Tag Archives: Learning

Prepare For Windows Server 2012 This Fall

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With the academic year in full swing and no lack of material we need to learn and study Microsoft is giving you a helping hand by providing a huge pool of resources. There’s TechNet, Evaluation software but also the Microsoft Virtual Academy.

To reward you for your hard work you get a cinema ticket to go relax at the movies. Click on the banner for more information on this.

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The nice thing about the Microsoft Virtual Academy that you can do study the modules at your own pace and at your own moment of choosing. Combine this with TechNet Virtual labs and you have a lot of resources at your finger tips to learn even more even if you don’t have the room or resources to build a (home) lab.

If all that technology left you wanting to get some hands on with Windows Server 2012 you can also register for an IT Camp. There should be some more of them coming I’ve read on the site. With Mike Reseler  (@MikeResseler) & Arlindo Alves@aralves) delivering those IT Camps you’ll be in good hands. Happy studying and have fun at the movies Winking smile

Microsoft Private Cloud Computing–The Book

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I’d like to mention the launch today of a new book Microsoft Private Cloud Computing written by a group of experts in this subject.

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Take a look at the authors below. You probably know them from the community efforts they put in and might have read previous materials from them or heard them present.They bring a varied background and a mix of experiences and knowledge to the table needed to tackle any aspect of the private cloud and to a write complete book on the subject: hardware (servers, networking, storage), operating systems, hypervisors and the software stack.

Knowing these people and how busy they are this quite an achievement requiring a serious effort.  The technical reviewing was done by Kristian Nese (Cloud and Datacenter Management MVP,@KristianNese), who’s has been working on private clouds from day one.

Well done guys and thank you!

TechEd Europe 2012 (Amsterdam, 25-29 June 2012)

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After a sad year of no TechEd Europe in 2011, one of our favorite tech conferences for Microsoft technologies is back in full force. Ladies & Gentlemen, TechEd Europe 2012 will be here sooner than you think.

It’s more than just technical training, it is networking, white board sessions and passionate discussion amongst peers, experts & Microsoft employees who built the products. If you still need more technical content than that take a look at the pre-conference agenda for a full day of expertly delivered education.

No this is not just a commercial, I haven’t missed a TechEd Europe yet this century and for good reasons. If you’d like to read why take a look at this blog post Why I Find Value In A Conference

There will be loads of sessions on all products in the System Center 2012 and Windows 8. In the developer sphere there’s the .NET Framework 4.5 & Visual Studio 2012 to look forward to. Combine this with a lot of experience based guidance on current technologies and you can’t afford to miss out. To avoid disappointment register as soon as possible to join your fellow IT Pros & Developers.

Hope to see you there!

Download The Next Wave Of System Center Suite Products Release Candidates

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As you all probably know by now in 2012 there will be a lot of new tools available for us IT Pros. Windows 8 Server alone holds so many new features and added value that it alone will keep us busy for many years to come. On top of that, the 2012 version of the System Center Suite is being released. I hope most of you have started looking at the betas and the release candidates. If not I encourage you to do so. There are a lot of great improvements that will help us enhance our current setups and operations, not to mention enable us to build a private cloud. For some musings on why you might want to do that, even if you have no public cloud plans yet, I refer you to my blog post The Private Cloud A Profitable Future Proofing Tactic?

To help you get started with testing I include some links to some of the most interesting products.

If you select the “Download All Available System Center 2012 Products” option you’ll get all most current versions of the pre release. To fully test the System Center 2012 Suite products you’ll need Windows Server/Hyper-V but also the current line of System Center Suite (upgrade testing).

The full Windows 2008 R2 SP1 OS is available here http://technet.microsoft.com/evalcenter/dd459137.aspx  and you can find the free Hyper-V Server here http://technet.microsoft.com/evalcenter/dd776191.aspx 

The most relevant current System Center Suite products are available via these links:

To top it all of and get acquainted with “The Cloud” grab the “Deploying and Managing Windows Azure Applications” here http://technet.microsoft.com/evalcenter/hh282846.aspx

There you go. All this should keep you usefully occupied and out of trouble during the end of year holidays and make you an knowledgeable and capable IT Pro, ready for the year to come.