In terms of patching, do you have this handled automatically at the moment? Or do you just wish to automate this? You could use WSUS, or MU but with patches auto-downloaded and installed (at least to cover the Windows bit)
In terms of "PC worked yesterday but doesn't work today" - are you having hardware issues? Or software issues? If the latter, I don't see how a VM will help if people are screwing things up. Look at Restore Points (and removing Admin access) instead. Or is there some other kind of issue? Even though you say "usual things", that really doesn't enlighten us much per se. FWIW I have 7 PCs and 3 physical servers (+about 8 always on VMs), plus a few phones, tablets etc., but I don't consider I spend much time on keeping it running. Most maintenance activities (like backups) are automated (e.g. clients backup to Windows Home Server, patching is handled by WSUS) Cheers Ken From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Grant Molloy Sent: Wednesday, 13 March 2013 2:52 PM To: ozDotNet Subject: RE: [OT] Home setup All of it.. Patches, updates, failed updates, PC worked yesterday but not today.. usual things. On Mar 13, 2013 1:48 PM, "Ken Schaefer" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: What area of maintenance do you want to reduce? Cheers Ken From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>] On Behalf Of Grant Molloy Sent: Wednesday, 13 March 2013 2:04 PM To: ozDotNet Subject: [OT] Home setup Hey all.. I'm looking at re-jigging my home PC's and network setups in an attempt to lower the levels of required maintenance. Currently have following * Server - Core 2 Quad, 8gb ram, raid 5 array (<2tb), + 2 x 2tb hdds, server 2008 R2 OS (non domain) with hyper-v vm's. * Desktop - Core 2 Duo, 8gb ram, 4 bed's, Win 7, printer, scanner, several dev VM's (vmware), apps, etc.. * Media PC x 2 - old Dell mini desktops with extra hdd's, xbmc, Skype, 802.11n wifi cards and with wireless keyboards. * plus laptops, tablet, phones... I was looking at keeping with 2008 r2 server (just beef it up more), and then having thin clients to replace desktop, and new terminal for kids, and also replacing media PC's with a 'media device's of one sort or another. What are you using? I would welcome people's experiences in this area and suggestions.
