Microsoft – Recordings for “Using Microsoft VDI to Enable New Workstyles Jump Start” available on MVA

The recordings for “Using Microsoft VDI to Enable New Workstyles Jump Start” are available now on Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA).

These Jump Starts are a great way to quickly get up-to-date about a subject. Also there’s a great team of people working behind the scenes to answer questions and provide more detailed resources. Other attendees often also share their experiences and provide valuable insights. So be sure to check out the Q&A log as well.

 

Microsoft – Free Windows Azure for IT Professionals Jump Start

Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) is hosting the “Windows Azure for IT Professionals Jump Start” at May 16th. Information and registration is available on the website: https://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/liveevents/Windows-Azure-for-IT-Professionals?CR_CC=200206715

I’ve attended a couple of Jump Starts and I think it’s a great way to quickly get up-to-date about a subject. Also there’s a great team of people working behind the scenes to answer questions and provide more detailed resources. Other attendees often also share their experiences and provide valuable insights.

Also it’s only been a couple of weeks since Windows Azure IaaS is live in production backed by an enterprise SLA, supported by Microsoft Support, and ready for your production applications. Therefore it is a great time to start learning more about it.

I hope to see you there.

 

Microsoft – Windows Intune for IT Professionals Jump Start videos and Q&A transcript available on MVA

The videos and Q&A transcript of the “Windows Intune for IT Professionals Jump Start” are available on Microsoft Virtual Academt (MVA):
https://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/tracks/windows-intune-for-it-professionals-jump-start

Windows Intune is a cloud-based solution to manage desktops and mobile devices (including tablets and phones). It’s not limited to just Windows based products. For more information, take a look at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windowsintune/pc-management.aspx

 

Microsoft – Virtualization for VMware Professionals Jump Start recordings and Q&A now available on MVA

The videos of the “Virtualization for VMware Professionals Jump Start” have been posted to the Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA):
https://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/tracks/microsoft-virtualization-for-vmware-professionals

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend this session live, but thanks to MVA I can still view the recordings when it is convenient for me.

 

Microsoft – Resources to get more familiar with Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)

Nowadays more and more work, communication and collaboration involves multiple external parties. This can involve by example employees, customers, partners, suppliers, cloud providers/platforms/applications.

This means it is becoming increasingly important to have proper authentication and authorization methods in place for single sign on (SSO) so users can be more productive. Besides the ease-of-use It can also lead to better security.

Microsoft’s Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) will make this possible. For more information on ADFS, here are some resources. Keep in mind though that while some information may be outdated, it will give you a broad idea of the concept and the inner workings. The current version of ADFS in Windows Server 2012 is 2.1 , while Windows Server 2008 uses 2.0

• Active Directory Federation Services (TechNet)
• Active Directory Federation Services,Part 1: How Do They Really Work?
• Active Directory Federation Services,Part 2: Building Federated Identity Solutions
• Active Directory Federation Services 2.0 solution guide (including ForeFront UAG)
• Active Directory Federation Services 2.0 Deep Dive: Deploying a Highly Available Infrastructure
• AD FS 2.0 Step-by-Step and How To Guides
• AD FS with Office 365 Step by Step Install Guide
• ADFS 2.0 Setup Guide
• A Guide to Claims-Based Identity and Access Control (2nd Edition)
• Choosing Between Forefront TMG or Forefront UAG for Publishing Scenarios
• Cloud Security: The Practical Meaning of Security, Identity and Access Revealed!
• Complete walkthrough: Setting up a ADFS 2.0 Server on Windows Azure IaaS and Configuring it as an Identity Provider in Windows Azure ACS
• Demystified Series: Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) Part 1
• Demystified Series: Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) Part 2
• Deploying and Configuring ADFS 2.0
• Federated Identity in the Cloud [NZ 2010: SEC402]
• Federation and Federated Identity: Part 1 Active Directory Federation Services – How Do they Really Work?
• Federation and Federated Identity: Part 2 Building Federated Identity Solutions with Forefront Unified Access Gateway and ADFS v2
• Forefront UAG and ADFS: Better together
• Managing Identity in the Cloud with ADFS and Windows Azure – TechDays 2012
• MS Innovations Blog posts tagged with adfs
• Office 365 ADFS virtual lab
• Office 365 for SMB Jump Start (03) | Office 365 DirSync, Single Sign-On & ADFS
• Office 365 SSO: A Simplified Installation Guide
• Plan for and deploy AD FS for use with single sign-on
• Setting up Single Sign on with Office 365 using ADFS 2.0
• The Access Onion – Peeling away at Access Management, Identity Federation, PKI and SSO issues
• What’s new in Forefront UAG Service Pack 2 (also ADFS 2.0 changes)
• Windows Authentication, ADFS and the Access Control Service 
• Windows Server 2008 (R2) Active Directory Federation Services (TechNet)

PS: Microsoft is moving more and more towards claims based authentication. Examples include Windows Server 2012 Dynamic Access Control and also SharePoint 2013 that has switched to claims based authentication by default now.

If you have some other resources that might be useful, please let me know so I can add them as well.

 

Microsoft – Introduction to Hyper-V Jump Start videos and Q&A transcript

The videos of the “Introduction to Hyper-V Jump Start” have been posted to Microsoft Virtual Academy:
https://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/tracks/introduction-to-hyper-v-jump-start

Unfortunately however, the link to the Q&A transcript has only been sent by mail to participants. The Q&A has very valuable information in it as well, so be sure to take a look at it here.

[EDIT] I mailed the MVA people and they added the Q&A to the MVA website as well. Love the MVA [EDIT]

 

Free training – Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) hosting 3 virtualization related Jump Starts

Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) is hosting 3 virtualization related Jump Starts in January and February:

1. Introduction to Hyper-V Jump Start (January 24th, 2013)
2. Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals Jump Start (January 30th, 2013)
3. Microsoft Tools for VMware Migration and Integration (Late February)

I’ve attended a couple of Jump Starts including those of Office 365, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 already and I think it’s a great way to quickly get up-to-date about a subject. Also there’s a great team of people working behind the scenes to answer questions and provide more detailed resources. Other attendees often also share their experiences and provide valuable insights.

The links above provide include a course outline and a link to register for the Jump Start.

I hope to see you there.

 

 

70-417 exam preparation materials – Upgrading to MCSA Server 2012

For those looking to upgrade their existing certification to MCSA Server 2012 by passing the exam “70-417 Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012″, be sure to check out these resources:

• Windows Server 2012 Upgrade Jump Start video recordings (70-417)
• Windows Server 2012 Upgrade Jump Start Q&A Chat Transcript day 1 (70-417)
• Windows Server 2012 Upgrade Jump Start Q&A Chat Transcript day 2 (70-417)
• http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/13763.windows-server-2012-early-experts-70-417-resources-for-preparation.aspx
• http://www.enduria.eu/preparation-resources-for-the-exam-70-417/
• Windows Server 2012 “Early Experts” Challenge

Also consider using the Prometric discount offer for those who intend to upgrade to MCSE.

For those looking for articles with more detailed information on (specific) Server 2012 features, take a look at one of my previous posts.

 

Recordings of the “Windows 8 for IT Pros Jump Start” are available now

The recordings of the “Windows 8 for IT Pros Jump Start” are available now.

More helpful resources regarding this jump start can be found in my previous blog post.

 

Information from the “Windows 8 for IT Pros Jumpstart”

After some technical difficulties the “Windows 8 for IT Pros Jumpstart” started about 50 minutes later than planned. For people new to Windows 8 I think that Stephen Rose and Joey Snow covered most of the important features that are relevant for enterprises. For me personally however, it was mostly repetition since I’m already very familiar with Windows 8.

The recorded videos are available now as well: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/jj687764.aspx

Nevertheless, for people who are interested, I’ve saved the chat / Q&A from the jump start which also includes a lot of links to use if you want to know more about specific features.

Some links from the Q&A include:

• Windows 8 for IT Pros Jump Start Break Slides
• Springboard series for Windows 8
• Springboard series insider
• Protecting user files with File History
• Enhancing Windows 8 for multiple monitors
• Windows 8 To Go feature overview
• Windows To Go Step By Step

For people who are either struggling with the new user interface themselves or expect their family, friends, colleagues or customers to struggle, I suggest you take a look at my previous blog post.

• Windows 8 – User interface help

If you’ve missed this event, it has been recorded and will probably be posted online somewhere in the next two weeks.

Also for those who are looking to upgrade their certification to Server 2012, next week there’s another jumpstart “Prepare for exam 70-317 – Upgrading Skills to Windows Server 2012 Jumpstart”. I hope to see you there.