Cloud Intelligence Conferencewww.intelligence-conferences.com
March 13, 2012: Anaheim, CAMay 8, 2012: Phoenix, AZMay 11, 2012: San Diego, CA
IT Camps
March 15, 2012: Los Angeles, CAMarch 16, 2012: Phoenix, AZMarch 19, 2012: Denver, CO
Tech Days San Franciscowww.techdays.org
March 22 - 23, 2012: San Francisco, CA
Cloud / Windows Connectionshttp://www.devconnections.com/shows/sp2012/default.aspx?s=187
March 26, 2012: Las Vegas, NV
Microsoft Management Summit (MMS)www.mms-2012.com
April 16 - 20, 2012: Las Vegas, NV
For further details, go to Upcoming Events Page
Get evaluation bits for System Center 2012
In the US, we are holding a promotion that has two very easy steps and then you receive $20 to use at the Microsoft Online Store. To begin, go visit the Microsoft Private Cloud Offer site.
Offer Period: Now until June 30, 2012
Click the Download button to go to the TechNet Evaluation Center and Download your Microsoft Private Cloud Evaluation Software. You will need to sign in with your Live ID to initiate the download. Once the download starts, it will probably take about 30 – 60 minutes depending on your connection. (I have Cox and it took me about 37 minutes to complete the download). The nice thing is you don’t actually have to wait for the download to complete before you move onto Step 2.
Click the Explore button and you will be taken to the System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager Virtual Lab. Currently, you will be taken directly to a Live ID sign in page. Once you sign in and complete the Microsoft Private Cloud Offer page, you will be taken to the final Virtual Lab page where you can Launch the Virtual Lab and complete it.
It is VERY important that you provide valid information with your Live ID sign in as you will receive an email (in about 3 days) with the code to retrieve your $20 coupon for use at the Online Store. You will also be entered to win one of three Lenovo W520s.
W520 15.6”
Disclaimer: There are a limited number of $20 coupons available (about 5,000) and are given out on a first come first serve basis and only one per person. This promotional offer is only valid in the United States. Whether you get a $20 coupon or not, you will still be entered into the drawing for the W520. You can enter multiple times for the raffle – you just have to complete the two steps each time. Please read the full Rules on the Microsoft Private Cloud Offer Site as my disclaimer only has a portion of the full rules.
As customers started to test the waters of virtualization within their organization, most started with the non-mission critical apps “just to be safe”. As the comfort level increased, the majority (if not all) of the non-mission critical apps were moved into the virtualization matrix. There are still quite a few customers who do not feel comfortable virtualizing their Tier 1 business critical applications. Yet, these are the applications that would probably have the biggest impact on overall ROI. The most common reason I hear is that the performance for these high resource (CPU, memory, IO) workloads do not translate well into a virtualized environment. This may have been true 4 years ago, but today, I would argue that with proper planning 99% of all workloads can indeed be virtualized.
When a SQL Server is running on a physical server with a single socket, 4 core CPU and 64 GB of RAM, it has full access to EVERYTHING. This means the CPU, memory and even networking resources on that server are dedicated to servicing SQL Server. As I look to virtualize this workload, I need to take into account how many logical processors are in the hypervisor host (in my case, Hyper-V) and how I have the networking configured for the host. If I am running other Virtual Machines (VMs) on this host, I need to be cognizant of the overall usage of logical processors as they are now time slicing resources for all VMs running. Also, all the network traffic for all the VMs running on this host are being pushed out on the same physical network adapter(s).
In this scenario, I would not be running my SQL Server VM on the same host as other resource intensive VMs if at all possible. This means I would run some of my lower utilization VMs on this host so that SQL will get more overall resources. Also, I would set the priority of the SQL VM so it is higher in the ranking. I think you get the picture.
Another thing to take into account is the actual CPU architecture being utilized on the hypervisor hosts. Not all quad core processors are equal. You have to look at the maximum performance of each core. I point this out because in many organizations, the team that manages the SQL Servers usually are the ones that provide specs for these physical servers and these may not be the same types of servers that are used by the team that manages the virtualization hosts.
The last item I want to point out is memory. As you start working with higher memory capacity servers, the NUMA architecture really comes into play. If the Hyper-V host uses memory banks across NUMA nodes, the performance will degrade. Since the OS in the VM is not managing the physical memory, it has no control over how memory is accessed from a NUMA perspective. Instead, it is the Hyper-V host that manages this for all VMs on that host. For these high memory capacity servers, care must be taken to configure NUMA settings so this does not become a negative factor.
We have done testing of our own of these Tier 1 applications in a Hyper-V environment and have published them here. Please download and read so you can be prepared to start moving these workloads to Hyper-V if you haven’t already done so.
Harold Wong
My teammate, Chris Avis, has started a great blog post series on preparing for the Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Virtualization Exam (70-659). Not only does the information provide a great study guide to taking the exam, this is GREAT general purpose information on the technology that is useful for learning the product or getting more familiar if this is new to you. Chris has written 5 posts in the series with more coming. Below are the links to the 5 existing posts.
Passing the Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization Exam (70-659) – Part 1
Passing the Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization Exam (70-659) – Part 2
Passing the Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization Exam (70-659) – Part 3
Passing the Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization Exam (70-659) – Part 4
Passing the Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization Exam (70-659) – Part 5 - I'm a developer! Why Virtualize?
I will also be adding my own blog posts to “supplement” and add to what Chris is already doing. At the end of the series, we will be taking all this information and creating a downloadable document so you can easily view offline.
First, let me say that I am a big proponent of technical certifications. That is the reason why I have my Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) Server Administrator, MCITP Enterprise Administrator and MCITP Enterprise Messaging Administrator 2007 and 2010. Once upon a time, I also had my Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), MCSE (precursor to MCITP), CNI and CNE.
Recently, I passed Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Virtualization (Exam 70-659) and Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 (Exam 70-400). I plan to get my MCITP Virtualization Administrator so I’ll need to take the Windows Server 2008 R2 Desktop Virtualization Exam (70-669) and Windows Server 2008 R2 Virtualization Administrator Exam (70-693) sometime in the next few months. As soon as the two exams for Microsoft Private Cloud Certification become available (Exams 70-246 and 70-247), I will also study and take those.
At the end of January, I attended the VMware vSphere 5: Install, Configure, Manage course and am currently studying for the VCP5 exam.
As I look at the costs in time and money to achieve these certifications, I started asking myself if it was really worth the time and effort to obtain all these certifications. At the end of the day, I did come to the conclusion that it was indeed worth it!
I’m pretty darn sure 90% (or more) of companies out there today are virtualizing their server workloads in one way or another. I am also willing to bet that not everyone fully understands how to manage the virtualization platform that they are using – whether it’s the solution from Microsoft, VMware, Xen or any other smaller virtualization technologies. Training can definitely help and should probably be taken advantage of by more IT Professionals out there. The “next” level is then pursuing the appropriate virtualization certification from the vendor in question. Since quite a few organizations use Microsoft and VMware as their virtualization platform, I thought I would focus on these two and get my certification on both platforms.
On the Microsoft front, I opted not to attend any of the classroom training available as I have been working with the technologies for quite some time now and figured I didn’t need to. I did study up a little on some of the technologies that I don’t necessarily use on a regular basis in my current role. I like that fact that if I have true hands on experience with the technology, I have a valid chance at passing the exam. I may not agree with all the questions on the exam, but enough of it is pertinent to real world experience that I’m okay with it. With 20 / 20 hindsight, I do believe it is worthwhile to do some studying and reviewing of areas that I wouldn’t necessarily use on a regular basis. As an example, installation of the free version of Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 is not something I would normally do on a regular basis. In fact, I wouldn’t be installing the Hyper-V role on a daily basis either so it can help to brush up on installation items.
On the VMware front, I find it annoying that I have to attend a class in order to get my certification. It’s one thing if the class were $1200 or $1500, but the 5 day vSphere 5 course costs $3500. Since I don’t administer a VMware environment on a daily basis, the class definitely helped me. However, for those who have true hands on experience, I do find this high cost of entry to be quite annoying. Since I have virtualization experience, I was able to understand the VMware terminology and architecture in a short amount of time. My instructor did a great job of explaining the concepts and even went into additional topics that weren’t part of the official courseware. I still need to pay my $225 to take the exam, but am confident that I will be able to pass it with some hard studying.
I’m curious what everyone else things about this topic. Please weigh in with your thoughts by posting some great comments.
In the West Region, Chris Avis and I are hosting a set of events in the March and May / June timeframe.
In November 2011, we tried out a new format for events which we called IT Camps. This new format included the ability for the attendees to select the topics that would be discussed. We are evolving this a bit and holding more of these IT Camp style events in March.
Join us for our upcoming IT Camp where we are changing the format and structure of our in-person events! We are implementing the following changes:
To participate in the afternoon session, you will need to bring your own computer (laptop preferred) with the following minimum configuration:
I encourage everyone to start posting suggestions for topics to be discussed during the Open Topics sections. Also, if you have a topic that you would like to discuss, then please say so when posting your comment to this blog post. I am a firm believer that we can all learn from one another as we all have unique experiences and talents that we bring to the table. I look forward to reading your topic suggestions and then seeing you at the events!!
To register, please visit the appropriate links for your city.
**** UPDATED 2/15/12 2:38 PM (MST) - The registration links are now LIVE!!!! ********
**** UPDATED 2/13/12 1:45 PM (MST) - I just found out the registration links are not live yet. As soon as the registration links go live, I will update this blog post again to notify everyone ********
Date
City
ITE
March 13, 2012
Bellevue, WA
Chris Avis
March 15, 2012
Los Angeles, CA
Portland, OR
March 16, 2012
Phoenix, AZ
March 19, 2012
Denver, CO
Mountain View, CA
Agenda and abstracts of Sessions
8:00 AM – 8:30 AM Check-In and Welcome
8:30 AM – 9:30 AM: Get out of Dodge: Migrating to Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
Is your infrastructure still clinging to the 2003 x86 server architecture? But with every day that goes by, you worry more and more that the other shoe will drop. You know you have to bite the bullet and get these critical services over to more modern hardware paired with the current supported revisions of the server platform. These are the services that keep the lights on, the servers running and most importantly: the users happy! This demo-intensive session covers how to migrate essential services like DHCP, DNS, File/Print, Certificate Services and more.
9:30 AM – 10:30 AM: Veeam Presentation
Discover how System Center 2012 can be leveraged to manage coexisting private cloud technologies from the metal to the app! This session will focus on the following System Center 2012 components: Virtual Machine Manager, Orchestrator and Operations Manager and how each technology can manage both Hyper-V and VMware Hypervisor platforms.
10:45 AM – 12:00 PM: Open Topics
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM: Open Topics
2:45 PM – 4:00 PM: Hands-On-Lab: Configure Windows Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 (Free version)
There are many IT Pros who have expressed interest in using the free version of Hyper-V Server. In this hands-on-session, we will demystify the configuration steps necessary to get Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 up and running so you can start using the free tool. As most folks know how to install an OS, we will not bore you with a 35 minute install; instead we will provide a VHD file with the product pre-installed, but not configured. We will help everyone configure their machines to boot to VHD and complete the configuration steps.
Following the configuration of Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, you will import the System Center 2012 RC VMs provided by Veeam so you can also get guided hands-on-experience with their management product.
Here is a little something about the two folks from Veeam that will be presenting at these events.
Chris Henley
Chris Henley is a Product Strategy Specialist at Veeam. He is focused on technologies related to Windows Server and Hyper V. He is a published author and a regular speaker at user groups and major technology conferences around the world. He has a fun and energetic style of communication and loves to discuss technical topics and what technology can do.
Brian Pavnick
Brian Pavnick is a Solutions Architect at Veeam Software who specializes in integrating Microsoft System Center technologies with VMWare's VI. Prior to Veeam, he has worked over 10 years as a Sr. Systems Administrator acquiring skills in operating, implementing, and project managing Microsoft Server Infrastructure Technologies. Throughout his career, he has specialized in Systems Management for Microsoft Server technologies. This includes OS deployment, patch management, system profiling, system and application monitoring, data security, and disaster recovery. Brian is a Microsoft Certified IT Professional in Enterprise Administration.
A buddy of mine showed me a funny picture that he found on Facebook. I thought it was funny and wanted to share as well so I am posting on my blog. I want to give FULL credit to http://oatmeal.com as that is where the graphic originated. The blog version is here: http://theoatmeal.com/blog/fix_computer.
I had to stop reading the blog for now as people are starting to look at me (I’m in training).
Microsoft held a great event called Microsoft Private Cloud Day where changes to System Center 2012 were announced. If you missed the live stream, you can watch it on demand starting at 10:30 AM PST today.
With the current shipping versions of System Center products (and previous), we have always had individual products such as System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R3 or System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2. We are simplifying this and now we are offering System Center 2012 as a single product / suite. We are offering two editions, System Center 2012 Datacenter and System Center 2012 Standard.
As you can see from the figure above, both Editions include the same components. Both editions are also licensed per two physical processors. The only difference is the number of Virtual Machines supported per license– 2 for Standard and Unlimited for Datacenter. If you have a minimal virtualization footprint, the Standard Edition may be just fine (branch office or a smaller datacenter for example); if you have a large virtualization footprint and are looking for high density of VMs, then definitely go with Datacenter edition.
This is a key milestone for us as Microsoft is leading the pack in building a global scale public cloud platform (Windows Azure, SQL Azure and Office 365) while also enabling customers to build their own private clouds (using Windows Server and System Center). As customers really start taking advantage of cloud computing methodologies, they have the flexibility of choosing the model that best fits their needs or a combination (Hybrid) and know that the two environments can be managed holistically from one management tool – System Center 2012. Brad Anderson, Corporate Vice President of our Management and Security Division wrote a blog post that really does a good job of stating Microsoft’s strategy for cloud computing and how we see public and private clouds coming together.
For more details on the System Center 2012 changes, please visit the Microsoft Server and Cloud Platform site.
If you are interested in trying out the new System Center 2012 Release Candidate bits, please visit the download site.
Although I’m not a developer myself, I do know quite a few people who are and wanted to pass along information about a great contest around Windows 8.
The main site is https://buildwindowscontest.com.
Quick Contest Info
The First Apps contest will select eight winning apps to be the very first apps in the Windows Store when it opens. This is your chance to show off your great app and to be part of an exclusive group of developers invited to participate in the Store when it first opens. The winning developers will also get some goodies to help them build even better apps:
Please visit the site for all the details and start coding as submissions are due by January 8, 2012!
It has been a little while since the System Center vNext Virtual Labs were updated. So it is indeed good news that as of yesterday, the TechNet Virtual Lab team released the following four new Virtual Labs for System Center 2012.
TechNet Virtual Lab: System Center Operations Manager 2012: Infrastructure and Application Performance Monitoring TechNet Virtual Lab: System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012: Building Your Cloud Infrastructure TechNet Virtual Lab: System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012: Building a Service Template TechNet Virtual Lab: Introduction to System Center Configuration Manager 2012
Don’t worry, these are not going to be the only updated labs that come out for System Center 2012. I expect more to come over the next month or so.
Sorry I’m a bit late with the recap for the Phoenix / Tempe Event last week.
For the summary of Cloud Computing and what a Private Cloud really is compared to On Premise datacenters, Public Clouds and Hybrid Clouds, please see my recap from Los Angeles.
I do want to repost the links for the PPT decks and the Trial software downloads here.
There were three presentations given:
For those of you who would like to download trial versions of the different software products I discussed during the event, you can find the links in the PPT Decks as well as here below:
Also wanted to repost Adam Bresson’s contact information below
Adam Bresson Security, Identity & Access Management (SIAM) Technical Solution Professional (TSP) W: (650) 693-2230 Email: adam.bresson@microsoft.com
For those of you interested in taking Exam 70-659, there are a few resources available and two of them were brought up during the event. I promised to get the links for everyone so here we go.
Jump Start! Microsoft Server Virtualization -- Get Certified! (Exam 70-659)
Free eBook: Understanding Microsoft Virtualization R2 Solutions
Collection 6333: Exploring Microsoft Virtualization Technologies
This collection of two 2-hour online clinics and an 1-hour online clinic provides IT Professionals experienced in Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003 with the knowledge and skills to implement and manage virtualization technologies.
Topics covered in the clinic within the collection include:
Free Exam Voucher for 70-659 from QuickStart
***************** Updated on 11/16/11 to include link for Forefront Identity Manager PPT Deck Presentation ***************************
A big thank you to all who made it to the TechNet Event in the Los Angeles Office on Monday morning!!!
One of the biggest confusion points I’ve encountered when talking about Cloud, is what is the difference between “On Premise servers / infrastructure” and “Private Cloud”??? In my second presentation, I spent the first 10 – 15 minutes clarifying that point. I do want to recap that here to make sure we are indeed all clear.
Most (if not all) companies have On-Premise servers and infrastructure to support their business. These servers include Domain Controllers, Email servers, file servers, database servers, etc. I think that definition is pretty clear and everyone understands this point. The real confusion is how a Private Cloud fits into this environment. Depending on who you talk to, you will get different answers. If we all believe VMware, then Virtualization is equal to Private Cloud. However, this is NOT the case. Let’s first talk about Cloud – which I will refer to as a methodology. Cloud Computing has 5 key characteristics as defined by the NSIT – elasticity, self service, pooling of resources, ubiquitous access and measured service / pay per use. If you are using virtualization, then you are using one of the building blocks necessary to implement cloud computing. But, virtualization by itself does not equal private cloud since that really only addresses one (maybe two) of the characteristics I listed previously. What you really need to do is spend the time to create a self service portal where the internal customer can go request services such as services to host a new three tier application. The process has quite a few automatic steps that can provide approval of the request and then automated build out of the services and components (storage, network, etc.) necessary to host the three tier application. This usually involves provisioning at least three virtual servers – web server, middle tier server and database server. The requestor is then notified when the services are available to be used. As the requestor needs more or less resources, they would go to the portal and make the request. Based on the amount of resources utilized by the requestor, their department would be billed for the consumption of the resources.
I would highly encourage you to download the System Center 2012 pre-release products and start testing them out in your lab. It took about 45 minutes for me to download every 2012 pre-release product at home and the process is very easy since you can download the entire group from one central location.
For those of you who would like to get a hold of Adam Bresson (person who presented on Forefront Identity Manager), his contact information is below:
Adam has not had a chance to send me his presentation yet, but as soon as he does, I will get it uploaded to my SlideShare location – www.slideshare.net/harold.wong so please do check back there in the next day or two.
If I missed something, please let me know so I can get all the questions addressed. Thanks!!
On October 17th, I wrote a blog post about upcoming TechNet Events taking place in the West Region in the November and December time frame (http://blogs.technet.com/b/haroldwong/archive/2011/10/17/upcoming-west-region-technet-events-in-november-2011.aspx).
I am now writing a follow up post to make everyone aware of another set of events that will be taking place in conjunction with our TechNet Events. The TechNet Event runs from 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM. We will take an hour break and then start a second event that runs from 1 PM – 5 PM. We are calling these afternoon events IT Camps.
The format of the IT Camp is totally different than any other Microsoft Event. At the beginning of the IT Camp, we will have everyone put forth a few topics for discussion / presentation. Once we’ve collected the topics, we will have everyone vote for the ones that are of the most interest to them and then we will do our darn best to cover as many of them as possible in the 4 hour window. This format allows everyone to have a say in the topics and also fosters great discussions amongst all the attendees. If all goes well, we will have “experts” in different technologies present to help answer and discuss all the different topics. These “experts” won’t necessarily work for Microsoft, but may be MVPs or other knowledgeable folks in the community.
In case you are wondering what topics are valid, let me just list a few to get your thinking going. Active Directory, Cloud Computing, Certification, Exchange Server, Lync Server, Group Policy, Hyper-V, Virtualization in general, System Center, Office 365, Windows Azure, PowerShell, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Phone 7, Forefront Threat Management Gateway, Security, Upgrading, Migrations, etc.
Even if you can’t make the morning TechNet Event, I hope you can make it to the afternoon event. If you would like, bring your laptops and we can try to do some hands-on stuff too.
Following is a list of all the cities, dates, locations and registration links:
Location
Registration Link
Main Faciliator
November 14, 2011
Microsoft Civica Office
Bellevue Registration
Microsoft Los Angeles Office
Los Angeles Registration
November 15, 2011
Microsoft Denver Office
Denver Registration
November 17, 2011
Microsoft Tempe Office
Tempe Registration
November 18, 2011
Microsoft Silicon Valley Campus
Silicon Valley Registration
Microsoft Portland Office
Portland Registration
December 6, 2011
Microsoft Lehi Office
Lehi Registration
The fourth and last Webcast in the Lync Server 2010 Deep Dive series delivered by Byron Spurlock was delivered on October 14, 2011. The full Question and Answer Log file is below. You can download the PowerPoint deck here: http://www.slideshare.net/harold.wong/lync-2010-conferencing-deep-dive.
You can reach Byron Spurlock here: Byrons@Quadrantechnologies.com.
On October 7, 2011, Byron Spurlock delivered the third webcast in the Lync 2010 Deep Dive series. I am a bit late, but here is the Q&A Log from that session.
You can reach Byron Spurlock at Byrons@Quadrantechnologies.com.
I was able to work with Byron Spurlock (former Microsoft Consultant with MCS) to have him deliver another Webcast Series on Lync Server 2010. The second one was delivered on September 23, 2011 on Lync Server 2010 High Availability. I am a bit behind, but I am now catching up and posting the Questions and Answer Log from that session here. You can also find the PowerPoint deck on my SlideShare site here: http://www.slideshare.net/harold.wong/lync-2010-highavailability.
If you would like to get a hold of Byron, please feel free to contact him at Byrons@Quadrantechnologies.com.
Question: What is a Registrar Pool? it is not one of the Lync server roles, so what exactly is a Registrar? Answer: When the Lync client signs in, it will register with the Front End Server or Director. The Director is running the registrar service just like the Front End Server.
Question: any known issues around draining/ I tried and it disconnected my current sessions Answer: I have not seen issues where turning on draining caused current sessions to be disconnected. That is contrary to what the feature is supposed to do.
Question: So the HLB will round robin through the 3 front ends and the Front Ends will then talk to each to figure out what the primary registrar is for a client..correct? If so..what happens if the the primary registrar goes down..will a new registrar be chosen for the client? Answer: In a resiliency configuration, the user is assigned a backup registrar pool when they register with their primary registrar.
Question: Does Lync support SIP DNS load balancing with SRV records, instead of multiple A records? Answer: No, you need to have multiple A records.
Question: in dns lb why aren't cnames used for ocspool1 hosts? Answer: You are technically creating an A record for each server in the pool that happens to have the same name as the pool. The CNAME record points to an A record so you have to have the A record first.
Question: What are the latency requirements between the DC to DC failover options and SBA to DC failover scenario? Answer: There are not any specific “latency” requirements for failover to another DC or from SBA to DC. As a right provisioning standard, provision your network to ensure a maximum end-to-end delay (latency) of 150 milliseconds (ms) under peak load.
Question: the a records are created by building the front end servers so a records for these IPs are already created so then when you configure your pool and dns lb you can create cnames for the pool to the server names.... this way if the server IP changes the pool still stays alive. right? Answer: The Pool needs to have an A record to function.
Question: When we need to use a Director? Answer: The Director is not required, but recommended depending on your configuration.
Question: So Full services are available for remote user who's home server (SBA/SBS) is down,,what about if user is homed to another pool? Do they have limited functions? Answer: Provided the resiliency is configured correctly for all pools, then they would have full functionality.
As promised, I am posting the next set of West Region TechNet Events that will be taking place the week of November 14th plus one in Salt Lake City area on December 6th.
The following two sessions will be delivered in all the cities.
Get Ready for Tomorrow, Today - Hyper-V Virtualization for the Cloud
Virtualization is one of the critical elements of networks operations of all kinds. Virtualization is a key to cloud operations. Joins us as we discuss the key components of virtualization that provide the operational foundation for both Public and Private Cloud.
Private Cloud 201: Microsoft Private Cloud Tools and Technologies
So you have heard the private cloud story from a 101 level and you want to know more. Join us as we discuss Private cloud in greater detail with a focus on the tools and technologies that make Private Cloud such an appetizing It and business opportunity for business both large and small.
In some of the cities, we will also have a quick 30 minute session on Forefront Identity Management as Identity management is a key puzzle piece when you consider Private Cloud scenarios.
The event will kick off at 8:30 AM and end by 12:30 PM with check in at 8:00 AM.
Main Presenter
http://aka.ms/tnbellnov2011
http://aka.ms/tnlaxnov2011
http://aka.ms/tnden2011
http://aka.ms/tnphxnov2011
http://aka.ms/tnsvc2011
http://aka.ms/tnport2011
http://aka.ms/tnslc2011
For all those IT Professionals who administer some aspect of Microsoft servers and desktops and live in Las Vegas, I wanted to let you know that I am holding a last minute event in Las Vegas on October 18, 2011 (that’s 5 days from now). I do apologize for the short notice, but I am hoping you can still make it.
The event is not your traditional Microsoft event where I stand up for 4 hours and present a PPT deck and show some demos on a set list of topics. Instead, this is more of a free flow event where you get to pick the topics that get discussed. Not only do you get to pick (and vote) for the topics, but you are also encouraged to participate in the discussions on all the topics that get voted for and that we have time to cover.
The event will take place at the UNLV Stan Fulton Building located at 801 E. Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV 89154 from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM.
Registration isn’t required, but will help me with planning so if you can, please register here: http://itcamp-lasvegas.eventbrite.com/.
Please help me get the word out about this event by passing to your friends. Thanks!
I get asked quite often if there are any open positions on my team. It doesn’t happen too often, but my manager just informed me that we do actually have two open positions that we are actively looking to fill. The positions are for a Developer Evangelist (not IT Pro Evangelist like my position). You can confirm for yourself on Scott Kerfoot’s blog.
Part of the job description:
The Developer Evangelist position is a technical role with the mission of engaging the broad community of developers in the Southern California area (or Seattle and Portland area) and driving excitement around developer tools and platform technologies. The successful candidate will have an established reputation within the region for significant technical achievement, superior presentation skills, effective and visible community participation, and a strong command of online and social networking tools. This position will report to the US West Region DPE Audience Director.
The full job description for Los Angeles can be found here: https://careers.microsoft.com/JobDetails.aspx?ss=&pg=0&so=&rw=2&jid=64979&jlang=EN.
The full job description for Seattle can be found here: https://careers.microsoft.com/JobDetails.aspx?ss=&pg=0&so=&rw=1&jid=64978&jlang=EN.
I was working the System Center Booth yesterday and today at the Interop Conference in New York. During the course of these last two days, I’ve had quite a few people ask me for a single place to get all the links to download trial versions of the current products as well as the beta versions of the next release. Since I was answering questions about Office 365, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Azure, I thought I would also include a single stop list of items pertinent to those topics.
Trials of current released System Center products
Configuration Manager 2007 R3
Operations Manager 2007 R2
Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2
Service Manager 2010
Opalis
Beta Versions of System Center Products
Configuration Manager 2012
Operations Manager 2012
Virtual Machine Manager 2012
Orchestrator 2012
Windows Server
Windows Server 2008 R2
Hyper-V Server 2008 R2
Miscellaneous
Microsoft Virtual Academy
Office 365 Trial
Windows Azure Trial
Developer Tools
Windows Azure SDK
Windows Phone 7 SDK
Webmatrix
There are pros and cons to every job in every company. In my role as an IT Pro Evangelist (ITE) here at Microsoft, I get to use the latest and greatest versions of our software. Since my role is a technical one, I also get paid to be technically adept at all the upcoming products and not just the current released versions. I get hardware that allows me to create simple, small test environments to learn the technologies. I am also not on call for technical support issues and am not responsible for production systems.
Since I’m not dealing with production environments, I no longer deal with physical servers or have to worry about production configurations for 99.9+% uptime. I stopped following “best practices” when configuring servers because in my learning lab and for demos, it is a lot easier to use the built-in Administrator account to do all my work and since I’m lazy, I keep my password simple (not worried about hackers) and don’t worry about expiration.
The Private Cloud (and Cloud in general) is becoming more and more “main stream” so I really needed to go beyond the basics myself. I quickly realized that the laptops I have are not sufficient to really build out anything beyond a basic private cloud environment. I thought I would share my experiences over the course of a few blog posts. I will start with the planning phase (non-technical) followed by our final solution (technical details) and finally what we actually did to build out our solution.
In this post, I will detail out my though process around the options. I know it is not truly technical in nature, but still something all IT Pros encounter at some point in time.
The first option I considered was to implement only the components needed for the heart of private cloud (virtualization, self service, elasticity, etc.). For this, I would only need a few servers and storage to install and configure Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, Self Service Portal 2.0 and System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2. This would have been the cheapest option but also would not give flexibility to do other things.
The second option was to implement a full network infrastructure for a fictitious company and implement a private cloud solution as well. With this option, I envisioned a fully functional infrastructure that would be needed by any mid size company to do business (AD, email, file / print services, remote desktop, collaboration technologies like SharePoint, SQL server, etc.). Since we would be using our work laptops to connect to this environment, we would be limited on what we could demo. I decided a VDI solution would be a great fit so we could have many domain joined desktops in the environment that we could connect to without having to dual boot our laptops. This is the option I decided to pursue.
The next step was to decide whether to rent / lease or purchase the hardware. Within Microsoft, there are options for renting servers and / or rack space in a datacenter for our purposes. Needless to say, the costs were a lot higher than I expected. I happened to discuss this with Ed Horley, an MVP out of the Bay Area. He went and spoke with his company and they offered to host our servers free of charge. Now, that is something that peaked my interest. Since I had already done the research on the cost of purchasing our own hardware versus renting, I knew it would be much cheaper for us to purchase and accept the offer from Ed’s company (GroupWare Technology) to host our hardware.
Despite what people may think about Microsoft, we do not have unlimited funds and I had to maximize the hardware within my budget. I went ahead and purchased 5 Dell R710 Servers, each with 48 GB of RAM and Dual Intel L5640 6 core processors. I also went with SATA drives since that allowed me to maximize storage capacity and stay within my budget. We had numerous discussions amongst the 12 ITEs on configurations and options for storage. I made the executive decision (cost related) to use a server with our iSCSI target for our storage so we could have another server we could use in the mix if the need arose. I would have loved to create a fully production ready environment, but for what we wanted to do and the cost constraints, I had to make the decision to not follow best practices for our environment.
We will run most of the infrastructure as Virtual Machines, but will also have some components that are running on bare metal. Some of the bare metal servers will also be dual purpose (such as a Hyper-V host and an iSCSI target). Also, we will not have a backup solution even though I would never do that in true production.
We have already started working on building out our environment and documenting the process. My peer in Central Region, Kevin Remde, has already written a blog post about our initial experience. I will also be building on that in future posts.
On September 16, 2011, Byron Spurlock delivered a TechNet webcast on Lync Server 2010 Edge services. I helped Byron answer questions on the back-end during the webcast. I am posting the full Q&A log here after validating the answers to the questions. You can also find a copy of the PowerPoint deck on my Slideshare site here.
If you have any questions, please contact me or Byron.
1. Enabling external users to download meeting content for meetings 2. Enabling external users to expand distribution groups 3. Enabling remote users to download files from Address Book service 4. Accessing Lync Web App client 5. Accessing Dial-in Conferencing settings web page 6. Accessing Location Information service 7. Enabling external devices to connect to Device Update web service and obtain updates
I had a chance to spend a day working at the Microsoft Retail Store in Scottsdale, AZ on August 30th. I promised I would share my experience so here goes.
First, I have not worked in retail since high school when I worked at a fast food restaurant in Phoenix so I was just a bit apprehensive of what I would encounter.
I arrived at the store a bit early so I could have time to enjoy my triple, venti, soy, 5 scoop macha mocha from Starbucks before starting my shift. Nancy Pierson, Product Advisor, was hosting the monthly Woman in Business Breakfast Social when I arrived. There must have been over 60 people in attendance. This is one of many regular ongoing activities that the store hosts for professionals to get together to network and learn. The topic is not necessarily focused on Microsoft technologies, but on skills or technologies that can help a business owner improve their effectiveness. It is clear that the store does not focus only on the retail / consumer customer.
Upon checking in with Kyle Killebrew, the Assistant Store Manager, I was assigned to shadow Larry Waggle for the day. Larry did a great job explaining and showing things to me. One of the first things Larry showed me was the skinning process. I decided to create a skin for my original style XBOX 360 console. The software is simple and easy to use. The backend process is really the cool part. It’s kinda hard to describe everything, but there I will do my best to provide an overview of some of the technology. The first part is straight forward in that a very nice printer prints out the graphics on the sticker paper. The program does print additional guide dots on all four corners of the long sheet that has the skins for all sides of the XBOX. The “skin” is then put through a laminator to provide the glossy protective finish on the sticker. Once the skin has been laminated, it is loaded into the cutter. This is the real cool part (at least for me). The software that drives the cutter, scans the entire skin with a laser looking for the special guide dots. Once it figures out the exact layout in the cutting machine, the software initializes the special blade to cut the outline of the sticker without actually cutting through the backing paper on which the skin is stuck to. Once the cutting is complete, the sheet is ready to take home and the stickers removed from the backing and applied to my XBOX 360. When I applied the skin that night to my XBox console, I took a close look at the backing paper and could not see any cut marks. To me, this is pretty impressive considering how thin the sticker itself is and the ability of the cutting machine to cut that close without making any marks on the backing paper.
Another great service the store offers is the service of a Personal Trainer. The Personal Trainer spends an hour to educate you on a subject of your choice. You can pay as you go for each session or sign up for a one-year membership. There is a brochure in the store that explains the full details of this program and the benefits. I know the program is VERY popular and the Personal Trainers are kept busy all day long. I wish I had known about this service when the store first opened. I would have gladly paid the money for a one-year membership for a few friends and family members to get the Personal Trainer to do the “edumacating” versus me. I know this program has gone through a couple of revisions and I forgot to grab one of the brochures so I don’t want to give wrong information so I won’t try to list the details of it. I just know it is a great program and think it’s great that the store offers this service. If you want to learn more, go visit the store and ask about it.
The store also offers technical support services for PCs and laptops. Once again, I don’t know the full extent of what is offered, but I did help out a few folks who came in with some technical issues. One customer needed to transfer Outlook contacts and calendar items from an older laptop to a newer laptop. This was a simple task for me, so I jumped in and got that taken care of for the customer. I also helped answer a question certificates and how they work when visiting websites via HTTPS. Another customer came in with an issue where the touchpad was not responding on the laptop. They had purchased the laptop from the store less than a year ago (can’t remember the exact date). I believe the issue was hardware related and the store replaced the laptop. I will also add another disclaimer that I am not 100% sure what if this customer had purchased a protection package or not.
I also did my best to sell stuff while working (I don’t think I’m a good sales person though). I found that I did better when I was answering technical questions about our products or sharing my personal experiences with the technology and how I used them in my own home versus trying to “sell” something. The nice thing is that this is the way every employee in the store worked – no hard selling of anything. I thought all the employees did a great job of demoing / showing the capabilities of the products and pointing out simple things that would benefit customers. This includes simple things like applying Windows Updates on a regular basis to ensure the computers stay safe.
One very “odd” thing I noticed was the folks who came to the store to use the computers to surf, play games, watch movies, etc. for hours on end. There was one particular man that came in around 9:30 AM and sat in front of a computer (playing) until about 4 PM (he did take a lunch break). I asked the employees about this type of behavior and was told that it was quite common. In fact, there were “regulars” who came in at certain times on certain days (or even every day) just to surf the web or play games. Some even bring in their own DVD movies to watch. Very weird if you ask me.
Overall, I had a great time interacting with the different customers who came in with questions or were just browsing and looking. I also had a great time chatting with all the employees who were there that day. There’s definitely a lot that goes on in the store than meets the eye. I don’t think I have what it takes to be a full time employee at the store. There definitely wasn’t any “spare” time for me to go and play games on the computers or a Kinect game on the XBox as there is always something to do.
So, Microsoft employees who don’t already work at the Microsoft Retail stores but who live in a city where a store exists were given an opportunity to sign up and spend a day working side by side with the main store employees. I happen to live in such a city and so I signed up to spend a day as a Technical Advisor in the Scottsdale Store on Tuesday, August 30th.
I am looking forward to seeing how things work in the retail side of our business and what the average consumer is looking for and asking questions about. I will write a blog post about my experience as well so look for that a few days after.
I wonder if I will get to play the XBOX / Kinect all day? Or if I’ll get to take home one of the new Windows 7 Tablet devices? Probably not, but I can dream.
If you want to come harass me, say hello, ask me a question, chat, etc., please stop by the store anytime before 6 PM. I will be there from 9:30 AM – 6:00 PM. Hopefully I’ll get a lunch break as well.
Over the last week, I posted information for On-Demand webcasts that Byron Spurlock delivered in June of this year on Lync Server. For those of you who are looking for more information on Lync Server 2010, I wanted to make sure you were aware of another Webcast Series being presented by Byron Spurlock in the September / October timeframe.
Here’s the URL for the 9/16/2011 10:00:00 AM - Deep Dive: Lync Server 2010 Edge Servers https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032492168&Culture=en-US
Here’s the URL for the 9/23/2011 10:00:00 AM - Microsoft Lync 2010 High Availability and Resiliency https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032492171&Culture=en-US
Here’s the URL for the 10/7/2011 10:00:00 AM - Microsoft Lync 2010 Voice Deployment https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032492173&Culture=en-US
Here’s the URL for the 10/14/2011 10:00:00 AM - Deep Dive: Lync Server 2010 Conferencing https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032492176&Culture=en-US
On Monday, August 15th, I posted Part 1 of 4 of the Lync Webcast Series that Byron delivered back in June of 2011. On Wednesday, August 17th, I posted Part 2 of 4. Then yesterday on Friday, August 19th, I posted Part 3 of 4. Here is the last one in the series – Implementing Call-Admission Control. If you would like to get a hold of Byron, you are more than welcome to contact him at byrons@quadrantechnologies.com.
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Real-time communications are sensitive to the latency and packet loss that can occur on congested networks. Call-Admission Control (CAC) determines, based on available network bandwidth, whether to allow real-time communication sessions such as voice or video calls to be established. During this webcast, we go through the planning aspects to prepare you for the implementation of CAC.