[kwlug-disc] To those who have to support Windows

[Oksana Goertzen]

On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 5:12 PM, <john at netdirect.ca> wrote:

> -----kwlug-disc-bounces at kwlug.org wrote: -----
> >This post is a bit off topic - but I'm assuming there are others who
> >have to
> >support Windows.  I wanted to write to the list because I know Linux
> >folk
> >love to know the ins and outs of how things work and you'd be my best
> >resource.  :)
> >
> >I'm looking for some book recommendations on supporting and
> >configuring
> >Windows AD, policies and printing, as well as something on SCCM and
> >SCOM.
>
> I should give you a serious response too.
>

:)  Thanks!



>
>
> I know I've seen books talking about AD which would include policies in
> book stores. As for the others I don't recall.
>

For those interested - this is the list I submitted (best guess with
reviews):

Active Directory: Designing, Deploying, and Running Active Directory
(Paperback)
by Brian Desmond (Author), Joe Richards (Author), Robbie Allen (Author),
Alistair G Lowe-Norris (Author)

Active Directory Cookbook (Paperback)
by Laura E Hunter (Author), Robbie Allen (Author)

System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007 Unleashed (Paperback)
by Kerrie Meyler (Author), Byron Holt (Author), Pete Zerger (Author)

Windows Server 2008 Inside Out (Paperback)
by William R. Stanek (Author)

With this hopeful addition:  ;)

Linux Administration Handbook (Paperback)
by Evi Nemeth (Author), Garth Snyder (Author), Trent R. Hein (Author)



>
> I can't help you otherwise, except to say that I rely on the courses I've
> taken, my knowledge of LDAP, experience and google searches to work with the
> limited number of AD and windows servers I've had the mis^H^H^Hfortune of
> supporting.
>

I too, heavily rely on searching the internet for other's experiences in
supporting the same software.


>
>
> The big issue we have is that everything we want to do in Windows needs
> some other vendor's software to do. Backup, system recovery, viruses,
> spyware, driver support and more. It seems that so much chaos is caused by
> too many vendors in the operating system. Each minor sysadmin task needs a
> new vendor or software tool that may or may not work with your selection of
> other sysadmin tools.
>

I agree!  So many things I can simply just _do_ on Linux, on Windows
requires this add-on, or that add-on, or this
third party software to manage X, Y or Z, which then requires licensing and
maintenance and renewals and a buy-in
from upper management.  sigh.   And next thing you know, it also requires
MSSQL and licensing per socket and it's
own patch cycle and maintenance routine and it's own rights management
interface etc. and so on.  Then I'm spending
more time resolving licensing and working out the conversion of U.S. dollars
to Canadian monies and assigning rights
to multiple users and than I do fixing the initial problem!  urgh!  Next
thing I'm running into a problem with said third party
software because it's now broken or needs to be upgraded to work with the
latest service pack or patch, I'm sitting on
the support line - because the software is poorly documented and I can't
figure out what's going on because the KB is
so sketchy.....     If nothing else, it's not a very efficient way to run a
business - any business for that matter, in my
opinion.

- Oksana
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