Archives 2009

Yea, you heard it right! Microsoft unveils program after program to help get people jobs, keep you in jobs and ofcourse increase education and awareness, which certainly helps in the whole job scenario!

So, let me show you just what DreamSpeak has in store for you!

Well, free training and education, vouchers! books and videos!

The MCTS Free Voucher program is tied to education and being within the schooling system, so do account for that in the account you login with in order to be able to access and obtain your free voucher!  If you choose any of the various schools, it will show you what the expected address type is to look like (looks like a security risk/flaw to me.. but what’s a free voucher amongst friends! ;))

I know some of you have been waiting patiently for MBRAlign after finding out that your ESX Virtual Machines have been out of alignment all this time (A common trend which affects nearly everyone who uses ESX!)

Well, the wait is over! Now you can actually go and download MBRAlign directly from the NetApp toolchest, without having to wait for someone (like me;)) to give you a copy to download! (I do appreciate you asking, and am more than happy to provide you the tools in any event :))

If you’ve used the MBRScan tool before, in order to determine if your machines are aligned or not, that is still available as part of the VMware ESX Host Utilities Kit (v5)

And now you can download MBRAlign directly from the NetApp Toolchest! Hoorah!  I implore you to please read the mbralign.pdf first before you do anything!

For some additional information on this, I encourage you to check out the NetApp community article which echos a number of these statements.

UPDATE – mbralign is available from the ToolChest on the now.netapp.com website

So, check it out, let me know if you run into any problems or issues and I’ll see what I can do about em! ;)

Don’t miss the bus! You have to enter by 9:00 am Pacific time on April 6th!

Get on the Bus is an 11-day learning odyssey across the United States aboard the Career Express bus. The Career Express will travel from Tampa to Los Angeles, ending at Tech·Ed 2009!

What exactly is this Bus?   It’s a contest of sorts, and yet it’s also an adventure all rolled up into one!    The Bus will be taking a tour of various locations, stopping to meet with individuals, organizations, user groups, authors and various meet-ups along the way before ending at TechEd 2009 (North America)

Get on the Bus winners join the Career Express in their city and accompany the Microsoft Learning crew as we stop to visit with the Microsoft Learning community along the way. We will blog, Twitter, video blog, and have a great time!

How to enter the contest

Step 1: Play the “Are You Certifiable?” online game and get a screen name. You’ll include this screen name in your entry. After you submit your entry, you can keep playing to try to get the highest score possible. You can play as many times as you’d like before 9 a.m. Pacific Time on April 6.

Play the online game: Are You Certifiable?

Step 2: Get creative and write an essay that strongly justifies why you should be selected to compete in Get on the Bus. Have a camera? In addition to your essay, you can submit a video to tell your story.

Step 3: Complete the entry form

Be sure to include your “Are You Certifiable?” screen name and the URL where we can review your essay (and video, if you have one). Remember, creativity counts! The deadline for entering is 9 a.m. Pacific Time, April 6, 2009.

Step 4: Get ready to pack your bags because you might Get On The Bus!

Enter today!

Learn more about Get on the Bus: Read the contest official rules

Here are the links you need to know in order to get everything you need from this!

In each Challenge, a panel of judges will review all eligible entries received and select up to five (5) finalists—based upon the following criteria:

35% Technical and certification knowledge as attested to by your “Are You Certifiable?” high score;

65% Passion and creativity as demonstrated in your essay

The judges, in their sole discretion, may award each entrant who submits an optional video up to ten (10) additional bonus points toward his or her overall score.

The decisions of these judges are final and binding. If we do not receive a sufficient number of entries meeting the entry requirements, we may, at our discretion, select fewer than five (5) finalists in each Challenge. In the event of a tie between any eligible entries, we will have an additional judge review each entrant’s Round 1 video, and break the tie based on the judging criteria set forth above.

Get On The Bus learning offer

THE MICROSOFT “GET ON THE BUS” CONTEST OFFICIAL RULES

How to Get on the Bus!

Get on the Bus!

Get on the Bus – YOU really can win!

Dell apparently sat back yesterday, watched all of the Cisco UCS announcements, and then said “I only see what I want to see” and apparently, all Dell sees is a Blade Server. Doh!

In this article Cisco Blade Server Misses the Mark Rick Be from Dell had the following to say:

17 March , 02:00 PM

Virtualization is undoubtedly a hot topic in the industry, especially today. After much anticipation, Cisco finally announced its “Project California.” As expected, Cisco launched its Unified Computing System (UCS), a blade server appliance designed for virtualization.

There has been a lot of discussion about what this means for Cisco’s partners in the virtualization server market. Are we partners? Are we competitors? Yes and yes. Dell continues to have a strategic networking partnership with Cisco to provide comprehensive solutions to our customers – today’s news does not change this.  Am I worried that Cisco’s new appliance will take away business from Dell? Not at all.

We’ve seen this before. Companies bring to market solutions that address a narrow population of customers or a single IT issue. While Cisco is a leader in the networking space, the server market is a very different ball game. CIOs aren’t looking for proprietary, appliance-like products like UCS because they drive up TCO and create more complexity. This is where Cisco has missed the mark.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the excitement about virtualization that Cisco’s news has generated is great. This is a technology that has revolutionized business computing and I am particularly passionate about it. It seems, however, that Cisco is a bit confused about what customers want and need from virtualization solutions.

When I am talking with customers, there are common themes that come up about what businesses want:

• Options and open standards – Flexibility is key to long term survival in today’s economy and this is what Dell delivers better than anyone else. Companies need more from a supplier than specialized, high-priced solutions. Businesses are looking for the whole package – a technology partner that can help them address and manage their large data sets, edge of the network workloads and everything else.
• Better total cost of ownership – Customers expect that innovation in IT will be focused on lowering the cost of operations WITHOUT significantly raising the price for the hardware.
• Simple management – Customers need the ability to manage their hardware locally. This is not possible with HP’s Virtual Connect –unless you have a 100% HP data center. And it does not appear to be possible with Cisco blades.

Dell’s strategy to simplify IT resonates with CIOs because it helps their organizations reclaim the most valued business resources: people, time and money. You will see exciting news from Dell in the coming months. Soon, we will introduce our totally redesigned Nehalem-based 11^th Generation PowerEdge virtualization servers. And you will also see us expand out partnerships to offer even more options for business looking to build open, flexible and powerful virtualized environments. Stay tuned.

I absolutely agree Flexibility is key for long-term survival, and reliability is paramount for survival period.    Look no further than Cisco for an example of what reliability is while establishing what open standards are, and how they’ll be pioneered and delivered upon.   It will be Cisco’s story in the future than when you think of Virtualization, you will think of Cisco and their significant role in the Datacenter and beyond.

NetApp CEO Dan Warmenhoven on the Cisco Unified DataCenter