Last night was our monthly meeting for Orlando ITPRO and it was the first one in quite some time. We had a few hours of just plain conversations about a local data center that recently had a network down status for over 12 hours and the importance of limited SLAs when things go wildly out of your own control.

For my part I was talking about our network management for unmanaged servers. Say that five times fast. There are many networks and customers that do business with us where we are not the managed services provider (company too large, privacy issues, IT policies prohibiting external access) so things like logmein and VNC are out of question. So what tools do we use to both assure staff has no access to the passwords and critical authentication data but also that we keep our level of integrity when it comes to accessing remote systems?

TechSmith Jeng - Screen video capture to save sessions and store both for compliance and legal purposes but also send to the client for training purposes.

code4ward Royal TS - Royal TS is a consolidated remote desktop tool, looks and feels a lot like Microsoft SCVMM for virtual machines, except for managing multiple remote desktop sessions.

Accountability and flexibility… for free.

Is it just me or has the age of RTFM, labs and testing passed away? This is perhaps one of the areas myself and another very well respected leader in the SMB IT space (not Susan) disagree the most - I feel that feeding morons little bite sized portions of clue is actually a disservice to them, to their customers and everyone unfortunately impacted by the fool who has only gotten his skills to being able to lie about their competence enough to sell themselves in a situation where they will irreparably destroy someone’s IT infrastructure.

But then I look at the types of conversations I have throughout the day and I just shake my head in shame:

Vlad Mazek:
yes? 
____:
So how do we roll out Exchange 2007 on Windows 2008?
Vlad Mazek:
We don’t, it’s not supported. Need SP1.
____:
We don’t have media for that, where do I get it?
Vlad Mazek:
Free from microsoft.com/exchange
____:
They only have evals.
Vlad Mazek:
Download standalone SP1, not eval. Our SPLA key will work on it.
____:
Ok, fails right away. I have all the pre req’s out the way.
Vlad Mazek:
Doubt that, even RSAT? via servermanagercmd?
____:
What?
Vlad Mazek:
servermanagercmd -i RSAT-ADDS
____:
Thanks!
____:
Ok, now it’s saying Service “MSExchangeTransport” failed to reach status “Running” on this server.
Vlad Mazek:
Networking… forgot enable IPv6?
____:
This is starting to reflect poorly on me
Vlad Mazek:
In so many ways
____:
You need to blog more of this stuff!!!

Now, granted, I don’t expect anyone to be able to recall these details about deployment, requirements or gotchas on demand. I just happen to be a UC freak. But for the love of god, if this is your job strap yourself into the damn chair and start friggin reading. Exchange 2007 is about the simplest rollout/configuration experience it has ever been in the entire history of the product, the documentation is the best it’s ever been.. and if you can’t use Google to connect the dots then it’s time to look for a new career.

I can respect that this may be a little too tough to swallow for people in the SMB IT field, fine enough you just want to be a technology business consultant. Well, kiss that six figure salary goodbye because “business consulting” in my book is what CDW phone reps do and thats worth $35K a year plus commissions.

I can also respect people who want a broad technology focus and don’t want to mess with the intricate details of a particular solution. That is fine too, prepare to cut a check to Microsoft when you hit a wall and prepare to sit with a bucket of Indians until they rescue you for $250.

But what I can’t respect is trying to sit on multiple chairs all while blaming others for your inability to do the work you are hired to do. It’s not Microsoft’s fault that you can’t keep up with the product you’re supporting, it’s not Microsoft’s fault you aren’t reading the documentation, it’s not Microsoft’s fault that the pile of idiots at the gate has climbed through the sky so they have to convert third world countries into script readers for technically challenged, it’s not Microsoft’s fault that the software doesn’t autoprovision itself while you sit back and munch on a hot pocket.

At some point you have to come to terms with the fact that while this stuff appears to be easy on the surface, the reason you aren’t working for Geek Squad is that you’re expected to actually understand the technology and capable of fixing it. If you just want to bitch, point fingers, blame PSS, blame docs and blame Vladville perhaps you need to get used to wearing a white shirt with a skinny black tie because GeekSquad is about the only place you’re qualified for.

—

On a side note, this is indicative of the greater SMB segment and the reason it’s ultimately going to be decimated by Microsoft and Dell. Guys whose job it is to make sure these solutions run smoothly go to their customers and tell them its all someone elses fault, then tell Microsoft to fix it. Microsoft fixes it, Dell pushes it, people put process and marketing on the table for the customer and then everyone bitches again about how they are being competed with and run out of business.

What did you expect them to do, fix it all and hide it so you can do nothing while raising your fees because you’re on advisory councils explaining to the companies how to faster obsolete you?  

Come on! Grow some balls and take some pride in what you do.

Damn CPA’s getting pwn3d all over the place. For the billionth time, when working with someone in the Accounting industry remind them:

“password” is not a good password. It doesn’t matter that you have an antivirus installed.

Now back to the grave dancing thing I do so well Poor Susan, serves her right for shipping me a flaming piss yellow hard drive.

It’s so scary when I’m in a good mood. It’s Friday, had like 8 support requests all day, our container just landed in Australia and the one for UK goes online Tuesday. ’tis good to be the king.

For quite some time we in the IT industry have enjoyed a great reputation as problem solvers, designers, creators, architects of peoples IT dreams, if you will. It’s not an easy job, it’s not a low skills job and you get to work around some very smart people.

That backfires horribly when you do something wrong because your coworkers will stand over your shoulder and make fun of you as you try to figure out if your boss was joking about you being fired if the email isn’t back in 10 minutes.

Ah, the joy of work in IT. Earlier today I got an IM telling me that our corporate email was down. One of the tasks for the week was to have Office Communications Server 2007 up and running. Yup, you’ve guessed it, they got bit by the Howard problem!

Now, its easy to point at people and make fun after the issue has been addressed. But seriously, at which point do you just break out the beatdown machine and let it loose on the people that have been responsible for hundreds of Exchange 2007 64bit boxes for well over a year? Even if I forgive that, at which point would it have been obvious that rolling out OCS on a 64bit server was going to fail? Would it have been during the documentation which should have been read? How about the lab deployment before going into production?

Still a no? How about some common damn sense, if you’re about to try to install a 32bit package and it prompts you for web components you should KNOW it’s about to roll up ASP.NET 32bit assemblies into IIS and blow it sky high.

The ultimate bringdown? How was the problem solved? Googled and found the Vladville blog post. Ooooooooffff. First, till the day I die or all these folks move on I get to hold it over their heads that “without me this global ISP won’t even be able to check email” and of course there is now a mandatory tshirt printing “I fail so hard at life that I use Vladville as a technical resource.”

Let the shaming begin..

Speaking of shaming, OCS 2007. Very cool, I’m a pretty big fan to be honest and they have even brought it down into the SMB land now, you can get a server license for about $600. And as impressive as that may sound, as I mentioned to Handy Andy earlier tonight, it doesn’t quite hold a candle to Messenger:

“its like taking what you and I are chatting on right now, throwing it into stone age, and asking for $10k in licensing and 3 dedicated servers.”

Got the little Communicator on my desk right now. It’s no MSN Messenger but comes close and beats MSN in the enterprise integration parts.

Mark says: “ODG, was Vlad actually right?”

Now Mark is a pretty smart guy but I get the “I hate it when you’re right” speach every other day from people that deal with me (as opposed to “OMG, you’re not a total ass I imagined!” that I get every day). It really pains me when you look at some of my posts and make it out like I was the first one to call the date of Christ’s return.

This stuff was apparent and obvious to everyone in this sector a long time ago. Yet, when I wrote that post I got slammed as I usually do. So let’s rewind:

Google emerges among Microsoft’s inability to dominate the Internet through its closed software and closed standards. Majority adopts open source and open standards, Google gives everything away for free and just drops a few ads on the side that nobody seems to mind. Google becomes a dominant force in the fight for Internet eyeballs, starts moving the software it beta tests on the consumers into universities and into companies. It starts building its suite off easy to use products while Microsoft suffers embarrasing product releases, support, pricing schemes and PR problems. Everyone except the privacy advocates love Google, hating Microsoft turns into a dominant smartphone, major switch PR campaign and disenfranchised partner ecosystem that sees a sunset to its business process as everyone enters the fight for the SMB customer.

And then that sound of inevidability, that nobody likes to believe is very loud for everyone to hear: Big companies like working with big companies.

You see companies hedging their bets and teaming up with one another for the be all end all goal of owning the largest piece of the audience – with it, their entertainment dollars, business dollars, service dollars, ecommerce dollars and so on. The race is on, current business models are changing at the top and that is something to pay attention to.

Yet, my dear peers beat me up when I said everyone needs to go to attend WWPC if they want to be at the front of the pack. Everyone discounts the posts about Google when the conversation about SMB is taking place. Everyone laughs when I talk about Microsoft..

Yet, Karl and I sat there at WWPC during Steve Ballmers keynote and watched him outline a 3 year plan to replace the only advantage IT solution providers in SMB sector currently have: direct access to the customer.

What’s your move? More importantly, who is yo daddy?

Update: I feel compelled to admit that I left one thing out:

This move does not make Microsoft the devil, they happen to be the victim in the current arrangement. Yes, even with 30 billion a quarter, their future looks grim. Their online services division loses a billion a year and they have made far too many enemies in every segment and every industry and each day makes them look worse while Google and Apple can seem to do no wrong. Microsoft is given 0 benefit of the doubt, while Leopard has worse troubles than Vista ever had, iPhone is more closed than anything Microsoft ever put together and guess who is the saint and who is the devil in that equation.

People are speculating that Microsoft needs to buy Yahoo to stay relevant in the Web 2.0 race. They are investing in Facebook. They are trying to do everything they can to remain on top and keep their investors sitting on their hands. If you invested in Google a year ago, your money would have doubled. If you did the same for Apple, your money would have tripled. Microsoft, you’d be lucky to cover the trade comission.

Microsoft has no friends. It has no loyal friends either - Dell is selling Linux and Solaris, Intel is powering their main competitors…. and in turn, as an organization it must do what it has to in order to grow, prosper and keep people from pulling their money out of Nasdaq: MSFT.

In the grand scheme of things, Microsoft just got a huge friend in Comcast and hedged its bets against its competitors in Google.

It’s a great day for Microsoft.

Sucks if you’re their partner that just saw the Software+Services replace your competitive advantage.

-Vlad

The joys of owning a business and the coolest thing your employees can ever say to you (boldfaced):

“Subject: RE: Update on project Demotivated Shepherd“ 

I know its DFWVF but here is the situation..

Everything works.. (functionally speaking unless you get creative)

We could use a day or two more.. Any chance we can hold off the announcements till Monday? We’ll work for free through the weekend to make it work perfectly.”

Now… The flight from SNA to DFW on the 5th is less than $400. And below is his message to you:

“Third prize is a Microsoft shirt. You can’t meet deadlines so perhaps there is another company you can work at and be unaccountable to its partners. You can’t meet deadlines for ****, you are ****, take a left on I35 and right on 114 and go ruin someone elses company!!!”

-Erick Simpson, November 5th, 2007.

Ok, all joke aside, I am incredibly proud of what we’ve been able to do in the space of just two weeks and I know all of you watching this very public progress report over the last couple of days can appreciate the amount of effort we have all gone through to fix the problems you have identified. I too have lost some sleep and have been working like a maniac to do my end of this bargain, and while we have scaled down some of the ambitions we had, the items being delivered right now will make a material impact in your business if you work with us. Everything that I’ve promised is being tested and brought to perfection, just because we couldn’t get everything we planned for a few months done in two weeks doesn’t mean that what we are bringing is going to be halfassed. This certainly won’t cover all the problems, but its a great start and I really appreciate all of you that have sent me in the stuff that must have been very hard to write because it helped me explain the urgency and justify what why and what is happening. I truly appreciate it and I thank you for your business.

So, applied a SharePoint 3.0 patch that broke your SharePoint services? Well, that happened to us. All our SharePoint 3.0 sites started giving out 404 errors.

Here is my new article on how to fix it. Hope you like it.

Ok, so this is going to sound a little sick but I’ve been going down to the mail office every day for the past few days just waiting for Scorpion Software AuthAnvil tokens to show up. Dana and I talked about ShockeyMonkey supporting 2FA and have some joint customers but I never really bothered to ask what it actually costs.. You know the RSA rule – “If you have to ask, you can’t afford it”

So yeah, I was dead wrong. 2FA stuff that Dana sells is ridiculously affordable and for the past few days I have been going back and forth waiting on this thing to arrive. On each drive back home I would think of a different way to implement it with what we do and share with my partners.

Therein lies my apparent disappearance over the past two weeks. I have been so busy working on the reporting and data generation scripts for ExchangeDefender and Offsite Backups. As ExchangeDefender pretty much became a defacto MSP solution for SPAM filtering and business continuity (not just archiving, archiving with ability to correspond while systems are down) the MSPs have flocked to it like nobody’s business. Thank you, thank you for all your money. But, it’s not that easy. MSPs tend to ask a lot more (and a lot more detailed) questions than your average corporate user. So, for the past two weeks I’ve been coding the mind-numbingly meaningless number displays that are of no significance to anyone other than the sales guy trying to justify the cost of ExchangeDefender to the customer that is somehow shocked that the SPAM problem is so bad – why did you sign up for it in the first place genius?

So instead of doing productive development of training materials and explaining how to write new code, I spent the morning coding the automatic RBL removal request systems for people that get nabbed by ExchangeDefender for excessively spamming our customers.

Later today, more reporting work… There are days on which I really hate programming..

So, another hope that Canadian Mounties have made it through the mountains and mountains of slow, over the igloos and through the icebergs (my stereotypical impression of Canada) to hand the package off to US Postal Service which will of course kick it all the way from Seattle to Orlando (the realistic impression of how US Postal Service “handles” packages).

Come on…. give me something useful to code! I am tired of writing stats, reports and manuals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To this day, Vladville receives most traffic to the technical articles I have written in the past (for the most part in the long, long ago past) and I had to curb it because people would stumble upon them and in desperation tried to contact me to see if I could save them. I can’t blame them, but I can’t help the amount of volume that comes through either.

The other day I posted a really quick series of screenshots on how to setup IP restrictions on Exchange 2003 / SBS 2003 so that your Exchange server will only accept connections coming from my ExchangeDefender network. In three days the corp blog has received more traffic than it has received since it was launched. Cummulatively. That means all the visitors from day 1 to about Wednesday were outnumbered by the visits to the last post in just a few days. That scares me. 

And I don’t mean to sound arrogant or go all guru on you, but holly crap, if that basic of a tip is helpful you need to hold on to your keyboard very firmly and pull with all your might, pull Betsy, till it breaks both the keyboard and the socket off the motherboard and sends you flying off your chair into the nearest wall. Then at least you can blame the server malfunction for the Exchange exploding in such a phenomenal way. In a slightly less graphic way, Exchange administration, while not beyond the means of intelligent people, does require some basic training and knowledge – and learning should never take place in realtime on a production server following the directions you found on “some blog” written by “some guy”.

Please.. please seek professional help.

Got an email overnight as the resident PowerShell guru (I guess night shift has no Google access?) about a server of ours that keeps on expiring passwords even though neither the domain nor the domain controller nor any aspect of the system has a password expiration policy in place.

Turns out there is a very cool PowerShell cmdlet collection by Specops Software that allows for password policy management. Check it out.