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Sysadmin advice for a first timer?

talkingmuffin — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:53:18 -0800

I'm starting a new job as a system administrator for small business in a few weeks, what can I do to prepare myself? I'm quite excited about this position but I've never been a sysadmin before. I've done desktop support (which I'm quite good at) and tons of web programming but have never done server support and have never been the only IT person at a business.

It's a Windows XP environment with about 35 users and there is talk of moving to Exchange soon after I arrive. I will also have access to some contractors who will do much of the server set up and config.

Any advice tech gurus?

(I've already purchased the book "The Practice of System and Network Administration" by Thomas A. Limoncelli)

Neither a borrower nor a lender be...or something

cabingirl — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:39:55 -0800

I'm feeling guilty about a personal monetary transaction I made with my boss, that ended up being way in my favor by accident (miscalculation on my part). He said he was fine with it at the time, should I try to make amends anyway or just leave it? My boss just returned from Europe with a wallet full of Euros he doesn't need. I am headed to Europe next week and offered to buy the Euros from him with dollars, thinking I'd save a little on the currently-abysmal exchange rate. However, when he asked how much they were worth, I gave him the wrong number (about $20 less than the actual amount). Of course, this colored the negotiation, and I discovered later that I got the Euros for about $1.20 rather than the $1.50 or so they are currently worth.

He doesn't know about the error, but was fine with the cash I gave him. Still, I feel guilty and don't want it to be an issue in the future so I was considering giving him a little more cash just to even things out. Should I make amends? Does the fact that it's my boss change the situation?

Yes, yes, I know that I shouldn't have even gotten into a money situation with my boss in the first place but he offered, and it seemed like a good idea at the time...

Possible to implement user photos in MS Outlook/Exchange?

psmealey — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:14:03 -0800

Is it possible to create a tab/form in the Microsoft Outlook properties window where you can post a user's picture? Just doing some research for my company, the guys in IT say it's not possible, but I could have sworn that I had seen it done at another company. The idea is that when you get a mail from someone, you double-click their name, the properties box pups up and you get to click to their picture. Is this something that can be done with whatever SDK is available with Microsoft Outlook 2003 (v11... not sure what version of Exchange we're running), or am I just better building something on the intranet that does the same thing?

Anyone with experiance in making MS Exchange work with SpamAssassin without having a Linux Box on hand?

TrueVox — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:39:07 -0800

I work at a small company with an Exchange server. We need OK spam protection. In an effort to move them to a more FOSS workcycle, I'm advocating SpamAssassin. Basically, I need it to work in our Windows Environment. We currently run NO Linux boxes, and while we're not at all against virtualization (in fact I'm pushing for us to get a copy of VMWare Workstation for our beefy new server), it needs to be simple. I tried downloading the Embeded version of Damn Small Linux, but it is a pain to get it so it can save (as near as I can tell), so that's a no go. Any other ideas? I'd run it on Windows but the walk through confuses me (even the easy one). Again, I'm not against Linux, but it has to be easy (preferably drop in). Has anyone used Spam Vigilante? Is it simple (and by simple, I mean assume I'm an idiot :D)? Oh, and does it work with Exchange (I don't see it mentioned but maybe I'm blind)?

Ok, thanks a lot in advance! I really appricate your feedback!