What should I focus on during my first months as a sysadmin?
I'm starting a new job on Monday as a Systems Administrator at a small company, and although I'm excited, I'm also nervous about the transition. I have more…
network management
How can I share Wi‑Fi without exposing the password or business network?
I run a business with two residential units above it. I want to share internet with an elderly resident I trust, but another family previously received the Wi‑Fi…
How Should I Take Over IT for a 50-Person Company With No Sysadmin Experience?
I'm currently the company's only software developer, and our part-time sysadmin is leaving in about four months. I have essentially no systems administration experience, and there is very…
How can we block a website or game on our shared Wi‑Fi?
I'm asking on behalf of my mom. My brother has been spending a lot of time playing games, and his behavior and self-care have become serious concerns. We…
How can we block a website or game on our shared Wi-Fi?
I'm writing this for my mom and hoping for some practical advice. My brother has been spending a lot of time playing games, developing serious anger problems, and…
What tools combine CMDB and IPAM functionality?
I'm looking for a platform that combines configuration management database (CMDB) capabilities with IP address management (IPAM). What solutions are you using, and how well do they handle…
What does the PowerShell SNMP Open method expect, and why does Get return “Unknown Error”?
I'm trying to query SNMP from PowerShell, but the documentation is confusing. I'm using the Windows COM object `olePrn.OleSNMP` and found examples such as `$SNMP.Open($IPAddresses[1], "public", 2, 3000)`.…
Struggling to Set Up a New Domain Forest on Server Core Edition
After two decades, I finally have the time to experiment with Server Core Edition while trying to set up a new domain forest. However, I've run into continuous…
Help Needed with PowerShell Script for VLANs
I'm trying to create a PowerShell script that builds virtual network interface cards (NICs) with VLANs, and I'm hoping to be able to input multiple VLANs at once.…
Will Changing IP Addresses Affect Our Ricoh Printers?
I manage a few offices that rent Ricoh multi-function printers, and while I'm not usually based there, I visit to provide occasional support. We're planning to implement a…
What’s a Fair Rate to Charge for IT Services?
I'm currently providing IT services for a small law firm, which is my only client. I've built and maintained their FreePBX VOIP server that manages about 40 extensions—though…
Can Someone Explain How Our Conditional Access Policy Works?
I'm struggling to get my head around the Conditional Access Policies that were set up by our Managed Service Provider. Basically, we block access from everywhere except the…
How Can I Block Internet Access on Specific PCs During Exams?
I'm looking for a way to restrict internet access on specific PCs during exams to prevent cheating. We use Samba (Debian) as our Active Domain controller, and our…
What Are Good Networking Gear Recommendations for Small Restaurant Clients?
I recently took over managing networking setups for several restaurant clients, and I found that the previous setup was quite poor because my partner was trying to save…
What’s the Process for Granting VPN Access to Vendors?
Hey everyone! I'm curious about the typical process for granting VPN access to vendors. When you have a vendor needing access, what do you usually ask them to…
How Can I Install SNMP on Offline Windows 10 Version 1607?
Hey everyone! I'm trying to install SNMP on some Windows 10 servers running version 1607 LTSB that are completely offline. I've set up LibreNMS and need to pull…
How to Migrate DNS Zones from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2025?
I'm tasked with migrating an old DNS server running on Windows Server 2003 to a new Windows Server 2025 installation. The dnscmd command isn't available, and the DNS…
How to Handle DNS Across Multiple Locations Without Relying on One Main Office?
I'm managing a small business with four locations interconnected through tunnels, and we're transitioning away from server-centric operations. Currently, about half of our computers rely on Active Directory…
Should I Switch from SonicWall to UniFi for My Network?
I'm currently using a SonicWall NSA 2700 and wasn't planning to change it, but now I'm exploring UniFi options. We've been using UniFi access points for a long…
Managing DNS for Azure Private Links Across Multiple Environments
I'm in the middle of a discussion about handling DNS for Azure Private Links, especially since we have a complex setup with multiple Azure subscriptions and a hub…