Packet Pushers - Datanauts

Metadata is data about data, and metadata matters to your company’s business.

Getting your metadata correct means you have more power and control over the information that drives your organization.

For example, metadata influences where data gets stored, and at what performance tier; or when data should be moved to optimize a business process. It tells you who’s accessing the data, and how often the data is being accessed, which has implications for security, compliance, and legal discovery.

Yep, that’s all tied up in metadata, the topic of our discussion on the Datanauts. Our guest is Karen Lopez, Senior Product Manager and Architect at InfoAdvisors.

We work through a definition of metadata, examine why it’s essential across IT, and why you might want to think about metadata as a love note to yourself in the future.

We also examine different metadata storage models and the associated tradeoffs and benefits, and dive into metadata use cases in enterprise storage.

Sponsor: Packet Pushers Virtual Design Clinic 3

Register now for the Packet Pushers’ Virtual Design Clinic on December 19th. This live, online event includes deep-dive technical presentations for network engineers, Ask Me Anything sessions with expert panelists, and a sponsored presentation from Apcela. It’s free to sign up. Register here.

Show Links:

Karen Lopez on Twitter

Karen Lopez on LinkedIn

Data Model.com – Karen Lopez’s Blog

InfraGeeks.com

Datanauts 074: Understanding Data Models & Why They Matter – Packet Pushers

Parallel NFS Home Page

At first glance, stretching a single cluster between two physical locations kinda makes sense. You get business continuity, redundancy, and you don’t have to do any weird engineering.

But is stretching a cluster really that simple? We argue there’s a lot more to think about on today’s episode of Datanauts.

Our guest is Erik Ableson, owner of the consultancy Infrageeks. We discuss why people stretch clusters, the problems this can cause, and alternative design strategies.

Sponsor: Packet Pushers Virtual Design Clinic 3

Register now for the Packet Pushers’ Virtual Design Clinic on December 19th. This live, online event includes deep-dive technical presentations for network engineers, Ask Me Anything sessions with expert panelists, and a sponsored presentation from Apcela. It’s free to sign up. Register here.

Show Links:

Erik Abelson on Twitter

Infrageeks Blog

VMware vSphere Metro Storage Cluster Recommended Practices – VMware (PDF)

Introduction To Stretched Clusters – VMware

No-Click Data Center Site Failovers Powered by Metro Availability Witness – Nutanix

Most IT careers will involve some kind of technical education, training, or certification; it’s just part of the job.

Today on the Datanauts podcast we get an insider’s view of what it’s like to develop educational programs by someone who’s actually done it.

Our guest is Brett Guarino, a Principal Instructor for VMware Education. He designs and teaches instructional courses on how to use VMware products.

We talk about how training courses are put together, how curriculum teams decide what to prioritize, how they handle different learning styles, and how they train trainers.

Brett also shares his insights on how IT professionals can address learning something new, shares research suggestions, discusses the utility of home labs, and offers tips to stay abreast of new features that roll into products.

The Datanauts and Brett also map technical training to the certification path, discuss where training and certification course materials may converge and diverge, and speculate on the future of certifications.

Our apologies for the noise on Chris’s mic in the early part of the episode; we’re cooking up a fix for future shows.

Show Links:

Brett Guarino on Twitter

A Cloud Guru

Lead? Or follow? Get involved? Or watch from the sidelines?

The answer depends a lot on your personal career goals. Want more opportunities? That special job?

Then most likely you have to put yourself out there by learning something new and trying something different, even if it makes you uncomfortable.

Today on the Datanauts we talk about the risks and rewards of getting outside your tech comfort zone. Our guest is Ken Nalbone, Tech Field Day Event Lead at Gestalt IT. He blogs at FullStackKengineer.

Ken and the Datanauts talk about how, after 10 years in the same job, Ken decided it was time for a change. That meant some investment of time and effort into acquiring new skills. It also meant getting out into the world, including attending a local VMUG.

They discuss internal barriers to change, including both imposter syndrome and smart kid syndrome, as well as having to overcome introversion.

Sponsor: VMware Virtual Cloud Network Deep Dive

Join VMware live and in person at the Virtual Cloud Network Deep Dive coming to your city. You’ll hear from VMware NSX® product experts on how you can grow your skills to create an agile, programmable network infrastructure that can meet the business and security demands of the multi-cloud world. Visit www.vmware.com/go/VCNDeepDive to register.

Show Links:

Live Outside Your Comfort Zone. It Will Be Worth It – FullStackKengineer (Ken Nalbone’s blog)

Episode of the Nerd Journey podcast where Ken first heard the term “Smart Kid Syndrome”

Ken Nalbone on Twitter

Tech Field Day

Microsoft recently announced Azure DevOps. If you’re not familiar with this product, I bet you can imagine what it is. And I also bet you’re wrong.

But fear not. You’ll get insights into this developer platform with our guest and guide Nathaniel Avery, a solutions architect at a systems integrator with a host of Microsoft certifications (among many others).

Azure DevOps is a revamped version of Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS), an application lifecycle management system. Azure DevOps, which is (mostly) free and hosted online, consists of five core services:

* Azure Pipelines

* Azure Boards

* Azure Artifacts

* Azure Repos

* Azure Test Plans

The goal of Azure DevOps is to help developers get up to speed on the processes and tools that encompass a DevOps initiative.

Nathaniel and the Datanauts examine the background of Azure DevOps, dive into key components, offer tips on how to pick the best tools for developing in a Microsoft environment, and how to actually bring the “Operations” part into DevOps.

Show Links:

Introducing Azure DevOps – Microsoft Azure

Microsoft splits VSTS five ways to build new Azure DevOps platform – Ars Technica

The Jevons Paradox – Wikipedia

Nathaniel Avery on Twitter

Nathaniel Avery on LinkedIn

Not Your Dad’s IT – Nathaniel Avery’s blog

Chris Wahl goes on a solo away mission to Microsoft Ignite 2018 to explore the cloudy world of Azure.

Recorded live at the show, today’s episode delves into Azure data services and storage announcements, including Data Box, a hardware appliance for shipping data into the cloud; and a preview announcement of Data Box Edge for local storage such as IoT use cases.

Chris and his guests also explore the latest news on Azure Stack, the on-premises version of Azure; new networking features in Microsoft’s cloud; updates on Windows Server 2019; and more.

Today’s guests are Jeffrey Snover, Technical Fellow and Chief Architect for Azure Storage, Media, and Cloud Edge; and Mike Nelson, a Technical Marketing Engineer at Rubrik.

Note that today’s show wasn’t sponsored by Microsoft, but the company did fly Chris to the event.

Packet Pushers Virtual Design Clinic 2

Regiseter now for the Packet Pushers’ second Virtual Design Clinic on October 11. This live, online event includes deep-dive technical presentations for network engineers and Ask Me Anything sessions with expert panelists. It’s free to sign up. Go to packetpushers.net/vdc to register. And get videos from the first VDC when you join our membership site Ignition.

Show Links:

Microsoft Ignite 2018 round-up: all the key announcements and news – Microsoft

Jeffrey Snover on Twitter

Mike Nelson on Twitter

Everyone talks about cloud and a lot of people are rushing to the public cloud, in part because cloud providers make it so easy to spin up resources and get started.

But you can build a private cloud and have the same benefits–ease of use, self-service, and accountability–within your own data center.

On today’s Datanauts podcast, we break down what it takes to build out a private cloud on your premises.

Our guest is Rita Younger, National Practice Lead SDDC / SDN and Technical Innovation Group at CDW. You can find her on Twitter as @SDN_GIRL.

Our three-part show covers the following:

Part 1: Changes To Physical Infrastructure

* Why you need to understand traffic flows

* The importance of network analytics

* Three-tier vs. leaf-spine architectures

* How hyperconverged affects infrastructure

Part 2: Private Cloud Benefits

* What are the characteristics of a private cloud: orchestration, automation, APIs?

* Dealing with operational complexity

* Intent-based networking

* Whether applications need to be changed to run in an elastic environment

Part 3: Breaking Down the Silos

* How does cloud reorganize traditional IT roles?

* Why cross-silo collaboration is essential

* Who’s responsible for automation and orchestration?

* How to do analytics right

Sponsor: Linux Academy

No matter where you are in your career, train with Linux Academy and develop the in-demand skills businesses are looking for. Linux Academy does training differently. New training content launching in November. Don’t let the cloud leave you behind. For a limited time save $150. Get more details at Linux Academy.

Show Notes:

Total Packets.com

Rita Younger’s Blog On CDW

Everyone talks about cloud and a lot of people are rushing to the public cloud, in part because cloud providers make it so easy to spin up resources and get started.

But you can build a private cloud and have the same benefits–ease of use, self-service, and accountability–within your own data center.

On today’s Datanauts podcast, we break down what it takes to build out a private cloud on your premises.

Our guest is Rita Younger, National Practice Lead SDDC / SDN and Technical Innovation Group at CDW. You can find her on Twitter as @SDN_GIRL.

Our three-part show covers the following:

Part 1: Changes To Physical Infrastructure

* Why you need to understand traffic flows

* The importance of network analytics

* Three-tier vs. leaf-spine architectures

* How hyperconverged affects infrastructure

Part 2: Private Cloud Benefits

* What are the characteristics of a private cloud: orchestration, automation, APIs?

* Dealing with operational complexity

* Intent-based networking

* Whether applications need to be changed to run in an elastic environment

Part 3: Breaking Down the Silos

* How does cloud reorganize traditional IT roles?

* Why cross-silo collaboration is essential

* Who’s responsible for automation and orchestration?

* How to do analytics right

Sponsor: Linux Academy

No matter where you are in your career, train with Linux Academy and develop the in-demand skills businesses are looking for. Linux Academy does training differently. New training content launching in November. Don’t let the cloud leave you behind. For a limited time save $150. Get more details at Linux Academy.

Show Notes:

Total Packets.com

Rita Younger’s Blog On CDW

Today on the Datanauts we tackle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, or VDI.

Our guest is Johan van Amersfoort, Technical Marketing Architect and EUC specialist at ITQ Consultancy. He’s author of the new book VDI Design Guide.

Johan and the Datanauts explore the business requirements for undertaking a VDI project, including reducing OpEx, improving security, and addressing the challenges of a mobile workforce and BYOD.

They review potential gotchas in a VDI design, and then drill into the elements your design must account for, including the network, CPU and RAM, host sizing, and failover.

In part three, Johan discusses how to handle remote users, whether to run AV, and identity and access control issues.

Sponsor: ITProTV

Join ITProTV to learn the skills to pass the most in-demand IT certs. It’s binge-worthy learning! ITProTV’s extensive course library includes CEH v9, CISA, CompTIA A+, Mac Certified Support Professional, and more!

Visit itpro.tv/data and use code DATANAUTS to try it FREE for 7 days, and receive 30% off your monthly membership for the lifetime of your active subscription.

Show Links:

VDI Design Guide: A comprehensive guide to help you design VMware Horizon, based on 2018 standards – Amazon

Johan on Twitter

VDI Design Guide on Twitter

Today on the Datanauts we tackle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, or VDI.

Our guest is Johan van Amersfoort, Technical Marketing Architect and EUC specialist at ITQ Consultancy. He’s author of the new book VDI Design Guide.

Johan and the Datanauts explore the business requirements for undertaking a VDI project, including reducing OpEx, improving security, and addressing the challenges of a mobile workforce and BYOD.

They review potential gotchas in a VDI design, and then drill into the elements your design must account for, including the network, CPU and RAM, host sizing, and failover.

In part three, Johan discusses how to handle remote users, whether to run AV, and identity and access control issues.

Sponsor: ITProTV

Join ITProTV to learn the skills to pass the most in-demand IT certs. It’s binge-worthy learning! ITProTV’s extensive course library includes CEH v9, CISA, CompTIA A+, Mac Certified Support Professional, and more!

Visit itpro.tv/data and use code DATANAUTS to try it FREE for 7 days, and receive 30% off your monthly membership for the lifetime of your active subscription.

Show Links:

VDI Design Guide: A comprehensive guide to help you design VMware Horizon, based on 2018 standards – Amazon

Johan on Twitter

VDI Design Guide on Twitter