_stump · infrastructure engineer

I ended up going to What's New | Virtualization Manager | SolarWinds to find the answers. The video certainly didn't make it clear to me, either.

There's certainly more to SecOps that sharing databases. I mentioned that as an example of the type of collaboration you need to cultivate in order to get your shop on-board with SecOps. Perhaps a bigger impact of this approach is the "baked-in vs. sprinkled-on" metaphor. When security and operations work closely together,…

I didn't know AWS had any issues until today. Guess I'm not consuming as many cloud services as I thought.

Completely agree with you; staying engaged in the community is the best way to learn. You'll find many local events that are typically free to attend, too. Lots of opportunities to meet with the people you interact with online. And if you're really into this InfoSec thing, check into the many local events (this is…

For the record, everyone should try installing FreeBSD. And fvwm if you want to know what insanity feels like. Self-service password management ended up saving a TON of the help desk's time here. Most of the calls were password-related anyway. So they deployed a solution to automate those requests. And it'd be silly not to…

You can lower costs by being selective in your monitoring. It's a cost-benefit exercise. But it requires that you thoroughly understand the risks involved before making a decision. Your CFO might recoil at the cost of security, but your CIO will understand to cost of insufficient security.

Single skill-set refers to the traditional silos in IT: storage, server, and network. Maybe a better way to ask the question would be, "If you were to focus exclusively on network, server, or storage, would you have the skills needed to be employable?" I'm looking for your opinion on the hybrid engineer idea. Think I'm…

Sounds like you've got a cautionary tale to share...

It was great to see so many SolarWinds people in San Francisco last week! I especially enjoyed catching up with Patrick Hubbard at one of the espresso sessions, and of source the presentation at TFDx was excellent. As that bobblehead.... let's just say it's a source of constant amusement at home.

So wait... was there a problem? Even if it wasn't a network issue, or a network issue that would have been measured in Orion NPM, surely there was some other reason for the user's performance issues. I can tell you from personal experience that nothing makes me more insane, as a customer, as when I'm experiencing a problem…

I think the end state is the cloud does the work, AI obsoletes the need for us, and the people hope it works out in their favor.

Thanks Danielle!

Good point!

p2v of a mssql server is terrifying. this might be a good time to build a new VM from scratch, size it correctly, and migrate your database using the built-in migration tools in MSSQL Server Management Studio. Depending on the size of your database, this might be faster than restoring from tape. That's doubly true if…

+1. I hear from CIOs all the time that they'd love to invest money into good projects, but the technologists aren't presenting a good business case. Yeah, vSphere 5.5 is pretty sweet from a geek's point of view. But why should the CIO spend money on upgrading to 5.5 because it's cool? Where's the benefit to the…

The first tool wins every contest because who has the time to scroll down?

omg please do this kthxbai

Wait, people still use Facebook? Looks like I'm getting 1500 this time around.

The ubiquity of tools like tracert (which would include ping, netstat, even nmap usually) mean they'll always have a place in IT. And you don't need a whole application platform just to see how packets get from here to there. Yes, that's a gross oversimplification of NetPath. And yes, sometimes telling a network engineer…

"getting off the grid altogether" I'd like to Like, RT, or +1, or whatever, but I am almost off the grid save for LinkedIn and thwack, so I'll just give you 5 stars and move on. Happy New Year!

Interesting. Thanks for pointing that out to me!

Without giving too much away, this is along the lines of next week's post: hybrid engineers. Can anyone survive in today's IT environment with stove-piped skillsets? Can you be an effective network engineer if you're completely unfamiliar with server, storage, and virtualization concepts and practices? What's that saying…

Totally agree. Bringing data redirects attention away from people. RCAs shouldn't be a time to attack your organizational rivals.

Did I win yet?

Now I need to learn more about Patch Manager. Thanks a lot!

Also, I'm curious to see exactly what the "gamification console" is... I think it'd be like looking at the Matrix.

I like the IPAM that comes with the Engineers Toolset. Been using it for years. Thought lately I've been learning about Infoblox, and I dig their approach as an alternative to ping sweeping ALL THE THINGS! The most common problem with anyone's IPAM is reachability. On a network that wasn't well-planned and implemented,…

At some point, we’ll view digital storage the way we view natural resources today. Some of us will want to preserve it for future generations, and others will want to consume it all for themselves. Unless we start sending our stored data into space, we’ll simply run out of disk on earth.

For financial security, I think the Apple Pay approach is worth pursuing. We've learned by now that criminals don't need to steal your wallet in order to steal your credit card. Just last week, my wife's credit card company called to ask about some out-of-state transactions on her card, although she (and her card) were…

"...this is a manual process..." Sounds like an opportunity to automate!