September, 2007
by Rick Ralston, Managing Editor
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Mike Salsburg Ph.D.continues his presentations on Virtualization with A Proposed Benchmark for Virtualized Systems. What makes this type of benchmarking different than any before it is that multiple operating systems are running simultaneously on the same server. Each operating system is running within a virtual machine. Each one is referred to as a workload "Tile". Prescribed benchmarks are run within each tile. Each benchmark has a single-value "score" that is measured. If more tiles can be run without slowing down the existing tiles, then the score increases. Even though each tile does not use 100% of the CPU, the aggregate of workload tiles are intended to use all available CPU cycles.
Denise Kalm continues to talk about marketing yourself in Marketing Your Most Important Product - You. Most people say, "I can't sell anything. I'm no good at marketing." And yet, in every personal interaction, you are actually marketing yourself, whether you know it or not. And when you operate unconsciously, the results may not be what you desire. Exploit the techniques successful marketers use to get the job you want, the results you need and the rewards you deserve.
Chris Greco talks about managing scope creep in Monitoring, Availability And . . . Maslow?! Part II. This is the follow-on article from last year's submission on adapting the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs Model to computer technology. This paper addresses the need for requirements delineation without the scope creep that occurs when project managers pass the original mandate (and deadline). By adapting the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs to the requirements process, the project is divided into smaller snippets of resources, continually satisfying requirements as the project manager simultaneously keeps the original mandate on track and costs within the boundaries of that project.
Michael Hines reviews "Beginning Excel What-If Data Analysis Tools: Getting Started with Goal Seek, Data Tables, Scenarios, and Solver" by Paul Cornell. As Performance Analysts and Capacity Planners we are frequently called on to analyze data and draw conclusions. Beginning Excel What-If Data Analysis Tools introduces us to some features of Microsoft Excel that may aid with this analysis.
Mark Freidman reviews "Guerilla Capacity Planning: A Tactical Approach to Planning for Highly Scalable Applications and Services" by Dr. Neil J. Gunther. The book is a companion to Neil's last book, Analyzing Computer Systems Performance With Perl:PDQ from the same publisher, which first became available in 2005. ("PDQ" is short for "Pretty Damn Quick" - can you say that in a family publication? - which is the name of the modeling software that Neil provides in a free download from his company web site at http://www.perfdynamics.com/.) While the earlier book discusses the mathematical background necessary to wield the modeling package effectively and supplies numerous examples illustrating PDQ in action, the latest book is more about attitude. More specifically, it discusses the approach Gunther recommends for being an effective computer capacity planner in today's fast-paced IT environments. It also features several extensively documented case studies that illustrate the principles in action.
Its annual CMG election time again! Mike Salsburg (Nominations Committee Chair) introduces this years candidates and provides a brief interview with each candidate in Get Out The Vote! / Meet The Candidates.
Dr Bernie Domanski, the CMG07 General Chair, invites everyone to attend CMG'07 in San Diego in a video, Watch it, then register for CMG'07.
Kathy Steffens, the CMG07 Program Chair, provides her own comments about the CMG'07 program in Program Chair Update for CMG'07 in San Diego.
Linwood Merritt invites you to attend one of the Two Southern CMG meetings on Thursday and Friday, September 27 and 28 in Richmond and Raleigh, respectively in "Traveling Frank and Rick Show" Scheduled to Appear at Southern CMG Fall Meetings.
Jane Shipman invites you to attend the next Connecticut CMG Meeting on Friday, October 26, 2007, in Cromwell, Connecticut,
Margaret Greenberg invites you to attend the next Midwest CMG meeting on Wednesday, October 17 in Chicago.
Dave Thorn reviews the Philadelphia CMG meeting held on held on Friday, September 14.
We are always interested in receiving your comments, suggestions, and submitted articles. Help us make MeasureIT even better in 2007.
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