Archives 2013

Here are some of the top questions I’ve been getting lately since I’ve been here in Afghanistan.

Why the hell are you in Afghanistan?!   What are you DOING there?!

I mean, sure I was a little… obtuse about details, for safety and security reasons when I shared things initially in my post Taking a stand and serving my country; or WTF is @CXI doing in Afghanistan?!? but I think I’m comfortable answering a few of these questions for you :)

So on the initial question, WHY am I here – refer to my blog post above and I think you’ll get that answered pretty easily! But more importantly…

What am I actually doing here!

So, I eluded to doing things with Storage… Virtualization… Cloud… etc.   Well, here is a little low-down at the best I can possibly offer you. :)

In 2011 Afghanistan NATO and International forces had ~800 bases or so, and then started closing down or transferring bases, take the 202 bases closed in 2012 alone and as we are here in 2013, more and more bases are being closed as we ready for the complete draw-down slated to finish Dec 31 2014.   So, you’re asking WTF ARE YOU DOING, STOP STALLING!  :)  

Where I come in, is as these bases start to close up, there’s infrastructure which gets decommissioned, data-centers closed, services shut down or consolidated.   And as the Afghanistan theatre and country lead for Virtualization and all the fun that falls underneath that… Well, let’s just say… There’s a whole lot of fun that falls underneath that! Between the sites which are shutting down and the ones which will continue running for a long time to come. :)  

Hopefully this gives you a little bit of an idea of what I’m doing, how I’m doing it, and all of the evolution and change which goes with that!   I’ll provide more details, stories and so much more as time goes on, you can’t even begin to imagine the challenges and woes of high tech infrastructure in a warzone and as applicable I’ll share those stories here, at conference and beyond when I come home!    Also, I’m planning to do some ‘virtual’ VMUGs here for the guys on the ground who haven’t had that experience and if you’re a speaker/presenter who would like to try to remotely present let me know!

Some of you ask about sending me letters, care packages and what-not, feel free to send whatever you’d like to me at the address below!

Christopher Kusek
JNCC-A Task Force Signal
APO, AE 09354

I wish you all the best and don’t hesitate to reach out to me in the short and the long-term!   Eventually I’ll be coming home and the eventual adventures I’ll pursue when I come home, Safely.  :)

So there you are working with your vCOPS and suddenly it reports OMG YOUR VCOPS ANALYTIC VOLUME IS RUNNING OUT OF SPACE!
You know the alert, It’s predicting you have 22 or some arbitrary number of days left! OH NO, WHAT SHALL WE DO!

Well, I highly encourage you to NOT do what I did initially.. which was increase the size of the VMDK and then try to expand that.
A little tip… THAT won’t work! :) I mean, sure you go to visit this little tidbit which indexed so nicely on google..

Expanding the data disk of the vCenter Operations Standard virtual appliance (1.0.x only) (1035655)

Yes, I see that it says 1.0 ONLY but hey, we’re ignoring that fact because we are NOT finding the answer! Well, I’ll save you a lot of time by saying DO NOT EXPAND YOUR DISK, DO NOT DO WHAT THAT SAYS, etc… :)

Instead I would like to point your attention to this little bitty which ChaseHansen on the VMware Communities brought to my attention! Thanks Chase!

Adding additional storage to the vCenter Operations Manager 5.x Analytics or UI VM (2016022)

And allow me to sum it up for you as well…

IF YOU ADD ANOTHER VMDK TO THE ANALYTICS OR UI VM, IT WILL ALLOCATE THAT SPACE TO THE LOGICAL VOLUME

Seriously. Talk about simple, straight forward and probably documented but I was over complicating things and didn’t think to check if so.

Now you too can avoid this problem and hopefully find this answer when your Analytic VM is starting to run out of space! I do particularly like how the article says that doing this ‘should’ add the disk to /data volume (In my case it did… so hopefully they’ll refrain from blessed assumptions ;))

Enjoy my dear vCOP’ers!

So this conversation came up the other day, basically, “Hey, isn’t there a way to convert Std to Ent in one command?” Some might say, “No, you must re-install of your hosts and as part of that rebuild process I will charge you 1 million dollars in Consulting! MUAHHAHAHA!” But, no. The answer is. YES YOU CAN!   And so I don’t have to go hunting to find this at some point in the future… here is all the citing evidence to refer back to ;)

Thanks to our dear friend,  Jim Millard @millardjk – It’s as easy as seen in this tweet!

     Dism /online /set-edition:ServerEnterprise /product key:<KMS key>

But to cite some additional information, in case we need to troubleshoot something or we don’t fully understand WTF that means!  These additional articles can help out as well!

• Change Windows Server from Standard to Enterprise Edition
• SQL Server 2008: Upgrading to Standard/Enterprise Edition from Evaluation Edition
• Upgrade Windows Server 2008 R2 standard to Enterprise

While this may not be the most authoritative source on the subject… if it solves for your problem, then BAM! And if not… well, we can track down those other scenarios! Unfortunately… I don’t have any Std versions to actually need to upgrade to Ent at the moment to screenshot through! But hopefully you find this useful.. eventually when I’m in that situation needing to use the cmd, I’ll look back upon this and give this a whirl! :) Enjoy!

Every now and then I get people who really want to share the good will and the good word of Cloud, Technology and Industry.   Accepting this submission and article, I bring you this write-up provided, covering 5 Specific Benefits of Cloud Computing; I’d say check it out with an open-mind as I did, and I look forward to any and all feedback you contribute as I know you can be a vocal bunch :)

5 Specific Benefits Of Cloud Computing

One of the hottest buzz terms in computers and technology over the course of the last year or so has been "cloud computing." The concept has been around for some time now, but it was Apple’s announcement and implementation of the "iCloud" that really started to spread awareness about the potential and benefits of cloud computing. Now, popular companies and systems ranging from Dropbox to ShareFile are offering their own cloud storage systems to anyone who’s interested, whether that be an individual, a private website, or a large company online. But what exactly does cloud computing have to offer? Here is a quick rundown of 5 of the chief benefits.

Added Data Support

Particularly important for large businesses or companies with particularly busy online web services, cloud storage systems offer automatic support for excess data. Essentially, if a website or online service finds itself in a situation in which it requires the use of more bandwidth than usual, the cloud service automatically meets that requirement. This is possible because of the capability of the off-site, remote servers that cloud system providers utilize.

Fortification Against Disasters

There are various types of disasters that can essentially wipe out vital electronic data for any online operation. Cloud services help with most of them. For example, if for any reason electronic data is wiped clean or lost, it is generally far easier to recover if backed up on a cloud network. Additionally, companies are less vulnerable to misfortune related to hardware disasters (damaged computer equipment) because their data and information is stored on the cloud.

Collaboration Efficiency

If employees of a company need to work together on a project, or even observe and respond to reports and communications, the cloud can be of great service. By uploading documents and files to the cloud, any employee (or client, for that matter) with access can log in and do whatever work is necessary, from any location and any device.

Work Versatility

The concept of working on documents and files uploaded to the cloud is not only helpful for the purpose of collaboration, but also versatility. As mentioned, employees can work from anywhere, on any device that can access the Internet. This encourages more efficient work from employees and greatly simplifies the work process.

Data Security

Hardware issues were briefly mentioned before, but deserve a category of their own. When working without a cloud, a damaged smart phone, lost laptop, or broken work computer can be an absolute disaster, and can cause employees to completely lose valuable work and documents. However, with that work supported on the cloud, the loss is not so great. Of course, there are still costs associated with replacing lost or damaged equipment – but the work from those devices will be safe.

/End – A quite interesting view, perspective and it helps begin a lot of the dialogue in our grand strategy, plan and interpretation of Cloud as we know it!

A lot of you have been asking about this.  So I thought it about time to finally share just what is going on!    An interesting opportunity presented itself recently to allow me to serve my country in a way I am capable of and more importantly, allow me to do my part to help bring our troops home.     Allow me to provide a little background and context.   I am no warrior, I am no soldier.   I can barely even carry the gear that is the bare minimum used for protection, I can’t even begin to imagine just what the weight of the weaponry involved is!

Allow this visual depiction of my experience of getting blood drawn for putting my DNA on file to give you an example of just how non-capable for soldiering I am!   And why yes I did pass out during the blood draw, really it wasn’t the blood draw so much as the WHERE IS THE VEIN, I KNOW, LETS MAKE HIM PASS OUT! It wasn’t the first time, and I warned them up front this was bound to happen if they didn’t find the vein the first time!

But with all that said and done, I am still physically fit to actually BE here, and apparently, strong enough to at least WEAR this gear when time calls for it!

Though I’m far more accustomed to just wearing a jacket and take photos of myself after not having slept for days and days – Oh, where would I not sleep for days and days? Probably some place like this PAX Terminal which often receives mortar attacks…

But I digress a little.   Back to what I am doing here.   I am no warrior, I am no soldier… I am a technologist, I teach, educate, evangelize, enliven, and solve problems and let me tell you, <REDACTED> <REDACTED> <REDACTED>, Pretty awesome, right?

I’ll be honest, due to the sensitive nature of what I am doing here, what and where I am working on, etc; I am unable to really share a whole lot of what I am doing or what it entails but I can via obfuscation share that I am helping spread the good word, will, and journey of all things that are Storage, Cloud, Applications, Virtualization, Security and more.   You know, all the kinds of things you often enjoy my expose’s of and the like!   The real and ultimate goal of this journey is doing my part to help bring our troops home safely, and ensure that the the infrastructure which helps support and save lives sustains.

This world is a very secretive one but there are parts of that experience often never shared that I’ll be able to reveal as I serve my time here.

Many of you have asked how you might go about sending me letters, care packages, whatever or the like; provided below is my APO for those wondering.

Christopher Kusek
Trace Systems
JNCC-A Task Force Signal
APO, AE 09354

I also have a DoDAAC which is pretty awesome for FAST delivery, but that’s not really needed at all!  A conversation on facebook revealed that USPS has free shipping materials for APO addresses.   Honestly, I really don’t think I need much, I mean I try to be a pretty easy person; albeit vegan food options out here are quite difficult and interesting to say the least…

I do apologize I haven’t been on Twitter much, Internet connectivity here SUCKS and I cannot get to twitter from my work machines, though Facebook works fine, thus I’ve been being as regular there as I possibly can respectively. :)    I cannot stress enough how having a max 5k download speed at times really means, it makes Skyping challenging enough as it is at times. :)

I’ll keep you all updated on my journey, and new and interesting lessons learned from the Warzones, consider me the eyes into this world which often is shrouded from our very eyes in media reports and beyond.    I hope you all are well, and I take steps to ensure my safety on the regular so I’ll be able to return home in this mission to help return home our troops and do my part in the United States drawdown from Afghanistan.

Be well, and I hope this revealed enough to comfort or alleviate any thoughts some of you may have been having! :) Comments, letters and beyond are always welcome! :)