My Thoughts On IT…

Are you interested in understanding how to use Office 365? Then these 3 online webcast trainings are for you. The common complaint that I hear in regards to Office 365 is that there are not enough partners trained on it. How do I migrate my email into it. How do I set it up. How do I make it do X…

Get trained on Office 365! Here are the 1 hour webcasts. – Brian

TechNet Webcast : Business Data Connectivity Services in SharePoint Online

http://bit.ly/JdOzt2

Starts: Monday, May 21, 2012 9:00 AM
Time zone: (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
Duration: 1 hour(s)

This webcast explains step-by-step how to use Microsoft Office 365 SharePoint Online Business Connectivity Services (BCS) to connect to a Windows Communication Foundation web service exposed on the Internet. BCS as a feature was made available as a part of the first service update in November 2011. In general, BCS in SharePoint Online is used to consume or exchange line of business (LOB) data from external systems.

____________

TechNet Webcast: Understanding the User Experience after Transitioning from BPOS to Office 365

http://bit.ly/JXMyDe

Starts: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 8:00 AM
Time zone: (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
Duration: 1 hour(s)

Have you recently transitioned from Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS) to Microsoft Office 365? If so, join us for this TechNet webcast, and learn about the new user and administrative experiences in Office 365. We walk through BPOS and Office 365 services and applications and show you what users should expect after the transition. We also provide ample time to answer frequently asked questions.

____________

TechNet Webcast: Running a Small Business on Office 365

http://bit.ly/JbFLKJ

Starts: Thursday, May 24, 2012 10:00 AM
Time zone: (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
Duration: 1 hour(s)

Learn how your business can be more efficient and save costs with Microsoft Office 365 and the cloud. In this webcast, you hear about Office 365 and how you can use it for your business. You also see how Tom Werner moved a real estate business to Office 365 and how it’s using Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Lync, and Microsoft Office together.

I have been wanting to buy an Asus Zenbook UX31 since they shipped last October. I was just about to buy one last week when I heard that on May 9th companies were allowed to announce their new Ivy bridge offerings. So I thought I would wait and see what was going to be announced.

Well Asus announced their plans for the Zenbook UX21 and UX 31. The new Zenbooks are the ASUS UX21A and UX31A. They are also called the Zenbook Primes.

They announced refinement of an already awesome system. The Zenbook Primes have the same design as their predecessors, but add Intel’s Ivy Bridge CPUs, backlit keyboards, and 1920 x 1080 IPS screens. An IPS display is great because it has better clarity, color, and battery life than an AMOLED display. It is currently the best display technology. So I can’t wait to see how this laptop display looks. The Zenbook does keep it’s super fast SATA III disk access to it’s flash drive which can transfer data at 500 megabits per second. Most current laptops max out at 80 megabits per second. – Wow that is awesome IO!

It is expected that these machine will be available in June. I hope so because I have been saving up for a new ultrabook!

Move Your Career to the Cloud with the Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert certification

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) is a reinvented certification for today’s technology solutions. Microsoft has reinvented its certification program by building a broader and deeper set of technology solutions skills validation, starting with cloud-enabled solution skills. As one of the most recognized and respected certification programs, Microsoft is charting the path for IT Professionals and Developers to keep their skills relevant as new technology solutions are released.

Reinvented, Not Just Renamed
Microsoft has reinvented its certifications to validate the skill sets needed to develop, deploy, and maintain Microsoft technology solutions. These certifications recognize IT Pros and Developers who have skill sets that run both broad and deep. Certifications are available at three skill levels:

Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA)

The Associate level is the prerequisite certification necessary to get your Expert level certification. This certification validates the core skills you need to get your 1st job in IT.

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) &
Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD)

The Expert level is Microsoft’s flagship set of certifications validating that your skills are relevant in the constantly changing tech environment. The Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) is the destination for established IT Professionals who have expertise working with Microsoft technology solutions. The Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD) is the destination for established Developers who have expertise developing solutions with Microsoft tools.

Microsoft Certified Solutions Master (MCSM)

After you have achieved your Expert level certification, Master is the next destination. This certification is for the select few who wish to further differentiate themselves from their peers and achieve the highest level of skills validation.

The Cloud Changes Everything

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) helps bridge the new cloud computing talent gap. “With the demand for cloud skills growing quickly, the gap between hiring demand and talent supply across the United States is getting larger and causing more difficulties in sourcing candidates.”

Wanted Analytics, Hiring Demand for Cloud Computing Skills Skyrocketing, March 2012

The need for cloud computing skills has been pushing the market for months. Solution providers are seeking cloud-ready employees to bring their businesses to the next level. The cloud computing market is evolving at such a pace that while the number of job postings is skyrocketing, the talent isn’t there to fill the positions.

In the past 20 years, Microsoft Certifications have been THE tool to address the skills gap. To be relevant, certifications need to continue to be the tool needed and recognized in the market.

That’s why Microsoft has reinvented its certification program—to certify a deeper set of skills that are mapped to the Cloud and to real-world business contexts. Rather than testing only on a component of a technology, IT Professionals and Developers are now tested on more advanced skills and a deeper understanding of the technology.

New Certifications Are Available Now

Private Cloud and SQL lead the Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) reinvention

We’ve posted a lot more information about the reinvented program and the first new certifications: Private Cloud MCSE, Database MCSE & Business Intelligence MCSE:

Microsoft Certification overview page: http://aka.ms/MSCerts

Microsoft Certification overview video: http://aka.ms/MSCertsVideo

MCSE information page: http://aka.ms/MCSE

MCSE video on YouTube: http://aka.ms/MCSEvideo

MCSE Private Cloud: http://aka.ms/MCSEpvcloud

MCSE Data Platform: http://aka.ms/MCSEDP

MCSE Business Intelligence: http://aka.ms/MCSEBI

Want to run Linux inside the Microsoft Hyper-v Hypervisor? You can but before before the Linux Kernel 3.4 you had to install the paravirtualization drivers or the “Integration Services” drivers. Now those drivers are built right into the main kernel!

With the release of Linux Kernel 3.4, all of the Hyper-V drivers for Linux have exited the kernel staging tree and entered mainline Linux. Over three years in the making, this achievement tells a great story of collaboration between open source developers and Microsoft. The amount of assistance and feedback that the community provided to enhance our drivers was invaluable. 

Now that the drivers have exited staging, Microsoft’s focus is expanding to collaboration with Linux vendors to integrate the drivers into their distributions and to providing updated packages for both Red Hat and CentOS in particular.  Plenty of work remains to keep the drivers up-to-date and add new functionality in support of Windows 8 features.  Our direct contributions to the Linux kernel will remain a high priority.

Where can I get the drivers for use before the 3.4 Kernel?
External customers can obtain them via the Microsoft Download Center at this http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28188

If you want to play with Windows Server 2012 (previously Windows Server “8”) without having to install it then these Virtual labs are for you. We have setup 12 different labs that guide you through working with this new technology.

Here is a list of the Windows Server “8” Virtual Labs:

• Active Directory Deployment and Management Enhancements
• Configuring a Highly Available iSCSI Target
• Configuring Hyper-V over Highly Available SMB Storage
• Implementing Storage Pools and Storage Spaces
• Introduction to Windows PowerShell Fundamentals
• What’s New in Windows PowerShell 3.0
• Managing Branch Offices
• Managing Network Infrastructure
• Managing Your Network Infrastructure with IP Address Management
• Managing Windows Server “8″ with Server Manager and Windows PowerShell 3.0
• Online Backup Service
• Using Dynamic Access Control to Automatically and Centrally Secure Data

You will find the labs here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/hh968267.aspx

If you want to take it to the next level then install your own copy of Windows Server 2012 and kick the tires. You can download those Windows 2012 Beta files from here:
http://aka.ms/server8cp

You have two main options to play with this code. First you can download the ISO file and install it from CD or USB stick. Second you can download the VHD file and run it inside some virtualization product.

If you want to go the virtualization route I recommend you running it under Windows Server Hyper-v. If you don’t have Hyper-v setup already – shame, shame shame… (JK) You can dual boot your machine using Boot From VHD to accomplish this. See my previous post: “How to Setup Boot from VHD” http://mythoughtsonit.com/?p=1072

If you want to run it under Windows 7 then I suggest you use Oracle’s free Virtual Box software. Here is a good blog post on how to get this going:
http://www.techgurublog.com/2012/02/29/run-windows-server-8-beta-vm-on-virtualbox-vhd-format/

Let me know if I can help. Enjoy –Brian

SkyDrive is a totally awesome tool that helps you synchronize your files between multiple devices as well as access them on the internet. If you haven’t checked it out yet then you should. IT is a great tool and they just launched a new version of the service.

If you are a current user of the Microsoft SkyDrive service then you can continue to have your free 25 Gig of storage space. You just have to log in and request it. If you don’t request it your free SkyDrive account will drop down to a 7GB account.

New users get a free 7 Gigabyte account and then if you need more there are options to purchase more for a reasonable price. Add 20 gig of space for $10 a year and prices go down per megabyte from there.

Microsoft has also released new apps for syncing to SkyDrive from Windows, Macintosh, iPad, iPod, Windows Phone, and more.

Here is where you can find the software: https://apps.live.com/skydrive

To signup and find out more go here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/skydrive/home

If you missed the announcements – Windows Server “8” is now officially named Windows Server 2012.

Windows Server 2012 will have a Release Candidate around the first week in June. A great way to start the summer months!!!!

For the official details see here:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsserver/archive/2012/04/24/windows-server-2012-release-candidate-timing.aspx

In my last blog post I pointed out that we announced the Windows 8 versions; however, there is another Windows 8 version that we blogged about on April 18th 2012.

Windows 8 Enterprise.

Check out the features in Windows 8 Enterprise on the Windows teams blog:
http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/business/archive/2012/04/18/introducing-windows-8-enterprise-and-enhanced-software-assurance-for-today-s-modern-workforce.aspx