Virtual Reality: The truth about Microsoft’s Interoperable Virtualization Stack

It started off as an idea a couple of months back. That idea was around getting the soup to nuts details on the Hyper-V / SCVMM / iSCSI solution into an entertaining session that could be delivered in person, online or by a group of individuals across Canada. Well – it’s ready. With the help of Mitch Garvis from SWMI consulting group, David Kawula from TriconTS, myself and more to come – we’ve built some great resources and engaging content to take on the road (both in the real world and online) for all those interested.

Here’s the official blurb:

There are lots of players out there in the Virtualization Market. All of them have options to help you build a highly available solution to virtualize and protect your servers all with varying costs associated with them. Did you know Microsoft has a solution that you can cut your teeth into even if you are just learning the ropes and don’t have access to high end SAN hardware? Join us for a demo intensive 90 minute session that builds a solution from scratch and gives you the skills to bring this technology into your organization or customer environments for a fraction of the cost of the competitors offerings (you know who we’re talking about). This session will cover the story of an organization looking to enhance their current infrastructure and virtualization solutions. It will start with the requirements, proceed into the build process and demonstrate all of its capabilities including post deployment management. Do you have questions to ask? Are you more familiar with “the other guys” offerings and need to have some clarity on what is actually capable with the Microsoft Virtualization offerings? This session is for you  - we’re leaving plenty of time for questions along the way.

Technologies covered:

• Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1
• System Center Virtual Machine Manager
• Microsoft iSCSI Target software v 3.3
• The free Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1
• Live Migration
• Snapshots

Objectives:

• Understand the capabilities of the Microsoft Virtualization offering
• Install and configure a iSCSI target and create a Clustered resource
• Configure System Center Virtual Machine Manager to manage 2 virtualization hosts
• Create a highly available virtual machine and LiveMigrate it between hosts
• Learn where to get all the software to create your own environment

I threw out the offer on Twitter for any and all to stick up their hand for a visit and possible delivery of something like this in their neck of the woods and so far I have quite a few takers…

Halifax, Cape Bretton, Montreal, Victoria, Ottawa…

The list is growing. Are you interested in having us come out and talk “no-bs-corporate-speak-no-FUD” about Virtualization and how it can be a game changer in your organization – EVEN IF you’ve already committed $$$$ to “the other guys”? Send me an email (rick.claus@microsoft.com) or drop me a comment here on the blog. I’d love the opportunity to head out your way and see what’s possible.

This is open to any and ALL user groups or professional associations. Don’t HAVE a user group in your neck of the woods? Maybe this is an opportunity to set something up!  WE CAN HELP. Not up for a long term commitment of running a group just yet – why not help us out with this event to get your feet wet!

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