Well, as if work and home life aren’t hectic enough, now I’m apparently running for president.

News3Online Breaking News

Many thanks to Cali Lewis at GeekBrief for the link to the site.

OK, here it goes.

How old were you when you started using computers?

I was around 12 or 13 when I started playing with computers. I saw them in Popular Science and was fascinated with them. I then pestered my parents for my first PC for Christmas and my dad finally took me to K-Mart where I had to choose between the Texas Instruments TI/99-4A, the Timex Sinclair 1000, and either the Commodore Vic-20 or C-64.

What was your first machine?

My first computer was a Timex Sinclair 1000. I remember my friend getting a Commodore and being jealous of the color graphics. My second and real springboard PC was a Radio Shack/Tandy TRS-80 Model 4 with 64 kb RAM and dual 5.25 floppy drives (360k each!) We had Tandy TRS-80 Model II and 3’s in my school district so I went with what I knew. My dad had IBM PC’s at work and showed me an ad for an IBM (Peanut, I think) and I decided to stick to the Radio Shack brand. I still have both of these units somewhere in my parents attic….along with all the other old stuff I’ve talked about on the show. My first x86 PC was a Bondwell B210 286 laptop with a 40 MB hard drive.

What was the first real script you wrote?

Hello World loop in Basic on the Timex Sinclair 1000……Isn’t that what everyone writes? I went on to write an inventory control system in BASIC for the company my dad worked for. I coded on the TRS-80 and then printed it out. A typist transcribed my code onto an IBM PC and then I came in to troubleshoot the problems. No reading floppies cross-platform in those days. There were subtle differences in the BASIC compilers back than for disk I/O and file handling. Sadly, this old geek can still remember that BASIC stood for Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.

What scripting languages have you used?

Basic (No, not visual), Pascal, COBOL, and Fortran. Pascal will always be my favorite. Top down design rocks. If you haven’t declared it….you can’t freakin’ call it. That’s probably why I’ve had so much trouble grasping the object-oriented languages. Later on into today, it’s been DOS batch file scripts, SQL, Kixtart, and the occasional dabble into PowerShell.

What was your first professional sysadmin gig?I took a part-time job in 1987 doing data entry for free magazine subscriptions (International Computer Network) while going to community college for Comp Sci. When they found I had a tech bent, they started using me to do after-hours system tasks on the two mainframes we had (Tandem System I and Tandem System II). Load tapes for backups, load printers for labels or other print jobs, etc. The one thing I remember is the wide carriage printers in the data center. Before each type of print job, I had to run a paper tape with a series of holes punched in it through a reader on the printer. This would set up the printer for the type of job to be printed.

If you knew then what you know now, would have started in IT?

Definitely. During my college years, after I gave up on programming as a major, I focused on being in the financial markets. After a couple of years, however, things changed and I took on MIS as a second major and veered back towards IT. Mostly the change was in the industry. I wasn’t cut out to be a programmer locked in a hermetically sealed mainframe room, but that was the only college curriculum at that time. Once MIS and broader IS/IT curriculums came around it fit me better.

If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new sysadmins, what would it be?

Everybody knows something you don’t. Talking to them and asking them is the only way to find out what it is. In return, share everything you know. Nothing is more counterproductive than having knowledge and not sharing it.

If I could add a second item, it would be; Nobody knows everything. If you think you do, it is time to get out of this field. You need to enjoy constantly learning new things because this is an ever changing field.

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had scripting?

I guess the scripts I am most proud of are the ones I did for Y2K at my old job. They had these old scripts using this Novell Netware add-on pack that allowed them to transfer files between a Novell NetWare server and a SCO Unix server. The Add-on pack was not Y2K compliant, so I replicated the scripts using FTP and DOS batch files. There are only one or two facilities still using these scripts, but thy are still there 10 years later.

Who am I calling out?

Paul Rj Muller at the Caffination Podcast

Justo Morales at the Pepe Show Podcast

Rick Savoia of the The Force Field Podcast

UPDATE: Paul and Rick have both responded. I’ll have to reach out to Justo and kick him in the asterisk. You can find Paul and Rick’s responses at the following links:

Paul’s Response

Rick’s Response

I’ve found a Software Development Meme (A meme  consists of any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another) on a few blogs I’ve started reading (Larry Clarkin’s and Damon Payne’s), and I thought I would adapt it to the Sysadmin.

How old were you when you started using computers?

I was eight when I first started using computers.  My mom was a teacher for the local public school system and they were just getting computers.  She could bring one home over the summer and I started learning Basic on an Apple II.

What was your first machine?

The first machine we had in our family (other than the ones my mom could bring home) was an Apple II GS.  My first machine was a 486 IBM clone that cost me $2,000 (in 1993) (my summer work money - I was in high school).

What was the first real script you wrote?

The first “real” script I wrote was a Python script to enter addresses into a database system via ADO.

What scripting languages have you used?

I’ve used VBScript (marginally), PowerShell, and Python.

What was your first professional sysadmin gig?

My first professional sysadmin job is the one I currently have, with a local law enforcement agency.  I started officially as the IT Specialist here in April of 2006.

If you knew then what you know now, would have started in IT?

Definitely.  If I knew then what I know now, I would have finished college in the IT realm and started down this path sooner.  However, that might have changed how I’ve ended up, and I really like the position I have now and the opportunities in front of me.

If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new sysadmins, what would it be?

Get involved.  I’ve learned more and met more great people getting involved in community.  By commenting on blogs, podcasting, spending time on IRC in the #powershell channel and participating in PowerShellCommunity.org, I have learned so much and met generous, knowledgeable people.

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had scripting?

The 2008 Winter Scripting Games were a blast, even though I got busy with work halfway through, I had a great time.  It was awesome watching the community provide their solutions and see people working on the challenges in the IRC channel and forums.

Who am I calling out?

Rich Niemeier

Keith Albright

Hal Rottenberg

Jonathan Walz

Shay Levy

Aleksandar Nikolic

I caught this one recently on an episode of CyberSpeak (10/15 show)…..

There are a lot of “secure” file deletion applications out there, but these two look quick and simple and can be used on-the-fly from a thumb drive or automated in a script.

SDelete from Sysinternals/Microsoft

Cipher (included with Windows 2000 and above)

Assuming you do the right thing and migrate all of your confidential data to an encrypted TrueCrypt volume, what do you do with the old copies of the data? You can securely erase the data using these tools so that the only recoverable copy is in your encrypted volume.

Some systems use a data interchange folder to integrate two disparate systems. One system will drop an export file in the directory and the other system will import the file from the directory. I’ve seen POS systems integrate to credit card processing systems in this manner. With this tool, you can script a cron job to regularly securely delete the interchange files in the directory.

Just another layer of security to consider.

Recorded: September 4, 2007

Your Hosts: Keith Albright, Rich Niemeier, Ted Miller, and Steve Murawski

Show Length: 1:50:33
Ted returns this week for a regular format show. We discuss some recent news items; Microsoft shuts down AutoPatcher, SpamHaus gets a legal reprieve, and Sony introduces rootkit 2.0. Rich discusses the appropriateness of companies editing their Wikipedia articles and a look into the future of video on the Internet. Steve discusses employees Cyberslacking habits and the effect on companies. We end with our website picks and as usual, we hope you enjoy.

A reminder for Podcamp Philly. Keith will definitely be there on Saturday and possibly Sunday. Drop him a note at Keith [at] acoupleofadmins.com if you want to meet up for lunch.
Links mentioned in this show:

• Podcamp Philly
• Microsoft Takes Down Autopatcher
• Spamhaus off hook for $11 million judgement
• Storm Worm Add Millions To Botnets
• Sony Rootkit 2.0
• Corporate Wikipedia Editing
• The Future Of Internet Video
• I-Caught TV Show
• Foldersize Utility
• Email at Work
  • CIO Magazine
  • Dichotomy
  • Enterprise Networking Planet
  • Law.com

Other podcasts mentioned in this show:

Valid Syntax

See the full show notes here.

Website Picks:

Steve’s Pick: www.diigo.com

Keith’s Pick: www.digibarn.com

Rich’s Pick: www.livecdlist.com

Ted’s Pick (By Rich): www.flock.com

Listen Now:

Download Here

Recorded: August 28, 2007
Your Hosts: Keith Albright, Rich Niemeier, and Steve Murawski

Show Length: 1:59:32

Steve Murawski joins us again for this regular format show. We hold a lengthy discussion on open WiFi and the legal implications as well as how these cases may affect the innovation and use of WiFi by companies like Fon, etc. We also cover Acer’s purchase of Gateway and the ‘consumerization of IT’. Some technical segments on load balancing and ISP failover on a BSD box, stupid IP address tricks, and a couple utilities to round it up.

Take note of the promos for the Podcamp Philly Un-Conference and plan to attend. We end with our website picks and as usual, we hope you enjoy.
Links mentioned in this show:

• Podcamp Philly
• Wireless Hijaacking in England
• Consumerization of IT
• Citrix Acquires XenSource
• Gunplay Blamed for Internet Slowdown
• WGA Servers Offline
• Acer to Acquire Gateway
• What is a System Administrator
• SlickRun Utility
• Multiple ISP Connections on BSD
• Microsoft Hackers Blog
• Network Time Protocol

Other podcasts mentioned in this show:

The Mike Tech Show

See the full show notes here.

Website Picks:

Steve’s Pick: Hanselman.com

Keith’s 1st Pick: Stupid Waste of Time

Keith’s 2nd Pick: Even More Stupid Waste Of Time (NOTE: NSFW)

Rich’s 1st Pick: Boot-Land.net

Rich’s 2nd Pick: Bootdisk.com

Download Here

Recorded: August 21, 2007
Your Hosts: Keith Albright, Rich Niemeier, and Steve Murawski

Show Length: 1:11:58

Our second ‘Special Topics’ episode. We welcome Steve Murawski to the show and discuss the need for a Code of Ethics for the IT Profession. Is something like this needed in our profession and why? We close with our suggestions for hiring ethical employees.

Here is a brief outline:

• Do we need a Code of Ethics?

-Does this problem stem from the psychology of the IT professional?

-Incidents in news related to IT professionals crossing the line

-Compare with other professions

-Have laws/regulations done part of the job (HIPAA, SOX, SB 1386, etc)

-What is crossing the line? If I am to be the information steward, do I not have the right to view ALL information?

-What about personal information (that does not belong in the workplace)?

• Can it be enforced?

-With no formal sanctioning body in place (e.g. Board Of Medicine, Bar Assn.) how can it be done.

-Has anyone ever been stripped of their certifications? MCSE, CCNA, etc.

• What can a company do to ensure their employees act ethically?

-Is an employee manual enough?

-Sign contractual ethics guarantee?

-How far does loyalty go?

Links mentioned in this show:

Too many to mention. Please see show notes for links.

View the full shownotes here.

Listen Now:

Download Here

Recorded: August 14, 2007
Your Hosts: Keith Albright and Rich Niemeier

Show Length: 1:33:58

Sorry it took so long to edit and post. I took a couple vacation days and didn’t get to do the final steps.

Just Rich and I this episode…..unless you count ‘Virtual Ted’. Rich and I cover the usual gamut of news topics; Novell/SCO Unix lawsuit, Google’s 700Mhz Spectrum bid, and a NJ beach town’s plans to be the next technological marvel. Rich uncovers follow-up information about the health-risks of laser printers. We discuss what Apple can do to help with lost/stolen iPods and how to audit USB device usage on your network. We end with our website picks and as usual, we hope you enjoy.
Links mentioned in this show:

• Laser Printer Health Risks
• Ocean City NJ Beach Of The Future
• Guy Gets a BSOD Tattoo
• Google Bids On 700Mhz Spectrum
• Novell Wins SCO Lawsuit
• Stolen iPods
• OLPC Update
• Kixtart Quick Reference Guide
• Audit USB Device Usage
• Wi-Spy Spectrum Analyzer

Other podcasts mentioned in this show:

None

See the full show notes here.

Website Picks:

Keith’s Pick: NPA Lookup Tool

Rich’s Pick: New video site - VBS.TV

Download Here

Recorded: August 7, 2007
Your Hosts: Keith Albright, Rich Niemeier, Ted Miller, and Otto Kopeczky
Show Length: 1:34:52

This marks the first of ‘Special Topics’ episodes. As we discussed in previous shows, we’ve removed the ‘Main Topic’ section of the show and put it out on it’s own as a round-table discussion. If this works, we are hoping to release a new episode each week alternating between the regular show format and these special topic round-tables.

As for this episode, we previously kicked around tidbits on preserving your digital data safely and securely and decided to do an in-depth discussion. We are joined by Otto Kopeczky, a friend of Ted’s, to add some new viewpoints on the matter. We cover the various types of medias, the myths and realities surrounding their longevity as an archival medium, and some best practices to help preserve your digital data.

Here is a brief outline:

Media Deterioration

• Best practices
• Different Types of media (CD, USB, HDD, etc)
• Life Expectancies for each type
• Media variations (eg. CD-R lasts longer than CD-RW)
• Factors: Humidity, temperature, sunlight exposure, pressure

Technical Obsolescence of media

• Not just physical media, data format as well
• JPG vs. BMP, MP3 vs. WMV, etc.
• Open vs. proprietary

Links mentioned in this show:

Please see the show notes for all links and reference materials. Too many to list.

See the full show notes here.

Download Here

I just got back from the Juniper Networks event; The Bourne Ultimatum was awesome.  If you like the series, then you will definitely like this one.  I listened to an interview with Matt Damon on the way to the event and he promised it had more action scenes than the previous two and he wasn’t kidding.

Oh yeah, and there was some talk about firewalls and network products somewhere in there as well.  Actually, the coolest thing was Juniper giving away three SSG5 firewall appliances with wireless.  Your talking about a $500 security appliance.  It was a nice change from the usual MP3/Digital Camera giveaway.  Unfortunately, I did not win one…..oh well, maybe next time.

Thanks to Allan Sumerfield at Juniper for the invite to the event.