Does Quebec Have a Future in Canada? Whose Call is it?

May 15, 2012 2 Comments

Last week the National Post (one of two national newspapers in Canada that are actually quite focused on Ontario) published a survey asking Canadians to respond to the question of whether Quebec actually deserved to remain in Canada. “Does Quebec have a future in Canada?”

Of course, if you have lived in Canada or North America you likely know that since 1976, when Quebec elected its first separatist government (the Parti Quebecois, led by Réné Levesque) there have been multiple referendums within Quebec on the issue of whether Quebec should separate from Canada. Each time the separatists lost (despite having rigged the 1995 referendum), but the question continues.

The rest of Canada, for its part, has done so much to appease the Quebec population, as well as the numerous governments of the province. Many Canadians feel that these concessions – most of which are financial, but also include language laws that make it mandatory to label products in French in every province.

As a native-born Quebecer (I was born in Montreal, and lived there for thirty years) I have always looked at the issue from the standpoint of a scared Canadian within the province who might be forced to move should Quebec separate. I have always loved Canada, am proud to be Canadian, and would never renounce that. So when I moved to Ontario in 2007 I was surprised and even offended to hear talk radio hosts talk the way they did about my native province. I was sure that they were the minority, and of course trying to rile people up for ratings. I have since realized that I was the one who was wrong.

I have asked people across the country their thoughts on this over the last five years, and a lot of them feel the same way… they would be just as happy to be rid of Quebec. They of course do not have the divided loyalties that I do, caring so much for both and knowing that the situation could improve with time, especially as the generation of young radicals who kept the separatist movement alive for so many years grew up and began to understand the economic ramifications of independence.

Sadly, I was wrong. A new generation of radical Quebec separatists took their place, and so many of the older ones did not change their feelings when they learned the economics. Separatism in Quebec may well be as strong today as it was in 1980, and that scares me. However if you couple that with the other attitudes of Quebecers – note the Black Bloc, the Student Protests, and Stanley Cup (and other hockey) riots – who seem to have no respect for anyone and have grown up with the entitlement attitude born likely of the fact that Canadian governments dating back to P.E. Trudeau have paid a king’s ransom to appease them and their parents, then you have a problem that Canadians not born in Quebec may not want to put up with for much longer.

When I read the responses to the poll yesterday I was not so shocked by the animosity that so many Canadians feel toward my native province as I once would have been… and I realized that they have a real good point. Quebec has, since my childhood, been the spoiled child of Canada, constantly threatening to take their ball and leave the field if everyone doesn’t do what they want. As a native-born Montrealer I would hate to see Quebec leave Canada, but it is time for Quebecers to realize that they are not the only ones with a say in this matter, and if they don’t work hard to change their attitudes – and the attitudes of the extremely spoiled drivers of the separatist movement – then they will find themselves put out of Canada like Fred Flinstone by his pet sabre-tooth. If Canada were to evict Quebec it would be too late to bang on the door screaming for Wilma to let him back in, it would be a permanent schism that would destroy a country – and likely not simply in two.

If it is time to rewrite Canada, then I do not know if it will be as peaceful and easy a rewrite as some may think – Alberta and British Colombia both have made noises about leaving Confederation, and I’m not sure if it would make sense for the Maritimes and Ontario to be a single country separated by a land mass larger than most of Europe.

I cannot fathom the fallout, but I do know that I think the easiest solution would be for Quebec to come to terms with remaining in Canada, but as an equal… pulling its own weight and paying its own share.  Enough with national laws that force cans of tuna sold in Calgary to be written in French, enough of having to sing the national anthem in two languages at hockey games.  I hope that Quebec learns to play nice, because if they don’t… the sum of the shattered parts of this great land will not nearly add up to the whole.

Filed under Article Tagged with , , , , , , ,

19 Days Out: Where my Black Belt prep stands!

May 14, 2012 3 Comments

Black belt, 2nd dan

Black belt, 2nd dan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is difficult to imagine, but I am now inside the three week mark.  In nineteen days – June 2nd, 2012 – I will be testing for my Second Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo.  I have not been blogging as much as I should, so I am going to take this opportunity to review the goals I set down in an article in this space on February 16 (Planning for Success: A fat man’s plan to test for his Second Dan Black Belt).

  1. Weight Loss. At the time I had lost a few pounds, but as of this morning I have lost 45lbs.  It is not quite my goal of 65lbs, but I realized something important (which I knew but did not take into account when I set that goal): Muscle weighs more than fat.  In the past three weeks I have not lost a pound… but my clothes are fitting differently now than they did then.  Also people who saw me then are telling me that I look like I have lost more weight, even though I haven’t.  I suppose all of the other work that I have been doing really has been paying off!  That does not mean I can afford to stop dieting – certainly not now, but not in three weeks either.  I have had the occasional cheat day (I had one cheat week too) but that is the exception, and I want to lose all the weight before I am through.
  2. Strength Training. I have not done as much of this as I would have like to, but I have done some.  I will make no excuses though; when I test one of two things will happen: I will break through the concrete slabs… or I will (again!) break my hand trying.  There is no alternative for me, I WILL break them.
  3. Pattern Training: I never thought I would do it, but I have learned all five new patterns that are requirements to test for my Second Degree Black Belt.  Last night my Master came over and I expressed some doubt about the level of proficiency that I have achieved, he had me perform the patterns… in a chair, without moving.  I had to describe to him every step, every move.  It took me an hour to do the hardest of them (the other four I have long since ‘mastered’) but I got through it… Pal Ban Moo 1-2-3.  Tonight I will do them through and through in the Dojang, and I hope to be as confident as he is.
  4. Endurance Training.  I told myself (and my wife) that when I reached a certain weight I would start jogging again.  I have not hit that weight yet, but I broke my word and started jogging last month.  I simply made a statement to Theresa that I was going to go for a five mile jog that afternoon, and she told me that I should set realistic goals so as to not disappoint myself.  That afternoon I only jogged about 4 miles… but I have done it most days since, and yesterday (Sunday) I jogged 10.5 miles.  It took me 2.75 hours so I am not breaking any land-speed records, but I am doing much better than I thought… I even considered running a half marathon earlier in the month, but Theresa (rightly) talked me out of it.  That IS still a goal… but after my test.
  5. Weapons Training: I was planning on performing Nunchuk patterns for the test, but have been told that weapons are not a requirement until the next test, and I have only enough cycles to do what I can.  I have not stopped working with them, but I am not planning on including them in my test.
  6. Sparring: I am not looking forward to sparring, and have not worked on it at all this time around.  I do know however that I was pretty good at sparring two years ago, and I know that in my much slimmer condition I am moving a LOT better than I was.  If I am asked to spar, I will, and I will win.
  7. Self-Defense Training: This is the one area that is a requirement that I have not focused on.  I know what I need to know, I just haven’t learned the actual moves yet.  They are all permutations of things I have known and used for years, and have an appointment with one of the senior instructors to spend an evening learning them this week.  I am not worried about that.
  8. Stretch Training: While I have not done as much of this as I would have liked, I am pleased with my progress, which again is more a result of the weight loss and endurance training than anything else.  My kicks are better and higher than they have been in years, and while I will never be doing high side- or roundhouse kicks, I have no problem with high axe- and front- kicks… and my back kick is still lethal!
  9. Choreography: While I am not saying it cannot happen, I doubt that this will get done, simply because of the three of us who planned to do this together, one is NOT testing, and the other (and I) are going to spend what time is left preparing our actual requirements… when we are in town, because we are both road warriors and will both be on the road for much of the next 2.5 weeks.
  10. Meditation, Mindset, and Balance: My Master looked at me last night and told me I was ready.  He was not simply referring to my patterns.  He knows what I have put into this test, both mentally and physically.  I am balanced and focused, and ready… in all aspects.  I am ready to shut out the distractions, clear the mechanism, and do my best.  I can’t do anything more… but I can make sure my best is REALLY my best.

Conclusion:

It’s been a long road and it’s not over… but I am confident that while I have slipped along the way I have for the most part stayed the course.  When I saw my family physician last week he did a double-take when he looked at my weight loss, and insisted I get back on the scale to confirm.  My BP is back to what it was in the army, and I am focused and ready… and on June 2nd when I wreck those two slabs of concrete I will know that it was all worth it!

Filed under Article, Exercise, OMAC Tae Kwon Do, Tae Kwon Do, Taekwondo Tagged with , , ,

Leave Mayor Ford Alone!

April 19, 2012 2 Comments

Wow, I’ll bet that none of you would have thought I would ever post something so political… well, it’s not.  Read on.

First of all, for those of you who do not know the Greater Toronto Area, I should explain that I actually live in a city called Oakville, Ontario.  When I am outside of the province I generally either tell people that I live in Toronto, or if they seem to know a little about geography I say that I live about halfway from Toronto to Niagara Falls.  Either way, I do not actually live in the City of Toronto, and do not have the right to vote here.  I vote here in Oakville, and think that our mayor (Rob Burton, a very nice guy who is himself a PC and has attended my Windows 7 events) does a fine job, and does not seem to need to diet.

With all of that being said, Oakville does not really have talk radio to speak of; we may not live in Toronto, but we still live in the proverbial shadow of the CN Tower.  My radio stations in the car are all tuned to Toronto stations, and I seem to gravitate toward talk radio over music.  My usual station of choice is therefore News Talk 1010.  I may not vote in Toronto, but I get all of their dirt Smile

So the story goes: in November, 2010 Toronto elected a new mayor – Rob Ford – whose main platform was that he was going to cut out the gravy at City Hall, and would get the city’s finances in order.  I will not comment on whether he has or has not done this; I know he is currently very unpopular for a lot of the moves he has made (and what seems to be his inability to get along well or work well with others), but I do not need to be a financial wizard to understand that a lot of the cuts he would like to make will take time to pay dividends, and in order to slash the budget he necessarily has to slash services, piss off unions, and step on a lot of toes.  None of that interests me, other than the fact that my subway token now costs a little more than it did a year ago, for the 30 days a year that I spend in the city.

There’s no nice way to put it (well there are, but I don’t sugar coat these things).  Mayor Ford is fat.  To be fair, I would bet that if on January 16th (a relevant date) we had stood side by side on the scale we would have been within about 7lbs of each other.  This is actually not a fair bet; on that day I DID step onto a scale, and know what I weighed… and so did the Mayor, and I know what HE weighed.  He got onto a scale at a press conference and weighed in at 330lbs.  I was in fact 6.9lbs heavier than him (Yes, this is the first time I am revealing to anyone what I weighed).

The Mayor (along with his brother Doug, a city councilor and chiefly irrelevant to this article) launched a public campaign that he called ‘Mayor Ford’s Cut the Waist Challenge.’  I was not very interested at the time (nor am I especially so now) but that week I made a similar, albeit much less public, decision.  I decided to start training for my Second Degree Black Belt Test, which I will take on June 3rd.  I also decided that I wanted to test at 65lbs less than I was at the time – a VERY lofty (weighty? Smile) goal.  A month into my own challenge I codified my plan in an article on this page called ‘Planning for Success: A fat man’s plan to test for his Second Dan Black Belt.’  I wasn’t going to hold press conferences and public weigh-ins, but I was up front about what I needed to do, and how I hoped to accomplish it.

If you follow this blog you also know that I have started blogging on Fitbit.com about my progress, mostly to do with my jogging.  I am not discussing my diet regimen at all because it is one that I do not and would not endorse, but suffice it to say that this morning when I stepped on the scale (three months after Mayor Ford’s challenge began) I have lost 47lbs… the Mayor has lost 22. 

I want to be clear: I am firstly not competing with Mayor Ford, and secondly I commend his efforts and laud his success.  Losing weight is NOT easy, especially for busy high-profile people on the go.  While the Mayor makes a big deal of how busy he is, I am sure if you have looked at my travel schedule you will know that I am no slouch either.  What he is done is amazing, and I applaud him for it.

So this morning the Toronto Sun posted a video on its website showing the Mayor (who still looks pretty big… but then, so do I) walking into a KFC, with the people who recorded the video (apparently from their car on a camera phone) laughing at him and making fun of him.  The story has taken up hours of talk radio time and I am sure will be in the newspapers in the morning.

Now here’s the deal, folks.  Remember when I said that I applaud his efforts and his success? I speak from a position of understanding… I AM in the Mayor’s shoes.  As athletic as I was as a kid and (obviously) right through the army, after that I started gaining weight, and found myself weighing as much as 350lbs.  I love to eat, drink, and be merry.  I love rich foods and I love fast foods, and over the years no matter what diet I have tried, and no matter how strict I was with it, something always happened to derail me, and I would put the weight back on.

If you have not struggled with weight issues then you have no idea what you are talking about.

Let me clarify that… I have a friend who weighs about 125lbs.  She thinks she needs to lose weight, and struggles with it.  Do me a favour and sit down… you don’t know.  You are always struggling with the extra 10-25lbs you wish you could lose to look like a runway model? Shut up, YOU don’t know.  I am talking about people who have gone to the doctor and heard for years that they had to lose a lot of weight or else they were going to get sick and die.  People like Mayor Ford… people like me.  Yes, my name is Mitch Garvis, and I am a fat SOB who needs to lose a lot of weight.  I get to comment because I KNOW.  30lbs? Go away, you don’t have a clue.

Along my journey Master Dimitrios Beis has been my coach, mentor, and friend.  HE knows, because HE used to be fat.  Now he is a Fifth Dan Master, but once upon a time he was as big as I am.  So when he tells me every couple of weeks ‘Mitch, it’s time for you to indulge… go have a plate of wings or something;’ I trust him.  His explanation – and he is right – is that if you deprive yourself of all of the foods you love for a long period of time you will eventually fall off the horse and go mad.  I know he is right because I lost 40lbs in the seven weeks leading up to my Black Belt Test two years ago and guess what… I found every last one of them, plus ten of their friends.

I don’t know if the chicken that the Mayor bought was really for his family (as the media is reporting) or if he bought a small little wrap for himself, or if he bought a bucket of extra-crispy that he sat in a dark room devouring alone.  It’s none of my business.  However if he has fallen off the wagon, rather than making fun of him we should be encouraging him to get back up off the ground, point out the positive progress he has made, and have a little understanding that three months of salad… <shudder!> Let the man have his fried chicken in peace.

A group of Troglodyte morons who want to point fingers and laugh like hyenas will do nothing but discourage the Mayor, which is just mean and stupid (I get called fat all the time… but not a lot of people have the nerve to say it to my face and laugh), or I hope get the Mayor mad and refocused, and get him back on the horse.  Don’t think though that if this happens, morons, that you helped him… his success will be in spite of you and not because of you.

And for all of the media outlets who devoted any time to this today, I would like to point out that there is an election coming up in Alberta, a presidential campaign in the US, an Indian missile test, a Toronto police officer stabbed in the neck, an economy trying to recover, gas prices at near-record highs, Europe is still on the verge of collapse, the NHL playoffs are in full swing, there’s a playoff race in the NBA, and if you ARE going to focus on how hard it is to lose weight, then rather than just either pointing fingers, or (just as bad) spending an hour or column issues discussing the people who pointed fingers, you could have nutrition, athletic, and psychological experts on to discuss how difficult it is and what a good first step would be, and what to do when you do falter.

By the way… I had six chicken wings at Wegman’s this afternoon for lunch… anyone want to make something of it?  I’ll be in the Dojang tomorrow evening from 7-9 and would love to discuss it with you in the sparring ring.  By the way… BRING IT… I may still be a fat SOB, but I am 47lbs less so than I was, and today’s chicken wings just fueled the next two weeks of dieting and training.

Good luck Mayor Ford.

Filed under Article, Mayor Rob Ford, Weight Loss

Oakville.Com Tech Tuesday

March 20, 2012 3 Comments

This morning my most recent article for www.oakville.com was published – a couple of weeks late (my fault).  Because it is meant to be more consumer focused than enterprise it will certainly appeal to a certain segment of my readers!  It is called ‘How can I protect myself from data loss?’ and it is about backup solutions for the SOHO (Small Office / Home Office) and consumer.  Let me know what you think – join the conversation!

http://www.oakville.com/articles/how-can-i-protect-myself-from-data-loss/

Also I am always looking for new ideas for the column, and would love to hear your thoughts! Remember, it should be problem-focused and not product-focused… I am, for this column, trying to remain product agnostic.

Filed under Article, Backup, Oakville, SOHO Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Oakville.com

March 8, 2012 Leave a comment

Hey folks! For those of you who have been asking about my Tech Tuesdays column in Oakville.com, I wanted to reassure you that it is coming. In fact, it has been submitted and approved, and is scheduled to run on Tuesday, March 20th. This was due to my missing a deadline (those of you who have worked with me know…) and not for any other reason.

The article will focus on backup solutions for SOHOs… and before you say anything, the article has been researched, written, and submitted so I will not at this time be entertaining recommendations for solutions to include in the piece. I am warmed by your enthusiasm, but I am shredded by the amount of work on my plate – too much to revisit the piece now. Rest assured, if you submit your comments after reading the piece I will read every one, and respond to most!

I just wanted to make sure none of you thought the worst… and hopefully in April I will be back to my regularly scheduled 1st Tuesday of the month!

-Mitch

Filed under Article, Oakville, SOHO

Ending Snow Days? Sorry kids, but it SHOULD happen soon.

February 20, 2012 2 Comments

This month I had lunch with Sharon Bennett, a veteran of the IT industry and blogger.  We discussed a number of topics relating to both technology and community… I asked her a ton of questions, and the one that got me the most intriguing answer was: ‘What would you like to see technology do in the future?’  It is a question I ask all the time, when I feel that people have the experience and insight to provide an interesting answer.  Because of the nature and vagueness of the question I always receive something different, but Sharon’s answer intrigued me.

‘End snow days.’

For those of you who live in warmer climes this may require some explanation.  Up here in the Great White North we get a lot of snow – depending on the region some more than others.  Although this current school year seems to be the exception, every year we seem to have two or three (or more) days every year when either the schools close, or the school busses do not operate because of a snow storm.  Below is a picture I took of my house the day after a snow storm a couple of years ago… and our area is nowhere near as bad as where Sharon lives.IMG_0001

When I was a child I had a simple morning ritual during the winter.  I would get out of bed and look outside.  If it was snowing I would make sure my parents had the radio on, because the announcer was sure to name our school among the list of those closed due to weather.  I never liked school, and any opportunity to not go was welcome and anticipated and sought after.  There would never be two snow days in a row of course… in Montreal the road clearing teams were far too efficient for that.

We keep hearing statistics that Canada (and the USA) are lagging behind other countries in education, and it is largely agreed that without a proper education our kids are going to have trouble succeeding in the world of tomorrow.  So why is it that we are not using every technology available to minimize the number of days off our kids take in a year? 

I am not saying that we should change our calendar.  True, the school year is based on an agrarian civilization in which kids could not study during the summer because they were too busy tending crops.  In today’s world where we are not even supposed to let our children work until they are sixteen our calendar is obviously obsolete, but I do not expect to see it change any time soon.  However our education systems are mandate to deliver a minimum number of school days per year, and we should do everything in our power to reach (or exceed) that target.

Snow days may be an unexpected bonus for the students (and, one would suspect, for their teachers as well).  For working parents of children not old enough to stay home alone it is a hardship.  For those who have an office at least one parent will have to take the day off of work (unpaid).  Those who work from home can look forward to an unproductive day of interruptions.

Sharon blogged today that she can envision an end to snow days, using technologies such as Skype.  Read her article called Why DO We Still Have Snow Days? for her insightful technical solution to the problem.

Of course, there is a happy medium between the teacher teaching a full day’s curriculum on these snowed-in days; teachers can assign homework using an Intranet portal (such as Microsoft Office 365, a comparable solution to which is offered free to educational institutions) or even simply e-mailing assignments to kids early in the morning, and giving them work or even reading assignments to keep them busy as well as on schedule for their minimum school days.  This solution does not address the working parent having to take the day off, but it will keep the student occupied so that the parents who work from home can be somewhat productive.

Unfortunately there is another obstacle to this, one that is less technical and far more difficult: Getting the teachers (and more importantly the teachers unions) to agree to this.  My son goes to a private day school in Mississauga, Ontario.  Two years ago, after I discovered that in order to e-mail his teachers I had to get their personal e-mail addresses, I used Microsoft’s .edu program to set up a mail server infrastructure for them where they would each have a professional e-mail address at their school’s domain.  I spent three hours teaching all of them how to use it, including benefits such as shared calendars and contacts.  Three months later I discovered that not a single teacher ever used it, and I had wasted my time. 

That was at an independent private school.  How much worse would it be in a public school where teachers were unionized and the teachers would not only have to learn a new technology, they would lose those bonus days off?

I do not know if the system is going to change; I do not know who is going to stand up and champion this change.  What I do know is that Sharon Bennett is on to something… Weather-related days off, in this day and age where there is an Internet-connected computer in nearly every household, should be a thing of the past.  Despite what our children might think, it would be good for them!

Filed under Article, Schools, snow, Snow Days

Oakville.com

February 7, 2012 1 Comment

Today is the day… My first article went live at Oakville.com, and that is very exciting for me.  It is great to be able to give back to the community where I live… that I have called home for the past five years.

It is amazing… the first time I spoke with my wife (Theresa) – we met on-line – she said that she lived in Oakville, and I said ‘Where’s that?’ I had moved to the Greater Toronto Area (more specifically Mississauga) two months earlier, and although I had heard of Oakville had no idea that it was ten minutes away down the 403 (or QEW… or Burnhamthorpe… or Dundas).  Now, nearly five years later, I consider it home, and do not want to live anywhere else.

So for my introductory article I wrote (as promised) about password security.  I hope you read it and like it! –M

http://www.oakville.com/articles/expert-advice-to-keep-your-passwords-safe/

Filed under Article, IT Security, Oakville, Password

Coming Home… A New Venture!

February 3, 2012 Leave a comment

I am a Road Warrior.  I have been one for several years, since before I moved to the Halton Region.  In fact since I moved to Oakville in 2007 I have spent more time away than at home, in over one hundred cities in more than a dozen countries.  I have spoken to audiences of IT Professionals across Canada and the US, as well as Europe, Asia, and most recently South America. 

Throughout my travels I have espoused the importance of giving back to your community, both at large (through charitable endeavours) and the IT Pro community (through user groups and on-line forums).  That is why I was so thrilled when I was approached in January to ask if I would be interested in writing a monthly technology column for three local community sites – Mississauga.com, Burlington.com, and of course Oakville.com.

I accepted gladly, and beginning this month each site will be publishing my technology article.  The topics will be broad-ranging, aimed at consumers but always of import to IT Pros as well.  I will make sure the topics are interesting, and I will listen to feedback as well as entertain suggestions for future columns.

As someone who spends so much time on the road but calls Oakville home, it is great to be able to write a column that my local community will read, understand, and hopefully benefit from.

My first column, to be published next week, is on password security.  If you think you know, remember that it is so often the case in our industry that the shoemaker’s children go barefoot.  Look for the article to appear at www.oakville.com in their Tech Tuesdays column.  I know I’m excited!

Have a great week-end!

Filed under Article, Oakville, technology

This Is A Scam!

January 18, 2012 6 Comments

I knew something was fishy when the phone rang and the Call Display showed a call-back number of 666-035-3612 because, as we all know, 666 is the area code of the beast.  I waited the five seconds for the auto-dialer system to connect me to a real operator. 

‘Hello, my name is Gary from the Windows Technical Department.  I am phoning you because we have been receiving a series of errors from your computer this week indicating several vulnerabilities, and I am calling to help you to fix them.  Do you have a few minutes?  It is very important.’

Try as I might, I couldn’t help myself from bursting out laughing, but after a few seconds I answered ‘Ok, how are you going to help me to fix them?’ 

Gary was put off by my laughing and asked why, emphasizing that this was a very serious matter, and that I could be facing serious financial and legal repercussions if I took it lightly.  ‘Computer Security is very important and if you do not take it seriously by following my instructions it will cost you.  So why are you laughing?’

I couldn’t help myself.  Now, remember… the following statement is not true, but I assumed that for the sake of this conversation my MVP Lead and Managers will forgive me for saying ‘Because I work for Microsoft with the Windows Product Team.’  I did not feel it would have helped at all to explain about the Springboard Technical Experts Panel, and how I write courseware and give presentations and that I am not actually an employee, even though I have a title.  However I do not think he would have been so interested in the answer due to his obviously well-thought response of: ‘Well then &^$# you then.’ and he hung up.

Of course I knew in advance that this was a scam, because one of my sisters-in-law was caught unawares by this, and it ended up costing her hundreds of dollars and no end of headaches.  Remember folks, Microsoft will help you in all sorts of ways, but always passively… YOU have to come to THEM.  They will NEVER initiate a conversation, either by phone or e-mail or pop-up, saying you are compromised now we can help you. 

Lesson over… I’m going to Tae Kwon Do!

Filed under Article, Scams

Day 4: Wednesday Morning, 3AM

January 18, 2012 Leave a comment

I have not been sleeping very well during the cruise.  I don’t know if that is because I am relaxing so much during the day, or what else it might be.  I certainly have not been lying awake worrying about… well, anything.  The cruise has been a nearly stress-free time, and I have always been able to sleep at sea before.  Weird.

Wednesday Morning we went ashore in Grand Cayman, and the sea around the island is truly magnificent.  I actually found myself taking pictures of water… see?

DSCN2426

What you are seeing in the blue is actually coral reefs that are thirty feet underwater.  Yes, the water is that clear.  Theresa signed us up for a shore excursion called a Sea Walk.  It was absolutely incredible – they picked us up from the dock at Hammerhead’s Bar & Grill, and took us out to the dive boat.  There we climbed into the water where they put a helmet on us that weighs seventy pounds (32kg) which above water is HEAVY on your shoulders, but underwater is quite manageable.  The helmet is attached by a hose to an air compressor that made sure that we were always able to breathe.  The weight of the helmet kept us on the sea floor, and we were able to walk about the coral reefs and play with the gorgeous tropical fish (primarily Sergeant-Major Fish, so named I am told because of their stripes).  It was amazing to be able to walk around on the sea floor, examine the coral reefs and the fish, and although we could only communicate with hand-signals, we even threw a ball around for a little while!

The picture below is of people far more attractive than our group (excepting my wife, who looks better than any of them in her bikini!) doing this activity, but as my camera is not waterproof (let alone at 30’) I had to take a stock photo from their website, and apologize for the theft… hopefully the huge thumbs-up I give them will appease them, and if you are in the Grand Cayman area check them out at http://www.seatrekcayman.com/.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Theresa and I had lunch at Hammerheads, but then headed back to the ship and enjoyed the hot tub on the Lido deck.  We may have had a bit too much to drink, so Theresa went back to the cabin to rest.  I stayed in (or around) the hot tub until it was time for dinner, and had a great night… just talking to people, smoking a cigar or two, and decompressing.  I really think that is the keyword for the week… I have been so wound up with work and all that I needed to decompress, and while I generally only smoke a cigar every month, this week is a huge exception.  With every puff of smoke I exhale I can feel the stress leaving my body.

I should mention that we met some great people in the hot tub yesterday, but that is a bit untrue.  We had met them on an on-line forum before getting onto the ship, and spent two days playing telephone/message tag with them.  What are the odds that we would then get into the hot tub and POOF – they are there.  Jenna and Nick seem like the kind of people we can be friends with beyond the six days at sea.  The last time we cruised we did meet a nice couple who were much older than we were, but we spent a lot of time with them, under no delusion that we would become friends on shore.  Jenna is younger than we are, Nick is our age, and they are just the sweetest people you will ever meet.  They are engaged, living in Pittsburgh, and I wouldn’t be surprised if our friendship outlasted this voyage.  On vera.

It is strange what kinds of propositions you get at sea.  This afternoon I was in the hot tub with a group of kids – maybe 20-24 years old – and we were all joking around, when one of them asked me ‘So do you know Mary Jane?’  Now, while I am familiar with the codes I am absolutely against any form of illegal drugs (as so deemed by North American laws).  I thought it shocking that a teenager would see if I could ‘score some weed’ for her.  I asked her about it, and said that it was probably a bad idea to ask men twice her age if they could get drugs, to which she responded ‘What do you mean?  I am NOT fifteen years old!’  While I give her zero points for brains, I was quite flattered that she thought I was only thirty… of course, it is possible she was just REALLY bad at math.

It’s time to sleep but tomorrow we are waking up docked in sunny Jamaica where I will climb Dunn’s River Falls (and Theresa and her bad knees will not).  After that we’ll head to Paradise Beach, where I am told we will never want to leave!  Jenna and Nick are going to do some shopping and hit the beach, but we’ll see them back at Table 324 for dinner… I wonder who will have the most fun in Ocho Rios? :)

Filed under Article, Cruise, Vacation Tagged with , , , , , ,

Day 3: Strategy

January 16, 2012 Leave a comment

There are two types of people who play backgammon.  People who play the game casually and, when playing with another person of the same caliber, will probably win more or less as many as he loses.  Then there are the people who have studied the game, the strategies, the odds.  I remember as a teenager trying to teach myself the game… I would play hundreds of games every night, sometimes playing with others but more often playing against myself and against computers.  I studied the dice, the points, the advantages.  When I lived in the Middle East I shocked a lot of people who did not expect a North American to be able to defeat them.  I wouldn’t say that I won a lot of money playing backgammon when I was in the army… but I did win some.

The third day at sea was just that… a day at sea.  After breakfast Theresa and I went up to the Lido deck to sit by the pool, and there was an older gentleman sitting with a backgammon set and a sign inviting others to play.  Harry was forty years my senior, a retired auto worker who had moved from Detroit to Arizona.  We did not have a lot of common ground to talk about… but we were very well matched adversaries.  I might have had a slight advantage over him – I won four Best-of-Nine matches out of six – but it was only slight.  Theresa could not understand why at a certain point in the game we would just set up the next game.  I explained that when you have the respect for your opponent you did not have to beat a dead horse once the numbers were clear.

Of course there are aspects of Backgammon that do not rely on skill.  When you rely on the numbers on the dice sometimes the best player will lose and sometimes the worst will win.  That is why odds and strategy are so important, and why experience and feeling is so important.  I used to have a friend who swore that if you needed to roll a ‘one’ that you increased your odds by rolling against the middle partition – something not possible on some boards.  Short of loading the dice there is truly nothing that you can do to ensure any dice.

While I cannot fix dice, I do believe there are a few very critical strategic spots on the board that by doubling-up on them you can really cause your opponent issues.  Want to know what they are?  Play me sometime and you’ll find out.  As I told Harry I only give pointers and advice when I am winning Winking smile

I do believe strongly in building a wall.  A wall means that you have six spots in a row that are protected, which means that your opponent cannot pass them.  If he (or she) has a stone in your house your wall is your assurance that they cannot win… at least, until you break your own wall (an eventual necessity).  Simply put, no stone can move more than six points because that is the highest number that can be rolled on a single die.  That wall can give a player a real strategic advantage.  Want to learn more?  Play me sometime!

I spent the day at the pool, most of it in the hot tub speaking with other people.  We met some really nice folks, and finally connected with a couple that we have been trying to meet since we came on board.  Jenna and Nick are from Pittsburg, and we connected on the on-line forums before we came on board.  We left each other messages for two days, but never connected.  During the afternoon today there was another couple in the hot tub who said they were from Pittsburg, and when I asked if they were Jenna and Nick, their eyes went wide!  We’ll have dinner with them and see how compatible we are… looks good!

Filed under Article, Cruise, Vacation Tagged with , ,

Caribbean Cruise: Day of Departure

January 16, 2012 Leave a comment

As we left Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida I felt my hands shaking a bit. It had nothing to do with the rumbling of the engines of the Carnival Freedom, but rather the beginning of a long process of decompression and relaxation that I hope will be completed before we return to the same port six days from today.

2011 was an incredible year for me, both personally and professionally. Among the milestones that the year-end tally tolled were my first pair of eye glasses and my first grey hairs. It is easy to chalk these both up to the passing of my thirty-ninth birthday in July, but my wife (who has teased me about both) would likely tell you that it is as easy to attribute both to the amount of time I put into my work. She calls me a workaholic but I don’t see it that way; she is probably right and I am likely in denial.

Whichever one of us is right, the numbers do not lie. I traveled to sixty-seven different cities in 2011, which does not include multiple visits to numerous cities. I traveled just over 115,000 miles during the year, and was away from home just over two hundred days. I renewed my Air Canada Elite status in the summer, and for the first time achieved Platinum status with Marriott. I couldn’t tell you how many times I crossed the US-Canadian border, but do know that I traveled to South America twice… both times in November.

It would be easy to calculate the number of days off, sick days, and vacation days that I took in the past year… fewer than twenty-five. However if we were going to be honest and counted the days that I truly did not work – disconnected myself from the phone, Internet, and computer completely – that number would be under five, and would consist mostly of Jewish holidays.

They say that you have to make hey when the sun is shining, and that is true… if you are a farmer. If you are an IT consultant and trainer, sometimes you have to put your thresher (or whatever the IT equivalent of whatever farm implement you use to make hey with) away for a few days, even when it is sunny. I am thrilled to be as in demand as I am (and hope that it continues into 2012). However going ‘all-out’ as I did this past year was not healthy, and I recognize that. You have to take time to smell the roses otherwise you end up feeling and looking as I have for the past few weeks. It has not been fair to my family, and although I do not think it ever showed professionally, I am reasonably sure that had Theresa not forced me to take this vacation it would eventually, and soon.

I am not going to stop working as hard as I do… I don’t think I know how, and wouldn’t want to find out. I love what I do. However I have had several discussions with Theresa about this, and understand that going forward we will be taking a vacation twice a year… whether I like it or not. That means a cruise or similar excursion where there are no cell phones and no Internet, and no meetings or colleagues. We are going to start smelling the roses before my nose falls of from disuse.

There are a number of people who see me as a mentor… look to me for advice and guidance, both personally and professionally. I am honoured to have their trust like that. Yesterday afternoon I sat in the swimming pool with one of the people that I look to for that guidance, and when Theresa described my year he called me a name that I will not repeat here. ‘I worked as hard as you did for most of my professional life, but every year I took two or even three trips to break it up and relax… Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Florida, or wherever. Otherwise you end up being of no value to anyone, much less yourself.’ It sounds like the sort of advice that I would have given to someone. Sometimes the obvious stares us in the face and we don’t see it. Sometimes we think that weakness is for other people, and that we are superheroes. Sometimes we think we are still the twenty-two year old soldier we once were, invincible and able to go all out forever. It is easy to forget that when we were soldiers we had downtime mandated, and even then some of our friends crashed out.

The sun has gone down, and the lights of Miami are behind us. The ship is sailing south toward the Caribbean, and my plans for the next six days consist of eating, drinking, relaxing by the pool, playing some cards at the casino, seeing some shows, and going ashore in our three ports of call. I do not intend to wear a watch for any of it, nor do I plan to turn my cell phone on. Okay, when we are ashore in Key West I might take it, but I haven’t decided yet. I do know that I have set my Out of Office Reply on both my personal and professional e-mail accounts, and have changed my voice mail to explain the delay in my returning e-mails and phone messages. Today I sat in an outdoor hot tub, an activity I plan to repeat several times this week. I have had a couple of drinks, but am not going to go overdo it. I did have a cigar, and plan to have at least one every day this week – an anomaly for someone who rarely smokes ten in a year – because with every puff of smoke I feel more of my stress leaving me.

I will be writing every day, but these articles will not be posted until I am back in Toronto. I will be exercising – it is time for me to start thinking about my Second Degree Black Belt, and if I want to strive for it then this vacation from physical activity has to stop. Today Theresa and I walked over 10,000 steps, and will do at least that every day, in addition to stretching and pattern practice. I will meditate, and I will stare out at the sea from our cabin’s balcony as well as from the deck. What I will not do is think about work… at least, not much. Expect the next few articles to be of a slightly different variety than you have read in these pages these last few months… they will be a sort of travelogue as well as some insight into my mind.

Thank for your continued readership.

Filed under Article, Cruise, Vacation

Why we need a backup…

December 13, 2011 4 Comments

This is a story about IT Security.

It is hard to believe that within three weeks we have had our Kia Rondo.  However it is easy enough to gauge… we brought it home (used) on New Years Eve, December, 2009… When I drove Theresa to the hospital to deliver Gilad it was still on its first tank of gas.

Now, the fact that it has taken us this long to learn our lesson is testimony to our diligence, but nonetheless the lesson would eventually be learned.  New cars, as you know, come with two sets of keys.  Used cars, unfortunately, do not.  More often than not they come with only one, as is the case with the Rondo.  Theresa and I switch off driving the two cars every so often (usually when one needs gasoline or other maintenance I get it).  As such, we are usually pretty good about leaving the keys on the secretary by the door.

This past week-end was a disaster for me.  I got home from two weeks in South America & Mexico on Thursday, jetlagged and exhausted from the travel.  So much so that Saturday and Sunday I essentially slept all day, although I did venture out in the evening… on Saturday I took Theresa to Niagara Falls for dinner, and on Sunday after they came home from Buffalo I took her to a movie.  When I came home Theresa had warned me that both cars needed gas, so we drove the Toyota on Saturday (and I filled the tank) and the Kia on Sunday (and I filled the tank).  As we arrived home after the movie, there was a confluence of many irregularities – a dog jumping at the door, a phone ringing, and a need for the restroom. 

The keys to the Kia ended up in my pocket…

…and the following morning they came to the airport with me…

…and then they came to Halifax with me.

I checked into the Maple Leaf Lounge at the airport in Halifax when I called my beautiful, loving, absolutely understanding wife whom I love dearly and who is always the first person I call when I land anywhere.  I heard Gilad crying in the background, which was strange for the time of the morning when he was usually at daycare.  ‘No, nothing is wrong with him… but he is rather upset that you took my car keys and stranded us here.’

Oh, crap.

To cut a long story short, after losing most of a day, a very understanding friend drove my very loving and wonderful and understanding wife to the airport parking lot and picked up my car from the long-term parking lot.  It was a huge hassle, but all was well.

At this point – if not several paragraphs ago – you have probably started wondering why I prefaced this tale of an absent-minded husband as a story of IT Security.  Keep reading and all will be made clear!

Many small and mid-sized businesses rely on one person to be the ‘Keeper of the Keys’ for their network – one user’s account is the Domain Administrator, or Root account.  Of course it is best practice to not share passwords, so that person is the only person who knows the credentials.  In some cases, that ‘person’ is not even an employee, but an IT Service Provider, who maintains their computer for them.  While the skies are clear this poses no problem.  Too often I have heard horror stories of things going very bad very fast.

Over the course of my career I have received no fewer than a dozen calls from companies who needed for me to reclaim their networks following a falling-out with their former IT Manager.  In most of these cases the company had decided to lay them off because they were going to outsource their IT services, although on a couple of occasions there was a fight between the owner and the IT guy who stormed off in a huff.  In one unfortunate case the IT guy died suddenly in a car accident.

On the other side of the same coin, I have on a number of occasions been told by IT service providers that their clients were late paying their bills, so they were going to deny them service and would not provide any credentials until all of the accounts were adequately settled.  I advised these IT pros that while I understood their frustrations, they were likely breaking the law and opening themselves up to legal action that would far outweigh any disputed monies.  I can only hope that they followed my advice and reversed their stances… As they did not name the client, there was no way for me to follow up on that.

While the IT guy who refuses to share the credentials is breaking the law (except for the guy who died, who was pretty action-proof) it is the company that suffers until the issue is resolved.  Resolving the issue – either technologically or legally – can be time consuming and costly.  It is also a situation that is very easy to avoid.

I do not think the solution is giving anyone in the company Admin/Root credentials… nobody should ever have higher credentials than they need to do their job.  What I would recommend, however, is that a second Admin/Root account be created with a long and super-complex password.  Those credentials should be stored separately and securely in sealed envelopes that hopefully will never need to be used.  However just like having a spare set of keys, it is a safety net against the sudden souring of the relationship between the SMB and the IT provider, whether that provider be an employee or contractor.

This plan is unfortunately not bullet proof.  It would be simple for the provider to either disable this account or change those credentials.  Legally speaking this would be an overt criminal act, but the jaded tech may not be concerned about that.  That is why it is crucial that companies manage their HR – specifically their layoffs – carefully.  If they are planning to lay off their administrator it is a good practice to use the following steps:

  1. Plan the timing carefully.
  2. Before you call your administrator into your office for that uncomfortable conversation, ensure that those credentials work, and access the Active Directory Users and Computers console using that account.
  3. When you know that he is waiting to come into your office, disable his account.

It is unfortunate, but a jaded former employee can cause a lot of damage.  I have heard horror stories of companies laying off their IT manager, but not disabling their account.  That laid off employee then goes back to their desk and starts wreaking havoc on the network.  The IT administrator is, unfortunately, not a position that you can lay off and give them two weeks notice, expecting they will faithfully continue to perform their duties.  If you are getting rid of the IT admin, you have to pay their settlement out but terminate their employment – along with their credentials – immediately.

If you think you may be protected by loyalty, remember that you are about to demonstrate a termination of that two0way loyalty street.  In cases I have been involved in neither long-time friendships nor family relations have protected the company. 

I am not saying that this will happen in every case, but you cannot gamble that it will not happen to you.  Don’t take the chance, and you will never have to write an article about how loving and understanding your wife is because you flew to Halifax with her keys Winking smile

Filed under Article, Credentials, IT Security, Password

Virtualization Infrastructure: Which platform is right for you?

November 7, 2011 2 Comments

Over the past year as a Virtual Partner Technology Advisor for Microsoft Canada I have heard a lot of people say a lot of things about Hyper-V, and not all of it has been from people who work for (or are otherwise strongly invested in) VMware.  Some of those arguments are reasoned, others emotional, but there are still a lot of people who argue that  because Hyper-V is free, it cannot be as good a product as vSphere.

While I understand the thinking, I feel it is a misconception to state that Hyper-V is completely free.  For most instances it is a role that comes with Microsoft Windows Server.  Just like you do not pay for DNS Server or Internet Information Systems (IIS), Hyper-V is included with the product that you use to install it.

Of course, there is also the free hypervisor, Microsoft Hyper-V Server.  It is a free download from Microsoft, which can be installed directly onto the hardware.  However once you install that, you are still going to install operating systems that you have paid for (or will pay for) into the virtual partitions.  Statistically a vast majority of those will be Microsoft Windows operating systems… either modern or legacy versions.

What we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly.  Tis dearness only that gives everything its value. –Thomas Paine

A Layer 1 Hypervisor (virtualization host platform) is, by definition, an operating system.  It is installed directly on the hardware (Ring –1).  However without another operating system – usually Windows – it does not do anything else.  So why should you pay for both the host operating system and the guest operating systems?  Microsoft does not believe you should have to, and so they give the hypervisor away for free.  In fact VMware does the same thing – ESXi is a free product as well.

In both the case of Microsoft’s Hyper-V and VMware’s ESXi the hypervisor is free, and it is only the management tools that you would pay for, and even that is not an entirely true statement.  You can download the vSphere client for free from vmware.com, just as you can download the Hyper-V Manager as part of the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) from microsoft.com, and both of these can be installed on any Windows-based server or client operating system.  So really it is only the infrastructure tools – the tools that manage features such as Failover Clustering (Microsoft) and High Availability (VMware), intelligent placement, load balancing, and others that cost, and it is true that these are going to cost less with Microsoft Virtualization than with VMware’s vSphere.

Does this argument make one better than the other?  Maybe… but exactly which is better may depend on who you ask.  There are many IT Pros who have been using VMware for years and swear by it, and even at a higher cost than Microsoft it is worth the money.  There are others who feel that in this day and age of trimming budgets and cutting costs the so-called ‘free’ Hyper-V is a better solution.  However a lot of the answer of ‘which is better’ will come down to the Universal Consultants’ Answer (UCA)… It depends.

When comparing the technologies side by side there are a number of factors we have to compare to determine the technological superiority of one over the other.

1. Performance

The first factor we have to consider is performance.  If Hyper-V does not work as well as ESXi then the comparison is irrelevant, just like it would be folly to compare a Porsche to a Fiat solely based on price.  The question will come down to this: on similar hardware will the platforms perform similarly?  In my tests (performed on both HP ProLiant and Dell PowerEdge server hardware) the performance of a virtual workload is similar – one or the other may perform up to 3-5% better depending on the actual workload type.  This is my experience, and unfortunately VMware’s End User License Agreement prohibits me from publishing comparative benchmarks.

2. Management Tools

If we can assume parity on training and competence on each platform (I hold both the VMware Certified Professional 4 and the Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Virtualization Administrator 2008 R2 certifications) then manageability will be divided into two compartments: 1) Do both platforms do everything that I need, and 2) How comfortable am I with the management tools available.

In my case, there is clear parity on features.  All of the components that I need and would use are in Hyper-V (taking into account that I have in all of my environments either System Center Virtual Machine Manager and System Center Operations Manager installed as management and monitoring components, or in the case of smaller networks the equivalent System Center Essentials (in the case of SWMI Consulting Group it is actually the HP Insight with Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010 offering).  With that being said, there are two components of VMware that I could see some organizations needing or, as is more often the case, wanting.  Those are Storage vMotion and Virtual Network Switches.

While I understand the theoretical desire for Storage vMotion, I am still always hesitant to use it in a production environment during busy times.  I admit I may be suffering from the same type of legacy mindset that I so often accuse others of falling into, but I just cannot see it as a good idea to move a .vmdk file from one SAN device to another while the virtual machine that is attached to that .vmdk file is operational.  I understand that the capability will be delivered with the next version of Hyper-V, and while I look forward to seeing it, I still do not think it is something I will do very often.

Of course Hyper-V has virtual networking as well, but there is no comparison between the two – VMware’s offering is much more robust than Microsoft’s.  With that being said, most companies don’t have a need for that robustness in their virtual networking – they have already invested in it in their physical networking, and have the CCNEs on staff to manage it.  While there are some companies that do have the need for features such as distributed virtual network switches (which I am told will be included in the next version of Hyper-V), I still suspect that most companies do not have such complex requirements.

As for the management console itself (vSphere Client versus Hyper-V Manager or System Center VMM) the jury is out… and irrelevant.  I may prefer chocolate ice cream, but that does not mean that someone else does not prefer vanilla nor that they would be wrong to.  I spend so much time in the System Center and MMC consoles that I was actually surprised to hear one of my students tell me recently that ‘I can’t get used to Microsoft’s management tools… vSphere is so much simpler!’  Just like that I was reminded that personal preference is so closely tied to our experience… someone who knows vSphere will absolutely prefer it, while someone looking at it for the first time might consider it difficult to navigate.

3. Support

VMware wants your vSphere environment to be managed by a VMware Certified Professional (VCP).  Likewise, Microsoft would prefer that your Hyper-V environment be managed by someone who at least holds a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization (MCTS).  Of course, if your IT guy is more of a generalist then nearly every Windows Server certification will cover the basics of Hyper-V, so most of the MCTS certs will do, or at least act as a foundation for Hyper-V.  That does not mean that VCPs are not extremely qualified.  Frankly, I believe that the VCP process was harder than the MCTS process, and suspect that most of the VCPs out there have a collection of other certifications including the odd MCSE and MCTS.

All of this to say that it is easier to learn Microsoft virtualization as a subset of other skills you already need in your environment than it is to invest in training on new (to them) technology for an IT Pro.  <shameless plug> The certification process can be as easy as spending a few hours with the e-learning course Collection 10215- Implementing and Managing Microsoft Server Virtualization (see Hyper-V Training–10215AE is now available in E-Learning! on The World According to Mitch) which will prepare you for the exam 70-659, and then scheduling (and sitting) the exam. </shameless plug> There is no requirement to sit the class before being allowed to take it.

4. Cost

So with all of these factors being equal, the decision for many will come down to cost… and this is one factor where Microsoft wins hands down.  According to price lists provided by Hewlett-Packard, VMware’s pricing for an 8-node cluster built on vSphere 5 Enterprise on servers with two CPUs (before we encounter the vMemory vTax) is USD$45,363.  Building the same environment on Microsoft technologies with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 would cost $6,960 – less than one sixth the cost.  Expanding it out to the same configuration but four CPUs the VMware solution doubles in cost while the Microsoft solution remains the same.  In other words, as your environment grows arithmetically your costs on VMware grow exponentially.

Conclusion

As the technologies get closer in functionality it becomes more and more important to find a way to stay ahead, whether that be with innovation or with pricing.  Which is right for you?  That is for you to decide.  Which is right for me?  Check out the blog posts on the infrastructure at SWMI Consulting Group for your answer.

Filed under Article, Hyper-V, System Center Virtual Machine Manager, Virtualization, VMware

vPTA: What NOT to take away from my 1-day virtualization training!

October 31, 2011 3 Comments

As a Virtual Partner Technology Advisor I have a really cool job… I go to Microsoft Partners across Canada and demonstrate not simply the virtualization component of Hyper-V, but the entire environment that the partner could leverage to architect a virtualization solution for their customers. 

When we developed the program last year we had several discussions around what hardware we should use to deliver the sessions.  Theoretically we wanted server-grade hardware but we couldn’t get anyone to donate it… and frankly the idea of carrying a 2U server around did not appeal to me.  We briefly discussed the possibility of building it in a remote datacentre (i.e.: at SWMI Consulting Group) but decided against it because of potential Internet connectivity issues.

We ended up building the environment on laptops, and I have a suitcase that I refer to as my Mobile Datacentre.  It is not an ideal solution, but it allows us to do everything we wanted to do on the client’s site; I can get onto an airplane with it as carry-on, and it takes less than 30 minutes to set up completely.  In a future article I will outline what my ‘kit’ consists of, but essentially it has a couple of laptops that run Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

After the first few deliveries I started to get calls from the partners that I had not expected… asks for support on the most ridiculous scenarios, to which I would respond ‘Why would you ever want to do that in a production environment?’  The answer kept coming back ‘Well, isn’t that how you told us to do it?’ Of course it wasn’t, but as I thought about it I understand where some of the miscommunications came from.  Based on that, I have compiled a list of lessons you should never take away from my vPTA sessions.

1. Your laptop is NOT a server!

2. Your desktop is NOT a server!

I have met people over the years – especially in the SMB space – who feel that because a computer is based on x86 hardware and the specs are similar they can run their production servers on any hardware.  This is WRONG! Just as there is a difference between corporate-grade and consumer-grade hardware, servers should only be run on server-grade hardware – whether you prefer HP, Dell, or Intel OEM machines.

3. You should have multiple domain controllers!

4. If you have only ONE domain controller, and it is virtualized, there are risks in joining the virtualization host to that domain.  I am not saying that it will not work – it will – as long as you are careful about it.  Remember, do it carelessly at your peril!

5. When using a Storage Area Network (SAN), which is highly recommended for virtualization environments, use a proper physical SAN device.  Trying to do things ‘on the cheap’ with software SAN solutions may work… but use them as a last resort.  Remember, they will not have the flexibility or power of a physical SAN, nor the management tools.

6. If you do decide to use a Software SAN (such as Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3), DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BUILD IT IN A VIRTUAL MACHINE.

What software SANs do in order to ensure that the volume is not shared is it creates a fixed-size VHD. If you create a 100GB LUN (Logical Unit Number) then a 100GB VHD is created on the volume. Creating a VHD within a VHD not only slows things down, it also has the potential to… well, make things go bad.

7. Don’t (on a daily basis… or EVER!) turn your Hyper-V hosts off, disconnect them and all of your networking components, put them into a roller-board suitcase, and travel with them.  Your servers should only move if your company sells your building and moves to a new one.  Otherwise they should stay put and always stay on!  In fact, there should be careful planning for UPS requirements and generators in the event of power outages.  Remember… when I am finished at your site at the end of the day… I ‘destroy’ the demo environment and rebuild it before going to my next session!

8. YOU NEED MORE THAN ONE NETWORK CARD RUNNING ON A CHEAP D-LINK SWITCH TO MAKE YOUR VIRTUALIZATION ENVIRONMENT WORK!!!  This is not a commentary on D-Link hardware… for home and SMBs they probably work pretty well (I use them for some things).  When planning the network architecture of your virtualization environment you should do some serious planning around networking requirements, including how many NICs for production, how many for iSCSI, how many for Clustering, will your Production vNetwork be shared with your Management vNetwork?  The answer to all of these questions depends on your requirements… but it is ALWAYS more than one.  Remember: More NICs=More Better!

9. Your iSCSI (Storage) network should not be on the same wire as your Production network, and if it is out of necessity then you should at the very least implement vLAN tags to segregate the traffic.  Remember, the only encryption you can put on an iSCSI network (and few people seem to…) is CHAP – not very good. 

10. YOUR LAPTOP AND DESKTOP ARE NOT SERVERS! Of course this is the same as Points 1 & 2, but important enough a message that it warrants repeating.

11. VM Snapshots are great for labs and testing, but are not recommended for your production environment, and are NEVER a long-term solution.  In fact this is STRONGLY discouraged by both Microsoft, VMware, AND SWMI Consulting Group  They should be used in production sparingly and carefully, and only with very careful planning and monitoring.  Remember, when you delete a snapshot… NOTHING HAPPENS.  The VHD and AVHD files only merge when you shut down the virtual machine, and can take a lot of time!

12. Breaking any of these rules in a production environment is not just a bad idea, it would likely result in an RGE (Resume Generating Event).  In other words, some of these can be serious enough for you to lose your job, lose customers, and possibly even get you sued.  Follow the best practices though and you should be fine!

Filed under Article, Hyper-V, Virtualization

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