Yesterday we covered Desktop Virtualisation with Tech.Days online. If you missed it or just want to hear it again, you can watch the recording here.
Up next in the series is Automation and the Public Cloud on 12 April. The key to a dynamic data center and evolution to a private cloud is automated management. Opalis is the glue which makes this possible in Operations Manager. Hear all about it and sign up here.
You can see what else is coming up in the Tech.Days online series here. Also make sure you are still collecting all your bit.ly links from the series so you are in with the chance to win the great prizes we have on offer!
SBS Essentials is now available for download on TechNet. Take a look at the full announced on the official Small Business Server blog.
Russ Kirk and Adam Gent from the Unified Communications User Group have a Live Meeting coming up soon entitled UC User Group: Enabling REST clients for Lync, including Windows Phone 7.
What’s it all about?
Join the gang for an hour-long session exploring the unofficial work done by some Microsoft developers in Denmark who have created a Windows Phone 7 Lync client together with a REST server. You’ll get an overview of how the architecture works, the role and uses of the REST server and a demonstration of the Lync Windows Phone 7 client features, including Call from Work.
Who should attend?
This Live Meeting is recommended for infrastructure specialists who want to see the capabilities of the client and developers who wish to extend unified communications features into their applications using the REST server.
Some initial information about the client is available here.
If you are new to REST servers and their role with mobile applications, the Wikipedia article is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REST
The event is scheduled for 14 April 2011 at 3-30pm.
Sign up here.
I am a big Radio 4 fan and Just a Minute is one of its treasured institutions. I thought it would be fun to apply its rules to your data centre. If you aren’t familiar with the game you have a minute to talk on a given subject without repetition, hesitation or deviation and I think these are great rules for a data centre too:
Repetition. If you end up doing the same thing again and again on your infrastructure, shouldn’t you think about not doing it all and automating it? There are abundant areas for doing this, such as deployments, creating and deleting users. Hesitation. If your data centre isn’t agile and responsive to changing users needs, then your users will find ways to circumvent these obstacles to get stuff done. This might mean the introduction of niche software outside of your control, possibly through the use of a cloud-based service, or engaging an external company to do what they need. Suddenly you are no longer relevant to them for anything except for desktop support, which might not be that interesting for you. I would argue that it's the IT guys who need to lead with innovation and not be the handbrake on the wheel of progress. Deviation. This one is more subtle, the IT department is there to support the needs of the business and not a sort of empire in its own right. While the real situation might not be like this, perception is everything and if your user base can’t identify what you are doing with what they need, then they will be more likely to take their services to another source. Charging for services can be a good way for users to see how their decisions affect what is in the black box of the data centre.
Repetition. If you end up doing the same thing again and again on your infrastructure, shouldn’t you think about not doing it all and automating it? There are abundant areas for doing this, such as deployments, creating and deleting users.
Hesitation. If your data centre isn’t agile and responsive to changing users needs, then your users will find ways to circumvent these obstacles to get stuff done. This might mean the introduction of niche software outside of your control, possibly through the use of a cloud-based service, or engaging an external company to do what they need. Suddenly you are no longer relevant to them for anything except for desktop support, which might not be that interesting for you. I would argue that it's the IT guys who need to lead with innovation and not be the handbrake on the wheel of progress.
Deviation. This one is more subtle, the IT department is there to support the needs of the business and not a sort of empire in its own right. While the real situation might not be like this, perception is everything and if your user base can’t identify what you are doing with what they need, then they will be more likely to take their services to another source. Charging for services can be a good way for users to see how their decisions affect what is in the black box of the data centre.
You might not be able to apply all of these principles to your data centre, it might not be big enough or you may have a great relationship with your business users already. Back to my point about innovation - you should keep an eye out for what can make your data centre better.
Probably the simplest and fastest way to understand some of these new approaches is to come to our private cloud day at Microsoft Techdays Live, because these goals are exactly what the private cloud is about. Microsoft’s approach to private cloud is baked into the all of the products that comprise the System Center suite, so these are all being released in new versions over the coming year, and we’ll be showing off the betas of these at this event.
Pull up a chair and read the latest in our Day in the Life series. This week we meet Escalation Engineer, Mark Sewell.
I’ve worked at Microsoft for around 8 years now and, boy, has time flown. I’ve seen many product releases, from Windows XP (back when I was an intern) through to the latest cloud offerings (BPOS and Office 365). This is a really exciting time to be in IT and Microsoft is definitely leading the way as the cloud momentum grows. I work in the Communications team within UK GTSC and we are starting to get more and more visibility of the cloud offerings, as we now provide third tier support for Live@Edu and BPOS/Office 365, alongside our on-premises work stream. I specialise in Exchange, so there is even potential to be working hybrid scenarios, as we work with customers with a mix of on-premises and cloud based Exchange.
As an Escalation Engineer, we are the last line in the Microsoft support model and we get to work on the most technically challenging problems and issues where changes to the product may be required. I work closely with the Redmond-based sustained engineering developer team (Exchange SE), and between us, we try to assist our customers as much as possible. The majority of my days are often spent looking at some form of debug logging, Windbg and/or perfmon. If I’m not doing this in the course of my own work I will likely doing it to assist our newer engineers or our front line support engineers. The majority of cases are solved by the front line team (something in the region of around 85-95%), so these are the people that have the skills to work on database restores and other common issues. Due to them fielding most of the work, they are also more likely to see trends and common issues. To this end I spend a lot of time triaging cases and helping to remove any roadblocks to solution.
Due to the complexity of issues we typically work upon, it can take days to get a full understanding of where an issue lies and how best to proceed. Fortunately I work in a vastly experienced team and we are always able to brainstorm and get ideas from one another. Alongside the day-to-day case work, the Escalation Engineer role empowers you to be able to find projects to work upon and write tools (if you are that way inclined). All of which go towards helping to make either the core product or the overall customer experience better. The role of an EE is very varied and it’s fair to say, no two days are ever the same
This edition we’re covering migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7. The majority of companies not yet on Windows 7 are migrating from Windows XP, and the deployment process and support available to do this is a hot topic. Extended support is now being offered for Windows XP SP2 (and support for Windows XP SP3 is ending in 2014) so keeping ahead with your IT infrastructure will mean considering an update of your operating system.
Case studies
NetBenefit had all its desktops and PCs on Windows and due to a significant amount of hardware acquisition over the past five years, the computers were running different images of Windows XP. That stratification became increasingly difficult for the IT department to manage, and the department wanted to upgrade and standardise its operating system, without investing in new client hardware. The company decided to simultaneously upgrade all 300 existing workstations to the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system. Read the full case study here to see all the benefits this gave them.
Atkins - As Windows XP began to age, the company recognised that it could provide a higher level of information services for its IT, engineering, and business users by updating its operating system. “We anticipate benefits over the lifespan of the operating system. Windows 7 is going to enable us to do so much more for our business in the future.” Tom Basham, Manager, IT Architecture and Planning Team. Read full case study here.
Technical resources
The Windows XP to Windows 7 Migration Guide takes you through all the migrating decisions and the tools and resources available from Microsoft to help you each step along the way.
If you would rather watch than read, these Windows 7 walkthrough videos will help. Covering topics including how to use the User State Migration Tool (USMT) to migrate user files and settings from Windows XP to Windows 7 using a default installation.
With all the migration tools, guides, and project plans available, are you wondering how to start your Windows XP migration? The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 provides a single, comprehensive guide to efficiently managing the Windows 7 deployment process. Learn more in this video.
You can view all the other topics we have covered with Windows 7 Business Insights here, including IT value, deployment, security and application compatibility.
Tech.Days online today at 2pm will be covering Desktop Virtualisation, leading on from the Practical Deployment from 8 March. This webcast will give you a practical guide to virtualising applications on Windows 7 to ensure compatibility for applications, including using P2V to accelerate deployments. Sign up here.
You can see what else is coming up in the Tech.Days online series here. We record all the sessions so you can also catch up with any that you have missed.
This fortnight’s TechNet newsletter is brimming with all the usual news and goodness. Don’t forget to sign up for your own copy, sent direct to your inbox. Next edition will be with you on 14 April, then we’ll take a short break for Easter.
Following the recent RTM of Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials,you can find a whole load of Windows Small Business Server training and learning information videos here. These have just been updated to include more info on Essentials and also some guidance to help you with licensing queries.
Find out what’s had the UK TechNet team tongue-tied this week with our regular blog wrap up.
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