I Like Plumbing

Not the water kind, the telecom kind.

Right now, I’m in the midst of planning and preparing to move our office to a new location. Since telecom is a lot of setting and forgetting, I’ve been having a great time reviewing the phone numbers we use, what they are used for, deciding if they’ll be needed in the new location and refreshing my memory on some of the details of our Shoretel configuration.

Things I’ve been thinking about:

  • Analog Devices – Our existing office has old 66-blocks wired back to the desks that I’ve used to punch down fax machines and analog polycoms.  Our new office won’t have 66-blocks, so I need to allot space on or LAN racks for connecting the wiring pairs from the harmonica whips on the Shoretel switches.  And make sure that the two cable drops we are doing everywhere is going to be enough for each location.
  • Backup Lines – The phone system will use a regular PRI trunk, but we also have regular POTS lines installed as a backup.  Those need to be grouped in a Hunt Group over at AT&T and the configuration on the DIDs need to allow for roll-over if the PRI goes down.
  • AT&T is moving away from their legacy Centrex Voicemail service and with our move, we can’t retain the few VM boxes we have for external uses. Turns out we’ll only need one (as part of our disaster recovery planning) and I’m fine with having an new number issued on the new Unified Messaging platform AT&T is selling now. 
  • We have a lot of guest phones and old devices on the floor now that won’t be needed in the new office. It’s time for me to wander around and start collecting that up.  Today I have that time, I know in the next few week, I probably won’t.

Hope everyone has a great long weekend filled with turkey, stuffing and pie!

Windows 8 – Any Size You Want It

Windows 8 has launched and Microsoft strived to make an OS that can give you a consistent experience as you move between the various devices you use during the day. Using SkyDrive, you can have access to all your important files and pictures from anywhere.

Windows Phone – I’ve loved my Windows Phone running 7.5, so I’m sure I’m going to love Windows 8.  Pin apps, pin people and customize your phone to meet your needs as often as they change.  I often create new groups of people using People Hub depending on events that I’m attending or what’s going on.  Just this week, I had a “Sandy” tile – keeping all the tweets and post from my east coast friends and family front and center.  I will admit I’m a bit of a diva regarding the form factor though, so that might be what holds me back. Most of the phones being offered right now with Windows 8 are too big for my taste.

Surface – Scale up a bit from your phone and grab a Microsoft Surface.  The RT version is available for ordering now and rumor has the Intel (Pro) version is due out in a few months.  I need some of the enterprise features that will be available with the Pro version for work, so I’ll likely be waiting a bit for that as well unless someone wants to send me a RT version to play with!

Desktop – Finally, meet Windows 8 on the desktop.  With or without a touch screen, Windows 8 brings you the same tiled experience as the phone and the Surface.  From now until January 31st, you can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for only $39.99.  Use the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant to see if your existing computer can run it.

Finally, if you want to experience some additional buzz around Windows 8, Server 2012 and the newest version of Microsoft Office, check out The New Era of Work, Microsoft’s 2012 Launch Event.  Events are being held in various locations throughout the US from now until the end of the year.

October is National Cyber Security Month

As a system admin, I like to think that I’m pretty savvy when it comes to online security.  However, it never hurts to look at some current recommendations as a refresher and maybe pass on a link or two to family and friends regarding ways to prevent fraud, theft and other online ills.

Visit the STOP. THINK. CONNECT. campaign or Microsoft’s Cyber Security web page for tips on staying aware and secure online.

Check out my previous security posts for some of my thoughts on cyber security. What are your recommendations for friends and family when they ask you about online security? 

PowerShell… Now Less Daunting

Last Friday, I had the luxury of attending another PacITPros TechDays… It was all about PowerShell.  Jason Helmick taught in SF and in the East Bay.  Both days were completely packed. PowerShell IS where Windows is going for administration.

If you haven’t had the chance to listen to Jason talk about PowerShell, you are missing a great chance to learn how to use it. Jason is fun, upbeat and knows his stuff.  Check out his blog (http://www.jasonhelmick.com/) for more about PowerShell.  He might just mention where he’ll be speaking next.

So what did I take away from the class?

1) Learn this: get-help
Seriously, it’s ALL about RTFM. Learn it, love it, learn how to use it. It’s all there.

2) Don’t type this:  get-service | stop-service
PowerShell can give you a bunch of ways to make your job easier and another bunch of ways to screw up big time. Read and comprehend before you press enter. PowerShell doesn’t ask if you are sure.

After 8 hours of lecture and labs, Jason didn’t teach us the “Top 10 PowerShell Commands for Administering Windows”.  We didn’t walk out of class with a handout of the everything we’d need to know.  Quite the contrary.  Jason taught us where to find what we needed and how to figure out if whatever we were trying to do would work or not.  And that is really all you need to be comfortable with the command line of the future for Windows.

So what’s been fun on the Internet lately?

First up, in case you missed out on some of the new things from Microsoft, Windows 8 and Server 2012 are coming soon!  When you have some free time, start learning more about Server 2012 or take a close up look at Windows 8. You can even download a 90-day trial of the new desktop client.

And here are some other links to some fun things I’ve seen online, mostly via Twitter:

For those of you who work on Exchange, don’t miss out on these:

Handy Windows 7 GPO Policies

The official roll-out of Windows 7 has begun in my office.  We are doing a round of hardware refreshing for some end users and with that comes Windows 7 and Office 2010. Here are a couple handy GPO settings we’ve used to make our lives easier.

Verbose Startup and Shutdown – by default, Windows 7 will just display “please wait…” while it handles it’s startup and shutdown processes.  If you find the verbosity of Windows XP handy, likely displaying the name of software that’s being installed automatically, you’ll want to change use these policies.

Computer Configuration – Policies – Administrative Templates  – System – Verbose vs normal status messages = Enabled

Computer Configuration-Policies – Administrative Templates – System – Remove Boot / Shutdown / Logon / Logoff status messages = Disabled

Let Users Install Printers – Windows 7 increased security and UAC will prompt standard users for administrative credentials before adding a printer because the driver store is a protected area.  If running around to help every user who’s trying to add another network printer isn’t your cup of tea, try these policies to give the standard user a little bit more power.

Computer Configuration – Policies – Administrative Templates – Printers – Point and Print Restrictions = Disabled

User Configuration – Policies – Administrative Templates – Control Panel – Printers – Point and Print Restrictions = Disabled

What’s A Techie To Do?

Or rather, what have I been up to lately?

Been doing a lot of “spring” cleaning at the office. Trying to tie up loose ends on lots of little projects.

1) Upgrading Shoretel – I’ve been using Shoretel since Shoretel 5. We’ve been through several upgrades since then and last week moved to Shoretel 12.3.  We have a fabulous reseller that did most of the work for me. Sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and watch the magic. The trickiest part was getting the MSI file for the new desktop software, Shoretel Communicator, out of the setup file so I could deploy it with a GPO.  This guy had a good blog post that helped me out.

2) Removal of Exchange 2003 – Back in October I migrated our mail to Exchange 2010 SP1. Our old server had going through several stages of being decommissioned and had been left turned off for several months as other more pressing project got to me. I finally turned it back on and ran the setup program to remove it.  It didn’t go completely flawlessly, but most issues were resolved by fixing a few public folder replication issues and then deleting the server from the Exchange 2003 ESM.

3) Training for Windows 7 and Office 2010 – We have finally reached the point where we are doing a bunch of hardware refreshes for staff in the office.  That means moving from XP / Office 2007 to Windows 7 and Office 2010.  I’m not doing the hardware deployments, but I’m responsible for providing basic training to the staff so they are prepared for some of the changes that will come.  My first two sessions were this week and I concentrated a lot on the new start menu and taskbar in Windows 7.  Also, Outlook 2010 has quite a few navigation changes that are notable.

4) De-cluttering My Desk – While not a super-techie endeavor, it needed to be done. I trashed piles of CDs and DVDs of very dated software, including diskettes for installing Windows 2000 Server. Diskettes!! Ah!!  If anyone is looking for the DVD to install Windows 95, I’m your girl. I’m hanging that in my cube for decoration.

3 Weeks with the Samsung Focus 2

I’m happy to report that after nearly 3 solid weeks of use, my Samsung Focus 2 has not crashed.  No more text message of death.

The form factor is managable (about the same size as an iPhone but rounder at the corners) and I really only have one complaint – it’s not easy to tell the top from the bottom.

The screen is nearly perfectly centered in the device and while their are some visual differences between the top and the bottom, there is nothing truely tactile to tell which end you grabbed when you pull it out of your bag or pocket.

Also, while the power button is easily accessible if the phone is in your hand, it’s angled toward the back side, it’s hard to press when the device is sitting flat on a desk.  You have to lift the side of the phone to reach the button or pick it up entirely.

Overall, these are minor issues and I completely recommend the Focus 2 as a Focus Flash replacement, particularly if you are tired of crashes caused by text messages.

TechEd 2012 Session Recap

As is likely with many of you, when I return from a conference that has taken me out of the office for more than a day or so, I have plenty of email and tasks to catch up with.  Now that I have a little bit of wiggle room, it’s time to try to watch all the sessions I missed at TechEd.

There is one little problem when you are mostly an IT generalist and attend a multi-track conference event.  You simply can’t be everywhere you want to be.  I’m so glad that sessions from TechEd are available after the conference for review, otherwise I’d miss out on some great stuff.

Here are some highlights of some of the sessions I attended or viewed so far:

EXL304 An Inside View of Microsoft Exchange 2010 SP2 – I listened to this yesterday and it highlights all the new features in SP2. Most are geared toward either multi-site or multi-tenant needs, but GAL segmentation might be useful for smaller organizations too, depending on your business needs. There are also over 600 bug fixes!

VIR317 Lessons from the Field: 22 VDI and RDS Mistakes You’ll Want to Avoid – a lively session with more RDS than VDI mistakes, particularly geared toward farms with more than one RDS Host.

SIA312 What’s New in Active Directory in Windows Server 2012 – A great summary of some of the cool AD features that come with Server 2012, particularly support for virtualized domain controllers while avoiding issues like USN Rollback.

WCL324 IPv6 Bootcamp: Get Up to Speed Quickly – IPv6 is here and if you are running Windows 7, you’ve already deployed it.  So don’t forget to spend a little time becoming more “in the know” about what’s probably already on your network.

And my to-do list of sessions to watch later!
  • SIA402 – How to (un)Destroy Your Active Directory: Reloaded
  • WSV321 – Windows PowerShell Crash Course
  • SIA300 – Ten Deadly Sins of Administrators about Windows Security
  • VIR308 – What’s New in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V, Part 1
  • VIR309 – What’s New in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V, Part 2

 I didn’t provide links to each session, but you can find them at MyTechEd or on MSDN’s Channel 9.

Hello TechEd NA!

Today I landed in *rainy* Orlando to attend my 9th Microsoft TechEd.  I know it’s my 9th because this year marks the 20th anniversary of the conference and alumni were given a button to write in how many years they’ve attended.

I couldn’t remember the exact number I’d been to offhand, so since I had to look it up, I’ll list them out here for those of you who’ve been attending along with me.  Perhaps we should have a 9-year veteran meetup!

2012 – Orlando, FL
2011 – Atlanta, GA
2010 – New Orleans, LA
2009 – Los Angeles, CA
2008 – Orlando, FL
2007 – Orlando, FL
2006 – Boston, MA
2005 – Orlando, FL
2004 – San Diego, CA

I have to say that my favorite locations so far have been San Diego, Boston and New Orleans. 

Finally, here a two quick tips for those of you who are first timers. 

1) If you feel like you must leave a sesson, don’t try to race to another one in the same time slot.  Either network down on the event floor or in the community areas, or stick with your first pick and find that one nugget of good info to take away.
2) Do not try to attend a session in every available slot of every day.  You will burn out by Wednesday and I will recognize you in the lunch line by the information that is suddenly dripping out of your ears.