Microsoft’s move to Windows 10 and Server 2016 puts enterprises into a state of “perpetual migration” that brings a whole raft of challenges to enterprise IT departments, including taking into account whether Application Virtualization is now a necessity. In a previous article, I discussed this state, and some of the … Read More
Minimise the risk of ransomware with these 10 effective methods.
Ransomware is a type of virus/malware that restricts access to an infected computer (by encrypting the files) and requires the person pay a ransom to the malware operators to remove the restriction and gain access to those files again. The risk of ransomware attacks is an increasingly popular security concern … Read More
Configuring Secure LDAP using a 3rd party Certificate Authority
Some of the documentation that is available out there for configuring Secure LDAP on a Windows server is rather sketchy at best, or in some cases, it’s just really old and doesn’t necessarily apply to newer Microsoft Server operating systems. The following information below can be used on a … Read More
Bearing gifts at the Catholic Educators Convention
Getting the latest technology into the classroom is a perennial problem for schools because of tight budgets and shifting priorities. So when Source One Technology got the opportunity to sponsor this year’s Catholic Educators Convention (CEC), we jumped at the chance to make life a little bit easier with a … Read More
Windows 10 Migration – Dealing with the Paradox of “Perpetual Migration”
When planning your Windows 10 migration, it is crucial to understand the new concept of “servicing branches”. Most Windows 10 clients without complicated application sets are intended to be serviced by Current Branch for Business (CBB). Essentially, CBB allows a single deferral of new versions, resulting in an eight-to-twelve month … Read More
Sharing our experience of Professional Development with MAPA.
Having worked with schools for over 10 years, Source One Technology was invited to share its experiences with Milwaukee Archdiocese Principals Association (MAPA) members this last Friday. MAPA provides professional development to principals in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and works closely with the Office for Schools. The bi-annual event, attended … Read More
Regional Settings for Shared Mailboxes in Office 365 / Exchange Online
I recently jumped in to assist a client experiencing multiple problems that occurred during a migration to Office 365. As I was working to correct and complete the implementation of their new environment, I noticed an issue with regional settings – the time was off by a few hours when … Read More
IT Asset Management – 3 Vital Keys to Getting It Right.
Whether you’re a small business, a large enterprise, or anything in between, having at least a basic IT Asset Management (ITAM) process can help streamline the process of planning, deploying and supporting your IT infrastructure. In this article, we will discuss each of the three major components you should focus … Read More
DNS Scavenging In Active Directory – Settings and Configuration
In nearly every environment I’ve walked into, especially those that are more mature (read: older), DNS contains a plethora of stale entries, whether statically configured and forgotten about or dynamically registered, but never deleted or scavenged. Most of those environments could benefit from implementing Active Directory DNS Scavenging. For some … Read More
Summer server racks for schools
Earlier this Summer, our friends at Newport Network Solutions asked if we’d be interested in taking 12 HP and NetApp server racks in nearly brand new condition off their hands. The racks would have cost from $1,499 to $2,499 new and were in excellent condition. Having worked with schools and … Read More
Sponsoring the Catholic Educators Convention in Milwaukee
Source One Technology is pleased to announce that we are stepping up to be a Platinum Sponsor at the Catholic Educators Convention this October the 14th in Milwaukee, WI. This event is geared towards professional development for educators and school improvement initiatives. Please make sure to stop by our booth … Read More
802.11ac wireless: Channel Bonding, MIMO, Spatial Streams, and Beamforming
For this tech tip Robert Edwards, HP Aruba Systems Engineer, explains 802.11ac wireless RF terms that we throw out a lot but never really define. MIMO – (Multiple Input/Multiple Output) Unlike traditional/old 802.11a/b/g radios, which use single-input and single-output (SISO), 802.11n and 802.11ac radios use MIMO technology to increase throughput … Read More
Checking the size of your VMware core dump Partition ESXi 5.5 and 6.0
The other day I had both my VMware 5.5 U2 host servers that were part of a VMware HA cluster –CRASH- with a PSOD at nearly the same exact time. Luckily it happened on a weekend and the outage wasn’t even noticed by users. My first steps in figuring out … Read More
Managing Office 365 performance issues
Office 365 has been upon us for a while and represents one of Microsoft’s big pushes (alongside Azure) towards their “cloud first, mobile first” model. Most of us haven’t gone for full-fat Office 365 just yet, because of a few Office 365 performance issues with the web-based versions such as missing functionality, … Read More
What makes an excellent desktop support technician?
Just about any company needs someone to provide desktop support from time to time. Finding the best people for the job, however, isn’t always simple. Many businesses pick their IT technicians without much thought, and that can lead to huge problems, delays, and disappointments. When choosing the lifeline for your … Read More
Simplifying business operations with server virtualization
Organizations can gain numerous financial and operational benefits by employing a thoughtful server virtualization strategy. Today, we will focus on just a few of those benefits. It wasn’t too long ago that many people looked at virtualizing servers in the production environment with great trepidation. There were legitimate fears over … Read More
Adding functionality to the Active Directory Users and Computers Console
Frequently, I find myself and other IT support personnel need to quickly gain access to remote systems, run scripts against remote systems, or remote controlling computers for troubleshooting purposes. I typically head straight to the command line or run the related Active Directory administration tool directly; however, if the task … Read More
How to deploy HP MSM wireless – a step by step guide
Having trouble understanding the cumbersome and lengthy installation and setup guides provided by HP when it comes to setting up and deploying an HP MSM controller-based wireless solution? Take a look at this how-to document written by Source One Technology to help you better understand the necessary steps for successfully … Read More
Insufficient Power Allocation error message on HP switches
If you’re finding it frustrating that your new HPE 2530 series switch is giving you Insufficient Power Allocation error messages when you start plugging in various PoE devices such as phones, cameras, access points, etc. then this article should help solve the problem for you in certain cases. Power draw … Read More
A Practical Professional Development Day Plan for IT Professionals.
Professional Development Days are a mandatory requirement for employees at schools across Wisconsin. Teaching staff work with senior management to develop tailored training plans that aim to improve education standards, contribute to improving student performance and enhance personal skills. For Chad Edstrand, IT Director at North Lake School District this … Read More
The Main Reasons Why Business Projects Fail
If we are going to stem the tide of failed projects, we need to get an understanding of the common reasons why business projects fail. Here are some of the more common reasons, and what can be done to mitigate them. Depending on which research article you look at, anywhere … Read More
The Cost of Not Having a Backup Strategy for Your Business
There are a few dangers that can bring a company down regardless of its size. One of them is data loss. Think about it: if you suddenly lost every corporate file the company has, could you recover? Without a backup strategy, the answer is most likely “no”. We want to … Read More
Client OS Deployment & Management
In my previous post: Active Directory Design and Network Resource Availability we discuss how your organization’s Active Directory design acts as a central orchestrator for your entire network and what roles you should be utilizing within your organization. In this post: Client OS Deployment & Management, I will be giving … Read More
What Are the Main Causes of Computer Virus Infections?
Computer virus infections are the nightmare of a business owner. That’s hardly a surprise, though. After all, what business owner wants to deal with computer infections that can cause severe damage to their data and important documents? It’s no secret that computer viruses can cause companies to lose: Client data Customers … Read More
Supporting sponsor for Urban Ecology Center’s 9th annual Summer Solstice Soiree!
We are happy to be a supporting sponsor Urban Ecology Center’s 9th annual Summer Solstice Soiree! For more information, check out the following link: http://urbanecologycenter.org/solstice Come celebrate 25 years of educating urban youth, preserving the land, connecting people to nature and bringing communities together! Follow @SOURCEONE_WI Related articles
Your Guide when It Comes to Choosing a Strong Password
What’s the first thing you do when you open your laptop? If you’re someone that cares about protecting their personal data, then your answer would be “I enter my password”. Nowadays, we use passwords for basically every account that we have online and sometimes even for our phone. Choosing a strong password is … Read More
The new Windows Server Essentials experience
The third quarter of 2016 will bring a smile to the face of many business owners throughout the world. That’s when Windows Server 2016 will launch. You can look at it as the big brother of Windows Server Essentials. With the new software at our doorstep, let’s go over its features and … Read More
The most common cases of phishing and how to avoid them
Phishing is the act of obtaining sensitive company data and financial details by using deceiving methods. Surprisingly, many businesses and institutions still fall prey to common cases of phishing nowadays. While people have learned how to avoid such intrusions over time, the methods themselves have been perfected. That means that the risk of falling … Read More
Looking at Security & Technology Procurement
Organizations need to have an overarching corporate strategy for staffing and product/service acquisition if they expect to maintain a holistic approach to information security & technology procurement. A key question that needs to be answered is: Build or Buy? Many organizations – especially smaller organizations – take a one-off approach … Read More
Hiring Sr. Network/Server Consultant
WE ARE GROWING! Here is an opportunity for experienced Sr. Systems Engineers and Sr. Network Consultants to join our team in the Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha areas. The primary responsibility is to provide networking/server support services for our customers. A strong candidate will be able to provide on-going technical support … Read More
Protecting Yourself from Your Vendor’s Data Breach
It is increasingly likely that one or more of the vendors or providers that you rely upon will experience a data breach or sensitive data disclosure of some kind in 2016. There are things that you can begin to do today, which will protect you and your organization from any … Read More
Is Microsoft’s Windows Cloud Strategy a Case of Azure-based Frog Boiling?
Microsoft has said that they’re a “mobile-first, cloud-first” company these days. Windows 10 represents the first wave of the new world, and already there are signs that a cloud strategy lies firmly underneath some of the more questionable aspects of the operating system. There are approximately five billion desktops in … Read More
Setting the default file location for attachments in Microsoft Outlook
Let’s suppose you’re the Network Administrator that provides IT support for a company called Globex Corporation based here in Waukesha, WI. You have 100+ users accessing Microsoft Outlook 2013 from a Remote Desktop Service farm (RDS). Unfortunately, without the default file location configured for Outlook 2013, one of the most … Read More
Top 5 Network Security Best Practices
In this article, we look at the top 5 network security best practices that all businesses should be following. #1 – Install a Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliance to improve your network security at the edge. Install a Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliance that supports most or all of the … Read More
Why Your Business Should Consider Office 365
Each day, new applications release with the sole intent of improving the efficiency of businesses. While some apps are not necessary, others can be real lifesavers, like Office 365. This new version of Office has the features of Office 2016 and many more. Both products use cloud storage but Office … Read More
The True Value of Comprehensive Disaster Recovery
Or, “Why You Really Need to be More Serious About Your Disaster Recovery Program” I believe that most people would agree with the following statement: “No business, school, or non-profit, wants their organization to collapse due to unrecoverable technical issues.” Seems like a no-brainer, right? Well, as true as that … Read More
Protecting Your Data from Ransomware: Cryptolocker and Locky
As an IT service provider, there is no more chilling phone call from a client as “The accounting system is broke and we cannot open our Microsoft Office files either.” A quick login and file check stumbles upon some of the worst evidence of a ransomware attack you could ever … Read More
Google Chrome – “Class Not Registered” Error
I recently ran into a situation where one of our school customers was planning on doing some standardized testing (the FORWARD exam) and the Google Chrome browser application they needed to use for the testing suddenly wouldn’t start for a number of users. The error was: I had not seen … Read More
How to upgrade VMware tools and hardware for Cisco virtual servers
In this article we look at how to upgrade VMware Tools and Virtual Hardware for Cisco CM, PLM, and UC virtual servers. Upgrade your VMware vSphere environment if applicable (outside the scope of this guide) Once your VMware vSphere environment is upgraded, logon to your VMware vSphere Web Client and … Read More
Windows 10 Servicing Branches
Windows 10 is looming large on the horizon for many enterprises as they look to refresh their desktop estates. Understanding what is new in Microsoft’s flagship operating system is vital to making the correct deployment decisions. Unfortunately, as with Microsoft’s arcane licensing terms, understanding the new “servicing branches” in Windows … Read More