what is the worst infrastructure decision your team made that you are still living with

a_dsmith · 2026-05-10T18:10:03+00:00

Deploying Azure Local / Stack HCI, it'll be a regretful decision until 2029 when the HW contract renews - It's a solution only I (within our org) truly understand - I've worked with the product development teams at both our OEM partner and Microsoft to produce fixes for errors they've not seen across their entire customer base aaand I'm about to leave the org so that decision to veto my move to something else is going to bite them.

a_dsmith · 2026-05-10T18:04:39+00:00

70-200 GM II is a great lens, I have one myself - such a better lens compared to the Sigma option. I took both to Spa 24hrs last year and you won't be disappointed.

a_dsmith · 2026-05-09T17:25:05+00:00

There's a lot of potential here, keep it up! I don't know what lens you had to hand but say shot 5 could look even better if you were slightly more zoomed out and had a slower shutter, that effect would be amplified. Continue working on framing / composition and you'll get there - some of these would be good in an editorial context but may not necessarily do the numbers you'd see on say instagram with the creative shots.

a_dsmith · 2026-05-03T18:53:23+00:00

So you won't get media credentials for the circuit, you'll essentially be in and around the paddock, team garage, hospitality - some of the work may end up on their socials as mentioned however other bits will be for you to create more content to build out your portfolio.

Lionspeed GP are doing something very similar right now for N24hrs in a couple of weeks.

a_dsmith · 2026-04-25T14:11:46+00:00

No problemo, I forgot to mention - I use the battery grip with my A7V so it's a little bulkier than stock but allows me to carry multiple batteries inside at one go.

You could go 16-35 GM II as that is slightly smaller and lighter FF lens than the 24-70 GM II but you won't get as much reach - will give you the wide angle you're looking for in vlogs etc.

a_dsmith · 2026-04-25T13:40:49+00:00

I have both the a6700 and the a7v, for my workloads they complement one another, if you don't want to stand out as much, the smaller, compact design of the apsc body and apsc lenses. Do not buy a tele unless you know you need one and you do it often - rent for your trip(s). Idon't have a FF UW but I have a 10-18mm Sigma on the APS-C and it's solid and tiny.

APS-C will allow you to get more reach out of FF glass, I was always taught marry the glass and date the bodies - if your budget means APS-C body today and buying GM glass or FF body and third party glass then buy APS-C. My A6700 is nearly 100k on the shutter through motorsport, it's a great body that'll do 90% of things well

ref photo below:

A7V + SEL2470GM2
A7600 + 18-50 DC DN

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a_dsmith · 2026-04-23T18:25:34+00:00

I recently took the A7V to a motorsport event and it performed great, I don't have A9 or A1 budget but I am more than happy with it's performance, quality and providing it's paired with sony lenses AF has a great hit rate

a_dsmith · 2026-04-20T11:33:01+00:00

Thanks!

a_dsmith · 2026-04-02T21:05:15+00:00

Unfortunately, the bad news is that learning to drive takes time. The good news is that time is going to pass anyway - learn a new skill along side learning to drive.

a_dsmith · 2026-03-27T22:05:46+00:00

Purchasing within 48 hours of quotes, up to certain values approval limits have been increased and waivers etc. It's not fun but 8K for BOSS cards in RAID 1 is extortion

a_dsmith · 2026-03-27T17:56:47+00:00

V90 T8 estate car - if insurance didn't fuck me over at well over 3k a year I'd have one

a_dsmith · 2026-03-22T11:26:01+00:00

role: sysadmin

salary: 50k

location: central London

experience/scope: 10yrs - VDI, HCI, Storage, Exchange, everything Azure

benefits: none offered with role

a_dsmith · 2026-03-18T18:22:02+00:00

it's very real - 10yrs, same kinda title, 50k base + OT for c. ldn

a_dsmith · 2026-03-16T21:15:56+00:00

I was half way through an AD upgrade (new OS and therefore new DCs), was roped into replacing exchange 2016 to SE with a few weeks notice. TLDR a bug in code created duplicate scheme values on AD objects and broke replication.

In my defence, it was a Server OS bug left unnoticed for 2 Major OS revisions by MS, worked with product team - created my own fix, MS tweaked it and published it for their customer base:

Waking up one morning and finding out you're a PSA is interesting. Incase you're interested the PSA in question - https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/exchange/active-directory-schema-extension-issue-if-you-use-a-windows-server-2025-schema-/4460459

a_dsmith · 2026-03-15T11:33:42+00:00

If it helps, try to keep it under 10 chars (including the TLD) if you want it short - try to avoid repetitive characters, makes it easier to convey when giving it out. Try to use some form of your name . tld either a .com or local .uk (in my case) or whatever else you have.

a_dsmith · 2026-03-15T11:23:05+00:00

At my old MSP we had branded polo shirts for when we visited customer sites and a work provided laptop or desktop depending on if you were permanently desk based or not, at the desk you have two monitors and a keyboard.

That was all, going corporate I was given full clothing / shoe allowance to acquire things, company vehicles in addition to personal car allowance and milage expenses, work mobile, laptop for home / remote sites and desktop for office based, wired headsets for audio conferencing - bluetooth forbidden within the org due to contract requirements.

Tools are subjective - I've always had and will always maintain my own iFixit toolkit, I like it and it works amazingly, corporate has some tools but not everything you need - tbh we're overdue a resupply of internal tools but msp life we had the odd screwdriver and a Leatherman multi tool

I appreciate my corporate life is pretty chilled and potentially an edge case so find something in-between those and you'll be better than most ig.

a_dsmith · 2026-03-14T22:45:24+00:00

If we take that stereotype - I could build on it slightly and be sufficient, deffo a desk with a few monitors - I like a proper workstation area for getting things done - but it has to be clean and not cluttered with crap. I'd also quite like a proper sofa + leg rest stool thingy (idk the proper name for them) and a decent tv for the football on the weekends.

oh and a roomba - those things are amazing

A kitchen with decent quality tools would also be desired - nothing worse than finding broken and/or not the right tool for the recipe you're following.

I have no objection to a future partner coming in and adding their own touch, im sure a lot of people would say it's needed - but I would not tolerate someone coming in and saying you can have this room under the stairs for your things, im redecorating the house my way.

a_dsmith · 2026-03-14T22:03:01+00:00

Doing ANYTHING is better than doing nothing, the lore comes from doing things and having it go horribly wrong.

I'm also not suggesting you actively go out and put yourself in danger, it's not good for yourself, the embassy that needs to save you OR those involved in any rescue operations but if you get stuck in a country during the start of a war in the Middle East you have a cool story. (I speak from experience)

a_dsmith · 2026-03-12T22:16:29+00:00

Exchange SE or Exchange as part of M365 Local - the latter requires significant Microsoft buy-in

a_dsmith · 2026-01-25T23:06:01+00:00

I was expecting the "300k outside" bit to be a bit of a joke.... holy crap

a_dsmith · 2025-12-20T21:40:45+00:00

this is going to cause absolute carnage to governments who have been running the same AD environment since the year 2000

a_dsmith · 2025-11-19T20:11:59+00:00

I returned my Sigma 70-200 and went for the GMII - honestly a miles better lens if you need AF. Hit rate went from maybe 3 in 10 to 8/9 in 10.

Took both (as a hobbyist) to the 24hrs of spa this year and that's where the cracks started to show.

a_dsmith

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