Sajal Debnath

Purpose of the blog

To me, learning consists of two parts, "hows" and "whys". Show someone "how" to do a task and they will be able to complete it. But tell someone "why" a task is performed and "why" in a certain way, and they will be able to figure out the "how" by themselves. We all know the proverb "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime". In this context, we can say teaching "how" is like "giving a fish" and showing "why" is like "teaching how to fish". I personally believe, the context is slightly different. If a person is dying from hunger, first, we must give them a fish thus feeding them. Then we teach them fishing. So, we need to cover both. While it is important to cover "how" to do something, at the same time it is important to cover "why" it is done in that way. I find most blogs covering how part, but very few cover why. This blog is my feeble attempt to cover that elusive "why" part. While I do cover the occasional "hows" but will in generally have the "why" part as well.

There were countless times when I faced an issue and “Internet” was my best friend. I have learned so much from it that in turn, I feel compelled to add something back to it (albeit small). I am not a Guru on the technologies that I plan to talk about, nor I am going to be one anytime soon. My only purpose is to share my experience and views with everyone in the hope that it may help others in their time of need as it did for me.

I hope you find the topics as useful as I found them to be while discovering them. Feel free to email me if you have any specific questions or if you want me to cover a particular topic.

Life Philosophy

Generally, I have seen people making the assumption that, if, we work on a particular technology then only we will be able to further work on it. It is like defining us by what we do now. If that is true then someone will be doing the same work throughout their lifetime. Sadly, that is the prevalent thought process nowadays. We do not get chance to work on something interesting or new since we DID NOT WORK on them previously. This thought process comes from the limitation in our mind. If someone can not think beyond their capabilities, then, they think everyone to be limited like them. So, never let others define you. Only you can decide the limit of your capabilities. I completed my engineering in "Electronics and Communications" and started my career in a factory as lead electronics engineer. After 6 months, the factory got closed and I started supporting my friend's computer businees by assembling computers and installing OS and applications in it. Did few network cabling gigs as well. Later started my professional career as system administrator. From there moved on to tech support, part of engineering team, technical pre-sales, R&D, Customer Success and PSO. In that order. So, you can see, I did not repeat the same profile.

Meanwhile, during all these, I wrote a book on PowerCLI and got patents. Professionally, I was never a full time developer or even scripter, but I could write a book on it. I got patent on storage technologies while I never worked on storage exclusively. But I was able to develop the logic and a storage file system within 3 months. So, if I could it, you can too.

Take interest, follow your passion. Life is too short and make something out of it.

About Me

I am a professional with 19+ years of overall experience. I am currently associated with VMware as a Staff Architect.

I Started my journey with Linux and then moved into the world of Unix. Next, I got introduced to the wonderful world of Virtualization and Cloud Computing and since then I have never looked back. Currently working with Public/Private cloud, DevOps and container technologies.

My core expertise is in Cloud related technologies. When I am not designing/building cloud solutions or guiding organizations achieve their business goals, you will find me automating stuff. I love Python, PowerShell or vRealize Orchestrator as an automation tool. DevOps, CI/CD, Containers being my primary area of interest now.

I hold two patents on  “InfiniFS - Cloud-Scale file based Filesystem for Hybrid Cloud Storage".

I am VCDX-296 and have gathered the following certifications over the years:

• VMware Certified Design Expert - Cloud Management and Automation (VCDX-CMA)
• VCE Certified Converged Infrastructure Associate (VCE-CIA)
• EMC Proven Professional - Information Storage Associate Version 2 (EMCISA)
• VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Cloud Infrastructure Design
• VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Datacenter Design
• VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Cloud Infrastructure Administration
• VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Datacenter Administrator
• VMware Certified Professional 5- Cloud
• VMware Certified Professional 5 – Desktop
• VMware Certified Professional 5 – Datacenter
• VMware Certified Professional – Network Virtualization (VCP-NV)
• Red Hat Certified System Administrator in RED HAT OPENSTACK
• Red Hat Certified Virtualization Administrator
• Red Hat Certified System Administrator
• Red Hat Certified Engineer
• ITIL v3 Certified
• Citrix Certified Sales Professional (Application Networking, Desktop Virtualization, Server Virtualization, Virtual Computing)
• Citrix Certified Administrator, 2008

For details about my professional career, you can check my LinkedIn profile. Though I have created multiple pages for the topics I intend to cover, my discussions will generally cover the entire Datacenter and other latest technologies.