Techdays Sweden Day 2

Techdays has ended its second day and with that its over for this year. It’s has been a good year with lots of fun sessions, new insights, new connections and last but not least lots and lots of cool demos!

Keynote

Well this will be a bit of anticlimax as I missed the keynote on the second day. But from what I have been told it was a good keynote. My concern with this second hand is of course that it was Scott Hansel who did the keynote. While Scott is an expert speaker and fun to listen to he is also a developer and as an IT-pro asp.net, javascript and the likes doesn’t really give me anything. For me the keynote should be about the new technologies and how the roadmaps looks ahead or if that is not possible to share for some reason, I would like the keynote be an inspiration talk about something related to it. As an example a couple of years ago at a previous techdays the second day keynote was held by an inspiration speaker and it had nothing to do with it but at the same time it had everything to do with it. This is due to face that the speech was about “Getting things done” which most of us can relate to.

Enough rant!

Sessions

Day 2 sessions for me was about the datacenter, the client, windows10, windows server 2016 and my favorite AzurePack vs AzureStack (more on this later)

Mikael Nyström (@Mikael_nystrom) and Markus Lassfolk (@Lassfolk) did a session about the modern datacenter and how to get there using no investment at all. The fact that this gives you the option to build your private cloud the fabric way with what you already have is one thing. The other is they showed how to get a good grip on your environment and how much old stuff is running and how you can consolidate that. To get this overview there is only one tool to use; Microsoft Assesment and Planning Toolkit and they of course showed you how to used it!

At the same time this was going on Marcus Murray (@MarcusSwede) and Hasian Alshakarti (@Alshakarti) showed how to hackproof your clients in a day. I have seen older versions and variations of this session before and this is well worth your time! Check this out when/if they release the sessions online!

Next up was “The Force Awakens” with Johan Arwidmark (@Jarwidmark) and Mikael Nyström (@Mikael_nystrom) showing how Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 is better together! This sessions was full. Well full doesn’t really cover it. The seats where filled, people where standing along all three walls to see the session and every open spot on the floor had people sitting in it. If the room was sized for a 100 people my guess is that there where 200 people there. When this sessions shows up if you didn’t catch it. Go see it! In their fun and relaxed way they showed news in both the client and the server and how to deploy them both.

Ending the day for me was the highlight of techdays. Mikael Nyström (@Mikael_Nystrom) and Markus Lassfolk (@Lassfolk) showed how you should be doing Self-service and why in the session AzurePack vs. AzureStack.  Session content was about diffrences between AP and AS and how the roadmap for AP and AS looks. The demos where just amazing, showing how to build a new website in seconds, powershell to AzurePack the same way you would do it to Azure. Running Backup and Restore of a server within the AzurePack Portal from the correct DPM server. This is a must see and if you haven’t setup self-service yet. Now is a good time! If you don’t know how, let me know and I will put you in contact with both Markus and Mikael so they can help you out!

Summary

Hopefully you have a nice experience at Techdays and learned a lot. Gotten some ideas on what to do going forward, I know I have. Hope to see you next year and if you have any questions give a shout below, on twitter or facebook!

The future is now decoded! 😉 

Techdays Sweden Day 1

Day 1 of techdays comes to an end (yes there has been a pre-conf day aswell but I was unable to attend and this it the offical first day) and I can only sum up the day as overall a good day but with some minor failures.

Keynote

To start of the keynote at Techdays. This for me is supposed to be one of the highlights. Showcasing new technology and well versed speakers with innovative content. The first part of the keynote fails to deliver this with speakers as Microsoft Sweden director Jonas Persson shows a couple of slides but no real demos, no new technology and has nothing new or exiting to offer. The only part of the presentation made by Jonas was when he promised that next year the the keynote speaker would be standing on a hover board made by him.

Thankfully this didn’t go on to long as Ben Armstrong (@VirtualPCGuy) soon took over and showcased a number of demos showing off new features of windows 10. While Ben is an excellent speaker this to fell a bit short the information around these features has been out for several months and really didn’t give us anything new.

First session of the day

Trying to save the morning after a keynote lacking in both content and ability to excite, Johan Arwidmark (@JArwidmark) took the stage to talk about Upgrading to Windows 10. Johan did as previous sessions with him an excellent job. There was new content, showcasing amongst other things the new servicing nodes in System Center Configuration Manager Technical Preview 3. He also talked about using the correct edition of Windows and would to all business recommend the Enterprise Edition with one exception and the is to university’s, schools and the like. For these the Education edition would be the way to go. The Education Edition is the same as Enterprise except for how its licensed and priced.

The Afternoon

Started off with a session from Mikael Nyström (@Mikael_nystrom) and Markus Lassfolk (@Lassfolk) about how to build a modern datacenter in a yellow case. An excellent session about automation, the key points in the datacenter and how you should learn build your demo and/or test environment rapidly using powershell. Mikael also showed off an unsupported feature in Microsoft Deployment Toolkit using the comments field in the Task Sequence selection dialog to select a role to go with a that Task Sequence. Mikael has also promised a blogpost on how to do this later, for information on that check out his blog at www.deploymentbunny.com

Next I check out Ben Armstrongs (@VirtualPCGuy) session on Windows Containers and docker. A really interesting session on why they are doing, how it’s being developed and what to expect. For me this was a bit of an eyeopener. I have not work with docker before and seeing the integration and how the use the same tools and language as docker uses today with Linux is nice to se. A key feature here is when you begin to run containers, they can be run both on physical hardware and inside hyper-v. But coming later this year Hyper-V containers will also become available and this has been a driving force behind the nested Hyper-V scenario. And this is feature that is really cool! Stay tuned for more information on this as Microsoft makes it available.

Ending the day was left again to Mikael (@Mikael_nystrom) and Markus (@Lassfolk) showing off the new features they like in Windows Server 2016 Techincal Preview 3. A nice session about software defined storage, JIT and JEA (read on for more information on what it is), LockonDisconnect and other new features.

The big thing coming with the new release of Windows Server is Storage Spaces Direct. This is basically not using a SAS connected storage blob (JBOD) but instead using local drives in a number of server to achieve a highly-available file storage solution. This is then presented using storage spaces as normal. The benefit of using this that both HDD and SSD using SATA connections are a lot cheaper than the same SAS connected drives. This in combination with the new replication feature of storage also gives new ways of building the storage and making sure it is always available both locally and in remote sites.

Next was quick demo of the new witness function, using azure storage as cluster witness quorum give increased flexibility and is easily managed. Check back when the videos of the session are posted for a quick setup guide.

JIT and JEA is next up, with is translated into Just In Time and Just Enough Administrator. This give the ability to give people access to a server and using JIT and JEA only allowing them to do exactly what they are supposed to do and nothing else and also only when they are supposed to do it and not all the time. This is of course done through PowerShell, so if this is a feature you would like to learn more about and play around with and you don’t know PowerShell, now is a good time to learn.

Wrap Up

This wraps up day 1 and my distinct feeling after day one is; it’s more of the same and since the next server version still has a way to go. You should really focus on getting your deployment solution and yourself ready for windows 10. Both in management of it and deploying it. Both me and my Team would be happy to help you both get started or get over any issues you have with upgrading. Get in touch with me here, using email, twitter or facebook and we can set something up.

As a last note I will leave you with my three favorites quotes of the day. (they are in Swedish so if you don’t speak/read this, I’m sorry it loses the authenticity if translated)

–          JIT och JEA är inte två fåglar

–          Din demomiljö behöver vara ”wife approved”, tyst, drar lite ström och tar liten plats!

–          Man får inte nobelpris i PowerShell