Work
Tomorrow will be the end of my 3rd week at work. I have three more weeks left, possibly longer. I really enjoy the job so far. I have touched on a little of everything.
- Copying Windows installation images using Ghost and Windows Deployment Service (WDS kicks Ghosts ass)
- Repairing HP 4n/5n/5m printers and adding them to the network from Active Directory
- Cleaning/Adding RAM/Adjusting Pagefile/Turning off Indexing/Defragging 200 Computers.
- Adding Firefox 3.0 to Netlogon group policy
- Added users to Active Directory and set permissions
- Played around with Windows 2003 server
- Setup ~100 laptops in carts
- Unpacked ~60 laptops
That was the major stuff I have done so far. I find it a great learning experience.
Windows Deployment Service
The past few days I have been working with Windows Deployment Service (WDS) copying images to 60 laptops. I am not normally a big fan of Windows products but I have to say it is a very nice program. Where I work we have a server running with several different images for different computers. Connect to the server is as easy as booting from the NIC. The install time is minimal and requires very minimal configuration (Only configuration options needed is naming the computer), using Gigabit switches, the total install takes less then 15 minutes. I did 15 computers at a time, I could have done all 60 at once, but due to room 15 was the maximum I could do.
I have used a similar service in the past called Ghost. It is a similar program that copies images from a server to a computer. I find the WDS has a much easier to manage interface and has more options then Ghost does. This is just another thing to add to the list of ever growing things I am learning at my summer job!
First Day of Work
Today was my first day of work as a Network Tech (Assistant) for my Local High School District.
Today was really an interesting day. The highlight of the day was inventorying and unpacking 60 laptops. All laptops had to be scanned and inventoried into an Excel spreadsheet. It was very easy to do considering we used a USB barcode scanner that automatically linked up with Excel. Everything had to be separated into separate boxes: Power Cords, Floppy Drives, Firewire Cables, CDs(4 Disks per Laptop is just a waste really), Booklets (Straight to the trash). It's amazing how much room 60 unpacked and open laptop boxes take up. All the boxes had to be flattened out before throwing them away. I am now a box flattening pro.
Other highlights of the day include being able to work with an Ubuntu server, I installed Wine on the server in order to get a windows based monitoring program running on it. I am happy they are at least toying with a Linux distribution and not just sticking with Windows servers. I have experience with Ubuntu so I am happy I am able to help with some issues that arise. Also, I got to go on a few tech calls through out the day. They were interesting.
I also have a desk I get to use in the tech room, It has a laptop and docking station with 2 - 17" monitors and a compfy chair. I am not sure how much time I will actually get to use it though. I was kept very busy today.
I am hoping the 6 weeks I will be working there stay as interesting as it was today!
- Making teriyaki beef jerky today. 7 hrs ago
- #Fringe needs more Astrid. 20 hrs ago
- #LOTR Lego Set coming Summer 2012! http://t.co/i8ahYJo 20 hrs ago
- #mtg draft today 1 day ago
- Woke up to one of my primary VPS being down. Time to investigate. 1 day ago
- More updates...
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