Tuesday, December 16, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 29

Overview
Week 29 of my studies was quite a routine week of live, online classroom learning as I continued the 70-412 and 70-414 classes through KnowledgeNet. I also took a little time to start doing a detailed map of all of the 70-410 exam requirements so that I can start seeing where I need to focus my attention.

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing from week 29 was the chance to further cement my knowledge of DNS security. DNS security is accomplished through a variety of means, including randomizing the DNS socket pool, DNS cache locking, and DNSSEC, to name but a few. DNS is definitely one of the critical services that all sysadmins need to know if they want to secure their career.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
I once again failed to come up with a cmdlet to cover this week, so I turned to my peers and took suggestions as to which cmdlet I should cover this week. I know they are relatively simple ones, but I use one of them quite regularly. They are:

Restart-Computer
Stop-Computer

Restart-Computer is one of those cmdlets that I use all the time, usually to reboot a server after using Add-Computer to join it to the domain. The other place I used it was in a script that, among other things, performed a maintenance reboot on a group of computers that were used to display flight schedule information in common areas. The line in the script was:

Restart-Computer -ComputerName DisplayPC01,DisplayPC02,DisplayPC03 -Force -Wait

This had the advantage of forcing an immediate restart of the remote computers, and, at least in the ISE, displayed a status bar showing how many of the computers had successfully restarted. This last part, using the -Wait switch, meant that I would not be returned to the PowerShell prompt until after the computers had rebooted. This saved me the hassle of walking around the building to check and see if they had rebooted.

The second cmdlet, Stop-Computer has similar usage, but instead of rebooting the machine, it will shut it down.

I may actually create a small script to shut down the various training and testing environments in my lab. This would be a time saver, as in the past I have had to shut down as many as 12 servers in order to switch to a different training environment, say, between 70-411 and PowerShell. The script might look something like this:

Stop-Computer -ComputerName PS-Member01,PS-FileServer01,localhost -Force

I'll let you know how that works out.

Stats
Total time studying: 13 hrs.
  • 70-410: 1 hr.
  • 70-412: 6 hrs.
  • 70-414: 6 hrs.
Resources used:

In Closing
The hours spent studying this week were a little lower than I would like. I will need to refocus on carving out the time to study and get back into the books. While I am enjoying having time to study, I am starting to miss having real world challenges to work on. Soon enough, soon enough.

Have a great week everyone!
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Monday, December 8, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 28

Overview
Week 28 of my MCSE studies was a much better and less chaotic week than the previous few. I started two live KnowledgeNet courses: 70-412 (Configuring Advanced Windows Server 2012 R2 Services), and 70-414 (Implementing an Advanced Server 2012 R2 Infrastructure). I also finished three chapters in the 70-411 Training Guide, discovering a change to Windows Server 2012 R2 between when the book was published, and when I did the practice exercises at the end of one of the chapters. I won't cover that change here, but I'll put it up on my other blog: The Frozen Geek.

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing from week 28 wasn't anything specific, but just the chance to start learning about Microsoft System Center 2012 R2. Taking the 70-414 course has further cemented the thought that becoming an enterprise systems administrator (2000+ users) is definitely one of the career paths I am going to consider for myself over the next couple of months!

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
I know that in last week's blog post I had said that I would get back on track this week, but I'm afraid that just isn't going to happen. Quite simply, I didn't find a PowerShell cmdlet from last week that was new or cool enough. So, rather than pick a random PowerShell cmdlet, I'll just hold off until next week.

Stats
Total time studying: 17 hrs. 5 min.
  • 70-411: 5 hrs. 5 min.
  • 70-412: 6 hrs.
  • 70-414: 6 hrs.
Resources used:

In Closing
This was a much better week for studying! I must thank my beautiful, supportive wife for kicking my butt into gear on Friday when I really didn't feel like studying. Thanks to her, I got just over 5 hours of study time in the 70-411 Training Guide! It is very important to have someone in you life, whether it be a friend, co-worker, or family member that can keep you on target when pursuing your goals.

Have a great week everyone!
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Thursday, December 4, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 26 & 27

Overview
It has been an incredibly busy few weeks, so this post is really late. During week 26 of my MCSE studies I completed the three Live Learning courses from KnowledgeNet and attended a live recording of the PowerScripting Podcast. I did not accomplish any studying during week 27 due to the fact that I was working out of town for most of the week. I did, however, manage to get my article on PowerShell written and submitted before the deadline.

Cool Stuff
I think that the coolest thing from week 26 was the live recording of the PowerScripting Podcast for the WMF5 Pre-release Party with Jeffrey Snover and John Slack from Microsoft. It was fantastic to be able to attend a live recording with these two awesome individuals.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
Apologies, but there isn't going to be a PowerShell cmdlet of the week this time. I'll make sure I get back on track for next week though.

Stats
Total time studying: 19 hrs. 30 min.
  • PowerShell: 1 hrs. 30 min.
  • 70-411: 6 hrs.
  • 70-413: 6 hrs.
  • 70-341: 6 hrs.
Resources used:


In Closing
The details of the past couple of weeks have largely escaped me, probably due to the heavy workload. and the fact that I have been quite tired. I will be getting back on track this coming week and will hopefully be able to add some more details in my next post.

Have a great week everyone!
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Monday, November 17, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 25

Overview
During week 25 of my MCSE studies I have continued the three Live Learning courses from KnowledgeNet and listened to three episodes of the PowerScripting Podcast. Progress this past week was not as high as the previous week as I was working for a part of the time.

Cool Stuff
To be perfectly honest, I do not think there was anything that really stood out as being really cool. There was a lot of information learned, but there was no single item that stood out above the rest.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This week , I'll choose a cmdlet related to the ones from Week 23: Get-ADForest and Get-ADDomain. This time however, instead of just viewing the Flexible Single Master Operation (FSMO) role holders, we'll actually change the role holder:

Move-ADDirectoryServerOperationMasterRole

I think this cmdlet just about takes the record for the longest cmdlet name.

Let's cover two possible usage scenarios:

Transfering a FSMO role to another Domain Controller
In this case, we are going to move the FSMO role of 'PDC Emulator' to a Domain Controller called DC01.contoso.com, while both online and available:

Move-ADDirectoryServerOperationMasterRole -Identity dc01.contoso.com -OperationMasterRole PDCEmulator

or, alternately, using the number for the role instead of the name, and dropping the -Identity, since this parameter is positional:

Move-ADDirectoryServerOperationMasterRole dc01.contoso.com -OperationMasterRole 0

Seizing a role from another Domain Controller
In this second example, we are going to seize the role of RID Master from a failed Domain Controller that cannot be recovered, and moving it to a Domain Controller called DC05.contoso.com

Move-ADDirectoryServerOperationMasterRole -Identity dc05.contoso.com -OperationMasterRole RIDMaster -Force

In this case, the addition of the -Force switch seizes the role from a failed Domain Controller.

As always, be sure you understand the implications of transferring FSMO roles prior to starting, and always take care not to bring a failed Domain Controller back online once you have seized a role from it.

For more information on this subject, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article:
Flexible Single Master Operation Transfer and Seizure Process

Stats
Total time studying: 16 hrs. 45 min.
  • PowerShell: 3 hrs. 45 min.
  • 70-411: 6 hrs.
  • 70-413: 6 hrs.
  • 70-341: 1 hr.
Resources used:


In Closing
I did not get to spend quite as much time studying as I would have liked, but there were circumstances that required me to take some time off. This coming up week should be a little better, provided I get enough sleep. I also need to look at booking at least one exam, probably 70-410, before the end of the year. In addition to my studies, I also have an article on PowerShell to finish writing before the end of the month. It's going to be another busy week!

Have a great week everyone!
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Sunday, November 9, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 24

Overview
Week 24 of my MCSE studies has been quite busy. I enrolled in, and attended three Live Learning courses from KnowledgeNet, finished another chapter in the 70-411 Training Guide, and listened to two episodes of the PowerScripting Podcast. I am quite tired, but I've have had a great week!

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing was not chosen because of it's wonderful new features, it's flashy new GUI, or even it's new wonderfully feature-rich command line tools. In fact, it has none of those things. It was chosen, because I finally understand how it works after more than a decade of searching for a clear answer. What did I learn? How the No-refresh Interval and the Refresh Interval affect DNS Aging and Scavenging.

In a nutshell, here's the grossly simplified explanation of how I now understand it works:

  1. The DNS client registers it's name with the DNS server, which adds it to the DNS zone and time stamps the record.
  2. During the No-Refresh Interval (7 days by default), the DNS server will not allow the client to refresh it's time stamp if there aren't any changes, but it will allow the client to update the record and the time stamp if there are changes.
  3. The Refresh Interval (7 days by default) starts as soon as the No-Refresh Interval expires. During this period, the client can refresh it's DNS record, and resets the time stamp.
  4. During the next scavenging interval, the DNS server compares the current time with (Time stamp+No-Refresh Interval+Refresh Interval). If the value of the calculation is less than the current time, the record is removed from the zone.
This is the link to the TechNet article that made everything clear for me:
Understanding Aging and Scavenging

If you find any errors in my understanding, by all means, feel free to correct me before I write this transaction to the database of my long-term memory.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This week I think I'll choose a pair of useful cmdlets that are related to DNS Scavenging.

Get-DNSServerScavenging

This cmdlet, when run by itself, will get the current DNS server's scavenging settings, including NoRefreshInterval, RefreshInterval, ScavengingInterval, ScavengingState, and LastScavengeTime. You can add the -ComputerName parameter to run it against a remote DNS Server.

Set-DNSServerScavenging

This cmdlet will allow you to set the properties for aging and scavenging on the local, or a remote DNS server. Say for example, you wanted to turn on aging and scavenging on a DNS server named titan-dc01 for all zones hosted on that server, with a scavenging interval of 1 day.

Set-DNSServerScavenging -ComputerName titan-dc01 -ScavengingState $true -ScavengingInterval 1.00:00:00 -ApplyOnAllZones

Easy!

Stats
Total time studying: 24 hrs. 35 min.
  • PowerShell: 2 hrs. 45 min.
  • 70-411: 10 hrs. 20 min.
  • 70-413: 5 hrs. 30 min.
  • 70-341: 6 hrs.
Resources used:


In Closing
It has been a fantastic week for studying! I have had a great time, and learned a lot. I did tire myself out, but it was totally worth it.

I decided to take a couple of extra courses this month. The first being for exam 70-341, Core Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013. I decided to take this one, since I have absolutely no knowledge of Exchange Server. This was due to the fact that I have spent the last 14 years in a Lotus Notes/Lotus Domino Server environment.

The second course is one I will need for my MCSE, and that is the 70-413: Designing and Implementing a Server 2012 R2 Infrastructure. This is a course that is heavy on design and sometimes tests the limits of my understanding of Windows Server. I did have a fun experience with this course on Tuesday; I was the only student in class. I did enjoy this, but I am glad a few more students were there on the Thursday class, so there was a little more discussion and interaction.

I am looking forward to next week's studies, and the chance to get back into the field. I have a small job to do over the next couple of weeks, and I am looking forward to getting out of the house and doing some work in a production environment vs. a lab.

Have a great week everyone!
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Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Six Months of Blogging

It has been almost six months since I started posting to my blog on a regular basis, which to be honest, is longer than I thought I would make it. Most of my posts have been of a fairly technical nature, but some have not. Those posts of a personal nature have allowed me to express myself in a way that I did not know I needed. I have discovered that I have enjoyed writing, and I intend to keep on writing, whether it be technical writing, or just the jumbled, somewhat chaotic musings of my own consciousness.

I am also amazed and humbled that so many people have taken the time to read what I have been writing. When I began posting to my blog, I did not expect to have so many people read it, as I had primarily started it for my own satisfaction. Knowing that there a so many people out there reading my blog encourages me to continue my writing.

So, to all of you out there around the world, thank you for taking the time out of your day to stop by. It means a great deal to me.

Have many wonderful days!

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Tuesday, November 4, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 23

Overview
While it would not be fair to say that week 23 of my MCSE studies came completely off the rails, it did come close. The week started out reasonably well, but starting Thursday, there wasn't any progress at all. I did manage to complete Chapter 2 in the 70-411 Training Guide. I also attended two Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) events, "PowerShell for Active Directory Jump Start", and "Modernize Your Data Center Jump Start".

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing I learned from last week was not simply one thing. I attended the MVA "PowerShell for Active Directory Jump Start" hosted by Ashley McGlone and Jason Helmick. It was an amazing event! I had a great time learning all sorts of new PowerShell tips, tricks, and skills throughout the morning.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This week's PowerShell cmdlet is actually two that I learned about during the MVA event, and learned a new trick with today:

Get-ADForest

and

Get-ADDomain

These useful cmdlets display information about the Active Directory Forest and Domain. More specifically, I learned today how to get the Flexible Single Master Operator (FSMO) roles from these cmdlets. Simply use the cmdlets with Format-Table:

Get-ADForest | Format-Table -Property DomainNamingMaster,SchemaMaster

 Get-ADDomain | Format-Table -Property RIDMaster,PDCEmulator,InfrastructureMaster

Once you hit 'Enter', you will be rewarded with a neat table of which Domain Controllers hold each of the FSMO roles.

Stats
Total time studying: 9 hrs. 40 min.
  • PowerShell: 3 hrs. 10 min.
  • General MCSE: 4 hrs. 10 min.
  • 70-411: 2 hrs. 20 min.
Resources used:


In Closing
The end of last week was a little chaotic with various priorities from my personal life demanding my time. Don't get me wrong, I do not mind taking time away from my studies when required, and last week, it was definitely required. That being said, it is necessary to re-focus next week and continue on with my studies.

Wow! Next week is already shaping up to be a very busy week for studying. I have found three live, instructor led courses that I want to take, and I still need to continue on with the 70-411 Training Guide, and the "Learn PowerShell in a Month of Lunches" book. I expect I will be quite tired, but a lot more knowledgeable by the end of the week.

Have a great week everyone!
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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 22

Overview
Week 22 of my MCSE studies was productive despite spending quite a bit of time setting up the hardware and software for the 70-411 lab environment. I finished the KnowledgeNet live learning course for 70-410, completed another chapter of "Learn PowerShell in a Month of Lunches" book, started into the 70-411 Training Guide by Orin Thomas, attending an exam prep session for 70-410, and got into some other supplemental training resources.

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing this past week was learning how customize a Windows Server 2012 R2 image, then deploy it via WDS (Windows Deployment Services). This could be a huge time saver for me when I need to setup a new lab environment, or simply add an additional server. The time savings come from learning how to add Windows Updates and drivers to an image file. Once this is done, future installs already have the Windows Updates installed. This alone could save 3-4 hours of update time per server. I think I'll setup a WDS server sometime in the next week or so.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This week's PowerShell cmdlet is one that I have used several times this week:

Add-Computer

Simple, I know, but it was actually faster to join a computer to an Active Directory domain using PowerShell, than clicking my way through the system properties dialog boxes. Say for example you want to add the local server to an AD Domain called contoso.com (everyone's favorite test/training domain), using my administrator account (since we all know you shouldn't use the Domain Administrator account).

Add-Computer -DomainName contoso.com -DomainCredential dlamb_admin@contoso.com

Once you hit 'Enter', you will be prompted for a password. Once that is done, you just need a quick reboot using:

Restart-Computer

Easy!

Stats
Total time studying: 22 hrs. 35 min.
  • PowerShell: 1 hrs. 5 min.
  • 70-410: 8 hrs. 15 min.
  • 70-411: 2 hrs. 55 min.
  • Lab Setup: 10 hrs. 20 min.
Resources used:


In Closing
It was a busy, chaotic week, but I accomplished more than I thought I would. Next week I will be back to the books as I study 70-411 and PowerShell. I have also registered for two Microsoft Virtual Academy Live Events: "Modernizing Your Data Center Jump Start" and "PowerShell for Active Directory Jump Start". I am especially looking forward to the PowerShell event, as one of the hosts is Jason Helmick. He was one of the hosts in the MVA course where I first learned how to use PowerShell, and I thoroughly enjoyed that course.

This coming week, I also need to sit down and spend some more time mapping out exam objectives, and start assessing where I need to spend extra time. It's going to be fun!

Have a great week everyone!
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Monday, October 20, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 21

Overview
Week 21 of my MCSE studies was quite busy, but I still didn't get as much studying done as the previous week. I managed to finish Chapters 10 & 11 in the 70-410 Study Guide, which finally brought me to the end of the book. I also completed Chapter 12 & 13 in the"Learn PowerShell in a Month of Lunches" book, listened to two PowerScripting podcast episodes, and attended sessions 3 & 4 of the KnowledgeNet 70-410 course.

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing I learned this past week was how to configure the Windows Firewall, and IPSec. I have always avoided using the Windows Firewall, until now. I was pleasantly surprised how simple the service is to manage. Likewise for IPSec. It was surprisingly easy to use and configure. It took a bit more reading to understand the underlying technology of IPSec, but it was worth it.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This week's PowerShell cmdlet is one that I have routinely used to disable the Windows Firewall. I had always considered the Windows Firewall difficult to use and configure, so I opted to disable it instead of trying to configure it. I have since learnt the error of my ways, and will start using the firewall.

Set-NetFirewallProfile

I used to use it in this form to disable all the firewall profiles:

Set-NetFirewallProfile -All -Enabled False

However, Microsoft recommends not doing this, and now that I am more educated, so do I. Still, it can be a useful tool for troubleshooting potential firewall issues.

Stats
Total time studying: 14 hrs. 30 min.
  • PowerShell: 3 hrs. 35 min.
  • 70-410: 10 hrs. 55 min.
Resources used:


In Closing
I had quite a lot of fun this past week, but was a little frustrated by the lack of progress. It was a bit of a chaotic week, and I was forced to put studying on the back burner. Still, I did get more done than I thought I was going to. Next week, I am going to continue my 70-410 studies, start into 70-411, and keep going with PowerShell. I also have some lab setup to do that might take a few hours, but it has to be done.

Have a great week everyone!
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Monday, October 13, 2014

Feeling Thankful and Grateful

As another Thanksgiving is upon us here in Canada, I thought I'd take a few minutes to share with you some things that I'm thankful and grateful for.

I am thankful for my wonderfully supportive family, and that we are all happy and healthy. I think that it is sometimes easy for a person to to take their family for granted, but that is a trap I do not want to fall into.I have a wonderful wife, who supports me through all of my ups and downs, successes and failures, and even my crazy ideas that I sometimes come up with. I regularly tell her that I love her, but I still don't say it enough. Love you sweetie! I also have two wonderful children who are always happy to see me, and can still put a smile on my face, regardless of how bad of a day I might have had. I also need to tell them that I love them more often than I do.

I am grateful that I have had a really good friend and co-worker over the past 7 years. He is enough like me that we get along really well, but different enough from me that I can learn something from him on a daily basis. Without him, I doubt I ever would have had the experience of attending my first entertainment expo, and known the simple pleasure of standing in line for hours on end to meet a favorite celebrity. I also wouldn't have been introduced to a whole new language, which still continues to baffle me to this day. It saddens me to know that he will soon be leaving for new opportunities. I will miss his goofy sense of humor which never fails to make me laugh, and I will miss those heart-to-heart talks that only family men can appreciate. I am thankful that I have had the chance to know him, as my life has been made immeasurably richer for knowing him.

I am thankful that I live in a wonderful community, in a prosperous province, in what can only be described as one of the best countries in the world. One only has to read the world news for a few minutes to get a sense of strife and suffering elsewhere in the world. It is in those time that it is important to reflect on how great this nation of ours is. I am proud to be a Canadian, and I am thankful that I am able to call it my home.

As strange as it may sound, I am also grateful for my now former employer. I am happy to have had the opportunity to cut my teeth as a sysadmin on a network that was just the right size over the past 13 years. It gave me a chance to explore all areas of system and network administration, allowing me to discover what it is that I really love doing. I have discovered where my passion lies as a sysadmin, and I plan to follow that aggressively. I firmly believe that what I needed most at the moment, was a firm push out the door so that I would have the opportunity to continue to grow and learn. They provided that for me, and I thank them for that. I will miss working with that fantastic group of people, co-workers and customer alike, and I look forward to continuing those friendships outside of work.

There are a lot more things to be thankful for, and there isn't space here to list them all. This short list is simply the highlights that came to mind as I mulled over my experiences over the past few weeks. If I were to take a lesson away from this, it would be to spend a few minutes each day reflecting on what I am thankful for. Believe me, there is a lot to be thankful for.

Perhaps you might want to take a few minutes right now and ask yourself, "What am I thankful for?".

Have a wonderful week!

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MCSE Studying - Week 20

Overview
Week 20 of my MCSE studies has been a little more intense than I have been used to. I accomplished far more than I have in any previous week. In the 70-410 study guide, I finished chapters 7, 8, and 9. In the 'Learn PowerShell in a Month of Lunches', I completed chapters 9, 10, and 11. I also decided to retake the 70-410 live, instructor led course and completed sessions 1 & 2 along with the pre and post tests. In addition to all of that, I got caught up on my extra reading from various TechNet articles, blogs, and other posts. It has been a great week!

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing I learned this past week was how to use Windows Server 2012 R2 to host an iSCSI target. Once I had a couple of iSCSI targets set up on a 2012 R2 server, I connected my VMWare ESX server to one of them and created a datastore, and then I connected another 2012 R2 server to the second one and created a drive. There was a great sense of accomplishment once I had them setup and running.

My understanding of how iSCSI works, and what all of the terminology meant had always been a bit of a mystery to me.This past week has been a real eye-opener into this particular storage technology, and I feel much more confident about using it now.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This week I had an opportunity to learn a lot more about PowerShell. Picking just one of these is going to be tricky, but here goes:

Format-Table

I have used this one occasionally in the past, but just recently learned how to use it correctly. My favorite parameter is -AutoSize. It really cleans up the output when you only want a few columns displayed. It helps prevent your table from being spread across the entire width of the display. Consider the following two examples:

Say you wanted to get a list of running processes and how much memory each one is using. You can use the following on-liner to fetch the information and display it for you:

Get-Process | Select-Object -Property Name,VM | Format-Table



It does produce the desired output, but look, it spreads the two columns out across the entire display, making it a little difficult to read. Try it again with the -AutoSize parameter:

Get-Process | Select-Object -Property Name,VM | Format-Table -AutoSize


Much better! The -AutoSize parameter narrowed the columns to be just wide enough to display the information passed to it. Now the information is presented in an easier to read format.

Keep in mind, you can shorten Format-Table -AutoSize using it's alias and a little shorthand:

ft -a

That's it for this weeks cmdlet!

Stats
Total time studying: 22 hrs.
  • PowerShell: 2 hrs. 55 min.
  • 70-410: 19 hrs. 5 min.
Resources used:


In Closing
This past week was a lot of fun! I enjoyed being able to focus in on my studies and make some real progress. The quizzes I have been taking are proving to be very useful in pointing out areas that I need to spend a little more time learning about. One of those areas in particular, is the IPv6 transition technologies. I still do not have a firm grasp of what each one is used for, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. However, this knowledge will come in time.

This coming up week, I plan to complete my first pass through the 70-410 Training Guide, attend sessions 3 & 4 through KnowledgeNet, and get in at least 3 more chapters on PowerShell.

Have a great week everyone!
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Sunday, October 5, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 19 - A Slight Change In Plan

Overview
There has been a slight change in my plans. Actually, that might be understating the issue slightly, but I'm going to run with it. Last week, on Monday morning, I was let go from the job I had held for over 13 years. To say it was a shock would be grossly understating the feelings I felt.

I have heeded the advise of a professional and I took the week off from my studies. I did however spend quite a bit of time listening to the PowerScripting podcast, which helped me maintain some feeling of normality in this transition period.

I have decide to take a little bit of time off from working and spend that time focusing on my studies. I found it difficult to carve out enough time to study while I was working, so this brief pause in work should allow me to catch up on my studies while I search out a new opportunity.

Cool Stuff
The cool thing from this week wasn't so much the info, but the experience of sitting in on the live recording of the PowerScripting Podcast, Episode 287. It was nice to be able to put faces to the voices and get a chance to see behind the scenes.

Stats
Total time studying: 7 hrs. 40 min.
  • PowerShell: 7 hrs. 40 min.
Resources used:

PowerScripting Podcast - Episode 249, 256, 257, 258, & 287

In Closing
This past week has been a restful one, but next week shall be very busy as I hit the books. I'm not sure what the goal for studying will be, but I do know the progress will be much higher than past weeks. I suppose that's one advantage of being unemployed.

I believe that in the long run, this is going to be a great opportunity, and I am looking forward to what the future holds.

Have a great week everyone!
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Saturday, October 4, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 18

Overview
Wow! I seem to be really late getting last week's post out. It's been an interesting and chaotic week this week, but I'll cover that more in another post.

There is not a whole lot to report, so I'll be fairly brief this week. I have completed week eighteen of studying for my MCSE exams. I started Chapter 9 in the Learn PowerShell in a Month of Lunches book, listened to the latest episode of the PowerScripting Podcast, and finished Lessons 2 & 3 in the 70-410 Training Guide.

Cool Stuff
As far as cool stuff goes, getting more knowledge on Hyper-V was once again the coolest thing I learned. There wasn't anything specific, just the general satisfaction of learning something new.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This week's cmdlet is actually a pair of useful cmdlets:

Save-Help

 Update-Help

I learned about these quite some time ago, but are really quite useful for updating help files for PowerShell on multiple systems, especially when those systems do not have access to the Internet. You can use the following command to download and save the files to a specific location. say a USB drive:

Save-Help -DestinationPath F:\PSHelpFiles

and then use this command to update help from those saved help files:

Update-Help -SourcePath F:\PSHelpFiles

Stats
Total time studying: 4 hrs. 40 min.
  • PowerShell: 2 hrs. 35 min.
  • 70-410: 2 hrs. 5 min.
Resources used:


In Closing
This past week has been an improvement over previous weeks. This week I am going aim to finish the lab exercises and additional reading from Chapter 7 in the 70-410 study guide, and complete the Chapters 9 lab, and finish Chapter 10 in the Learn PowerShell in A Month of Lunches.

Have a great week everyone!
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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

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:


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!
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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

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:

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!
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Sunday, September 7, 2014

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:

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!
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Tuesday, September 2, 2014

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!
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Wednesday, August 27, 2014

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!
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Monday, August 18, 2014

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!
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Tuesday, August 12, 2014

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!
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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 9

Overview
I have completed week nine of studying for my MCSE exams. I finished the Chapter 5 Practice Exercises, and started Chapter 6 in the 70-410 Training Guide. I finished the 70-410 Live Learning course from KnowledgeNet, and finished Lab 1 in the 'Learn PowerShell in a Month of Lunches' book.

Cool Stuff
Once again, this past week has been more of a review for me. I am looking forward to some challenges in the upcoming week as I learn more about DNSSEC and IPv6.

Stats
Total time studying: 8 hrs. 35 min.
  • Exam 70-410: 8 hrs.
  • PowerShell: 35 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
* I have decided not to include all of the TechNet articles I read throughout the week, as they are quite numerous. I will however, still list them in the Learning Resources post.

In Closing
Time management issues, a higher task load at work, and a general lack of enthusiasm on my part seems to have contributed to this past week's activities being less than I had planned for. I think I need either more coffee, more pizza, or both! This sysadmin needs to get focused, and quickly. The information isn't going to get into my head by itself.


Have a great week everyone!
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Sunday, July 20, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 8

Overview
I have completed week eight of studying for my MCSE exams. I started and completed all of Chapter 4, and finished the lessons in Chapter 5 in the 70-410 Training Guide. I continued the 70-410 Live Learning course from KnowledgeNet, and listened to four more PowerScripting Podcast episodes. I especially enjoyed the PowerScripting podcast episode with ScriptRock (272), and the interview with Jeffrey Snover (274). There was a lot of eye opening information revealed in these episodes. I also ordered myself a PowerShell coffee mug. It really spoke to me, and I had to have it!

Cool Stuff
This past week has been more of a review in terms of the subject matter covered. Approximately 75% of my training this week has been review of things I had learned quite some time ago, some of it almost two decades ago. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying that reviewing these topics is a bad thing, it's just a little hard to pick out something cool when it all feels like review.

The best information came from two of the PowerScripting Podcast episodes. Episode #272 with ScriptRock covering their GuardRail product. It helped me understand a little more about configuration management and how, with the right tools, almost magical things can be done. The second episode of note was #274, an interview with Jeffrey Snover, the creator of PowerShell. The most significant thing I learned about was JEA (Just Enough Admin), which from what I understand, is a way to reduce the attack surface of the sysadmins. This is accomplished by reducing the number of tasks that require elevated privileges, thereby reducing the chance that an attacker will be able to glean admin credentials from a compromised system. Both were very interesting topics, but I really cannot do them justice here. Just go listen to them!

Stats
Total time studying: 14 hrs. 30 min.
  • Exam 70-410: 9 hrs. 35 min.
  • PowerShell: 4 hrs. 55 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
PowerScripting Podcast - Episodes 271, 272, 273 & 274
* I have decided not to include all of the TechNet articles I read throughout the week, as they are quite numerous. I will however, still list them in the Learning Resources post.

In Closing
I am planning to focus a little more in the coming week on 70-410, and PowerShell. I did not get anywhere near enough PowerShell training into the mix this past week, which has been a little disappointing. There have been many distractions throughout the week, not the least of which seems to be that I'm spending most of my days at work just putting out fires. I think the problem comes down to not having enough hours in the week, but I think that's a problem everyone seems to have.


Have a great week everyone!
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Monday, July 14, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 7

Overview
I have completed week seven of studying for my MCSE exams. I started and completed Chapter 3 in the 70-410 Training Guide, started the 70-410 Live Learning course from KnowledgeNet, listened to six more PowerScripting Podcast episodes, and finished chapters 5 & 6, and started Lab 1 in the "Learn PowerShell 3 in a Month of Lunches" book. It has been an incredibly busy week, both at work, and at home.

Cool Stuff
Whilst there hasn't been anything specific that I would say is really cool, the one thing I enjoyed the most was getting into the Lab 1 exercises in the "Learn PowerShell 3 in a Month of Lunches" book. Being given nothing more than a couple of hints, and a whole list of tasks to complete using PowerShell was challenging, educational, and a whole lot of fun!

As always, there is a lot of stuff every week that is really cool that I would love to add here, but it would take up way more space than I have planned for. A lot of what I learn falls into three categories; "That is the coolest thing I have ever seen!", "Wow! This will be really handy at work over the coming weeks.", and "Gee, I wish I had known about this six months ago.". Unfortunately, the last one seems to come up quite often.

Stats
Total time studying: 18 hrs. 15 min.
  • Exam 70-410: 9 hrs. 15 min.
  • PowerShell: 9 hrs.
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
KnowledgeNet Live Learning Course: Installing and Configuring Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
PowerScripting Podcast - Episodes 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, & 270
* I have decided not to include all of the TechNet articles I read throughout the week, as they are quite numerous. I will however, still list them in the Learning Resources post.

In Closing
I have had quite a productive week this week. Learning is starting to get easier now that I have managed to train my brain how to learn again. Listening to the PowerScripting Podcast has been a fantastic eye-opener into the latest news around not only PowerShell, but also the Windows Server communities. I did not realize how much I was missing out on by staying inside the little bubble I had for myself at work. Over the coming months I would like to start getting into more forums and discussions with some of my peers in the industry. I think it will prove most valuable. Who knows, maybe I'll look into attending some of the conferences that are hosted throughout the year.

Have a great week everyone!
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Sunday, July 6, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 6

Overview
I have completed week six of studying for my MCSE exams. I started and completed Chapter 2 in the 70-410 Training Guide, listened to two more PowerScripting Podcast episodes, and finished chapters 3 & 4 in the "Learn PowerShell 3 in a Month of Lunches" book. It was a very busy week, but I have thoroughly enjoyed my time.

Cool Stuff
There has been many things that I learned this week that qualify as cool, but I think that the most practical and useful one is how to update PowerShell help files from a local source vs. the Microsoft site. In order to retrieve the files, you will need an Internet connection, then create a folder, in this example I used C:\PowerShellHelp

New-Item -Path C:\PowerShellHelp -Type Directory

and then run the following PowerShell command to save the help files:

Save-Help -DestinationPath C:\PowerShellHelp

In order to update PowerShell help from these files, use this command:

Update-Help -SourcePath C:\PowerShellHelp

There you have it! PowerShell help has been updated.

Also, I especially enjoyed spending time learning about converting Windows Server 2012 R2 with a GUI to a Server Core install that strips away all of the extras, and then being able to re-install the GUI if desired. I can certainly see where that is useful for reducing a server's vulnerability to exploits along with reducing the disk space requirements.

Stats
Total time studying: 11 hrs. 25 min.
  • Exam 70-410: 7 hrs. 45 min.
  • PowerShell: 3 hrs. 40 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
PowerScripting Podcast - Episodes 263 & 264

In Closing
This past week was far more productive than some of the previous weeks. I cannot say for sure why I was able to get more time in, but I'm glad I did. As long as I can put in the same amount of effort in the coming weeks as I did this past week, I should be well on my way to earning my MCSE.

Have a great week everyone!

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Tuesday, July 1, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 5

Overview
I have completed week five of studying for my MCSE exams. I managed to make a good start into the 70-410 Training Guide. I completed Chapter 1, along with the practice exercises. The other thing I started this week, was listening to the PowerScripting Podcast. I had intended to start listening to it quite some time ago, but had not had the opportunity to do so until this past weekend. While it isn't as technical as some of the training resources I usually use, it is still quite valuable, as it provides an opportunity to see how other sysadmins, and other companies are utilizing PowerShell. In episode 260, there is an excellent discussion (rant) about taking responsibility for your own career development, and not relying on your employer to do it for you. For those who are interested, the rant starts at about the 1:08:30 mark.

Cool Stuff
One of the most useful, and well timed things I learned this week, was about the website www.windowsservercatalog.com. From this page you can look to see which server hardware from various vendors is certified for the various editions of Windows Server. This was especially useful this past week, as I was preparing to upgrade a physical server to Windows Server 2012 R2. It was nice to see that the server I am going to be upgrading was in the list of certified servers.

Stats
Total time studying: 7 hrs. 10 min.
  • Exam 70-410: 3 hrs. 15 min.
  • PowerShell (non-technical): 3 hrs. 55 min.

In Closing
It's nice to get into the training and almost daily find things that I can use in my job. For example, this past week I was able to make use of the Windows Server Catalog, review the process we are using to upgrade our servers, and started writing a couple of basic PowerShell scripts. All in all, it has been a great week. I'm looking forward to next weeks challenges and opportunities!

Have a great week everyone!
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Monday, June 23, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 4

Overview
I have completed week four of studying for my MCSE exams. I did not get as much studying done as I would have liked during the last two weeks. This is mostly due to the fact that I spent these last two weeks in Moose Jaw, SK on a business trip. Even though I did not get a lot of studying in, I did get a lot of real world, hands-on experience with Windows Server 2012 R2. With the help of my fellow sysadmins, I was able to do three in place upgrades from Windows Server 2008 R2, and three side-by-side migrations from Windows Server 2003 R2 x86. All in all, a very successful two weeks.

Cool Stuff
One critical thing I learned this week was about PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) and AD:CS (Active Directory Certificate Services). I have covered this topic before, but not with anything that I would call success. This time around the information presented has started to make sense, and I can begin to see how the pieces fit together.

This is an incredibly important topic to get right, since there are many additional services in the Windows Server world that rely on Certificate Services, such as RMS (Rights Management Services), and FS (Federation Services).

Stats
Total time studying: 6 hrs.
  • Exam 70-412: 6 hrs.

In Closing
I have ordered the three Microsoft Press Exam Ref books for exams 70-410, 70-411, and 70-412. The books for 70-410 and 70-412, along with the pre-ordered Training Guide for 70-411 should all arrive this week. Now that I'm back at home, I should be able to make a much more aggressive plunge into the training resources.

I'm still trying to get my sleep cycles back to normal after some late night work on the server  upgrades. This will likely take a couple of days, but once it's done, I should be back to my usual, chipper self.

Please don't think that I'm complaining about the late night work. I love my job very much, and I cannot imagine doing anything else at this time. As I have stated more than once, "Being a Sysadmin isn't a job, it's a lifestyle".

Have a great week everyone!
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Monday, June 16, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 3

Overview
I have completed week three of studying for my MCSE exams. I was able to get a little more time in this week, but still a short of the 12 hours per week that I would like to do. This week I continued the online course through KnowledgeNet, watched another module from one of the Microsoft Virtual Academy courses covering 'Identity and Access', and did some extra reading on storage technologies in Windows Server 2012.

Cool Stuff
The really exciting thing I learned about this past week was on the concept of Claims, and how it works with Dynamic Access Control. It's probably fair to say that I geeked out a little (a lot, actually) when I was introduced to the concept. This might have clouded my understanding of the details a little, but I can always go back and review the subject. Here's a quick overview, at least as I understand it. We can now use a user's attributes in their Active Directory account to set access to files and folders, instead of just using user and security group membership. Further to that, we can block/allow access to files containing specific content, all without having to manually it up on a file-by-file basis. We simply set up the criteria centrally, then allow the FSRM (File Server Resource Manager) to handle the rest.

Like I said, my understanding may be a little off, and there is also some stuff in there about FCI (File Classification Infrastructure) that I have not fully explained, but still, I was really cool!

Stats
Total time studying: 8 hrs. 5 min.
  • Exam 70-412: 7 hrs. 15 min.
  • General Windows Server 2012 R2: 50 min.

In Closing
This week, I'm going to order up the Microsoft Press Exam Ref books for exams 70-410, 70-411, and 70-412. This should give me a bit more of a solid start to the studying, as these books cover the exam objectives in more detail. The Training Guides for the same exams are good resources, but focus more on the job skills that are relevant to each exam.

I'm still a little tired, but the studying is proceeding well. The fact that I'm still geeking out over little technical details is a good sign that I'm still in the right line of work. I can't imagine doing anything else at the moment.

Have a great week everyone!
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Monday, June 9, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 2

Overview
I have completed week two of studying for my MCSE exams. I have still been unable to gain any significant progress towards my studies, but as I did last week, I did make some progress. This week I started an online course through KnowledgeNet, which covers the exam objectives for 70-412.

Cool Stuff
There really isn't anything from this past week that really stands out as being especially cool, amazing, or a must use piece of technology. Don't get me wrong, it was still very interesting, but there just wasn't that one thing that jumped out at me as being noteworthy.

Stats
Total time studying: 6 hrs. 30 min.
  • Exam 70-412: 6 hrs.
  • General Windows Server 2012 R2: 30 min.

In Closing
The next couple of weeks are going to be quite challenging in terms of getting any studying done. This means I will have to be extra vigilant about setting time aside to study. By the end of June I would like to be setting 12 hours a week aside to devote to enhancing my IT skills. At this rate, I feel that I should be able to finish the first 3 exams by the end of the year.

Have a great week everyone!
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Sunday, June 1, 2014

MCSE Studying - Week 1

Overview
I have completed week one of studying for my MCSE exams. It has not been an aggressive start, but I did make some progress. I started out the week by getting into PowerShell, but was quickly distracted by the arrival of "Training Guide: Configuring Advanced Windows Server 2012 R2 Services" by Orin Thomas. This book covers the objectives in Exam 70-412. It took nearly two evenings to get the lab environment set up as per the book's instructions. Once completed, however, I dove right in. I am happy to say that what I have seen in the first chapter is not completely foreign, but still has enough new materiel to keep me challenged. I also found some information on adprep that will be useful at work later this year.

Cool Stuff
I think the coolest thing I learned this week was from the setup of the lab environment, and that was the use of netsh and netdom to do some of the configuration of the servers. I have not used these utilities before to configure the IPv4 address settings or the computer name. I had always thought it faster to configure them through the specific connection via the network control panel. What I discovered was that by the time I had got to the fourth server, I had memorized the syntax and it was actually faster to configure the system through these command line utilities, than it was to use the GUI. Below, I have included an example of the command line syntax used to configure the IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS server:

  • netsh interface ipv4 set address "Ethernet" static 192.168.2.40 255.255.255.0 192.168.2.1
  • netsh interface ipv4 set dnsservers "Ethernet" static 192.168.2.10 primary

Stats
Total time studying: 6 hrs. 20 min.
  • PowerShell: 55 min.
  • General Windows Server 2012 R2: 1 hr. 30 min.
  • Exam 70-412: 3 hrs. 55 min.
Resources used:
TechNet Article - Add User Principal Name Suffixes

In Closing
I am looking forward to getting more into the meat and potatoes of the 70-412 objectives next week and perhaps finding answers to some of my current questions regarding one of the projects at work. Also, I am also eagerly awaiting another book that shipped on Friday, but that will have to wait until I finish with 70-412 before I can dive into that one.

Have a great week everyone.

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