300: Talking Ubiquiti With "Super Remie" Cremers

Topics:

-Remie Cremers of Super Remie comes back to join Command Control Power for our 300th episode and discuss Ubiquiti and Wi-Fi in general

-Remie is a newly minted Ubiquiti Wireless Enterprise Admin

-He addresses use of a UniFi Cloud Key and how he goes the route of using an in-house controller on a Mac mini in his office.

-By doing so, he then manages all of his clients as “sites” in the controller. He then charges his clients an annual fee to maintain this for them

-A point of interest is how to migrate devices from one controller to another. More testing may be needed on Sam’s part.

-Remie shares a tip on creating users for clients, which involves setting up credentials for the user instead of having them jump through hoops to create a new account.

-Finding difficulties in implementing an SSL certificate for his controller, Remie created a guide and shares it with listeners.

-For his fees, he offers to do firmware upgrades as well.

-One hurdle that he found himself hitting, was the issue of needing to do a “Set Inform” twice to adopt devices on a controller that is not on-site. Ubiquiti confirmed the need for this method.

-Joe and Remie put their fancy pants on and discuss DHCP options

-As the group discusses the topic of using secondary ports on the AC-Pro APs, Sam makes mention of a hardware limitation where speeds of the AP will represent the top speeds of the device connected to the secondary port. So if a device connected can only operate at 100 Mbps, ALL devices connected to that AP will hit that cap.

-Ubiquiti has an impressive line of products in their UniFi line

-Joe has a PSA about power cycling the UniFi equipment

-Offsite configuration in a staging area is a popular method of setup, although depending on equipment used, it can present its challenges.

-As Joe encountered issues with VPN setup, he had access to Ubiquiti’s 24/7 chat support

-The UniFi Security Gateway (USG) has its place in some installations but may not fit the bill everywhere

-Mounting methods of the access points is an important factor to be aware of that is addressed in the conversation

-Before wrapping up, Remie gets into the confusing naming convention for USB and current speeds. He also advises on purchasing the proper cables.

299: We Can Be Heroes

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Topics:

-Jerry starts the show on a positive vibe to take a moment to pat yourself on the back and appreciate what you do. 

-Joe reminds us to check reports on our clients and what we earn per client. Among other things to review once a year or more. 

-Jerry works with Synology’s Surveillance Station in conjunction with IP cameras and gives us his experience 

-This peaks Sam’s curiosity because as his clients are looking for a camera solution, he is concerned about services that all require a valid internet connection to record data. 

-Access cameras are what Joe uses for most of his clients

-Joe paints a picture of a solid, bullet proof solution with local storage, PoE, etc. and talk of how clients can push back by seeing inexpensive options at retail stores. 

-Jerry talks of a possible push back on cloud services in the future

-Surveillance Station licensing can work with 2 cameras for free and add-ons are two at a time 

-Masking and motion detection are nice feature sets that make it a very worthwhile solution 

-Jerry concurs and gives us all a lesson on the distinct difference between shenanigans and hijinks

-On the heels of this conversation, Jerry gets into a story of setting up a new camera at a school and working with a subcontractor whose work was less than stellar.

-To turn that towards our own businesses, the team talks about dealing with their own employees when jobs go longer than expected or a learning curve is involved.

-Stories about running cabling or drilling at client sites create some amusing situations, even if they didn’t feel that way at the time.

-Continuing the conversation of working with subcontractors or electricians, each of the guys share their stories of hilarity

298: A Debacle Of Epic Proportions

Topics:

-Sam has some follow up on the story he shared on episode 292 when his client purchased hardware without consulting with him

-Joe is not happy with what he calls “auto incorrect” on iOS & macOS. Sam & Jerry pile on.

-Another grip for Joe is when using Apple’s search suggestions in Safari, there is no ability to go back to all results.

-Sam tries to convince Joe to “let it go”

-Sam has a big scare when making a change on a Ubiquiti network

-When Jerry has issues updating Ubiquiti firmware, he has to resort to manually updating via SSH

-As the Ubiquiti discussion continues, they bring up the new CloudKey Gen 2:
https://store.ui.com/products/unifi-cloud-key-gen2

-With equipment like this that require periodic firmware updates, Jerry poses a question of how to handle that with clients that are time & materials. Do you proactively reach out? How do you handle billing?

-We could not have an episode of Command Control Power without a Jerry client impersonation

-Mesh networks like Eero are good alternatives to more complex setups in residential scenarios. However, Sam knows “zero about the Eero”.

297: Interview with Justin Esgar of ACEs Conference 2019 & Virtua Computers

Topics:

-It's almost the time of year again for the ACEs Conference.  This week Justin Esgar joins Joe, Jerry, & Sam to talk about ACEs 2019 - to be held June 4-6 in Kansas City, MO (NOT to be confused with Kansas City, KS) 

-Work/life balance was a theme of ACEs 2018 that Joe really loved.  Both Joe & Sam attended the morning yoga session on day 1.

-Justin's wife as well as his Board of Directors have been key to making ACEs successful: Alan Hancock, Adam Engst, Andy Espo, Will O'Neal

-After feedback from previous years, Justin and his team have implemented a new theme where participants will be able to meet in small groups and get feedback and help from their peers.

-The Keynote this year is Sgt Major Fenton Reese

-Brian Best is back for year 5.  Will he be presenting in a tuxedo?

-Justin's own company, Virtua Computers, was changed dramatically from the conference and his yearly revenue reflected this.

-One piece of advice is to research and go all in on the tools you will need for your clients. Whether it's Addigy for RMM (Remote Monitoring & Management), Zendesk for ticketing, JumpCloud for SSO (Single Sign On) or Apple Business Manager.

-Automating and perfecting your processes is not only going to make your clients successful, but it will set your staff up for success as well.

-Justin shares some of how he bills his monthly services 

-Virtua also does Dark Web scanning for his clients.  He uses ID Agent for that service

-Keeping an ongoing relationship with the client is an important factor that makes those money conversations that much easier

-Justin quizzes the group with a typical interview question

296: Clients & Support

Topics:

-Joe is broadcasting from the passenger seat of the RV as he deals with a host of hardware problems

-A company called Twelve South created a product called AirFly that’s perfect for using your AirPods on an airplane: https://www.twelvesouth.com/product/airfly

-Jerry is working with a new client who has a current consultancy that holds all the credentials close to the vest and it presents its challenges

-Methods of doing business becomes a hot topic as Joe & Jerry talk about navigating those waters with clients

-Working with resellers or other companies that may operate differently can cause confusion and add complexities working with the client

-Jerry compares the work at times to being a refrigerator repairman

-Sometimes in our line of work, feeling appreciated is a rarity

-“You don’t *** with the computer guy” - Jerry Zigmont

-Some clients just want to game the system

-Jerry has some good stuff to say about the TidBITS Content Network.  All of the CCP team put it to good use and you can too: https://tcn.tidbits.com/

-While we are on the subject of clients, Joe & Jerry talk about methods and styles of communication

295: Change Up The Usual

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Topics:

-Jerry has some clients with MacPractice and he has some concerns with their recommendations for Dolly Drive. Joe chimes in on his experiences.

-Since Sam is relatively new to syncing Desktop & Documents to iCloud, he was looking for a way to stop specific subfolders from syncing to iCloud. He found that adding the suffix of .nosync to a folder would remove it from iCloud.

-On the heels of naming conventions discussions, Jerry has a client that named folders with all the special characters that tend to wreak havoc on an OS. He got the old line “it wasn’t a problem before” from the client.

-Sam’s client had what they thought was an issue with a UniFi mesh device. The answer was a lot more simple than expected.

-Whenever a client messes with DNS, it’s a recipe for disaster. And Jerry’s client was no exception.

-A need from one of Jerry’s friends turns into the discovery of a line of products from Ten One Design. He ends up getting his friend the Blockhead, which turns the Apple power brick sideways to the socket. Check them out for a variety of other ingenious products like the Stella or Wifi Porter.

-Listeners of Command Control Power can get a very generous 20% off their order by using the code “Command” at checkout.

-It’s the simple things. Joe shares a feature of the Amazon Prime app on iOS that just makes sense and he wonders why other video streaming apps don’t do this.

-Jerry recommends troypoint.com for use with an Amazon Fire Stick

-Joe has a new segment/corner/pop quiz called “Apple should have told us”. His story starts with a local iPhone encrypted backup with a lost backup password. Apple does have a knowledgeable article on this topic: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205220#help

-His wish for an RSS feed leads him to a lot of dead ends: apple.com/support/rss/intl/body.html, rss.support.apple.com, support.apple.com/rss, and just for fun: www.apple.com/support/home/index.html

-Thanks to Tim Nyberg of The Mac Guys for mentioning a tax break for the tax year 2018 that may apply to your business: https://www.mileiq.com/blog/pass-through-tax-deduction/

-On a fun note, Jerry shares a funny ad for the Super Bowl from Stella Artois: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX8TMYRk6_w

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