74/240
We got Nutanix racked and stacked, powered up, networked, and updating. It’s also the most I’ve walked since I started here by 40% over the next highest day according to my Fitbit. It didn’t seem like that much in the moment, but by 3:30 I was feeling it. It’s about 5 miles of walking, all between two adjacent buildings.
So, a number of things to be thankful for. All the gear is working well. The Dell tech, so far, has been quite good and works well with us. I bought lunch for the team and that went over quite well. No dead drives out of 38 to get started.
Good chance that tomorrow we’ll be out of the setup phase and ready to vMotion some test machines, and seeing if we’ll be able to use Nutanix’s in-built backup utility. The details we got initially aren’t promising on that front, and we may need to spring for Veeam B&R. If we have a VM living on the cluster tomorrow I’ll consider us well ahead of schedule.
I can already tell this week is going to fly by.
I had to put in a change request for a new Software Restriction Policy. The last SRPs I had to deploy were to block CryptoWall. This one is to block Windows 10. Despite a Group Policy named “Do not upgrade to latest versions of Windows”, a registry key named “DisableGWX” (Get Windows X), and a registry key named “DisableOSUpgrades,” I’m still somehow not being clear enough to Microsoft, because new updates are pushing the GWX app anyway.
Our users can’t perform the upgrade themselves anyway, they lack local admin rights to do so. But it still nags the user and basically asks them why their sysadmins are horrible security-haters.
It’s hard to believe that they’re being this pushy about it. They’re so disconnected from the actual enterprise and business world from a compatibility standpoint. They only have to worry about Microsoft software, so once it’s all working with the latest OS, they have no reason not to move up to it. That’s totally reasonable, if you’re Microsoft! But that’s one company that it makes sense for, and the rest of us that need to carefully test the third-party software we use, and wait for compatibility to come to us. You see, the thought is that since we paid six figures for Windows 7 licensing, we get to use it for as long as we deem suitable, not to exceed the extended support end date in 2020. We upgrade on our terms, when we feel we have done thorough testing of all software being used by a dozen different bureaus in different lines of work, and we find that all the software works and that our users are comfortable with the transition plan. See a trend in that sentence, Microsoft? This isn’t your fucking decision to make. It’s bad enough that you broke your own support cycle on 7, saying that new Intel gear isn’t supported by Windows 7. That’s a fucking joke.
Are they still going to be this pushy when Windows 10 switches to a paid product in a few months? That’ll be some shit.
Diana sent me a picture mid-deployment, my wired Xbox One controller arrived. It’ll finally be time to retire the 360 controller that’s served me well for…lord, I don’t know how long. I think I got it in 2010. It’s time for a viking funeral. The left analog stick has been worn totally smooth, and the right stick has a significant deadzone that’ll result in a lot of drifting to the right. It’s also had six years of oils from my hands get transferred to it. Net result: Texture. Not a desired place for Texture. The reviews for the One controller is that it’s a general improvement in pretty much every aspect, so I’m willing to try it. I also ordered some Klein screwdrivers to replace some Kleins that grew legs at my last job. The Klein 10-in-1 is a better presidential candidate than most of the field.
