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      INAP Executive Spotlight: Jennifer Curry, SVP, Global Cloud Services


      Welcome to the first installment of the INAP Executive Spotlight. In this series, we’ll be interviewing senior leaders in the company, hearing candid reflections about their careers, the mentors who shaped them and big lessons learned along the way.

      First up is Jennifer Curry, SVP of Global Cloud Services. An industry thought leader and champion of unsung IT workers everywhere, Curry is responsible for the architecture, infrastructure engineering and technical support of INAP’s cloud and hosting solutions, including bare metal, private cloud, managed hosting, third-party managed cloud and business continuity.

      Read on to hear her take on what makes a great leader, the challenges of diversity in the industry and how our office’s most vocal Fighting Irish fan almost became an accountant.

      The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

      Tell us how you got into IT/tech. What inspired you to pursue it? 

      It was a little by accident, to be honest.

      I come from a family of accountants, and I assumed I would simply follow in their footsteps. I went to Notre Dame and graduated (from the best business school!) with a degree in accounting. A career in IT wasn’t on my radar.

      Fast forward to my second job after college—I was working as part of the finance organization at Platinum Technology.  They decided to start a financial systems group inside of the organization and asked if I would be interested in being a part of the group.  Never one to back down from a challenge, I said “sure.”

      I fell in love with the systems work immediately. From there, I continued in IT and eventually into engineering operations.

      What’s a typical day like for you?

      I don’t feel like I have a typical day, which is why I love what I do.  It is actually true that there is never a dull moment in my world.

      As a P&L owner, I spend considerable time looking at the financial health of the business unit—reviewing sales, updating forecasts and trends, evaluating spending. But the best part of my job is working with my teams on new products, reviewing technology updates and engaging with our customers to strategize on their needs and how we can help.

      What do you love about your role in tech? What do you think is the best part about being in the tech industry? 

      Our industry is always changing. It is highly competitive, and you have to consistently ensure your value proposition aligns correctly with the market. Being a competitive person, I embrace that challenge.  As a service provider, we are exposed to more emerging technology than a typical enterprise IT organization.  It’s exciting to be close to the VC markets and the technology they are bringing to the industry.

      How have you seen the industry change over your career in regard to diversity? How would you like to see it change? 

      There has definitely been a change in raising the awareness on inclusion in the tech world.  However, I am still the only woman at the leadership table more times than not. Obviously, change like this takes time and it is important for those of us who are in leadership positions to not become complacent.  We cannot stop being surprised or disappointed when we walk into the room and don’t see diversity in the folks sitting at the table. We have to remain vigilant in our execution of changing the look of the IT workforce.

      Out of the qualities you possess, which do you think has had the greatest influence on your success? 

      This probably sounds cliché, but my competitiveness is likely what has propelled my personal career growth the most. I am talking about competitiveness with myself and constantly expecting that my execution is better every day. If I were to always focus on competing with the person next to me, I wouldn’t be as successful. It wouldn’t fuel the right growth focus.

      In my role as a leader, I believe loyalty is the quality that helps develop and maintain high-performing teams. If your team trusts you, they will deliver more for you.

      Who are the people that have mentored you or been role models? 

      Kristin Ruth was my first true mentor and the reason I stepped into this IT world. She plucked me from working in Excel spreadsheets 12 hours a day and put me into a financial systems role.

      Doug Butler has been influential in my career for the past 10-plus years. He was the CFO at Looking Glass Networks and Latisys while I was at both companies. I seek his advice often. You wouldn’t think that a CFO would be an IT person’s mentor. But it makes sense since we spend a considerable amount of time managing our spend and ensuring we can articulate the ROI of what we are doing to our business leaders. He is now the CEO of an employee engagement software company and provides me a very different perspective on leadership these days.

      What are your thoughts on work-life balance and have your ideas changed over time?

      Burned out employees are not good employees. That’s why I encourage balance. You have to shut off sometimes in order to remain fresh and able to operate at your highest potential. Our culture is an always-on mindset, but if you look at the top technological minds, they all take time out (a lot through meditation).

      What advice would you give to someone pursuing IT as a career path?  

      You are going to have to self-study—a lot. If leadership is your goal, realize that means putting your team first, over yourself.

      How would you do things differently (if at all) if you were starting out now? 

      I’m not sure I would change anything. I wouldn’t be who I am if I took a different path.

      What are some of the big lessons you’ve learned in your career? 

      Be open to new opportunities and just work hard. If you work hard and execute consistently, opportunities come your way. I didn’t seek out many of my positions: They were offered to me based on my track record of execution and my willingness to take on something new.

      I’ve been terrified of some of the roles that were given to me to be honest. I think that is why I have been successful in such a male-dominated industry—I wasn’t afraid to be afraid.

      Watching people interact, listening not just to learn about what they are saying but to seek to understand the dynamics of how people react to one another. Sometimes people mistake the quiet ones for being disengaged, but those are the folks who are going to blow you away because they have taken the time to truly understand all of the dynamics of a situation or event.

      Ryan Hunt
      • Sr. Communications Manager


      Ryan Hunt is Senior Communications Manager. READ MORE



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      Deploy Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with One-Click Apps


      Updated by Linode

      Contributed by

      Linode

      Counter-Strike: Global Offensive One-Click App

      Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is a fast-paced first person shooter. Teams compete against each other to complete objectives or to eliminate the opposing team.

      A competitive match requires two teams of five players, but hosting your own server offers you control over team size and server location, so you and your friends can play with low latency. Up to 64 players can be hosted on a single server.

      Deploy a CS:GO One-Click App

      One-Click Apps allow you to easily deploy software on a Linode using the Linode Cloud Manager. To access Linode’s One-Click Apps:

      1. Log in to your Linode Cloud Manager account.

      2. From the Linode dashboard, click on the Create button in the top left-hand side of the screen and select Linode from the dropdown menu.

      3. The Linode creation page will appear. Select the One-Click tab.

      4. Under the Select App section, select the app you would like to deploy:

        Select a One-Click App to deploy

      5. Once you have selected the app, proceed to the app’s Options section and provide values for the required fields.

      The CS:GO Options section of this guide provides details on all available configuration options for this app.

      CS:GO Options

      You can configure your CS:GO App by providing values for the following fields:

      Field                        Description
      Game Server Login TokenA Steam game server login token. This is required to publicly list your server. To get a Steam Token, visit the Steam Game Server Account Management page. Required.
      RCON PasswordPassword for RCON, a protocol which allows CS:GO administrators to remotely execute commands on the game server. Password must be at least 6 characters and contain each of the following characters: uppercase, lowercase, numeric, and special character. Required.
      SSH KeyYour SSH public key. The public key will be stored in the /root/.ssh/authorized_keys file on your Linode, and you will be able to use it to login as root over SSH. Advanced Configuration.
      Server NameYour CS:GO server’s name. Advanced Configuration.
      Message of the DayThe message of the day text that is displayed whenever a player logs on to the server. Advanced Configuration.
      CS:GO Server PasswordThe password for the CS:GO server, if you want to make it password protected. Password must be at least 6 characters and contain each of the following characters: uppercase, lowercase, numeric, and special character. Advanced Configuration.
      Team Balance EnabledWhen enabled, automatically balances the number of players on a team. Advanced Configuration.
      Round Time LimitThe time per round, in minutes. Advanced Configuration.
      Maximum RoundsThe maximum amount of rounds before the map changes. Advanced Configuration.
      Buy AnywhereWhen enabled, allows teams to buy equipment from outside buy zones. Advanced Configuration.
      Friendly Fire EnabledFriendly fire allows teammates to damage and kill each other. Advanced Configuration.

      Linode Options

      After providing the app specific options, provide configurations for your Linode server:

      ConfigurationDescription
      Select an ImageDebian 9 is currently the only image supported by the CS:GO One-Click App, and it is pre-selected on the Linode creation page. Required.
      RegionThe region where you would like your Linode to reside. In general, it’s best to choose a location that’s closest to you. For more information on choosing a DC, review the How to Choose a Data Center guide. You can also generate MTR reports for a deeper look at the network routes between you and each of our data centers. Required.
      Linode PlanYour Linode’s hardware resources. Your CS:GO server should be sized based on the amount of traffic you are expecting on your server. Higher-tier plans may also provide better network game performance than lower-tier plans. We recommend using a 4GB Linode as the minimum plan for CS:GO servers. If you decide that you need more or fewer hardware resources after you deploy your app, you can always resize your Linode to a different plan. Required.
      Linode LabelThe name for your Linode, which must be unique between all of the Linodes on your account. This name will be how you identify your server in the Cloud Manager’s Dashboard. Required.
      Root PasswordCreate a root password for your Linode in the Root Password field. This password must be provided when you log in to your Linode via SSH. It must be at least 6 characters long and contain characters from two of the following categories: lowercase and uppercase case letters, numbers, and punctuation characters. Required.

      When you’ve provided all required Linode Options, click on the Create button. CS:GO should complete its installation between 5-15 minutes after your Linode has successfully provisioned.

      Getting Started after Deployment

      After CS:GO has finished installing, you will be able to access your game server by connecting to its IP address. To find your Linode’s IPv4 address:

      1. Click on the Linodes link in the sidebar. You will see a list of all your Linodes.

      2. Find the Linode you just created when deploying your app and select it.

      3. Navigate to the Networking tab.

      4. Your IPv4 address will be listed under the Address column in the IPv4 table.

      5. Copy the IPv4 address.

      6. In CS:GO, use the back tick key (`) to open the developer’s console. Type connect 192.0.2.240 and click Submit, where 192.0.2.240 is the IP address of your Linode:

        The CS:GO developer's console.

      7. If pressing the back tick key does not bring up the developer’s console, you might need to enable it in the settings. Under Game Settings choose Enable Developer’s Console and select Yes:

        Enable the developer's console if it is not currently enabled.

      Software Included

      The CS:GO One-Click App will install the following required software on your Linode:

      SoftwareDescription
      Counter-Strike: Global OffensiveGame server.
      LinuxGSMA command line tool for the deployment and management of Linux game servers.
      UFWFirewall utility. Ports 27015, 27020/udp, 27005/udp, will allow outgoing and incoming traffic.
      Fail2banFail2Ban is an intrusion prevention software framework that protects computer servers from brute-force attacks.

      More Information

      You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

      Find answers, ask questions, and help others.

      This guide is published under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license.



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