- Blind-sysadmins - lists.hodgsonfamily.org

Using rack consoles.
by Darragh.OHeiligh＠Oireachtas.ie 04 Nov '08

04 Nov '08

Hello all, Have any of you found a way of independently using rack consoles? The tipical problem is: You go to a rack, open it, slide out the rack and hit the print screen or the control key twice to bring up the menu showing each server. You can arrow through this menu and select your server. When the enter key is pressed, you are left at the standard prompt to press control alt delete. When you supply the username and password, you can log in, Most of the servers here have USB ports either on the front or at the back so with a bit of messing around, I could connect a Braille Display to the one that I need to use however my prefered output is speech. So, the problems are: I have no way of reading the menu for choosing what server to log on to. I've no synthesized speech when I launch Jaws on any of the servers. Of course, I can log in via remote desktop, but this isn't always possible. Any suggestions? Their dell racks and machines ranging from 2650 to 2950's. There are I'd guess a minimum of six racks in each server room and all except one of the racks are full. So, you can probably see why this causes a problem. Regards Darragh Ó Héiligh P.S. This is the first of a few questions.

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Using the PowerVault tape library administration panel.
by Darragh.OHeiligh＠Oireachtas.ie 04 Nov '08

04 Nov '08

Hello again, The backup solution here uses a number of DLT and LTO tape drives configured with Powervault T130 libraries. The software that we use is Symantec Backup Exec 11D. All but one of our servers is using Windows 2003. Unfortunately, one server that has yet to be decommissioned is running 2000. The small interface on the front of the powervault can be used for configuring the library. This configuration can also be done remotely via connecting to the RMU over the network. However, instead of displaying the menu items shown on this interface in text, the dell powervault interface accessed over the network shows it as a graphic. Therefore, I obviously cant read it. Is there any way that you know of that would enable me to read this interface? Any help would be appreciated. Darragh Ó Héiligh

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Using rack consoles.
by Darragh.OHeiligh＠Oireachtas.ie 04 Nov '08

04 Nov '08

Hello all, Have any of you found a way of independently using rack consoles? The tipical problem is: You go to a rack, open it, slide out the rack and hit the print screen or the control key twice to bring up the menu showing each server. You can arrow through this menu and select your server. When the enter key is pressed, you are left at the standard prompt to press control alt delete. When you supply the username and password, you can log in, Most of the servers here have USB ports either on the front or at the back so with a bit of messing around, I could connect a Braille Display to the one that I need to use however my prefered output is speech. So, the problems are: I have no way of reading the menu for choosing what server to log on to. I've no synthesized speech when I launch Jaws on any of the servers. Of course, I can log in via remote desktop, but this isn't always possible. Any suggestions? Their dell racks and machines ranging from 2650 to 2950's. There are I'd guess a minimum of six racks in each server room and all except one of the racks are full. So, you can probably see why this causes a problem. Regards Darragh Ó Héiligh P.S. This is the first of a few questions.

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GPO for consistent folder look
by Dave 04 Nov '08

04 Nov '08

Hello, Does anyone have or know of a GPO perhaps in an administrative template for setting a consistent folder look? I'd like for all folders to be in a list view, not icons, and for some reason setting these properties manually doesn't stick even though i select apply to all folders. I'd also like classic features. Thanks. Dave.

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linux?
by Ibraam Wahib 04 Nov '08

04 Nov '08

hello lest: how's linux with screen reader? can i use it as windows? can i find screen reader read linux in a cli and a gui mood? am i learn it via vertual machine. thanks. ibraam

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favorites copy logon script
by Dave 01 Nov '08

01 Nov '08

Hello, I'm looking for a logon script that will copy a user's favorites folder from a server to their local profile at logon. I've already got one working at logoff, which copies from the local favorites folder to a server redirect. The nonworking script i've tried is below, if anyone has another i'd love to hear about it. Thanks. Dave. 'Created by Matthew Hull on 7/21/04 'Modified by Jason Purificato on 7/17/06 'This script will copy the users favorites to the users folder from the server. Option Explicit On Error Resume Next Dim objShell, objFSO, strHomeShare, strUserProfile 'Create the shell and file system objects Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") set objFSO = WScript.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") 'Use the Shell Object to retrieve system environment variables strHomeShare = objShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%HOMESHARE%") 'Remote strUserProfile = objShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%USERPROFILE%") 'Local 'Exit if the variables are blank If strHomeShare = "%HOMESHARE%" Or strUserProfile = "%USERPROFILE%" Then objShell.LogEvent 2, "Cannot copy favorites to the server" & vbCRLF & _ "Error Description: Environmental variables not set" Wscript.Quit End If 'If the Favorites folder exists on the server then backup the local favorites, 'delete them, then copy them from the server. If objFSO.Exists(strHomeShare & "\Favorites") Then objFSO.copyFolder strUserProfile & "\Favorites", strUserProfile & "\Favorites_back" If Err Then objShell.Logevent 1, "Cannot backup local favorites" & vbCRLF & _ "Error Description:" & Err.Description Err.Clear Wscript.Quit Else objFSO.DeleteFolder strUserProfile & "\Favorites" Err.Clear objFSO.CopyFolder strHomeShare & "\Favorites",strUserProfile & "\Favorites" End If Else ObjShell.LogEvent 2, "Cannot locate server version of favorites" & vbCRLF & _ "Error Description:" & strHomeShare & "\Facorites not found" Wscript.Quit End If 'Record status to the event viewer If Err Then objShell.LogEvent 1, "Cannot copy favorites from " & strHomeShare & _ "\Favorites to " & strUserProfile & "\Favorites" & vbCRLF & _ "Error Description: " & Err.Description Err.Clear Else objShell.LogEvent 0, "Favorites successfully copied from " & strHomeShare & _ "\Favorites to " & strUserProfile & "\Favorites" End If 'Close variables Set objShell = Nothing Set objFSO = Nothing

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backing up a windows box with system rescue
by Dave 31 Oct '08

31 Oct '08

Hello, With my ongoing saga of the laptop i'm now having to back it up prior to a reinstall. I've got system restore which has mounted both the laptop's ntfs hd and an external usb hd also ntfs read/write using ntfs-3g. We're doing a cp -R source destination. My problem that i just thought of is that some of the files and folders the microsoft ones under documents and settings have special characters in them, braces. I need a complete backup of this system, so am thinking this copy is eventually going to error out. I need an alternative. Suggestions welcome! Some urgency! Thanks. Dave.

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2003 group policy and windows update services?
by Dave 31 Oct '08

31 Oct '08

Hello, I'm getting in to group policies on a domain basis in server 2003. I've got two questions, first can i set a consistent user background for all users in the domain without having to resort to active desktop? The background i want to use is a standard windows background and using it outside a policy does not require active desktop. Second, does anyone have a simple step by step procedure on setting up a windows update server? I've read the MS-doc on the subject, but am not sure it applies to the current version of server update services and was hoping for something a little more concise. Thanks. Dave.

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Automated Password Software
by Vita Zavoli 30 Oct '08

30 Oct '08

Hi, Can anyone suggest an accessible software program that allows users to change their own network passwords? I would need to review the logs with either JAWS or Window-Eyes. Thanks. Vita Vita Zavoli User Support Specialist Information Technology Department Call the Service Desk at: (212) 502-7666

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Windows Home Server
by Ryan Shugart 30 Oct '08

30 Oct '08

Hi: I'm thinking of purchasing a Windows Home Server machine, probably the HP Media Smart Server X470 or something similar. I was wondering if anyone else on the list has played with one of these machines and has any comments. I've heard the management tools can be made accessible but you have to go about it in an odd way and you have to use Window-Eyes to do it, which for me is fine. I think at its hart WHS is just Windows Server 2003 with some customized software preinstalled. The full PC backup interests me, and I've heard you can get some add-ons to integrate it with internet offsite backup. Any comments on this system? Anyone using one of these now? Ryan

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