See all previously recorded content at: http://www.youtube.com/ITProRocks
With Windows Azure, you can easily deploy and run Windows Server and Linux virtual machines on your own virtual network in the cloud. These capabilities can be really useful for several scenarios, such as: building virtual lab environments, piloting new software in the cloud, deploying hybrid IT applications that connect on-premises datacenter workloads with cloud-based VM’s … and MORE!
In this step-by-step guide, you will learn how to deploy and support a common two-tier web application architecture using Windows Server 2012 web servers and SQL Server 2012 database servers hosted in Windows Azure in a load-balanced configuration ...
This article is Part 2 in a two-part series on building a FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 Cluster to support highly available virtual machines as a foundation to a Private Cloud solution. If you missed it, be sure to check out Part 1 of this article series on the initial steps for building Hyper-V Server 2012 hosts in a Failover Cluster configuration.
In this article, we’ll walk through provisioning highly available virtual machines on our new FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 cluster and testing Live Migration failover scenarios ...
Leverage the FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 to provide an Enterprise-ready Private Cloud Foundation!
Configuring our FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 in a highly available cluster can be really easy. In this article, I’ll step through the configuration of a Hyper-V host cluster configuration that uses Hyper-V Server 2012 so that you'll have the details to step through this process in your own lab environment.
In Part 2 of this article series, I’ll finish up with the steps needed to provision and test a highly available virtual machine within your new cluster ...
Based on recent studies, we’ve seen enterprise organizations report that as much as 60% of their annual capital IT budget is related to storage hardware. This may come at no surprise, with the ever increasing trend in most businesses to keep more-and-more data online and directly accessible to users.
Of course, a large portion of consumed storage may be due to duplicated files and other redundant data stored by users on network file shares. To help reduce disk space (and storage costs) occupied by duplicated data files, Windows Server 2012 now includes a built-in Data Deduplication feature for any NTFS volume hosted on a Windows Server 2012 file server.
This month, we’re joined by Guido van Brakel, Principal Consultant and Subject Matter Expert at Enduria. As a frequent contributor to the IT Pro Community at-large, Guido is always eager to share new information. In this article, Guido will walk us through our new Data Deduplication feature so that you can see how easily you can leverage it in your own environment to save on disk space and storage costs ...
Everyone loves the new Server Manager dashboard in Windows Server 2012 for managing multiple servers remotely. However, I frequently get questions at my IT Camp events on managing not only domain-joined servers, but also servers that may be in a workgroup or isolated domain.
One of my friends and colleagues, Tommy Patterson, recently posted a great article on the steps needed to enable remote administration of these servers from a Windows 8 client running the Remote Server Administration Toolkit (RSAT).
You could win a FREE exam voucher pack for the MCSA on Windows Server 2012 certification!
In December 2012, we are sponsoring an “Early Experts” Challenge Sweepstakes for IT Pros located in the US! To be eligible, you’ll just need to complete one new Knowledge Quest on Windows Server 2012 between Dec 3rd and Dec 31st.
If you are selected as one of the twelve winners, you will receive:
The Windows Server 2012 “Early Experts” Challenge is a great opportunity to study Windows Server 2012 for FREE, and this sweepstakes is an additional opportunity to also win an exam voucher pack to get certified for FREE as well!
If you haven’t started the “Early Experts” Challenge yet, here’s a great reason to get started this month! If you’ve already started studying in the “Early Experts” Challenge, then just complete your next Knowledge Quest this month to enter this sweepstakes ...
In today's TechNet Radio show, I'm back again for another episode in our System Center 2012 ConfigMgr SP1 series with Wally Mead, Senior Program Manager from the System Center Client Management team and all-around ConfigMgr Guru. Tune in as we discuss managing mobile devices with Service Pack 1 of System Center 2012 Configuration Manager and the next version of Windows Intune.
In this episode, we'll be covering ...
Today, the Surface team announced pricing for Surface with Windows 8 Pro as follows:
Both versions will be offered with a ...
This study guide is provided as part of the Windows Server 2012 "Early Experts" Challenge and steps through the resources that I personally used when preparing for the following exam objectives on Exam 70-410, Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 and Exam 70-417, Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012:
This study guide is provided as part of the Windows Server 2012 "Early Experts" Challenge and steps through the resources that I personally used when preparing for the following exam objectives on Exam 70-410, Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012:
Note: Many of these tasks share common documentation between Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2008. As a result, some of the resource links below may reference older versions of Windows Server, but they are still relevant Windows Server 2012. If you’re already confident in the basics of DHCP, scroll down to the bottom of this post to see What’s New in DHCP in Windows Server 2012.
I am excited to announce that Leandro Carvalho, Microsoft MVP in Virtual Machine, experienced Trainer and frequent IT Pro community contributor, has released a new book, Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Cookbook. Leandro’s intent in the “cookbook approach” is to provide an easy-to-follow set of “recipes” for mastering Hyper-V as a virtualization expert, and this book is a great resource for doing just that!
As a FREE resource to help you get started, Leandro has also made Chapter 2 of his book, Migrating and Upgrading Physical and Virtual Servers, as a downloadable eBook chapter! Chapter 2, alone, is a great step-by-step guide for beginning to migrate to Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 and our FREE Hyper-V Server 2012.
In this article, you’ll find a description of this new book, download links to your FREE chapter, and links for ordering the full book in electronic and hardcopy versions …
UPDATE: The final copy of this eBook has been released and is now available for download at the links in this article!
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This week, we have released a new FREE preview e-Book for IT professionals: Introducing Windows 8 - An Overview for IT Professionals. Now that Windows 8 is generally available, this book is a great way to get quickly up-to-speed on all the new improvements in this latest Windows release. In addition to a re-imagined user interface that provides an immersive experience across touch, pen, keyboard and mouse inputs, Windows 8 also includes significant updates across hardware support, management, security, networking, storage, virtualization, deployment, and recovery - all areas that are critically important to IT Pros!
In this 147-page eBook, you'll find 11 chapters of detailed technical content covering the following key improvements for supporting PCs with Windows ...
After I wrote my prior post on our new natively supported NIC Teaming in Windows Server 2012 and our FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 product, there’s been a ton of questions around how VLANs work with NIC Teaming and Hyper-V. In this article, I’ll build upon my prior post and cover configuring VLAN traffic segregation for physical and virtualized workloads ...
Over the past week, the SkyDrive team has released an updated version of the SkyDrive App with a long-awaited feature: selective sync of specific SkyDrive folders! Learn more about selective sync in SkyDrive in this article ...
Overheard at my recent IT Pro events on Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V ...
"After I've setup a number of VM's, it's easy to forget which virtual hard disk files are used by which VM's. How can I get a list of ALL virtual hard disks for ALL virtual machines on a Hyper-V Host?"
In this article, I'll step through the process of generating an inventory of all virtual hard disks across all VM's on a Hyper-V Host ...
In addition to the new, immersive Windows 8-style user interface, there's a ton to be excited about in Windows 8 as an IT Pro - with end-to-end improvements across performance, networking, security, management, mobility, virtualization and storage! Yesterday, I met with a great group of IT Pros at SpiceCorps of Metro Detroit for a talk on "What's New in Windows 8 for IT Pros". I've posted my presentation for your review below ...
UPDATE: The recorded version of this training is now available at http://aka.ms/JS417
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Are you already certified as an MCSA on Windows Server 2008 and looking to upgrade your certs to Windows Server 2012? This week, we've released a new Jumpstart online training course that specifically targets the certification objectives in Exam 70-417, Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA on Windows Server 2012. This course will be broadcast live online as a 2-day accelerated version of the normal 5-day instructor-led course for experienced IT Pros. Here's the course details ...
This week, the IE team released IE 10 Release Preview for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1! You can download IE10 Release Preview for evaluation and testing (remember, it's still pre-release software) from the following link location ...
At my recent IT Pro talks, a frequent question has been raised in regards to options for starting virtual machines running on Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V or our FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 in a particular order. In many environments, some virtual machines (VMs) may have dependencies on other VMs being up and running first – for example, a Domain Controller VM may need to be started prior to application VMs that authenticate to that Domain Controller.
In this article, I’ll explore three options that exist as out-of-the-box solutions for starting VMs in a specific order based on how Hyper-V is deployed within an environment and the requirements for starting VMs ...
This week, we released a new FREE Windows 8 App into the Windows Store for IT Pros with Windows 8 PC's - Server Posterpedia! Here's the details ...
When people first begin using Windows 8, one of the most noticeable improvements is the new Fast Startup feature. Fast Startup, enabled by default in Windows 8, implements a unique hybrid kernel hibernation process during computer shutdown where user mode components are shutdown normally, but the operating system kernel is hibernated to provide a much faster start experience. On my year-old Samsung Series 7 Slate running Windows 8 Enterprise, I can routinely cold boot using Fast Startup in under 10 seconds to a fully functioning PC, and this has been reduced to ~7 seconds or less on the new ultrabooks that are specifically designed for Windows 8 with UEFI firmware!
Everyone LOVES the speed of Fast Startup, but lots of IT Pros have asked about how to manage Fast Startup across their enterprise networks and, more pointedly, are there any considerations when using Active Directory Group Policy to manage PC’s enabled for Fast Startup. In this article, I’ll answer both questions …
Are there certain IT Service Requests that you wish users could perform themselves to free up some of your time?
This month, we’re joined by Nathan Mertz, Principal Consultant at Bennett Adelson in Cleveland OH. In this first article in a 5-part series, Nathan will walk us through the process of leveraging System Center 2012 to automate common IT Service Requests using System Center 2012 Service Manager and Orchestrator.
Hope you enjoy ...
Over the past month, my fellow IT Pro Technical Evangelists and I have authored a series of articles about our Top 31 Favorite Features in Windows Server 2012. Now that our series is complete, I’m providing a clickable index below of all of the articles in the series for your convenience, just in case you perhaps missed any of them when they were first released ...
Happy Halloween! Does your datacenter go bump in the night? Are you haunted by the thought of managing thousands of processes that could be automated?
In Today's TechNet Radio Show, my good friends and colleagues, Blain Barton, Matt Hester and Ed Wilson, walk us through their top 10 favorite features in PowerShell 3.0 for ridding yourself of the GUI demons that consume all of your admin time ...