Category Archives: Education

My TechDays 2013 Agenda Recommendations

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As you all know by know the TechDays 2013  are approaching fast.  I have mentioned this before. There is still time to secure yourself a seat and attend this event. People for far and away are coming over for this so why not you?

You’ll gain insights into a lot of new technologies. You can decide to go deep or broad or any combination of these two options. The idea is that you can return to your desk and have a better understanding of Windows Server 2012, Hyper-V, Windows 8, System Center and what a private cloud can do for you and your business.

I know several speakers and they are aiming to offer you some practical knowledge so you can get a head start with these technologies. Understanding the concepts about and the principles behind sometimes abstract subjects is important. This is also true for a healthy mix of real life experiences, tips on how to get thing working and what to look out for. I hope the local community speakers can help you out there. But to do so you need to show up Smile. Sure you can watch on line sessions and download presentations. But consider being able to talk to the speakers and experts at the Microsoft boot, to have the opportunity to sit down for a talk about real live experiences and openly discuss your needs and concerns. No, it’s not free consultancy, it’s talking amongst peers who are often dealing with the same issues as you are which can help you decide what routes to explore further.

The complete agenda is available on line here.

Tuesday 5 March

Register for the track of your choice here. Hard choice between the security track and Exchange 2013 but I’m leaning towards the latter. Scott Schnoll & Michael Van Horenbeeck (Belgian MEET member and MVP for Exchange) are presenting.

Wednesday 6 March

08:45 – 10:15

This slot is easy, grab the keynote to set the tone for the TechDays.

IT Pro Keynote

10:45 – 12:00

Systems Center user and ready for Windows Server 2012? Attend  Vijay Tewari’s session.

What’s new System Center 2012 SP1, VMM

13:00 – 14:15 & 14:30 – 15:45

Easy choice. Windows 8 is not weird or hard to learn at all.For the small effort of educating yourself on this subject by attending these two sessions by a very knowledgeable MVP and great presenter Tom Decaluwé, you’re ahead of the pack, reaping the benefits while ignoring the drama.

Windows 8 Client Part 1 "The OS internals for IT-Pro’s"

Windows 8 Client Part 2 "The Application internals for IT-Pro’s"

16:15 – 17:30

I’m torn here. Chris Jackson is the guru on this subject and if you’re still running on XP and need to move to Windows 8 or even Windows 7 attend his session and learn how to thrive and not just survive such an project!
App Compat for Nerds

Hyper-V is very dear to me and it’s an interesting subject so if you are using or considering to use Hyper-V go listen to Bryon Surace and learn why dynamic memory is a lot more & better than over commitment!

Hyper-V Dynamic Memory in Depth

17:45 – 19:00

This is a Inovativ (Kenny Buntinx, Dieter Wijckmans, Kurt Van Hoecke) tidal wave of knowledge it seems with a twist of Mike Resseler (always a good thing)

What’s new and improved in Service Pack 1 for the System Center 2012 suite

19:00 – 21:00

Grab the people you think could help your with that question burning inside your head. Don’t be shy! Mingle amongst your peers and engage in some tech talks.

Ask the Experts and Networking

Thursday 7 March

09:00 – 10:15

Start of the day with a true scholar and gain knowledge & understanding on Active Directory in Windows Server 2012. If you were not awake yet, you will be 5 minutes into this session as John Craddock knows how to captivate an audience.

What’s new in Windows Server 2012 Active Directory?

10:45 – 12:00

If you’re going to deploy SCVMM 2012 SP1 you absolutely have to attend this session. Really, I mean it! Vijay Tewari presenting.

Network Management in System Center 2012 SP1 – VMM

13:00 – 14:15

You need it, you want it, you love it in Windows 2012. What? PowerShell of cause and Kurt Roggen will show you why.

The Power of PowerShell: Advanced

14:30 – 15:45

Some of the great additions to the capabilities of virtualization in Windows Server 2012 evolves around the support Active Directory. Better & saver than ever with a lot less fine print. Join Wim Henderyckx & Benjamin Logist.

Forbidden fruits of Active Directory – Cloning, snapshotting, virtualization

16:15 – 17:30

You’ll just have to understand that for practical reasons I have to kind of attend my own session. It’s the nature of presenting.

Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Networking Evolved

I’m Attending The 2013 MVP Global Summit

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Well, that time of the year is getting closer again. It’s something different, unique and somewhat exclusive. It’s the 2013 MVP Global Summit!

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For this summit MVPs from all over the world converge on Bellevue/Redmond near Seattle. The summit takes place on and around the Microsoft campus. To discuss their favorite & most important MSFT technologies in depth amongst each other and with Microsoft staff.

I have the good fortune of being able to attend again this year. I have to express my thanks to our top management for this Smile. This is very valuable to both me and my employers. It’s also fun to discuss the technology you work with amongst so many like minded people in the same business. The amount of knowledge sharing, insights and ideas around Redmond creates a stimulating buzz and I loved every moment of it last year. I met many great professionals and interesting people with whom, from breakfast till after dinner drinks, we had a truckload of interesting discussions. It’s a bit of a geek fest.

So I’m looking forward to all this and also to meeting up again with some MSFT employees and professionals from the Seattle area I got to know last time.

The MVP summit is also a good time to pass feedback from others on to Microsoft as well. You’re not in the drivers seat when it comes to the direction Windows and Hyper-V will take. However, you cannot have your opinions taken into consideration unless you let them be be heard. So, please feel free to share any remarks, feedback, feature requests you’d like to the virtualization, cluster, storage, file share, network, etc. product teams to know. You can post them in the comments for all to see. To shy to post it publicly? You can send me a e-mail via the contact form on my blog or direct message me via @workinghardinit on twitter.

Now the entire summit is under NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) but that doesn’t mean it’s a pure diplomatic mission. We all love the technology, that is for sure, but we also  pass along the bad and the ugly next to the good. It’s not marketing or indoctrination,if it was MVPs would not spend the time an money to attend.

That’s where the words “independent” and real world” comes into play. We’re not a bunch of fan boys. The communication is both ways and I think that make this event extra valuable to both parties. I’m looking forward to the 2013 MVP Summit and I have a lot of feedback and questions based on using Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V in real live.

A New Year and it came with a Microsoft MVP Renewal for 2013

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I’m a January 1st MVP. That means that on the 1st January I get an e-mail that brings news of a renewal or not … so apart from celebrating the new year relaxing a bit we also keep an eye on our inbox. This is what arrived just now:

Dear Didier van Hoye,
Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2013 Microsoft® MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others. We appreciate your outstanding contributions in Virtual Machine technical communities during the past year.
The Microsoft MVP Award provides us the unique opportunity to celebrate and honor your significant contributions and say "Thank you for your technical leadership."

Mike Hickman
Director
Community Engagement
Microsoft

Great news to start the new year with. While you get the MVP reward for contributions over the past year to the community I must say that being active in the community is a very rewarding endeavor in itself. For my job I need to figure out a lot of things and I like to share them, including my mistakes, for the benefit of all. Sharing means communication, which leads to questions and discussions that help all of us gain a better knowledge of how things work. It’s not one way traffic. They say there is no better way to learn a subject that to teach it or write a book on it. I think that holds true. Heck, “just” doing a presentation on one subject helps. There’s a constant stream of new capabilities and options that can be leveraged to achieve our goals and being able to discuss these with so many experts from different environments makes a lot of difference in wrapping our heads around it all.

It also helps me be better at my job. So it also helps my employers. In that respect I have very good bosses. They invest in their people without hesitation. They don’t fear the possibility that we might leave for greener pastures. Instead they focus on getting the best out of us and support this actively. Pretty smart and we all gain something from this, as this makes for a very nice green pasture to stay on and they get knowledgeable, motivated employees.

I’m very happy and I’m looking forward to seeing many of my fellow MVPs in Redmond in February for the 2013 MVP Global Summit. Last year’s summit was very educational. It was also a blast to meet so many people in real life for the very first time and talk shop. Thank you all for the opportunities, the challenges and the continuous learning journey.

To conclude I wish all my community buddies and readers a wonderful and happy 2013!

Join Us For The VKernel (Dell) VIRTu Alley Online Symposium

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VIRTu Alley Online Symposium

vKernel (now part of DELL) is kicking of 2013  with the VIRTu Alley Online Symposium. It runs over two days and focuses on virtualization and cloud management. virtu-alley-c96ba660

When

VIRTu Alley takes place on Tuesday, January 15th from 10:00 – 13:00 EST and on Wednesday, January 16th from 10:00-13:30 EST. Don’t forget it’s EST. Meaning that you need to add 5 hours if you’re in GMT (Dublin) or 6 Hours if you’re in GMT +1 (Brussels)

Where

From the comfort of your office & home  Smile

Agenda

Go to the Virtu Alley web page and have a look at the agenda for both days. you’ll see they’ve mananged to line up some great speakers. Some of them I know personally. Aidan Finn and Damian Flynn (MVP and published authors) are both presenting on day 2 just like myself. Aidan on what’s new & improved in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V and Damian on Network virtualization. I will be speaking on Advanced Hyper-V Maintenance with Cluster Aware Updating.

It’s Free

The event itself if free but you do need to register for each day on which you want to attend sessions.

See you there!