Reason for not updating this blog

Hi all.

Let me start with an apology for not updating my blog for almost a month. This has majorly been due a lot of undertakings on my side, some personal and some professional. But in the next few weeks, I would be putting up some really cool stuff , things that I have been busy with during this month that I was away.

Below are the things I had been involved in.
1. TechEd 2009
I managed to get tickets to Microsoft New Zealand TechEd 2009, which was held at Skycity Convention Center here in Auckland from September 14 - 16, 2009 [One of the project managers for Codeplex , Microsoft's open source hosting site, Sara Ford , decided to jump off the Sky Tower which at 192m is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. You can see her in action here ]. This was my first TechEd and I was overwhelmed with all the information that was offered. There were some things that I already knew and the sessions broadened my understanding in those areas, while there were others that I was not aware about. All in all it was a really nice experience. The theme of this year seemed to be centered around Windows 7 since that was the topic of most of the talks. One of the few lines that stuck to me was "Windows 7 is the first Microsoft offered Operating System that runs on a lower hardware spec than its predecessor".
2. RSA Training and Certifications
I attended a week of training around RSA SecurID Authentication Manager. I always had a very basic understanding of RSA tokens and how they plugged in to a corporate environment. This course really opened my eyes around them. RSA has build a whole infrastructure around authentication, whereby you can have realms of authentication servers, with clustering, replicas, server nodes, inter-realm trusts and authentications. It was really nice to see all this and more. For more information please visit the RSA website. After the training I took two weeks to re-read and digest all the information, going through the course manuals and other administation documentations to prepare for my RSA exams. I am happy to say I passed them both. I now hold the following RSA certifications
RSA Certified Administrator
RSA Certified Systems Engineer
To get more details, visit the RSA Certifications website.
3. Books
I have been reading quite abit about VMware and how it can be used for VDI deployment. There are similar offerings from Microsoft using their HyperV technology and also from Citrix with their Xen flavor of platforms. Also, I am trying to get my internet security skills up to speed as well, and this involves a lot of reading. Sadly I wasnt able to get myself a ticket to BlackHat or to Defcon. I guess the biggest hurdle was the price tag. Well someday I will be able to afford to pay my way to them, or might find a sponsor :D

As I stated in the opening lines of this article, I will be posting some really cool stuff on this blog in the next few weeks, so do check back, unless you have got RSS or twitter feeds enabled, in which case you will be notified as soon as the articles get posted. The topics I will be covering are

A brief overview of the RSA SecurID Infrastructure
Windows 7 - the good the bad and the Ugly
Virtual Infrastructure - An overview of where the technology currently is and the various offerings from the different vendors (VMware,Microsoft,Citrix)
VDI - Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. What is VDI and how you could use it in your environment.

Hope to see you all back in a few weeks. Have a great weekend.