IT BS thread

I'd put an SSD in it for the OS. Difference is night and day.

We have spec'd all of our machines for the last three years with SSDs. Because our users must store their files on a server, there is no need for big capacities and cost between a 120 GB SSD and the 500 GB conventional drive they would normally come with is basically a wash.

 

Our users will fill up a 120GB with fucking PST files in about a year. Then I want to go on a killing spree.

Or they fill it up with personal movies, music, or pictures and get pissed when I go in and delete them.

 

Any vSphere admins out there that could chime in on storage systems? Specifically SAN?

 

That's pretty vague. What are you wanting to find out?

 

Get a Barracuda Email Archiver and set retention for all to 8 months... Works great. They can search the Archiver for older stuff. $1200 bucks or so for 66% compressed 150GB. At 120GB a year that should get you through 3+ years, and then delete permanently unless you have a binding reason for longer retention. We have it for Exchange but I'm pretty sure they have a .pst compatible option.

 

Just general thoughts on what systems you are using, reliability, support, ease of use etc. We're shopping to replace our HP LeftHand systems and go to something new. We have so far looked at EMC, Nimble, and Dell(Compellent).

 

I'm not a San guy, I'm a VMware guy. We use mostly emc and have started using some netapp. We also have some random IBM xiv sprinkled in, but it's being phased out.

 

I work for Hitachi Data Systems though not in the sales side. If you want I can find a sales guy in the Texas region to give you a call/email.

 

Have had positive experience with both Nimble & Dell Equallogic. At my previous gig we had major issues with Compellent to the point of top dell engineers onsite unable to resolve the issue resulting in a full removal of that system & refund of cost. It was replaced with a Nimble and never looked back. Current gig wanted the Nimble, but small shop couldn't justify the price. As far as ease of setup, use, management Nimble is top notch.

 

I constantly remind users that they are not to save things locally because it'll be gone forever should that drive die (or any number of other things for that matter). I get a secret little bit of joy when one of the repeat offenders that never listens has a drive fail and is angry because they lost allegedly important stuff. Unfortunately, it rarely happens.

 

Nobody on here knows if they still manufacture Renata power modules or something that's analogous to them do you? I know I can find old ones but I don't want to go through the trouble of replacing the one that I have with another one that's just as old and prone to a short life.

 

My company backs up PST's in our Commvault policy. /failsauce

 

PSTs aren't a big deal for us since we use Google Apps, so most users don't use Outlook at all. For the few people who use it with Outlook (using Google Apps Sync for Outlook) it's all still up on Google's servers unless they deliberately move things to a local archive--in which case I tell them to save that on their network drive which is backed up.

It's the mountains of stuff on their desktop that annoys me. They do it because it's "convenient" despite constant warnings not to, then they get upset if their local HDD dies.

 

We prevent PST files from being saved on the network due to the highly distributed nature of our user-base (80-90% work remotely or in the field). We also don't use google apps or the cloud due to security reasons. I don't mind it but what really gets me is our Mac users who use the "on my computer" folders then fill up their hard drives (128 or 256gb ssd) with e-mail. Or better yet they have a bunch of music and movies on the computer but then demand larger hard drives when they run out of space. /lol

 

I could see that pulling PSTs across a remote internet connection could be painful.

We have no Apple stuff except iPads which are the bane of my existence.

 

That and Microsoft clearly states PST's aren't designed to be used in a network or high-latency situation. I've seen the PST files corrupt when being accessed and written to over a LAN or worse a VPN situation.

Mac's are the bane of my existence. We have a really good system/customization to integrate them into AD however password expiration are a major pain in the ass if the user doesn't change the password while on VPN before the timer expires. Many do but those who don't are in for a 20-30 minute call to me. Not to mention Outlook 2011 and 2016 are riddled with issues. Excel is lacking; and most of our other programs don't run on Macs or still require IE so they have to use a Win 7 Citrix Desktop which is flakey and slow at best.

But hey, they're shiny and the executives like them.

 

Yeah, I hope I never have to support Macs. Every single time I have to deal with Configurator for the iPads it's a half day saga. I can't understand how you take 25 new identical devices and do the same thing to every one yet get 5 different results (4 of which are nonsensical errors).

We only have maybe three people with PSTs at this point. Most of the time they pulled an archive from their old job and just want it available in case they want to look back at something. So the network location is primarily just for storage.

 

Text from my Uncle who works for IBM:

"I read an article and the author suggested that IBM, Cisco, EMC, dell, HP, and Oracle should merge and form a new company called "fucked by the cloud". Well ibm stock is fucked by the cloud today. BTW, what is Byron's number?"

FWIW I despise the cloud for 80% of it's uses.

 

Dell is actually buying emc, which will also give them a majority stake in VMWare.

 

Ok guys turned on my 60" plasma TV LG 60PK200 to watch while I ate dinner. Needless to say I wasn't to happy when I turned it on. Worked fine last night. Did someone maybe drop something on it while cleaning around it.. There is a shelf on the top right corner :/ it has sound and some what picture as you can see. It does it on every input, cable box or Xbox. any suggestions on what I can do other than buying a new TV. Like what could I check? I'm pretty good with electronics. I have had this one going or 4 or 5 years now. It should last longer than that.