I used to do three monitors a couple gigs ago where they let me spend money. I had my two flat panels in front of me with whatever I was working on, and then off in my peripheral vision I had a CRT which had the monitoring system on it. It was great - I could pull stats or problems off on monitor three or track a problem lifecycle there and keep working on whatever the flavor of the hour was. Someone called that their printer didn't work I could tell them from the snmp status that they'd find adding paper to that tray helpful in two seconds and be back on task when I hung up.
Thanks,
Brian Desmond
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
c - 312.731.3132
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of joe
Sent: Wed 1/25/2006 9:08 PM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Gauging AD experience
Yep the equipment comes in handy. I gave most of my machines to a couple of my brothers once the virtualization software really became stable. They thought they hit the jackpot.
I always try to maintain 1600x1200 or better, even on laptops with smaller screens.
On the touching the screen thing, I can't do it. Fingerprints on a monitor
really irritate me. I wore contact lenses for years because I couldn't stand
glasses because they got smudges on them. When I was told I was destroying my
eyes from wearing contacts for 20+ years I went and got Lasik because I still
was unhappy about smudged glasses. I have little monitor cleaning pads in my
top right drawer. When I maintain an office and had people coming in and out
someone would always inevitably touch my screen to point at something to help
me find it. Right after they my cube I usually would pull out the windex and
paper towels. :o)
To bring this back around to tech... I love dual monitors, I don't know how I
get anything done without them especially when working on documentation. It is
easily worth the cost of a second monitor to set it up in terms of the
productivity gains, at least I feel that is so. I was talking to ~Eric once and
he was telling me he was using 3 monitors on a single system. That rocks.
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rich Milburn
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 9:16 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Gauging AD experience
That's funny - and no wonder you do so much from home. Hard to script or code
without a lot of real estate....
I often start touching my laptop screen after using a PDA or touchscreen terminal for a while. All laptop screens should be touchscreen. Flat panels too, for that matter. I digress...
My main monitor is a 21" CRT because we don't have flat panels that big, and I
always run it at 1600x1200. Same at home, but I do have a Dell 20" FP at home, as
well - but it only does 1200x1024 - what's the point?? :-)
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of joe
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 11:00 PM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Gauging AD experience
My main desk that I was talking about has an XP home built P4 machine with 2x
21" Dell 2001FP Flat Panel monitors and I usually have either my HP NC6000 work
laptop or HP DVR8000Z on the desk next to the monitor and keyboards (right now it is
the DV8000Z running a memory exerciser). My biggest complaint is that when I am
working on the PC doing something on the right monitor and I look at the laptop on
the far right I move the mouse from the right screen and hit the edge of the left
screen and get confused for a second when it doesn't make it to the laptop screen.
Other than that there is quite a bit of other hardware spread around the house
with 3 machines running ~1000GB of disk each (thanks to low disk prices at
Sam's club).
Electric bill usually runs about $130 a month. The Den has all heater vents blocked and stays quite warm all by itself.
joe
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rich Milburn
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 10:24 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Gauging AD experience
Ok I gotta ask, Joe you said monitors plural... how many computers and monitors do you guys have in your desk? I can't imagine that I win... I certainly don't have any 100+ VMs like I saw Joe mention... but I'll start... I have 6 computers, 1 laptop, and one touchscreen POS terminal, in my office and running right now. 2 of those have VMs, and so does the laptop but it's tied up for 3 or 4 hours running longhorn server setup so I can try again now I know there is a wireless add on component hidden somewhere... I have 4 monitors plus the laptop and touchscreen. And I have one other POS terminal and 2 other PCs on standby. This doesn't count the lab.
I'll bet that, regardless of some of the looks I get when people peek in my
cube (no, not office), that this is pretty standard...
Rich
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Rich Milburn
MCSE, Microsoft MVP - Directory Services
Sr Network Analyst, Field Platform Development
Applebee's International, Inc.
4551 W. 107th St
Overland Park, KS 66207
913-967-2819
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"I love the smell of red herrings in the morning" - anonymous
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of joe
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 9:10 PM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Gauging AD experience
Oh great Gil thanks... now I have to clean Coca-cola off my monitors. :o)
Good to see you back Todd. You working for Ringling Bros now?
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gil Kirkpatrick
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 2:16 PM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Gauging AD experience
But at least you're not bitter...
-g
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Myrick, Todd
(NIH/CC/DNA) [E]
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 12:06 PM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Gauging AD experience
In my experience, when good directories go bad, it is usually due to three
things.
1. Firewalls
2. Firewalls
3. Did I list firewalls?
Runner ups would be ADC for Exchange, Clowns posing as Administrators, Clowns
posing as DNS experts, Clowns posing as Security experts, and no disaster
recovery solution.
Todd Myrick
Brushing off the dust of my MVP status.
________________________________
From: joe [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 3:17 PM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Gauging AD experience
When I read Al's post I thought of you Wook, I figured, hey Wook could use a
creative presentation name... ;o)
I would say "When Bad Things Happen To Good Directories" is more on par with "When Bad Things
Happen To Good People", say like when your nanny gets a flat tire. "When Good Directories Go
Bad" is more like when your good little daughter hits her teen years and starts going out to parties in
fish net stockings and Big Red gum. :o)
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Lee, Wook
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 2:00 PM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Gauging AD experience
Importance: Low
Sorry, I already did that one. My first DEC presentation was entitled "When Bad
Things Happen To Good Directories". :-)
Wook
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 8:02 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Gauging AD experience
when good directories go bad...sounds like a catchy title for a presentation,
Joe. I think of directories and identity management infrastructures a little
like networks: you rarely do get to design one from scratch, you're always
tweaking an existing one. And I agree that tweaking the existing ones are a
lot more interesting than designing from a blank slate. The analogy could be
taken too far, but like networks, directories and authentications systems are
always morphing due to new technologies, new tools, adding or removing
applications. Lots of fun.
Al Maurer
Service Manager, Naming and Authentication Services
IT | Information Technology
Agilent Technologies
(719) 590-2639; Telnet 590-2639
http://activedirectory.it.agilent.com
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of joe
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 6:31 PM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Gauging AD experience
I would say focusing on the design of big directories is pigeon-holing a little too much. There are only so many big directories that need to be designed. I personally find much more fun in diagnosing good directories that have gone bad than trying to design them. I design if I have to but it isn't what I like. Plus often with the design, it is rarely the case where you actually have all of the info though someone will tell you you do. You find out you don't later on when someone starts complaining or something starts breaking.
I am not sure I would go so far to say it is something you let the tools handle
though. A lot of the tools out there still aren't doing the greatest job and
there are many companies that don't want to spend the millions on those tools
that they would be charged for them instead having a few really good people
handling it. A tool doesn't see bad things coming when someone is coming at you
with the next great thing they want to plug into the AD. If the tool does catch
it, it is way too late in the integration cycle. Plus, what if the tool isn't
catching the problem? Someone has to be knowledgeable enough too. If you depend
solely on your tools to keep your AD running well it is possible you are going
to get cut pretty good. When I did Ops, I had several tools that watched what
had been determined needed to be watched and then I would just go off and
sample things to decide if there was something that maybe could be watched that
we weren't watching. That could take the form of just watching a network
packets on a DC or a client subnet for an hour or so or just walking the event
logs event by event or walking through looking at objects in the directory.
Whatever.
To get into those positions you want to get in with the companies already mentioned and jump about (and try not to hurt the customer too much with your learning) or find a big company and take whatever entry position you can get and prove yourself and grow into bigger/better positions. Don't expect to, for instance, walk into Walmart and become their AD guy. Maybe you get in as desktop support and get to know the right people and make suggestions on how things can be better and work your way up. You could possibly walk into a company and be there expert right off if your experience is greater than what they currently have or your resume indicates it or they are desperate. But it could end up biting you in the end if you don't turn out to be what they expected. Companies can get mighty pissy if they find out down the road that they are paying 100k+ to someone who would normally be lucky making $45k.
joe
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Douglas M. Long
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 11:49 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: [ActiveDir] OT: Gauging AD experience
I am trying to figure out how one gauges their AD experience. For example, I
have designed, implemented and maintained an AD/Exchange environment of 5000
users with 1000 workstations from the ground up, alone. The environment is only
3 sites, with little complexity. I now work for a company maintaining a
directory of about 150 users and 150 workstations. And the more local AD people
I talk to, the more confident I am that I know quite a bit about AD compared to
them (only talking about the people I have met...not generalizing the entire
industry).
Although I am not a guru like some on this list, I would like to get myself to the place where I can say "yeah, I can design your 50,000 user / 15 site infrastructure." Or is that even possible? Is a project of that size several directory experts working together?
I honestly believe that I could perform such a task, but knowing that I would make some mistakes that a VERY experienced person would not.
So, I guess my question is:
How do I get to where I want to be? Consult? Try to get a job with the biggest company I can?
There may be no real answer, but I thought it was worth asking because I have
been thinking about it for a couple of months and don't know where to start to
move forward, and this is the only place I know that has people that I consider
AD gurus (or gods even)
________________________________
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