New Staff Desktops

Task: Order (me) and then setup (Bob) eight new machines, then ease staff onto them.

Pretty straightforward.

WEPDEV 2

The task: updated development server. I have the hardware – a box that was actually originally going to be a new web server before VMs obviated that. I want to use this as a chance to try out sql server 2008 setup to make sure I know what I’m doing, and then to test all of our apps on that back end.

Right now it’s slow going because the box is down the hall and we’re not yet to the point where I can network it up and remote to it to do the work.

Update: Now it’s up, on the domain, patched and ready to go, and SQL Server 05 developer edition is up and running and patched to SP2 as well. Next I need to figure out how to best copy existing databases over from old wepdev to new – one step will be getting the new management console installed on my desktop.

Update 2: It’s in place!  The major websites are all running fine on it.   SQL’05 seems perfectly happy hosting the databases.  There are a lot of individual WSBDC applications to activate, but many of them don’t need to be turned on (there are a lot of test and duplicate copies from the past that I’d rather not turn on if they’re not needed).

WEP-Media

WEP-Media is a server that was originally a hand-me-down from the FNCE department. It’s never been an ideal box, and has been used for a few years since then as a Windows Media Server, serving various WMVs for WEP websites. Now those videos are mostly FLVs being served by IIS boxes, and we’re down to a handful of media things left, after which the server will be decommissioned. Most of the work here is being done by workstudy (transcoding the few needed old movies over to flv).

Update: It’s shut down.  I’ll find a new purpose for the hardware, or will stack it somewhere for next recycling day.

New computer!

Some projects are more “fulfilling” than others. After years on a very old mediocre machine, I’m finally upgrading to a medium-high up-to-date Dell.

Of course, that means I need to set the dang thing up. And the old one will probably have to live for a while just so I can consult anything left I need.

Applications I haven’t set up yet:

- EditPlus – while VS2005 can obviously handle anything Edit+ can, having a very low-overhead text editor for html work is still vital or I’ll go crazy

- Illustrator? I mean… I -have- it, even if I never really have cause to use it

- CutePDF/GhostScript – all I need on the PDF front.

… if that’s all I should be swapped over today!

UPDATE 1:

Ahahaha. It’s never that easy, now is it? SOMETHING along the way of very normal system building managed to result in a machine that will not boot. It hangs between the WindowsXP loading bar screen and the login prompt… frozen enough for caps lock not to toggle. Safe Mode works, and I have it system restoring back to before times when I had no problem booting (already tried one such restore and it did not fix the problem, disturbingly). This is highly annoying with a brand new machine on which I hadn’t installed anything more wonky than VS2005.

Update 2: Ok, it’s all back together, about to the point of the OP… no Edit+ yet, and so on. Only downside is my ergonomic keyboard is PS2… ack! Typing anything on the little USB board that came with this thing really hurts. Some chair adjustment may help, but… ack.

Update 3: Call it <b>done</b>.