AnilDesai.net

Cloud Computing, Virtualization, .NET / SQL Server Development; Consultant / Author / Speaker

Archive for October, 2008

Microsoft Virtualization e-Learning Courses (Free)

Oct 30

Posted by Anil Desai in IT Tips, Management, Systems Admin, Virtualization | No Comments

Microsoft is working hard to get IT pros to understand its many different virtualization products and technology.  The list includes Hyper-V, App-V, Terminal Services, and the recently-released System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2008 management product.  It can be really challenging to keep up-to-date on all of this new technology (especially when some of these things are potential game-changers).  If you’re willing to invest the time, Microsoft has made numerous e-Learning courses available for online access or download:

Free virtualization e-learning collection

Take Microsoft E-Learning Collection 6333: Exploring Microsoft Virtualization Technologies for free! Collection 6333 includes the following:

Click on the links for the entire Collection, or for individual courses to add them to your e-Learning Library.  You’ll need to login with a Windows Live ID to activate the content.

Personally, I’ve used dozens of e-Learning courses (mostly free ones, I’ll admit) to learn the technical details that aren’t always readily available on the product marketing web sites.  Most courses are fairly in-depth (including code samples where appropriate), but there are usually some rough edges that seem to be remnants from beta versions of the courses.  Overall, though, I think they’re an excellent resources.  And, all of the courses listed above are available for the convenient and affordable price of free.

CS TechCast on Struggling Entrepreneur

Oct 28

Posted by Anil Desai in IT Tips, Presentations, Webcasts | No Comments

Recently, it seems that both techies and non-techies have been really interested in the pros and cons of starting their own businesses and working on their own.  With all of the economic issues and uncertainty in the U.S., it’s to be expected.  In fact, at one point, I thought about creating a blog focused on tips and advice for those that are considering working independently in IT and other industries.  It somehow fell lower on the list of priorities (making an article on time management and prioritization a good candidate for an ironic first posting).  Of course, there are numerous online resources that are provide some really good information for people that are thinking of “taking the plunge” (or for those that are already knee-deep in it).

Struggling Entrepreneur is one such site, and it has recently re-published a CS TechCast interview that I recorded a few months ago.  You can access podcast 67 – Freelance Entrepreneur as IT Consultant and Author for free online.  Here’s an excerpt from the introduction:

When you have the technical skills, knowledge, abilities and experience in the ever-changing world of IT, you may have the burning desire to branch out on your own and establish your own services firm in the form of being an IT consultant–either as a specialist or generalist.

But the key questions you may have may leave you pondering:

– Do you specialize or diversify?

– What about keeping your skills up to date?

– How do you ride through the slow times during IT “peaks and valleys” of IT projects and engagements with clients?

– What about the administrative burden of running your own IT consultancy (e.g., taxes, accounting, sales, marketing, promotion, etc.)?

Hear what a successful IT consultant has done in order to stay ahead of the IT technical curve and yet keep loyal customers and accept exciting and key engagements focusing on state-of-the-art IT technologies.

Check out the full podcast and also all of the other great content on Struggling Entrepreneur.  I’m also recording a new interview with Fred Castaneda tomorrow.  I’m looking forward to it and will post a link when it’s available.  Stay tuned!

Webcast: Network-Attached Storage (NAS) and Virtualization

Oct 15

Posted by Anil Desai in Management, Storage, Virtualization, Webcasts | No Comments

I recently recorded an on-demand webcast, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard.  The webcast, titled NAS and virtualization: Right scenarios, right choices, right deployments.  From the abstract:

Virtualization has brought next-generation network-attached storage (NAS) beyond the limitations of the old NAS architectures. View this webcast with virtualization expert Anil Desai to learn more about this evolution and get tips on best fit scenarios and deployment techniques.

Deciding the best place for NAS implementation is very hard in the complicated world of the new data center. In this webcast, Anil Desai describes the right NAS scenarios, right choices and the right deployment options for your infrastructure.

The Webcast is available for free, but registration with TechTarget’s Bitpipe.com is required.

Managing Virtualization with SLAs and Charge-Backs

Oct 8

Posted by Anil Desai in Management, Virtualization | No Comments

The seventh chapter of my eBook, Managing Virtual Environments, is now available for download from the Embotics web site.  This chapter focuses on ways in which organizations can bring order to their data centers by communicating and enforcing Service Level Agreements (SLAs).  From the introduction:

The implementation of new technology often comes with new challenges. While a pessimist might point out that many IT departments and the businesses that they support are resistant to changes, there’s an opposing view: Often, new technology such as virtualization can provide a compelling reason to address organization-wide operational and management issues. The major challenge faced by most IT teams is the constant struggle to meet business requirements while staying within budget. Overall, the goal is for technology investments to remain aligned with business initiatives. Virtualization is attractive for just these reasons: It provides unprecedented flexibility and agility to data center resources.

Despite its technical benefits and the ability to lower operational costs, many IT managers have found that they are unable to keep pace with the needs of the users they support. In some cases, cost overruns lead to budget constraints which, in turn, can slow business growth. Personnel and expertise are limited, and it often seems that no matter how well-planned the infrastructure is, there’s some portion of the environment that fails to meet requirements.

Returning to an optimistic view, virtualization provides an excellent opportunity for organizations to implement methods to address these issues. This chapter focuses on the topics of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and charge-backs – two methods of improving coordination, communications, and priorities within a business. As in previous chapters, the goal is to maximize the benefits of virtualization while minimizing costs and related management overhead.

You can download chapters from this eBook for free (registration required) from the Embotics Knowledge Center.

The State of Microsoft Virtual Server (MSVS)

Oct 3

Posted by Anil Desai in Management, Microsoft Hyper-V, Microsoft Virtual Server, Virtualization | No Comments

When new technology comes out, IT people often tend to discard the old (or, sometimes, begrudgingly live with it).  Sometimes, however, older solutions are perfectly useful for certain purposes.  I recently wrote an article for TechTarget’s SearchServerVirtualization.com web site that focuses on the superceded-but-still-relevant Microsoft Virtual Server.  From the article’s introduction:

We techies tend to look forward to new technology with good reason. In most cases, new products and services improve upon old technology. But migration in production environments can be slow. So what about existing technology? A good case in point is Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 (MSVS). MSVS is available for free and is a perfectly viable option for many environments. In this tip, I’ll look at when, where and why you might want to use MSVS rather than its newer replacement, Hyper-V.

You can read the entire article for free: See Microsoft Virtual Server still viable management option.