Despite what many IT Pro’s think the TechDays is not a Developer only event it’s definitely an IT PRO event as well. There are 43 IT Pro sessions during the 3 days.
We will cover different Infrastructure topics including
- Windows Server 2008 R2
- Server and Client Virtualization technology
- Deployment techniques to deploy Windows 7 in your organization
- In depth training on Exchange 2010
- What’s new and how to manage and migrate SharePoint 2010
- How to troubleshoot Windows Server and Client
- How to virtualize your workloads
We will also disclose some upcoming changes in certain technology. Sorry can’t say more about that right now.
Still not convinced? Check out the well known speakers we have invited and how the agenda looks like.
If you have never been to the TechDays before and you are wondering what you can expect. Watch this compilation video of the TechDays 2009:
Read what others have to say about the TechDays:
Did you know that:
95% of the attendees wrote that their time at TechDays was (very) well spent;
The PowerShell management module for Hyper-V contains about 100 cmdlets that will let you manage your Hyper-V infrastructure by using scripts. Out of the box you can only manage this through WMI and we all know that WMI is not so user friendly.
The PowerShell module is available onto codeplex
One of the shortcomings in Windows Server Core is the possibility to change the network order or bindings in an easy way. The only way to do it is through the registry key. After we received some feedback from our customers one of the Hyper-V team members decided to write a tool called NVSPBind.
NVSPBind also has the ability to enable bindings, bind or unbind the Hyper-V network switch protocol from a NIC and repair bindings on a NIC.
Read more about this tool http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2010/01/25/announcing-nvspbind.aspx#comments
During the TechDays 2010 we will have at least 2 Belgian MVP’s that will share their experiences with you.
Let’s see which sessions are planned so far:
WMI for the SCCM Admin:
Since its first debut System Center Configuration manager and its predecessors have been relying heavily on the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) architecture. WMI is omni-present is System Center Configuration Manager, from queries over dynamic collections, through hardware inventory and storing client and Management Point settings and policies, under the hood you will find WMI just about anywhere. Given this omni-presence it should come as no surprise that the stability of WMI at your Site Systems and clients is crucial to a stable System Center Configuration Manager implementation. Knowing WMI, by consequence, is a great asset to any System Center Configuration Administrator. In this session you will learn the ins-and-outs of the WMI architecture in general and how it applies to System Center Configuration Manager. You’ll learn about the available namespaces and classes and the extended WMI Query language (WQL) that is specific to System Center Configuration Manager. This session will cover the tools available to have a peak at WMI yourself as well as to the WMI-related tool called policy spy that comes with the System Center Configuration Manager toolkit. By the end of this session you’ll know what the WMI architecture looks like, how System Center Configuration Manager uses it, and how you can use that knowledge to your advantage, be it to be able to better troubleshoot System Center Configuration Manager issues, better understand the product, or to automate tasks through scripting or programming. In the end this session will make you a better System Center Configuration Manager administrator.
Speaker: Kim Oppalfens – MVP SCCM
Deep dive into Forefront Threat Management Gateway’s Network Inspection System (NIS)
NIS is a new technology created by Microsoft Research to help protect corporate networks from the ever growing threat of 0-day vulnerabilities. The technology gives you as an administrator the power to protect your valuable infrastructure from malicious attacks much sooner than Microsoft can releases patches in the normal patch life cycle without the need to deploying anything to your backend server infrastructure.
During this session we will look at how to configure, monitor and troubleshoot NIS in TMG 2010.
Speaker: Tom Decaluwe – MVP Forefront
Next to these two Belgian MVP’s we will also have different sessions from MVP’s from the US and the Netherlands.
Monitoring and capacity planning for SQL Server and IIS
How do I properly plan for capacity for SQL and IIS? How do I monitor SQL and IIS? In this session OpsMgr MVP Maarten Goet and cross-platform expert Michael Gutrie will show you how to use Operations Manager 2007 R2 to provide monitoring and capacity planning (trending and forecasting) for SQL server and IIS. Maarten will also show how to use Sharepoint to provide the necessary information for the management persona.
Speaker: Maarten Goet – MVP
Manage your Images with the Rock Star of the deployment tools: Deployment Image Servicing and Managment (DISM)
Managing your images is easier than ever with DISM! Whether your images are stored in the .wim or .vhd format DISM is the tool you’ll want to use when it comes time to make changes to your images. DISM allows you to add, remove and enumerate packages and drivers, enable or disable Windows features, configure international settings, upgrade a Windows image to a different edition, provide better logging capabilities, service all platforms 32-bit, and 64-bit. If you have ever struggled with Package Manager (pkgmgr), Windows Preinstallation Environment (PE) command-line tool PEimg or the International Configuration tools (Intlcfg) – DISM replaces them all. Plus DISM is great for helping to document exactly what is in an image so you won’t have to!
Windows Deployment Made Easier: Meet WAIK 2.0 and Volume Activation 2.0
Still paying for your Windows image deployment tools? Microsoft’s free deployment tools are better than ever with the new Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) 2.0. WAIK 2.0 makes scripting Windows installs vastly simpler through its Windows System Image Manager (WSIM), a GUI tool that writes detailed answer files that enables unattended installations. WAIK also includes the Windows Pre-Installation Environment (WinPE) 3.0, a simplified version of Windows 7 that provides the foundation of many deployment scenarios (and is also a great platform for Windows troubleshooting). ImageX creates and deploys Ghost-like system images ready for deployment, and WAIK 3.0 allows you to support and update those images with the all-new Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) utility, replacing both the old peimg, pkgmgr and International Configuration tools. If you are planning on deploying 5 or 50,000 Windows 7 or Server 2008 machines this session is a the quickest way to learn what has changed from WAIK 1.1 to 2.0. Once you have new Windows machines built you will need to activate them and it’s a snap with Microsoft’s volume activation Key Management Service (KMS) – join Microsoft Setup and Deployment MVP and Desktop Deployment Product Specialist Rhonda Layfield in an informative, entertaining, in-depth look at what’s new in Windows deployment!
Speaker: Rhonda Layfield – MVP Deployment
I’ve just added a new Opalis session in the IT Pro track.
IT Process Automation with System Center and Opalis
In this session OpsMgr MVP Maarten Goet will talk about how IT Process Automation or Run Book Automation (RBA) can orchestrate tasks across systems and automate large volume or highly repetitive tasks. Maarten will demo the Opalis integration server integration with Operations Manager 2007 R2 and Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2. Get a hands-on approach with this session how to drive down cost through automation and improve service performance and availability through standardizing process and execution.
Check out the TechDays session builder and filter on IT Pro tags so you have a clear view on the different Infrastructure related sessions.
In deze korte screencast bespreekt Paul Loonen (MVP ILM) een aantal van de security features die in IE8 zijn toegevoegd of verbeterd.
In deze sessie belicht Windows beveiligingsexpert Paul Loonen de essentiële beveiligingsfeatures van Windows 7 en het beheer ervan in een bedrijfsomgeving. Enkele van de vele verbeterde functies die in deze sessie aan bod komen, zijn de wijzigingen aan UAC, de Software Restriction Policies, de verbetering van Bitlocker, wat Managed Service Accounts zijn, welke verbeteringen er aan Kerberos werden aangebracht en hoe NTLM beperken.
Au cours de cette session, Paul Loonen, expert de la sécurité Windows, débattra des principales fonctions de sécurité de Windows 7 et expliquera comment les gérer à l’échelle d’une entreprise. Vous découvrirez notamment les changements au niveau de l’UAC, l’évolution des Software Restriction Policies, les perfectionnements apportés à Bitlocker, l’utilité des Managed Service Accounts, les modifications de Kerberos et comment limiter NTLM.

Les webcasts TechNet sont des émissions de 60 à 90 minutes qui mettent en scène des présentations techniques interactives, des démonstrations de produits et des sessions de questions-réponses animées par un expert du domaine et/ou des technologies Microsoft. Tout le contenu est enregistré et mis à disposition à la demande.
| Améliorations au plan de la sécurité dans Windows 7 et Windows Server 2008 R2 |
| Au cours de cette session, Paul Loonen, expert de la sécurité Windows, débattra des principales fonctions de sécurité de Windows 7 et expliquera comment les gérer à l’échelle d’une entreprise. Vous découvrirez notamment les changements au niveau de l’UAC, l’évolution des Software Restriction Policies, les perfectionnements apportés à Bitlocker, l’utilité des Managed Service Accounts, les modifications de Kerberos et comment limiter NTLM. | | | | |
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| Simplifiez la direction de votre Plateforme de Données SQL Server 2008 |
 | Durant cette session nous allons discuter la direction de Microsoft SQL Server 2008 et approfondir les défis auquels doivent faire face les gérants des bases de données. Nous allons parler de (entre autre) : gérer des tâches complexes et de haute valeur, monitorer et améliorer proactivement la santé de votre système, gérer l’élargabilité de plusieurs centres de données, et connaître mieux les trends historiques et les activités en real-time. | | | | |
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TechNet-webcasts zijn live-uitzendingen van 60 tot 90 minuten met interactieve technische presentaties, productdemonstraties en vraag-en-antwoordsessies die worden gepresenteerd door een deskundige op het gebied van Microsoft-technologie, uit de industrie of beide. Alle inhoud wordt opgenomen en op aanvraag beschikbaar gesteld.
| Beveiligingsverbeteringen in Windows 7 en Windows Server 2008 R2 |
 | In deze sessie belicht Windows beveiligingsexpert Paul Loonen de essentiële beveiligingsfeatures van Windows 7 en het beheer ervan in een bedrijfsomgeving. Enkele van de vele verbeterde functies die in deze sessie aan bod komen, zijn de wijzigingen aan UAC, de Software Restriction Policies, de verbetering van Bitlocker, wat Managed Service Accounts zijn, welke verbeteringen er aan Kerberos werden aangebracht en hoe NTLM beperken. | | | | |
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| Hoe kan je Windows 7 en Windows 2008 R2 installaties automatiseren? |
 | Tijdens deze livemeeting zullen we u tonen hoe u aan de hand van onze bestaande tools zoals “Microsoft Deployment toolkit” en de “Windows Deployment Services” heel snel Windows 7 en Windows Server 2008 R2 kan installeren. Verder gaan we dieper in op de “boot from VHD” functionaliteit. U zal ook merken dat we in Windows 7 en Windows Server 2008 R2 nieuwe mogelijkheden hebben om de installatie te vergemakkelijken en automatiseren. | | | 04 Februari – 14:00 Inschrijven | |
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| Vereenvoudig het management van uw SQL Server 2008 Data Platform |
 | In deze sessie bekijken we de management kant van Microsoft SQL Server 2008 en gaan we dieper in op de uitdagingen waarvoor database beheerders staan. Topics die we zullen behandelen zijn onder meer: het managen van complexe en high-value taken, proactieve monitoring en tuning van de gezondheid van uw systeem, schaalbaarheidsmanagement voor meerdere data centers, en inzicht verwerven in historische trends en real-time activiteiten. | | | 11 Februari – 14:00 Inschrijven | |
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| Forefront Threat Management Gateway - Technisch overzicht |
 | Deze sessie geeft een overzicht op de Forefront TMG - en de Forefront UAG features. Gesteund door de geïntegreerde Stirling beveiligingssuite en TMG’s geavanceerde beveiligingsfeatures krijgen organisaties geïntegreerde beveiliging die werkt in de praktijk. In deze sessie presenteren we de voordelen van deze geïntegreerde aanpak en gaan we dieper in op de belangrijkste features en de ‘high level’ architectuur. Daarnaast wordt ook ingegaan op de mogelijkheden binnen UAG zoals directe toegang, het publiceren van applicaties en veelvoudige authenticatie methoden. | | | 18 Februari – 14:00 Inschrijven | |
With this post I want to put John Craddock one of the main speakers at the event in the Spotlight. John is a well known speaker and he delivered some amazing sessions at the latest TechEd 2009 conference. As track-owner for TechEd I worked with John onto the Direct Access sessions he delivered there.
Because these sessions where so successful I wanted to bring them at the TechDays as well. Lets see what John will be delivering at the Belgian TechDays:
DirectAccess Technical Drilldown, Part 1 of 2: IPv6 and Transition Technologies
Take a sprinkling of Windows 7, add Windows Server 2008 R2, IPv6 and IPsec and you have a solution that will allow direct access to your corporate network without the need for VPNs. Come to these demo-rich sessions and learn how to integrate DirectAccess into your environment. In Part 1 learn about IPv6 addressing, host configuration and transitioning technologies including 6to4, ISATAP, Teredo and IPHTTPS. Through a series of demos learn how to build an IPv6 Network and interoperate with IPv4 networks and hosts. In Part 2 we add the details of IPSec, and components that are only available with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to build the DirectAccess infrastructure. Learn how to control access to corporate resources and manage Internet connected PCs through group policy. Part 1 is highly recommended as a prerequisite for Part 2.
This is a level 400 sessions that I highly recommend to the attendees.
Recovery of Active Directory Deleted Objects and the Windows Server 2008 R2 Recycle Bin
Oops, it just happened again! Important directory objects have just been deleted. Can we restore the objects while the system remains online? Come to this technical drilldown to learn about the lifecycle of a directory object from being live in the system to the point where it is eaten up by the garbage collector. See how a deleted object can be reanimated and the additional work that is required to fully recover all of the attributes; discover the challenges of multi-valued linked attributes. Learn how to activate the recycle bin in Windows Server 2008 R2 and the changes that are made to an object's lifecycle. See how individual objects and object hierarchies can be recovered online. Lots of demos!
Another Level 400 session from John’s hand.
What's Windows Server 2008 R2 Going to Do for Your Active Directory?
Windows Server 2008 R2 is here, with new tools and utilities for the directory service IT pro to help you manage and maximise the potential of your Active Directory. What's going to be your favourite new feature? Maybe it's the Best Practice Analyser that will scan your infrastructure and point out both compliant and noncompliant aspects of your environment together with suggestions for improvements. Do you want tools to simplify your day-to-day management of the AD? There's a new kid on the block, the Active Directory Administrative Center. Built on Windows PowerShell technology it provides a rich GUI allowing you to perform common Active Directory tasks through both data-driven and task-driven navigation. Not a GUI fan? Then R2 brings you more than 85 PowerShell Cmdlets to allow you to manage, diagnose, and automate AD tasks from the command-line or PowerShell scripts.
Maybe your favourite will be the recycle bin allowing you to recover deleted objects while the directory is online or the ability to perform offline domain join allowing you to streamline your deployments. There are more choices, come to this high-energy, fast paced, demo rich presentation and get all the details
Next week I will talk about some of the sessions that will be delivered by our local MVP’s Tom Decaluwe and Kim Oppalfens

| Learn Exchange 2010 in Depth |
| The second Pre-conference for IT Pro’s will be one covering Exchange 2010. During this full day of training you will learn everything you want to know on how to deploy and manage an Exchange 2010 infrastructure. This session will be delivered by Ilse Van Criekinge who was the top speaker at last years event. Next to Ilse we will also have Scott Schnoll who is a well-known speaker and spoken at many events all over the world. |
Register today to benefit from the early bird pricing and save 15%
Exchange 2010 Client Side: What’s new talking about Client Access? In this session you will be introduced to the Client Access server role, which is one of five distinct server roles for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. You will see how it enables support for Outlook Web App and Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync client applications, and the Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) and Internet Message Access Protocol version 4rev1 (IMAP4) protocols, in addition to how it provides access to free/busy data by using the Availability service and enables certain clients to download automatic configuration settings from the Autodiscover service. After attending this session you will understand the Client Access server role, know how to manage and secure the Client Access server role, provide high availability, and use the power of Exchange Web Services.
Exchange High Availability
This session includes an overview of mailbox resiliency in Exchange 2010, and a deep dive into the inner workings of new features such as database availability groups, mailbox database copies, continuous replication, active manager, and more. It also covers several design examples for in-datacenter high availability and site resilience.
Managing Exchange 2010
Exchange Server 2010 includes new capabilities that make the operation of your Exchange environment more efficient. Come and learn how we've made the Exchange Management Console more powerful, extended the reach of PowerShell, made it easier to delegate management tasks, and built Web-based tools to make the job of managing Exchange easier than ever.
Exchange Performance/Scalability
Selecting the right server hardware for an Exchange 2010 deployment becomes much easier when you know the product team's scalability and performance guidelines. This session provides a look at the product team's guidance for the processor and memory requirements of each server role in Exchange 2010. A number of key performance enhancements from this release are discussed, and you also learn about how to use related tools like the Exchange Mailbox Server Requirements Calculator, Exchange Profile Analyzer, Loadgen, and Jetstress to take the guesswork out of server sizing.
Exchange Information Protection & Control (including RBAC)
Worried about employees accidentally leaking valuable corporate e-mail? This session introduces new methods of information protection and control powered by Exchange Server 2010, including new transport rule for moderation, dynamic signatures and application of rights management. A discussion of the use of Active Directory Rights Management Service in parallel with Exchange is included, as well as an introduction to how these new features can be applied to real-world messaging control scenarios.
Next week I will talk about some of the sessions I’ve accepted so far. Keep an eye on the blog because we have excellent content coming to you.
Get Ready Sessions are 1 day level 200-300 technical trainings given by top level speakers, generally acknowledged as experts in their field. The sessions are organized by Microsoft Partners, more specifically Certified Partners Learning Solutions (CPLS), warranting a high quality learning experience for the trainees.
The participating Microsoft Partners are Devoteam/Guidance, Global Knowledge, InfoSupport, Ordina and U2U. Below is an overview of the different topics for which each Partner is organizing Get Ready Sessions.

Here is a list of upcoming “Get Ready” Sessions:
| Feb 9 | Get Ready Session: SQL Server 2008 infrastructure The ideal start for any IT professional who wants to know everything about managing a SQL Server 2008 infrastructure. This one day seminar is provided by the best trainers from the Microsoft Certified Learning Solutions Partners. No loose collection of topics but a solid base of information on new management functionality in SQL Server 2008. |
| Infosupport | http://www.infosupport.com/Training/CursusInfo/GRSQL08 |
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| Feb 11 | Get Ready Session: Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 This Microsoft Get Ready session by U2U covers the new features in Exchange Server 2010 compared to Exchange Server 2007. Topics: Exchange Server 2010 design goals. Client access features. Message policy and compliance features. Unified messaging features. Federated sharing. Message transport features. Mailbox server features |
| U2U | http://www.u2u.be/CoursePage.aspx?CODE=UEXP10 |
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| Feb 19 | Get Ready Session: Windows 7 : The Next Generation Windows Collaborative Platform: An Opportunity To Optimize Your Desktop Service In this demonstrations-packed session, Devoteam experts will show you how to bring your desktop service to new levels of operational excellence. DevoTeam experts will demonstrate how to integrate the latest Microsoft desktop technologies, highlighting how they really change the migration game, improve your service levels, and lower the client platform TCO
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| Guidance/Devoteam | TBC |
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| Feb 24 | Server Virtualisation: Building Your Virtualisation Infrastructure Using Hyper-V and SCVMM Discover the benefits of the virtualization capabilities in Windows Server 2008 R2 and System Center. Take advantage of the cost savings of virtualization through Windows Server 2008 R2. Optimize your server hardware investments by consolidating multiple server roles using server virtualisation, efficiently run multiple different operating systems in parallel and fully leverage the power of x64 computing. |
| Guidance/Devoteam | TBC |
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| Feb 26 | Get Ready Session: SharePoint 2010 This Microsoft Get Ready session by U2U gives you an overview on what is new in SharePoint 2010, for Power Users, Developers and Administrators. Topics: SharePoint 2010 Overview What’s new in the SharePoint User Interface List and Document Management Improvements Introducing SharePoint Designer 2010 The new Business Connectivity Services (BCS) What is new in InfoPath 2010 SharePoint Workspace 2010 Introducing the SharePoint Development Platform What are Sandboxed Solutions? The new Client Object Models LINQ and REST in SharePoint 2010 Building Web Parts with Visual Studio 2010 SharePoint 2010 Administration Overview |
| U2U | http://www.u2u.be/CoursePage.aspx?CODE=UGSP10 |
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| March 12 | Get Ready Session: Exchange 2010 Since its early conception, Exchange Server has been one of the world's favourite email server platforms. Now with a whole new level of 64bit architecture Exchange 2010 provides a fully unified messaging and communications platform. With world class email, voice, data and fax Exchange 2007 delivers enterprise class services with improved speed, storage growth, manageability and security. In this Get Ready Seminar you will discover what's hot and what's not in Exchange 2010, so make sure you sign up to this exclusive one day session!!! |
| Global Knowledge | http://www.globalknowledge.be/Default.aspx?page=461&coursecode=GKEXCH2010 |
More to come as soon as we have launched the official TechNet “Get Ready” site.
| BI with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft Office System 2010 |
| We will examine an end-to-end approach to building and delivering a BI solution using the Microsoft BI platform. We will focus on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft Office System 2010, in particular on PowerPivot, SharePoint 2010, and PerformancePoint Services. To make this seminar easier and more pleasant to follow we have structured the first half to focus on the concepts of BI and the knowledge worker and the second half to focus on underlying technologies. |
Register today to benefit from the early bird pricing and save 15%
Session1: The Big Picture of Business Intelligence: Goals, Concepts, and the Platform
This session will introduce the overall picture of Business Intelligence and will relate the Microsoft BI Platform to it. Fundamental concepts, such as Master Data Management, Data Warehousing, Self-service Analysis, Dimensions, Facts, and Measures will be introduced, too. Technology, stressing the newly released products, will be briefly discussed and the overall road ahead will be outlined.
Session2: The Knowledge Worker’s Perspective: Self-Service of BI
The most demanded and the fastest growing form of BI is the self-service, personal BI. This session will concentrate on how Office System 2010, in particular SharePoint 2010 and its PerformancePoint Services enable anyone to create and use BI in an organisation. We will also introduce the very new Microsoft PowerPivot stressing how existing Excel skills enable self-service analysis by intermediate and more advanced users. We will also mention other self-service aspects of BI, such as self-service reporting. This session will also discuss the IT Professional challenge of managing the life cycle of a potentially fast, organically growing BI system built by its users.
Session3: The IT Perspective: Data Warehousing, Management, and Analytical Structures
This session aims to take a look at BI capabilities of the SQL Server 2008 R2. We will introduce Master Data Management and new approaches to massive Data Warehousing. We will look at the way in which SQL Server functions as part of the overall BI Platform. Naturally, the fundamental BI functions of SQL Server, such as Data Integration and OLAP will also be discussed in order to enable all attendees to start planning their BI infrastructure after attending this seminar.
Session4: The Analyst’s Perspective: Ad-hoc Analysis with Microsoft PowerPivot and Office 2010 Excel
Returning to the key theme of this seminar, the self-service nature of BI, we will dive deeper into the most exciting of the recent additions to the Microsoft BI platform, the Microsoft PowerPivot. We will look at the ways in which an analyst can use their existing knowledge of Excel to perform advanced analysis of large data sets, including their acquisition and later publication. Briefly, we will introduce a new language for analysis known as DAX which can help more advanced users create powerful analytical applications all inside Excel and PowerPivot. Finally, we will review the existing Data Mining technologies of SQL Server 2008 R2 thus completing the day’s thorough journey through the Microsoft BI Platform.

Tomorrow I will post information about the Second Preconference – Exchange 2010 in Depth.