Best posts made by Mike Davis

Before you can get in to what OS to run the clients on, do you have to ask what apps the business needs to run? If they need some kind of CAD package and it's only offered on Windows, the linux client goes out the window. (pun intended)

I was setting up a site to site VPN connection between a couple SonicWalls. (I need content filtering and the SonicWalls were specified in grant money) On other connections where one side might have DHCP on the WAN side, I used Ike with a Preshared Secret and it just worked. On this particular connection, the only way it would work is if we enabled "Keep Alive" on both sides. This involves hard setting the remote IP, so it's not ideal. Can any one tell me what exactly Keep Alive is and what might be a way around using it?

Just did the math for moving beyond 10 users. JumpCloud makes sense if you're under 14 users. Beyond that the $111 for Azure works out better.

This should go in the I can't even file, but the local copier guys have asked for the domain admin password when attempting to set up stuff like scan to desktop.... That's another reason to have a dedicated scanner service account with a password that doesn't change.

You can spend a lot of money improving your SLA, but if your users don't care, there is not a business case for it.

I have a client that I would like to move to using just OneDrive. The first issue I'm running in to is how do I create a folder that everyone has permissions to AND will sync locally? It seems when I use the OneDrive for Business app, it creates a shortcut under Favorites in Explorer, but doesn't sync the shared folder.

Monoprice is my go to store, but doesn't offer the off sizes. This site has the half foot lengths, but I haven't ordered from them:
http://pactech-inc.com/product/cat6-cable-round-snagless-utp/

@dashrender said in cost of the whitebox:

Yeah - I tell most people - please realize that this bill will likely be more than you buying a new computer. Now, of course when you buy a new computer, unless you can do it yourself, you're still going to have to pay someone like me to transfer you stuff over - or at least educate you on using cloud services so you don't have that issue going forward, either way, be ready for some pain (in the wallet).

I tell people the same thing. I also tell them don't wait until the computer dies to replace it. That way they can replace it on their schedule. Downtime is expensive.

That said I still have some businesses that try to run computers until they won't power on anymore. I've been telling those clients I'm too busy to work on their stuff. It's just painful to work on a computer that slow.

Does this help:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/scriptcenter/en-US/2a0dc55d-66c4-4228-a834-0389a32e52b0/how-can-i-use-powershell-to-copy-an-excel-worksheet-from-one-workbook-to-the-second-sheet-of-another?forum=ITCG

I'll start off by saying I don't because every client and every project is different.

I was troubleshooting this sync error in one of my tenants, and then the the email came in.

@eddiejennings said in Job Title? Not sure here...:

Since I’m in the job market now, I often wonder what happens when you put your real title on a resume, which for most of us in SMB will be something like “IT Generalist,” but when a potential employer verifies your precious employment, your previous employee says “no, his title was Network Administrator.”

I've seen employees resumes after they have worked for me and their title was different. It doesn't bother me in the least if it is accurate to what they did. Your experience is your experience. I don't know about other managers, but when I'm looking at resumes, and when I have HR sort resumes, I'm looking for similar technologies, and the titles are practically ignored.

Are they dumping the Barracuda when they go to o365? I did and the spam filtering was better on the o365 side. If that's the case, just make sure you have access to their DNS to change the MX records.

I think the decision is easier when you consider the alternatives. I'm rolling the Edge Routers because even if I have to manage them manually, I'd rather do that than pay for Meraki and that model year after year.

I have a managed customer that said their web guy recommends running Malwarebytes along with AV software "because it's looking for different stuff." Is anyone running Webroot and Malwarebytes together. Years ago I remember some people running two AV products "in case the first one missed something" and their machines had issues with lockups etc.

@jaredbusch said in ERP for small manufacturer w/web integration:

Also, some tiny company using QuickBooks is unlikey to pay for quality software.

I started to think that as well, but on the other hand, I started to think, there are so many small businesses out there, they have to be using something. Where there is a demand, there is usually a market.

@scottalanmiller said in Need a host recommendation:

In theory, as an IPOD, it might need zero.

in the very first post he said:
10k disk for VM OS
15k or SSD for SQL drives (RAID1 is an option, but RAID10 would be preferred). I'm sure RAID5 under SSD would possibly be acceptable.

So that made me think local storage.

For those that are running 802.1x device authentication for wired windows devices, do you have a port that bypasses authentication so that you can join your workstations to the domain and get the group policy to push the cert down?

Then just have a jack on your bench where you build new machines that lets you join it to the domain and get the cert before you put the machine out on the floor?

For devices like copiers, is there anything you can do besides MAC filtering that puts them in a copier VLAN?

Can anyone recommend a short incident response plan template? I have a client that is required to have one, and I'm looking for a template is appropriate for a real small firm.

Thanks. SANS was the first place I went, but when I looked at that I was like this is crazy for a business that doesn't have any internet facing servers. Only because of other requirements are they even adding a server, but everything is inside their firewall. Their plan on the security side is to call me. Same for the DR side... Maybe for the audit I should just have them attach my business card as "the plan."