Tag: Events

28 Days Before Build Windows … And News of Hyper-V

It is 28 days (and a bit) until the sold out Build Windows conference.  I was looking forward to it.  And then today, I skimmed through the latest vTax blog post by Jeff Woolsey (Principal Group Program Manager, Windows Server Virtualization), and at the end he said this:

“At Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference 2011, we demonstrated some of the new capabilities of Windows Server “8,” specifically around Hyper-V. With an ability to create VMs with more than 16 virtual processors and built-in replication with Hyper-V Replica, Microsoft is showcasing its deep commitment to its customers, and our relentless pursuit to provide even more value, at no extra cost. These are just 2 of the hundreds of features coming in the Microsoft Private Cloud, of which you’ll be able to find out more about at Microsoft’s BUILD conference, September 13th-16th in Anaheim, CA”.

What the deuce?!  My tickets are booked and I cannot wait.  I have a Kingston keyboard for my iPad so I can blog the good news all day long … but maybe, just maybe, I might end up blogging with a Windows 8 tablet instead.  Now wouldn’t that be cool it if was so?  Must not get my hopes up …

Going to BUILD

Assuming the USA lets me in, I’ll be going to the BUILD conference in September.  This is where Microsoft will be opening the taps on Windows 8 information.  It’s mainly aimed at developers and hardware manufacturers but I’m pretty sure there’ll be lots more information.  With no TechEd Europe this Autumn/Winter, I guess this’ll be our only event full of info this side of the new year.

I’ll try to live blog the good stuff, where possible, like I did at TechEd 2008 in Barcelona.  We were given a monstrous amount of info about Windows 7 & Server 2008 R2 back then.

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VMware Forum 2011 Dublin – And My 2 Cents

I decided to peek over the fence and registered for this event that ran yesterday.  I was really hoping to learn a little about vSphere 5.

On the positive side, VMware chose a great venue and it was very well dressed up.  There was also a very gut turnout with several hundred attendees.  And unfortunately, that’s where I end the + comments.

The keynotes kicked off.  The first one was some VMware Ireland bigwig who told us that VMware leads the way on management across the IT infrastructure.  We were shown a Gartner to back that up.  I’ll bite my tongue for a moment.  They were focusing on 3 strands:

  1. Private cloud: CIOs don’t want to throw away their data centre/computer room investments to go public cloud.  This is clever because this does not alienate people and it doesn’t threaten them with unemployment.  The public cloud message is that only 15% of apps will go there and VMware offers you a hybrid solution with lots of hosting partners.  With this “standards based” (with the “standard” being that all players would use ESXi for virtualisation) then you could have a hybrid cloud spread across private and several public providers, with no service provider lock-in.  It’s not that simple but it’s a nice concept.  I think they sold this well.
  2. Applications: The common message is that we recognize the priorities of the business.  Application and information – deployment/management/security/availability – are what they really care about.  I’ve been preaching this since I started talking about private cloud last year.  VMware have bought a bunch of point solutions and bundled them as vOperations Suite.  We saw nothing of it.  It smells like one of those awful enterprise management frameworks from the late 1990’s like CA Unicenter.  Integration came in the form of shortcuts appearing in a central control panel Smile
  3. End user environment: VDI! VDI! VDI! … in the form of VMware View.  Allegedly there would be no need to patch the user environment any more and you’d need less systems management.  Well, isn’t that special!

Then the second keynote started with some bigwig from VMware UK.  It was a repeat.  Break time, I mingled, and then went to a session on vOperations where I was tortured by a repetitive presentation (saying much of what covered in the keynotes and repeating itself over and over) and slide deck on vOperations.  The UK bigwig sat in the back and didn’t look too pleased at people paying more attention to their phones, iPads, or walking out.  I can absolutely confirm that I learned nothing from this session.  I wondered if the speakers were trained at the Stephen Elop school for presentation skills.

I was bored to tears.  And that’s when I decided to bail out before the free lunch and skip sessions from the platinum sponsors such as IBM, HP, and Cisco.  I was hoping for way more from this event.  I know for certain that I was not alone.

One thing became clear from this.  VMware are dreadful at communicating about what they sell.  They must really rely on their resellers to get the message across.

OK, let’s break some stuff down from my perspective.  I like how they sell the private cloud.  It’s pretty much how I sell it – but I don’t see it being pervasive.  I don’t see everyone needing a private cloud – it depends on who deploys business applications in the business and who manages the server infrastructure.

On  the application management side – which is the important part of the data center (and it pains me to say that), VMware are way behind Microsoft System Center.  SysCtr covers the entire stack from hardware to services with the user/service perspective, and it manages the entire lifecycle from deployment to recycling.  The newer focus on automation, compliance/governance, as well as consumerisation of IT (user centric computing) really puts System Center ahead of the pack.

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Event: Private Cloud Academy – W2008 R2 SP1

I’ll be presenting at this MicroWarehouse/Microsoft Ireland event on Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1.  The focus will be on virtualisation/Hyper-V.  So that means Dynamic Memory.  I’ll talk about how it works, but more importantly, how you should implement it with the various workloads on your compute cluster.  DM is huge for VDI on Hyper-V (a core component of the Microsoft/Citrix VDI v-alliance).  So is RemoteFX.  And I’ll be talking about that too, as well as showing it being set up and configured on my laptop, “the beast”.  RemoteFX is a hot topic internationally because it opens up some interesting opportunities in server based or centralised computing.  You’ll see that if you attend – there won’t be a recording/webcast.

Intended audience: IT infrastructure architects, implementation consultants, engineers, virtualisation administrators.

The agenda is:

•Hello W2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

•Deploying SP1

•RemoteFX

–Demo

•Dynamic Memory

–Demo

–Guidance

•SCVMM 2008 R2 SP1

•If there’s time: ARP Spoofing Prevention

Speaking at PubForum This Week

PubForum Dublin 2011 started today with a “pre-con” master class on Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services, focusing on VDI.  The speakers are Christa Anderson, Kristin Griffin (contributed but couldn’t be here) (both of them them wrote Windows Server® 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services Resource Kit), Alex Yushchenko (RDS MVP, and the organiser), and me.

Christa is an RDS program manager in Microsoft and therefore is a fountain of knowledge.  She’s speaking right now.  I’m sitting here, listening, and making the most of the learning opportunity.

I’ll be doing a 2 hour brain dump on Hyper-V/SCVMM/backup in a VDI context.  My slide deck is monstrous.  I’ve had to drop a check point into it so I can see how I’m doing for time.  I’m not hitting all possible subjects, but I am focusing on what I think is critical, and some of the usual “pits” that I find people fall into.

Tomorrow I have a Microsoft Private Cloud session.  That’ll be funny; VMware will be in the next room talking about their solution.

And on Friday I have a 15 minute session.  I’d thought about doing an update session on Dynamic Memory but that is being covered in another 1 hour session.  And I thought about CSV/backup but I’m doing that today and it requires more than 15 minutes.  I think I’ll do a BYOQ session combined with chalk’n’talk.

Event – Private Cloud Academy W2008 R2 SP1

On May 20th, I will be presenting the 4th in the series of these events.  This event, focusing on what Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 brings to Hyper-V, will be co-sponsored by Microsoft Ireland and MicroWarehouse Ltd.  You can register now.

Content will focus on RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory.  As you may have gathered from the last couple of months, I probably have a lot to talk about the latter in this 3 hour long event.  I’ll also try to squeeze in time for some other topics.

My Talk TechNet Experience

I’ve just wrapped up my guest appearance on the Microsoft Talk TechNet webcast.  It was a really interesting afternoon for me.

The show follows the model of a USA sports radio show – luckily I am a Niners fan (as was discussed) so my podcast subscriptions feature such content and it’s what’s on the dial when I rent a car in the USA.  Some hosts drive conversation on a topic, and the moderator/producer takes questions from online/phone callers.  The guest provides some expertise on a topic.

The guys, Michael, Keith, and Matt were really nice.  I called in 30 minutes before it started to do the sound check and briefing.  The show started and it’s very loose and relaxed.  There’s a bit of banter to get things going, just like in sports radio.  And we got into it: things I see a lot, public/private cloud, why Hyper-V, and so on.

Thanks to the TechNet folks for inviting me on, and for giving me the opportunity to plug Mastering Hyper-V Deployment.  And thank you too to those who tuned in and contributed.  The hour absolutely flew past. That’s always a sign that I’ve had fun.  Those who’ve had the “Aidan Finn Experience” know that it’s hard to shut me up when I get started.  It felt like 15 minutes to me.  I’d strongly recommend it to any experts/MVPs that get the opportunity to be a guest.

Edit #1:

It’s just been tweeted that my session with Talk TechNet will be posted online later this week.

Slide deck – Private Cloud Academy: Backup and DPM 2010

Here’s the slide deck I presented at the Microsoft Ireland/System Dynamics Private Cloud Academy event on how to design Hyper-V cluster shared volumes (CSV) for backup and use System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2010 to backup virtualised workloads.  Like the previous sessions, it was a very demo-centric 3 hour event.

Slide Deck – Private Cloud Academy: Managing Hyper-V

Here is the presentation that I gave a few months ago at the Microsoft Ireland/System Dynamics Private Cloud Academy event in Dublin.  It focused on how to manage Hyper-V using System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM/VMM) 2008 R2 and System Center Operations Manager (SCOM/OpsMgr) 2007.