About two months ago I published an updated version of the Cloud Services Cheat Sheet, the amount of (positive) feedback has been overwhelming, to say the least. Again, I have added and updated multiple columns including Big Data/Warehousing and Ping/latency times (visuals included) to the various European Data centers (from all three vendors) next to a few smaller updates. Note that I performed two separate Ping tests, one using standard ICMP and a second one using HTTP requests.
Continue ReadingFULLY UPDATED: Cloud Core Services Cheat Sheet
Average time to read: < 1 minuteHere you go, a fully updated sheet with help from the community – thank you! If you feel there is still something missing, do let me know. I cannot promise an update right away, but I’ll keep collecting feedback and get it in there eventually. I’ve added a (connection) protocol section (thanks Rachel) and updated 10 other fields (over 20% new content). Again, it’s not meant as a ‘like for like’ comparison sheet, it’s more of a ‘this is what to look for on a per-platform basis to get you started’ kind of thing. So, no this one is faster, better, cheaper etc…
Cloud Core Services Cheat Sheet. Compute, Networking, Storage, and Databases
Average time to read: 2 minutesThere are hundreds, if not thousands of different cloud services to choose from, it can be quite overwhelming. Where to start? Also, while each cloud vendor offers the same services and/or functionality (there are differences, of course) they all use slightly different naming conventions, which can be very confusing. That’s why I thought it would be helpful to list a bunch most used Cloud services (25 in total), on a per platform (AWS, Azure, and Google) basis, listing their main purpose/use-case and accompanying service names. This way you’ll know where to start and what to look for, hopefully. The primary focus lies on Compute, Networking, Storage, and Databases services – the building blocks of (Cloud) life.
I’m joining (the) Technical Fellows – Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?
Average time to read: 2 minutesNo, I didn’t switch companies, I’m perfectly fine where I am now. Technical Fellows is a Dutch initiative, founded by multiple experienced and seasoned IT professionals – trust me, these guys are really good. To be honest, I am by far the least technical and knowledgeable person in the group. Read on…
Installing and configuring Citrix StoreFront, the web.config file!
Average time to read: 5 minutesNot to long ago StoreFront replaced WebInterface (yes, it’s still officially supported till June 2015) and with it came a bunch of cool new and (very) useful features like Receiver for web and StoreFront multi site configurations for example, offering load balancing and HA capabilities, user mapping, application subscription synchronisation, optimal NetScaler Gateway routing and a few more. Also, we are no longer bound to an external database, this is now taken care of by the build-in Windows Extensible Storage Engine. The downside, at least for me, is that most, but not all, of these features need to be configured and or modified in the web.config file, comparable to the WebInterface.conf file we have with WebInterface.
What is Web-Scale technology and where does it come from?
Average time to read: 5 minutesAccording to Gartner, and as you know they’re always right, by 2017 Web-Scale technology will be an architectural approach found operating in 50 percent of global enterprises, up from less than 10 percent in 2013! Large cloud providers like Amazon, Google and facebook, to name a few, basically reinvented the way their IT services are delivered. This on it’s own isn’t news, but now this technology, a.k.a. converged architectures, is available for ‘mainstream’ enterprise organisations as well. Small and big I might add.
Citrix Certification, revisited, again! Solution-based certifications.
Average time to read: 4 minutesAs you might recall, last year Citrix introduced a few new certification programs which also offered various upgrade paths, existing CCIAs and CCEEs could update to the new equivalent level by passing only one exam. The same applied to current CCA’s and CCAA’s. Eligibility to update required a, at that time, unexpired valid credential and the upgrade paths were available till the first versions of the CCE-AD, CCP-AD and CCA-AD exams were retired. During that time they also announced some ‘still to come’ networking and mobility orientated certification tracks. Just recently they’ve launched their new ‘solution-based’ certification tracks which now also include both mobility and networking, let’s see what they’re about.
Citrix Provisioning Services 7… A sneak preview
Average time to read: 5 minutes
With the approaching release of XenDesktop 7 also comes Provisioning Services 7 (PVS from now on) I’m not sure if both products will be released at the same time but it won’t be a surprise, let’s just leave it at that. Although the basic functionality and underlying architecture haven’t changed over the past few years, at least not significantly, it has become a very popular platform and continues to grow each day. With Machine Creation Services (MCS in short) on its heels, especially with the introduction of XenDesktop 7 in which MCS has again been improved and the EOL of Windows XP nearing, PVS will have to dig deep to keep up. I guess it’s up to Citrix which one will come out on top eventually.