What do you do for a living?

[357]

Originally Posted by timj219

Server geek here too. or should I say "Systems Administrator". Unfortunately my employer has become part of a large national organization so while I used to also work with routers/switches, Linux, NetWare, VMWare, Citrix, I'm now being forced to focus only on one narrow area. Windows server/Active Directrory. That's the model we're being squeezed in to. Instead of knowing a bit about everything and handling it all at my local office, I now have to do one thing over and over for many offices while people at other locations manage the things that I used to at my location. The bigshots at headquarters can't stop patting themselves on the back over how clever they've been to force this model on us because they believe it means they will soon be able to start cutting staff. But it sucks for anyone who enjoys being challenged.

Funny my title is actually Senior Systems Administrator. I didn't figure many would know what that means. It doesn't make much sense on its own.

I completely understand your situation. My last gig was a big company 25,000 employees with 1,000 Windows servers and I was pigeon-holed into doing the same repetitive tasks. My new place is more like 150-200 employees, 45 physical servers, 65 virtual servers, a couple flavors of SAN/NAS, 10 switches, and 3 firewalls. I have been with my current employer for 2 years now and I love the opportunity I have here to learn. I have also picked up SQL maintenance and permissions. Next we're going to launch an AD 2008 R2 / Exchange 2010 upgrade project. So, I will be standing up new DCs, raising the functional level of the domain/forest, replacing our exchange servers with newer models, and converting all of our mailboxes. It will make for a busy summer.

[timj219]

Originally Posted by 357

Next we're going to launch an AD 2008 R2 / Exchange 2010 upgrade project. So, I will be standing up new DCs, raising the functional level of the domain/forest, replacing our exchange servers with newer models, and converting all of our mailboxes. It will make for a busy summer.

I'm betting you'll like the server 2008R2. It's microsoft's best OS yet. I know that's not saying much. Each new windows seems a little more linux like and that's true here too. It's even possible to install a limited version of the OS (serve core) that imitates the linux ability to install a smaller footprint supporting only the features you need without the GUI and the ability to run other apps. I'm starting to use it for DHCP AD and DNS services. Smaller footprint, less attack surface, better efficiency.

[Old Sailor]

Soon to be retired Bosun with The Canadian Coast Guard after 32 yrs.