TopHatProductions115

I've decided to go with ManageEngine Endpoint Central. They have a decent free edition that has loads of features, and can be used for tracking 3rd party software updates.

KC Software, the company behind SUMo and DUMo, terminated activities as of 10/31/2023. As a result, I'm now looking for a new program to check for 3rd party software updates. I'm primarily looking at just app updates, but driver updates (not provided through Windows Update) are welcome as well. I'll be running it on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019, and am open to paid options. As long as you think it's worth the cost. What are your preferred solutions for this task?

8 minutes ago, Uttamattamakin said:

Wait what?  I'm pretty sure you need at least the old password to change the password.   Like normally.  The hackers have to be doing something out of the ordinary.  

IF one could just click change password and not enter anything you'd have a point.  I know this because I have to change it for my forgetful old mother all the time. 

Not sure if this is the exact thing they're referencing, but this exists:
 

Kinda tiring seeing these crypto-scams pop-up everywhere.

19 hours ago, Roswell said:

Commercial software offerings rarely have publicly available pricing.

Oi - take a look here:

• https://store-us.vmware.com/vmware-vsphere-enterprise-plus-284281000.html

Public pricing (for the perpetual licensed version only) and a ready buy-it-now button. Something that I appreciate, as a potential customer XD

No jumping through salesmen, product trials, datasheets, etc. Just the price tag.

Any nVIDIA card that supports NVENC (Kepler - GTX 7 series and newer) should suffice. Turning (RTX 20 series) or newer would do just fine for this workload. Not going to make any suggestions for cards that have VCE. I'll leave that to someone else...

TL;DR

Back in late May 2022, Broadcom announced its plan to by VMware for just over 60 billion USD. The announcement (and subsequent follow-through) has sparked concerns in the enterprise space. In late June, VMware revealed more information on Project Artic. Project Artic is VMware's vSphere-as-a-Service offering, and VMware was slated to reveal pricing for it in July. Now, at the end of July, they have finally released said info - but not to the public. VMware is sticking with their per-core licensing and "commit+overage" billing model. Owners of perpetually-licensed vSphere can switch to the subscription model if they decide to. Perpetual and subscription licenses can also run together in the same datacenter. But there are caveats for both:

Quotes

Quote

Holders of perpetual licences can shift to vSphere+ if they choose. It’s also possible to run mixed subscription and perpetual licences – but VMware has not made that easy because vCenter licensed under vSphere+ can only manage a vSphere+ ESXi, and a perpetual vCenter can only manage a perpetual vSphere/ESXi.

 

The white paper reveals what’s in the vSphere+ bundle – basically the entire VMware infrastructure stack other than NSX. The Tanzu Kubernetes deployment and management tools are present, as is the vSphere distributed switch, Nvidia GRID vGPU, the vSphere hypervisor, backup tools, vMotion tools, and plenty more.

My thoughts

 With the lack of publicly-available information, some IT professionals are considering leaving the VMware ecosystem for other alternatives. An air of "If you have to ask, you can't afford it" exudes from this. This will possibly push smaller businesses toward open source alternatives, and leave legacy VMware customers to get gouged by foot the bill of Broadcom+VMware's need for infinite growth in a finite market. Instead of innovation and steady progression with a decent product and competent customer service, the remaining customers may very well be left with the exact opposite of what they've grown to expect from VMware of years past...

Sources

• https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/28/vmware_vsphere_plus_project_arctic/
• https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/29/vsphere_plus_prices_not_public/
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/brian-maddens-brutal-unfiltered-thoughts-broadcom-vmware-brian-madden/

NOTE: The last hyperlink is more speculative, and should be taken with a grain of salt.

Drat - I was 2 hours late! But good catch @BachChain  I've no personal experience with Intel Optane. OEMs definitely screwed it over in the consumer space. 

@Spotty halp!

Pls close

Is this the one?

https://www.asus.com/SupportOnly/Sabertooth_X58/HelpDesk_BIOS/

Sabertooth X58 BIOS 1402
Improve VT-d compatibility issue

I just purchased one myself. I'll let you know if I find anything...

EDIT: There's practically no official driver support. It's basically a down-clocked Vega 64. Best bet for anything is probably Linux.

I've been working with Windows 10 Enterprise for the most part. But this definitely would be appreciated the next time I have to setup a computer for someone. 

You'd need an entire coalition of popular YouTubers/online creators in general and a bunch of angered fanbases to make a dent. It'd need to span the entire globe, and provoke action from millions of people. That's the only way I see a victory for anyone going against Nintendon't.

7 hours ago, J-from-Nucleon said:

Wait, AD? Azure Directory?

If so, then I doubt that would do anything seeing as LTT uses non-activated installs of Windows for test rigs in general.

Not saying it's the case in this instance but in general

I think they mean, if the computer's domain-joined in general. Domain type doesn't matter in this case. In addition to that, non-Activated installs of Windows can be joined to a domain iirc. I remember pulling it off recently. Not suggesting the practice, but it was to test a VM for functionality before pushing a license to it. 

Either way, I think that this is the type of thing that a procurement/legal team should be working to prevent. Software licensing research and interpretation should be a regular task for a legally-operated organisation.

Not sure if this counts, but here I go:

Had a cloning operation go wrong recently, that would have boosted my overall storage capacity even more. But, I'll hopefully recover from that pretty soon  

EDIT: I'm back in business!  

@Slayer3032 It's beautiful!

Okay, Docker was painful - but I figured it out. Now getting ready to adjust service launch options for MariaDB...

I totally botched the syncthing+chromium plan today. Attempted sync with a VM (destination), and the source got nuked to defaults. Had to to a hasty recovery, and I lost all History along with over half of my Bookmarks. If I had remembered to make the source "Send only", I could have saved myself some trouble. So far, most of the ones I lost were unused Bookmarks from years past. But, still busy testing website access so far. Still getting my settings back to where they were before the fudging...

Also learned that Syncthing doesn't appear to use the OS's trash/recycle bin when it removes files, so need to either use file versioning or suffer the consequences

On a not-so-painful note, I got KeePass synced and all VMs have backups ready. I can safely (attempt to) install the nVIDIA drivers tomorrow.

On 7/10/2021 at 12:43 AM, Spotty said:

We put our clothes rails on the bottom of the closet. Everything hangs up. It's easier this way.

Falling up? 

Fisix? WOt r dose?

I can do without another news app from Microsoft. The weather part is nice, but hoping it isn't another part of a telemetry scheme...

*sees this thread on their T7500*

*quietly sneaks by with DL580 G7*

AD issue was resolved via DNS, and the cable issue has been replaced with one pertaining to hMailServer and backend DB compatibility. Testing MariaDB in the next few days...

Thin and light laptops (especially ones that have no swappable parts and are impractical to recycle) are nothing more than delayed e-waste, and are not allowed to be part of any portfolio that claims to be carbon-neutral.

@LienusLateTipsI might be able to help...

Check your Discord.

EDIT:  It would seem that the VPS option you mentioned earlier is the best choice. Let me know if anything changes...

I got everything on the rack. But now I got AD issues to fix :3 And a cable to replace...