- Blind-sysadmins - lists.hodgsonfamily.org

remote access to VPS
by HYP Tha Don 24 Nov '15

24 Nov '15

Hello Im new to this but I'm exploring g and playing around with some virtual machines to advance my skills. but what I need help with is there a way to use a virtual machine installed on a VPS, I need help with how would I install OS,which vps host should I use with vinux or one that is accessible, which screen reader is best for this and what remote access client I should use . If you could help me with this I would appreciate it.

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Accessible recovery software
by Kathryn Jedynak 24 Nov '15

24 Nov '15

Hi all: I am looking for accessible backup software which will create a recovery partition when creating the backup image. I found free soft from some I but it is not accessible with nvda. Was anyone able to get this software to work with nvda? Is there any other software that is accessible? regards, Kathryn

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Accessible recovery software
by ms98kasia＠gmail.com 24 Nov '15

24 Nov '15

Hi all: I am looking for accessible backup software which will create a recovery partition when creating the backup image. I found free soft from some I but it is not accessible with nvda. Was anyone able to get this software to work with nvda? Is there any other software that is accessible? regards, Kathryn

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vmware training
by Todor Fassl 23 Nov '15

23 Nov '15

My compnay is losing it's vmware sysadmin to greener pastures elsewhere. I'd like to take over his duties. I'd like to give my boss a detailed plan for how I'll learn enough about vmware to do that. Any suggestions for how I can go about getting formal vmware training? My company would probably be willing to send me somewhere if they thought it would be worth it. -- Todd

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Custom server monitor application.
by Darragh Ó Héiligh 23 Nov '15

23 Nov '15

I'm writing an application at the moment. It started as a thing that I really needed but it's evolving into something a bit more generic. I'm looking for suggestions on useful ways that it could be developed further to make it useful. It's primary purpose is as a monitoring tool. It isn't meant as a data analytics utility. It's current functions are: 1. Restart services. These services can either be given fully in the application config or a number of service prifixes can be used. For example: If I want to restart all report services on an application server and I know these services start with the letters RPT I can restart them with a minimum of configuration. 2. Check services. If a service is set to start up automatically but it's currently stopped, alarm bells should wring. The application Emails an address or list of addresses in the application config when services are not started. The SMTP host, sender address and port are also configurable. This check can also be configured to start any services that are not running but should be. 3. Delete temp files from specific directories. Again, specifically useful for application servers. Let's say you have a folder called SBS with dozens of temp sub folders with files ending in .xml, .pdf, .csv, .cab etc. This will go and delete everything in there ending with these extensions. Of course, these extensions are configurable in... You've guessed it, the application config. However, let's say you have a sub folder within your temp folder called DoNotTouch or Services or something like that. An exclusion or list of exclusions can be added to the application.config so that these folders won't be touched. 4. Log archiving. There are applications that handle log role overs really well but there are also applications that just write to the one log file for years. This becomes impossible to open never mind read! Using the application config you can specify the base folder that these are found in then a name or partial name so that the application will recursively look through and move all of these log files to an archive location. This location is set in the application config but it's also dated and in a folder corresponding to the server name that the application is run on to allow for use on multiple servers connecting to the one NAS for example. 5. Check utilization. Again, this is configurable. Set the threshold of percent free space or percent RAM or CPU available using the application config and the application will Email you and write to the event log when this threshold is reached. 6. Of course there's also a debug mode that will show you what it will do with each function without actually performing any action. There's also a help list so you can check the available options right from the command line. What else would you like? I'll make it freely available. Darragh

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Automated deployment of Windows: which tool is best?
by Katherine Moss 23 Nov '15

23 Nov '15

Hey all, Was running through my available options and I've discovered a few ways to spin up VMs including automating the Windows install. For Windows automated installation, for the moment I've got a couple of LTI prospects going with all user input screens skipped (per the rules in the .ini file on the properties of the deployment share in MDT). Is that a good way to deploy Windows automatically as a blind person? Is there an easier tool you'd recommend (I say screw Winstaller for that piece of crap never worked anyway, and due to the fact that MDT integrated smoothly with SCCM when that becomes our automation tool). And then for the deployment of roles and settings (MDT can integrate PowerShell scripts into the task sequences, so should I run a DSC setup afterwards, or should I include the setup within the task sequence itself?) How are you guys handling this situation? (for the first server, unfortunately because I just want her up, I had to get a template off of a sighted friend of mine).

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Virtual box.
by Darragh Ó Héiligh 18 Nov '15

18 Nov '15

Hello, I have a powerfull Dell R810 here that I don't need to put into production for another week or two. I'm planning to take some time over the next few days to try a few things out on it. One of my objectives is to use something like Virtual box as I haven't used it yet. I'm going to attempt to learn how to provision up to a dozen or two Linux servers with Apache and Postfix running in a cluster. The purpose of this is to try to determine how attainable this is and to see if I still remember my Bash scripting etc. If you have any suggestions around Virtual box and what automation tool I should use I'm very interested. I could use Hyper-V or ESXI but as I'm very comfortable with both of these platforms I wouldn't gain as much as if I use something very different for a change. Darragh

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Accessible recovery partition programs
by ms98kasia＠gmail.com 18 Nov '15

18 Nov '15

Hi all Does anyone know of any accessible recovery partition programs? I need to create a recovery partition on the hard drive. I tried the Aimee line of products but nvda does not read any of the controls. I heard there is an add on for nvda for recognizing some of the controls. Does anyone know where to find it? Thanks, Kathryn Sent from my iPad

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exchange 2010 and cashing
by Mike and Jenna 17 Nov '15

17 Nov '15

Hi, I have a few users who all connect to one mailbox running exchange2010 when they use cashing mode they are not always getting e-mails and they can't see what others are adding to the sub folders. If they turn it off they can see everything. The pro to them using cashing mode is that they have better performance on their main e-mail accounts. Is there a way to get everything to show up when cashing mode is on?

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exchange2010 and caching
by mike 16 Nov '15

16 Nov '15

Hi, I have a few users that need to use the same mailbox however when they having caching mode turned on they are not able to see all the e-mails in this box. Having cach mode on seams to give them better performance however. Any ideas to get them to be able to see all the e-mails in this box with caching mode on?

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Virtual box.
by Darragh Ó Héiligh 16 Nov '15

16 Nov '15

Hello, I have a powerfull Dell R810 here that I don't need to put into production for another week or two. I'm planning to take some time over the next few days to try a few things out on it. One of my objectives is to use something like Virtual box as I haven't used it yet. I'm going to attempt to learn how to provision up to a dozen or two Linux servers with Apache and Postfix running in a cluster. The purpose of this is to try to determine how attainable this is and to see if I still remember my Bash scripting etc. If you have any suggestions around Virtual box and what automation tool I should use I'm very interested. I could use Hyper-V or ESXI but as I'm very comfortable with both of these platforms I wouldn't gain as much as if I use something very different for a change. Darragh

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smart beetle
by mattias 12 Nov '15

12 Nov '15

has anyone get a smart beetle work under win 8.1 under xp no problems

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Mac and PC VM/KVM
by Fermin, German 10 Nov '15

10 Nov '15

Just wanted to get thoughts from folks around here. I have to use both Mac and PC on a daily basis for my current job. My set up right now has been a KVM which I can switch quickly from my windows machine to my Mac and vice versa. My employer is going to be upgrading me but I have to decide which way I should go. Should I stay with a KVM with updated computers or get some sort of VM either on the Mac or my windows machine. I have heard good things about using fusion for windows running on the Mac. I tried using Parallels but didn't get very far Herman

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Recommendations for partitioning software!
by Mailing Lists 05 Nov '15

05 Nov '15

Hi All, I wondered if anyone here knows of a good accessible partitioning software package or uses one that they find works well with say JAWS or NVDA. Many thanks for suggestions. Paul.

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Secure FTP server recommendation wanted
by Steve Matzura 02 Nov '15

02 Nov '15

I used to use Serv-U, but its TLS support is deprecated because the old TLS 1.2 is deprecated. I tried Filezilla server because it's free, but it can't access NAS drives, which I'm loaded with. I was thinking about WS-FTP, but that's big money, over seven hundred dollars. The new version of Serv-U, while free, is not accessible. I thought maybe ProFTPD might work, but I can't find a Windows implementation of it, and I think they do offer one. Any recommendations or suggestions most welcome.

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TeraTerm and ssh Keys
by Steve Matzura 02 Nov '15

02 Nov '15

Am I missing something, or is it not possible to assign an ssh key pair to a specific system? Every time I bring up TeraTerm to log into one or another of the machines I manage, it always puts the same ssh key information in the login username field. Does TeraTerm not have a way of implementing the keyring concept? Or can I get away with putting more than one ID in one public key file on the local system where TeraTerm runs? Or, barring all of the above, is there a better Windows-based terminal program to use that manages this better? What I'd ultimately like is to have a scrollable list of username and private key combinations to pick from, and pick from them by system I want to log into. IN other words, if I say I want to log onto foo, show me only keys (usernames) for foo. I've seen and worked with terminal and ssh FTP programs that work this way, but they've been on other platforms in the past.

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Trying the Code-Crafters Ability FTP Server
by Steve Matzura 01 Nov '15

01 Nov '15

I'm having an accessibility problem. How is the SSL certificate dialog activated? On the screen there's a combo box presumably to select which key pair you want to use, and if you click there with the mouse pointer, it turns into a list box. The help says a dialog is supposed to open, giving you the option to import or create a certificate, but try as I might, unless there's some secret key combination, I can't figure out how to open that dialog. Anyone can help, greatly papreciated. TIA.

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Recommendation for Secure FTP server wanted
by Steve Matzura 31 Oct '15

31 Oct '15

I used to use Serv-U, but its TLS support is deprecated because the old TLS 1.2 is deprecated. I tried Filezilla server because it's free, but it can't access NAS drives, which I'm loaded with. I was thinking about WS-FTP, but that's big money, over seven hundred dollars. The new version of Serv-U, while free, is not accessible. I thought maybe ProFTPD might work, but I can't find a Windows implementation of it, and I think they do offer one. I'm also considering running ProFTPD on either a Raspberry Pi or a spare big box I have lying around here. Any recommendations or suggestions most welcome.

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Software for encripting emails!
by Mailing Lists 31 Oct '15

31 Oct '15

Hi All, I wonder if anyone here has come across an accessible piece of software for encrypting emails say in the likes of Microsoft Outlook. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Many thanks, Paul.

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Blind Institute of Technology and Tuliva partnership
by Ryan Shugart 30 Oct '15

30 Oct '15

Hi: I just wanted to pass this link on as I’m sure it will interest several others on this list. I was one of the pilot students in this program, but didn’t want to say anything until the link went public. http://www.tuliva.com/it-training/tuliva-trains-first-student-through-partn… The course I took was a MS Windows Server 2012 R2 Server course, and while I’m not looking for a certification out of this, I’m just doing a refresher, I know an accessible certification experience is on their road map. Ryan

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Roundcube webmail
by David Mehler 30 Oct '15

30 Oct '15

Hello, Has anyone used Roundcube webmail with a screen reader, Jaws, Window Eyes, or NVDA? If so, how well did you get it going on top of your existing email setup? Thanks. Dave.

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Roundcube webmail
by David Mehler 30 Oct '15

30 Oct '15

Hello, Has anyone used Roundcube webmail with a screen reader, Jaws, Window Eyes, or NVDA? If so, how well did you get it going on top of your existing email setup? Thanks. Dave.

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the future of System Center Configuration Manager
by Ryan Shugart 28 Oct '15

28 Oct '15

This blog post has been making the rounds on the SCCM lists and thought I’d share for the other blind people who use SCCM: http://blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrteam/archive/2015/10/27/system-center-c… This actually makes me kind of nervous, Microsoft’s accessibility history with this product hasn’t exactly been stellar. We use SCCM 2012R2 today, and thanks to some Window-Eyes scripts I can get around and all parts read, but its very very clunky and I wouldn’t call myself fast by any means. We recently upgraded to 2012R2 SP1 CU1, and that actually broke all the scripts and we had to rush to get them fixed. So I’m holding off on this upgrade for as long as I can. However, to be able to manage any OS beyond Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB (including the non LTSB builds of Windows 10) we’ll have to upgrade eventually. On top of that, assuming I can get new scripts written, if Microsoft can upgrade this guy whenever they want, those scripts may not be for much. I’m meeting with our TAM and some PMs on the SCCM team Friday to talk about my concerns, I have little hope of anything happening, Microsoft already said accessibility will not be a part of the next release, but hey. Just wanted to let any other blind admins know about this if they hadn’t seen the posts already. Ryan

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Automated deployment of Windows: which tool is best?
by Katherine Moss 28 Oct '15

28 Oct '15

Hey all, Was running through my available options and I've discovered a few ways to spin up VMs including automating the Windows install. For Windows automated installation, for the moment I've got a couple of LTI prospects going with all user input screens skipped (per the rules in the .ini file on the properties of the deployment share in MDT). Is that a good way to deploy Windows automatically as a blind person? Is there an easier tool you'd recommend (I say screw Winstaller for that piece of crap never worked anyway, and due to the fact that MDT integrated smoothly with SCCM when that becomes our automation tool). And then for the deployment of roles and settings (MDT can integrate PowerShell scripts into the task sequences, so should I run a DSC setup afterwards, or should I include the setup within the task sequence itself?) How are you guys handling this situation? (for the first server, unfortunately because I just want her up, I had to get a template off of a sighted friend of mine).

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Cisco Net Academy
by Andrew Hodgson 28 Oct '15

28 Oct '15

Hi, Reading the recent tweets that a VI specialist college in the UK has started running the Cisco courses. I emailed them at the beginning of the year enquiring how they worked and whether they were doing anything about the actual exams, and got the usual story that they were doing the academy study but not the full exams. I was intrigued to read the tweets yesterday regarding one of the students winning a paid work placement with Cisco. Now just to be really clear, I couldn’t be more happier for this guy, and I fully believe he deserves it. However, I am now wondering if and how this could benefit other blind people who are looking for jobs in this area, and have done the same courses/tests etc. in the past, and are still looking for employment in the area, or for those people who have failed to get the exams in the past through lack of access. Andrew.

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