Explain the function of the following network devices
Certs: 3.2 Recover Servers (70-412)
You have backed up your server, configured a schedule to backup your data periodically; but what happens when disaster strikes? Can you recover the server, operating system and data? Well in this post I’ll look at the recovery process and the various options available.
Tech Note: ipconfig
ipconfig is a command line utility available in all versions of Windows. Designed to be run from the command prompt, it allows the user to get the IP address information and network configuration from a Windows computer.
Tech Note: Command Line Interface – Ping
Pinging Internet connections and network devices can be an extremely useful first step when diagnosing network problems. Windows has a tool called Ping, which, as the title of this post suggests, is run from the command line. It is used to test the reliability of a host on an IP network, and to measure the time taken for messages sent from the originating computer to reach the destination host or network device.
Blog: London Site Visit
In my day to day role as an IT Pro, I have to visit customer sites to perform hardware maintenance. Today is one of those on days for me. I was tasked with replacing a failing HDD within a server located in a customer data centre. In modern servers a failed HDD is not a problem, they are hot swap. Unfortunately this server is nearly 15 years old, runs Windows NT4 Workstation, and the drive is buried deep inside the machine. The only option is to visit site and replace it.
Blog: Tech On Holiday – FZ45 v Lumia930 v Surface2
I have three devices with me capable of taking photos, the traditional digital camera (FZ45), a smart phone (Lumia 930) & finally my tablet (Surface 2). The Club Hotel Aguamarina overlooks the bay of Arenal d’en Castell, a stunning view.
Blog: Tech On Holiday – Club Hotel Aguamarina
This week (June 27th to July 4th) I’m taking a well-deserved break on the Spanish island, Menorca. It’s my first visit and I have to say the island is stunning, the weather is great, the beer is cold.
Certs: 3.1 Configure & Manage Backups (70-412)
The third objective domain covered by the 70-412 Microsoft exam deals with Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery. In this, the first of three posts covering this domain we take a detailed look at backups. What tools are available? What can be backed up and how? Who can perform a backup, and how is it all configured? So read on….
Certs: 1.1 Deploy & Manage Server Images (70-411)
In this, the first post covering content from the 70-411 Administering Windows Server 2012 exam, I’m going to look at deploying & managing server images using Windows Deployment Services (WDS). WDS can be used to automate the deployment of standard or custom images to servers, which can dramatically speed up deployment if you have a significant number to install. Continue reading
Blog: Building a Test Lab – Part 2
In this post, the second of the “Building a Test Lab” series, I’ll run through how to build a virtual machine using VirtualBox. Although this is a relatively straight forward task, there are a few things to bear in mind, such as the size and location of the virtual hard disk (VHD), the amount of RAM you allocate to the virtual machine and what naming convention you should use for your suite of VM’s.