Church IT RoundTable

The end of the 700 MHz Debate

2010-02-08T17:48:49+00:00

For 700 MHZ wireless, the end is finally near!

The deadline has been set. Finally! The FCC has made official their order regarding wireless mic systems operating the the so-called 700 MHz band. As of June 12, it will be illegal to operate wireless mics in this spectrum. This has been a drama played out over more than 10 years. It’s nice just to have a firm date. There is more background on the “why” behind this decision this morning, over at TechnoPraxis if you’re interested.

So, if you still have systems operating between 695 and 806 MHZ, what should you do?

First, if you have not already done so, it’s time to contact your dealer to replace your now obsolete systems. You can check your system on the FCC website to see if it’s covered by the new rule.
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/wirelessmicrophones/manufacturers.html

The good news is that the major manufacturers have extended their rebate programs through the end of June, so you can get some help with the financial impact of this decision.

Beyond that, expect the remaining spectrum that we are allowed to use for wireless to get a bit more congested. The FCC has stated that wireless mic usage takes priority over these new broadband devices, but only when it comes to preventing interference. If you’re operating a wireless microphone, the THEORY is that the new devices should avoid you and pick another frequency to operate on.

There will be a registration database that will allow wireless users to stake a claim for specific frequencies in specific locations. There are also ongoing tests to create workable sensing technology. The new devices will check to see if you’re operating a wireless mic before they operate on a specific frequency. We may also see the development of wireless beacons. Think of it as a wireless lighthouse. Wireless mic users will transmit a signal that will tell these new broadband devices to stay away.

Regardless of how this all shakes out, one thing is clear. The airwaves are getting more crowded, and wireless mics are expensive. You can avoid all of these problems pretty easily, by simply using wired microphones whenever possible. If the talent isn’t moving around, and moving around a lot, think wired. As my friend tp:// is fond of saying, “the cheapest wired microphone on the cheapest cable is FAR more reliable than the most expensive wireless system available.”

That is good advice.

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Church IT Roundtable Sponsors

2010-02-08T16:00:00+00:00

The Spring 2010 Church IT RoundTable is just a month away. If you haven’t registered go on over to www.citrt.org and claim your seat, QUICKLY!

One of the great aspects of the CITRT National events is to learn about great products and services that you might need to implement or use in the coming year. We will be again having the Vendor Bazaar were CITRT partners can share, demo, explain etc the technology and tools they sell.

Every time I attend a National RoundTable I end up learning a ton about a specific tech or product and then get home just in time to hear a staff members say, “Would it be possible to… “

Maybe there is already one of those “would it be possible…” projects on your list and you don’t know of a vendor with the solution, shoot an email to info@citrt.org with your need and we’ll see if we can find a vendor to meet with you face to face at the Roundtable.

Maybe you know of a vendor that others should meet and learn what they have to offer, if you have a vendor in mind contact them and encourage them to check out the CITRT Spring RoundTable Sponsors Page or email info@citrt.org for more information.

The End is Near, for 700 MHz Wireless

2010-02-08T14:46:37+00:00

So maybe it's not really as dramatic as all that, but as far as wireless microphone use in the so-called 700 MHz band, it is now official.

As of June 12, and possibly earlier in some cases, use of wireless mics transmitting between 695 and 806 MHz is officially illegal. The final rule was issued on January 15.

This wireless spectrum has been reallocated for use by public safety agencies, and by wireless service providers.

As we've said before, the FCC won't have a squad of 'wireless cops' cruising the streets on Sunday morning, looking for violations. What is clear, though, is that the wireless companies who have spent BILLIONS of dollars to buy up spectrum will be watching. One of those providers began sending letters to higher profile wireless users last year, warning them that they would be watching for any infractions.

So, it's time to stop using the systems. It will be against the law to fire them up after the deadline. Thankfully, church techs now have a firm date to refer to when discussing this with church boards. It would have been nice if they'd announced the date a bit earlier... say before budgets for 2010 were set, but they didn't.

Beyond the fact that it's wrong, there is actually an element of danger in continuing to use the systems. As the FCC order itself points out, your system could interfere with a public safety radio system. Is it highly likely? Probably not. But it is possible, and that would be bad.

So, where to go from here? More on that over at Church Tech Matters this morning!

Technorati Tags: wireless microphones,700MHz,Shure,Sennheiser,rebate

Entry Category Count

2010-02-08T14:23:07+00:00

Occasionally I want to only display something based on the number of categories that is assigned to a particular entry. I wrote a small plugin to help me grab that number and use it in conditional statements. An example of use would be displaying a specific word like "category" versus "categories" in the sentence "This entry was filed in X category/categories." You could also choose to display content based on this number. A few examples of use are included in the documentation.

Twitter updates for the week of 2010-02-08

2010-02-08T10:45:00+00:00

Superbowl party with a ton of people. Great food and a great game. #
Ok… the Monster.com boogieman commercial is pretty funny. #
@benjordan 120dB. If it's too loud, you're too old. or hand out earplugs with communion. in reply to benjordan #
@theporch delivered a great message this morning @watermarkchurch. Life is too short to worry. Awesome new song from @prcmusic too. #
Successful birthday. Now to grill some tomato ranch chicken on the grill. Yum. #
At Main Event for the big girl's birthday party. #fb #
Any other wm peeps going to pierce HS basketball game tonight for family night? #
635 shutdown had all streets in n Dallas slammed with traffic. #
Lots of great stories unfolding on http://www.watermarkblogs.org. Check out stories from Africa, community, & others. via @watermarkchurch #
@aaronalexander I use all of them interchangibily. in reply to aaronalexander #
@rhowell trip to Lover's Egg Roll = rancid dog meat! in reply to rhowell #
@watermarkgeek @benjordan Would love to hear more about that. (via @PeaElAre) / …trust me, you really don't. #
Today @benjordan used bluegrass music to remind me of several atributes of the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. #
@brookemauritzen Nope… you know… we only watch HGTV. No Lost here. =) in reply to brookemauritzen #
RT @davidpenuel: Busted! @skedersha doing a women's bible study while wearing a pink shirt. http://twitpic.com/1110hk /Real men wear black #
And in walks @davidpenuel… he apparently didn't get the memo on the shirt… #
We are officially a cult. @wesbutler, @skedersha, PB & I are all at the same Panera. 3 of us wearing same shirt. http://post.ly/LnwQ #
@dszp Proud of your hard work and diligence through the last 7 years and excited for where God is leading you. Way to go! in reply to dszp #
Headed to National Church IT Roundtable at Saddleback – March 11-12. If you are a church IT leader, you should be there. info at citrt.org #
ease of use, win-win, major requirements, milestones, demo, phased approach, time sensitive, show the interface… I need buzzword bingo. #
Love sitting at panera surrounded by baby IT consultants… using words like knowledgebase, rollout, parallel cutover, and methodology. #
Best thing about Xwing vs Tie Fighter? It works just fine on Windows 7. #
Playing Xwing vs. Tie Fighter… In all of it's "Made for Windows 95, 640×480 max resolution goodness" Great soundtrack. #
Good Morning Texas – Story about group from @watermarkchurch who went to Haiti last week http://bit.ly/a0R1m4 #
John Tyler, 10th US Pres, has two living grandsons. How many of us can say "My grandpa was born in 1790." ?! http://bit.ly/bBSpZp @voorhis) #
@dszp He wanted to keep the old account for personal use… new account for more ministry related things. in reply to dszp #
What is it exactly with teething kids, coughing and vomiting in the middle of the night? 3 kids. It's always the same outcome. #

50 Days Until the Spring National Church IT Roundtable March 11-12!

2010-02-07T18:29:08+00:00

That’s right! Only 50 days until Church/Ministry IT staff and volunteers from across the country will descend upon Saddleback Church in warm sunny Lake Forest California to partake in 2 days of invaluable peer learning, networking and inspiration March 11-12.

If you can only attend one IT conf this year, this is the one I recommend without hesitation! Regardless of your church/org size, I guarantee you’ll leave with new knowledge, new friendships and loads of inspiration. I’ve been to every National Church IT Roundtable since 2006 and I leave each one totally amazed at what I’ve gained. Not to mention the incredible friendships I’ve built over the past few years are invaluable on both a person and professional level. So in other words – make every effort possible to get to this event. If you need me to write a note to your boss to help your plight let me know ;-)

We’re still firming up final costs, but it will be under $100…and that will include lunch and snacks both days…and if we get enough sponsors hopefully even dinner both nights. Registration is open and cost is only $75 for both days including meals!

Sponsors? Yes, we’re asking vendors to help offset the costs. Please encourage your favorite vendors to contribute. Even a small amount will be helpful. See the sponsor page for more info.

Spouses? Yes, a number of us have been informed by our spouses that they TOO will be coming to California :-) Spouses are encouraged to join us during the evening gathering times. Perhaps during the day they can form their own IT spouse support group and hang out together at the beach ;-)

Final details are still being nailed down, but here’s the schedule gist …
March 10 – optional pre-event informal gathering in the evening (possible dinner)
March 11 – Day 1 - 9am until late … Saddleback “behind the scenes” tour in late afternoon, group dinner, then a special worship service
March 12 – Day 2 – 9am until 5pm … then optional dinner for those flying out Sat/Sun

More details can be found at http://citrt.org … hope to see you there! Questions? Leave a comment or email info@citrt.org

For the latest up to the minute Church IT Roundtable news follow CITRT on twitter and/or facebook

Yum yum [Flickr]

2010-02-07T17:21:54+00:00

Golden ~Eye~ posted a photo:

sent from my blackberry

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-07

2010-02-07T16:34:00+00:00

Slipped and fell in the ice yesterday, in lots of pain today #
RT @oncee: Twitter Mass Password Reset due to Phishing: http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=8137&rss #
Internet down again. !@#*; @mediacom #fail #fail #fail #
has #shmoocon envy #
Weather permitting, I'm going to Springfield for #2600 meeting tonight; will anyone be there? #
On my way 2 Springfield,MO; Red Robin 4 dinner, then #2600 meeting #
I still use IE… to download FF #
Searched B&N and Borders and no #2600 #

Church IT RoundTable 2010

2010-02-06T16:00:00+00:00

One of those can’t miss opportunities for Church IT people is about to take place just a few weeks away. The Church IT Roundtable’s National Spring event will be hosted at Saddleback Church (Lake Forest, CA) March 11-12.

If you have attended a CITRT event in the past, you know what I am talking about. If you haven’t attended I am serious when I say its a highlight of my year. Every time I go to a CITRT event I learn tons about Church Information Technology, I meet awesome peers and I have a great time. If you are in Church IT (staff, volunteer, vendor) you can’t afford not to attend this event.

If you haven’t already, make plans to head to Southern California March 11-12. For all the details check out www.citrt.org

ciscoospina

2010-02-06T01:19:04+00:00

Today was the final day of the Next Level Leadership Conference here at Savannah Christian Church… and what a great conference it was. Every year, church leaders across America and around the world come to SCC to network together, and seek out how to take their church to the “Next Level”. We are blessed to be able to give back by teaching what we have learned after many years of conferences ourselves as we have grown over the years, and continue to grow daily.

On the IT side, we not only make sure that our internal infrastructure is performing optimally, but we also offer wireless internet and Internet Kiosks for our guest to use.

For the wireless internet (guest network), we use a device called a Guest Gate, which is a very affordable hardware appliance that separates our guest network from our private network. By adding switches and wireless access points behind the Guest Gate, we are able to create a guest network that is totally isolated from our internal, private network. It works very well! This year, we used an Apple Airport Extreme base station as a central wireless access router for our public network. We also used two Apple Airport Express access points to extend/boost the signal in areas where the signal had gotten weak. The Airport Express access points are actually able to “extend a network”, rather than creating a new network, which is very nice! Doing this, we were able to cover most of the building for Public Wifi.

For our “Internet Kiosks”, we used 4 of our 16 check-in stations. Our check-in stations are non-domain joined, Windows 7 machines with Microsoft Steady State installed. We use Windows 2008 Terminal Server Published App/Remote App to push ACS Check-point to the computer. So, moving these machines to our guest network was simple. We added a “nextlevel” local account without a password, locked the account down with Windows Steady State, disable the ACS local account that we use for the weekends, and move the computers network lines to the guest network in the datacenter. The result, a quick-to-deploy internet kiosk that is completely locked down and isolated from our network. In addition to the security of the computer, we also implemented OpenDNS.com this year for our guest network. Doing this, we were able to protect our guests from certain areas of the internet using OpenDNS’s filters, as well as preserving the bandwidth by blocking access to file sharing, audio & video streaming, etc.

This morning, we had a Q&A-Information Technology session where we were able to take an hour and sit down with guests to talk about IT in their churches. It went really well. A special thanks to Ernesto, Winston and Scott for doing an excellent job assisting in facilitating this session.

Here are a few pictures from Main sessions of the conference, and the Internet Kiosks:

Command Center :0)
Monitoring the SCC Private & Guest Networks

Normally Check-in Stations being used as Internet Kiosks for the Conference.

Shots of the Praise Services that kicked off the Conference on Wednesday night, and main sessions of the conference on Thursday and Friday.

Snow Day Adventure

2010-02-06T00:15:25+00:00

Since today was a snow day, I thought I would break the silence here on the blog. Well not exactly a snow day with no work or school… but Jonathan’s first day to play in the snow.

Over the past few weeks Natalie has insisted to find a great buy and purchase snow pants for Jonathan incase of a big snow… Well she found the deal, and I hope Jonathan likes the pants because they are big enough for about 3 winters!

We found the deal just in time for an ‘amazing’ snow fall of 1.5 inches which warranted a snow day. So Today after we finished lunch we all go our warm gear on (some more gear than others) and headed out to the snow.

Of course when you are out in your first snow adventure, you have to learn you can eat snow as long as it’s not yellow snow (or brown, thanks Toby).

Since the snow was really wet we decided to make a Snow Man… as soon as I started rolling the snow we could hear “Ba, Ba Ba” (Jonathan’s word for Ball). The bigger the snow ball, the faster and LOUDER we heard “Ba, Ba, Ba”. Soon he was yelling “BA”.

After rolling snow, we had our finished project and it was time for Dad to head back to the office, I think Jonathan enjoyed our lunch time adventure.

Classifying an ISP – New Regulations by the FCC

2010-02-04T14:42:51+00:00

FCC to use Title II of the Communications Act:

Title II of the Communications Act—the section that regulates telecommunications common carriers is now being considered by the FCC to oversee broadband. FCC Commissioner Robert M. McDowell during a talk he gave to the Free State Foundation asked: (see First Do No Harm: A broadband plan for Amercia)

“Exactly what kind of companies might get tangled up into this regulatory Rubik’s Cube?…Any Internet company that offers a voice application?” … “With this newfound authority, why stop at voice apps? Isn’t voice just another type of data app? As the distinction between network operators and application providers continues to blur at an eye-popping rate, how will the government be able to keep up?”

Is Broadband able to be classified as a common carrier service? The FCC most assuredly believes this is well within its authority – and is exercising these “policies” not just over the agency’s ability to regulate the NET – but if it can be classified as a common carrier service.

Comcast is suing the FCC over its Order sanctioning the company for P2P blocking – so their ability to “regulate” needs to be clearly defined – of course re-defining a government entity is not an easy task… however defining ISPs as common carriers would seem suited to the FCC’s purposes, especially if given Title II’s clear definition of what a common carrier can’t do:

“It shall be unlawful for any common carrier to make any unjust or unreasonable discrimination in charges, practices, classifications, regulations, facilities, or services for or in connection with like communication service, directly or indirectly, by any means or device, or to make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person, class of persons, or locality, or to subject any particular person, class of persons, or locality to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage.”

McDowell stated, “At the same time, broadband companies create and maintain software with millions of lines of code inside their systems. They also own app stores that are seamlessly connected to their networks. As technology advances, will the government be able to make the distinctions between applications and networks necessary under a new regulatory regime?… Will it (the government) be able to do so in Internet Time?”

One thing is clear - If we were able to agree on some basic tenets providers could utilize to ensure all accounts are serviceable based upon not only “bandwidth” but also “throughput” most of these arguments would simply be a mute point.

This past October (2009) The FCC laid out its draft for network neutrality rules which appears to allow to the greater extent a “free and open Internet.” The principles already existing from 2005:

Consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice
Consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement
Consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network
Consumers are entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers.

Those principles along with two new additional principles are now going to be made “binding:

A provider of broadband Internet access service must treat lawful content, applications, and services in a nondiscriminatory manner
A provider of broadband Internet access service must disclose such information concerning network management and other practices as is reasonably required for users and content, application, and service providers to enjoy the protections specified in this rulemaking

In this ever changing world of the INTERNET - I do not think it is reasonable to agree ISP’s are able to perform Network management based on ambiguity:

To manage congestion on networks
To address harmful traffic (viruses, spam)
To block unlawful content (child porn)
To block unlawful transfers of content (copyright infringement)
For “other reasonable network management practices”

The ambiguity of that last item is alarming to both camps in the war for “net-neutrality.” The FCC is going to at some point – have to define the other reasonable network practices” for this to have any real meaning after all. The question remains: Congress has never given the FCC any authority to regulate the Internet for the purpose of ensuring net neutrality has it?

Cloud Computing Reflections

2010-02-04T14:11:30+00:00

In November I posted an entry about an article I wrote about Cloud Computing; that it proves Solomon was right that there's nothing new under the sun. As I've been thinking about Cloud Computing and what it's evolving to mean (server-based computing to minimize traffic and hardware requirements), the following struck me as... interesting!

When engineering Novell Netware networks in the mid-1980s using programs like WordPerfect, we engineered them so all software ran from the server where the data also resided. Microsoft decided to enter the word processing game and did so in a big way, eclipsing Word Perfect. But their solution, Word, was so inefficient they recommended running it from the local hard drive.
Microsoft decided to enter the network game and did so in a big way too, eclipsing Novell. They did their best to achieve Netware's reliability, even adopting Novell's strategy of using a database called a directory to manage the network. But things were often unstable and services conflicted with each other, so they developed the strategy of running many servers to minimize service conflicts and to further distribute the network, pushing as much data and programs as possible to the workstation. With today's hypervisor technology we're finally able to engineer Microsoft networks with very few server 'hosts'-- part of Cloud Computing architecture.

So, more than a dozen years later we're finally able to do with Microsoft Windows networks most of what we were able to do with Novell Networks. Congrats to Microsoft!

Performance Update to Redirect Helper Lite

2010-02-04T11:23:49+00:00

I've had this update sitting in my repository for a little while and haven't had the time to polish a couple of things up to release it. Finally I had some breathing room after some client work so I'm now releasing version 1.1.0 of Redirect Helper Lite. This introduces an extension to the add-on which greatly enhances the processing time of the actual redirection. In earlier versions ExpressionEngined to being parsing the template before it even performed a redirection. That's a lot of overhead for something that should occur immediately. For this update I've utilized the sessions_start hook and now the redirection occurs as early as possible saving you that tiny bit of processing time.

Orphaned, Raped and Ignored

2010-02-04T03:21:59+00:00

Every once and awhile a story comes along that breaks my heart again and again. Please take the time to read this article from The New York Times. Warning, the content is graphic and disturbing. To give full credit, the original article can be found here.

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Wordpress for Android

2010-02-03T18:23:51+00:00

Android Market released an official WordPress app(free) yesterday that allows users to create and edit posts, manage pages and administer comments from Android powered devices. Works with both hosted and self-hosted wordpress blogs.
This post was created, published and edited in the new app. (But not while driving.)
Here is the obligatory picture of Tam the Wonderdog to test picture imports:

Never, ever, trust anything to microsoft DRM

2010-02-03T18:01:33+00:00

I have an Xbox 360. It is a toy, but a fun toy. The kids and I love playing games on it. A few weeks ago I got the dreaded "Red Ring of Death" on the box. Thankfully, I am covered by the three year warranty for this exact problem. So I send it off to Microsoft. Their solution is simply to send us an already fixed box rather than making customers wait to have the machines fixed. Great, sounds

The BCTC is Coming!!!

2010-02-02T21:18:38+00:00

The Biblical Counseling Training Conference is coming up fast at Faith. Our team is working hard to ensure an enjoyable learning experience for our guests that allow them to focus on their walk with the Lord so that they can help others who are hurting. We are blessed at Faith to have over 1550 folks from all over the world attending an event in Lafayette, IN in February to learn about the Bible’s sufficiency.

As you know the weather in Indiana in February is often less than ideal. Anyone remember the blizzard of 2007? I think that one will go down in conference history. We had radar loops showing on all the screens so folks could track the storm progress.

I’m often asked what’s new in the tech realm so here are some things we are excited about and are working on.

If our friends at UPS come through for us we will have a new pulpit and video monitor stand in the auditorium. We have been working on this for a while due to an earlier blog post I wrote about the pulpit catching on fire during a Sunday morning service. This week we are replacing the pulpit itself and the video monitor next to it. After the conference we will begin working on the whole up-and-down part.
Our wireless network coverage has been increased. We were hoping to have additional bandwidth available but construction delays have that part on hold until the week after the conference.
In the Community Center we have made some functional improvements to 2 of our sound systems.
We use 10 laptops for the various conference sessions and tracks. We typically rent those and they arrived today so our team is working hard and getting them imaged and pre-loaded with many PowerPoint files, drivers, video codec’s, and other teaching resources.
We have added another LCD announcement board in the school wing of the building and are planning to use that to communicate announcements and other upcoming events.
We go through a lot of CD’s during the conference as folks take media home with them. We have increased our duplication capacity so we can get as many orders completed before the end of the BCTC as possible.
We run 12 full audio/visual systems during the conference. While our gear inventory has increased over the years we still rent some of the equipment. That arrives Friday afternoon. We begin setup on Saturday morning and complete it Sunday afternoon after our morning services.

Another new thing I’m excited about is the use of Twitter to submit questions during the 2 Q&A sessions in Track 1. This is something new for us and if it goes well will probably be expanded. More details about this will be provided in Track 1 and I’ll be there as the Twitter moderator.

My thanks to the many of you who have inquired about my grandfather and have been praying for him. His recovery is going well and he is back to his schedule as it was before he fell. He’s excited that he will be able to participate in the BCTC as he originally planned.

As for the Super Bowl where the Indianapolis Colts are going to beat the New Orleans Saints, I know the BCTC and the Super Bowl are on the same night. That happens every so often depending on how the calendar falls but since we all know the Colts are going to win anyway it really doesn't matter if you see the first half of the game. One year I taught a session on Super Bowl night and would periodically update folks with the score from my cell phone. Even though the Saints' Drew Brees is a former Purdue QB, a fine institution of which I am an alum, I'm still rooting for the Colts.

For those coming next week I look forward to seeing/meeting you. I'm usually running around but I can be found making the announcements in the lunch room in the Community Center so be sure to stop and say 'hey'. For those who are not coming please be praying that God would be at work in all our lives.

What’s to be Learned from a Murder

2010-02-02T09:38:17+00:00

So, for the last month or so, I’ve been up to my ears in managing media for a very high profile murder trial going on here in Wichita. I was working for the courts and the trial was big, big news.

This is not the place to discuss the merits of the case, or the issue itself, but there were a few lessons learned that I thought were worth passing on.

As you can imagine, there was crazy media interest in this case. More than 150 credentialed reporters, from about two dozen organizations covered the trial. Enough satellite trucks that we had to close a lane of traffic on Main Street to park them all.

So, what are the take-aways with regard to media relations?

First, if you aren’t tracking social media,you’re entirely out of the loop. There were thousands of tweets and other social media posts regarding the trial. I live in the connected social media world, and I was still shocked by the sheer volume.

I was also saddened, and shocked by the gross inaccuracies that spread like wildfire via Twitter. Most were a result of laziness and ignorance, people repeating and retweeting, rather than checking things out. Some were intentional, leveraging repeating and retweeting to push an agenda.

Most disturbing were traditional media and ‘experts’ who didn’t do their homework, and spread misinformation via blogs and tweets.

Beyond social media, it’s clear that the definition of ‘media’ has and is changing rapidly. Because of the nature of this trial, we had a lot of folks claiming to be media who clearly weren’t. Many were just partisan players on one side of the issue or the other who knew they wouldn’t likely be able to get a seat in the courtroom (due to space limitations) and wanted a seat, or really wanted access to the media themselves. Those were fairly easy to weed out.

Harder was dealing with freelancers and those working for web only, or non-traditional but legitimate media outlets. Coming up with a fair and at least relatively objective way to identify who are ‘real media’ is going to become more and more difficult over time.

So what does that mean. Pretty simple. Get some help.

Managing media for a major event being covered by national and network level media is not an activity for an amateur or even the average PR person. There are tough calls to make, major egos to manage, and you have to be willing to make a few people more than a little bit angry. Trying to do it yourself would be a bit like watching monkeys play with guns.

It’s fun at first, but in the end, somebody’s gonna get hurt.

Technorati Tags: media relations,crisis management,Roeder

Fellowship Church IT opening - Information Technology Manager

2010-02-02T05:48:34+00:00

My buddy Dave down at Fellowship Church asked me to pass along this IT opening … sweet gig at a sweet church!

Fellowship Church – Information Technology Manager
Fellowship Church is looking for an individual well versed in the Information Technology world, that has a passion to support the message, ministries, multi-site effort and infrastructure of Fellowship Church through Information Technology.
The individuals skill set should look something like this:

You must be:
A team player and love collaborating with others.
Passionate about new and Open Source technologies.
A motivated self-starter and learner
Able to to adapt quickly and work in a fast paced high energy environment.
Able to build and lead staff and volunteer teams

Your Skills:
Network Administration
VPN and VOIP systems
Server Virtualization
Windows and Mac Network integration
Active & Open Directory Administration
Corporate 802.11x Wireless-Network Management
Project Management
Help Desk/Technical Support Management
Knowledge of Cabling and Fiber

http://fellowshipchurch.com

For more info contact Dave Clark

ETAOINS

2010-02-01T14:46:44+00:00

Here's a trivia-like challenge for you and I may be showing my age here. I wonder if anyone else knows what this is (I'll give the answer another time). ETAIONS HRDLUCM I think I remember that from when I was about 12 years old! It was extremely useful when I was in grammar school, but hasn't had a whole lot of significance in my life for a lot of years. Still...somehow I'm glad I know it.

So...what is it?

So, Where Have I Been?

2010-02-01T11:29:28+00:00

Sorry for the long absence! Maybe we should cue the the theme from “Welcome Back Kotter!” I have been a busy guy since right after Christmas.

Along with all of the normal stuff, I have just wrapped up a huge assignment, managing the media relations for the local district courts in a “major murder case” here in Wichita.

There’s absolutely no need to discuss the merits of the case here, but from a communications management standpoint, it was pretty interesting.

Local media, and national media from coast to coast covered the trial start to finish. In Session Television, formerly known as Court TV televised it live. Networks in and out, with the Haiti earthquake and the State of the Union address impacting who would come to Wichita to cover the trial.

Lots of folks who were clearly not legitimate media who wanted access and media privileges. Lots of freelancers working for mainstream outlets, web only outlets, or non-traditional outlets. More than 150 media people from about two Lots of tough calls to be made within a pretty high pressure environment.

The photo above is the media workroom, actually a courtroom taken over by reporters, most of whom couldn’t get a seat in the courtroom itself. What you can’t see is the seating all around the edges of the room, full of print and radio reporters as well.

All in all, a big job, but a very rewarding assignment. I am, however, glad to be back at my desk for the first day in more than a month. In the next few days, I’ll share a few lessons learned, and things already understood that were reinforced.

Now, back to our regular programming.

Technorati Tags: media relations,Court TV,In Session TV,Roeder

Twitter updates for the week of 2010-02-01

2010-02-01T10:45:00+00:00

Eminem – living proof that money can't buy happiness. Hi my name is 'mr guy who is angry for no reason and might need therapy' #
@wantmoore I sound that way when I want to kick something… in reply to wantmoore #
@mstanley @rhowell… greatness. but I gotta say #teamwordsfromwags #teamstopthemadness. #
There is a reason that I use a Mac. Not because I love Apple, but I know how much pain something with Microsoft on it will cause me. #
Dear Microsoft, your Xbox just chewed up a brand new game. I mean really dug a trench right into the disc. Unusable now. Thanks. #
Todd Wagner is moving to @wordsfromwags… please change today to stay current. @Twitdaddy is soon to be no more. Move over with me #
@watermarkchurch members sponsoring hundreds of children from Uganda. Check out http://www.watermarkworldwide.com. #
External Focus Sunday @watermarkchurch. Lots of great ministry partners and ways to impact the city and world. http://post.ly/LTfZ #
Dinner with my hot bride. — at Russo's New York Pizzeria http://gowal.la/s/7Y4 #
Go to http://www.watermarkworldwide.com and support the future of Uganda. http://vimeo.com/9080775 (via @rhowell) #
At the doctor with the oldest. Ear ache, cough, low fever. Joy joy joy. #fb #
@rhowell Yeah… their seafood seem to be throwaway dishes. Hawaiian Ribeye however, was amazing. in reply to rhowell #
@rhowell Don't have the fish… seriously. The pan seared tuna at Houstons was awful. in reply to rhowell #
This really is an amazing technology perspective of what's going on in Haiti. Just like being there.
http://bit.ly/5ogtay #
no way this is real? Is it? Obama using teleprompter at elementary school? http://bit.ly/diiLz2 #
PhysOrg.com- New theory suggests the Moon was formed after a natural nuclear explosion in the Earth's mantle (yet belief in God is hard?) #
Thankful for a dry and warm office today. What are you thanking God for this morning? #
Well, Jay Leno is on Oprah. My life just powered-down to a level I may never recover from. #powerdown #teamconan #
@benjordan If I do, I'm not admitting to sitting on the couch playing until 2 am. =) in reply to benjordan #
@leah0719 This time it's not my fault he's working late. =) in reply to leah0719 #
@benjordan well, geez there goes the rest of your productive life… #wordswithfriends in reply to benjordan #
Dear @mint and @intuit… please fix the current problem with Citibank transactions disappearing. Makes Mint unusable for tons of people. #
@marksnewton Oracle officially owns Sun sounds like something from a bad mythology/sci-fi film. in reply to marksnewton #
so we had leftover burgers from Burger Bueno at the office today… a little skeptical, but I tried half of one. Actually really good. #
Family medicine doctor Chris Berry interviewing a patient. http://twitpic.com/105qfz (via @outwardfocused) – The church BEING the church. #
Government isn't the hope of change in America. Neither is Obama. Only Christ is the hope of change for our nation. #SOTU #
AWESOME! Glad you are going to do all of that without increasing your budget… RIIIIIIGGGGHTTTT! #SOTU #
Not a single person in that room who really cares about serving their citizens. They are politicians. #SOTU #
Not sure why I even watch this… #SOTU #
This must be what it was like for the American Colonists listening to a speech by King George… 500 clueless people in one room. #
@DellServerGeek I will… oh wait, nevermind. in reply to DellServerGeek #
To hell with iPhone flashlight apps. Our upcoming masterpiece will be a *floodlight* for the iPad! (via @taptaptap) #
@wantmoore nailed it. in reply to wantmoore #
Well, $499 it is… #
Well, AT&T is providing the service… Which means that the ipad is now officially unusable without wifi. #
@wantmoore guessing $599 (16gb), $699 (32gb), and $799 (64gb). in reply to wantmoore #
Kindle will still do well if the price point for ipad is too high. Granted the ipad does more… but worth how much? #
@rhowell your arteries however, also hate you that much. in reply to rhowell #
wonders what the fire sale on the kindle looks like today… #
The problem with hype is that you never can meet expectations. Don't ever believe the hype. #
Hello ipad. #
Imagine that. Apple announcement and somehow At&t's data network is sucking. #
Dear #arenachms, when I call for support, your queue shouldn't be so full that I can't get support. Just sayin. #
@rhetter what Jobs has to say is probably based on facts.. Obama… well, speculation and wild guessing is ALMOST like facts. in reply to rhetter #
Let's see how much AT&T stock goes through the floor if Apple announces an arrangement with iphone/tablet with Verizon. I'd move. #
Great… rumors about Farmville coming to the apple tablet… as if Farmville wasn't annoying enough already. #
We serve a big God, are you praying for big things from Him today? Don't put God in a box. #
In port-au-prince. Bad. Debriefed w/ medical team 20mi outside the city,set up in tents,but amazing medical facility. (via @outwardfocused) #
@benjordan I'll take a skinny cinnamon dolce latte please. 1 spenda. Thanks. =) in reply to benjordan #
One of many ways to make a difference in a child's life. Check out http://www.watermarkworldwide.com/ – Invest in someone's future. #
@clintmiller ESX Vsphere 4. But the licensing comes from microsoft, so I believe it works the same way regardless. in reply to clintmiller #
@clintmiller for windows just buy datacenter edition… purchase per socket and run unlimited vms. =) in reply to clintmiller #
Todd is going to be tweeting as much as he can while in Haiti this week with several folks from @watermarkchurch. Follow him @twitdaddy. #
RT @outwardfocused: http://twitpic.com/zu8u1 wheels up to Haiti! // @watermarkchurch #
Do not exercise on the bed. Rule 5d9. Don't ask. #fb #
@shannonjmiller whoa… You tweeted. Amazed. But you have to put @watermarkgeek in so I'll see it faster next time… =) in reply to shannonjmiller #
@atxtraveler I sent him a direct message back with your email contact info. =) in reply to atxtraveler #
True confession. I'm listening to Taylor Swift right now. Don't hate. #
Totally too tired to tweet. Totally tweetless. #

iPad missing FCC Approval

2010-02-01T07:26:14+00:00

ok – so you want that iPad… guess what – The US Government has not determined it legal yet.
The specs on the iPad page mention the lack of FCC approval in tiny print that is easy to miss. And nobody seriously expects the iPad won’t be approved

Apple writes “Some features and applications are not available in all areas… Application availability and pricing are subject to change. This device has not yet been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained.”

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-31

2010-01-31T16:34:00+00:00

Merry Wintereenmas!
Let the games begin! #
new episode of 24 is starting… please check reality at the door #
Tips to watching #24 forget everything u know about technology #
RT @pauldotcom Bid on Shmoocon ticket http://is.gd/77D9T All proceeds donated to Red Cross to help victims in Haiti #IhackedHaiti #
Wish the weatherman would stop using words like snow, sleet, and freezing rain #
Fw:|RT @HubSpot: ReTweet This to Win One of 3 Apple Tablets from @HubSpot http://bit.ly/dqLEhb #
Fw:|RT @wantmoore: I've gotta get to work patenting and coding my new iPad apps: iPamprin and iMidol #
Hab SoSlI' Quch! #

iPad’s place in ministry…

2010-01-31T06:15:20+00:00

Can you think of the any practical and realistic uses for the iPad in a ministry context? I have a few right off the top of my head…

Musicians Sheet Music (and words pushed if needed…)
You Version Notes & Biblical Text (preach right from the pad)
Get rid of prayer books and hymnals… place iPads and WiFi in the pew – into the home…
Translate the Bible in real time – have a concordance (or 10 of them even) right @ your disposal…
Write an app and control the sound board, cameras, lighting…
Give them to the Welcome teams – have interactive maps,
Child Check in stations – real time wifi collection to a db application – During emergencies they could be used for attendance and security checks
Google Wave Client for conferences?
Push out premium sermon content – the added extras, additional biblical texts etc.
No one that knows sign language on staff today? That’s okay – listen and type out the words for those who can “read” them in real time.
Cheap information Kiosk’s

Can you add to these?

Host a Super Bowl Party Legally – @ Church even on the big screen

2010-01-31T05:44:31+00:00

Is your church planning a Super Bowl Party this year?

If so, be sure that your church super bowl party is legal. The NFL, in recent years, has become very protective of its copyright over all things super bowl. Fortunately, The Church Law Group has put together 3 rules for church super bowl parties (video).

3 Rules for 2010 Church Super Bowl Parties

The game must be shown on equipment that the church regularly uses over the course of ministry. So if the church already owns a big screen and sound equipment, then the game can be shown using this equipment.
Church can not charge admission for the party. The NFL has stated, however, that church may take up a donation to defray the cost of the event if they desire.
To avoid any copyright infringements, churches may want to call their event a “Big Game Party” rather than a “Super Bowl Party.”

Enjoy the Super Bowl Big Game!

Abuse of State Property

2010-01-29T23:57:25+00:00

Last weekend a friend of mine swapped out the engine in his VW Rabbit. It is from the mid 80’s sometime, has been modified to run on vegetable oil, and more information is available on his blog at www.blahblahblahabouttherabbit.com. He borrowed a barn at another friend’s house in the county and got together a crew of folks to help him with the swap. Many tweets are available about the swap as well as lots of pictures on Facebook. Being mechanically minded I was asked to document and blog about the event and just provide moral support.

The original plan was to spend the evening Friday and then the day Saturday helping, um, er…I mean watching the swap. However, as with most plans in my life, things changed.

Some other friends, and yes, I know you are shocked that I have friends, were going to be in town and wanted to have dinner with us. These are actually Heather’s friends. She was Eric’s nanny when he was first born and her husband is a state trooper. Sorry it took 3 paragraphs to get to that part. So Friday night we had dinner with them and then in a complete abuse of state property he and I went out to the engine swap.

We drove up the driveway with the light flashing, which were rather blinding in the country darkness. As soon as the confused engine swappers opened the door I came on the loud speaker saying something like, “Come out with your hands up. We have the barn surrounded as an automobile chop shop. Please bring your VIN paperwork with you and come out with your hands up.”

A good time was had by all. Then Saturday morning I was planning to go back out to the barn to check on progress however we had a major internal DNS glitch on our networks at Faith so I spent most of the day working on that instead of watching them work on the engine. I did eventually get out there in time to see them fire it up and start some testing.

I’m looking forward to serving the great people of the state of Indiana again in the future and answering questions at the inquiry.

Spring National Church IT Roundtable March 11-12!

2010-01-29T20:46:05+00:00

Republished from Jason Powell’s site. Thanks, Jason!

—

Church/Ministry IT staff and volunteers from across the country will descend upon Saddleback Church in warm sunny Lake Forest California to partake in 2 days of invaluable peer learning, networking and inspiration March 11-12.

We’re still firming up final costs, but it will be under $100…and that will include lunch and snacks both days…and if we get enough sponsors hopefully even dinner both nights.

Sponsors? Yes, we’re asking vendors to help offset the costs. Please encourage your favorite vendors to contribute. Even a small amount will be helpful. Vendors can contact info@citrt.org for more info on how to help.

Spouses? Yes, a number of us have been informed by our spouses that they TOO will be coming to California Spouses are encouraged to join us during the evening gathering times. Perhaps during the day they can form their own IT spouse support group and hang out together at the beach

Final details are still being nailed down, but here’s the schedule gist …
March 10 – optional pre-event informal gathering in the evening (possible dinner)
March 11 – Day 1 – 9am until late … Saddleback “behind the scenes” tour in late afternoon, group dinner, then a special worship service
March 12 – Day 2 – 9am until 5pm … then optional dinner for those flying out Sat/Sun

More details can be found at http://citrt.org … hope to see you there! Questions? Leave a comment or email info@citrt.org

For the latest up to the minute Church IT Roundtable news follow CITRT on twitter and/or facebook

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Getting in the way

2010-01-29T15:08:51+00:00

I was going through my twitter feed tonight when I came across a tweet that got me to go to Amazon.com and on their front page they were talking about their use of Frustration-Free Packaging. It’s not totally new but it was the first time i’ve actually read through the page, the one that got my attention:

What’s the difference between Certified Frustration-Free Packaging and traditional packaging?

The Certified Frustration-Free Package (on the left) is recyclable and comes without excess packaging materials such as hard plastic clamshell casings, plastic bindings, and wire ties. It’s designed to be opened without the use of a box cutter or knife and will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging (on the right).

Did you get that? They want to take away all the crap that gets in the way and allow you to get to what you really want. Sound familiar? In church it seems to be the same way many times there’s lots of crap we have to get through to get to what we are really searching for, the Grace and Love of our Savior. But how many times have people not gotten to that because there’s so much crap in the way? They have to get through all the “church” to get to the Christ. All the rules and regulations that people have created that actually stop people from the relationship. When people are worried more about where to park, what to wear, or all the other things than being able to forget about all these distractions and begin to on what God is trying to share with them that day.

So what are you doing to make it easier for people to reach Christ?

Power to the USB

2010-01-29T02:27:53+00:00

Rarely does something come along so simple that it absolutely will make your life easier nowadays…

This perhaps might be the best $20 spent to make life easier for so many techies…

Now just to figure out how many I should get… 1 for the bedroom, for the office x2 , kitchen…

Click here to order

Navajo Missions Trip 2010

2010-01-27T16:59:36+00:00

Click the picture above for the album of pictures from the 2009 Navajo trip

Navajo Mission 2010
Black Mesa, NM & Window Rock, AZ
June 11th – 19th

Each year Woodland sends a team to New Mexico to minister at the Navajo Reservation. They work mainly with three organizations: Western Indian Ministries, Forest Lake Baptist Church in Black Mesa, and Rez Refuge. Ministry opportunities include: construction and renovation, distribution of clothing and health care supplies, outreach at local orphanages, and senior craft seminars, as well as many other opportunities to serve.

This summer a group from Woodland will once again be heading out including, Shana (my wife), and I. This years project list isn’t finalized as we try to find out from the people what the greatest need is and assist in those areas. along with the projects listed above. I will once again be helping out with their wireless networking, computers repairs and upgrades, and implementing a backup system at the school. We ask for your prayers and financial support as we prepare for this trip. We also are looking for computer, monitor and networking equipment donations.

How to…

2010-01-27T14:30:09+00:00

… create a PDF.

I forget at times just how easy it is to do things and it’s usually when my wife asks “how do you…” that I realise I’ve been glib or dismissive in trying to pass on knowledge.

So today I bring you 4 ways to create a PDF.

Buy an application. Honest, this is probably the expected way and there are many, many options here. From the original Adobe PDF (not the reader) to CutePDF to Foxit … well, google’s your friend.
My preferred method is to use Adobe’s InDesign and it’s built-in export to PDF
For a free method create it in wordpad (it’s a free cutdown version of word included with every Windows PC) and print to it using a PDF printer driver such as the one from PrimoPDF. Once installed you treat it like any printer except it outputs to a physical file on your computer.
Finally, another way is to use an online convertor such as the one at FreePDFConvert.

There are pro’s and cons to each of the above methods with the first two having the major con of cost, whereas the later two have issues of security or restriction in what you can convert or create in the first place.

Why you’d want to create a PDF is an entire new set of reasons that I’ll leave to your imaginations.

Old and New: Major Life Transition

2010-01-27T04:43:45+00:00

I’m excited, nervous, and sad all at the same time. And busy. I’ve decided to leave my awesome, comfortable, flexible, almost-7-year job/family of seven years (as an employee, my family will still be attending Lakeview) and jump into a scary, new position with a small-but-growing local IT service company. Why? Well, Lakeview is running smoothly overall, certainly better than I found it in 2003 when I was hired as the first paid IT staff. We’ve done managed switches and wireless networking, server virtualization (in a big way), a little desktop standardization (this is where I feel there’s the most room yet to grow, see Jason Powell’s reasons why standardization is important!), and a few other things that have increased efficiency and IT responsiveness that aren’t worth detailing here. Helpdesk requests still come in but not usually at a frenzied rate. Frankly, there’s always more to do, and always will be, and I enjoy the calm sometimes. And I love it.

But, I’m still pretty young, and it’s time to move on to an environment that will provide some new challenges and experience in a wide variety of settings. So I’m moving to a small company with a Christian owner that provides residential and small business IT services to the Indianapolis and surrounding communities. Based in Fishers, IN, I’ll be working out of a new satellite office on the West side of Indy, not far from Lakeview in fact, and I’ll be working primarily with larger clients, including several churches in the area. What the job will look like day to day I can’t tell you precisely yet, but that will certainly be part of the excitement! And I’m still going to be involved with the Church IT Roundtable online and in person to a large extent (it’s still relevant as I’ll still be serving churches!), which I’m very excited about, as I have many close friends in the CITRT and their expertise has proved invaluable (and I have hopefully reciprocated with valuable tidbits of my own from time to time).

I’m really going to miss all of the Lakeview family on a daily basis. The staff are basically like close friends and family; it’s where I’ve spent all of my adult life in fact (and some volunteer time for years before that). God gave me peace about moving to this new position and I know He’ll provide, but I already miss everyone and I’m not gone yet!

There are still some details to be worked out about the transition, so I’m sure I’ll have some more to post later, and I certainly appreciate any prayers. It looks like I am going to the Church IT Roundtable at Saddleback Church in California on March 11-12! If you work in Church IT or you support or volunteer with Church IT in some way, you should be there! The cost should be under $100 plus travel, though final details should be coming soon.

My first day on the new job is set for February 10th, 2010 (though a few current coworkers said they hoped when I said Feb. 10th it meant 2011! Nothing like feeling wanted!).

Network Config Tool

2010-01-27T02:36:31+00:00

I’ve long been a fan of solarwinds and love using their free tools.

I just wish I could afford to play with some of their paid for tools as they look ultra cool and ultra geeky. That suits me just fine.

The latest free tool to their stable is the “Network Config Generator“.

It looks like it could be a really useful tool to anyone who has a dislike of configuring network devices. There appears to be little restriction on what type of network devices that can be configured by it from firewalls to routers to switches so long as they have a CLI style access.

You can create your own configurations or you can utilise a template. The tool comes with a few templates already built in and more accessible via Thwack (solarwinds forum / resource site) and they are likely wanting to rely on the massed ranks of network engineers to supply more – and I’m certain that will happen.

I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet myself as it requires a live connection to a device and I don’t have any to hand.

Anyway, check it out if you need it and let me know how you get on.

Standardization is KING!

2010-01-25T17:39:28+00:00

This blog post started out small then turned into a giant brain dump on standardization. Hope it's helpful ... Enjoy! :-)

Anyone that knows me probably knows I’m a huge proponent of standardization. It was my 1st and main objective when I started at GCC in 2003, I’ve blogged about it, and talked it up any chance I get. It was also one of the main topics I landed on in my all staff presentation in 2008 that received great feedback even from our exec pastor.

I was reminded of just how sweet standardization is again last Monday night…

I got a text message from my boss around 9pm that her laptop wouldn’t power on. I texted back a couple things for her to try (remove batts, unplug power, press power button, plug in power, press power button) and then report back results. She reported back same results. I could tell she was stressing about this, while in my head I figured it was most likely a dead motherboard…no biggie.

Since we were working late Monday night and she lives very close, I asked her to bring her laptop over to GCC and we’d fix it up quickly. She brought the laptop to us, we quickly pulled her hard drive and swapped it into another Dell Latitude D830 (we always keep at least 1 spare around for just this reason). Powered the spare laptop on and taa daa she was back in business! Had we not had a spare D830 one of my team would have donated our D830 to the cause … we’re nice like that :-)

I have many other stories about how standardization “saved the day” over the past 6 years like …

… Minutes before a presentation someone spilled a big gulp sized Mt. Dew on their Dell D600 laptop which of course fried it. I put their hard drive in my D600 and the presentation went off as scheduled.

… A staff member was at a multi-day conference in CA when their laptop hard drive died. We took a fully functioning spare laptop, copied their files to that hard drive and overnighted it to them along with a small screw driver (Our Dells have 2 screws to remove the hard drive). They swapped drives and were back in business.

Not only does standardization give us rapid repair ability, it also greatly aids in troubleshooting issues. You can quickly narrow an issue down to hardware or software by swapping hard drives into a known good laptop or desktop. That can save a LOT of time!

Standardization also helps greatly with software builds and deployment … of course we’ve found this to be almost a non-issue when deploying windows7 on different hardware.

Naturally, standardization doesn’t happen overnight. It took a good 3 years before I got GCC to where I was happy. You just have to keep it elevated as one of your main goals. In fact, when I started at GCC we had 60ish PC's of all size, age, and flavors ... models from 1997-2003 ... Gateway, Dell, Compaq, IBM, Sony, E-Machines (shudder!) ... Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP ... Office 97, 2000, XP … uggh!

A tool to help achieve quicker standardization is leasing. Say you’ve got 50 computers that need replacing. Rather than purchasing say 10 computers each year over 5 years, why not lease 25 each year over 2 years? Yes, you’ll pay a little extra for them over the life of the lease (always do 3yr $1 buyout) but the ROI is easily justified. Another option is get a bunch of the same units from http://dfsdirectsales.com You’ll find LOTS of off lease Dell gear for a great price. For instance our standard desktop model (Optiplex 745) is only $267 and they have many of them. They usually will have little to no warranty, so just buy a couple extra as parts donors and you’ll be fine. The beauty of Dell Optiplex line is that the hardware is very consistent across a model line. So I can buy an off lease 745 and know it'll be compatible with our current 745’s.

Keeping a spare of each model of laptop/desktop you have in your org is uber helpful, but obviously not always possible. So as long as IT uses the same hardware as your end users then at least you can swap your parts with there’s. Better for IT to be inconvenienced by a computer issue than our end users, right?

What about Macs? One of the great benefits of Macs is that standardization is already part of the equation since Apple controls 100% of the core hardware sold and there are very few options available. So since Apple controls both hardware and the operating system you’re in good shape when deploying new OSX versions and updates provided you’re not dealing with both intel and non-intel models. Hardware swaps are similar to PC’s, but replacing a Mac laptop drive is NOT simple/easy/quick in anything prior to the new uni-body design. So shouldn’t you just standardize on all Macs? Umm, there are several big reasons I’d say no from experience, but that’ll have to be another blog post. I don’t have the time/energy to deal with all the fanboi comments I’m sure that’ll receive ;-)

[update: I failed to mentioned that we DO standardize on Macs for most everything related to audio/video creation and production. Macs and mac software easily own this niche]

GCC standard Windows hardware since 2004
Desktops
Dell Optiplex GX270 (phased out)
Dell Optiplex GX280 (most of these are now in non-staff non-critical roles)
Dell Optiplex 745 (bought 8/07 to replace all staff GX280 desktops)

Laptops
Dell Latitude D600/610 (phased out)
Dell Latitude D810/830 (810’s mainly phased out)

Due to budget restraints we’ve not ordered any new desktops or laptops since late ‘07 early ‘08.

How long before you replace hardware (aka Lifecycle)? When talking about standardization the question of lifecycle always comes up. Several years ago you needed to upgrade hardware often to keep pace with new software versions. For the most part that is no longer the case. We’ve found that our 3 and 4 year old desktop hardware will run win7 quite speedy. So I don’t plan to replace our current Dell 745 desktops anytime soon. Laptops are another story due to the wear and tear they experience and their lower performance specs. Our 2+ year old D830 laptops run win7 fine, but they could be more peppy. The vid cards in older laptops just weren’t made for speed. That said I’m hopeful we can maintain a 3 year laptop lifecycle. That’s the end of our warranty period and after 3 years our users have usually thrashed them pretty well :-) For desktop lifecycle, it’s looking like we can go 4+ years with our current 745’s maybe more…time will be the judge.

Future standardization at GCC? I’m seriously considering moving all our staff to laptops down the road. Research shows increased productivity when staff have laptop vs desktop, plus there’s a measurable power savings by not having desktops drawing power when nobody’s around (even if you ask people to power down nightly, often they forget). So they question is … is the substantial increase in cost and maintenance of laptop vs desktop worth the hoped for increase in staff productivity/efficiency? And how would you every truly measure that? Many pros and cons to consider, but I really like the concept :-)

What about standardizing software? Yup, same logic applies to core software (operating system, version of office productivity suite, etc). However, all our users are local admin so they have the ability to install additional software which typically IT doesn’t support. We’re currently running Windows Vista and Office 2007 site wide, however our migration to Windows7 has just started and we’ll do same with Office 2010 once it’s released.

And finally, I leave you with this snippet from an old article I refer back to anytime this topic comes up … It’s a strong non-IT example that will resonate with upper management if they baulk at the value of standardization ;-)

IT can glean valuable lessons about hardware standardization from an unlikely source: Southwest Airlines, one of the most consistently successful and profitable airlines in an otherwise struggling industry. Unlike some of its troubled competitors, Southwest only buys one kind of plane (the Boeing 737), which means that Southwest’s planes are interchangeable when problems occur. Pilots and mechanics need to be trained for only one kind of “hardware,” and tools and spare parts are transferable across all the planes in the fleet. I bet some of the pilots might prefer to fly an Airbus A320, but the benefits of standardization for Southwest as a company outweigh the personal preferences of individual employees. The same logic applies to standardizing end-user hardware in corporate IT. read entire article

Airport Security FAIL

2010-01-25T15:05:21+00:00

There's a lot about U.S. airport security that doesn't make sense to me. Today I was put in a holding cell to await a 'pat down' because, they said, I was wearing a long sleeve shirt over a t-shirt. They didn't require others with two shirts to go through a pat down. I just got lucky, I guess.

Thanks Technology

2010-01-25T13:42:20+00:00

I stole this from a long slew of people who had posted it before me, so it must be good. Before RSS I would actually have had to go to someone’s blog to have seen this, Thanks Technology!

Thanks Technology from John on Vimeo.

Twitter updates for the week of 2010-01-25

2010-01-25T10:45:00+00:00

@WatermarkChurch, Parking has been intimidating for new folks.Can we get guest spots for first-timers? /via @RockyKrivda / worth discussing. #
Producing produce. — at Sprouts Farmers Market http://gowal.la/s/JQY #
@mburleson yep… no more yfrog for me. in reply to mburleson #
@benjordan In&Out Animal Style! in reply to benjordan #
Email from Obama/OrganizingForAmerica: "Yesterday's disappointing election results show deep discontent w/the pace of change." Clueless. #
@benjordan Way to go. You've done more than most already, but you haven't done enough. in reply to benjordan #
Total $$$ pledged to Haiti -U.S. and ALL sources -equals 1.5 percent of Wall Street bonuses being paid. via @mattknisely / Painful. #
@rhetter When you church is laying off staff and your pastor has multiple houses and flies around in a helicopter, you MIGHT have a problem. in reply to rhetter #
Great meeting with @bigbadcollab yesterday. Lots of meaty stuff. Can't share the juicy details yet, but pretty hopped up about direction. #
@GregAtkinson sent your way. in reply to GregAtkinson #
@rhowell That girl can yodel. Jewel I mean. Seriously. in reply to rhowell #
God is going to do something somewhere to glorify Himself today. Why not through us? Why not through you? (via @WatermarkChurch) #
Celebrating 10 years of Todd @WatermarkChurch http://twitpic.com/yspok (via @i_daniels) #
@benjordan Time to go see a movie. in reply to benjordan #
Well gas is headed back toward $3 a gallon again. But I guess it's George Bush's fault somehow. #

The Risk of Setting High Expectations

2010-01-24T21:47:58+00:00

Had a less than great hotel experience this weekend. When I try to think through what was wrong, well, there really wasn’t anything “wrong.” Everything was fine. But, I feel like it wasn’t what it should have been. There were several hotel choices, all almost identical in price, and of the brands, I have had good experiences at Holiday Inn Express. OK, easy decision.

Now here's where it gets weird. There wasn't anything badly wrong with the stay. Really, it was OK. But, it was just OK, it wasn't what I expected! So therefore, I was disappointed. If I’d been staying at a Motel 6, or a Days Inn, or any of lots of other places, I would have been happy. Actually, I would have been thrilled. But H.I. Express has set an expectation in my mind, and they missed it.

So, because of previous good experiences, this was a less than great experience. If it had been my first Holiday Inn Express, it would have set a very different expectation than what I now have, and I probably would have been much more OK with it. Interesting how that works.

So, what's the lesson? Don't set high expectations if you can't deliver every time. Beware of how one incident can impact your entire brand. And there's probably another lesson here, for somebody, but I'm not sure who. I don't think anybody at this particular hotel had a clue they were below the standard. (Nor did they ask when I checked out, which also says something)

I don't think this has really tainted me -- I still like Holiday Inn Express. I just won't ever stay at that particular one again. And maybe when I see that the prices are the same for what should be very different brands, I'll wonder why and ask around a bit.

Happy, Joyful, Peaceful

2010-01-23T14:09:25+00:00

These three words, Happy, Joyful, and Peaceful, seem kind of similar, but they aren’t synonyms! There are many biblical references to being joyful, and to being peaceful (or having peace). Can you think of *any* biblical reference to happy? The word is used a lot, but not much as something to aspire to. Proverbs and Ecclesiastes may show happiness as a “target,” but even there it’s not that clear.

Is your life purpose to be happy, or is it something else? Can you be joyful, or peaceful, without being happy? Which of the three words are the biggest focus of modern advertising?

I'm not very "happy" right now, but I may be far more "peacful "than I've been in a long time. Contradiction? I'm not so sure...

DataCenter at Home.. Yes via @Ikea

2010-01-22T21:48:07+00:00

First displayed at the eth0 Winter 2010 computer conference last weekend in Wieringerwerf, the Netherlands, the ETH0 Group shows their new DataCenter Rack Solution utilizing nothing more than a simple end table from Ikea.

Pretty cool – but imho JUST DONT USE IT FOR PLACING YOUR DRINKS

Why consumer IT support sucks

2010-01-22T18:43:53+00:00

Photo: bdtyre

Working in an IT shop, sometimes you have the luxury of forgetting just how bad consumer-grade hardware support has gotten. I’ve been absolutely spoiled by our Dell team, so the past few weeks have been a serious reality check.

About a year and a half ago, I bought a Toshiba laptop for my wife after her desktop computer’s power supply had unleashed its magic smoke. She was needing an upgrade, and we opted for the laptop since she was going to be starting school. After shopping arond, we found a good deal at Costco which included a color laser printer. Added bonus of buying at Costco is that on computers (and TVs) they extend the standard 1-year manufacturer warranty out to two years.

Somewhere around the middle of the fall semester, Andrea noticed the power connector inside the laptop was getting loose. Having encountered this sort of problem before (and I understand it’s actually quite common on consumer laptops), I suspected the plastic shell of the connector had come loose. They typically have three or four plastic pegs that secure the body to the circuit board, taking the mechanical strain off the soldered electrical leads. It’s not uncommon after repeated plug/unplug cycles for one or more of these pegs to break off, causing the connector to come loose. The long-term risk is that metal fatique will then break the electrical connectors. If you’re lucky, it won’t short out in the process. Business-grade laptops usually use much better connectors and methods of securing them. It’s just one of those corners you have to cut to sell $500 laptops to the masses.

Along the way, her touchpad started acting flaky as well, so we figured we’d call Costco and get this fixed while we still had some time left in the warranty. After trying to explain to someone in India for 45 minutes that the problem was not in the external power adapter, I got tired of him sending me on hold to talk to his supervisor, and asked him to transfer me. I spoke with Wade, who was quite helpful, and got the dispatch sent out to their service provider, an outfit in the Orlando area called “Encompass Service Solutions”. They sent me an empty box with packing material via 2-day air. That was two weeks ago.

Since I was sending the computer offsite to some company I’d never heard of, there was not only a high likelihood that they were gonna wipe the system and do a factory reload (crapware and all), there was absolutely no way I was trusting them with the security of our data (even with backups, I’d rather they not have access to my banking data, thankyouverymuch). So I picked up a blank hard drive at Micro Center and shipped it off with the blank.

A week later, it comes back, with the technician notes that the system was cleaned and the CPU “repacked”, and the OS reloaded. No mention of either of the original problems on the service ticket. Sure enough, the power connector is in even worse shape than it was when we sent it off. I call Costco and gripe. They’re not amused. A little later, I flip it over to put our hard drive back in and discover that someone went crazy with stickers. There are 4 new stickers with barcodes, and “Inspected by” sticker, and half a dozen “Warranty Void if broken or removed” stickers over the chassis screws, as well as those to the hard drive and memory bays. I’m a geek, so I’m genetically predisposed to ignore such stickers, and I carefully removed the ones on the drive and memory bays, and put our hard drive back in.

Then things got interesting. I power the machine on, and the display remains dark. No backlight, no image, nothing. I check das blinkenlights, and they’re behaving like a normal boot process. After some fumbling and troubleshooting, I hang an external monitor from it and fire it up again. That part works. It seems that the people in QA at Encompass were sleeping that day, because I’d imagine that a non-functional display normally would cause QA to kick it back to the tech who forgot to plug in the ribbin cable feeding the display. Apparently at Encompass, this is not the case.

So now we have a laptop that is effectively a compact desktop. A couple calls back and forth to Costco, and Encompass wants me to send it back to them for repair. Only here’s the problem, guys, I don’t trust you to not break it worse this time, and Andrea needs her laptop this week, that’s why we sent it to you when we did. Even better, you can’t e-mail me a UPS label for me to use the existing box, you insist on sending me another empty box via UPS. Not only is that insanely wasteful of diesel, jet fuel, and cardboard, and it adds 3 days to the process. Andrea can’t be without the laptop any longer than she already has. She has interviews this week and school starts up next week. I don’t care how fast you expedite it, you’ve proven already that you half-ass the job when it’s a rush. If I wanted that kind of shoddy work done on my laptop, I would have handed it off the the Geek Squad at a local Best Buy.

Wade, the guy at Costco, is trying to come up with alternatives. At this point, acceptable outcomes are that we get an onsite tech to do a motherboard replacement, find me a local depot in the Kansas City area, or you give us at least partial credit toward a replacement system at the warehouse.

When you buy a laptop, spring for the onsite support. If anything happens, it will save your sanity. Next time, I’m buying a Dell.

I’d love to hear your depot repair horror stories.

Crashplan Pro + Drobo Pro = Warm Fuzzy Feeling

2010-01-22T17:33:57+00:00

We have just recently implemented Crashplan Pro as a primary backup strategy for our Mac machines. We will slowly be rolling this out to all of our Mac users, especially laptop users and potentially PC users as well. A few things that we love about Crashplan Pro.

They have a 25% discount for non-profits. Just ask them. I love vendors who do this.
Crashplan is easy to use from the server perspective and invisible to the end user.
It is very flexible and simple while remaining powerful. They have really hit the sweet spot on this. You don’t need a PhD to configure it.
Users can back up from anywhere across the internet. That’s right… anywhere. Meaning my Macbook Pro is still being backed up even when I have it at home.
They offer a 30 day trial. You can run it, fully featured, for 30 days before making a decision.
Multiple backup targets. My Macbook can back up to my local firewire drive AND the crashplan server. Ok, so I’m paranoid.

Implementation was easy. We installed the server product on an older server chassis and connected it first to local storage, which was fine but not really enough for all of our users. Next we purchased a 16 Terabyte Drobo Pro (8 drives x 2TB). For less than 3k for 16TB, the Drobo Pro is a great backup storage solution. It’s iSCSI, which makes it a snap for connecting to the Crashplan server, and while I’m not convinced that I would use a Drobo for primary storage of mission critical data, this is a great product for backup data (video archiving, files, etc). Besides, I trust EqualLogic to handle my primary storage anyway. We’ll use this same storage (and server) to also store our Veeam backups of our VMware servers. Now, I should also mention that we have a great offsite backup solution for our critical data. I highly recommend you look into One Safe Place if you are looking for offsite storage. I realize that Crashplan offers offsite, but the SQL and Exchange tools that One Safe Place provides are amazing. I would never recommend that you only backup data onsite, you should always offsite mission critical data in some fashion, but in this case we are talking about the data that resides on individual laptops, not servers.

Licensing for Crashplan is simple. Once you have purchased your license, you just enter the license key into the server (one time) and your clients will be licensed. In our case, we purchased 25 licenses. One of our hurdles to implementing more Mac computers on our campus was backup. I should also mention that the Crashplan Pro client works for both the PC and the Mac, so users on both platforms can backup to the same server. Mac users and PC users can use the same client licensing.

There had been lots of discussion around this solution amongst Church IT guys from around the country. If you are church or business owner looking for a solid backup solution, you should look at Crashplan Pro.

Tech Challenge

2010-01-22T09:57:36+00:00

On facebook, the majority of my friends are non-technical folks so in a recent status update I asked them what they most want to know about IT and I said I’ll try my best to answer them.

An old friend was second to the plate as I chose to ignore my son’s initial attempt at inciting my disdain. She asked:

If I want to get a full-time IT person for the company…what technical questions should I ask to make sure he knows his stuff

Well my first answer is don’t restrict yourself to just a him! I’ve worked with some excellent female techs down the years and wish there were many more in the industry, but enough of the aside … my first assumption is that my friend wants an all round IT Support Guru. Someone that can build computers; install them; install and support software and resolve most issues that may arise. I say most because everyone has a ceiling where they need to seek help. These days google is your friend but when I started it was your personal network that best helped.

I’ve been involved in interviewing for tech jobs a few times down the years and generally I’ve found questions would fall into three areas…

General interview questions
Behavioural questions and
Technical / Problem solving questions

All three areas can be used to narrow down the who, what and why of a potential employee though I’ll not include any typical interview questions – such as salary, character, etc …

General Interview Questions

If they are already in a similar role then ask them about it. What do you like about it? What do you dislike? Why are they wanting to leave? – all of these can reveal a lot about their strengths and weaknesses
Ask what operating system they prefer and why? Tell them you’re not a technical whizz if necessary and ask them to simplify it for you .This will test their grasp of an OS, what it does, relative merits of one over the other and so on. It might also reveal their fanaticism about an OS you don’t want to use.
Ask them how they stay current or plan to stay current in their career? Are they looking to you to pay for training, books, etc or can you gain an insight to their intentions to stay or not. Is this just a stepping stone job and are you happy for that to be the case?
Ask about their most rewarding moment in their IT career. Can they pinpoint one thing and why?
Ask them what role / function they as …. (fill in position on offer) should play in your business? This could also be considered a technical question depending on the answer given or sought! However I see it as a insight to their career plans, ambitions, etc and whether or not you’ll be looking for their replacement in a couple of years time.

Behavioural Interview Questions

I love to ask these questions. Start what a simple ‘what if‘ scenario and escalate it. Try and push any perceived buttons whilst keeping it on a technical level. Try to see if they are an “independent” tech or someone that knows when they need to turn to others for help.

Ask about a risk they’ve taken in their career and the consequences of that risk?
Ask about their biggest mistake and its consequences. Take that situation and add what ifs into it. So add a what if you were accused of XYZ by the end user? This tests their ability to remain cool, to think on their feet, to consider the outcome of their actions, etc …
On a similar vein ask about the most difficult IT problem they’ve faced and how they handled it? Ask if in hindsight they’d approach it differently? Here you’re looking to see if they can identify they aren’t a super man or woman. Personally if someone sits in front of me and can’t admit to having a fault or weakness then they’ve lost my trust! After all we’re all human and we all fail.
In a like vein to staying current, ask them how they keep abreast of trends and changes in their profession? Again you’re looking for them to provide an answer that would indicate they already do. Do they show a passion for what they do or is it just a job?
Again, only if already in a similar type job ask about their relationship with end users?
Ask about motivation – especially if they have to work alone or are going to be a one person department. Try and get them to reveal how they motivate or keep motivated in trying circumstances.

Technical / Problem Solving Questions

These greatly depend on the role you want them to undertake. If the role is purely software support then formulate your questions around the software they’re going to use.

Ask them what precautions they’d take before replacing a hardware? The item isn’t relevant but the ability to think through the issue logically and provide a resolution is.
Is your job going to involve being on the end of a phone giving instructions? Then get them to describe, purely vocally, how to do a simple task. For example describe how to tie shoelaces or how to make a sandwich, etc. Are they able to think on their feet, talk through the process and do it without using visual clues? This will test their communication skills.
Your network is experiencing periods of slow response, and you are asked to find a solution. What troubleshooting techniques would you use? Hardware or software solutions are okay, and budget is not an issue.
In many problem situations, it is tempting to jump to a conclusion in order to quickly build a solution. Describe a time when you resisted this temptation and thoroughly researched the problem before reaching a decision.
Write a paragraph explaining how DHCP (LANs, WANs, WEPs, whatever) works. (This question sounds like a technical question, but will also show how you communicate technical information.)
Ask if they have any special / specific skills or knowledge that can be used in your company and why would this be valuable to you?

Ultimately I’d have to say that if you don’t understand what your asking, then how can you know what you want or whom is right? So my one simple bit of advice is to find a technical colleague, friend, business acquaintance and persuade them to sit in on the interview with you. In other words, get an expert opinion or certainly a more expert one than a non-tech asking the questions.

Is there anything specific you’d ask?

Skribit

2010-01-22T09:33:34+00:00

Those of you that have been reading this blog awhile may have noticed that my suggestions tab disappeared.

Two main reasons – it never saw any action and I forgot to re-apply the code when I changed my theme. However, I was reminded today by an email from the founder of Skribit that I’d lost my connection.

But who & what is skribit? Well if like me you tend to hide under a rock and pop up occasionally you may have missed the launch of this some 18 months back. However since then it has effectively been in active development and although their about page still claims this is the case the email also reminded me that they are now ready for ’showtime’.

In short they’re coming out of their beta phase and are ready for more. Anyway, they are a group of bloggers and internet entrepreneurs who, like me, want to blog more but get stuck for ideas.So along comes a way to utilise your audience to provide insights, ideas, etc for you to blog about.

So skribit, essentially “cures writer’s block by tapping your blog’s readership for post suggestions“.

This is done by clicking on the skribit “Suggestion” tab that appears (hopefully) on every page you visit – so whether you land on my home page or on a sub-page you should be able to click it and add your suggestions. As a suggestee you can even create your own skirbit account to track your suggestions and receive notification when it has been blogged about.

I think it’s a great tool for bloggers like myself who struggle with ideas and getting input from readers is always the aim of any blog. If this is one way for the reader to get an idea blogged about then great. If it encourages folks to read or use the site more, then even better.

However, I feel it’s one major drawback will be the reader themselves. I don’t know why and certainly don’t understand but some blogs just get more commenter’s than others and those that do will find skribit used whereas those that don’t will find that it is likely that their skribit button doesn’t get touched.

C’est la vie I guess – but anyway, it is back and here’s to seeing your ideas and suggestions as to topics you’d like to see covered.

National CITRT Event at Saddleback, March 11-12, 2010

2010-01-22T06:02:06+00:00

If you are Anyone responsible for Information Technology in a ministry setting … Business Admins, IT Directors, Network Admins, Helpdesk, staff or volunteers … regardless of church/organization size, then You will NOT want to miss this amazing opportunity to learn from your IT peers from across the country! Check out the CITRT website for all the latest details:

http://citrt.pbworks.com/Spring-2010-National-Church-IT-Roundtable

Grandpa Update

2010-01-22T00:13:21+00:00

I spent some time with my grandfather yesterday and am pleased to report that he is doing well. He has been doing his therapy and is recovering and healing nicely. He has also been amazed by the outpouring of support and prayers he has received. Grandma showed me a pile of cards tonight that was 14" high and growing daily. And yes, I actually did measure it.

Grandpa is gaining more and more mobility each day. The current plan is for him to resume his normal schedule next week. Your prayers are appreciated as his schedule is hectic enough for a healthy 80 year old, let alone a healthy 80 year old recovering from a broken hip.

It is my prayer that I'm as active for the Kingdom as he is when I'm 80.

What's up with my Facebook posts?

2010-01-21T23:52:39+00:00

For those asking why my Facebook status updates are a bit odd here's the answer. I update my Facebook status from my Twitter feed. I prefer Twitter to Facebook because it is short and sweet however I understand there are many who prefer Facebook to Twitter. That’s why I have both so that I can reach folks who are on one or the other.

Twitter has its own language which is why my tweets on Facebook appear odd with @’s and #’s and references to other Twitter users (@4faraday is my dad by the way). That is also why they are so short since tweets are limited to 140 characters. Twitter also uses URL shorteners like bit.ly and tiny.url to shorten long links due to the 140 character limit. Those links still work on Facebook but are not as common which often confuses folks.

Being able to link Twitter and Facebook helps me as I can communicate through both forms of social media but I only need to keep one of them current. For me, that’s Twitter. I do respond to those on Facebook who comment and I find myself explaining my Tweets but I rarely if ever update my Facebook status directly. I just let Facebook pull it from Twitter. Same is true with my blog. My blog posts are also posted to my Facebook page.

My goal is to communicate with folks where they are. Even though I prefer Twitter I understand the value of Facebook and enjoy doing things on Facebook that you can’t do on Twitter, especially with pictures and tagging, so I plan to continue using both – even if my Facebook status updates seem a bit odd in that world. Just poke me, post a note on my wall, or comment and I will try to clear things up in a non-discriminatory social media kind of way.

Ubiquity in the Morning

2010-01-21T19:35:48+00:00

Today I, along with Larry Schriver of Country Connections, owner of our WiFI Backhaul provider met with a large number of folks from the Ubiquity Networks Community at their event in Las Vegas.

Ubiquity introduced their “wifiManager” – still in Alpha stage, however when it comes primetime – it will change the wireless landscape for offices, churches, campus’ and other locations (indoor) forever.

Had the chance to spend a few minutes with the owner of Great American Broadband, Rick Harnish who I found also operates an organization called WISPA.

More to follow: . . .

Food, Inc.

2010-01-21T02:02:41+00:00

FOOD, Inc. I don't believe this was one of the top money making movies, but maybe you should watch it anyway. If you think you are eating healthy, you may not like what you learn. I’ve liked the idea of “natural” (or organic, or free-range, or pick your name) for a long time. Darn, now even those terms are questionable. Is there any such thing as “real” food?!

Buy local. Buy healthy. http://takepart.com/foodinc

ciscoospina

2010-01-20T21:40:25+00:00

I researched how to configure NIC Teaming for load balancing and failover for VMware vSphere 4 and HP Procurve Switches. I won’t go into great detail, but here are the steps.

NIC Teaming with VMware vSphere and HP Procurve switches.

Summary…

HP Switch

Set ports on HP switch for trunking
Add new trunk to data vlan

VMware vSphere

Add networking (new virtual switch) and configure NIC Teaming

Steps…

HP Switch – Set ports on HP Switch for Static Trunk

Telnet into the hp switch where you want to configure Static Trunk:

Telnet <ip-address>

Enter password
Select switch (assuming stacking with a central commander)
Enter Password (assuming stacking)
Type Menu
Select Option 2 Switch Configuration
Select Option 2 Port/Trunk Settings
Select Edit and scroll down to desired ports
On Desired ports:
Set Group to a new “trk#”
Set Type to Trunk
Enter and Save
Press 0 to return to main menu

Add new trunk to data vlan 20

Press 5 for Command Line Interface (CLI)
Type show vlan 1
notice the new trunk is listed in vlan 1 (the management vlan)
Type config
Type vlan # (where # is the number of your data vlan)
Type untag trk# vlan # (where # is the number)
Type show vlan #
Notice you’ll now see your “trk#” listed in the data vlan

VMware vSphere – Add networking (new virtual switch)

Log into vCenter then the ESX(i) machine (or direct to ESXi machine)
With the ESXi machine selected, click Configure
Click Networking
Click Add Networking
Verify Virtual Machine is selected, click Next
Select desired network adapters and click next
Give the Virtual machine network a name under “Network Label”
Click Finish
Look for the new vSwitch, click Properties
Select the VM Network Port Group and click Edit
Select the NIC Teaming tab
Select Load Balancing and “Route based on IP Hash”
Click OK to close

You now have your ESXi 4 host configured for NIC teaming for increased bandwidth (load balancing) and failover.

EqualLogic User Conference – March 1-4, 2010

2010-01-20T16:43:07+00:00

Every once and a while I get excited about a conference. I’m really the “anti-conference” guy, especially when it comes to ministry or church conferences.

However, this is a technical conference that I’m excited about attending. The EqualLogic Conference should be a great way for us to leverage our storage platform at Watermark to the fullest. More details about the conference can be found here. The conference is available to existing EqualLogic customers.

If you haven’t read my previous posts on why we love our SAN solution, you can find them here and here. Look forward to meeting lots of folks at the conference.

Political Landscape Shifts Again!

2010-01-20T10:38:09+00:00

Yesterday political history was made again when Scott Brown, a Republican, won the Massachusetts Senate seat vacated by the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy. Senator Brown won by 5 percentage points, or 120,000 votes. Former Massachusetts Republican Governor Mitt Romney told Fox News, "To have a Republican senator, that's unheard of. ... This is monumental. This is epic."

37% of Massachusetts voters are Democrats, compared to just 12% who are Republicans! And President Obama carried the state by 26% in his 2008 election! This marks a definite swing.

On 7/19/2009 I posted a blog entry about why I needed to stop following the news: the direction of politics and the way they are running the country was making me so angry. I think many Americans feel like me, that most in the two main political parties are watching out for their self-interests and those of large contributors; they are not watching out for the American people and doing what is best for our country.

The mainstream media likewise seems to have an agenda, and it's not about what is best for the United States of America. Rather, it's about what they'd like to see happen in the U.S. to correct wrongs-- whether accurate or not-- against the environment, less fortunate countries in the world, minorities, and special interest groups.

The American people are starting to revolt! And it's about time. We want our country back! We want it back so we can fix the wrongs recently done by politicians and make this country a true world leader again! It's time to take back the power we've given to lawyers and news agencies... those that look with disdain on the citizens of this country who are speaking out against the current tide of political elitism.

Yesterday's election in Massachusetts gave me hope. I think that's true for many. I pray that the U.S.A. will again become the world's beacon of hope; a place where all are equal and where the government and the press respects citizen's rights and perspectives.

US Military Weapos Inscribed with Scripture

2010-01-20T04:24:11+00:00

Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.

The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.

U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious “Crusade” in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.

One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads:

“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Other references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as

“the light of the world.”

John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads,

“Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Trijicon confirmed to ABCNews.com that it adds the biblical codes to the sights sold to the U.S. military. Tom Munson, director of sales and marketing for Trijicon, which is based in Wixom, Michigan, said the inscriptions “have always been there” and said there was nothing wrong or illegal with adding them.

Brian Ross (ABC News) report

Twitter updates for the week of 2010-01-19

2010-01-19T09:45:00+00:00

What is it with toddlers removing their pajamas and diaper? Is it a sport only known to them? Do they do it for style points or is it timed? #
Well the 19 month old is a real comedian tonight. She will not go to sleep and is cracking herself up in the crib. #fb #
@jeffsecules we have a season pass but I think kids are 7 bucks and adults are 9. Kids under 3 are free. in reply to jeffsecules #
Sweet girls and the koi pond. http://yfrog.com/4gtdjrj #
Enjoying a day outdoors with the 2 big girls. — at Dallas Arboretum http://gowal.la/s/4gm #
Oh yeah and a knight in chain mail armor. Nothing says 'party' like a good suit of armor. Still scratching my head on that wardrobe call. #
Celebrated 10 years of ministry – huge party with music, corndogs, sausage, bounce houses, cotton candy,pony rides & a few thousand friends. #
I think I cooked about 1000 hotdogs tonight. But @andyjohnson470 is the hotdog king of Dallas. #
Watermark 10th party. http://yfrog.com/1eikpcj #
Dear Cowboys Offensive Line. You stink. Thanks for listening. #
Well cowboys, there's always next year. Or you could start playing… #
Hate that they show violent-filled previews for movies during NFL games. That + beer commercials makes it hard to let my kids watch.oh well #
@odad you mean @paulrhoades ? in reply to odad #
RT @itsblake: Here's something you don't see everyday. A Knight's Templar joined us for worship. Chainmail & all http://twitpic.com/yigcy #
@LesBrown @itsblake Don't worry, we've hidden the Holy Grail under the stage. He's just here to keep it safe. ummmm. in reply to LesBrown #
Watermark is having our 10th Anniversary Celebration today. Texas state fair carnival food, bounce houses, etc. Going to be awesome! #fb #
Brunch with my awesome wife. #fb — at Cafe Brazil http://gowal.la/s/6q6 #
Weather for @watermarkchurch 10yr Anniversary Party on Sunday looks like it'll be beautiful. Come one come all. 3pm 1/17 #fb (via @rhowell) #
This is what happens in a house of girls. Yes. I'm playing pretty pretty princess, the game. http://yfrog.com/1ed1rbuj #
Threw on my new Walls Ranchwear jacket this morning. Felt a little more like a cowboy than normal. The jacket wants me to buy a truck. #
@rhowell Toad the Wet Sprocket got their name from a Monty Python sketch. Gotta love a band like that. in reply to rhowell #
@davidpenuel praying for you guys this morning. in reply to davidpenuel #
Now that the Journey and Spiritual Growth Assessment have launched, and staff retreat is complete… it's happy new year for me. #
Now @MichaelSFleming is sharing lots of good stories about what's going on at Watermark Denver. Awesome what God is doing there. #
And here she is. Ida Mae Fuddpucker. http://yfrog.com/3275jej #
This lady went around and grilled EVERYONE on staff by name from MEMORY. Knew names, what they did, grilled them. Unbelievable. Just wow. #
"How do you impress a man? Show up naked, bring food, and don't block the tv." #staffretreat. Wow. This lady is amazing. #
@braunbrown. Braun aren't you the cutest little thing?You're like the staff clown. You make up little songs. You should keep them 2 yourself #
@wesbutler. Where is Wes butler? Now he is one of the strangest people y'all got. #staffretreat #
Wow she is busting everyones chops. Jim Wimberley, you're a hot little red hot. You got it goin on don't you? #staffretreat #
John Cox has worked out everyday for the last seven years.Know what we have to say about that?We have to say "get a life John" #staffretreat #
@prcmusic. Patrick Ryan Clark. Could your parents not come up with a last name? Know what that is? He is his own boy band. #staffretreat #
What on earth?! Ida Mae Fudpucker #staffretreat #fb http://yfrog.com/4ik4unj http://yfrog.com/4flnjnj /via @rhowell #
Great interruption from an old lady who is busting Todd's chops. Greatness. http://yfrog.com/1dhlcmj #
Hearing the story of one of our sweet staff gals who came to Christ just two years ago because someone was bold in sharing their faith.Huge. #
From dinner. Follow anyone famous? Yes.. Mark Cuban. Beth Addy: "huh? Mark Cuban is a tool!". Sorry mark. @mcuban #
Eeewwwww! Press 1 for biohazard. http://yfrog.com/4i2v2tj #
So wondering how many cows made the ultimate sacrifice for our dinner tonight. Im thankful for them. They were delicious. #staffretreat #
The owner of the Steak Shed started singing! @watermarkchurch #staffretreat http://twitvid.com/F4D5F #fb /via @rhowell. So funny. #
Wimberley: when you get to be my age, you get to have a colonoscopy. Waitress; would you like some dessert? Me: on that note, yes please. #
Did this happen at your dinner? http://twitpic.com/xv3m7 /via @davidpenuel. Yes. Yes it did. Cowboy church in the house. #
Dinner at the steak shed. http://yfrog.com/33f9rcj #
This is how we do it @theporch http://yfrog.com/auxjffj #
More guns…skeet! http://twitpic.com/xu66b #fb /via @rhowell. Fun shootin stuff. #
Lunch at kincaids. Then out west to possum kingdom. #
@tradeup or link your bank up with mint and just do that. in reply to tradeup #
Headed to Possum Kingdom for Watermark staff retreat. #fb http://yfrog.com/3nbg9bj #

Free WiFi At Church

2010-01-19T04:20:26+00:00

I got this email yesterday:

Over the past couple of days I’ve been thinking about Wi-Fi being provided free (secure and filtered) by churches and Christians. The idea came to me when I noticed a guy outside of my house in the cold, winter weather accessing my wireless with some kind of hand held device. I was thinking that it would be cool if people were able to access a connection for free BUT there would always be one pop-up at the beginning of the access…sort of a “provided by” message along with some other message. like info about a church or group or the gospel message for that matter, or maybe a link with info on donating to specific charities or disaster relief. I would think that would be only a minor inconvenience if one was able to access the internet for free. What are you’re thoughts on that?

I confess my first thought would not have been a charitable one if I’d seen someone outside my house trying to access my wifi. First I’d think best of luck and then I’d instantly change my pre-shared key . Me, paranoid?

But to answer the question the answer I gave was “I love the idea” … Those of you that are regulars here will know that my pastor is a techno luddite. Sure he uses computers and email but that is where it stops. He doesn’t ‘get’ Facebook or Twitter and has more than once stated from the front on a Sunday that “you won’t find me on there”.

Every time I hear this refrain I throw my arms up in despair and wonder if I’m forever doomed to be in a church that wont use my God breathed talents and skills in a fuller way than just as ‘tech support’. But I digress. The idea of wifi in the church is a fabulous idea and for us then to provide a value added service to our local community would be a great outreach tool.

Once wifi is setup one could do things like:

advertise free Wi-Fi in your coffee mornings / shop
provide after school clubs offering free wi-fi
allow church members to access the net via their smartphones, etc for free
allow visiting speakers or business people access to the web without touching your own network
and so on …

The one service I know quite well and have looked at is ZoneCD – or at least that was their name. I see they are now called ‘PUBLICip‘ (link) – they provide a Free and Pro service with the free easily covering most needs. In short they provide an individual build of a *nix with added functionality. You as the user have to provide a PC (doesn’t have to be state of the art either) with two network cards and a wifi access point either as a standalone AP or as part of a router.

It includes filtering by utilising DansGuardian, an open source web filter, as well as many other features. the idea works by the PC becoming a firewall and filter with one NIC linking to your new wifi AP and the other to your established router / internet connection. The only thing one needs to be clear on is making sure the wifi AP uses a different IP range – beyond that the process is relatively straight forward.

I’m sure there are other services out there that do a similar offering and I’d love to hear about them? I did find the Wifi Free Spot site but they are more informational than actual practical build your own set up.

Secondly, what other uses could the wifi be put to? Giving folks the ammo to take into battle with the leaders can only be a good thing – so come on, get creative folks and let me know your ideas?

AT&T, Can You Hear Me Now?

2010-01-18T20:32:37+00:00

Re: loss of cell service in South Casey County, KY

AT&T, do you care about your customers? It sure doesn't seem so! For more than two months, an area that previously had good service, has had nothing.

Let me be fair. No, it wasn’t your fault. Yes, it was nasty of your competitor to pull the plug like that. I'm surprised there wasn't some sort of contract, but that doesn't matter any more.

Still, it’s YOUR current customers who are losing out. As well as anyone traveling US 127 in the southern end of Casey county. That would seem like a lot of people! (I sure thought about that lack of service as I was driving through the area, in the dark, with snow coming down. If I'd slipped off the road, I sure hope somebody would have noticed because I sure wouldn't have been able to call for help.

What did you do and what could you have done?
Was there any sort of intentional information sent to the customers who lost service. No. Was there ever any apology? No. Instead, you repeated standard marketing hype about how much you’re investing in your network. That adds insult to injury -- $38 Billion spent, but how much of it here? Um…zero? Maybe you could release the MicroCell FemtoCell to this area so people could at least have service at home and at their offices. But more than anything else, you could choose to engage with your customers.

I wish you'd take a lesson from Jeff Bezos. He got down on his knees to apologize when Amazon messed up. You could at least tell people you’re sorry. Maybe even offer to credit back their monthly service until they have service again. You could deploy an emergency tower -- you've talked about AT&T's readiness to handle an emergency. Isn't this one? There are so many things you could do to show people how much you care. Of course, maybe that’s exactly what you have done – now we know how much you care. Is there maybe a subtle hint -- if everyone moves off AT&T, then you don't have to worry about the cost of putting in a tower? (I know several who have been forced to move already, so you don't have to worry about them anymore)

CathyLew, I know your function is marketing, not building towers. Still, it pains me, for your company, to see this situation so seemingly mishandled, or ignored. Please tell me I'm wrong -- you don't know how badly I want to be wrong here.

Let me balance this out just slightly so as not to be a full AT&T slam. I was in Danville today and suddenly noticed that I had 3G service. That was a very pleasant surprise!

Such a sweet boy and his smile [Flickr]

2010-01-18T15:41:32+00:00

Golden ~Eye~ posted a photo:

sent from my blackberry

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-17

2010-01-17T16:34:00+00:00

Kids' first day back to school tomorrow is cancelled due to snow. #
A new security system is being installed in my office; been beeping non-stop for a halfhour while they're working on another issue elsewhere #
RT @CarMax is giving away a car. http://carmax.com/tweet for rules and details. RT and follow to enter. #
RT @ComicTwit: Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. #
RT @pauldotcom: Buying, Selling, Trading Shmoocon tickets? Visit our forum thread (http://is.gd/5MWoT) to find or sell the golden ticket #
RT @TechCrunch: TechCrunch Giveaway: A Google Nexus One #TechCrunch http://bit.ly/4XzVxm #
http://is.gd/5Pf3P – Interesting article about how safe air travel really is #
RT @ThreePlayerGame: We're giving away another Star Trek Online Beta key tonight at 7pm Eastern. Just retweet this to enter. #
Tales from Capt. Obvious: "Um… It's freakin' cold!"
Tune in tomorrow when Capt. Obvious informs us, "Yup, still cold." #
Grab you a Red Box free movie tonight! Two new (unconfirmed) codes: ABTS25 and SNSV25 #
Anybody wanna join me in a team for the #smashthestack wargame? http://is.gd/5SEPJ #
Schools cancelled again tomorrow? Don't ask me why, the road aren't bad. Guess it's just too frickin' cold! #
Fw:|RT @darkuncle: javascript is just a variant: the standard (yes, there is one) is ECMAscript. There's even a standards doc! http://is … #
Twitter ate my link http://is.gd/5SKZ7 #
Anybody know if the #springfield, MO #2600 group still meets? #
Looking for a team of #hackers to #hack with me in a #wargame by #smashthestack http://is.gd/5SEPJ #
Internet's down at home and I have homework due tonight, so it's off to work for the rest of the night #
It's Saturday! Guess where that means I am. Yup… working. #