When VMware released vSphere 5 last year they announced that current VCPs (VMware Certified Professionals) would have a grace period during which they could take the VCP5 exam without having to take their course.  The deadline would be February 29th.  On the one hand that was plenty of time for a VMware administrator who works with the products day in and out to be ready.  On the other hand for someone like myself, who spends most of my life working in (and teaching and writing about) Microsoft virtualization solutions, and who maintains bid VCP for credibility when talking to VMware enthusiasts, the deadline was not a comfortable one.  I would have to spend a week building and implementing the products… when I had the time.

Two weeks ago I realized that the deadline was fast approaching, and I decided to jump in and schedule the exam for Saturday, February 25th.  That would leave me with two weeks to prepare… if you took into account that I also work more than 75 hours per week it was an ambitious goal, but the alternative was letting the deadline pass, and I would have to take a full Instructor-Led Class in order to qualify for the cert.

Several years ago (June, 2006) I had another exam deadline, and I wrote about it in this blog’s predecessor (the article has been reposted at this link: Under the Wire Sometimes Brings Unexpected Success.  I remembered that deadlines can force you to take a leap.  I knew that if I failed the exam then I would not get the certification, but I also knew that if I did not take the exam I would not get it either.  Besides… if I spent even a day or two studying there was a slight chance that I might pass!

The exam got off to an ominous start when I got up early on Friday (a snow storm had been forecast) and got to the testing centre to find out that my exam was actually scheduled for Saturday.  Under normal circumstances this would have really thrown me for a loop… but since it meant I had an extra day to prepare, I was not all that upset.

Saturday morning was clear and dry, so I got up at 7:00am, got ready, answered my e-mails, and was about to pick up my study notes for review when I decided to follow my own advice: I had 30 minutes left before the test, and the chances of my learning any nugget in the 5 minutes I had (it is a 25 minute drive to the centre) that would actually mean the difference between passing and failing the exam were between slim and none.  VMware exams are scored out of 500, and a 300 is a pass.  If I got a 298 I would kick myself

For certification integrity VMware candidates must have their photo taken before they go into the testing room.  That picture is actually included on your score report.  I think this is a great idea, that Microsoft Learning should consider adopting.  With that being said, I would much prefer that they take the picture after the exam… I smile a lot more when I pass!  However it is what it is, and I tried to smile for the camera.

This was the third VMware exam that I have taken, and while I will not comment on the content or the questions, I will say that having taken far more Microsoft exams, I am always surprised by the difference between the questions.  I have also been involved in creating Microsoft exams,and I know the level of diligence that goes into them.  Having now seen three VMware exams, I cannot imagine that the same amount of work goes into them.  They also do not seem to require the same amount of reading – and just like the previous exams, they give you little over a minute per question (timed over the entire exam of course).  That made me nervous at first… but pass or fail, I am almost always a very fast exam taker, so after I got through the first twenty questions or so I stopped worrying about it.

Just like Microsoft exams, once you have answered the last question you have a review screen where you can make sure you answered every question, and go back to any that you felt uncomfortable with.  I NEVER do that, but that is a personal thing.  I pressed End Review, and waited for my results.

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CONGRATULATIONS! You passed!

Phew… I was glad for every bit of preparing that I did, and realized that the perfectionist in me does not allow me to prepare for anything less than perfect… which lead me to the feeling that I was not going to pass.  I took my score report (I did not score a 300… but did not get over 400 either) and walked out of the centre with a big smile on my face.

The exam was a success, and although I was not thrilled by the deadline, I have to admit that without it I might have waited and waited until… I don’t know when.  It forced my hand, and as my previous article title stated: Under the wire sometimes brings unexpected success!  I am now a VMware Certified Professional on vSphere 5.

By the way… the one tip I will give in case you do plan on writing this exam: Remember, if one of the answers is Hyper-V, it is a wrong answer… even if it would be right!

NEXT WEEK: I will be in Redmond, Washington for the week at the 2012 Microsoft MVP Summit and then at MVP Nation… Expect me to be tweeting a lot, and hopefully blogging a bit!

Enter the Remote Server Administration Toolkit (RSAT).

Unless you are using System Center to administer your servers, chances are you are either using PowerShell or, more likely at this point, MMC (Microsoft Management Console) consoles.  As we learned in Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, MMC consoles can connect to remote servers (or desktops) as long as Windows Remote Management (WinRM) is enabled (Actually WinRM and the Windows Firewall were only introduced in Windows Server 2003 R2 if memory serves, but MMC consoles were remoteable ).

You can enable WinRM in Windows Server 2008 R2 from the Server Manager main screen (as shown):

(Note: For those of you running Server Core installations… good for you!  you can do all of this with a simple command line: WinRM /quickconfig)

Now that we can remotely manage our servers, we can do so from any Windows Server 2008 R2 box by adding the appropriate feature from the Add Feature Wizard:

I should mention that you will not be able to manage systems on which you do not have credentials, and although the RSAT tools can work in a workgroup, they are much more fluid and trouble-free in a domain environment.  Also remember that adding the role or feature under RSAT does not install the actual role or feature, only the consoles required to manage them.

This is great for administrators who want to manage their servers remotely from another server… but what about managing them from your desktop?  There’s a simple solution for that.  Simply download the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows 7 (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=7887) from the Microsoft Download Center.  Using another version of Windows?  There is an RSAT download available for WIndows Vista, but if you are still running Windows XP then I am afraid you are out of luck (…and have 777 days until #EndOfDaysXP!).

Once you have downloaded and installed RSAT into your Windows 7 machine you will see no difference.  However if you go to Turn Windows features on or off, things start to change.  To get there, open Windows Explorer and  navigate to Computer.  If you do not see the option to Uninstall or change a program chances are you have not clicked on Computer.

You should see a list of your installed programs on the right, but to the left there should see an option ‘Turn Windows features on or off (shown).  Click there.

It will take a couple of minutes, but when it is done you are ready to start administering your servers from Windows 7… just click on the Start pearl, expand Administrative Tools, and the new consoles should be there.

You can load any of them up (for this example we will use Hyper-V Manager) and you have… nothing.  However you can right-click on Hyper-V Manager in the Navigation pane, and click Connect to Server…

You can add multiple remote servers to the same MMC console (seen below), including full installations of Windows Server, as well as Server Core installations and (in the case of Hyper-V hosts) Windows Hyper-V Server, which have to be managed remotely as they have no graphical user interface (GUI).

So go ahead… manage your servers from your desktop without ever having to leave your office/cubical/desk/cafeteria.  Wherever you like to work from!

‘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.

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!

My father has been golfing since before I was born, and despite getting older, he still enjoys the game.  I was really hoping that he would be able to play a round with me, which we hadn’t really done in years.

Monday morning we headed to the Hollywood Beach Golf and Country Club.  It was a cloudy day, but we were still able to golf in shorts.  We were paired up with a couple of lawyers who decided to play hooky that day… it is always annoying when people in your foursome are attached to their cellphones during the game, but I understand that not everyone was on vacation.

Dad doesn’t hit the ball nearly as far as he used to, but he still hits a good ball.  For a man of his age to be playing eighteen holes as well as he did is impressive… he beat me by a couple of strokes, but in truth I am not a very good golfer, and had not played in eighteen months.

I don’t know when I had a better time golfing… Dad had some good pointers for me, I hit a few good balls, but most importantly I got to spend a relaxing and enjoyable day with my father.  He is great company when the stresses of life are a few holes ahead or behind us!  Thanks for the game A.G… I hope we can do it again soon! -M

Things NOT To Take Away from the IT Virtualization Boot Camp

About fifteen years ago I started to let myself go, until the point where I was nearly a hundred and fifty pounds over my ideal weight. The reasons I did are unimportant – I refuse to make excuses for myself. However even after spending more than a year in taekwondo I was still grossly overweight. When Master Beis and I decided in April of 2010 that I should train to test for my Black Belt in June of that year, I made the decision to lose as much weight as I could in the seven weeks until my test.

It took me seven weeks to lose a little over forty pounds, and was extremely pleased with the results. I was now only about a hundred pounds overweight. Unfortunately I let myself go after that. I did not gain it all back, but I certainly did put a few pounds back on.

In January of 2012 I made the decision to try to prepare to test for my Second Degree Black Belt in June of this year. There is no guarantee that I will be ready, but if I stay with it then even if I am not ready by June, I will certainly be ready for December (testing is held twice every year). It is a long road, and there will be twists and turns along the way. Accordingly, I decided that I needed a map.

In order for my preparations to be successful there are two people that are crucially important to me, and without their help and complete cooperation I could not envision being ready in time; they are my wife Theresa, and my Master, Master Dimitrios . I sat down with both of them to discuss what I needed to achieve my goals; I then began to formulate a plan.

It is easy to look at the requirements to pass the test:

· Before the testing day I must spend one full day fasting and meditating from morning to night;

· I must perform five patterns (poomsaes)… each of which is more difficult than any I needed to learn previously;

· I must be ready to demonstrate that I remember every pattern I needed to earn my Black Belt – there were eleven of them;

· I must demonstrate my knowledge and ability to execute ten different techniques to defeat a knife-wielding attacker;

· I must demonstrate proficiency with my chosen weapon – nunchuku;

· I must spar with whoever the tester decides I should spar… and win; and

· I must break two blocks of concrete with a hammer punch.

Of course none of this sounds easy… but if it was then anyone could earn their Second Dan Black Belt. Unlike the last time, the plan that Master Dimitrios and Theresa helped me to formulate consists of several components, only one of which is learning the actual patterns and defense techniques.

1. Weight Loss

When I stepped off the cruise ship in mid-January I was 130lbs over the weight that I would like to be for the rest of my life. I tested for my Black Belt at 110lbs over that weight, which means that in the last two years I have been going in the wrong direction. Although it is unrealistic to think that I can lose that much weight in four months, I can certainly make good headway.

In the eight weeks prior to my Black Belt test I lost forty pounds… based on that benchmark and understanding that the first two weeks of any weight loss regimen the pounds will drop quicker than in subsequent months, I have set a target goal of losing sixty pounds by June. I do not even know if that is realistic… but I am certainly going to try. I am three weeks into the new eating regimen, and so far so good.

2. Strength Training

I tested for my Black Belt after an ordeal that was worthy of a Hollywood script (See The Long Road to Black Belt Excellence). In short, after a 24-hour travel ordeal that included two cancelled flights, an extra night in a hotel, and a drive from the airport to the Dojang with an average speed that would have been impossible without my combat driving training, I performed my test without a break from beginning to end.

Unfortunately the end was reminiscent of Bill Cosby’s Karate routine where he claims: the instructor said ‘I am thinking two feet past the brick!’ but unfortunately the brick was thinking ‘No you are not!’ My friend Steve Syfuhs claims that he was able to see the exact moment where my hand broke. I do not remember that… but I do remember knowing that it was indeed fractured. I still managed to break six blocks of wood with it, but in hindsight (after needing four months to heal) that was probably not a good idea.

For purely selfish reasons I do not want a repeat performance… so this time around I will be including strength training in the routine, including weights and push-ups. I will also be conditioning my hand using a trick that Master Dimitrios gave me… but I won’t share all of our secrets

3. Endurance Training

I hate running. I used to love running – in the army, then again when I was living in Montreal and running with the Wolf Pack. What separates then from now is a whole lot of pounds. Simply put, it is easier to run when you are not carrying over a hundred pounds of fat. Having said that, I have to do it. I have started small… running laps around the dojang before a workout, as well as ‘running’ on my elliptical trainer in the basement. I am hoping that by spring I will be able to jog five miles outside at least three days per week. In a perfect world I will be able to do ten miles by the time I test. However anything is better than nothing.

4. Pattern Training

Patterns are the patterns that we must learn to perform in taekwondo, and they get more complicated and challenging as you climb in belt level. There are five patterns that I must learn from scratch for the test, as well as practicing the eleven that I had learned previously.

The higher you are in taekwondo the more is expected of you, both with new patterns and old ones. It used to be enough to know the motions, but at my level Master Dimitrios is not letting me get off easy; if I am to be able to perform each pattern perfectly (or as well as I can) then that is how he expects me to learn it. It is harsh… but he is right. If he feels that my stances are wrong then he will stop me and make sure that I correct them… and every time he does I start from the beginning.

It is not surprising that as I lose weight the patterns are easier to perform. I am also sure that they will look much better if I do manage to lose all that weight. I am looking forward to finding out, but I am not waiting… as my stomach shrinks the improvements to my forms will come naturally… but I also know that between now and my test I will perform each pattern over a thousand times, and that is also a key to improvement.

5. Weapons Training

I have been using nunchuku for nearly twenty years. Shortly after I finished Basic Training I bought a pair of foam nunchuks, and remember teaching myself to use them on the dunes along the beach in Ramat Poleg. It was not long before I bought my first pair of wooden nunchuks, and over the years I had my fair share of accidents with them – on more than one occasion I remember coming to on the sand with no recollection of having hit myself on the head, but a splitting headache and bump to assure me that I had.

Our school teaches weapons twice a week, and I am glad because although I am very fast and accurate with them, I know that there are some things I do not know. I also have to learn the patterns that I will need for my test. As much as I enjoy it, I have to remember to maintain my cho shim… beginner’s mind. As good as I am with the weapons, I need to learn their way in order to pass. I will, and I will practice to make sure that I am prepared.

6. Sparring

When I started in martial arts I loved sparring. Not anymore. I hate fighting, and hate the idea of hurting someone else. I certainly don’t like the idea of hurting them for points – nor getting hurt myself. With that being said, although the reason we study martial arts is so that we will not have to fight, we do so by learning to fight. I can punch and kick and block in patterns as well as anyone, but if I cannot execute those moves in a real situation then my training remains theoretical.

Taekwondo sparring is considered sport, and as such we wear protective gear. There really is little danger of getting hurt, although it does happen. I will be inviting some of the 3^rd and 4^th Dan Black Belts to spar with me… you seldom gain experience and insight from sparring with those below you in rank. I look forward to training with some of our Instructors whom I have watched and admired since I wore a White Belt… I do not expect to defeat them, but I hope that by June I will be able to hold my own.

7. Self-Defense Training

It is not surprising that with my background I am pretty good at defending myself. In the army we practiced krav maga which included hand-to-hand combat, but also unarmed combat against weapons. Many of the techniques (there are ten of them) that we are learning against knife-wielding attackers are reminiscent of what we learned back then, and I am enjoying the opportunity to both refresh my knowledge and learn new methods as well. Some of what we are learning is great theory, but in the past year I have had the unfortunate opportunity to prove that some of these methods work in real life situations. Still, I find that memorizing the techniques one by one and having to perform them in order difficult, so I will concentrate more on these as the months count down.

8. Stretch Training

It will shock nobody who looks at me that I am not overly flexible. I am probably more flexible than I look, but that goes back to not looking like a martial artist. Stretching is not only important to prevent injuries, but also to help improve flexibility. As I train I need to spend a good amount of time working on that – it has never been my favorite part of the class, but I have to work harder on that to not only help to be the best I can be, but also to make sure I can get through the next four months of training without injuring myself.

9. Choreography

For my Black Belt test everything that we did was scripted by others – our patterns, our self-defense. For my Second Dan test I plan to work with a number of other students on a demonstration that will showcase more than just the set patterns. We will choreograph a routine that will incorporate everything that we have learned, but that we will script ourselves. We have discussed it in theory, and some of the things we plan to demonstrate. It is exciting, but for the time being it is to remain Top Secret J If you want to see what we have planned… come out to the test on June 3^rd!

10. Meditation, Mindset, and Balance

So much of taekwondo training is mental and attitude. Just as a sculptor can look at a rock and see the sculpture they plan to create, a martial artist must be able to see the moves in his mind before he performs them. However you cannot do that without a clear mind – mu shim. The higher a martial artist goes the more vital that is, but in truth it is a skill that we should all have and use in our day to day lives. We must be able to focus our minds on the task at hand and not lose sight for any reason.

Balance is important in two ways. We must be able to balance our bodies… and make sure that when we are planted that nobody can throw us off. This is not an easy skill to learn for one who is obese, but I am fortunate that I have been working on my balance for years, and have not lost it. In taekwondo the stances that we use – front stance, back stance, tiger stance, and so on are important for the patterns we learn, but also because the proper stances were developed with balance in mind. When someone assumes a proper front stance it should be nearly impossible for someone to knock them over.

We must also balance our life, which requires both planning and the proper mindset. I know someone who several years ago started running marathons. He became so single minded in this goal that it hurt other aspects of his life – I know it hurt him in his job, and I can only guess what affect it had on his family life. When we balance all the aspects of our life then everything works well together. If we weigh one aspect so heavily that the others fall by the wayside, then we have lost our balance and eventually everything will fall apart. While my colleagues and family will see a difference in me as I train for my test – as will the readers of my blog, who will notice a number of posts that focus on martial arts and not IT – I cannot and will not allow my training to hurt my professional life or my family life. My family will continue to come first and then my work (although sometimes it would seem that those are reversed) but by spending the time I need to train I will be able to balance those both out better.

Conclusion

Even as I write this all out it seems like a daunting task; I certainly have my work cut out for me, and self-control will be the order of the day. I have to resist temptations in all forms – food, distractions, the urge to not train some days. As I wrote before, if Black Belts were easy then everyone would have one.

When I made the decision to test in 2010, I called a meeting with my family and told them that there would be sacrifices. I did the same thing this time, but I feel that if I focus on these ten points then I will not have to sacrifice so much. However just like last time I know I will need a vacation when it is done, and I have something in mind… but this time I will be taking the whole family instead of just Theresa… because while I will try to minimize the impact on them I know that they will all feel the effects of my training.

For those of you who are regular readers of my blog, I want to hear from you. I expect that I will be blogging a lot about the training process, and if you are interested I am glad to share with you. If, however, you feel that it interferes with the main focus of my blog please let me know; if there is enough outcry I will set up a separate blog for that, and refocus The World According to Mitch back to what really matters to most of my readers… Information Technology!

http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro/archive/2012/02/14/how-to-clean-up-cluster-nodes-from-destroyed-clusters.aspx

Before and after every taekwondo class at Grand Master Kim’s OMAC our Masters and Instructors make us repeat a number of Korean words and phrases that are meant to inspire us, to keep us humble, and to keep us motivated. A number of these came to mind as I remembered the words Masters Suh spoke to us.

As I think back from where I started it is amazing how far I have come. When I first started in taekwondo I would hear the words of the Masters and try to remember them. Now, several years later, I spend a lot of time thinking of the implications of the phrases rather than the actual words.

Mu Shim!

Mu Shim is Korean for empty mind. Tae Kwon Do certainly has a spiritual component to it, but just like anything else we do it is difficult to learn when our minds are cluttered with the worries of our day to day lives – work, school, taxes, bills, dating, family, and whatever else stresses us. All of these must be left outside of the dojang, so that we can focus on what is most important in the gym: taekwondo.

Of course, this is not an easy skill to pick up… emptying our mind of clutter is difficult in the best of cases. As with every other skill we must learn to do this, and there is not one single way to achieve this. When I sit on my knees, back straight, hands in my lap and meditate I close my eyes; I picture water – a clear lake or ocean without waves, just the calm ripple of the water moved by a warm breeze. I then picture a plank of wood, floating lazily at the surface. I do not know how I discovered this, but it works wonders for me. I can then begin my class with a clear (empty) mind. Master Suh suggested we picture a blank wall or slate. As I said, there is no single way.

Cho Shim!

Cho Shim is Korean for beginner’s mind. It is easy to be humble as we embark on our journey in taekwondo, but as we climb higher it is easy to lose sight that we all have a lot to learn. The more open your mind is, the easier that is. Just as younger children learn better than adults do, the lower belts – newer students – learn more simply because they start with a blank slate… no pre-conceived notions of what they are supposed to be doing. As we progress along the journey, however, some students know enough to make them believe they are good enough.

As I have told my son a hundred times, you cannot know what you do not know. However far I may advance – in taekwondo, in computers, in life – there is still more to learn. I may know some of what I need to learn – for example, a student may know what patterns (patterns) he must learn to test for his next belt… but knowing what they are does not mean that they know them.

As well, one of the dangers of taekwondo is that once we get into a habit it can be hard to break. It is possible to learn a stance, a pattern, a kick the wrong way and continue to do it that way because that is what you learned. We must remain humble and remember that when we are shown something that we are doing wrong it is not meant as an attack, but to help us to improve. Just as egos can prevent us from learning, humility will open the mind to recognizing our mistakes and improving ourselves.

Oh Il Sam Sa!

Oh il sam sa means looking back three times a day. While we must live in the present and focus on who we are, we must take the time to reflect on where we were, and what we have learned. I try to do this three times a day per Grand Master Kim’s advice, but if I fall short of that I certainly reflect on where I came from regularly, in taekwondo, as well as in my professional and personal life.

In my office I have a rack that holds all of my colour belts – White, Yellow, Orange, Blue, Green, Purple, Brown, Red, Black/White, Black/Red, and Black. When I bought the rack and put my first belts into it – with the exception of Black I would only put a belt in after I had earned the next one – it was to mark my achievement, as I progressed through the levels it was gratifying to see the empty slats fill up. When I achieved Black Belt Excellence I thought about putting it away… all of the slats were filled, and I had achieved my goal.

The rack hangs in my office today for different purposes:

Firstly whatever belt I achieve, it is important for me to remember that once – not all that long ago, really – I put on a clean White Belt and took my first steps on the journey. While the other belts I have are higher on the rack, the bottom is White – and that is the foundation for everything. I could not perform any of my Black Belt patterns if I did not remember that when I wore a White Belt and Yellow Belt I learned how to punch, kick, block, stand, and move.

Although there are many others, the main patterns that we learn in taekwondo (which are the basis for everything else, and are universal) are called Tae Guk. There are eight (8) tae guk patterns, numbered accordingly. Yellow Belts must learn Tae Guk Il Jang (Number 1) to progress to Orange Belt, and so on. What I did not know – not because nobody told me, they did – is that when you test for Black Belt you must know all of these patterns, but as I had not performed Tae Guk Number 1 in over a year, I had to relearn it – and all of the rest of them. The second reason I keep the rack on my wall is so that every so often I will take a break from work so that I can review. I will concentrate on my White Belt, and in my mind I will perform the patterns so that I will not forget them. I will go through all of them until I am satisfied that indeed I have learned them properly.

Black Belt Excellence!

There is no belt in taekwondo that is an end goal. Each belt is a goal, but when that goal is reached there is always another one to work for. The only end goal is Excellence… becoming the best that we can be, and then trying to improve upon it at all times. If we continue to strive for excellence then the bar is continually raised not by others, but by ourselves. No matter how good we are we must always strive to be better; this is another lesson that I learned from my Masters and Instructors.

In the past I have faltered occasionally – it is easy to let your training lapse when family, work, and friends ‘get in the way.’ It is easy when injured to take more time off from training than we need to heal. However I came back, and will strive to do better. I am sure I have said this before, but now that I am back ‘in it’ I will not falter again. I will continue to train to achieve not only my goals, but my end goal. That is what taekwondo is all about.

This year was the first year that I attended the Big Bow Ceremony as a Black Belt (I assume last year I was traveling).  So when I realized I might be asked to speak I started reflecting on what I had to say that would inspire others to do their best.  I wanted to say something that might spark a higher interest in the school, and possibly the audience as well.  You see, the parents of all of the students were watching, and I know so many of them sit and watch their children week in and week out… missing two opportunities – to spend more time and have a common activity with their children, but also to learn and possibly begin to live Tae Kwon Do.

I was so happy when I achieved my Black Belt. I remember testing, and was certain that I performed each poomsae perfectly. I now look back at the video of my test and see all sorts of minor things I could have improved upon.

In TKD, especially since I achieved my Black Belt, I have been striving for a perfection that I can never achieve… but in striving for it I can always improve upon what I have learned so far. My poomsaes are not as good as they will be tomorrow, but they are better than they were yesterday.

Tae Kwon Do is not only a way of life, it is a Martial Art… and there are two key words to that phrase, the more important of which is ART. If you ask any artist from DaVinci to Michaelangelo to Andy Warhol they will tell you that they were always aspiring for an unattainable perfection.  I read recently that DaVinci took twelve years to paint the Mona Lisa’s lips.  That does not not sound like a man who was satisfied with his work.

Engineers can achieve mathematical perfection. They can design a product that is perfect, and there is no way to improve upon it. Arts are not like that. You can strive for perfection, but you can never achieve it… at least not in your own eyes. I am sure that even with the twelve years he spent, DaVinci would have liked to have gotten the Mona Lisa back at some later date… just to make some minor adjustments that he felt would have been an improvement.

As a Black Belt I know that it is not only important for me to know the moves of each poomsae, but to know why I am doing them, and to strive to perfect each one. As I prepare to test for my Second Dan Black Belt in June, my Master is being harder on me than he ever was. He will not let me test unless I am satisfied that I perform flawlessly.

The problem is that in art there will always be flaws – that is what separates art from science. Unlike the Mona Lisa I do not have to submit my poomsaes to anyone who will take them away from me.  Even after my test I can – will – must continue to work on them to improve upon them, and until I am in the ground I must never stop. As students of Tae Kwon Do we must always strive to attain the unattainable – perfection.

I will continue to strive to improve my art, and hope that every student in the school does the same, because only then can we strive to be the best taekwondo school.  However I cannot step into any of their shoes… I can only strive to be the best martial artist that I can be.  Hopefully that will inspire others, and they will follow.

Mudo.

All it takes is one good idea. Imagine Cup, one of the premiere worldwide technology competitions, is looking for students, to help solve some of the world’s toughest problems through technology.

This year, Microsoft will be hosting a Canadian Imagine Cup competition with two categories: Software Design and Windows Phone 7 Game Design. You could win a trip to Toronto for the Canadian Finals, a trip to Australia for the Worldwide Finals, international acclaim and cash grants. What are you waiting for? Get involved »

Damir Bersenic and I will be hosting the event, for two days of geeking out… we will be building a virtualization environment from scratch, including full failover and Live Migration capabilities, and all in one day!

The format is fun and exciting, with teams of four participants competing for cash prizes!  The cost is $25, all of which goes directly to your local user group which, in turn, helps you!

For more information and to register visit the Canadian IT Pro Connection at http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro/archive/2012/02/06/hands-on-with-private-cloud-technology-it-virtualization-boot-camp-dates-for-ottawa-amp-calgary.aspx.  I look forward to seeing you in Ottawa in February!

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/

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!

I am now republishing it here, so that it can get the most exposure.  I have spoken to so many people across Canada and around the world who ask me why I spend so much time helping the IT Pro Community, and what value I see the MVP Program as having to me personally.  Sometimes it is not supposed to be about what it can do for me, but what I can do for others.  I can think of no better example of that than this article, an interview with a man who saw me speak at a user group that I founded five years ago, and whose life changed because of it.

If you are an IT Pro then you should be involved in your community.  Most of us start by attending meetings, absorbing information, and learning.  Later on you might join a committee, help run a study group or events, or join the board.  At a certain point you may realize you know something as well as or better than others, and you can put together a presentation – whether that be for an entire session or for a fifteen minute session, such as Sean Kearney’s IT Pro Toronto ‘PowerShell Snacks’.  But remember… like any other community you are responsible for giving back what you put in so that those who follow you will be able to benefit from your knowledge and experience, just as you benefited from the knowledge and experiences of others.

Last week I met a man at the Microsoft Virtualization Boot Camp who nearly made me cry.  His name is Andrew Thomas, and he is the reason I have spent the last eight years building, running, and supporting IT Pro user groups.  I asked him if he would be willing to answer a few questions for me by e-mail and he did.  For those of us who have worked for years to build the user group community in Canada, there is no more gratifying and inspiring story, because this is why we do what we do.  User groups do not build and run themselves… they require a lot of hard work and dedication from all sorts of people who seldom get any recognition for it.  That is why when I ran user groups I made a point of thanking the people who helped me, and when I speak to user groups today I try to always thanks and recognize not only the UG Leader, but those who help him along the way.

This is Andrew’s story:

Five years ago I was working as a Bench Technician with one of the large retail chains.  I had managed to work my way up to Tech Manager but was not very happy in my job.

I don’t know when I went to my first ITProToronto meeting or even how I heard of it, but I was on a number of mailing lists and would go to events when I was invited.  The first meeting I attended was held in Mississauga (which puts the timeline around early 2008).  I live in Scarborough but was working in Mississauga at the time.  I was hooked after my first user group meeting and was happy when the events were moved to Toronto because of the commute.

I went to the first few meetings thinking that I would meet people whom I could network with to try and find another job but I lost my nerve when I realized the depth of knowledge of the members.  I felt a bit out of my depth, but I kept going to the meetings because I kept learning from the presentations as well as from the other members.

The turning point for me came when we had a meeting about the then NEW HP Media Smart Home Server.  I had purchased one a month earlier and had been playing with it.  Suddenly I was having conversations with members about how the Server worked, what it did and how, and since nobody else had played with one yet I quickly realized that now *I* was one of the experts in the room!

It dawned on me that I was smarter than I thought… I had already earned a couple of certifications (including MCP and A+), and had implemented so much of the advanced technology in my basement (including Windows Server, DNS, DHCP, Exchange Server, Linux, and IIS) but it never occurred to me that I was good enough to work for a company as a systems administrator or domain admin.  I was really good as a bench technician, but did not have the confidence to turn my hobby into a career.

After that Home Server meeting I dusted off my résumé and hit the pavement looking for work.  My certifications were a little weak, but I had experience in all sorts of different technologies.  I took a job with a small financial company in Scarborough that was looking for an assistant for their system administrator.  I took the job only to find out that the sysadmin was mostly a trainer with no experience in networking, hardware or domain administration; they were having everything done by contractors and he was doing his day-to-day stuff by using search engines and the literally administering by the seat of his pants.  However he was a smart guy and did manage to keep their systems running for 2 years.

As luck would have it he got another job so I inherited the Network.  It was an opportunity for me to show what I could do on my own.  Unfortunately the company went bankrupt three months later, and I was looking again.

I decided to take a year off to travel, and was surprised when I returned to the workforce to find out that I no longer had the qualifications I needed to get the jobs that I wanted.  My Windows 2000 certifications were just not good enough, as Windows Server 2003 was the standard and Windows Server 2008 was about to be released.  I decided to invest the time to spend a year at school, where I studied all of the newest technologies, and became certified in Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, as well as Linux.

Now that I have all of the right credentials I have set a lower limit for any job I would ever accept, and that lower limit is more than twice what I was earning as a bench technician.  I am working on projects that include all of those technologies and more, including Server Virtualization (which I am now comfortable with thanks to the Microsoft Canada IT Pro Virtualization Boot Camp!), and more.  I support users and environments, and the list goes on and on.

It may look like you just go to a meeting but the user group (for me anyway) is a lot more than that.  I learned things – both about technology and about myself.  I never would have had the courage to make such drastic career changes if it was not for the user group meetings.  Now I can go out and put all my skills that I have learned over the years to work for me and I thank the group for that.

Last week Rick Claus, the ‘Team Elder’ as it were, announced that he has moved on.  He is still an IT Evangelist for Microsoft, but he has moved down to Redmond and is now working for Corp.  I wish him well, and know that while we will miss him in Canada he will be a great addition to the team in Redmond.

Meanwhile back in Canada I am currently doing a lot of work with the Evangelism team on their Virtualization Boot Camp tour, and was thrilled that Damir asked to re-post two of my articles from this site there.  They are:

What’s a Layer 1 or Layer 2 Hypervisor and Where Does Hyper-V Fit in?

and

Virtualization Infrastructure: Which platform is right for you?

I am currently in the process of writing another article which I hope to cross-post shortly.  Keep your eyes peeled to both these sites for great information that will help you grow as an IT Professional!  Also watch both sites for news about other cities where the Virtualization Boot Camp will be showing up… they are a great opportunity for you to learn virtualization, win cash prizes, and support your local user group community!

Damir Bersenic will be hosting the event, and I will be his trusty sidekick for two days of geeking out… we will be building a virtualization environment from scratch, including full failover and Live Migration capabilities, and all in one day!

The format is fun and exciting, with teams of four participants competing for cash prizes!  The cost is $25, all of which goes directly to your local user group which, in turn, helps you!

For more information and to register visit the Canadian IT Pro Connection at http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro/archive/2012/01/26/hey-vancouver-it-pros-it-virtualization-boot-camps-are-coming-to-your-city-feb-10-amp-11.aspx.  I look forward to seeing you in Vancouver in February!

I came across one such issue some time ago when resetting my Virtual Partner Technology Advisor Toolkit (blog on this to follow).  I visited a partner with only two of my server-laptops, and they asked me to demonstrate creating a Failover Cluster.  I destroyed my existing Cluster and did just that.  Unfortunately the next day I discovered that my third server-laptop, which had been a node on the now destroyed Failover Cluster.  When I tried to join it to the new cluster I got a message that ‘This computer ‘Host1.alpineskihouse.com’ is joined to a cluster.’

Failover Cluster Service is so much better than its predecessor, and this is a very simple fix.  However if you don’t know it you can end up banging your head against the wall and assuming you have to reinstall your OS.  Not the case.  It is a simple command line:

cluster node <computername> /forcecleanup

so in the case of my alpineskihouse.com laptop-server, I would open a command prompt (Run As Administrator) and type:

cluster node host1.alpineskihouse.com /forcecleanup

It only takes a few seconds… it cleans out the registry and allows that server to be joined to a new cluster.

I thought of this because I encountered the situation in the Virtualization Boot Camp Challenge at Microsoft Canada on Saturday.  If I hadn’t found that link, one of the teams (the team that was until the last challenge in first place!) would not have been able to complete the challenge, and would not have finished in Second Place.

One of the teammates asked me how they could have achieved the same results using the GUI (Graphical User Interface) but you can’t… the GUI tools are great for day to day tasks, and even a lot of the more complicated stuff, but the truth is there are just some things that you have to do ‘under the hood’… in the Command Prompt.

I repeat over and over the importance of knowing the command line tools for the common tasks that we do every day.  While I always tell them that they have to know them for exams, the truth is that sometimes we need to use them in our jobs.  When they argue that they shouldn’t need to learn command line tools I tell them (and am not lying) that the command line tools often separate the ‘computer guys’ from the IT Professionals… if you are going to have the respect to learn your profession and be able to do things right, then you have to know at least some of the command line tools, and if you don’t know them then you have to at least know how to find them and use them.

Now go forth and Cluster… or I guess cluster.exe

Must-Read IT Blogger Q&A: Mitch Garvis

Sometimes it amazes me that I have come so far… I remember when I first started blogging, and who was responsible for it (there are two people).  I saw one of them in the cafeteria this past week, and I had drinks with the other in December.  When they told me to start (and then told me to publish at my own site rather than the MITPro site) I could not see the value… but I trusted and respected both of them, so I started.  I see the value now, and every time an up-and-coming IT Professional asks me for advice on how to get noticed, I have the same advice for them that Rick and John had for me… Build your Brand.

As hard as it may be to fathom, I remember starting out wondering who would care about what I had to say.  I also remember thinking that a few little articles would not earn me a lot of credibility.  I was probably right… but I have now been blogging for seven years, and The World According to Mitch (the third incarnation of a blog that was born in 2005) will celebrate its 300th article this week (if my Editor approves the complete rewrite she assigned me on Thursday).  We have had over 100,000 visitors, and a plethora of comments and conversations (many of which, unfortunately, were lost in the numerous moves over the years).  I am amazed every time someone refers to my articles as authoritative, and appreciate every single visitor.

Last week was the first time I ever referred to myself as a professional blogger, but I suppose I am.  I do not get paid to blog, but do get paid to do what I do in part because I blog.  I love doing it, and was not surprised by the envious cries of ‘How do *I* get a job like that?’ The answer is simple… build your brand, build up your library of articles, and most of all make sure that you absolutely love writing (It helps if you are good at it)!  I do… I always have, and thank my high school English teachers for that daily,

If I am the luckiest man in the world it is because I have an amazing family, I get to work with amazing technologies, and have an amazing job that affords me the opportunity to speak to and interact with some amazing people.  If someone were to ask me what are the qualities that make my blog successful I suppose it is the combination of my vast life experience and travels, combined with a love of life, a passion for technology, and an understanding that talking about high-level subjects does not mean you have to talk over peoples’ heads.

You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.

If you can’t explain something simply, you don’t know enough about it.

–Albert Einstein

I often hear from people who stumble across my blog who say “Wow… I have no idea what you are talking about, but it sounds really interesting.”  I do not dumb my articles down, but I do try to explain high-level concepts in clear, concise terms.  I have been asked to explain concepts such as Server Virtualization to non-technical audiences before, and I do… however you also have to know who your intended audience is, and speak to their level.  My technical articles would be useless if I wrote them for non-technical people.

The truth is that most of my articles will be easy to understand by anyone, but without the prerequisite knowledge of the subject matter they would not be able to do anything with them.  Occasionally I hear from someone that ‘Wow, I read your article, and I was actually able to understand what you were talking about!” That is because I make things as complicated as they have to be… and no more so.

I will continue to write as I have, and will aspire to do better.  I will try to continue to write about topics that I find interesting and relevant… that goal seems to have served me well over the past seven years.  Thank you for reading. -Mitch

—

I was in my favourite cafe this evening and noticed the barista had got up from the crossword puzzle over which she had been agonizing.  I walked over for a glance, and noticed immediately that it was replete with errors. 

5 Across: Fat-Free Jack. Her answer: OPRAH.

I was amused because the middle three letters were obviously right, but instead of seeing if she could get more clues to help her, she just took any name that would fit, regardless of the consequences.

In IT we do this quite frequently.  We have a client whose systems just stopped working, and he will grab any solution that fixes his immediate problem, often to the detriment of the total final solution.  In some cases this is what the client wants – an immediate fix to the immediate problem.  The problem is that some of those filler solutions can cause greater problems later on, and if we do not take note of what we did we may find ourselves hunting for another quick fix to an immediate problem caused by these filler solutions.

I am as guilty as most, though when I get the system working I generally take the time to figure out what went wrong, and work towards a permanent (and best-practices) solution.  I admit to being quite successful with this approach… most of the time.

A colleague of mine refuses to work that way.  To him he would rather the client be down for 15-30 minutes longer, but when he is back up he can be sure that the problem is well and truly solved.  He and I have had a number of discussions on this, and it shows two different ways of looking at things: I will extend myself out on a limb, and he likes the CYA approach.  I am not saying one is more right than the other, I am only saying that different professionals can have fundamental differences in approaches and viewpoints, and respect each other without agreeing.

I suppose in a true emergency my experience has always been ‘now means now.’  It comes from my background, and it is very difficult for me to escape.  Internet is down?  Get it up.  Period.  Shortest distance is right, and smooth it out later.  I have a hard time telling clients ‘I could get to the bottom of the problem and you may be down for another 30 minutes’ when I can say ‘I’ll have you up as soon as I flick this switch, and when everyone goes home I will get to the bottom of the original problem so that it doesn’t happen again.’  Depending on the client I am sure I have gained or lost points for this approach.

The problem in IT is that when you just patch in a quick fix the real solution gets harder to see.  When I look at a crossword puzzle I look at the blank spaces and like most of us my eyes assume that the letters filled in are right.  Those wrong letters are not just missing pieces, they are bread crumbs leading down the wrong path in the forest.  We see them there, and if they are there then there’s a reason.  Unfortunately they are like a magician’s misdirection, designed to draw your eyes from the real issue at hand.

My advice to aspiring crossword puzzle solvers?  Use a fine pencil with a good eraser.  If you aspire to solving network connectivity issues, I suggest practice, training, and before you can take leaps to fill in the blanks, make sure you have the experience you need to un-leap yourself… a neat trick indeed until the client and his fifty employees who are all off-line and lurking over your shoulder learn to be patient with IT problems that they will probably never understand.

I am sure that someone out there knows someone whose name really is Jack Oprah, and I apologize to you.  For Jack Sprat, you will have to chase down my barista, and forgive her youth and inexperience.  I did when my cappuccino came with cinnamon instead of chocolate!