Social: My New Job

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A good friend and colleague of mine caught me by surprise a month+ ago. It looked something like this:

Weeks have passed since that day, most of which have been diligently bringing my time as a Systems Engineer for the Unified Storage Division of EMC to an end. Now let me take a step back and outline what many have wondered since then: what did I sign up for? 

The Team -

As small as the Social Media team is at EMC, it has two important elements to it. Half of the team is about social engagement external to our properties. Think Twitter, Facebook and the such. The other hat this team wears is around social analytics.

The other half focuses on EMC’s communities, in particular the EMC Community Network (ECN for short) where customers and EMCers collaborate as well as EMC|One, the internal-only social community. 

My primary roll now falls under the latter: EMC’s community. I work closely with the successful folks in the Support Forums, and recently released project R.A.M.P. centered around recognition of our top contributors.

 

 

 

I imagine the equation to be like like this:

A recipe even the chef would be impressed by.

 

1 part blogs, 2 part social technology, 3 part community building. All with a dash of analytics and a pinch spontaneity.

So there you have it. Cheers to a huge shift and new adventure.

 

 

 

#!/usr/sbin/nerdherd

Q: But Matt, what the hell man?  I thought you were an Engineer?

A: In short – I haven’t changed.  

To expand: You aren’t the first or last to wonder what’s up with this move. I’ve moved from programming, to performance analysis on SAN and NAS systems, to System Engineering to Social Media. Before the knee jerk gets too much say in the matter, let’s get two big things out there:

Number one. I’m still the same nerd. I read Hacker News. I rip apart software stacks. I fantasize about tech.

Number two. Social engagement is only as captivating as the content it curates. The team at EMC recognizes it just like the community Dave Henry has lead over at Everything VMware respect that he knows it too. The team loves as much the fact I not only want the community to flourish, but can spark conversation as a peer. My work in the hay day of EMC on Spiceworks was part of the proof.

So overall, this move is huge for me, and in the last few months it’s proved to be a great one.

Traveling Light: iPad Vacation Review

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[No Vacancy]

Leaving the basketball part aside, March was my personal month of madness.

I felt like this guy: beady eyed and pun-tastic.

Between the NECCDC, transitioning jobs (more on that later), and signing up for plenty to do at EMC World (more on that too), I needed pure relaxation. My girlfriend and I found it at Ylang Ylang Resort in Montezuma, Costa Rica.

The biggest step for me is what I didn’t pack: a laptop. 

It’s tempting to think you’ll need it – backing up pictures in case of a hazard, supporting multiple users without constantly stomping on each other’s login pages – but it can be lived without.

Here is how we divided it up:

 

I stuck to my logins on iOS apps, she stayed on the web apps. We both configured our Gmail accounts within the native Mail client.

And that was really it. We had a simple, light, (more) battery-efficient multiuser web portal that took great photos like the one below.

One of the neighbors

And I wasn’t alone. There was hardly a group of people I saw without noticing their tap-friendly iOS device in hand.

It’s a bit too Nietzschean to announce today as the day the PC died, but we’re sure getting closer.

#!/usr/bin/nerdherd

Here’s the one-liner sum up in my head:

  • When to bring the laptop – when the trip is more about business than relaxation.
  • When to use an iPad – all other times.

A few must noteworthy apps that made this travel a success:

  • Trip Advisor - sincerely reliable reviews. It’s my international go-to version of Yelp.
  • Evernote – it’s consolidated all my disparate note tools into one platform. I write thoughts, to do, blog ideas, upload pictures of everything from waterfalls to flight confirmations to PDFs. Evernote is my perfect life aggregation interface.
  • NinJump HD – there will be that time when you just need the empty thought of a challenging game. My go-to is NinJump. It’s free, fun, unbeatable and ends quickly. Perfect for a mini meta-vacation.

[Qs]

  • What do you think of the rules above?
  • What apps are must have for your travels?

Thanks for sharing.

_matt

 

 

Erroring my way to a vESXi 5 Lab

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My lab environments have gone through some serious trial and error in the past, but this weekend is setup to be a grand success. In preparation for EMC World 2012 (more on that later), I have been allocated a pretty great, albeit hodgepodge, setup.

>> Two ESXi 4.1 servers with 8GB and 32GB respectively & 4 NICs each
>> One VNXe 3300 series with 2.8TB of SAS storage & IO modules totaling 12 NICs

Let the games begin.  

IS THAT NOT AN EPIC LAB CONFIGURATION?!

Eric Gray’s work is towards the top of my googling for “Virtualized ESXi 5 on ESXi” and it proved quite useful. He focuses on getting nested ESXi 5 systems to run in an Inception-esque way. It’s great to see is that VMware recognized the power of this configuration and now gives you a profile under Other ready for ESXi 5 nestings.

That’s a great trick for ESXi 5 users, but I’m running ESXi 4.1 on the hardware and virtualizing 5. I knew someone must have done so already, and thankfully I found Juan Manuel Rey’s post concluding in such. With Juan’s vBlessing, I moved forward primarily following Eric’s detailed layout.

I followed his vSwitch configuration advice to the T, but still managed to find my first headache.

No Network Adapters aka This is Why We Don't Have Nice Things

Now I followed Eric’s directions and setup four vNICs, so how could it not be seeing them??

 

 

What I didn’t notice in my haste of hardware configuration was that I left the default network settings in place…

You spot the problem?

Adapter type is set to VMXNET 3, though Eric’s blog post clearly shows the adapter type should be E1000.

Ahh, the devil is in the details.

Foolish mistake, but the kind that is as real-world as it gets. Sometimes our goal to complete a task precedes our desire to do it right the first time. Luckily gems of knowledge like well-documented blog posts are littered all over the ‘nets.

Upon reboot, I crossed the network adapter stage with no issue.

Now what?

There was one more devil-in-the-detail moment for this installation… and this one I didn’t spot on my own. The installer was barking that no storage was available.

No Storage = no bueno

But why? I’ve allocated storage already.

I didn’t spot the answer this round and was looking for the equivalent of a phone a friend button.

Thankfully I never feel alone when it comes to virtualization.

Being the active socialite I am, I popped the question out there first thing in the morning this morning. One or two tweet later, I had some useful and other hilarious responses.

Ask and you shall receive both useful and snark-based answer.

The lion’s share of answers were right on – ESXi doesn’t play well with the paravirtual SCSI controller type. I saw the goodness that is C0:T0:L0 after the switch to LSI Logic SAS.

Now we’re at the most rewarding screen you can get to on an ESXi install.

#!/usr/bin/nerdherd

Cody Bunch, virtualization demigod, blogging machine and script ninja at Rackspace, has a mantra for those new to virtualization: install software, blog about it. Use software, blog about it. If errors arise, blog about it. When fixed, blog about it. Repeat.

I pay thanks to him and many others I can rely on in the community by giving back to it. It all leads back to one though:

Posts like these reminds me of the simplest reason I blog: so that no one has to make the same mistake twice. 

 

VFcache Meta-Post – A Review of What’s Been Said

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To start off on a tangent, can I say that hasn’t already been said? Alas, the rookie blogger instinct still lives on in me. BUT WAIT. There’s so much to talk about when you dig into what people are talking about. So let us review the reviews that stood out today.

VFCache: Greek god inspired; no longer a myth.

For those still lodged under a rock and whom fortunately came across a whisper of an easily cracked wifi signal, you might have just heard about the announcement of VFcache. In a nutshell, it’s a PCIe card designed for extremely high performance SAN write-through enabled read cache with the ability to double as RW DAS.

That’s a mouthful. But the question is this: Why? 

Chuck digs into the only thing that matters at the end of the day – customers wanted to see it:

The best part is that customers don’t have to decide ahead of time which is the “better” approach: server-side or array-side.  One environment enables them to use the mix that works for their environment: performance, cost, availability, etc.

Choice is good.

Backed up by the technical enthusiasm that is Chad Sakac, you get the idea – flash is a disruptive force when you look at the performance charts. Mark shines more light by quoting Pat Gelsinger on the release.

But what are non-EMCers saying? 

For those still full of curiosity on the specifics, Greg Shultz did a great schizophrenic Q&A with himself on the VFcache specifics. His conclusion?

Thus with VFCache, EMC is using SSD as a cache enabler to discuss the decades old and growing storage IO to capacity performance gap in a force multiplier model that spreads the cost over more TBytes, PBytes or EBytes while increasing the overall benefit, in other words effectiveness and productivity.

On a less enthusiastic tone, Stephen Foskett got into the mix with his stance. He starts and ends pointing to the simplicity of the initial release of VFcache though gets to a point no one would disagree with:

But EMC’s entrance into the host-based flash storage market is a powerful demonstration of the wave of disruption caused by flash-based storage and high-performance computing.

If your mind is like most, you leap to the natural comparison. Luckily The Register ran an interesting article jumping into the lion’s den of WWFioD. Fusion-io’s CEO is said to respond with a simple conclusion:

Cache is a useful function for flash in the server, but cache alone does not address the full potential of flash for application acceleration.

And that’s without a doubt.

#!/usr/bin/nerdherd

Many will dig into the intricacies between Fusion’s DAS solution and VFcache’s split-card mode, SLC vs MLC and the overall commoditization of NAND technologies, but I’ll leave that to those with more time and clearer metrics than I have at the moment. The main point is that everyone agrees with David Flynn’s conclusion or, said otherwise, no one is saying caching alone rids the world of application bottlenecks.

When it comes down to it, your knee-jerk instinct is still the right take away: EMC is now inside your host. 

And that, my friends, is big news.

More Time to Join in the NECCDC Hackathon

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The Northeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition is happening March 9th-11th. And there’s still room for you. If your interests overlap at all with the blooming environment of Security get your Application here.

Remember, in events like these enthusiasm is more important than experience. If you dedicate the time, you’ll be welcomed.

Here’s the deal: (snagged from the original post)

The Competition Scenario:

  • Students represent an IT team who was just hired to replace a team who was fired without any notice.  They walk into 8 computers, 4 are designated as servers and must host services like websites, ecommerce applications, and mail.  The other 4 machines are designated as clients whom the judge in the room uses from time to time to score business injects.  These business injects simulate requests from management to do a variety of tasks.  These tasks can include anything from starting a FTP server to adding new users to the company.

The Logistics:

  • The competition will be taking place at EMC’s Franklin Facility Friday, March 9th to Sunday, March 11th
  • There will be 12 teams of 8 students competing from colleges throughout the Northeast (2011 winner was RIT and  competitors were: Northeastern, Harvard, NYU Polytechnic, University of Maine, UMASS Boston, Stevens Institute of Technology, Alfred State College, Pace University, UNH,  and Champlain College)

Judges for the Competition Needed:

  • NECCDC needs volunteers throughout the weekend to serve as judges!
    • If you are only available parts of the weekend please note that when “applying” otherwise your commitment will begin Friday at 11am and be done Sunday at 2pm.
    • See “Judge Criteria” portion of the application for more details on what kinds of professionals they are looking for.

Last year inspired a firestorm of curiosity in me, which is at the heart of my transition from System Serviceability to System Security Engineering. This event isn’t just an opportunity to volunteer or to join into the community, it’s also a gateway to professional opportunity.

#!/usr/bin/nerdherd

Here’s a look at the chaos caused by the Red Team. A room full of professional penetration testers use Armitage to coordinate the attack. Remember, it’s all in good fun. Make the right connections and maybe you can join in for 2013.

Applications are due this Friday @ 5pm ET.

Year of the Community

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This past year has been astounding; exciting; unprecedented in my life. The heart of the reason why is you. It all leads back to you.

Connected dots via InMap

Let me explain. Today marks the annual celebration of the first time I bared weight upon my own lungs. Though that is celebratory in and of itself, what’s makes it special to me is where I feel I am today. In the last year, I’ve gone from tenderly tiptoeing into the social media scene to trusting in it as a core part of my interaction with the world. The power of Twitter conversation connected me with colleagues at EMC and got me to Las Vegas for EMC World 2011. Those I met in person connected dots even further, causing ripples upon ripples until they lead to VMworld 2011. These major conferences along with the amazing work of the NEVMUG inspired my mind to see it: there is a community out there that we’re all a part of.

But let’s put it in perspective. These conferences mean nothing on their own. What makes them special is you. What makes me want to be there are the times we spend teaching each other the intricacies of MLC vs SLC NAND chips or preferred hypervisors or hacking tricks. And then there are the times we’re wandering around a city none of us call home like a lost tribe looking for adventures. What I know is valuable because you care about it. What I do is special because we enjoy it together.

If there is anything I've learned this year, it is how much I love to connect those dotted lines between us.

 

 

I am so excited to see the connections continue to blossom this year. Thank you for making the last the best of my career and one of the best of my life.

 

 

#!/usr/bin/nerdherd

So this post isn’t all reflection without sharing, here’s my personal checklist of technical communities I work to stay up on:

On Twitter — Yes, you probably follow me (or will now), but who do I follow closely? The conversations on the #NEVMUG hash tag get me excited for what’s next on the biggest independent VMUG out there. I lend a helping hand on the #VNXe Qs floating around. I also love to partake in #privchat happening every Tuesday. It’s full of security experts and technocrats who have honest conversation on the future of privacy.

EMC Community Network (ECN) — If you haven’t seen the sexy revamped site, I highly recommend you check it out. There’s great conversation happening on all products. Definitely check out the hard work happening on the Ask The Experts forum.

Spiceworks — They love the SMB space and have a strong network of peers to fill in your technical gaps.

SuperUser — the lesser known cousin of Stackoverflow is a space I always keep on my mental checklist in case I have a Q without an A even after I google.

Then there are the many blogs I follow on Google Reader.

Post some of your favorite spots if I missed them. Hope to see you one any of these and, ideally, in person as well.

Matt

Community Junky: Prove your Security Skills at the NECCDC

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You’re in luck. The Northeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition is back at EMC for another year. And I was given the green flag on opening up the invitation. Applications are due this Friday @ 5pm ET, so read on in a hurry and get your App here.

Here’s the deal:

The Competition Scenario:

  • Students represent an IT team who was just hired to replace a team who was fired without any notice.  They walk into 8 computers, 4 are designated as servers and must host services like websites, ecommerce applications, and mail.  The other 4 machines are designated as clients whom the judge in the room uses from time to time to score business injects.  These business injects simulate requests from management to do a variety of tasks.  These tasks can include anything from starting a FTP server to adding new users to the company.

The Logistics:

  • The competition will be taking place at EMC’s Franklin Facility Friday, March 9th to Sunday, March 11th
  • There will be 12 teams of 8 students competing from colleges throughout the Northeast (2011 winner was RIT and  competitors were: Northeastern, Harvard, NYU Polytechnic, University of Maine, UMASS Boston, Stevens Institute of Technology, Alfred State College, Pace University, UNH,  and Champlain College)

Judges for the Competition Needed:

  • NECCDC needs volunteers throughout the weekend to serve as judges!
    • If you are only available parts of the weekend please note that when “applying” otherwise your commitment will begin Friday at 11am and be done Sunday at 2pm.
    • See “Judge Criteria” portion of the application for more details on what kinds of professionals they are looking for.

Last year inspired a firestorm of curiosity in me, which is at the heart of my transition from System Serviceability to System Security Engineering. This event isn’t just an opportunity to volunteer or to join into the community, it’s also a gateway to professional opportunity.

#!/usr/bin/nerdherd

Here’s a look at the chaos caused by the Red Team. A room full of professional penetration testers use Armitage to coordinate the attack. Remember, it’s all in good fun. Make the right connections and maybe you can join in for 2013.

Applications are due this Friday @ 5pm ET.

Community Junky: Ask the Expert – VMware + VNXe Integration

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This week marks the culmination of a number of community projects that have me constantly excited and slightly sleep deprived these days. I could think of no better way to emphasize all these strands of thought by sharing them with you this week.

Today begins a two week stint where my fellow blogger Henri Hamalainen and I represent the community in the EMC Ask the Expert series. The community leader, Mark Browne, explains the premise here right before the year’s end. The New Year is here, so let us begin.

Expertise can be a relative term. I'm aiming for the 2-3 week time period.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When approached for a topic, I had to consider the two main variables: what could I talk about as an expert source and – more importantly - what does the community need to talk about? 

After conversation on Twitter, the ECN forum and in person, we noticed the most interesting conversation centers around interoperability. How do we, the users, get the most bang for our buck out of the simplicity of the VNXe and the customizability of ESXi? 

That very conversation is happening for the benefit of all of us. Join in here. 

#!/usr/bin/nerdherd

You change the world you participate within. Seriously. You do.

To get a bit more specific, community projects that kick up like Ask the Expert will be heavily monitored for statistics. How many questions are being asked? How often? These all go to answer the ultimate business question: is this effort worth my limited resources in both capital and people hours?

If you find value in free-form, community-oriented Q&A, then I want to make sure you know your time matters. Post on the forum. Check back daily – hourly even. Post anything you’re not 100% sure on. Even if you are 100% sure on it – maybe others aren’t. Prove this effort is not only wanted but entirely necessary.  Share. Be part of the community.

We’re looking forward to it.

 

The HOW and WHY of Home Lab-ology

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As promised, Sean Thulin & I have released the next edition of our podcast – I Tech Therefore I Tool Around. First, some definitions:

OL·O·GY/ˈÄLƏJĒ/

A subject of study; a branch of knowledge.

home·lab/hōm·lab/

A collection of electronic devices within one’s place of residence for the purpose of technological immersion.

Where you have the right setup, everyday is a day at the beach. Instructions are here: http://lifehacker.com/5735033/the-home-office-sandbox

This round we dig into what makes a lab a home, a home lab worth investment, and we did so in a particular way that stays true to our purpose. We’ve kept the spotlight on what’s relevant to us and our peers. In doing so we ask the questions you should have in your mind: why should I build a home lab & how can I build a home lab?

My lab experimenting idols.

There are two big points I’m proud of here. Number one, we don’t assume you should have a home lab. A good deal of the time the conversation starts with the expectation that you should have one already. We want to understand more where that drive comes from so we can be informed consumers and producers of guidance. Number two, we talk about how to build a lab on a budget or on a trust fund. It’s important to admit that these toys get expensive and we want to make sure you’re using your money more wisely than some (referencing myself here.. more on that in the next post).

Insert no legal obligation for your actions here.

Closing Thoughts

The only take home point I’d like to add to our analysis is this: expertise develops from playfulness. Go play. Just don’t blow anything up.

A big shout out to Phil for his Baby Dragon design schema that Sean goes over in his post. And another thanks to our good friend Luigi Danakos, aka Nerd Blurt, for joining the conversation. It was a blast to record from his house.

#!/usr/bin/nerdherd

I love workspace design. It’s not a 100% agreement with feng shui principles, but there is something to say for feeling at home in the space you are in. If you’re looking for creative ideas on the matter, you should dig into the Featured Workspace posts over at Lifehacker. They blow my mind at the same time as inspiring it.

Technical Certification 101

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Sean and I have gotten some great feedback so far on our first round of emceeing the podcast. That’s when it struck me: a big part of the episode was preaching to the choir.

We talked as if you, dear listener, were already familiar with the base questions; as if you were already versed in the multitude of certifications out there. Well, let me take a step back to the beginning and fill in some blanks. I’ll include some fun factoids as well to keep those well-versed interested as well.

“Technical certification” is a broad stroke term. There is a long instantiated practice of technical companies promoting their software as the standard. This approach continues today. I know mainly because EMC does a damn good job at setting the stage.

Certification is about authorization - proving you are capable of what you say you are. There is also a strong correlation with puns.

Fun Fact: The first vendor-specific certification that is still around today is the Certified NetWare Engineer (CNE) in 1993 according to Wikipedia.

[ Made a correction here. Got my dates in a kerfuffle. Thanks Jim! ]

 

Now, let’s get to what wasn’t asked.

 

 

Start at the top of the stack. It doesn’t matter if we talk OSI or TCP/IP at all – both just act as frameworks of how I think about technical job opportunity.

The architecture we subscribe to.

Now, here is my absolutely subjective certification flow chart:

Do you want to develop an iPhone or Android App?

Then go do it. It’s more use to show your app than to show a certification that you could make an app if you get hired.

Do you want to build something pretty?

Yes. Ok, answer this next:

Do you want to care about data management?

Yes. You’re ambitious. You could do good things with LAMP/Drupal/PHP. Stop stalling and go build the future.

No. Can’t blame you. You’re up for an interesting niche. There are academic programs in UI Design, HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) and other 1 year pursuits that will do you well. I’m sure there are certs for it too, but I think it’s worth more to produce than cert in this case too.

Don’t care about UI or just don’t want to code it?

I’m the latter as well. Let’s talk lower in the stack.

Here’s the hit list of what to get.

Storage: EMC has an extensive framework depending on your interests. There are product specific tracks to follow once you hit the baseline and also flourishing options around Cloud Computing and Data Scientist tracks.

Network: There are multiple standards. No one would undervalue seeing a CCNA on your resume from Cisco. Juniper also has a track and with how powerful and popular they are in IP networking, it’s worth a look. Read up on the “core wars” to see how these two companies are at it.

Operating Systems: There are some classics from Microsoft, Red Hat and SUSE, but let’s admit it: virtualization is the hard of the new world. I’m linking to a non-EMCer to prove it. I don’t care what you work on, plan to know VMware. The plethora of resources on VCP will get you going strong, many of which are linked in the podcast post.

One more fun fact: This article highlights the controversial usage of the term “Engineer” as it shifted from physical to software in 1998.

All that said, TechRepublic still found that the highest average paid certification holder was a PMP holding Project Manager.

So there is the rundown of what we didn’t mention. Now go forth, or back as it may be, listen to the podcast again, with enough background to dig right in and help get our iTunes subscription rate up.

_Matt