security.crudtastic.com

I really hate the fact that you can’t get any meaningful reports out of Microsoft ISA 2006! I mean, sure you can get your standard proxy and firewall reports .. that’s all good, but the second you try and do something more than that BZZZZT DOES NOT COMPUTE!!!

I mean, could it really be that hard for Microsoft to add that ability? Now I have to piss about with crappy 3rd party software that costs a fortune (well .. not really, but it’s not cheap) and does what ISA should do by default.

I liked it way back when I worked in a linux shop .. squid was easy to configure, easy to set up with blacklisted/denied sites (that would update automatically) .. AND IT COULD DO THE REPORTING EASILY!

Having said that .. I did buy some software, and it does do the reporting, but I still think the reporting funtions in ISA suck!

We will now return to our regular programming

Update: I found out today that I passed the ITIL exam “convincingly”, I would like to think that I passed the exam with “a vengeance”. Whatever though, I passed! Now I can go work on the helpdesk.

As a part of a big re-structuring at work, we all had to go and sit through an ITIL v3 course and sit the exam. The course was 3 days all up .. but it was more like a 2 day course with the 3rd day set aside to review and do the exam.

First of all, I have to say that the concept of the ITIL cycle is great .. however, in practice, sitting there listening to it is boring as hell. It’s a hard slog to sit there and listen and try and absorb it all. I’ve heard this from a few other people as well that have done the same course in other states and with other training providers (so it wasn’t like we got a dud lecturer).

ITIL in a big company can make a lot of sense and cut through a lot of bullshit, in a small company it can start to be a bit of a pain in the ass .. but I have to admit, it will be worth the pain in the long run. You obviously don’t have to apply absolutely everything out of ITIL, it’d be best to apply what suits your company (and take baby steps – don’t apply it and make a full hollywood production out of it!)

So basically, I sat through the 3 days .. learnt a lot .. did some prctice exams and did a heap of revision .. then sat the exam. I don’t know how I went yet, I feel OK about it .. the guy taking our class said he hasn’t had a failure yet (so I could be the first!! haahah).

I won’t go into all the parts of the lifecycle .. you can go to wikipedia for all that info. It highlights a lot of deficiencies within a company (or team) and can really point you in the right direction for making things a lot more efficient. The one thing about ITIL is that it tells you what you should do .. but not how to do it or implement it. I’m sure that will cause a lot of heart-ache and pain for some people, but it’ll be worthwhile to stick with it … the outomes will outweigh the pain.

I’ll update this page when I know how I went with my exam.