Problem: I recently ran into an SSH Timeout error while trying to execute a “packer build” for an AMI on AWS. This was very confusing to me because the files were tested successfully in a different AWS account.

Solution to Amazon EKS kubectl error: “Unable to connect to the server: dial tcp x.x.x.x:443: i/o timeout”

Cloud Field Day 8 has lots of familiar names, and a few not-so-familiar names. At least, not as familiar to me. While I know a bit about NetApp, Fortinet, and HashiCorp there’s a company on the list that I’m looking forward to because I don’t know a lot about them - Igneous Systems. While they started as a more traditional storage vendor with a pay-as-you-go as-a-service model, they seem to have pivoted to an unstructured data management / protection as-a-service vendor.

ExtraHop showed off some cool tech at Cloud Field Day 6 (CFD6). During the presentation, the company discussed their Reveal(x) product which solves the problem of packet inspection in clouds such as AWS. For those used to doing traffic inspection in a traditional datacenter, this might not sound like a big deal. A myriad of port mirroring technologies exist in the physical world where customers and manage their own hardware. In the cloud, it’s not so simple. Because of the multitennent nature of cloud, reading packets going across the cloud provider’s network is, let’s just say “problematic.”

Cloud Field Day 6 took place a few weeks ago now, but I’m still thinking about those events. One of the interactions was with Dell where a few us delegates were able to speak to Nick Brackney. The three part series discusses some of the of more interesting aspects of cloud today. I invite everyone to check out the videos, and follow the links back to the articles.

Kubernetes continues to be one of the hottest topics and skillsets in IT. It’s spoken about as the next thing we’ll all be doing. The hype is reminiscent of virtualization back in the early 2000’s. It’s a technology that holds a lot of promise, comes from a good beginning, and has wide industry support. All of those factors should mean success. But it’s how we define success that ultimately matters. We also need to be clear about which problem(s) we hope a technology solves for us.

I had the great pleasure to appear on episode 19 of the Day 2 Cloud Podcast. This was special to me as I remember when this podcast started. I remember thinking how much I enjoyed the concept. Being a guest on it is still kind of surreal.

I encourage you to give this episode a listen. But even better, check out other episodes as well, as there are lots of super talented folks talking about what it’s like using tech in the real world.

The episode can be found here https://packetpushers.net/podcast/day-two-cloud-019-building-your-first-ci-cd-pipeline/

I really had a blast talking to Ned Bellavance . In addition to being deeply knowledgeable on tech, he’s an all around good guy. He also a Pluralsight author, so you can check out his work there as well.

Dell Technologies hosted Tech Field Day delegates for Cloud Field Day 6. I recorded a brief video with some thoughts on what was was presented.

Cloud Field Day 6 will take place in Silicon Valley September 25-27 2019. Cloud Field Day is a focused version of the Stephen Foskett’s Tech Field Day series of events. While Tech Field Day covers a broad array of IT topics, Cloud Field Day places the spotlight on cloud technology vendors. The events gather a group of independent delegates from the tech blogosphere to hear presentations from emerging and established technology vendors. The vendors often demonstrate either new products or features of existing offerings. The vendors I’m most interested in hearing from is HashiCorp. This could be a mini-recap of HashiCorp announcements made at their recent HashiConf conference, a deep dive on an existing product, or maybe an announcement of some sort. The beauty of Tech Field Day is that you never know.

At the end of Day 1 at Dell Technologies World, I had the great honor of sitting down with Keith Townsend (@CTOAdvisor) of thectoadvisor.com as a guest on his CTO Dose Podcast. We discussed a few of the ideas coming out the keynote and our interpretations of those announcements. I always have a great time talking tech with Keith, and I feel like we could have gone on all day. Dell gave us quite a bit to think about and to put into context.

Note: This was after Day1. Day 2 went far deeper into the tech itself.

The video is below.

You can also get this in audio form by going to Keith’s Podcast which is available on most platforms.

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cto-advisor/id1011013070

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/virtualizedgeek/the-cto-advisor-chat

Player.FM : https://player.fm/series/1534173

This week was super busy due to Dell Technologies World . Tech Field Day Extra also held an event at the Dell Technologies World conference where delegates to talk to Dell partners highlighting their products. Dell released a flurry of new products and services in the infrastructure space. Personally, I get far more from the analysis from places like CTOAdvisor and Silicon Angle around the announcements than the announcements themselves.

Intel’s launch event held on April 2, 2019 served as a forum to announce new products designed to tackle three distinct areas in Enterprise IT. - compute, persistent storage, and networking. Combined, the products should lead to new servers optimized for better cloud computing platforms.

Amazon has made available a new set of graphics in Visio, and other formats. These stencils are an excellent resource for architects and engineers who need to document cloud environments.

The symbols can be found here: https://aws.amazon.com/architecture/icons/

All the major file formats are available including: EPS, PNG, SVG, Visio, and PowerPoint. Interestingly, there are two sets of PowerPoint shapes. One supports light backgrounds. The other supports dark backgrounds. I’ve included an example of what each looks like for comparison.

Many government websites have been taken offline as the US Government shutdown continues. The site that may affect IT Pros and developers the most is Data.gov. Acting as the US Government’s main data portal, it’s used by many different visitors for multiple reasons. Everything from agricultural data to crime statistics can be found there. Visiting Data.gov brings up a message saying they are offline “until further notice.” Anyone who relies on this site is potentially left without options.

How to connect to an Azure SQL DB is a question that comes up for a lot of admins used to administering on-premises SQL Server. Connecting to the cloud managed version of SQL Server is very similar to the local datacenter version and uses the same tools. Both SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and SQL Server Data Studio can be used to connect to Azure SQL Database.

Meeting government security mandates can be challenging to say the least. It’s often a laborious and confusing process. A myriad of controls all need to be addressed and proven to assessors. Microsoft has assembled a collection of documents that assists Federal customers in understanding which security controls are inherited from Azure and which remain the responsibility of the customer.

I recently completed the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate exam. This blog post details some of my exam prep experience and testing tips.

When using MS Azure to create Infrastructure as a Service based solutions, choosing an appropriate server type is crucial to not only performance, but controlling costs. B Series Servers might be the right option for your workload.

My Azure bill was higher than expected. I looked deeper and found a VM in a state that read "Stopped (still incurring compute charges)." Which translated to “I turned my VM off incorrectly.”

Now that the Dell Technologies World conference has ended, I've had a little time to reflect. This year's Dell Technologies World conference took place April 30 - May 2. It was a large show encompassing keynotes, breakout sessions, Guru sessions, Customer Meetings, Solutions Center, and so much more.