Category Baltimization

Special thanks to Steve for the laughter he induced in me here!

Here at NetApp we have a number of veterans, experts, masters and well – extremely knowledgeable and smart people.

Now without having to sort through the text and descriptions of the NetApp blog page – You can just click on a random picture and get to the goods! :)

I like this approach myself, because that visual journey makes decisions that much easier! :)

And one more to the docket – Recently added!

The word is out!

It’s official! SQL Server 2008 has gone RTM!

And I expect in short-order a full support for SQL 2008 with SMSQL – as things are certainly inline with this paper published in February of this year:

MICROSOFT SQL SERVER 2008:

DECISION SUPPORT WORKLOADS -1TB DATA WAREHOUSE ON IA64

So, coming soon to a test lab near me (at home) I’ll be upgrading to SQL 2008 with RTM, instead of the RC0 release I’ve been running!

Good luck upgrading, planning and sizing your environments!

So, there have been a number of changes around here.

• I’ve switched from default numeric posting names to ‘named and dated’ events. 
• I’ve attempted to start using LiveWriter again, which can be a challenge when you find a complicated manual process of editing files directly to be so much more appealing!
• I’ve added some additional blogs, with some more to come.
• Primarily filling out my fellow Microsoft folksies, special respect to Dan Rey, Ariel, and the new Microsoft Beta Blog (Thanks Trika!)
• I’ll be adding a number of NetApp blogs for some good close friends and folks who have a lot of indepth knowledge to share, and read respectively!
• I’ve taken some additional betas and will be providing further obscure "non-violating NDA" details of the exams in depth
• I have a number of broken things, which I haven’t been bothered to fix such as ATOM RSS feeders, carriage returns for that "ShareThis" app – and who knows what other SEO violations I may be under!

I think that is a fair coverage of some changes that have occurred – As for things to come:

• Indepth posting of Exams, Certifications, Betas – Who takes them, who should, how you can be that person, and being a master on a novices diet.
• Performance assaults, differences, metrics and other insanity
• Super cool NetAppy stuff, the likes of which will shock and amaze you
• (Yet, you’ll eventually be of the understanding as I am – of accepting that as how things OUGHT to be ;))
• More CWUG Updates! Yea you heard me!
• More Beta exams and Post-Mortems, and perhaps a review of tests of the past.
• And perhaps insight into the mind of a Pekingese!

See you soon!

This is an absolutely amazing test, which is simple, easy, very understandable and straight-forward.

Did I pass? Eh, possibly – but I’m not going to bet my life on it.

If it’s so easy, why am I unsure? – so begins my Post Mortem :)

If you’ve ever looked at the internals of Windows before, and that means drilling down deep into User.dmp‘s, Memory.dmp‘s and looking at threads, processes, heaps and a number of things – Especially getting your hands dirty debugging windows – This test is right on par for you, almost a sub-100 level test on what is involved.

However, to the untrained ear (or eye) you’ll perceive this as a 900 level test, making you work your hardest while reviewing everything arcane, different and strange to you.

This all boils down to the unwritten rules of Power Curves such as to say, not everyone is suited to be an administrator, architect, collaborator, consultant, debugger, developer, engineer, evangelist, professional, technician or Technologist.

But that doesn’t stop us from trying.   And it is tests like this one which further stretches that line, while blurring it at the same time – exposing and opening up those possibilities without expert knowledge to embrace it and grow our technological community as a whole.

Good luck out there, keep growing.

And if you want to grow your Windows Internals knowledge – Here is a good place to start.