Microsoft Ignite Here I Come

Ignite is coming closer and I’m to Chicago soon to attend. I’ll be focusing on a couple of things. One of them is vNext, that means Hyper-V and everything that’s related the network and the storage stack.  The other is Azure and anything related to the above mentioned stack as well as identity/security.

That should be sufficient to keep me busy as next to that I’ll be having meetings with the Microsoft product groups and various vendors/partner on their offerings and plans.

The remaining time will be allocated to networking and talking shop with the international community. I’m looking forward to meet up with so many buddies from across the globe and dive into our beloved subjects. I you read my blog, follow me on twitter and you’re there, let me know. We can meet and greet!

Ignite

So let’s ignite the future of technology and prepare for our future as well. Remember, it’s you who needs to invest in yourself and your career. Employee, independent consultant or civil servant, it doesn’t matter, while helping others succeed, keep working on your own life long education and future.

But before I’m in Chicago I need to travel there, so we’ll hop onto one of those nice Boeings for a long haul flight across the big pond.  See you there!

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Windows Server Technical Preview and Hyper-V Server Technical Preview Expiration Extension

Great news for all those of us that are running Windows Server Technical Preview v1 in their labs. It was due to expire on April 15th but Microsoft announced they were working on a fix to extend that deadline. They did not mention an ETA for it bit it’s here now, see http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=46447

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So download, install, reboot and you’re good to go until we get our hands on Technical Preview v2! We’ve been saved by the cavalry and life is good!

Video Interview On Rolling Cluster Upgrades in Windows Server vNext

Carsten Rachfahl from Rachfahl IT-Solutions (quite possibly  Germany’s leading Hyper-V, Storage Spaces & Private cloud consultancy) and I got together in Berlin last November at the Microsoft Technical Summit 2014. Between presenting (I delivered What’s new in Failover Clustering in Windows Server 2012 R2), workshops, interviews we found some time to do a video interview.

We discussed a very welcome new capability in Windows Server vNext: “Rolling cluster updates” or “Cluster Operating System Rolling Upgrade” in Windows Server Technical Preview as Microsoft calls it. I blogged about this rather soon after the release of the Technical Preview First experiences with a rolling cluster upgrade of a lab Hyper-V Cluster (Technical Preview).

Videointerview with Didier Van Hoye about Rolling Cluster Upgrade Thumb1

We’ve been able to do rolling updates of Windows NLB for a long time and we’ve been asking for that same capability in Windows Failover Clustering for many years and now, it’s finally coming! And yes, as you will notice we like that a lot!

You need to realize that making the transition form one version to another as smooth, easy and risk free as possible is of great value to the customer as it enables them to upgrade faster and get the benefits of their investment quicker. For Microsoft it means they can have more people move to more modern environments faster which helps with support and delivering value in a secure and modern environment.

At the end we also joke around a bit about DevOps and how this is just as set of training wheels on the road to true site resilience engineering. All fun and all good. Enjoy!

Microsoft Ignite calling Thinkers, Doers and Pioneers. Yes, that’s me within my ecosystem!

I know that some people tend to see conferences as a waste of time and money. Going to the wrong conferences will do that yes. So is attending for the wrong reasons or in the wrong way.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. A conference is hard work, fun sure, but hard & lots of work. Don’t expect to go home with a custom magic strategy & implementation plan Winking smile for all your IT needs. Much has been written by many community buddies and myself  on this subject. Here’s a short reading list for you (and there a dozens more) on how to do it well.

But if you pick your conferences, make sure you plan and take the time to network and talk with industry experts, vendors, colleagues & fellow MVPs who you only get to sit down with at such events it can be a tremendously valuable experience. You network gain insights, get to pitch your ideas and views with some of the best and brightest … very stimulating and rewarding!

In my neck of the IT woods it’s a place I want to go an talk shop too the group of people mentioned above. Let me know if you’re attending, it’s always good to meet up.