Lonely Tech

The Return of the Lonely Tech

2009-01-22T20:50:00.004-05:00

Things once again got crazy. Everytime that happens, I drop this blog faster than Asus adds Eee-branded products. But normalization has returned and so I'm picking up the blog again. ("Normalization has returned..."? Where did that come from?

Since I last posted,

the Chrome browser folks have released pre-beta v2. Didn't "pre-beta" used to be called "alpha"? At least it's not a "pre-community technology release" or whatever Microsoft calls it.
Spiceworks moved to v3.5. They now claim to support 500 devices which is enough for me. I'm seriously considering giving them another shot for my network management. I only dropped them because they couldn't handle all my devices. They are dead-easy to install, include a help desk, look slicker than an Apple UI, and provide access to a pretty good forum of small-business tech pros. I need to verify that they include a syslog server to centralize logs. If they do that, I'll probably switch from Zenoss.
Speaking of Zenoss, they're up to v2.3. I really like Zenoss. They have both free and Enterprise (read, $$) versions and scale well if you have lots of devices. The interface is nice, but not as slick as Spiceworks'. They lose some points for not being as easy to install or maintain. In fact, the main reason I'm thinking of switching to Spiceworks is because I totally destroyed my Zenoss install while trying to upgrade to 2.3. I'm not blaming Zenoss entirely, but I am saying that Spiceworks is easier to install and upgrade.
In sad news, Sandy passed on. This was one of the coolest products available. Somebody seriously needs to take that concept and run with it.

For those wondering about the ITIL project... It's alive, sorta. GLPI/OCS NG is working pretty well as a helpdesk/change management system. We seem to have hit a bit of a doldrum, though. I thought that ITIL would lead to more communication but that is just not happening. I'll have to find a way to kick that into gear. Any suggestions would be welcome.
So there is the big catchup post. I'll try to get a post comparing Zenoss and Spiceworks here soon.

Chrome is now available

2008-09-02T13:56:00.001-05:00

They kinda missed the 11am PDT goal, but Google Chrome is now available.

Google Chrome

2008-09-02T07:02:00.001-05:00

I cannot wait for 11am. That's when the new Google Chrome browser will be released. (I just had a scary thought. They might mean 11am PST!)

This browser looks like the answer to many problems. It will run each tab in it's own process which should conserve memory (not on startup, but over time), increase stability, improve security and allow some cool features.

But you don't have to listen to me while you sweat out the interminable wait for the download to go live. Go read this. It's informative, entertaining and has pictures!

Sandy Groks My World

2008-08-26T20:53:00.005-05:00

The two biggest helps early on this school year have been GLPI and Sandy. GLPI, I have discussed. It has proven popular with the staff already and is keeping me way more organized with trouble tickets than I have ever been before. For those who missed my previous post, GLPI is an open source CMDB and help desk application. The staff enters trouble tickets (I call them "requests") and I am able to priorize and work them.

This has been much better than the old "write it on scrap paper which I stuff in my pocket and then lose or run through the washer or (occasionally) actually work" system I used to use. Still, there are times when I am not at a computer and need to remember to do something. This is where Sandy has been a big help.

Sandy behaves as a virtual, electronic personal assistant. Email Sandy a list of things to remember and she reminds you about them by email, SMS, or Tweet. Tag each reminder with @todo and they are added to a Todo list. I've been pulling items from GLPI and entering them into Sandy then printing off a daily agenda of things to do. As I roam the halls working on tasks, I write in additional tasks as I learn of them. Then I sync up at the end of the day, completing tickets in GLPI and tasks in Sandy while adding tickets and tasks to both systems.

Of course it's still early in the year, but I'm feeling a little more in control of things with this system.

BONUS - If you set up a Jott account (Although I use the free account and it is enough for me, there are now accounts you can pay for if you need extra features), you can call Sandy and add things to your todo list. Just make sure to say "tag with todo" at the end of your message.

Wyse Streaming Manager

2008-08-25T12:15:00.001-05:00

Oops. This is a common pattern for me:

Install new technology.
Use new technology.
Realize there were better ways to install said new technology.
Rip new technology out and install it again.

If it is new, I don't think I have installed it less than twice. Sometimes I do it several times. Minus several points for productivity, but I usually gain in knowledge of how the product works and (especially) how it is installed.

So I set up Wyse Streaming Manager last year and wasn't real happy with how I set up the base image. This summer, I deleted the old base image and recreated it. I used Windows XP Pro both times but the new image has the shiny new SP3 installed.

Whoops! WSM doesn't recognize SP3 and so will not allow my streaming apps to work. So now I'm in the middle of base image creation #3, carefully avoiding SP3.

*sigh*

Spiceworks 3.1

2008-08-22T14:53:00.001-05:00

Momma probably told you to never install .0 releases. Spiceworks gives us additional proof.

It seems that the 3.0 release had issues with hangs, duplicate items, and resetting custom attributes. Those are all fixed now in 3.1 so get out there and update, you Spiceworkers.

Negative Pings

2008-08-22T14:49:00.001-05:00

I had a computer today that was having intermittent network issues. I tried a ping as a normal troubleshooting step and was surprised to receive negative ping times.

At first I was excited about the time travel possibilities but soon realized that there must be a glitch in the Windows XP machine I was working on. That's when I found several sites in Google discussing the problem. It seems that AMD dual core processors have an issue with timing between the cores.

There is a patch available, so I guess my time travel fantasies are still unfulfilled.

Lesson Learned

2008-08-21T22:12:00.003-05:00

When you are a tech, you need to think things through completely before acting. When you are the only tech in the organization, you need to spend a little extra time thinking things through. After all, no one is going to have your back so you have to double-check yourself.

Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 sounds really nice. I read up on RemoteApps, TS Gateway, Web Access, and even EasyPrint (we use network printers not local, so EasyPrint would be of marginal use for us.) I checked into Active Directory integration. I read about the changes to the Session Broker. I was even aware of the changes in RDP.

Ah, the RDP client. We mainly use Neoware C50s from about three years ago. We're adding HP t5135s now (since HP bought Neoware), but the majority of our thin clients are the old Neowares. These clients run a modified version of Linux with an old version of rdesktop.

The problem? rdesktop is not compatible with the new RDP used in Terminal Server 2008. So for now I am back to Windows Server 2003 for my Terminal Servers. All the cool functionality will have to wait until I can replace my old thin clients.

The kicker to the whole thing is that one of the reasons I went to server-based computing in the first place in order to get longer life out of my clients. I guess you really can't fight progress.

How to Manage, pt. 2

2008-07-30T23:00:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday, I discussed the need for monitoring your network. I mentioned Spiceworks, which is a slick program but it didn't scale up enough for me (as of version 2.0). I also mentioned Zenoss which is a great open source app that I'm using to consolidate server logs and monitor server performance. Zenoss is also slick, but it didn't completely scratch my itch.

I know I need to get out of firefighting mode, but a two day introductory course into ITIL has motivated me to actually make some progress. ITIL is a collection of guidelines and best-practices to bring IT departments and business leaders closer together. Using ITIL, the tech guys should only be working on projects that have real value for the organization and the rest of the business should do a better job of letting the tech guys know what's needed. It seems that no one implements the entire ITIL approach. Everyone seems to adapt it to their own needs. A single-person technology department definitely has needs, so we ought to be able to find something useful here, right?

I'm spending this summer working on phase one of our ITIL implementation. This is where we document every piece of hardware and software we own. The theory is that you cannot improve the situation until you know exactly what you have. I thought I had a pretty good handle on what we had until we actually started documenting it. There's a lot of stuff out there that I forgot/never knew about.

All of this information goes into a Change Management Database (CMDB). While I love Zenoss for keeping an eye on my servers and Spiceworks is fine for inventorying a couple hundred PCs, I wanted something different. I found it in the open source application known as GLPI. GLPI is an abbreviation for something in French. For all I know, it is some kind of insult.

Whatever the name means, the actual application is far from insulting. GLPI allows you to keep track of every piece of equipment (including every card, stick of RAM, processor, hard drive, etc. in your PC) and software, tie them together (connecting a monitor and/or printer to a PC), assign them to locations, and assign them to people. It also allows you to store all financial information about the item with the actual item (information like: warranty, value, depreciation, support contracts, and more). Another feature I like is the ability to attach files to an item. I'm attaching PDFs of the user manuals to everything!

GLPI includes a help desk. Tickets can be entered from email or a web form. The tickets are associated with a piece of equipment or software. While looking at the ticket, you can easily bring up the item being referenced. All of the history, financial information, warranty information, and configuration specifications are at your fingertips.

The intial payoff comes from having tickets recorded in a database instead of on hastily written notes stuffed in your pockets. It also comes from having all the information about an item easily available before you begin troubleshooting. But I'm really looking forward to the future day when I can pull out reports showing the history of our computers and use them to quantify new purchases.

There are a few issues we're still working through. First, it is time consuming to get everything in the CMDB the first time. Fortunately, GLPI works with OCS NG Inventory. (OCS is also French, I think.) OCS is a small agent that uploads computer information when a user logs in. This is a huge time saver on getting information into the database. The problem comes with sorting it all out, getting the financial information in place, and verifying that everything is where it is supposed to be. Plus, certain tech items like projectors are not going to be discovered by a software agent.

A second issue I am concerned about is making sure everyone enters their requests into the system. I've taken requests as I've walked down the halls for so long, I'm afraid people will not understand why I'm forcing them to use a web form to enter their requests. I'm going to do my best to explain the reasons and hope that they see this as a win-win situation.

My biggest concern is persistence. It will be really easy to not keep up with the database or not force people to enter tickets in the help desk. The only way we will reap any rewards from this is if we keep at it.

There is a lot more to ITIL than I've covered here. I'm planning on at least one more post about it in the near future. There's also more to the implementation than I've discussed so far. Look for a post on that this weekend.

How to Manage, pt. 1

2008-07-29T22:31:00.002-05:00

See if you can relate to this:

1) Show up at work
2) Start to check email
3) Receive calls from people with login issues or computers that won't boot
4) Run around for the morning fixing issues
5) While running around, meet more people with problems
6) Fix these problems on top of the previous problems
7) Get back to desk
8) Start working on project you were working on yesterday
9) Get more calls about more problems
10) Run around fixing problems
11) Meet more people with problems
12) Get home late - meet angry spouse (and you never did finish checking email!)

This is what we technology professionals refer to as a "Bad Thing". It's what I have been trying to overcome. It just felt like it should be possible to stop fire-fighting and start managing the network in a proactive manner. I'm not there yet, but here's what I'm trying to do to improve the situation.

In the past I have recommended Spiceworks. I've tried it and it is a great product. It inventories hardware and software, includes a helpdesk, has some nice reporting features and comes for the low, low price of free. It's easy to set up, doesn't use agents for the inventory and did I mention it is free? I recommend it highly but have stopped using it.

For all it's good points, there were two problems for me. (Mind you, this is v2.0 I am discussing. I have not tried v3.0.) The bigger problem of the two is that Spiceworks was designed to max out at 200 PCs. The school I work for has about 250 computers. Things were starting to bog down. The other problem is that, despite it's $0 dollar price tag, it isn't open source.

I'm not a raving OSS fanboi, but I think public school systems need to support open source products. I'm not ditching our Microsoft Terminal Servers or XP Pro PCs. I just think that where it's possible, we should seek out open source solutions. So while I would have no problem using Spiceworks if it scaled better to our needs, I wasn't too upset to leave it behind in search of OSS products. But which ones?

My next move was to try out Zenoss. Zenoss has both commercial and OSS versions. Of course, I'm running the open source version. Where this product shines for me is in server log centralization. I never had time to check each server's logs for problems. (Kinda like email.) As a result, I generally found out about server problems when someone else noticed it. Now I am able to quickly scan all my servers for issues and deal with the big ones before anyone else notices them.

Zenoss also includes performance monitoring and uptime monitoring. It monitors printer messages too. There's also addons (called ZenPacks) to add additional functionality. It's definitely worth a look.

One word of warning about the Zenoss virtual appliance. It is a great way to try out the product, but it has a very small virtual hard drive. I ran it out of space in a couple months. In trying to resize the disk, I corrupted the whole thing. I ended up creating an Ubuntu server and installing Zenoss from the repositories. Do yourself a favor, don't plan on running a production server on the appliance.

Zenoss wasn't a complete solution for me. Maybe I could write my own ZenPack to meet all of my needs, but I'd heard about something else I wanted to try. I'm going to discuss that on Thursday along with my grand plan for ~~world domination~~ getting out of firefighting mode.

Yawn

2008-07-26T23:53:00.001-05:00

OK. It's time to shake the dust off. Things went haywire about a year ago and this blog got lost in the shuffle. This post is just to wake things up in here and prepare for great things in the future.

I'm looking forward to talking about some of the things I've been involved with. The web site I was working on a year ago is running (thanks to a lot of help from Isaac), I've dropped Spiceworks for a combination of Zenoss and GLPI/OCS, there's change in antivirus I've made which I'd like to get some feedback about, and VMware claims they'll release their hypervisor for free (which is HUGE to me). I'm looking forward to getting into these topics over the next couple weeks and then hitting some new stuff after that.

Anyone who stuck around while I disappeared - Thank you. Your patience will be rewarded. Any newcomers? Hang on, we're gonna go for a little ride...

PHP, MySQL, Wyse Streaming Manager -- Oh My!

2007-05-17T19:36:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been feeling guilty about not posting here. I've also been feeling overwhelmed in trying to learn PHP and MySQL while putting together a plan for upgrading the desktops at the school where I work. Something had to give, and I'm afraid it was the blog. The good news is that the Web site (which is where the PHP and MySQL come in) is starting to shape up and the desktop plan is coming into focus.
It's all about removing problems. Currently, people ask me to update the Web site and then (more or less) patiently wait for me to get around to updating the site. Or, more frequently, they don't bother giving me the info and so the site remains outdated. With PHP and MySQL, one of the teachers, a student, and myself have hacked together a site that minimizes the amount of work that it takes to update the site. It also sets the stage for a site that the staff can update themselves. I haven't done this much coding since my subscription to Run Magazine ran out!
On the desktop front (which has been documented here, here, here, and here), I've settled on Wyse Streaming Manager. I haven't seen the price yet, so I may back out but the technology itself is something that I really think the school needs. I'll continue expanding our Terminal Services offering, since it meets the needs for the majority of our staff and students at a lower cost but WSM will fill in the gaps where TS won't work. Specifically,

TS does not work well with legacy software designed for Win3.1/9x. If it won't run on the server (Windows 2003 in our case) then it won't run on TS. For the record, we've got a lot of legacy software that I am not about to replace all at once in order to further TS.
TS does not work well with cartoony educational games. There is a lot of video and audio that needs to be streamed and the network just can't handle that for more than a few clients. Also for the record -- we've got a lot of those cartoony educational games in the elementary school!
TS does not do multimedia well. See #2 about the streaming. We don't do a lot of that yet, but I am noticing an increase in kids wanting to use video and audio in their presentations so it is something to prepare for.

TS will work in settings where the staff member or student will be using Office apps or using the Internet. With the servers already purchased and the clients costing half the price of PCs and Wyse V00s, I think we'll continue investing in TS. Since the elementary school has different needs than the upper levels, we'll be trying WSM in their school building. I'll be sure to update as we get deeper into that project.
So, hopefully, when the summer is over, I'll have fewer problems with failing desktops (since thin clients are not prone to the physical problems PCs and laptops face) and fewer problems with the Web site (since we'll be helping the staff to help themselves).

Which should give me more time to blog!

IBM Customer Service

2007-04-25T12:23:00.000-05:00

OK, by now you've noticed that I've been preoccupied with customer service. Just because we are small IT departments doesn't mean that we can mistreat the people who depend on our services. In the past, I've complained about Google's lack of communication. Today I want to talk about a great customer service experience I had.

We have an IBM xSeries 225 that runs our Web server. It had two drives in a RAID1 array for the operating system and four drives in a RAID5 array for data. Because of it had more than enough disk space and RAM for its primary purpose, I began testing VMware Server on it.

VMware Server is a great way to test out implementations before rolling them out to the masses. Because I'm using it as a test environment with no production information, I never bothered backing up the VMware data. Occasionally I would copy the html folder to another server that is backed up. I wasn't worried about the other data as long as the Web site data was safe.

Soon, our resident Web designer began working on our new Web site in a virtual server. I never thought about the lack of back up for that virtual server. Well, I didn't think about it when one drive went defunct in our RAID5 array. "No big deal," I thought. "I'll get it replaced and everything will be fine." I had no worries about the virtual machines stored on that array.

No worries until the next day when a second drive in that array went defunct. No worries until I realized the server was two months out of warranty. No worries until the web designer called because he couldn't access the only copy of his web site! Suddenly I had a lot of worries.

IBM, unlike Google, has their tech support phone number prominently listed on their Web site. I called, expecting the worst. After a very short trip through the automated phone system and a wonderfully brief amount of time on hold, I was on with a tech. He quickly found that the server was out of warranty and told me up front that there wasn't a lot he could do for me. That should have been the end of the story, for all intents and purposes.

But this tech didn't let it go at that. After explaining in detail just what I was potentially up against, he offered to have the RAID controller logs reviewed for me so I would know for sure what was going on. He then got another tech to review the logs and called me back to give me a plan of action.

So, he wasn't supposed to help me. For all I know, his boss wouldn't want him to help me. In the end, he gave me all the information I needed to save our data and spent considerable time on the phone with me to make sure I understood what needed to happen.

I still need to replace a hard drive and put the finishing touches on my backup plan (yes, I have a plan for that server now!), but thanks to some terrific customer service from a terrific tech -- I was able to service my customer and live to tell you about it!

In the end, there are three lessons here:

Review your backup plan often. Servers usage will change over time. Just because it used to not have valuable information on it doesn't mean it still doesn't!
Have a spare hard drive on hand for your RAID array. When one goes bad, you cannot wait to get a replacement!
Go the extra mile for your users. They will appreciate it more than you know. It's good for your career and it is good for your organization.

Official Google Blog: We're expecting

2007-04-17T14:07:00.000-05:00

Official Google Blog: We're expecting

So Google makes it official -- There will be a presentation application added to Documents and Spreadsheets. I really need to step up our testing of Google Apps for Education.

Microsoft DNS Vulnerability - Exploited!

2007-04-17T07:31:00.000-05:00

If you didn't apply the registry hack on your Microsoft DNS servers yet (CERT VU#555920, Microsoft Security Bulletin #935964), now would be a good time. There is known exploit available and in use. Apparently, the Rinbot worm is now using the exploit and it's been added to Metasploit. I'd expect to see attacks pick up rather than decrease at this point.

For the blissfully unaware, the exploit uses a buffer overrun to elevate privileges. Being a DNS attack, this can allow DNS poisoning, pharming, and DOS. Since most people put the DNS server on their domain controller, an attacker who compromises your DNS server is able to compromise your Active Directory. At that point, you are looking at a very bad situation and a minimum of one very long night.

Rules for the Single Employee Tech Department (#1)

2007-04-16T20:53:00.000-05:00

At the risk of sounding pretentious; I give you Rule Number One of Dave's Rules for the Single Employee Tech Department! (Results may vary.)

Rule Number One: Quantify

The first thing to do when you find yourself as the lone tech in your organization is to find out what you are dealing with. Here now is my pretentious-sounding 4-Step Process to Quantify the Technological Assets of Your Organization.

Inventory. You must count all of the PCs, monitors, printers, servers, routers, switches, scanners, etc. More than that, you need to know their serial numbers, asset numbers, model names/numbers, manufacturers, revision numbers (if applicable), location, purchase date, purchase price and replacement cost. Then you need to know what software is running on all that hardware and how many licenses you own for each piece of software. Getting this information: pain in the neck. Having it in an easily accessible location when you need it: priceless.
Benchmark. Take performance measurements of servers and network equipment at regular intervals. It's tough to know how poorly equipment is performing if you don't know how well it should be working.
Log. Keep a pad of paper near your servers (or, if you SSH or RDP into your servers to maintain them, keep the pad near your workstation). Write down the date and time of every patch, installation, uninstallation, shutdown, and maintenance job. Then you will be able to see what you were doing at the time the weird things started appearing in the Event Logs. With everything else you have to keep track of, you need all the help you can get to remember what you've done.

Speaking of keeping track of what you've done...
Report. Start using a help desk application. Spiceworks has a nice help desk. It's free too, so it ought to fit your budget. Keep track of every task you perform in here. Again it is a pain to do, especially when you have so many other things to do but it is important to have a record of what you do all day. Remember, your time is a asset. It needs to be quantified like everything else. Print reports at regular intervals (once a month should work) and turn them in to your boss. Even if he doesn't look at them, you can always use them to your advantage. "As you've no doubt noticed from the monthly reports," you'll say, "I have brought the number of support calls down by 23% in the last three months. Surely that is good for a raise." Or, if the numbers aren't so rosy: "If you would have approved the hiring of a part-time assistant for me, the number of trouble tickets wouldn't be increasing!"

Stay tuned for part two in this special series: Simplify!

New Look for LonelyTech

2007-04-15T23:40:00.000-05:00

I'm playing with the template for LonelyTech. Let me know what you think.

Microsoft DNS Vulnerability

2007-04-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

UPDATE(2007-04-17): This vulnerability is currently being exploited in the wild.

Microsoft released a security bulletin (#935964) last night advising changes to Windows Server 2000 and Windows 2003 Servers running DNS.

It looks like they are recommending a registry hack to block an RPC exploit on DNS servers. Also, the bulletin states that they are working on a full fledged patch, so be looking forward to that.

Jott

2007-04-12T19:56:00.000-05:00

You know how I've complained that I don't remember to get back to people after completing a project? I finish what needs to be done and then I move on to the next task. I think I have a solution.

I signed myself up for an account with Jott. Jott is yet another Web2.0 beta, but one that I have no difficulty in recommending. Once you have an account, you call their toll-free number and leave a message. Jott transcribes your message and sends it in an email or text message. I only use it to send myself reminders (like remembering to call people to tell them a task is completed) but you can set up all your contacts in Jott and send messages to anyone.

This site has a nice idea that I am starting to implement. They use Jott with Gmail labels to create a todo list. It's the next best thing to having a secretary.

Try it out. It's free for now though they haven't nailed down the pricing when they get out of beta.

What to Do With Unknown Devices in Spiceworks

2007-04-12T15:40:00.000-05:00

It happens. Spiceworks does a great job of figuring out which devices on your network are printers, desktops, servers, etc. But sometimes, even Spiceworks can't tell what some devices are. Now if you set up the entire network yourself, then you probably don't need to be told what those devices are. One look at the IP address and you probably know. But if you inherited your network from the previous afraid-to-take-notes tech or if you outsource your WAN administration, then there are bound to be some devices you don't recognize.

Here's one way to get some info on those wayward devices:

Download Nmap. You should already have it. Why? Nmap can tell you a lot about what is on your network. So when rogue devices show up on your network, you can arm yourself with valuable knowledge about the device before you locate it and shut it down.
Extract Nmap. I'll use c:\nmap in this example. (Notice that I am also assuming that you are running Windows.)
Open a command prompt and change to the c:\nmap folder.
Enter nmap -v -v -O --osscan-guess x.x.x.x -oL c:\nmaplog.txt
--- Replace x.x.x.x with your IP range (i.e. 192.168.0.0-254). CIDR notation is acceptable (i.e. 192.168.0.0/16).
Hit the Enter key and wait.
When the scan is finished, you can open c:\nmaplog.txt in your text editor and view the details on each device. You should see the type of device and the OS. Along with the IP address, this is often enough information for me to figure out what kind of device I'm looking at.
Reclassify the device in Spiceworks.
Start a document noting all printers, servers, routers, switches, and such so that you can just refer to the list the next time you don't recognize a device. I recommend keeping a separate list from Spiceworks for redundancy.

Obviously, this is only one way to learn what is running on your network. What other suggestions do you have?

RyanVM Integrator

2007-04-10T12:29:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I haven't spent a lot of time or energy creating an imaging system to rapidly deploy cloned PCs. When I started here, I thought it would be a must have item. It actually hasn't been that important. The procedure so far has been to use a slipstreamed Windows XP Service Pack 2 CD to install the OS while offline then use c't Offline Updater to patch the computer with post-SP2 critical patches. Once that's done, I plug into the LAN and go to Microsoft Update to get the rest of the patches. A couple software installs (anti-virus, Microsoft Office, Adobe Reader) from the NAS with one more MS Update hit (for Office patches) and we're off and running.

I think we can improve that system though and still not need to move to an imaging solution. That's where RyanVM Integrator comes in. From the site:

"This pack is designed to bring a Windows XP CD with SP2 integrated fully up to date with all of the latest hotfixes released by Microsoft since SP2's release. It accomplishes this task via direct integration, where files on the CD are directly overwritten by the updated files."

The beauty of this system is that there is zero lag time between installing the OS and installing patches. They are installed simultaneously with the OS! This saves:

time by installing files once, rather than installing them then overwriting them with patches,
space by not needing to download patches and extract them,
headaches by providing a secure OS from the moment of installation.

TechRepublic has a nice howto article, so I won't bore you with the details of how to set the Integrator up.

The post-SP2 update pack, which includes the patches released after SP2, seems to lag behind Microsoft's patches slightly. As of today, the latest RyanVM pack (version 2.1.8) is dated 3/20/2007. That misses the .ANI fix and the patches that came out yesterday. I think that it might not hurt to run this in conjunction with c't. So, here's my new procedure:

Install the integrated Windows XP,
Run c't Offline Updater,
Plug into LAN,
Install software,
Go to Microsoft Updates for the latest Office updates.

What do you think? Do you have any improvements on that practice?

Neoware Image Manager (The Saga Continues)

2007-04-05T13:08:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the great input from you guys, I'm trying to set up some demos so I can compare Neoware Image Manager with Wyse Streaming Manager. I'm still working on Wyse, but here's what's going on with Neoware.

I called my reseller to set something up. In a three-way call with the Neoware rep, I was told point-blank that Neoware doesn't recommend using their Image Manager! According to the representative of Neoware, there wasn't a lot of effort put into this product. He called it non-intuitive and complicated. Then he spent some time talking about their VDI offering.

It sounds to me like Neoware came out with the Image Manager as a response to WSM. Now that VDI is hot, they are waiting to see what happens in the virtualization space before they spend much effort on NIM.

I may still try it out so I have something to compare WSM to, but I'm leary of this. If VDI takes off, I imagine NIM will get dropped fast.

Wyse Streaming Manager

2007-04-04T17:51:00.000-05:00

I've mentioned before that I'm no fan of Wyse. In past lives I've worked in Wyse environments and didn't find their Rapport software to be particularly intuitive and firmware upgrades without Rapport were painful experiences. Now the readers of this blog have told me that Wyse has answers to some of my problems and I find myself re-examining my biases. (Don't you just hate when that happens?)

The original problem I had when I began working in a public school system was maintaining aging PCs. (I say "aging" when I should probably say "Tell the Smithsonian I found their missing obsolete technology exhibit!") The problem was addressed by moving the district toward a server-based solution of Windows Terminal Servers and Neoware thin clients. We haven't completely moved over, but the drop in maintenance requests is already remarkable.

Unfortunately, solutions tend to bring new problems. Going into this, I knew that legacy applications and media-intensive applications would not work on terminal servers. I didn't know how many educational applications are media-intensive or how many teachers will only part with their ten-year old software when you pry it from their cold, dead hands. I run the risk of splitting our environment in two -- PCs for lower grades and thin clients for the higher grades. That's not good enough. I need to remove PCs from the equation or run myself ragged trying to keep them running.

Wyse Streaming Manager looks like the right solution here. I still haven't seen it in action, so I don't know for sure. If you believe marketing material then this is a slam dunk:

Put Wyse Streaming Manager in place,
Buy a couple hundred Wyse terminals,
Profit! (Well, if we weren't a non-profit organization...)

I'm going to contact some people and try to set something up. I'll post my observations after that. In the meantime, has anyone actually used this setup? Does it perform as advertised? What are the hidden gotchas?

DST Change Is a Bust

2007-04-04T08:06:00.000-05:00

In case you wondered if all that patching you did for the Daylight Savings Time change was worth it -- it wasn't.

P.S. Was I the only one that had systems adjust their time last Sunday (when DST would have gone into effect normally)?

DABCC

2007-04-03T21:30:00.000-05:00

Check out dabcc.com. Actually, most of you probably have. The only reason I discovered it was because I noticed a large amount of traffic coming here from there. Someone (thank you!) posted a link to my article on VDI there.

As much as I appreciate the publicity, I'm more happy that they turned me on to a great resource for server-based computing information. I'm a firm believer that server-based computing improves the ability of LonelyTechs out there to support their organization. This site collects the information, downloads, news and tips you need to make it work for you.

Now excuse me while I start adding their RSS feeds to my Bloglines page...

Microsoft Emergency Patch Released

2007-04-03T16:30:00.000-05:00

Microsoft has released an unscheduled patch to fix several critical vulnerabilities. Do not wait. Go now and patch your systems. (If you've been following this blog, then you can do it from home!)

Oh, and don't worry, apparently Patch Tuesday is still on schedule so you won't be bored next week!

More About Customer Service

2007-04-02T18:26:00.000-05:00

I suspect most tech-minded people are problem solvers. That is what interests us in technology. We find a situation that can be improved with technology and we put together a solution. Or, we find a problem with a current technological system and we repair it. We're fixers. We're problem solvers.

I don't think that the part of the brain that solves problems is the same part of the brain that likes to talk about them. When I solve a problem, I don't want to dwell on it anymore. I want to move on to the next problem. So, I frequently neglect to tell people about how the problem was resolved or even that it was resolved. That would pretty much qualify as poor customer service.

It's not that I fail to understand how important communication is to developing good relations with the people who rely on my services. (See my earlier posts about my experience receiving poor customer service if you doubt me.) I just don't want to spend any time talking about something that is completed and, to me, has begun to fade into history already.

So, has anyone out there stumbled onto the holy grail of communication with end users? I'm looking for something that nearly automatically gives the necessary information to them so that I keep them in the loop while keeping my focus on the problems.

Or, feel free to tell me to suck it up and start talking more to people if that is really the best way to handle things. Seriously, I can take it. I just think there has to be a better way.

Reversing an SSH Connection

2007-03-31T23:31:00.000-05:00

Here's a way to SSH in to your server from outside your firewall. (The main site seems to have crumbled under the weight of the Digg effect, so here's the Google cached version.)

Why I'm Losing My Excitement Over VDI

2007-03-30T15:06:00.000-05:00

I spent some time talking with reps from Neoware about their VDI offerings. I've also spent some time at the VMware VDI forums and read Brian Madden's article on it (which I posted about here). I've gone from feeling like this is the next big thing for my organization to deciding to hold out for now. I think that this technology has its place but let me tell you why I'm no longer excited about it in a school setting.

As I understand VDI (VMware's Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, for the uninitiated), you create a virtual machine for each user (I'm unclear on whether you can use one created VM and copy it each time a user logs in, which would be a cool concept in my mind). Each PC or thin client (or laptop) has a connection broker installed which finds the proper VMware host containing the user's VM. The user is then connected to their VM and the screens, keystrokes, and mouse clicks/movements are sent between the client and the host over RDP.

So, this could replace my Terminal Services setup. To do so would require me to install enough servers to contain all the virtual machines I would need (about 250) and deal with all the network traffic. I don't think that I want to manage that. Managing 250 virtual machines sounds an awful lot like managing 250 desktop PCs. (Granted, I would have them all in the same room and not spread over the entire district, but still... I don't want to manage 250 desktops!)

I do think that I could get out of the refresh cycle for PCs and laptops by switching to thin clients and a combination of VDI and Terminal Services. I could put 90% of my users on thin clients connecting to Terminal Servers. The remaining users, administrators mainly, could have virtual machines. This means I never have to buy another PC. The refresh cycle on thin clients is five years compared to three years for PCs. This puts nearly all the maintenance costs on the server end.

Top this off with the lack of clarity in Neoware's message about VDI (they really haven't thought this completely through yet) and I am happy to wait another year to see how it shakes out before committing to the concept.

Outsourcing to Survive

2007-03-29T09:56:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the extended silence there. I really thought it would take longer before I hit writer's block!

So, Google has their Apps For Your Domain suite of products and they are quietly increasing the amount of storage they allow Gmail users. Yahoo! ups the ante by allowing unlimited storage for their email users. Are we playing a fool's game trying to supplying email services to our users when there are organizations that can do it better/faster/cheaper? Are my users better served by using someone else's service?

Seriously, what does it gain my organization when I pay for, install, maintain, backup, troubleshoot, and generally administer an email server? I think my talents can be better put to use in other areas. Why not let Google or Yahoo! run my email system for me? Let them spend the money on storage/backups/scaling. I'll keep our PCs running and maybe have enough time left over to plan for the future.

What's the drawback? I'm having a hard time thinking of one...

Vista UAC

2007-03-22T07:57:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to mess with Vista yet. (I missed my shot at the second beta. :( ). One of the features I've been looking forward to is UAC (User Account Control).
I've tried using Least Privileged Account practices in XP and it is a real pain. I actually tried multiple times. The first time I gave up immediately. The second time took slightly longer to make me cry "uncle". I never made it more than a week, though.
I mention it because of this post on ZNet:

Should Apple be making fun of Vista UAC? by ZDNet's George Ou -- Windows Vista UAC (User Account Control) has an additional security feature called Secure Desktop that hardens the UAC privilege escalation prompt, but some people seem to be upset with this feature because they say it's annoying. Apple has even gone as far as making a new TV commercial out of it with "PC" being bossed [...]

UAC is the right move by Microsoft. It's at least five years too late but now that it is here we need to encourage people to use it, not spread FUD and scare them away. I'm not bashing Apple. I think they have some great products. But shame on them for this cheap marketing trick.

VDI vs. SBC vs. Traditional Desktops

2007-03-20T21:22:00.000-05:00

Thanks to John in the comments, I made the trek over to VMware's site. Their VMTN blog linked to a great Brian Madden article comparing three desktop delivery methods.

I've always enjoyed Brian's material. He's a server-based fanboy without the annoying fanboy-ness. He's pretty level-headed, articulate and he puts his research in before he posts anything. His site is must read for anyone looking to implement server-based computing (SBC).

In this article, Brian spells out the advantages and disadvantages of VDI as compared to SBC and traditional desktops. I've been around technology for awhile and I've never found a one-size-fits all approach. Whenever someone is completely positive about something without acknowledging the drawbacks, I wonder about their bias. Brian doesn't worry me. He rightly points out that there are good reasons to use VDI and there are instances where it just won't fit.

I'm looking at VDI as possibly helping me with the the younger grades (I work in a K-12 public school). Their "Reader Rabbit" type programs don't run well on Terminal Servers.

There's still some research to do, so I'm following John's advice and heading over to the VMTN VDI forums now!

VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

2007-03-16T14:38:00.000-05:00

Is anyone using VMware VDI? I'm wondering if it can help me out.
OK, you all know that being the only technician can be a pain when PCs start dropping like flies. To help alleviate that pain, I'm encouraging our organization down the path of thin clients. I love diskless, fanless thin client devices because there are no moving parts. No moving parts means less breakage.
That's great, but not every app works well in Terminal Services. I've especially had problems with graphic-intensive apps. Being a school district, there are many cartoony educational gaming apps here.
VDI seems great, pumping out full desktops to thin client devices, but how can I pump a couple hundred desktops over the WAN - half of them with high graphics games running - and not bring my network to its knees?
I've got some calls out, but if anyone here has firsthand experience, I'd love to hear about it.

ScriptLogic Desktop Authority 7.6

2007-03-16T07:23:00.000-05:00

I've been testing the latest release candidate for Desktop Authority. For me, the most important aspect of 7.6 is Vista awareness. I'm not looking to go to Vista until the next desktop refresh at the earliest, but I like that DA will be ready for me when I'm ready to jump in the pool.
For Vista, ScriptLogic has included general awareness so your profiles can be applied to Vista computers (or not, as you desire). You can also work with Vista's new firewall and UAC through DA, use IPv6 in your validation logic and get Vista-compatibility reports to help plan your rollout. Oh, remote control is now Vista-ready, too!
Besides Vista, DA now supports Office 2007 and IE7. But the new feature that has me the most stoked is VMware Virtual Desktop support. I've recently started thinking about this as an alternative to images. I'm going to think about it a lot more now that DA is getting on board. They warn that this is their initial foray into the field, so I'm not expecting too much in this release. But the fact that they are in the game this early gives me hope that they will be able to build something nice in this area.
Overall this isn't a groundbreaking release or a major change for Desktop Authority but it does set the stage for future growth and keeps pace with today's environment. That's what a point release should do, right?

Windows Server 2003 SP 2, Part 2 (So Far, So Good)

2007-03-14T21:01:00.000-05:00

I got SP2 installed, as promised. Only one weird thing in the Application Log, an Event ID 5603 complaining about RSOP Planning Mode Provider running as a Local Service. KB915148 says this is normal behavior for SP1 and XP SP2, so I'm thinking all is well in update land.

I'd stay and chat, but I've got four more servers to update!

Windows Server 2003 SP2 Released!

2007-03-14T13:09:00.000-05:00

Maybe the reason there weren't any patches from Microsoft this week is because they were gearing up to release Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2003.

I'm just downloading now. I have a server to test it on tonight. I'll let you know how it went!

Customer Service From A Techie?

2007-03-14T08:20:00.001-05:00

So, I ranted about Google's customer service once or twice and felt like I needed to learn from their mistakes in order to improve my own performance. I can think of several reasons why this is important to me, my career, and/or my employer.

Things go smoother if communications lines are open

People trust you more if they feel you are treating them in a professional manner

You can prioritize better

You learn more, know more, and are able to do more

Some of those are a bit strange sounding so let me try to expand on them:
Things Go Smoother With Communication
How many times have you worked your tail off on a project to find out that no cares anymore? Or that the desired end-result has changed? Or that it isn't as important as it once was and you could have put it on the back-burner instead of busting your hump? Communication is important. If you keep people informed, they will keep you informed.

Don't think I'm putting on my "holier-than-thou" face here. I'm just as guilty of going incommunicado as the next tech. Usually, I am in a hurry to get the next task off of my list so I skip out on telling the stakeholders what the resolution was to the last problem. Or I'm trying to finish, so I don't take time to update people on the status. But looking at it from the other side, I think that it is time to force myself to take the time to do this.

Trust

I get the feeling that some people won't let you know that there is a problem because they don't believe you will help them out with it. You know, "Oh that? It hasn't worked for six weeks. I didn't bother telling you because you wouldn't have gotten to it anyway." Maybe they're nicer about it. Maybe not. But the point is this -- they don't trust you to handle their problems.

Communicating status with them helps them to see that you are not ignoring them, that you are not incompetent, that you are not relegating them to outcast status. It lets them know that they are important, but there are higher priorities in the organization. People are remarkably understanding when given the facts. Trust them with the facts and they will trust you with their support issues.

Prioritization

This follows from the last point. If they don't trust you enough to tell you their problems, how are you going to prioritize the problems to resolve them. You may spend a whole day working on trivial problems while someone's computer is completely down. Again, open communications are vital and communication doesn't happen unless you actively participate in it.

Learn More, Know More, Do More

OK, I've discussed how people will open up to you if you take the time to communicate with them. You often are not going to learn about problems unless you are told about them by the people on the "front lines". You won't know how to manage the problems until you know they exist. Therefore, you can't do anything about the problems without open communication with everyone in the organization.

Wrap-Up

This is a posting from my experience, not from any book I've read or expert I'm trying to emulate. Truth is, I would rather quote from some book or expert but I haven't found any. Please comment below if you can recommend anything.

My view right now (subject to change as I think this through some more) is that good customer service begins with good communication between yourself and the stakeholders. This is not only good for your "customers", it's good for you!

Spiceworks v1.5 Released

2007-03-12T13:58:00.000-05:00

I've been using Spiceworks for a few months now and really like the product. Today, they released version 1.5, so it seemed like a good idea to discuss it.

As you can probably tell, I am a big fan of free (as in beer) software. Something about free seems to fit my budget very well. Spiceworks is a network management solution (among other things) that is freely available due to advertising that appears along the right side of the screen. If advertising bothers you, it shouldn't in this case. I barely even notice it there.

This is a great application for the small IT shop. It:

discovers devices on your network without installing agents,
tracks error conditions (you set the conditions),
sends emails or SMS messages if an error condition is met,
provides help desk trouble ticketing,
keeps an eye on the patch level of your computers,
reports for all of the above,
and access to community forums to discuss Spiceworks and other IT issues with your peers.

New in 1.5 are the ability to create trouble tickets from emails sent by users and the ability to have multiple people log in to view reports or work trouble tickets.

If you've been looking for a way to keep tabs on your network assets and user requests/issues but can't afford the expensive network monitoring solutions or don't have time to roll your own solution from open source, this is definitely a product you will want to look at.

Google Support, Part 2

2007-03-08T14:04:00.000-05:00

Ironically, after posting my rant about Google Technical Support, Google Tech Support emailed me to say they had switched our Standard Edition of Google Apps over to the Education Edition. Happy ending, I suppose, but it gets me thinking about customer service.

Personally, I am a computer guy and not a people person. Put me in a room with 100 computers and I am in heaven. Put me in a room with 100 people and I am in hell. Not that I hate people, I just am not the most comfortable when I am trying to make conversation.

Additionally, with everything I am expected to handle I tend to give customer service lower priority than fixing/upgrading/adding/deleting/moving/installing/etc. I'd rather get the next task accomplished than spend time telling someone what I already did.

I think that puts me at a disadvantage with customer service. People may think that my lack of communication indicates a lack of concern or a lack of professionalism. I know I was pretty convinced that Google was uninterested in my problem with them. Even now, after a successful resolution to the problem, I do not feel good about the situation.

Leave a comment and let me know how you handle customer service in your position.

c't Offline Update Project

2007-03-07T17:36:00.000-05:00

The problem with new installs of Windows is that you know that you can't hook the computer to the Internet until it has all of the security patches. You also can't get the security patches until you hook up to the Internet. In the past, I've hooked machines up and raced to Microsoft Updates, praying that the updates take before the crackers find the computer.

The Solution

c't Offline Update Project (German page, English translation) is a collection of scripts that locates Critical and Security updates from Microsoft Update and downloads them to your PC. It then creates an ISO with the scripts and patches which you can burn to create your offline patch CD.

You can now install Windows on a computer and leave the network cable unplugged. Once Windows is installed, you can insert the c't Offline Update Project CD into the computer. The script autoruns, you click START, and then you can walk away. The scripts take care of finding what patches are needed, installing the needed patches, and rebooting the computer (as many times as necessary). When it's all done, a report appears on the screen to tell you what patches were installed and any problems that may have occurred.

In my experience, this not only gives you a more secure computer to go out and get the rest of your patches but it also patches more quickly. Without having to go online, check for patches, download, install, reboot, and repeat a few times, it shaves at least 30 minutes off of my prep time (note: I haven't actually timed that, YRMV).

Google Support

2007-03-07T10:18:00.000-05:00

Has anyone ever had trouble with Google Tech support? I've never been comfortable with their "no phone call" approach but figured that, in this day and age, it wouldn't be too bad. I've had two experiences with them one worked out OK, and one still hasn't worked out at all.

First Issue

The first issue was in setting up AdSense for this blog. There was some user error involved on my part and the issue did get resolved so I am not going to make to big a deal about it. The problem is that I only got a couple of form letters from Google. I still don't think that anyone there actually knows about my problem.

Second (Bigger) Issue

More troubling is the problem I am having with Google Apps for Your Domain (Education Edition). Back in September (2006), I set up a Standard Edition account to test it out. I thought it might be useful for the public school system I work for. Too few users allowed and too little incentive to change things at the time caused me to decide against going any further with it.

Then Google announced the Google Apps for Ed and I became interested again. The problem is that I registered the school's domain for the Standard Edition. I can't sign up for the Education version!

I wrote an email to Google explaining the problem and received a reply. Well, if you can consider an FAQ of common problems a reply, I did. I replied to that email and stated that it didn't resolve anything. Two weeks later, I still hadn't received a reply so I emailed again. I still haven't received an answer from them about this.

Microsoft may be a lot of things, but I always have been able to call them on the phone for support. Maybe we need to rethink what "doing evil" actually means...

Patch Management With WSUS

2007-03-02T18:11:00.000-05:00

Q: How do you maintain the patches on your Windows PC?

A: You don't. Get Microsoft to do it for you.

Windows Server Update Service
WSUS is a free download from Microsoft that installs on a Windows 2000 or 2003 server and an Active Directory domain. If you are running Windows Server 2003, sign up for the release candidate of WSUS 3.0. It sounds like the reporting and administrative aspects have greatly improved. Unfortunately, I won't have a 2003 server to try this on until summer. I'm making do with 2.0.

Installation is easy. You'll need IIS installed on your server, then install MS SQL. For Windows 2000, you'll need MSDE Release A. For Server 2003, you'll need MS SQL 2005 (the Express version will work). Run the IIS Lockdown tool to harden your web server.

Once everything is set up, WSUS will use AD to find all the Windows computers in your domain. It then checks each computer for Microsoft patches. It lists all installed and missing patches for each computer. It also lists patches that failed to install. All patches can be allowed or denied by you, so you can block patches until you have had a chance to evaluate them.

I tried using ScriptLogic's DesktopAuthority patch management option. The big problem there was that patches could not be scheduled to occur overnight. Patching only occurred when the people were logging in or when they were logging out. This is a big problem in a school environment where students are logging in and out all day long. Some of the patches took so long to install, the class was over before anyone was able to use the computer. The best feature (IMHO) of WSUS is the scheduling of updates. I can have the computers patch overnight and the computers are ready to go when classes start in the morning.

So, there's another free offering that you really need to take advantage of in order to keep control of security in your organization. Hopefully, I'll be able to do a write-up on version 3.0 this summer.

LogMeIn

2007-02-28T18:13:00.000-05:00

Wow.

When I was looking up the links to do my last entry, I got to looking at the LogMeIn website a little closer. I found that they had a free version of their remote control program. As you recall, I was a little disappointed in GenControl because of its slow refresh. I was hoping that the LogMeIn product would be an improvement in that area.

Before I headed home for the day, I signed up on the LogMeIn website and ran a quick installation on my work computer (XP Pro, in case you wondered). My first opportunity at home found me on my laptop to see if the remote desktop experience was any better with LogMeIn. Let me tell you, I am not going back to GenControl!

Accessing my work computer from home was as simple as logging in to the LogMeIn site and choosing my work computer from the list of computers available to me (if you can call a single computer a list). LogMeIn recognized that I was using Firefox and recommended an extension to install. That one time install took all of 30 seconds (tops) and then I was accessing my work computer.

First, the refresh is many times faster than GenControl over Hamachi. You don't need the Hamachi client so you don't get that overhead. Also, you're not using VNC so there is improvement there. (VNC has never seemed particularly quick to me.)

After being pleasantly surprised by the speed, I was blown away by the features. I have a dual-monitor configuration at work. With GenControl, I could only see my primary monitor. That's easy enough to work around, but LogMeIn allows me to pan so that I can see both monitors. I can also use Y'z Dock and Dexpot remotely, neither of which worked with GenControl. LogMeIn allows me to set whether I want the remote computer to lock automatically when I disconnect, whether I want the remote screen to blank while I am connected and whether I want the remote keyboard and mouse to lock while I'm connected. I was also able to magnify the screen or shrink it.

Like with their Hamachi product, LogMeIn sells versions of their remote control software. I assume that you get more features than the Free version offers but I haven't looked into those yet. Right now, Free fits my budget and does exactly the job I need. Thank you LogMeIn.

Hamachi & GenControl - Work From Home!

2007-02-28T13:25:00.000-05:00

I really don't want this to turn into solely a review blog. That said... Here's one more review for y'all!

Where I work, they have outsourced the administration of the WAN. Someone else is controlling the firewall, routers, etc. that connect all our buildings. I can have them make changes for me, and wait for them to get done -- or have my requests rejected due to some policy I didn't know about. Or I can take matters into my own hands.

Hamachi
Hamachi (recently purchased by LogMeIn uses P2P technology to create a secure VPN tunnel between computers. It features:

NAT traversal

Block ciphers and chaining modes

Diffie-Hellman key exchange

Public key encryption

Message authentication codes

They are presenting it as a way to share files with friends, play LAN games over the Internet, and even IM through a secure network. I use it in conjunction with GenControl. (More on GenControl in a bit.)

Hamachi is not open source, but it is free. There is also a "Premium" version available for a cost which gives you more administrative control over your network and allows you to remove the security overhead if you cannot have any lag (i.e. gaming).

GenControl
GenControl remotely installs VNC on any computer where you have administrative access. It then removes VNC when you end the session. It's an open source offering from Gensortium. Using it with Hamachi, I can access my computer at work from home.

The problem with GenControl is that the screen refreshes are awful darn slow. Otherwise, this is a great system for patching my servers in the middle of the night without having to drive in to the office to do it!

Ncomputing

2007-02-25T18:44:00.000-05:00

What to do if your budget covers only 1/4 (or less) of the computers you need to purchase? I'm hoping the Ncomputing Xtenda X300 holds the answer.

The Situation

One of the school buildings I work with needs a computer lab. There isn't enough money to put 30 computers in the lab. I use thin clients in the other buildings with good success but this is an elementary school. These kids use Reader Rabbit styled educational games. Anything that graphics and audio intensive is not going to travel well over our WAN.
Ncomputing takes the thin client concept and applies it on a PC level.
Ncomputing takes the thin client concept and applies it on a PC level. Essentially, the PC becomes the terminal server for up to seven users. With this technology, I should be able to use our existing monitors, keyboards and mice. I may even be able to convert some of our newer computers to the Ncomputing platform.

To my way of thinking, there are three big benefits here:

Reduced power consumption from fewer PCs,

Reduced mainenance (again from fewer PCs),

Reduced costs (from purchasing fewer PCs)

What Is the Xtenda X300?
The Xtenda X300 is a PCI card, three small boxes (called access terminals) and three Cat6 STP cables. Installation of the PCI card is a snap and the included CD automatically installs all of the necessary drivers and software. The only trouble I had with installation was in picking a computer without the minimum required RAM (it needs a minimum of 512 MB with a 2.4GHz CPU if you are hosting four users.) Once I switched to a beefier PC, installation was a breeze.

With the PCI card in place, simply run the three cables to the location of the three remote users and plug them into the access terminals. Each access terminal has connections for VGA, two PS/2s and one audio jack. Plug in your monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers or headphones. Realize that there are no USB ports, so don't expect to use USB keyboards or mice with the remotes. I was told by my salesperson that they only had luck with Logitech optical mice, but I've used a range of balled and optical mice with no ill effects.

The Results
Ncomputing states in there literature that this won't work with certain applications. In my initial testing I found that Mavis Beacon Education Edition worked for only one user at a time. I had no problem with Office, IE, or other standard apps. You will want to check your apps before getting too far into this, though. Make sure you undersand your license agreements, too.

Summary (for now)
This is looking like it has real potential for our lab. I'm scheduled to set our test unit up in a classroom to get some real-world feedback on it. I'll be sure to post updates as I know more about the capabilities of this promising technology.

Google Apps

2007-02-24T14:17:00.000-05:00

The current buzz is about Google Apps Premier Edition which gives you access to Google Apps without advertising plus extra tech support. They'll even throw in APIs to tie your existing apps into the Googleverse (did I make that up just now or am I subconsciously recalling it from somewhere?), all for the low price of $50 per user per year. But I'm not seeing a great amount of discussion about Google Apps for Education, which is more intriguing to me. (My current position is as the entire IT department for a local K-12 school district.) This is a shame because it could be very interesting in a school environment.

What's in Google Apps?

Google Apps for Education includes the standard Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar and Docs & Spreadsheets. Additionally, they throw in the aforementioned APIS and tech support. To sweeten the deal, they give a start page with a WYSIWYG HTML editor to create a page for your staff and/or students to access. This is the same package as the Premier Edition. The difference between the two? For qualifying educational institutions, this will cost the grand total of FREE.

Of course, you never get something for nothing. You'll have to put up with advertising in order to take advantage of the deal. Curiously, Google will allow you to block ads in Gmail but not the rest of the apps. My question is how closely Google will be monitoring the ads. I would hate to subject young minds to inappropriate advertising. Also, with CIPA-mandated web filters in place, Google will have to be careful that the ads will actually be viewable by users in schools. Otherwise, the advertisers are getting the short end of the stick.

Pros

From the perspective of the Lonely Tech, this program (either the Premier or the Education Edition) has a few things going for it. First, you can offload your email infrastructure onto Google. Imagine no more corrupt Exchange databases, no more email server backups or patches, and no more email system upgrades. Heck, that's a pretty good selling point right there.

Our school system outsources the email server to a host. I can't fault their uptime, it's been terrific. The biggest complaint I get from users is that the Exchange OWA setup they use does not allow offline email viewing. If they allowed POP3 access, I doubt I would even look at Google Apps. Gmail does allow POP3 access, so my users can access email with Outlook or Outlook Express they are already used to. (Heck, maybe I can get them to use Thunderbird!)

Additionally, you get a barebones document management system. Docs & Spreadsheets allows for collaborative development of documents. Again, this is all offloaded onto Google, so there is no additional storage or installation of software to make this work for you.

Finally, you get Google Calendar. This is a pretty good way to share a calendar with a select few or the entire world. You can even set up a master calendar and include it on your Start Page to keep the entire organization up to speed.

Cons

Additional Reading

Your data: safe in your hands? by ZDNet's Phil Wainewright -- I can't believe people commenting on the launch of Google Apps are still recycling the tired old mantra about hosted applications being untrustworthy. It's users that can't be trusted with important data, not SaaS vendors.

The first thing that springs to mind is: What might Google do with all the information that will be stored on its servers? Could they sell information to marketers? Could sensitive information end up exposed to the web? Probably the bigger question is: How well am I protecting my organization's info? It's likely Google would do better than you at protecting it. Still, it is a legitimate concern and you had best verify compliance with whatever regulations ail you before diving in.

The next thing (and a bigger concern than privacy, IMHO) is application upgrades. Currently, if I want to teach my fellow employees the new ribbon interface for Office 2007 then I can go ahead and upgrade from Office 2003. If I don't have the time or feel that the employee's aren't inclined to learn, then I can hold off on that upgrade. With Google Apps, everyone is getting upgraded when Google decides to upgrade. I am giving up some control in this exchange.

My final concern is the pricing structure. Sure, it's $50 per user per year for Premier and free for Education now. What will it be in the future? Can anyone seriously guarantee prices won't drastically rise someday? And if I opt out at that point, I'm going to be scrambling to scrape together an email server and get an office suite installed quick!

Wrap-Up

All told, I can't overlook the price with my current budget. Google's uptime is rock-solid and while giving up control over certain aspects is a little scary it is also liberating. Google Apps could give a whole new level of interactivity between the students and teachers (and administrative staff) for no investment.

I'll be sure to post if we go through with this and give updates as to the process. In the meantime, let me know what you think of Google Apps.

Password Control

2007-02-21T20:50:00.000-05:00

20% of the problems take 80% of your time. It's an old wives' tale perhaps, but it certainly seems plausible when password resets are eating away at the time you need to complete other projects. Organizations that can afford entire IT departments often have help desk personnel to handle password resets. Wisesoft has developed Password Control to help them reset passwords without giving them too many privileges in AD or teaching them how to use the unwieldy AD Users and Computers MMC plugin.

What can this utility do for the Lonely Tech? Read on and see!
This program does exactly what it claims to do and fills a very large need.
My Situation
I work for a public school system. There are less than 1oo employees but hundreds of students with user accounts. I don't have to tell you that people forget their passwords on a daily basis. Because I am working in multiple school buildings throughout town, I am frequently unable to fix password issues at a moment's notice. This occasionally leaves students unable to access a computer in time to use it during a class period. Imagine explaining to your boss that employees or customers couldn't log in because you were "too busy". It's clearly an unacceptable situation.

Password Control
Essentially, Password Control is a simplified front end for resetting passwords in an Active Directory environment. Put some users in a security group with delegated privileges in AD, install this utility for them, and... Voila! Instant help with your password issues. Without a difficult learning curve, you can quickly enlist an army of helpers and turn your attention to more technical issues.

Preparing for Installation
The first thing you need to do is determine who is going to have the privilege of resetting passwords. In our High School, we have one person who helps. In our Intermediate School, I'm moving to give all teachers this utility. Create a group for these people in Active Directory and place them in the group.

You'll need to delegate privileges to this group in order for the users to actually reset passwords. The Wisesoft site has excellent instructions for performing this task. Make sure you read those instructions carefully as you can expose your organization to unnecessary risk by carelessly blundering through.

The purpose of creating the group and delegating rights is to avoid putting your helpers in the Account Operators group. Account Operators will give users the ability to reset passwords -- and a whole lot more. The beauty of Password Control is that it allows people to reset passwords without giving them more power than necessary.

The beauty of Password Control is that it allows people to reset passwords without giving them more power than necessary.
Installation
The install is straightforward. For the record, I have only attempted to install this on XP. I have no idea how Vista will react, let me know if you try.

I had to temporarily elevate users to local admins to get the install to take. If I installed it under my domain admin account, the program only worked for me. After installation, I bumped the user back down to Power User on the local machine. Without Power User status, the user could run the program but received errors once they were in.

The actual install is a matter of taking defaults. I love installs that do that. Click OK several times and then click Finish. To quote Mark Knopfler -- "That ain't working, that's the way you do it."

Use
Using the program is even easier than the install. Type in the user name and the program displays the user's information. This makes it easy to verify you are dealing with the right person. (We wouldn't want to reset Jane Doe's password instead of John Doe's, now would we?) Type in a new password, verify it and hit Enter. Wasn't that easy?

If you aren't sure of the user name, press F3 to search by first and/or last name. If you can't think up a suitable password on your own, press the "G" button to generate a new, random password. If you want the user to change their password on the next log in, there is a checkbox for that. There is even an option for enabling disabled accounts (or disabling enabled accounts).

If you are uncomfortable with giving so many options to your helpers, there is a configuration file where you can disable many of the options (i.e. Enabling accounts).

Conclusion
Password Control has three things going for it:

Ease of install
Ease of use
Price (free!)

Most importantly, this program does exactly what it claims to do and fills a very large need. I highly recommend this program to the Lonely Techs out there.

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Yawn