VCP 4.0

As I typed the title above I suddenly thought of Die Hard... how strange.

Anyway - I shall be taking my exam next month. I'm particularly worried that as I study, I'm relearning the who darned application from scratch. It's not that I don't know ESX - I do (and daily!), but the devil is in the detail and this is why I hate exams. Sure they're a test of your general knowledge but more often than not, it's just an exercise is remembering numbers and spitting them back out.

However, I know plenty of people on the same path and I've got my study notes in order. Wish me luck!

September 11th

Do you remember where you were? I suspect you do.

Of course, it's not all doom and gloom - a friend (Russ) has a birthday today. He came along before 9/11 so he has a right to be happy today ;)

Bloggin' on the left, Tweetin' on the right

It's interesting that Twitter is now so popular; especially given the instant nature of it. It's very much like have an IM client open but without a particular person to speak to. I could talk all day, and people can tune in to specific parts - a bit like radio (with a search function). I do, really, like Twitter and it's instant little world - very easy to get bits of info and follow it. However, the real use to me would be to link off to full-fat blogs - something many people do.

I think I might start doing the same.

Someone out there in the blog-sphere, wrote today (perhaps yesterday - really, time matters little out here in the void) that he "reads, does and writes" (paraphrasing a smidge there). I like that. Study, test and document.

I am about to start getting in to my study to upgrade my VCP 3 to VCP 4. The exam is now live and I really want it out of the way by Christmas. Since I no longer consult - a change that has helped me settle my day-to-day lifestyle - I don't have that "on/off" relationship with VMware; by that, I mean I don't install it and walk away. Here, I tend to be looking after the installed environment and working on it. Whilst that is great, it limits my exposure to the detail of setting up new environments - especially since everyone seems to do it differently.

I reckon (is reckon a really English way for saying "think"?) I need a test environment with at least two nodes in it. I can build and destroy ESX in a number of exciting ways doing that. However, two nodes isn't going to be cheap, nor SAN connected - and further more, it won't allow me to mess with things like FT. I'm wondering there if I'd just be better off getting some hellish server with Workstation on it - and build several (albeit, slower) environments within?

Answers on a postcard. A digital one. Back to work.

iForum day two...

What a loooong day. A good day, but looooong. God, was it long. I'm knackered.

Anyhoo - a great start with the CEO doing his bit for a couple of hours. I came away genuinely impressed at the Citrix future. Especially the iTunes-esque interface for dazzle and the new Citrix Receiver. Nice work chaps.

A few of the technical sessions fell a bit short of the description (and what I'd hoped) but generally the content was valid and of a good quality. I think XenServer has a strong future - mainly due to the low (free) cost up front and far reduced cost over time per server (over per proc) and even the support. Hmm, if only it had memory overcommitment (they say it's not a great idea, but we all know that's a cover for "we'll have it when we've worked it out").

Anyway - I'm happy to work with the technology and will continue to do so as best I can - and I'd love to do a full Server/App/etc install. Mmm.

Day three (final day) tomorrow. But I'm also flying home... :)

Citrix iForum Day 1

I'm up in Edinburgh (as my Tweets suggest) at the Citix iForum. Today was a meet/greet with a few seminars - most of which were okay, but a little forgettable (it was day 1 and I've been up since 4:30am... so it's likely more me than them!).

The technical sessions covered XenApp's application launch, Netscaler troubleshooting and XenDesktop registration. Not a bad start really I guess.

Anyway; six sessions tomorrow so I'll make some notes and write it all up for ya.

Night!

E3 is on!

And that means lotsa news! Keep an eye on my tweets - but so far (all 360) Twitter, Facebook, on-demand gaming and Sky TV coming to the dashboard. We have Forza 3 videos, Halo: ODST and Assassin's Creed vids - Halo: Reach announced (Reach was the first planet to fall to the Covenant - so likely a prequel of sorts) and much more - I'm tweeting the links!

GM Bankrupt

I have been following this for some time now and it's rather sad I think. It could potentially mean no more (or at least, reduced) Camaros and Corvettes - two cars I am rather fond of. The next few months will be very interesting - and I sincerely hope GM comes out fighting (be positive!)

Scrubs. I love you.

I watched the finale of Scrubs season 8 last night. Had it been the finale of Scrubs, it'd have been fine (it was enough to make me tear up) but I know Season 9 (with a smidge of JD) is coming. I don't know how I feel about that but, if someone said to me "Friends Season 11?" I'd bite their hands off.. so I guess I'll take it. I'm a sentimental old fool.

Testing, testing, 1...2....4

ScribeFire via Firefox... if it works, W00t. If not <insert swearword>

Where did all the tools?

When I started using Blogger there were a ton of really good tools to blog without visiting blooger.com - now I'm struggling to find a good and recently updated one. Wtf? The search, they say, continues...

Oh, and I insured my cat. Take that!

Ere we go!

Moved over to this blogspot thing - easier to update. Twitter on the right. Good eh?

More to come and assume the links don't work (they will, but they won't return you here until I update em).

See ya!

Time for some changes

Yeah - I don't have time to maintain this site so I think I might change it - with the uplift in toys like Twitter (@willisit) which is just SO easy, I think I need to get that and this in line.

Coming (soon I hope)....