03/28/2012
Traveling with your Mac and Gear
0
Mar
28
2012
Nearly everyone will have to travel somewhere at some point in time. For work or play, we tend to travel a lot, on the whole. When you travel, you’re gonna want to take your Mac and your Apple gear with you, and that means you have to remember a few tips:
– Get a case. Nothing can ruin a trip like that $2000 plus MacBook Air getting banged up, and that one-piece case looks beautiful, but dents easily. Get yourself a carrying case and a skin or shield for it. Same goes for your iDevices. No matter what Apple says, a $3 screen shield is a good idea, and a case will often save you from a cracked device.
– Plan your baggage. Remember that iPads and MacBook Pro and Air are all electronic devices that must be taken out of your carry-on luggage and placed in a bin to go through airport security. Don’t bury them at the bottom of your bags and scramble for them in line.
– Get AppleCare+. Things get broken (even with care and cases) and get lost/stolen too. AppleCare+ and/or a 3rd-Party warranty (I use SquareTrade myself) can get your stuff back.
– Sign up for Find My i now. This service allows you to track your phone and iPad if you should lose them someplace. Quite handy when you’re not sure if you left your phone at the hotel, the client’s site, or the pizza joint you were just at.
– Get a travel power strip. You’ll be everyone’s friend with one of these things, because they turn one power outlet (which always seems to be hard to find) into three or more. Many vendors make travel-ready power strips that are compact, and typically have USB ports built in for your iDevices too. It’s hard to ask someone to unplug their stuff so you can charge, it’s easy to ask them to unplug it when you’re going to create three outlets that you both can share.
– Keep an eye on the FAA and TSA sites. The Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Security Administration are changing rules quite often. They may be allowing more electronic devices to be used during takeoff and landing, or changing what kinds of batteries you can bring into the plane. Have a quick look at their sites before your trip, so you are in the know. Of course, if you’re traveling in/through/to other countries, you want to get up to speed on any local and national rules as well.
Travel safe, and travel sane!
03/28/2012
Ready to hit the road?
0by Mike Talon • newbie2virtual
No, really, I’m typing up this blog post as I travel from NYC to Rochester, NY.
That’s got me thinking about how we’re a mobile bunch – us IT folks – traveling anywhere we need to be to do the job we need to do.
This has got me thinking about how to manage Virtual Infrastructure while on the road, no small task, to be sure.
First, you need to have a connection to the Internet in general. On the ground, that’s not so hard, but does require some forethought. You’ll either need to know someplace where you can connect to WiFi, or else bring a mobile modem or WiFi hotspot with you where you’re going. You could tether your phone, but keep in mind that you may not be able to make or receive calls if you do that, so an independent data device may not be a bad idea if you travel a lot.
In the air, that’s a different story. Most major air carriers have WiFi on only a few – if any – flights. Check ahead to see if you’ll have access to connectivity as you fly the rarely-friendly skies.
Then, you’ll need a VPN. When doing remote admin for virtual systems, you will be talking to components like vCenter and Virtual Machine Manager, which means you’ll literally be transmitting the keys to your kingdom across the networks you’re on. Sending that data “in the clear” is a very bad idea.
Once safely linked to a network, you need the right configuration at your datacenter. For VMware, you can use the vCenter Web clients to do most things, but you may want a Remote Desktop Server to allow you to access the full versions of various tools while on the road. This might be Microsoft’s own RDP server, or could be a third-party remote-access tool to your own desktop – depending on the security policies of your organization.
For Cloud platforms, this becomes a bit easier. As these systems are typically designed to be administered via Web interfaces anyway, you won’t need the RDP server, but you still need the connectivity and security. Make sure your vendor supports linking to their tools over HTTPS/SSL and use it – always.
Once you have all these tools and tech lined up, you can administer your Virtual Infrastructure from just about anywhere you can get a mobile signal. Just remember to go slowly and ensure that you save your progress at every opportunity. You never know when the cell network will give up the ghost, leaving you with no connection and a lot of work half-done.
Photo Credit: nrkbeta
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