@travisdh1 that's a good idea.

I know it's a shipt topic, but ....

I can remember the trouble my mum had when dad passed away & there's been a few folks who are friends of friends who have died suddenly, just makes you think....

@gjacobse very slick.

not getting replies to this topic emailed to me.
can the help desk help?

been looking for a single supplier that provides email hosting and about 100GB of online storage for a reasonable price.

Google gives you email and 30GB
MS365 gives you 1TB storage but doesn't accept .exe files
Zoho doesn't give you storage (outside of the email storage)

any suggestions??

i've been thinking of some not so happy stuff.

been thinking about all my accounts for this n that, that are secured by 2FA and even just passwords.

why? well been thinking about how people that need to, will be able to access my email (mostly) should I get by that bus.

everything goes to my email, bills, insurance, superannuation, contracts blah blah blah.

2FA has made this very hard.

EG, you get hit by a bus, grief and sorrow abound. People that need access, need to get info about your insurances, it gets sent to your email. They don't know your password, your cell/mobile phone has been smashed so they can't use your auth app, if they even know about that stuff.

What a bloody nightmare.

You can make this simpler, but even simple isn't simple enough when you're in mourning.

I'm starting to wind back my 2FA security on some things, life and the devices we take for granted, is becoming way too complex IMO.

@siringo oh here it is!

how do i get to the end of this thread...?

Hated Vista, moved to Linux. I wasn't supporting Linux, so jumped to XP, was happy with XP. Then happier with 7. Didn't use 8. 10 is OK, 11? Not even looked at it, I have no need, just like I had no need to look at 7, 8 or 10.

As for improvements in workflow, users put shortcuts to the things they use on the desktop & taskbar, you've been able to do that since 95 so maybe there is no improvement since then.

If the UI is altered and generic apps renamed, the workflow will drop/decrease until the changes are learnt. So is there any benefit at all in changing the UI and names???

I just hate these bloody upgrades or whatever you want to call them.

When I was younger it was exciting/interesting, now it's just a PITA.

I hate them because I know they will move or make you have to do something unimportant, that you have always done, be done differently. Where's notepad? Oh it's called Scribbler now. Where's Windows Explorer? Oh it's called File Finder.

Why do we have to learn new names for the same old crap.

Imagine doing that with cars. Press the accelerator, oh it's called the Make it faster button now!

I don't care about the new tech tricks and improvements, I just want to use my PC and get my work done so my day is as stress free as possible.

Old grumpy bastard complaining, yeah, probably. Don't worry, it'll happen to you.

@Dashrender @Pete-S thanks for the input people.

The VMs are only DCs, file servers etc, no SQL etc. The servers would be more referenced than written to I would think.

I think those disks will be OK.

Those disks were the largest SSDs I could select.

Again, thanks everyone for the help, it really is appreciated.

Hey, thanks very much for the help, I really do appreciate it, I learn a little bit every time you guys help me, so thanks again.

I've spec'd up a server which comes in at $AU7500.00 approx which is within budget.

The server comes with the 2 x 240GB SSDs so I'm assuming they'll already be setup as RAID 1.

The 3 x 1.98 GB drives I'll setup as RAID 5. These were the largest SSDs on offer.

It comes with 2 x sticks of RAM so I've got that correct.

It comes from a vendor I trust and am sure I will not have issues with for whatever reason.

It comes as close to what you guys have suggested for a price that I think is reasonable.

What do you guys think?

@Pete-S Thanks so much for the help, I really do appreciate it.

You've given me some really good start points & info to go for a look and see what I can get.

Thanks again.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts and advice.

This server is going into an environment where what is chosen will, eventually, attract criticism, not formerly, but by way of passing comments.

I would be better to suggest a server with bells and whistles rather than one that did the job and cost less. But with that said, putting in place an overspec'd server would also be criticised.

If I were to select Dell as the vendor, that would be acceptable, Lenovo possibly less so.

I'll use the info from this post and go and take another look at what I can get my hands on.

I think I'll look for something with all SSDs that gives me 4TB of useable space, that's all I need, with some type of disk redundancy.

64GB RAM and a single CPU.

It will run Server 2022 with the Hyper-V role and house around 6 VMs.

I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks again.

Thanks everyone for the help with my previous server questions.

I have another. It has been quite a while since I had to spec up a new server, I usually just work with what I'm given.

From what I've seen it looks like vendors are now supplying servers out of the box with 2 x SSD drives. I've seen Lenovo come with 240GB and Dell with 480GB and you have to ask to not have them, you can't untick them from the configurator.

I'd config these as a RAID 1 pair, virtual disk 1 (VD1).

This new server will be a Windows server housing Hyper-V VMs.

So my question is, would you run the host OS instance and the VM OS instances on the SSDs (or VD1) and the storage for the VMs on spinning media?

Is that the best way to set this up???

Thanks once more.

wednesday morning and the weather looks terrible.

@Pete-S said in New server q's:

@siringo said in New server q's:

Those last 2 posts are spot on Scott.

If I were to deploy a solution that was different to what everyone else was deploying, even if it was cheaper, better, faster, more resilient etc, I'd be lambasted by others simply because it was different and more likely, not understood.

That can lead to unhappy management, which can then lead to all sorts of grief for me.

This is obviously, not what I want.

Thanks for all the info & advice, it is greatly appreciated.

So you should buy the same old server model from 2016 to stay consistent with what they currently know

Unfortunately yes.

It comes under the job preservation title. I live in area where IT work is extremely hard to secure due to there not being much of it, so rocking the boat is not a good move.

this goes back to 2016, but sounds just like what you're experiencing:

*Symptoms

After you apply this update on a Remote Desktop Session (RDS) host, some new users cannot connect to an RDP session. Instead, those users see a black screen, and they are eventually disconnected. This issue occurs at unspecified intervals.*

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3179574

@RojoLoco said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

About to go to a wing festival in Chicago. After a hot dog of course.

what's a wing festival?

chicken wings?
paul mccartney & wings?

Those last 2 posts are spot on Scott.

If I were to deploy a solution that was different to what everyone else was deploying, even if it was cheaper, better, faster, more resilient etc, I'd be lambasted by others simply because it was different and more likely, not understood.

That can lead to unhappy management, which can then lead to all sorts of grief for me.

This is obviously, not what I want.

Thanks for all the info & advice, it is greatly appreciated.

@JaredBusch said in New server q's:

Hardware RAID cards will not go anywhere until we have systems designed to blind swap.

I have no issues with software RAID. I use it many places. But for most SMB, it is always hardware RAID cards because I phone it in and need that blind swap capability.

What do you mean by blind swap Jared? Do you mean hot swap? Remove while powered up?