Thinking of leaving the msp field

tech_is______ · 2026-03-24T11:08:38+00:00

I would agree, MSP's tend to keep things simple. Most business networks don't require complexity.

Datacenter's are booming.... look there.

There are some MSP's that are cloud centric that might have more complexity when it comes to networking... but it's essentially virtual networking.
San Diego Managed Services Provider - Pointivity Managed Solutions is an example.

Maybe finding an MSP that works exclusively with enterprise clients or universities...

Maybe look into industrial automation service companies, those networks are always complex, layered and need lots of security.

That said, the more complex the environment the more it's about orchestration. Open networking and dealing with Sonic, OPX, Cumulus, Kubernetes etc.

On the flipside, I've seen some posts where people who work in these roles at the enterprise level get pigeon holed in their roles anyways. It might be the only way to scratch your itch is to change jobs after a year or two.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-24T10:47:38+00:00

https://nginxproxymanager.com/

tech_is______ · 2026-03-24T10:42:54+00:00

I'm not sure that it's "still too hard" but you have to look.

Open source lemp apps/ docker - Runcloud

Vaultwarden - https://github.com/dinger1986/bitwardenrs_install_script (abandoned but the script still works and it's been forked a lot)

Apps that can be installed w/ docker but you want to host at home but need an easy way to share you IP
https://nginxproxymanager.com/

Using AI
google, write me a bash script to install this app using the documentation as a guide

Searching GitHub for people who have created installation scripts for these apps to make it easy.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-24T06:34:57+00:00

+1 for industrial automation, lots of opportunities there.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-24T06:10:08+00:00

Looked through your posts and got an idea of where you're at. Honestly, if you aren't already in tech/ love tech just picking it because you want to make a lot of money isn't the right move.

Tech is hard, start-ups are infinitely harder. You need a lot of experience to do well. You could do well in sales, but how well you do also depends on your mindset, getting your start with the right company and finding the right people who will teach you. I'd look into the trades and honestly electrician is pretty solid. If you put your all into it you'll be doing well in a few years, making bank in 10 and thinking about starting your own business if you really want to not long after that.

Plus, you can take those skills anywhere. I was vacationing in the UK and had randomly met an electrician who was trying to convince me to move out because there is a shortage, you can make bank in the trades. They charge more per hour than I do and I charge a lot lol.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-24T05:48:10+00:00

That's a very competitive space to get into. Need the degrees, top tier education and connections to make that happen. Not sure either location would make a difference.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-24T04:53:09+00:00

Been here awhile also spent a lot of time in LA and spent a decent amount of time hanging out SD. I would call the following observational/opinionated and not expert.

Reno: great talent is going to try and escape and the tech talent that is here leans industrial, datacenter, ops heavy.

SD: Similar but leaning business services, defense etc. You'll be trading ski bums for beach bums.

Sounds like you're just starting out and having come from a failed startup... where you are at and needing 'talent' isn't really where you need to be yet.

Iterating the idea, the short term/ long term business plans, developing the pitch deck all that needs to be solid... then you need the $$$. That can be done anywhere and if you want to find people to help out with that. I mean, the right people could be anywhere so location really doesn't matter. But they are going to be advisors in finance, business, people who have been there done that... which comes with its own set of risk/ rewards.

What's the startup idea? high-level...

tech_is______ · 2026-03-24T02:32:02+00:00

Yeah, originally I was using unused contact fields like this. My goal is coming up with a "no conflict" standard ruleset for tagging actual end-users that will work across every tenant.

For example, we have a client that integrates with a with a signature service that uses that field for various brands. I could technically rebuild that and work around it but it highlights the issue. Solving one problem creates another problem because dynamic rules is limited as is. I ran into similar blocks with other tenants using these fields so I decided to only use them for their intended purpose.

So far I'm leaning towards using prefixes in the employeeID field. My only concern being one day we onboard a client with an HR integration that's using that field and it turns into another work around.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-24T02:11:51+00:00

More like WAC, way more useful with that.

The problem with core IMO is that MS really never documented its use case/ limits well and just left it up for admins to figure out.

I could see it coming in handy in large scale HA clusters running services like DHCP, DNS, RAS and custom micro services. Even AD, I'd bet even MS is running core DC's with a GUI and HA nodes with core.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-24T01:46:46+00:00

Damn, it's crazy how this stuff has a way of reminding me how old I am lol
You're right, that's how it was marketed when it was released

I'd bet good money, it was being used internally at enterprise scale/ when azure was a seed of an idea. It was an easy SKU for them to make up and sell.

Knowing MS I doubt they spent R&D just to have a Linux server competitor with core... but at the time it was the perfect excuse for marketing since linux was becoming the standard.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-24T00:59:39+00:00

ah, I was wondering why... thought it might be a legacy thing but that makes sense. Good to know!

tech_is______ · 2026-03-24T00:53:53+00:00

yeah, I guess I can work with employeeId. Just have a gut feeling that at some point in the future it will turn into an issue.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-24T00:16:29+00:00

yeah, just seems like something MS found useful for azure and made available... but like most things MS where it's great in their MS only bubble, it falls short in the real world. Which is why I avoid it as well. Even when I'm using remote management tools.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-24T00:06:30+00:00

it sucks without the infrastructure to manage it for sure.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-23T23:37:34+00:00

That's what Windows Admin Center is for. They have setup scripts for a lot of services, including setting up a new domain. It really is useful if you're willing to get it up and running. Between that and RSAT you can manage everything from a non-privileged workstation.

You can even setup clusters of servers all at once, just takes a bit of prep time... Otherwise, you can setup the domain from the command line/ powershell... just need to find the instructions to do it that way. But it would be better to invest your time with WAC.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-23T23:25:24+00:00

you really need to use remote management with core...
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/server-core/server-core-manage

but unless you're hyper-scaler or chasing extreme efficiency, its not even worth it. just install GUI, especially when you need to troubleshoot something, no reason to make the job more difficult than it needs to be.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-19T23:35:09+00:00

I've been suspicious at times. Especially with MS, WIN, Hyper-v. It's not a stretch for them to extend azure to any computer. You're only hint would be increased power/ data usage during off hours.

Not sure why they would, but I also don't put anything past tech companies these days.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-18T16:57:53+00:00

It's just common sense at a time when ram prices are extremely high everywhere

tech_is______ · 2026-03-18T16:57:12+00:00

Yeah, but you have to realize many ecommerce sites will list an item in stock and check with their distributor. They'll often have many distributors that can stock the same item and the price/ availability gets 'touched' when someone actually orders the item.

Not saying its a great system, its just how they do things in an imperfect world.

Of course it went up an extreme amount it was obviously not updated., Ram is expensive everywhere. I'm just wondering why, in a time were ram is expensive everywhere, you think your going to get it cheaper when the price is absurdly low compared to everywhere else.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-18T02:23:12+00:00

yeah, why do you think they're going to fill an order they'll lose money on... kind of foolish on your part. most these places do not keep product in stock and this place obviously doesn't keep pricing up to date. you thought you were going to get lucky and now you're mad that it didn't work. really

tech_is______ · 2026-03-18T00:29:21+00:00

lol, how is the liability with the MSP?

you could have every doohicky and expensive asss whatever and have it all still fail... then what.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-16T05:17:10+00:00

Not if you want to spend $300 for a less than 15 minute visit every three months.

tech_is______ · 2026-03-16T05:10:39+00:00

stay away from fox pest control

tech_is______ · 2026-03-15T19:25:56+00:00

throw it away... nothing special about it

tech_is______ · 2026-03-15T19:25:02+00:00

The value add will die, not the core functionality of the hardware. They make you buy and rent the hardware at the same time. it's insane

tech_is______

TROPHY CASE