By Nick Phelps, Consulting Architect, LogicsOne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pnAWdPH36g
Here’s the recap of Day 2 that I filmed down in Orlando at Cisco Live. If you missed it, here is my video from Day 1. I got a ton of great information out of the breakout sessions on Day 2…let me know if there are any questions, and I’d be more than happy to provide additional details.
By Randy Becker, Consulting Architect, LogicsOne
Citrix held its most important event of the year for customers and partners at the end of May. I have been attending these events for many years and this had to be the largest attendance I have ever seen. I was told that 60% were first-time attendees. There was plenty of excitement, and those of you who know Mark Templeton know that he tied in great classic rock to the event. The theme was “Going Mobile,” and what else to lead things off but The Who’s classic “Going Mobile.”
So what were the highlights of the event? Mark talked about two CEO meetings he recently attended. These meetings were focused on DOS and MAC. Yes, DOS and MAC are back, but in a very different way. DOS = Don’t Add Stuff and MAC = Moves Adds and Changes. DOS focuses on doing more with what you have and leveraging technologies that reduce complexity. MAC is reduce the number of and costs associated with moves, adds and changes.
I would say that the predominant message of this conference was providing the mobile workforce the tools (applications) they require to perform their job. This is not a new message; this has been the pervasive message from Citrix for many years. The real twist here is that customers are now really able to work and perform their jobs with devices like tablets from Apple, Samsung, and others. It is my opinion that delivering Windows applications to these devices still has its limitations. It isn’t that they don’t work; it’s that the application may not be conducive to a touch pad device. Citrix offers their Mobility Pack to address some of these limitations, and I have customers successfully using Windows applications delivered by XenApp and XenDesktop to iPads.
So what does all this mean? Well, for one, Citrix recently acquired Zenprise, an MDM solution. Zenprise sits in Gartner’s magic quadrant with Mobile Iron and Air Watch. We have had a lot of fun with this one, and yes, Citrix performed a find and replace on the Z and substituted with a X. This acquisition puts Citrix in a unique position when combined with the rest of the product suite. XenMobile is the complete solution set that Citrix is marketing as an all-inclusive MDM solution.
I think two of the challenges Citrix is going to face with XenMobile are the overlap in existing products, mainly their existing MDX solution set and the complex implementations associated with MDM solutions. The challenge here will be to keep the best of both products and provide an integrated console. I would expect the overlap and integrated console will be addressed in the near future. Don’t get me wrong, I have attended a number of training sessions and I was able to easily build my own XenMobile MDM environment and enroll my iPad and iPhone and push some apps down in an afternoon hands-on session. When I was done, I was even able to perform a selective wipe and remove my corporate managed apps with ease. Citrix spent a little time up front to get the APNS cert squared away. Apple doesn’t make it easy for large corporations to manage Apple devices.
Project Excalibur, now XenDesktop 7, is the most significant release we have seen yet to date, to be released in the June timeframe. Included in this we will now see the integration of XenDesktop and XenApp in one platform. This is a major product change, and the end of Independent Management Architecture (IMA), replaced with XenDesktop’s FlexCast Management Architecture (FMA). This will mean a clean install for XenApp customers, again. To combat the whole XenDesktop is complex, Citrix did an amazing job reducing consoles and simplifying the install. I never minded the extra consoles; it just amazed me that it takes so long to integrate them. As Mark Templeton said, two consoles, eight clicks and 20 minutes and you have a working environment. I’m a strong advocate for proper planning and design, so this is fine for a POC. Spend the time up front before the “20 minutes” to install. Now the two consoles are not 100 percent accurate if you want Provisioning Server (PVS), and I almost always recommend that you include this in your delivery solution.
The two primary consoles are Desktop Studio; this is where you perform all of your configuration and Desktop Director, the place you go to manage and support your users. The interface to Desktop Director ROCKS! We continue to see Citrix develop support tools that makes everyone’s lives easier, including the users. XenDesktop also allows for easy publishing of single applications on desktops, so if you need backward for forward compatibility this is even easier than before.
XenDesktop 7 also has better integration with high-end video adapters from NVidia and two new K adapters for two different purposes. We are now seeing that you need Graphic Processors for even Knowledge Workers in VDI using standard office applications. This is different than the need for high-end graphics cards for software like Solid Works and AutoCAD. Two different requirements and two different cards and solutions that can be integrated, check out these cards from NVidia.
Web Interface is now dead with the release of XenDesktop 7. It has been replaced with StoreFront. Customers should be focusing on moving to StoreFront even for existing deployments. No big changes here for the end users. On the back-end there are significant changes in terms of flexibility and scale. To make it easy for users, one can download Citrix Receiver and all they need to know to get setup and access to applications is their email address. This auto provisioning is amazingly easy, and I highly recommend that this be included in any implementation.
There was some significant news on the NetScaler front. A new code update, HDX Insight, an additional high-end model and an expansion of the partner solutions running on NetScaler SDX. SDX is physical hardware, with a hypervisor using virtualized NetScaler instances with dedicated hardware to each instance. Partners like Palo Alto and BLUECAT will be able to leverage the SDX platform. More to come on these announcements but we can all see where this is going. Cisco and Citrix have formed a very strong partnership including the NetScaler as a Cisco Validated Design (CVD). Cisco is now using the NetScaler as their go to Application Delivery Controller (ADC) and XenDesktop on Unified Computing System (UCS). Customers are also going to be able to add HDX Insight for the NetScaler; this will give additional monitoring visibility into all traffic flowing through the NetScaler including High Definition User Experience (HDX). For those of you not familiar with HDX, think of HDX protocol as ICA on steroids.
One announcement that didn’t get much attention is the Mac Desktop Player. I think this is part of XenClient and allows for the checking out of a Windows desktop. Almost everyone that has a Mac uses some type of virtualization layer to run Windows on a Mac now. I assume we will see more information on this once it goes into tech preview.
In summary, some key takeaways:
All in all, a successful event!
By Rob O’Shaughnessy, Software Licensing Specialist
I attended Adobe’s MAX conference in rainy, LA, California last week and I felt bad, as a local, that a lot of travelers had to witness our once a quarter rainfall, however with all the forest fires ranging around SoCal it was an unexpected relief. Adobe put some fires out on their own by providing some great insight as to what they are doing to the software community.
It was the first time that partners and Adobe sales team members were invited to this mostly technical event. The room was divided between the cool hipster “Creatives” and the button-up suit with no tie looking sales people. It was a 7th grade dance before the first slow song was played, but we were all there for the same purpose; to find out what’s going on with Creative Cloud.
So let’s backup if you haven’t heard of Creative Cloud. Several months ago Adobe began offering a subscription-based licensing model for their creative products. The Creative Cloud is essentially everything that’s included in the Creative Suite Master Collection. It’s a subscription-based licensing model which gives you all the Adobe creative products for a monthly fee. Like Creative Suite, it’s also an on-premise product so ultimately the big difference between the two boils down to how you want to purchase it – to subscribe to it or own it.
The biggest announcement at MAX was that moving forward Adobe will no longer provide future releases of Creative Suite or other CS products. Like Rocky, Creative Suite has ended at version 6, so moving forward if you wanted to obtain the latest and greatest technology and features you will need to move to the Creative Cloud. Also if you like box product, Adobe will no longer be offering shrink-wrap as well. Customer will now need to purchase a volume license or jump into the Cloud.
In my opinion this is a good thing, because as a Creative it’s important to be up to date with all the latest enhancements that Adobe provides as it will allow access to all the cutting edge technology instantly as it comes out, instead of waiting every 18 months for Adobe to compile a list of enhancements and release an upgrade. Plus the promo price till August 31st ($39.99 per month) is less than what I spend at the local pub, err I mean coffee shop.
If you’re interested in Creative Cloud and want to learn more about subscribing new users and co-terming future users, please fill out this form.
By Chris Ward, CTO, LogicsOne
It was early February and I was quite excited because it was finally time for me to get a new laptop. We had recently enacted our Bring Your Own Device “BYOD” policy so I had a decision to make regarding what type of machine I wanted to carry around for the next 3 years of my life. I’ve been in consulting my entire professional career and always had a laptop given to me by the internal IT group of whatever company I had worked for, albeit with a little personal input on the matter. So, for the past 16 years, I had carried a Compaq or HP laptop of some flavor in my bag. Normally, I would always try to get the most bad ass machine I could, which in the land of HP meant a mobile workstation and they were always great. Fast, multi-core processors, lots of memory, lots of disk space, great video card, and great screen with high resolution. The downside for me, however, was constant neck pain after lugging around 8-10 lb. laptops over my shoulder for a decade and a half. So, I decided this time was going to be different.
In my job roles over the past two to three years, I have not been as hands on in the field doing actual implementations and such so no longer truly need the horsepower to run multiple virtual machines, have serial cables to connect to routers/switches, or have a myriad of tools at my beck and call. No, now that I am a ‘suit’ I need something that is lightweight and very portable as I tend to find myself on planes, trains, and automobiles quite often. So, I decided to go with the sexy choice and started looking at MacBooks. I was very skeptical of moving to a Mac platform from an application and productivity perspective but, at the same time, I wanted to learn more about OS X and its BSD/Linux underpinnings so I decided to take the plunge. The following is an editorial of my personal experience in making this transition.
I picked out a nifty new 13″ Retina display MacBook pro vs. an Air due to the faster i7 processor and the Retina display (yes, I am still a nerd at heart so I do still care). I was disappointed to discover that with the 13″ Pro you could not get more than 8GB of RAM and also that the memory is literally soldered to the system board so there is no upgrading. Ok, well as I stated earlier, I no longer need to run 5 virtual machines at once so I’ll live. I really wanted a lot of drive capacity and performance because I am an impatient guy who does still travel with every OS service pack dating back to Netware 4.11, Windows 2000, and ESX 2.5 (because hey, you never know when you’ll need that stuff right?) and a lot of ripped DVDs to make those 6 hour flights between coasts a little more bearable. Well, the 512GB SSD option for said MacBook Pro was a pretty penny, but I found a 3rd party one online for a few hundred bucks less and figured, no problem, I’ll upgrade it myself. So, a few days later, the shiny new Mac and separate SSD show up. Now, here is where the fun really begins…
So, I know what you’re thinking…. Is this CTO guy really a big enough dumbass to buy a standard SSD to put into a MacBook? Well, no, I was fully aware of the proprietary form factor of the SSD drives in the Retina MacBooks and did get the correct one and, yes, I know the legacy of Mr. Jobs still remains and he doesn’t want me jacking around with the inside of his precious work of art. So, anyone ever heard of a Pentalobe screwdriver bit? No? Well, me neither. This is what you need to get the bottom cover off the MacBook in order to swap the SSD. I went to my local Home Depot, Lowes, etc. looking for such a bit but no luck. I then went to my trusty local Mac retail store (Not an Apple store, but the local mom and pop joint), and while they did have one, it was with their technician and they were not willing to let me borrow it for an hour. At this point, I was starting to become a bit agitated (again, impatient) but sucked it up and found what I needed online and ordered the magical Pentalobe screwdriver set ($15) plus overnight shipping ($10 – again, impatient). It arrived the next day and I was off to the races.
If you have not personally seen the inside of one of these MacBooks, the area where this special SSD goes is EXACTLY the same form factor as a standard 2.5″ laptop drive. However, this special SSD that is just a circuit board has to go into a special case with a special internal connector which connects to a standard SATA cable, but the cable connects to the side of the enclosure vs. the back as a standard SATA SSD. Wow, someone went through a crap-load of trouble to design a very proprietary solution which was absolutely unnecessary. Note to Apple, I hope you are enjoying the margin you are making on this stuff! In any case, I digress, so I got the new drive installed and was now ready to rock.
I got all of the key software I would need ready to go (Office 2011 for Mac, Firefox, Adobe stuff, VIEW and Citrix clients, VLC (gotta watch those movies), Skype, etc. and got them all setup. And, just in case, I did install VMware Fusion and had a Windows 7 VM on the off chance I would need it for something. Now, keep in mind that my ultimate goal here with the Mac was to go native. If I had to constantly be in a Windows VM to do my job then what the F would be the point of using a Mac in the first place right? Well, the first thing I quickly discovered is that Outlook 2011 is a piece of crap compared to Outlook 2010 or 2013 for Windows. There is no home style screen where I can see my mail, tasks, and calendar in a single place. There is no native ActiveSync but rather some ancient sync engine that has more conflicts than a schizophrenic sociopath. Trying to use group calendaring to see where my team was and what they were up to caused issues because I had to have so many calendars open at the same time (mind you I did this with zero issue in Outlook 2010/2013). Basically, I was back to using Outlook XP. So, I thought, well, I want to go native so I’ll go native and use the built in Mail and Calendar stuff from Apple. While there were some things that got a little better, it still paled in comparison when compared to the experience with full Outlook on a PC. Then, I got to looking at some of the key reports I use regularly via Excel.
Ok, so there is no ODBC driver that comes out of the box with Excel/Office for Mac. Oh, but you can buy one from a couple of 3rd parties and Microsoft is happy to point you in the right direction. Personally, I wouldn’t care if they sold it for a penny, I still wouldn’t buy it. Are you kidding me? I can’t update a spreadsheet via an ODBC connection to a backend database? I’m pretty sure I could do that with Lotus123 on Windows 3.1, give me a break! So, it was off to the Windows 7 VM for Excel tasks. Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of my headaches…
I immediately found problems with certain web sites that I use on a regular basis due to the Retina display and the way it scales resolution. What I didn’t understand about Retina up front (and should have researched it more) was that while the advertised resolution is pretty stunning, the way it actually works is to show you a lower resolution desktop but cram a lot more pixels into a smaller screen area. The result is admittedly incredibly readable text and super sharp images. The downside is applications and web apps that are not written to be aware of Retina can have issues with this scaling process. I also have an issue with the way Apple just assumes the driver of the machine is an idiot. Example, in the display properties you cannot really select a true desired resolution for the built in display. You have 4 options such as ‘Larger Text’, ‘Best for Retina’, and ‘More Space’. Really?? Just please give me the damn list of supported resolutions so I can choose what I want. I think by this point, you can probably tell where this story is going, and, given this is a blog entry vs. a novel I won’t go deeper into my issues except to regurgitate something I once heard from a friend that certainly rings true in my opinion…
“Using a Mac is like driving tricycle whereas using a PC is like driving a Ducati. The tricycle is extremely low risk and will most likely get you to where you want to go eventually. The Ducati, in the hands of an inexperienced driver (Mac User) can be quite deadly however in the hands of a trained professional it can do very amazing things.”
Admittedly, I do believe Microsoft is as much at fault here as Apple as it was the core Microsoft apps that were the bane of my existence throughout this experience. So, I now have a HP 9470m business class ultra book on order. It is the same weight and size as the MacBook, has the same or better battery life, requires zero dongles as VGA and gig copper port are built in, has a solid screen resolution of 1400×900, can be upgraded to support 16GB of RAM and can hold both a standards based mSATA SSD plus a traditional 2.5″ SSD or magnetic drive (no F’d up screwdriver required), and has docking capability. Oh, and did I mention it’s half the price of Mac?
I am just returning from the VMware Partner Exchange conference (PEX) that was held at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. While this was a partner vs. customer focused event, there were a few tidbits I felt made sense to share you so here we go….
Awards:
GreenPages was given the Virtualization of Business Critical Applications (VBCA) award for the Americas this year, which was a great achievement. For those of you not aware, the VBCA program inside of VMware is focused on virtualizing the ‘big boy’ mission critical applications such as Oracle, SQL, SAP, Exchange, etc. that have historically been both technically and politically difficult to virtualize. In addition, GreenPages was given the same award on a Global scale which was very exciting as it marks the first time that GreenPages has won a global award from any vendor partner! This also marks the 4th consecutive year that GreenPages has won an award from VMware (2010 – Desktop Virtualization, 2011 – Rainmaker, 2012 – Partner of the Year, and 2013 – Global VBCA). The primary reason we won the VBCA this year was due to several projects which included the virtualization of large applications including a 5500 seat Exchange environment and production databases at a major professional sporting league.
End User Computing Updates:
Horizon Suite v1 will be GA by end of Q1 and will include Workspace, Mirage, and VIEW.
The Workspace product is a combination of what was formally Horizon App Manager and Horizon Data (code name Octopus). For those that do not know, the App Manager side is meant to be an Enterprise App Store which includes SAML integration to various SaaS applications in addition to being able to launch ThinApp apps and VIEW desktops. Support for launching XenApp published apps will come shortly after the GA date, figure April/May timeframe. If you are familiar with Citrix Storefront, this is a very similar concept. The Data (Octopus) side is one of the ‘dropbox for the enterprise’ apps.
Mirage will be updated to version 4.0 at GA time. The key feature in this release is individual application layering. For this, think Unidesk as the concept is very similar but this solution is really meant for physical devices vs. virtual or VDI, at least for now. There is no real VIEW integration with Mirage yet, but that is coming. The hold-up is mainly due to performance issues with running Mirage based workloads in a shared VDI environment. One more interesting tidbit on Mirage is that the license now also includes Fusion Pro. The purpose behind this is to lay down a Mirage based image to a Mac for corporate use and being able to maintain control/management of that image in a BYOD environment.
VIEW will be upgraded to v5.2 and key features here are 3D graphics enhancements including compatibility with some of the new Nvidia server based cards to offload hefty graphics and improve performance. Additionally, HTML5 rendering of the desktops will come with this release. This is the AppBlast piece that was shown at VMWorld back in 2011. Keep in mind that HTML5 has some pretty major limitations so in most cases you’ll still want to deploy the full VIEW client, but in a pinch if you are on some kiosk type machine where installing a client is not possible, then you’ll still be able to get to your desktop and perform basic tasks. Lastly, scalability is enhanced and will continue to expand with future releases.
VMware also announced official Radware and Riverbed Stingray support and reference architectures for load balancing within a Horizon/VIEW environment. F5 support has been around for some time already.
vCloud Suite Updates:
This one, I was very disappointed in as I had expected to hear some pretty significant changes to the way the suite is packaged, however this didn’t happen and seems to have been tabled for some reason so nothing to announce here 
.
Cloud Credits:
Some of you may have heard of these already, but they are basically ‘chips’ that a customer purchases through GreenPages which can then be redeemed at any one of VMware’s vCloud VSPP service provider partners for public cloud IaaS services.
Virsto Acquisition:
Not much was said about this at the event other than the initial focus and use case will be on VDI acceleration. Stay tuned for more detail here as I find it.
BC/DR:
Big topic here was vSphere Data Protection Advanced Edition (VDP-A). Like regular VDP, this is based on the EMC Avamar engine but is more scalable to support larger environments. It is missing some key features currently such as replication, but VMware is diligently working to add these features throughout this calendar year.
Integration Engineering Meeting:
I had the pleasure of meeting with some folks from this internal VMware team. I will simply say this single meeting made the entire trip worthwhile. I learned quite a bit about the team and how it works so I’ll give you an overview. First off, in order to be a member of this team you must have a minimum of 10yrs employment by VMware. Given that VMware has only been around since the late 90s, that requirement greatly shrinks the potential team members, but trust me when I say the guys on this team know their s**t. Their primary charter is take the point of view of an external customer along with going out and meeting with actual customers and providing very candid feedback to the various product management teams inside VMW. I love this team because they are a no bull$hit group of people. If something sucks, they will say it, likewise if something is stellar they will say that as well. Unfortunately I cannot share details of what we discussed as the majority of it was future/NDA type material but I think it is awesome that this team exists inside of VMware because they really do help make the products better. As an example, some of you may be aware of the tool recently made available to make the process of applying SSL Certificates to the various VMware architecture components much easier and it was this team that pushed for the tool and helped get it green lighted.
Ok, that’s it for now… Back to work!
To learn more about how GreenPages can help you with your VMware environment, fill out this form!
By Ben Stephenson, Journey to the Cloud
Vala Afshar (@valaafshar) of Enterasys Networks recently posted a list of the 50 most social CIOs on Twitter, along with 20 rising stars. If you’re on Twitter and looking to connect with peers and gain useful information, these CIOs are worth checking out. Vala’s list is below…What do you think? Did he leave anyone off that you think was worthy of making the list?
Top 50 CIOs on Twitter: [Name — Company, Twitter Alias]
20 Rising Star CIOs on Twitter (Name — Company, Twitter Alias)
Enjoy!
I’ve been using Windows 8 for my main work laptop since slightly before it came out and wanted to share my experience and opinion of this new operating system with everyone.
I think this is going to be a great operating system if you have a touchscreen, tablet or mobile device. I have recently seen some of the cool new devices that support it from HP, Dell and others and I love how light and portable they are.
There is no doubt in my mind that Apple has had an irreversible impact on our daily home and business lives. Windows has been the dominant way that most people interact with computers and the Internet up until a few years ago. Today you have many more options. You can check your tweets on your phone in the subway, text your wife while driving home (bad idea, but you can), surf the internet from your phone, iPad, Kindle Fire, Google Nexus 7, Laptop, TV or even your desktop. There are many more options to stay connected and get your work done.
Windows 8 from Microsoft is now part of this trend and is a leap forward for Microsoft. It is much faster on my traditional laptop than Windows 7 was because it is optimized for laptops and other systems that don’t have the power of the latest Intel CPU and tons of memory. The Start Screen (formally called Metro) is a better way to interact with your touch screen device than the traditional Windows desktop is. The old Windows desktop is still available so you still have that option for your laptop or desktop that do not have a touch screen interface.
HP, Dell and other companies have also developed new hardware to take advantage of Windows 8. They have slim, light and powerful Ultrabooks with touchscreens that are simply amazing. I have also seen some laptops with touchscreens that have detachable displays that turn them into a tablet-like device. This is a refreshing and interesting option for a new computer rather than the familiar computer that is “the same as the one I had before but faster.”
Apple started all of this with their iPad and MacBook Air. Now we have many more options and can work anywhere, anytime and with cool new systems. Are you currently utilizing any of these new technologies? What are your thoughts?
By Jamey Beland, Project Manager, PMP
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that being a project manager leading a virtualization or IT project is identical to coaching a professional team the way Bill Belichick coaches the Patriots (sorry New Yorkites). Hear me out on this. A project manager and a coach each have the responsibility of delivering on the objectives of the stakeholder and owner. Each plans their strategy and objectives prior to starting the game. Each has to make adjustments to the plan and strategy depending on circumstances and how the project or game progress (sorry Eagles fans). Each has to work with some unique personnel in the project; (Divas don’t just exist in sports.) Each has to lead a multifaceted and talented team to achieve a goal. Ultimately each game is a basic project or at a minimum, a phase in a larger project which is to win the Lombardi trophy.
In coaching and in Project Managing, the key basic principles are the same; setting expectations, having the players or project team provide input, and facilitating communication. My colleague Craig Mullen hit on this in a previous posts: Active Project Management; Facilitate, Don’t Dictate. Think about it, if someone does not know what is expected from him or her, how can they realistically do their job? You can’t win a game if you don’t know the rules. This applies to the coaches knowing their role, just as much as the players knowing their role. A PM’s role is to ensure that the each player clearly understands the expectations of the stakeholders and sponsors, just as a coach must be in sync with the owner and GMs. Furthermore, the PM or coach is responsible for ensuring the players and project members clearly understand their roles and responsibilities; this is done through project charters, project plans, scope objectives, and thorough communication prior to any project execution. This is a key reason the Krafts have done so well owning the Patriots. Each player on the Patriots knows what is expected out of them; as the Pat’s saying goes, “Just Do Your Job.” The ones that get out of line a bit too much, might as well pack their bags (i.e. Randy Moss not playing the Patriot Way)!
Whether football team owners or project owners, the good ones seem to clearly understand the need for good project management and not let a player run the team or an engineer run the project. Just as in the early years of football and professional sports, it was not uncommon to have a player / coach running the team. Similarly, in the earlier and debatably less complicated days of IT projects, it was not uncommon to have a Sr. Engineer double up and also be the project manager.
Just because someone is a great owner/director or engineer/player, it does not make them suitable or capable of coaching a team or managing a project. Robert Kraft is a great football team owner with deep understanding of how the game is played, however, he looks at the bigger picture: the stadium, personnel, marketing and ultimately the bottom line. Thus he has Belichick actually run the team. And it’s why Tom Brady is not put in a player/coach position. Tom may be good at QBing, however, can he realistically coordinate and ensure all positions on offense are focusing on what they need to do as well as his responsibilities? Never mind the Defense, Just as a CIO or Director of IT certainly has an overarching knowledge of the game being played in IT, but to actually direct it would take their eye off of the proverbial ball of the other aspects of the business that needs to be overseen. As any professional knows, focus on your job and do it well; that’s the Patriot’s way.
In a football game the 1st possession and maybe the 2nd possession plays are already predetermined, however, as the game progresses the strategy adjusts based on previous success as well as what the other team is giving you. Just as in a project, you initially setup the work breakdown structure, risk management plan, communication plan, etc. but as the project moves forward there typically needs to be some adjustments made based on progress, issues, new information etc. This is where agile project management is best: being able to plan, execute and monitor and control iterations in a typical waterfall project are key.. If Belichick realizes that the opponent is taking out Wes Welker, Gronk, and the other receivers before they really get off the line and the passing game isn’t there, he and Josh McDaniels (Offensive Coord) will look at moving the ball maybe by running a bit more, or doing screen passes. As in virtualization projects, if there are roadblocks in the initial plan, alternatives need to be determined on how to move that project “ball.” Basically, just as in football, there needs to be flexibility in an IT project.
Each project is a game with a beginning and end. It’s crucial to have someone that not only specializes in working with different players’ needs, but who can also incorporate their input into the game and ensures all players understand their roles and responsibilities. Add to that clear communication, it just becomes a matter of execution to win each game, I mean IT project, and have a successful season.
And though coaching the Patriots and Managing an IT infrastructure project is ALMOST the same, we do need to figure out how to get a project manager paid like Belichick…oh, and maybe some cheerleaders for the project?
Want to learn more about GreenPages Project Management? Email us at projects@greenpages.com
By Ken Smith
I have had a number of clients reach out to me about how to implement whole disk encryption, SQL transparent data encryption, and encryption of VMware VMDK files in order to satisfy “data at rest” security requirements. My response is usually something like “Say that again?”
These types of encryption approaches are designed to better protect data at rest on media that may be accessible to individuals who are not authorized to access such data. This is usually some form of portable media such as a hard drive in the notebook computer, a portable USB hard drive, a USB stick, a backup tape, etc. And by “at rest” we are talking about files that have been saved to media and are not currently open or active. So to summarize, these types of encryption solutions are intended to protect data at rest on some form of portable media or media that is generally accessible to individuals that should not have access to sensitive data stored on that media. What I’m seeing, however, is that this type of encryption is being adopted to address “encrypt sensitive data” compliance requirements such as PCI DSS.
The intent of such “encryption of data at rest” requirements is to protect specific data from unauthorized access whether it be via application access, network file system access, or physical access. If the sensitive information is on storage media that is physically secured in a data center and this data is protected with appropriate network file system access controls, then the only thing remaining is to render the data unreadable to any unauthorized party at the application access level. This is where column or field level encryption comes in. Only authorized individuals or processes have access to the sensitive information in unencrypted form, and only authorized individuals or processes have access to the decryption keys that allow such access.
Let’s switch back to whole disk encryption and SQL transparent data encryption. When a system that’s running either of these is brought online, all users of the system have access to unencrypted data. Not just specific users who have been authorized to access specific sensitive information, but all users. When a server running BitLocker has finished booting, every process and user running on that host has access to data that BitLocker is decrypting for them on the fly every time it’s read from disk. A SQL database server running TDE makes all of its data accessible to all processes and users that have access to the database. While the database is running, the encrypted data is decrypted on-the-fly for all to see. The decryption keys are automatically presented regardless of who is requesting them. This isn’t really “protecting specific data from unauthorized access with encryption” is it?
With the proliferation of virtualization and cloud-based systems, we are now seeing this same thinking applied to protecting sensitive virtual systems. For a VMware environment, VMDK files can be encrypted to protect them from unauthorized access and use, but this is also a method that’s identical to solutions like whole disk encryption and SQL TDE. The data is only protected after it’s been written to disk, the VM is not actually running, and the decryption keys are only accessible to specific services and users that require access to the sensitive data. In most environments, this is not the case.
This type of encryption does have its place. For example, in multi-tenant or public cloud environments, it may be desirable to only allow specific authorized hypervisors to use certain virtual instances. It may make sense for SQL TDE to encrypt every database write to disk if you are using a public cloud providers’ storage and backup solutions. It might be a good idea to use whole disk encryption on a system that is physically at risk of being stolen. But just throwing these types of solutions at a system because they have the word encryption in them and they are easy doesn’t always mean that you’re actually doing a better job protecting sensitive information.
Journey to the Cloud recently sat down with GreenPages Chief Information and Technology Officer Kevin Hall to talk about the outlook for 2013.
JTC: As CIO at GreenPages what are your major priorities heading into 2013?
KH: As CIO, my major priorities are to continue to rationalize and prioritize within the organization. By rationalize I mean looking at what it is we think the business needs vs. what it is we have, and by prioritize I mean looking at where there are differences between what we have and what we need and then building and operationalizing to get what we need into production. We are working through that process right now. More specifically, we’re actively trying to do all of this in a way that will simultaneously help the business have more velocity and, as a percentage of revenue, cost less. We’re trying to do more with less, faster.
JTC: What do you think will be some of the biggest IT challenges CIOs will face in 2013?
KH: I think number one is staying relevant with their business. A huge challenge is being able to understand what it is the business actually needs. Another big challenge is accepting the fact of life that the business has to actively participate with IT in building out IT. In other words, we have to accept the fact that our business users are oftentimes going to know about technologies that we don’t or are going to be asking questions that we don’t have the answers for. All parties will have to work together to figure it out.
JTC: Any predictions for how the IT landscape will look in 2013 and beyond?
KH: Overall, I think there is a very positive outlook for IT as we move into the future. Whether or not the economy turns around (and I believe it is going to), all businesses are seeking to leverage technology. Based on our conversations with our customers, no one has made any statements to say “hey, we’ve got it all figured out, there is nothing left to do.” Everyone is in a state of understanding that more can be done and that we aren’t at the end of driving business value for IT. More specifically, one thing I would have people keep an eye on is the software defined data center. Important companies like VMware, EMC, and Cisco, amongst others, were rapidly moving to a place that reduces datacenter icons so that just as easily as we can spin up Virtual Machines now, we will be able to spin up datacenters in the future. This will allow us to support high velocity and agility.
JTC: Anything that surprised you about the technology landscape in 2012?
KH: Given a great deal of confusion in our economy, I think I was surprised by how positive the end of the year turned out. The thought seems to be that it must be easy for anyone seeking to hire great people right now due to a high rate of unemployment, but in IT people who get it technically and from a business perspective are working, and they are highly valued by their organizations. Another thing I was surprised about is the determination businesses have to go around, or not use, IT if IT is not being responsive. Now we’re in an age where end users have more choices and a reasonably astute business person can acquire an “as a Service” technology quickly, even though it may be less than fully optimized and there may be issues (security comes to mind). Inside a company, employees may prefer to work with IT, but if IT moves too slowly or appears to just say “no,” people will figure out how to get it done without them.
JTC: What are some of the biggest misconception organizations have about the cloud heading into 2013?
KH: I think a major misconception about cloud is about the amount these technologies are actually being used in one’s organization. It is rare to find a CIO (this included myself up to recently) who has evaluated just how much cloud technologies are truly being used in their business. Are they aware of every single app being used? How about every “as a Service” that is being procured in some way without IT involvement? Therefore, when they think of their platform, are they including in it all of the traditional IT assets as well as all the “aaS” and cloud assets that are at their company? It goes back to how we as IT professionals can’t be meaningful when we are not even positive of exactly what is going on within the walls of our own company.
JTC: Any recommendations for IT Decision makers who are trying to decide where to allocate their 2013 budgets?
KH: I think IT Decision Makers need to be working with colleagues throughout the company to see what they need to get done and then build out budgets accordingly so they truly support the goals of the business. They need to be prepared to be agile so that unexpected, yet important, business decisions that pop up throughout the year can be supported. Furthermore, they need to be prepared from a velocity standpoint so that when a decision is made, the IT department can go from thought to action very quickly.