Finance – 5/27/2009

Today we forged ahead in Chapter 5, dealing with the time value of money.  Today’s topic was annuities, which basically means an arrangement where you either pay or receive payments on a regular basis.  We went over several formulas which let us discover what the future value of an annuity would be, the present value of an annuity and figuring out the payment given a present value and a goal in mind (future value with a time).

Homework:

• Because I put you through that Noel-Levitz survey, I’m going to spare you any homework this week.  You’re welcome!

Implementing AD – 5/26/2009

We furthered out discussion today on Group Policy which, as I’ve indicated, is probably my all-time favorite computer-server-geekfest-topic.  Specifically, we configured items such as password and account lockout policies as well as software installation. 

Homework:

• Chapter Eight: Review Questions
• Chapter Nine: Review Questions

Implementing NI – 5/26/2009

Today’s class dealt with Chapter 6 (although we did try to get to Ch 7), which means we spent the day talking about IPSec.  We explored several avenues of Ipsec, using it to block specific types of traffic and to encypt otherwise un-encryptable data (a la FTP) to keep packet sniffers guessing.

Homework:

• Chapter 6: Review Questions

Implementing AD – 5/5/2009

Today we covered the next two chapters of our foray into AD: security planning and group policy.

In the security planning realm, we piggy-backed what we talked about in the morning class and spoke about differing security mechanisms including this time smart cards and OU planning strategies (with security delegations — after all, how can we play golf if we have to do EVERYONE’s low-level administrative tasks).

The next chapter, chapter 7, begins one of my favorite topics in Windows networking: Group Policy.  Group Policy (GP) allows us to mass-configure mounds of computers based on different criteria: such as what OU we put a user or computer into, what geographical site they’re based out of, which domain they’re a member of, etc.  And the beautiful thing is that we can have multiple Group Policy Objects (GPOs) or rules, that all can apply to a particular user or computer based on all of the criteria.  For example, if I’m a user in the Accounting OU in the Bowling Green Site, I would receive GPOs based on both the Bowling Green Site and the Accounting OU.

Just like the morning class, I will not be here next week and you guys will have a midterm exam (and that’s all!).  Furthermore, if you’d like, you can take both your morning and afternoon midterms in the morning if you want, giving you the rest of the day free!  Woohoo!

Homework:

• Chapter Six: Review Questions
• Chapter Seven: Review Questions

Implementing NI – 5/5/2009

In today’s class we covered chapter 5, which is all about network security.  Namely, we talked about topics like user rights, security templates, file encryption, etc.  Security has been a big deal in the recent past, and I imagine that it will not leave the forefront of people’s minds for some time.

Remember, next week you will have a midterm exam over chapters 1-5, and also remember that I will NOT be here next week.

Homework:

• Chapter 5: Review Questions

Troubleshooting – 5/4/2009

Lots of fun tonight — we first looked at troubleshooting storage devices and then at troubleshooting printers.  (Chapters 8, 9)

Homework:

• Chapter Eight: Review Questions
• Chapter Nine: Review Questions
  

Server+ – 5/4/2009

Today’s class covered chapter 5, the chapter on performing upgrades.  We discussed important subjects like when do you upgrade, putting your machines on life cycles, as well as upgrading specific components like processors and memory.

Next week, you will have a midterm over the first 5 chapters in the book — you will NOT be allowed to use books, notes or each other, so make sure you are prepared!

Homework:

• To help you prepare for next week’s exam, no homework!
• Study for next week’s exam!

Troubleshooting Apps – 5/4/2009

This morning we covered the final two chapters in the book, chapters 10 and 11, covering the hardening of the OS as well as working with multiuser/multibooting computers.  In the second portion of class, we installed the newly released Windows 7 Release Candidate.  It was a completely underwhelming experience.

As a reminder, I will NOT be here next week, and you will have a midterm over the entire book.  You will be able to use the book, your computers and the Microsoft Knowledge Base (if available).

Homework:

• Chapter 10: Review Questions
• Chapter 11: Review Questions

Claiming Blog Bankruptcy

Well, despite my best efforts, I have completely and totally fallen off the blogging bandwagon and have completely neglected the thing for over 2 weeks.  It’s not the first time it’s happened, and it probably won’t be the last.  I’ve given up trying to recreate the posts from the past couple of weeks — it’s futile, really.

So, I’m not even going to try.  I’m just going to pick myself up, dust myself off, and go forward from here, posting as if nothing happened.  For those of you benbedo.com fanatics, sorry, but really, get a life.