SYDI-Script your documentation Instantly

Source: http://sydiproject.com/

My first post in a long time, But Im back with a good one this site provides a neat script that runs through cscript via command prompt to compile and format  a full word document on a Servers Spec.

Just save the SYDI-Server.vbs script from website, Open the command prompt start cscript and run file.

Watch the sub routines run and hey presto you see a Word Doc populating on the fly documenting the Server.

 

I have used this in our several different Domains for Servers in Hong Kong,Boston, London and Dublin. You basically have the framework for a Disater Recovery Document and its a good place to start with 0 effort!

Twelve qualities of successful support techs

I get a daily email from Tech Republic on all IT and help desk related technical info. An interesting paper today was 12 qualities of successful support techs. These are:

• Respect for all users, team members, and superiors—even when it’s not reciprocated

Showing respect is an acknowledgement of another person’s value and knowledge,

• Self-discipline

Being self-disciplined affects several aspects of the support tech’s job, such as setting and adhering to a schedule,                  reliably meeting deadlines, delivering resolutions to the end users on or before the promised date/time, and sticking               with a task until it’s complete.

• The ability to effectively prioritize tasks
• Dedication and commitment to problem resolution
• A detail-oriented working style
• The ability and willingness to communicate
• A humble attitude about knowledge limitations
• The ability to learn from experience and from informal/formal instruction
• The ability to think logically and creatively
• The ability to apply knowledge to new situations
• A demonstrated independent interest in technology

Having a tech who is excited and engaged with the new product will encourage and reassure the users.

Mailgate Demo

Mailgate Demo

PDF White Paper

 

Virtualization

 

I was looking at the concept of Virtualization as it is being implemented on our application server in our office.

Virtualization is an abstraction layer that decouples the physical hardware from the operating system to deliver greater IT resource utilization and flexibility.

Okay so that’s the definition what is it in English, I think the best way to explain it is one server hosting a list of servers. You can control multiple virtual machines, with heterogeneous operating systems to run in isolation, side-by-side on the same physical machine.

Each virtual machine has its own set of virtual hardware (e.g., RAM, CPU, NIC, etc.) upon which an operating system and applications are loaded. The operating system sees a consistent, normalized set of hardware regardless of the actual physical hardware components.

Another very cool feature is that all Virtual machines are encapsulated into files, making it possible to rapidly save, copy and provision a virtual machine. Full systems (fully configured applications, operating systems, BIOS and virtual hardware) can be moved, within seconds, from one physical server to another for zero-downtime maintenance and continuous workload consolidation.

The main benefits of virtialization is:

Partitioning

• Multiple applications and operating systems can be supported within a single physical system
• Servers can be consolidated into virtual machines on either a scale-up or scale-out architecture
• Computing resources are treated as a uniform pool to be allocated to virtual machines in a controlled manner

Isolation

• Virtual machines are completely isolated from the host machine and other virtual machines. If a virtual machine crashes, all others are unaffected
• Data does not leak across virtual machines and applications can only communicate over configured network connections

Encapsulation

• Complete virtual machine environment is saved as a single file; easy to back up, move and copy
• Standardized virtualized hardware is presented to the application – guaranteeing compatibility

Websense Server

Wahay I got a new toy in work!!!!!!!! The websense server is now up and running. There were some teething probs as this had to be done in sync with the Dublin offices but its online and functional its good to see myself in the top 3 internet browsers on the Real time Analyzer, Im practically incriminating myself : ( On first look websense is easy to use , user friendly and not very daunting at all. You can check an abundance of information and run reports, queue jobs and hide names (Anomalously monitoring users).
Its a simple concept most easily portrayed by this diagram:

You can search each user, what they surfed, what time they did it at and what page they were on. Awesome if anyone crosses me in work I now how to take em down, Only Kidding! But not really! : )