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      Mark your calendar for Wednesday May 2, 2012!   Join us for the first annual IT-Pro Tech Update 2012 .   This event will focus on the next phase of information technology with topics including:   virtualization, Windows 8, interoperability, security, and private cloud...

Have you built your first cloud yet?  If not, now is a great time to build out a lab.  Go ahead,  grab a server (or laptop) and setup you proof of concept.  If you have not done it already, it is likely because you are worried about what you will do if you get stuck!  Well, fret...

Free TechNet Webcast Series – Private Cloud kicks of today! Click the individual sessions below to register.  Notice times are listed in PST time zone! You will NOT want to miss this… 1/18 : Register: TechNet Webcast: Career Progression: Getting Ready for the Cloud (Level 200) on 1/18/2012 1:00...

Chris Avis is a friend and colleague.  He created a pretty detailed blog post on how to create a private cloud .  I was planning on writing a similar post but found this one and decided to link to his. I hope you find his post helpful.  He goes through … Architecture: Hardware Requirements...

We are kicking off our TechNet event series, Accelerating Your IT Pro Career with Private Cloud, in the US east region. Here’s the registration information:   State City Date Registration FL Ft. Lauderdale Dec. 9, 2011 Event Info FL Tampa Dec. 7, 2011 Event Info GA Atlanta Nov. 3, 2011 Event Info...

  Are you up to speed on the cloud?  Have you already built a cloud lab?  Do you know what tools make up the Private Cloud?  If you answered no to any of these questions, we have an event for YOU!  We do not have the registration links ready yet but we are real close.  I...

Key To Almost Infinite Knowledge – Passive Listening… Do you make the time to keep up with technology?  If you are not expanding your knowledge, you are falling behind.  With the job market the way it is, you would be smart to keep learning.  I know we are all busy and doing more now than...

Virtualization + Cloud = lots of buzz but what does it mean to IT Professionals? News and Notes from Your Senior IT Pro Evangelist – Dan Stolts (ITProGuru) The following will be covered:   Virtualization + Cloud = lots of buzz but what does it mean to IT Professionals? Virtualization => Cloud...

Keynote - Stop putting out fires: Proactive IT infrastructure management Do you feel like you’re always in crisis mode? Do you want to learn what it takes to become a proactive and rationalized IT shop? Are you ready for the cloud? In this session, we will address these issues and more as we explore...

Before following these instructions… PLEASE backup your machine.  The best way to get a good backup of a machine is to do an export.  So please, export the machine or at the very least test your backup procedures to make sure they are valid.  Also, if you want a way to do this through...

I am walking through the installation of SCVMM 2008 R2 SP1 on a new server that I just setup in my demo environment.  Hope this is helpful.  First lets look at the system requirements .  If you want to setup your environment with multiple servers or you want to do a custom install you...

Before I get deep into SQL Installation let me tell you where we are starting… I am walking through the installation of SCVMM 2008 R2 SP1 on a new server that I just setup in my demo environment. I want to use SQL Server 2008 R2 for my deployment so I need to set that up as a prerequisite....

I am starting with a sysprep’d Windows Server 2008 R2 Server.  I have allocated 2 processors and 512mb memory to the guest using dynamic memory.  Once I get the system up and running, I will bump up the memory to be close to what I actually need but I will leave it dynamic.  I need to...

Hot Add Storage was added to Hyper-V at version 2008 R2. From the Hyper-V Manager Right-click the machine you want to add storage to, select Settings . This will bring up the settings window. Click On SCSI Controller in the left pane. If you do not have a SCSI Controller, you...

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 SP1 is available for download using your MSDN or TechNet Subscription or from http://Connect.Microsoft.com .  You can also download a trial from http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/en/us/virtual-machine-manager/vmm-try-it.aspx# Notice you can download...

Many people have told me they have lots of problems with BCDEdit. Others have told me they are afraid to do it for fear of making a mistake. To simplify the process I have created a batch file that takes a few parameters to “install” the VHD into BCDEdit for you. It is a batch file that requires...

If you want to use Windows Server 2008 R2 on your Desktop or Laptop, there are a few things you will likely want to do… 1) Enable the “ Desktop Experience ” Feature  (Start – Administrative Tools – Server Manager – Features – Add Features) 2) Enable Wireless LAN Service {if you have a wireless card...

As an IT Professional I have been working with the predecessor to the cloud for many years. The predecessor of course is virtualization.  We (IT Pro’s) have been taking advantage of many virtualization technologies including: Server Consolidation,  Desktop Virtualization, Application Virtualization...

Have you ever wanted to change some settings for all users in a Terminal Server or Remote Desktop Services Session environment?  Do you know there is a really cool command line tool that is used to install application called “Change User” that can also be used to propagate any number of settings...

It is kind-of mind blowing how much IT has changed in the last 5 –10 years.    Where were we in terms of virtualization 10 years ago?  There were virtualization products on the market but they were pretty much focusing on workstation virtualization.  The server virtualization...

PowerShell is an incredible tool that will allow you to run scripts or commands on your server.  PowerShell is included with Windows Server 2008 R2 but it has to be added to Windows Server 2003.  I recently had a customer who got their server (DC) infected with a virus and it was a huge problem...

Tips and Tools for Managing and Securing Your Clients and Critical Server Infrastructure Like everyone else, you love Windows 7 and can’t wait to get it deployed throughout your organization. Let’s take a look at the many tips and tools available today to ease your burden of deployment. I have broken...

Revised 4/2/2011 to add merge change instructions link and link to simple way to do this using diskpart. I documented the process at: How To Expand and Extend To Increase Capacity On A Virtual Hard Disk The Easy and Fast Way–Solve the problem of “Out of Disk Space on Drive C” Forever...

First if you have any domain controllers that are on Windows Server 2000 make sure they have SP4 installed.  You can download from here . I also recommend you have all of your 2003 domain controllers fully patched via WSUS or Windows Update. You will need to login to a domain controller using a...

Like everyone else, you love Windows 7 and can’t wait to get it deployed throughout your organization. Let’s take a look at the many tips and tools available today to ease your burden of deployment. I have broken it down into several steps (or categories of steps). While writing all of this, it became...