Resource Library

I attended a meeting this week with a customer of mine and a potential new vendor. The new vendor was there to pitch his configuration and setup service offerings for a specific ITSM toolset. My customer has already had one bad experience with an ITSM tool configuration vendor who promised one thing and delivered much less. He ended up with a tool that’s minimally used and not configured to match his business needs. He’s looking for a vendor that can understand his business needs and priorities and quickly help him get his tool configured and working in a short time frame. Then the topic of standard changes came up. My customer asked for examples of standard changes. The vendor responded, “Server reboots are an example of standard changes.”

“Twisted Pair” is another way to identify a network cabling solution that’s also called Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) and was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1881. Indoor business telephone applications use them in 25-pair bundles. In homes, they were down to four wires, but in networking we use them in 8-wire cables. By twisting the pairs at different rates (twists per foot), cable manufacturers can reduce the electromagnetic pulses coming from the cable while improving the cable’s ability to reject common electronic noise from the environment.

The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) is a powerful tool for managing storage on Linux servers. This video provides an overview of how LVM works and explores several ways that LVM makes storage management easier and more flexible. Examples include how to expand storage capacity on the fly using LVM and resize2fs, and how to migrate data from local storage to a storage area network (SAN) without downtime using pvmove.

Accessing cloud-based resources, whether they be IaaS/PaaS/SaaS-based, is very convenient. With a browser and Internet connection, you are up and running. No driving to your work office, no need to log into the corporate network. Just open up your web browser and go. This convenience, however, comes with a security risk. All of your business work is conducted over an insecure communication network. Unlike your office network, where the network link between you and the data center is under corporate control and is physically secure, the cloud access link is over the Internet.

If you want to stay relevant as an IT professional, you have two choices: evolve your current skills or make a big change.

To help you stay ahead of the game, here are ten IT skills that are on the brink of extinction.

It has been over three years since the last revision of the CompTIA Security+ exam back on May 1, 2014. In fall of 2017, the latest version, SY0-501, was released. This revamped exam retains the same six domains as established in SY0-401, which emphasizes security in three main areas: application, data, and host.

For every organization, effective cybersecurity is reliant on a careful deployment of technology, processes and people. The Global Knowledge cybersecurity perspective features a three-tiered organizational matrix, ranging from foundational to expert skills, coupled with eight functional specializations that encompass the features of a successful cybersecurity organization.

As organizations struggle to balance budgets and prioritize training, skills gaps are growing—75% of North American decision-makers report existing skills shortages. And the impacts are potentially disastrous. With so much on the line, initial and ongoing training are instrumental to project and organizational success.

There are two types of networks: those that have been hacked and those that will be. To defend against hacks, cyber professionals can benefit greatly from ethical hacking programs.