Vlad Mazek – Vladville Blog | Vlad Mazek on IT, Business and Technology

Girl Power Punk Princess

Posted: 2:57 pm
September 14, 2007

Misc
3 Comments

One small step for a nail place…

One big step towards making IT less of a saussagefest.

Way to go ladies!

ExchangeDefender, Dave Sobel, AutoTask, Resends

Posted: 11:00 pm
September 13, 2007

ExchangeDefender
1 Comment

Since the ExchangeDefender 3.0 and 3.1 releases went smooth as ass on sandpaper and nails, we’ve made quite a few changes to the way its developed, tested, rolled out and managed. So, here is what I was working on today:

New Reports

Or should I say, new new reports. One of the biggest customer complaints has been the lack of the ability to suppress empty quarantines. Basically you would get a Daily and/or Intraday report but it would include all the email addresses even if they had nothing in them. If you have half a dozen email addresses it starts to look ugly, quickly.

One of my pet peeves has been the constant nagging about “customer did not receive report, investigate”

So, below is the new stuff that hopefully makes everyone happy and most importantly, makes the user more productive. First, me: the blue box you see on the right side is the stock advertising spot – as an MSP you can modify this box to say anything you want it to say. Got a yard sale – let your ExchangeDefender customers know it. By default, however, it serves a functional purpose of letting the user know that there are more messages waiting for them, in a much nicer environment that is searchable, intelligent and accessible in realtime – so no waiting for daily or intraday reports if you need something quick.

Now on to the customer complaints – “Stop telling me about SPAM I am not receiving.”

Ok, done. Both the user, the domain administrator and the MSP have the capacity to suppress quarantine reporting if those quarantines are empty. By default, we print quarantines for each email address and say if its empty – but if you change the setting you will only see the quarantines for the email addresses that actually have SPAM or SureSPAM trapped in them.

And the techies… this is going to save a lot of time:

You can now send a daily report to any managed email on your system – on demand. Gets generated within 60 seconds, out in a minute or so more. But… it gets better, scroll down.

Xdreports3

Dave Sobel Feature

Dave was one of the first people I showed the beta of ExchangeDefender v3 MSP console. When it launched, Dave took exactly 15 seconds to nuke one of his domains accidentally. I am not sure how he did it, but it was a record nonetheless and I felt like an ass.

So, we now have what is called a Dave Sobel rule in the house. It’s that of validating any irreversible action in the system with a javascript popup. This little function took 8 lines of JavaScript code and took 45 minutes to write – no, I am not kidding, it was an ugly morning. Judy finally put me out of my misery by rewriting (adding 2 parameters to the call) the whole thing and saying “Bitch, now where my pink Inspiron at?’

Finally…

And I do mean…. fiiiiiiiiiiiinally. There are gonna be some fans in the House of Vlad next week:

Yep, you’re seeing that right – thats ExchangeDefender integrated into AutoTask! You can actually get the LiveLink right now, huge thanks to Steve Noel of AutoTask for hooking this up and to Kevin Baylor for specing it and pushing to get it done.

There are some other exciting things coming and I just wanted to show you how this thing is progressing. Next week the new ExchangeDefender web site launches too, along with the new Shockey Monkey and the public beta of Thieving Weasel… Crank that shocky stick baby, code monkey is on fire!

Two to the eight to the..

Posted: 4:07 pm
September 13, 2007

Programming
Comments Off

Happy Programmers Day.

It’s 256th day of the year and I spent all day coding.

I also lost my voice and took 45 minutes to write an 8 line JavaScript… but hey, it’s just programmers day, not good programmers day. So hug your developer! At least its a day for a real profession, unlike the administrative assistant day where we take a moment to appreciate college education and count our blessings that we’re not useless in every facet of modern business life.

P.S. Last comment written to draw ire from the crowd that attacked Karl. I find it hard to believe that none of those useless people read this blog enough to slam me, after all, I’ve met some of you and… man…. 3 + 4 = ice cream if you know what I mean (courtesy: Mark S.)

The Secret to IT Happiness

Posted: 12:52 pm
September 13, 2007

Vladville
4 Comments

… is ignorance.

Really, it is. And to be frank, it took me a long time to come to terms that the cause for most pain points I saw in my career and my business was directly related to the shit I had no control over. So why in the world did I let those things bother me so much, why did I allow my day to be consumed or ruined by things that I had no chance in hell of affecting… likely at the cost of the things I actually could work on to directly improve myself, my partners, my customers, etc? Caring? Stupid? It’s too hard to call.

For example, and you can quickly scroll through more than two years of posts here:

I’ve been reporting MAPS piracy since we’ve been a Microsoft Partner, not a stitch of progress for years (until maybe a year ago). Microsoft Licensing has sucked as long as we’ve been offering it. MCSE, MCSA and MCP credentials have been allowed to dilute to the point of being worth less than the paper they were printed on. And don’t get me started on the lack of release quality, testing and not to mention the apparent non-existance of performance tuning.

And that’s just Microsoft! You don’t want to see what choice words I have for Bell South, T-Mobile, HTC, Dell, HP, DHL, US Postal Service, airlines and all the other external parties that caused me grief over the years. I had to deal with them. I did not have to let them affect the way I went about things.

For me, 2007 has been all about letting go of things that I had no chance in hell of affecting. I hope you can take the same advice and apply it yourself. You have customers and clients, right? Think about spending time with them and on them, instead of being a martyr for the greater good of mankind. Think about focusing on your craft, your business, your profession and the things you have direct control over. Let go, let go, let go of the negatives done by third parties because you can do far more good when you focus your time on what you produce.

As you lower your expecations and unrealistic notions that you can actually affect someone to the point that they will change, you will start to feel much better about the changes that actually take place. For example, I’m extatic about the fact that businesses can no longer obtain MAPS if they don’t pass a test confirming they are an IT shop. Perfect? No. But it didn’t cost me any time and its good news coming my way. It feels better than a victory and it took a lot less effort (well, none).

There is constantly this nagging discussion in the background to define who we are, take advantage of who we are to influence someone or something to act in some way, get a definitive stand on something.. in the end ending up a pointless debate leading to no decision, no action and no execution.

So whatever is pissing you off, whoever is crumbling your paper, whichever external factor you “hope, wish, need” to change.. just ignore it and take some of that time, capacity and passion and think of a way to pour it into something that you can actually point at and say “I know it ain’t perfect, but I think this makes things a lot better”

Or sit on your ass and wallow in misery about how life ain’t fair. Your call. I’d rather be happy.

Exchange 2007 “Bookmark-Me” SP1

Posted: 6:40 am
September 13, 2007

E12, Exchange
Comments Off

Over at You Had Me At EHLO, Cathy has published the updated documentation links for Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1. There is a lot of new stuff coming, and the new features address pretty much all the issues that clients have raised and will let us roll out Exchange 2007 where we previously faced resistance or felt we ought to hold off on an upgrade.

Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 Documentation

I got to spend a lot of time at TechEd with Cathy and with a few folks from the documentation team, they have really outdone themselves when it comes to documenting this product.

Waiting for Shockey Monkey – Sunday Night is Your Chance To Get It

Posted: 11:14 pm
September 12, 2007

Shockey Monkey
Comments Off

I have been remarkably busy coding away at Shockey Monkey to bring it towards its hopeful 1.0 release this fall / winter. Lot’s of new stuff, actually, too much to even blog – but it comes at a cost.

I haven’t activated a single account since beginning of August.

So, if you’ve been waiting, your account will be online by the end of next week. If you want to get to the very front of that line, however, I am holding one of my special “live activation” dealies this Sunday night so if you want your monkey sooner than later… this is the time.

You gotta have cheerleaders

Posted: 10:24 pm
September 11, 2007

Friends, IT Business, Vladville
Comments Off

Ever seen this one in the mirror:

Job description: IT entrepreneur

Required Skills and Experience:

– Strong interpersonal skills with a focus on teamwork and ability to foster / manage relationships across multiple departments.

– Self-motivated professional, self-starter, proactive and able to handle multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.

Allow me to translate that for you:

Today is going to be a bitch and you can’t be an asshole about it. People are going to put unreasonable expectations of you, you will be disrespected, belittled and forced to answer stupid questions asked by stupid people who are seemingly in more successful roles than you are. Through it all you’re expected to act as a professional, work through the day and deal with the stress, plan for the unexpected, respond to the unplanned and explain the situation to people that don’t really care. [to be continued]

Winners tend to motivate themselves. They tend to rise above the rest, meet the challenge and excel where others fail. They don’t need external parties to help them get to where they have already visualized themselves at.

Or at least thats what the bullshit motivational books say. If you’re one of the above, I envy you. Kudos.

I am one of the most driven people I know but even I have down days when things just get to me. Point is, I know my limitations. I also know that when it gets tough there is nobody that will pat me on the back, tell me it’s all going to be OK and that I should just put my panties back on and stop being such a little pussy. Tough chance of that improving now that people get the impression that I like to work naked. (google: humor)

So what to do…

Motivation

I don’t have the desktop calendar of Tony Robbins and I firmly believe in the demotivator that states: If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job. The kind robots will be doing soon.

I rely on my partners.

My partners know me, I genuinely enjoy talking to them, hanging out with them and working with them. So when I have a rough day, I can always count on a partner to pat me on the back when things are going bad, give me an ovation when things are going good and give me a friggin medal when things are going great.

I (and OWN) have been very fortunate to work with a lot of great partners. The other day I made a very tough final decision, hammer and nail in hand, to change the direction of my involvement when it comes to partners and I felt pretty rotten about what I said.

But today, I got to talk to a partner, and a friend, Tim Barrett, who took nearly an hour during his busy day to just talk to me about it. Few hours before that, Susan chatted with me for about 20 minutes. Right before I finished working for the day I got a call from one of my partners, Garrett Chipman who pretty much made my day. Dana Epp also did a lot of encouraging stuff for me today and…

… and its just nice to know that even on tough days, even in a professional setting and a professional environment you are lucky if you have friends that pick you up, kick you in the ass, and push you along the way. You’re not going to make it as entrepreneur if you can’t constantly motivate and challenge yourself, but having friends that can back you up and inspire you when you need it is more than I could have asked for.

In the end, this is why I write this blog and why we run Own Web Now the way we do. I try to do a lot of good and honest stuff (even if its not pleasant to hear) for my partners and while the AMEX is thanks enough, I am always blown away when they back me up the way they do. People ask me how I manage to do so much in a day – so now you know the secret – I have thousands of cheerleaders.

Need help with Exchange!

Posted: 12:10 pm
September 11, 2007

Exchange
1 Comment

Ever find yourself saying that? I’ve gotten quite a few questions now that I’ve resumed my tech writing and apparently there are a lot of you that realize you might have been sitting on some pretty poorly configured and managed systems. But how do you get help?

Let me first make it clear that I do not do non-enterprise Exchange consulting, so unless you’re on the Fortune 500 list, I can’t help you. Articles and posts you read here are absolutely as-is and I’m sharing them with you in hope that you learn something and get more of a handle on your IT. You’re not required to buy ExchangeDefender, though that would be very nice, but I will always link it when I talk about perimeter security because thats something I know in-depth and can speak about with a high degree of authority.

So how do you get help? Say it with me:

M i c r o s o f t T e c h N e t

URL is a little difficult to remember but if you Google for “exchange newsgroups” it will always be the first result.

So if you ever have a question about any of my current/past/future posts about Unified Communications (Mobility, Messaging, VoIP, Presence) this is the place to go.

Sprints new lineup of Windows Mobile?

Posted: 8:46 am
September 11, 2007

Exchange
Comments Off

Thomas Ricker of Engadget writes abut the new lineup of Windows Mobile phones from Sprint.

Sprint_lovin03

Worth a look, esp with Exchange 2007 picking up more and more deployments as of late. WM6 just doesn’t do itself justice without the proper backend. More at Engadget.

Exchange 2003 Mailbombs slowing you down?

Posted: 12:42 am
September 11, 2007

Exchange
Comments Off

The other day I wrote an article on why you should consider limiting the session concurrency to RFC established standards if you don’t have decent perimeter security. Your really should get something, but there is quite a bit you can do yourself to help deal with mailbombs.

Mailbombs, you say? Yes, mailbombs. Kind of like how you spec’ed that server for 10 employees and never considered it would have to one day deal with 10,000 messages an hour? Well, it’s happening. The more systems get owned, the more computers get compromised, the larger the broadcast storms become. And yes, you get to hear it first because I run one of the largest mail networks in the world, but don’t think for a minute that these threats aren’t coming down to you. Over the past week I have been hearing from one partner after another that has his or hers appliance on its knees. Why? The volume is explosive.

And even without perimeter security, there is something you can do with Exchange 2003 alone. Let’s look at some Default bafoonery:

Exchange2003vsp

Yes, those are Exchange 2003 default settings. The two of particular interest are the limits for the number of messages per connection and number of recipients per message. You can just look at those limits for a second and note their absurdity – 64000 recipients per message?

Exchange2003vsp1

Another area of interest is the checkbox next to “Perform reverse DNS lookup on incoming messages” – some folks had a bright idea to use this as an antispam measure. Please do not. If you’re being mailbombed the last thing you want to do is reduce your mail flow to a crawl while you run a DNS query for each incoming connection.

Finally, the least likely option to appeal to you: disable IMF. IMF bayesian (SmartScreen) technology is very expensive when it comes to resources and can easilly exhaust your systems resources during the high load averages – so turn it off and let the workstations deal with the issue. Unless you are rejecting fairly low scores, having IMF around during mailbombs will not help you. Don’t think IMF is killing your box? Get some stats:

Imfv2

You can get performance counters. Two of particularly interesting ones are “MSExchange Intelligent Message Filter \ Total Messages Scanned for UCE” and “MSExchangeMTA Connections \ Inbound Messages Total” which given a little bit of time and resources will show you when you are experiencing spikes and whether you’re truely experiencing a problem to begin with.

Obviously, it is fairly difficult to tell if you have an anomaly if you don’t know what your baseline (“known standard metric” or “business as usual”) numbers are so its important to actually manage your servers. Those tasks, and the above settings and defaults explained in detail is of course a subject for a lengthy article…. but if you’re getting swamped right now this ought to help you out just a little bit while you weather the storm.

Vlad Mazek – Vladville Blog