Sunday, April 24, 2016

MCSE Studying - Week Ending April 24, 2016

Overview
I have opted to slightly change the way I track my studying. One change will be to post the weeks results based on "Week Ending", rather than a numerical week number. Another change I will be making is to separate out the studying from my efforts in keeping up on IT news, blogs, and podcasts. I will still be including both topics here, just listed individually.

This week was probably the first full week back at studying that I have had in a while. It has been quite hectic, both at work and at home, therefore, my studies have suffered a bit. Things are still quite busy, but I have decided I am going to have to become a master of scheduling, and work with the busy schedule, instead of surrendering to it. I expect it will take several weeks to master this time management, and once I have, it will still take constant vigilance to maintain.

This past week was almost exclusively about PowerShell. I spent the last couple of weeks going through the "Learn PowerShell 3 in a Month of Lunches" book. I have tried to finish this book several times over the past year or so, but I always managed to get distracted. No more! I have made it most of the way through the book, with only 5 chapters left to cover. This past week I covered Chapters 19-23. I expect that next week will see the book completed.

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing I learned about this week was scripting with PowerShell. I really enjoyed learning how to take a series of commands and put them into a reusable script. If that wasn't enough, I also learned how to parameterize the script so that certain variables can be entered at run time, set up the script for taking advantage of the help system, and finally, add the ability to utilize CmdletBinding to add even more power to the script! Very cool, exciting, and useful. I already have plans for two scripts that I can use at work to make life easier.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This small, unassuming cmdlet stood out a little this past week:

Read-Host

This cmdlet allows you to add a prompt for input from the user. With the addition of the -Prompt parameter, you can add some detail for the user about what you would like to have them enter. Say for example, you want to prompt the user for the computer name, and assign it to the variable $ComputerName. Simply enter the following:

$ComputerName = Read-Host -Prompt "Please enter the computer name"

It then displays the following:

Please enter the computer name:

I like the fact that the -Prompt parameter automatically appends a colon to the end of the prompt.


Studying Stats
Total time studying: 3 hrs. 15 min.
  • PowerShell: 3 hrs. 15 min.
IT News, Blogs, and Podcasts
Resources used:
In Closing
I feel a bit better about my studies now that I am back into them. Next week, I plan to finish the last few chapters in the "Learn PowerShell 3 in a Month of Lunches" book, and get solidly back into my MCSE studies as I prepare to retake the 70-411 exam.

Have a great week everyone!
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Friday, March 4, 2016

Just One of Those Perfect Days

I've had an absolutely amazing day! No, really, I mean it. You know, the kind of day where everything goes right, and the entire day feels like it keeps getting better and better.

It started in the morning, after a really good night of sleep. I woke up a full forty-five minutes early, feeling completely rested, and discovered that my beautiful wife was also awake and ready to start the day. No groggy start, wishing that we could sleep in more. Nope, just a great, high energy start to the day!

After arriving at work, and taking care of some minor issues, my amazing day continued as I started into a server upgrade. It felt really good to be back in the role of a sysadmin, even if it is just a short term project. I have really missed this kind of work, and I am extremely thankful that I have been given this task to work on. The upgrade work was engaging, fun, and helped the day to pass quite quickly. I was almost sad to see the end of the work day.

In the middle of my work day, my wife and I decided to meet for lunch at a favorite buffet here in town. It was nice to be able to go out and have lunch with her without the kids interrupting the conversation, or even the silence. I will admit, I probably ate way too much! I just about had to roll out of the restaurant. I felt good though. I had a great lunch, and had a chance to spend some quality time with my wife.

After work, the day continued to improve, as myself, my wife, and kids were treated to dinner by a really good friend who was in town for a couple of days. The fact that she chose to spend that time with us, when I know she had a lot of work to do, really meant a lot to us. We had a chance to catch up and have a few laughs. Thank you! We all had a wonderful time!

So, here I am, at the end of my day. A day that I am thankful that the Lord has provided for me. I'm still feeling really good about the day. I had a great start, a chance to be a sysadmin again, ate way, way too much food, and had a wonderful time with family and friends. All in all, it was just one of those perfect days that you can treasure for years to come.
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Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Blogging Consistently - I'm Doing It Wrong

Well, here we are, 33 weeks since my last blog post. I was trying to post regularly, usually on a Sunday evening, but that seems to have stopped, and I'm not sure why. It is possible I became too busy or perhaps disorganized. Either way, I'm not going to dwell on the past. What's not done is not done. It's time to move on!

It is once again the new year. I slept through the transition of the arbitrary point in Earth's orbit that we call New Years Eve. Seriously. It's a completely arbitrary point. It marks neither the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, nor the closest point of the Earth in its orbit around its star. Please do not misunderstand what I am trying to say, as I'm not really complaining. I am simply stating that it's just an arbitrary point. It doesn't really matter when the new year starts. Calendars are just a convenient way to track the passage of time and to ensure you don't miss important events, like the start of the new season of Doctor Who.

All that being said, I will not be setting a whole new batch of resolutions. I kind of like the one I have; 1280x1024. That's a little geek humor for you. What I will be doing, is reaffirming my current goals, as they have not yet been met, nor abandoned. Progress on achieving them continues, albeit slowly.

The first goal is to earn my MCSE: Server Infrastructure certification on Windows Server 2012 R2. I did pass Exam 70-410 in April after a little confusion at the test center. Unfortunately, that was the only exam I passed in 2015. I failed exam 70-411 in September. The passing grade was missed by one question. To say that failing this exam took the wind out of my sails is an understatement. For a day or so, I considered packing up, pulling my boat out of the water, and selling it. Thankfully I did not choose to quit. I picked myself up and I took a look at the results, which include the weak areas I need to work on. After reading that list, I nodded to myself and thought "I agree with this list.". Since then, though, I have not been tackling my studies full time, so I am still not quite ready to retake the exam yet. I soon will be, then it will be on to exam 70-412.

My second goal was to find permanent, full-time employment. I haven't found that yet, but do I have a full-time term position at a local college. The people and work are a good fit for me and I am happy to be working, helping others, and applying my skills to the daily challenges. Will I find that permanent position this year? I don't know, but I am ever hopeful. Who knows what this year will bring.

I'm not sure which motivational phrase I'll use to get through the challenges this year, but here's a few good ones: "Don't panic" "Never give up, never surrender." "Geronimo!" "Do, or do not. There is no try." Any, or all of these are "Fantastic!". Regardless, I do plan to continue blogging on a more regular basis, and I will also be resuming the posts about my progress in my MCSE studies on Sunday this week. So, stay tuned, and as always, thank you taking the time to read my musings.

Have a great week!
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Wednesday, May 27, 2015

MCSE Studying - Week 50

Overview
Week 50 of my MCSE studies was not as focused or busy as I would have liked, but I still managed to accomplish a few things. I finished the KnowledgeNet 70-411 Live Learning course, and worked on the prerecorded lesson for the same exam. I also managed to secure sufficient funding to renew my subscription to KnowledgeNet, a resource that I am finding very valuable.

Cool Stuff
There wasn't anything that I would consider especially cool, but I did enjoy learning more about the Distributed File System (DFS), and getting into the details of how to setup and configure this service. Even in this age of collaboration tools like SharePoint, DFS can still play an important role in managing and replicating certain types of files. Namely, files that do not change frequently, such as updates, software repositories, and corporate policies and procedures.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
I once again did not focus a lot on PowerShell this past week, so I don't have a cmdlet for you this week.

Stats
Total time studying: 7 hrs. 55 min.
  • 70-411: 7 hrs. 55 min.
Resources used:
In Closing
I did have a bit of difficulty carving out enough time to study this past week, mostly due to far too many late nights. I do need to be quite a bit more focused, as I am scheduled to write the next exam, 70-411, in about two months. I plan to continue the 70-411 prerecorded sessions and work some more on my PowerShell studies. I also have the option to take the KnowledgeNet 70-412 Live Learning course starting next week, so hopefully I'll have a bit of time to sit in on that as well.

Have a great week everyone!
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Sunday, May 17, 2015

MCSE Studying - Week 49

Overview
Week 49 continues my journey of becoming an MCSE. I have passed the 70-410 exam, earning the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) certification. My studies are now focused on preparing for the 70-411 exam, Administering Windows Server 2012. I am looking forward to being able to focus more on this exam now that it is the next one in line. There are some interesting technologies in this exam that I am eager to learn.

Cool Stuff
Perhaps the coolest thing I learned last week was the concepts behind VPN technologies, including things like RADIUS, authentication protocols, encryption, encapsulation, and integrity algorithms. There is a lot to know, but as I study these concepts more and more, I am starting to understand how the pieces fit together. Over the next week or two, I am hoping to finally cement my understanding of these concepts.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
I seem to have gotten away from looking for a specific PowerShell cmdlet as of late. I will ensure that I pick up my PowerShell studies again, and I'll make sure I have a cmdlet here for you next week.

Stats
Total time studying: 16 hrs. 40 min.
  • 70-411: 12 hrs.
  • Lab Maintenance (Prep for 70-411): 4 hrs. 40 min.
Resources used:
In Closing
It was a really good feeling to get back to studying for a specific exam. I have changed my study style slightly for 70-411, opting to focus on taking more, and better notes than I have in the past. My intention is to focus a lot more on the details related to each of the objectives in addition to obtaining a solid foundation. It will require more focus than I have been giving to my studies, but I am ready for the challenge. For an example of just how detailed I plan to get, hop over to this post on my other blog, "The Frozen Geek". It is an exploration of an unlikely scenario, but I figure if I can answer questions like this, I should be able to ace the 70-411 exam.

Have a great week everyone!
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Sunday, May 10, 2015

MCSE Studying - What Happened During Weeks 39-48?

As you may have noticed, I have not made one single blog post in the past 10 weeks. What happened? Life. Circumstances changed quite rapidly over the past 10 weeks, and things are only now starting to settle down. In this post, I will try to catch you up on the events of the past few weeks. I will also try to get back on track doing regular weekly blog posts. So, without further delay, here's what has been happening.

On March 10, I went into the testing center, ready to write the 70-410 Exam: Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012. Unfortunately, due to a technical error at the testing center, I was unable to write the exam that day. The test center did what they could to try to correct the error, but ultimately it was up to the test provider to correct the issue. The staff at the test center encouraged me to stay in Edmonton for the remainder of the week, just in case the exam could be rescheduled before I left for home.

It was not rescheduled. In fact, It was just over a week before I heard back from the test provider, and a further 3 days (due to another technical glitch) before I could book a time to write the test. I finally managed to book the second attempt at exam 70-410 for April 29.

Also adding to the chaos of my life, I started a new job on March 16. I am working on the help desk for a local college. This is only a temporary position, as I am covering for an individual who is on maternity leave. I have been having a great time, as this job is considerable less stressful than the last position I held. It has, however, reduced the amount of time I have to study.

During the seven weeks between the first and second attempt at the exam, I managed to get very little studying done. I would say that it was less than 5 hours a week. It was very difficult to find that balance between work/home/study time. Needless to say,  few things fell by the wayside during this period, not the least of which was this blog.

I went back into Edmonton on April 29, and managed to write, and pass exam 70-410. The experience taught me a lot about myself, my studying habits, and just what is required to pass a Microsoft certification exam. I was glad I wrote it, and even happier that I passed. Upon my return home, I took a couple of days off from studying and took an opportunity to relax a little bit.

I am now back into studying, preparing myself for the 70-411 Exam: Administering Window Server 2012. I have finally managed to hit my stride, and the studying is once again back on track. I have not yet booked the exam, but I plan to do that over the next few days. I would expect to be ready to write it sometime in late May, or possibly early June.

I will be back on track with my blog posts starting next week, so look forward to more information on how things are going, and what I am learning.

Have a great week everyone!
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Monday, March 2, 2015

MCSE Studying - Week 37 & 38

Overview
I have missed a week of updates, so I will summarize weeks 37 & 38 together this time. The past two weeks were definitely not as productive as I would have liked. They were, however, more productive than I expected, since just about everyone in our family has been out with a nasty stomach bug. Everyone is feeling much better now, and I am looking forward to focusing for this last week before I take my 70-410 exam.

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing from the past two weeks, well, at least the most surprising, was how easy it is to do an offline domain join. Using djoin, I was able to pre-stage and provision computer's account in Active Directory, copy the file to the currently non-domain joined, non-networked computer, and add the computer to the domain. After a reboot, I reconnected the network adapter and the computer was able to access domain resources just as it would if it had been online for the domain join process. Very cool!

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
As I have been focusing on exam prep, I will not be posting a cmdlet here this week.

Stats
Total time studying: 40 hrs. 55 min.
  • 70-410: 20 hrs. 45 min.
  • 70-411: 6 hrs.
  • 70-412: 1 hr. 45 min.
  • 70-413: 6 hrs.
  • PowerShell: 6 hrs. 25 min.
Resources used:
In Closing
With only one week to go before I write my first exam, I will be focusing heavily on practice exams and brushing up on any topics where I need improvement. It's going to be a great, but busy week.

Have a great week everyone!
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