Mac and Microsoft RDP

With our recent push to better serve our mac users, I have used the Mac on my desk a little more…. I wish I could report that I use it a lot more but that’s just not true. 

I have been using Microsoft’s RDP client for the Mac and it has been working well.  RDP allows me to connect to a windows server while I am also remotely connected to our OSX Leopard server.  The one issue with Mac RDP was not being able to connect to the Windows Server Console… but alas you can.  If you enter the server name /console in the address bar it connects you to the console session of that Windows server.

Just chalk it up to another fact that may be totally useless.

Rolling out a Monster Rig Revisited

After the recent post about our Monster Video Production Rig several asked about the budget for the project so I have compiled a rough list of the costs.

Final Cut Computer:

Hardware:

- Mac Pro including – ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB (Two dual-link DVI)
- 8GB (2X4GB) PC25300 ECC Third Party Ram, not buying it from apple saves a ton (A TON of cash).
- 2 – Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP
- Wacom INTUOS 3 6×11 Wide Format USB Pen Tablet PTZ631W
- Logic Keycaps
- Tannoy Reveal 5A – 5″ Biamplified Nearfield Monitors

Hardware Total: $7311

Software:

- Adobe CS3 Suite Production Premium (2 year updates)
- CHV Shine + Magic 3D
- Digital Heaven Plug-ins
- Final Cut Studio 2
- Flip4 Mac Studio
-Futurismo Backgrounds
- Mac Office 2008

- Natress Big Box of Tricks
- Noise Industries FXPro
- Snap Z Pro
- Volumetrix FX pack

Software Total: $2749

Total Cost: $10,232.73

Seeing your Media Director Smile and act almost giddy, Priceless

VMWorld 2008

Our Zones Account Executive, Nathan, tipped me off on this event… I don’t think we are planning to attend since the price is way too high, but if you were near Vegas this might be something to check out.

IT = Part-time Detective

This past week I received a call from one of our staff members who reported that every key he pressed ANY key on his keyboard he heard a beep. He couldn’t type since everything displayed as strange characters and the problem didn’t go away after rebooting.

When arrived he showed me the symptoms he had described. I first thought that it had something to do with the laptop docking station, and removed the laptop from the dock… All was well.  So next we deleted the hardware profile and rebooted the laptop… and all was well.. for about 30 seconds and the problem started again.  None of the keys were stuck in the down position, but it appeared that the control key was stuck.  At the login page you could press alt-del and the login page displayed, if you pressed ctrl-alt-del the machine just beeped.

So for a few minutes I thought about the problem and suggested we get an external keyboard to see if that allowed us to use the laptop.  Quickly the user says “I have a keyboard right here under my desk, and its even wireless”.  On a hunch I suggested he press the ctrl key on the wireless keyboard while I press the alt-del keys on the laptop… sure enough the login prompt displayed.  The wireless keyboard had been left on and ‘connected’ to the laptop while under the desk.  Sometime during the day a small cardboard box fell over under the desk pressing the ctrl key.

Lesson learned: remove your batteries from your wireless keyboard when you aren’t using it!

{This Story was shared with the permission of G. Webb}

Erin & "J-Rock" Wedding

This past weekend our network administrator, Jeremie Kilgore got married to the wonderful gal who he affectionately calls “lady”.  See Erin’s user name on their wedding blog as shown below.

While at the Wedding I snapped some photos to share.  Of course I emailed these to JK on his phone before they were even out of the church…  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take a shot of them running thru the bubbles and email that to them before they got in the car… Sorry Bobbi.

So here are some photos of Jeremie & Erin’s Big day.

Jeremie Assessing the situation

Communion

Announcing Mr & Mrs Jeremie Kilgore

A Sweet Ride (What doe he do for a living??!)

Dave B and others waiting to “do the bubble thing”…you pull the top and toss whole container right?

Mel and Alex checking the car over.

Jeremie being a gent

Jeremie made the cake that Erin and he cut, and I am glad because the test cakes were tasty office treats!

This photo was placed on the tables at the reception, WOW I think I might have been too scared to hire JK if he still had hair like that…. Talk about a guy you wouldn’t want to mess with. Note to self… if you ever need a bodyguard, have Jeremie grow his hair long again….

Congrats Erin and Jeremie!!!!

Dell Buy 2 get 1 Free Special

I just got this information from our Dell Account Manager and he ok-ed passing this info along…  If you are planning for a hardware refresh, consider this offer from Dell.  A Buy 2 get 1 Free promotion between July 16 – July 30.  This offer applies to : Select Latitude™ Notebooks, Select Optiplex Workstations, Select PowerEdge™ Servers, Select PowerConnect™ Switches, All PowerVault™ Storage Products and Any 2 Networkable Laser Printers Get 1 FREE!

If you are interested in the pricing leave a comment and I’ll shoot over our Dell rep’s contact info, he indicated the normal Dell sales won’t have a clue what this offer is about.

Job Opening in OKC

Crossings Community Church in Oklahoma City is expanding their MIS Team.  Michael Foster would be a great guy to work with and from the Spring CITRT,rossings appears to be a thriving place to serve.

Network Administrator

Scope of Position: Assist in supporting the stable operation of the in-house computers, servers and IP network infrastructure as well as other information systems applicable to Crossings Community Church.

Organizational Relationships: While this position will interact with most, if not all, of the departments of the church, the Network Administrator shall report to the Director of Management Information Systems (MIS).

Responsibilities: The Network Administrator’s role is to enable the ministry of the church with information technology hardware and software. This includes planning, developing, installing, configuring, maintaining, supporting, and optimizing all network hardware, software, and communication links. The person will also analyze and resolve end user hardware and software computer problems in a timely and accurate fashion, and provide end user training where required. This person will also work closely with the MIS Director to optimize all areas of the church’s information systems.

Skills Required for Position: Working knowledge of a Microsoft Windows domain and networking. Proficiency with Microsoft Office, desktop operating systems, and a strong willingness and ability to learn.

Education and Experience: The Network Administrator should hold a vo-tech or college diploma, at a minimum, and should have a minimum of 1 to 2 years experience in working with computers and various information systems components. A+ Certification or equivalent knowledge is required and any Microsoft or Cisco certifications will be beneficial.

If you are interested email a resume to Michael Foster (mfoster at crossingsokc dot org)

Exchange Storage Limits?

So do you use Storage limits on your Exchange Server?  If so what are they?

We have imposed fairly conservative limits on our users, not because of space but rather because of DR planning…. We got burned 2 years ago during a Exchange Server crash and there we no limits on the storage… so the reaction was to impose limits to prevent the nightmare of some of the mailboxes from not happening again… Today I am wondering if those limits are “fair”.

So just doing some research, what are your limits and why?

Rolling out a Monster Rig

As part of our OSX and AD Integration we are rolling out a new video production rig to our media dept.  This project has definitely been more than just purchasing hardware and dropping it on a desk and walking away, but learning how to serve our Mac users in the process (allowing those users to start to become equal citizens on the network) has been a good adventure.

This new mac is a Quad Core and so far the beast works really well.
The Hardware: Quad Core 3 ghz Mac Pro with 10gb of memory, Dual 24 inch Dell Displays, Dual SuperDrives, a 250gb primary volume and 1TB scratch disk and 250GB TimeMachine Disk, 12×6 Intuos Tablet. 
The Software: Final Cut Pro, and Adobe Production  Premium.  Beware FCP takes about 6 hours to fully install. (We went with Adobe’s Production Suite even though we don’t use Adobe Premier since it was MUCH cheaper than purchasing Design Premium and then adding After Effects… Thanks to Nancy at CCB for that little nugget.)

Dave our Media director has been VERY eagerly anticipating the arrival of his new ‘baby’, and we delivered the hardware to his NEW office on Friday… I wish he would show some excitement Thanks to our campus services team Dave has a mondo huge keyboard tray that even holds his tablet and keyboard… 

Stop grinning Dave and start cranking out some more cool videos!