brianj ✭✭✭✭✭

I have not heard of Infrastructure as Code before, but anything that increases needed documentation is a good thing in my book. I'm sure we've all discovered those undocumented hacks that make no sense, removed one, and discovered the hard way why that hack was in a configuration.

I wanted to let you know that I didn't get points for anything else so the issue goes beyond the monthly mission.

The best way to consider the knowledge base of your technical staff is to get their input before making purchase decisions. I'm probably not the only tech here who wishes management would do this.

One day I would love to work at a company where the executives in charge of budgeting take security seriously BEFORE a breach.

This seems appropriate to the conversation.

Dubai outside late Januray or early February? That's a special kind of misery.

We always face the same problem that is destroying Boeing. A bunch of bean counters who don't understand what we do, and don't particularly care, think their numbers are more important than our providing what they need. Hopefully measuring and benchmarking will improve our argument that servers don't last forever.

I still don't feel confident in the security of proprietary data stored on Someone Else's Computer so I am reluctant to store valuable information outside my environment. This doesn't apply to backed-up data, which I encrypt before uploading, but is still a significant issue to contemplate before moving to an off-premises…

Will it have a "find my sandwich" function? I know that jerk Bob in Accounting keeps stealing them but I don't have proof.

My workplace doesn't have a foosball table and your workplace appears to already have a Solarwinds tech. Bummer for me.

Here's my dream: Eliminate the policy of a new password every 30 to 90 days that is so complex everybody keeps it on a Post-It next to their monitor. Replace it with a policy allowing easily memorized passwords and another policy of three failed login attempts and you're locked out for five minutes, six failed attempts and…

Scott, that's one of the best comments I have seen in Thwack. Thanks for your input!

Suing GitHub is just someone hoping they have deep pockets. When you want to sue, look for any potential defendant that may have money then sue for so much that it's in their best interests to settle. And attorneys wonder why people don't like them.

I trust Google All hail Google We have always been at war with Eastasia

This is useful for all of us, not just DoD workers.

Is it just me or do others inflate requirements, anticipating resource-intensive upgrades and users putting more load on systems than anticipated? Yes, I know that cloud environments can quickly and easily be stepped up when needed, but old habits die hard.

Microsoft has been wrong many times, just as any other big business is regularly wrong. I remember hearing individual Microsoft employees say the company screwed up by not appreciating the rise of the internet in the '90s, but don't recall any Microsoft leaders saying they or the company was wrong. Therefore I find it…

My office set up desks in each department that are not assigned, then encouraged us to go work from other departments so we can get to know the people there, see what they do, and let them get to know us. These workstations also accommodate visitors from other offices so there's a decent business reason to have them. Not…

I have never understood criticisms like the one about the cost of the 2028 Olympics. 1) The Olympic Organizing Committee spends $6.9 billion to put on the games. 2) Ticket sales, broadcast rights, licensing, and other revenue streams make up that $6.9 billion so it doesn't cost taxpayers anything to host the games. 3) Lots…

"Should a user be granted the same level of access regardless of their point of access?" This is where the soft skills mentioned last week come in handy. I'm probably not the only one who has had the experience of a non-technical manager thinking they should have administrative rights to servers.

Batteries can be removed from rack mounted UPSes. Remove the batteries from the UPS BEFORE you try mounting it into a rack! You'll save knee pains later in life!

Of course this data mining provides wonderful opportunities for abuse by people who think Orwell's Ninteen Eight-Four is a how-to manual instead of a dystopian warning. Then again, with so many businesses doing the same thing, government is just getting in on the act.

"Sales of data center hardware has to be falling with the ever-growing adoption of public cloud, right?" Maybe I'm not clear on how the public cloud works, but my understanding is that it's a bunch of data centers so data storage and processing are distributed. If so, I would expect growing adoption of cloud computing to…

The more time that passes since the admission scandal, and the more we learn about it, the more shocked I am that Hollywood people are clueless enough to think that whatever they do must be above board by virtue of their doing it.

Getting rid of outdated equipment or software and keeping everything up to date are two of the most important steps any of us can take. Unfortunately most of us are constrained by budgets and management to the point where we can't replace old hardware that is no longer supported and has known security issues. And even when…

I haven't seen anything about applying Lean to network administration before. I would love to see some real-world examples of projects implemented using this methodology.

The idea of onboarding new staff one OSI layer at a time is brilliant! I am going to try this the next chance I get!

My productivity was almost zero last Wednesday as I watched launch prep then scrub efforts. Saturday was thrilling! Really notable for how typical it was of any other SpaceX launch.

Some politicians want to charge a "use tax" instead of a gas tax for road maintenance, using the excuse that it's unfair people with gas guzzlers pay a lot while people with hybrids and electric vehicles pay little to nothing. Of course, in order ot charge a use tax they would need to monitor the location of vehicles at…

I wonder how big the HIPAA fine will be for the database. Regarding Nashville, I'll bet the mayor just doesn't like the scooters and was looking for an excuse to ban them.