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Cloud Platform assumes the responsibility of “Data Centers on the Fly”. The reason for this comment is manifested in the elasticity of resources that can be provisioned near-real-time. Literally, you can spin up or down instances in a matter of minutes. Matter of fact you can copy and erect an entire Architecture Stack in hours from one region to another using CloudFormation without any formal procurement process. However, projecting, predicting and approval of costing from appropriate departments may be necessary.

On any Cloud Hosting Platform resources will be shared amongst many tenants while keeping Security as a prime requirement. This means resources such as; CPU, Memory, Disk Storage which are hosted on a common Physical Architecture will be shared in a multi-tenant model. This is clearly depicted in the following diagram (AWS Security White Paper, Page 28)

Contrary to a traditional Data Centers where many rudimentary responsibilities are assumed by Data Center Providers, Cloud Providers such as AWS provides them to their customers hassle free. For example, Physical Security, Redundant Power Supply from multiple Power Grids, Availability Zones (think of them as Data Centers) in low flooding zones, Access to a facility with ONLY state-of-the-art technologies and much more. 

Additionally, AWS Cloud has augmented many software solutions/packages as pre-packaged services for either free or nominal cost. This provides an efficient way of using these services without the worries of updates on version and security patches. Simple Queue Services (SQS), Docker, Chef are just to name a few services that are ready and available for AWS Cloud Customers. 

The latest version of Windows Server, Windows Server 2012 deals with technological upgrades in storage and cloud computing. It includes enhancements in the graphical user interface, address management, active directory, Hyper-V, file system, storage migration, clustering, and NIC teaming. A practical introduction to the installation and configuration of Windows Server 2012 can be gained through a certified course that will impart you the necessary skills and expertise to implement a core Windows Server 2012 infrastructure efficiently. 

Course Outline

The program for installing and configuring Windows Server 2012 is a five-day course that comes under the first part of the series of three courses that have been conceptualized to create a core Microsoft server 2012 structure in an existing enterprise. The course details include:

Module 1: Deploying and Managing Windows Server 2012 

It introduces the learners to an operation of post-deployment and administrative tasks. It provides an overview of Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 Management. Installing Windows Server 2012, post-installation configuration of Windows Server 2012 and introduction to Windows PowerShell are also covered. 

Module 2: Introduction to Active Directory Domain Services

It includes an overview of AD DS, Domain Controllers and teaches installation of Domain Controller. 

Module 3: Managing Active Directory Domain Services Objects

The students will be able to manage user accounts, groups, computer accounts, and delegate administration after this module. 

Module 4: Automating Active Directory Domain Services Administration

This module teaches command-line tools for AD DS administration, use of Windows PowerShell for AD DS administration and teaches bulk operations with Windows PowerShell. 

Module 5: Implementing IPv4

It provides an overview of TCP/IP, understanding of IPv4 Addressing, Subnetting & super netting and configuration and troubleshooting of IPv4.

Module 6: Implementing Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

It provides an overview of the DHCP server role and teaches configuring DHCP scopes, managing a DHCP database as well as securing and monitoring DHCP. 

Module 7: Implementing DNS

It teaches name resolution for Windows clients and servers, installation of a DNS Server and management of DNS Zones. 

Module 8: Implementing IPv6

This module includes an overview of IPv6 and teaches IPv6 addressing, coexistence with IPv4 and IPv6 transition technologies. 

Module 9: Implementing Local Storage

It provides an overview of storage, manages disks & volumes and teaches the implementation of storage spaces. 

Module 10: Implementing File and Print Services

It includes implementing file and print services, securing files and folders, protecting shared files and folders by using shadow copies, configuring work folders and configuring network printing. 

Module 11: Implementing Group Policy

This module teaches an overview of group policy, group policy processing and implements a central store for administrative templates. 

Module 12: Securing Windows Servers Using Group Policy Objects

It teaches security overview of Windows operating systems, configuring security settings, restricting software and configuring windows firewall with advanced security.

Module 13: Implementing Server Virtualization with Hyper-V 

This module provides an overview of virtualization technologies, implementation of Hyper-V. It also teaches management of virtual machine storage and virtual networks.

Course Outcome

This course is chiefly intended for enhancing the skills of IT professionals as it imparts the basic technicalities related to installation and configuration of Microsoft server 2012. On completion of the course, you will be able to describe AD DS, manage active directory objects, automate active directory administration and secure Windows servers by using group policy objects (GPOs). You will also be able to implement IPv4, dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), domain name system (DNS), IPv6, local storage, file and print services, group policy, and server virtualization by using Hyper-V. 

Enhance Your Career Prospects and Job Opportunities

The windows server 2012 course is best suited for IT administrators and tech support executives as it lays the foundation for Microsoft’s new generation of cloud-optimized credentials. It also improves corporate infrastructure and makes assigning of team policies easy by establishing a controlled network within a team. The growing demand for these functions have led to an upsurge in the job prospects of IT professionals as the average pay after getting this certification can be around $50,649 for candidates with 1-year experience. Gradually, with time it can rise to $75,850 but the job role and experience plays a crucial role in getting the maximum benefit from this lucrative career-enhancing course. 

About the Author: Ed Sattar

Ed Sattar is the CEO of  360training and founder of 360factors, an operational risk and compliance management software company.  For more than a decade, Sattar has been a start-up entrepreneur. Invested in and on the board of several e-businesses.

He has made significant contributions to the e-learning industry across multiple industries. During his tenure, he has identified key criteria and e-learning compliance standards that are currently being published and implemented.

Ed Sattar has been nominated for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award three times and was among the top seven finalists in 2009. He has appeared on the Deloitte Fast 50 as the leader of the 6th fastest growing company in Texas and got the companies listed in Inc 5000 several times as one of the fastest growing companies under his leadership.

Ed studied Electrical Engineering and Finance at the University of Texas at Austin.     

A part of the Agile framework, the Scrum methodology can help IT teams complete software development projects efficiently by improving communication and speed.

By becoming certified in Scrum, professionals demonstrate that they have the adequate knowledge to keep complex technology projects on track and within budget.  

Here are a few other benefits to becoming a Scrum Master:

         1. Better Team Collaboration

Developers and IT professionals have shown their trust in cloud hosting services like Microsoft Azure, over the years, to build, deploy and manage applications. With the benefit to build and deploy anywhere, using your own choice of tools, applications and frameworks, Azure has certainly aided in accelerating app innovation. This public Microsoft cloud computing service has allowed users to move to the cloud with confidence by providing enhanced scalability, flexibility, platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings, ease of use and more -- all while cutting down on costs. 

With so many services at hand, application performance issues may occur and can impact your business. No matter how good your testing skills are, your app users will always find shortcomings and issues that need to be tackled immediately. Monitoring is the key here. Monitoring can help ensure a smooth operation of your cloud-based application by keeping you aware of the health of your cloud-based infrastructure, application uptime, any potential performance bottlenecks, or any security threats. However, you need a combination of tools to meet your monitoring requirements. Microsoft Azure is equipped with a range of tools for monitoring and identifying the problems in Azure applications and services, and further enables you to fix them for a seamless function.

Here, we are going to discuss some principal Azure tools to monitor applications running in Microsoft Azure:

Azure Monitor: Azure Monitor is the basic tool for monitoring your resources and to understand what is happening in your Azure applications and services. This monitoring tool provides base level infrastructure metrics and logs for various Microsoft Azure services. Azure Monitor can aid in workload monitoring and allow you to decide whether to scale up or scale down resources when managing apps in Azure.

Application Insights: Application Insights is an Azure tool that informs you about any performance issues and exceptions, and helps you find and diagnose the root causes. Capable of being hosted on-premises as well as cloud platforms, this extensible Application Performance Management (APM) service works for apps on various platforms including.NET, Node.js, and J2EE. It not only seamlessly integrates with your DevOps process but also has connection points to a number of development tools.

Log Analytics: Log Analytics in Operations Management Suite gathers and combines data from various sources and delivers a holistic IT management solution for Azure, on-premises, and third-party cloud-based infrastructure. You can get real-time insights to analyze millions of records across all of your workloads and servers irrespective of their physical location. It also allows complex queries across all log data and proactively alert on particular specifications.

In order to successfully run and reap maximum benefits of these tools, you need to enrich your technical skills with deep, hands-on Azure training. After the in-depth training, you can get your skills recognized with Microsoft Azure certification. This will help you achieve your cloud goals and a better career advancement in the niche. 

Career Opportunities

Cloud technology is a swiftly growing sector that infiltrates every aspect of modern business. This rapid expansion created a skills gap and IT departments are facing a deficiency of quality professionals to effectively support cloud projects. On the other hand, it is important to note that Microsoft Azure is now the second largest provider of cloud infrastructure services, which provides a wide range of career opportunities to professionals with a certification in Microsoft Azure.  

If you are looking to make a career in this sector, a good idea is to start with a Microsoft Azure Fundamentals course. This self-learning course provides professionals with the fundamental knowledge they will need to evaluate deploying, configuring and administering services and VMs using Azure. For professionals with experience in building ASP.NET and C# applications, the 2-day Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions course will let them take an existing ASP.NET MVC application and enhance its functionality as part of moving it to Azure. This course will also help professionals to prepare for the 70-532: Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions certification exam.

QuickStart offers a wide range of MS Azure certifications to help professionals build a lucrative career in the cloud computing space. Growing at an incredible 154% YOY growth rate, Azure holds tremendous potential, outpacing the average rate of growth in the IT sector as a whole. 

About the Author: Ed Sattar

Ed Sattar is the CEO of  360training and founder of 360factors, an operational risk and compliance management software company.  For more than a decade, Sattar has been a start-up entrepreneur. Invested in and on the board of several e-businesses.

He has made significant contributions to the e-learning industry across multiple industries. During his tenure, he has identified key criteria and e-learning compliance standards that are currently being published and implemented.

Ed Sattar has been nominated for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award three times and was among the top seven finalists in 2009. He has appeared on the Deloitte Fast 50 as the leader of the 6th fastest growing company in Texas and got the companies listed in Inc 5000 several times as one of the fastest growing companies under his leadership.

Ed studied Electrical Engineering and Finance at the University of Texas at Austin.               

Six Sigma is an advanced and flexible set of methodologies focused on improving the efficiency of corporate processes. Specifically, it is used in a variety of industries to lessen the amount of defects within those processes. While there are a few different project management methodologies out there, Six Sigma primarily focuses on minimizing variability.

Learning Six Sigma can not only improve your business, but it can also leave you open to future employment opportunities. 

Better Business

Knowing how to apply the Six Sigma method effectively can have positive impacts on your business. Through improved processes and quality control, applying these methodologies can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty by delivering a better product. This, in turn, can lead to an increase in business and revenue.  

All in all, Six Sigma can create a strong and affable team atmosphere. Employees have the tools to pursue excellence and minimize mistakes, and this clear path to success can be liberating. From a business level, these effects are extremely beneficial overall.  

Dream Bigger

Six Sigma consists of two levels, Green Belt and Black Belt. While having a Six Sigma Green Belt certification is certainly advantageous, going that extra mile and obtaining a Black Belt certification proves that, not only do you have an adequate knowledge of Six Sigma, but you are prepared to take on a leadership role within your organization. Once this level is achieved, a professional is ready to drive efforts to improve processes and ultimately, the quality of their product.

As you can see, becoming Six Sigma Black Belt certified can benefit both you and your company. Thankfully, QuickStart makes it easy to train for the certification through our comprehensive, self-paced Six Sigma Black Belt course. Learn to demonstrate team leadership, understand team dynamics and assign team member roles and responsibilities.

Or, if you’re interested in other project management methodologies, like Agile or ITIL, consider enrolling in our new Learn subscription which gives you access to hundreds of on-demand courses for only $29.95 a month. Take as many courses as you’d like and be one step closer to achieving the career you want!

18-19^th May 2017, New York, USA: Namely, a company providing an all-in-one HR platform, organized HR Redefined, a summit where HR professionals across the country huddled together to share their insights and learn from the industry experts. Held at the Namely headquarters in the Financial District, New York, the summit aimed to provide actionable advice with every session. Over 200 leading HR professionals attended the summit and some of the biggest names addressed the summit by sharing their vision through interactive presentations.

A leading People and Culture Officer, Mary Lanier-Evans from QuickStart and it’s sister companies. 360Training and 360Factors spoke at length on employer branding and discussed its impact on the overall HR functions of onboarding, recruitment, and culture. Her presentation was titled “HR:  Becoming the storyteller of an organization”. She was also selected to serve as a client advisor to one of fourteen teams, during a 24-hour hackathon event, that was coordinated during the summit. 

The summit covered several breakout sessions and keynotes that gave attendees a chance to meet, network and learn from their peers. The summit included hands-on training sessions and a chance to review and provide feedback on Namely’s product roadmap.  Namely’s client summit was organized with the goal of ascertaining changes HR professionals are bringing to their organizations with an innovative work approach.  

About QuickStart

For 30 years, QuickStart has been known as a provider of premier IT technical and developer training and the industry’s only four-time Microsoft Gold Learning Partner. Today, our mission is to help IT organizations and professionals improve performance excellence and professional development with the industry’s only multi-modality IT learning and development platform.

Daily news segments continue to reveal that Information Security professionals are in high demand. Data, whether big or small, is the lifeline of most businesses and they are willing to do what it takes to protect this information.

This is great news for current IT professionals who are exploring next career steps, as this particular IT discipline has the potential to be lucrative. However, deciding to pursue a career in Information Security is only the first step. Aspiring security analysts must also get proper training and eventually consider certification. But which certification is the right one?

Take a look at the differences between these two information security certifications and see which is right for you.

CASP Certification

While this certification isn’t as popular as the CISSP, it still is a good indicator of experience level and knowledge. To be eligible for this certification, a professional must have 10 years of prior experience, with at least half of that being from technical hands-on experience. Also, this CompTIA exam takes a more technical approach than the CISSP, which seems to be more concept-based.

CISSP Certification

The CISSP certification is definitely the most well-known of the two certifications, as it is used widely among government agencies and other prominent companies.  While the CASP exam is arguably easier and less expensive, earning a CISSP certification will undoubtedly get you noticed by a hiring manager.

So, which one?

Well, earning any type of specialized certification shows employers that you have a thorough knowledge of your field and that you are committed to continuing that development of skills. This will eventually lead to higher salaries and more job prospects.

So, whether you’re interested in CompTIA CASP or CISSP training, QuickStart can help you prepare adequately for your exam and ultimately earn your certification.

From a business management perspective, executives look to IT for help in keeping their business running smoothly and to maintain the existing operations needed to do so. However, these responsibilities can be a challenge for IT managers, who must also find innovative ways to improve business overall and incorporate new technical requirements.

When practicing service management, IT departments should be able to manage processes as successfully as possible, so that they are able to focus more on overall continual improvement. Can implementing ITIL processes within your organization be the key to improving your current services and delivering a better business experience to your customers?

Here are some questions to ask yourself before you implement ITIL practices among your team.

1) Is your team dedicated to being proactive?

It can be easy to believe that everyone should improve everywhere they can, but this mindset is not realistic. Continual improvement must be consistent.

Therefore, IT managers must find ways to make modest changes and achieve attainable goals. Make a substantial commitment to measuring your data. Decide whether your current processes are working to benefit the business and make changes from there.

Be proactive about improvement, instead of waiting for something to go wrong. Making changes in small increments will lead to a more efficient system down the road.

2) Is tracking incident data important to your team?

Incident management is not very exciting, but it’s necessary to ensure the quality of services delivered to your customers. Fewer incidents mean better service.

When services are available to the customers without disruption, the business can function properly and the customer is happy.

It is impossible to pinpoint the areas of service management that need improvement if you don’t know where most of the problems are occurring. Incident data becomes the basis for how we improve and use other processes like problem management, configuration management, and root cause analysis.

Valuable incident data is crucial to implementing a successful ITIL system.

3) Do you need designated process and service owners?

Governance is a fundamental component of IT service management. If no one is accountable for certain processes, how can we expect to improve them or deliver business value?

Having process owners and service owners doesn’t mean that those individuals do all the work. In fact, all processes should be cross-functional. However, it is important to establish which people have the authority to make certain decisions.

Without the specific focus of process owners, nothing would get done. They decide if they have the right people with the appropriate tools and skills to successfully execute a process.

Service owners keep our eyes focused on the value of services delivered to the customer and ensure a cross-functional effort to supply whole working services.

Without anyone to own these projects, no one has the authority to drive improvements, therefore they just don’t happen.

4) Are you prepared to audit your current processes?

By definition, ITIL is a set of 26 best practices that aid IT service management. And yet, ITIL isn’t so much about the processes themselves but what they deliver. They are intended to deliver a set of services to support business outcomes and do this in a faster, cheaper, and better way.

If your processes are successful individually, yet are unaligned, they will never be as efficient as they have the potential to be. So, as you survey the connections between each of these processes, also keep in mind how they work together to provide a customer with certain end-to-end services.

From both an IT and business management standpoint, improvements happen when we eliminate as many unnecessary steps as possible. Fortunately, through process management and innovations in tooling, IT departments have the capability to cut down on the time and money required to do this.

5) Have you defined your processes?

Obviously, tools are important to service management and eventually you will need them, but they do not help us achieve our targets alone. By defining your processes, you are able to understand your requirements and ultimately discover what you want those tools to accomplish.

Are your processes going to establish and enforce policies? Which processes do you need to actually implement?

Organizations that take the time to define their processes realize that utilizing tools becomes significantly easier once they’ve discovered what they need the tool to do.

*Note: See our attached infographics: “What is A Process” and “Service Operation Model”

6) Are you ready to delegate, instead of relying solely on automation?

Automation can be great if we have a clear understanding of what we want to automate.

Automation can lead to a high level of consistency, repeatability, and control. It can also lead to epic disaster if not used efficiently.

Again, it is critical to first understand what you want to accomplish from your processes. Once you’ve done that, implementing automation can lead to improvements and increased availability of services.

Remember that each of these ITIL processes are not mutually exclusive. They work together. But which ones are you going to focus on as an organization to help drive business initiatives? Automation can help you achieve that focus.

As an IT manager, you should only manage the projects and processes that you have to manage. Everything else you must either delegate or automate.

7) Do you know what data you need, versus what you could get?

When you begin to look at various ITIL process areas, you quickly discover that a “less is more” mentality is a great general strategy to have.

For example, the current amount of data available to IT departments is astounding. Yet, it is more prudent to focus on the information you want, as opposed to the buckets of information you could get. Large amounts of data have the potential to overwhelm you and keep your focus off the particular data you need to get the job done.

Concentrate on critical data to improve critical services. Small iterations are easier to manage and the benefits are easier to deliver.

8) Are you ready to set modest and manageable goals for your team?

You can’t accomplish everything and you shouldn’t try. Commit to small and important victories and build momentum from there.

Getting your processes and procedures in order starts by asking if they are functioning the way you want them to function. If not, take steps to understand why.

Participating in workshops and training sessions will help start the conversation among IT workers about how to make these improvements and ultimately enhance the quality of your services.

If you’ve checked most of the boxes above, implementing ITIL may be a beneficial way to improve IT service management within your business.

When you’re ready to take your team to the next level, QuickStart offers comprehensive ITIL foundations and certification training to give employees the skills to implement a successful service management program.

QuickStart is thrilled to launch its flagship Master Subscription which includes 600+ online and virtual instructor-led training at this year’s InteropITX conference in Las Vegas this week. Representatives attending have had the pleasure of meeting with IT professionals from a variety of industries and discussing ways in which to optimize IT performance and career growth through an effective technology training platform based on artificial intelligence

Visitors to QuickStart’s booth, located at slot 547, have been given an in-depth look at the company’s newest offerings, including the Learn and Master Subscription plans. Setting a new standard in the industry, the Master subscription provides access to over 600 + on-demand and virtual instructor-led technology courses in IT disciplines spanning information security training, cloud computing training, dev ops training, big data and application development training.

This new offering is a great value and an ideal option for a modern learner who wants to have access to training materials or mentors real time and sharpen their skill set in the fast-paced IT industry. Learners who subscribe to the online library will be able to participate in both end user, IT technical training and IT leadership training considering this is an area where IT Professionals are the most deficient in.

New and additional courses will be added continuously to address evolving technology trends. This new training subscription is an opportunity for IT professionals to improve their value in a rapidly changing industry. Marketing Manager, Zia Saeed says, “We are very excited about this plan. The Master Subscriptions enables our customers to choose the mode of learning that fits their style, while also allowing them to develop deep expertise in their area of interest, all in a very cost effective manner.”

Attendees of InteropITX are encouraged to visit QuickStart at Booth 547 to learn more about these plans and discover what the company can do to help IT teams and individual professionals improve skill sets and performance overall.

Interop ITX is the industry’s most trusted independent Conference focused on Full Stack IT education for technology leaders. The conference provides professionals like you with a trusted environment to learn, collaborate and uncover new strategies and solutions needed to lead teams and businesses through constant change and disruption.

For 30 years, QuickStart has been known as a provider of premier IT technical and developer training and the industry’s only four-time Microsoft Gold Learning Partner. Today, our mission is to help IT organizations and professionals improve performance excellence and professional development with the industry’s only multi-modality IT learning and development platform.

As a Microsoft Learning Partner, QuickStart is proud to offer courses to IT professionals looking for in-depth technical classroom training using Software Assurance Training Vouchers (SATV’s).

Companies enrolled in Microsoft licenses with Software Assurance are eligible for these vouchers, which help IT departments deploy, manage, and support new software, stay current with technology, and enable easy adoption for end users—all without impacting their budget.

Based on your amount of qualifying licenses covered with Software Assurance, your company receives a certain number of days with which to train IT employees. 

By choosing to redeem your SATV vouchers with QuickStart, you’ll get:

• Premium IT training content developed by Microsoft-certified instructors
• Flexible classroom options (including virtual instructor-led)
• Both end-user and technical training options
• Hands-on labs
• 24/7 technical support