Greener Pastures

Hey goober have a Home Server

2008-11-20T03:04:37Z

So, for those of you familiar with Fry's here in the US, they used to sell Basic PCs and what not with a hacked version of Linux. Wal-Mart may do this too, and for the most part a good hobbyist had a blast with them for a while, but after that while wore out, they'd download some pirated Windows XP from the usenet and go use it for normal PC'ing. I won't get into the pirating and whatnot, but this is not at all uncommon, and around these parts of Texas, I have walked into more than one small business, after "Joe's kid from down the street" had been into a network, only to find multiple of these things pawning around, trying to pass themselves off as Windows Desktops…but I digress.

So I here from a good friend through Twitter that HP is running another Fire Sale on their Windows Home Server line…

http://mswhs.com/2008/11/18/hp-mediasmart-server-ex470-for-31499/

And to look at it that's a great deal, but then read the reviews, and look at the maturity of Windows Home Server, and then dig further, and soon enough you will read about people buying these crapples and turning them into Linux Servers and whatnot. Some because they cannot get the RAM or processor upgraded properly without frying the system…

So now I look at this, and I think to myself, with all the power and resources behind them, HP and Microsoft, with all that market research they have available, what they came up with, for one of the best products in their quill is to try to appeal to the lowest common denominator, Price. Build it cheap, sell it cheap, cause that's what the OS is…cheap.

But wait a minute. Windows Home Server is built based on probably one of the best Products Microsoft has ever put out Small Business Server 2003 R2. Alright so they stripped out AD, and Exchange, and Companyweb, and pretty much all the goop that is SBS, but they replaced that magic goop with different goop. And the WHS goop is actually pretty kool. Image Backups of desktops. Shared/User based access to shares, files and folders…you know the common stuff: Software installers, Personal Directories, Music, Videos, Photos, etc. Plus it gives remote access through a Portal to that stuff. And if your desktop at home is XP Pro, Vista Business or Vista Ultimate, you can go all Ninja Remote Desktop on you, and let you work remotely on your Home PC (can you say GoToMyPC?). There's way more great stuff about WHS, not the least of which is media sharing to the XBOX 360 and Media Center.

So with all this great stuff, and a HUGE HOBBYIST COMMUNITY out there developing add-ons and more great goop, why is HP and, implicitly, Microsoft telling the world this ain't worth anything more than 512MB RAM and 500GB of storage (only about 400) in usable. Is your life worth more? After all, that's what they want you to put on it…all your desktop information, all your photos, home videos, movies, yes Vlad, you can store your Porn there, if you really NEED to, and music on there. Is all that great stuff only worth @$350-$400? It's pretty sad, and pretty indicative of what they (HP) thinks of this product. It's a real shame too, because if they keep putting it on crap, people are gonna think that WHS is CRAP, which it ain't. Given all that look for great stuff coming soon. It starts with WHS, and goes from there…

SharePoint on Home Server

2008-11-13T15:45:48Z

For those that said it couldn't be done…it can.

Then there are those that asked if it should be done…for that you'll have to answer on your own…

For those interested, I was able to do this with relative ease. I would recommend doing so at the console or through LAN connected mstsc rather than through the web service known as remote access.

If you know your way around setting up Windows SharePoint Services then setting it up on Windows Home Server is rather easy, and a great add-in for users looking to get more out of their Home Server experience.

A quick look at some of the features of WSS that could be used in a home/connected family/network.

Shared Calendars…I see this requested a lot, and it is missing otherwise, but this offers a family a shared location for aggregating their lives, events, and calendars…
Blogs…these are really great for family members to keep a journal, and share what they want, when they want and with who they want while in a more secure manner than mySpace or Facebook or any of those…
Wikis…we discuss this feature a with tons of small businesses but it also makes sense for the connected family. A simple repository for unstructured data, wonderful!!!
Contacts…again a great way to share the contact list, and sync with outlook, oh, by the way calendars will do this as well…
Links…hyper links for all the places people will go to after here.
Custom built widgets and stuff like a twitter page, personalized for each person…
RSS aggregation, consumption, and regurgitation, can you say yummy!!!
Obviously shared files and folders, but that's starting to step on WHS…
Custom lists like shopping lists (oh and it's mobile accessable) from basically any WAP phone…
1. So look at that for a moment, create a shopping list that is fed by users, but could you extend that to a bar code scanner? Sure, and at a pretty low cost too.
2. It in turn feeds the budget for the family, comparing actual vs projected…in real time…
Asset tracking, mileage tracking, you name it, we can probably do it…

So I am sure there is way more we can do with WHS and WSS, but to get it started it's pretty darn simple. There are some draw backs. Setting it up, YOU REALLY DO NEED TO KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING, because by default, you are going to HOSE the default WHS site, so be careful! As a rule, for this, I'd recommend using a custom port number for sharepoint. You'll have to make a rule in your WHS firewall, and if you want it accessable from the intertubes, you'll want to poke a hole in your NAT router/firewall as well. If you're this far though, you should already know how to do that. And you should already know the risks and concerns of opening that hole…

So where else can you go from here? Well integrating with a Phone system might be a good place to start. If you are invested in ResponsePoint, there's plenty of opportunity here. I see this as a GREAT home phone system for the connected family. Simple to use and easy to manage. I have already done some 'integration' with RP and WHS, mostly in exposing the administrator in the advanced console add-in. I even added a script to pull the call logs and place a csv in a share so I can 'examine' the haters and spammers that call the house ALL DAY LONG!!! If you are not into RP, get into it!!! Or you could use a VM image of Trixbox, the open source derivative of Asterisk. I particularly like the nerd-vittles customizations, and therefore will point you to www.nerdvittles.com this guy is GR8, with a capital GR8!!! I have tested this out and may blog about it in the future. But it is a great way to get up and running quickly on a VoIP PBX without paying an arm and a leg. He gives you all the info you need and if you are a hobbyist, then this is right up your alley. They lay it all out, I have had to figure some stuff out, but they do really well at breaking it all down for you, check it out.

So this has gone on too far beyond the SharePoint on Windows Home Server, but hopefully, you got something out of it. Oh by the way, I had downloaded the xbox feeds add-in for WHS and am planning on adding feeds from my newly created WSS site to feed the xbox feeds news about the family and what not.

Future posts may be about Live Mesh integration, this is a core component that we use, and I have found it works perfectly. It is still limited in features, but promises to be great very soon…

Talk amongst Yourselves

2008-08-25T22:02:38Z

Karl, Invites a nice thought topic…Picking you partners…View article...

Review and discuss amongst yourselves.

Me? Well, I face this all the time. Having been exposed as a sys admin to the other side, *nix, I am quite well aware of what's out there. I keep up with Novell, Sun, IBM, Red Hat, etc. Microsoft keeps itself relavant. How and why, I don't care about that. I know my customers are on it. Those that get to the onramp via Apple, or Linux or BSD, good for them, I'll work with them, but when it comes right down to it, Microsoft is the 800 Pound Gorilla. Are they the only game in town? No, are they always the best game in town, your mileage may vary. Level 2 Technology Consulting is a Microsoft Shop. Where another solution fits, OK, we're open, but our Microsoft Partnership could not be stronger. They listen; they work with us, and for us. Likewise we listen; we work with them, and for them. It keeps the lights on and gas in the cars. As long as they continue to be relevant, we'll continue to work with them.

SBS 08 Exam…Here I come!

2008-08-23T02:08:54Z

Got registered for the exam 71-653 TS: Windows Small Business Server 2008, Configuring…

I guess I better hit the documentation. I have not loaded up even a beta copy since one of the VERY EARLY releases…we'll see how I do. From here, I think I have a pretty good handle on it, but want to cram the documentation into my brain!!!

The Console interface looks an aweful lot like WHS…imagine that!

It’s about time

2008-08-22T17:58:13Z

Feed: MSNBC.com: Top MSNBC Headlines
Posted on: Thursday, August 21, 2008 2:43 PM
Author: MSNBC.com: Top MSNBC Headlines
Subject: Microsoft enlists Seinfeld for ad campaign

Jerry Seinfeld will be one of the key celebrity pitchmen in Microsoft Corp's $300 million advertising campaign aimed at changing its image, the Wall Street Journal said Thursday.

View article...

It's about darn time Microsoft stand up for itself!

WHS + RP Admin

2008-08-18T00:47:22Z

Ever been away but needed to work with ResponsePoint Administrator remotely.

With the Windows Home Server and the Advanced Administration Add-in this is simple to do. I added a shortcut to the advanced admin tab to launch the RP Administrator and viola there it is…

As WHS is built atop SBS 2003 it makes more and more sense. And given it's out-of-the-box functionality, both WHS and RP make big sense for the home of the future… I setup the RP extensions to ring our cells directly. This makes sense, as if someone is actually calling us, they want to speak to us, and if it's an automaton, then well our automaton will screen it for us. In the future we may add desk phones or wall phones or cordless phones. But to get this thing started, it's simple and easy. No extra voice mail extensions, nothing like that…

So here's what I see in the near future for advanced families and homes…In a connected closet…fiber/DSL/Cable, patch panel, firewall, switch and Wireless Access Point, Windows Vista Media Center, Windows Home Server, TV Converter box and distribution panel, Home Automation Control. In each room, xbox and flat panel, telecom.

Zunes/iPods, Windows Mobile Smart Phones / iPhones on each person…

Next is to tackle the Automobile. Currently, Microsoft is partnered up with Ford for some distribution, but I am thinking about tackling this in the near future. Add a simple PC with a Cellular uplink into the trunk, and add displays in the dash, the headrests, and more. Tie the whole thing together with software. You could upload your music/content over the internet to your car or WLAN while in the garage or via USB and away you go. Add-in a GPS/nav link, Live Search add-ins, voice recognition and text to voice for reading inbound email, work content, your kids paper, or whatever.

This is VERY cool stuff. And as I said to a partner, add-in auto-dimming of sound when a siren is approaching and/or a heads up display to PULL OVER. Likewise when change in speed limit or approaching a School Zone or Construction Zone…

This could go in so many directions, and really, actually help us in our daily lives, rather than make it more complicated or difficult.

What's your idea of the future technology?

Bravo Vlad!

2008-08-14T23:49:21Z

http://www.vladville.com/2008/08/drm-because-someone-has-to-pay-for-it.html

from the comments…

This is about more than some slick recording industry execs trying to make another buck…

This is about defending Intellectual Property. Some people use their Intellectual property to build widgets. Some people become Doctors. Some people create art or software or music or…whatever. It's pretty simple the person who creates has the right to sell the product of their intellectual property, lawyers do so by the hour, mechanics by the job, the people who run the Doggie Hotel by the night…The person creating the IP also has the right to give away or sell the right to resell or re-give away the fruits of the original labor.

In the case of the musician and the record label. Record label may pay up front large sums of money for the rights to resell said musician's music for a given period or even eternity. And based on a contract they can control the distribution and consumption of the music. When I buy Music, I do not own Music, I buy the right to consume music. When I buy software, I buy the right to use the software. When I by a TV I buy the right to consume a TV feed. When you pay +/- $10 for a movie ticket, you do not buy the movie, you buy the right to consume the fruits of someone else's labors…

As a consumer, it sucks, wanting something, but not being able to have it. So people being who they are, naturally tending toward sin, we have come up with ways around these rules…We RIP the CD onto our iPod or rip a DVD onto our Media Server, and in the best of times, it is for our re-consumption, but…there are people who recognize that if it costs $15 for a DVD, and a couple hundred to get a computer that can functionally copy the DVD and maybe a little more $ to bust the copyright protection, they can turn that $15 investment into cold hard cash, again and again and again. Pretty soon that minor investment for 'personal use' becomes a lucrative endeavor, and now they can redistribute content that they don't own, don't have the right to redistribute and make large piles of dough in the process.

Yes, that's a bit extreme, and the number of people who actually do it are very small compared to the people who follow the rules…BUT the fact is they don't OWN the right to do this, somebody else does. So, back to the Olympics and the right to distribute that content, Vlad addresses that pretty wholly. Does it suck that Microsoft did not 'include' the disenfranchised in their distribution model? Perhaps, but they paid for the right to distribute it. Welcome to the free-market. The Government could act a s a watch dog to protect the rights of the disenfranchised, but..well the American Public has spoken repeatedly, that they want less government oversight…something about a Nanny-state or something? And lest you think it's a function of America…The Olympic Committee made the agreement with Microsoft to distribute the content over the net. I believe the Olympics is run by a Corporate entity, whose purpose is to promote sport. They sold the right to distribute to Microsoft, not to the US Government, or the Government of India or the Government of the Intertubes. They have a contract with Microsoft, for which they got bucket loads of money. If the Olympics wanted to protect the rights of the disenfranchised Net population, they should have gone elsewhere, or written such language into the contract. It would appear that they chose not to do that. They took the wheelbarrows full of coin and said thank you, and have a nice day.

SBS 2008 Migration?

2008-08-10T17:30:32Z

Because SBS 2008 standard is 64 bit only, we are getting ramped up on migrations. You see there will be no in-place upgrade of SBS, so get used to it!!! There are many good resources for migrating, planning, and support. We are looking at this, and quite honestly, this may be the point we defer to other experts, specifically in the migration. New, fresh installs, we'll be all over it. But given the complexity, and the importance, we are starting to look at the prospect of teaming up for Migrations. And we'll have plenty to do!

A Semi-Charmed Life

2008-08-10T17:22:39Z

http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?srch=105&FORM=IE7RE&q=Semi-Charmed+Life

Maybe, maybe not. We here in Dallas are truly blessed by having a very good Microsoft Team at our disposal. L2TC, read the book…

http://www.amazon.com/Partnering-Microsoft-Partnership-Software-Powerhouse/dp/1578203171/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218388505&sr=1-1

We farm that place as much as we can. TS2 team, tPAM, Area Sales Manager, Partner Technology Specialists, you name 'em, we work 'em. It's been great, but it has come to my attention, that not all areas get the same love from their local Microsoft Team. WOW!!! The great thing about our local team is they are tremendously active, end to end. From Sales and Business generation, to closing and support they are great assets. If you are in other regions, reach out and start farming these people. Not only are they great people, but great assets. We've held events, and invariably, having an event at Microsoft, with a Microsoft Specialist, right there, it adds so much!

As L2TC migrates focus from doing to leading, we are also expanding our reach, into other geographies in the Area. We are looking for partners to bring into projects, so if you fit the bill, ring me up, ping me, or drop me a line.

Summer wind down?

2008-08-10T17:09:24Z

How's your summer been? Ours has been rocking! It's really pretty wild. I spoke to Vlad last night, and he has a different view of the world and the IT Business from us. In terms of location, Orlando, in terms of client base, much larger and more diverse, and in terms business focus. We both see a massive thinning of the herd in the SMB IT Consultant landscape, but he seems to be seeing it on a much larger scale. So with the kids starting school in a couple of weeks, I got to thinking about what the summer was supposed to be on our business plan. And it is drastically different. Taylor, our intrepid Aggie intern, did a great Job, but it was not what we had planned for him. I really thought we'd be Marketing, Selling, doing events, calling people, but instead it has been the opposite. We have been doing the work or IT Consulting. Now I am looking at the Business Plan, and looking to bring in Partners to the jobs we have lined up. We are getting out of the doing business and into the leading business. So as the Fall sets in, and the Winter, both days of it in Texas, approaches, L2TC will become a Project Management and Solution Management shop.

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a another Partner, and he was telling me about their grand plans. And so I compared that to others, and ourselves, and I have to say…some people have their sh!t together, and some just plain don't. I often feel like we fall into the later category. But after talking to some people, I just can't help but think, what are we doing?!?! Every year, we sit down, and do our budget. Every year we start off with grand plans and goals, but invariably the year goes by and some things go well and others, not so much. So this year, I have changed it up. We did those things, like normal. But I am adjusting, calling an audible at the line of scrimmage if you will. While others are dropping out of the game, or , perhaps unconsciously, walking away from partnerships and consolidating their efforts, we are focusing. Consequently we are growing. Taylor is off to A&M early for Corps duty, good luck dude! And we are filling his part time gig with a couple of people. And rather than hourly across the board, we are going to results based work. After all that's what we do for clients. So employees and partners will be tasked to do things…for money

Pick up the phone…cha ching

Write a Case Study…cha ching

Bring in an Opportunity…cha ching

Follow-up on a trouble ticket…you guessed it…cha ching

Along with process, we are looking for people who are results oriented. We do things our way, yes, because we want it done. I get a haircut, I pay for the haircut. Mr. Balderas cuts my grass; he gets paid for cutting the grass. We are incenting our people to do the work we pay them for, whether as employees or as partners. Is your summer winding down, or is your year ramping up? Going into the summer, I was thinking vacations, swimming pool, xbox 360, schmoozing. Going into Fall, I am thinking year end will be on us before we know it! Time to get cracking!!!

My Tweets…

2008-08-10T16:34:29Z

So I have been doing a lot more over at Facebook, and I have even taken the step to integrate Twitter directly, which is pretty nice. Now I can text in updates from the Cell and it'll show up on my Twitter feed…

http://www.twitter.com/bwatters

Now can I get that linked in to my LinkedIn status?

http://www.linkedin.com/in/bwatters

If I can get that done, rock on!!! The next thing I need is a Vulcan Mind Meld between Twitter and my brain. But then again that may be a little TMI for the general public

:-s

A Whole Lotta Chocolate…

2008-08-10T15:46:29Z

http://www.new.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30054110&id=1340185991

I found myself starring at this hunk of Chocolate with the Chief Monkey, caught here taunting his distant wife with Cheesecake…Good luck with that. This was after having killed several cows, pigs, several liters of Coke and Diet Coke, a loaf of bread, and countless plants…

Vlad's a great guy, the topic wound through the heart of our respective business, then across the Trinity to Six Flags, and out to Las Colinas. Then it hopped on a plane to LA, Chicago, New Jersey, and then to Orlando. Oh and don't forget a side trip to Redmond. With ED being what it is, Shockey Monkey is sure to be a success. It was good to sit down with the brains, and the brawn of OWN and catch a glimpse of all that's going on…

And for any of you fuddy duddy's out there who rail against the Social Networking tools…Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, heck even Blogger, get over it!!! Like any tool, it can sure be a time suck machine. On the other hand, when in the hands of professional people, who know the difference between slacking and networking, these things can be invaluable for business. We discussed the power of social networking across the 'intertubes'. What continues to astound me is the corporate resistance to these tools.

Oh and that slice of cake…my son was still eating on it this morning…what fun!!!

Big Plans, Making them and getting there

2008-07-13T01:44:07Z

A great friend of ours and client and partner has grand plans. He's a big thinker, and a big do-er. We are working on a project for them right now, helping them update their infrastructure. He has big, loud, wonderful, audacious plans, but he realized he needed a stable platform to launch from. We helped him a couple of years ago move into his current location, and at the time, he had big plans. Over the time hence, he has met most of the goals he set and then some. Like any small business they squeaked by on mac and cheese a couple of times. But they have survived and are looking to take that next step.

Fortunately for us, with all of our missteps, he still believes in us, and our ability to help him deliver of those dreams. So we are helping him with some of the core things we do…

Search :: Portals and Collaboration :: Unified Communications

Small Business Server :: Essential Business Server

Business Desktop Deployment

He's built his business on the back of our standard solutions: Small Business Server, and standardized desktops. Now we are moving up the chain.

Business Desktop Deployment: Windows XP SP3 on new workstations, and mobile workstations, Office 2007 Enterprise

Search: Windows Desktop Search 3.x, Microsoft Search Server (as part of MOSS), Competitive Search and Alerts from Google, Live, and MOSS

Portals and Collaboration: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Exchange Server 2003/7, Groove, InfoPath

Unified Communications: Office Communications Server 2007, Communicator 2007, Exchange 2003/7, SBS Desktop Fax, Network Scanning, Integrated PBX

Mobility: Remote Web Workplace, Outlook Anywhere, Mobile Communicator, Live Messenger

We are building on the existing foundation of Small Business Server 2003 R2 Premium, now extending his Information Worker resources. He has realized that for his business to grow, he needs tools that empower, not limit his people. By empowering his people with the right data and right tools at the right time, in the right way, he is enabling his company to become THE PREMIER, BOUTIQUE COMPANY in his line of business.

ResponsePoint SP1 CDR Reporting

2008-07-07T00:49:00Z

http://cid-a491dfcb38b5df18.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/pub-vids/RP%7C_CDR%7C_Analysis.wmv

today, I spent a little time working on a couple of scripts for 'adding value' to the ResponsePoint SP1 release. We have several Syspine's deployed at client sites, as well as our own. This exercise has renewed my 'scripting' bug and got me thinking about the opportunities that we pass up daily, weekly, monthly, and overall regularly. Back in the days of *nix administration I got very used to scripting EVERYTHING and placing it into cron. Likewise I spent lots of time creating windows batch files and vbs files for managing a variety of tasks in windows.

So the question came up recently in the RP Yahoo group about automated backup of the RP system. And while the ideal solution would be to have the RP dev team develop an app, even if it took cmd line options, I thought, huh, why can't I script this out? So today I set out to do just exactly that.

The first thing we should do is examine what the script should do, and then how it should be done. Now, for automating a backup remotely, one might do one of several things…login to a remote server using RDP or RWW, and execute the script, mostly the point of scripting this would be to save some clicks, or increase efficiency, or make it part of a process. Additionally one might be able to add it to an RDP file whereby a user at a remote service provider might have a pre-configured rdp file, they simply launch it, it auto-starts the script upon login, and maybe zips up the results and returns to the operator via email or file-copy or ftp or something…good idea, but we can do better…

So the next 'level' of this might be to have a VPN connection ready in waiting on a remote administrator's desktop. Have a script initiate the VPN, then launch the RP Admin screen, then tab through and pass the proper key strokes to the RP Admin screens, until the backup is complete…once we do that, maybe have it email a notice to some sort of ticketing system, maybe Shockey Monkey, to create a ticket, and setup documentation, of the service provider's work. Now that would be cool…extend it a bit further to be included in some sort of tickler system, maybe Outlook or SharePoint calendar, or a scheduled task or something…

Pretty cool, huh? Yea it is!

But wait, SP1 adds Call Detail Records to its feature set… So that got me to thinking, what about that. Abbie and I take great pride in our excel skills. So here's the thought…leverage the work I just did to create a backup script, but now, grab a set of Call Detail Records, and create a nice excel pivot table and pivot chart. So the video above shows that work in progress…

Option Explicit

Dim objShell, Racey, intCount

Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

wscript.echo "VPN into GP"

objShell.Run "rasdial GP administrator *******"

Wscript.Sleep 4500

wscript.echo "Connecting to RP"

objShell.Run "Administrator.exe 192.168.1.120"

Wscript.Sleep 9000

Wscript.Sleep 4500

objShell.SendKeys "{ENTER}"

Wscript.Sleep 9000

Wscript.Sleep 4500

wscript.echo "Logging into RP"

objShell.SendKeys "*******"

objShell.SendKeys "%C"

Wscript.Sleep 4500

wscript.echo "Base Unit"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Call Routing"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Syspine Module"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "About"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Help"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Add Phone"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Edit Phone"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Remove Phone"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Add User"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Edit User"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Remove User"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Add User to Phone"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Add Voice Service"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Edit Voice Service"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Remove Voice Service"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "View Call History"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

objShell.SendKeys "{ENTER}"

Wscript.Sleep 9000

Wscript.Sleep 4500

wscript.echo "Changing to field"

objShell.SendKeys "%I"

'objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

wscript.echo "Changing to T"

objShell.SendKeys "T"

Wscript.Sleep 9000

wscript.echo "First L"

objShell.SendKeys "L"

Wscript.Sleep 9000

wscript.echo "Last L"

objShell.SendKeys "L"

wscript.echo "getting records"

Wscript.Sleep 9000

wscript.echo "saving records"

objShell.SendKeys "%S"

Wscript.Sleep 4500

objShell.SendKeys "c:\users\bwatters\documents\rp_cdr_export.csv"

wscript.echo "Enter"

objShell.SendKeys "{ENTER}"

Wscript.Sleep 9000

Wscript.Sleep 4500

wscript.echo "Yes"

objShell.SendKeys "%Y"

Wscript.Sleep 4500

wscript.echo "records saved"

objShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"

Wscript.Sleep 1500

wscript.echo "leaving CDR Screen"

objShell.SendKeys "{ENTER}"

Wscript.Sleep 1500

wscript.echo "Closing out RP Administrator"

objShell.SendKeys "%{F4}"

Wscript.Sleep 1500

wscript.echo "Closing out VPN"

objShell.Run "rasdial GP /disconnect"

Wscript.Sleep 1500

wscript.echo "Opening Excel"

objShell.Run "excel c:\users\bwatters\documents\rp_cdr_export.csv"

Wscript.Sleep 9000

objShell.SendKeys "{ENTER}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Alt-N"

objShell.SendKeys "%N"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "V"

objShell.SendKeys "V"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "T"

objShell.SendKeys "T"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Enter"

objShell.SendKeys "{ENTER}"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "Alt-N"

objShell.SendKeys "%N"

Wscript.Sleep 500

wscript.echo "C"

objShell.SendKeys "C"

wscript.echo "Enter"

objShell.SendKeys "{ENTER}"

So I use a lot of commenting and it depends on a lot of timings…It is also dependent on having created or staged a VPN connection. It is being openned by rasdial on line 5 and then closed again by rasdial further down the line. Additioanlly, make sure that you put in the correct password on line 15. Given that the password is being stored inside this file, BE SURE TO SECURE THIS FILE PROPERLY. As a best practice, your RP administrator SHOULD NOT BE THE SAME AS YOUR DOMAIN ADMIN PASSWORD!!!

This process assumes a secure environment in the first place. If that does not exist, then don't even bother with this. As a service provider, you should already have a certain level of security in place…Notice I am placing the export in my documents folder…again, maybe a best practice might be to place the file on a network share that Is backed up. Another thought might be to use ADO to place the records up in an Access or SQL database to create a data warehouse, and use something like SQL Reporting services or Crystal Reports to create and publish reports. With SQL reporting services, one could integrate into sharepoint and provide a client portal effect…The mind runs rampant with ideas!!!

No Excuse for this…

2008-07-05T15:41:43Z

Wow, this summer has been a whirlwind! I am the primary care giver most days for our kids. Being in that role, while trying to also grow another kid, my business, it is difficult to find time to write a blog, or publish a podcast. We are also trying, but failing miserably to do a video show/podcast on Mogulus. Couple that with the usual summertime distractions, and it has led to a lack of content publishing. Not that I have been without inspiration or even creation. I have several video podcasts that I seem to need to re-encode. Not exactly sure why, but Soapbox won't take them, and therefore, Community Clips from office live won't take them either…very frustrating, you use tools as they are described, but it just won't do right…oh well.

I took my daughter a local park to watch our town's fireworks display last night. It was really fun!

Getting ready for the show!

The Grand Finale!

Playing in the sprinkler after the show!

For a suburban fireworks display, it was pretty good! Probably the highlight was just as the fireworks were coming to an end (about 30 minutes of display) the sprinklers turned on and there was a mad dash to cars!!! Except me, I was already sitting over at my car, on the hood. But the best part of this, was how my daughter, just stood there, soaking up the sprinkler!!! Great a soaking ride home!

We had a blast, and a huge thank you to EVERYONE who has given their lives or put themselves in harm's way to protect the freedoms we enjoy EVERYDAY. And a special THANK YOU to the families of the people serving us everyday!