Soldato
It's like all these organisations, the money may be good but you'll not see any decent pay rise over time and the role may seem good but the reality is probably not ...
Who works in Enterprise IT
- Thread starter Rotty
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It's like all these organisations, the money may be good but you'll not see any decent pay rise over time and the role may seem good but the reality is probably not ...
Associate
I work for a division of an LEA which provides entire network infrastructure, environment and all-level support for schools which choose to purchase it in the area. They're linked via a private WAN and are as such all on one domain. We currently have 13 schools, three of which are full size secondaries, for a total of 1500 client machines and 17 DCs.
Dell for machines and servers, Netgear/Cisco for network core/wired infrastructure, Cisco with full RADIUS/IAS authentication for wireless.
Dell for machines and servers, Netgear/Cisco for network core/wired infrastructure, Cisco with full RADIUS/IAS authentication for wireless.
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I can assure you Mdaemon is great compared with FirstClass. When the current headmaster started at the school I manage he insisted we dump Mdaemon for FC and I don't think anyone else on the staff is happy with it. FC seems to be the bits the Notes developers throught were too nasty even for Notes.....Rolling out a new vpn over the next few weeks then moving the mail system from MDaemon (why does anyone use this ****?) to exchange 2007. Fun times ahead
I've been in the industry for over thirty years and my resume reads like a roll-call of dead or dying companies. I don't whether it's something I do to them or if I'm just unlucky....
The main 'highlights' were:
Nine years at Wang, initially in second-level tech support in the City then network management for Wang Europe.
Five years at an outsourcing company, three of them running the servers at Wokingham District Council.
These days I'm semi-retired, having moved out of London, just scuttling back occasionally to look after the foreign school I manage.
The main 'highlights' were:
Nine years at Wang, initially in second-level tech support in the City then network management for Wang Europe.
Five years at an outsourcing company, three of them running the servers at Wokingham District Council.
These days I'm semi-retired, having moved out of London, just scuttling back occasionally to look after the foreign school I manage.
I don't work in Enterprise IT, sometimes I wish I did. There are only seven full time staff and 4 contractors but this isn't my day job I'm a .Net developer by education but my job titles include Senior developer, Network admin, Database admin, Server support and technical purchaser. It must be nice to work in a large team and refer issues to other teams but its a fun old job keeping everything together on a limited budget.
We have five servers, one mail server two switches and a Cisco router & SDSL modem all in a non air-conditioned room at the back of the office, a very far cry from some of the posh setups some people have.
We have five servers, one mail server two switches and a Cisco router & SDSL modem all in a non air-conditioned room at the back of the office, a very far cry from some of the posh setups some people have.
There's not massive teams in Enterprise IT. I guess that depends what you class as Enterprise.
My last job there was 7 in Second/Third Line engineers (300 ish servers). This job theres 4 (250ish servers) so it's swings and roundabouts. If you're good (like we hopefully all are at this level) then it's not a problem.
M.
My last job there was 7 in Second/Third Line engineers (300 ish servers). This job theres 4 (250ish servers) so it's swings and roundabouts. If you're good (like we hopefully all are at this level) then it's not a problem.
M.
![Shaz]sigh[](/styles/overclockers/avatars/4.png){kind=avatar}
Associate
Interesting thread.
I've been officially working in IT for 3 and a half years so not too long relatively. Saying that, I've only been employed as an "anything" since 2003!
I'm in Infrastructure for a large company working on two defence contracts.
Skillset is quite alright with knowledge of your standard MS product set (Server, Exchange, SQL + system centre products), VMWare VI3 (VCP), Cisco - CCNP and CCSP, have knowledge of JUNOS but alas no formal certification, indepth knowledge of NetApp FAS, EMC Clariion/Symmetrix + various storage network protocols. Unfortunately I'm also Citrix CCEA qualified.
I'm also ITIL trained (har).
I'm working on my CISSP but don't yet have the full criteria to go for it
Also going to get my NCDA for NetApp and CCDA->CCDP for Cisco after Summer.
Tin is tin mostly, I've got experience with a lot of the Dell/HP/IBM product set and obviously the management tools.... *vendor lock in*
!!!
For me, IT is a tad boring and relatively easy. I have a good mind for logic and consuming info so it lends itself quite well. Trends change but again can (mostly) be easily read. I tend to focus on upcoming projects which gives me quite a lot of exposure to new tech....
The fun for me is integrating IT within the business and making the business see real returns on their money.
I've been officially working in IT for 3 and a half years so not too long relatively. Saying that, I've only been employed as an "anything" since 2003!
I'm in Infrastructure for a large company working on two defence contracts.
Skillset is quite alright with knowledge of your standard MS product set (Server, Exchange, SQL + system centre products), VMWare VI3 (VCP), Cisco - CCNP and CCSP, have knowledge of JUNOS but alas no formal certification, indepth knowledge of NetApp FAS, EMC Clariion/Symmetrix + various storage network protocols. Unfortunately I'm also Citrix CCEA qualified.
I'm also ITIL trained (har).
I'm working on my CISSP but don't yet have the full criteria to go for it
Also going to get my NCDA for NetApp and CCDA->CCDP for Cisco after Summer.Tin is tin mostly, I've got experience with a lot of the Dell/HP/IBM product set and obviously the management tools.... *vendor lock in*
!!!For me, IT is a tad boring and relatively easy. I have a good mind for logic and consuming info so it lends itself quite well. Trends change but again can (mostly) be easily read. I tend to focus on upcoming projects which gives me quite a lot of exposure to new tech....
The fun for me is integrating IT within the business and making the business see real returns on their money.
Associate
MDaemon is a really nice product if you take the time to learn how it works. It may look 'low rent' but its spot on.
I know of at least one ISP (albeit a pretty small one) that used to use it as an SMTP server. Way back in the day I used to install it in many small business environments and it just worked fine.
I know of at least one ISP (albeit a pretty small one) that used to use it as an SMTP server. Way back in the day I used to install it in many small business environments and it just worked fine.
Soldato
What kind of school needs nine Domain Controllers? Unless of course your school is scattered across a lot of remote sites?
Back when i was IT Manager for a school I had the following:
2 X 2003 Domain Controller - HP DL380G4
1 x 2003 Storage Server NAS - HP
1 x SharePoint 2007 Server - Dell 6850 a.k.a The Beast
1 x Google Box (go me!)
1 x 2003 Terminal Server - HP DEL380G4
1 x Apple Xeon XServe. - Enough said!
LEA funded poorly performing school well apart from IT kit which was brilliant!
Current project is to setup 2 x Dell PowerEdge R905 Virtualisation Servers and an EqualLogic PS5000E iSCSI SAN with Windows 2008 and Hyper-V as a test bed for moving to Virtualisation. I think we may go VMWare ESX.
Once proven (I.e. failover works) then it will be reloaded with 2008 + Exchange 2007 in failover mode.
However I am aiming to get out of the technical side and (back) into management. So i will be doing ITIL and Prince2 but I will also be doing my 2008 MCSE upgrade.
So I am kind of Enterpirse just in the Public Sector!
Associate
Whilst a hypervisor is pretty much a hypervisor, VMWare's myriad of tools eclipse the Microsoft offering at the mo. I understand you wanting to test the kit but it'd be easier going straight in to testing with ESX/DRS/VMotion.
The issue with two hosts if you are going to use HA/VMotion is that if one host fails physically, the other host will become heavily loaded, ie crippled. I'd always recommend 3 hosts if possible.
With regards to virtualising Exchange, what sort of load are you looking at?
I like the Equallogic kit, have for a while. Are you purchasing through a VAR?
True - however this allows for scaling of a virtual SAN far past the limits of a traditional SAN (eg a CX3-10 from EMC can only have a max of 60 drives). It also means that you do not bottleneck the connections from the storage processors from the SAN fabric, as every tray of disk you add has two additional controllers, with another 6x 1GB ports (active/passive). The Scale-out instead of Scale-up approach really pays dividends when comparing sheed load and access traffic from the hosts to the SAN.
Plus the fact that all software is included in the price (snapping/mirroring/thin provisioning/storage virtualisation etc), it rapidly becomes a very strong offering....especially for server virtualisation.
They are part of EMC, and i can't see EMC parting with the most promising side of their business.
Associate
Not so sure about that. There's rumours Intel want VMWare.
The hypervisor market is/is due to become commoditised and it's only a matter of time until Citrix/MS catch up....
Re: the Equallogic, as Nick said, there's definitely a market for the product, mostly SMB and projects.
Companies get very wary when it comes to the idea of forklift upgrades and the whole notion of relicensing the software based on the head. Having a slight price overhead of buying another SAN is easier for them than plotting the rate of change and including it within the finance forecasting. Especially when the Equallogic marketing pitch an upgrade as a performance uplift due to the extra controllers.... fair enough but spindles are everything!
The hypervisor market is/is due to become commoditised and it's only a matter of time until Citrix/MS catch up....
Re: the Equallogic, as Nick said, there's definitely a market for the product, mostly SMB and projects.
Companies get very wary when it comes to the idea of forklift upgrades and the whole notion of relicensing the software based on the head. Having a slight price overhead of buying another SAN is easier for them than plotting the rate of change and including it within the finance forecasting. Especially when the Equallogic marketing pitch an upgrade as a performance uplift due to the extra controllers.... fair enough but spindles are everything!
Soldato
I used to be an IBM engineer, did the lot, laptops, desktops, servers, hardware and software, not so hot on the server side of the software, didn't really venture that deep into exchange and active directory, never migrated a server =|
This was for an IBM partner, supporting quite a few local businesses, and a few not so local ones. This was pretty much the job that made me want to get into the computer business as a career.
Wouldn't say i have any skills though
This was for an IBM partner, supporting quite a few local businesses, and a few not so local ones. This was pretty much the job that made me want to get into the computer business as a career.
Wouldn't say i have any skills though
Associate
I hope not. I'd give up my VCP if they did!
With regards to the EqualLogic, well I guess each their own. I was due to put some units in at another client site but NetApp matched and bettered the quote I got for the EQL units. A FAS3040c vs EQL, no contest in my opinion.
Incidentally, what price did your 3040c come out at? What software options and what discount level did you get? Was it just a single site or was there a single controller elsewhere?
I'm just in another bid process with NetApp at the mo and feel I have a decent offer but need to check the market.
Soldato
Noob!
Shaz]sigh[;11735570 said:
I haven't got the worlds biggest budget to play with for the testing. The live virtualisation would have more servers. As far as Exchange goes we currently have about a thousand users on our GroupWise system and mail usage is rising.
We always buy our Dell kit through VARs rather than direct from Dell.
Noob!
Been in IT for over 5 years and never seen or heard of a Google Box before.
Did it actually help the school or was it a waste of funds?