January, 2012

Quiz #6 (the last quiz, your last chance to get into the challenge!) opens today at 8:01 p.m. EST (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST

Are you up for the Challenge?

If you answered yes, and if you are you a student, do you know a student or are you going back to school and can you answer a question like this then your ready for Round 1 of the Imagine Cup 2012 IT Challenge:

You are the administrator for the company network. You are bringing a new remote office online. The office has a domain controller that also runs DNS and WINS. It also has a file server that runs DHCP. DHCP enabled workstations are not getting DHCP addresses as expected. What should you do?

1. Move the DHCP service to the domain controller
2. Disable WINS since it interferes with DHCP on the same network
3. Authorize the DHCP server in Active Directory
4. Enable DHCP forwarding on the workstations

Well if you can answer that (btw this is from the practice test) then you may be ready to take the test to pass round 1, Until October 20th, go take the practice exam here:

Imagine Cup 2012 IT Challenge

To learn more about the challenge take a look at my post here : Students Are You Up for a Challenge? Enter the Imagine Cup 2012 IT Challenge NOW!

Here are the quiz dates

• Practice Quiz: Available beginning October 17
• Quiz 1, 20 October 2011:
  October 19th, 2011 8:01 p.m. EST (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST)
• Quiz 2, 15 November 2011:
  November 14th, 2011 8:01 p.m. EST (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST)
• Quiz 3, 1 December 2011:
  November 30th , 2011 8:01 p.m. EST (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST)
• Quiz 4. 14 December 2011:
  December 13th, 2011 8:01 p.m. EST (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST)
• Quiz 5, 9 January 2012:
  January 8th, 2012 8:01 p.m. EST (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST)
• Quiz 6, 26 January 2012:
  January 25th, 2012 8:01 p.m. EST (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST)

On February 21 & 22 there is a 2-day virtual training event to learn about the upcoming enhancements with the Creating & Managing a Private Cloud with System Center 2012 Jump Start. 

It is 100% free and open to the public register now!

Sign up today at: http://mctreadiness.com/MicrosoftCareerConferenceRegistration.aspx?pid=298

Event Overview

Adopting this exciting new computing paradigm provides a whole new landscape of technology and career direction for IT professionals. Microsoft Learning and the Microsoft System Center 2012 team have partnered to bring you an exciting opportunity to learn what you need to know to deploy, manage and maintain Microsoft’s private cloud solution. Leveraging the popular Jump Start virtual classroom approach, the industry’s most gifted cloud experts will show attendees why this new private cloud solution, based on System Center 2012 and Windows Server, has garnered so much attention. Presenters include Symon Perriman, Sean Christensen, Adam Hall, Kenon Owens, Prabu Rambadran & Chris Van Wesep and there will be a live Q&A during the event.

Event Agenda

Day 1: Deployment & Configuration (Feb. 21)

• Part 1: Understanding the Microsoft Private Cloud
• Part 2: Deploying the Infrastructure Components
• Part 3: Deploying the Private Cloud Infrastructure
• Part 4: Deploying the Service Layer
• Part 5: Deploying the Applications & VMs

Day 2: Management & Operations (Feb. 22)

• Part 6: Managing the Infrastructure Components
• Part 7: Managing the Private Cloud Infrastructure
• Part 8: Managing the Service Layer
• Part 9: Managing the Applications & VMs

Sign up today at: http://mctreadiness.com/MicrosoftCareerConferenceRegistration.aspx?pid=298

Jump Start Overview

This accelerated Jump Start sponsored by Microsoft Learning is tailored for IT professionals familiar with Windows Server technologies, Hyper-V virtualization, and the System Center management solutions. The course is designed to provide a fast-paced and technical understanding of how and why Microsoft’s approach to the private cloud delivers scalability, security, flexibility and control. Here are few unique benefits of this course:

• Students have the opportunity to learn from and interact with the industry’s best cloud technologists!
• This high-energy, demo-rich learning experience will help IT Professionals understand why Microsoft private cloud solutions are making a splash in the industry.
• Students will see with their own eyes how Windows Server 2008 R2 and System Center 2012 work together to provide the best combination of security and scale.
• Information-packed agenda! Day one of this two-day online course will focus on designing and deploying the right solutions for your organization, while day two will provide an in-depth look at the tools available to help monitor, secure and control the operational aspects of a private cloud.

Sign up today at: http://mctreadiness.com/MicrosoftCareerConferenceRegistration.aspx?pid=298

Go get it @ http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9796988. Here’s some bedtime reading while you watch the download, download.

=======

A Microsoft private cloud dramatically changes the way your business produces and consumes IT services by creating a layer of abstraction over your pooled IT resources. This allows your datacenter to offer true infrastructure service capability as well as optimally managed application services. Microsoft private cloud solutions are built on System Center and Windows Server.

• System Center 2012 Release Candidate empowers you with a common management toolset for your private and public cloud applications and services. System Center helps you confidently deliver IT as a Service for your business.
• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (optional download) will give you improved powerful virtualization capabilities that can transform how you deliver IT services to your end users and enable you to lay the foundation of a private cloud infrastructure.

Please Note: Many Microsoft private cloud scenarios require Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. If you are using an older version, we highly recommend upgrading to experience the full Microsoft private cloud evaluation.
Need more information? See the product details page. Register to access technical product resources at the Microsoft Private Cloud Evaluation Resource Page.

The Microsoft private cloud evaluation includes:

System Center 2012 Release Candidate
Available in these languages: English

• System Center 2012 Unified Installer is a utility designed to perform new, clean installations of System Center 2012 for testing and evaluation purposes only. If you want to upgrade from an existing System Center installation or choose set up options such as high availability or multi-server component installs, please refer instead to the System Center 2012 component installation guides located on the Microsoft Private Cloud Evaluation Resource Page.
  User's Guide >>
• System Center 2012 App Controller provides a common self-service experience across private and public clouds that can help you empower application owners to easily build, configure, deploy, and manage new services.
  System Requirements >>
• System Center 2012 Configuration Manager provides comprehensive configuration management for the Microsoft platform that can help you empower users with the devices and applications they need to be productive while maintaining corporate compliance and control.
  System Requirements >>
• System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager provides unified data protection for Windows servers and clients that can help you deliver scalable, manageable, and cost-effective protection and restore scenarios from disk, tape, and off premise.
  System Requirements >>
• System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection, built on System Center Configuration Manager, provides industry-leading threat detection of malware and exploits as part of a unified infrastructure for managing client security and compliance that can help you simplify and improve endpoint protection.
  System Requirements >>
• System Center 2012 Operations Manager provides deep application diagnostics and infrastructure monitoring that can help you ensure the predictable performance and availability of vital applications and offers a comprehensive view of your datacenter, private, and public clouds.
  System Requirements >>
• System Center 2012 Orchestrator provides orchestration, integration, and automation of IT processes through the creation of runbooks that can help you to define and standardize best practices and improve operational efficiency.
  System Requirements >>
• System Center 2012 Service Manager provides flexible self-service experiences and standardized datacenter processes that can help you integrate people, workflows, and knowledge across enterprise infrastructure and applications.
  System Requirements >>
• System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager provides virtual machine management and services deployment with support for multi-hypervisor environments that can help you deliver a flexible and cost effective private cloud environment.
  System Requirements >>

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (optional download)
Available in these languages: Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish

• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 is designed to help you increase control, availability, and flexibility of your datacenter and desktop infrastructure while helping reduce costs.
  System Requirements >>

Go get it @ http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9796988.

I was asked by Ed Wilson to talk about, what else PowerShell!  In the article I talk briefly about how to automate the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit with PowerShell.

Check out the article: Learn How to Use PowerShell to Automate MDT Deployment 

Yeah I know it is a bit late, but I have been a little busy lately.

Quiz #5 opens today at 8:01 p.m. EST (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST

Are you up for the Challenge?

If you answered yes, and if you are you a student, do you know a student or are you going back to school and can you answer a question like this then your ready for Round 1 of the Imagine Cup 2012 IT Challenge:

You are the administrator for the company network. You are bringing a new remote office online. The office has a domain controller that also runs DNS and WINS. It also has a file server that runs DHCP. DHCP enabled workstations are not getting DHCP addresses as expected. What should you do?

1. Move the DHCP service to the domain controller
2. Disable WINS since it interferes with DHCP on the same network
3. Authorize the DHCP server in Active Directory
4. Enable DHCP forwarding on the workstations

Well if you can answer that (btw this is from the practice test) then you may be ready to take the test to pass round 1, Until October 20th, go take the practice exam here:

Imagine Cup 2012 IT Challenge

To learn more about the challenge take a look at my post here : Students Are You Up for a Challenge? Enter the Imagine Cup 2012 IT Challenge NOW!

Here are the quiz dates

• Practice Quiz: Available beginning October 17
• Quiz 1, 20 October 2011:
  October 19th, 2011 8:01 p.m. EST (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST)
• Quiz 2, 15 November 2011:
  November 14th, 2011 8:01 p.m. EST (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST)
• Quiz 3, 1 December 2011:
  November 30th , 2011 8:01 p.m. EST (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST)
• Quiz 4. 14 December 2011:
  December 13th, 2011 8:01 p.m. EST (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST)
• Quiz 5, 9 January 2012:
  January 8th, 2012 8:01 p.m. EST (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST)
• Quiz 6, 26 January 2012:
  January 25th, 2012 8:01 p.m. EST (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST)