@nadnerB said:

Thanks lads
I think I'll stick to the "One Server = One Job" approach.

@NetworkNerd said:

I agree about Veeam One. I remember attending a recent Veeam user group meeting at which they touted and did some demos of the features of Veeam One, which is completely free if you have Backup and Replication. I have not had time to play with it, but there are certainly a great number of reporting capabilities available with it.

Well, that's very interesting. Do you know if you get the full version for free or just grab the gimped free version?

This should help answer it: http://www.veeam.com/one-licensing-faq.html.

Maybe?
http://www.telrex.com/integrations/cisco-call-recording.php

Consider the cost to implement and manage in addition to your current PBX. Is the TCO justified?

@JaredBusch said:

@scottalanmiller said:

The guy recommending 3CX on Spiceworks is a sales guy. 3CX isn't a "bad" product but it makes no sense for you. He is a 3CX reseller trying to promote what he sells. Which makes sense, but he doesn't sell anything that makes sense for you.

I haven't been on SW for a couple days. let me guess, George?

Yep.

@alexntg said:

@NetworkNerd said:

I'm about to create a VM for our Estimating department to use to access a particular software. The company only wanted to get one seat, and as most know, a single seat tied to a specific computer is cheaper than network licensing most of the time. Basically this VM will run Windows 7 / 8.1 and allow one user at a time to login and use the program via RDP. We don't use VDI in any way. Other than the fact that this will be a VM, it is literally no different than having a desktop computer that is always online.

My CDW rep is telling me I need a license of Windows 8.1 Enterprise rather than Pro so I can leverage the VDA usage rights. I thought I just needed a license of 8.1 Pro (open license, not retail) to cover the requirements here. Can someone straighten this out for me?

Correct. You'll either need to pick up a VDA license (recurring annual) for the desktop VM instance or put the computers that will be accessing it under SA (recurring annual), which would also grant them Windows 8 Enterprise. Otherwise, running a Windows desktop OS in a virtual environment would be out of licensing compliance.

And if I get a VDA license for the VM, does that then entitle me to a full install of Windows 7 / 8 / 8..1 on that VM even though through open licensing I am being sold an upgrade license? Or must I have a fully-licensed underlying desktop OS from which I am "upgrading"?

I've been grouping mine based on their RTO (Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3). Tier 3, for example, only runs once per week since the VMs themselves do not change often. Tier 1 and Tier 2 run daily.

I'd recommend putting one Veeam Proxy on each host to help speed the backup process. You can push that role out from inside the Veeam Backup and Recovery console very easily and can easily add to a VM which may be doing something else during the day but is not very active during your backup windows.

I agree about Veeam One. I remember attending a recent Veeam user group meeting at which they touted and did some demos of the features of Veeam One, which is completely free if you have Backup and Replication. I have not had time to play with it, but there are certainly a great number of reporting capabilities available with it.

Every time I attend a VMUG meeting it makes me want to get a VCA or VCP. I come back enthused about it and intend to start working on training. Then, reality sets back in again, and it falls between the cracks due to time constraints and workload. I tend to hear about many different components of VMWare that I do not get to touch since we are only on the Essentials package here, but I would love to learn more if I can.

Regardless, VMUG is still a very fun way to go and network with other IT pros, and I do enjoy learning about the various vendors and technologies which are available.

There's a great deal of buzz around here regarding the Surface Pro 3. My boss actually has one on pre-order, and we will be getting another for our CFO. But what I don't understand is why the dock for the Surface Pro 3 is not on pre-order like other acessories such as the new type cover for the SP3.

I called Microsoft Store today to ask, and I was told the same dock that works with the SP1 and SP2 would work for the SP3. The gentleman also said there were no plans for a newer dock. I guess he hasn't read everything online about the new dock.

What are you getting in terms of latency and jitter from pingtest.net?

@JaredBusch said:

@alexntg said:

@JaredBusch said:

@alexntg said:

That's a pretty good piece of mind for $6k annually.

Not for the current clients I have, that is too much. The 1k price is solidly acceptable. the 3k would be a big maybe but likely not.

I looked down near the bottom line. @NetworkNerd , unless I'm missing something, the entry level one's manual reporting?

Manual report paid for by the hour it seems like.

Yep - they have to generate the reports for you.

@scottalanmiller said:

At first I thought that you meant this.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nCw7Q4PkNto

It would have been nice if they could have bundled in a video game to play as well. I envision it something along the lines of a wolf who goes around chomping on malware.

I am happy to say we were able to continue with Arctic Wolf. Their service continues to prove its worth to us to be more pro-active when it comes to threats on our network.

If I understand correctly, that code snippet is only for a validation that will be run against the Phone1 field. Are you just trying to throw up a validation error on a web page or within an application if a proper phone number is not entered in the PHONE1 field?

@JaredBusch said:

Well, I will be getting paid for it. I still do not like it!

I actually enjoy writing documentation for the most part, but I can't seem to find the time to do it well enough to meet my own expectations.

@Dominica said:

No, but we are thinking of having Liesl take tennis lessons, so maybe someday I'll care? Probably not, though.

Maybe someday you will. Let me know if that day ever comes.

@Carnival-Boy said:

Absolutely. Murray's game on Wednesday was amazing. Not sure about British commentators, here in Britain we're currently having Jim Courier. I find him a bit odd. For Wimbledon we have McEnroe who is a brilliant commentator. The main Brit co-commentator here is Tim Henman who is rubbish. I might sneak a watch of the semis today at work.

I actually quite enjoy the radio streams for all the majors - Radio Roland Garros, Radio Wimbledon, etc. It sounded like Murray just ran out of gas today against Nadal. I am happy Gulbis took a set off Novak. I was hoping he might be able to shock the world. But I'm still pretty upset about Federer's loss to him the other day.

How about something like select left(phone1,10), left(phone2,10),... from table....?

That should pick off only the 10 leftmost characters and trim off the last 4.

For those that have a great deal of experience interviewing, what do you do when you find a candidate that is obviously overqualified for a position but still applies? Do you go ahead and meet with them and get a feel for their expectations and skills, or do you tell them thanks but no thanks? There's probably no hard and fast rule here, but I'd like to hear some opinions.

I have a feeling that in these situations there will be a mismatch in expected pay between the potential employee and the employer. And I certainly would not want to put a candidate in a position where their expected career growth may not move along at the rate they expect.

@RAM. said:

Watching fuzzy balls bounce back and forth by sweaty men who have one really strong arm?

They may have 2 strong arms (those that use a two-handed backhand).

Has anyone been watching / listening to the French Open this week / last week? I love the British commentators on Radio Roland Garros. All tennis commentators should be British as a requirement.