Best posts made by dave247

@dbeato said in Constant WSUS issues (Connection Errors):

@dave247 said in Constant WSUS issues (Connection Errors):

ok so now I have 2 Windows 10 computers that showed up, out of the 7 I added to the test group. They show up under All Computers but not the Workstations group which I've added them to.. not sure why

I believe the issue is with the security filtering on your GPOs, I do groups assignments by Computer OU instead.

oh.. well that's the way I had it at first and it seemed to work (kinda). I was just following Tim_G's guide on SpiceWorks

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@tim_g said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

Find out 100% first.

Only a lab can tell you that.

yeah I do have a lab that I wanted to try all this in first.. I guess I will go ahead and do that.

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dashrender said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dashrender said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

VAR

I'm currently seeking information from CDW on this..

No, you CAN'T use a VAR with Exchange Online. You will be SCREWED. There is ONE thing to know about cloud services, and it is that you never involve a VAR.

Well where the hell do I find a partner then?

I provided one NTG is a partner.

Anyone working with Office 365 that doesn't sell it is a partner.

Is there some time of list somewhere that IT pros are magically supposed to know which are VARs and which are partners?

This is one of those weird things that I never understand. Never in my life have I not just known when someone is selling me something and when someone is advising me.

ok let me try to explain it to you. If I have to buy a product to use, I have to get that product from somewhere and that usually means interfacing with another person that belongs to a company. At this point, the ability to see what's going on behind the scenes disappears. I don't know all the inner-workings of the various companies that have changed together a sales channel that turns the customer's money into the product/services they want. If I specifically ask every person I interact with, it may help, but I'm sure they will respond in a way that isn't blatantly obvious that they are one of many parasites trying to suck money out of you while you try to purchase something.

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dashrender said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dashrender said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

VAR

I'm currently seeking information from CDW on this..

No, you CAN'T use a VAR with Exchange Online. You will be SCREWED. There is ONE thing to know about cloud services, and it is that you never involve a VAR.

Well where the hell do I find a partner then?

I provided one NTG is a partner.

Anyone working with Office 365 that doesn't sell it is a partner.

Is there some time of list somewhere that IT pros are magically supposed to know which are VARs and which are partners?

This is one of those weird things that I never understand. Never in my life have I not just known when someone is selling me something and when someone is advising me.

ok let me try to explain it to you. If I have to buy a product to use, I have to get that product from somewhere and that usually means interfacing with another person that belongs to a company. At this point, the ability to see what's going on behind the scenes disappears. I don't know all the inner-workings of the various companies that have changed together a sales channel that turns the customer's money into the product/services they want. If I specifically ask every person I interact with, it may help, but I'm sure they will respond in a way that isn't blatantly obvious that they are one of many parasites trying to suck money out of you while you try to purchase something.

You have no need to know the inner-workings. You know to whom you hand your credit card. It's that simple. Are you paying Microsoft, or are you paying someone else? You want a Microsoft service, you pay Microsoft only. If you want a GoDaddy service (that MS may or may not service to them), then you pay GoDaddy.

The interface to you tells you everything that you need to know if the case of Office 365.

ok then I would go directly to Microsoft's website and purchase their O365 product, but then you are telling me not to do that because I should be working with a partner. The problem now is that I can't find a single partner or anyone who isn't selling stuff.

Except you HAVE found them. Why do you keep saying you haven't found one?

Locally and previously I mean. You guys have just provided me with some partners..

Oh okay. Then sure, but I assume that in the past no one even knew to go looking for them. So without knowing to look, you tend not to find.

yeah see I came into this job as my first IT gig, knowing nothing. I was more or less told, "here is our Dell VAR and here are a few other IT related contacts of companies we go through for things." So I have been using the contact info I was given but as I go online and ask questions (constantly), I'm learning about all the BS and pitfalls (mainly thanks to you).

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dashrender said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dashrender said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

VAR

I'm currently seeking information from CDW on this..

No, you CAN'T use a VAR with Exchange Online. You will be SCREWED. There is ONE thing to know about cloud services, and it is that you never involve a VAR.

Well where the hell do I find a partner then?

I provided one NTG is a partner.

Anyone working with Office 365 that doesn't sell it is a partner.

Is there some time of list somewhere that IT pros are magically supposed to know which are VARs and which are partners?

This is one of those weird things that I never understand. Never in my life have I not just known when someone is selling me something and when someone is advising me.

ok let me try to explain it to you. If I have to buy a product to use, I have to get that product from somewhere and that usually means interfacing with another person that belongs to a company. At this point, the ability to see what's going on behind the scenes disappears. I don't know all the inner-workings of the various companies that have changed together a sales channel that turns the customer's money into the product/services they want. If I specifically ask every person I interact with, it may help, but I'm sure they will respond in a way that isn't blatantly obvious that they are one of many parasites trying to suck money out of you while you try to purchase something.

You have no need to know the inner-workings. You know to whom you hand your credit card. It's that simple. Are you paying Microsoft, or are you paying someone else? You want a Microsoft service, you pay Microsoft only. If you want a GoDaddy service (that MS may or may not service to them), then you pay GoDaddy.

The interface to you tells you everything that you need to know if the case of Office 365.

ok then I would go directly to Microsoft's website and purchase their O365 product, but then you are telling me not to do that because I should be working with a partner. The problem now is that I can't find a single partner or anyone who isn't selling stuff.

Except you HAVE found them. Why do you keep saying you haven't found one?

Locally and previously I mean. You guys have just provided me with some partners..

Oh okay. Then sure, but I assume that in the past no one even knew to go looking for them. So without knowing to look, you tend not to find.

yeah see I came into this job as my first IT gig, knowing nothing. I was more or less told, "here is our Dell VAR and here are a few other IT related contacts of companies we go through for things." So I have been using the contact info I was given but as I go online and ask questions (constantly), I'm learning about all the BS and pitfalls (mainly thanks to you).

This one, if we back up to its generic root (rather than getting mired in the specific details of Microsoft's weird system for their hosted services) is, I truly believe, the number one thing that is most important to know and understand about IT (and business in general.) The idea of understand vendor relationships, business alignment, who is sales and who is IT, etc. It's general business knowledge and not unique to IT, but it is never taught but assumed that business people will just know, and in IT it is far more dramatic and difficult to identify and businesses often try to ignore IT needs and fail to provide more general business support to it like they would if this was accounting or human resources.

I've been realizing this more and more as I go. I need to spend some time focusing on ironing all this out somehow..

So going back to the reseller vs partner bit:

• If I go through a partner, they will help me get set up with hosted Exchange directly through MS, so I am subject only to MS?

• If I go through a re-seller, I basically get their version of that service, which means I am subject to the limitations they put on it (max mailbox size for example) and I am also subject to their pricing as well as the risk that the are responsible for paying MS to keep our Exchange active?

@travisdh1 said in Safest place to buy refurbished switches? xbyte, servermonkey, etc?:

@dave247 The key point for me is weather you can get a factory warranty with the box. If I remember correctly, ServerMonkey.com does offer them, and I know that xByte does.

Yeah, the one I got from xbyte has the limited lifetime warranty, and I was able to call Dell and get some support on the switch (I had an issue setting it up).

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@scottalanmiller said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

@dave247 said in question about setting up a new domain controller:

This is very freaking frustrating. I know I need to sit down and re-read how server licensing works so I make sure I understand it. I should also find someone who can help me with this too..

Easiest to ask in ML. But @NTG has been doing this for a long time. As has @Bundy-Associates and others in the community. Licensing is quick and easy, not something you need more than a thread for. And sometimes that turns up good info about licensing that someone knows a trick to.

ok. Thanks Scott. I appreciate the help.

The only issue I have asking for help here, it seems, is that threads often times get deviated because people immediately start questioning why things are the way they are in an environment. I don't mind that so much, and I appreciate the valuable input, but sometimes it's really frustrating when it's every little thing that's being questioned. And I'm sure that if I list my licensing needs, people will start questioning why I need this or that when I should be doing it some other way.. That being said, i will still make a post at some point here..

Well, look at it this way... it was only by questioning every little thing that made me ask why your users weren't licensed to use Windows Server. What seems like "questioning every little thing" is how IT works. You can't do IT without that. If we didn't, we'd answer what is asked rather than what is meant or what is needed.

Sometimes you really do know exactly what you need and why and the extra questions are annoying. But when that is the case, generally answering the questions is quick and simple. If you don't already know the answers, then probably you aren't confident (or shouldn't be) as to what you are asking and all the clarifications and questioning are far more valuable than the answer to the initial questions.

Yeah, I understand. I really shouldn't complain... you guys really help me out a lot. I've learned so much that I've realized that I almost don't know anything at all..

Even when an individual question ends up being something that you already knew and had right, it's likely not a wasted conversation. Seeing the things that people are thinking, considering, or worried about can be educational even if it doesn't apply to you at the time. It also teaches you, in theory, ways to present information more completely from the beginning so as to make the process more straightforward.

In many cases, the reason that so many questions get asked is because there is either information missing or, and this is always tough to deal with, something seems likely to be a mistake based on nothing more than trends, and people worry that you will make it. This last one is tough because it feels like people are implying that you've missed something when nothing you've said shows that you have; but we all know that these things get missed so often, that we can't skip over mentioning it. And the logic is, if you realized how often that mistake is made, and you knew that you had it right, you'd mention why to speed things up.

Example:

I want to deploy RAID 5 on these old cheap 8TB SATA drives on a Drobo for our production server. What block size do I use?

If you post that alone, you will get endless explanations telling you to stop now and not to continue no matter what.

But, had you started with "I'm trying to induce failures to test how drives die with UREs, so I'm doing something dangerous on purpose" or "my boss is a moron and is forcing me to do this idiotic thing, but I can't talk him out of it" it would tell us both that you understood that this was crazy or unusual; and it would tell us that you had a reason that is nuts, but real, and needs to be followed regardless of the sanity or likeliness.

lmao.. my sides

Yeah, I've learned that it's all in how you ask the question, but kinda I suck at asking questions in an effective way..

@wrx7m said in VMware vSphere Update Manager Client - Is there a version 6.5?:

@coliver How so? I did an in place upgrade on an existing VM and I am aware that they are moving solely to the appliance on the next major release. When they do, so will I. I just couldn't take the crippled version 6 client integration plugin. I got it working with Firefox ESR up until last week and then an update to FF seems to have screwed it. That was that.

Edit: I am still running ESXi 6.0 U3 on all my hosts. 1 of them is an older R710 and is not on the ESXi 6.5 hardware compatibility list.

I upgraded from vSphere 6 to 6.5 a while ago and when I did that, I stopped using vCenter on Windows and set up the appliance instead. I was nervous at first but now it's so much better. Update Manager is built in to the vCenter 6.5 appliance, so you don't have to dink around with separate client installs.

Oh and to go from vCenter 6 in Windows to vCenter 6.5 Appliance, there is no conversion. It's a fresh install. You basically shutdown your Windows server and then set up the vCenter appliance from the .ova you download from your vmware account.

Additionally, when you do plan to upgrade, make sure you check the hardware compatibility matrix to make sure your server hardware is compatible with 6.5 and only do one host at a time. I didn't have any issues except with a single port on one of my quad port nics kept flapping for some reason. Turns out I had to tell it to use an older driver version, then all was fine.

I hope some of this is relevant/helpful

@wrx7m said in VMware vSphere Update Manager Client - Is there a version 6.5?:

@dave247 - Right. Thanks. I am using that now, as opposed to the limited HTML5 version.

It does seem pretty damned slow sometimes though..

@dbeato said in Blue compression arrows on MS Office 2010 Standard icons - newly installed Windows 10 pc:

@dave247 said in Blue compression arrows on MS Office 2010 Standard icons - newly installed Windows 10 pc:

I ended up finding the "real" location of the programs and made icons from them and now the blue arrows are gone.

I was looking in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office when I should have been looking in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14

There are no shortcuts on that folder just the Executable and same for the other office versions. You just need to recreate them.

Yeah I got it fixed already..

It seems that I have continual LAN broadcast traffic spilling over to my WLAN interface (X3). It IS being dropped by SonicWall but I have about 300K critical logs per day because of this.

Environment: I have switches with basic LAN traffic and then for each switch, I have a few ports configured to connect to a SonicPoint AP. PVID of these SonicPoint ports is 2 and then I am also allowing VLAN 200 tagged traffic (for guest). These ports all trunk back to the X3 WLAN interface on my SonicWall and access between LAN (X0), WLAN(X3) and WLAN (X3:200) guest are managed with access rules. Right now, LAN and WLAN have access to each other but WLAN guest only has access to WAN.

Common sense as well as SW support says that I should only be getting these messages if there is something else plugged into the ports besides SonicPoints or if something is mis-configured. The firewall rules don't seem to be a factor at all as I have both set deny any any and allow any any to and from LAN/WLAN. I have also checked all the physical connections as well as the configurations and nothing seems to have changed. I can't figure out the cause of this. It started a few weeks ago which coincidentally is around the time I upgraded the SW firmware & replaced the switch that it connects to. I want to say it's probably in related to one of those two things, but I was careful not to mess anything up and I can not spot any configurations that appear to be wrong.

SonicWall Zones:

• X0 LAN - 10.1.2.0/24
• X3 Wifi (connect to switch ports with PVID 2) 10.1.3.0/24
• X3:200 Wifi-Guest (tagged as 200 and connected to switch ports PVID 2) 192.168.1.0/24

SonicWall logs is constantly reporting these critical alerts:

• Message: "Drop WLAN traffic from non-SonicPoint devices
• Source: 10.1.2.X (LAN devices), [port #], X3
• Destination IP & MAC: 10.1.2.255/FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF (broadcast traffic), [port #]
• IP Protocol: UDP

My Dell N3000 switch configs look like this (ports configured for SonicPoints):

switchport mode general
switchport general pvid 2
switchport general allowed vlan add 2
switchport general allowed vlan add 200 tagged

Any help is appreciated!

Problem solved. Turns out I had to manually remove VLAN 1 access from the configured ports. Apparently this must be done for all general mode ports on Dell N series switches.

@dbeato said in Can't figure out the cause of LAN broadcast traffic spilling over into WLAN zone on SonicWall:

@dave247 said in Can't figure out the cause of LAN broadcast traffic spilling over into WLAN zone on SonicWall:

Problem solved. Turns out I had to manually remove VLAN 1 access from the configured ports. Apparently this must be done for all general mode ports on Dell N series switches.

Yes, because that is the default PVID of the ports.

Yes but I had changed the PDIV of the port from the default value to 300. So, I thought that VLAN 1 access would stop and only VLAN 300 would be allowed.

@jaredbusch said in Question about switch configuration in relation to server NIC teaming:

I only use switch independent mode. Because it is simpler for people following behind and none of my clients have so much data on the infrastructure that it matters anyway.

That mode doesn't care about port configs right? That seems to be how I understood it based on research and whatnot.. and I'm not sure if connecting it to a channel group would mess with that..

@dbeato said in Quickest way to set up Zabbix to monitor managed switch metrics??:

@dave247 said in Quickest way to set up Zabbix to monitor managed switch metrics??:

@dbeato said in Quickest way to set up Zabbix to monitor managed switch metrics??:

@dave247 said in Quickest way to set up Zabbix to monitor managed switch metrics??:

@dbeato said in Quickest way to set up Zabbix to monitor managed switch metrics??:

@dave247 said in Quickest way to set up Zabbix to monitor managed switch metrics??:

I actually got Zabbix up and running on Debian 9 with Postgresql. So that was like a first time every getting something up and running without any big rabbit holes. However, now I am at the Zabbix login screen and I can't seem to login as no credentials work. I have tried username/password combos: zabbix/admin, zabbix/[blank], admin/zabbix, admin/blank.... I have tried the password I used during the entire setup of zabbix, which is the same as the linux password.... I CAN NOT GET IN.... anyone have any ideas??

User and password is zabbix.

That also does not work... my god.. am I actually going to have to do a complete re-install on a different Linux simply because the default username and password don't work??? UNREAL.

Mmm try Admin and password zabbix. Make sure to keep the A capital.

OMFG. Admin with a CAPITAL "A" made it work... thank you good and beautiful kind sir. You have saved me hours of fucking insanity.

Glad to help.

Seriously. Thank. YOU.

Bringing up my dead post here...

I recently looked back into this with my Group Policy and I noticed that I had a GPO that had this setting enabled: "Computer Conf > Policies > Admin Temps > System/Internet Communication Management/Internet Communication settings > Turn off access to all Windows Update features" and this was set to Enabled. I am wondering if this perhaps played a part with my WSUS server's continual connection error...

Here is the descritpion, "If you enable this policy setting, all Windows Update features are removed. This includes blocking access to the Windows Update website at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com, from the Windows Update hyperlink on the Start menu, and also on the Tools menu in Internet Explorer. Windows automatic updating is also disabled; you will neither be notified about nor will you receive critical updates from Windows Update. This policy setting also prevents Device Manager from automatically installing driver updates from the Windows Update website."

According to the description, it is removing access to the Windows Update site, but it doesn't say anything in there about a local WSUS server.. so I would think a local WSUS would still work even if this setting is enabled.

Anyway, I am removing this setting and will try WSUS out again. I temporarily gave up on the project as I had continual connection issues, despite following technet setup guides and attempting to install the role on 3 different servers in an attempt to get it working. All failed..

@scottalanmiller said in Using name-spaces or address pools for domain controllers? (things to make replacing DC's easier):

@dave247 said in Using name-spaces or address pools for domain controllers? (things to make replacing DC's easier):

@scottalanmiller

One last question... and I plan to look into reservation tomorrow.. but what happens with the reservations in the event that the DHCP server goes down and, say, is un-recoverable? I mean, sure it would be trivial to fire up a new server, but you'd still have all the reservations to rebuild, unless they were exported as backup and then you could import or something.. and this is worst-case. DHCP would probably never go down, except for that one time....

DHCP Reservations are like normal DHCP Leases, so if you have them for, say 48 hours, you will likely have quite some time before things start to lose their leases. You have several choices...

1. Have failover DHCP so that you are not dependent on a single once.
2. Recreate everything by hand, for even 100 machines, this is trivial amounts of work as long as you document it.
3. Take a backup and restore.
4. Set the reservations programtically like through a script or state system.

nice, thanks!

@scottalanmiller said in Using name-spaces or address pools for domain controllers? (things to make replacing DC's easier):

@dave247 said in Using name-spaces or address pools for domain controllers? (things to make replacing DC's easier):

@jaredbusch said in Using name-spaces or address pools for domain controllers? (things to make replacing DC's easier):

@dave247 said in Using name-spaces or address pools for domain controllers? (things to make replacing DC's easier):

@scottalanmiller

One last question... and I plan to look into reservation tomorrow.. but what happens with the reservations in the event that the DHCP server goes down and, say, is un-recoverable? I mean, sure it would be trivial to fire up a new server, but you'd still have all the reservations to rebuild, unless they were exported as backup and then you could import or something.. and this is worst-case. DHCP would probably never go down, except for that one time....

I assume you have a Windows 2012 R2 or newer AD serve rthat is your DHCP server? If so, you can make a secondary.

If not, with any version back even to Server 2003, you can export your scope and reimport it on a new server.

2008 R2. But, what I will probably do is set up the new 2016 DC and then move DHCP role to that and set up the reservations and things. Then, when the time is right, I will point everything from old DC to new DC

Don't forget those 2016 CALs (inside joke for those that saw the guy freak out about having to get CALs when updating Windows today.)

Oh for sure. I already have them set up in our budget (thanks to help I got from you guys on here)

Not sure who all here has experience with AirWatch...

I've been attempting to try out AirWatch for my company since early last week. I signed up for the 30-day trial on their website but never heard back from a sales rep, which is really odd because usually salespeople are all over any hint of product interest and I have to fight them off with a stick.

After a few calls back to vmware, I finally got someone to help me only to have them tell me that someone else would have to help me. Then, that other person eventually got back to me but then after a few days, he handed me off to another guy who was the sales specialist for my area. He basically just copied the guy on an email and then I didn't hear from the guy until I initiated yet another email asking to have a trial set up. Then he finally response with a very short email asking the number of users. I tell him that info, plus my needs and then he just suggests that I try AirWatch Express first which I set up myself and does not need the involvement of anyone from vmware.

So I go through and set up AirWatch Express and it seems to work fine, except certain things don't fully work the way we need. I spend hours going through documentation and the knowledge base only to realize that most this stuff is not specifically for AirWatch Express, it's just for regular AirWatch. I mean, they seem to be about the same, except Express has a lot less features. I did find one section on Express (a kb filter) but nothing ever shows up.

Anyway, after a long time of dicking with Express, I decided I want to just try the trial of regular AirWatch. So I emailed the guy back and have yet to hear from him.. granted it's only been about 6 hours so far this time, so I'm just being patient for now.

So one thought that crossed my mind: Is AirWatch or AirWatch Express even alive anymore? Or is it just one of those "ghost ship" products where they keep it alive to suck in money, but that nobody really supports... I mean, I noticed the website seems pretty slow too and graphics don't always load the first time. Seems really odd over-all.