The Systems Engineer

Well it is time for VMworld again. I’m excited to go this year as I have been doing a lot of VMware in 2011. I have recently purchased VMware Service Manager, VMware Application Discovery Manager, VMware vCenter Operations Enterprise, VMware Configuration Manager for Windows Workstations, Servers, and Linux Servers, as well as EMC Ionix Storage Configuration Advisor and ControlCenter. I’m looking forward to getting all of it implemented of course. But next week I am really interested in the technical deep dives and continuing to watch for strategic information about these products. I am bringing a 2nd employee this year as my department has grown a bit.

Automation and IT Service Management are big interest points for me this year. VMAXe and VPlex integrations and best practices also are in scope for me this year. To top it all off I plan to spend as much time in the hands on labs as possible.

If you see me out there feel free to chat me up on topics of interest. I still need to find out if there is a bloggers lounge and take care of some last minute scheduling.

See you there!

Bookmark to

Cisco Live has officially ended for me slightly early. I am currently on a plane back to Houston and this entry will be posted once I land. Cisco Live is an excellent conference and I am always saddened when it is over. I attended some great sessions this year.

I was able to catch up on new topics in the routing and switching world. I also learned a few more things and talked to an excellent resource on Cisco Quad. I had discussions arounds wireless that were very informative as well as learned about to some new wireless gear that solves a few issues we have in the field. A meeting with the Nexus and MDS teams has proved to be very helpful. I was able to find a couple of vendors that have some solutions to my network connectivity issues in some of our more remote sites. There just are not many times I can get so much accomplished in a week than these conferences.

Now I am sitting on the plane next to Josh Stephens, head geek at Solarwinds, talking about all of the Solarwinds software we have. He has given me a number tips and pointers. No wireless up here at 35,000+ feet or I would be testing them out. This ability to network with people in my industry has a great deal of value for me. I am happy that the benefits did not end when I left Las Vegas, running into the head geek was a nice bonus.

A fun future ahead of me now. New wireless gear to look into. Getting closer to a Quad deployment. New vSphere version was released. Passed CCNA Voice to get started on my voice track. CCNP Voice should sit nicely next to my CCNP Routing and Switching and CCDP. I have jokingly said I may collect the whole set!

Still with all of this excitement, to see Networkers end this year is bittersweet. I have VMWorld 2011 to look forward to I suppose. It’s back to Vegas at the end of August baby!

Bookmark to

I am creating this post using a Cisco Cius. What better way to put this device to the test than to actually use it? I have went through the basics and advanced self paced labs here in the world of solutions. The basics covered the android os on cius as well as how to create a video call and some of the other cool features. The call quality looked great, though a little laggy here on the demo floor, which was to be expected.

Using pocketcloud to connect to a windows 2008 r2 desktop works fine as well. Also a little laggy but I still think that could be solved with enterprise wireless instead of demo booth wireless. I am using a full size keyboard and mouse connected via usb to the cius phone docking station.

For giggles I’ll undock the cius to prove my connection remains to my RDP desktop and complete this post. Looks like I had to reconnect to my session. The software keyboard is a bit difficult to use. However it looks like i will complete this post just fine.

Very interested to play wih this device in my environment, I see some good potentials.

Bookmark to