the requested spec for less than $700 prebuilt.

I have never had a problem with Dell sending out replacement parts when the Dell diagnostic tool reported a problem that was not SSD/memory related.

BSoD is wipe and reinstall anyway.

interesting note. Have you done this before with the after market upgrade, and ran into problem with either manufacturer or policy?

I have never had a problem. I make my life easier in that I run the Dell diagnostic tool prior to calling tech support so that I can say here is what the tool said.

I have never even had a rep say anything about having 3rd party hardware.

Again a BSoD issue is almost certainly not SSD related. If the Dell tool tested the memory bad, then swap it and don't call Dell.

Generally BSoD are due to the OS or drivers in my experience, not hardware.

Do you replace the original drive with the SSD or clean the original drive and make it as back up?

@JaredBusch said:

@LAH3385 said:

@JaredBusch We just upgrade 20 Vostros with Optiplex 3020, aftermarket with 8GB ram. Problem with that, according to Dell account rep, is the SSD upgrade. I told him of the plan, and he told me that Dell has no problem with after market. The only problem is the warranty. Warranty only cover what is shipped from the warehouse. So if anythign happens I have to remove all after market components and replace them with factory shipped components. This make any BSOD a self diagnostic. Beside.. I highly doubt I will find anything with the requested spec for less than $700 prebuilt.

I have never had a problem with Dell sending out replacement parts when the Dell diagnostic tool reported a problem that was not SSD/memory related.

BSoD is wipe and reinstall anyway.

interesting note. Have you done this before with the after market upgrade, and ran into problem with either manufacturer or policy?