I use RealVNC and find it works great for me as a system administrator. I don't have any headless clients, but it has other uses..
My primary domain server lost the keyboard port a while back, but I was able to get it working again via the mouse port, obviously losing the mouse. So instead, I use RealVNC to work on this server..
Also somewhat unrelated, one of my other domain servers is located about an hour's drive away at another site, and I have found it extremely useful to be able to login remotely to add users, check the DHCP leases, etc.., without having to drive all of the way down there to do a 5 minute task.
RealVNC has some minor glitches you have to work through/figure out, but overall it's extremely easy to set up and use, and is one of the handiest utilities I've found in a while. I believe it works for UNIX too (which could have some great uses as well), but I am just using it for Win now..
I think you have to take in several things into account when dealing with users. There are so many different scenarios and so many different types of users. When I first arrived at this position, I was coming from the perspective that an earlier comment talked about, about keeping things as locked down and tight as possible. No one should have admin access, because if they did, they would inevitably download a virus that would wipe out their machine, and then it would be my ass on the line because (1) we weren't doing windows client backups, and (2) 5 hours of my time is essentially wasted on the menial task of reinstalling the said user's machine.
Before I continue, I must state that I'm primarily talking about windows admin access. UNIX and MAC OS's deal much better with privilege situations and is much easier to deal with on the sysadmin's part.
One of the problems that comes up if you were to enforce that no one has admin access is that it is imperative you have a publicly available written policy stating the in's and out's of giving or not giving users admin access.
My previous place of employment, which was particularly tight on this issue, had a policy that stated we would not provide support to users who wanted admin access to their machine. Perhaps this works for them, but in my department I could never enforce something like this. Several of my users must have administrative access to run certain programs that do not correctly work when run by a non-admin user. These people are also largely non-technical. If that person does something stupid and wipes out their machine, I can't just be BOFH and give them the reinstall disk. This is especially true when dealing with office politics. If Mr. Executive Director comes to me after having wiped out his machine because I was forced to give him admin access, I pretty much have to drop what I'm doing and fix the problem. I think this is just part of being an SA.
Then there's the scenario where Joe Blo is fairly technically adept and wants to have more control over his system so he can install programs, etc.. It's more beneficial for the SA to give him elevated privileges than for him to come to the SA three times a week to perform some task that keeps the SA from doing the really cool and interesting stuff that got him interested in being an SA in the first place.
While being an SA is great for those reasons, I don't know of any SA who is an SA solely because they like dealing with users. Dealing with users is just part of the job (unless you're in charge of a team and can just assign someone under you to do it). I believe it is imperative that you treat users on an individual basis and that you treat them with respect. Yeah, they may be the stupidest computer users from hell, but you need to figure out how to deal with that in the most efficient way possible. The goal of a good SA is equally 50% user satisfaction and 50% SA effectiveness and efficiency.
Agreed.. Nothing can beat email in the way conversations can be tracked, stored, and documented. It is imperative that I keep track of user requests, solutions to problems, and things that I did or did not do. I often find myself looking back at old emails that I either received or sent to recall something useful.
IMs are great in the sense that they provide a simulated conversation, and yes, they can log the entire conversation, but how do you keep track of that in a useful fashion? With email, I can filter out conversations based on who that person was, through email subject lines, and if necessary, through a search.
Or how about, "I do not wear t-shirts with political slogans (most of my shirts are free vendor handouts with software or hardware logos)...". I'd have to classify this as geek behavior.
Yep, I did a much less of a formal count a little while ago on my midsized network, and since 10.1.02, already caught between 15-20 bugbear virii (through AMaViS). I would consider this to be a significant number. However, Klez-H also seems to be the highest count.. Have seen some Sircam & Magistr as well (of the more notable virii).
I use MSN as an ISP for DSL access.. Although it wasn't my first choice, we have been overall fairly happy with them. We just installed the software to get all of the internet settings, and uninstalled afterwards. If you don't uninstall, it gets really annoying because the application is always popping up. And.. you don't have to use Outlook at all. Just continue using whichever mail client you were using before.
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I use RealVNC and find it works great for me as a system administrator. I don't have any headless clients, but it has other uses..
My primary domain server lost the keyboard port a while back, but I was able to get it working again via the mouse port, obviously losing the mouse. So instead, I use RealVNC to work on this server..
Also somewhat unrelated, one of my other domain servers is located about an hour's drive away at another site, and I have found it extremely useful to be able to login remotely to add users, check the DHCP leases, etc.., without having to drive all of the way down there to do a 5 minute task.
RealVNC has some minor glitches you have to work through/figure out, but overall it's extremely easy to set up and use, and is one of the handiest utilities I've found in a while. I believe it works for UNIX too (which could have some great uses as well), but I am just using it for Win now..
When my brother was in junior high, he had a PE coach named "Dick Holder"..
I think you have to take in several things into account when dealing with users. There are so many different scenarios and so many different types of users. When I first arrived at this position, I was coming from the perspective that an earlier comment talked about, about keeping things as locked down and tight as possible. No one should have admin access, because if they did, they would inevitably download a virus that would wipe out their machine, and then it would be my ass on the line because (1) we weren't doing windows client backups, and (2) 5 hours of my time is essentially wasted on the menial task of reinstalling the said user's machine.
Before I continue, I must state that I'm primarily talking about windows admin access. UNIX and MAC OS's deal much better with privilege situations and is much easier to deal with on the sysadmin's part.
One of the problems that comes up if you were to enforce that no one has admin access is that it is imperative you have a publicly available written policy stating the in's and out's of giving or not giving users admin access.
My previous place of employment, which was particularly tight on this issue, had a policy that stated we would not provide support to users who wanted admin access to their machine. Perhaps this works for them, but in my department I could never enforce something like this. Several of my users must have administrative access to run certain programs that do not correctly work when run by a non-admin user. These people are also largely non-technical. If that person does something stupid and wipes out their machine, I can't just be BOFH and give them the reinstall disk. This is especially true when dealing with office politics. If Mr. Executive Director comes to me after having wiped out his machine because I was forced to give him admin access, I pretty much have to drop what I'm doing and fix the problem. I think this is just part of being an SA.
Then there's the scenario where Joe Blo is fairly technically adept and wants to have more control over his system so he can install programs, etc.. It's more beneficial for the SA to give him elevated privileges than for him to come to the SA three times a week to perform some task that keeps the SA from doing the really cool and interesting stuff that got him interested in being an SA in the first place.
While being an SA is great for those reasons, I don't know of any SA who is an SA solely because they like dealing with users. Dealing with users is just part of the job (unless you're in charge of a team and can just assign someone under you to do it). I believe it is imperative that you treat users on an individual basis and that you treat them with respect. Yeah, they may be the stupidest computer users from hell, but you need to figure out how to deal with that in the most efficient way possible. The goal of a good SA is equally 50% user satisfaction and 50% SA effectiveness and efficiency.
And that URL is:. php
http://www.beyondunreal.com/content/articles/74_1
Agreed.. Nothing can beat email in the way conversations can be tracked, stored, and documented. It is imperative that I keep track of user requests, solutions to problems, and things that I did or did not do. I often find myself looking back at old emails that I either received or sent to recall something useful.
IMs are great in the sense that they provide a simulated conversation, and yes, they can log the entire conversation, but how do you keep track of that in a useful fashion? With email, I can filter out conversations based on who that person was, through email subject lines, and if necessary, through a search.
Or how about, "I do not wear t-shirts with political slogans (most of my shirts are free vendor handouts with software or hardware logos)...". I'd have to classify this as geek behavior.
Yep, I did a much less of a formal count a little while ago on my midsized network, and since 10.1.02, already caught between 15-20 bugbear virii (through AMaViS). I would consider this to be a significant number. However, Klez-H also seems to be the highest count.. Have seen some Sircam & Magistr as well (of the more notable virii).
I use MSN as an ISP for DSL access.. Although it wasn't my first choice, we have been overall fairly happy with them. We just installed the software to get all of the internet settings, and uninstalled afterwards. If you don't uninstall, it gets really annoying because the application is always popping up. And.. you don't have to use Outlook at all. Just continue using whichever mail client you were using before.