Happy Birthday To My Blog

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of the Gary Drumm blog. It's been an exciting year. The blog has had over 9100 views, currently has 3 Feedburner subscribers, and I've published 85 posts, about one post every 4 days on average. Not too bad for a guy who isn't a professional writer.

At any rate, happy birthday blog!

Cool Stuff in Google Chrome

OK, so if you've been on the Internet for longer than a month, you're probably aware that Google recently released it's own browser called Google Chrome. It's a pretty slick browser with some nice features.

Of course it has tabs, and processes flash files for YouTube, but one of the coolest features is the element inspector. If you're a geek, like me, you like to see what's going on under the hood and the element inspector gives you that information at a glance.

To access it, simply right click on a blank space within your web page and select... (wait for it...) Inspect element (difficult, I know). You're presented with a sort of "debug" screen that shows you the different code elements behind the page you're loading.

Still another cool feature is the Task Manager. In the upper right hand corner you'll find a sheet icon with a down arrow. Click the down arrow and go to Developer then select Task Manager (or, for you keyboard people, just press shift+esc). This brings up a task manager specific to the Chrome browser and comes in VERY handy when you have a web page that craps out on you.

Just launch the Task Manager (in Chrome), select the offending page, then press "frapee", (or End Task, to all you non-geeks). It kills the offending page/site, without crashing your entire session, something Microsoft hasn't quite figured out yet.

Lastly, under this same window, there's the Stats for Nerds. A cool little page that shows you statistics on memory usage and processes, as they relate to your web browsing. Wanna see how much pork is in that home made sausage video you're watching on YouTube? This is where you can find out.

So, I'd higly recommend giving Chrome a try. It's not quite ready for prime time, with a few minor bugs that still need to be ironed out, but it us a fun browser and I think it's going to have a dramatic impact on Microsoft and Firefox's future designs.

Expandablog - Growing the Gary Drumm Blog Community

OK, I wanted to announce to all my loyal readers that I'm now using FeedBurner to manage subscriptions. If you've already subscribed, please cancel your previous subscription and add this new feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/garydrumm.

This change will do a few things: 1. It will give me a better count of my subscribers. 2. It will give me insight into which articles are being read, allowing me to more effectively focus my writing to topics you, my readers, are interested in. 3. It gives me access to some great promotional tools, which will help me grow the blog and it's redaership.

While you certainly don't have to change your feed settings, I would greatly appreciate it.

In other news, next week begins my "Daily Posting Initiative". Every week day I'll bring you my thoughts and ideas on the tech news of the day, management, project management, etc.

Lastly, I'm going to launch an official "garydrumm.com" website where I will post more in-depth articles, book reviews, and other items in support of this blog, as well as tying in a YouTube channel that I am creating specifically for tech projects and videos.

So here we go. This should be fun...

Hey Gary, You Just Passed Your PMP, What Are You Gonna Do Now?

I'm going to Disney World!

Yep folks, I just got back from vacation. I took my lovely wife and awesome son to Disney World. We had a great time. Now that I'm back I wanted to let everyone know to expect a few changes to the blog in the coming days. My intention is to begin writing something for the blog every day, so thanks for your loyal readership and start looking forward to some great new content.

Why Is Training Undervalued on Technology Projects

Recently, someone posted a question on LinkedIn.Com asking why training is undervalued in technology projects. Here's my answer to his question:

In my opinion and experience, training for technology projects is typically undervalued because corporate management feels that the technical people performing the project work should obtain the necessary technical knowledge on their own time and on their own dime. Companies just do not seem to be willing to put forth the money necessary to adequately train their employees anymore. The bottom line is the bottom line, and if the company is paying, say, an engineer several thousand dollars a year, then they expect that engineer to keep up with all of the latest technologies and information on their own.

Of course this idea is flawed because you're not really paying said engineer because he knows everything about everything, but rather he's invested the time into learning how to learn technical details and concepts. So the company thinks they're buying an SME in everything technical, when what they really need is an SME in learning and applying technology appropriately and to the proper levels of accepted best practices.

With regards to how this question relates to project management, in the PMI world there is an entire section, under the Human Resources Management knowledge area, dedicated to adequately training, or rather developing, your team.

In my opinion, if you do not put forth the effort to develop your team, then you really do not care about quality. There is a qualitative aspect to project management that is grossly outshined by the quantitative aspects. In other words, executive management is more concerned about the quantity of work (i.e. the number of projects that are completed on time and within the necessary budget constraints) than they are about the quality. Sure quality is important, but overall it's more important to get the work done, and at the lowest possible cost. I believe trainers and training organizations need to perform some analysis that clearly demonstrates the real world, monetary value that training can provide.

For example, Company A and Company B were both performing a widget project. Company A spent an extra 2 months sending their technical staff to training. The result: Company A was able to get the same project done 3 months faster, 30% cheaper, and with a 15% higher degree of quality than Company B. In addition, Company A was able to apply the knowledge gained from the training to other projects within the organization, which resulted in a 35% increase in overall efficiency and a reduction in overall project costs of 12.5%.

These are concepts written in the language of executives. They understand the bottom line. They are looking to cut costs, increase efficiency, improve profit margins, and increase overall shareholder value. If you can demonstrate how providing your technical staff with adequate training can do these things, you will have every executive in the country beating down your door.

Any thoughts? Leave a comment.

ITIL Implemenation Best Practice

I found this fantastic document on Gartner's website. It's a PDF file, and it's well worth the read to any ITIL enthusiast.

ITIL Implementation Best Practice (PDF)

I know, I know. Now that I have my PMP, I'm becoming a suit talking about ITIL, PMP, and other "high brow" subjects, but hey, this is how it goes. I'll do another fun project in the coming weeks, when I return from Disney World! :)

The ITIL v3 Certification Track - I Think...

After much weeping and gnashing of teeth, I think I've finally figured out the convoluted certification track for ITIL v3.

It begins with the Foundation exam. According to Exin's website you can take the v3 test without any prereq's. The exam is 1 hour, contains 40 questions, with a passing score of 65% or higher.

Exin's site does not go into a great deal of information on the Intermediate exams, except to say that you can take a v3 Manager's Bridge exam. It's prereq is a current ITIL v2 Manager's certification. The test is 90 minutes long, contains 20 complex multiple choice questions, and requires 80% or better to pass.

Which leads to the question, what does it take to obtain a v2 Manager's certification? I'm glad I asked...

The two Management certifications, if I'm reading this correctly, are listed as IT Service Management Service Support and IT Service Management Service Delivery. Both require accredited training, meaning you have to take a class, a ITIL Foundation certificate, and two years of professional experience as an IT Management professional or consultant.

It is estimated that it will require approximately 320 hours of study to complete this path.

Of course, the "official" v3 track is supposed to operated a little differently:

Foundation

Pretty much the same thing as v2, except it's based on the v3 changes. You receive 2 "credits" towards an "ITIL Diploma" The ITIL Diploma actually takes 22 credits overall.

Intermediate (Thanks to Learning Tree International for this information)
There are basic areas for intermediate: Capability and Lifecycle

Capability is based on the following areas: Service Design and Optimization, Service Monitoring and Controlling, Service Operation and Support, and finally, Server Portfolio and Realationship Management. Each section earn the student 4 credits towards their diploma.

Lifecycle is based on ITIL's five core books: Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation, and Continual Service Improvement. Each section earn the student 3 credits towards their diploma.

There is also a 5 credit course called "Managing Across the Lifecycle", for you extra-credit geeks out there.

Advanced

Finally, there is supposed to be an "ITIL Super Hero" certification, or rather the "Advanced" diploma, but I haven't been able to find a whole lot on this, because apparently it's still under development.

How much does all of this cost?

Well, given that you have to go to class to Manager Certifications for ITIL v2, and you have to take a bridge exam to translate over to v3, it can break down to something like this...

The Foundation test for v3 is $160. The ITSM Service Support and ITSM Service Delivery tests are $250 each, classes, depending on where you go, will probably run around $800-$2500

If you want to go all ITIL v2 Super Hero, You'll also want to take the following:

ITSM - Practitioner Release and Control: $225
ITSM - Practitioner Support and Restore: $225
ITSM - Practitioner Agree and Define: $225
ITSM - Practitioner Plan and Improve: $225
ITSM - Practitioner Security Management: $185

All told, it cost between $3345-$6745 to get all of this done. But you can do quite well as an ITIL consultant, so it's an investment that reaps potentially huge rewards!

If you're realy serious about this, as I am, you'll also want to join the ITSMF (http://www.itsmfusa.org/mc/page.do) They're sort of like PMI to the whole ITSM/ITIL world.

How To Survive a BSA Audit

I've had absolutely no one ask me about this particular subject, so I thought it would be a good topic to post. The BSA is the Business Software Alliance, you know those guys you hear on the radio that tell you to report your employer for software piracy. What they basically do is agressively pursue companies who knowingly and willingly engage in software piracy and fine them for violating the software license of one of their clients.

For example. Microsoft hires the BSA to go after companies who are pirating Microsoft software. Microsoft has every right, regardless of the fact that they have a ton of money, to charge for software that they own, or rather to which they own the intellectual property rights. They have made the investment in developing or acquiring the software, so they get to determine who and how it can be used.

So, when an disgruntled employee leaves your company he or she decides that want you to have a thorough cavity search by the BSA regarding your software licensing. So they submit an anonymous report to the BSA telling them that you grossly and knowingly violate the license agreements for all of your Microsoft software.

The next think you know, you receive a lovely letter stating that it has come to the BSA's attention that your company may be out of compliance and would you kindly submit full and complete documentation regarding your licenses in the next 30 days. Oh dear God, how are we going to respond to this request?!!!

Now, how do you survive this? First of all, don't panic. If you're not intentionally and willingly engaging in software piracy, you really have nothing to worry about. Though the horror stories abound about the BSA sending in it's super agents with their dark sunglasses and sub-machine guns, terrorizing your receptionist and saying "Mam, please step away from the computer", this is rarely the case.

Secondly, take this as an opportunity to get your license management documentation together. If you work for a small to medium sized business, you probably have licensing documentation all over the place. This is a good change to get it all together and put in a single location.

Thirdly, make 3 copies of everything. When I recently went through this experience, I took the opportunity to get all of my license documentation together and make three copies of everything. One copy went to the BSA and supporting documentation for my report. Once copy became the hard copy license book we now keep in our office. And the third copy is a soft copy of all of the license documentation in PDF format.

I also took this opportunity to implement some ITIL best practices with regards to managing software licenses. For example, now all software purchases come through my department, without exception. Why? This provides for a single point of license management enterprise wide. Since my department manages the purchases, we also manage the assets and licenses that go with those purchases. I've already established relationships and accounts with our key vendors, managing the assets that go with those purchases is just logical extension of that function.

So surviving a BSA audit is simple really. Develop a plan, get your house in order, reply to their inquiry, and then use ITIL best practices to keep from having the start from the bottom when it happens again.

Free ITIL Foundation Practice Test

So, while preparing to take my ITIL Foundation certification in September, I began to research practice tests so I could determine the areas where I needed improvement. I came across a fantastic resource at Berbee.com

They have a free online practice test that looks fantastic! I won't go into my first pass test results, because I'm still "in training", but it appears to give you great exposure to the terminology and concepts they're looking for in the actual ITIL test environment.

Check it out!

http://www.berbee.com/public/learning/webseminar/WS_ITILExam/player.html

PMP Registry Listing

I just got notice from PMI today congratulating me on obtaining my PMP. This is, without a doubt, one of the most significant accomplishments of my professional life. So I checked and confirmed that I'm now listed in the PMP registry.



This is just too cool!

An eOpen Letter To Microsoft

Dearest Microsoft,

I love you guys. I really do. I've made a living, nay a career delivering, installing, and supporting your software. You guys do great work, but honestly what's up with your eOpen website?

I use the site as part of my license management job on a fairly regular basis, at least 2-3 times a month, and it seems that EVERY time I try to go to the site I have some sort of connection problem.

If I can login without issue, then it takes me seemingly forever to load my license information. I have difficulty using your site no matter what time of day, or whether I'm connecting from home, work, or over another broadband connection.

You guys are the biggest software company in the world. Can you please do something about this?

Sincerely,

Very Frustrated eOpen User

The Amazing Vanishing Gateway

Watch in awe as executives at Gateway Computers make their company and brand disappear! Gateway Computers announced on Friday that they will be moving to a "100% Indirect Sales Model" Umm guys, have you not been paying attention? In business, generally, more distribution channels is better than fewer, especially for a product manufacturer like Gateway.

Gateway was a pioneer in the direct sale of computers back in the late 80's and early 90's. You called their toll-free number, told them what you wanted, gave them your credit card, and they put it together and shipped it to you. A very low-cost/high profit model.

Now, Gateway intends to do away with all of that, going to a distribution model that's just like every other product we buy on a day to day basis. I guess this could indicate the total market saturation of computers in general. I mean there are literally dozens of players in the computer field and they all basically do the same thing: Buy components from other manufacturers (i.e motherboards, memory, video cards, hard drives, wireless cards, etc), put them together in their own, branded, case, mark it up and sell it. There's just not a whole lot of innovation in that process.

Gateway could try to develop a new way of computing. They could develop some great new product that generates a lot of buzz (i.e. The Eee PC). They could try to expand their market share by developing new ways of making computers cheaper in general, or more energy efficient. How about Gateway trying to reestablish it's brand by declaring itself "The greenest computer you'll ever own", and then developing systems that meet that standard. Surely with all of the "Global Warming" buzz, that would get someone's attention.

But no. They decide to keep being a simple computer assembly-line and decrease their market value and exposure by removing distribution channels. Oh well. So, sadly, Gateway may be going the way of the Dodo. Sadly because I used to own a Gateway and it was actually a pretty good computer, at the time. But alas all things must come to an end. Maybe Dell will buy them out...

Passing The PMP - Study Materials

The following pictures contain some of the study materials I used to pass the PMP.



Here are some of the details:

PMBOK Guide, Of course
- Mastering Project Management by James P Lewis (ISBN:0786311886)
- Exam Cram 2, by Michael Solomon (ISBN:1789734621)
- Information Technology Project Management By Kathy Schwalbe (ISBN:1423901452)
- PMP In Depth By Paul Sanghera, Ph.D. (ISBN:1598631772)
- PMPrepCast (http://www.pmprepcast.com)
- Villanova University PMP Prep Course, as well as Essentials of Project Management, Mastering Project Management, and IS/IT Project Management (Earning me Two Master's Certifications as well)
- Oliver F Lehmann Project Management Training - Self Assessment Test (http://www.oliverlehmann.com/pmp-self-test/75-free-questions.htm)
- PMP Study Notes by Rafi Peltekian and Raymond Okimura (PDF File - http://www.robertperrine.biz/students2000/Rafi%20Peltekian%20PMP.pdf)
- A very special Thank you goes out to Ray Pierce, PMP, from my local PMI Chapter for the help with the EV formula memorization technique.
- Gantthead.Com, of course!
- PMI.Org - I'm not listed in the registry yet, but that should happen in the next few days.
- Numerous websites, forums, and discussion groups.

Of course I also have to say thank you to my family (wife and son), for putting up with the long hours of study I put into getting this thing finished. Without you guys, it would have all been for nothing.

So What's Next?

Now that I've passed the PMP, I could rest on my laurels and do nothing, however; I've decided that I'm going to get ready to take the ITIL Foundation test. What is the ITIL Foundation test? ITIL stands for Information Technology Infrastructure Library. It's basically an individual certification that says you understand the basics of ISO 20000 standards and processes.

ITIL was originally created under the British government and is a subset of the IT Governance Board. At any rate, it's sort of become the defacto standard for understanding how IT Service Management should be structured and implemented.

There are 3 levels of ITIL certification: Foundation, Practitioner, and Manager. Initially, of course, I will go for the Foundation certification. If all goes according to plan, I should have this completed by the end of September or Mid-October.

Man it's good to have PMP done though. It's like a 1000 pound weight has been lifted off of my back.

PMP! PMP! PMP!

It's done! Today I sat for my PMP exam and, after 18 months of preparation (going back to college, reading numerous books and blogs, memorizing dozens of processes and formulas, and spending countless hours studying) I'm now, officially, a PMP!

I cannot even begin to describe the feeling. I'm actually kind of numb. I keep having to look at the test results printout to beieve that's it's finally finished. This is my first professional certification in my 15 year career. The process has been incredible for me. It's helped me get back into the mindset of learning new things. It's also done wonders for my own self-esteem, not that I really lack in that department, but it's nice to have a 3rd party vailidation of your skills, something I previously did not care much about.

At any rate. I am now, offically, Gary Drumm, PMP. Damn that looks good!!! :-D

Two More Days

In just two days I sit for the PMP. I feel pretty good about it. I've crammed my head with as much PMI think as I possibly can. I've worked out what I think is a very good method for my formula brain dump, and I took tomorrow off so I can spend the day going over a few final items (critical path calculation, building network diagrams, calculating backward passes, etc.).

I think I'm just about ready to go. I recently met a guy at my local PMI chapter meeting who gave me a fantastic and yet simple method for rembering the formulas you need to know. I'll share more about that method in a separate post. So wish me luck, say a prayer fos me, and send good PMP thoughts my way. This is a really BIG deal for me.

Latest Office Update - With Pics

OK. So the wife and kid were out of the house for about 12 hours today, leaving me to study for my PMP, which I'm scheduled to take next Saturday. Since I can't really study for 12 hours, I decided to do a little work on my office at one point, just to relieve the bordum.

At any rate, I moved my dekstop to become my primary PC. I did this for a couple of reasons, 1) I wanted to expand my monitors to 3 instead of just two. My original plan was to have 4 monitors, with two of them in portrait instead of landscape, but my crappy video card made sure that wasn't possible.

So I went with 3 monitors and went ahead an hooked a small (10") monitor I've had in the closet for a while. My idea is to use this monitor as a "watch, but it's not important" monitor, meaning I out apps like my Zune software. I just leave it up so I can easily change the music, without having to close or minimize windows.

I also hooked my external DVD/RW, Iomega 500 GB and some cheapy 500GB enclosure I got, as well as my Sony ebook reader, a rather "colorful" USB hub, my iPod docking station, and my new keyboard (A Logitech cordless Wave desktop).

So anyway, here are the pics...

God I Love It When I'm Right!

Last year, I wrote a little blurb about VMWare's issues with Microsoft entering the hyper-visor market (Microsoft-vs-VMWare).

In this week's issue of Information Week, they discuss the recent departure of VMWare CEO Diane Greene. In the article they discuss the issues that VMWare faces with it's extremely high pricing model and the author (Charles Babcock) notes a quote by Gartner analyst Thomas Bittman:

"...with no competition, you can get away with that... now VMWare has seven solid competitors..."

Babcock also goes on to note:

"...it's Microsoft's presence that's sending shivers through the stock price..."

Don't get me wrong. VMWare is an awesome company, with an awesome product. They virtually (no pun intended) create the virtualization market on an enterprise scale. They have made it possible for companies to streamline their network infrastructure and management. That said, however; it's precisely what I stated almost 10 months ago that's causing them to experience the shakeup now.

Another quote from the article states. "...Microsoft offers a far deeper server and infrastructure management solution than VMWare". Duh! Ya think! Microsoft runs in 90% of networks in the market. If they decide to roll your little one-off application into their server core, what can you do? They have a unique ability to squeeze you out of a particular market without directly competing with you. Like I said, if Microsoft decides they want to play in your sandbox, your better off selling them all of your sand and letting them have it. It's just not a good idea to bet against Microsoft.

Wrong? Right? Who knows. I love VMWare's products and services. I use it in my own network environment. Just like said about Asus-vs-Dell in an earlier post this week, now we'll get to see what happens when the big boys come to town. If it were me, I would have courted Microsoft to buy me out...now, where did I put that "how to write the next big software technology platform pamphlet"?

Apple's Risk Management Plan For iPhone Launch Flawed

The recent launch of the iPhone 3G was has been met with technical "oopsies" that could very easily be addressed by better risk management. Now, be prepared, because I'm about to "go all PMP on your buttocks".

Risk Management, as defined in PMI's PMBOK Guide (Risk Management Planning - Page 237). Risk Management Planning is process group number 11, under this group you have these 6 key areas:

11.1 - Risk Management Planning (Yeah I know it's a repeat of the main heading, I didn't write this stuff, I'm just trying to memorize it right now)
11.2 - Risk Identification
11.3 - Qualitative Risk Analysis
11.4 - Quantitative Risk Analysis
11.5 - Risk Response Planning
11.6 - Risk Monitoring and Controlling

The basic idea here is that if you work dilligently to identify your potential risks you can plan more appropriately on how to monitor and control those risks. So where did Apple screw up on their Risk Management Plan for the launch of the new iPhone?

They did not adequately identify network outages as a potential risk for their product deployment. Had they identified this as a potential risk, they would have had a more effective plan for mitigating that risk. So how does one actually identify potential risks in a project? What is a real-world application to this whole "Risk Identification" methodology?

Now, PMBOK doesn't really give you a "how-to" so much as it does a "what for". According to the PMBOK, the followin are the Inputs, Tools&Techniques, and Outputs (ITTO's) for the Risk Identification process:

Inputs: (11.2.1)
- Enterprise environmental factors (11.2.1.1)
- Organizational process assets (11.2.1.2)
- Project Scope Statement (11.2.1.3)
- Risk Management Plan (11.2.1.4)
- Project Management Plan (11.2.1.5)

Tools and Techniques (11.2.2)
- Documentation reviews (11.2.2.1)
- Information gathering techniques (11.2.2.2)
- Checklist analysis (11.2.2.3)
- Assumptions analysis (11.2.2.4)
- Diagramming techniques (11.2.2.5)

Outputs (11.2.3)
- Risk register (11.2.3.1)

So what does all of this mean in the real world? I think the key factor here, in PMI terms, that caused the issues with activating the new iPhones was in 11.2.2.3 and 11.2.2.4 respectively. That is there was a breakdown in the checklist analysis and assumption analysis.

The breakdown in the checklist analysis, as I see it, is that the provider's network capacity was checked off as being sufficient yet they must not have done a very thorough job of verifying that checlist item.

The breakdown in the assumpltions analysis is obvious. They assumed that the provider's network would be capable of handling the large number of concurrent activation requests.

Now, why am I picking on Apple and the iPhone? I'm not really. This whole post serves two purposes.

1) I get to use a real-world example and apply pieces of the Project Risk Management knowledge area of the PMBOK guide. This is actually helping me to better understand the knowledge area overall, as I prepare for my PMP.

2) I get to share that practical application with the world (well, at least the 3 of you who are reading this post) and maybe do something to spark a little conversation about project risk management.

So that's my thoughts. What do you think?

Dell Getting Ready to Kill Asus

Oh this is going to be awesome! According to Engadget, Dell is set to release their mini notebook next month for a staggeringly low $299. That puts them square in the mini-laptop market.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have an Asus Eee PC, and I love it, but Dell entering this market means that a major player has reconized that there is a real market potential here. Granted, Asus really created the market, mostly thanks to hackers and college kids, but now that Dell is getting into this market as well, I think we'll see how a "real" computer company puts out a sub-$300 "laptop".

Why Not To Love The iPhone

OK, so with all of the iPhone hype I just can't let it go without some commentary. Plus, if I have the word "iPhone" in my blog post, I'm more likely to get a lot of hits because everyone wants an opinion on the iPhone.

The iPhone is cool. In typical Apple fashion, it's simple, it's sexy, and it's easy to use. No doubt, Apple has some of the best design engineers in the industry. They gave us the iMac, the iBook, the iPod, and now the iPhone 2.0.

So with all this iPhone ferver, why an aricle on why NOT to love it? The main reason I don't love the iPhone... I hate AT&T wireless. I'm on the Verizon network. My brother is on T-Mobile. I know, I know, the fact that I dislike AT&T shouldn't be a reason to dislike the iPhone. But my problem with the iPhone is that it's limited to AT&T (officially - though cracks supposedly exist), so I can't get one for my Verizon phone service.

Which leads me to another reason to dislike the iPhone. Because I can't get an actual iPhone on Verizon, I'm left with all of these other iPhone knockoffs from Samsung, RIM, and LG. Yet another reason I don't "love" the iPhone, the fact that all of knockoffs exist because of the iPhone.

Since when does the iPhone become the defacto standard for how a phone/PMP/camera/etc is supposed look and function? All of these other manufacturers are chasing after the iPhone mystique. Why not create your OWN mystique?

So, while I don't particularly dislike or hate the iPhone, I do find it irritating that it's only officially available on one network, other manufacturers are copying it, I dislike the fact that it's causing other manufacturers to stop innovating, and lastly, I'm tired of reading 25 iPhone articles a day on the tech blogs... and now you've read another one too. Sory 'bout that... ;)

Random Thoughts and New Ideas

Some people who read this blog may also be aware of my videos on YouTube. Many of the videos are actually paintball videos, but I've also done a couple of techie vids as well. I've decided to change up my YouTube presence a little bit.

My main account, http://www.youtube.com/gldrumm, will be used as a sort of general dump channel for all of my videos (paintball, tech, vlog, etc.) I've already created a channel for the paintball team (http://www.youtube.com/fuzzyduckpaintball) and I'm going to create another channel specifically for the techie stuff.

My idea is to create a regular program that reviews technology and gadgets, shows how to do some legal hacks, unboxing new toys, and other general "geek porn" type of information.

Not that there's not already a great deal of "shows" like this already, in fact I watch many of them. I haven't quite worked out what will differentiate my show from all of the others, other than it will be amazingly handsome face on the screen, but I'll come up with some hook eventually.

I will likely also create a website for the show with it's own blog, forum, show notes, links to the YT/Meta Cafe/Veoh vids, etc. At any rate, I'll keep everyone posted on this new idea, so check back with me.

Why Is My Home Office So Messy Anyway?

Believe it or not, I've had a couple of people who read this blog (yeah, I know. I was surprised too) ask me why my home office is so messy anyway. So here's a brief explanation.

I live about 45 miles from my place of employment. I drive about an hour to an hour and a half to get to and from work every day, where I'm the VP of Network Operations. Now, I don't know if you have any idea how busy a VP of Network Operations is on a regular basis, but I'm generally at the office about 50 hours a week, or so. Add 10 hours of driving and that's about 60 hours a week related to work.

OK. So on to reason (excuse) #2. School/Study/Education. I spent much of last year and the first part of this year finishing up a Master's Certification in Applied Project Management and IT Project Management (respectively). Since I finished the IT Master's Cert, I began working on preparing the PMP exam (which I'm taking in a couple of weeks from today). So, there goes another 12-15 hours a week.

Like most of you, I need sleep. I generally sleep about 6 hours a night, or about 42hours a week, much to the dismay of my doctor, who thinks I need to add about 10-12 hours to that (Who has that kind of time!?).

So, there are 168 hours in a week. I've already used up about 117 of them. True, that leaves a seemingly gigantic 51 hours, but when you consider that a lot of that time is likely the 2-3 hours a night I spend with my family during the work week (that's 15 hours), and the massive amount of other things happening on the weekends (birthdays, family, church, lawn work, honey-do lists, Daddy this and Daddy that, etc.) you can see how there's very little time for something like performing a massive office clean up.

Truth is, I'm not lazy, I'm freakin' tired! By the time the weekend rolls around I just want to veg out in front of the TV, or go swimming in the pool out back. I don't want to work on my damn office! OK, so I've ranted, thrown my little tantrum, and made my excuses... to the entire world. Now it's time to get it done. :)

CAT 5 Spider

So I was a little bored the other day and decided to make a CAT 5 Spider companion. I honor of Tom Hanks' "Castaway", I decided to call him "Wilson". So I think he's now going to be the official mascot of my blog, that is until I get bored again.









Interestingly, my son and I made 3 of these goofy things the other day and he had a ball. I also took the opportunity to teach how to make CAT 5 cables, which he almost did perfectly later that evening (only off by a couple of wires), not bad for a 5-6 year old. ;)

PMP - Pass-vs-Learn

I came across this great article on Gantthead. The author makes a very good point. PM's should spend more time actually learning how to manage projects, rather than simply learning how to pass the test.

However, just like with drugs, the alure of the money one can make with those three little initials behind their name is so appealing that it's difficult to keep honest and actually learn the material. In my opinion, it's about a passion for what you do.

For me, I love technology. I love building data centers, I love completing projects (*my home office not included ;-)*), and I love helping companies apply standards and practices to their network infrastructure that will help them perform more effciently and, ultimately, make more money. But I don't do it *just* for the money.

Therein lies the real issue, it's not that people take the PMP, so much, because they love Project Management, typically. It's the fact that more and more people are entering Project Management as a "profession", but they do so without the passion. If you don't love what you do, you're going to be mediocre at best, and downright destructive at worst.

We don't need fewer PMP's. We need fewer people who are just looking at Project Management and PMP's for the money they can make. We need more PMP's who will help expand project management as a "real" profession, like a doctor, lawyer, or accountant. We need more PMP's who actually want to get better at project management. Good stuff Gantthead!

Drobo Unboxing Party

So we recently acquired a Drobo Robotic Storage device at work and I thought id would be fun to take some unboxing and installation pics. This thing is incredibly easy to setup and use, so far I give it 4.9 out of 5 stars, only because nothing's "perfect". :)
Here are a few snapshots. Check out my Drobo Unboxing and Installation set on Flickr for more pics (53 in all). Good times!

More Office Updates

OK, so I made a little progress this weekend. The pictures below are of the items I'm discussing here. IF you want a little more detail, check out My Messy Office on Flickr

- I got rid of the XPS laptop.


- I set up the two Samsung monitors, previously in the closet, on the main desk in a portrait configuration.


- I finished my niece's laptop and got it out of there.



- I told my cousin he has until the end of the week to get the HP desktop, and any other computers he wants out of the bunch, or I'm gonna sell it.



- I'm giving the old cell phones (about 40 in all) to the Cell Phones For Soldiers organization. They recycle old cell phones and use the money to buy calling cards for active duty military personnel.

Office Cleanup - Step One - The Plan

OK. So here's the plan. Taking much of the great advice I've read on LifeHacker, I've decided that only things I use on a regular basis will make it's way back into my office.

Now, being a technophile, a LOT of techie stuff is actually used on a regular basis. I'm constantly using computers, PDA's, phones, iPods, UMPC's, laptops, etc. It just depends on what I'm working on at the time. I do not, however; use a lot of pens, paper, or other "office supply" type items. SO I will keep these to a minimum.

There are some key aspects that need to be taken into consideration:

1. I have to have a "dump" spot, to empty my pockets of the MANY items I carry with me for work. I have a Blackberry Curve, a badge, sunglasses, a watch, my personal Blackberry Pearl, some company "stuff", a Bluetooth headset, my wallet, my keys, my company laptop bag, and (though rare) any cash I may have in pockets. Whew! That's just unloading from when I get home in the evenings.

2. I use a LOT of computers. Granted, I don't use them all at the same time, but I do move from machine to machine performing various tasks and projects. Given that I find myself using the desktop more and more, when I'm working in the office, I think I'm going to move the desktop to the main desk and the laptop the secondary desk.

So here's the computer plan:

- The desktop goes to the main desk.
- The D620 laptop goes to the secondary desk, along with a monitor and keyboard for the FreeNAS server.
- The various cables, connectors, and tools will go into thesze nifty litte zipper bags I found at Wal Mart:



My idea here is that I put different types of cables in different zipper bags. If I have too many of one type of cable, I put the excess in storage in the garage, in case I need them for something in the future.

3. I need to trim the amount of electronics I have overall. For example, I have 2 Dell Axim's that I NEVER use, and probably never will, because this particular model doesn't have Wifi, so it's pretty much useless to me. I keep thinking I might get a GPS kit for it, but I know I'm probably not going to do that any time soon.

4. Magazines need to get read and get out. I'll be donating these to a Dr's office of something. I have tons of Windows IT Pro, CIO, PMI, Information Week, Disaster Recovery Journal, and Linux Journal magazines. All timely. All have great information, but I really have no use for it once I've read them.

5. Media is fairly well organized, compared to the rest of the office. I have most of the DVD's in one location, most of the musis CD's in two zipper cases, and most of the VHS tapes... Holy crap I still have VHS tapes?!@!%^$#*@# OK, so the VHS tapes need to be converted to DVD on my Magnavox VHS=>DVD machine, so let's scratch that.

6. All "olde" tech goes "buh bye". No excuses. If I can't plug it in and get an immediate benefit from it, it's either sold, donated, or trashed.

7. All project gear (i.e my Vyatta router, my old DC/DNS server, etc.) goes to the "lab" (A.K.A. the garage) for further processing and analysis.

8. External devices are always an issue. I like the idea of an under the desk gadget mount, but I don't think I want to implement one at this time. So what I will be doing is putting all of my gadgets in one location, close to the computer itself.

9 Cable management will be solved by cutting my own cables to the correct length, where I can, and mounting custom cable management system where I cannot.

OK. So that about lays out my preliminary project scope.

Time To Clean The Office...

OK. So if you've followed this blog at all, you know that I've struggled with what exactly to do with my home office. So, in the interest of embarrasing myself into fianlly geting it done, and keeping myself to a schedule, I'm posting picture of it in all of it currently redneck glory.

Before we commence with the pictures, here's some side info: There are 15 photos of of my totally messed up situation here. Yes, I know the office looks like crap, hence the reason for this particular blog post.

First, I will develop and post a plan for performing the cleanup.
Second, I will post the schedule for getting this all done.
Thrid, I will perform the actions and take plenty of pictures so you can see the progress,
Lastly, I will take photos of the complete renovation and I fully expect many "atta-boy" comments. ;)

In the interest of posting pics quickly, and not wanting to type all of the information twice, I've decided to share my Flickr account. Here are the pics of My Messy Home Office.

CEO Hates the Eee PC - VP of Net Ops Loves It!

So you know I recently purchased an Eee PC for our CEO. Well, turns out he hated it. At first he suggested that we let one of our Account Management people use it for a while, however; the CIO suggested that we let the Eee PC implementation/revolution die within our organization. So I suggested that I purchase it from the company, since we already had it, to which the CIO said, "Why don't you just keep it for an 'extended beta-testing' program?" Sweet! This was sort of his way of giving me the computer without actually giving it to me.

So I'll be doing a more formal write-up in the next few days. I'm generally using it for moderate web-surfing and watching YouTube right now. Haven't really put it through the ringer yet, however; I'm considering making it my "garage PC". It's small, it's solid-state, and it doesn't really get hot. So it would be perfect for garage work bench, well, when my son's not watching Bionicle videos in the Living room.

What would be really cool is to fill up a 2-4 GB SD card with music from my Zune Pass account, and I could use it as juke box for those garage projects. Hmmm.... :-?

We Lost The Baby

Although I don't generally share personal issues on this site, since that's not it's purpose, I do feel that it's appropriate to inform everyone that my wife and I lost the baby I recently annouced. Yes, I know it's off-topic and yes, I know it's a downer, but I announced the good news when we found out, I thought it only appropriate to announce the bad as well.

That said, I will get back to posting some additional geek-blog articles soon, so stay tuned.

VMWare 3.5 Connecting to Your SAN

I've made the corrections to pictures in my post about connecting your VMWare 3.5 server to your SAN. You can read the article here...

http://garydrumm.blogspot.com/2008/04/vmware-esx-35-install-connecting-to.html

Sony PRS-505 First Impressions

OK, so I've been looking to acquire an e-book reader for a while now. I've seen the Kindle, from Amazon - too pricey! I've seen the iRex Iliad - still too pricey!! So the only other real choice is Sony PRS-505.

At a little over $300 (with taxes and shipping) this is not a bad little device. The eink technology is beautiful! The letter seem to jump right off the screen, much the way a paperback book does. It's very easy on the eyes making for a comfortable read. The control are fairly intuitive, anyone one who's even mildly familiar with technology can figure it out pretty quickly without even reading the manual. The price isn't too bad either.

But the real meat of device like this is available content. I have a host of technical books on PDF that I was hoping to be able to use on the device. Afterall, lugging around the Windows 2003 Server bible in hard cover form, while being a very good work out, could get tiring after a while. But alas, my dream of having my technical library at my fingertips is still a couple of rung away...

In order to get a PDF file into the reader, you have to convert it to text or BBeB (Sony's proprietary format). While this may be OK for short stories and business management books (note to self, add some business management books to my e-library) it's cumbersome with technical books. This is due to the fact that technical books don't read like a story or philosophy book. It's technical details like "To change a user's access rights in AD use the CACLS tool in the following syntax...".

My hope is that someone, somewhere will come up with an easy way to convert PDF files to BBeB without losing the formatting or TOC.

All in all, however; I'd give it about 4.5 out of 5 stars. Now if I can just find a text copy of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People...

Well Take My Picture With It! - Eee PC Goodness

So our CEO recently asked for a small, light-weight, ultra-portable computer that he could throw in his briefcase and take along with him on trips. He needs email, web browsing, and the ability to open Word and Excel files. Basically, he needs an Asus Eee PC! So, we grabbed one for him. Here are some pictures of me with the Eee PC in all it's miniature glory!


What the hell is that? Well, take my picture with it!


Next to a Logitech MX Laser mouse, just for size comparison.

Hooked up with an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. The only way to do a lot of software installs!

My giant hand covers the whole keyboard!

Ugh, now I have to get one for myself. Great! Just what I needed, another gadget! Ooo, I could load Ubuntu on it...

Command Line SendMail Tool

So I'm a technology professional and, like all tech pros (aka "geeks"), I LOVE tech books and tools. This afternoon, I went to BnN (That's Barnes and Noble, for those in Rio Linda), and picked up Windows Administration at the Command Line by John Paul Mueller.

Now, I'm personally on a mission to kill Symantec Backup Exec, it's sort of a hobby of mine, so I'm using a number of F/OSS tools to get that done. A lot of those tools are command-line, such as Robocopy from the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit, or Linux-based such as RESTORE.

One thing I was looking for was a light-weight SendMail type of application, without all of the overhead of SendMail. I found it in SendEmail. This nifty little app allows you to quickly send a text-based email message. You simply drop into one of your Path folders in Windows, set it up with the necessary parameters in a batch file, and the SendEmail app takes over from there.

So how am I using this with my backups? Well, I have Robocopy doing backups of critical data to a backup server with a SAN connection. Each individual server runs a batch script on a schedule that robocopies data to the appropriate folder on the Backup server. In the batch file, I have a sendemail snippet that notifies when the job begins, then the robocopy does it's thing, then the another sendemail notice telling me it's done, and a pause so that the cmd window waits for input.

Why the pause at the end? This way I or one of my guys has to log into each server every morning to confirm that the backup job ran and is complete. The robocopy also writes a log file, telling me where the errors are located, if any, so we just resolve the errors and we're ready for the next day's backup.

Pretty cool, eh? Critial backups, performed every day, on a schedule, with notifications, and NO BACKUP EXEC! We also use RESTORE to make snapshots, for archival purposes, but I haven't quite gotten that tweaked completely out yet.

More on that next time...

Baby On The Way - Postponing PMP

While this isn't really a "personal" blog, per say, I do share a lot of thoughts and personal events and the latest event... My wife is pregnant with our second child!

So, given that there's so much happening right now, and that Matt, my loyal helpdesk guy is about the leave for his own child's birth, I've decided to postpone the PMP test until July 26th. There are a couple of reasons for this:

1) I'm going to be pretty busy at work over the next 3 weeks, so I know I'm not going to have the time to study the way I want to.

2) I took a couple of practice tests and haven't quite passed them yet. I want to be able to take a prcatice test in each section every week and pass. Until I can do that, I'm not ready.

We're having another kid, and I'm not quite comfortable with the PMP test yet.

Mom and "Peanut" are doing well, BTW.

What's New In Techie Land?

Wow, it's been a couple of weeks since I've updated this thing. I've been a little pre-occupied with work and home life stuff the last couple of weeks, so I really haven't done a whole lot in ways of techie stuff.

A couple of things that have happened, however; we had a major hard drive corruption at work on the EMC SAN that we just set up. Turns out the file server had been throwing errors for a few days and nobody caught it, that is until I started recieving phone calls from people telling me they were getting "corrupt data" error messages.

The beautiful part was we backed up a lot of corrupt data for a couple of days, so we had to run a CHKDSK on a 350 GB SAN partition. It tooks about 6.5 hours, but all of the data was recovered. Whew! That was a close one.

On another note, I finally got our RESTORE backup server online (http://www.restore-backup.com). It's a very handy little backup solution that basically takes snapshots of windows shares and copies them to another location on the network, which you can then archive off to tape, DVD, Mega portable drive, whatever.

The cool thing? It's FREE! Of course, since it's open source, it's a little touchy getting support, but if you dig into the manual, read the FAQ, and check out the forums, it's not too bad for the price. I think I'm one step closer to killing Backup Exec, w00t!

On the home front I haven't really done much lately. I'm kind of head's down preparing for my PMP on the 7th of June. It's a pretty intense test, from what I've heard, and at $400 a pop, I really only want to take this thing once.

So that's about it. I'll write more as I get into another technology area. Until then "Geek out!"

VMWare Server to ESX Server 3.5

It aint sexy, but it works! So I've been bashing my brains against the wall this weekend (painful, I know) trying to get virtual machines off of a VMWare Server (v1.0.2 for the super-geeks out there) and onto a Virtual Infrastructure ESX 3.5 server.

I tried the copy the VMDK file thing but no luck. I tried doing a direct conversion from a Virtual Center Management server... uh uh. Finally, it must have been God Himself whispering in my ear, it occurs to me "Why don't you run VMWare Converter 3.0, convert the VM to your ESX 3.0 server, then migrate the newly converted VM to ESX 3.5?"

Wouldn't you know, IT WORKED! The new VCMS system uses a Converter Server 4.0, so it doesn't appear to function as a local install on the VM you want to convert, like 3.0 does. So here's the details:

- Install VMWare Convert 3.0 on the VM you want to convert.
- Launch the application (obviously)
- Click "Import Machine"
- Click "Next"
- Select "Physical Computer" and click "Next"
- Select "This local machine" and click "Next"
- Select your volume options (you can increase or decrease the virtual disk at this point) and click "Next" and the "Next" again
- Under destination, select "VMWare ESX Server or VirtualCenter virtual machine" and click "Next"
- Enter you ESX machine information and click "Next" (remember, this doesn't work directly with an ESX 3.5 server, so you will need 3.0.
- Type a name for you virtual machine and click "Next"
- Select the Host Resource Pool and click "Next"
- Select the storage location for the new VM and click "Next"
- Set you NIC parameters. Be sure to connect it to the LAN network on the destination machine for at least one of your NICs and click "Next"
- You can customize if you'd like, but that's beyond the scope of this post so just click "Next"
- Once the machines completes it's conversion, you then follow the instruction for migrating from ESX 3.0 to ESX 3.5 and you're DONE!

Like I said, it ain't sexy, but it works!! :)

Office Update - Again

Well, I made the move of the 600 SC's into my closet but I had to pull them out within a few hours. The closet has ventilation, but it's apparently insufficient because the machines were louder in the closet than they were on my office floor. So for now (and this is going to shock all of my Microsoft friends) I'm going to shut down my MS network/domain for a while.

There's only three of us, so I really don't *need* it. Besides, if I want to test something out, I can always use the lab at work (that's why I built it in the first place).

I must say though, the office is strangely quite without the constant hum of the 600's, though my son's GX280 is humming a little bit, but it's nowhere near as loud as the previous monsters.

On a side note. I haven't had an opportunity to revamp the ESX setup pictures yet. I'll see if I can get to this weekend. Sorry for the delay to those of you who've sent me emails about the subject.

PMI Called - They're Not Giving The Money Back!

So I submitted my application to PMI to take my PMP certification exam. I then proceeded to get flagged for a "random" audit, which basically means I have to prove my experience and education credentials to their Audit Board. Of course I don't know I'm going to be flagged for an audit until I drop the $400 to take the test. It's all good though, if you don't pass the audit... they give (most of) the money back.

So all that to say that I got my audit results back and I've been cleared to take the test! Look out PMP, here I come!!

VMWare ESX 3.5 Install - Connecting to Your SAN

The installation of ESX (Virtual Infrastructure) 3.5 is is a relatively simple and straight forward process. VMWare has a couple of paths you can take. One is to download an ISO that creates a bootable CD.

So, on the Dell 2900, where I installed 3.5, you first go into the BIOS (F2) and set the boot order so that the CD ROM comes first. You could also press F11 to bring up the boot menu and select the CD ROM from the list. But you need to make sure that the CD ROM is allowed as a bootable device, which means you're going to have to go into the BIOS anyway, so why not just go ahead and put it as the first device in the list while you're there?

At any rate, once you have all that done, the rest is pretty much EXACTLY like I describe in my previous post on installing ESX 3.0.

Now, for my installation, I also wanted to connect the system to my EMC AX150, so that I could boot the virtual machines off of the SAN, instead of the local server. To do this, you need to do a couple of things...

First, the new ESX 3.5 REQUIRES that you use the new Virtual Infrastructure Client v2.5. The older 2.0 will not work. I supposed you could go all "Linux" on it and do the setup by hand, but the GUI makes it pretty simple, so I use the GUI (Flamers, please send comments to garydoesntcare@garydrumm.com). Anyway,so the next few pictures will give you some insight on this exciting stuff...

Click on the thumbnails for a larger view...



















(OK. So the pictures are HUGE and lack context. I'll make the changes this evening and you can check back when they're done.)

Upgrading to VMWare ESX 2.X and 3.0 to 3.5

Well kiddies, if you're wondering "what's Gary been doing lately?", and I know you have, let me tell you. I've been pretty much head's down preparing for a major virtual infrastructure upgrade at work. Basically, I'm currently managing and maintaining 6 VMWare boxes; including: ESX 3.0, ESX 2.5.2, ESX 2.5.4, and VMWare Server 1.0.2 spanning connections to two SAN's (and EMC 150 and Stonefly).

So basically what we're (and by we're me and my buddy Matt, who subs as a Network Admin) is installing the new 3.5 infrastructure on a Dell 2900, attach it to the the EMC SAN, migrate all of the old machine to the new 3.5 box (16 in all), and finally re-deploy a Dell 6850 as the 2900's HA partner server.

Whew! I get tired just thinking about it. But it'll be good times. Add to that the deployment of the new Virtual Center Management Server 2.5, and we'll be cooking with gas.

So as I get closer to completing the WBS (That's "Work Breakdown Structure" for my non-PMP'ish readers), which should be by the end of the week, I post it here (with the server names and IP addresses removed, of course) so you can see the magnitude of the project.

The project plan, thus far, is already 32 MB in size and 23 pages long! Yeah, I know. But we're talking about production systems here, and I don't mess with production servers without a detailed plan. Almost down to "click on OK to continue" or "type cd vmfs/vmhba0:0:0:5/server.vmdk". Better to know EXACTLY what you're doing before jacking with production servers.

So check back with me later in the week, ir better yet, subscribe! :)

Suse on the XPS

If you follow my blog at all, you know that I've been talking about my screwed up, Gen 1, Dell XPS laptop. This thing has been buggy for weeks. Well this evening, while working on my office re-org project, I pulled the XPS out of the closet and decided to see if I could get it to boot. You know, just for the fun of it. Low and behold, the thing booted up. Of course, I had to remove and re-install the hard drive, which means that it had somehow come loose. That also explains why it wouldn't get past the POST.

At any rate, I had Mandriva running on the machine before it crapped out on me. But I've done Mandriva. Let's try something new... Suse! OK, so Suse isn't something to get all excited about. It's basically a watered down version of Red Hat and it's owned by former networking giant, Novel. Since MS kicked them out of the networking world about 13 years ago, I guess they had to do something.

Anyway, so Suse installed without issue. So much so, in fact, that I'm writing this post, using my new Suse install, at this very moment. Even though I haven't gotten the wireless configured just yet, the rest of the components, including hard-wired networking, seem to have sailed right on through.

So I'll leave Suse on here for now. But the bast part is, I got my XPS back! :).

Shut Up and Drive!!! - RANT

OK. I'm a tech guy. I love cell phones, computers, cars, radios, TV's and all the rest of the cool tech toys as much as any other tech guy. But one thing that just frustrates the ever-loving crap out of me is people who slow traffic down because they're talking on the damn phone!

No, I'm not saying don't talk and drive, it's totally possible to do two things at the same time. But if you're going to talk and drive, please, please, please at least go the speed limit, not 20 mph under. If you're going to drive more slowly, then for god's sake, get in the slow lane.

Nothing irritate me more than miles and miles and miles of traffic, only to discover that it's some slow driving jerk talking on his cell phone, oblivious to everyone else around him. Don't be an arrogant twit! The world does not revolve around you. There are other people on the road who are trying to get somewhere, and you talking on the phone and not paying attention to anything going on around you isn't helping my road rage.

Office Update

OK, so I worked on my office a little this afternoon. I know I've kind of gone back and forth trying to figure what I'm going to do, but I think I've finally come to a conclusion. For starters, I'm going line the floor, walls, and ceiling of my office closet with acoustic foam, dampening any ambient noise that may come from the computers I'll be placing there.

Next, I'll build a desk/table top, this will be a custom installation of shelving for this closet, since I have several storage bins for various equipment and files, and I want to make it a multi-function design, allowing me to use the closet as both a server closet and storage closet.

I'm lining it with foam because, for the immediate future I'm keeping the 600SC's online. Though I'm going to experiment with another idea using the 500GB HDD out of my iOmega drive enclosure. This would be great because I wouldn't have to fork over a couple of hundred dollars for a 500GB HDD, and I can always go back and drop a smaller IDE drive in the enclosure at a later time.

I could then use this drive in the GX280 as it's root drive, re-install Xubuntu, and then setup VMWS 2.0 for my virtualization backbone and migrate the 600's off. But that's likely to happen a couple of month from now. I have so much going on at work I just haven't had time to mess with my home setup much.

At any rate, I think this is a good idea. Anyone have another idea? Comment below:

Vicious Vista Vindictiveness

You know, maybe it's just me, but I really don't understand what everyone seems to hate so much about Vista. It's clean, it's relatively secure, it does what it's suppose to do. So why all the whining? I know, I know, it takes some getting used to. There are a lot of differences in the way you get things done, but we're talking a major OS overhaul here, so things are not likely to remain the same.

I remember when Microsoft introduced Windows 95 (yes, I know, I just dated myself), which was a HUGE difference from the Windows 3.1 and WFW interface, and I remember taking support phone calls from people who just purchased their brand new AST computer with the "new fangled" operating system.

"Where's my DOS prompt?" "How to I open to Word Perfect?" What's this weird dot in the middle of my screen?" (extra credit for anyone who gets that reference, by the way). Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

The biggest issue people seem to have outside of the new interface is that fact that it doesn't work with "legacy" hardware. But do you really need that craptastic HP laser printer from 1984 anymore anyway? Shouldn't you maybe go out an buy some new stuff?

So here's Gary top 5 tips for getting along with Vista:

#5. Understand that this is a "new" OS, it's not going to work the way you're used to working.
#4. Go out and buy Windows Vista for Dummies - No, I didn't just call you a dummy!
#3. Upgrade your hardware! That 8mm video camera you got from your great great grandfather probably won't work.
#2. Once you get some new hardware, download Microsoft Virtual PC and build a virtual XP box inside of Vista. This way you can run your XP only software and still have Vista on your box.
#1. Stop whining and switch to Linux! ;) - Just kidding! (sort of)

Seriously. In this day and age, it's not the person who can run the widget machine the best that gets ahead, it's the person who learns how to run the new widget machine the fastest who makes it to the top.

Just remember, it's all DOS underneath (BTW, check out Windows Power Shell for some more really cool goodies!) and while Vista may have some growing pains, Microsoft will eventually get the kinks worked out and we'll all be the better for it.

Agree? Disagree? Comment below: (Keep it clean, this is a "family blog")

No Mac Attack

OK, so I decided against the Mac for now. Mostly because I have too many computers as it is and I dont' want to add to the craziness. That is, of course, unless I sell my Gen1 XPS, they're going for about $800-$1200 on eBay right now, depending on condition. But even if I sell it, I'd rather spend the money building my super-quiet core server and then maybe upgrading my son's GX280 so I can install Vista.

I supposed I could cannibalize the other GX280, yanking memory and hard drives out of it and then just do any "testing" on my virtual server. OK. So do any one of the 5 people I have reading this have any ideas on a super-quiet server?

Gary

My Home Setup

OK, so I know a couple of weeks ago I wrote about Mandriva getting all the love, but I had multiple issue getting the wireless card working. I couldn't even make work using ndiswrapper... I don't, something to do with the particular wireless card in my machine. Anyway, I made the decision to go back to Ubuntu for my home computers. So my Dell 700m is running Ubuntu Studio, which looks BEAUTIFUL on the 700's screen by the way, and Ubuntu 7.10 is running on my "primary" laptop, the Dell Latitude D620.

I addition, I converted the VMWare Server box (Dell GC 280, Ubuntu Server 7.10) into an Xubuntu box and removed VMS for now. I don't have enough hard drive capacity for that system to serve as my VMS box for two Win2K3 servers.

So here's my hardware profile:

- Dell PE 600 SC - Win2K3 (My DC)
- Dell PE 600 SC - Win2K3 (My File, Email, and Web Server)
- Dell Latitude D620 - Ubuntu 7.10 (My "main" laptop)
- Dell Latitude D620 - WinXP (My "video studio" laptop - i.e. Adobe Premier, CS2, etc.)
- Dell Latitude 700m - Ubuntu Studio (My new "video studio" laptop that I'm still learning)
- Dell Optiplex GX280 - WinXP (My son's "desktop")
- - Running VirtualBox
- - - Running Dyne:Bolic
- Dell Optiplex GX280 - FreeNAS (My über NAS)
- Dell Optiplex GX280 - Xubuntu 7.10 (My main "desktop")
- Nokia n770 Internet Tablet - Nokia's custom Debian system (This actually belongs to work, I'm just borrowing it for some testing)
- Samsung Q1 UMPC - WinXP MPCE (Again, belong's to work)
Barracuda Web Firewall 210 - Vyetta (The open source router I'm currently playing with).

In addition, my wife has another 700m, I have a non-working Dell XPS (I really need to send it in before the warranty expires!), and my cousin is borrowing a couple of older Latitudes, several other 600SC's, a GX280, and a couple of 500 SC's as well - I should give it all to him and let him have a good time instead saying "borrowing", I sure don't need them.

I don't even want to go into what I run at work all day: 40+ Dell servers running Windows, Red Hat, ESX, Debian, etc..., 2 Cisco Pix 515's, Cisco ASA, Cisco Cat 4507 &4506, Cicso VOIP phone system, two Dell D620 laptops with Vista Ultimate and Mandriva 2008 PP with KDE respectively, and so on, and so on, and so on!

So what does all this mean? It means I need to figure out what the heck I want to do and consolidate! I have 7 computers running at any given hour of the day! Here's what I'm thinking...

I'll use my D620 primary laptop for most of what I do. Learn more about the Ubuntu Studio product so I can convert to other D620 to U-Studio - giving me a dedicated studio machine, but in a Linux environment. Maybe load Dyne:Bolic on the 700m, and Slackware on the XPS (once I get it fixed). Probably 86 the GX280 personal desktop (Xubuntu) and use it as a "test load" machine - keeping it in the garage. Keep my son's GX280, but load Vista (he'd get a kick out of that!), but remove VirtualBox. Keep the FreeNAS server, of course. And finally, build a single, custom, quiet box to act as my server, install Xubuntu on it wiht VMS 2.x and convert my existing boxes.

Wow! That's a lot of work. But I'm still not done. Once I get the Vyetta server configured, I'll put that in my home NOC/DC and then probably re-route some of my wiring so I can put all of the headless boxes in the closet. You know, I think I to develop a project plan for this... Hmmmmm......

Blog Rename

So I renamed my blog. It used to be "Gary Drumm's Project Management and IT Blog". The new name is Gary Drumm's Geek Blog. I changed it because I talk about a lot of other things here and I thought that "Geek Blog" was actually more descriptive. Same great content, new name. I'm thinking of also splitting my YouTube content into two different sections. I'm going to move all of the paintball videos over to a new account (yet to be created) and the current gldrumm account will become the VLog partner to this site, where I'll post geek related videos (i.e. my FreeNas install video), and any face-to-face videos I decide to do.

I'll provide links to all of the great Gary Drumm content later.

Thinking About a Mac

I've been doing a lot of video editing work lately and so I'm thinking of, perhaps, acquiring a Mac to get this done. Mac's have always been the tool of choice for professional grade video editing, and I'd like to give my videos a more professional polish.

So, to start off, I'm thinking of acquiring a iBook G4 and a copy of Final Cut. That will give me all of the major OS environments on a regular basis. I pretty much do my day-to-day computer work, at home, on a Linux laptop. I work almost exclusively on Windows systems at work, and now I'm going to add Mac OS X into my world.

Any thoughts? Any Ideas!?

I'm looking to spend less the $500 for this new machine, and I'd prefer it in laptop form, rather than desktop, because I just don't have the real estate for anther desktop and, with a laptop, I can just stick in a drawer wen it's not in-use.

My Five Year Old Engineer

If you know me, you know I live for my son. He's the light and joy of my life. And, like all proud Papa's, I have to brag on him when he does something cool. So the other day I buy this little electronics learning kit. You snap the circuits into place, turn on the juice, and viola! You have an electronic thing running.

So I follow the directions and put this little fan together. I explain to Anthony how the circuit works, what the electricity is doing, and how it's powering the motor that's spinning the fan.

He looks at it for a few minutes, starts pulling it apart, and snapping in other pieces, adding to the complexity of the original design! Then he presses the button and PRESTO! The thing works!!!

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I started congratulating him and shaking my head in amazement. I took some pictures of him holding his new "invention", and shot some video of him playing with it.

Now, I know what you're going to say. It's a fluke. No way a 5 year old understands what this thing is doing. That would be true were it not for the fact that we took it apart, placed it back in the box. A couple of days later he rebuilds the thing, and in almost the exact the configuration he had previously built.

So here's the picture of my extremely proud little boy holding his first circuit design. (The video will be posted to YouTube later)...

::: NOTE: Don't mind the date on the picture. I need to fix my camera's clock.

Office Clean Up Day Today

So my office has gotten a little messy, what with all the study paperwork, computers, and Linux University materials I have lying around. So later today, after I get a "good" night's sleep, I'm going to be performing some cleaning in my office. I'll probably also go ahead and re-org my servers. I've been thinking of moving them into the closet, since I never really do anything with them.

On another note. I finally put the $405 together for the PMP. I also renewed my membership for a whopping $167. And after all of that, I get flagged by PMI for an audit of my experience and educational credentials. Ugh!

I mean, I understand why they do this, it's just a pain that it has to happen to me, since I'd rather spend my time preparing for the exam, not contacting all of my "project management experience" references. Oh well, I've already got 2 of them out of the way, so if either one of the other 2 responds to my request, I'll be in the clear with plenty of experience to spare. Assuming, of course, that PMI accepts their references.

So, I'm looking ahead to May for the PMP test. Yes, I know I said I was going to take it in April, but I don't think there will be enough time, considering the audit. It takes them 10 days to confirm everything, and I'd like at least a month to study a prepare, so it's looking like May. No biggie. Once it's done, I'll be a certified PMP.

After that It's MCSA time. Time to put the Linux books down for a tad and dig into Microsoft's world again. Then comes CCNA, then ITIL Foundation, and finally, perhaps, Linux +, by the last two will probably bleed into next year. So much to learn, so little time. Good times.... Good times indeed...

TV-B-Gone - It Works!

OK, so I just got the TV-B-Gone kit from ladyada.net. This little device turns off any TV in the US or Asia (not that I have much of an opportunity to get to Asia, at least I haven't been since '97). Anyway, being a computer guy, and the fact that I love to tinker with stuff, I though this would be fun for my first electronics kit toy.

So, like I said, the thing arrived the other day. This afternoon I spent about 45 minutes putting it together. I recorded some video for YouTube, but somewhere along the way the thing stopped recording and I didn't notice. Oh well. I took a couple of pictures of the final product. Plus, now that I've done it once, I think I'm going to buy another kit and do it again, only this time I'm going to modify the design a little bit and make it a bit more discreet.

So here's the pics:

Oldie But Goodie

Here's a reach back to 2006. There's some foul language here, but it's worth it. Enjoy...

Mythbuntu, MythMini, and Me

So I've been looking at MythTV lately. Looks like a pretty cool project to try. I've always wanted to have a PVR, but I've just never gotten around to buying one, so why not build it myself with a bunch of open source software?

So I think that's going to be my next project. That means I now have X Linux projects in the works:

1. Ubuntu/VM Ware Server Config and 600SC Conversion
2. Monowall of SmoothWall install (using the Barracuda, of course - I didn't leave it as my FreeNAS box)
3. RESTORE Backup Server (For home)
4. A Mythbuntu box.

Here's what I'm thinking...

- I set up a MythTV Back-end server that I'll keep in my office.
- Set up a fanless computer as my front-end server
- And finally, something I thought was kind of cool, see if I can get a MiniMyth or Maemomyth system installed on a Nokia n770 and use it as a remote control for the front-end box plugged into the TV.

This would be very cool. Of course, I'll have to upgrade my homer network infrastructure to gigabite networking! :)

Ubuntu 8.04 In Alpha Release

Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) is currently availavble in Alpha release. It looks like this has some cool new features, including an iSCSI connector for Server. The Ubuntu site (http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/hardy/alpha6) has a complete listing the enhancements.

Seeing as I just installed 7.10 back on my D620 last weekend (don't ask) but this new release looks pretty promising. Linux is getting closer and closer to user-friendly design, which is what put Microsoft in the game in the first place.

So I'm excited about this new release. I'll be downloading it and playing around with it in the coming days. I'll post back some of my experiences here. Who knows, maybe another video is in the cards...

Barracuda Firewall Hacking - The Movie!

Here's the promised video of the Barracuda Firewall hack/FreeNAS Server install. Enjoy!

Mandriva 2008 Gettin' (Almost) All The Love!

OK. So if you've been following this over the last few days, you know that I've been toying around with several different Linux distros for my laptops. I've done Ubuntu 7.04, Ubuntu Ultimate, Ubuntu Studio, gOS, and Mandriva 2008. I think I've settled of Mandriva. I'm not sure why, but I think I', going to have to do just enough work on the wireless card set up that it will force me to learn how to do it, which is good, but it won't be so difficult that I'll have to wash the blood off of my screen (from the blood spurting out of my eyes from the pressure and frustration of trying to et a wireless card working!) which is a good thing.

So, for now, it's looking like Mandriva's getting, almost, all the love. I still have Ubuntu Server 7.10 running my VMWare system (* FYI - I finally got it up and running today!), and I'm running an Ubuntu laptop at work, so I'm not completely getting away from the most popular distro, I'm just trying something new.

I also just purchased a Linux Magazine today that contains the Mandriva PowerPack. Which should give me some cool effects and other packages to play with. This is good stuff!

VMWare Server Box - Follow Up

Well, it looks like I'm not going to be "that guy". A guy named Martti Kuparinen, apparently from Finland has written an extensive article on getting VMware Server to work with Ubuntu Server 7.10.

Nice work Martti! I'll be subsequently printing out your "install guide" post hast and putting it to good use this weekend. My dream of ruling the world is getting closer and closer by the day. :)


(Side Note):

On a side note, what the heck is up with YouTube removing the Steve the Super Villan video? Here are a couple of additional embedded versions, for your ammusment, for as long as they work...






Oh, and for a good laugh, here's "Cool Guy" to tell you why you should switch...

gOS Not Ready For Prime Time

OK, so I've been working with gOS on my personal laptop for the last few days and, while I like some of the aspects (i.e. it's nice, clean appearance, quick launch bar, mac-esque desktop, etc.), there are other things that drive me insane. For example, when you maximize a window, it maximizes in the ENTIRE screen and you can't get to any other screens. The wireless support really blows. I've beat my head against the wall trying to get it to work properly with my home network but to no avail. Lastly, how in the name of all that is wired and connected to the Internet do I install a freakin' terminal server client?

I'm in the process of downloading PCLinux now, with the sexy Beryl desktop goodness. So I'm probably going to have that loaded in the next couple of days. The good news is, since I have a FreeNAS server, I've already copied all of my files up to the network, so wiping the drive won't really cause me too many issues at all.

So many distros, so little computer hardware budget.