I often get asked, “What certification should I get next?” There is no right way to answer this question without a deeper analysis of why a certification is being sought in the first place. I’ll focus specifically on IT certifications and direct this article more towards technologists/engineers/tech entrepreneurs. In my opinion, there are too many IT certification hoarders jumping from one certification to the next; I have some friends who definitely fall in this category. I also have my share of certifications as well (Cisco, VMware, etc.), although by no means is IT certifications my first priority or even my second priority. These days it seems like just about every vendor and third party is coming out with some sort of certification and cashing-in on this ‘IT certification’ phenomena. So, do IT certifications really help and should you invest the time and money to get one? Continue reading
IT Certifications, Innovation, and Career Growth – Making the Right Decisions
Posted in Business, Life, News, Technology, Tips
Tagged best certifications, best IT certifications, Bill Gates, CCIE, CCIEs, CCNA, certifications, Cisco, Cisco CCIE, Cisco CCNA, CompTIA, CompTIA Linux+, employment, IT certifications, job, job opportunity, jobs, Larry Page, linux, Mark Zuckerberg, opportunity cost, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, technologist, top certifications, top IT certifications, vmware
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Understanding Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders
Cisco Nexus 2248PQ Fabric Extender
Posted in Cisco, Labs, Network Architecture, Networking, Technology
Tagged Cisco, Cisco distributed modular system, Cisco FEX architecture, Cisco Nexus, Cisco Nexus 2000, Cisco Nexus 2000 Fabric Extender, Cisco Nexus 2000 Fabric Extenders, Cisco Nexus 2000 FEX, Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders, Cisco Nexus 2248PQ, Cisco Nexus 2248PQ Fabric Extender, Cisco Nexus 2248PQ FEX, Cisco Nexus 5548UP, Cisco Nexus Fabric Extender, Cisco Nexus FEX, Cisco Nexus switch, distributed modular system, east-west traffic, edge ports, etherchannel, EtherChannel Fabric Interface Connection, EtherChannel interface, Fabric Extender, FEX, FEX architecture, fex associate, Nexus 2248PQ, Nexus 2248PQ Fabric Extender, Nexus 2248PQ FEX, Nexus 5548UP, spanning tree edge ports, Static Pinning Fabric Interface Connection, switchport mode fex-fabric
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FCoE Transit with the Dell PowerEdge M I/O Aggregator Blade Switch
The Dell PowerEdge M I/O Aggregator (IOA) blade switch is pretty cool. It looks similar to the Dell MXL blade switch and even uses the same FlexIO modules in its two FlexIO module slots. As with the Dell MXL switch, it also has 32 internal ports for blade servers. The main difference from the MXL switch is that the IOA is a layer 2-only switch meant to be deployed as-is or ‘zero-touch’ from the engineer. It is geared more towards the server admin rather than the network admin as it requires little network configuration knowledge and is pretty much plug-and-play! In this blog I talk specifically about FCoE transit on the Dell IOA blade switch [FTOS 8.3.17.4]. Continue reading
Posted in Dell, Networking, Technology
Tagged CNA, Compellent, Compellent SC220, Compellent SC8000, Converged Network Adapter, Data Center Bridging, DCB, Dell Compellent, Dell Compellent SC220, Dell Compellent SC8000, Dell IOA, Dell IOA blade switch, Dell PowerEdge M I/O Aggregator, Dell S5000, Dell S5000 converged switch, Dell S5000 FCoE switch, Dell S5000 switch, FC, FC storage, FC switches, FCF, FCoE, FCoE Transit, Fibre Channel, Fibre Channel Forwarder, FIP-snooping, FIP-snooping bridge, FSB, IOA, IOA blade switch, plug-and-play, SC220, SC8000
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Is Life and Work Like a Big Game of Chess?
Chess is fascinating. I always tell people it reminds me of real life in the way of developing a strategy, reading your competition and thinking several steps ahead of them, and of course battling it out for that final checkmate. Chess is believed to have originated around 600 AD in what is now Afghanistan or India and indeed was much based on warfare where what we today call the pawn, knight, bishop, and rook represented the four divisions of the military: infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariotry. Continue reading
Posted in Business, Chess, Entertainment, Tips
Tagged 1962 Candidates Tournament, 1962 Candidates Tournament in Curacao, Bobby Fischer, business is chess, Chess, Chess Grandmaster, Curacao, famous chess game, famous chess games, Fischer, Grandmaster, is business like chess, is life like chess, life is chess, Mikhail Tal, Robert Fischer, Sicilian Defense
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Investing Into Entrepreneurs More than Ideas/Products?
I’ve seen it many, many times where investor(s) invest into an idea because they have some belief in the idea/product but more belief in the entrepreneur(s) behind it. This isn’t to say that investors/angels just throw money down on worthless ideas/products simply because of the person behind it. Rather, it’s the person/entrepreneur behind the pitch that can make or break a deal. Obviously, numbers are very important: market size, sales, profits, debt, customer base, etc. However, many times, a venture can be very early in its lifecycle or the numbers can be good but assurance is needed in the individual calling the shots and steering the ship on its course to expansion and financial success. Continue reading
Posted in Business, Tips
Tagged angel, angel investor, angel investors, angels, Business, cash, entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, founder, founders, funding, investor, investors, start-up, start-ups, startup, startups, Upstart, venture, venture capitalist
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Cisco Nexus 5548UP – Configuring the Management Interface
This is a relatively simple blog on configuring the Cisco Nexus 5548UP management interface. When Cisco moved away from IOS to NX-OS for the operating system on their new Nexus datacenter switches, some of the commands and syntax for even the simplest tasks have changed. For easy reference for a common task such as setting the management interface I decided to write this quick blog. The network diagram is below. I am using a Dell S4810 [FTOS 9.1] for my management switch to which both the Dell PowerEdge R710 server and Cisco Nexus 5548UP [NX-OS 5.2(1)N1(1b)] connect. I also use a 1000Base-T SFP transceiver to convert the Dell S4810 fiber port to copper, so I can connect it to the management port of the Cisco Nexus. Continue reading
Posted in Cisco, Dell, Labs, Networking, Technology
Tagged Cisco, Cisco 5548UP, Cisco Nexus, Cisco Nexus 5548UP, Cisco Nexus default route, Cisco Virtual Routing and Forwarding, Cisco VRF, configure Cisco management interface, configure management interface, configure Nexus 5548UP management interface, configure Nexus management interface, Dell, Dell Force10 S4810, Dell PowerEdge, Dell PowerEdge R710, Dell PowerEdge R710 server, Dell S4810, Force10 S4810, Nexus 5548UP, Nexus default route, Nexus management interface, NX-OS, S4810, VDC, virtual device context, Virtual Routing and Forwarding, VRF, vrf context management
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The Moons of Mars – Phobos and Deimos
Phobos and Deimos orbiting Mars
Posted in Astronomy, Science
Tagged Asteroid, Asteroid capture, Asteroid theory, Astronomy, capture theory, Deimos, Mars, Mars moon, Mars moons, Moons, Phobos, synchronous orbit
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Dell Networking S5000 – FCoE Configuration [Video]
In my prior blog posts, I discussed Dell’s new converged switch, the Dell S5000, and provided links to two Dell S5000 whitepapers I recently published. Now you can see the Dell S5000 converged switch in action within a converged infrastructure employing FCoE. Just visit the following page on Dell’s website here, Dell Tech Center YouTube channel here, or just see the video directly below. Continue reading
Posted in Dell, Dell Compellent, Fibre Channel, Labs, Network Architecture, Networking, Protocols, Technology
Tagged Brocade, Compellent, Compellent SC220, Compellent SC8000, converged infrastructure, converged network, converged networks, Dell Compellent SC220, Dell Compellent SC8000, Dell Force10 S5000, Dell Networking S5000, Dell S5000, Dell S5000 configuration, Dell S5000 converged switch, Ethernet-FC bridge, FC, FC Switch, FCF, FCoE, FCoE configuration, FCoE-FC Bridge, Fibre Channel Forwarder, Fibre Channel over Ethernet, Fibre Channel switch, Froce10 S5000, N_Port_ID Virtualization, NPIV, NPIV Proxy Gateway, S5000, S5000 configuration, S5000 converged switch, SC220, SC8000
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Dell Enterprise Forum Think Tank at DEF 2013
Answering customer questions during the Dell Networking S5000 hands-on lab
Posted in Blogging, Dell, Dell Enterprise Forum 2013, Networking, Tech Events, Technology
Tagged 2013 Think Tank video, DEF, DEF 2013, DEF 2013 Think Tank video, DEF Think Tank video, Dell, Dell Enterprise Forum, Dell Enterprise Forum 2013, Dell Enterprise Forum 2013 Think Tank video, Dell Enterprise Forum Think Tank, Dell Enterprise Forum Think Tank at DEF 2013, Dell Enterprise Forum Think Tank video, Dell Networking, Dell Networking S5000, innovation, Think Tank video, video
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