Graphics Day

I spent part of this week in the Graphics Department here learning about what each person there does, and how they use their computers, and what we can possibly do in IT to make their jobs easier or more efficient at least.

MS Office for the Mac
We really need to purchase this. The guys in graphics get files often from clients and CS Reps that are either word, or Powerpoint documents, and each time they do, they go over to the PCs and try to figure out how they will get them on the Macs. This seems silly to me, so I plan to ask for a copy for at least two of the guys there.

Pitstop
Some of the guys in the department use Pitstop, but some can't because there are not enough licenses. Again, this is silly . . . they should all have it or none should use it. I have some digging to do there, and the manager says he has a plan?

Memory
The main designer has an older Mac now than some of them, and he appears to need a bit more for the intense graphics programs he uses.

Files and Their Usage
A couple of things here that I am still considering . . . but they have a consistency problem, a storage problem, and a process problem. First, they have one guy who is creating a job with a standard set of folders and names, and another two that aren't following this system. I would like to encourage them to standardize this all. Second, the guy who has a standard way of doing things, is copying all of the fonts that he uses in a job into the job folder, which is somewhat wasteful of resources, as we already have all the fonts in our fonts folder. We are then taking up extra room on the server, and in many cases the fonts can't be used this way and get corrupt as well. Finally, we seem to copy all of our graphics files in several locations, which again, seems to leave much room for error and also wastes our limited resources. CS Reps put the graphics file in CRPublic. Graphics Guys open and create a set of Job files on the Graphics Server. When they are finished they put a copy of the files in the PDF to Email folder (in CR Public folder). I need to think on this some more . . . but this seems wasteful to me.

Viewing the GPO Settings on a Windows 2003 Server and Fun with Manager

Windows Server 2003 Fun

I had some strange settings showing up today, and needed to view the applied GPO settings for one of my member Windows Server 2003 computers. I will look into other ways to view this, but one quick and dirty was is the following:

• Go to Start --> Help and Support --> Tools --> System Information
• View the Advanced System information
• View the Group Policy Settings, Applied

Fun with Manger

Every now and again one of our users calls us to say that her orders are coming in from Manger. I am told this is either one of two things:

1. If she can ping the servers internal address, the vendor needs to be contacted
2. If she can't ping the internal server address, she should be given a new ip address and walked through running an ipconfig /release /renew

Opening Office 2007 Packages

Embarassing, yet true

This is the second time I have nearly cut my fingers off trying to get into the new Microsoft Office 2007 packaging. So, as embarassing as it is, I am making a quick note here of the process.

1. Remove the red and clear label on the side of the fancy clear case.
2. Remove (or at least break the seal) of the completely clear circular label at the top.
3. Pull the red tab sticking out of the case on the top.

I know, I know, it really doesn't sound that complicated, and yet, there are several of us here who couldn't figure that out for the longest time. . .so I have to ask. . is it really necessary to do that? To make it sooooo hard to get into? I mean, come on!

Access 2007 Issues With Spec Sheets

Two fixes for Today

We have recently installed Office 2007 on new computers we are ordering, and our Spec Sheet that all of our cutomer reps use would not open. It turns out that there are two fixes that must be applied.

First, we have to set Access to not show the "Action Queries"

• Click on the Office 2007 symbol on the top left
• Click on the "Access Options" button at the bottom right
• Go to the Advanced Tab
• Look Under the Editing and Confirm options
• Uncheck the third box down, "Action queries"

Second, we also need to change the Trust Center Settings

• Click on the Office 2007 symbol on the top left
• Click on the "Access Options" button at the bottom right
• Go to the Trust Center Tab
• Click on the link to go to the Trust Center Settings on the right
• Click on the Trusted Locations option
• Put a check in the box to "Allow trusted locations on my network"
• Add the location (server) of the Spec Sheet

Intenet Explorer 7 Hack and Interesting Website

FTP hack for IE 7

I needed for some of my users to be able to open FTP sites up by default in Windows Explorer rather than as a website. I am sure this is much less secure, but since when do we really care much about security around here.

It takes a registry hack:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_INTERNET_SHELL_FOLDERS

Name: iexplore.exe
Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 0x0 (default) or 0x1

Restart PC and it takes FTP sites right to Explorer


Intesting Website

I ran across a website that I really want to work through today as I was reading some email. I want to remember this one, and use it, and perhaps even suggest it to others. I don't know much about it yet, and the name, Hacker High School, is perhaps not quite right.

I am a FLYbaby

What the heck is a FLYbaby?
Ok, I will finally admit it outloud. . I am not organized, and organization does not come to me naturally. Not only I am not natively organized, I have almost no routines and usually avoid them at all cost. So, it comes as no suprise to most that I don't exactly have a perfectly clean home that my family can't wait to get home to. I was not taught how to clean by habit and routine, and therefore, when company is coming, it is usually a several day ordeal that contains much hollering and lots of stress.

Last week, I realized that not only was my house disorganized and not clean, but my house really was only a reflection of the chaos I had accepted in all areas of my life. I was also at a loss as to how I was going to encourage my ds (dear son) to care about school and get himself together. So I did what I always do when I am in a crisis and need advice, I used google.

The first sites I happened across were reform schools and places for troubled teens. Knowing that things were bad, but not quite that bad yet, I kept going. I somehow ended up on a funny little page with a woman in purple wings and blue hair at www.flylady.net. I won't bore you with all the details, but I highly recommmend this site for any woman who may be a perfectionist, works at home or outside somewhere, and is feeling like perhaps things in your life are out of control and you can't organize yourself.

Once I decided to become a FLYbaby, the only natural next step was to organize the second most important thing in my family's life (the house being the first), dinner! I have only begun to use some of the tools posted on the Saving Dinner site.

I can't tell you what to do, and I am sure this system is not for everyone, but I think it is no coincidence that I had my first really good idea for a story today. . .one week into the new lifestyle!

Backup Exec, Mac Troubles, and Exchange Size Limit

Backup Exec
I have spent a couple of pretty darn frustrating days trying to figure out what in the world happened to one of my servers to make my backups stop working. I am using Backup Exec 9 with an internal tape drive on one server to backup files on another server. Suddenly, and without warning, my backups started failing. I tried everything I could think of, including Symantec's advice of redoing the login admin account. Nothing. So what had changed? Well, I had installed IIS to beging testing VMWare on that box, so ok, I figured uninstalling IIS couldn't hurt. Reboot. . .Nothing. I tried every iteration of backup, incrementals, differentials, copies. . .Nothing. Noticed VMWare had added some network adapters, so I figured what the heck, may as well disable them while I am thinking of it and at that moment happened to realize that the windows firewall was turned on for my main nic. . .odd. . .I don't remember that being on. I decided to look at my other nics on my other servers, and sure enough, it wasn't turned on anywhere else. Of course. . .rebooted. . wallah. . backups working!! ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!

Macs too
In addition to backup fun, I have been helping one of the graphics guys get his new Mac Pro up and running. I don't think that there is too much I want or need to say about that. We also did some Webway work/tweeking while we were at it, and I do want to note that we had some minor issues with viewing proofs that seem to have something to do with login accounts and permissions. ALSO TO NOTE: As the admin down south suggested, I have removed the oldes mac from the network and will now monitor the switch in the Graphics room.

Exchange Note
I did notice yesterday, while I was checking all the server logs to see what had changed, that we were getting a warning on the Exchange Server that we were running into out 18 GB size limit for our DB. A quick note the admin down south confirmed that this needed to be fixed. He said he changed a registry setting to give us 70 GB and that the MS limit was actually 75 GB, so we had some wiggle room if we do get close to the edge. Another registry fix would allow us to continue working long enough to have folks delete much and be operational once again.

Confirmation and Perfmon

Blogging Confirmed
I needed to use this blog today to go back and look at what I had written back in February about moving icons around on the Blackberry, so I learned a valuable lesson today; keep on blogging!

I enjoy blogging, and know that in order to remember some of the tips and tricks I am picking up I need to have a central repository of information, hence Computer Pooh. However, it is not every day that I get confirmation that an idea of mine is a good one, yet here I am blogging about one.

Perfmon
I am continuing to study for my first MCSE test. As a matter of fact, I really want to take the first one here in September, yet I am not sure I am ready.

I have been looking at the performance monitor this week, and wanted to quickly blog here the items that are best to monitor so I can log in an see this from the web.

• Networking: Network Interface- bytes sent/sec and bytes total/sec; Server - bytes rec'd/sec and it should be no more than 50% of bandwidth; TaskManager - Network Utilization should be 30% or lower
• Disks: Physical Disks - %disk time should be less than 50%; Physical Disks - Current disk queue length should be between 0 - 2%
• Memory: Memory - pages/sec should be 0 - 20%; Memory - Available bytes should be 5% + of RAM; Memory - Committed bytes should be less than RAM; Memory - Pooled Non-paged bytes should be steady; Memory - Page faults/sec should be below 5
• Processor: Processor - % Processor Time should be less than 85%; System - Process queue length should be less than 10%; Server Work Queues - Queue length should be less than 4%; Processor - interrupts/sec should be steady to low

Learning Hardware Arrays

RAID 5 Please

In order to repartition an older server that only had a 3GB boot partition, we had to break our RAID 5 array. We demoted it to a RAID 0 and deleted and re-created some partitions, and in the end, had to re-install the OS. Once we did this, we wanted to to re-create the RAID 5 partition, but the software that talks to the controller would not go back to RAID 5 as an option.

In the end, on our ProLiant ML350 Server we had to delete the array and reboot to return to the factory default, which was RAID 5.

I am still try to decipher what I learned from this experience. . .I am not convinced I learned anything at all. Well, I guess I learned that I really know nothing about hardware arrays. I am studying for the 70-290 Windows Server 2003 exam and read about software arrays, and that makes perfect sense to me, but this hardware array stuff is much more difficult.

A Switch in the Certification Plan and Circular Logging

Not CCNA but MCSE

A month ago, I had been planning to pursue my CCNA. However, after talking it over with the boss, he "highly recommended" reconsidering and instead begin work on my MCSA or E. Since I am counting on work to foot the bill, at least in part, I decided the boss must be right, and since both are on my longer list of goals, I decided to follow his advice.

Well, the day after I began studying for the 70-290 test (ins and outs of Win2003 Server) I needed to replace a failing SCSI drive in one one of our 2000 Server PCs. And wouldn't you know, I did indeed use what I had just been studying. . .dynamic disk management.

I have to say that most of what I am learning is directly applicable to my job, and is much easier for me to get my head around than a lot of the networking details I was trying to master while studying the CCNA material.

I have high hopes that someday in the future, in the long away future I am afraid, I will have both my CCNA and MCSE, but for now, I am studying hard to take the 70-290 test in the early fall.


Circular Logging

For some reason, the guy I work with thinks that we have to have circular logging enabled on our Exchange 2003 Server. Yet, he can't quite get his head around why our backups keep failing since he enabled it.

From postings all over the web, and from my trusty Exchange Bible (Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 24Seven by Jim McBee) I see that our problems most likely stem from circular logging being enabled on our server.

So, today I turned it off and am anxious to see if my mailbox backups again run tonight without trouble. Shoot, it is lunchtime, I guess I am off to try that backup.

Google Tips, FSMO Roles, Vista command line, and Server Config Tips

Google Tip for Sys Admins
There was an article published 07/07/07 at the Internet Storm Center that gave a couple of "defensive googling" tips to search for compromised sites on your network.

site:myorg.org porn and
site:myorg.org cialis buy


FSMO Roles
It all started with a check of one of my favorite blogs, Daily Cup of Tech. I was checking it for the first time in a couple of weeks, as things have been busy here, and realized that the author is in the middle of a really good series. It seems he had some server trouble recently and has been kind enough to document some fo the lessons learned there. Lesson #3 is really about riding AD of a failed DC, and while beginning that reading, he mentioned FSMO roles, which believe it or not I have never heard of. So, not wanting to waste a perfectly good opportunity to learn more, I jumped to this very informative site on wikipedia. Flexible single master operation roles (there are 5, 3 Domain-wide roles and 2 Forest-wide roles) or Fiz-mo roles are basically specialized domain controller tasks.


VISTA Command Line
I wanted to flush my local dns cache today, and realized that I would need elevated status in VISTA in order to do this. As it was the first time I needed to do this via the command line, I had to do a quick search to come up with the correct command, so here it is for next time:

runas /u:Administrator "ipconfig /flushdns"
the command to display the cache, by the way, follows here: ipconfig /displaydns


Server Configuration Tips
I am still on the Daily Cup of Tech blog site reading about his server failures and have come across another tip that I very much appreciate and want to remember. He says:

"I generally build my domain controllers with five drives. Two in a mirrored configuration for the OS and three in a RAID 5 configuration for the data. The nice thing about this is that the OS and data are separated. I have experienced three systems now where the OS container on the RAID system corrupted and left all of the data completely in tact. Had I not configured these systems this way, I believe that I would have lost some or all of my data."

AD Replication and Career Advice

AD Replication
I read a fantastic article in Windows IT Pro today and don't want to forget where I read it and what I need to do. . so here goes. Sean Deuby wrote a really great article on troubleshooting ad replication, and what made it so great was that even a newbe admin like me understood most of what he had to say. Here are the steps I need to take to make sure AD is replicating here at our location:

1. Check the OS on the server (DC server that is)
2. Check the health of the directory service.
3. Check the communication between other DCs
4. Verify protocol of direcotry services and determine whether the DCs are authenticating correctly.

For all the details, check out "Troubleshoot AD Replication: Magic wand no required" in the June, 2007 edition of Windows IT Pro.

Career Advice Worth Noting

In that same edition of WITP, there was another really good article, this time one on getting ahead in the career game. Ben Smith breaks career advancement into 5 easy steps, some I am doing and others are goals. Really good take-aways for me are:

1. Find mentors and have them make suggestions on goals
2. Go after jobs to develop needed skill sets, like budgeting and management
3. Track and Qualify Achievements; Make list of accomplishments

List of Things to Do

Programming Language
I think that it is because I have been so unsuccessful at it so far, but for some reason, a couple of times a year, I get the bug to learn a programming language. So, here I am today, scouring the internet, looking for an easy way to learn. I think this time I will include my teenagers, as perhaps they can keep me motivated at this task which I continually put off. Couple of sites I like today are:
http://nostarch.com/frameset.php?startat=wcj_rev for books to read
http://www.mindview.net/ great reference tool

Packet Analysis
I also realize every now and again how little I know, and how much I need to learn about packet analysis. I have installed Wireshark on PCs I use, but am promply intimidated after one packet capture by the information there. I found a book (Practical Packet Analysis by Chris Sanders)today online that I would really like to buy, but I have promised myself that I will not purchase anymore books until I have finished some of the ones I already own and never have read. But in case I forget all about this book, this post.

Monday Musings

Family Time
I have to find a way to cut out more time for my family. I leave the house around 6:30 am or 7 am and don't get home until 6 pm. After a long day at work, I find I have to spend at least 30 minutes running/working out and then have to cook dinner. If I am lucky, I can sit down to enjoy a book, take a motorcycle ride, or hang out with hubby and the kids around 8 pm, leaving only 2 hours of fun time! This can't be right. . .can it?!

Back to Networking
I am headed back to the books today. I got away from them last week as I had so much to do here, but it seems this week will be a good time to catch up on my CCNA studying. I also still have that pesky switch that will no longer let me log in.

Salesforce.com
It seems I need to download and install this, as our sales folks have decided they can't live without it. I am hesitant, but hey, one more thing to add to the resume is always fun.

Reflections

The more I read other peoples blogs, I realize that even the very good technical ones occasionally get a bit. . .off target. People like to muse sometimes, so I am going to also.

When I got this new gig, I thought it was the perfect move for the direction I had decided I was heading in. . and it is. But I also thought that all workplaces were mostly the same. . .and they are not. I have really only worked for 4 companies is my short little 11 year career, and they have been the small business flavor, or the big educational institution. Both have their advantages and disadvantages I am finding. . but I think I prefer the educational institutions. Generally speaking, people are more friendly, honest, and believe it or not, hard working. I also realize that the benefits one receives from a college or university can't be matched in the small business world. Additionally, as an IT person, I LOVED the free flow of money that goes on in College IT departments, I really like being able to test new toys and products.

Furthermore, as I sit here and feel sorry for myself and prowl the internet for job openings at nearby colleges, I am thankful for having those jobs in the past. While my kids were little and growing, I averaged 4 weeks of vacation a year, which is nothing to sneeze at I now realize. I would give much to be in that position again, but until I can be, I will concentrate on being thankful for the years of great benefits in the past, and will rest secure in the knowledge that I will unashamedly look for those benefits in my next position. After all, I love my work, why not enjoy it even more?

How Hard Drives Work

As I continue my search for the backup/data storage solution for my company, I find myself going back and reading again how hard drives work, and new developments in hard drive technologies. I am still reading the Holy Grail book and since this is where the book goes, I am going there also. It never hurts to re-read what you thought you knew.

I found a pretty decent website for information on how hard drives work that I want to note at this time.

Wireless Specs

I have been out of the wireless "loop" for about 2 years now, as I have not really had to deal with routers or cards much. At home, DH has setup our network, so short of finding the connection, I haven't played much at all.

I had one of my customers ask today about 802.11n and had to sheepishly admit that I had not even heard of it. 802.11g was new the last time I was trying to connect wireless cards. He needed to know if he paid the extra $30 for an 802.11n card if it would work in his 802.11g router. I assumed it would, but did double-check for piece of mind and of course it does.

There was a very good article posted on the Wireless & Mobile page in NetworkWorld that helped me understand the new specification. Looking around their site a bit, I see that 802.11n has been in the news for a bit now. I guess I need to add Network World as one of those sites I check first thing in the morning for IT news and information.

Storage Learning Fun

I have to delve into the world of storage now, and I have to say that it is all VERY confusing. I have a book, The Holy Grail of Data Storage Management, by Jon William Toigo that seems to cover most of what I am looking for, but I need to find the time to actually read the book!

We have about 300GB of data that we need to backup, but we also need to be able to restore that data quickly, and also keep some snapshots.

A consultant we have been working with has recommended an external Apple XServe array, but I have to say that I am VERY hesitant to go down that lonely Apple road. Everyone I know has Windows based systems, and God knows I often need to call those I know for help/advice when I get stuck here. Bottom line is that in the business world. . Apple still has a long way to go.

Today, I worked on the switch

I hardly know which of my issues to attack. . they all seem so darned overwhelming. How is one to learn all of this anyway? I keep reading and circling and reading. . .neverending circle this is.

Anywho, I enabled Spanning Tree on the Graphics switch today, as it had lots of collision errors. I need to watch it for a couple of days and then see how things are going, but no one is crying that it brought down the network or anything so that is good I guess.

I turned this on, because the manufactuers book of instructions lists it as the first thing to try if the network runs slow, processes fail or users can't access servers or devices. Sounds like us eh? So why not? No new immediate errors yet, so will keep watching it and see what happens and try to run a test to see if files transfer any quicker with this feature engaged.

Issues I need to resolve

I need to post for a while about some issues I am having on the network and the steps that I take to try and figure them out/solve them.

DNS Issues
To tell the truth, I am not sure I am having DNS issues, but something smells odd. Here is what I see that worries me:
1. Can no longer get to the DNS mmc on my server (this may be a permissions issue)
2. A tracert on my PC to anything offnetwork fails EVERYTIME (have tested another PC here on same subnet and see the same behavior)
3. NSLOOKUP returns a non-authoritative answer everytime and doesn't find internal addresses ever

Switch Issues
Suddenly this week, I can't access my main switch. I have tried the web interface and telnet. I used this a couple of months ago to update the software, but now I can't get into it for anything. It seems to be working normally.

What is THIS?
I have an unknown device, which I have to assume is our second router on our network, that no one knows anything about. We had a consultant come and he wanted to know what this was, I couldn't tell him. What I do know is that traffic that travels from our 10/1000 subnet to our 10/100 subnet is SLLLOOOOWWW