@scottalanmiller said:

@NetworkNerd said:

I think someone can help quantify the gap, and I'm hoping I can find that individual and get them to help me. I seem to be the one who is most interested in gap insurance.

If factors change, IT reminding people that RTO has expanded due to load changes, presenting new costs because things have changed or whatever is one thing. But trying to convince the owners that their financial planning isn't as good as yours and that you should be driving the financial decisions of the company is a fundamentally wrong course for IT. If this is even slightly the case, you should be in the CFO's office running finance, not in IT, because you'd be far more valuable there.

You're right. I should not be worried if no one else is. I should seek to educate. They at least need to know what the numbers have become and the recommendation from us to decrease that window (if they want one, that is). What I don't know at this point is if my boss's lack of concern about the state of these windows will be the same for those at the executive level.

The DR topic is not one that comes up often. I think execs really don't think about it or whether the corporate growth plan has an infrastructure support plan to go with it.

Maybe the next step is to have some conversations with one of the head operations execs.

@scottalanmiller said:

@NetworkNerd said:

Has anyone run into this?

Basically if you are in the world of buying T1s, this is the kind of contractual stuff you assume is going to happen. It's just how that world works.

It's not different for fiber or business coax contracts.

Page 143 of the manual for the H700 (http://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_dell_adapters/poweredge-rc-h700_User's Guide_en-us.pdf) says to upgrade to the latest H700 firmware available from support.dell.com.

I saw this on Twitter recently and wanted to share:
http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2016/03/the-future-of-the-esxi-embedded-host-client.html.

From what I read there, people who use ESXi free will be able to use the embedded host client (previously a Fling) even if they can't have vCenter or use the Windows Client for much. I've not tried that fling but look forward to getting a chance to do so.

@Jason said:

@travisdh1 said:

Even ServerMonkey? I ask because I haven't actually used them myself yet.

I've heard there not so good. Never used them myself.

We used Server Monkey to get a Dell R510 a couple of years ago and have had good experiences with them during the time we've been under their parts warranty. The support has been good I thought. But I have not used them for any HP gear.

One thing I like to do is have the new person setup their computer from scratch (no imaging software - only a Windows install disk / USB and either the proper drivers or access to another pc to use to download drivers).

Then have the person install all the programs a regular uses followed by the tools you use (i.e. RSAT, Exchange Management Console, Veeam Backup and Recovery Console, etc.).

@iroal said:

@scottalanmiller said:

The problem is that you have lost the license you mean? Windows 2003 can just be virtualized, I believe. No special license needed.

It's an OEM license, so it cannot be used for the virtualization, isn't it?

Correct - you cannot use an OEM license on different physical hardware. You would need some kind of volume license or retail license of Server 2003. If you have Server 2008 Standard or something like that which is not in use you may be able to license that Server 2003 machine. But I am not sure MS' licensing portal would show the key.

Adding MailChimp and other services into the bundle makes it "shiny."

This is my personal favorite - https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/232181-disaster-recovery-on-the-fly-is-a-disaster-waiting-to-happen?page=1. I'm sure @scottalanmiller remembers this one.

Does anyone think that business leaders have tendencies to think investing in improving the availability of a service (whatever that entails) is just nothing more than buying insurance?

I'm slated for a HQ tour on Tuesday at 11:30 AM and will then be at the Spiceleader Summit. I'm staying until Friday morning but will leave early enough to make it to work on time that day.

We're looking to potentially move our internal Exchange 2010 server (about 220 mailboxes) to being hosted by O365. We have an internal AD (working to get it to AD 2012) and are currently using only Office365 ProPlus (software subscription) partnered with the good folks at NTG. We have a hosted spam filter (SpamTitan, dual node) as well that also provides archiving of all messages. e-discovery, and PST exports. We have around 115 users on the ProPlus subscription right now, which we would move to a full O365 plan if we go that direction.

Most folks are on Office 2013 or 2016, but there are some users on 2007 and 2010. They would move to Office 2016 as part of a potential move.

We would have some users (maybe 15 - 20) who just need e-mail and not the full O365 suite since they may only have a tablet that is used for company e-mail and access to our company intranet. But we would still want their mail archived if that is an option.

I've been told there is a large amount of work that has to be done to AD to get O365 to work with it properly. We would not federate but would have folks authenticate to e-mail separate from their Windows credentials. Is that accurate?

It's also my understanding that you have to sign up for a minimum commitment of users for the length of term (easy to scale up but not to scale down). Maybe that's just how some O365 partners do it?

When folks leave the company, I think you can change their account to a shared mailbox to keep it live but save on the cost of having another full mailbox user. Is that accurate?

Is it more advantageous to go with a larger MS partner so you can get better support when there is a problem?

Do most folks go with a 3rd party spam filter in a addition to what you get with the standard O365 subscription (Exchange Online Protection)?

Are there providers who can guarantee internal e-mail for our mailboxes would not leave the US? That would be a requirement for us. I have spoken to one partner who says they will put it in writing (Navisite).

I have talked with folks who are super against O365 because they said random mailboxes go down pretty often. Others I have spoken with say it is great. I'd love to have feedback from those who have made the move, the effort it took you, how much you may have had to pay a 3rd party to help, and how you chose the right partner.

I'm not trying to undercut NTG on this one. I'm just trying to educate myself and really am just in the research phase.

@scottalanmiller said in Office365 Considerations:

There is no way to undercut NTG. Prices are always the same unless you leave Microsoft protection. Then you have insane risk that no business should realistically consider. MS won't stand behind you then.

Maybe I did not say that correctly. I'm going through NTG as my partner for the O365 subscription currently. I did not want you to think I don't consider NTG as a potential partner to help me get to the full O365 that includes e-mail hosting.

@scottalanmiller said in Office365 Considerations:

@NetworkNerd said in Office365 Considerations:

@scottalanmiller said in Office365 Considerations:

No minimum commitments with O365. Any minimums are from a reseller.

And I suppose resellers tout they can get you better support so you'll sign with them too. It makes sense.

No. partners get better support. Resellers get less (or none).

So if you had a technical problem you could get your partner to push MS to get your issue resolved quicker? That definitely helps.

@dafyre said in Office365 Considerations:

@NetworkNerd said in Office365 Considerations:

How do you like the built-in spam protection with O365? Does it do a good job to prevent spoofing and malicious links?

It does an excellent job here. The only spam I get is junk I signed up for, ha ha.

I assume if something gets stuck that was legit you can go in and release it like with most spam filters?

I plan to be there. I am excited to see NEC's headquarters.

So how did your research of them go, @scottalanmiller ? I'm watching a webinar about their solution today just to do some R&D.

I remember reading something upon entering that contest that you had to be prepared to be filmed by HPE's media team on premise at your company if you won. Hopefully management is fine with that? And could you then (if you wanted to) still get rid of the equipment after being a part of the promotional HPE video?

How about a talk discussing tips for professional development and career goal setting? Though you may be happy in what you do / where you work, it is important to continue to move forward with investing in yourself. Sometimes people are so overwhelmed with the amount of work they are asked to do they are not able to take a step back, look at the big picture, and see if their employer or their current role is still helping move toward career development and goals. Hopefully that makes sense.

@scottalanmiller said in Get your free Meraki gear!:

@NetworkNerd said in Get your free Meraki gear!:

But I don't think when comparing the MX appliances to something like an ERL you're comparing apples to apples. The ERL is a true firewall. That's what it does and was built to do. The MX appliances fall more in the UTM area and provide capabilities like web filtering, intrusion detection, malware prevention, and firewall functionality.

That alone is another vote for the ERL approach as generally UTMs are considered to be a bad thing.

I thought you had mentioned a few times that Palo Alto has the best UTM out there. So it's kind of the same as that thread from long ago where you advised get a HDS if you get a SAN, but don't get a SAN? If you're going to get UTM, get Palo Alto, but don't get a UTM.