WindowsNetworking.com - Monthly Newsletter - August 2014
Hi Security World,
Welcome to the WindowsNetworking.com newsletter by Debra Littlejohn Shinder <http://www.windowsnetworking.com/Deb_Shinder/>, MVP. Each month we will bring you interesting and helpful information on the world of Windows Networking. We want to know what all *you* are interested in hearing about. Please send your suggestions for future newsletter content to: dshinder@windowsnetworking.com
1. Perils of the Incredible Shrinking IT Department
---------------------------------------------------------
In June of last year, a ComputerWeekly.com article predicted that corporate IT departments will shrink by as much seventy-five percent by 2018 <http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240186146/IT-departments-to-shrink-dramatically-within-five-years-as-cloud-accelerates> â€" a forecast that had some IT professionals understandably quaking in their boots. The reason for such a dismal outlook (from the enterprise admin’s point of view) is, of course, the impending takeover of IT by cloud computing services.
A recent release of the Employee Confidence Index from Randstad Technologies <http://www.constructech.com/news/articles/article.aspx?article_id=10132> showed a decline in confidence among IT workers, but it was surprisingly slight. Many seem to realize that while the market for traditional corporate datacenter jobs might be tightening, new technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), wearable computing and cloud services are creating new and interesting opportunities for those who can quickly adapt to change and keep their skills updated.
Meanwhile, though, IT is in a transitionary period and big changes are always tough. As companies move some of their resources to the cloud and reduce their IT staffs, those who are left are being put in the position of being expected to “do more with lessâ€� â€" and in some cases, it’s a lot more with a lot less.
In the effort to save money, management may make the common mistake of reducing staffing too early â€" letting people go at the beginning of the cloud migration instead of after it’s been completed. Even if management doesn’t impose premature layoffs, some members of the IT team may decide the handwriting is on the wall and leave for new jobs, rather than wait to see whether they survive anticipated personnel cuts. If so, management is unlikely to replace them; it doesn’t seem logical to bring on new hires when layoffs are right around the corner.
Maybe you’ll get lucky and everyone will stay ‘til the bitter end. Even with a full staff, however, a cloud migration puts an extra burden on the IT department because while it’s going on, you still have to maintain all of your on-premises resources and at the same time you’re not only taking on the additional job of preparing for and moving data and services into the cloud, but you’re also more than likely having to learn new interfaces and skills in order to do it.
This is a time when it’s more important than ever for IT personnel to work together as a team, but it’s also a time when the stress of the increased workload and the FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) about the future and each individual’s role in it may interfere with the ability to do so. When employees know that some will be getting the pink slip and others won’t, but don’t know where the axe is going to fall, they often start to view their co-workers as competitors â€" even as “the enemyâ€� who might take their job away. Former friends have been known to sabotage their co-workers in this “every man for himselfâ€� environment (and women aren’t immune, either).
Once you get through the migration process and the layoffs and you find that your job is still intact, be prepared for some unexpected feelings. Many employees in this position find that following the profound sense of relief, they may suffer from survivor’s guilt â€" an overwhelming sympathy for those co-workers who lost their jobs and a feeling that they don’t deserve their own good fortune.
After you get past the emotional impact, it’s time to deal with the practicalities of the situation. There is life after the cloud in the corporate IT department, but there’s a good chance that your role will change drastically. Traditional job skills such as software development and network administration are going to become more and more limited in scope. Companies are going to need more people who have IT knowledge, but who also possess skills that haven’t been traditionally associated with IT, such as contract negotiation and management, financial savvy, and “soft� skills essential to dealing with people. That’s because instead of hands-on implementation of technologies, IT personnel will be more and more involved in procuring and managing services and dealing with service providers.
This means the very nature of IT work is evolving from the more isolated, introverted environment of the programmer to a more people-focused, collaborative environment. This may be a difficult change for those whose personalities are better suited to working alone with computers. Of course, those traditional jobs will still be necessary â€" they’ve just moved from the corporate datacenter to the cloud providers’ datacenters. The good news is that the continuing growth of those gigantic datacenters will open up a supply of such jobs.
If you don’t want to make the leap to work for a cloud provider, another area in which IT expertise will still be necessary within the enterprise is supporting end-users in the use of the cloud services, and making it easier for them to get their work done using those services. This also includes end-point security.
IT is changing â€" again â€" and bringing us all new challenges. If your immediate challenge is how to make the best of the incredible shrinking IT department, here’s wishing you the best.
‘Til next time,
Deb
By Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP
dshinder@windowsnetworking.com
=======================
Quote of the Month - You must always be able to predict what’s next and then have the flexibility to evolve. â€" Marc Benioff (founder of Salesforce.com)
=======================
2. Windows Server 2012 Security from End to Edge and Beyond â€" Order Today!
---------------------------------------------------------
Windows Server 2012 Security from End to Edge and Beyond
By Thomas Shinder, Debra Littlejohn Shinder and Yuri Diogenes
From architecture to deployment, this book takes you through the steps for securing a Windows Server 2012-based enterprise network in today’s highly mobile, BYOD, cloud-centric computing world. Includes test lab guides for trying out solutions in a non-production environment.
Order your copy of Windows Server 2012 Security from End to Edge and Beyond. You'll be glad you did.
<http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Server-2012-Security-Beyond-ebook/dp/B00CMQK0OG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387293428&sr=8-1&keywords=windows+server+2012+end+to+edge+and+beyond>
3. WindowsNetworking.com Articles of Interest
---------------------------------------------------------
Last month, along with my husband Tom Shinder, I began a series on Windows Azure as the Network Operating System of the Future. In Part 1 we looked at the history of the NOS and how it led to the cloud NOS that is Azure. This time in Part 2, we talk about the features and functionalities that make Azure so great. Take a look:
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/cloud-computing/microsoft-azure-network-operating-system-future-today-part2.html
Mitch Tulloch’s excellent multi-part article about storage planning for Hyper-V hosts rocks right along with Part 3, covering Storage Spaces with storage tiering and how this can be useful for Hyper-V hosts. Read it here:
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/windows-server-2012/storage-planning-hyper-v-hosts-part3.html
If you’ve been following Brien Posey’s comprehensive coverage of Windows Server 2012 and BYOD, don’t miss this last installment (Part 9), where he talks about troubleshooting techniques for failed workplace joins. Check it out:
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/windows-server-2012/windows-server-2012-r2-and-byod-part9.html
We’re IT pros here, but we’re users, too â€" and more important, we all have to support end-users who might not know all the tips and tricks of using Windows networking features. Eric Geier’s latest article reminds us of some of the ways you can create wi-fi hotspots, save bandwidth when connecting to networks, set default printers for different network locations, and more. Here ‘tis:
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/netgeneral/windows-networking-tricks-and-tips.html
4. Administrator KB Tip of the Month
---------------------------------------------------------
Running PowerShell Command from PowerShell History
Did you know that you can run PowerShell commands from session history? This tip explains how to do it:
PowerShell maintains the history of commands in session history. You can use Invoke-History PowerShell cmdlet to run command from the session history as shown below:
Invoke-History
This command runs the last command in the session history.
Invoke-History â€"ID 12
The above command runs command which is tagged with ID 12 from session history.
Invoke-History Get-Pr
The above command runs the most recent Get-Process command from the session history.
For more great admin tips, check out http://www.windowsnetworking.com/kbase/
5. Windows Networking Links of the Month
---------------------------------------------------------
Top 10 free tools for network monitoring and analysis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4GYAsCZAGI&index=8&list=PL4PZgTTiBhfyV2NZ1p-_1H0TIKsTLmHlf&adv=NA&loc=NA&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Hootsuite&utm_campaign=External&utm_term=362226
Gartner: Think twice before deploying Windows 7
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2465821/microsoft-subnet/gartner-think-twice-before-deploying-windows-7.html
Connecting to networks with Windows 8 Group Policy and Active Directory
http://searchenterprisedesktop.techtarget.com/tutorial/Connect-to-networks-with-Windows-8-Group-Policy-and-AD
Community-supplied fix for blue screens caused by August patches
http://windowsitpro.com/windows-7/community-supplied-fix-august-blue-screens?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SecurityBloggersNetwork+(Security+Bloggers+Network)
Windows Azure Pack Firewall Port Requirements
http://windowsitpro.com/azure/windows-azure-pack-firewall-port-requirements
Why the Internet hiccupped
http://www.zdnet.com/why-the-internet-hiccuped-7000032643/
6. Ask Sgt. Deb
---------------------------------------------------------
QUESTION:
Our company is in the middle of going to the cloud but we’re running into some problems. We have a hybrid network, with both on-premises and cloud apps, using Azure cloud services. Here’s our problem. We need some way that our users can authenticate for the cloud apps from all of their devices. Not just Microsoft apps but some custom line of business apps that our remote field workers need to be able to use. We’re running Windows Server 2012 R2 on our on-premises network. Can you point me in the right direction (if this can even be done)? Thanks! â€" Benjamin
ANSWER:
Hi, Benjamin. It sounds like you need a solution that will let you sync Azure Active Directory with your on-premises AD. If you have a single-forest hybrid environment, there is a way to do this by integrating your on-premises AD with the Azure AD instance and provide cloud authentication for Microsoft apps, your custom apps and even third party apps such as Google and Facebook. You need to use the Windows Azure Active Directory Sync Tool, the Password Sync feature and you can use the IdFix DirSync Error Remediation Tool to identify and remediate any sync errors in your AD forest. Microsoft has published a guide to help you with this scenario. Check it out here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn550986.aspx
WindowsNetworking.com Sections
-----------------------------------------------------------------
- Articles & Tutorials (http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/)
- KBase Tips (http://www.windowsnetworking.com/kbase/WindowsTips/)
- Products (http://www.windowsnetworking.com/software/)
- Reviews (http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/product-reviews/)
- Free Tools (http://www.windowsnetworking.com/software/Free-Tools/)
- Blogs (http://www.windowsnetworking.com/blogs/)
- Forums (http://forums.windowsnetworking.com/)
- White Papers (http://www.windowsnetworking.com/white-papers/)
- Contact Us (http://www.windowsnetworking.com/pages/contact-us.html)
Techgenix Sites
-----------------------------------------------------------------
- MSExchange.org (http://www.msexchange.org/)
- WindowSecurity.com (http://www.windowsecurity.com/)
- VirtualizationAdmin.com (http://www.virtualizationadmin.com/)
- ISAserver.org (http://www.isaserver.org/)
- CloudComputingAdmin.com (http://www.cloudcomputingadmin.com/)
- WServerNews.com (http://www.wservernews.com/)
--
To unsubscribe: http://www.techgenix.com/newsletter/members.aspx?Task=OOS&SI=78504&E=security.world%40gmail.com&S=1&NL=33
To change your subscription settings: http://www.techgenix.com/newsletter/members.aspx?Task=US&SI=78504&E=security.world%40gmail.com&S=1
WindowsNetworking.com is in no way affiliated with Microsoft Corp.
For sponsorship information, contact us at advertising@WindowsNetworking.com
TechGenix Ltd. Mriehel Bypass, Mriehel BKR 3000, Malta
Copyright WindowsNetworking.com 2014. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment