petergwilson · Monitoring Specialist · ✭✭✭✭✭

Don't wish for GDPR. Some things are best avoided (From someone having to deal with GDPR).

Most hotels aren't even experts in offering hotel services. I certainly wouldn't expect them to be IT savvy. 

I'm all for replacing lawyers given how many mistakes that have been reported in recent times. It would make courtroom dramas on telly a bit less interesting though.

I think management's problem is that they don't really know where they need things to be in three years. Most places I've seen seem to just drift along whilst implementing whatever sticking plaster solution will stop the business screaming at them. Some of that is down to a poor level of understanding between the business…

Dealing with the insider threat. I agree that a layered defence is best but management don't. I'm only the paid expert so what would I know. Here I complained about how we weren't doing network monitoring properly. Management's response wasn't to agree and ask me how to improve it. No. They took away network monitoring…

Well that IS annoying

Agree. Tech is inevitable. Management don't understand how to do something so they go out and buy something to help them. Unfortunately it is usually the wrong thing as they didn't actually ask anyone who would know and then just told those people to 'make it work'. My place have spent £250,000 on some software that won't…

I think there's a lot of people in the same boat. I'm sure the good folks at SW will sort this out. 

Yes you should use a layered monitoring solution but ICMP Ping should always be the first layer. I know I want to know that a server has gone down or become unavailable. After that I want alerts on disk space, CPU, memory etc. Then I want application metrics alerts. Event logs would come after that.

Not just wireless that needs to be secured. The devices also need some security. I was in hospital on a morphine drip after a serious motorcycle accident. I watched the nurse enter a password, set it to allow 5 'on demand' doses per hour and re-lock it. As soon as she left I used the password to unlock it, adjusted it to…

Good stuff. One of the problems we have is that some of the "technical" people aren't good enough to do root cause analysis (and we have no proper tools). They just jump at the first thing they see and blame that. I then have to take hours (sometimes days) to convince people that my correct analysis is actually correct.…

I don't know any company that would transfer money on the basis of a phone call. There would be processes and procedures in place to stop any form of rapid payment. It all helps cashflow and gives extra interest payments (and is morally wrong but most companies do it).

Of course Microsoft has made GitHub free. Once people really start to depend on it just watch them hike the price. A bit like Office365 and Azure. It's now a loss leader but won't always be.

Possibly but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

A lot of people focus on a complete disaster and the need to recover everything. I prefer to look at each individual system and plan to recover that. Take care of the small problems and the big problems will take care of themselves. We have SLAs, we just ignore them as there are no repercussions.

Must have a look to see if they are available in the UK. If not I can think of a giveaway for the next London SWUG.

Yes. Cloud makes the server side cheaper but harder to manage. However it does increase the network costs as you will need multiple routes to the data which are outside of your control. Changes are more difficult to manage and data security is partially taken out of your control (yet is still your responsibility according…

Turning off car engines remotely. Two apps made in China. Poor security. Where have I heard this before. Huwaei all over again.

Yes. Putting your eggs in someone else's basket where you have no real protection against them even allowing you access to the basket and they may just drop the basket and break the eggs. Imagine trying to take them on in court.

@"undesired_result" Wind your neck in. You were trying to be funny and failed miserably. You were factually incorrect and now your are making wild and irrelevant statements. My point was that I didn't know IF a mission was going to be run, NOT when. Yes. I did find it by accident as I was looking for something else…

In our place it feels like we are the Dungeon Masters but management won't let us see the playbooks. We still have to keep the servers safe from the rampaging orcs (users) but have to make it up as we go along. Used to play D&D at University. Some sessions would last a couple of days (with many beers and takeaway food).…

Jack Links don't sell the Breakfast Bacon in the UK but I have just finished a load of the Biltong that I bought at the Great British Beer Festival a few weeks ago. Nice stuff.

London SWUG is always good. Great to meet the nutters that make up the team. Food is always good too.

Unfortunately the answer to this question doesn't always fit in with corporate policy. We wouldn't assign a loaner PC first as management have said no. They would have to log a ticket with the helpdesk then wait for a site visit by a desktop person to investigate the issue. Third line would be dragged in if necessary. They…

Yep, many vendors have gone this route. Guess what. It's more expensive to us poor customers and we don't really see any benefits. It's just harder to manage.

So is WPM included or excluded. The hint still says both and I've had a really tough day.

The problem is that there are very few good managers. Most are clueless and have no idea of who knows what and who is doing what. I used to be constantly being told to stop working on one thing and to concentrate on another. I then get berated for not finishing the first thing fast enough. I now just ignore them and do…

Nothing wrong with Space 1999. Probably one of the best sci fi shows ever. I'm currently watching a re-run of the original Battlestar Galactica (probably the coolest space warship ever) and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century has Col. Wilma Deering. Need I say any more. Now, if you want strange try Sapphire and Steel.

Try a three fingered salute on a Linux box. Instant reboot, no "Are you sure". We have one guy who keeps forgetting. Problem is, he keeps doing it on the phone system.

If the NASA food thing isn't a late April Fool joke then it is huge. CO2 capture is seen as really important in the fight against global warming (climate change), where do we store what we capture and parts of the world don't have enough food. Seems like a WIN,WIN, WIN situation. If it is true and can be mass produced then…