October 25, 2013

SAN Storage Best Practices for SQL Server
The SAN admin’s been telling you everything’s fine, and that it must be a SQL Server problem, right? Well, maybe – but to find out, you’re going to have to crack open some books – or blog posts, at least. This page is my favorite resources for: How storage works; How SQL Server connects to storage (pathing); How SQL Server uses storage; Vendor-specific SAN best practices for SQL Server; and General SAN best practices for SQL Server


Should Behaviors Drive our Personas?
The Simplicity is not in completing the map. The Simplicity is in understanding the customer and delivering each and every time with relevant communication that attaches to the customer work (CLEAR), their needs (Behavioral) and with desired outcomes (Know, Feel, Do). Do not complete this from your point of view but from the point of view of the customer. Here is my attempt at a Simplicity Persona.


Security tool delivers surprise insights to Domino's Pizza
But in the course of experimentation, Turner says it was discovered that the tool could also see and analyze some business data coming into the Domino’s website that would help the marketing department. “The user gives us information for pizza delivery and now we can pull a log of how many times a coupon was used,” says Turner about what he found out experimenting a bit with Splunk. Previously, coupon usage online was a lot harder to quickly present to marketing, he points out.


Financial services IT spend to reach £265 billion in 2014
"Bankers continue to be selective with IT initiatives, focusing on those that can deliver value to their clients and the organisation, while also satisfying the mandate of reducing costs and improving efficiency,” said Karen Massey, senior analyst for banking at IDC Financial Insights. “Expect to see projects around risk and compliance, core and infrastructure modernisation, customer experience and security, which are lifting our otherwise tempered forecasts."


16 Traits of Great IT Leaders
Being an exceptional leader is about more than getting the job done. You've got to balance your team's need with your goals and objectives as well as your emotions. You've got to think about things from other people's perspective and sometimes do things that, while are in the best interest of the team, might not be great for you. While there a number of different leadership styles, the best leaders share some common traits.


Only 39 percent of IT projects successful? That's a good start
There's actually nothing new in this finding -- in fact, 39% probably is pretty optimistic compared to other studies done over the years, such as Standish Group's Chaos report, which suggests that only 30% of projects meet their goals. Still, there are many areas where IT organizations don't seem to be cutting the mustard. For example, only 43% of the sample report that their IT organizations collaborate with the business on business.


Meet one of Steve Jobs' only bosses
Nolan Bushnell, co-founder of Atari, and founder of Chuck E. Cheese along with a couple dozen other companies, is no stranger to managing people. He was one of Steve Jobs' only bosses. Reining in creative talent and retaining it is a long-nurtured skill of Bushnell's, and his new book, Finding the Next Steve Jobs, aims to teach others how to do the same. Bushnell's advice often seems counterintuitive. Who would want to "hire the obnoxious," "ignore the credentials," "celebrate failure," and "encourage ADHD?"


Getting cloud capacity planning right in the face of oncoming growth
A cloud provider's success is tied directly to its ability to properly estimate resource requirements and to successfully scale its infrastructure without overcommitting and overbuilding. Because cost is such an important element in the competitive cloud equation, as are concerns about reliability and performance, providers need to have a firm understanding of their customers' expectations for Quality of Service as they architect their cloud platforms.


Cisco fixes serious security flaws in networking, communications products
Cisco also released updates that fix a known Apache Struts vulnerability in several of its products, including ISE. Apache Struts is a popular open-source framework for developing Java-based Web applications. The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2013-2251, is located in Struts' DefaultActionMapper component and was patched by Apache in Struts version 2.3.15.1 which was released in July.


Mavericks: The end of Macs in the enterprise?
So, what's the problem? Well, I'll tell you what the problem is. If I'm a CIO, I'm being forced by security concerns to upgrade my users' Macs to an untested operating system. Maybe my company's programs will work with it, maybe they won't. I don't know. As a CIO all I really know is that Apple is forcing me to choose between opening my Mac desktops to attacks or taking a chance that everyone in my office is going to come screaming to my door with complaints about broken programs.



Quote for the day:

"One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak." -- G. K. Chesterton

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