I could not agree with you more. I am not the kind of person that takes purchases lightly. I can get HR to let me buy just about anything but that doesn't mean I am just going to throw checks at hardware when I don't have a full plan laid out. Now there is no harm window shopping to see what is out there.
I think the main problem comes due to a lack of knowledge. So many of us want to figure out things on our own. We think we can design the "perfect" system with little to no help from anyone else. This works for some but I think a vast majority of people rely on vendors and re-sellers to tell them what they need. Many of these are not hardware agnostic vendors so they push a certain technology so they can line their pockets. (Not hating, everyone has to make a living.)
It is our responsibility as IT professionals to take the information given and apply that to our situation. The recommendations do not always align with what the company needs. I feel very happy that I am one of those people that cannot be sold. I have been told on so many occasions that my questions are far more technical than most questions that are asked.

I always play the "why game". Ask yourself why 5 times. If you still feel the same about your intended purchase after you think critically, it is much more likely you will make the correct (and informed!) decisions.

I am looking to setup a server to test out OpenFire. We are currently using a really crappy messaging system so this is the direction I am leaning since it is free. I read some posts that lead me to believe I should be setting this up in a Linux environment instead of my standard Windows environment. Now I have very little Linux experience because when I took that class in school, the book was about 5 versions behind the software we were using so nothing ever worked for me. I am willing to give it a go again but I am wondering if any of you have any tips or tricks that might make this process easier? I plan leveraging a VM in Hyper-V to set this up. (Please don't tell me to use VMWare, I am not prepared at this time to use anything outside Hyper-V.) I will use whatever opensource database is best suited. I am guessing MySql will probably be the winner. But again, looking for your thought!

The website seems to have some okay documentation. I am hoping that with that I will be able to figure my way though the whole process.

The 1st shot was 1/2 was successful. I was having issues connecting to the database and updating. This morning I decided to just start over and make my .vhd smaller too. This time it went off without any issues at all. I just loaded the openfire configuration window and did a happy dance.

I like the look of pidgin. Will probably go that route.

Thanks again for all the help. That wasn't nearly as bad as I was thinking it would be. At least now I can say I have successfully done some Linux stuff!!

So one of my users brought me her daughters laptop. She dropped it on the corner and the glass on the front broke. Since this is a touchscreen. I am thinking if I disconnect the touch panel, the LCD should continue to work okay. The problem is that I have no idea which one is the "plug" for the touch interface. Can anyone here help me out? It is an Acer Aspire V5-571P-6649.

@Jason You were spot on with the grey cable. Thanks!
My mission was successful. Its working. Only have about 40 minutes total into it. 1/2 that was while eating lunch yesterday!

I am working on setting up a new virtual secondary DC to replace our current one that is physical. I have read so many articles and think I have the process down but since I have never done this before, I am hesitant. (Like when you read a walk through and it seems too easy, so you think you must be missing something)

So I have setup the VM, its on the domain, it has a static IP address, I have installed AD services

Question I think the answer is yes but want to verify: Should I have DNS installed on the secondary DC as well?

If yes, the next step is to go into AD Directory services and point it back to my PDC to replicate?

I know I will need to go in and fix DNS stuff but since right now the other 2 are working, I am going to wait until the 3rd is replicated 1st. (plan is to decommission one of them once the 3rd is up and running properly)

@dafyre No, I wanted to make sure that before I promoted it I was not missing anything. Like I said it just seems too easy so I am questioning myself.

If I don't plan on decommissioning anything right away, there is not much of a need for backups is there? Nothing I am about to do will affect production at all will it? (if it slows slightly during replication, that is fine.)

A delegation for the DNS server cannot be created because the authoritative parent zone cannot be found or it does not run in Windows NS server. If you are integrating with an existing DNS infrastructure, you should manually create a delegation to this DNS server in the parent zone to ensure reliable name resolution from outside the domain "domain.name.". Otherwise, no action is required.

Translation?

Pretty sure it is all working. I need to fix a few DNS settings but that's related to the hardware firewall. Other than that it seems to be working/replicating.

Yes, Thank you all for the help. The confirmation that it was "really that easy" was exactly what I needed!

So the problem is that we have gone with a pretty beefy "standard" build. Most of my computers are i7 with 16gb of ram. We already have these deployed so replacing them with something slower would not go over well.

I am working on setting up a very basic config for our new HP switches. What is considered best practices for maintaining time? There seem to be quite a few options and I am wondering which typically is used.

Hey everyone,
I am needing some technical details on which one is better for DAS connectivity. I was having a conversation with a coworker but due to a lack in knowledge, we cannot come to a decision. Now pretend that pricing has ZERO factor. I want to know the technical nitty gritty details as to why you would choose one over the other. Assume the setup is a DAS device sitting in between 2 servers.

@Jason Yes I know its all software at some layer but I would rather that layer be "hidden" from me as a built in function. I don't need dedup anyway its just more expensive. I did try BE's dedup to EPIC failure. I would just rather put the money into capacity than dedup software.

I am sure you can replicate but I don't need to. I have that covered with my Unitrends. If the building burns to the ground and this goes with it, it wont be that big of a deal. The will lose the history of the changes but they will still have all their files. Which is a way better place then they were 6 months ago.

@NetworkNerd I have 9 volumes, 5 of which are active. I re-create volumes every so often and let the backups on the other volumes sit until they expire. I am actually in the process of a rebuild. I came in yesterday morning to a failed drive. I put the new drive in at like 11:30 and it still says it has like 40 hours left for rebuild.

@scottalanmiller Hey! Good to be back. Its been a really busy year!

I think I got my question all answered. You can do it both ways.