Streaming MP3 is not in teh list of requirements management have asked us to provide. They've asked us to block it.
Some shitty cable modem connection into the LAN still needs to be secured, paid for, and maintained when people complain that it doesn't work. When its not even a business requirement. Sorry, but gen Y really need to pull their heads out of their asses and realise why they're paid to go to work.
The current/coming economic climate is sure going to shake things up.
No, the sysadmin job is to ensure that the network is available for work-related usage within the budget allocated for comms. Not idiots to stream top 20 mp3.
Try working in remote areas where you have only one or two very expensive choices in network technology.
At the end of the day, your employer is paying you to work, not rack up internet usage with shitty streaming audio/video.
5-10 years ago no one (well, very few) had the capacity for streaming audio or video at work, it is NOT a business requirement for 99% of people to do the job they are paid for.
True, but we got 8540p elitebooks of higher spec than the E6510s we were ordering for $150 cheaper. They feel solid, and have thus far been 100% reliable. Its a no brainer.
Spec wise the mini isn't impressive. But lack of noise, lack of heat, and OS X makes it a pretty nifty little box. I've got a 2007 spec mini and it has been the machine to convert me.
All ours were rebuilt with an E series based Win7 SOE build (pretty simple SOE - Win7 + Dell drivers + office 2007). Troublesome machines were re-imaged if necessary, but generally it wasn't random software unreliability. We had one machine go through 3 motherboards, failed displays, chronic overheating problems (google throttlegate), etc. The E6500s got better just before the E6510 came out as there was a motherboard rev that seemed to cure a lot of the issues. E6510 has been better but still have had a disturbing number of DOAs out of the box.
Dude. I was giving out secondhand D520s and D530s recently to end users who were going to be out of range of phone+dell tech next day repair because they have proven to be far more reliable, even after 2-3 years of use. I even have D510s still going, running Win7 just fine.
If you think the D series is bad, please don't pre-judge the E series. They're FAR worse. We were a dell shop since 2003 until this year when we ditched them, primarily because of the E series.
Lolz... 27 now? I gave up count and binned mine (E6500) around A20. The E6510 i replaced it with briefly wasn't a lot more reliable either. Compared to the elitebooks they just feel so damn flimsy as well. The HPs are a solid machine and I'm sure having the entire chassis of the machine flex on the E series when you even pick it up to move it can't help the reliability of the internals...
We've switched to 8540p and 2540p elitebooks. I had an 8540p (nice machine) but wanted something more portable (as a network admin i'm often carrying it around to plug into switches/routers/etc and don't do a any heavy graphics stuff on it). Battery life on the 2540p is great, too.
Oh, and the only dead machine we've had in 6 months and 20 machines so far has been a hard drive failure. Could have happened to anything...
If you must have a Dell E series, get the E4310. We've only had 1 of the 6 we have of these die in the first 12 months. The E6400, E6410, E6500 and E6510 i reckon we've had anywhere between a 15 and 30% failure rate in the first 12 months. DOA rate (as in, failed before even deployed) of around 10 percent. We ordered about 150 machines last year.
I was merely suggesting that its just fine and dandy as far as SKYPE the company goes to rip people's bandwidth off. If you cbf reading the license and just click OK for the free shit then you deserve whatever raping you get. Nothing is free.
Because skype wasn't written that way. You want standard voice/video, use a SIP program. Skype was written deliberately by the developers to allow it to talk to anywhere and everywhere through your network so it can route other people's calls, and connect to random other nodes for your own call routing. That free lunch you're eating? Paid for by other's use of your bandwidth.
Multiply 500 users by 48kbit. thats 24 megabit in streaming audio. That you can get off that fucking $10 FM radio on your desk. Now i'm not sure how expensive bandwidth is where you are, but a 24 business grade meg METERED (say, 300 gigs) internet connection here is about 5-10 grand a month. The business is not going to wear the cost of 5-10k per month for our users to listen to shitty quality streaming MP3. Thats before you take into account the increase latency to mission critical apps, or remote end points on crappy satellite connections paying anywhere up to $7 per MEG of data
the Dell E6xxx series laptops. In my 16 years in the computing industry, i have never seen such a high failure/random wierd issue rate - before the machines even leave the bench (takes 25 minutes to network build with SOE) in many cases.
cheers Dell, for convincing me to move to HP Elitebooks.
Just let me clarify: corporate networks are different to your home network. your home network? fine, use skype. in the office, where you've got several hundred PCs that may/may not have malicious software and/or users at the helm - allowing all outgoing connections is just begging for trouble.
Egress filtering is a good thing.
Making your day at work "less boring" by enabling you to do non-work related shit with company resources is not what my job is about. It is about ensuring the continued operation of the company's network - and skype is a liability.
Why do I block skype? Because the only way to have it work properly through most firewalls is to allow ALL outgoing ports. Which means you allow any random program to do any random shit through your firewall to the outside network. Its a massive, massive security issue you could drive an oil tanker through.
Also, many companies pay for bandwidth. I don't want all of my bandwidth chewed up on video calls instead of mission critical apps.
Its not just because we're nazis, its because skype protocol is completely fucked when it comes to the ability of your admin to control resources. Want voip/video? Use something else.
... relying on dodgy peer to peer VOIP telephony for business purposes is retarded.
we've got people bitching at work about how it doesn't work from time to time, and why I've blocked its ability to do voice/video at the firewall. If you want VOIP, use something that uses standard SIP or some other documented, configurable traffic.
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Our SOE is win7 x64. The hardware problems on the E series aren't helped :)
Streaming MP3 is not in teh list of requirements management have asked us to provide. They've asked us to block it.
Some shitty cable modem connection into the LAN still needs to be secured, paid for, and maintained when people complain that it doesn't work. When its not even a business requirement. Sorry, but gen Y really need to pull their heads out of their asses and realise why they're paid to go to work.
The current/coming economic climate is sure going to shake things up.
Data in australia is metered. read my post. 300gigs costs 5-10k per month. Download your music at home and bring it in on an ipod.
No, the sysadmin job is to ensure that the network is available for work-related usage within the budget allocated for comms. Not idiots to stream top 20 mp3.
Try working in remote areas where you have only one or two very expensive choices in network technology.
At the end of the day, your employer is paying you to work, not rack up internet usage with shitty streaming audio/video.
5-10 years ago no one (well, very few) had the capacity for streaming audio or video at work, it is NOT a business requirement for 99% of people to do the job they are paid for.
True, but we got 8540p elitebooks of higher spec than the E6510s we were ordering for $150 cheaper. They feel solid, and have thus far been 100% reliable. Its a no brainer.
Spec wise the mini isn't impressive. But lack of noise, lack of heat, and OS X makes it a pretty nifty little box. I've got a 2007 spec mini and it has been the machine to convert me.
All ours were rebuilt with an E series based Win7 SOE build (pretty simple SOE - Win7 + Dell drivers + office 2007). Troublesome machines were re-imaged if necessary, but generally it wasn't random software unreliability. We had one machine go through 3 motherboards, failed displays, chronic overheating problems (google throttlegate), etc. The E6500s got better just before the E6510 came out as there was a motherboard rev that seemed to cure a lot of the issues. E6510 has been better but still have had a disturbing number of DOAs out of the box.
Dude. I was giving out secondhand D520s and D530s recently to end users who were going to be out of range of phone+dell tech next day repair because they have proven to be far more reliable, even after 2-3 years of use. I even have D510s still going, running Win7 just fine.
If you think the D series is bad, please don't pre-judge the E series. They're FAR worse. We were a dell shop since 2003 until this year when we ditched them, primarily because of the E series.
Your sample size of 1 has totally convinced me. I'll go see if i can find a remaining working E6400 in my stash of about 10 back at the office.
Lolz... 27 now? I gave up count and binned mine (E6500) around A20. The E6510 i replaced it with briefly wasn't a lot more reliable either. Compared to the elitebooks they just feel so damn flimsy as well. The HPs are a solid machine and I'm sure having the entire chassis of the machine flex on the E series when you even pick it up to move it can't help the reliability of the internals...
We've switched to 8540p and 2540p elitebooks. I had an 8540p (nice machine) but wanted something more portable (as a network admin i'm often carrying it around to plug into switches/routers/etc and don't do a any heavy graphics stuff on it). Battery life on the 2540p is great, too.
Oh, and the only dead machine we've had in 6 months and 20 machines so far has been a hard drive failure. Could have happened to anything...
Much happier :)
If you must have a Dell E series, get the E4310. We've only had 1 of the 6 we have of these die in the first 12 months. The E6400, E6410, E6500 and E6510 i reckon we've had anywhere between a 15 and 30% failure rate in the first 12 months. DOA rate (as in, failed before even deployed) of around 10 percent. We ordered about 150 machines last year.
Exactly as above. People get DSL at home and think they have the equivalent at work (for each and every employee). It simply doesn't work that way.
No, they just figure out skype doesn't work, come see me, i tell them it is not supported and to pick up the telephone.
I was merely suggesting that its just fine and dandy as far as SKYPE the company goes to rip people's bandwidth off. If you cbf reading the license and just click OK for the free shit then you deserve whatever raping you get. Nothing is free.
It's still not going to be allowed through. They want skype, they can have a 3g service for their laptop and run skype through that.
I've explained to management the security problems with skype when it was originally requested and have support to block it.
the Dell E6xxx series laptops. In my 16 years in the computing industry, i have never seen such a high failure/random wierd issue rate - before the machines even leave the bench (takes 25 minutes to network build with SOE) in many cases.
cheers Dell, for convincing me to move to HP Elitebooks.
Maybe you're a supernode? :)
You missed the point. With skype, the clients ARE the servers ("randomly" (i.e., non-nat well connected) selected supernodes).
Well not its not really retarded for skype. its retarded for skype users to actually agree to those terms of service.
Just let me clarify: corporate networks are different to your home network. your home network? fine, use skype. in the office, where you've got several hundred PCs that may/may not have malicious software and/or users at the helm - allowing all outgoing connections is just begging for trouble.
Egress filtering is a good thing.
Making your day at work "less boring" by enabling you to do non-work related shit with company resources is not what my job is about. It is about ensuring the continued operation of the company's network - and skype is a liability.
Why do I block skype? Because the only way to have it work properly through most firewalls is to allow ALL outgoing ports. Which means you allow any random program to do any random shit through your firewall to the outside network. Its a massive, massive security issue you could drive an oil tanker through.
Also, many companies pay for bandwidth. I don't want all of my bandwidth chewed up on video calls instead of mission critical apps.
Its not just because we're nazis, its because skype protocol is completely fucked when it comes to the ability of your admin to control resources. Want voip/video? Use something else.
we've got people bitching at work about how it doesn't work from time to time, and why I've blocked its ability to do voice/video at the firewall. If you want VOIP, use something that uses standard SIP or some other documented, configurable traffic.