Category Archives: Conferences & Events

Very Educational Microsoft TechEd 2012

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Hello from TechEd 2012 Europe at the RAI in Amsterdam. I’ve been extremely busy attending sessions, talking to Microsoft employees and vendor engineers. We’ve had some very interesting discussions and I learned a lot and clarified even more. TechEd has once more proven to be an excellent investment of time and I have been able to get a lot of face time with the right people. To me this is important because that helps me tremendously when designing solutions. Sorry for the low quality pictures.

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Bob Combs on stage at the TechEd Europe 2012  educating us on NIC Teaming

You know my mantra “options, options options” as this is what gets you a way out of a pinch. However a lot of options also mean you need to make decisions, and not just when dealing with issues but also at design time. Knowledge and understanding is what help to make the correct of the best decision fast. Attending this conference with its tremendous networking opportunities provides for a very nice and effective setting for passionate discussions and deep dives into scenarios. Challenging vendors, interacting with peers, throwing ideas out there and deep diving into the possibilities and drawbacks with each other is great and helps a lot to understand technologies better. You have to thrown what you have learned out there and discuss it to test your understanding of the subject. Don’t be afraid to do so. We all don’t know things, get stuff wrong, etc. Don’t let  fear stop you from interacting with your peers.

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Ben Armstrong in action on Live Storage Migration

It is also great to meet up with my community buddies from all over the word again and I feel privileged to have the opportunity to attend these conferences. For me personally these are priceless and the value to my employers/clients is considerable. There is a tsunami of new technology in the Windows Server 2012 stack and learning to put these into context is both fun and useful. These are very interesting times in the Microsoft Infrastructure ecosystem so life is good!

Answer to Brad at TechEd Europe 2012 Keynote: Pessimists & Tad Don’t like Windows Server 2012

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Brad is on stage for the opening keynote asking if the glass is half full or half empty. Well it depends on where you are in the ecosystem. For us the glass is half full and filling up fast.

Some people nag me about the fact that Windows Server 2012 is so different and that it’s wrong to turn the world upside down. Yes, it is different and new in many ways.  There are also many improvements to features that already exist. There is a lot to learn and understand. Why are some people so pessimistic?

Ever since I got my hands on the BUILD Developer Preview bits I have personally invested a lot of my time in Windows Server 2012. With the beta that only increased. Why? Well, that’s the way forward, because that’s where the improvements are. We can’t do tomorrows jobs and meet tomorrows demands with yesterdays technology.

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The picture above is basically the pessimists view of the world. Enjoy your cupper but I’m not joining you. Windows Server 2012 rocks and it’s going to do a whole lot for our industry and businesses. But wait a minute, I do understand why Tad is so pessimistic. But that’s about the future of vLimited and being stuck in the past. Listen Tad, you’d better empty that cup because this is where vLimited becomes history rather than write it.

Does that mean I’ll be throwing away Windows 2008 R2? Nope. I expect to deal a lot with it in the next few years but I’m not going to build future infrastructure on the previous version. I will introduce Windows Server 2012 where and when we benefit from it. For me that is from day one the bits RTM. The benefits are so overwhelming we’d hurt ourselves by not doing it. Your mileage may vary. But don’t get stuck in the past  Here’s a link to your escape pod: Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter Solution Accelerator I’m happy it’s here. That’s what people are asking me more and more about, how to move to Hyper-V.

But what’s with the negativism of some? Sure people are still running Windows Server 2000/2003. Sometimes for good reasons, often for (very) bad ones. Are some going to go through all this again with people clinging to Windows2008 R2? No doubt. Been there, seen it. Very predictable. Is Windows Server 2012 going to fail?  No way.  And what I’m seeing in Windows Server 2012 is great technology. Will it be perfect? No. I already have feature requests for vNext Smile. But this is pushing the ball forward, this is ambitious in the best sense of that word.  There will be bugs, there will be challenges and hiccups. That’s part of the business and the realities of life.  But look at all what’s available in there. Don’t just read some industry press articles. Did you test it your self already? Did you do any clustering? Tested all the new functionality in Hyper-V? The innovations in Live Migration options and networking? Looked at the amount of PowerShell support in there? Notice the improvements in Active Directory, DHCP and other core infrastructure services? Have you used Windows Server 2012 at all yet? You didn’t look at SMB 3.0 and all the storage improvements in there did you? Go talk to Jeff Woolsey, he’s passionate about it and for good reasons. Put in some effort, live a little, get out of your comfort zone and you’ll be going places. Don’t be a pessimist. Think positive or you’ll end up like Tad who was the joke of the party at MMS2012

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Experience Days by TechNet BeLux

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As a Microsoft MEET member and MVP, I’d like to invite you all to attend the Microsoft “Experience Days”.

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There are several tracks at the Experience Days from which you can choose. The complete track information can be found at here.

There are two tracks that are especially of interest to IP Pros: The Best of Microsoft Management Summit (MMS 2012) and Experience Windows Server 2012.

The Best of Microsoft Management Summit (MMS 2012)

During The Best of Microsoft Management Summit (MMS 2012), we will provide you with the best possible opportunity to learn about what’s new in System Center 2012. Led by experts who attended MMS 2012 in Las Vegas, you can expect in-depth sessions on infrastructure management, service delivery & automation, application management, desktop & device management.
Discover the full program

Experience Windows Server 2012

At Experience Windows Server 2012 day you will discover how Windows Server is going beyond virtualization by scaling and securing workload, how it will enable the modern work style by giving people access to information and data regardless of the infrastructure, network, device or application they use to access it. And you will discover the power of many servers with the simplicity of one by efficiently managing infrastructure while maximizing uptime and minimizing failures and downtime.

Join us and learn more about:

  • New Hyper-V Virtualization Platform
  • What’s new in Active Directory
  • Storage and Management Improvements
  • Clustering Improvements
  • Plus much more…   

    Discover the full program

    Hyper-V

    I’ll be talking on June 7th at 15:00 – 16:00 about Windows Server 2012 Storage Evolved For Hyper-V in the Experience Windows Server 2012 track:

    Windows Server 2012 is a very storage centric version. We’ll cover the changes, improvements and additions to Windows Server 2012 storage capabilities and their impact on Hyper-V. We talk about the enhancements with the new virtual disk format (VHDX), offloaded data transfer (ODX), TRIM/UNMAP, large sector disks and the new storage options for Hyper-V including Storage Spaces, ReFS, Bitlocker, CSV 2.0, NTFS online scan/repair and SMB 3.0 file storage and what the latter means for Live Migration & Storage Options for Hyper-V

    Virtualization with Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V is simply the best, bar none. If you watched Brad Anderson’s MMS 2012 Keynotes you know what’s coming and that he encouraged you to take the lead in all this. Well here’s you chance. If you agree that there is war on for talent, you also know and understand that knowledge will give you opportunities and choices. Invest in your future and as such in addressing and solving the business needs of your both clients and businesses. We all know it takes a serious effort in combination with a sustained commitment to become and stay competent in ICT. The TechNet BeLux team & the community is there to help you cultivate your talent and gain the knowledge you need.

     

    • Upcoming Speaking Engagements

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    Here’s a quick overview of my speaking engagements in the next two months. I encourage everyone to attend the smaller and often les expensive or even free events as they provide a fast way to get up to speed with new technologies. Don’t be shy. Everyone is welcome and we’re all there to learn. It will not surprise you that all the sessions I’ll be presenting are on Windows Server 2012 & Hyper-V.

    Experts2Experts Virtualization Conference (E2EVC) –Vienna 2012

    I’ll be doing a session on Saturday 26th on the advanced networking features in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V. At this small scale conference interactive “chalk & talk” sessions never stop. They just go on and on at breakfast, lunch, dinner, the bar until we need to get some sleep to repeat this process the day after. If you’re very lucky there might still be an spot open for which you can register.

    Continued Education Day for IT Coordinators & Teachers in Education

    At the end of May I’ll be presenting a session on what’s new in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V targeted at this audience. I’m convinced that the combination of the tremendous licensing efforts Microsoft does in education and simply the best virtualization & cloud platform in existence, will provide them with the right solution to get the job done.

    TechNet BeLux – Experience Days

    On June 7th I’ll be presenting a session at the “Experience Days”. That session is called “Windows Server 2012 Storage Evolved For Hyper-V” in the Experience Windows Server 2012 track. You can register here for this track or, if you think another track is more of interest to you go to the links above to register for those. All tracks are free and open to all.

    More to come

    During the summer I’ll be doing a large storage migration project. That means I’ll be getting my hands on SMI-S support for System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 and ODX to use with Windows Sever 2012 & Hyper-V.  So I’ll be putting my money where my mouth is so to speak.  I’m looking forward to that for the learning experience alone and it’s time to find me my “No, I will not fix your computer” T-shirt as I won’t have time for that Smile. But rest assured, I will share my experiences through blogging, tweets, presentations & with my fellow community members for all man kind.