MCSE Studying - Week 17

Overview
I have completed week seventeen of studying for my MCSE exams. I continued the Live Learning course for exam 70-462 (Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases), and finished Chapter 8 in the Learn PowerShell in a Month of Lunches book.

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing I learned this week was how to use the Get-Member cmdlet in PowerShell to find out what properties are passed through the pipeline. It was a very helpful concept to learn, and I have already managed to put it to use at work this week. Specifically, I was looking for an easy way to display the Wi-Fi MAC addresses on a group of computers. Using Get-Member, I was able to put together this little one-liner to do the job:

Invoke-Command -ComputerName Laptop1,Laptop2 -ScriptBlock {Get-NetAdapter -Name WiFi} | Format-Table -Property PSComputerName,Name,MacAddress

It would have worked too, except I was trying to use it on a group of Windows 7 computers, which don't support the Get-NetAdapter cmdlet. Oh well, I might just have to do it the old fashioned way for now.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This week's cmdlet is going to be another simple one:

Get-Date

I learned about this one in the Learn PowerShell in A Month of Lunches book when learning about the Get-Member cmdlet. I discovered that one of the properties it contains is DayofYear. This is especially handy for me, as I have to do a calculation several times a month, and one of the pieces of data required is the day of the year. I used this one-liner to display the current day of the year:

Get-Date | Select-Object -Property DayofYear | Format-Table -AutoSize

or, you could shorten it down like this:

Get-Date | Select DayofYear | ft -A

Stats
Total time studying: 7 hrs.

• PowerShell: 1 hr.
• 70-462: 6 hrs.

Resources used:

KnowledgeNet Live Learning Course: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases

Learn Windows PowerShell 3 in a Month of Lunches - 2nd Edition: Don Jones & Jeffery D. Hicks

In Closing
This past week has been a little weak (read: non-existent) on the 70-410 studying, but it has been a great week for PowerShell! I am going to re-set my goal of finishing Chapter 7 in the 70-410 study guide, and complete Chapters 9 & 10 in the Learn PowerShell in A Month of Lunches.

Onward and upwards in our never-ending quest for more bandwidth...er...I mean...knowledge.


Have a great week everyone!

MCSE Studying - Week 16

Overview
I have completed week sixteen of studying for my MCSE exams. I'm still not hitting the books as hard as I'd like, but that will come with time. I did start Chapter 7 in the 70-410 Training Guide, started the Live Learning course for exam 70-462 (Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases), and listened to the most recent episode of the PowerScripting Podcast. I listed the podcast episode under 70-410 in the stats, since it dealt less with PowerShell, and more with the basics of IPv6.

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing I learned this week, was just how easy it is to setup Hyper-V. It was nice to start learning about another virtualization platform other than VMWare. I'm looking forward to getting to know it better over the coming weeks.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
I've decided to add a new section where I share my favorite new PowerShell cmdlet for that week. There's a lot of cmdlets out there, so I don't think I'll run out any time soon.

This week's cmdlet is going to be a fairly simple one:

Clear-DnsClientCache

Long story short, it performs the same function as ipconfig /flushdns, which means that it will clear the client's local cache of DNS to IP mappings. It is very useful if there has been a recent change to an entry on the DNS server, and you want to make sure your client resolves the name of the newly updated entry to the correct IP address.

Stats
Total time studying: 8 hrs. 50 min.

• 70-410: 2 hrs. 50 min.
• 70-462: 6 hrs..

Resources used:

Training Guide: Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 R2: Mitch Tulloch

KnowledgeNet Live Learning Course: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases

PowerScripting Podcast: Episode 283

In Closing
It has been a bit better a week than some past weeks. I still need to be more consistent with my training, but that kind of discipline takes time to develop. This coming week, I will commit to finishing chapter 7 in the 70-410 Training Guide, and finish 2 more chapters in the PowerShell book. Check back in next week to see if I actually accomplished my goals!


Have a great week everyone!

MCSE Studying - Week 15

Overview
I have completed week fifteen of studying for my MCSE exams. I'm back in the game! The number of hours spent studying was fairly low, but I did manage to get back into the swing of self-paced studying. I finally finished of Chapter 6 in the 70-410 Training Guide, and finished Chapter 7 in the Learn PowerShell 3 in A Month of Lunches. I have also added to my training lab environment thanks to a generous loan of a pair of desktop PCs.

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing I learned this week, was how to set up a pair of DHCP servers, authorize them in Active Directory, set up a scope of IP addresses, and then configure load balancing and fault tolerance between them. Not a big deal really, but what was cool, was the fact it only took 5 separate PowerShell commands to achieve this. PowerShell is awesome!

Stats
Total time studying: 2 hrs. 40 min.

• 70-410: 2 hrs. 10 min.
• PowerShell: 30 min.

Resources used:

Training Guide: Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 R2: Mitch Tulloch

Learn Windows PowerShell 3 in a Month of Lunches - 2nd Edition: Don Jones & Jeffery D. Hicks

In Closing
This week, while not as productive hour-wise, was a huge leap forward for getting back on track with training. I am looking forward to next week, where I aim to finish the chapter on Hyper-V, finish a couple more chapters on PowerShell, and start a live, instructor led course on Administering SQL Server 2012 databases. It's going to be fantastic!


Have a great week everyone!

MCSE Studying - Week 14

Overview
I have completed week fourteen of studying for my MCSE exams. I am afraid that this will be another short summary. I was not on vacation, I was not kidnapped by a hoard of ravenous raccoons, nor was I on a secret mission aboard the ISS. I simply could not muster the enthusiasm to get my head back into studying. I did manage to listen to, and catch up on the PowerScripting Podcast. So, while I did not get any official study time in, the week wasn't a total wash.

Cool Stuff
Listening to the PowerScripting Podcast episode 282 left me feeling as though they were in our office and in our server rooms. It seems that they knew the challenges we are facing. The topics discussed also addressed some of my deeper concerns with being a sysadmin in this dawning new era. Evolve, or become a technological has-been seems to be an especially common theme for sysadmins now. One of the things that hit closest to home for me was the fact that many sysadmins are spending so much time fighting fires, that they don't have the time to learn the tools that would help them fight the fires more effectively. I strongly agree with that statement. That's one of the reasons I am dedicating so much time to studying (except for this past week).

Stats
Total time studying: 4 hrs. 45 min.

• PowerShell: 4 hrs. 45 min.

Resources used:
PowerScripting Podcast - Episodes 279, 280, 281, & 282

In Closing
We have made some changes to our routine at home now that the kids are back in school. The most helpful thing we are doing, which we learned from one of our children's teachers, is using a checklist. Specifically, we will be using one for our morning and evening routines. This allows me to block out time specifically for studying, without having to try to figure out when I'm going to find the time. Given a few weeks of fine tuning, I feel that it will be quite a powerful tool around our household!


Have a great week everyone!

MCSE Studying - Week 13

Overview
I have completed week thirteen of studying for my MCSE exams. This summary will be a little short, since I was on vacation this week. Despite being on vacation, I managed to complete the KnowledgeNet 70-411 Live sessions and had an opportunity to sit in on a one hour 70-410 Exam Cram session.

Cool Stuff
There really wasn't anything that stands out from this past week. Just about everything learned served to reinforce existing knowledge while adding little hints and tips.

Stats
Total time studying: 7 hrs. 5 min.

• Exam 70-411: 6 hrs. 5 min.
• Exam 70-410: 1 hr.

Resources used:
KnowledgeNet Live Learning Course: Administering Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

In Closing
Now that I'm back off of vacation it will be nice to get back into the books and continue on with my studies. This week, I plan to complete the chapter on networking, get into the chapter on virtualization, and continue adding more PowerShell skills.


Have a great week everyone!

MCSE Studying - Week 12

Overview
I have completed week twelve of studying for my MCSE exams. With it still being quite hectic, I decided to focus on the KnowledgeNet courses this past week. I finished sessions 3 & 4 of the 70-411 Live Learning course from KnowledgeNet. I did, however, take time to listen to the PowerScripting Podcast episodes 277 & 278.

Cool Stuff
The cool stuff learned this past week was not specifically from a course, but did require quite a lot of research and testing in order to get it to work right. I had to figure out how to setup a Windows Server 2012 R2 PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) with a Standalone Root CA (Certificate Authority) and an Enterprise Issuing CA. The biggest hurdle came when trying to import the certificate for the Issuing CAs from the Root CA. An error was generated that indicated that the Issuing CA could not contact the CRL (Certificate Revocation List) for the Root CA. The key  to solving this problem was in this TechNet article, that detailed how to import the CRL and root certificate into Active Directory. It was very cool to see that certificate import without an error after correctly configuring the environment.

Stats
Total time studying: 10 hrs. 15 min.

• Exam 70-411: 6 hrs. 5 min.
• Certificate Services (70-412): ~2 hrs.
• PowerShell: 2 hrs. 10 min.

Resources used:
KnowledgeNet Live Learning Course: Administering Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

TechNet Article - AD CS Step by Step Guide: Two Tier PKI Hierarchy Deployment 
PowerScripting Podcast - Episodes 267 & 278

In Closing
Once again, it was nice to be able to apply some of my recent training to real world problems. Studying is still progressing at a slow, but steady pace, which is definitely better than it coming to a screeching halt. Learning to balance my study time with home life and work has been as important as learning how to configure a DNS server.

I am also taking advantage of the broader IT community to enhance my skills. I have an opportunity this upcoming Friday to attend a short one hour study session with a couple of mentors and some other students that are also taking the 70-410 exam. I am really looking forward to that!


Have a great week everyone!

MCSE Studying - Weeks 10 & 11

I apologize for missing last week's post, but things have been a little hectic at work, which of course spills over into home life. More to follow on that later in this post.

Overview
I have completed weeks ten and eleven of studying for my MCSE exams. I continued Chapter 6 in the 70-410 Training Guide, started the 70-411 Live Learning course from KnowledgeNet, and reviewed the Session 3 section on Work Folders in the 70-410 Live Learning course.

Cool Stuff
The coolest and most useful thing I learned from the past two weeks was how to immediately synchronize an entire Active Directory Domain. Simply run repadmin /syncall from the command line. Magic! This is going to be a real time saver in the future when I need to replicate changes rapidly.

I also discovered what has to be the longest PowerShell cmdlet name I have seen to date:
move-addirectoryserveroperationmasterrole

Stats
Total time studying: 7 hrs. 40 min.

• Exam 70-410: 1 hr. 35 min.
• Exam 70-411: 6 hrs. 5 min.

Resources used:
Training Guide: Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 R2: Mitch Tulloch
KnowledgeNet Live Learning Course: Installing and Configuring Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

KnowledgeNet Live Learning Course: Administering Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

In Closing
The past two weeks have been extremely challenging at work. Due to a couple of recent issues, my work schedule was thrown into a state of extreme flux. I have had to remain quite flexible with respect to my work hours, and it has had an impact of training. Training has taken a bit of a back seat to other things, like eating, sleeping, and spending some time with the family.

One benefit to the recent issues is that I have had an opportunity to bust out some of my newly acquired PowerShell skills to help lighten the administrative load. I have also had an opportunity to use some of the new knowledge about Windows Server 2012 R2 to assist in the daily work. It's nice to see how quickly the training pays off.

Thankfully, now that the issues are largely behind us, I can start to get back on schedule with my studies. There's a lot more to learn, and I cannot wait to learn about it, and then apply to my daily work.


Have a great week everyone!