[Hidden-tech] mixed platform sys admin

[Chris Hoogendyk]

Just a quick followup on that.

I was a Mac specialist for many many years and still am primarily a Mac user both at work and at 
home. But, for the last 12 years or so I've been a Unix Sysadmin. The Mac has always had to live in 
a world where it was a minority. It has always had to be able to function in that environment. I put 
Macs into AS400 environments with token ring networking. I managed Macs in an environment where 
HP/Ux ruled and we had gatorbox gateways. I managed Macs in an environment where I ended up also 
managing the Novell server from my Mac desktop. I also managed Unix systems and Novell and NT 
servers from a Mac desktop in a large setting where there were hundreds of PCs and I was the only 
Mac. I've never had the luxury of a totally Mac environment with a Mac server.

Bottom line is, if they are saying the mixed environment can't work, it's because they are PC heads 
and don't know Macs at all. Your friend then really does need to replace them with someone who also 
knows Macs.

A total Macaholic might argue that PCs are worthless and you should go entirely Mac, but they won't 
say that the two can't work together. That's how the Mac has survived all these years.

There are many people in the valley who understand this. Do indeed check the HT profiles.


On 3/29/11 9:00 AM, Rich Roth wrote:
> You can always point them at the HT company profile search. just click search on the top
> of HT home page.
>
> As for those machines working together - my home network has a mix of pc's and mac's plus
> 3 linux servers,
> ipads, itouchs, (no iphones) -- although Palm's, blackberrys as well as a few network
> backup drives,
> sure I happen to be a linux sys admin -- which means I have no time for any special
> desktop configuration.
>
> The mac's and pc's work together just fine -- the last few generations of Mac OS/X talks
> all networking
> protocols automatically.
>
> Rich
>
> On 3/28/2011 9:24 PM, Michael Billingsley wrote:
>> Hello Hidden-Tech
>>
>> I've a close friend who runs a small non-profit in western Mass and wants to use mixed
>> platforms in the office (Windows and Mac).
>>
>> The present contracted sys admins are trying to talk her out of it with all kinds of
>> nonsense re: servers can't work with Macs and PCs, they don't share the same protocols,
>> etc. ad infinitum.   Having once been my own system admin for Amherst Community TV with
>> 15 Macs and 10 PC's happily talking with one another, I'm not sure where they've gotten
>> their information.
>>
>> To help out my friend (who is not on this list) can anyone point me to a directory of
>> nearby admin companies who could contract for a mixed-platform office with about a dozen
>> computers, half as many printers/scanners and and the usual server/Internet/data storage
>> solutions?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Michael Cerulli Billingsley
>> Straight Arrow Recordings

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Chris Hoogendyk

-
    O__  ---- Systems Administrator
   c/ /'_ --- Biology&  Geology Departments
  (*) \(*) -- 140 Morrill Science Center
~~~~~~~~~~ - University of Massachusetts, Amherst

<hoogendyk at bio.umass.edu>

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Erdös 4