I previously posted that I was looking into OpenDNS for my organization. Since my last post I can say we have embraced it fully and have migrated our IPs at the main office and a half dozen of remote sites.
It has been a tremendous help to locate issues with PCs and servers on our networks. I have been able to mediate several PCs with spyware and one that was being used to send SPAM. Although OpenDNS didn’t help prevent the computers from getting infected it did mitigate further problems.
It was great for peace of mind on April 1st when that whole Conflicker hype scare happened. OpenDNS was able to track if any DNS requests were being sent to Conflicker controlled domains.
We are planning on moving more remote site to OpenDNS. Another update to come down the road.
May 18th, 2009, posted by Dave
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Just installed the wordpress iPhone app. It allows you to write and post blog posts via the phone.
I don’t write many entries but the app may change that. Free time between tasks should allow me to put down ideas and save as drafts.
It is really a nice app. It handles multiple blogs, it save drafts locally and on server and can post pictures in posts.
April 29th, 2009, posted by Dave
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Just installed the WOT add-on for IE on my work machine. I like the concept. The add-on rates site on their trustworthiness. I have a lot of users that are not very careful when it comes to the internet. The free clip art sites get users all the time. Something like this with a little training could go a long way in stopping browser hijacks and spyware.
here is the link to their site: mywot.com
View the demo to view an explanation of the service.
April 29th, 2009, posted by Dave
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I am not sure how many people realize that if you Google your UPS tracking number it gives you a handy link to the UPS web site to track your package. You can also do this with USPS and FedEx tracking numbers. Where I feel it become useful is that it is quicker searching for it than going to the shipper’s site. Just paste the number into my Google chrome address bar and you’re good to go
here is a sample of something I had delivered:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=1Z011A8X0361615688
More evidence that Google wants all of the Internet’s data indexed on it’s servers.
March 26th, 2009, posted by Dave
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Over year ago I saw an advertisement for a site called OpenDNS. The advertisement was touting free DNS services and faster DNS look-ups. My curiosity was sparked. I visited the website and found a free web 2.0ish service that gave you content filtering for free. Working in the education industry I gave it a once over.
From what I can remember I liked the idea of having OpenDNS handle all the name requests but I ending up brushing it off because it was free. Also there must have been another feature that was lacking or missing for me to write it off.
Well come to present time…We had to close schools last year due to a large budget deficit. The decision to close the schools was very controversial in the public. Anyway…with economic conditions poor these days IT is forced to look at ways to cut costs. We have two appliances for filtering, one for the district office and one for the schools. The web filtering subscriptions are due up in August 2009 so picking a solution is a few months. One problem is that the life cycle of the box is getting near it’s end. That means the cost for the subscriptions has skyrocketed since last year (about a 100% increase).
With the subscription contracts expiring and a renewal expensive that is leaving me with a few options:
- pay the costly renewal fee for both boxes
- buy two new boxes from the same vendor
- buy one larger sized appliance from the vendor
- find another appliance
- find a in the cloud product
The cost for the subscriptions for two years cost about the same as the cost for new appliances after two years (1st year will be included in appliance and 2nd year will be about what we have paid in the past). I could purchase a beefier appliance that could handle both networks easily but then there is only 1 box so I’ll have nothing to failover to if one goes down.
I will be looking at OpenDNS as a viable option to replace both of our appliances in the future. I will compare that to appliances from my current vendor and other ones. I have created a free OpenDNS account and set it up in my home network. When I have some feedback after a few weeks of running it I hopefully with document it here.
I will also look into Google Web Security, but the cost of that per user has look un-doable for my organization.
Till then…..
March 19th, 2009, posted by Dave
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Netflix has recently announced that through your Tivo HD, Tivo Series3 and Tivo XL you can view any of their 12,000 plus instant titles on your TV. Your Tivo will connect to the Netflix service and display your instant queue where you can choose your movie.
I used to be a member of Netflix but cancelled due to under utilization. When this was announced I decided to sign back up. I love movies! Sometimes I could watch several in a row and then also not watch any for over a week. Selection isn’t a deal breaker for me. As my wife says I’ll watch almost any movie and enjoy it. On the flip side I don’t rate many movies 4 or 5 stars on Netflix.
The quality is great most movies stream in 480p. They start immediately and I haven’t run into any latency problems. There are over 300 titles available in HD. One thing that bothers me is that you don’t know if it is in HD until you start watching it. One thing I hope in the future is some kind of indicator that the material is in HD or SD.
You can pause a movie and restart it at a later time and it will save your space. Anyway I can’t say enough good things about Netflix and Tivo!
January 12th, 2009, posted by Dave
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We just implemented mandatory time tracking for all IT employees at my office. So far it hasn’t been a major chore, but it’s isn’t fun either. It has been interesting to see how much time I actually spend on non-IT tasks (paperwork, running reports, etc.) As I write this blog post I realize it would be a whole lot more interesting if I had examples.
Time Tracking has certainly held me more accountable for wasting time at work. I have had a very strong work ethic every since my 2nd job at Toy’s R’ Us. It continued on to my first real IT job. I am finding that since I have to record what I am working on it causes me to ALWAYS find something meaningful to work on. Suddenly standing in the hall talking to a colleague about anything other that work makes me very anxious. I realize could could mark down ‘admin’ time or something generic but it feels like cheating to me.
I am looking forward to sitting down as a group and analyzing our departments work. I would love to know how much time others spend on certain tasks.
December 4th, 2008, posted by Dave
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I love virtualization! It has been a wonderful tool for me. I work with a non-profit and cost is almost always the most important factor when deciding anything. I have two virtual hosts on different Microsoft virtualization platforms.
Anywho I just wanted to share my stats that figured out today.
In Jan 2008 I had 25 physical servers
In May 2008 I had 19 physical server
Currently In October 2008 I have 14 physical servers.
That is a huge increase in space in my server room. Which actually just turned into storage, haha. But the power use gains must be very good. We are small we do not receive any kind of power consumption reports from our building and grounds department.
November 5th, 2008, posted by Dave
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Found a great post about how to control your Tivo via your network and telnet. It sounds like a future program/device to control your tivo is possible
Click here for the article
August 19th, 2008, posted by Dave
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After using Ubuntu for a while now I am now thinking I wish I would have tried it sooner. It is nice to learn some new things with it being a huge hassle (i.e. set up a server or a separate machine)
I actually now prefer to use it over my windows PC mostly because it is faster to search the we and what not. It does have its downsides. They are mostly related to the hardware (i.e. resolution). A nice new laptop with it would be sweet and then maybe windows in a virtual guest OS to handle some other things.
Anyway I am slowly becoming a linux guy. I don’t think I ever really will be very pro linux but I would have never have expected I would have enjoyed linux and be this deep into it.
August 11th, 2008, posted by Dave
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