@scottalanmiller said:

@MattSpeller said:

The lack of data duplication still weirds me out though, probably because I don't really understand OBS. As Scott said, I'll still need a backup system. AFAIK if you have 3+ of these things it's still not duplicating data between them

The data is still duplicated, that doesn't change. This isn't some crazy solution without duplication.

When you insert a new drive it claims to give you 100% (or close) to that space, do they reclaim that with their internal de-dupe?

@lance said:

I think how a Oneblox cluster works is that once you have a cluster it pools all the storage together and kind of replicates the data across all of the Oneblox so you can withstand multiple drive failures across multiple Oneblox and incase of a oneblox failure. I only have two Oneblox and have them in a mesh so I don't know the exact details on how the cluster operates.

Hmmm very interesting. I can't thank you enough, you've given me much more to go on and I know better what questions to ask them now. I still can't see how they're alone in this SMB NAS segment, it seems a little too good to be true

@lance said:

That's true, but it is going to be a big pain in the you know what once that server starts filling up and you will still need more space for your backups. The good thing with Exablox is that you can keep adding and removing disks on the fly.

Yeah, true

The lack of data duplication still weirds me out though, probably because I don't really understand OBS. As Scott said, I'll still need a backup system. AFAIK if you have 3+ of these things it's still not duplicating data between them

@lance said:

@MattSpeller said:

Thank you both

I've got a lot of questions about how object based storage works but that's another topic entirely

Would you be confident in their product without a backup solution?

I think Exablox has a deal going on now that if you buy two OneBloxs you get a third for free and you can then create a cluster which would work great for what you are looking to do. If you buy just one OneBlox, you are going to need to do something for DR. Currently the only way I know of for this is using robocopy to send the files off site to another device.

very interesting, thank you

My stumbling block with them while doing my research seems to be the $/GB

For $10k (my assumed cost of a single OneBlox) you can get a kick ass server with really sexy stuff

I'll convey that in spades, she was pretty confident it wouldnt be necessary and I thought it prudent to ask

Thank you both

I've got a lot of questions about how object based storage works but that's another topic entirely

Would you be confident in their product without a backup solution?

IT Manager just scared the pants off me & requested some competitors for Exablox (she got pumped after a two hour sales call with them)

what are some names I can research?
anything you recommend?

This is for a non-profit (read: broke)
Currently managing ~4TB of data on Synology DS412+*, potential growth to 50TB rapidly (huge chunks of video, still debating if it's worth backing up)

*one in each location, they replicate.

@chutestrate said:

i enjoy kidding around

Well there's certainly none of that on my watch!
Matt does an abrupt about face and Monty Python silly walks out of the room

@Dashrender said:

It will be tedious assuming you keep a different image for each machine.

Let's say you create a base image today. Then 6 months from now you have to re-image a borked machine, I'd put the base image on it, then run all the updates on the base image - update everyone Windows, Office, Flash, Java, etc, then sysprep and then create a new base image. If you do this, every time you have to reimage a borked machine, you'll basically be creating a new base image that is fresh as of that day.

yup, that is best practice right there

@technobabble said:

@Dashrender said:

@technobabble said:

@MattSpeller and @Dashrender most of my small business clients don't have a file server, though I am considering suggesting a NAS for those who have no need for a Server...what do you guys think about that?

A NAS would be great for this.

Baseline images are definitely a pain for SMB because the updates change frequently.

Thanks. At least with a "current baseline" image those 2 PC shops with borked vendor updates or self inflicted malware infections could be handled faster.

Would I be able to house the images on the NAS and then use the NAS image during the reinstall?

Yes, clonezilla (or similar) would work a treat for this. It's a bit tedious as you have to image each box separately but it will save you some mega-bucks on licensing for software (like Acronis)

Yeah they changed it all again, I'm probably 2-3 years behind them now. Looks like they're still doing some crazy awesome stuff. My experience is their software is expensive but works & worth it.
http://www.acronis.com/en-us/business/enterprise-solutions/image-deployment/

@technobabble You buy a "tech license" (or something like that) that lets you install it once on your server, then you can use it to deploy windows images onto your client's computers. Been a while since I looked at their licencing so my info may be out of date. Last time I used it there was no install on the client machine, it's just an imaging utility (amongst other cool stuff)

@Dashrender said:

I guess that would be more for me than most of my clients. However if a client's base image had changed a lot, it might be worth making an updated baseline image.

Basically none of my small businesses, (1-5 PCs) have ever had baseline images aside from the laughable factory images. And in this last year, I have done new W8 new PC setups plus new software (baseline) where only weeks afterwards the customer or the software vendor's update borks the PC.

My new practice for 2015 is to start suggesting baseline images for clients.

Ugh brutal. You're really limited if they're all different models.
Strongly suggest you look at something like Acronis with "universal deploy" which really mitigates all the driver issues.

@Dashrender said:

That's a lot of manual work - do you really care about end user workstations that much?

I have baseline images for my departments - if a machine is borked up, I attempt, briefly, to recover any local files they may have, then blow it away and push the image out.

Ditto, local data is forbidden

Need a nuke/pave? 30 mins and done.

Morning Joy!

Dell Optiplex 3020, generic desktop, nothing special.

User booted it up, USB wouldn't respond. Tried a few different devices, unplugged all but keyboard, just nothing would work. Meh, no big deal, shut it off and took it back to the bench for a quick troubleshoot before calling Dell.

At the bench, it worked flawlessly.

Ok fine, bad peripheral or something stupid, went back to see the user working away just fine on the loaner desktop, the same peripherals, no problems.

Wanting to be careful because this is an odd one (and I really hate having to revisit an issue), I checked the event logs. I see it's been going to sleep and waking back up every 2-6 minutes for more than 12 hours solid.

This poor thing was going to sleep mode then being woken (mouse vibrating?) for probably days like this. The event log was so long that I didn't want to waste more time scrolling through it.

Seems fine now but holy smokes I've never felt so bad for a computer before.

Absolutely! Make sure you do your research, these were spec'd for very high volume locations (one copier was 2mil+ yearly)

Regretting getting too acquainted with a bottle of vodka lastnight. You can drown your worries but it sure does not make them go away.

@thanksaj said:

@g.jacobse said:

We already have our large printer/ copier as managed via Konica Minolta. Our rep suggested the KM bizhub c3350, out right to buy is $1700...

I refuse to recommend Konica. Ever seen their website for drivers, etc? I do not like them.

Beat me to it.

Stick with Canon and Xerox. I've had the best success with them.

Be careful with Xerox's new wax ink block ones, make sure they explain to your staff that bumping the copier = major maintenance.