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Alternatively, this thread could just be a continuation of the last one, which went swimmingly. I kind of thought this was assumed...
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Jul 28, 2014 19:00
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 while keeping the same job - director told me he wanted to put me through a VMWare course and would be paying for it. I agreed, I don't turn down free legitimate learning chances. Told my manager about it, he said that was probably in response to his recommending me for a server admin job they've had open here for a few months. I'm drastically under-qualified/experienced for it, but they like what I've done so far, and this class is part of them preparing me for it (potentially). Manager also said he wanted to bump my salary up like 7k. Whether this will happen remains to be seen (I'm still on probation for about 2 more months), but still.This is basically all due entirely to me coming in and being like "Why are we not using USMT/ImageX/MDT here?" and deciding to use them to make my job easier. So... thanks, Microsoft, for making me look good I guess!
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Jul 28, 2014 20:28
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Anyone have any good recommendations for reading on MDT (specifically 2013, though I'm not sure how much that matters)? I've found a lot of stuff online, but if anyone's got a particular site or book that they like, I'd love taking a look at it, too.
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Jul 29, 2014 22:14
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dox posted:Having just recently learned how to really use MDT, I would recommend the TechEd MDT videos which really assist in getting a solid grasp of the product. You can also go back to previous TechEd videos for more material. Johan Arwidmark's blog is really good along with a number of others that you can find when you start googling for little solutions. But most importantly, just build a lab off a whitebox or spare desktop in your house and test deploying with WDS/MDT in VMs. Then get a physical box because it's important to understand how drivers function with MDT (it's quite simple really). After a few months, I finally introduced it to my MSP and we're using it on big projects. I'm also using MDT on OEM Windows setups (SMB clients) with a Post-OS Install Task Sequence that uses a Powershell script to uninstall the HP bloatware (can share if anyone is interested), fully update Windows, and install whatever software is needed (mainly Office)- definitely automates up what has turned into a chore. Thanks! I'd actually come across Arwidmark's website via his Deployment Fundamentals vol. 4 book and was actually planning on grabbing it for my Kindle. Unfortunately our end wouldn't involve WDS; we'll probably be limited to booting PCs off an USB with the LiteTouch ISO etc. I've got the driver organization down pretty well already (so nice seeing a desktop finish without any devices missing drivers), but I'm working through some other crap. Like my organization has one of those pre-logon terms of use things that's currently requiring user input to get to the Post-OS portion, but I've found a few guides to getting around that that I'm still working on. Anyway, it's a fun project so far.
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Jul 30, 2014 00:56
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I am about to begin preparing a Mac Pro with an 8TB RAID array for deployment. I don't really have anything else to add to this statement.
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Aug 14, 2014 17:00
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orange sky posted:Wait, what? Okay, nevermind. That's an external NAS that will also be given to the user. It's just a single TB on here, with 64GB of RAM. Sorry.
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Aug 14, 2014 17:10
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orange sky posted:Is this guy gonna run a ton of VM's? Deal with heavy duty encryption? Where is that array gonna run (drat your edit), is it dedicated just for him? My head hurts. I honestly couldn't say, but given where I work, likely some big data economics simulations / predictive analysis / other things I know nothing about. And no, not MacBOOK Pro, Mac Pro. This thing: 
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Aug 14, 2014 17:20
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orange sky posted:Oh. My bad. No problem, I doubt many of these things are circulating? It's such a weird design.
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Aug 14, 2014 17:40
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So our department received an Optiplex 9020 that wouldn't boot out of the box. Power LED code indicated a bad motherboard, I did a quick chat support, and they sent a rep out the next day (which just happened). We go through a lot of desktops, and this happens occasionally, so I didn't think much of it. Guy just left... when he was going to swap the motherboard out for us, he noticed that the processor that was in the motherboard was a Pentium D 820, which did not exactly fit into the LGA1366 slot. Parts of the plastic bracket was crushed to get it crammed in there. No idea how this happens, but the tech's theory was that someone at some point in the supply chain is pilfering good processors and swapping them out with $2 ones. I seriously doubt it's on our end, since our receiving department never opens boxes up. This is the first time it's ever happened to us, so I'm not overly concerned, but it is kinda weird!
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Sep 16, 2014 16:47
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So I'm like a year into working in IT, and I've managed to configure a pretty ballin' MDT 2013 setup, using a .wim file sourced from a VMWare box (I originally used one from an Optiplex 9020 but it was having driver conflicts with a few other models here and there, so I had to figure out how to build a WinPE .iso that had VMWare network drivers). MDT automatically installs the proper drivers sourced from the Dell .cab files I have loaded in there, and then runs a few command lines to do some other stuff (forces an Office 2013 activation, etc.). I just got a new Optiplex 9030 All-in-One going, and somehow I'm still impressed that it's working perfectly on the first try and I don't see any missing drivers. I know this is all several years below most of you guys, but things are still moving just fast enough here that I'm constantly learning but I don't feel like I'm drowning. Also, pretty sure it was someone here who told me to figure out MDT instead of using ImageX for deployments like I was, so thanks. 
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Oct 1, 2014 23:51
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dox posted:Love to hear this. Bit worried about that reference image you're using... but if it's working for you for now then roll with it. Sorry, I meant to keep tabs on the thread yesterday (and today) but got stuck on something. But - what's worrying about the image? I'm wondering if it was that I wasn't clear - I was originally using one from a physical box, drivers and all (in which case I fully understand the concern), but I'm now using one from a virtual machine that's pristine and driver-free. Going the hybrid image route with the typical suite of programs pre-installed and using MDT to inject drivers based on the model. Is there something I could improve on? I say this without having watched that video you linked yet, though I will.
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Oct 3, 2014 04:27
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My department name was apparently changed from <place> Technology Services to <place> Technology and Facilities Services.  Department head just sent an email asking that our signatures be changed accordingly. Pretty sure I'm just dropping the department out of my signature entirely instead and just leaving my job title which should be fine with everyone. I'm definitely not expected to do any facilities work, so I'm not worried about that, but I can just see the Re:'s - "Hey, since you're in facilities..." coming in on a regular basis if I leave that in there...
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Oct 8, 2014 19:02
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Thanks Ants posted:If the DrayTek's are working for you but some of your customers find the price hard to handle then I can't see how that customer is worth having around to be honest. DrayTek routers aren't expensive by any stretch. Eh, I wouldn't view this as an omen. I'm at a university on a particular school's IT team, and we just have a guy here who handles the little one-off office moves and smaller projects like that. They had to put him in some department, I guess, but there's really no cross-over work.
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Oct 8, 2014 19:09
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Thank you, iTunes, for causing a Code 19 on this laptop's DVD drive.  Took all of 10 seconds to Google after reinstalling the drivers didn't fix it. But seriously, why are you so bad iTunes.
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Oct 16, 2014 16:38
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I just tested this in the primary VM image I've built here, and I'm way too happy with it given the minor annoyance that Ask.com toolbars present. I'm sure there's a dozen other ways to prevent these stupid things from coming in via Java updates, but this is one of the few that I could implement on my own. http://superuser.com/questions/549028/how-can-i-prevent-ask-com-toolbar-from-being-installed-every-time-java-is-update (You basically just do a small registry modification disabling Java "sponsors" which prevents the ask.com screen from ever displaying, which means users don't leave it checked if they ever feel like installing Java updates.)
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Oct 22, 2014 16:11
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Anyone have experience configuring MDT 2013 to properly inject drivers into Lenovo machines? I have MDT set up to inject drivers according to make & model, but Lenovo doesn't follow the typical convention in WMI where you can just pull in the manufacturer and model via wmic computersystem get manufacturer, model. Lenovo seems to instead put the model in the "Version" field. We're 95% Dells here, which are quick and painless in MDT, but for a given Lenovo Thinkpad t440s, the model will show up as, for example, 20AQCT01WW. I found this link which seems to have the solution, but I was wondering if anyone had experience with another method. I wouldn't mind working through the above, but it'd be a side project since this isn't super important. As it is, we get one or two Lenovo's in a month, so I don't mind using MDT to throw the image up and deploying the drivers manually.
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Oct 24, 2014 22:26
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Roargasm posted:Can't you just leave everything enabled in WDS and select "only apply to correct hardware" Probably? I don't use WDS - I'd like to, but our MDT setup is an .iso file on a flash drive that's set to browse to a deployment share and pull in the drivers/images/etc from there. It picks up the drivers according to the model by finding a folder with a matching name - like how they have it here - http://www.deploymentresearch.com/Research/tabid/62/EntryId/112/MDT-2013-Lite-Touch-Driver-Management.aspx (Scenario 3) Sorry, I might have this set up differently than most places. Fake edit: Oops, replied before you changed it. I'll leave this here in case it matters to anyone though. Japanese Dating Sim fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Oct 24, 2014 |
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Oct 24, 2014 22:43
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FISHMANPET posted:If you've only got a few Lenovos you're working on, I wouldn't do something so in depth. Just get on the machine before you image it and run the right wmic commands to figure out what it thinks its own Model is, and use that in your WMI rule. That's what I did for the handful of Lenovo x120e machines I imaged, each batch we ordered had a different "model" (2 batches, so 2 models) so I just made the WMI query be Model Like X or Model Like Y and called it a day. Simplistic and easy, I like it. Not sure why that didn't occur to me. I might do it slightly differently, because I just set up one WMI rule according to %Model%, as opposed to multiple rules per model. So the same idea would just be to rename the folder with the Lenovo drivers right before. Cool, thanks!
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Oct 24, 2014 23:16
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Tab8715 posted:When giving out references, at what stage of the interview process is this done? I had an employer ask for them immediately which I thought was a little brash. Eh, personally I'd say they (the employer) always dictates this, which is fine. More often than not I'd expect them to be asked for after the initial (or only) interview, and only after they've decided that they're interested. If they're asking for them right off the bat, they're either already interested, or they just have a weird HR department that wants them ahead of time for some reason. It's a little unusual but not really anything bad, in my opinion.
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Oct 27, 2014 15:19
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I think I've only been asked for references once. I thought they weren't commonly needed anymore, but maybe I've just been lucky. Because seriously, keeping those up-to-date and letting people know ahead of time is a pain.
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Oct 27, 2014 18:13
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Windows 10 Includes a Linux-Style Package Manager Named “OneGet” 
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Oct 27, 2014 18:32
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:Funny/True story: I just searched for "OneGet" in twitter and the first tweet was a pic of a giant black cock. Of course I'm at work. I don't really know how that term could possibly result in that image, but then again, Internet.
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Oct 27, 2014 20:22
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go3 posted:They're not going to tell you whether its a dead end job or not Not in so many words, but I've had plenty of interviews where the interviewers gave off that vibe whether they meant to or not. bitterandtwisted posted:Got an interview tomorrow for a helpdesk support role and I'm trying to decide on questions to ask them at the end. In the past I've mostly asked about trivial things like dress code. The careers sites recommend asking about training opportunities and whether there is scope for promotion. Of course I am interested in those things, but it sounds a bit ballsy; IT training being as expensive as it is and wanting a better job before I have this one. Is it a good idea? Has anyone got any questions they think have helped them in an interview? You've already gotten a good list of questions/ideas (and yeah, leave out dress code - you can ask about that after you get an offer when you're discussing your start date) - just adding that if the interview goes well, I'd ask at the end what the process will be going forward, e.g., when you might expect to hear from them, how/if it'd be appropriate for you to contact them if you need to, etc. Japanese Dating Sim fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Oct 28, 2014 |
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Oct 28, 2014 18:43
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evol262 posted:If you have to question whether you should be putting it on your resume, how well will questions go? Presumably, there would be an initial question about Linux ("I see here you have some experience with Linux..." etc.) where he would properly and honestly summarize his experience levels with Linux, which would forego the more in-depth questions. If someone's rattling off complex Linux troubleshooting questions for a tier-1 support position, they're more in the wrong, imo. I just think your definition of "working knowledge" varies from most people's. I'd say that I have a "working knowledge" of MS Office, but I'm not going to be able to throw together a complex Excel sheet with pivotcharts off the top off my head. I mean, you could split the difference and have something like - "Basic Linux Experience (Installation, Configuration, Day-to-day Use)" - but for me, that's my interpretation of "working knowledge."
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Oct 30, 2014 15:51
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evol262 posted:Mostly, don't misrepresent, but I think the difference between "I've used Linux as a hobbyist" and "basic Linux skills" is larger than many people realize, and telling me you have "basic Linux skills" is going to make me ask a bunch of questions you'll bomb or assume you have knowledge you don't, then you'll feel like you took a test and I'll feel like you lied to me. Thanks for posting this response, really, it's informative for me. I was ready to write a longer post about how I understood where you were coming from, but suffice it to say that I'll defer to your judgment in this case (as far as your being in a more senior in experience and knowing Linux way better than me).
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Oct 30, 2014 18:20
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Dumb question but I don't know how to Google it and am curious if anyone knows off the top of their head: net use \\server /user:domain\username - does anyone know if the password prompt that follows counts as a failed password attempt? I only ask due to the wording: "Invalid password or user name for..." etc. I'm assuming not but I don't know. I can test if I need to! Edit: To be clear, I mean that command alone, not messing up the password when it prompts you (which I know would count as a failed password attempt). Japanese Dating Sim fucked around with this message at 23:32 on Nov 5, 2014 |
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Nov 5, 2014 23:06
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Lblitzer posted:I've got about 3 lovely retail jobs, a field IT tech job and a HVAC customer service job and it's overestimating by almost 3 times what I make. And that's out of like 20 peers. I have two pretty basic certs and a little under 1.5 years of experience. It thinks I should be making almost 70k.
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Nov 7, 2014 16:47
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Race Realists posted:Just got a call from my school wanting me to come in for an interview for a part time IT job on wednesday. In theory you aren't really supposed to have any certs until you have the experience to justify them. Like, A+ is supposed to be something you earn a year's experience, Network+ is even more. In reality sure, people just learn them beforehand, but I wouldn't worry about not having anything for a part-time job. When you say "your school" - are you talking about a university? And given that it's part-time, is this a work-study/student working position? Anyway, assuming your resume wasn't filled with lies, they called you in based on where you are right now. Go in and give off an hard-working, eager-to-learn, not-horrible-at-talking-to-people vibe and you'll do fine.
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Nov 13, 2014 22:56
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This is probably IT 101, but as I'm still kinda a newbie I don't mind asking and possibly making myself look stupid. We had a couple of users - sharing a wall plate with 4 Ethernet ports - report their VoIP phones stopped working, and that they lost network connectivity on their PCs. The PCs were plugged into the phone, but when I plugged them directly into the aforementioned wall plate, they got connectivity back. So the phones are part of the problem. I then plugged the phones into ports in a different room - and they start working. So I start to suspect that the switch lost PoE. I went into another room that was using ports coming from the same switch - but the phone was working fine. So - can individual ports lose PoE but not Ethernet? Or is it probably a wiring issue more with the wall plate itself? We don't have any sort of voltmeter here to test, but it seems likely... Basically I've gone as far as I can go with the issue, and reported all of the above to the proper people, but now I'm just curious. I guess I'll find out tomorrow regardless.
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Nov 21, 2014 00:49
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Thanks Ants posted:It sounds like hosed wiring. The PCs connected directly may have worked fine because they negotiated at 100Mbps and only used two pairs. Ah, I didn't think to look at what connection speed they had. Makes sense though!
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Nov 21, 2014 00:57
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adorai posted:Did you plug the phone directly into the switch? How many other phones run off of that switch? Is it more than 24 (370/15.4)? So this ended up being the cause. We did a few office moves over the week and, while I don't know why it didn't happen right when we plugged in the one-phone-too-many, I did do what you suggested and plugged the phones directly into the switch their port was connected to. No signal. Plugged them into another switch, and they started working fine. So I just moved the cables that the wall plate was using to the other switch and all's well now. Put a ticket into networking letting them know; I don't know if they'll even want to do anything now that it's working and now that we know why it happened. Apparently no one here knew that you can only plug so many IP phones into a switch. TMYK! Edit: In retrospect I have no idea why I didn't initially post this in the ticket thread. 
Japanese Dating Sim fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Nov 21, 2014 |
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Nov 21, 2014 19:23
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Today is so dead. I work at a college and it's Fall break, so no students are here, which means no faculty, which means almost no staff. Patching my images and studying for certs at work, woo.
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Nov 24, 2014 18:58
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SHSC is rough these last couple of weeks. :/ Good look Colonial Air Force!
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Dec 3, 2014 22:05
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OwlFancier posted:I've been wondering for a while if IT would be a good place for me to work, I like computers and working on/with them, I like fixing things and helping folks out with stuff, I also like being hands-on with my work so actually going and sorting stuff out in person is nice, though I understand it won't be a possibility all the time. I was pretty much in your position about a year and a half ago. I now work in a legit IT position and the outlook is pretty good. I went ahead and got myself my A+ and Network+ certifications before ever getting a job in the industry. A lot of people here don't have a lot of respect for CompTIA certs outside of maybe Security+ - and probably rightfully so - but I needed some way to prove that I wasn't just applying to those IT positions on a lark, when I didn't have any directly applicable experience. Having those definitely helped get me the entry-level job. Also, I worked in a position where I was able to be kind of the unofficial IT guy around the office at my old job (basically fixing the most minor of issues that could be resolved without admin rights - mostly just telling people what they were doing wrong), but I did it enough such that I felt ok putting the small things I did on my resume. And finally, I took a lovely job that was a brutal, trial by fire thing. It was terrible but I got some good experience and was able to leave for something better after a few months, which is where I am now. If you're serious about getting into the industry you might have to have to settle - temporarily - for something that's not quite what you want, and may pay less than it should, to get the experience.
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Dec 10, 2014 00:21
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Drunk Orc posted:It's the school system of a pretty wealthy suburb so I'm assuming it's not too awful. I've got a 4 week unpaid break in the summer but I need the money and the IT director has some projects involving server virtualization that he wants help with during that time. I want to learn hands on with it too so that's win/win I suppose. Sounds like a sweet gig. Congrats and good luck!
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Dec 10, 2014 18:03
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In a near- event for me, I think I might be getting a spare Steelcase Leap chair at work.
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Dec 10, 2014 23:55
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Zero VGS posted:Is this like when laid-off workers all raided their failed startup companies' Herman Miller Aeron chairs back in 2000? They built a huge addition to my department, and stocked most of the offices with Leaps. Lots of people in the old wing moved over to the new wing, and some wanted to bring their crappy chairs with them for reasons unknown to me. One of the facilities guys who manages all that knew I wanted one and said he thinks he has a spare that no one wants. So... almost.
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Dec 11, 2014 00:42
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Sickening posted:So how much of a trap do you think this job would be? Sounds like a job for a Rogue.
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Dec 11, 2014 16:53
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Actually I didn't realize that was at Gearbox - I know several people who work there and have worked there, all-in-all it sounds like a very cool place to work at. One of those that isn't spewing corporate BS when it talks about being "play hard / work hard" etc. As far as that position goes, I have no idea.
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Dec 11, 2014 17:10
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 23:31 |
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Yeah, I think people might be missing in the way its worded (and I did myself, until I found the original listing) - notably:quote:
To me, you're not doing all of that, and you aren't expected to know all of the above. It's just a wide net type job listing, which yeah, can be problematic.
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Dec 11, 2014 19:18
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