Technically Speaking

The last couple days (minus travel) I have been in Fort Collins CO learning about Converged Infrastructure, 3PAR, VirtualSystem and other things HP is doing in storage.  I got the invite about a month ago and having attended other events in the past, I was all in.

I am not sure if the knowledge, and technical learning or the people and networking I get the opportunity to do is the best part.  I will admit, the technical things I liked the most were the ones I knew the least about going in.  My organization is small, and we have bigger storage than we did even two years ago, but some of the storage I have been learning about lately is definitely in the Big Enterprise category.

3PAR

I knew 3PAR was a service provider focussed storage company that HP acquired.  That is about it.  I think I also knew they used yellow bezels.  Some of the programming and data handling software that 3PAR is using to efficiently handle data is amazing.  A good amount of the decisions made (once the user decides where the data should be placed) are handled on the backend in the array.

Once the offload happens, 3PAR has a set of algorithms and software called ASIC that get to work on the commands passed in by an admin.  The compute work is also handled in storage and the whole thing is very fast.  The hands on lab was a great experience, allowing me to play with a 3PAR array, something I will likely not get to do in the real world.

It would be cool if HP could make some of these labs available via the web to allow further learning by us geeks who just have a desire to know as much as we can hold about storage.

I know that I havent covered everything we saw from 3PAR, but for me the ASIC discussion and the efficiency of the system were definitely the highlights.

Virtual System

I have always wanted a kick ass pile of compute in a box.  You know, the kind that falls from the sky and plugs in, bringing you an enterprise quality system.  HP is doing this on medium, large, and huge scale.  They sell certain levels of virtual system which brings compute, management compute, networking, and storage into one or more interconnected rack enclosures.  The customer works with HP and chooses the options they want, and the racks appear  (plus shipping of course). Even though the systems can be high to start, it is a ground up, quick way to take the mess out of a datacenter and get a clean, fast, product that just works.

Networking

The networking opportunity that came from this event, with both other bloggers (some of whom I had met before and some new faces) and HP employees was incredible.  I know that I will be reaching out to a few of the HP-ers to learn more about some of these products and to the other bloggers to help my network and general knowledge of storage technology grow.  I am amazed how much I have learned over the past few years both from attending events and meeting people.

Next up.

Once I get back to Wisconsin (boarding the plane in just under 2 hours) I will be knee deep in Tech On Tap.  That kicks off tomorrow and really is a similar event in style to what I have been doing this week.  On a smaller scale, since we selected a technology and found some smart people to come in and help us talk about it. As much as I am tired at the moment, I cant wait to see what tomorrow brings.

I know that I will also be chasing down a good digital recorder before I goto another event like this.  It is really hard to keep up sometimes and maybe getting notes that way and sculpting them into useful stuff after that is the way to do it.  I missed a good chunk of a virtualization integration session while fielding a couple of support calls, nobodys fault, but a good opportunity to record and review later.  The portions of the session I did catch were interesting to say the least.  I have a lot to learn about virtualization.

Thank you

I want to thank HP (@HPStorageguy and @beccataylor) for putting this event together and all the other HP-ers and bloggers who participated and helped me learn something new.

 So this week is storming right by and is capped off with a trip to Fort Collins CO to learn about 3Par and Lefthand and how HP does storage.  I am interested to learn more about both of these products, and even storage in general. There will be lots of useful discussion for sure which is the best part.  

Bringing bloggers together to discuss and learn about HP products and the tech that makes them work is great and I’m glad to participate.  Like others attending I have read some of the white papers covering both 3par and Lefthand but have no experience with them. No worries, I’m sure it is coming soon. After going to CO, next up is Tech on Tap I am very much looking forward to the first event and hope it is the first of many.

Time to pack and charge my iDevices.

I have been trying to talk myself into learning Microsoft PowerShell for quite some time.  It was always cool for a little while and then, like many other things, it just got dull and lost its shine. Until recently it was something I knew I would need to learn someday because Microsoft would eventually put it into products as the core means of administration.

Note: I realize that they are doing this already, but until recently I hadn’t been close enough to a product that used it to worry much about it.

Then I started getting into Exchange 2010.  PowerShell for managing E-mail from almost all aspects of the process is a damn fine idea.  Now I have a reason to learn more than a few simple commands, because I might actually put them to use.

Where I have been

I signed up for an account at PowerShell.com to get my feet wet and hopefully participate in a community. I have found this to be somewhat useful in the past and am hoping that it allows me an outlet to go dig around in other peoples scripts to see if I can comprehend just what they are doing.

I am on the fence about ISE… I know at some point notepad will become a burden to use, but just starting out, I don’t think I need to worry about that just yet.  If anyone has any suggestions for things to look at in terms of ISE or just good resources for learning PowerShell, please post them in the comments.  I am anxious to get a jump on this thing in the hopes that it will be worth the effort to understand.

Tons to learn

I have tried a few things that I found while binging my way around the web and it has been interesting to see what is out there, surely I haven’t even scratched the surface yet.  I would think a PowerShell magazine or some newsletter type offering would be a huge benefit to the PowerShell community.  Maybe the guys at Redmond Magazine would consider getting something wild like that off the ground??

For now, I will begin re-perusing the books I have on PowerShell and dig into the Internet on the subject further.  Maybe there will be an event near me in the future that will help me learn… I will keep my eyes peeled for that for sure.

Apparently the American public is burying its collective heads in the sand on the SOPA legislation. The goal of this bill is to allow the government to censor the Internet for an unimaginable list of reasons. Many of which seem to be purely “hey I don’t think that stuff is appropriate” type complaints. I wonder if the people sponsoring these bills and their supporters have any idea what they are going to do to the Internet if these things pass.

Internet censorship via DNS blocking allows any websites with comments or links to other sites to be removed from the web because someone doesn’t like what a website has to say.  This seems to be a violation of the first amendment, the one that grants me freedom of speech and the right to maintain a blog and post comments to other sites voicing my opinion on any topic, from technology to politics.  Why does the government get to decide what I post online? Or what I say on Facebook or Twitter?

I agree with the idea that you should not post things online that you wouldn’t share with Grandma Lois, but I will decide what I should and shouldn’t post… The government has no business deciding that.  Am I someone who uses the Internet? Sure.  I use it everyday for my job, freelance work, and entertainment, and the freedom of speech and freedom of expression is what makes it so great, not a government controlled firewall that takes it upon itself to determine what content I post and view online. If I wanted that Internet experience I would move to a country where this behavior was expected.  Here in America, we choose our leaders, and this kind of censorship is unacceptable. The problem with copyright protection and content online is more about business models than anything.

If Hollywood wants to run to cry wolf when they do not get their way, that isn’t helping anyone. Changing the business model to use online sales and distribution might be a better way to go than crying foul for some bad apples who piss them off. Hopefully congress realizes the error here and forces the entertainment industry to figure out a better solution.  Remember what happened when the banks got bailed out… That seems to be an idea we will be recovering from for a while… Blocking DNS to censor the Internet is kinda like that, a hugely bad idea that has to have a better solution.

I know that the blackout for SOPA has started and sites were down, which is great to put a message out there, but at least one site missed the boat. Facebook. Sure there was a statement from both Facebook and Zuckerberg denouncing SOPA, but why not make a bigger statement, make the site dark.  How many politicians have friends, family, or children/grandchildren who use Facebook every day? Wouldn’t shutting the site down to protest SOPA make a big mark in the case of those who oppose the bill. Maybe next time sites protest SOPA, Facebook can play too. 

It seems that my organization will receive 10 tons of benefits from moving to Exchange 2010.  Some of  those are mail related and some are not, but since the overall infrastructure of the place will decrease by a few physical items, we are full speed ahead in the Exchange 2010 consideration.

So I started getting acquainted with Exchange 2010 in a VM today.  Prepping AD and Running setup to see where that might leave me.  Since it knows about my existing Exchange 2003 organization and detects it without much help I think this really might be pretty decent.  

I feel a bit like a geek rockstar, having a full mail server all to myself, but once all the configuration and testing are done others will be moved there too.  Then, the old hardware we use for mail, a pix firewall, and various other prehistoric gear can come out.

Doing that might make our Internet experience less bumpy, goto meeting might work all the time, and dare I say, we can go cloud.  So far the cloud looks good, but no way until the bandwidth is reliable.  I’m interested to see how quickly this happens once things get moving.

Well the first days of 2012 have flown right by and given no indication of slowing any time soon. I have quite a few things coming up over the next month or so which I am hoping will motivate me to get more content online here as well… We’ll see how that goes.

In a couple weeks I’m off to Fort Collins Co. to see some HP storage technology and some friends, then it’s right back here for Tech on Tap : Virtualization on Saturday 1/28. I am still not sure we really managed to get it all done, but it seems to be coming together nicely. If you are still wondering what Tech on Tap is all about, check out the link and sign up, there are a few seats left that need filling for this event.

After the first ToT event there is something new coming for me in February with SolarWinds thwack community. I will be providing some blog posts to get the discussion moving about storage. The posts aren’t for products, just to build conversation. The gig is paid (full disclosure) and my opinions are my own. I am excited for the opportunity and can’t wait to get started… Now where did those notes and ideas go?

Next up, Microsoft’s MVP summit, or geek camp as my wife refers to it.  I am hoping to learn more about Windows 8 and plans for file system dedupe.  Should be an informative week.  Hopefully lots of ideas land on my plate to consider and expand on, then when those that might be under NDA can be disclosed I’m all set.  I know there will be things ready for prime time right away and that’s cool too. Between all these things there is writing for TechRepublic and Redmond Magazine, planning more Tech on Tap events and maybe some work for Pearson Education too.

Oh and as of yesterday, I got Exchange 2010 running. Now to get the pieces in place for the iPhone and other users, then the network cleanup can begin, progress, and be completed.

2012 looks to be the best year yet, and I can’t wait to see how this year shakes out. Thanks to all the friends I have made over the past few years for all the help, support, and opportunities (learning and other). I am often surprised by them. Here’s to great content in 2012!

Adobe,Web Content,Application Review

I never thought I would be looking at content editing applications for blogs and websites, especially from Adobe, but here I am, creating a blog post about contribute in contribute.

What got me here

A friend mentioned that a friend of his was looking at Contribute and asked if I had worked with it.  Since I hadnt, I thougth going through the trial would be a great way to see what the application is all about. That was over the summer… here it is the last of December and the trial is getting underway for me.

So far, I am not sure what to think.  It is a content editor, like the best parts of what was once Microsoft Front Page, with a better web feel, but most content management systems available today (think WordPress, Blogger, etc) have WYSIWYG editors right on the website.  The way Contribute handles themes from WordPress is the best I have seen for an application.

Figure A

The Interface

As you can see, the interface for a blog post seems to place an edit box right in the middle of what you would see if the post is published. For me this allows me to think about placement and visibility and what the post will look like without having to  save as draft, then preview, then edit some more.

I’ve also noticed that the action buttons or toolbars are moved outside of the editor window and out of the way more like a typical desktop application like Word or Excel. I didn’t really think that was something I would care about because I’m used to using the web editor but it is kind and nice. I have to give credit to a duly for having a clean interface contribute certainly has a clean interface and I can see it being very useful for blogging sites or blog editors who manage multiple blogging sites because you can connect to multiple sites from within contribute.

Figure B

Adding Sites

I’m not sure if it would be super useful for standard website content management because most of the individuals that I interact with that do standard websites or web design use tools like Dreamweaver and build their content within that environment having a content environment aside from that seems a bit excessive to me.

Website content management

Managing websites, which seems to be going away in favor of blogs and other content managment methods, can also be done in Contribute.  Remember, this is only for edting content and displayed items.  You can use it to place images in a directory via FTP or WebDAV and then manage the web pages within the tool.

Website Design and structure would be best done in a tool like Dreamweaver as it allows both content and coding to happen.

Where contribute might be a great addition to your toolkit is as part of a team where there are those who develop web sites and others who create content for those sites.  This way, the content creators can get by without knowing the difference between <Div> and <Span> the editor (and the webdesigners) take care of that for them. 

Is the product worth it?

This is where I am a bit on the fence.  when I first looked at the software I was quite convinced that it was a bit unnecessary when managing content for sites or blogs, however I have been playing with it some in writing this post in and starting to see where it could be very useful. At first my plan was to play with the software and create some content or blog posts and then write a review through the normal process that I use, but since I’m publishing this to my blog I thought the best way to play with the tools to create the review right in it.

That being said, I haven’t scratched the surface on all of the features that contribute brings to the table and if I choose to continue using it once my 30 day trial runs out I will likely dig further into those features. For now I wanted to stick to the right of blog posting contribute side of the house and provide some overview information and thoughts.

The cost of the software if you own a previous version or the cost to upgrade a previous version of one of Adobe’s creative suite products is $99, which could be very worth it if you plan to do a lot of editing a lot of blogging and things like that.

The cost to buy the application new is $199 which to me seems a little bit high for content publication. I plan to use the rest of the 30 day trial to better decide if this product it works for me in terms of some of the blogs that I manage but the odds that I actually purchased the software are slim based on an extremely high cost and limited feature set. I hate to call a limited feature set because I understand what the feature set is but for that price seems little state a little steep if the product were $99 new and $59 to update or better yet a $40 update it might be worth it. The price point is the biggest thing in Contribute makes me run away from this product at this time. I tend to have this position with a lot of Adobe products because they are very expensive but if this product will save that much time and effort in a specific situation where a lot of editing is being done in our new publishing is being done, then the price could be worth it.

The best recommendation I can give at this point would be to download the software and run it for 30 days and see if it fits what you’re trying to accomplish if it does any really use it every day and maybe the price is okay for you if you don’t use it every day then I would imagine the price is too high.

Good luck and happy blogging.

It all started with an idea during a panel session at the Microsoft MVP Summit earlier this year.  Simply stated, my thought was that sessions in or near the bar are almost always full.  Why don’t we do some sessions locally for all different types of technologists and geeks at brewpubs.  This way we can all network around beer and the technology du jour.

When I got home, I talked with Jes Borland (@grrl_geek) about the idea and if I remember she was on board from the word beer.  We did some brainstorming and came up with a few ideas to help determine if this was feasible or not.  Amazingly, it was very feasible.

After some discussion we enlisted another person to help out.  Mark Cyrulik (@mcyrulik) came on board almost as fast as Jes did, although I think that discussion was a few tweets.

Then came some paperwork and more brainstorming and as of this week, Tech on Tap spun up and we are racing toward our first event.

What is the idea?

Brewpubs are great places to network and socialize and technology is fun. Bring the two together and who knows what kind of learning might happen.

For more details about the organization and upcoming events visit Tech on Tap.

Our first session on Virtualization is Saturday November 12th 2011 at the Stone Cellar Brew Pub in Appleton.  We have an attendance limit for this event of 50 people.  If we get more signups than we can accommodate, that will help us work toward the next Tech On Tap Session.

Where are the details?

The details of the specific events, especially the first one are still being finalized and are coming soon.  Because this is our first event, it will likely take a little longer than we’d like, but should make going forward that much easier.

Thank you for all your help

Working on this project has been exciting and sometimes a bit scary, but Jes and Mark have been great partners in getting this rolling.  Without their help, and form filling skills, I do not think this would have been more than an idea.  You guys Rock!

My wife Laura is also at the top of my thank you list because she believed my idea was worth a shot and that I wasn’t crazy for going after it.  Sure I’m busy and have a lot on my plate, but what’s one more thing?  Thanks Honey.

We hope that others in the Fox Valley will find these sessions useful and share them with those they know.

The past few weeks have been more than a bit nuts. Trying to keep my writing calendar up to date and get things moving is proving to be quite the challenge. One of these days, there will be time for all of it I hope.

In addition, the beginnings of an infrastructure refresh are afoot at my company. We are going to go virtual in the coming months and up first is out with the old and configure some new. Adding another 12 disk shelf to the storage array and working to get the most disk for our buck and replacing upses is the first thing on the list. Should make fo an interesting Friday night. Depending on your definition of interesting.

I am looking forward to the huge project, but am a bit nervous as well. The sheer size and scope of the thing is pretty wild. If you have done something like this before, what would you do differently if you could do it over again?

The fact that this will lead to a huge footprint reduction and cut down my departments power use is awesome, although I do not know by how much as it currently is not measured. If the temp in the room comes down 5 to 10 degrees on average I will call it successful based on the “green” metric. I think the virtualization and new methods of backup will take some getting used to, but once I have a handle on them they should work out well.

In addition, figuring out a way to vlan my backup traffic to a nas device is on my almost short list. If anyone has s suggestions there feel free to email me or comment here. I am looking for ideas here yet, so any info I can collect is good by me,

On September 11 2001 I was far away from the Big Apple.  Having just graduated from college the previous May, I had started working full time at the local ISP doing tech support for those who needed it.

Since I was working the close shift and didnt need to go to work until noon, I got to sleep in a bit, however the alarm was still set for 7 or so in the morning.  Normally if I was allowed to ignore the alarm I would hear it come on and barely move.  When the alarm went off (or when I noticed it) I heard then President Bush addressing the nation (or a clip thereof).

Let me tell you, hearing the President on the radio where there would normally be music or mindless banter is like hearing the Emergency Alert Signal, which in a way, I guess they are very similar.  I do not have stories to tell of colleagues or co-workers in New York but just seeing the events unfold on the news was mind boggling.

Having been in the IT industry for my entire career I have had some amazing opportunities and met some truly amazing people.  Some of them did have first hand experience with the events of 9.11 – and I am very grateful that I have gotten the chance to know these individuals. For one such account, click here.  The events of the day seem like they happened only yesterday even though I wasnt involved directly and the horrors of what happened stick out just as clearly.

For all the complaining many do about what is going on in the US today from the economy to the elections and the job market, we as a nation made it through 9.11. The events of today seem small in many ways compared to the events 10 years ago and maybe they aren’t, but if we can get through that we can surely get through this.

To those who lost loved ones on 9.11, my prayers go out to you still.  And to those serving to defend the freedoms we have, Thank You.  You deserve all the thanks and respect in the world and you certainly have mine.