Unofficial Spiceworks » Microsoft Windows

Interview with Kris (Spiceworks)

akp982 — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:37:44 +0000

Unofficial Spiceworks managed to corner Kris (Spiceworks) for long enough to ask him some questions about the Spiceworks network and himself:

What state was the network in when you first started?
Ha! A single flat network defined by an unmanaged managed (meaning they were not actually managing it) Layer 2 switch with a Linksys router attached to it. They had tried to get an Asterisk-based PBX system to work, but were having a lot of problems.
What’s the infrastructure like now?
I have a hierarchical network with a core/distribution layer and an access layer. I have a mix of Cisco, Dell, and HP ProCurve switches providing access, and a Cisco core. The edge network is made up of a Cisco ASA 5505 firewall and a Celestix MSA VPN appliance. Wireless is provided by Cisco 1130AG access points. We are running multiple LAN segments, divided by function. Telephony is provided by an NEC IPKII PBX/Voicemail system, which is a hybrid VoIP/TDM system. We use Active Directory for central user and object management and I connect as many of our devices as possible (Windows, Mac, and Linux) into AD.
How do you cope with having to have lots of versions of Microsoft, Linux and Mac products for developers to test the Spiceworks Scanner with?
It can be complex. Many of our users prefer to use Mac, so we have integrated them pretty well. We have MSDN developer licenses, so we have access to MSDN versions of Microsoft products. Most of our test servers and workstations are run in a virtual environment hosted by VMWare ESXi. As far as Linux/UNIX goes, I am a real Linux geek, so I enjoy being able to play with different versions. We have Fedora, CentOS, Ubuntu, OpenSolaris, and even a FreeBSD (I think) in our environment.

We all have a server go down and ruin your day, what’s been your worst outage?
Probably the one on Saturday. That was the first time we actually had anything in production fall down hard and not automatically come back up. At my prior gig, I had a really bad Sunday where the building suffered a major water leak which drained into the central telecom room, destroying all of the edge routers and telecom equipment.
If there was one thing that would make your day easier what would it be?
Honestly? To have me-clones. Although I think (and others may agree) that one of me is enough for the world.
If you weren’t in IT, what would you be doing and why?
Well, I originally started out wanting to be a helicopter pilot in the Army. However, I found out that I get terribly airsick in those vibrating death machines, so I ditched that pretty quick. Ever since, I have really only worked with computers (and really, since I was 8 and my parents got a TI 994/A, computers is all I have been about). So, I am not sure. However, if Iron Maiden needs another guitarist, I am available.
When you’re not keeping the peppers alive, what do you do with your free time?
I have two kids and am in IT. I have no free time. However, I do find time to play my various guitars.
And of course the all important question, how do you like your bacon?
And now for the most unpopular reply in the history of the Spiceworks Community….. I don’t really like bacon. Too salty and crispy.

Hopefully over the next few months we will be able to corner some more Spiceworks staff and ask them similar questions.

Spiceworks First Impressions

akp982 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:50:00 +0000

Matt Hartley has recently posted about his First Impressions with Spiceworks

Today I had a chance to do something that has frankly been on my to-do list for sometime now — check into Spiceworks. Designed to run on Windows PCs, I opted to install it on my own VirtualBox installation just to toss a wrench into the mix to see how well the software reacted.

Spiceworks Ships ‘IT Desktop Version 4.0′

akp982 — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:54:00 +0000

http://it.tmcnet.com has posted about Spiceworks 4.0

Jun 18, 2009 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) — Spiceworks, which provides what it called the first free social IT management application for small and medium businesses, announced the release of the Spiceworks IT Desktop version 4.0.
Spiceworks stated that the new version has several enhancements that make it easier for small and midsize businesses to manage “Everything IT.” They include the ability to visually map a company’s IT network and the addition of 3rd party management plug-ins from Microsoft, LiveOffice, Intel and Trend Micro. In addition, Spiceworks now integrates with Twitter and allows users to turn Windows events into social media alerts for collaborative problem-solving and to share real-time SMB IT trends with the world’s largest network of IT professionals.

I found the channels

akp982 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:15:53 +0000

There on the groups page

http://community.spiceworks.com/group

Hopefully well see more soon and more things we can do with them

Community Update 14th July – Tonight

akp982 — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:00:47 +0000

Tabrez has just posted:

We’re planning on pushing out an update to the Spiceworks Community tonight (Jul 14) at 7pm CST. The Community will be offline during this time. We should be back up in 4 hours. For those of you with S.C.A.D – rest assured we’ll be back and spicier!
Some of the changes you’ll see are:
A few changes to the point system (I’ll post back tomorrow with the details but in a nutshell: you can now earn points for providing troubleshooting advice and comments on Windows Events)
We’re testing out a new way of organizing groups around a concept called Channels. For eg: If you visit the Networking channel you’ll see all the topics from groups like Cisco, DNS, etc.
Topics will now have social media buttons so you can share something from the community on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Linked In, and Reddit. When you share something you found interesting on Spiceworks you’re also helping spread the word about Spiceworks!
I’ll post more details once we get the release out.

Its going to be a hard time of everyone with SCAD but well fight though it.

Say Hello to 4.0

akp982 — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:45:48 +0000

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM CDT

Join Spiceworks for a 60-minute webinar where we will discuss all of the exciting new features that you’ll find in 4.0 including:

The New Interface Network Map (Beta)
The New User Portal
Tickets Anywhere
New Help Desk Features
Windows Event ID Collaboration
New Plugins & Dashboard Widgets
And More!

Sign up now: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/810117322

What’s Killing my Bandwidth

akp982 — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 06:26:00 +0000

Spiceworks mentioned by TechTarget in one of there latest articles….

At the U.K.-based marketing firm HPS Group, IT administrator Andy Phelps turned to the free, ad-supported Spiceworks toolset to track down what had slowed his company’s WAN bandwidth to a crawl.
The culprit: Windows Service Pack 3, which all 15 remote users who were logged into the corporate VPN began downloading simultaneously.
“It’s one of those situations where none of the users knows they are downloading anything, so Spiceworks pointed out that all these machines were installing this software,” Phelps said.

I recognize that name from somewhere… Andy Phelps… OHHH ITS ME akp982 lol

“You walked around the office and saw all the users on Facebook and whatnot,” Phelps said. “But we didn’t see an effect on bandwidth.”

Thank you TechTarget for taking the time to write such a great article

Read the rest of the post here

Blog Post – Spiceworks — Deffinitely Spicey!

akp982 — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:49:00 +0000

Wellston is a good blog writer who loves Spiceworks

For anybody who reads my blog that is an IT Professional, I highly recommend that you take a look at Spiceworks (http:/www.spiceworks.com).

In one of his recent post he talks about how Spiceworks helps him, even if his english is work then minde

As a member of a small IT Shop (4 full timers) for a college campus of roughly 1100 people during a semester, keeping an accurate inventory of our (college-owned) PCs/Macs/Linux machines and networking switches can be rather difficult.
The Spiceworks product will help you to accurately inventory the network by scanning any ip ranges that you specify and connecting via WMI (for windows),SSH (Linux/Mac), and SNMP (Network switches –also SSH/Telnet) to gather useful information (software installed, system specs, etc). Once it discoveres your sytem, it will monitor the Windows Event Log and keep you up-to-date on the event log entries on your network.

Forever Autumn

akp982 — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:02:00 +0000

Spiceworks provides a free systems management, inventory, and helpdesk software application, Spiceworks IT Desktop, designed for network administrators working in small- to medium-sized businesses.
Spiceworks IT Desktop is used to inventory, monitor, manage and report on software and hardware assets. It also includes an integrated help desk system. Spiceworks runs on Microsoft Windows and discovers Windows, Unix, Linux and Mac OS X machines along with other IP-addressable devices such as routers, VOIP phones, printers, etc. Spiceworks is an advertisement-supported application and is written in Ruby on Rails.

http://www.forever-autumn.org/weblog/archives/50

What’s so different about Spiceworks

akp982 — Mon, 25 May 2009 05:16:00 +0000

What’s so different about Spiceworks and other network monitoring and inventory software?

The biggest difference between Spiceworks and other software is the fact that its FREE for anyone to use. Spiceworks was formed in Jan 2006 by Jay Hallberg and Scott Abel is free to use and recommend for all Small to medium businesses.

The biggest thing IT managers have to deal with is tracking the patchwork of all the IT equipment in a company network, from printers to routers, servers to PCs and all the other assorted peripherals that go along with any network.

Being free Spiceworks enables IT pro’s to quickly test before implementing fully. Unlike LANDesk or Alteris you don’t have to worry about it not working right on your network or not doing 100% what you want. Spiceworks provides plugins in which allow you to change the whole look and feel.

Plugins

Something that is not in most network inventory tools are plugins. These allow you to either use someone else’s or create your own helping you develop Spiceworks and get the product you want. You can change how the interface looks, create reports, add in RSS feeds or even Dilbert comments.

Community

The Spiceworks community provides you with a great resource for all things IT, you can get help with a wide range of issues from Spiceworks to DNS problems. With more than 500,000 IT pro’s using Spiceworks there is a huge community ready to talk.

Reports

With the great reporting tools in Spiceworks you can quickly make and share reports with people who need them. Spiceworks gives you 20 ready-to-use reports but there are hundreds on the community waiting for you to use.

Works on Windows

Most of network monitor software works better on Linux as it is designed for geeks and network pro’s. Spiceworks breaks this wall down and allows anyone to quickly install and use all the features. Its hassle free setup makes it easy to use without any hassle.

Its free

Spiceworks is 100% free and always will be, this is one of the major differences between other network management software