Archive for June, 2008

Exchange Trouble Leads to Learning

{ June 30, 2008 @ 8:21 pm } · { Exchange, Microsoft, Network Administration, software }
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Why is it that I always learn best by fire?  Why can’t I sit down with a tech book and read about issues, problems and tools BEFORE I have a fire to put out?  Oh well, I don’t.  I usually only learn tech tricks by  having to put out fires on the job.  This was the case last week when our main Exchange server stopped sending mail and started to hold all the messages in the queues. 

I had not had to track anything in the queues before this, so looking at and using the Message Tracking Center Tool was new to me.  I found some useful information on how to do this at two sites; Computer Performance and Amset.info.

But for quick information on how to get to your queues, what you should see, and some quick troubleshooting tips I recommend these sites to get you started.  And by all means, check out you queues, see how messages normally flow so that when you do  have a problem you will know how things should work and may just be able to quickly resolve your trouble.

I’m Going to Community SANS!

{ June 18, 2008 @ 2:53 pm } · { Career, Network Administration, Risk Assessment, Security }
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I am going for training finally.  I have only been in my current position for a year and a half now slugging my way through, figuring everything out on my own for the most part before finally getting approved for training.  To say that I am excited really is an understatement.

I did think that my first training would be Microsoft Certification training of some sort, but it turns out it will be SANS Institute training, and I am sooooo jazzed about it.

I will be attending the SEC401: SANS Security Essentials Bootcamp Style, which looks pretty intense, but does cover a bunch of topics that I have been trying to study and work on for the past year and a half.  I am going to be a facilitator at this event, which is really exciting and is honestly the only way my small company can afford to send me.  I will help the instructor and the people at SANS for a reduced tuition price.

Adding a Secondary Server to Symantec Corporate Version 10

{ June 5, 2008 @ 6:04 pm } · { NAV, Network Administration, software, symantec }
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Someone mistakenly made one of our oldest, most ready-to-die servers the Secondary Server at our location a year ago, so I needed to rectify that quick this week since that server is really ready-to-die now.  I could not find any great documentation really on how you go about doing that, but was able to get it working anyway.

I logged into the Symantec System Center that installed on my main server and really did almost everything from there.  I first had to unlock my server group, and then I chose Tools -> AntiVirus Server Rollout.  I followed the wizard that came up, basically I had to choose my new server, identify the group I wanted to associate with it, and then install it on the new server.  After restarting the server it was installed on, I only had to drag and drop my clients from one server to the other.  It couldn’t have been more simple.

Based on some instructions I found, I could have also installed it from a CD, but since I don’t have those here at our location, this was the way to go for me.  I am off now to disable the old server and then uninstall Symantec from that system.

Security Certifications Are the Way to Go

{ June 4, 2008 @ 3:11 pm } · { Network Administration, Risk Assessment }
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I read an interesting article this morning over at NetworkWorld.  It seems that while the value of many certifications is dropping, security certification value is on the rise.  For that matter, it seems demand for security related skills in general are on the rise.  For most of us in IT, that is no big surprise.  It seems there is a new data breach scandal weekly, and most of our managers are clammoring for risk assessments.

There are some specific certifications mentioned, like the Certified Information Security Manager and the GIAC Security Expert, both of which I have been thinking about myself, since my boss wants me to delve into the risk assessment process here.  I will be looking into both of these in the coming days.  I believe I have to get in a couple of years of practical experience before I really tackle either of these certs, but it is still something I can set as goal.