Recently, my friend Phoummala Schmitt, aka “ExchangeGoddess” and Microsoft Cloud Operations Advocate, wrote about her struggles with imposter syndrome. It’s a good read that I highly recommend. But one element of it stuck with me, like an itch I couldn’t quite reach. I knew this itch wasn’t …
Are configuration templates still needed with an automation framework? Or does the automation policy make them a relic of the past? Traditional Configuration Management: Templates We’ve all been there. We always keep a backup copy of a device’s configuration, not just for recovery, but …
This is part three in this series. In part one and part two, we covered some of the basics. But in this post, we will dig into the benefits of application performance monitoring (APM), look at a few examples, and begin looking at what …
Despite all the talk of all our jobs being replaced by automation, my experience is that the majority of enterprises are still very much employing engineers to design, build, and operate the infrastructure. Why, then, are most of us stuck in a position where …
In my previous posts, I talked about the basics of AI in relation to network and systems management as well as why I love it. This post isn’t going to be as optimistic about the current state of affairs when it comes to AI. …
My wife called me for the third time, and I could hear that she was working hard to remain calm but was undeniably at the end of her rope. She had missed the freeway exit. For the third time. And was going to be …
Ask a good server engineer where their server configuration is defined and the answer will likely be something similar to In my Puppet manifests. Ask a network administrator the same thing about the network devices and they’ll probably look at you in confusion. Likely responses may …
In my last post, I mentioned one of the basic use cases for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in a modern network. AI can be utilized to not only bridge the informational gaps between functional teams, but can crunch that data down and provide predictions of …
Is our contribution measured by what we’re doing or how we’re doing it? Are we providing value or are we just getting caught up in what’s exciting? How do we ensure that we’re seen as contributing despite appearing to be less busy? Do our …
While it’s inevitable that new technologies usually create new business opportunities, they also often create new problems for IT pros to solve. It’s a natural cycle for operations with which we’ve become reasonably comfortable. We look at a new platform/protocol/architecture/interface/tool, search a bit on …
