I was re-awarded as a Microsoft MVP – Cloud and Datacenter Management 2023-2024

I was re-awarded as a Microsoft MVP – Cloud and Datacenter Management 2023-2024

While I was on vacation I received an e-mail that I was re-awarded as a Microsoft MVP – Cloud and Datacenter Management 2023-2024. Needless to say that this put a big smile on my face, despite my vacation coming to an end. Yes it is and remains an honor to be awarded and recognized as a global expert in the community by Microsoft. We all like a compliment and some confirmation that what we do is valuable. As always, it is also a humbling experience, as you meet quite a lot of very talented people which can make that old imposter syndrome flare up.

I was re-awarded as a Microsoft MVP - Cloud and Datacenter Management 2023-2024

For those not in the know, MVP in this case stands for Most Valuable Professional, not Player 😊.

I was re-awarded as a Microsoft MVP - Cloud and Datacenter Management 2023-2024

This is my 12th Microsoft MVP award and it represents a long journey through technology in the Microsoft ecosystem. In tech things seems to change fast and tend not to last long. But it is the learning you do along the way that last through time. Nothing I have learned has ever become completely obsolete and the experience and inights, even from learning VBA and Visual Basic in the early days still help me today as I talk to developers whose Azure infrastructure I help optimize and secure.

I am grateful for the recognition and support of both the community and Microsoft. Especially to the people who originally saw my potential and supported my first-ever nomination as well as those that support me today. The award itself is not the goal, it is a by-product of being active in the global community. Engaging in and with the community helps us all learn, progress, and succeed in our jobs by sharing experiences, knowledge, and insights.

It is all about community

Without any doubt, no matter how good and smart you are or how hard you work, we need others to grow and flourish. You do not contribute to the community in isolation. Sure, IT pros do a lot of technology work individually while testing and learning in the lab, troubleshooting, and delivering projects. Sharing and learning in the community happens with and thanks to others. People who give us opportunities, support, and help us. That means fellow technologists, employers, colleagues, vendors, and our audience asking questions that make us learn even more as well.

Aditionally, let’s not forget about the people who are not in the spotlight. We get a lot of support from those providing locations, material, and logistic support. Many “smaller” businesses are often very generous in this regard. We are all “kids” getting raised in and by a village and in one form or another we all stand on the shoulder of giants. That’s why we all owe at least a little gratitude to all the people and organizations that help us progress. So to all those who do, thank you!

Some tips for businesses that employ MVPs

In the end, here is to another year of community activity where we all share, learn, and grow together. You can always start today. There is no age limit or right time. I was a long time lurker before I became publicly active voicing my opinions and sharing information. You can be an introvert or extrovert, young or old, and anything in between. All you need is the willingness to share and learn. Furthermore, you don’t need 50,000 followers on social media or whatever, you just need to make a difference.

Finally, I can only advise employers to support their community-minded employees. These are the people that learn, grow, adapt, and change with the needs and technology. Also, the incidental cost of travel, registration fees, and hotel nights are nothing compared to the return on investment. So let them attend some conferences and the MVP Summit

Well, to be honest, not supporting this would be penny-wise and pound-foolish. In the end that would mean you have no idea of the value of both developing and retaining talent. An MVP on staff will very easily safe you at least 30-40 days consulting per year. Think about that. Without any doubt, even at a medium rate of 125.00- $/hour means a serious ROI. Now add the cost of replacing such talent … it is a no brainer! You need to invest in on-board talent development anyhow and these are profiles that love to learn and share. That is a near to perfect as it gets people.

Microsoft and QUIC

Microsoft and QUIC

If you are interested in Microsoft and QUIC I have some good news for you. Recently a new article, SMB over QUIC Technology | StarWind Blog (starwindsoftware.com) was published. It is the first in a series about what Microsoft is working on in regards to QUIC. While not without some controversy, QUIC does a lot for a number of issues connectivity over “the internet at large” has been dealing with.

  • It leverages UDP.
  • TLS 1.3 is built into the protocol.
  • Reduces RTT during connection & encryption setup.
  • Handles and optimizes flow control and loss recovery.
Figure : QUIC reduces the round trips during the TLS handshake significantly
QUIC reduces the round trips during the TLS handshake significantly

Over the internet, with mobile clients, this is a big deal. Since it is secure by default people really started thinking about where this can be used to improve things for all involved.

I think QUIC is going to be more and more important in the future and this article positions QUIC in the Microsoft ecosystem. So, head over there, read it, and let me know what you think.

TLS 1.3, QUIC, HTTP/3, and SMB 3.1.1 are shaking up things a bit by challenging TCP. Microsoft dropped QUIC into Windows Server 2022 Azure edition. That went into public preview last week and I dove in to the lab to figure out what I can do with it.

As a technologist, I am having a lot of fun testing this out in the lab. Last weekend I was busy with SMB over QUIC and QUIC in IIS. I learned a lot and have made up my mind I can use this in the real world to solve requirements. I will share my findings and musing with you in near the future. But today, start with an introduction in SMB over QUIC Technology | StarWind Blog (starwindsoftware.com).

Windows Server 2019 in place upgrade testing

Windows Server 2019 in place upgrade testing

In theory in place upgrade testing is easy. You just validate Microsoft’s efforts and testing that went into the process. If it succeeds all is well. Well, not really. The amount of permutations in real life are so large it can never be done for all of them. But even today in this era of “services as cattle” they have a role to play. I would say, even more than before. That means that Windows Server 2019 in place upgrade testing is also important.

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In place upgrade paths to Windows Server 2019

In-place upgrade allows an administrator to upgrade an existing installation of Windows Server to a newer version, retaining settings and installed features.

The following (Long Term Service Branch) LTSC versions and editions of Windows Server with their supported path for in-place upgrade are shown below:

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Please note that when you are performing cluster operating system rolling upgrades this can only be done from N-1 to N. This means that you can only do those from Windows Server 2016 to Windows Server 2019.

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The ability to perform cluster operating system rolling upgrades is just one benefit you get by keeping your environment current.

Conclusion

Currently Myself and a couple of fellow MVPs are busy  doing some testing on “real” hardware. That means servers, the kind you’d use in a professional environment, not the PC lab. Testing on virtual machines rocks and those are heavily used in real life, but you can’t test everything you need to verify hardware deployments. Think about S2D, Persistent Memory, SET, vRSS/VMQ/VMMQ etc.

Part of that testing is in place upgrades. Yes, there are times and places when I will avoid them, there are also moments where I leverage them. I do think they are important and they have their place. Doing them depends on the value it can offer.

Whatever you do, you test, you verify and your break stuff in the lab before casually on a Monday morning upgrading a cluster to a new version of the Operating System. I hope I don’t need explain this anymore anno 2018? Or actually I do, we always have new talent join us and we all have to learn. So big tip, learning on the job doesn’t always equal learning in production. That will happen anyway, but don’t default to it.

Microsoft MVP Award 2018-2019

I received the Microsoft MVP Award 2018-2019

While on vacation I received some excellent news. I received the Microsoft MVP Award 2018-2019. I’m an Microsoft Most Valuable Professional in the Cloud & Datacenter expertise for another year!

Dear Didier Van Hoye,
We’re once again pleased to present you with the 2018-2019 Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award in recognition of your exceptional technical community leadership. We appreciate your outstanding contributions in the following technical communities during the past year:

  • Cloud and Datacenter Management

Image result for microsoft mvp award

It’s a moment of appreciation of our work in the global community. I feel both proud an humble to be part of this select group of experts chosen to be recognized by Microsoft and be awarded the Microsoft MVP Award 2018-2019. Basically it puts a smile on my face.

What does this mean?

I have another year to look forward to as a Microsoft MVP. I’ll be sharing, teaching, discussing, designing and implementing the best possible solutions. I blog, write articles, engage in webinars and speak at conferences. I also help out fellow IT professionals and MVPs when and where possible. The community exist because we contribute, not just take. But I do know I can ask for help when I need it. A big thank you to all Microsoft employees I engage with. Your patience and willingness to listen to us, even when it might be “constructive feedback” and not always praise, helps us all. I appreciate the opportunity. One very nice success this year of such collaboration was to get ReFS support extended to many more use cases.

Every year I try to make it too some of the best and most interesting conferences to learn, exchange experiences, discuss and share knowledge as both a presenter and attendee. That take a bite out of my personal time budget and sometimes even my financial budget. Both of those have limits. But that is the investment I make in myself and the community. You cannot solely depend on your employer or job for your professional advancement. They have different agendas that don’t always align.  To broaden you horizon, prevent tunnel vision and (deadly) echo chambers you need to step out of your workplace cocoon. Luckily I’m blessed with the opportunity to attend & speak at conferences where travel and expenses get paid by the organizers.  That helps a lot.

Thank you for reading, for attending my sessions, for listening to the webinars I join as a subject matter expert. You help me be a better me. Being an MVP allows me to interact with very smart people around the globe. It lets me contribute to and learn from very interesting challenges and  projects. That exposure helps me grow as I help others. It allows me to provide even more well founded feedback to Microsoft. This mutual beneficial relationship is the core of community and what being a MVP is all about.