Planet Solutions Podcasts

Adding virtualization to an environment solves a lot of problems: Consolidation, power use, rapid deployment, and server management to name a few. But, the move to virtualization also makes some otherwise trivial issues fairly problematic if you don't plan for them properly. Backups and disaster recovery are two of these situations. WIth virtualization, both backups and DR have the potential to grow more complicated simply because you have more options in which to best deploy them. With all the options available, its easy to go down the wrong path and implement an architecture that won't ultimately bring you the restore-ability you need. Vizioncore recognizes that both of these topics are challenging when considered within the frame of a virutal environment. So, they attempt to solve some of these complexities through a suite of software add-on products that make easy the process of backups, restore, and DR (as well as some other needs). In this highly-technical discussion with Jason Maddox, CTO of Vizioncore, we talk about the hard concepts associated with virtual backups and the best ways to resolve some of those problems. If you're a user or a potential user of VMware's products for virtualization, you definitely want to take a listen. Jason's advice could save you and your environment plenty of time and headache.

At TechMentor last week, I got the chance to sit down with Darren Mar-Elia, President and CEO of SDM Software to talk about some of the problems associated with Windows Group Policy. A fantastic and no-added-cost feature you get with Active Directory, Group Policy is growing as a significant solution for controlling virtually every component of your desktop environment. But Group Policies everything-for-everyone capabilities sometimes make it challenging to manage and hard to troubleshoot. So sometimes 3rd party add-on tools like those available from SDM Software are useful for making easy what can otherwise be challenging activities. In this podcast, Darren and I talk about Group Policy, the features and issues associated with good GP targeting, and how intelligent 3rd party tools shine up one of Microsoft's best selling points for the WIndows environment.

One of the biggest problems with a data-centric business environment is merely finding the right data in order to do your job. Traditional search tools have some efficacy in completing these tasks, but really understanding not only what you need but what is useful in the eyes of others can be helpful as well. Social sites and the concept of social networking has been around for a while now, with tools like FaceBook connecting people all across the planet. But it also has a play inside the corporate environment as well. Finding others in the corporation who have similar interests and are working on similar projects can augment cooperation. Learning what kinds of content your peers consider "interesting" helps you better understand your job and where you fit. Best of all, leveraging content aggregation and social sites helps you better feel like part of a cohesive team rather than one person in a sea of others. NewsGator has a tool that enables much of this collaborative functionality called Social Sites. In this podcast, I speak with Brian Kellner of NewsGator about their product and how social networking within the corporate firewall can be an excellent fit for today's enterprise environments.

Instructor-led training can be expensive, and its tough to learn through reading multiple-thousand page books. Computer-based training with all its multimedia capabilities lies somewhere in the middle -- reasonably priced, entertaining enough to keep your attention, and a visual source of learning while doing. In this podcast, I interview Roy Furr with CBT Nuggets, makers of all kinds of computer-based training for IT technologies as well as preparation for IT certifications. In this podcast, we talk about the state of CBT's today and how we think the job market is dealing with both training and certification needs. We'll talk about employers and their desire for certified employees, and how businesses can get exceptional training at exceptionally inexpensive prices through the right training channels. Even better, in this podcast we'll talk about an offer which will get your 10% off the price of some training videos through CBT Nuggets. Listen to the podcast to find out how! (Full disclosure: I am an independent trainer for CBT Nuggets)

User Account Control is for many the bane of Windows Vista. Its encompassing ideas of reducing the spread and impact of administrator rights are great in theory, but difficult in practice. But at the same time, getting rid of administrator rights in our networks is a key need that we all wish we could solve. In this podcast, I interview John Moyer, CEO of BeyondTrust. We talk about the regulatory, compliance, configuration control, and malware problems associated with the widespread distribution of administrator rights to those people who shouldn't have them. We discuss how tools exist that are improvements on UAC which eliminate this need while still providing laser-focused elevation for needed applications. I'll admit that i wasn't aware of BeyondTrust's Privilege Manager product, but after talking with John I'm impressed with how this product can secure a network, eliminate unnecessary admin rights, and do so in a manner that's easy to use and fully supported by Microsoft. This one's worth a listen.