Yes, But What Do You Use It For?

The question posed of me by a senior administrator upon learning that I finally bit the bullet two weeks ago and purchased myself an iPad.I, like many others had viewed the iPad as a consumption-only device, or just another vector for purchasing content through iTunes. Which in hindsight, was a total misconception. In addition to the basic web and mail functions, the iPad has been an indispensable tool to helping me get a new network and 50 iMacs up and running within a matter of days. The battery life lasts longer than the Macbook Pro I normally use for day-to-day system administration, and while it will never replace my beloved 13” laptop, it certainly has its place right alongside it.

Here are the apps I’m using:

OmniFocus

I’ve spent a lot of time (and money) looking at task management systems, and a few years ago I finally forked out for OmniFocus on my Mac. Since then I also purchased the app for the iPhone, and then most recently, the iPad. Me dropping over £100 on a task management system for all three platforms (albeit over time) can be interpreted as a serious personal statement. I try to go for free options wherever possible, but I find that if I wasn’t using OmniFocus, I couldn’t hope to be a quarter as productive as I am when using it. And the iPad implementation is probably one of the best uses of the iPad that could have been imagined. So while buying into the platform has been expensive, it’s been completely worth it.

OmniGraffle

Only recently have I started using OmniGraffle on my Mac - I decided to undertake the arduous task of a re-creating all the hand-drawn building plans for our campus so that I could better plan the deployment of our iMacs. Since then, I’ve been creating custom stencils for interactive whiteboards, printers and any other gear we use that I couldn’t find a stencil for on GraffleTopia. While I don’t think that task is going to perform better on the iPad, I have used it to create a few org charts and measurement diagrams in a matter of minutes. Using a touch interface for this is a no brainer - apps like this can help a person understand why things like the Magic Trackpad and the recently revealed patent for a touchscreen iMac are going to bring touch-based computing to the masses much faster than we may realise.

Evernote

Much like OmniFocus, I wouldn’t be able to function without Evernote. I keep absolutely everything in there of importance, such as essential technical notes, hardware and software details, etc. Although this is just an extension of what is essentially a cloud-based service, I can still sync my entire Evernote database to the iPad so that I’m not reliant on network connectivity to get access to the information that I need.

MochaVNC

In order to get all the software I needed pushed out to my clients, I set up packages in Composer and pushed them to my clients from my server using Apple Remote Desktop. MochaVNC allows me to remotely control the server, queue up installations and monitor client progress from anywhere on campus.

MochaRDP

We also run a number of Windows servers in house for things like Active Directory, Exchange, telephony etc. Being able to log in without being sat at a computer is great when I’ve had to quickly troubleshoot the servers on the fly.

DropBox

Without a shadow of a doubt, the most useful app on an iPad (or any device, for that matter) for accessing all my critical files.

Pages

Although I don’t do a tremendous amount of word processing in general (I tend to keep things in Evernote), writing and formatting in Pages has been helpful in creating password lists and other important information for staff. The InCase case that I purchased to go with the iPad lets me type at an angle, so there’s no need to pair with a Bluetooth keyboard. Text entry is quick and speedy.

Keynote

I’m currently working on a lecture that I’ll be giving in October. On top of using OmniGraffle to organise and plan the flow of the lecture, the presentation part of it I’m creating the bare bones of in Keynote. Although I will be doing the final editing on my Macbook Pro, I’m still deciding whether or not to run the presentation itself off of the iPad or my laptop. I’m still a huge fan of the Keynote Remote app for the iPhone, and I don’t think there’s a better system for me at present.

Google Apps Admin

Thanks to the web-based control panel, I was able to get a friend’s new company set up on Google Apps purely from using Mobile Safari, Evernote and Mail. From account creation to changing A, CNAME and MX records.

Sidenote: The entirety of this post, right down to the picture editing was done with the iPad.