Tommy Scalici - Technology, How-To's, and Reviews

2009-05-08T14:35:00.001-07:00

FREE Macbook Pro

2008-03-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know if there exist such a site?

Top 5 Reason Blackberry is better than Windows Mobile

2008-02-27T08:37:00.000-08:00

I used to be a die-hard Windows Mobile user and advocate...I have had and Treo and Motorola Q with WM5. They both had my emails, contacts, notes, games, videos, music, etc. They also were constantly freezing! That's when I decided to give Blackberry a try. I purchased a Blackberry 8830 from Verizon Wireless when it first came out and I absolutely love it! I will never go back to a Windows Mobile device. Here are my Top 5 reason why I will always use a Blackberry

1) The Email function is the best I have seen! It is really faster. I receive emails on my Blackberry faster than on my Outlook.

2) My Blackberry does not crash or freeze!

3) There are as many free applications out there for a Blackberry and their are WM5 applications. Blackberry might even have more.

4) Easy setup. Blackberry setup is much easier than Windows Mobile. Especially in the corporate / enterprise environment

5)Blackberry PIN Messenger - I love this application! It's such a neat little FREE messaging feature available only to Blackberry users

Top 3 Utilities for IT Pro's

2008-02-27T08:26:00.002-08:00

In my day to day work as an IT Engineer, I find myself using several utilities to make my job easier and my clients happy. Here are the Top 3 Utilites that all IT people should use:

1) MSCONFIG - This is a free utility built into Windows XP & Vista. It allows you to troubleshoot PC startup crashes and or errors and remove unnecessary startup programs(which will boost performance)

2) CCleaner - This is a free utility that can be downloaded at www.ccleaner.com. It fixes registry errors and clears your PC of unwanted cookies, temp files, and other junk. Very useful.

3)Crossloop - This free app allows you to remote control your clients PC from anywhere you have an internet connection. No special ports need to be opened on firewalls! Just download and install on both PCs. Within a matter of minutes you will be remote controlling your clients PC. You can download the application from www.crossloop.com

Vista SP1 Released to manufactures!

2008-02-04T13:18:00.000-08:00

Well its about time! I am anxtious to get my hand on a final release of SP1 for Vista. I just got a Vista laptop (Dell XPS M1330) and there are some gripes I have with it (Vista). Hopefully SP1 will iron out theses issues. For example copying files over the network takes foreverrrrrrrr.......

Read the fully story here.

Once in my hands, I will write a review on SP1.

VMware Converter Tips

2008-02-04T13:08:00.000-08:00

As you all know, I recently converted an old SBS 2003 server into a virtual machine onto a new Dell PowerEdge 2900 server. This server ran AD, Exchange, BES 4, and a small SQL database. From that experience i decided to come up with my top 5 tips for a successful P2V conversion.

For those of you who did not know, I used VMWare Converter 3.2.

Do not resize system partitions or partitions that have database files on them (exchange and /or SQL)
If possible, use the Cold Clone method rather than the Hot Clone method
If using Hot Clone, shutdown as many services as possible on the source machine
Alway take a full system backup before proceeding with the P2V process.
Remove as much virtual hardware as possible such as USB, Serial, and Floppy. The less hard was the VM uses the more stable it will be.

Good Luck!

VMware - Making my job easier

2008-01-11T08:33:00.000-08:00

Just like the title says. VMware is making my job a lot easier. In addition to that, it has increased efficiency for my clients.

Next week, I will be upgrading an old Pentium III server running Microsoft SBS 2003 to a new Dell Poweredge 2900 w/ a 2Ghz Intel Xeon Quad Core Processor, 4GB RAM, and 5 250GB SATA drives in a RAID 5 configuration. I am also running Windows 2003 Server R2 x64. The 64 bit version of Windows will allow the server to take full advantage of the hardware and memory available. The old SBS server is their primary Active Directory Domain Controller, BES Server, and Exchange Server! Now rather than use the SBS Swing Kit to migrate the server to new hardware and use a difficult, unreliable BES migration white paper, I decided to use VMware's P2V converter.

All I need to do is download VMware Server (for free at www.vmware.com) , install VMware Server on the new server, install VMware converter, and run the converter. 4-6hrs later (depending on the size of the hard drives in the old server) the old SBS server will be migrated into a Virtual Machine onto the new server. Its that simple.

And the best thing about going virtual is that in the future if my client wants to add more servers, they can! All I need to do is create a new Virtual Machine!

Linux. It is here to stay!

2007-11-19T13:30:00.000-08:00

As a newbie to Linux and a lifelong Windows user, I know it can be difficult to get anywhere using Linux. What distribution to use?, How to install it?, What does it do?, Is Linux ready for mainstream?.

What I intend to do is answer these question, give some direction on Linux, and share some of my Linux experiences.

Q: What distribution should I use?

A: This depends on a few things. If you prefer ease of use and a Windows like GUI then go with Ubuntu Desktop 7.0.

Q: How do I install Linux:
A: If you chooses Ubuntu, just download the ISO file, burn it to a CD, reboot your computer, and follow the on-screen instructions. Its that simple!

Q: What does it do?
A: Linux distribution such as Ubuntu are very user friendly and have a similar look to the Mac OSx operating systems. As a long time Windows user I can tell you that it is very simple to navigate through Ubuntu Linux. You can access the internet via FireFox, play certain games, check email via a built-in email client, edit photos, and much more. If you have not already done so, I would suggest giving Ubuntu a try.

I have used OpenSuSe, Red Hat, Fedora, Debian, Mandrake, and Ubuntu. Of theses flavors of Linux, I have found that Ubuntu is the most upfront and easies to use.
Currently, I am using Ubuntu Server as a network monitoring server running Nagios. Also if you re-call, I use Linux for Openfiler. Also, VMware ESX Server 3 is based on a Linux kernel.

Is Linux ready for mainstream? No. I don't think that it is, but if you are a technology professional like myself, you better get to know Linux fast! Linux is gaining popularity in the Enterprise very fast and has been for some time now.

The bottom line here is that Linux is here to stay and is gaining popularity because of its ease of use, reliability, and cost.

At first, I was totally against using Linux, but now 50% of my servers run Linux!

If you have any comments or suggestion feel free to share them with me via posting of email me at the address on the left.

Review: Windows 2008 Server Standard RC0

2007-11-19T09:23:00.001-08:00

Soon to come will be my review of Windows 2008 Server RC0. I am in the process of installing, configuring, and using this product in a virtual environment using VMware Server. Check back later this week to read the full review.

How-To Site

2007-11-19T05:44:00.000-08:00

Like the description of this site says, this is a site that will include How-To's. So here is a home grown, simple, yet effective How-To site that I have developed(https://www.scalicinet.com/howto/). Use this site and the one I just posted a link to. There are things on this site that are not on the other and vice versa. In the future, I will work to make the sites contain the same information. Enjoy!

RE: Weekend Project

2007-11-19T05:36:00.000-08:00

Update: We'll, not so much of an update, as I did not do much with the "weekend project." Right now I am at a stand still. I did not configure the ESX server properly (I forgot to leave so room on the hard drive for storing the VMs). It was either re-configure ESX server or setup a new iSCSI SAN on another machine. I did not feel like doing either at the moment :). I am putting this project on the back burner for next weekend. With Thanksgiving coming up, I will have some free time off of work to work on this project. Check back for more updates!

Weekend Project

2007-11-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

Every now and then I decide to start a "Weekend Project". This weekend the project will be:
Installing and configuring VMware ESX Server 3 and
Install Windows 2008 Server Standard RC0 as a virtual machine in ESX Server

Sounds easy right? Well, I have begun the installation of ESX Server on my lab server and already am running into problems. It's not called a "project" for nothing! I have already downloaded Windows 2008 Server Standard RC0 from Microsoft's website and its awating installation on the ESX server.

I will post back tomorrow on my progression. In the mean time, here are a few pictures of my lab. Its not much to look at, but it get the job done.

How-To: AutoArchive in Outlook

2007-11-16T12:52:00.000-08:00

Openfiler YouTube Demo

2007-11-16T12:01:00.000-08:00

I found this great YouTube video that gives a demo of Openfiler and wanted to share it with everyone. Enjoy!

OpenFiler iSCSI SAN Solution

2007-11-16T11:41:00.001-08:00

I have been looking around for a low-cost, easy to use, reliable, iSCSI SAN solution for sometime. I was lucky enough to stumbled upon a great Linux open-source application called Openfiler (www.openfiler.com) . Here is a brief description of the product from the company's website:

"Openfiler is a Storage Management Operating System. It is powered by the Linux 2.6 kernel and Open Source applications such as Apache, Samba, LVM2, ext3, Linux NFS and iSCSI Enterprise Target. Openfiler combines these ubiquitous technologies into a small, easy to manage solution fronted by a powerful web-based management interface. Openfiler allows you to build a Network Attached Storage (NAS) and/or Storage Area Network (SAN) appliance, using industry-standard hardware, in less than 10 minutes of installation time."

I am not a Linux savvy user and I have to say that the installation was very simple and straight forward. Administration and configuration is easily done via a web browser from a remote computer using SSL. The interface is simple, yet functional. It does what it is supposed to do.

I will be using Openfiler as an iSCSI SAN Target and using Microsoft's iSCSI Initiator on my Windows 2003 R2 Server to mount SAN volumes. The machine that I am using to run OpenFiler is an IBM NetCentre P4 3GHz, 1GB RAM, and a 250GB Hard drive. I am also running on a Gigabit LAN.

Check back for more on how I am using Openfiler