You CAN be a SFD4 delegate
During Storage Field Day 3 Stephen Foskett (the man behind GestaltIT and the Tech Field Days) asked the delegates the question how we’d become the IT-pro’s we are today and how we became Storage Field Day Delegates.
When you look at the video you’ll notice all delegates began their IT careers at the starter level and worked their way up. We are all willing to tell our story whenever you ask us. And we are (as far as we can tell ;-P) normal people like you, just loving our job.
All of the delegates started their IT-career because of their passion for Computers. Most of them do not have a college degree in computer science. And still we were invited by Stephen and his team to come over to the states and listen, learn and discuss about some of the leading products and companies in the storage industry.
As told in the video the best way to start is going to a local User Group. As a member of the Dutch VMUG I’d suggest to find the User Group for a topic they suites you best. For me that was the VMware User Group, and I started by attending one in 2007, just be there and talk (ask) to the people that you think are the guru’s. They are normal people too, you know 
Writing a blog (which was the main reason why I was asked to join Tech Field) was just for myself. I wanted to write things down and be able to look it up (if needed). Don’t start a blog because you want to be like the guru, or want to be like us. Starting a blog is simple, but keeping it up to date and writing good posts will be a lot tougher.
Be yourself, but let people know who you are and ask for help. We (myself in the first place) started just like you and I (and others) are more than willing to help you, when asked. Twitter, Facebook and other Social Media platforms are also very good media to let yourself be heard (and promote you blog posts).
So if you want to become a storage field day 4 delegate, make yourself heard! And let Stephen and his crew know you want to be a delegate here:
http://techfieldday.com/delegates/become-field-day-delegate/
Read MoreStorage Field Day 3 awesomeness
Tomorrow will be the start of Storage Field Day 3 in Denver. I had a great flight here and we landed in a winter wonderland . Storage Field 3 promises to be a great event (once again) with great companies presenting:
And even a secret company coming out of slealth… So make sure you’ll tune in here:
The delegate list is also an impressive one, with the following names:
Brandon Riley on twitter Brandon can be found at @BrandonJRiley
Chris Wahl and can be found on twitter as @ChrisWahl
Enrico Signoretti found on twitter as @ESignoretti
Howard Marks found on twitter as @DeepStorageNet
Ilja Coolen found on twitter as @ICoolen
John Obeto found on twitter as @JohnObeto
Justin Paul found on twitter as @recklessop
Lauren Malhoit found on twitter as @Malhoit
Luca Dell’Oca found on twitter as @dellock6
Marco Broeken found on twitter as @MBroeken
Matt Simmons found on twitter as @StandaloneSA
Rick Schlander found on twitter as @VMRick
Roy Mikes found on twitter as @teovmy
As said a great delegate line-up and this is all thanks to the great work of:
Stephen Foskett found on twitter as @SFoskett
and
Claire Chaplais found on twitter as @CChaplais
A big thanks for the both of them as they do a great job spoiling us
This SFD there will be a new video and audio system that should solve the problem of not hearing the questions from the delegates. If you experience this is not working as it should be, please contact us or the people that do the great job getting all Techfield days recorded:
Benjamin Freedman found on twitter as @PrimeImageBen
and
Andrea Perry found on twitter as @arperry
Make sure you’ll tune in!!
Read MorePHD’s road to the Cloud!
A few months ago I reviewed the 6.0 version backup tool from PHD Virtual. A couple of months later I wrote a post on what’s new in version 6.1 . PHD has introduced their next major update 6.2 and I finally had the chance to review this new major update.
The installation
The thing I really love about PHD Virtual backup is the simplicity of installation. Once you have downloaded and extracted the zip file, the installation of the PHD virtual Appliance is as simple as deploying a OVF. Just follow these steps:
In the vCenter Manager window choose File and click on Deploy OVF Template… In the popup window Browse for the PHDVBA.ovf file and click Next
In the OVF Template Details window click Next
In the Name and Location window provide a VM name, choose the inventory location and click Next
In the Hos / Cluster window select the Cluster which will host the VM and then click Next
In the Specify a specific host window select the host where the VM will land on and click Next
In the Storage window select the Datastore the VM will land on and click Next
make your choive for the Disk Format you want to use and click Next
In the Network Mapping select the network the VM will be on and click Next
In the Ready to Complete window check all settings, check the Power on after deployment checkbox and click Finish
That’s it… The OVF will be deployed and when this is done you must install the PHDVirtualBackup Client installation package. After this you should reconnect to your vCenter server.
Setup CloudHook
After installation you should change a couple of configuration settings to get be able to backup to one of the Cloud Storage providers supported by PHD:
- Amazon S3
- Google Cloud Storage
- Rackspace Cloud Files
- OpenStack/Swift
In vCenter right click the VM and go to PHD Virtual Backup –> Console
In the Console Choose Configuration –> Write Space and configure an attached virtual disk
After this is done go to Backup Storage and give in the cloud storage provider and fill in the details provided by the provider you’ve choosen.
After this I needed to finetune some settings on both sides and I was able to start doing a backup to the cloud…
Conclusion
First of all I would like to say to PHD: Job well done guys! As said in earlier posts “PHD Virtual provides mature, easy to install, and easy to use software.” Providing “Build in Data reduction”, “Assured security”,”Rollback Recovery”, “Flexible Retention” and “Forever Incremental Backups” you get a great product that works very well. PHD makes BAAS easy. Again, job well done.
Read MoreDeep Security 9 Part 3: The Deep Security Manager
In part 1 we installed the VMware vShield part which is needed to get Trend Micro Deep Security up and running. In part 2 we created a database instance that will be used by the Deep Security Manager (DSM). In this part we’ll focus on the installation of the DSM itself. The DSM is the management interface used to manage and monitor the Deep Security environment. You will use this to deploy Deep Security Virtual Appliance (DSVA) instances as well as creating scan profiles, monitor the Deep Security infrastructure and more.
Let’s install the DSM now, first we’ll need to make sure we’ll have the right software (can be downloaded here):
After you’ve downloaded and extracted the Deep Security Manager files, doubleclick on the manager execution file
The Setup will start and in the Welcome screen Click Next
In the License Agreement screen select I accept.. and then click Next
In the Select Destination Directory screen Browse to the destination folder and Click Next
In the database screen select and setup the right Database setup (as created in part 2) and click Next
In the License screen provide your License activation code and press Next
In the Adress and Ports screen provide the FQDN of the DSM and click Next
In the credentials screen Provide a Username (MasterAdmin is standard) and a password and click Next
In the security update window leave the defaults and click Next
In the Co-located Relay screen select Yes and include AntiMalware and click Next
In the Smart Protection Network screen Enable Trend Micro Smart Feedback and click Next
In the confirm Settings click finish to install the DSM
After the installation is finished open a browser and browse to the FQDN (httpS://yourdsm.xxx:4119) of the DSM in the logon screen provide the username and password to log in to the DSM
After Login the DSM interface will look like this
In Part 4 we’ll install a Deep Security Virtual Appliance (DSVA). See you there And if you have any question please let me know.
The VMware vExpert 2013 nomination
Today VMware (John Troyer) opened the VMware vExpert 2013 application program. As a vExpert 2012 I know how awesome it is to be in this awesome group of people. I’ll quote John for what the vExpert title is all about:
Each year, we bring together in the vExpert Program the people who have made some of the most important contributions to the VMware community. These are the bloggers, book authors, VMUG leaders, speakers, tool builders, community leaders and general enthusiasts. They work as IT admins and architects for VMware customers, they act as trusted advisors and implementors for VMware partners or as independent consultants, and some work for VMware itself. All of them have the passion and enthusiasm for technology and applying technology to solve problems. They have contributed to the success of us all by sharing their knowledge and expertise over their days, nights, and weekends. They are, quite frankly, the most interesting and talented group of people I’ve ever been in a room with.
There are three paths that you can follow for becoming a vExpert:
Evangelist Path
The Evangelist Path includes book authors, bloggers, tool builders, public speakers, VMTN contributors, and other IT professionals who share their knowledge and passion with others with the leverage of a personal public platform to reach many people. Employees of VMware can also apply via the Evangelist path. A VMware employee reference is recommended if your activities weren’t all in public or were in a language other than English.Customer Path
The Customer Path is for leaders from VMware customer organizations. They have been internal champions in their organizations, or worked with VMware to build success stories, act as customer references, given public interviews, spoken at conferences, or were VMUG leaders. A VMware employee reference is recommended if your activities weren’t all in public.VPN (VMware Partner Network) Path
The VPN Path is for employees of our partner companies who lead with passion and by example, who are committed to continuous learning through accreditations and certifications and to making their technical knowledge and expertise available to many. This can take shape of event participation, video, IP generation, as well as public speaking engagements. A VMware employee reference is required for VPN Path candidates.
This year it is possible again to Recommend someone for the vExpert Title. When you know someone that goes above and beyond whenever it comes to VMware make sure to recommend her/him at this site:
http://blogs.vmware.com/vmtn/2013/03/vexpert-2013-applications-are-now-open.html
Read More