My server is dead.

Monday, August 18, 2008 1:25:31 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

My server took a turn for the worst on Sunday afternoon around 2PM. 

Emma and I tried to revive it but were unsuccessful.

Procedure used was: Remove CMOS battery.  This prooved to do absolutely F all.  Next procedure was to use motherboard jumpers to reset the BIOS configuration to the factory defaults.  This also prooved equally as pointless.

Finally, I plugged the server out, re-enabled the DHCP server on the router and set a static DNS pointer to point to it so the server is currently not needed to facilitate internet access on the network.

It is hoped that a new server can be sourced soon as using GMail to read my mail  from several accounts instead of Outlook via RPC over HTTP is a right pain in the ass.

Quotations are currently welcome.  Price range is aproximitly four to five hundred Euro.  The HP offering for this type of server is eight hundred euro however the specification is frankly: Pants!

Dell seem to have a few nice servers for around this price range however I'm not sold that they'll be the best option yet.

Why not go for something more expensive? I hear you ask? Well, yes, more money means more power however I want to keep running costs to an absolute minimum.  As a result of pressure from people in my office and the feer that I'll lose all the backups that I've made to the server, I've decided to go for a system that supports at least rade 1 at a minimum.  However, if I go for something powerful in the server line it gets more noisy and more expensive to run.  Sure I'd love to go for one of the 900 range like the one sitting behind me waiting for me to install the driver for the second rade controler that I installed this morning but that thing makes the office vibrate when it's running something!"  OK. that might be a bit over the top but you get my meaning!  It's loud! There's also a HP laserjet 5110CN behind me printing out something for the whole morning that's starting to get on my nerves too!

If you have any suggestion how to shut up the printer and oh, of course, what server to get, please let me know.

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It's one of those days!

Friday, August 01, 2008 11:09:29 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

My mama told me, there'd be days like this.

I'm in a stupid mood today.  I keep trying to open the server rack doors using my front door key!  Why!  I'm at these every single day of the working week!  Why am I being stupid today!

On the up side, I've finally figured out why the powervaults aren't reading barcodes properly.   The person who did this job before me appended a letter onto the end of the barcode to distinguish between LTO and DLT.  That baught the barcode up to seven characters.  The powervaults default state only permits 6 characters.  Backup exec will unfortunately distinguish the tapes by type and mess up my existing jobs if I change the powervault to recognise the seventh character which is something that should have been thought of before now but that's a different rant. ANyway, I've printed off new lables and tested them in the cASO server so keep your fingers crossed that that is the end of this very annoying issue.  Without barcodes I have to manually label each tape!  Or I'd have no idea what tapes to restore from!

Technical post over.   Something really non-technical coming later if I get a few minutes.

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Try-it resource for people with disabilities.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 10:03:58 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

The cost of assistive technology for people with any disability is very high.  Everything from Magnifiers to Screen readers to Braille displays to light displaying door bells to synthesizers for people who cannot speak to memory training devices are very expensive.  Furthermore, there is a lot of choice in this market in some areas.  Equipment or alterations that suit some people will not suit others even though their disability may be the same.  For this reason, it is often very difficult to know what you need.  People comfortable with researching technical reviews and asking questions on public forums are fortunate as they can get a better idea of what is capable by using assistive software or hardware however nothing beats actually using it.  It's very similar to when someone is buying a car.  You can read reviews, talk to other owners but nothing beats getting to know it during a test drive.

The day of test driving assistive technology is finally here!

Thanks to www.try-it.ie, you can now look through their extensive resource of assistive hardware or software for a wide range of disabilities and if it's in stock you can apply to try it.  The idea is simple but the effect is powerful.   There is a lot of choice out there but unfortunately the majority of people don't take advantage of it.  Outspoken for Mac OSX 10.5, Orca in Linux", Window Eyes in Windows are three examples of screen readers for visually impaired people that most people haven't even thought of trying as their comfortable with Jaws and Windows and until now the facility hasn't been there to do this without spending a lot of time or money.  I'm sure that people with other disabilities are the same!  They get use to one adaptation or assistive technology and because of the cost involved with testing new options they cant justify trying anything else. 

Unfortunately my experience in adaptive technology is focused on the narrow field of visual impairment however the resource on www.try-it is not.  I would urge any of you who know anyone with a disability to take a look.  Tell as many people as possible about this and make it a resource that is used.  As they say.  Use it or loose it.  It's your choice.

www.try-it.ie

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Read number of unread messages in each folder. Jaws script.

Saturday, July 26, 2008 2:28:58 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Greetings all,

I randomly had a look through some old files on my computer a few minutes ago.  I've stumbled upon a script that I wrote for the Jaws screen reader that will search through the folders in Outlook 2003 and tell you what folders have new messages. 

It's perfect for someone like me who is subscribed to quite a few mailing lists.   Each mailing list has an associated rule that sends mail into a specific folder.  I can instruct the screen reader to look at the folders and let me know what folders have recieved new mail and how many unread messages are in each.  It's a very obvious function but one that has never been included in the product.  

So, here goes.  If you need help inserting this into your outlook scripts let me know and I'll write up another post with instructions. Oh, by the way, This may work in Outlook 2007 but I've not tested it yet.  When I get a few minutes this weekend I'll do it. 

Script getnumberofunredmessages ()
var
string item1,
string item2,
int num1,
int tester,
 int iUnReadMessages,
 int iBold
let num1 =1
let tester =0
SpeechOff ()
SaveCursor ()
SetFocus (FindWindow (GetAppMainWindow (GetCurrentWindow ()), "NetUIHWND", ""))JAWSHome ()
JAWSHome ()
JAWSHome ()
JAWSHome ()
{p}
While (num1 <= 22)
let num1 = num1 + 1
let iBold=GetCharacterAttributes () & ATTRIB_BOLD
Let iUnreadMessages = GetTreeViewLevel ()
If iBold && iUnreadMessages   Then
SpeechOn ()
SayWord ()
Say (IntToString (iUnreadMessages)+scUnread, OT_STATIC, FALSE)
let tester = 1
EndIf
SpeechOff ()
NextLine ()
EndWhile
RestoreCursor ()
If tester == 0 then
SpeechOn()
 SayString ("No new messages")
SpeechOff()
EndIf
{ctrl+shift+i}
{tab}
SpeechOn ()
let item1 = ""
let item2 = ""
let num1 = 0
let tester = 0
let iUnReadMessages = 0
let iBold = 0
EndScript
Interesting?

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Synergy! The best thing since....... KVM's.

Thursday, July 24, 2008 3:22:04 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Take a look at Synergy. It's a cool little application that works on Windows, Linux" and Mac OSX.  It allows you to work as if you had a hardware KVM attached to your computers however it is much more powerful than that.  by dragging your mouse to the left, right, bottom or top of one of your screens you can change to any computer that's connected.  so, I've an OpenSuSE installation on one of the computers here now as I've removed Vista to do some testing.  to use the keyboard and Mouse on this main computer on the OpenSuSE computer I just drag to the mouse and the functions change instantly.  IN edition to this, my screen reader, jaws tells me what desktop I've just gone to right out of the box! i.e. without any customization.

Installing it in OpenSuSE was very straight forward and getting it working on Windows was equally as simple.

There's one more feature that I almost forgot to tell you about.  In edition to letting you share input devices, it also lets you lock all your operating systems at once.  I.e, you cannot use them until you type in your password into the main computer and you can also share the one clipboard between all machines.  Both are really cool features to have!

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Solution to Error 81000395 in Windows Live Messenger.

Thursday, July 24, 2008 9:25:03 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I've not had this problem my self however I seem to have found a solution.

The problem is caused by an update to AVG.  To temporarily work around this until a fix is released to AVG, do the following:

IN AVG options, Web Shield, Disable the option for instant messaging protection.

It's as simple as that. 

If you want to determine how I found this, do the following: (Instructions obtained via a Microsoft KB article.)

To gather the connectivity log, please follow steps below:

1. If Messenger is running, right-click the "MSN Messenger" icon in the notification area at
the far right of the taskbar, and then click "Exit."
2. Delete the already existing connection log file, if it is available:
a. Start Messenger but do not sign in.
b. Click "File," and then click "Open Received Files" on the "MSN Messenger" menu to go to
the My Received Files folder.
c. Look for the MsnMsgr.txt file, and then delete it. To do this, click the file, and then
press DELETE.
d. Look for the MsnMsgr.txt file, and then delete it. To do this, click the file, and then
press DELETE.
3.Enable connection logging if it is not already enabled.

a. Start MSN Messenger but do not sign in.
b. On the "Tools" menu, click "Options."
c. In the "Options" dialog box, click "Connection."
d. Under "Connection Logging" make sure that the "Save a log of my server connections to help
troubleshoot connection problems" check box is selected.
e. Close the "Options" dialog box.
4. To sign in to MSN Messenger again, click "Sign In." and wait until the sign-in error
appears.
5. To access the new connectivity log file (MSNMsgr.txt) follow steps in Step 2.

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Live update error: LU1812 Backup Exec 11D. solution

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 11:34:18 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I've had a problem over the last few days but only got around to handling it this morning.

LU1812 was the error and it was causing Live Update to complain while trying to apply a patch to Backup Exec 11D on one of the DFS file servers.

The Symantec knowledge base was completely useless and one forum that discussed the issue had one post from a Symantec technical support representative that was of no help at all! 

Fortunately, I use to work in Symantec support so Live Update and I are old friends.

Solving it took some work.

Remove live update using add remove programs.

Remove all log files and downloads from documents and settings\all users\application data\symantec\liveupdate\

I removed all files from that directory but left the download directory there.  Just make sure you remove the files within that directory.

Look for the liveupdate folder within program files\symantec\. Delete it.

Reinstall Live update.

Obviously, if it's a production server, like this is, don't reboot or you may get your head chopped off by angry users who have just lost a file server!

go into control panel and enter the Symantec Live update settings.

Select interactive mode and check the box for advanced error messages.

Go into backup exec and in the tools menu run live update.  Answer yes when it asks if you want to attach Live update to backup exec but don't actually let it run just yet.

Start services.msc and stop all backup exec services.  Including SQL.

Shut down the backup exec window.

If using a CASO to manage this server, you can leave it open.  I found it helpful to look at the notifications it was showing up.

Go into run and type luall to run live update.

Let it run.

if all goes ok you may be prompted a few times to answer questions.

On the CASO, you may see that the update requires a reboot to complete.

My reboot is scheduled for 6PM tonight.   Keep your fingers crossed.  Although, at least I'm not getting LU1812 any more. x

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windows 2008 SBS release date announced.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 11:57:16 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I may be way behind however out of curiosity I had a look for some information on Windows SBS 2008 this morning and found that their planning to release it on the twelfth of November this year.  2008 server is built on Vista so I'm sure SBS will be the same.  Fortunately though, I think Microsoft have seen the error of their ways in this version as it does not include the usual display bells and whistles and other bloat so it runs much more efficiently. Here's the link to the MS site for more details: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/essential/sbs/overview.mspxx

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Argueing with my server.

Monday, July 14, 2008 10:33:53 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

My self and my server are having a bit of a falling out at the moment.  We’re not agreeing on something but to confuse things, I’m not sure what we’re not agreeing on!  I want it to supply every computer who connects to the network with an IP address.  It went along with this for about two months but suddenly last week, when Emma connected or really old, slow and crappy laptop to the network it all started to go wrong.  I think it doesn’t like technology that is pree industrialization.  Either that or it’s just being a pain in the ass to teach me not to rely on it as much as I have done.  Either way, I’m not happy.  And what makes me even unhappy is that I can’t figure out what’s wrong!  There’s nothing in the event log, DHCP server is running and no settings have been changed recently. I have therefore absolutely no idea as to why it’s suddenly decided to drive me insane.

Anyway, we’ll have words this evening when I get home and we’ll try to come to some kind of an arrangement.  If not, I’ll threaten to install Linux" on it again.  At least with Linux" when something went wrong it gave errors and warning messages all over the place.

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HPTX1020 laptop and vista.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 5:51:57 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I finally got around to destroying my old Linux" server on the TX1020 laptop that was origionally bought for use on trains etc.  In it's place, I installed Vista.  The funny thing though is that this laptop ran for over three and a half months without a single reboot or without being turned off once and it never got as hot as it did while running a simple windows update this morning.  The fan is gone nuts too!  It's making a hell of a lot of noise!  Just goes to show, Vista really is a processor hungry hound.  If this doesn't perform well today I might just consider installing Ubuntu onto it.  Oh.  Actually, on second thought's, I'd like to give Fedora 8 a go so that might do instead.  lthough, I've seen a lot of complaints about F8 so who knows.  Anything has to be better than this though. 

So, the problem is: If I want to use this for one day, I have two choices from a screen reader / accessibility point of view.  I can either run my screen reader, Jaws in 40 minute mode without activating the ILM authorization and reboot every 40 minutes or I can waste another authorization for one day.  You might think to your self, why not just run in 40 minute mode?  ut, you can be almost certain that after that 40 minutes I'll be working on something important and I won't want to reboot.  So, I'll get frustrated with the thing and definitly format it in preparation for the installation of Linux".

What to do What to do! Ah.  I hate Vista.  Linux" is great but it's accessibility is still continually growing.  Don't get me wrong.  I think it's almost equal to Windows at this stage but there are a few annoying areas where it lacks.  So, It's a toss up between performance and accessibility really.  Although, it could be fun getting all the features of this laptop working in Gnome.  I wonder how the touch screen would act.  Hopefully it wouldn't all work out of the box so I can do some messing around. 

OK. time for me to stop writing as I really need to start getting ready for work.

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Windows Updates are Evil!

Monday, June 23, 2008 11:25:24 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Look, it's simple.  Any large organization need to except and acknowledge that Windows updates are evil and should be tested for any signs that they will bring doom to their IT inferstructure. 

An update was roled out to a few servers on Friday and on Friday night, Backup Exec couldn't connect to one of the D drives on one of the important security servers.  This meant that an incrimental backup was missed on Friday night and a full backup was missed on Saturday night.  Of course, it's down to me to explain this to the chiefs this morning and find a solution.  I've tried reinstalling the backup exec agent on this machine remotely but it's failing and not giving me any errors or messages to go on.  Looks like It's time to start tralling through event logs.  Yay.  Fun times!

On the up side, my database problem has now been resolved.  Some stupid administrator set up some dodgy configuration on two of the Media Management servers that instructed the Backup Exec software to connect to the SQL server via a DSN connection!  That's nuts as connection orientated information wasn't sent back quick enough and as a result jobs were skipped.  It also made the SQL service report incorrect status information. That problem caused me a head ache from Tuesday to Thursday!

 

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Isn't it ironic, don't you think.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 10:46:34 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I'm blind and therefore don't really need a monitor however on my desk I've three of them.  That's more monitors than anyone else has!

 

the 19 inch is connected via VGA to the main work PC. 

the 15 inch to my left is connected via DVI to the main work pc creating a dule screen environment. 

the 15 inch to my left is also connected to another machine that is used for accessing another network via a VPN connection.

I've also another machine connected to a monitor on my right that I'm using for testing Windows Vista on this network.  I've also connected this screen via a DVI splitter cable to my main work PC just for a bit of entertainment so I can have three screens connected to my work PC.

I know I don't need them but I've learned a bit more than I knew to start with about video set ups.  I'm also going to install sinergy onto the Vista machine so I can share the one keyboard and mouse across both of them without using a splitter box. 

It's also useful when I ocasionally need to borrow someone's eyes to read a screen for me when I'm doing something with the Bios etc. They've plenty to choose from!

It's funny having a better set up in work than you do at home!

Oh, by the way, I've got XP, Vista and Ubuntu running on my work PC in virtual machines.  I just wanted to install Vista onto another machine to ensure the drivers used were reflective of those needed in a realistic environment.

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Restoring the Windows Vista master Boot Record (MBR).

Monday, June 16, 2008 8:56:25 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Restoring the Master Boot Record (MBR) isn't actually all that difficult.  It just sounds complicated.

In both XP and Vista you'll need your installation disk / DVD.

In Vista, Boot the DVD, Choose your language and click next.  If your using the keyboard just press alt n for next.  Then choose Repair system.  Again, with the keyboard press r.  Now chose the first radio button in that list for repair system.  With the keyboard, it's alt r. Then just wait for it to do it's thing.  Press alt n for next then alt r for restart.

If you want to use a command line, instead of pressing alt r the second time for repair system, find the radio button for command prompt.  I think it's alt C but I forget.  In the command prompt, type d:\boot\bootsect.exe /NT60 All  Note, this assumes your installation media is in d: Again, restart your machine and hope that it's worked. 

In XP, put in the CD, press enter when it spins up to boot from it and after a few minutes, press the r key to choose repair.   Choose the partition that windows is installed onto, usually 1.  now type your administrator password then press enter.  Now, at the command prompt, type fixmbr and wait for it to do it's thing.  If your suffering from total corruption of your MBR then try fixboot instead.

Actually, that reminds me, I spoke to an engineer on Friday who complained that incription software was causing problems for the MBR on a few HP laptops using Windows 2000.  I think it's most likely an incompatibility between the software and the version of Windows that their using mainly because when the software installs it's own MBR it gives errors that look like the BIOS cannot find the machines hahrd drive.  When the Windows MBR is reinstalled, it gets past this. 

Anyway, with all this said and done, fixing the vista MBR still wouldn't work for me.  I think installing XP after installed Vista then changing the drive letters on both hard drives messed it up on me.  I kind of suspected that that would happen but I took the risk anyway.

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Messing with dule monitor configuration

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 2:50:57 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Just because I had little else to mess with, I decided to stick in a DVI riser card into my work PC today and connect up two displays.   Ok. I won't benefit from having two screens but I don't care.  It's just something to learn about.  I've never done it before so it's good experience.

Method: Get one riser card and install it into the AGP slot on the motherboard of your PC.  The riser card will allow your onboard graphics card to work as well as the new card you've just put in.  Usually, when you install a graphics card it will render the onboard adapter redundent and therefore it will be disabled.  A riser card allows you to keep both enabled. Now, Insert one VGA cable into your onboard graphics card and connect that to your main monitor.  Connect a DVI card from your new Riser card and connect that to the secondary monitor.  I have a dell monitor here as my secondary that has both a DVI and a VGA socket on the bottom so with a press of a button I can switch between both machine outputs.  again though, it makes no difference to me.  I hear it looks quite cool though.

When you install the new AGP adapter and boot into Windows, simply check the box within display properties to enable displaying your desktop across both monitors.

If your using Jaws and you try to access an application on the other monitor then it won't work for you. Mainly because the off screen tracking doesn't work for this situation.

I learned a few nice things about graphics adapters today.  x

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Connecting Ubuntu 8.04 to an Active Directory Domain.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008 8:10:30 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Earlier, I decided to connect a virtual machine with Ubuntu 8.04 on it to the domain here at work.  This is made much easier in Ubuntu 8.04 however if your domain heavily depends on Wins to provide hostnames then ou may run into problems.  I certainly did anyway.  Finally, by trying the following I seem to have got it working.

  1. sudo apt-get update
  2. sudo apt-get install likewise-open
  3. Go to the system menu, Administration, Network and in the DNS tab, put your domain name in the domain search list. 
  4. In /etc/hosts, write the ip address of your domain.  for example: this-domain.local is 192.168.2.100. example: 192.168.2.100 this-domain.local
  5. restart the network connection by typing something like /etc/init.d/networking restart
  6. type sudo domainjoin-cli join fqdn.of.your.domain Administrator where administrator is a user account with suitable permissions to add a computer to the domain.
  7. sudo update-rc.d likewise-open defaults
  8. sudo /etc/init.d/likewise-open start

I got steps 1, 2, 6, 7 and 8 from the Ubuntu website but finding out why the stupid domain name wouldn't resolve to an IP took some working out.  Mainly because I thought the DNS servers should by default resolve local hostnames as it says it does in this domains specification documentation.

But, there you go.  If you ever get stuck connectin Ubuntu to a domain, try doing a few things manually.  Oh, I tried adding the WINS server to /etc/samba/smb.conf but that made no difference. If you find that works for you though or you have an alternative work around I'd be delighted to hear it.

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The first audio blog in about 19 months.

Monday, June 02, 2008 12:54:06 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

It's been almost two years since I've bothered to do an audio post but here goes again.  During this short recording I speak about Cora Smyth, a very nice fiddle player that I've started listening to, A brief technical issue that I'm running into, a quick house update and some other random ramblings. Listen to it from here.

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A bit of everything

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 9:29:55 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Emma told me to blog so… here goes.

There’s a lot happening but not much you’ll really be interested in. 

Last weekend, I went down to a good friend of mine in Carlow as his girlfriend organized a surprise for him for his birthday.  The poor fella’s getting old so it was the least I could do. I have to say though, I really enjoyed my self.  I’m spreading things very thin at the moment as I’ve just so much to do but the break last weekend really did me a lot of good.  That is, excluding the lack of sleep I managed to catch up on last weekend.  Because I’m travelling a lot during the week and up at absolutely crazy times in the morning, usually before 6AM, I like to have nothing to get up for during the weekend.  That’s not to say I sit around doing nothing, I just like to wake up when I’m ready as posed to an alarm clock screaming at me at an unmerciful hour.   What can I say! I like my Sleep!  If sleep can’t be had, coffee is very regularly a good replacement.  Oh, I had a great cup of coffee this morning. It was only instant and I made it my self but it just really hit the spot.  Sorry. I’m just rambling.

I’m not playing enough music at all at the moment!  I’ve not played regularly in months.  It’s something I’m going to have to pay more attention to.  I don’t want to let things slide like they did a few years ago.  Music is a very important past time for me and if I don’t keep it up I feel guilty and more importantly, my fingers start to get tight and the ornamentation that I want to use just won’t work!  I’m thinking of going to a few gigs and classes that the pipers club are organizing this weekend, but I really need to do some practice first! I must also get to a few sessions with Maurice Lennon again.  I usually enjoy his music so it might get me motivated again.

On the technical front, I’ve moved away from Linux" somewhat and am now focusing more of my energy on windows 2003 server for my administration needs.  AS YOU CAN SEE FROM MY EARLIER POSTS RELATREGARDING Orca and Ubuntu, I’m still reasonably involved when I get time however as my new job focuses more on the windows side of things I need to prioritise and learn as much about Windows server technologies as possible in a very short space of time.  Would you believe actually, the accessibility of Windows Server technologies is much worse than that provided in Linux"?  With Linux", on my laptop, I had speakup in the console when I was sitting in front of it and when accessing it via SSH, I had access via what ever screen reader I was using.  Essentially, I could SSH to any remote machine and start using it without needing to install any additional assistive software.  Here, where I work now, there are dozens of servers.  All of which I need regular access to.  So, I therefore need to install Jaws onto each one.  I fortunately don’t need to install a full version.  They don’t need servers or anything like that however it’s a real pain none the less!  The servers don’t even have sound cards so I can’t access them with any ease while standing in front of them.  The best thing I can do is take a laptop around with me to remote desktop into them.  That’s basically what I’m doing at the moment anyway.

At home, I’ve decommissioned my Linux" server and in its place I’ve installed a shiny new Windows 2003 SBS operating system complete with Exchange 2003, IIS, Sharepoint, and all that other stuff. I have to say, although it’s exceptionally easy to set up, I’m not overly impressed with its flexibility.  In Linux", I had things set up really well, customized to meet the needs of my self and Emma.  We both had different set ups because we both have different requirements.  In Exchange, there’s a standard way of doing things and if you want to go outside that, exchange is no longer your friend.  In saying that, there’s certainly a reason why it’s so popular.  That is, anyone who’s got any experience with Windows conventions can set it up.  If you know that right clicking on absolutely everything will get you a lot of options, you’re going to be able to set it up.

On the work side of things, I’m still really enjoying my self.  I’m still having problems with remote access, a topic I think I wrote about last week or the week before but accessibility related problems are slowly but surely getting a bit easier to handle.  My main thing at the moment is finding an alternative way of reading bar codes for all these tapes I’m managing.  There are six very active tape servers at the moment and labels for each tape.  Each server takes a minimum of twelve tapes with a maximum of 24.  That’s a lot of labels!  Backup Exec, the application that we use for managing these backups will give the bar codes when a tape has been processed but that’s far from an efficient way of obtaining that information. So, I’m on the hunt for a more accessible solution.

OH, on the Linux" accessibility side of things, I’ll be working on another few recordings soon so if your interested, stay tuned.  If your not, you should be!  Linux" is the future!  It’s coming and there’s no escaping it!

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Concurrent Remote desktop sessions. Not as easy as it may sound.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 11:18:13 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

You’d think something as simple as concurrent remote desktop sessions should be something that’s reasonably straight forward and logic wouldn’t you?  I certainly did.  It’s something I’ve got to work before at home on PC’s that aren’t connected to a domain however for some reason; I just cannot get it to work when connected to a Windows 2003 domain!  It’s so frustrating!  I need this access and VNC isn’t accessible when using a screen reader!

So, what should you be able to do to get around this?  These are the steps I have written down.
Firstly, I got a termserve.dll from a Windows XP SP2 Beta build.
I installed this in c:\windows\system32\ and c:\windows\service pack releases\i386\
I then changed a few keys in the group policy editor to allow for remote log ons.  Go to gpedit.msc, go to computer configuration, administrative templates, Windows components, Terminal Services, “Restrict terminal sessions to a single session. You can also go to computer management, Windows settings, Local policies, User rights assignment and then “Allow log in through terminal services.  Add users and administrators to this.  Alternatively, just go to control panel, users and groups, advanced and then add the required users to the terminal services remote access group.
In the registry, you need to do some editing too. First, go to HKey_Local_machine \ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\ Current Version\ Winlogon and change the value of Allow Multiple TS Sessions to 1.  Also change the value at HKey_Local_Machine\System\ControlSet 001\ Control\ Terminal Server\ Licensing Core\ called Enable Concurrent Sessions to 1.Note, you may also need to create  a value called PolicyACOff with a value of 5.
Oh, one more thing, go into services.msc and start the fast user switching compatibility service and in the properties, set this to start automatically at boot.

I’ve spent hours on this now with no success.  So, as you can probably imagine, I’m very frustrated!  I’d love to find a way around this!

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Here's one I cooked earlier.

Friday, May 09, 2008 2:25:41 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I worked on this this morning.  Basically, there were about a hundred PC's here that weren't recieving updates for the antivirus application due to a flaw in the way updates are roled out and the way Windows handles errors or problems. 

Ordinarily, if a script wasn't used, these steps would have to be carried out manually  That would take days!  After this script was written it took just under an hour to update all one hundred or so PC's. 

In case it's ever useful to anyone else, I've posted it here. It's nice to have the freedom to write code in work! It's a nice medium for me.

I'll have to blog more often.  I've not really taken much time to do it lately.

The script will log each part and if a computer isn't connected to the network at the time it will log that no connection could be made and move onto the next one in the Excel spreadsheet. 

Here are the rough steps that the script performs in edition to the logging and logic.

1. Stop the Automatic Updates Service
2. Delete the %WINDIR%\softwaredistribution folder
3. Delete the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate keys and subkeys.
4. Start the Automatic updates Service
5. Send a wuauclt.exe /resetauthorization /detectnow command to sysem

bEnableLogging = True
bIncludeDateStamp = True
bPrependDateStampInLogFileName = False
sLogFileLocation = "relative"
sLogFileName = "errors.txt"
sOverWriteORAppend = "append"
vLogMaximumLines = 0
vLogMaximumSize = 0

Sub LogToFile(Message)

If bEnableLogging = False Then Exit Sub

Const ForReading = 1
Const ForWriting = 2
Const ForAppending = 8

Set oLogFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

If sLogFileLocation = "relative" Then
Set oLogShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
sLogFileLocation = oLogShell.CurrentDirectory & "\"
Set oLogShell = Nothing
End If

If bPrependDateStampInLogFileName Then
sNow = Replace(Replace(Now(),"/","-"),":",".")
sLogFileName = sNow & " - " & sLogFileName
bPrependDateStampInLogFileName = False
End If

sLogFile = sLogFileLocation & sLogFileName

If sOverWriteORAppend = "overwrite" Then
Set oLogFile = oLogFSO.OpenTextFile(sLogFile, ForWriting, True)
sOverWriteORAppend = "append"
Else
Set oLogFile = oLogFSO.OpenTextFile(sLogFile, ForAppending, True)
End If

If bIncludeDateStamp Then
Message = Now & "   " & Message
End If

oLogFile.WriteLine(Message)
oLogFile.Close

If vLogMaximumLines > 0 Then
Set oReadLogFile = oLogFSO.OpenTextFile(sLogFile, ForReading, True)
sFileContents = oReadLogFile.ReadAll
aFileContents = Split(sFileContents, vbCRLF)
If Ubound(aFileContents) > vLogMaximumLines Then
sFileContents = Replace(sFileContents, aFileContents(0) & _
vbCRLF, "", 1, Len(aFileContents(0) & vbCRLF))
Set oLogFile = oLogFSO.OpenTextFile(sLogFile, ForWriting, True)
oLogFile.Write(sFileContents)
oLogFile.Close
End If
oReadLogFile.Close
End If

If vLogMaximumSize > 0 Then
Set oReadLogFile = oLogFSO.OpenTextFile(sLogFile, ForReading, True)
sFileContents = oReadLogFile.ReadAll
oReadLogFile.Close
sFileContents = RightB(sFileContents, (vLogMaximumSize*2))
Set oLogFile = oLogFSO.OpenTextFile(sLogFile, ForWriting, True)
oLogFile.Write(sFileContents)
oLogFIle.Close
End If

oLogFSO = Null
End Sub

function Ping(byval strName)
dim objFSO, objShell, objTempFile, objTS
dim sCommand, sReadLine
dim bReturn

set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

'Set default return value
bReturn = false

'Create command line to ping and save results to a temp file
sCommand = "cmd /c ping.exe -n 3 -w 1000 " & strName & " > temp.txt"

'Execute the command
objShell.run sCommand, 0, true

'Get the temp file
set objTempFile = objFSO.GetFile("temp.txt")
set objTS = objTempFile.OpenAsTextStream(1)

'Loop through the temp file to see if "reply from" is found,
'if it is then the ping was successful
do while objTs.AtEndOfStream <> true
sReadLine = objTs.ReadLine
if instr(lcase(sReadLine), "reply from") > 0 then
bReturn = true
exit do
end if
loop

'Close temp file and release objects
objTS.close
objTempFile.delete
set objTS = nothing
set objTempFile = nothing
set objShell = nothing
set objFSO = nothing

'Return value
Ping = bReturn
end function

 

'---------------- Input Computer Name ---------------------


On Error Resume Next
Dim strComputer
Dim intLoopCount, dir, objExcel, objWorkbook
Set objExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")

'Gets the directory where our script is running from
dir = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject").GetParentFolderName(Wscript.ScriptFullName)

'Open our EXCEL file
Set objWorkbook = objExcel.Workbooks.Open(dir & "\Computers-Report.xls")


intLoopCount = 1


'Do Until objExcel.Cells(intLoopCount,1).Value = ""
Do While Not IsEmpty(objExcel.Cells(loopCount, 1).Value)


strComputer = objExcel.Cells(intLoopCount,1).Value

 

StrComputer=UCase(StrComputer)

'ping the StrComputer to see if it is accessible
bPingtest = ping(StrComputer)

If bPingtest = FALSE Then
LogToFile "" & strComputer & "Is not accessible. Ping failed."
Loop

end IF
'
'
'----------------Stop Automatic Updates Service--------------------
'
'
'On Error Resume Next
' NB strService is case sensitive.
strService = " 'wuauserv' "
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
& "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" _
& strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colListOfServices = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
("Select * from Win32_Service Where Name ="_
& strService & " ")
For Each objService in colListOfServices
objService.StopService()
Next
LogToFile "" & strComputer & "Automatic update service has been stopped."
'
''
'----------------Stop BITS Service--------------------
'
'
'On Error Resume Next
' NB strService is case sensitive.
strService = " 'BITS' "
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
& "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" _
& strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colListOfServices = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
("Select * from Win32_Service Where Name ="_
& strService & " ")
For Each objService in colListOfServices
objService.StopService()
Next
LogToFile "" & strComputer & "Background Intelligent Transfer Service has been stopped"
'WScript.Echo "Background Intelligent Transfer Service has been stopped"
'
'
'
'----------------- Delete Folder and Reg Keys --------------------------------

strExe = "cmd.exe /C rmdir %WINDIR%\SoftwareDistribution /S /Q && cmd.exe /C REG DELETE HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate /f"

' Connect to WMI
'
set objWMIService = getobject("winmgmts://"_
& strComputer & "/root/cimv2")

' Obtain the Win32_Process class of object.

Set objProcess = objWMIService.Get("Win32_Process")
Set objProgram = objProcess.Methods_( _
"Create").InParameters.SpawnInstance_
objProgram.CommandLine = strExe

'Execute the program now at the command line.

Set strShell = objWMIService.ExecMethod( _
"Win32_Process", "Create", objProgram)
LogToFile "" & strComputer & "The software Distribution Folder and WindowsUpdate regsitry keys have been deleted."
'WScript.Echo "The software Distribution Folder and WindowsUpdate regsitry keys have been deleted."

'------------------ Start Automatic Update Service -------------
'
'
'On Error Resume Next
' NB strService is case sensitive.
strService = " 'wuauserv' "
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
& "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" _
& strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colListOfServices = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
("Select * from Win32_Service Where Name ="_
& strService & " ")
For Each objService in colListOfServices
objService.StartService()
Next
LogToFile "Windows Updates Service has been Started on " & strcomputer
'WScript.Echo "Windows Updates Service has been Started on " & strcomputer
'
'
'------------------ Start BITS Service -------------
'
'
'On Error Resume Next
' NB strService is case sensitive.
strService = " 'BITS' "
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
& "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" _
& strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colListOfServices = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
("Select * from Win32_Service Where Name ="_
& strService & " ")
For Each objService in colListOfServices
objService.StartService()
Next
LogToFile "Background Intelligent Transfer Service has been Started on " & strcomputer
'WScript.Echo "Background Intelligent Transfer Service has been Started on " & strcomputer
'
'-------------- Force Checking to WSUS server by issueing a wuauclt.exe /resetauthorization /detectnow ------------


strExe = "cmd.exe /C wuauclt.exe /resetauthorization /detectnow"

' Connect to WMI
'
set objWMIService = getobject("winmgmts://"_
& strComputer & "/root/cimv2")

' Obtain the Win32_Process class of object.

Set objProcess = objWMIService.Get("Win32_Process")
Set objProgram = objProcess.Methods_( _
"Create").InParameters.SpawnInstance_
objProgram.CommandLine = strExe

'Execute the program now at the command line.

Set strShell = objWMIService.ExecMethod( _
"Win32_Process", "Create", objProgram)
LogToFile "" & strComputer & "Force checkin has been sent. Process Complete."
'WScript.Echo "Force checkin has been sent. Process Complete."

intLoopCount = intLoopCount + 1

Loop
LogToFile "*********************************************************"
objExcel.Workbooks.Close
objExcel.quit
objExcel = Empty
objWorkbook = Empty

I'm looking forward to the next chalange now.

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Work to live. Don't live to work.

Monday, April 28, 2008 8:52:16 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Ok.  I’ve not blogged properly in a good while so I’ll try to do some updating in this post.

Firstly, the new job is going really well.  I’m basically one of seven system admins supporting the houses of the Oireachtas.  That means that on a daily basis, I solve problems from locked out log ins, to Lotus Notes ID problems to fixing the air conditioning in a server room because the air humidity is too high to configuring remote RAS solutions for remote offices.  It’s not all sitting at a desk either.  There’s plenty of freedom to access a machine remotely or walk to someone’s office and fix it directly.  It’s a really nice change.  In one way its help desk department but in another way there’s so much exposure to server equipment and so much flexibility to move about that it’s completely different.

I’ve had a few very difficult challenges here though.  Accessibility to some of the systems is a real problem.  For example, VNC is used for remote access but VNC will not work with my screen reader.  Even if I could get VNC to relay the sound from the remote PC to the local computer I’d be happy enough but as it stands it gives me absolutely nothing.  It’s making my job very difficult.  Another problem I’m having is because I do so much with the servers, I need to use VNC or remote desktop.  As again I need to use Jaws, all the servers in the Oireachtas first need to be restarted.  This is an obvious problem.  There is a restart schedule but waiting for it is not exactly nice when there are things that you must therefore hand over to someone else.  I hate depending on people.  Especially when it’s so crucial to very clearly illustrate my independence and ability to do everything that this job requires.  The people I’m working with are fantastic however I still need to be on my guard.  The last problem that’s worth mentioning is when accessing servers on site.  I.e, when I’m in front of the terminal in one of the server rooms.  How do I get access to it?  There’s obviously no sound output.  They don’t need it.  Plus, windows server operating systems disable sound output by default!  Plus, if one goes down, how do I read the bios and other screens that are shown before Windows starts?  I’ll not beat around the bush.  These accessibility problems are going to be very hard to get over.  If I can’t get over them I hope my new employer isn’t going to take it badly.

Still though, although this is something that is constantly at the back of my mind, it’s not hampered me much yet.  I’m really enjoying the work and I’m constantly learning.

Speaking of learning, I installed Windows Small Business Server 2003 at home during the weekend.  It’s possibly going to replace my Linux" server running OpenSuSE 10.3.  I never thought I’d actually replace that Linux" server.  It’s still running with only using 3.4GB of disk space and the processor performance never jumps above ten per cent.  That’s very impressive considering everything its doing.  But, in saying that, the Windows server integrates everything on the network so well that it’s really hard to justify using Linux" again.  I was actually thinking of connecting the Windows and Linux" servers to make some kind of cross platform type domain system but I’ve not really found any kind of need for this yet.  Even if there’s not a need but something that could be interesting I’d still do it but there’s just nothing that comes to mind at the moment.  Any ideas?

Anyway, the installation and configuration of the Windows server basically took me 5 hours in total.  That included installing the operating system, configuring DNS and the domain, setting up exchange, configuring the pop3 connector, setting up Stunnel and OpenSSL. The server is currently acting as the networks DHCP, DNS, Domain, Mail, Web, FTP and soon, Antivirus and Proxy server. That has all been done with very limited knowledge.  I know a bit about Windows Server but after yesterday I know realise just how much I need to learn.   I really want to do more with group policies and the GPO.  Exchange is another beast I want to tackle too.  I think it has a lot of power and it would be really good to try to pull more out of it.  At least now though, with it up and running at home I have the resource there to use. 

Oh, on the Linux" front, I’ve also updated to Ubuntu 8.04.  Give it a test drive.  You’ll be really impressed! You can even install it using windows without repartitioning!  I think this is a really excellent way for new users to get started.  With the installer, you can also enable accessibility so when you boot into Ubuntu, it will come up talking right away.  I’ve had a few problems with Ubuntu’s accessibility of administration tools but I’ll do some more testing before I write about that further. 

In the next two to three weeks, I need to do a few more audio reviews and tutorials for Ubuntu and Fedora.  I just need to set the equipment up at home again.

Ah, speaking of home, that brings me nicely onto my last topic for this morning.  The house is coming on well.  I’m *Still* waiting on Emma to resize those pictures she has but I’m sure she’ll get around to it eventually. We’ve been in the house two weeks now.  The floor in the living room has now been put down and the walls have been painted.  Once I get the skirting boards sprayed and lacquered I’ll get someone to put them down so we can start moving in furniture.  Who knows, all going well that will happen some time this week.  However, my Granny is kind of unwell at the moment and was in hospital yesterday so depending on how things are going, I might not be in a position to get much done at all this week. Not that she’s that bad.  She’s got an infection as a result of an operation she had about a month ago.  It’s just that I’d say my mother will be kind of busy and she’s coordinating the preparation of the man who’ll spray the skirting boards.

The bedroom is almost done.  There’s just one more thing for me to do and I need to get around to it soon.  I need to paint the wardrobe doors.  Yes people, you heard it right.  I’ll be painting the doors.  It’s not that shocking really.  Doors are easy enough.  Just follow the grain of the wood and your grand.  Because their smaller than a wall, obviously, it’s not really possible to loose track of where you painted last.  Unless you get distracted.  I’ve restored the wardrobe by sanding it down and painting it to match the room.  It’s a built in wardrobe that hopefully will only be needed for a few years but from what I gather, now that it’s been painted and cleaned up it looks well so who knows.  Maybe it will do for a while.

The kitchen, as I said the last time is now fully tiled.  We just need to under coat it.  Emma’s sowing room has been under coated and probably needs one more coat to get it read for the colour.  I also need to get someone to fit that floor.

There’s a bit to do yet but we’re getting there. It’s just a slow process when you’re working full time and the budget isn’t a bottomless pit. 

Now, that’s all for the moment.  I need to write up a document that describes a new system that was rolled out last week and I’ve a few emails to respond back to later as well.

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Welcome to the weekend!

Friday, April 18, 2008 2:50:14 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I’m a tad worried about my dog today.  He’s been a bit slow and he yelped this morning.  I think his hips are at him again unfortunately.  On the up side though, I’ve finally taken his bole and stuff into work so at least he’s got water during the day. 

Thank god it’s the weekend.  I’m planning to spend as much time in bed as I possibly can.  I think I’ve been up early every day for the lat two months and now I’m just totally exhausted. What I’d really love to do is go to Dundalk tomorrow night, play some music, drink a few pints and then go home and sleep my brains out for ages.  But, the house is causing a drag on my finances so there’s no going out for me for a while yet.

No other plans for the weekend really, I’m standing around in Drogheda tomorrow afternoon helping to raise money for Irish guide dogs. Other than that, I’m hoping to install windows Small Business 2003 premium onto the server at home so I can mess around with it.

I’m doing lodes but just stuff that I can’t really write about.

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Differences between Windows 2003 standard and Enterprise

Thursday, March 27, 2008 10:35:17 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I'm studying Windows 2003 server tonight. During my travels, I found a site on Microsoft.com that comprehensively lists the differences between 2003 server standard and enterprise.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/evaluate/features/compare.mspx

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Windows Vista service pack 1 released.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008 9:25:31 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I installed service pack one for Windows vista tonight.  All went without any problems.  Jaws didn’t start automatically after the reboot but that’s only a minor issue.  So far, I don’t see any major differences in fact, there’s been nothing at all to justify upgrading.  It will be interesting to see if there are any performance boosts.  Doubtful but I’ll live in hope.

I’m working on two new websites at the moment. Not for myself.  One for a musician and one for a photographer.  The musician’s website is much easier.  As a musician myself, I can better understand what is needed but I’ve not really got an idea what will be expected from a photographers point of view.  I know what he’s asked for but what he wants is very simple.  Often, people ask for the simple things because they don’t know what’s possible.  It’s one of my jobs as their developer to give them ideas to get their mind thinking of different functionality the site can offer to them and their perspective customers.  It’s usually one of the easier parts to the process but when you have no real experience with the industry you’re developing for it’s difficult to get an insight.

I’ll hopefully get away from the design and usability stage and into the nice coding stuff in a few days.  I’ll have a few mock ups to post either on the blog or somewhere else for people to give me their ideas. 

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You must have an ending before a new start.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 11:45:09 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

With each new job comes a new obsession.  Well, I never really obsessed about Sybase 365 but certainly Symantec and Novell have been two major obsessions.  When I worked in Symantec a life time ago, Virus removal, firewall configuration and PC security was a real big thing!  I even took time out to test and review alternative antivirus and security applications.  The job back then was horrible Answering thirty or more customer queries, getting very little thanks, on horrible money and although I knew I could do much more, the opportunity really wasn't there to allow it.  One thing I did work on though was a knowledge base.  Written from the ground up in ASP, the application in the early days was very simple.  But, even with its simplicity, it was an incredibly useful tool.  After most calls, each engineer would either write a document or send off a canned response including a link to a document in the Symantec knowledge base. 

Each Email was like this:

Dear name,

Further to our earlier conversation, I am writing with a link to the Symantec Knowledgebase article titled (insert title here); this contains instructions to a solution that will solve your described issue.

 

The URL is:

http://this-url.com/blah.

Please do not hesitate to call our support department again if you require additional assistance.

Yours sincerely

(You’re Name)

The site I created allowed the user to either select a knowledge base article from a list or input the title and URL of an article manually.  Each user had an account so the email was personalized with their name and email address. 

It essentially meant that if an email was sent, the engineer didn't have to type any more than the customers name and email address.  Simply clicking on "Send Email, "Existing Document" and then the document title would prompt the engineer for the customer’s details and fill out the message as if it had been typed by hand by the engineer! 

I later added reporting functionality to this so management could track outbound email activity and usage.

 

So, basically, what I'm saying is I really tried to get into everything in the team and did what I could at the time to increase its efficiency.

In Sybase, 365, I actually expanded on this application so it divided engineers into teams and roles.  So, Sybase 365 would see different documents to Novell and Nikon.  Mentors or technical leads had more access to higher level features like editing documents and administering accounts.  Management had all these features as well as reporting functions that gave a detailed overview of what the application was used for.  Later, it became a real knowledge and idea sharing tool when I added a notice board and forum that was cross team enabled. 

Unfortunately though, because of a new I-T policy, the application had to be taken down.   I'd love to look at it again though because there was a hell of a lot of functionality in it. 

 

Getting back to the story though, After Symantec, I moved to Novell. Here, I implemented the knowledge base again but not on the same scale as it was used in Symantec.  My main goal in Novell was to really help to increase the knowledge of everyone on the team.  I was only still an engineer at this stage but I had been interested in Linux" for years and I was thrilled at the opportunity of actually making a living with it.  I set up new learning processes and facilities called study groups.  These were small groups of three or four people discussing cases that hadn't been solved by individuals in the team yet.  They were great for increasing the communication on the team and when new versions were released they provided a great medium for directed discussion.

After Novell though, I was promoted to the role of technical lead on the Sybase 365 team.  This contract was only starting so I was there right from the start.  I'd a lot to learn here.  My manager at the time gave me a lot of room to do a lot of the management tasks as well as the technical stuff however that was actually one of the reasons I didn't really like that team.  I learned very quickly that I didn't like management roles yet and preferred instead to concentrate on the technical side.  Still, I tried to throw my self into the tasks at hand.  The team operated twenty four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year.  That meant that a lot of out of hours work needed to be done.  At times I worked from 11PM to 8AM, other times I had a Blackberry with me to take escalations and other times I just looked in on occasion to make sure everything was going ok.  I wasn't particularly interested in the technology however I did take an interest in the team and the success of the contract.

After working with Sybase for over two years, I got transferred to the Novell team in the same technical lead capacity. 

You more or less know what I've been doing in Novell.  I've reintroduced the study group sessions, I've set up my own server at home running OpenSuSE 10.3 and I've tried to participate as much as time allows in the OpenSuSE communities.

For that reason, now that I'm likely moving to a new job, I am going to start to dive into different technology again.  This time, I'm learning about Windows server and server environments from a Microsoft angle.  It shouldn't be difficult.  I've learned a lot from OpenSuSE and the way Linux" does things so considering a lot of what Windows does is point and click, I don't see it being a huge problem.  I installed Windows 2003 before at home but I found that for what I wanted to do, one server PC just wasn't enough. 

ON my Linux" Server, I run a mail, web, ftp, imap, pop3, Ssh and SMTP server.  It takes about 3.5 GB of space after collecting a huge amount of mail for over three months.  Windows 2003 server requires about that much just for the base installation.  If I was to set up a server for mail, web, FTP and remote access I'd probably need more than one machine!

So, I'm off to research.  First thing I'd like to do is find an Irish user group for Windows 2003.  Something like the community at http://www.linux.ie/  would be very nice.  For a newbie, bouncing questions to a group of people is often the best way to learn.

We'll see how the cards fall in the next few weeks.  For now, to start the ball rolling, I'm setting up a new tag called Windows.  Everything I'm doing on the windows side of things will go in here.  So, enjoy.  Or don't.  If the windows side of things doesn't interest you at all, I'll see you soon.  I'll not leave Linux" behind.  I'll keep my Linux" server up and running and I'll stay involved with the gnome accessibility community but I'll probably not do much with the OpenSuSE side of things.  It just takes up too much time. 

 

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