David Ziembicki on Infrastructure Architecture : Commentary

Private Clouds: Believe it or not?

davidzi — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:01:01 GMT

Recently there has been some healthy debate around the validity of “private clouds” and whether such a construct is new or just a different name for virtualization and automated provisioning, i.e. a marketecture. In this corner for the anti-Private Cloud sentiment, we have the 2009 Prediction – Rise and Fall of the Private Cloud which argues there is really no such thing as a private cloud and the concept will die quickly as everyone moves to the public cloud. There are some excellent points in this article, I’ll address several below. Take a quick read and come back, I’ll wait… In the other corner, we have Christofer Hoff from Cisco and his response. Finally, Reuven Cohen hits the nail on the head with his post A Public Cloud by Any Other Name is Private which basically states that this is all basically definitional dancing where people argue about concepts without defining any of the underpinning terms.

People’s opinions on this topic seem to correlate most with whether they believe the defining attributes of cloud computing are financial (only paying for capacity utilized, no capex, etc) or whether they believe the defining attributes are technical (shared infrastructure, scale-out architectures, dynamic provisioning). The folks who focus on the financial side tend to believe either there cannot be private clouds because all costs are still incurred by the organization or that there is no way a single organization will be able to drive costs as low as the large cloud providers can with economies of scale.

The folks who see cloud computing as more of an architecture pattern for applications and an infrastructure/operational model tend to believe that the approach is just as relevant for a public cloud provider as it is for a large internal IT organization.

I am firmly in the camp of those who believe private clouds are going to be an important part of IT for at least the next decade. I come to this view using my definition of a cloud which is: an infrastructure architecture, application development model, and operations management discipline that dynamically provide necessary services whenever and wherever they are needed while sharing costs between all users.

Using that definition, all manner of clouds including public, private, hybrid, etc. will exist. Will there be certain economies of scale that a Microsoft or Amazon with hundreds of thousands of servers will be able to achieve that a single business won’t? Of course. But there will also be a degree of customization and agility that private clouds will be able to achieve that large providers won’t.

The reason I believe that private clouds as a concept are something new is that this is the first time that all of IT (infrastructure, development, and operations) are being looked at holistically. This is much more than just being able to sling VMs about the datacenter. This about providing a cost effective infrastructure where code that addresses user needs, be it an app, a VM, or a service can be developed rapidly by using foundational services, deployed near real-time, scale as needed, and then be retired at the end of its useful life.

I’m excited by Microsoft’s opportunities along the full spectrum of the cloud. Azure is a very forward looking vision of the public cloud that I still don’t think most people are grasping yet. Likewise, Microsoft’s traditional on premise solutions are evolving very quickly toward both private cloud and public cloud implementations. To me the most important question that will determine our long term success is how well we are able to provide a seamless continuum between the Azure platform and our Server and Tools solutions as they evolve toward cloud services. I think we are targeting an end game that no one else is really going after from on-premise, through private cloud, to public cloud.

TechReady9 Day 4 and 5 Wrap-up

davidzi — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:46:22 GMT

Day 4 and 5 of TechReady were action packed, I didn’t even have time to post yesterday. I skipped the first session timeslot on Thurs to prepare for the double session I was presenting with Citrix. The double session format basically allocates two sessions (3 hours) to one topic letting you get into a lot more detail. The session went very well and the feedback surveys so far have been very positive. We spent the first half of the session describing the Microsoft+Citrix VDI solution and its components. The second half was filled with demos of the solution with different types of clients accessing VDI sessions and walkthroughs of the administrator consoles.

After my session and some internal meetings, I attended a session on Microsoft’s Dynamic Datacenter Toolkit. I haven’t had much time to explore this yet but will be focusing on that a lot in the next couple months. For an example of a hosting partner using this solution, check out MaximumASP.com and their MaxV solution.

Finally on Day 4 I attended a session on the Remote Desktop Services (RDS) improvements in Windows Server 2008 R2, particularly the built-in VDI solution. I’ve been so focused on the Microsoft+Citrix solution that I haven’t had time to dig into the Microsoft in-box solution. This is being positioned toward branch and or lower complexity environments while the Microsoft+Citrix solution is targeted toward large or higher complexity implementations. The improvements to RDP and Hyper-V are the real enablers for the VDI scenarios in R2.

Day 5 opened with multiple demos of Office 2010 and Office Web Applications which are really going to open up completely new scenarios for rich collaboration. Next was a keynote from my favorite Microsoft executive, Bob Muglia, head of the Server and Tools Business. Bob covered improvements in Windows, Hyper-V, SharePoint, SQL. The thing TechReady is best for is stepping back and seeing the scope of this release of software we are going to have this year and the solid advancement in capability and features on almost all fronts simultaneously.

After taking care of some logistical items, I attended a session on Hyper-V security. Not much new info in that one, basically there is good security guidance for Hyper-V in the Windows Server 2008 Security Guide as well as the Hyper-V Resource kit. Finally, I attended a session on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 branch office infrastructure. This covered the new Branch Cache feature which can substantially reduce bandwidth utilization in branches by caching content as well as other new features and improvements to SMB, DFS, etc.

All in all, TechReady9 was a great time. I’ve still got a list of sessions that I want to see that is longer than the list of sessions that I actually saw! I’m glad they were all recorded…

Tomorrow and Sunday I’ll be teaching a 2-day VDI class along with some MCS and Citrix colleagues. Should be a good class, the students will learn about and set up the entire Microsoft+Citrix VDI solution over the course of the two days. Then finally on Monday I will head home after almost two and half weeks on the mothership!

TechReady9 Day 3 Wrap-up

davidzi — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:22:11 GMT

Day 3 kicked off with a keynote by Ray Ozzie and several very cool demos on UI futures, what’s coming across some of the Bing features, and some stuff MSR is working on. There was also a good discussion of how concepts move from MSR, to Labs, then into the product groups.

Next up was a very entertaining session with Jeff Woolsey, the Hyper-V program manager and president of the “virtualization nation”. This session dealt point by point with the FUD put out there by the competition. Aside from the entertainment, it was actually quite valuable because we get hit with some of these outlandish claims by customers all the time who’ve drank the cool-aid of the other guys.

Next up was a session on Terminal Services, which is being re-branded as Remote Desktop Services (RDS). Most of the new features in R2 were discussed (RDP 7, multi-monitor support, VDI) with some cool demos. One showed a six monitor setup over RDP with full multi-monitor support (I use three at home…)

After lunch was a session on the next version of OCS. Voice and PBX replacement are the key themes of this release, beyond that I can’t say much about the content.

In the afternoon I attended a session on VDI using the Microsoft and Citrix solution. This was an intro session to the deep dive that I’m doing today with the RDS PM and some Citrix colleagues. Good session, some good demos of the combined functionality that the two companies provide and how the solution is more fully featured and less expensive than the competition.

The day wrapped up in the evening with “Ask the Experts” which is an event where all the presenters and product group folks are stationed at tables in main dining area and the Techready attendees can come in and ask questions, network, etc. It’s a great opportunity to meet folks from the product groups as well as others you may not have seen in a while. Every year I bump into people I haven’t seen in years or who have recently joined Microsoft that I worked with before. This year was no different.

Day 4 should be action packed, I present during the 10:15 timeslot on VDI.

TechReady9 Day 2 Wrap-up

davidzi — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:02:13 GMT

Day 2 at TechReady was packed with technical sessions, no keynotes. In the morning I attended a session on model driven development. Not yet an infrastructure architecture related technology but as I mentioned yesterday regarding System Center, Microsoft is investing in a big way in modeling. The “Oslo” set of technologies is the foundation for developers and architects.

My next session was a special, invite only, session with a very senior Microsoft executive. It was an NDA session so I can’t discuss the content but in general the session was a very frank Q&A where the senior folks invited to the session were able to ask any question on any topic. I think people would be surprised how down to earth and still very technical some of the Microsoft senior execs are. Additionally, I don’t think most people realize the scope, scale, and challenge of managing the huge engineering teams for the big products.

Next up was a session with my Server Virtualization with Advanced Management (SVAM) colleagues. SVAM is a service offering from Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) and partners focusing on several virtualization scenarios such as server consolidation, dynamic management, VDI, etc. This session provided an overview of the next version of the offering which adds several new content modules including the VDI module I worked on earlier this year around the Microsoft+Citrix VDI solution.

The final two sessions I attended were with the Microsoft Online group (Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, etc). The first was with the operations team of MS Online and the second was with the engineering team. Lots of info about their current offerings and even more about where they were going. The general theme is leveraging the new versions of the underlying products and bringing to the cloud a greater percentage of the features of the on-premise versions.

That’s it for Day 2. Day 3 will bring a keynote from Ray Ozzie, more technical sessions through the day, then Ask the Experts tonight.

Great Advice

davidzi — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:34:00 GMT

Sean Olson has a fantastic post called “What I Wish I Knew at 21”. Take five minutes and read it, I guarantee you’ll find it useful and thought provoking.

Updated: Introducing the Azure Services Platform

davidzi — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 02:24:42 GMT

The main introductory whitepaper to the Azure platform written by David Chappell has been updated. The main updates are around SQL Data Services and the move toward a more relational model and the introduction of something code-named the “Huron” data hub which uses the Microsoft Sync Framework to synchronize multiple databases (SQL, SQL Compact, etc) in a multi-master fashion. There will also be an SDK so that other databases can be synchronized as well. The document is well written and if you really absorb it you can start to see the scope and scale of the Microsoft vision for cloud computing.

Comparing MOF to ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000

davidzi — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:15:12 GMT

Over on the MOF and Service Management blog, two new guides have been released detailing how the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) complements the ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000 standards and how MOF can be used in concert with them. While oversimplified, I’ve always described MOF as specific Microsoft process guidance for implementing the vendor-agnostic frameworks like ITIL. Where ITIL describes a standard configuration management process, MOF describes how to implement such a process using Microsoft technologies. This simplification makes it approachable to new folks who mistakenly think that MOF directly competes with ITIL.

Late last year I earned the ITIL Service Manager certification and previously had earned the MOF Essentials certification as well. I’m looking forward to digging into the MOF v4 and ITIL v3 the second half of this year. Maybe throw in TOGAF 9 as well. I really like the direction these are going in taking a lifecycle approach not a “one true framework to rule them all” approach. The hard part is getting an organization to really adopt frameworks like these, or even just the parts that work for them. It takes sustained senior leadership buy-in as well as a core team who really understand them for something like this to become ingrained in an organization’s culture. Usually that is due to a lack of focus on metrics and reporting to document the value delivered in terms of lower costs, increase customer satisfaction, etc.

New Import and Export Features in Hyper-V R2

davidzi — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:54:56 GMT

Good news from the virtualization team. Over on their blog is a new post about the import/export functionality in Hyper-V. There are major enhancements that address several scenarios that were either not easy or not possible with Hyper-V RTM. Scenarios such as exporting a VM and importing it to a different location or importing the same exported VM multiple times, etc. R2 introduces multiple enhancements described well on the team blog.

This is the one area where I was disappointed with Hyper-V RTM as it felt like a step back from Virtual Service instead of a step forward since in VS moving VMs was a simple matter of copying the VHD and VMC to a new location. While in this area Hyper-V felt like a small step backwards, the purpose was to put much more programmability into the entire import/export process. Basically setting the foundation for the much more advanced approach being delivered now. These new features will be significant enablers for all of the backup, storage, and lab management suites being developed by Microsoft and others.

Hyper-V and VMM: Scale Up, Out, and to the Cloud

davidzi — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:44:32 GMT

Between MMS and TechEd there have been a lot of announcements on the virtualization and cloud computing front. First, over on the Virtualization Team Blog, Jeff provided the announcement and details around some new capabilities coming in Hyper-V with Windows Server 2008 R2:

64 logical processor support. A 4x improvement over Hyper-V R1 and means that Hyper-V can take advantage of larger scale-up systems with greater amount of compute resources.

Support for up to 384 Concurrently Running Virtual Machines & 512 Virtual Processors PER SERVER. We are increasing the maximum number of concurrently running virtual machines to 384 per server and the maximum number of virtual processors to 512 for the highest virtual machine density on the market.

Processor Compatibility. Processor compatibility allows you to move a virtual machine up and down multiple processor generations from the same vendor. This does not mean you can live migrate between Intel and AMD nodes, just between different generations from the same vendor.

Not to be outdone, the VMM team announced a bunch of new features that will be in their Release Candidate coming out in a few weeks:

Storage Migration
Queuing of Live migrations
Rapid Provisioning
Host compatibility checks
Support for 3rd party CFS
Support for Veritas Volume Manager

Combined, these new features from both teams enable some key scenarios at both the entry level and high end of the spectrum. One of the major advantages of our stack is that it is very approachable from an entry level since it leverages so much of what your administrators already know and beginning with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SKU, will be available with all of the high end features (Clustering, Live Migration, etc) for free. Within a couple hours a Windows admin can become proficient with the basics of Hyper-V and be up and running (for free!). Within a few days at most, the ability to implement basic clustering, HA, and Quick/Live migration can be achieved. At the high end, very advanced architectures can be implemented including VMM, OpsMgr, deep SAN integration, etc. This is where our technical guidance, solution accelerators, and service offerings come into play.

To see an example both of how this stack is being leveraged by commercial providers as well as an example use case for enterprises wishing to use the cloud as reserve capacity, check out the video below demoing a future version of VMM and how it will integrate private and public cloud capacity seamlessly:

Finding the Hidden Costs of VDI

davidzi — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:01:10 GMT

Brian Madden has an excellent post up today called The hidden costs of VDI. I’ve been working nearly full time the last two months helping to put together a Microsoft Services offering around desktop virtualization in general and VDI in particular so have spent a lot of time looking into both the technical and business considerations that must be taken into account. I’d summarize his post in three points:

TCO models, like statistics, can be made to tell any story you or a vendor wants
Cost models typically assume full replacement of legacy systems to show maximum benefit but his rarely occurs due to technical, political, or other unforeseen reasons
Since VDI is relatively new (compared to traditional desktops and Terminal Services/Citrix Server-based Computing), there are a lot of technical and compatibility issues and considerations that are not well understood outside a small group of experts

As a well known fan and expert on Server Based Computing (SBC), i.e. Terminal Services or Citrix Presentation Server/XenApp, Brian prefaced the article by saying that he likes VDI “where it make sense”. He correctly points out that nearly all vendors and TCO models show that Server Based Computing still provides the lowest TCO due to its high user density but that there are limitations which make other approaches such as VDI relevant.

That is where I’ll jump in with my thoughts because I completely agree with those statements and it has been the foundation of the offering I have been working on. It starts with the notion of flexible desktop computing and desktop optimization that Microsoft has been talking about for some time now. An overview of this approach is presented in this whitepaper. To summarize, there are a variety of ways that a desktop computing environment can be delivered to users ranging from traditional desktops, to server based computing, to VDI, with a multitude of variations in between with the addition of virtualization at the layers illustrated below:

Rather than selecting a one-size-fits-all solution, virtualization provides architects a new, more flexible set of choices that can be combined to optimize the cost and user experience of the desktop infrastructure. The following four steps lead to an optimized solution:

Define User Types: Analyze your user base and define categories such as Mobile Workers, Information Workers, Task Workers, etc. and the percent distribution of users among them. The requirements of these user types will be utilized to select the appropriate mix of enabling technologies.

Define Desktop Architecture Patterns: Each architecture pattern should consist of a device type (thin client, PC, etc) and choice of:

OS execution (Local, Desktop Virtualization, or Server Based Computing)
App execution (Local, Application Virtualization, or Application Remoting)
Display (Local or Presentation Virtualization)

For each pattern, determine which user types it can be applied to. For example, with mobile or potentially disconnected users, presentation virtualization alone would not be applicable as it requires a network connection. Power users may require a full workstation environment for resource intensive applications but may be able to leverage application virtualization for others. These are just a few examples where different user groups have different requirements.

Determine TCO for each Architecture Pattern: Use a recognized TCO model to determine the TCO for each pattern. Minor adjustments to these models can be made to account for specific technology differences but most include TCO values for PCs, PCs with virtualized apps, VDI, and TS/Citrix thin client scenarios. Be wary of vendor provided TCO models. To Brian’s points, be sure to gain a full and complete understanding of the chosen TCO model and what does and does not include. Consistent application of the model across the different architecture patterns is critical for relevant comparisons.

Model Desktop Optimization Scenarios: With the above data, appropriate architecture patterns can be selected for each user type by choosing the lowest TCO architecture pattern that still meets user requirements. By varying the user distribution and selected architecture patterns, an optimized mix can be determined. It is tempting to simply choose the lowest TCO architecture pattern for all users but this can be very dangerous in that it will typically impact your high value, power users the most if their requirements are not accounted for.

A one-size-fits-all approach would result in either a large number of PCs if not using virtualization, a large number of servers if virtualizing everything, or failure to meet power user needs if using only server based computing. An optimized solution is one which utilizes the right mix of technologies to provide the required functionality for each user type at the lowest average TCO. Combined with a unified management system that handles physical and virtual resources across devices, operating systems, and applications, substantial cost savings can be realized.

As I mentioned at the top, a lot of the concepts in addition to very detailed architecture and implementation guidance are part of the Microsoft Services Core IO offerings. For the last two years, in addition to my customer work I have been deeply involved in the creation of the Server Virtualization with Advanced Management (SVAM) offering. The work I mentioned above around VDI architecture will complement that and be available later this summer. Finally, specific to desktop imaging, deployment, and optimization, there is also the Desktop Optimization using Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office System (DOVO) offering. Taken together in concert with the underlying product suites, these illustrate Microsoft’s “desktop to datacenter” solutions and how to plan, design, and implement them.

Facebook, Twitter, and FriendFeed in One Client with .NET!

davidzi — Fri, 08 May 2009 23:56:15 GMT

So I’ve been using Seesmic Desktop as a Twitter and Facebook client for the last week or two. Very cool app built on Adobe Air. Today via @EverythingMS I heard about sobees, a .NET app that aggregates Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed (yeah!), and many other sources. I’ve only just started using it in the last hour but it looks very slick. In addition to bringing in a bunch of networks, it really shows off .NET/WPF and what you can do with UI design. It supports full Aero transparency, the ability to zoom text sizes in and out, multi-monitor support and a bunch of other UI niceties. There are several color themes available and a wide range of layout options for arranging the services. As an FYI it seems to run fine so far on my Windows 7 RC installation.

I don’t know anything about the makers of the software yet so other than pointing out that it looks like a cool beta implementation your mileage may vary.

Below you can see a screenshot of three services (you can add in more) updating in real-time (Note: I blanked out some of the Facebook status on purpose). Definitely worth checking out. They also have a video up if you wan to see it in action.

One Million Server Datacenter?

davidzi — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:16:34 GMT

IEEE Spectrum has an interesting article online about mega-datacenters and whether a million server datacenter is possible in the near future. It describes the efforts of the major players in this space. They describe some of the attributes of Microsoft’s Quincy and Chicago datacenters as well as several others.

Last year I had the opportunity to tour one of Microsoft’s smaller datacenters (“only” 45,000 servers) with a couple of our customers. The scale of the facilities and supporting infrastructure are pretty amazing. The things that impressed me most was the attention to detail and discipline required to operate such a facility. In walking through for a couple hours I didn’t see a single wire out of place, everything was pristine. The datacenter manager hosting the tour made a point that really struck me about the discipline required. He said that even the smallest non-compliance with facility rules and standards (i.e.. tools left behind, improper cabling, etc) resulted in disciplinary action. He said that when operating such a large and complex facility that attention to detail is critical else things can quickly start to spin out of control. Another interesting point was that only a small double digit number of people are required to staff the facility in total across three shifts.

The IEEE article talks primarily about the current Microsoft datacenters. For some insights on where we are going in the future, the following articles and video may be of interest.

Our Vision for Generation 4 Modular Data Centers - One way of Getting it just right

Microsoft's Generation 4 Data Center Vision - the Architects' Perspective

Designing Generation 4.0 Data Centers: The Engineers’ Approach to Solving Business Challenges

Is the CMDB just a dream?

davidzi — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:00:24 GMT

Glenn O'Donnell over at Forrester had a great post titled “Is a CMDB even possible?” that I just came across. As you may know, CMDB stands for Configuration Management Database and is typically defined as a single repository holding all configuration items (systems, applications, etc) and their relationships. The idea of a CMDB has been a core tenet ITIL for a long time. Late last year I invested a substantial amount of time over a couple months pursuing (and achieving) the ITIL Service Manager certification (ITIL v2). In earning that credential and interacting with a lot of other ITIL trained people over the years at various customers, the CMDB concept seams to be the one concept that resonates the most with people. I think this is because it is really the only area in ITIL v2 that has a bit of a technical nature to it whereas the primary focus is process. Since a lot of folks that participate in ITIL training are IT folks, I think they tent to naturally gravitate toward the technical.

In any event, while I haven’t had time to dig into ITIL v3 in any detail yet, one of the big changes is that it moves away from evangelizing a single, monolithic CMDB and toward a Configuration Management System (CMS) that may be made up of several different management systems. Glenn’s article goes into the reasoning for this and he has some thoughts on where this might be going in terms of federating different management systems.

The rush toward the holy grail of a single CMDB consumes a lot of people and resources when the newly “indoctrinated” come back from ITIL training. I think that outcome was the biggest flaw in the definition and delivery of ITIL v2 and I’m glad it has been changed in V3 to a much more feasible approach.

In terms of the Microsoft stack, obviously System Center is where these concepts are and will be instantiated. System Center Service Manager will be bringing a lot of capability in this space. This week at MMS there are at least 9 sessions on Service Manager.

New VDI content on Microsoft.com

davidzi — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:11:40 GMT

There is updated desktop virtualization content at www.microsoft.com/vdi There are a couple of whitepapers and guides to help understand the various approaches and components of a virtualized desktop.

Over the last few months VDI is an area I have been spending a lot of time in, particularly around the joint Microsoft and Citrix VDI solutions.

One of the more interesting aspects of VDI is determining the right mix of technologies to utilize. For large organizations it’s rarely the case that virtualizing all desktops makes sense. At the same time, providing a full PC to all users also doesn’t make much sense if users don’t need it.

The right answer is to find the optimized mix that makes sense for a given organization. Getting there involves understanding your users, your users requirements, the TCO of the various options, etc. With the ability to virtualize the OS, applications, and presentation, the most cost effective solution can be provided to each user group (ex. task workers get a TS/Citrix session and power users get a full PC with apps coming from APP-V, etc)

Over the next couple weeks I’ll be posting more content on this approach as I am in the middle of documenting both the approach and technical guidance for proofs of concept as part of work I am doing for an MCS solution offering.

Virtualization Books from Microsoft Insiders

davidzi — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:52:00 GMT

Two new books on Hyper-V have been released or coming soon. These are written by some of the most active members of the virtualization team and extended community inside Microsoft. Some of the authors I know personally and some I know by reputation from the hundreds of questions they answer every month on our internal distribution lists and public forums so these should be great resources. I was a reviewer for a couple of chapters in the Hyper-V Resource Kit so I can’t wait to see the final product.

The first book is available now (my copy arrives today, I’ll post a review once I’ve finished it). Robert posted a status on the Hyper-V Resource Kit which is complete and should be available in the next 60 days.

Hyper-V is one of the top virtualization products, and this practical guide focuses on the essentials of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. Written by the Microsoft team behind the Hyper-V product, this book shows you how to perform key virtualization scenarios, such as server consolidation, software test and development, and a dynamic data center and demonstrates how Hyper-V can be used to reduce cost and eliminate the complexity of a server infrastructure by consolidating workloads to a small number of machines. In addition, the material addresses using DPM, and SCOM with VMM in order to maintain and manage Hyper-V environments.

Get the definitive reference for managing and supporting Hyper-V (virtualization) in Windows Server 2008—with insights from the Microsoft experts who know the technology best. This official Microsoft RESOURCE KIT provides in-depth technical guidance and best practices on how to deploy, install, configure, administer, and support Hyper-V, along with drilldown into advanced configuration options; development and testing tools; migration, management, and scripting tools; security features; Linux support; disaster recovery; and how to extend and customize the technology. You also get a CD packed with sample scripts, technical white papers; videos from the authors; and a fully searchable eBook version of the entire guide.