Kenneth Hess

The Greek Stoic, Epictetus, said, “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” Through the power of the Internet, we now have approximately three billion mouths speaking and six billion ears listening. But even with twice as many ears as mouths, filtered listening is a […]

According to Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for x86 Server Virtualization Infrastructure 2015, about 75 percent of x86 server workloads are currently virtualized. What began some eight to ten years ago as a way to consolidate underutilized physical systems into less costly virtual ones has become an industry standard. If Gartner’s estimate is correct, then most companies […]

System Administrators (SAs) are a lazy lot. Now, that might seem an unusual way to begin an article about automation, but if SAs weren’t lazy, automation software might have never found a home. It isn’t a bad thing for SAs to be lazy. In fact, it’s a very good thing that they are, otherwise everything […]

Virtual machines have solved a lot of problems and enabled companies to cuts costs. But what happens when an enterprise wants to back up its new legion of virtual machines? Ask any system administrator what the top three pain points of his job are and you’ll likely see a range of responses. However, there’s a […]

For a company to have its own data center is surely a sign of success — and also a major cost burden. Kenneth Hess discusses pathways to more efficient data center operation. Data centers are energy vacuums. Historically, they are sinkholes for money, power and inefficiencies. They don’t have to be. If you’re thinking of […]

Virtualization offers major productivity gains, but truly optimizing your virtual machines is easier said than done. Kenneth Hess overviews some efficiency-boosting tips. Virtual infrastructures suffer from inefficiencies that have simple solutions. From poor virtual machine performance to stalled Motions to confusing system names, these 10 virtual machine optimization tips explain how to easily solve each […]

The debate about the relative merits of solid state drives vs. spinning disks has been heating up as SSDs gain ever more converts. Kenneth Hess discusses the the issue. Have you ever heard the terms, head crash or stiction? Better yet, have you ever experienced either of them? These terms are just two of the […]

The hype about cloud computing is deafening, yet plenty of data storage should stay very much in-house. Kenneth Hess discusses the limits of the public cloud. Cloud discussions aside, business is risky enough without adding another unknown variable to the equation. The public cloud offers inexpensive computing power, rapid application deployment, elastic bandwidth allocation and […]

iPad apps, once thought to be essentially diversions, are emerging as real tools for IT management. Ken Hess discusses the options. Looking up the latest sports scores, having a round of Foosball HD, or listening to your favorite NPR program is not the best business use case for your iPad. However, with a few taps, […]

Critics of cloud computing say that it’s largely hype. Yet as Ken Hess points out, the following solutions and products are clearly gaining steam in the marketplace. It’s time to think about moving part, if not all, of your business to a cloud-based infrastructure. Safety, reliability, scalability, and availability all come to mind when thinking […]

Hiring and managing top-notch data center employees makes all the difference in a company’s work flow. Kenneth Hess talks about what makes these key players tick. Meeting these five people will not make you feel better about your misspent youth or explain your mission in life, but it could provide valuable insight into your data […]

Plenty of server software can be quite pricey, yet there are also some free downloads worth using in your data center. Kenneth Hess overviews the top choices. This list of 10 free, essential tools is an amalgam of tools for all sizes of companies and networks. The range of tools covered here are generally cross-platform […]