Thinking aloud: Azure, AWS, DevOps, cars and opinion from Alex Neihaus

  • Connecting to Windows Server on the Mac using RDP

    (If you are also interested in a technique to secure RDP connections without having to open TCP 3389, please see this post about Remote Desktop Gateway.) If, like me, you are a Mac user who has responsibility for managing a large number of Windows Server instances running on EC2 in AWS (or in a data…

  • A talk with CloudBerry Lab at AWS re:Invent 2014

    This week, I’m attending the AWS re:Invent conference (thumbs up) in Las Vegas (thumbs down). I’ve written before about CloudBerry (also here and here) and was pleased to meet with Director of Marketing Alexander Negrash at the conference for an update on CloudBerry. CloudBerry has been a good product from an unknown company. Their website didn’t have…

  • Deregister an AWS AMI and remove associated S3 snapshots

    Update 2016-04-28: I’ve written an updated version of the script below that offers a graphical interface for managing AMIs. Of course, the script below still works. Recently, I wrote a PowerShell script that uses an EC2 instance’s Name tag to create an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) of that running instance. This post is about a bookend script…

  • Create an EC2 AMI using instance name tags via PowerShell

    Automate EC2 AMI creation

  • How to set up a bastion host for Windows in AWS

    Make your AWS EC2 Windows jump servers more secure

  • What I did on a rainy Fourth of July

    It’s the Fourth of July — and it’s raining like hell. That’s the bad news from an early season Hurricane Aurthur (see the nearby NOAA radar image for an idea of what it’s been like today). The good news? I don’t have to grill until tomorrow, which is forecast to be glorious. So, what’s a…

  • Remote Desktop Manager RDP client for Windows on EC2

    One of the first things you need when you start managing multiple Windows Server instances is a really good Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) client. To its credit, Microsoft has been on a tear lately with RDP clients, shipping an excellent Mac client (though they inexplicably removed the search functionality in the latest release) and, best…

  • How to set up AWS DNS in a VPC

    Using DNS with your AWS VPC

  • Why architecture matters: how a walk down Clarendon St. in Boston’s Back Bay made my day

    I’ve always loved the Back Bay. But it’s been years since I’ve worked there. On the way to work this morning, I was reminded of why I love it and how important architecture is to one’s sense of happiness and well-being. Today, April 4, 2014, is opening day for the 2014 Red Sox — a…

  • AWS is the new black

    Many of you know me as a high-tech (mostly software) marketing executive. But before that career, I was a geek. I was a software developer, a sys admin and a network architect well before many of you were born. Today, I can look out from my office in downtown Boston and see the building in…

  • Revit release 1 introductory video

    I’ve always thought that corporate historians gathered history nobody cares about. However, based on traffic to a YouTube video from last year about Revit release 1, I thought it might be convenient for people who find my blog based on searches about my history at Revit Technology (surprisingly, there are more than a few) to…

  • How to cut the cord, kiss FiOS goodbye and get pristine HDTV for free

    A long time ago, cable TV started as a way to improve reception in hard-to-serve areas. Then, it blossomed into one of the most consumer unfriendly, blood thirsty for cash businesses on the planet. My two year contract with Verizon ends at the end of the month and I’m (gleefully) cutting the cord. VZ wanted more…