Kevin Remde's IT Pro Weblog
In part 2 of our Windows 8 Tips and Tricks series, Principal Technical Account Manager Lex Thomas and I dive deeper into the new modern user interface for Windows 8.
Download the Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation today and test your applications, hardware and deployment strategies with Windows 8.
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In this, the first of Eight Windows 8 tips and tricks sessions, I welcome Principal Technical Account Manager Lex Thomas to the show. Tune in for part 1 as we show you around the new modern user interface in Windows 8.
I’ve discussed Windows Server 2012’s inclusion of NIC teaming on my blog before. Back in Part 7 of our “31 Days of our Favorite Things” last October, for example, I blogged about it.
In part 10 of our current “20+ Days of Server Virtualization” series, my phriend from Phoenix Harold Wong also describes NIC Teaming in Windows Server 2012, and outlines some of the more technical aspects and options, and even how to do some of the configuration using Windows PowerShell. It’s well worth the read!
READ HIS ARTICLE HERE
My friend Tommy Patterson brings us part 9 of our “20+ Days of Server Virtualization”, in which he introduces and describes the functionality in Hyper-V to support the networking of your virtual machines. He describes the basic operations and options, as well as some of the more advanced topics of performance, off-loading, and new security features.
“Storage vMotion? isn’t that a VMware thing?”
Yes, and although I’m sure that most of the readers of this blog are also familiar with the Microsoft terminology “live migration”, it’s still useful to help those who are more familiar with the vSphere world understand that, with Hyper-V v3.0 in Windows Server 2012 and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012, we can do that, too. And for absolutely no additional cost.
In our “20+ Days of Server Virtualization” part 8, my cheeseheaded friend Brian Lewis writes up a very useful step-by-step on how you can live migrate the storage of a running virtual machine – Storage Live Migration.
READ HIS EXCELLENT ARTICLE HERE
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PS – Did you know that Hyper-V on Windows 8 also supports Storage Live Migration?
In this episode I welcome Technical Specialist Susan Smith from the Windows Intune team as we discuss Intune’s cloud-based solution to manage PCs and mobile devices. Tune in as we describe Intune’s capabilities and how it can help support your mobile workforce while still ensuring a better managed and secured IT environment. BONUS: Try Windows Intune free for 30 Days. Sign up here!
In part 7 of our "20+ Days of Server Virtualization”, Keith Mayer gives us some powerful PowerShell commands to turn on the iSCSI initiator, connect, and use iSCSI storage from our Hyper-V host.
Read His Article: Speaking iSCSI with Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V
In this episode, Sr. Product Manager Michael Niehaus and I are back for Part 2 of our Deploying Windows 8 series, where we dive deeper into some of the more advanced tools to support more complex Windows 8 deployment scenarios.
“I was just about to ask you that question, Kevin.”
Well then, my timing is good. And so is the timing of this virtual roundtable (VRT, we like to call it) about Windows 8, and what IT Professionals should know. The event took place on March 1st, where we had 280 people online viewing the event live. Many of us (including Matt Hester and I) were attending online and answering live questions via text. (it was fun!)
Here is a two minute introductory trailer:
And here is the full recording!
And importantly, here is the official event landing page, with additional related and useful resources. (Like getting the evaluation of Windows 8 Enterprise)
I’m sure some of you are more well-versed in the area of storage than others. And no matter where you fall on that continuum, you may be wondering what kinds of storage are available for Hyper-V Virtualization.
“Hey Kevin – What kinds of storage are available for Hyper-V virtualization?”
Umm.. yeah. Glad you asked.
My friend Bob Hunt addresses that very topic in his Part 5 article (from our “20+ Days of Server Virtualization” series). He outlines the main storage platforms, as well as some of their comparative strengths and weaknesses.
READ HIS ARCTICLE HERE
This is the most inspiring thing I’ve seen all year (so far). Way back when, someone very wise told me, “Kevin, you should seriously think about getting into computers.” I had been hacking around with a music sequencing program on my Dad’s Apple ][+, and from them minute he said that to me, it stuck in the back of my mind; and ultimately determined the course of my professional life.
This video (put out by Code.org) absolutely hits the nail on the head. I hope that many kids, and really anyone looking for an inspiration to their next professional career direction, will see this and consider investigating software development.
What about you? Are you inspired? Or do the feelings expressed in the video match what you’ve experienced like I have?
In this episode of “Reimagining Windows”, I welcome Sr. Product Manager Michael Niehaus to the show. We discuss the tools, technologies, tips and tricks that are available to enable the efficient deployment of Windows 8 onto new or existing hardware. Tune in for part 1 of our discussion as we give you an overview of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT), the Windows Assessment and Deployment Toolkit (ADK), Windows Deployment Services (WDS), and System Center 2012 SP1 Configuration Manager.
The term 'datastore’ is one that many of you who work with VMware are familiar, but which doesn’t really translate to the world of Microsoft’s Hyper-V. “Since Hyper-V does not require a different formatting of the underlying physical disk structure like VMFS(VMware’s proprietary disk format) we are able to browse the ‘datastore’ with File Explorer(In Windows 8/Server 2012…formerly known as Windows Explorer).”
“Who said that?”
That quote was from my friend Tommy Patterson, who writes about datastores and how they compare to the file system structures used in Hyper-V in Part 4 of our “20+ Days of Server Virtualization” series. In his article he describes the locations of the various components that define and make up a Hyper-V virtual machine, and even provides a script to help you quickly locate filesystem locations for your virtual machine bits.
And if you still need a copy of Hyper-V Server 2012 or and evaluation of Windows Server 2012, well, click the previous underlined text.
In this episode I welcome Douglas Chrystall, Chief Architect at Dell Software to the show, and we discuss Foglight for Windows Azure applications – a new product offering from Dell which helps monitor applications built on the Windows Azure platform. Tune in as we chat about this solution which can provide diagnostics and improve your applications performance quality.
If you're interested in learning more about the products or solutions discussed in this episode, click on any of the below links for free, in-depth information:
Websites & Blogs:
Other Videos in the Series:
Virtual Labs:
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Part 3 of our “20+ Days of Server Virtualization” series is about Dynamic Memory in Hyper-V. As the title suggests, this is not your Father’s Memory Overcommit.
“Memory Overcommit? Isn’t that a VMware capability?”
In the context of virtualization, yes. (It may be something addressed in the field of Neuroscience, but I’m no rocket scientist…)
Before we talk about it, let’s take a look at the word “Overcommit” (from The Free Dictionary):
O·ver·com·mit (vr-k-mt) v. o·ver·com·mit·ted, o·ver·com·mit·ting, o·ver·com·mits v.tr. To bind or obligate (oneself, for example) beyond the capacity for realization. To allocate or apportion (money, goods, or resources) in amounts incapable of replacement. v.intr. To be or become overcommitted.
O·ver·com·mit (vr-k-mt) v. o·ver·com·mit·ted, o·ver·com·mit·ting, o·ver·com·mits v.tr.
v.intr.
That phrase “beyond the capacity for realization” is important. To overcommit memory means to obligate more memory be used than the capacity we actually physically have.
“Is that a good thing?”
It can be, if, in the case of the consolidation ratios of virtual machines on a physical host, it’s more important for you to pack more onto a box than it is to get decent performance out of those virtual machines.
“Dynamic Memory” is Microsoft’s solution (in Hyper-V) to do something similar. But in this case, Microsoft does not overcommit. By contrast, it allocates memory to or from VMs sharing a virtualization host based on the memory demand of the VMs.
Today in Part 3, my friend Dan Stolts expands on this definition and these technologies for us.
Do you have Dynamic Memory? Do I? I can’t recall.
But I do remember that you can evaluate Windows Server 2012 for free, and try out Hyper-V Dynamic Memory. And Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 also supports Dynamic Memory, and is a FREE virtualization platform.
So at least that’s something.
Anyone who has followed my blog for any length of time already knows what a HUGE fan of the Microsoft TechEd conference I am. And this year I am hoping to be there again. (If you’re a Microsoft group who is looking for booth or lab proctor help, send me an e-mail!!!) But whether I am able to be there or not, you definitely should consider it.
From the e-mail I received this morning…
Picture yourself not only at the center of Microsoft’s premiere event for IT Professionals and Enterprise Developers, but also in the heart the “cultural gumbo” that is New Orleans. The convention and visitor’s bureau has created a site for you to plan your experience while you’re here. Take a look at the details of what to do, where to eat, how to get around and more! Want to connect with other TechEd attendees? We’ve got a forum for you to start a thread, join a discussion and connect with your peers before the event. Insiders often provide the best tips and tricks for making the most of TechEd. Don’t just picture yourself there, be there!
Picture yourself not only at the center of Microsoft’s premiere event for IT Professionals and Enterprise Developers, but also in the heart the “cultural gumbo” that is New Orleans. The convention and visitor’s bureau has created a site for you to plan your experience while you’re here. Take a look at the details of what to do, where to eat, how to get around and more!
Want to connect with other TechEd attendees? We’ve got a forum for you to start a thread, join a discussion and connect with your peers before the event. Insiders often provide the best tips and tricks for making the most of TechEd.
Don’t just picture yourself there, be there!
“How many years have you attended TechEd North America, Kevin?”
They’ve been happening since 1993! I missed that first year.. but only missed two other years (‘96 and ‘97) since then. I’ve gone as a customer and then from 2004-on as an employee. (Note: It’s much more fun as a customer… but that’s just my opinion.) I even claim that I went to TechEd 1994 as a Software Engineer and came home with a desire to move into IT, because I was so excited by what I saw in Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and Windows NT. I even took my first MCP test on Windows 3.11 at TechEd ‘94. I failed.. but the voucher for a do-over allowed me to take and pass it a few weeks later.
Here’s another indication of what a TechEd Geek I am: My TechEd Water Bottle Collection
“So.. What’s the rush to register now, Kevin?”
As the banner above says, you have until March 22nd to get $300 off of the conference registration price.
“But.. my boss still doesn’t think it’s worthwhile…”
Ah! We’ve got your back! CLICK HERE for a .pdf document that outlines all of the benefits. If the reasons contained therein don’t convince your boss to invest in you attending TechEd, then you should seriously start looking for work elsewhere. (Okay.. not really.. but… c’mon, boss.)
Hope to see you there!
Our FREE “Microsoft IaaS Virtual Machine Bootcamp” events are happening around the central part of the U.S. We’re delivering these for IT Professionals and Developers who are interested specifically in learning more about Windows Azure, as a globally scalable application platform, as an infrastructure for virtual machines, and as an extension of your datacenter into “the cloud”.
“Sounds really great, Kevin. But why are you pointing your virtual finger at Saint Louis? What did he ever do to you?”
(sigh) I mean the city of Saint Louis, Missouri, and the surrounding area. And I’m mad at them, because, although registration at the events in the other cities has been strong, Saint Louis apparently doesn’t care. (We’re not sure, but perhaps they’re confusing this event with the IT Camps that we’re also delivering.)
So I thought I should blog/tweet/facebook all about it to make sure that you folks in Saint Louis also register for the event happening on March 19.
In case you’re wondering more about what it’s about, here is some of the text from the event registration page…
Whether you build apps or support the infrastructure that runs the apps, the cloud can be a really big place. For some, it’s a natural evolution for their application and infrastructure to embrace the power and scale of the cloud. For others, it’s a journey that has to begin with a single step. Windows Azure provides that first step with a scalable, flexible platform for deploying your applications your way. With our Infrastructure as a Service platform (IaaS) called Windows Azure Virtual Machines, you get the flexibility to choose between Windows and Linux with full control over the operating system configuration and installed software, matched with the portability of Hyper-V disk images. Windows Azure Virtual Machines provide the perfect environment for meeting all of your Infrastructure-as-a-Service needs. To learn more about our Infrastructure as a Service platform, we invite all Developers and IT Professionals to join local Microsoft cloud experts as they introduce you to the Microsoft Cloud Platform, dive deep into Windows Azure Virtual Machines, and help walk you through a hands-on demonstration of the power of IaaS on the Windows Azure platform.
Whether you build apps or support the infrastructure that runs the apps, the cloud can be a really big place. For some, it’s a natural evolution for their application and infrastructure to embrace the power and scale of the cloud. For others, it’s a journey that has to begin with a single step.
Windows Azure provides that first step with a scalable, flexible platform for deploying your applications your way. With our Infrastructure as a Service platform (IaaS) called Windows Azure Virtual Machines, you get the flexibility to choose between Windows and Linux with full control over the operating system configuration and installed software, matched with the portability of Hyper-V disk images. Windows Azure Virtual Machines provide the perfect environment for meeting all of your Infrastructure-as-a-Service needs.
To learn more about our Infrastructure as a Service platform, we invite all Developers and IT Professionals to join local Microsoft cloud experts as they introduce you to the Microsoft Cloud Platform, dive deep into Windows Azure Virtual Machines, and help walk you through a hands-on demonstration of the power of IaaS on the Windows Azure platform.
“But what if I’m not fortunate enough to live in Saint Louis? What other cities are these events coming to, Kevin?”
I’m glad you asked. Here is the schedule, with registration page links (by State and then by City):
“Are you going to be presenting any of the ones in your area, Kevin?”
Sadly, I won’t be able to be in Saint Louis. (Hmm.. maybe that’s why registration is so low.. <heh>) My very capable and skilled counterpart Clint Edmonson will be delivering that event. I will, however, be co-delivering the event in Minneapolis (Edina) with my friend Adam Grocholski.
Near you, that is, if you live in any of the most major cities in the United States.
Our team of 11 Technical Evangelists (IT Pro Evangelists) are once again on the road and delivering live, FREE IT Camps for you! We’re bringing you three very compelling topics:
The day starts with checkin and breakfast at 8:30am, with the presentations starting at 9:00am local time. We’ll provide lunch, a prize drawing, and then an afternoon of hands-on-labs that you can take at your own pace. The day wraps up whenever you want to leave, but we try to clear the room by 4:00 pm. (I have a plane to catch. )
“Are there any requirements for my hardware, or setup for doing the labs?”
Yes indeed. And this is important. To participate in the afternoon hands-on lab session, you will need to bring your own computer (laptop preferred) with the following minimum configuration:
Recommended:Although wireless internet access will be available, you may find that bringing your own mobile connectivity (MiFi™, phone data tethering, etc.) will be desirable.
“Where are you going to be?”
Here’s a list of the coming events (sorted by State, and then by City), their dates, and links to the registration pages. Register early! These tend to fill up quickly!
***Update: Unfortunately we had to cancel the Saint Louis event on March 26th due to low registration.
“But Kevin, where are YOU going to be? Which ones are you delivering? I’d travel a great distance just to see you!”
Aww.. you’re too kind. I’ve highlighted them for you. I’ll be in Omaha next week, and then Kansas City (Overland Park), Saint Louis (Creve Coeur), and Minneapolis (Edina).
See you there!
Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012, Hyper-V Server 2012, and Windows 8 allows the addition, removal, or configuration changes of some key aspects of a virtual machine; even while it’s running. Others, however, are still not able to be changed. And often, the ability to make changes may also be determined by the capabilities of the operating system running in the impacted virtual machine.
For Part 2 of our “20+ Days of Server Virtualization” series, we wanted to give you an overview of what is allowed, and what’s not, with regard to making “hot add” or removal (or configuration) of a virtual machine’s settings. To do this, I’m going to use a picture of the Virtual Machine Settings dialog, and walk right down the list…
Item: Hardware: SCSI Controllers, Network Adapters, and Fibre Channel Adapters
Hot-Add: No
Reason: Modern operating systems still don’t know how to adapt to when a new SCSI Controller or NIC suddenly shows up. So, like a physical machine, plugging those in virtually doesn’t make much sense.
Item: BIOS
Hot-Add or Change: Nope
Reason: These are configurations that really don’t impact a machine until it’s being started anyway. So being in an OFF state is no big deal here.
Item: Memory
Hot-Add or Change: It depends! Have you enabled Dynamic Memory?
Reason: In Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Hyper-V we introduced a capability called Dynamic Memory. Originally, Dynamic Memory was the configuration of a minimum and a maximum memory that would be used by a Virtual Machine, and the virtualization host would adjust memory on machines based on resource usage (memory demand) and relative priority settings. Dynamic Memory is a huge boost to virtual machine consolidation ratios (meaning: more VMs on each host), and is really useful in scenarios like Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).
With Hyper-V in Server 2012 we added the configuration of “Startup RAM” along with the minimum and maximums. When Dynamic Memory is not enabled, your Startup RAM is just the amount of memory that the machine has, and it can’t be adjusted while the machine is running. However, if Dynamic Memory is enabled, you now can set and even adjust the minimum and maximum RAM settings on the fly; as the machine is running.
Item: Processor
Hot-Add or Change: No
Reason: I don’t know. It’s just not something you can do. But…
Item: Processor Configuration
Hot-Add or Change: Yes! You can configure and change the Virtual Machine reserve percentage, limit percentage, and relative weight.
Reason: The aspects of some of the performance parameters are completely driven through software, and will impact the performance of a virtual machine relative to the other virtual machines on a host. So making changes to these is perfectly acceptable.
Item: IDE Controller
Reason: There are only two IDE Controllers in Hyper-V virtual machines, in keeping with the very common physical PC motherboard configuration. And there can be only those two. So adding and removing them doesn’t make much sense now, does it?
Item: IDE Disks
Reason: I suspect it has something to do with how we implement IDE as a more direct path to hardware than we do for other emulated items like SCSI controllers.
Sidenote: If you’re wondering why a virtual machine in Hyper-V cannot boot off of SCSI disks (and why you should not care), check out Ben Armstrong’s blog post: “Why Hyper-V cannot boot off of SCSI disks (and why you should not care)”
Item: SCSI Controller
Reason: A virtual machine may have as many as 4 virtual SCSI controllers, but adding or removing them is a hardware change that the guest operating system wouldn’t support.
Item: SCSI Disks
Hot-Add or Change: Yes!
Reason: The virtualization of the SCSI Controller and the kind of emulation we do through (hardware access through the VMBus) allows the addition of or removal of disks as the machine is running.
Item: Network Adapter
Reason: The sudden addition or removal of a NIC isn’t supported in the guest VM operating system, so there’s no real reason to virtualize that kind of a change to a running machine in Hyper-V. However…
Item: Network Adapter Configuration
Reason: Making the change of, for example, the virtual switch to which a virtual NIC is connected to is very much the same as unplugging your RJ-45 cable from one device and plugging into another. And changes such as enabling and configuring bandwidth management, hardware acceleration, or other advanced features are implemented through software, shaping network traffic or performance; which is outside of the physical machine itself. The guest OS and the virtualized machine doesn’t know or care about such things.
Item: Virtual COM Ports
Reason: You’re making an emulated connection to some local (or even network connected) hardware that can be seen by the virtual machine as something being plugged-in or unplugged. As long as the guest operating system can adjust to it, you can make this change on-the-fly.
Item: Virtual Diskette (Floppy)
Hot-Add or Change: Yes
Reason: While you only have one (and ever only one) virtualized diskette drive available in a Hyper-V virtual machine (and it’s more than any of us have seen of actual diskette drives in the past 10 years!), you do have the ability to virtual insert or remove these .VFD files (1.44MB! How did we ever manage!) into your virtual diskette drive. (Which is, as you must imagine, is 3.5 inches.)
Management Items
So far we’ve only discussed the “Hardware” aspects in the settings of a Hyper-V virtual machine. Under “Management”, you have the ability to make some additional changes to a running VM.
On a running machine, you can modify the machine’s name, the Integration Services enabled, and the Automatic Start and Stop actions. You can not, however, make a change to the Smart Paging File location.
And the configuration of the Snapshot file location isn’t determined by whether or not the machine is running, but instead by whether or not there are any existing snapshots. If there are, then you can’t change this location. If not, then go ahead and change it!
Conclusion
With every version of Hyper-V comes more and more flexibility in terms of what can be configured and changed while a virtual machine is running. All changes mentioned above can also be driven (or not – again depending upon the state of the machine) programmatically using tools like PowerShell and products like System Center 2012 SP1 Virtual Machine Manager (VMM). Much of what is able to be modified on a running system is impacted by practicality, by limitations of the implementation of virtualized hardware, and by the capabilities of the modern operating system and its ability to adjust to those sometimes drastic changes “on-the-fly”.
I hope you’ve found this summary useful, and that you’re taking advantage of all of the “20+ Days of Server Virtualization” posts in our series.
To kick off our series of “20+ Days of Server Virtualization” articles, I’m going to introduce you to Hyper-V.
“Introduce? It’s not new!”
True. But even though many of you may have heard of Microsoft’s virtualization solution, you may not know much about it. And so to start our series, a brief introduction and some related, useful resources to get you ready for the month are definitely worth sharing. So let’s answer the following questions: What is Hyper-V? How do I get Hyper-V? Is it hard to use? And then I’ll wrap up the article with some additional resource links.
WHAT IS IT HYPER-V?
Hyper-V is just a part of the full Microsoft virtualization solution. It is the engine that supports running multiple virtualized installations of operating systems on top of a single physical operating system. Hyper-V is a “microkernalized hypervisor”, which is fancy-talk for “it’s a very thin layer that runs underneath the installed operating system”, to support many “machines” (including the main OS) running on and sharing the resources of the hardware. Even though your Windows Server 2012 or even Windows 8 with Hyper-V enabled is installed on hardware, virtualization is actually even supporting that main operating system as what is known as the “Parent (or Root) Partition”; still running on top of virtualization, but having higher-priority than the “child partitions” that are the virtualized machines.
Here’s a detailed Hyper-V Architecture diagram showing this relationship between the hardware and the partitioning involved:
For an explanation of other aspects of this architecture, please refer to this document: Hyper-V Architecture
So in summary – Hyper-V is fast and efficient, and imposes minimal overhead in how the hardware is used to efficiently run all of the machines at the same time and on the same shared hardware.
HOW DO I GET HYPER-V?
The latest version of Hyper-V is included with Windows Server 2012; both Standard and Datacenter editions. It comes as a FREE hypervisor in the form of Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012. And finally, it’s also included for enabling on Windows 8 Professional and Enterprise editions (64-bit only). Click here for an overview and an explanation of the hardware requirements.
“Ah.. you say there’s a free version of Hyper-V? Is that like Microsoft’s answer to the free ESXi server?”
Well.. yes, and no. Yes, it’s a free platform for virtualization. But unlike ESXi, there are no restrictions or limitations of functionality. Everything that you can do and support with Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012, (Massive machine scale, Live Migration, Live Storage Migration, Windows Failover Clustering, Hyper-V Replication, etc.) are all fully supported exactly the same on the free Microsoft Hyper-V Server as they are on Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012.
IS IT HARD TO USE?
It’s actually quite easy. Once installed, you will start out by using the Hyper-V Manager; which is the included management tool. (This same tool is available for installation along with other Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) on workstations from where you’ll be doing remote management, such as your Windows 8 workstation.)
Here’s a quick video showing you how easy it is to create and configure a new virtual machine using Hyper-V…
I recommend viewing this at the highest resolution, full-screen.
RESOURCES
Here are some links to other useful resources and information:
I hope you found this useful! Make sure you keep following this series for even more detail on some of what I’ve just barely touched on in this article.
Welcome to March 2013! Can you believe it? March is already here! And as you’re coming to learn, a new month means a new topic for our team’s series of blog articles.
This month the topic is Server Virtualiaztion. Specifically, we’ll be discussing and helping you learn more about Microsoft’s virtualization platform: Hyper-V. We’ll go in-depth into topics that provide and support this, such as virtual networking, storage, performance, vMotion…
“’vMotion’? That’s VMware, isn’t it?”
Yeah.. that was just to see if the VMware fans among you were paying attention. If I’d said “Live Migration” or “Live Storage Migration”, you might not have understood what I meant. But from now on, that’s what I’ll be calling these capabilities. Anyway, some other topics…
Tools! We’ll be talking about System Center 2012 and the Enterprise-class components that configure, support, manage, monitor, and drive virtualization. And as I’ve already hinted – we’ll be comparing and contrasting the capabilities of Hyper-V with its nearest competitors.
In part 0 (the introduction) of the series, Dan Stolts also gives us a good introduction to what we’ll be discussing. READ HIS ARTICLE HERE.
Also, here is my complete “20+ Days of Server Virtualization” blog post, which has a preliminary schedule and will be updated with links and any updates or changes as the month progresses.
And finally, as always, we sincerely hope that you find these resources useful!
Here it is! The complete list of our “20+ Days of Server Virtualization” blog articles. Through the month of March, I’ll be adding links, making any updates or changes. So keep checking back for more, or keep watching my blog. As before, I plan on adding my own blog post every day, either introducing the day’s topic, or providing the article myself.
As always, we sincerely hope that you find these resources useful!
Sometimes useful resources show up in the most interesting way, and it would be foolish not to take advantage of them.
Today, for example (and in about 12 minutes, actually) I’m helping to support the live Q&A for a live Springboard Series Roundtable Discussion on Windows 8.
And in the meeting invite for the “backchannel” chat for the moderators, we received the following text:
Hi all, During the VRT on Friday, if you are helping with moderation, please use this meeting so we can all have a chat window open (no need for audio) so we can communicate about specific moderation issues that are taking place in the live VRT chat window. Here are some common public links that you can use if posters ask about specific resources: The Springboard Series on TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/springboard Windows 8 on the Springboard Series on TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/windows/hh771457 The Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation: http://aka.ms/win8client Application Compatibility on the Springboard Series on TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/windows/aa905066 What’s New in Windows 8: http://technet.microsoft.com/library/hh832028 The Windows 8 Jump Start: http://technet.microsoft.com/windows/jj687764 Windows 8 Demonstrations from the Springboard Series on TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/windows/jj152913 Windows 8 FAQ on the Springboard Site on TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/windows/jj721676
Hi all,
During the VRT on Friday, if you are helping with moderation, please use this meeting so we can all have a chat window open (no need for audio) so we can communicate about specific moderation issues that are taking place in the live VRT chat window. Here are some common public links that you can use if posters ask about specific resources:
The Springboard Series on TechNet:
http://technet.microsoft.com/springboard
Windows 8 on the Springboard Series on TechNet:
http://technet.microsoft.com/windows/hh771457
The Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation:
http://aka.ms/win8client
Application Compatibility on the Springboard Series on TechNet:
http://technet.microsoft.com/windows/aa905066
What’s New in Windows 8:
http://technet.microsoft.com/library/hh832028
The Windows 8 Jump Start:
http://technet.microsoft.com/windows/jj687764
Windows 8 Demonstrations from the Springboard Series on TechNet:
http://technet.microsoft.com/windows/jj152913
Windows 8 FAQ on the Springboard Site on TechNet:
http://technet.microsoft.com/windows/jj721676
Useful, don’t you agree?
Oh.. and if you’re seeing this right now.. the webcast starts at 11:00am CST on March 1, 2013, and goes for 1 hour. http://t.co/GLsVrsGSdq
It’s the end of February, and the end of what I hope you will agree was a very satisfying series of 19 “Migration and Deployment” articles by my teammates and me – the U.S. based IT Pro Technology Evangelists.
“So what’s the last topic?”
I’m glad you asked. Now that you know (or have the resources to further learn) everything there is to know about deploying operating systems (client and server), deploying virtual machines and services, and deploying applications, you might finally wonder what kind of control you have over these applications you’ve deployed.
“Yeah.. didn’t Microsoft have software restriction policies that could enforce limits on what can be installed or run?”
Exactly. The most recent version was technology called AppLocker. In Windows Vista and Windows 7 it allowed you to set those kinds of restrictions through Group Policy. But what about the new Windows 8 applications?
“Yeah! What about those?!”
Well, that’s what my friend Matt Hester writes about in this last, part 19, article in our series.
Did you enjoy the series? Did you know that we have another series starting immediately? Yep. In March, you’re all going to become Microsoft Virtualization (and Hyper-V) experts. …or at least well on your way there.
In this episode I welcome back Sr. Technical Product Manager Martin Booth for Part 2 of our System Center 2012 SP1 for Windows 8 series. We discuss device support improvements made in Configuration Manager as well as improvements to support user mobility.
Enjoy!