About Me

Hal Rottenberg is a system engineer, Microsoft PowerShell MVP, and VMware vExpert living in Woodstock, Georgia. He has over thirteen years of experience in IT while working for such large enterprises as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and The Home Depot. When it comes to IT, Hal’s passions are automation and virtualization.

He is well-known  in sysadmin circles for co-hosting the PowerScripting Podcast, and heading up the PowerShellCommunity organization. He is also the author of a book titled “Managing VMware Infrastructure with PowerShell: TFM ” published by SAPIEN Press in 2009.

Previous to his career as a PowerShell guru, Hal was heavily involved in the Jabber / XMPP instant messaging protocol community as a member of the Jabber Software Foundation (now called the XMPP Standards Foundation). He remains involved in that space to a lesser extent in his long-running capacity as webmaster for the Psi project, which is an extremely popular (average of 1,500 downloads a day) instant messaging client which works on the XMPP network.

When not being a major geek, Hal enjoys coaching his boys in soccer, and spending time with his lovely wife to whom he has been married since 1997.

Contact Information

If you would like to contact Hal, or befriend him on LinkedIn or other social networks, you can find those details here.

Speaking Engagements

Conferences

• VMworld 2009 in San Francisco, session title: Taking PowerCLI to the Next Level
• VMworld 2009, vExpert panel with Carter Shanklin and John Troyer from VMware
• TechMentor 2009 in Orlando, two VMware-related sessions and one on Hyper-V
• TechEd 2009, Birds of a Feather session titled “PowerShell Best Practices from the Field”
• TechEd 2009, interviewed Mark Minasi and Kirk Munro for MVP Spotlight specials
• TechEd 2008, spoke on stage with Jeffrey Snover and others about PowerShellCommunity.org

User Groups

• Southeast Management User Group, Jan 2009 – Introduction to Managing VMware with Powershell
• Atlanta Network and System Technology User Group, September 2009 – Introduction to Managing VMware with Powershell
• Atlanta VMware User Group, November 2009 – Managing vSphere with vEcoshell
• Atlanta MS Pros, January 2010 – PowerShell 101 for Developers

Interviews

• Hanselminutes- Podcast 162: PowerShell 2.0
• Technet Radio – PowerShell with the PowerScripting Podcast Guys (mp3)

Writing and Other Media

Books

• Author, Managing VMware Infrastructure with PowerShell: TFM (SAPIEN Press, 2009)

Blogs

• Owner, TechProsaic
• Contributor, VirtualizationPro

Articles

• Contributor, SearchVMware.com
  • VMware vSphere PowerCLI: Learn it, love it

Audio/Video

• Co-Host, PowerScripting Podcast
• Produced several hours of training videos for Train Signal Inc.

Awards

Avatar and Headshot

One of the pictures above was taken with a camera. The other was inspired by Southpark and Strongbad, and is used as Hal’s avatar in online forums.

Proudly Sponsored By…

I just want to make it known that everything on my blog, and my activities on the PowerScripting Podcast are hobbies. It just so happens that through hard work by myself and others (hi Jon!) I’ve been able to build a brand and a content library for which several sponsors have been willing to pay some really good money for placement thereupon. My sponsors past and present include:

• Quest Software
• SAPIEN Technologies
• Idera
• Train Signal
• and a few others that I’m forgetting right now

Also, as a Microsoft MVP, some companies like to throw products my way in the hopes of garnering a good review or fair treatment in the press, or just to gain exposure. Again, guilty as charged. Some benefactors there include:

• Camtasia (love their stuff!)
• VMware
• /n software

Also, as a Microsoft MVP, I get Technet Plus and MSDN subscriptions. In fact, I don’t recall having to pay for a Microsoft product since Windows 3.1 whether it was through work or personal benefits or whatever.

Lastly, I do use Amazon affiliate  links for my own book, and occasionally other products as well.

What can I say. I am a very proud red-blooded American Capitalist. If someone gives me some free software I am going to thank them profusely and if it’s good, use the heck out of it, and probably talk about it on my blog or podcast or elsewhere. If it’s not good, I’ll probably say so, unless I’m just feeling nice in which case I’ll pretend I never got a copy.

That’s my version of full-disclosure. I don’t pretend to be an unbiased journalist, but I’m not trying to do anything underhanded here, either. Draw your own conclusions based on my actions.