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Of all the Technology Jobs in Massachusetts the CIO is one of the most important. Here is a little more information as to why they are essential to the success of any company:

CIO — Job Description: A database administrator (DBA) is responsible for installing, backing up, testing, securing and making changes to production databases within an IT environment. They work on ongoing development projects with developers and architects and, increasingly, with business-side workers. They also maintain operations on a day-to-day basis.

Why You Need One: A company’s data is its lifeblood and therefore it needs an experienced, skilled steward at the helm, says John Mahoney, a senior staffing consultant at Hollister, a staffing firm specializing in technology. “A good DBA—they really are tough to find,” Mahoney says. “You’re talking about the data integrity of the entire company.”

Desired Skills: Companies and recruiters prize real-world experience—from several years to more than 10—over certifications (although those do help, especially for popular platforms like Oracle and, to a lesser extent, SQL Server 2000 and 2005). “The database experience we look for most of the time is Oracle,” says Tom Hart, executive vice president of the operations and technology group at Veritude. “SQL Server is more of a ‘nice-to-have.’”

Demand for other platforms, such as DB/2 and open-source offerings like MySQL, is much softer, say specialists. There is also not yet a great deal of demand for the newer SQL Server 2008.

Where to Look: Go to the likely sources to find DBA candidates, such as job boards for Technology Jobs in Massachusetts and user groups. The main problem, says Hart, is that there are “more DBA jobs than there are people to fill them.”

What to Look For: Before the tech-bust, “clients just needed bodies,” says Mahoney. Now, “they want DBAs to interact with different business units in the company. Especially in smaller shops, they want their DBAs to be able to go out and speak to end users and developers and figure out the crux of the problem.”

Sean Gorman, who is a DBA with HiWired, a remote tech-support provider, agrees. “People who can sit down with business end users and collect requirements, that’s huge,” he says. “A lot of business users are big fish, and so you can’t get pushed around. You’re the expert and the one who’s got to solve the problem, so you have to be able to push back if it is necessary.”

Elimination Round: Mahoney says one of the first things he asks a candidate is about their knowledge and opinion of the client’s operation. What comes out of their mouth—or doesn’t—is telling, he says. “If they don’t have an answer, if they’re not prepared for me, why would they be prepared for the client?”

Salary Range: $65,000 to $130,000

Growing Your Own: Compounding the tight supply of outside candidates is the fact that it is difficult to cultivate DBAs within an organization, says Gorman. “I haven’t seen a whole lot of that personally. The only two sources of people who would fit that role are systems people or developers,” he says. “Typically, people in those two roles are in that because they want to be.” Big enterprises, which may have multiple senior DBAs that can provide mentoring, are more likely to have success in grooming junior employees for DBA slots, Gorman suggests.

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GPO Basics

Group Policy Objects (GPOs) can be used to deploy a wide variety of policy control settings to large numbers of computer accounts and user accounts. GPOs consist of two halves; User configuration settings which applies to user objects in AD regardless of which compliant workstation they log on from, and Computer configuration settings which only apply to computer objects in AD. The basic use of group policy is to put the settings in a GPO, and then link the GPO to the domain or an OU containing the user and computer accounts the settings should be applied to.

GPOs can be created using the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) Snap?in. However, on some earlier editions of Windows Server, the snap?in is not available by default and is either added via service pack or a specified download. For systems without the GPMC GPOs can be created and edited in Active Directory Users and Computers.

GPO information is actually split and stored in two locations The Group Policy Container (GPC) and The Group Policy template (GPT). The Group Policy container is an Active Directory container that contains GPO properties, such as version information, GPO status, and other component settings.

The Group Policy template (GPT) is a file system folder containing policy data stored in .adm files. The data includes security settings, script files, and information about applications that are available for installation. The GPT is located in the system volume folder (SysVol) in the domain Policies sub?folder.

A GPO is replicated to other domain controllers in two ways. The GPC is replicated using Active Directory replication, and the GPT is replicated by the File Replication Service. Policy settings from a GPO are applied only when the GPC and GPT are synchronized. Because Active Directory Domain Services provide multi?master write capability, conflicts could occur if a GPO is modified by two administrators simultaneously. To avoid conflicts, the most recent change wins by default, GPO edits are made on the PDC Emulator to prevent conflicts.

Useful Tools to Troubleshoot GPO’s

Several useful tools to troubleshoot GPOs are available. Among them are Secedit/gpupdate, Resultant Set of Policies and even the GPMC itself offers several valuable trouble-shooting options.

Secedit /refreshpolicy {machine policy | user policy} can be used to refresh policies changes on Windows 2000 systems. Add the /Force parameter to force a complete refresh on client.

For refreshing policies on Windows XP and above, use gpupdate.exe. Some useful parameters for gpupdate include /force, which will force a reprocessing of all GPOs (without this switch gpupdate only looks for changes), /target, which will update selected systems, / V verbose and / Z ‘Zuper’ verbose mode.

GPMC, aside from simply providing an interface to create, edit, and link GPOs, provides some useful trouble-shooting functions including the ability to Backup/Restore GPOs and the ability to Export/Import GPOs!

Finally, if there is no other option, you can recover the default Domain and Domain Controller GPOs to their factory state by using DCGPOFIX.exe.

Group Policy Settings Reference

The policy settings included in this spreadsheet cover Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Professional, and Windows 2000. These files are used to expose policy settings when you edit Group Policy objects (GPOs).

To request FREE information about Boston-area computer training classes, visit www.computertrainingnewengland.com

Cindy Lazzaro

Cindy Lazzaro has been a trainer since the early 90’s, starting with supporting and training on Novell Netware. She took a two year hiatus from training starting in 2005 to work as a professional service engineer for a local company specializing in installing and supporting ISA Server and the Internet Application Gateway. Aside from the technical certifications MCSE NT4 -2008 with specialties in SCCM, SharePoint, and exchange server, Security +, A plus and Net +, she has a BA in English with a minor in Physics and a Masters in Management.

About New Horizons Learning Centers of Boston

New Horizons Computer Learning Centers of Boston provides learning solutions that help organizations achieve business results, such as increasing productivity and efficiencies, driving revenue, and reducing costs. New Horizons provides customer-focused training choices in multiple formats and delivery methods, offering organizations and individuals top-quality training that can be tailored to meet individual learning styles and specific needs.

Whether you are in search of a solution for the complex training needs of a large, multi-location business, or you are an individual seeking the skills to excel in a new or blossoming career path, New Horizons is your integrated learning solution.

New Horizons of Boston offers Desktop Applications Training, Technical Training, Certification Programs, Business Productivity Solutions, Professional Services and Enterprise Learning Solutions. 

www.nhboston.com

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April 17, 2009-

Hollister, Inc., a Boston Staffing firm, hosted a Pink Slip and Coffee networking function on Thursday, April 16. The group of about 50 unemployed professionals held their bi-weekly meeting onsite at Hollister’s headquarters in downtown Boston to lend support, exchange ideas and gather information on the current job market.

Kip Hollister, founder and CEO of Hollister, Inc. spoke on current market trends and strategies jobseekers can employ to position themselves in today’s unstable job market.

“Right now, job searching is frustrating but it’s all about maintaining a positive attitude,” said Hollister, “Keep in mind that a 10% unemployment rate means that 90% of professionals are employed and in an effort to remain optimistic, this is what you should be focused on.”

Recruiters from each of Hollister’s five divisions were on hand for resume critique and to lend advice on developing a personal marketing strategy, diversifying job skills and networking techniques, especially the utilization of social media trends.

“While there should be a solid balance between face-to-face and online networking, there are many opportunities for professionals to market themselves online,” exlained Meg Toland, Marketing Director at Hollister. “With recent advancements in Web 2.0 technology, we are advising our candidates to take full advantage of these social media communities.”

The company advises today’s active job seeker to leverage Hollister’s recently launched new media professional networking communities on LinkedIN, Facebook, and Twitter. Additionally, the company hosts Boston Jobs Blog, which contains valuable information including how to market yourself during a recession.

About Hollister:

Founded in 1988, Hollister is a leading full-service staffing firm of Employment Recruiters passionate about connecting Boston Job Opportunities with talent. Based in the Greater Boston region, Hollister is well positioned to see the Massachusetts job market from two perspectives. Hollister’s clientele includes Massachusetts companies and active and passive jobseekers. For 20 years, Hollister has been the bridge that connects professionals with jobs in Massachusetts and companies with the best employees.

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The wedding occasion is one of the life time events for most of the people around the world. It’s an occasion nobody wants to forget in their life time. It will bring you lasting memories for more years to come. First thing you have to do is you should prepare some questions for the video professionals to select the best among them. You should talk with them or sometimes you must interview them with these questions to get more details out of them. I have collected some questions you have to ask your videographers before signing a deal. Let’s have a look at them. The first thing asked should be about their experience in the relevant field. Because everyone who took a video wasn’t a videographer; we need professionals for this job. You should ask him the samples of videos he has taken before and check them whether they are legit or not.

Next list of questions must be technically related, I mean the questions like what kind of backlight you are using for your videos, what type of sound receiving equipments they use, what will be the output of the service will it be in a DVD or CD .If he was able to answer your all technical related questions in a verbal manner means you can choose him. The easiest method to find a good professional is by asking him about the memberships he have in the videographer’s communities. Go for the reviews from your friends and relatives about the particular person and if your friends have a sample of his work means it is better to see them first. Not only the quality of the video is important here, the most important thing is the creativity. A videographer with good creative sense can give you a beautiful wedding DVD.

Most of the video services will have their own websites. You can search them in the net and select some 5 websites from the top 10.Now evaluate their services by having a look at their demos and their previous works from their websites. Also you can inquire about the services by contacting the persons who has used them before. Most of the websites will have a page for their customers to make comment on their services. Read carefully the comments, if it’s kind of more appraisal means ignore the comments, choose the normal ones and even you can mail them directly about the services. Wedding is a one in a life time moment that cannot be recaptured, so go for the best you can afford. Try to avoid those cheap services out there to get a good wedding video.

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