- Blind-sysadmins - lists.hodgsonfamily.org

Vmware Workstation and natted wireless
by David Mehler 25 Feb '11

25 Feb '11

Hello, I've got a vm running xp. It's using a virtual nic in nat mode. The machine it's running on has two nics, one wired the other wireless. When connected by wired nic the vm works fine, it can get out to the net, and all is good. When I go wireless on the host machine the vm can connect to the net, i.e. pinging of an IP address works fine, however DNS resolution does not. For example, when the host is connected by wire pinging google's IP works fine and going to it's www address also works fine from the vm. When connected wirelessly the vm can only ping google's IP not connect, dns resolution fails. Nothing has changed on the vm at all, and the only thing to change on the host box is that the connection went from wired to wireless, host machine is still working fine. Is there a fix for this? Thanks. Dave.

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Blind System Administrators
by Darragh OHeiligh 25 Feb '11

25 Feb '11

Apologies. I registered the same domain as the list name accidently without checking to see if it was a duplicate. I'm hoping it doesn't stand on anyones tows but if it does. I'll register something else. Hello, I would like to introduce you to an exciting and potentially beneficial idea that I‘m mulling over at the moment. Like you, I am a system administrator. I continue to struggle with this job on two fronts. Firstly, I need to battle to work through challenges to software and hardware accessibility and secondly, I need to continually prove that the fact that I am blind has no impact on my ability to work at the same level of any other system administrator. What if we could significantly help with both of these issues at the same time? I think we can. The number of blind system administrators is very small but between us we have a huge amount of technical, procedural and operational knowledge and experience. Each of us has had to overcome barriers to accessibility in order to effectively and independently rise to meet the responsibilities of our chosen roles. Each obstacle to accessibility actually creates three potential benefits. Firstly and of course obviously, we have gained access to the system we are working on. Secondly, we have demonstrated flexibility and resourcefulness and finally, we can use the tools we have found or developed to resolve future issues we encounter. I believe that it is this continued struggle that doesn’t just make us effective system administrators, it makes us better system administrators. Recognising, analysing and solving problems are the most important abilities of a system administrator. When it comes to problem solving we’ve got it nailed! With the right communication tools with each solution we find that enables us to surmount an accessibility related barrier we provide a little more proof to employers that: Yes, we can do this, yes we can work independently and yes we can bring highly developed problem solving skills to your company. Let me introduce you to www.BlindSysAdmins.com This site is an idea I had yesterday that I strongly believe has massive potential. It could help you and me as people already in work and even people aiming to get into the area of system administration. Even more importantly, it could be a practical demonstration of how resourceful and adaptive blind system administrators need to be. Companies considering employing a blind system administrator would instantly see from the site that the applicant would be an effective, resourceful and independent addition to their work force. Accomplishing these objectives is actually not as difficult as it may seem. This is the part where I need your help and input. Don’t worry, I’m not asking for much and if it works, the result will be rewarding for all of us. I am thinking of the following ideas: 1. Individual profiles. If I could get five or six system administrators involved I’m be delighted. All I’m looking for is a really quick introduction to you. What systems do you work on, what you specialise in, how much experience do you have and what kind of environment do you work on. For example, the platform, number of users, number of servers etc. You can make this as brief or as detailed as you like. The key is to make it really positive and to show that you enjoy what you do. 2. Problems that you have overcome. What have you had to do above and beyond the call of duty to get access to a system or fulfil a responsibility? For example, I was the first person to organise the backup solution in this company. It was in operation for ten years before I got here but tapes and other media was never archived correctly. Restore requests were a very time consuming job as when the backup software requested a tape with a specific barcode, the administrator had to search through three storage rooms in three different buildings to find the elusive tape. Obviously for me, this wasn’t a viable set up. I dug out all the old boxes for the VOIP phones and the DLT tapes that I could get my hands on and created a barcode template for each one. This template included an abbreviated building name, the floor number and then an incremented identifier. For example. ABC4030. Tapes from specific libraries were put into specific buildings so I could tell that RK5 tapes should be in BCD3 so if the backup solution requested RK5030 I could look up a spread sheet and see that I had put that tape into the box labelled BCD3095. Armed with an off the shelf barcode reader and a laptop I could independently go to the room, find the box and the tape and load it into the tape library. Restore requests took no longer than 20 minutes with my method therefore the solution I implemented was a major improvement for the company I work for. What have you done? Write a simple account such as the one that I have given that demonstrates how you were able to get a job done using your own initiative to make the system accessible. 3. Step by step instructions. I’d love people to help with this so please consider it. If you have made a script for Jaws or Window eyes or you have found a work around to make an application work more effectively with your screen reader then please write down the instructions to help others do the same thing. For example: In HP data protector Jaws incorrectly load the wrong scripts. The fix for this is very simple but by documenting it I could save someone else a lot of time and effort. 4. Ask questions. There is a fantastic mailing list for blind system administrators and I would in no way like to infringe on this. Without that resource I would have been left stranded over the past few years. I would however like to provide a forum on the site so that people can pose questions. There is method to this madness. By asking and answering questions you are providing assurance to new system administrators and even employers that Blind system administrators are a supportive group of people. We’ve all been there. We’ve all had problems that we need a second perspective on. Just by being aware that there’s a group of people available to help with questions is a massive comfort. I’m not asking for any commitment from any of you. I explain this to show you my thinking behind this site and why I think that all of these ideas could actually lead to a resource that is really useful to both employers and employees. I have other ideas as well but this mail is already too long. I’d like to say thank you for reading. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions I’d really really appreciate hearing from you. If you’re interested in helping with any of the ideas above please reply. I have purchased the domain and I will work on this site over the weekend. IF people are interested in contributing then this could get off the ground really quickly. All it needs is your help. Darragh

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VMWare View administrator
by Darragh OHeiligh 24 Feb '11

24 Feb '11

Good afternoon, I was horrified and very annoyed to find that after updating to the latest version of VMWare View, the administrative site is flash based and I am unable to read everything that I need to access. What the hell are these companies playing at! Is it seriously too much to ask that they create interfaces that are accessible? Or at the very least not inaccessible? I don't mind having to work at things but I'm getting very tired of companies unknowingly putting obsticles in the way. Especially when I have a job to do. Have any of you come across this in the latest version of the ESX related tools? Before I do any more upgrading of our environment do you know if there is anything else I need to look out for? I'm becoming a very intollerent person when it comes to these updates. Why and howe they made what was a reasonably nice interface to navigate around a completely inaccessible flash based tragity I just cant understand. Regards Darragh Ó Héiligh System administration Fujitsu Offices of the Houses of the Oireachtas, Fredrick Building, South Fredrick Street, Dublin2 Telephone: +353 (1) 618 3559 Email: darragh.oheiligh(a)oireachtas.ie Internet: http://www.oireachtas.ie

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testing memory and hard disks
by David Mehler 19 Feb '11

19 Feb '11

Hello, I'm wondering if vinux can pull this off and if so if anyone has a procedure? I've got several boxes, one for sure is parts only. I'd like to put various memory modules in it and various hard drives in it and test them. This machine will be hooked up to speakers so software speech is an option. If anyone has done this i'd appreciate knowing about it. Thanks. Dave.

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jaws tandem behind two nat routers
by David Mehler 15 Feb '11

15 Feb '11

Hello, I'm using jfw 10, a friend is using jfw 11. We are both behind high speed connections, I think both dsl, and behind nat routers. Under those circumstances I am wondering if it's possible to make tandem work? If so I'd like to know how as it would make remotely helping this friend much easier. Thanks. Dave.

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VMWare View administrator
by Darragh OHeiligh 10 Feb '11

10 Feb '11

Good afternoon, I was horrified and very annoyed to find that after updating to the latest version of VMWare View, the administrative site is flash based and I am unable to read everything that I need to access. What the hell are these companies playing at! Is it seriously too much to ask that they create interfaces that are accessible? Or at the very least not inaccessible? I don't mind having to work at things but I'm getting very tired of companies unknowingly putting obsticles in the way. Especially when I have a job to do. Have any of you come across this in the latest version of the ESX related tools? Before I do any more upgrading of our environment do you know if there is anything else I need to look out for? I'm becoming a very intollerent person when it comes to these updates. Why and howe they made what was a reasonably nice interface to navigate around a completely inaccessible flash based tragity I just cant understand. Regards Darragh Ó Héiligh System administration Fujitsu Offices of the Houses of the Oireachtas, Fredrick Building, South Fredrick Street, Dublin2 Telephone: +353 (1) 618 3559 Email: darragh.oheiligh(a)oireachtas.ie Internet: http://www.oireachtas.ie

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bluetooth under xp
by David Mehler 10 Feb '11

10 Feb '11

Hello, Is anyone using bluetooth devices under xp? I would ask windows in general, but I don't know if vista/7 are doing this. I'm trying to get a bluetooth headset to work with my pc. I've got it paired, and the pc sees it. Whenever I activate the headset it tries to connect to the hsp service, but can't do it, I need to authorize it on the pc. My problem is that dialog box flashes in the systray and lasts about 5 seconds, not long enough for me to get to it, when I can the connection atempt times out. If anyone has a fix for this i'd like to hear it. Thanks. Dave.

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Norton Ghost
by Billy L. Irwin 05 Feb '11

05 Feb '11

Hi Everyone, I was recently tasked with trying to make some images of both Windows XP and Windows 7 machines. Currently they are using Norton Ghost 11.5. It is horribly not visually accessible. I am able to do something if it more of a command line thing than the Windows PE that it uses for you to do everything. What do you guys recommend for this situation? Best Regards, Billy L. Irwin Irwin Solutions 207 Strange Ct. Spartanburg, SC 29301 P: 864-551-2501 Spartanburg/GSP Area C: 864-809-9620 Spartanburg, SC WB4BLI Emergency Coordinator - Spartanburg County Area 1 -2 SKYWARN / ADEC Area 2

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Router shopping
by Barry Toner 30 Jan '11

30 Jan '11

Afternoon all, I've pretty much decided that it's most likely the routers the problem here. Looking at the DrayTek range is making my mouth water. Two I'm looking at are here http://www.seg.co.uk/ and here http://www.seg.co.uk/ Both look very nice. I especially like that the Router can double up as a NAS. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to support NTFS, just FAT16/32. According to what I'm reading here though you can use drives larger than 32GB with FAT32? http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_maximum_partition_you_can_partition_FAT32 Do any of you folks know what the maximum capacity is? EG Any point hoping a 2TB drive can be used as formatted with FAT32? Cheers, Barry Soon to be broke!

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Network troubleshooting
by Barry Toner 24 Jan '11

24 Jan '11

Hi all, I've been pulling my hair out for the past week and a half. Suddenly our bandwidth dropped off. I'm on a 20MB connection and normally get 1.5 to 2.4MB/s download from fast servers like the BBC and Sendspace.com where I have a premium membership. I began to notice speeds of 93K, 21K, and on one freaky moment 4Bytes! After 6 phone calls to the lovely outsourced call centre. During which, I explained the drastic reduction in speed. Coupled with the fact that i had noticed I was losing packets. One 1st line Agent was able to see when he pinged my cable modem this was indeed happening. That it wasn't my hardware or the 6 computers I had at home. That I did know a tiny bit about computers and had confirmed that not only there was no hijackers on my WIFI, but that it didnt' make a difference whither I had my Netgear Router in the mix or was directly connected to the modem. Then after my ISP botched and ordered me two replacement modems the speeds flew back up to normal and life went on. Today i noticed during mudding lag had started again. I also noticed using Ventrilo I was getting insane ping rates. In the thousands. I started some ping tests again. pinging on wifi, 36 pings, 28 recieved. min - 22ms, max 480ms, avg 46ms Is this normal and should I expect a loss of packets on WIFI when i'm getting full signal, (as I was sitting beside the router, have all my WIFI gear bar the IPhone as N Adaptors). I did lose approx 1 packet out of the standard 4 packet Windows ping test when connected to the Router wired, and the modem wired, this afternoon. I'm trying to figure out how to establish what is the problem and minimise my own expense in the process. I can take a hit on time but I dont' want to go out and buy a new router just to test. Should I buy all new Ethernet cables? Demand my ISP send an Engineer out to check the cable box, and pay the £30 fee if all's fine? Is there any decent networking troubleshooting tools you all recommend? At first I thought was because I was messing around with creating my own 2K8R2 server networking at home, then i realised it wasn't just the Server and the one laptop who was using it as it's Domain and DNS that were having problems. Web Pages were/are loading slowly. I've ruled out viral and malware infaltrations. I know no WIFI encryption is full proof but I'm using WPA2, TKIP, ASE, MAC Address Filtering, hiding the SID, checked the client tables on the router to see if any non-recognised addresses are popping up. I'm at a loss as what more to do and don't want to go back to the ISP without as much concrete evidence as possible. BTW. I know they do throttle but this is for peer to peer s'fers between set hours. They say streaming, and browsing will not be effected. It's Virgin Media in the UK. Cheers as this is driving me mental! Barry

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