Hi, I use Windoweyes exclusively in an RDP environment, I don't even have JFW licensed for RDP features. One thing I should say is that I have a small amount of vision and can see to install a server OS via the console without any assistance. However, the only way I can do this is by doing installs over and over again and reading up on all the documentation to ensure I know what the screens look like, and what options are available to me. I am working for a small company and most of us don't specialise in any one field of technology, for example I mainly work on the web and database servers, but also have strong experience with email and Exchange. I firmly believe that the key to succeeding at this job is to believe you can work and are prepared to put in the hours to investigate the technology, and to work in a team where you can each play to each other's strengths and weaknesses. One good positive story is that we recently upgraded our IPT solution to use Cisco Unified Communications Manager/Unity 8, and the web interface for this is imho usable with JFW. There are pull down menus, but these speak really well, and all the web pages speak well without issue so far. I am really looking forward to continuing working with this system. One other thing I found with this system is if you use the enterprise attendant reception console and you use JFW, there are scripts in the installer for JFW which can be enabled at installation time. I am not sure how good these are but this is the first time I have seen this support for a screen reader out of the box. Thanks. Andrew. -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Shugart Sent: 10 April 2012 21:36 To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] any show stoppers I guess I kind of cheated, I know another blind VMWare admin who works at a local university, and he showed me a lot of tricks to get started with ESX. I also started in a small environment with one host and about 20 VMs, that's before the company I was working for got bought out and I moved up to this environment. Expiramentation is very important though, and that's not just because you're blind, it is for a sighted person as well. Honestly, if this is a system you're expected to support, then your boss had better give you time to learn about it, otherwise they aren't using you effectively. If your boss expects you to come in and just know everything, that's just unreasonable. Sure, expiramentation has to be mixed in with real work, but that's normal for anyone. Even when we get the accessibility issues for SCCM 2012 figured out, I'm not implementing it until I've played with it in a lab and even been to a training course if its offered. These aren't things you run into. I consider accessibility as part of the package, if I can't access it to do my job, then what good am I? That includes figuring out work arounds. As to screen readers, I'm not trying to start a flame war here, but I find Window-Eyes is better for a systems admin than JAWS simply because of the licensing. I can get one copy of Window-Eyes tied to me, and so long as I'm the primary user, that one license can run on unlimited servers, handle RDP and all the good stuff. So I can have Window-Eyes preinstalled on the servers I build, and know when they finally get deployed its ready to go licensewise and my RDP sessions just work. I wish GW-Micro had a better installer, but I'm pretty happy with how Window-Eyes performs in the IT setting, especially coming from someone who beleives in purchasing his own equipment. Ryan ________________________________________ From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim [jheim@math.wisc.edu] Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 8:44 AM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] any show stoppers Wow, this is fantastic info. I have got to get into this. I know next to nothing about Windows system administration and only slightly more about VMWare. How didyou find time to figure all this out though? I have what I consider a very indulgent boss but she wouldn't give me all the time it would take to figure all that out. I mean, she gives me time to experiment but there are limits and I think she'd have told me to just get sighted assistance. I'd have to do it on my own time and that doesn't seem practical either. I can't afford my own jaws license. Well, I suppose I could afford it. It would be a heck of a bite though. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Shugart" <rshugart@pcisys.net> To: "Blind sysadmins list" <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 1:14 AM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] any show stoppers
I have to agree that VMWare is far from the most accessible piece of software out there, but its certainly doable. I manage a VMWare environment with about 35 ESX hosts and about 700 VMS, and I'm very effective. It all boils down to learning good techniques. True, ESX and ESXI don't support sound, but if you're working in a Windows environment with mainly Windows guests you will be hopefully using a screen reader with good RDP support so sound isn't an issue anyway. When I build a new VM, I build the VM in VMWare's Workstation product that does support sound, and will install guest OS's for you. So I build the OS, install the screen reader, get RDP working then upload the completed VM to the esx environment and then just use RDP to admin the machine from there on out. All of our templates have a screen reader on them with RDP support enabled and configured so when I do day to day deployments I just clone a template, find out the IP address from the VIC, log in using RDP , and I'm good to go. So its all doable, it just takes working out some different techniques. Get to know your screen reader well, know its mouse support, make sure you're on the latest version, and the VIC should work reasonably. I think the only scripting I use regularly is a command to always move me back to the treeview of VMs. Also, VMWare has a Powershell interface available that actually is pretty good about duplicating all functions of the VIC via commandline. One of the annoying things is that the Update Manager component has no accessibility at all, but that's all available using PowerCLI and that's how I update the ESX hosts. Another thing that's annoying is finding VMs in the VIC. Again PowerCLI to the rescue, if I know the name of the VM, I just punch it into PowerCLI and away I go. I can move VMs around, change resource pools all from there and many times I just use the VIC to monitor tasks. I could do that from PowerCLI too but I'm too lazy to learn the commands. Ryan
-----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012 10:25 AM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] any show stoppers
Esx and esxi do not support sound. In other words, you can't make a virtual machine with a sound card. There is no screen reader for esx or esxi. The remote GUI interface has major accessibility problemms. And there is no talking or serial console install. I asked about an accessible install on the VMWare web site and all the answers I got were lame. I ended up getting sighted assistance for the install. However, it may be possible for a blind person to do an esx/esxi install via the automatic installation tool.
In other words, you will have problems installing esx or esxi, you'll have trouble creating virtual machines, and once you create them, they'll be difficult to use. Other than that, its fine.
In all seriousness, I have an esxi machine at home. I built it specifically to learn about VMWare esx and esxi. I had to get help with the install but if I had it to do over again, I would try the automatic install feature. I also spent a lot of time learning how to create virtual machines. The remote GUI is not totally impossible to navigate with jaws. But there are parts of it that are very, very difficult. Maybe if you used it every day you could get to be proficient enough to be productive but I doubt it. I manage the virtual machines on my esxi server via editing the text config files themselves. Once you have the virtual machine up and running, you will have to operate it remotely. The VMWare people would say that that's the whole point of esx and esxi. Esx and esxi are for servers off in the cloud somewhere. If you want a desktop machine, use Workstation. But while operating a machine remotely is easy in linux, it is somewhat of a greater challenge in Windows. Of course, maybe you already do a lot of remote Windows system administration and that won't be a problem for you. But I don't know how you get your accessibility tools installed on a Windows virtual machine in order to access it remotely.
The way I did it was to configured a USB port on the virtual machine and then plugged a USB headset into the host. That gave me speech on the virtual machine. So I was operating the virtual machine remotely but the headset was physically connected to the host. The only reason I was able to do that was that my remote machine was not very remote. It was only about 5 feet from the esxi host. I am not sure if that makes sense. If you want a clearer explanation, let me know.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Brian Moore" <bmoore@screenreview.org> To: "Blind sysadmins list" <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012 10:01 AM Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] any show stoppers
HI all. applying for this job. IN particular, I am interested in people's thoughts about working in environments with vmware esx any other show stoppers? HELP DESK SUPERVISOR/SENIOR TECHNICAL ANALYST Permanent - Full-Time Annual Salary: $73,180 -$89,035 The Children's Aid Society of Hamilton is seeking a Help Desk Supervisor/Senior Technical Analyst. The successful candidate will be responsible for supervising the day-to-day operations of the helpdesk and helpdesk staff; identifying, researching, and resolving complex technical problems; documenting, tracking and monitoring problems to ensure resolution in a timely manner; applying updates and patches to server software, hardware and network devices; providing support for both physical and virtual computing environments; and writing new and maintaining existing support documentation. The successful candidate will have: a minimum three year post secondary computing degree/diploma (or equivalent technical certifications and work experience); must possess a well-rounded business background with a broad understanding of computer and network systems, operations, applications, operating systems and security; previous supervision/leadership experience required; minimum three years experience with VMware ESX 3.5 and above, including Virtual Center, HA, DRS, VMotion, Snapshots, Converter Enterprise and VCB; in-depth knowledge and experience with Active Directory, Windows 2003/2008 Server, IIS, SQL, GPO, Terminal Services and/or Citrix XenApp; XP and Windows 7 desktop imaging, deployment, and setup; experience administering and supporting Cisco switches, routers, firewalls; experience with backup and recovery strategies, disaster recovery planning, implementation and testing; full understanding of the IP protocol stack and its related services; in-depth knowledge of server hardware, RAID technologies and Storage Area Networks; ability to absorb and retain information quickly and adept at reading, writing, and interpreting technical documentation and procedure manuals; highly self-motivated and directed with proven problem-solving abilities; strong analytical, organization, multitasking, and prioritizing skills with thorough and acute attention to detail; ability to express complex technical concepts effectively, both verbally and written, to both technical and non-technical agency staff with proven presentation and facilitation skills. cont'd on page 2... 2 The Children's Aid Society of Hamilton is a large agency of approximately 350 employees which offers an innovative and progressive work environment. Interested applicants should submit a current resume quoting file #17/12 by April 9, 2012: Kelly Oates Administrative Assistant Human Resources Department The Children's Aid Society of Hamilton PO Box 1170, Depot 1, Hamilton, ON L8N 4B9 E-mail: koates@hamiltoncas.com Fax: 905-522-1089 WE ARE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
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