Is this forum dead?

But guys i reallly need help with my AD server

 

Cisco 12000WB can simulate AD with the directory services IOS pack. Given your a networking chap that might be a good option.

 

ahh yes forgot about the MSSMB card option.... totally forgot about it as it seems to crash and BSOD the backplane...

 

Just had an image of a hilarious cartoon of a (back)plane crash. Might write to xkcd and see if they will draw it for me!

I think this forum isn't dead. The activity level is just highlighting that unfortunately those of us who play in true enterprise systems are a minority, and that we aren't asking our questions here.

To provoke activity, a proposal: Create an Enterprise Systems thread (just one, like the iPhone ones in Mobile Phones). Measure the amount of activity that it actually gets and see what happens.

Sometimes, after all, it's about the spark.

 

I find them interesting too and I find it interesting commenting on peoples gimcrack solutions and guiding them to better options.

But at the core of it, I rarely ask questions / start threads because I don't feel I get worthwhile responses most of the time.

I don't think there really was a cut date where it "all went bad". Many users dropped off the forums over time and I think very little of it related to this sub forum in particular.

I'd like to know what elvis is looking for in this "enterprise only" discussion forum. You said yourself that enterprise is "having entire teams of specialised skillsets"... so if you want to restrict it to "enterprise only" (as some people seem to believe it once was) who would discuss what here that wouldn't be better off in a specific vendors own forum? CIO's? Solution architects? You've left the window pretty small.

 

I work for a 1450 seat business and we have as/400 teams, unix\redfat enterprise sytems, p-series systems, a large (1300) citrix xenapp\desktop envinronment...

Personally i wouldnt call us an "enterprise" more a medium business, just pointing out that seat count isnt everything, the individual needs of particular business groups specify the types of sytems used not the number of people.

I do agree with what you said, a MS shop with sql and exchange doesnt make you an enterprise. Id like to see some more direction in this forum, i know im guilty of some entirely non-enterprise level threads but mainly because i didnt see where they fit...

Maybe a SMB Size sub forum is required?

 

So the summary is if you've got specialised kit and specialised staff, you're enterprise? I might be missing something here, but there must be more to it than that? I'm still struggling to see where your line is drawn.

Hey, we're on a Microsoft Enterprise licensing agreement, does that count?

But yes regardless, it's B&E not just E.

 

We've always said that we'll be happy to split the B&EC forum into sub-forums, if, like any other forum on OCAU, the number of threads is so great that it becomes unmanageable having them all together. It hasn't happened yet because the number of active threads hasn't made it necessary to. I don't think that splitting it into smaller niche forums will help encourage growth; in fact, I think it'll do the opposite.

So, it's over to all the regular readers and contributors to the B&CE forum: If you want an enterprise forum, get making with the enterprise threads and posts. Similarly, if the SMB guys want an SMB forum, show that it's necessary due to the amount of SMB-related activity. Also, in any forum there will be threads that interest some people and threads that don't interest them. As much as we'd like to be able to, we can't generate a forum for each person filled only with threads that interest them, so the solution is to not read the threads that don't pique your interest, not to moan about them.

 

The issue is the hierarchical nature of a forum. If it were tag based we wouldn't have this problem. Its a simple case of a system not designed to user behaviour. edit: but we all know what happened when MS tried to change the windows FS :/

 

Hmmmmmm....

Wonder if he has maintains multiple internet personas?

http://twitter.com/chiefmonkey/status/46212511967612929

Been following that character for seems like a decade.

.

 

Garbage. We don't have an enterprise forum where "enterprise" threads are being drowned in SMB threads. We have an "B&EC" forum where people are quite correctly using it for general business threads, large and small (the former being in the minority).

As Gords said, you create/split forums when you're overwhelming one with a particular type of traffic. We're not overwhelming this forum with anything and I doubt you can blame that on it's title.

Mmm I always thought Stalin was an aussie, I'm pretty sure SM is a yank. In either case I wish he'd come back.

 

as people have mentioned, you have networking questions, storage questions, being asked in other forums that could be relevant to this forum, yet we miss out here.

entirely hypothetical. its not like ocau would roll an entirely new forum style :/

 

Networking: So we can differentiate the large volume of "which isp should I go with / my wifi doesn't work / can I data cable up my own bathroom" threads

from

"help me troubleshoot the ACL's on my blah blah router, which large WAN provider offers the best SLA / help me work out why I can't route between vlans"

Storage: Separates the "what SATA drive is the fastest / what's the best NAS / which SSD should I buy / how can I build a really big storage array with 2tb drives and that zfs thing?"

from

"Has anyone transitioned from FC to NFS / which SAN vendor has the cheapest upgrade path / should I go disk to disk to tape, or disk to tape" type threads.

 

Enterprise:

1/ a purposeful or industrious undertaking (especially one that requires effort or boldness); "he had doubts about the whole enterprise"
2/ an organization created for business ventures; "a growing enterprise must have a bold leader"
3/ readiness to embark on bold new ventures

 

Sounds like you need to be bold to be an enterprise.

 

Most issues that can't live in either the network, storage, MS or Other Operating Systems forums are probably going to be too specific or sensitive to get any decent feedback, IMO.

 

or you could say, to boldly go? Hence the naming of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)?

 

I don't think OCAU wants to (or could) attract the "enterprisey" posters elvis speaks of... but as far as a forum for people just getting into Business IT after years of hacking their own I think this is very valuable.

If you want to get into more enterprisey stuff then check out sage-au*.

* disclosure - I'm the current el predidente of sage-au-qld

 

I think the results of the B&EC forum shows the populace of OCAU are mostly enthusiasts not always IT professionals. There's a fair few of us.

The difference I see is this; personally when I get into a pickle google and colleagues/peers are my best friends, not OCAU. I can't afford* to wait for OCAU to get back to me, when a google or phone call to someone I know will get me the answer right away. Many of my colleagues (both local and international) do the same, I'm first port of call when they've a problem in my area of expertise. I'm actually gunning for a SME role, rather than the grunt work I'm currently doing.

*nor can my clients.

 

I dont have the time to spend contirbuting anything of worth, also i guess im a touch cynical these days as well. I guess also being quite specalised not many topics come up that i know lots about.