Posts made by travisdh1

@DustinB3403 said:

Back to Xen Orchestra, would anyone here use Xen Orchestra and not specifically XOA (the paid option in a Production system) if the software works just as well. All you'd be losing is the "paid support" aspect which you might never use.

Well, considering I spun up a fresh Debian install in VB last night and got the latest test build of Xen Orchestra running, I don't see why not. I've even got it (slowly) uploading to my Google Drive account as an ova so others can easily use it if they'd like. It really should be an option for an all Linux shop.

Edit: complete thoughts help

@DustinB3403 said:

Thank you for the responses, but still no one besides maybe @scottalanmiller has posted why / when businesses choose Open Source over closed source.

Lets take for example Xen Orchestra, I just yesterday compiled the system in my home lab (running on my Xen Server Hypervisor as a VM)

Now I doubt many people would be willing to implement and use Xen Orchestra in a business environment because well, there is no paid support. It's the community edition.

But why not, the software is simply configured by you, supported by you, and at a substantial saving to you. Why is a solution as heavily adored by many professionals looked down upon because it's the "community edition"?

First of all, understand that my situation is very different from most. The people I work for own 5 different companies, and I'm the lone IT person for all of them. Less than 20 total people throughout those 5 companies (putting the small in small business!) Thinking of it as more of a one man MSP would be about right.

Only one of those companies would actually have the cash flow to make paid support an option. Also, when the only servers in the places are used boxes from Stallard Technologies (www.stikc.com), the support and/or licensing for a server OS starts at ~2x what the box its self cost. Add to the mix that I had been an IRIX admin previously, and open source is just the way to go.

So far the only thing that could go wrong from the user side is the internet going down. Which did happen this week due to a hard drive failure and the raid array being in read-only mode on the host while it rebuilt. Yes, the internet routing is being handled by an open source software distribution. The CentOS gives me not only a router, but also IPS, IDS, blind proxy, real-time virus scans, and VPN. Sure a paid solution will offer all those features, but at what price? Especially when I can get it installed and configured in less than an hour.

Within the next year I'll have them setup on a proper domain and file server as well, also all open source. Making user files available for them whatever computer they happen to be in front of at any given point is kinda a big deal. All done with different open source options.

I'll grant you that most admins have been trained in the Microsoft way of doing things rather that the UNIX/IRIX/Linux way. So, business wise, paying for Microsoft Server licensing, rather than complete retaining, makes a lot more sense in those cases.

@scottalanmiller said:

As someone without a home of their own (not even a long term rental to call home) it makes me sad that I have no means of getting nice connections anymore.

Well, you can console yourself with the fact that free wifi is going to be faster than what's available to a home in my area, maybe.

@brianlittlejohn said:

@MattSpeller too much of that dihydrogen monoxide is a killer...

That classic "hold your wee for a Wee contest"

We need to ban dihydrogen monoxide!

@johnhooks said:

@BRRABill said:

@johnhooks said:

He owns Vault Brewing Company.

GET OUT OF TOWN! Are you serious?

Ha ya, we were roommates all through college.

Little did I know that when I said this place felt like home in the introduce yourself thread, I was being literal!

@johnhooks said:

My buddy from college was from Bucks county. He was from Doylestown but he lives in Yardley now.

I'm forever talking about the wrong Doylestown as we've got one in Wayne County as well

@Minion-Queen said:

What are you doing to that machine to make it crash all the time?

If it's me, firing up any Adobe application brings it to it's knees. Try to do something else to, pfft, forgetaboutit.

@scottalanmiller said:

And there is little to no chance that I'm not related to the Miller for which your county seat is named, there

I always joke that I can't marry someone from the area because we were guaranteed to be related

@scottalanmiller said:

@travisdh1 said:

Ever visit Amish Country? We have more IT people around than you'd think, but the market is still tiny.

Which of the Amish Counties are you in? I'm a Bucks County descendant myself.

Wayne/Holmes Counties Ohio

We've lost the largest Amish population in the US title I think.

@Dashrender said:

@travisdh1 said:

@Dashrender said:

WTF? is your machine not a Domain Joined machine?

It's one of only 2 Windows computers left here. Only 10 computers total means things are manageable, but I still want to get them setup on a proper domain and file server.

You want to setup a domain for 2 Windows computers? Using a Linux distro as a Domain controller I hope? $800+ seems like a lot to spend if you were thinking a Windows Server for just two Windows machines.

As for file server, what's wrong with a NAS or standing up an Owncloud box. Owncloud will be safer - less risk of Cryptolocker problems.

Zentyal actually. Business wise because most of the users jump between computers all the time and it's so much easier to make file shares follow them around with an authentication server. Also for my piece of mind because I'll probably be changing jobs in the next 1-2 years and it'll be a lot easier for someone else to manage. (Most likely an MSP, but they'd need to be able to send someone in which is going to be the stumbling block.)

Ever visit Amish Country? We have more IT people around than you'd think, but the market is still tiny.

@scottalanmiller

@scottalanmiller said:

@travisdh1 said:

That was the server, not my workstation. So yes, software raid, but Linux style mdadm/LVM.

XenServer?

That one is the old ProxMox. The latest server is XenServer. The remaining proxmox box will be moved to XenServer as well. Time to actually do it is the sticking point.

@scottalanmiller said:

@travisdh1 said:

At least the internet thing was an easy fix that I was expecting. A hard drive got replaced in the server yesterday,.....

Windows Software RAID then?

That was the server, not my workstation. So yes, software raid, but Linux style mdadm/LVM. Getting firewall rules to prevent the local box from communicating on the WAN interface was one of those fun learning experiences. Now it'd take me minutes instead of an hour.

It was very annoying having to go through all that "Microsoft will collect all the data" settings before being able to hit putty and get the raid fixed.

@Dashrender said:

WTF? is your machine not a Domain Joined machine?

It's one of only 2 Windows computers left here. Only 10 computers total means things are manageable, but I still want to get them setup on a proper domain and file server.

I feel a need to rant a bit.

So yesterday I'm typing away on an email when something pops up and steals my mouse cursor focus right before hitting the space bar, and the popup box disappeared. Well. ****. Safe mode, MB scan, combofix, reboot, nothing wrong. Get in this morning to "The internet is down" and my desktop sitting in the Windows 10 initialization window. Rarely have I had the pleasure of a double fu from any vendor, but Microsoft sure managed it this morning.

At least the internet thing was an easy fix that I was expecting. A hard drive got replaced in the server yesterday, so all the vms were mounted in a read-only file system till the rebuild finished. Shut down all the vms on the host, remounted into rw mode, restarted vms, good to go.

I've heard way to many nightmare stories about rolling back from 10, so it gets to stay for now. Only glaring issue besides me not wanting this to happen yet is a USB3 card that refuses to load it's driver.

@coliver said:

It actually isn't bad... my Sister-in-law is a vegan and most of the imitation stuff isn't too terrible. Not meat by any stretch but not bad either.

Most vegan diets are actually horrible for me being diabetic. I'm much better off getting my calories from fat rather than carbs. So I've got a slight phobia about fake meat. Still, it's better than no bacon!

"Please do not shut down or restart your computer." Quick, reboot!

@scottalanmiller :

Veggie Bacon? What an evil sort of thing.

Peppered bacon? Why would you ruin perfectly good pig. Best bacon EVER? The ones that are fed nothing but dairy products for 2 months before being processed. I don't know of anything being sold in a store, but it's like bacon candy.

That's a lot better than my welcome back from the weekend. "On the second day of Christmas, Santa gave to me, 2 failing raid batteries."

@Dashrender said:

man, you guys have completely left out Software Assurance, which can be a HUGE savings here.

One step at a time. Microsoft Licensing is a beast, that even they themselves don't understand.