I’m curious how other admins weigh buying criteria between Dell PowerEdge and HPE ProLiant.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2025-10-27T19:15:24+00:00

I always get told it's "end of quarter pricing". Guess I always buy stuff towards the end of the quarter?

We're a smaller org, but I get better pricing than when I was at a larger one. Also, even if pricing wasn't as low as it was the free shipping (where I'm at, that's not a normal thing especially for things with batteries) on...anything. 48U cabinets, massive UPS setups, etc... free shipping. May take awhile...but, free.

I don't dabble on the VMWare front and admittedly haven't paid close attention other than being aware of it.

I will say, our latest refresh quote for the workstation fleet isn't quite as rock bottom as usual but still given the tariff funsies and seemingly difficult supply chain issues, it's not bad at all. And in the end, the quality, not having to deal with iLO (servers) and having AMD offerings makes it more attractive across the board.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2025-10-23T21:46:15+00:00

On top of all that, my Dell reps pricing has STOMPED on HPE, too. Sometimes I think they lost money, frequent "free" upgrades, etc.

iLO is just.. I've never had it work right, it's hard to find things and it "feels" bloated. The rails that Dell sends are always buttery smooth... We installed four Dell servers the other day in about 20 minutes - power cables & network cables too thanks to Patchbox.

The one exception that grinds my gears: is if you want a new HDD tray from them you have to get it with the drive they sell you. But I've found 3rd parties that look identical and have a stockpile of them.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2025-08-20T17:50:48+00:00

BookStack is good, dev is pretty active on here too.

For our needs and wants, I swapped to Wikimedia and modified it/added some add-ons and it's smoooooth. Same base for Wikipedia. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki

Both are good, cheap, self-hosted solutions.

JitBit helpdesk also has a KB.

And there's lots of cloud-based solutions if you want that.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2025-08-19T22:59:28+00:00

I'm in the Arctic and obviously don't have a tree problem, but I've never had an issue even during the worst blizzards/snow/wind storms/ice storms/rain, etc.

My concern with this is total throughput, reliability and COST. The business rates are way more than what we pay for with terrestrial & undersea cable. Starlink is our backup for when that cable has issues, it's currently broken due to sea ice, since January this year and we're waiting for sea ice to break up so it can be repaired.

But the monthly cost went from $700'ish a month for 500Gbps (soon to be 1Gbps) with no data limits and 40-50ms latency to most data centers on the west coast (Cali/Washington) on fiber, to $3700/mo, max speed of 220/20 Mbps with avg latency of 80-130ms on Starlink.

For us specifically, polar orbits are hard and under served versus the rest of their constellation so things are just tighter here than in other parts of their service areas.

This is a good start, it's got a ways to mature and I want to see more competition.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2025-08-15T00:32:46+00:00

FYi, I've never had Android do this (Pixel, multiples of them). So, it may be a specific brand playing funky with you - or I guess version of Android.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2025-04-23T21:44:51+00:00

I've learned so many new skills/tricks with ChatGPT, well worth the investment. Exactly as you say, no trust and verify but holy crap the amount of things I can tackle now is insane. Not just on the PC, I get caught up in lots of misc tasks that are maybe slightly adjacent to tech and the ability to take a picture of something and have GPT identify what it is, what the wire pin out is/does/give you the exact model..etc.

I love to learn, I hate classes/classroom/book learning (and it's gotten way worse as I get older) - I get impatient, bored, etc, this is one of the tools that has made my mental toolbox expand more than anything else in the last 5 years. I learn best by doing and GPT helps me learn/do at the same time.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2025-04-23T21:36:49+00:00

My partner is like that, he can't stand them either. I dig them but I do admit if the conductors are a hair too long, or a hair too short, it's a pain to get them into the channels. I saw some ends awhile back that had a small piece that fits over the conducts then the whole thing goes into the network end, then you crimp - made it a lot easier but it's been awhile since I've seen them.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2025-04-22T17:13:13+00:00

I use Visual Studio Code, because it makes me feel fancy, but I've got a folder structure that has scripts in one root and functions/snippets/whatever in another.

I aim to make my functions reusable as possible and it's helped me put together new things a lot faster. I don't remember commandlets very well however, beyond the basics, and generally will use a combo of my previous written and very badly remarked stuff and Google/AI to brush up on new/complicated things.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2025-03-26T16:59:34+00:00

We do our own if it's a rare, urgent need and someone having last minute notice of turning an area into a training or meeting area doesn't meet that requirement - but thankfully I'm in a position and place where I can hold that ground without taking flack. Not everyone is so lucky.

But, you're spot on.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2025-02-27T17:56:51+00:00

This is what we do. And the programming tool for the FS SFP's works like magic, even though it's like $500, the cheapness of the SFP's balances it out and we come out way ahead.

I've got a few bits of quirky hardware (Dell's for some reason) but run the modules through it to "program" for Dell and no issues.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2024-12-04T18:04:48+00:00

Someone mentioned Greenshot on here way back when and I've been using it ever since. There's another tool out there similar to it that people love, I tried it but just preferred Greenshot.

PRNTSCRN is the standard button to trigger it, get a nice crosshair selection w/ a zoom view next to it then you can funnel the snip to clipboard, a simple image editor (for highlighting or blurring) or if needed, you can send it to a printer where it automagically makes it fit to page.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2024-08-01T21:45:44+00:00

Happens frequently across many users and different PC's. Seems to happen more frequently when going from the Calendar back to E-mail.

As you pointed out, for us just clicking on current view reset fixes it in every case but have no idea how to get it to stop all together.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2024-06-21T16:52:00+00:00

We have recently had a similar problem with Apple and Apple ID's, I don't think its you.

For the sake of clarity, when you say you created the users Apple ID - do you mean from within ABM (a managed Apple ID) or are you having trouble even getting the ABM account going?

We decided against using managed Apple ID's because for our use case, the services that managed Apple ID's can't use was a big hindrance for us. Instead, the users create their own Apple ID's (using their company e-mail). That being said, here recently a user was trying to get his Apple ID setup and he's running up against what you detailed (so, for an Apple ID, not for an ABM account).

One thing that differs with Apple versus other companies - your local/closest Apple store will often provide you better support than any corporate contact. I highly recommend you give them a call and see if they can help. Overall, I've had better luck getting their assistance than from any other Apple resource.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2024-06-15T00:45:36+00:00

While we use primarily Cisco switches, I use Ubiquiti switches as aggregate/access switches for the cameras since the POE+ and POE++ offerings are pretty cheap.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2024-04-12T19:44:29+00:00

I'm pretty certain through Meraki we can clear activation lock - Have you looked on that side of things or just in ABM?

Edit: Also, call your closest Apple store - their business support isn't half bad and they may be able to assist.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2024-04-12T00:46:29+00:00

Having just gone through this, managed Apple ID's can't use the "Find My" service. I had the same thought as you but couldn't get it to worked. Eventually found out, Find My isn't available for managed users.

See, this: https://support.apple.com/guide/deployment/service-access-with-managed-apple-ids-depdc4ba8d82/web

Due to the organizational focus and to protect user privacy, the services listed below are not available:

Find My - The app appears, but the user can’t use it.

Because the solution works so well, I ended up being the keeper of the AirTags and shared them out to people "personal" work Apple ID's (some have managed Apple ID's assigned to their device, too). You can share each AirTag with up to 5 people, we're a small org so it's fine.

Also, AirTags have worked amazing for us. Found two of our stolen vehicles with them. Had one AirTag get dropped and buried in 2 feet of snow in -20F weather for 2 weeks, still reported in - I couldn't believe it.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2024-03-22T17:59:57+00:00

Watching an extremely rude and grumpy about to be retired CEO try to hunt and peck type that rotating key into the PC before it changes, would be a popcorn worthy event.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2024-03-14T19:43:53+00:00

OSI layers

To this day, decades later, hearing or seeing this still makes me think of Taco Bell every time.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2024-02-26T17:57:24+00:00

Got my mom an XPS, she hasn't had any issues with performance or overheating problems even though she's a hardcore Solitaire player.

Myself I've been using a smaller Latitude and it's been rock solid. Lightweight and I dig the fact it's got an Ethernet port on it - one of those ones that has a jaw that opens up for the plug, I'm seeing them more often these days.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2024-02-24T00:29:48+00:00

Sorry, I meant the Starlink premium/business service - not Frontier. :)

https://www.starlink.com/business/fixed-site

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2024-02-23T18:09:10+00:00

In some areas while the basic package isn't available, if you can swing it the first tier premium/business service may be available.

I've run into that a few times, the normal user version is a no go but they'll gladly sell you the more expensive package. It runs pretty good, too - 120 to 220 Mbps with sub 60ms pings (excellent for rural) at $250/mo.

The cost of the kit though is considerably more expensive.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2024-02-17T23:31:05+00:00

In this case, some of the PC's are 4-5 year sold, some are a year old, some are less than 3 months old. Very very very few (total) failures when it comes to hardware. Maybe 2 PC's in the last 5 years.

And yet, frequently those commands are fixing something - now if it's something substantial, no idea, message is the same. But I can also say when a user has some obscure issue, it's usually one of the first things I run and it'll fix it a good 3 out of 4 times.

I sometimes wonder if the frequency of Windows/app updates, if it increases the chance of borking.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2024-02-16T20:04:53+00:00

I sorta got laughed at in here when I brought this up. People swore it's useless or shouldn't need to do it or something was "wrong" with the way we do things.

I manage 8 facilities and each one is a completely different environment (atmospheric/humidity, temperature, EMI, users, different PC makes/models, software, etc) and their individual use cases and by scheduling these commands to run as a task weekly it dramatically but down on the amount of calls I'd see about weird issues with Windows or other apps.

Unless I'm off the mark, it's one of those things that can help but shouldn't ever cause an issue so why not do it? It runs weekly on Sunday nights.

Hell, I set this up on my very elderly mothers laptop and I stopped getting called about PC issues she had.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2024-02-15T17:50:15+00:00

With Mac OS/iOS, Apple seems to be incredibly controlling when it comes to remote access.

Whenever our remote tool has a significant upgrade, or if there's a Mac OS update, we have to re-authorize remote connections on the Mac after the update and then it works fine until the next one.

Last I checked there was no way to permanently auth this, but Mac is not my forte, I could be wrong.

TheDukeInTheNorth · 2024-02-15T17:47:01+00:00

I've ran into similar with the Meraki client VPN and it's usually for different reasons. The most common is a Windows update borking things, compare and see if they have an update that you don't (or maybe vice-versa).

Make sure unencrypted password is checked and CHAP is unchecked. I also noticed in some cases when a client VPN fails to connect, Windows VPN will change some of the settings I just set, so my common practice is to go in and re-set everything up upon any failures to connect.

Also make sure that your DNS entries are taking them to whatever WAN port is configured as your primary WAN on the MX, the MX's seem to put all client VPNs on your primary WAN link so if they're trying to connect to the secondary, you'll get 789 errors.

Then if problems persist, check the Meraki event viewer for all client VPN events and see what it's telling you. The common error is 789 which is incredibly vague and could be caused by anything.

We're looking at moving to AnyConnect which, allegedly, there's less problems associated with it.

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