Trevor Pott is a full-time nerd from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He splits his time between systems administration, technology writing, and consulting. As a consultant he helps Silicon Valley start-ups better understand systems administrators and how to sell to them.
Not cool, Adobe: Give the Ninite guys a job, not the middle finger
Sysadmin blog Top toolmaker told to stop installing crapware-free Flash
Adobe wants the ability to easily roll out Flash updates removed from Ninite, the sysadmin Swiss army knife. I'm going to explain why this is a terrible thing.
First, though, I would like to discuss the real-world practical uses of products such as Ninite. Ninite is used by systems administrators and ordinary folk alike to …
Review: Western Digital Sentinel DX4000
Are WD and Trevor set to be friends at last?
Western Digital makes Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices and recently sent a Sentinel DX4000 to El Reg for review. When I was asked to write about it I was initially unsure exactly how I would approach this: where's the novelty in a small consumer or SME device?
The Sentinel stands out for me not only because it's the first …
You got your Tintri hat, beermat and cat: But what does it all mean?
Hands-on Hype begone: Is this storage management for dummies or what?
Virtual storage upstart Tintri is a great example of a company I would never normally care about: when it comes to storage area networks (SANs) these folks are building the data vault equivalent of Falcon 9 rockets while I'm scraping together spare change for a Vespa.
If you have an astounding offering that is aimed at a …
Are you being robbed of sleep by badly designed servers?
Sysadmin Blog Mornings, nights, they all blur into one for our man Trevor
How should we design the servers and end-user computers of the future?
The construction of my testlab has given me the opportunity to play with technologies I normally wouldn't be able to get my hands on. The "advanced" features in them – standard fare by now for large enterprises – have caused a measure of introspection …
Whatever happened to self-service computing?
The administrator lives on
According to Gartner's Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle for 2012, cloud computing has passed the peak of inflated expectations and is heading for the trough of disillusionment at full speed. Cloud computing didn't live up to the overblown hype.
We have to get over the disappointment before we start to rationally accept the …
IT Pro confession: How I helped in the BIGGEST DDoS OF ALL TIME
Sysadmin blog Oh Trevor, how could you? Like this
I contributed to the massive DDoS attack against Spamhaus. What flowed through my network wasn't huge - it averaged 500Kbit/sec – but it contributed. This occurred because I made a simple configuration error when setting up a DNS server; it's fixed now, so let's do an autopsy.
The problem
I should start off by apologizing to …
Security damn well IS a dirty word, actually
Sysadmin blog Wash your mouth out with TLS 1.2
An interesting feature popped up on Ars Technica recently; website journo Nate Anderson discusses how he learned to crack passwords.
The feature is good; good enough for to me to flag it up despite that journalistic competition thing*. That said, the feature gently nudges – but does not explore – a few important points that are …
New-age tech marketing secrets REVEALED
Sysadmin blog Everything is an advert these days
Traditional marketing is all about risk management. Say nice things about your product. Do whatever you can to prevent people from saying bad things about your product. Run down the competition, but do so without being obvious about it. Never under any circumstances admit you're wrong. This "control the message" marketing …
Sysadmins: Let's perch on Microsoft Santa's lap, show him our wish list
Sysadmin Blog Haven't we been good, er, all year?
Griping is easy. Solving problems in an acceptable way is not. I've had a year to chew on what exactly it is about Microsoft's recent moves that bugs me, so it's time to put my money where my mouth is and try to be constructive. Here is my wish list for the next iteration of Windows, offered in the vain hope that someone at …
These mobile devices just aren't going away. What'll we do, Trevor?
I'm a busy man, lads, but pull up a chair for a bit
Mobile Device Management (MDM) has become an important sector of the IT industry, but is also something of a moving target.
Companies from the level of my own three man shop to the largest enterprises are weighing their options for securing mobile devices. For many, Microsoft's System Center 2012 is the barometer by which all …
Perish the fault! Can your storage array take a bullet AND LIVE?
Feature Sysadmin Trevor's gentle guide to protecting your data - and your career
Storage doesn't have to be hard. It isn't really all that hard. If you ask yourself "can my storage setup lead to data loss" then you have already begun your journey. As a primer, I will attempt to demystify the major technologies in use today to solve that very problem.
Certain types of storage technologies (rsync, DFSR) are …
VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus: An El Reg deep dive
Review Trevor Pott feels the big business end of virtual machine giant
Given the plethora of virtualisation kit on the market, VMware customers – and potential customers – just want an answer to this very simple question: are VMware's offerings worth the money? A truthful response is fantastically complicated.
VMware has many levels of offerings; what's more there are a lot of different companies …
Review: Supermicro FatTwin
Trevor likes his servers hot and dense
My testlab has a new arrival: a Supermicro FatTwin™ F617R2-F73. As always when something lands in my lab, I will valiantly kick the crap out of it on behalf of El Reg's discerning readership. There are already a few different systems in my testlab - let's see how this thing stacks up.
I'd like to kick off this review by pointing …
Mmmm, TOE jam: Trev shoves Intel's NICs in his bonkers test lab
Review If you want to impress me, make kit that 'just works'
Tech offerings are rarely "good" to me, merely "less awful than others." In this case, however, I'll be looking at the complete package of Intel networking's efforts - the hardware, software and ongoing support - and might even attribute that word to its efforts. This isn't to say that everything in the Intel networking universe …
Drilling into a half-decent gigabit small-biz switch... from D-Link
Review The DGS-3420-28TC isn't from Cisco and I'm OK with this
I have a confession to make, dear readers. While I'm aware that this admission opens me up to virtually unlimited heckling from the Cisco-indoctrinated crowd, the truth of the matter is that D-Link switches have served me in good stead for over a decade. After having spent the past month reviewing D-Link's DGS-3420-28TC, I've …
Microsoft's own code should prevent an Azure SSL fail: So what went wrong?
Sysadmin blog Cloud service fell over despite cert automation in Server 2012
Server 2012 is the Microsoft operating system that, in my opinion, makes cloud computing a reality. As far as I am concerned it is as big a leap over Server 2008 R2 as that OS was over Server 2003. With it you can build anything from a small cluster to a service as big as Microsoft's own Azure platform.
Which is why I am …
Which Linux admin tools and tricks would YOU stake your career on?
Sysadmin blog Sort the signal from the noise - tell us your top utils, books, IRC chans, the lot
Those seeking to enter the rewarding world of Linux system administration can be scared off by the platform's sometimes outright hostility towards the concept of "administrator friendliness".
Linux – and the community that surrounds the open-source OS – can seem intimidating to the uninitiated, but it does not have to be so. To …
Is social networking good for anything more than cat pics?
Sysadmin blog LinkedIn is useful... it makes you feel 'viewed'
LinkedIn made money in 2012. By all accounts it has done better than it had the year before, and as a result its stock price has soared. Despite this, I have some serious questions about the service, even as my fellow technorati fall all over themselves to heap praise upon the company.
I get why LinkedIn is attractive to certain …
Review: Unitrends backup appliances
Review Backing up, disrupting and... worth it?
In my experience, backup software sucks. Normally, I chalk that up to a lack of exposure to non-crap alternatives on my part. Talking to backup admins and doing the maths on the licensing leads me to believe my original assessment is correct; there are precious few backups applications and vendors that don't cause some form of …
Life after Cisco: I've got 99 problems but a switch ain't one
Test lab Dell vs Supermicro - Trev smacks that switch up
Pending network upgrades have reignited an old debate: what exactly makes a switch "good enough?" I have the opportunity to give two switches a truly thorough battering; my lab contains a Dell PowerConnect 8132F and a Supermicro SSE-X24S. Try as I might, I can't find fault with either unit.
10GBase-T, SFP+ and Fibre Optic ports …
Netbooks were a GOOD thing and we threw them under a bus
Fondleslabs and ultrabooks? Only if you've got deep pockets and short attention spans
Packing for a week-and-a-half road trip to Silicon Valley and back triggered a moment of introspection over the impending end of netbook production.
I had some devices to choose from for my journey. I could have taken my Alienware MX18, my first-generation Samsung Galaxy Tab, my Asus Transformer, my Samsung NF210 Netbook, my …
How to build a BONKERS 7.5TB, 10GbE test lab for under £60,000
Part Two Sysadmin Trevor runs the sums, builds a dream rig
In part one of The Register's Build A Bonkers Test Lab feature, I showed you how to build a test lab on the cheap; great for a home or SMB setup, but what if we need to test 10GbE? Part two is a wander through my current test lab to see how I've managed to pull together enough testing capability to give enterprise-class …
How to build a perfect private cloud with Windows Server 2012
Microsoft's handy kit
So you want to build a Microsoft-based private cloud. While using the latest software is not always the best move (never use version 1.0 of anything) Microsoft's 2012 stack of products is mature, stable and capable of meeting all your cloudy needs.
Let's take a look at what's required for a private cloud in Microsoft's world. …
iPhones, tablets... Pah: By 2020, we'll froth over hot new SOFTWEAR
Sysadmin blog Cyborg me up - I'm ready and waiting for it, says El Reg's Trevor
Within some admittedly fuzzy error bars, computing adoption seems to work in decade-long phases over the course of about 50 years. By my reckoning, those decades roughly work out to precursor technologies, niche adoption, commercialisation, mass market and eventual displacement. Within my lifetime, I have seen the rise of the PC …
The 10 best … Windows Server 2012 features
Opinion Microsoft takes on all comers
Microsoft's Windows Server 2012 is out. For many systems administrators, the question about this latest iteration of Microsoft's server family is not "What's new?" but "Why care?"
Server 2008 R2 is a great operating system, while Server 2012 bears the stigma of Metro and the Windows 8 controversy. But the answer to "why care" …
Soz, switch-fondlers: Doesn't look like 2013 is 10Gb Ethernet's year
Recession-bashed users are waiting for another ball to drop
It is becoming increasingly unlikely that 2013 will be the year that sees widespread adoption of 10 gigabit Ethernet. Of course we'll be told it will be, just as we have been told for years that wholesale shift is right on the horizon. The reason? It's not a question of technological capability – the technology for 10GbE has …
Drobo B1200i: The heavy-duty array even your mum could use
Review It sure looks pretty, but can this storage box cut the mustard?
Drobo has jumped in to the enterprise storage market with the B800i and the B1200i iSCSI appliances designed to be the simplest devices of their kind. For the past month, I have put the larger of the two - the 12-disk Drobo B1200i - to the test.
It has both served in my test lab and been pressed into production; I've tormented …
Build a BONKERS test lab: Everything you need before you deploy
Part one Trevor Pott reveals his server room's crash-test dummies
Every systems administrator needs a test lab and over the course of the next month I am going to share with you the details of my latest.
In part one of The Register's Build a Bonkers Test Lab, we look at getting the best bang for your buck and doing it all on the cheap. Here is a look at my “Eris 3” test lab nodes; I have …
Red-faced, sweating and still in your chair: Welcome to eSports
Prepare for a shock - Trev's an e-jock
Video games are believed by many to be a waste of time - but this is something consistently being challenged by the people who love them. And despite the fact that video games just can't seem shrug off the label of "just for kids", new research (PDF) would suggest that you're never too old for them.
And as the debate over the …
Review: Kingston Hyper-X 3K 240GB SSD
Feeding the 10Gbit monster Kingston targets fans... and mostly doesn't disappoint
To build storage capable of running tests that can challenge 10Gbit network cards and switches, a flash array is required. I chose eight Kingston Hyper X 3K 240 SSDs to provide this high-speed storage layer. Before I built my VMware cluster of ultimate doom, however, the SSDs needed some torture testing.
The drives advertise …
It MUST be the END of the WORLD... El Reg man thanks commentards
Sysadmin blog Cool tech, nice PRs, breaking the server-client tether: This was 2012
As the year draws to a close, I'd like to take the time out to thank companies and individuals that have made my life as a writer, a systems administrator, and business owner easier in 2012. Readers of The Register - myself among them - are notorious for their endless cynicism and love of a right good digital kicking, but some …
Copyright trolls, biz scum, freetards - it's NOT black and white
Sysdmin blog New Media Rights man on the 50 shades of grey in IP debate
A new intellectual property rights organisation has popped up in the United States called New Media Rights. New Media Rights strikes a different balance than most intellectual property organisations; they champion the rights of independent creators as well as those of individual consumers.
New Media Rights provide free legal …
Amazon unzips its digital-only Brazilian, waves Kindles at Canada
Build warehouses in South America? We'll pass
Amazon has entered the Brazilian market by launching Amazon.com.br - but it will just sell Kindles and ebooks to see if a digital-only operation can sink or swim.
Shortly after its midnight launch, the website was spotted by sharp-eyed tweeters before any announcement was made. Even before the official press notification machine …
Tech titans lose our loyalty: Are fanbois a dying breed?
Sysadmin blog Apple, Microsoft, Google? Whatever does the job...
We've hit an inflection point in computing this year; one where which company makes your widget, operating system or office package finally matters less than it did the year before. Windows 8, Android, the latest iWidget and so forth are becoming interchangeable for an increasing number of people.
As I compose this article, I am …
BYOD: A bigger headache for IT bosses than Windows Metro?
Your survival guide to giving users what they want
Nothing elicits passionate debate quite like the suggestion that consumer technology is dictating workplace IT - with the exception of arguments over the Windows 8 Metro desktop, perhaps.
The debate on the consumerisation of IT is packed with business, legal and human resources headaches. Individual prejudices and experience …
Tool time with Trevor: 'Organic' sysadmins' spice mush still pretty edible
Sysadmin blog When 'eat what's in front of you' just won't wash
I've talked before about Spiceworks as a social network. It's time to look at the application that serves as the carrot to get you hooked on that social network. Spiceworks has an organic development history; it has grown through developer vision but also through end-user and vendor feedback. This is both Spiceworks's greatest …
Never mind fat-bellied tech titans, give enterprise upstarts a chance
Sysadmin blog Why IT shoppers miss real bargains
In the IT world, momentum is everything. The past few months of talking to various start-ups have been an eye-opener for me; but none so much as talking to Bill Karpovich of Zenoss. Zenoss's story reflects one I've heard from many other start-ups of late; they have great software and are growing rapidly, but there's always that …
Hold it! Don't back up to a cloud until you've eyed up these figures
Trevor Pott drills into the real price of online storage
Online data vaults are everywhere. On the small storage side, we have options such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Teamdrive. My Synology NAS, the upcoming 2012 Microsoft Server Suite and any number of virtual appliances can all back up bulk data to the cloud. The software side of things may be settled, but is this all truly …
2.5 million trades a DAY: How ISE admins became Puppet masters
Sysadmin blog Penguins and Windows kids pull strings
The International Securities Exchange (ISE) has just completed the first phase of a Puppet Enterprise deployment. Their approach and the lessons they have learned are a teaching tool for all of us. Even in the cases where two organisations seek to accomplish the same task with the same product, the rationale and methodology can …
So you want an office of Apple Macs - here's a survival guide
Trevor Pott digs out the tools to keep fanboi workers happy
Apple Macs are ready for the enterprise. Unsurprisingly, they can already be found in organisations of all sizes. The five sigma announcement by CERN of the Higgs boson bordered on an Apple advertisement. IBM has more than 10,000 Macbooks deployed. My own SME clients have heterogeneous networks, some are even Mac only.
With so …
Alienware assimilates Dell FROM THE INSIDE!
Resistance is futile...
Gaming notebooks are a secret hobby of mine. I don't actually game that much – even my wife logs more hours than I do – but gaming notebooks are the only way to get the best of the best in a luggable form factor. Alienware is the name to beat in this space, but I've always wondered how they managed to survive the Dell …
I just LOVE Server 2012, but count me out on Windows 8 for now
Sysadmin blog Some of us consumers don't like consumer stuff
Overall, I think Windows 8 is a truly wonderful operating system. The under-the-hood changes make it a fantastic improvement over Windows 7. I am completely in love with Server 2012; I can't imagine the next few years without it. Despite being in love with the technology underpinning Windows 8, I ultimately have to walk away …
Spiceheads keep Austin weird at IT's Comic Con
Sysadmin blog I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want
Spiceworld 2012* was in Austin, Texas. I spent my time there grilling vendor reps at the booths, talking to attendees and collaborating with Spiceworks employees. I'll save the article on "what's new in Spiceworks" as well as the feeds and speeds for later, after I've done some compare-and-contrast in the lab. Instead, I bring …
Unrootable: Mash these bits together to get a CLASSIFIED spyphone
Sysadmin blog Someone kind of already has - but who?
What does it take to build a classified smartphone? Demand clearly exists Given how readily every iPhone and Android device is rooted, infected, and otherwise compromised, the answer isn't simply "better software." In the battle to secure our mobile endpoints, operating system tricks and mobile device management will only take …
I can't wait for Pano to thrust some hard 3D love into size-zero models
Sysadmin Blog Trevor Pott turns on latest super-thin clients
Around this time last year I reviewed Pano Logic's Zero Client Solution, a sort of super-thin-client set of kit. I was test-driving the company's first-generation hardware and a software suite two versions behind the latest release. I've now had a chance to review the second-generation hardware with its latest software, and I …
Windows System Center 2012: The review
Deep dive Enterprise automation software for the masses
Microsoft's System Center suite of products is not easy to categorize as a group. The breadth of the offerings falling under the System Center moniker makes being asked to review all of System Center in a single article somewhat intimidating.
Microsoft System Center logo
System Center 2012 has already seen production …
Keep your Playboy mansion, Supermicro is my nerd vice palace
Sysadmin blog I'm not ashamed to admit I was drooling over those racks
With several clients facing refresh cycles, I've decided to poke my nose back into the tier-2 space to see what’s going on.
Supermicro has been on my preferred vendor list for years, so when I was in the Bay Area this summer I stopped in to see what’s new. I left impressed with what I saw, and got a swank backpack admittedly …
Inside the guts of a fiendish Internet Explorer 0-day attack
Sysadmin blog Bite down, matey, surgeon Pott's got his chopper out
The latest use-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer is being actively exploited in the wild.
While this comes as a surprise to nobody, we all get to live in fear for a while until the software giant manages to get a patch out the door. In the interests of attempting to overcome a particularly nasty bout of …
How to be a Puppet master: Make Amazon, VMware dance for YOU
Sysadmin blog Deployment tool jumps onto the cloud train
Puppet, if you haven't heard of it, is automation software that takes on a role similar to Active Directory's group policy. Puppet can also handle application deployment, image deployment and anything else you can imagine that you would typically manage with scripts.
Puppet is both cross platform and very simple to use. Born as …
Titans of tech: Why I'll never trust 'em
Sysadmin blog World is what it is, but I yam what I yam
I am responsible for making decisions regarding the purchase of computer hardware, software and services. I advise others regarding the tactical and strategic implementations of technologies and IT-related services. The financial security and stability of my own company, the companies of my clients and all the associated …
