@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 am in task in searching for a workstation for our accounting team. They run a lot of data base reports, and compile invoices (I don't know much about it). Pricing is subjective but it should not cost "too much". Yes, that is a direct quote from the accounting manager. Our average system is about $500-$600, but with i5 4th gen, 4GB, 500GB.

Specs that they want are
i5/i7 Quad core 4th gen+
16GB (didn't say what DDR or core speed)
200GB storage+ SSD
Gigabit network (would be harder to find one without gigabit port)

They are looking into Dell, HP, and other prebuilt system. I told them to look into custom built, but they complain about warranty.
I know about Intel NUC kit but would anyone recommend it for workstation that deal with a lot of database reports?
Also, does all M.2 utilize PCI-E 3.0 bus or it must be specified on motherboard?

@NetworkNerd Have you consider Molbile Hotspot? Just end the contract and find other ISP that provide 4G mobile hotspot. I once work in a site that do not have internet connection yet. The building provide us with Verizon router with a simcard for internet connection. It was crappy but better than nothing.

@LAH3385 https://kb.intermedia.net/Article/3386 - Intermedia KB. It feels very seamlessly

I have a lot of users who cannot differentiate CPU and PC. I am getting tired of answering the same question over and over again. Now, I want to make a knowledge base that will explain how and why thing happens + fix.

we use intermedia as our hosted exchange service. Their KB is awesome and very intuitive. How can I make something similar to what they have? I may need to attach video or gif in some case.

I know Spiceworks has KB thingy, but I have not look much into it yet. Any suggestion?

LOL!!! I didn't realize there is ASK a QUESTION button. I will do so from now on.

Answering my own question: Just disable it.

This is the extension in question

I know Google provide ADMX to allow Force Install for extensions. What about Remove? How can I force remove Google Chrome extensions?

I use both keypass and lastpass.
Keypass is for mission critical like Admin password to workstations. Basically anything offline.
Lastpass is for online stuffs.. like Mangolassi, Amazon, Youtube,

@FATeknollogee I'm guessing you are asking for alternative backup application to Quadrics. Right? What about Veeam? Don't think they support XenServer but I could be wrong.

@Dashrender said:

@LAH3385 said:

@Dashrender said:

@LAH3385 said:

I have a similar situation but on a completely different platform. In my case we are on PRIs with NEC PBX SV9100 phone system. All phones connected via LAN. The first couple of weeks I would receive reports that phone are "locking up" meaning they are not responsive to any thing. The issue usually resolve by soft reset the phone.

It is very annoying to end-users. After a whole week of monitoring and troubleshooting we found the problem with DHCP and Subnet. I was not aware that our scope on DHCP was running out. When the phones were installed half of them picked up subnet .1.x while the other half picked up subnet .2.x. This cause issue because the phone sometime lose connection to the PBX phone system.

The fix for us was to move everything to static IP address and put every phone on the same subnet. The issue was resolved and I have no heard of anything since.

I highly doubt this is the same cause as to what OP is experiencing, but I thought it is worth to shade some light.

That's an interesting problem.

So you were deploying to different subnets worth of IPs (assuming /24) on the same VLAN?

What was the cause for the phone to not be able to reach the PBX? a router problem?

That... I don't know the real cause. I am too noobish to understand how signals are translate from phone to PBX and vice versa. My uneducated guess what was the problem would be that... it's the router fault. Sorry I just don't know what happened.
We only have one floor/office so everything is connected via LAN. Unlike yours which run across buildings and VPN.

mind If I ask you position in the company? Are there full time IT personal there?

Yes. I am full time system admin.

@Dashrender said:

@LAH3385 said:

I have a similar situation but on a completely different platform. In my case we are on PRIs with NEC PBX SV9100 phone system. All phones connected via LAN. The first couple of weeks I would receive reports that phone are "locking up" meaning they are not responsive to any thing. The issue usually resolve by soft reset the phone.

It is very annoying to end-users. After a whole week of monitoring and troubleshooting we found the problem with DHCP and Subnet. I was not aware that our scope on DHCP was running out. When the phones were installed half of them picked up subnet .1.x while the other half picked up subnet .2.x. This cause issue because the phone sometime lose connection to the PBX phone system.

The fix for us was to move everything to static IP address and put every phone on the same subnet. The issue was resolved and I have no heard of anything since.

I highly doubt this is the same cause as to what OP is experiencing, but I thought it is worth to shade some light.

That's an interesting problem.

So you were deploying to different subnets worth of IPs (assuming /24) on the same VLAN?

What was the cause for the phone to not be able to reach the PBX? a router problem?

That... I don't know the real cause. I am too noobish to understand how signals are translate from phone to PBX and vice versa. My uneducated guess what was the problem would be that... it's the router fault. Sorry I just don't know what happened.
We only have one floor/office so everything is connected via LAN. Unlike yours which run across buildings and VPN.

I have a similar situation but on a completely different platform. In my case we are on PRIs with NEC PBX SV9100 phone system. All phones connected via LAN. The first couple of weeks I would receive reports that phone are "locking up" meaning they are not responsive to any thing. The issue usually resolve by soft reset the phone.

It is very annoying to end-users. After a whole week of monitoring and troubleshooting we found the problem with DHCP and Subnet. I was not aware that our scope on DHCP was running out. When the phones were installed half of them picked up subnet .1.x while the other half picked up subnet .2.x. This cause issue because the phone sometime lose connection to the PBX phone system.

The fix for us was to move everything to static IP address and put every phone on the same subnet. The issue was resolved and I have no heard of anything since.

I highly doubt this is the same cause as to what OP is experiencing, but I thought it is worth to shade some light.

Thanks for all the reply. Really great information.

@scottalanmiller said:

Defining what you want the certs to do for you is critical. Windows and Cisco roles don't normally mix and neither is that common in a datacenter. Cisco would be more common, but networking people are normally in an office, not the datacenter. Normally a datacenter is people who do rack and stacks, swap drives, run cables, etc.

reply

Honest answer would be the job that pay the bills. I like the task I am doing right now as system admin, but dealing with management who does not understand half the infrastructure is frustrating. I saved the company couple thousand of dollars by avoided IT consult performing the server upgrade (thanks to you who recommend me to ignore their opinion) but no thankyou from management. When I made a mistake I am in hot water. It is just not fun dealing with management who does not understand what is going and thought they know everything.

@scottalanmiller What other certs do you recommend if I am aiming for Datacenter environment. CCNA is probably an obvious choice.

SAM do you recommend getting multiple MCSA/MCSE certs in various field? I am studying for Server, but should I also go for Windows 10?
Reason behind this is I am looking to transition out of sole Admin into a teamed Admins environment.

As the topic said... How much harder is MCSA vs MCSE.
I am about to take the first exam for MCSA Server and wonder if I should set my goal only for MCSA or go all out to MCSE?
What is the benefit for MCSE over MCSA would be my next question.

Thanks!!

I don't know yet. I got a feeling he's talking about Sharepoint but not sharepoint??