MCSE Studying - Week Ending November 5, 2017

Overview
This past week was not as successful as I had hoped for. I had to pour a lot of time and energy into a project at work that I am trying to complete prior to the end of the year. It left me quite tired at the end of most days, so I didn't study as much as I had wanted. Still, I did get some work in, and any amount of studying, no matter how small, is still far better than none.

I continued on my studies for 70-412 this past week. I managed to finish off my primary notes for objective 4.1 - Implement an advanced Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) solution, and started into objective 4.3 - Deploy and manage IP Address Management (IPAM). My plan is to finish off my primary notes for objective 4.3 in the next week or so, and then move into the hands-on labs for all of objective 4 - Configure Network Services.

Cool Stuff
In the little bit of reading I did on IPAM (IP Address Management), I thought that this technology is pretty cool. Why? Simply put, IPAM allows you to centralize management of multiple DHCP and DNS servers, and all but eliminates the need to track static IP address assignments in a spreadsheet. I feel that I am going to learn a lot in the next week or so on this topic, so my opinion may change, but for now, this wins the title of "Cool Stuff"!

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
Nothing this week

Studying Stats
Total time studying: 3 hrs. 25 mins.

• 70-412: 3 hrs. 25 mins.

Objectives Covered

• 70-412
• 4.1.2 - Implement DHCPv6
• 4.1.3 - Configure high availability for DHCP, including DHCP failover and split scopes
• 4.3.1 - Provision IPAM manually or by using Group Policy
• 4.3.8 - Configure IPAM database storage

IT News, Blogs, and Podcasts

• PowerScripting Podcast
• Episode 174 - Matt Graeber using PowerShell in Infosec
• Episode 175 - Mike Wells on SQL 2012 and SQLSpade
• Episode 176 - James Brundage on PowerShell Pipeworks

In Closing
As I mentioned earlier, I plan to continue working on my primary notes for objective 4.3, working towards the hands-on labs for objective 4. I might also try to sprinkle a bit of PowerShell into my studies, as I haven't had a chance to use a lot of PowerShell at work lately, and I definitely do not want that skill to get rusty!

Have a great week everyone, and keep learning!

MCSE Studying - Week Ending October 29, 2017

Overview
Again,wow! It's now been over 7 months since I last did a blog post on any subject, in either of my blogs. Well, here's committing to writing more than twice a year!

Yes, life has been busy. Between work and family commitments, I have still found it challenging to carve out enough time to study. That being said, I haven't been sitting around doing nothing. I did manage to find time to put together a presentation on Managing DNS Servers with PowerShell, and was quite excited to present it to the Mississippi PowerShell User Group. On that occasion, I stepped way, way outside of my comfort zone, and discovered awesome on the other side!

Now that we are into October, I have finally got back to studying for the 70-412 exam, and I am really enjoying it. Of course, breaking the inertia, actually sitting down to study, still remains the hardest part, but once I get going, time seems to fly by. I am looking forward to writing this exam in the new year and moving on to another exciting exam.

Cool Stuff
I don't have anything specific that I would like to talk about, but I have been enjoying the learning process. Taking a close look at the details of what I'm studying, and researching it completely, has been a lot of fun. It is especially rewarding to research and sort out the details of a topic that is either, not well documented, or is presented with contradictory information from two different sources. Once I get those figured out, I feel a genuine sense of accomplishment.

Next week should yield something interesting or cool. I'm sure of it! Stay tuned!

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
Nothing this week

Studying Stats
Total time studying: 3 hrs. 20 mins.

• 70-412: 3 hrs. 20 mins.

Objectives Covered

• 70-412
• 4.1.3 - Configure high availability for DHCP, including DHCP failover and split scopes
• 4.1.4 - Configure DHCP Name Protection
• 4.1.5 - Configure DNS registration

IT News, Blogs, and Podcasts
Nothing this week

In Closing
The goal for the coming week is simple. Keep studying! Wish me luck.

Have a great week everyone, and keep learning!

MCSE Studying - Week Ending March 12, 2017

Overview
Wow! It's been just about 4 months since I last did a blog post on any subject, in either of my blogs. Life has been busy, and as always seems to get in the way. At least that is what I have been telling myself. The truth is, I just haven't prioritized my time effectively. Well, it's about time to change that.

Over the past few months I have started studying for the 70-412 exam, but it has been going slowly. I have completed objectives 5.1 and 5.2, but that is the sum total of my success so far. To put that into perspective, I have completed a mere 10% of the objectives for this exam. It's not good enough, and I realize this, so I have finally forced myself to organize and prioritize my time, and have been happy to have studied more this week, than I have in all of 2017 so far.

I'm back on track, and I have a plan for managing time, and for the study order for the remaining 90% of the objectives. This past week has been a review of the subject matter that I had already completed so that it is fresh in my mind. For those of you who are interested, you can find the list of objectives for the 70-412 exam here. I feel it is going to go quite well, and I am optimistic that I will be able to write the exam in the next two or three months.

Cool Stuff
Cool stuff? Hmm...not really. There was some interesting topics covered, such as trust relationships and multi domain environments, but nothing that was especially cool. I think that most of the reason for this, is that I am already fairly familiar with the structure of Active Directory, and I still remember a lot of the core concepts around trusts and multi domain environments from my NT 4.0 exam days. Despite this, there is still an article I want to read titled Top Ten Issues with Active Directory Trusts and Corporate Mergers. I feel there will be some interesting information in there.

Hopefully next week, covering sites, subnets, and site links will yield something new and cool that I didn't know before. Stay tuned!

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This weeks cmdlet is going to be the only cmdlet available for Active Directory trusts. Unfortunately, if you want to manage trusts, you have to use either the Active Directory Domains and Trusts console, or the netdom trust command line utility. However, if you simply want a cmdlet to show you current trust relationships, you can use:

Get-ADTrust

If you want to view all trusted domains by the current domain:

Get-ADTrust -Filter *

If you want the information about a specific trusted domain:

Get-ADTrust -Identity "canada.contoso.com"

It is disappointing that there is only the one cmdlet available for managing trust relationships, but there is quite a bit of useful information reported by Get-ADTrust,

Studying Stats
Total time studying: 7 hrs. 40 mins.

• 70-412: 7 hrs. 40 mins.

Objectives Covered

• 70-412
• 5.1 - Configure a forest or a domain - Complete
• 5.2 - Configure trusts - Complete
• 5.3.1 - Configure sites and subnets

IT News, Blogs, and Podcasts

• Nothing this week

In Closing
The goal for the coming week is to start, and hopefully finish objectives 5.3 and 5.4. I am fairly certain I will get through 5.3 "Configure sites", but I'm not sure about anything else. I am still working on prioritizing time, and while my studying is going better than it did in January and February, there is still some more effort required. Wish me luck!

Have a great week everyone!

Studying for the 70-411 Exam - Doing It...Pretty Well Actually

About a year after failing to pass the Microsoft 70-411 exam, I decided to rewrite it, and scheduled the exam for November 8, 2016. It was a very challenging year, especially trying to find time to study, and there was a lot of self doubt and worry as to whether I could actually pass this exam when I took the rewrite.

Leading up to this, I decided to change my study habits slightly. Instead of working through each book or course all the way through, I decided to tackle the 70-411 exam by objective. I felt that thoroughly studying each point in each objective, using every resource available to me, would be more effective, as I could allow myself the luxury of taking those 'rabbit trails' deeper into each topic. The notes that came out of those sessions are, I feel, thorough enough to write blog posts, or an entire series of blog posts on, and I might just do that.

I also knew that I needed a lot more hands on practice than what was in the books, so I set up a lab environment, and added new servers as required for each objective. The result was a lab environment with about a dozen servers in it. It was nice to have a sandbox to play in and experiment with.

The final piece to the puzzle was the Microsoft Virtual Academy course: Mastering Microsoft Certification Exam Prep. I highly recommend that anyone taking a Microsoft Certification Exam take this course first. The information in this course was quite valuable, and turns out, was the final push I needed.

I got to the point where I knew I needed to at least take an attempt at the exam, pass or fail. If I passed, great! If I failed, at least I would have an idea as to where I needed to focus on in future study sessions. I scheduled the exam, and made a promise to myself that I wouldn't reschedule it.

I did not study at all during the last few days before the exam. I felt I needed to take the brain break, and knew that the additional couple of days of study weren't going to sway the outcome of the exam very much. It was nice to take a couple of days off without the exam stress.

On the test day, I also didn't stress myself about the test. I just told myself that this is just an attempt to gauge my knowledge. Even during the exam I told myself this several times. At the end of the exam, when I clicked the 'Finish' button, I was happily surprised to see the  "Congratulations! You passed!" message on the screen. I must have sat there for over a minute re-reading the message, not quite believing it. To say it made my day would be an understatement.

I am quite happy to see that the couple of changes I made to my study habits made a big difference. Knowing that, I intend to keep using these new methods to study for future exams. I won't say that these methods will work for everyone, but they did work for me. The best I can do, is tell you to find what works best for you, and if you do fail an exam, don't let it take the wind out of your sails.

The next step for me? Taking the third, and final exam for earning my MCSA, 70-412. I must say, I am really looking forward to it!

MCSE Studying - Week Ending July 31, 2016

Overview
The study path for 70-411 has been going a lot better over the past two weeks, as I have finally got back into the groove and have found the time to study. I have also validated the fact that studying by exam objective is working out better for me than studying each resource all the way through. Using multiple resources for each objective, sometimes over a dozen different courses, books, and blog posts is working out quite well. It is somewhat luxurious to be able to explore each exam objective thoroughly, gathering every detail possible.

This time round, I have not been going through the objectives in order, but instead, starting with the areas that were identified as my weakest. The confidence level is finally on the rise, and I feel I should be able to take the exam in the next month or so.

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing I covered in the past week was virtual domain controller cloning. When I first got into this objective, I was thinking to myself that it wasn't that big of a deal. Once I started into it, however, I discovered that it is an awesome way to deploy additional domain controllers. It was nice to be able to get one set up, just the way I like, and then be able to clone it. The new domain controller then has the same configuration, folders, updates, and preferences set up, and it only took 20 minutes!

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This weeks cmdlet will in fact, be the two cmdlets related to virtual domain controller cloning, along with a few other cmdlets sprinkled in for flavor.

Get-ADDCCloningExludedApplicationList
New-ADDCCloneConfigFile

Here are the basic steps for cloning a virtual domain controller:

Source DC: DC-01
Cloned DC: DC-02

Step 1: Add the source domain controller to the 'Cloneable Domain Controllers' security group

Add-ADGroupMember -Identity 'Cloneable Domain Controllers' -Members (Get-ADComputer -Identity DC01)

Step 2: Check for excluded applications that would cause cloning to fail

Get-ADDCCloningExludedApplicationList

Check the results. If the excluded applications are from Microsoft they will need to be removed. If they are from a third party vendor, check with that vendor to see if the application is compatible with cloning. If not, remove the application, if it is, add it to the user defined inclusion list using the following parameter

Get-ADDCCloningExludedApplicationList -GenerateXML

This adds the CustomDCCloneAllowList.xml to the C:\Windows\NTDS folder (by default)

Step 3: Create the DCCloneConfig.xml file

New-ADDCCloneConfigFile -CloneComputerName "DC02" `
-Static `
-IPv4Address "192.168.2.157" `
-IPv4SubnetMask "255.255.255.0" `
-IPv4DefaultGateway "192.168.2.1" `
-IPv4DNSResolver @("192.168.2.151","192.168.2.152")

Step 4: Shut down the source domain controller

Stop-Computer

Step 5: Copy the source VHD to a new location and rename it to match the new domain controller

Once the copy is complete, you can restart the source domain controller

Step 6: Create a new virtual machine and attach the copied VHD,

$ClonedDC = New-VM -Name DC02 `
-MemoryStartupBytes 2048MB -Generation 2 `
-BootDevice VHD -Path E:\Hyper-V\VM `
-VHDPath E:\Hyper-V\VHD\DC02.vhdx `
-Switch "Virtual Switch - Training"

Set-VM -VM $ClonedDC -ProcessorCount 2 `
-DynamicMemory

Step 7: Start the new virtual domain controller

Start-VM $ClonedDC

At this point, the new domain controller starts up and begins the cloning process.

Step 8: Remove all of the domain controllers from the 'Cloneable Domain Controllers' group

Remove-ADGroupMember -Identity "Cloneable Domain Controllers" -Member (Get-ADGroupMember -Identity "Cloneable Domain Controllers")

That's it! Easy. Although, I do suggest reading through the documentation thoroughly, and practicing in your test environment before trying it in Production.

Studying Stats
Total time studying: 10 hrs. 10 mins.

• 70-411: 10 hrs. 10 mins.

Objectives Covered

• 70-411
• 5.2.1 - Transfer and seize operations master roles
• 5.2.2 - Install and configure a read-only domain controller (RODC)
• 5.2.3 - Configure domain controller cloning

IT News, Blogs, and Podcasts

• Nothing this week

In Closing
It is nice to finally feel like I am making progress with my studies. I am going try to add a few more hours of study time next week and see if I can complete 1-2 sub-objectives per week. Some will require more effort than others as I am still struggling with these concepts. Others will go very quickly as they are topics that I am quite familiar with and have used regularly. Within a few weeks, I should be able to tell when I can write 70-411.

Have a great week everyone!

MCSE Studying - Week Ending May 8, 2016

Overview
I missed last weeks summary, so I will combine them both into this weeks post.

I successfully finished the "Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches" book, though it did take a week longer than I had planned. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of learning the basics of PowerShell and I am looking forward to getting the next book, "Learn PowerShell Toolmaking in a Month of Lunches". I also spent some time doing some lab maintenance and getting the Windows Server 2012 R2 GUI and Core images patched and ready in order to speed up the deployment of test servers. I also spent a little bit of time learning about Office 365 and studying for the MCSA 70-411 exam.

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing I covered in the past two weeks was the DISM PowerShell cmdlets. I had previously been doing my image servicing using the classic dism.exe utility. I found it to be frustratingly inconsistent in it's usage. During the process of image servicing, I found that dism.exe had no less than three different switches, referring to the same piece of information, depending on what specific task you were performing. I always had to refer to a cheat sheet to successfully make it through the process.

I made a point of learning the PowerShell equivalents for these commands, and found that they are refreshingly easy to use. After just one run through, I was able to do the rest of the servicing tasks without referring to a cheat sheet, or even a help file. The cmdlets referred to the same information by the same parameter in each cmdlet that I used. Go PowerShell! I am becoming a bigger fan of PowerShell every day.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This weeks cmdlet will in fact, be a set of cmdlets. Referring back to the previous section, I thought it fair to post a link to the page for the DISM cmdlets. Also included is a brief overview of the commands I used to add Windows Update packages to the install image for Windows Server. I will cover these steps and cmdlets in more detail over on The Frozen Geek sometime in the next week or so. (link to follow)

DISM Cmdlets

Listed below are the four cmdlets and the parameters I used:

Get-WindowsImage -ImagePath e:\Images\install.wim

Mount-WindowsImage -ImagePath `
e:\Images\install.wim `
-Index 1 -Path e:\Mount

Add-WindowsPackage -Path e:\Mount -PackagePath `
e:\msu\Core -Verbose

Dismount-WindowsImage -Path e:\Mount -Save


Studying Stats
Total time studying: 5 hrs. 5 min.

• PowerShell: 3 hrs. 50 min.
• Office 365: 15 min.
• 70-411: 1 hr.

IT News, Blogs, and Podcasts

• Blog - Keeping it simple – Line breaks in PowerShell 
• Vlog - Tuesdays with Corey: Azure Container Service GA Announcement 
• Vlog - The Ops Team #018 - "Bruised Banana" 
• Podcast - PowerScripting Podcast - Episode 314 – Live
• Vlog – The Ops Team #019 - "Studio Upgrade" 
• Vlog -  Thursdays with Corey - the new ALIAS feature of AzureCLI 

Resources used:

Learn Windows PowerShell 3 in a Month of Lunches - 2nd Edition: Don Jones & Jeffery D. Hicks
Microsoft Virtual Academy: Office 365 Fundamentals

In Closing
I had a great couple of weeks finishing off "Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches". It deserves a lot more than the brief mention that I am making here, so I am contemplating doing a full review of the book in a separate post. To be brief, however, I will say that the book was awesome!

Next week, I will be starting back into my studies for 70-411, and I will be setting a date for writing the exam. Now that the lab environment is set up (more or less) the way I want it, it should serve as less of a distraction from this point forward.

These posts will hopefully become a little more frequent, as I firmly believe that reviewing my studies a week at a time like this helps to solidify the information in my brain. Learning is something that I am enjoying thoroughly, and I am finding it easier than every to focus in on my studies. I don't see that ever changing, and I hope all of you are also adopting a philosophy of life-long learning. So, on that note...go learn something!

Have a great week everyone!

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

• The OPS Team – Episode 17
• Early look at containers in Windows Server, Hyper-V and Azure – Mark Russinovich

Resources used:

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

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!

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.

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!

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:

KnowledgeNet Live Learning Course: Administering Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

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!

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:

KnowledgeNet Live Learning Course: Administering Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

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!

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!

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:

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

KnowledgeNet Live Learning Course: Administering Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

KnowledgeNet Live Learning Course: Designing and Implementing a Server 2012 R2 Infrastructure

PowerScripting Podcast - Episodes 201, 203, 205, 206, 295

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!

MCSE Studying - Week 36

Overview
Week 36 of my MCSE studies was another step towards my goal of becoming an MCSE. I knew going into the week that it would be tough to top last week, and I was correct. It was difficult to maintain that laser focus that is required to exceed 30 hours of studying in a week. It was not a bad week by any stretch, just not as productive as the previous week. It was a quite simply, a week full of review work as I prepare for the 70-410 exam.

Cool Stuff
As last week was a review week, there wasn't anything that stands out as being particularly cool or interesting.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This week, I picked a cmdlet that I learned about some time ago, but forgot just how useful it really is.

Show-Command

This cmdlet will allow you to pop open a dialog box that gives you a handy form to fill out the parameters, parameter switches, and other information for a given cmdlet.

In this example, I used the following command to bring up the dialog for Get-Service

Get-Command Get-Service

I then filled out the ComputerName and Name fields as show below:

At this time, I can choose to either run the command, or copy it to the console. In my case, I simply chose to run the command. This returned the status of the DHCP Client on the server PS-MEMBER01.

For those of you wondering about the tabs along the top, those allow you to select from the various parameter sets available in the cmdlet.

Stats
Total time studying: 26 hrs. 50 min.

• 70-410: 11 hrs. 45 min.
• 70-411: 6 hrs. 10 min.
• 70-413: 6 hrs.
• PowerShell: 2 hrs. 35 min.
• General: 20 min.

Resources used:

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

KnowledgeNet Live Learning Course: Administering Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

KnowledgeNet Live Learning Course: Designing and Implementing a Server 2012 R2 Infrastructure

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

In Closing
This past week was a good solid week, and with a little more effort, next week will also be a productive one.

Have a great week everyone!

MCSE Studying - Week 35

Overview
Week 35 of my MCSE studies was quite possibly the best week I have had since I started my studies. My focus has been extremely high, and I have studied more, and learned more than I though was possible. I also exceeded the previous record for number of study hours per week by almost 12 hours. This is the level of focus that I have been trying to achieve for months.

To summarize last week's activities: I started the KnowledgeNet Live Learning courses for both 70-411 and 70-413, Mapped out the exam objectives for 70-411, started a review of "Learn PowerShell 3 in a Month of Lunches", started into the Sybex Complete MCSA Study Guide, watched a Channel 9 video, listened to the PowerScripting podcast, and completed three more chapters in the 70-410 Study Guide. I'm going to call that a very successful week.

Cool Stuff
Wow! I scarcely  know where to begin. There was so much cool stuff learned last week . I think the best part of the week was finally being able to put together a PowerShell script that will setup and configure a new Gen 2. virtual machine in Hyper-V. The only thing I have to enter now, is the server name. The script takes the name and proceeds to setup the virtual machine with all of the settings just the way I like them. PowerShell has saved me some more time. Thank you PowerShell!

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This week, I am going to use four cmdlets to demonstrate how to customize the boot order in a Gen. 2 virtual machine in Hyper-V.

Get-VMDvdDrive
Get-VMNetworkAdapter
Get-VMHardDiskDrive
Set-VMFirmware

The scenario is that we want to configure the boot order on a virtual machine called "Ceres" to boot first from the DVD Drive, then from the Hard Drive, and lastly from the Network Adapter.

Step 1: Assign each of the boot device properties to a variable. We do this because the Set-VMFirmware cmdlet will not accept data type <string[]> as input for the -BootOrder parameter. It expects to be given the list of objects as type <VMComponentObject[]>

$vmdvd = Get-VMDvdDrive
$vmvhd = Get-VMHardDiskDrive
$vmnic = Get-VMNetworkAdapter

Step 2: Change the boot order on the server named 'Ceres'.

Set-VMFirmware `
    -VMName Ceres `
    -BootOrder $vmdvd,$vmvhd,$vmnic

You can confirm the boot order either by using the Get-VMFirmware cmdlet, or by checking the virtual machine settings in Hyper-V manager.

Simple and effective.

Stats
Total time studying: 37 hrs. 45 min.

• 70-410: 16 hrs. 20 min.
• 70-411: 10 hrs. 20 min.
• 70-413: 6 hrs.
• PowerShell: 4 hrs. 30 min.
• General: 35 min.

Resources used:

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

KnowledgeNet Live Learning Course: Administering Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

KnowledgeNet Live Learning Course: Designing and Implementing a Server 2012 R2 Infrastructure

MCSA Windows Server 2012 R2 Complete Study Guide - William Panek

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

Channel 9 Video - Our Server Journey

PowerScripting Podcast - Episode 294

In Closing
This has been an awesome week! I was finally able to stay focused and get a lot accomplished. A couple more weeks like that and I will be ready to tackle the 70-410 exam!

Have a great week everyone!

MCSE Studying - Week 34

Overview
Unfortunately, I spent most of week 34 with a head cold that then decided to move down into my chest (I assume it moved because the rent was cheaper). I listened to the PowerScripting Podcast, trying to get caught up on some back episodes. I also spent about an hour jotting down some notes for doing a domain controller setup using media as a replication source vs. the normal method of replicating over the network from another DC. I plan to do a post on this topic over on  "The Frozen Geek" sometime next week. So, while I did not make much progress, I still managed to get some study time in.

Stats
Total time studying: 10 hrs. 5 min.

• 70-410: 1 hr.
• PowerShell: 9 hrs. 5 min.

Resources used:

PowerScripting Podcast - Episodes 217, 218, 220, 289, 290, 291, 292, & 293

In Closing
Well, I really need to get back to my studies next week. The plan is to continue the 70-410 exam preparation, take the 70-411 (and maybe 70-413) Live Learning courses from KnowledgeNet, and get back into some serious PowerShell training. I'm still not back to 100% health, but I am well enough now to continue with my studies.

Have a great week everyone!

MCSE Studying - Week 33

Overview
I have completed week 33 of my MCSE studies, and overall, I was pleased by the results. I finished the KnowledgeNet 70-410 Live Learning course, finished chapters 3 and 4 in the 70-410 training guide, had a little bit of time learning PowerShell, and spent some more time going over my exam notes. I also started exercising this week. I am fortunate that my wife cared enough to drag me out twice this past week for an hour long walk with some of our friends. I really need the exercise, especially now, with my sedentary lifestyle. I think I shall continue the exercise, it seems to help my brain think.

Cool Stuff
I have learned a lot of cool stuff this past week, but I think the biggest victory for me, was finally getting around to figuring out how PowerShell DSC (Desired State Configuration) works. I have been hearing a lot about it in the PowerScripting podcast, but had never got around to learning how to use it, as it is generally considered an advanced PowerShell topic. However, once I discovered it was covered on the 70-410 exam, I knew I had to tackle it head on. I did, and I discovered just how much potential it has to reduce administrative burden, and just how easy it is to use. In a nutshell, DSC is a way to ensure that the servers in a network environment conform to a set configurations, and that any new servers also, automatically, get the same configurations. If you want to know more about DSC, there is a great presentation here:

Channel 9 - Desired State Configuration in Windows Server 2012 R2 PowerShell

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This week's cmdlet is one I used to setup a multi-domain forest in Active Directory over the past few days.

Install-ADDSDomain

Allow me to describe one of the scenarios I where I used this cmdlet.

I had an existing forest root domain called "corp.contoso.com" and I wanted to add a child domain called "europe.corp.contoso.com". I also wanted to ensure that a DNS delegation was setup in the corp.contoso.com domain.

The new server was setup as a member of a workgroup, DNS client configured to point to two of the DNS servers in the corp.contoso.com domain, and had the AD Domain Services role installed.

It is important to remember that when you are adding a new child domain to an existing Active Directory forest, you must supply the credentials for a user in the 'Enterprise Admins' group. Also, even though it is not required, I explicitly stated that I wanted to setup a DNS delegation, and provided the credentials. Finally, again, even though the default parameter for the -DomainType switch is ChildDomain, I added it anyhow, as I wanted to gain as much familiarity as I could with this cmdlet. The final result for this command, also employing Get-Credential:

Install-ADDSDomain `
-NewDomainName europe `
-ParentDomainName corp.contoso.com `
-Credential (Get-Credential corp\Administrator) `
-CreateDnsDelegation
-DnsDelegationCredential (Get-Credential corp\Administrator) `
-DomainType ChildDomain

After entering the password for the corp\Administrator user, I entered the DSRM (Directory Services Restore Mode) password and confirmed it, hit 'Enter' and sat back and waited. A few minutes and one reboot later I had a new child domain created. I logged into one of the DNS servers in the corp.contoso.com domain, and confirmed that the DNS delegation was created successfully.

Of course, I made sure I conformed to Microsoft best practices, and I used Install-ADDSDomainController to add another writable domain controller to the Europe domain. Maybe I'll cover that cmdlet another day.

There we are, one new child domain, lovingly created with Windows PowerShell!

Stats
Total time studying: 25 hrs.

• 70-410: 24 hrs. 25 min.
• 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

Blog - Two Minute PowerShell

In Closing
I had another really good week. My confidence level is finally up the point where I feel that I will be able to pass the 70-410 exam. I will still need to continue to study for another 2-3 weeks, but I will get there. Just a few more weeks, then I can focus on 70-411!

Have a great week everyone!

MCSE Studying - Week 32

Overview
Week 32 of my MCSE studies was not quite as solid a week as I had hoped for, but I still made some progress. I continued the KnowledgeNet 70-410 Live Learning course, started and finished the KnowledgeNet PowerShell 101 Live Learning course, finished the first two chapters in the 70-410 training guide, and spent quite a bit of time going over and organizing my exam notes. I lost a chunk of one day due to a headache that made concentrating quite difficult, and another day due to family obligations. The day I had family obligations was not really lost, as I had a great time with my kids building cardboard airplanes and other fun activities.

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing from week 32 was working with the Windows Server Migration Tools (WSMT). It was nice to not only learn about how it works, but I also spent a few hours in my lab environment migrating the DHCP role from a Windows Server 2008 R2 server to a 2012 R2 server with all settings, reservation, and leases intact. Very cool! I wrote down quite a few notes while I worked through the process, and I have the general flow figured out now. Finally, I can strike WSMT off the list of thing I still need to learn prior to taking the exam.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This week's cmdlet is going to be one of many I used during the DHCP server migration I did this past week.

New-NetFirewallRule

I know it might have been easier to do this using the GUI tools, or perhaps the netsh command line tool (perhaps not), but I would have lost an opportunity to familiarize myself with this new cmdlet. While working on various tasks, I always ask myself "Could I be doing this in PowerShell?". That way, I regularly give myself an opportunity to learn new cmdlets and techniques,

I used it to open up an inbound port to allow WSMT to work it's magic. In this case I used it to create and enable an inbound rule to allow TCP traffic on port 7000, but only on the Domain firewall profile.

New-NetFirewallRule `
-DisplayName "WSMT - Port 7000" `
-Direction Inbound `
-Action Allow `
–LocalPort 7000 `
-Protocol TCP `
-Profile Domain `
-Enabled True

A quick check of the GUI interface for the firewall confirmed that it had been created.

There it is! A firewall rule created, and another PowerShell cmdlet added to my sysadmin tool belt.

* I have decided to start using the back-tick character " ` " in my blog posts to break up a single PowerShell command over several lines. I have noticed that the readability of some of my older posts is a little tricky at times, so by using the ` , I can post a long cmdlet and still have it readable. This is also valid to use at the PowerShell prompt. Typing ` at the end of New-NetFirewallRule will give you a >> prompt, which you can use to enter parameters one at a time. When you are done, simply press 'Enter' to execute the command.

Stats
Total time studying: 25 hrs. 50 min.

• 70-410: 19 hrs. 50 min.
• PowerShell: 6 hrs.

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: PowerShell 101

In Closing
While I did not get as much study time in as I would have liked, I did get more in than last week. A little bit more focus next week should ensure I get the time in I need to study for and pass the 70-410 exam. I had also planned to get an Office 365 subscription and sign up for the free trial of Microsoft Azure last week, but time did not permit that, so I will work on that this coming week as well. With a little luck, and a lot of hard work, I should be able to get back on schedule.

Have a great week everyone!

MCSE Studying - Week 31

Overview
Week 31 of my MCSE studies was my first week back after a break for Christmas, and it was a fantastic week! I started my third and final pass through the KnowledgeNet 70-410 Live Learning course, finished the 70-411 Microsoft Training Guide, started my second pass through the 70-410 Microsoft Training Guide, and did some maintenance to the lab hardware. I also setup 16 virtual machines and one Hyper-V host in preparation for the final push through the 70-410 material before taking the exam. Not only did I learn a lot from the courses, but I also learned quite a bit from setting up Hyper-V and getting virtual machines setup on that particular host. All in all, I had a great time this past week!

Cool Stuff
The coolest thing from week 31? Wow. I'm not sure if it's going to be an easy task to pick just one thing. If I had to pick, it would have to be the 'gotcha' that I discovered while working on setting up some virtual machines on Hyper-V.

I had downloaded the Windows Server 2012 R2 as a VHD in order to speed up the deployment of the lab. I was initially dismayed that I couldn't set up a Generation 2 virtual machine with the VHD, since Gen. 2 VMs can only use the newer VHDX virtual hard drive files. No big deal, I had just found the link in Hyper-V Manager to edit and convert virtual hard drives. I converted the downloaded VHD file to a VHDX, and set up a new Gen. 2 VM. Once again, disappointment. I got a boot failure message. I tried a couple of other things, including re-converting the VHD, but nothing worked. I could get the Gen.2 VM to boot.

A little digging around on the Web revealed the issue. When converting a boot VHD to a VHDX file, a Gen. 1 VM will boot, but a Gen. 2 VM will not. This is due to the difference in boot partition layout and it's incompatibility with UEFI firmware in Gen. 2 VMs. So, in short, if you are using a virtual hard drive converted from a VHD to VHDX, a Gen. 1 VM can use it as either a boot drive or a data drive, but a Gen. 2 VM can only use it as a data drive.

So, while I was disappointed that I couldn't use the converted VHDX file to set up a Gen. 2 VM, I was quite happy that I had discovered this little 'gotcha', and was able to put it into my list of lessons learned.

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
I was torn between two PowerShell cmdlets this week, but I ultimately chose the one most closely related to the topic I discussed in 'Cool Stuff'.

Convert-VHD

For example, if I wanted to convert the VHD file "Server-2012-R2-Eval.vhd", located in the "E:\ISO" folder, to a VHDX file, I would use the following:

Convert-VHD -Path E:\ISO\Server-2012-R2-Eval.vhd -DestinationPath E:\ISO\Server-2012-R2-Eval.vhdx

After waiting for a few minutes, I would have a new vhdx file alongside the original.

To convert a VHD file to a VHDX, remove the original file after the conversion, and change it to a Fixed disk vs. a Dynamic disk, I would use the following:

Convert-VHD -Path E:\ISO\Server-2012-R2-Eval.vhd -DestinationPath E:\ISO\Server-2012-R2-Eval.vhdx -DeleteSource -VHDType Fixed

Simple enough. Just remember, you cannot boot a Generation 2 virtual machine from a VHDX file that has been converted from a VHD file.

Stats
Total time studying: 25 hrs.

• 70-411: 8 hrs. 15 min.
• 70-410: 15 hrs. 25 min.
• Lab Maintenance: 1 hr. 20 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

Training Guide: Administering Windows Server 2012 R2: Orin Thomas

In Closing
This has been one of the best weeks so far! I had a great time, learned a lot, and regained some of the confidence that I had lost over the past few weeks. I am really looking forward to continuing my studies and learning more as I prepare for the 70-410 exam. Also on the plan for the week is to get an Office 365 subscription and sign up for the one month free trial of Microsoft Azure. I look forward to telling you all about my experiences in my next weekly post.

Have a fantastic week everyone!

The Start of Another Trip Around Our Star

Well, the last trip around our star was eventful, to say the least. Some of the highlights include my decision to earn the MCSE certification from Microsoft, start pursing my own self-education (both in IT and in other areas), getting laid off from the job I held for nearly 14 years, learning to become a better father and husband to my family, and travelling approximately 940 million kilometers around the Sun. I cannot take any credit for that last one, though. I was merely along for the ride.

Making the decision to earn myself the MCSE certification was not risky, but it has been challenging. Perhaps more challenging than I thought it would initially be. For the first four months, carving out enough time to study was a huge issue, and one I'm not certain I ever really was able to overcome. Getting laid off from my job certainly opened up a lot of free time, but there is still a lot of material to cover. It wasn't until I broke down the exam objectives into discrete items that I started to realize just how much Microsoft expects you to know in order to pass these exams. Daunting task aside, I am confident that I will be able to complete my MCSA exams before June, and my MCSE exams by the end of the year.

As I have stated in a previous post, getting laid off suddenly, after nearly 14 years, was a huge shock. I don't think anyone could have seen that one coming. The up side to this event is that it has given me ample time to examine where I have come from, and where I want to go. I had been told several times that I was getting too comfortable where I was. I did not understand, at the time, why being comfortable was a bad thing. Everything seemed to be going quite well. I was happy! Or was I?

As I look back, yes I was too comfortable, but no, I don't think that I was happy. I think that my growth as a System Administrator was actually being hampered by the fact that I was unable to expand my knowledge and experience beyond what I had learned in that particular network environment. In a nutshell, I had outgrown the nest I grew up in, and it was time for me to go. So, like any good momma bird would do, for my own good, I was picked up, and dropped out of the nest. I won't deny that the first bounce hurts, but it was what I needed.

Becoming a better husband and father is always a challenge, but one that I gladly accept. I cannot recall anything specific over that past year that has led to a general feeling of improvement, but I know it's there. I have a little bit more patience than I used to, and I am able to pitch in and help more than I used to. If I was forced to identify one change, I would say that it is the realization that a family has to work together as a team. Sure, we are all individuals, with our own desires, wants, needs, and responsibilities, but we also have to work together in order to grow together.

The Earth's orbit around the Sun is nothing I can take credit for. I just held on to the Earth as it whizzed around the our closest star. When I say held on, I really meant that Earth's gravity held my down to it's surface. So, really, I cannot take any credit for this last trip. Here's an interesting fact, the day that I wrote this was the same day as Earth's perihelion (closest point in it's orbit to the Sun). Strange. It doesn't feel that warm. In fact, it was a frosty -30 C when I got up this morning. If you'd like a better explanation of why it's so cold at our closest point to the sun, check out this article.

On to 2015 then!

I usually do not feel compelled to make a bunch of resolutions to mark the beginning of a purely arbitrary point along our orbit of the Sun, and this year is no different. What I will do, is share a couple of my longer term plans that are simply carried over from last year.

First and foremost, is finding employment somewhere that I feel I belong. I am still not sure what I want to do, but as I continue my search for a network I can call home, I am considering a few options. These include working for a large corporation as an Enterprise System Administrator, working as a consultant, and becoming a IT trainer/author. They all have their pros and cons, and before accepting any position, I will be weighing those pros and cons carefully.

My second objective is to complete my MCSE certification. My time frame for completing it is at most, a wild guess. There are so many variables to consider, that it is almost impossible to predict the exact completion date, but it will be completed. I still have the occasional doubt as to how well I will do on the exams, but thankfully I have friends, family, and my instructors all telling me that I am going to do fine.

To be truthful, I feel a little like Bilbo Baggins does at the beginning of The Hobbit. I was in a nice, comfortable home, with a nice, comfortable life, and suddenly, almost inexplicably, I find myself on an adventure, not knowing where exactly it will lead. I do know, however, that by the time I get through the next year, I will be a vastly different person than I am today, and God willing, a better one.

Have a wonderful trip around the Sun!