Tag: automation

How to convince people you’re not there to automate them out of a job

When your job is automation, people sometimes think you're trying to put them out of a job. Here are some of the ways I fight that perception.

Communication, Leadership & Ethics 2018-12-07

Assuming a Role from the Instance Profile (AWS PowerShell)

IAM Roles are a powerful way to delegate permissions in AWS. But, there is a trick to assuming a role from the EC2 Instance Profile. Here's how to do it!

Technical Practice 2018-06-22

Learn the AWS PowerShell Tools on Pluralsight

Knowing the AWS PowerShell cmdlets is valuable. You should take my Pluralsight course: Automating Cloud Operations with AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell.

Technical Practice 2018-06-07

Inspecting Network Traffic on Ubuntu Linux

Inspecting network traffic is a pain. Here are a collection of (built-in) tools and techniques for seeing what's going on under the hood in Ubuntu Linux.

Technical Practice 2017-07-17

Amazon SQS Overview - A Simple but Powerful Queue Service

If you're thinking of engineering a solution that incorporates Amazon SQS, this overview will help you understand how to get started.

Systems & Architecture 2017-05-15

Tracking a Baby with AWS and IoT

I don’t talk about it much when I’m in a professional mindset, but I do have a family at home. My daughter, Aubrey, was born on May 24, 2016. For the first few months of her life, my wife and I tracked her diaper and feeding schedule meticulously using an app called Baby Connect. It allowed us to record data on our individual phones but have it synchronized through the cloud. Of course, being the technologist I am I couldn’t leave it at that. Using AWS services and their IoT toolkit, I was able to build some additional integration points for Baby Connect, allowing me to track diapers with the push of a button on the changing pad, or bottles with the sound of my voice and my Amazon Echo.

Systems & Architecture 2017-03-20

Reading the Event Log with Windows PowerShell

This post is part of the #PSBlogWeek PowerShell blogging series. #PSBlogWeek is a regular event where anyone interested in writing great content about PowerShell is welcome to volunteer for. The purpose is to pool our collective PowerShell knowledge together over a 5-day period and write about a topic that anyone using PowerShell may benefit from. #PSBlogWeek is a Twitter hashtag so feel free to stay up to date on the topic on Twitter at the #PSBlogWeek hashtag. For more information on #PSBlogWeek or if you’d like to volunteer for future sessions, contact Adam Bertram (@adbertram) on Twitter.

Technical Practice 2015-12-03

Internationalization with Import-LocalizedData: Part 2

When I first sat down to write this post, this one came out instead. If you’re not familiar with the Import-LocalizedData Cmdlet, you might want to start there.

Technical Practice 2015-08-27

Internationalization with Import-LocalizedData

Recently I was working on a PowerShell project that involved internationalization. When researching the best approach, I learned about the Import-LocalizedData Cmdlet and it made it incredibly easy to support internationalization in my scripts.

Technical Practice 2015-08-24

Conditional E-mails from SQL Server Reporting Services

SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is a great reporting tool, especially its ability to schedule reports to be sent out via e-mail. But one thing nobody wants is useless e-mails flooding their inbox. Some of the reports I’ve built using SSRS list problem data that needs to be cleaned up. I don’t want those reports getting sent out every day, even when they’re empty. I’m going to show you the method I used to get SSRS to only send a report under the correct circumstances.

Technical Practice 2015-05-17

Bones - My Learning Experience

Bones is a WordPress theme built by Themble that was recommended to me not long ago by a friend. I had been debating building a custom theme for the site, and I wasn’t sure where to start. Now, only a few weeks after I started looking at Bones in my (extremely rare) spare time, plattsoft.net is live on my new theme. There are a lot of great features in Bones, and I really like it now that I’ve gotten used to it. I definitely hit some bumps along the way, though. I want to document the solutions to the frustrating problems I faced, but first I want to talk about the things about Bones that made it possible to put up with all of that frustration.

Technical Practice 2013-05-20

A Small but Useful PowerShell Script

I always keep this little script handy for when I need to search my source code for instances of a particular word or phrase. Most modern IDEs have this kind of functionality built in, but you never know when you'll have to work with a language or tool that isn't quite as robust.

Technical Practice 2013-04-16

Searching Your Code with Windows PowerShell

I frequently need to search through source code to find references to variable and object names. When I got a new workstation running Windows 7 x64, I wanted to find a search utility that would take full advantage of all the horsepower I had at my fingertips. Previously, I had used Windows Grep, but There didn’t seem to be an x64 version available. After some searching I found a lot of people pointing towards Windows PowerShell.

Technical Practice 2010-08-12

WinDirStat

WinDirStat is a free program that is great to use when you need to find out where all of your precious hard drive space has gone. Check it out.

Technical Practice 2010-03-30

Expression Translator

In this context, we’re talking about simple mathematical expressions like 5 + 5. There are three ways to write these types of expressions:

Technical Practice 2009-08-20