Category Archives: Education

Very Educational Microsoft TechEd 2012

Posted on by
Reply

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.

Photo0019

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.

Photo0020

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!

Experience Days by TechNet BeLux

Posted on by
Reply

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

728x90_v3

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

    Posted on by
    Reply

    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.

    I’m off to Attend MMS 2012 In Las Vegas

    Posted on by
    Reply

    image

    Life is good people. I have to good fortune to work in an interesting industry, doing great projects with modern technologies. On top of that my employer allows me to fully develop my skills . In that respect it makes a serious difference to have a good boss & management that understands the benefits of ongoing education. They look a both the short & long term value of people educating & developing themselves a lot more than at that nagging Excel sheet on the screen. Professional development is not just a cookie cutter 4 day training course once or twice a year but real opportunities to become a better professional if and when you’re willing to put in the effort. They’ve figured out that you cannot just use utmost cost reduction to catapult both your business and employees in to prosperity & wellbeing. You need to keep learning, evolving, networking, … The contacts I make and the education I get by working with and learning along very smart & motived people are priceless. Sure it costs money and effort form everyone involved but it beats doing nothing and saving a few € as a long term strategy for growth & success. On top of that I feel appreciated & valued for my contributions and the efforts I put in.So to the tunes of some eighties rockers I’m off again.

    Here I go again on my own, goin’ down the only road I’ve ever known.
    Like a drifter I was born to walk alone. An’ I’ve made up my mind, I ain’t wasting no more time. I’m attending MMS 2012

    Alone, heck no, many thousands of us will be descending on Las Vegas (Nevada, USA) to attend the summit. This event sells out fast each year. A friend told me to register a.s.a.p. or miss out, so I did as soon as I got the go ahead to attend, securing my spot. So now I’m travelling over LHR to LAS following my buddies & other attendees journey from their respective countries to Las Vegas on line, mostly via Twitter.

    If you can’t come, whatever the reason, you can always enjoy a good number of sessions here MMS 2012 goes digital: LIVE streaming and On-Demand for attendees AND non-attendees! 48 hours after the live presentation.

    I don’t have to tell you what System Center 2012 means to the IT Pro in the Microsoft ecosystem. Combine that with the RTM of Windows 8 later this year and I just had to go and attend the Microsoft management Summit 2012 in Las Vegas.  It’s more than training. It’s networking and an education.

    Apart from the formal agenda & sessions I already a have some meetings lined up with vendors, colleagues from around the globe. We’re making the most of this opportunity to meet face to face with people we other wise only get to talk to on line and often with huge time zone difference.

    MMS2012_Server

    I’ve you’re going and you read my blog or follow me on twitter. Give us a shout out and perhaps we can have a meet & greet.

    To all my geek & nerd friends, colleagues, MEET members, business partners, Microsoft employees & MVPs in route to Vegas & the Summit at The Venetian, I’m looking forward to seeing you all again! But first I have some traveling to do in the next 24 hours, to make my way over there.