Here’s a brief overview of the topic:

VKernel’s Mattias Sundling discusses The Expert Conference event with MVPs Hans Vredevoort and Anil Desai. Topics include highlights of the technical sessions presented by Microsoft, Quest and industry experts as well as updates and highlights of Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V3 advances.

Both Hans and I gave presentations at the conference and focused on storage-related improvements.  Hans’s presentation was an excellent demonstration of how quickly and easily administrators can setup the new Scale-Out File Server role in Windows Server 2012, using nothing but a single laptop (that is, no shared storage and no third-party products and tools).  The best part was the conclusion: Hans setup a highly-available Hyper-V cluster configuration and did a live migration of a VM using only his laptop (and several virtual machines). 

Thanks to Mattias Sundling, Evangelist & vExpert at VKernel for arranging, recording, and posting the podcast!

To help IT pros learn from those that have experience with the new features, Microsoft, Dell, HP, and the Global IT Community Association (GITCA) are sponsoring the Windows Server 2012 Community Roadshow.  These events will be covering many areas throughout the U.S. and internationally and presentations will be made by local/regional Microsoft MVPs.  I’ll be presenting in Austin, TX on Tuesday, May 29th, 2012 from 1:00pm to 5:00pm (location details coming soon).  Visit the event web site to find a location near you (dates and locations are still being added), and be sure to register if you plan to attend.

As an aside, I recently returned from the TEC 2012 conference in San Diego, where I gave two presentations on just the storage features in Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V 3.0.  That alone was a lot of information to cram into just a couple of hours.  This no small release, and there’s a lot to learn.  I hope readers of this blog are able to make it to either the Austin event or one of the many other locations which will be added soon!

The event features speakers that focus on development-related topics with a focus on real demonstrations (rather than marketing information).  All sessions are free to attendees, and volunteers in the community are invited to speak.  Organizer John Teague states it a little better:

All of the content in community driven, presented by members of the community.   I would encourage you to come and talk about whatever is interesting in the world of software development.  While the event is organized by the Austin .Net Users group, it is not limited to discussions about .Net.   It is an excellent opportunity to gain public speaking experience.

If you’re planning to attend, please be sure to register on the Austin Code Camp 2012 Eventbrite page. That will help the planners determine how much space (and food!) they’ll need.

I have presented at the conference every year since 2008, and it has been a great experience!  The number of attendees is always impressive (I think 2011’s event included more than 250 IT pros and developers).  I’m planning to give two presentations this year:

Practical SQL Server Performance Monitoring & Optimization

Developers can dramatically improve performance by monitoring and analyzing real world queries.  This session covers SQL Server monitoring at various levels to the most impactful performance improvements.  The presentation will start with an overview of different optimization tools and techniques and will be based on practical examples of real-world performance monitoring and troubleshooting.  Details include the use of server monitoring tools, SQL Profiler, the Database Tuning Advisor, and analyzing query plans, Dynamic Management Views, and related methods.  The overall emphasis will be on solving practical, real-world database performance problems.

SQL Server Reporting Services: Develop & Deploy Reports

This session will begin with a brief architectural overview of Reporting Services and details on getting up and running with Reporting Services.  Then, we will look at demonstrations of creating new reports by building connections and data sets using Report Builder and Visual Studio.  Reporting design features including parameterization, dynamic drill-downs, matrix reports, charts, and sorting will be provided. 

Next, we’ll look at deployment details, including scheduling reports, configuring caching, creating snapshots, and managing security.  The presentation will also include details about new reporting and BI features in SQL Server 2012

Those topics are updated versions of presentations I’ve done in the past.  I’m still trying to decide whether they’d work best as one-hour or two-hour sessions.  Feel free to leave comments below if you have any opinion.

While the widespread adoption of virtualization has made the process of provisioning a test environment and installing software simpler, free, online Microsoft Virtual Labs make the process even easier.  Basically, all that’s required is a web browser on the client side.  When you choose to launch a Virtual Lab, a server cloud will spin up  a new VM, create a browser-based RDP connection, and will include all the necessary software.  To make the process even simpler, you’ll see a sidebar that includes downloadable, step-by-step evaluation details and guides.  The following screenshot shows an example of a SQL Server MSDN Virtual Lab that I spun up to learn more about configuring the new PowerView feature.

TechNet Virtual Labs

Microsoft TechNet Virtual Labs are focused on providing IT professionals (such as systems administrators and data center administrators) with pre-built evaluation environments that showcase various features and technology.  At the time of this writing, there are numerous labs focused on Windows Server 2008 R2 features, the System Center suite of products, Forefront, and (my personal favorite) Private Cloud guides.

MSDN Virtual Labs

Architects and developers haven’t been left out either: MSDN Virtual Labs include a long list of software development-focused labs, including ones for Visual Studio, Office Applications, SQL Server 2012, SharePoint, Team Foundation Server, Windows Azure, and many more related technologies.

A Few Tips

Using an RDP session (especially, a browser-initiated) one isn’t exactly like having software installed on your own computer.  However, it’s a reasonable trade-off for most of us that want to quickly try out or learn about some new feature.  Here are some additional tips that can help make the experience more user-friendly:

• Limitations: While it might be tempting to cause havoc on the hosted VMs, most are locked down to prevent such shenanigans.  Operations like changing IP addresses or machine names are restricted, so it’s best to “stick to the script”.
• RDP Window Resizing: In at least some Virtual Labs, you’ll need to connect to multiple VMs through a secondary RDP connection.  The default resolution and size for this window is quite small.  To get a bigger viewable area, first resize the Remote Desktop Connection Manager window, and then connect (or disconnect and reconnect to the VM).  This way, you should be able to get close to the 1024 x 768 resolution that many applications require.
• Keyboard Shortcuts: Those of us that rely on keyboard shortcuts for simpler and quicker navigation and administration will often need to resort to the mouse to perform certain commands.  Examples include the use of the Windows key (which will execute locally) and task switching.
• Screen and Input Lag: I have a solid, fast Internet connection, but I experienced a significant amount of screen lag when connecting to several Virtual Labs.  Perhaps this is unavoidable, but to make the best of it, use the extra time to review the available documentation (or rejoice in the time you saved from having to setup the entire environment yourself).
• Time Limits: Virtual sessions have time limits (90 minutes for all of the labs I worked with), so it’s a good idea to set aside some uninterrupted time to finish the lab in one shot.  Of course, you can always revisit the same lab later, though you’ll lose your “progress” and will likely need to repeat steps in the evaluation guides.
• Software Versions: I noticed that in some labs, earlier versions of server applications were installed (for example, SQL Server 2012 RC0 in the screenshot above).  It takes significant effort to update software and the related lab instructions, so that’s definitely understandable.  I didn’t find any major issues in the labs that I tried out, but it is something to keep in mind.
• Using RSS to keep up with new Virtual Labs: The list of Virtual Labs appears to be growing quickly.  Both the MSDN and TechNet Virtual Lab sites have RSS feeds that can provide you with a quick and easy way to learn about new labs as they become available.

To download your copy of the posted in PDF format, just visit the Microsoft Download Center page: Windows Server “8” Beta Hyper-V Component Architecture Poster (published March 2012).  The screenshot is a very small screenshot of just one tiny portion of the overall poster.  Just a couple of notes on terminology changes:

• Windows Server “8” Beta is now officially named Windows Server 2012
• SMB 2.2 is now officially known as SMB 3.0
• All information is current as of the “beta” version, and some relatively minor details (like VM CPU and memory limits) might change prior to the official release.

Thanks to John Howard’s post on the Windows Virtualization Team Blog for the information.  I think we can look forward to an updated poster sometime prior to or soon after the general availability of Windows Server 2012.  I’ll update this post if/when that happens.

The Problem

While testing the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, though, I ran into some problems.  While the standard x64 installer for the client seemed to work properly, the client would automatically disconnect after authenticating with the VPN server.  I’d receive the following error message:

Secure VPN Connection terminated locally by the Client.

Reason 442: failed to enable Virtual Adapter

The Solution

Thanks to some really helpful posts online (references below), I found that the solution was to make a minor change to the Registry.  First, using RegEdit, find the following Registry path:

KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CVirtA

You should see a key called “DisplayName”.  Simply change its value by removing the unnecessary characters at the beginning of the name.  In my case, I was left with “Cisco Systems VPN Adapter for 64-bit Windows”, and everything worked fine when I tried to connect again.  It’s a strange bug (and one that I wish was better documented), but I have been up and running after this change on three different computers. 

If you’re unfamiliar with editing the Registry (and the inherent dangers therein), the below links will provide more details).

Other Options

The Cisco AnyConnect VPN client seems to be aging, and support is difficult to come by unless you have a Cisco support account.  Fortunately, there are other third-party commercial and freeware alternatives. It has been a while since I’ve used any of them, but one that I see mentioned often is the VPN Client for Windows from Shrew.net.  Feel free to post a comment if you’ve had any experiences (good or bad) with VPN alternatives.

References

• MSDN Forums: “Windows 8 and (Cisco) VPN”
• Windows 7 Hacker: How To Get Cisco VPN to Work on Windows 8 Developer Preview
• Cisco AnyConnect VPN Client FAQ
• Cisco Support Community: Developer Version Windows 8

The Problem

One such offender was Microsoft’s own Windows Media Center in Windows 7.  While I didn’t know it at first, after deploying Windows 7 to my new workstation, my computer was automatically waking up each morning before I did (and I usually wake up pretty early).  I tracked down the issue by running the “powercfg –lastwake” command.  While it doesn’t always provide the most useful information, below is the result I received:

C: \Users\Anil>powercfg -lastwake
Wake History Count – 1
Wake History [O]
Wake Source Count – 1
Wake Source [O]
Type: Wake Timer
Owner: [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskUolume2\Windows\System32\services .exe
Owner Supplied Reason: Windows will execute \Microsoft\Windows\Media Center
\mcupdatescheduled scheduled task that requested waking the computer.

The Solution

Disabling “wake timers” in my power configuration profile didn’t seem to help.  This pointed me to the “Scheduled Tasks” feature, where I was able to drill down to the source task.  I unchecked the option to allow this task to automatically wake the computer, and all went well – no more automatic power-on signals at ~3:00am.  Of course, the same approach could be used to troubleshoot other wake-related issues.

Knowledge of Power

While it’s not always easy to find, Windows OS’s contain a wealth of monitoring information and reports that can help track down various issues.  One example is the built-in “System Diagnostics” report that can give you some insight into how your computer is managing power.

Other Issues

Unfortunately, I have still run into other power management-related issues, and nothing I have done has seemed to help.  For example, on two different Windows 7 installations, I have had an issue where the monitors would automatically come out of power-saving mode.  I regularly use three monitors, and want them to go into a low-power mode when I log off the computer.  The monitors power off correctly, but they seem to wake at random times, even when no mouse, keyboard, or other devices are connected (or allowed to wake the computer).  I’ve tested everything from potential Wake-on-LAN issues to installing and reinstalling software to no avail.  I suspect that the issue might be a USB-to-DVI adapter that I have used on both computers, but I do need to use that (and unplugging it and uninstalling the drivers didn’t seem to help).  If anyone has any suggestions, I’d be happy to try them!

As part of it’s Windows 7 Themes page, Microsoft provides a section called “RSS dynamic themes” (it’s cleverly hidden in the list on the left).  Unlike other (non-dynamic) themes, the actual download is just a small file that allows Windows 7 machines to download images using RSS.  It may take a few minutes for your first images to appear, but after that everything seems to work properly.  For example, I can right-click on the desktop and choose “Next desktop background” if I want to move on to something else.  Overall, it’s free and seems to work well (even in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview’s Desktop mode). 

Of course, there’s also a huge list of collections of other desktop wallpaper options if the dynamic ones don’t work well for you.  Perhaps when it comes to “interior decorating” for desktop machines, it’s the little things that matter.

Thanks to my MVP Lead, Michelle Campbell, and to everyone at the Microsoft MVP program!

Storage Improvements in Windows Server 8 / Hyper-V 3.0

Virtualization architects and administrators have long sought quicker, simpler and more cost effective ways to scale and manage storage in their data centers. Microsoft has made many significant improvements in the architecture and storage features of Hyper-V 3.0 and the Windows Server 8 platform. Examples include support for SMB-based virtual disks, management UI improvements, network stack improvements, Hyper-V Replicas, NTFS reliability improvements, incremental VHD backups, storage de-duplication, offloaded data transfer, SMB protocol improvements, and Storage Spaces. These features can help improve storage management for many different types of virtualization deployments and can help bring the idea of cloud-based automation closer to reality.

This session will focus on technical details and demonstrations of new features in the Windows Server 8 platform and in Hyper-V 3.0. The focus will be on practical suggestions for how and when the new features should be used to reduce costs, simplify administration, and increase performance.

Designing Storage for Virtual Environments

One of the most common issues related to virtual infrastructure design is related to planning for and managing the storage environment. Successful SAN, NAS, and local storage deployments require the provisioning of highly-reliable, high-performance, cost-effective solutions to meet business and technical needs. The challenge for IT is in consolidating and optimizing infrastructures while staying within budgets. The primary concerns – including storage capacity, performance, and reliability – can drive the success or failure of virtualized deployments.

This presentation begins with recommendations for designing a storage environment based on requirements, starting with a solid understanding of application workload characteristics. Strategies for collecting storage statistics through historical and real-time performance monitoring can provide valuable insight into real requirements. Based on this data, IT departments can compare different storage approaches, including centralized network-based storage, and cloud-based options. Important features to consider include file- and block-level de-duplication, thin provisioning, high-availability, clustering, and disaster recovery. Attendees will learn methods by which they can best plan for, implement, manage, and monitor storage for virtualization in their own environments.

As virtual machines have become the default method of deploying new applications and services many organizations have found that they’re encountering the problem of “VM Sprawl” – the rapid proliferation of VMs that make management difficult. 

In this presentation, you’ll learn:

• Common causes of VM sprawl and how to address them
• Specific technical administration issues that are unique to virtual machines
• Methods of managing a VM’s “life cycle”, from initial deployment to retirement
• Ways to maintain control of data center resources while also allowing for end-user self-service
• Ways in which automation can help manage the major causes of VM sprawl

This online conference provides a wide variety of different presentations, so be sure to check out information about the Virtualization Summit and register for the event.

Here’s some brief information about this episode, titled TechNet Radio Community Corner: Virtualization with Microsoft MVP Anil Desai:

In today’s Community Corner, Sr. IT Pro Evangelist John Weston interviews Microsoft Virtualization MVP, Anil Desai to the show. Tune in as they discuss cloud computing’s impact to IT, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012, as well as the relationship between Virtualization and Private Cloud solutions.

Special thanks to Chris Caldwell and John Weston for inviting me and for a fun conversation!  For more shows and episodes of related shows, visit the TechNet Edge web site.

Here are the links to the recorded presentations:

• SQL Server Performance Monitoring and Optimization
• SQL Server Reporting Services: Develop & Deploy Reports

Thanks to Shawn Weisfeld for attending, producing, and posting the presentations.  I hope you find the content to be useful!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011
10:00AM PST / 1:00PM EST

Are you considering a migration to Microsoft Exchange 2010?  Are you currently using Exchange, but want to upgrade and optimize your current platform?  If you answered yes to either of these questions, this webinar is the right one for you! The discussion will focus on your top concerns including business performance, operational efficiency, stability, and need for high performance.

Learn more about Exchange benefits and features such as:

• Lower costs with more flexible deployment and management options
• Protected information and meeting compliance requirements with the new e-mail archive
• Improved user productivity with the ultimate inbox experience

In addition, we will cover best in class advice on all aspects of a customers’ email & calendaring platforms, best practices in moving platforms to the cloud, and the critical steps of the Exchange migration and upgrade process, from understanding your unique pain points to designing and implementing a solution that is right for you and your business needs.

For more information on this free live webcast, details on the list of speakers, and to register to attend, please see Focus Webcast: Benefits of Migrating to Microsoft Exchange 2010 to Optimize your Current Platform.

VMware Workstation internal monitor error

vcpu-O:NOT_IMPLEMENTED vmcore/vmm/intr/apic.c:1903

Unfortunately, it looks like VMware Workstation 7.x platform (and, reportedly, VirtualPC, though I haven’t tested it myself), does not yet support Windows 8.  Perhaps I should have realized that a lot of the undercover boot and CPU optimizations would require an architectural shift to support the required CPU commands.

Options That Should Work

Though this might not be ideal for all users, there are several options to get the Developer Preview of Windows 8 running in a virtual machine:

• Use Microsoft’s Hyper-V: If you have a Windows Server 2008 or 2008 R2 installation (or the stand-alone Hyper-V Server), you should be able to spin up a new Windows 8 VM quickly and easily.  It’s not desktop virtualization, but if you have a spare machine that supports Hyper-V’s CPU requirements, you should be all set.
• Wait for the release of VMware Workstation 8.  While I haven’t yet tried it myself, there are reports of people having success with the beta of the upcoming release of VMware’s Workstation production.  A beta virtualization stack with a Developer Preview OS – How’s that for living on the edge?  It looks like the product is officially available from VMware now and you can request a VMware Workstation 8 Evaluation online (registration required).
  • Update: I downloaded a 30-day evaluation version of VMware Workstation 8, and the Windows 8 Developer Preview installed without one minor catch: Don’t use the VMware "Easy Install" option, as it’s based on the automatic install procedures for Windows 7.  Other than that, I’m up and running!
• VirtualBox apparently supports the WIndows 8 Developer Preview (again, I haven’t yet tried it myself).  The application is available for free download.  The Windows 7 Hacker site has a walkthrough titled Install Windows 8 Developer Preview on VirtualBox.

Dual-Boot / Clean Install

Of course, you could skip virtualization altogether and install Windows 8 directly on your hardware.  That would give the best overall performance and the best experience with the new Metro UI.  You could install The Windows 8 Dev Preview alongside your current OS (though you might need to repartition), or you can just pop a spare hard drive in your computer to avoid any messy boot complications.  In general, this approach has worked great for me in the past.

Another option is to Boot to VHD.  That’s a significantly more complicated process, but the blog post Installing Windows 8 on Bare Metal with VHD-Boot should help.

A Note About the Developer Preview

While we’re all itching to try the new UI and functionality in Windows 8, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.  First, this version is not yet a “beta”.  It’s an earlier release that is designed to get developers up and running.  The official build number is Build 8102 M3.  Even if you’re like me and you’re willing to live on the bleeding edge with software, you probably don’t want to install this build as your primary OS.  Furthermore, Microsoft has mentioned that several features are not included in this build (though I haven’t yet run into anything that’s a showstopper for me).

On the brighter side, this build does not require product activation.  Coupled with the easy accessibility of the download from the Windows 8 Developer Preview site, that effectively means everyone will have easy access to this preview release.  Downloads are also available for MSDN Subscribers.

For More Information…

In case you missed it, Microsoft’s BUILD Conference keynotes are available at the BUILD Conference Web Site.  The Day 1 Keynote covered dozens of really exciting features, presented by Steven Sinofsky and several other Microsoft Program Managers.  I’m just getting started with my testing/development, and I’ll try to post more here once I have something of value.

Update (09/19/2011)

Based on the numbers of hits to this article, I thought this would be a fairly important topic.  On the Building Windows 8 blog, Microsoft has recently published a post titled, Running Windows 8 Developer Preview in a virtual environment.  It includes more details on the pros and cons of running Windows 8 using virtualization and provides the following summary:

Functional:

• Hyper-V in Windows 8 Developer Preview
• Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2
• VMware Workstation 8.0 for Windows
• VirtualBox 4.1.2 for Windows

Non-functional:

• Microsoft Virtual PC (all versions)
• Microsoft Virtual Server (all versions)
• Windows 7 XP Mode
• VMWare Workstation 7.x or older

For now, I’m happily running Windows 8 test VMs on an evaluation version of VMware Workstation 8.0 and in Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.  Next stop: Running on some fairly recent hardware.

The Austin .Net User Group is proud to sponsor it’s fifth Annual Code Camp

This is one day FREE conference For The Community, By the community.

The Conference is on September 10, 2011 at St Edward’s Professional Education Center from 8 am to 5 pm. Click the link on the Location Tab for additional information about St Edward

I’ll again be presenting two topics that are focused on SQL Server (details below).  If you live in or near Austin, be sure to register and stop by for some great developer-focused sessions!

SQL Server Reporting Services: Develop & Deploy Reports

This session will begin with a brief architectural overview of Reporting Services and details on getting up and running with Reporting Services. Then, we will look at demonstrations of creating new reports by building connections and data sets using Report Builder and Visual Studio. Reporting design features including parametrization, dynamic drill-downs, matrix reports, charts, and sorting will be provided.

Next, we’ll look at deployment details, including scheduling reports, configuring caching, creating snapshots, and managing security. Time permitting, the presentation will include a demonstration of using Report Viewer controls within ASP.NET and Windows Forms applications. The session is intended for developers that have basic familiarity with report development (in any technology) and a basic understanding of SQL.

Practical SQL Server Performance Monitoring & Optimization

Developers can dramatically improve performance by monitoring and analyzing real world queries. This session covers SQL Server monitoring at various levels to the most impactful performance improvements. The presentation will start with an overview of different optimization tools and techniques and will be based on practical examples of real-world performance monitoring and troubleshooting. Details include the use of server monitoring tools, SQL Profiler, the Database Tuning Advisor, and analyzing query plans, Dynamic Management Views, and related methods. The overall emphasis will be on solving practical, real-world database performance problems.

This session assumes that attendees have basic familiarity with SQL Server and with writing database queries.

TechNet Webcast: Talk TechNet with Keith Combs and Matt Hester – Episode 36: Virtualization with Anil Desai (Level 200)

Here’s a brief overview of the topic description:

Want to talk about Virtualization?  This is the show for you.  Anil Desai is a Microsoft Windows Server Virtualization MVP so bring your Hyper-V questions. I’m sure Anil will be happy to takes questions on some of the other products like System Center Virtual Machine manager.  Tune in and listen, call in, or send us questions on the web via Live Meeting.  Take advantage of this great opportunity to get your questions answered.

Presenters: Keith Combs, Sr. Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation, Matt Hester, Sr. IT Pro Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation, and Anil Desai, Independent Consultant, Microsoft Windows Server Virtualization MVP

I look forward to answering questions from attendees!

I just received notification that I have been again granted the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award in the area of Windows Server Virtualization!  Unless my memory is failing me, this is the sixth year in which I’ve received the award.  Thanks, as always, to Microsoft and the MVP program for the award and all of its benefits!

This area of specialization includes a group of virtualization-focused that have in-depth knowledge of Hyper-V, Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) and a lot of related technologies.  Obviously, virtualization and cloud computing are popular areas of IT, so it’s especially nice to receive the award this year.

Earlier this year, I had the benefit of interacting with a wide variety of IT experts at the Microsoft MVP Summit in Redmond, WA. I try to attend this event every year, as it’s a great opportunity to network with others and to get some inside information on the future of things from Microsoft. It’s also a good excuse to make it to the Pacific Northwest.  So far, this year has presented itself for numerous opportunities to write, speak, and consult on the topic of virtualization strategies and implementations.  I hope to keep this up throughout the rest of the year.

For more details, you can visit my profile here: Anil Desai’s MVP Profile.

Storage Considerations for Virtualization

Key considerations related to successful virtualization deployments revolve around provisioning highly-reliable, cost-effective solutions to meet business and technical needs. The challenge for IT is in consolidating and optimizing infrastructures while staying within budgets. The primary concerns – including storage capacity, performance, and reliability – can drive the success or failure of virtualized deployments.

This presentation begins with recommendations for designing a storage environment based on business and technical requirements and a solid understanding of application workload requirements. Strategies for collecting storage statistics through historical and real-time performance monitoring can provide valuable insight into real requirements. Based on this data, IT departments can compare different storage approaches, including centralized network-based storage, and cloud-based options. Important features to consider include data de-duplication, thin provisioning, high-availability, clustering, and disaster recovery. Attendees will learn methods by which they can best plan for, implement, manage, and monitor storage for virtualization in their own environments.

Evaluating Virtualization Approaches

The term "virtualization" can apply to a broad range of varying technologies, ranging from storage to networks to servers to applications. The primary goal of these approaches is to simplify management, increase efficiency, allow for scalability, and meet reliability requirements. With recent improvements in virtualization technology, the challenge for IT professionals is in deciding which approaches are the most relevant, given specific requirements.

The focus of this presentation is on understanding the technology behind various virtualization approaches, including presentation-, application-, session-, user state-, desktop-, and server-virtualization. The topic will begin with information on understanding business, technical, and service requirements. These details will then be used to compare a wide variety of different approaches to solving common IT problems. Attendees will receive information that will help them choose which approaches make sense in their own environments.

On that topic, I’ll be co-presenting in the Focus Webcast titled Simplicity Itself: A New Vision for 10 Gigabit Campus Design.  Lance Carr, Product Marketing Manager from Juniper’s Fabric and Switching Group will be providing technical details on their solutions and recommendations.  Here’s a brief overview of the topic:

Today’s increasing Ethernet network bandwidth demands can easily lead IT organizations towards a path of network topologies that lower performance, reliability, and manageability. When the right network design approach is followed, however, performance and reliability are easy to achieve.

In this live webinar, you’ll hear from a panel of experts as they explain how you can use 10 Gigabit Ethernet to simplify your network topology and make it more supportable than intrinsically complex solutions. You’ll discover:

• High performance simplified Network infrastructure that enables uniform user experience.
• Enabling events for a 10 Gigabit network infrastructure
• How to reduce your operational costs, while scaling your network for today and tomorrow’s business needs

The webcast is free, so be sure to register if you’re interested in new network technology.

The two topics I’m planning to present are tentatively titled Storage Considerations for Virtualization and Evaluating Virtualization Approaches. I’ll post more details and abstracts here as the conference gets closer.

Trouble in Cloud City

Several years ago, I wrote a blog post about the virtues and benefits of online backups (see Online Backup Options).  Since then, I have recommended cloud-based storage (and, Mozy, in particular) to a rather large number of IT professionals, friends, and family.  The idea itself is compelling: Online backups have the potential of simplifying the backup process for most users, while providing secure remote storage.  But what happens when something goes wrong?  Or if you just have a technical question?

I don’t often highlight specific companies for poor customer service – it’s almost to be expected from many organizations these days – but a recent interaction I had with Mozy’s Customer Support has ended in my completely giving up on trying to resolve what should have been a very simple issue.  Without getting into the technical specifics, I have been trying to perform backups of Encrypting File System (EFS)-encrypted local files to the cloud.  From the latest information I could find, Mozy supports both local and online backups of EFS encrypted files.  That wasn’t my experience, though – I received cryptic error messages and overall backup failures.  So, I decided to contact Mozy’s Customer Support, creating a case that included my log files and a detailed description of the problem. 

A Little Rain Must Fall…

In summary: It has been over two weeks now, and after three escalations, I’m no closer to resolving the problem.  Just about every response I have sent to Mozy (along with requests for escalation) have been ignored.  In fact, a US Escalations Customer Support Manager has barely managed to feign any interest in my issue at all.  An hour-long phone call with a Level 2 Customer Support technician resulted in his disabling of several necessary services on my primary Windows 7 workstation (I had to keep records of this so I could reverse the changes myself), and poring through log files that provided little useful information.  The response to my most recent request for support has been a request for me to (again) restate the original problem (it’s thoroughly documented in their support system – I just can’t get anyone to read it).  I do plan to escalate this issue to the Director- or VP-level at Mozy as I somehow hopeful that someone at the organization will care.

Cloud Compatibility

One of the most promising aspects of cloud-based service offerings is a reduction in complexity.  Rather that relying on complicated application deployments (the story goes), we can leave all of the details to services that are provided off-site.  But what about support and compatibility issues?  What happens when two or more cloud services vendors decide that their services are incompatible?  My case with Mozy might be that type of issue, though it doesn’t seem like there’s any official documentation or support boundaries related to which products can peacefully co-exist on the same system with it and which options are supported.  And what if the vendor decides that features and functionality I require aren’t important to them?  Sure, I could run into the same problems with local applications, but workarounds are far easier to find when I control both communication endpoints.

Risk Mitigation

I understand that I’m hardly the first person to suffer from poor technical support, but this experience has made me reconsider the risks of cloud-based services in general.  I’m hardly an important customer for Mozy, but I am paying for their service and I really do rely on the sanctity of my backups.  My typical response to organizations that doubt the cloud is to first compare the reliability of their own datacenter infrastructure against that of an online service provider’s.  However, in this case, I’m completely stuck – I either need to reduce security at my file system level, discontinue the use of Mozy (and transfer 25 GB of data to a competing service), or revert to local backups.

All Eggs in One Cloud?

As the entire world moves to a greater reliance on Internet connections and online services, it becomes harder to create fall-back plans and alternatives.  It’s simply not practical or cost-effective to expect your service providers to fail you.  What’s the point in online backups if I need to have a backup plan for my online backup provider?

That makes me curious: Who else has had a recent experience that has questioned their value in hosted services?  Was it downtime, client application issues, availability, poor customer support, or all of the above?  And how safe do you feel when your mission-critical IT infrastructure is resting on clouds?

One of the more common questions I get are those related to career advice and suggestions for getting started (or moving up in) the field of IT.  These questions are really important for those that are trying to make the most of their careers in rather trying times.  On that topic, Michele P. Rouse from the SQL Certification Blog recently provided me with some great content that will provide some information on the new SQL Server Microsoft Certified Master qualification.  Be sure to check out Michele’s site for more information and advice on various database certifications. – Anil

Will you get advantages from the new easy to get SQL server master qualification?

By Michele P. Rouse (SQL Certification Blog)

In my experience the most notable DB platforms are Microsoft and Oracle. I have come to find that MySQL is trusted in start-up companies and DB people who know this platform will make higher salaries, but I honestly rarely ever run into MySQL in job searches.

One reason I favor MS SQL Server is because it also includes the SSRS BI platform which is powerful and popular. DB folks who know SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) have become very sought-after candidates in several companies. Typically, companies end up needing to buy licenses for third-party BI (Business Intelligence) applications which could cost a lot of extra money.

With SQL Server, BI and ETL (extract, transform, load) tools come with the original license. I know that maybe the interest in databases is especially to understand DB construction, however you can’t say for sure when or if you branch out and find out more.

The advantage of SQL is that the language itself is fairly universal. I say fairly because each vendor has added their very own functions and syntax. Microsoft and Sybase both use T-SQL, Oracle uses PL/SQL and MySQL uses ANSI-SQL. Ultimately everything you start learning on one platform could be applied to other platforms.

Becoming a SQL Server Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) is no small task now. Lower than 1 percent of certified professionals hold a Master certification, and even for good reason: In addition to having difficult minimum competencies (5 years SQL Server experience and deep knowledge in all facets of SQL Server), practicing a SQL Server MCM has always come at a significant cost. In fact, that cost has been about $18,500, once you accumulate the necessary three week training and four exams.

The SQL Server MCM certification is the highest technical certification that Microsoft offers to SQL Server professionals. It’s suitable for individuals with five years of hands-on SQL Server experience in critical environments. Competencies include designing and implementing high-performance, scalable enterprise environments and troubleshooting the most challenging SQL Server issues.

Well, at PASS (The Professional Association for SQL Server) this week, Microsoft announced all that is changing. Based on the company, the changes will be in reply to requests from experienced SQL Server professionals who need to earn MCM’s but (go figure) do not have $18,500.

Now, candidates can earn the certification by passing just two exams: the four-hour Knowledge Exam, and a six-hour hands-on Lab Exam, which is obtainable in early 2011.

Fortunately, Microsoft has made some significant changes to the program, including:

• The 3-week in-person training has stopped being required. So, if you think like you have what it takes, you’ll be able to march right up and go ahead and take the certification exams. You pay the price of the exams, which can be about $2,500.
• There are now only two exams rather than four: 88-970 (Knowledge Exam) and 88-971 (Lab Exam).
• To aid SQL Server professionals plan for the exams at a lower cost, Microsoft now offers some free MCM videos.

And you? Do you think the newest MS SQL Certification will assist you in your job?

Who am I ?: Michele P. Rouse is writing for the sql certification path blog, her personal and non-commercial in nature hobby blog targeted at recommendations to offer free info for data base beginners/professionals to enable them to get a new profession.

The Focus Interactive Summit on Virtualization – The Ongoing Revolution  is an all-day online event that brings speakers and thousands of online attendees together for presentations and live Q & A chats on a variety of topics related to virtualization.  Here’s a brief description of the event:

Join us to learn about the latest trends and advances in virtualization, including; server, storage, desktop, and network virtualization and best practices for each.

Many of us find it difficult to attend live conferences due to budget, travel, and other issues.  This free online event will be help on Thursday, November 18th, 2010.  I’ll update this post with more details as soon as they’re available online.

You can also view my Focus Expert profile on Focus.com to get some more information about my topic.

Update: The agenda is now available on the event web site from the link above (note that all times are stated in the Pacific time zone)

For more details, including a list of speakers and their topics, see the NetIP Austin Web Site and Events Calendar (we’ve got a lot of other stuff going on, as well).  If you’d like to attend, please RSVP via our Facebook Event Page.  I hope to see you there!