Current IT Camp Resources….

For those of you have taken part in the recent IT Camps, you know that we attempt to cover a LOT of information during this camp. It can be a little overwhelming so I have sorted through the content and provided some links to further reading on the topics that may be more interesting to your particular role.

I have included links to all the slides, Hands-On-Lab documentation and download links to the appropriate lab files if you would like to recreate the HoL outside of the IT Camp classroom. I very highly recommend that if you only do a single lab, that it be the Windows Azure IaaS lab. I believe Cloud based Infrastructure as a Service to be the future of infrastructure deployments.

image

 

Why is Azure IaaS so important?

I bring up this same point in out IT Camps.  Think back to 1995 when the Internet really started to take off. Windows 95 has been on the market for about a year at this point and the everyday computer user is connecting to the Internet is droves. Businesses are taking notice but they are wondering – Is the Internet safe? Is it secure? Is my data protected? What about downtime? – These are the exact same question businesses are asking about “cloud computing” today. The very same cloud computing that we have been doing on the Internet for the past 15+ years.

Virtualization has reduced our infrastructure deployment, configuration and maintenance times to a fraction of what we used just 10 years ago. With Azure IaaS, we optimize these even further by eliminating the need to acquire and provision the base Hyper-V server that is required to run all of the Infrastructure components. It is conceivable for a startup to simply use a credit card to sign up for Azure, then start building servers and services within Azure to support their entire development, test, and production environments – all without buying any hardware to support their infrastructure. Established companies with a robust on-premise infrastructure can reduce future hardware acquisitions by planning future deployments in Azure IaaS. the ease with which we can migrate workloads between Azure IaaS and on-premise makes it a perfect scenario for proof of concept development that can easily be rolled directly into production.

IT departments have already reduced their hardware costs dramatically by becoming highly virtualized. This also provides for a tremendous amount of flexibility in placing and moving workloads as necessary. now with the option of placing the workloads directly within the Azure fabric and securely connecting Azure IaaS to existing infrastructure, IT Departments will be able to further reduce hardware costs and extend the mobility and flexibility of their virtual infrastructure.

**Do the Azure IaaS Lab!**

I promise you it will be worth your time!

 

Cheers!

Slides -

Download Slides for all 3 sessions here

Hands-on-Labs -

Download Hands-On-Labs Manuals here

Downloads LAB Virtual machines here

Download BootToVHD Image here – Be sure to select the VHD file, not the .ISO

Download Base Image for Lab Virtual machines here - – Be sure to select the VHD file, not the .ISO

SC2012 SP1 and Azure IaaS Links -

Activate an Windows Azure 90 Day Trial Account

Download Windows Azure PowerShell Tools

Download System Center with SP1

Upgrading/Migrating with Windows Server 2012 Links -

Understanding Domain and Forest Functional Levels

Active Directory Services Deployment CMDlets in PowerShell

Migrate Active Directory Federations Role Services to Windows Server 2012

Migrate Health Registration Authority to Windows Server 2012

Migrate Hyper-V to Windows Server 2012

Manage IP Configuration in Windows Server 2012

Migrating Network Policy Server to Windows Server 2012

Migrate Print and Document Server to Windows Server 2012

Migrate Remote Access Services to Windows Server 2012

Migrate Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) to Windows Server 2012

 

Deploying Windows 8 Links -

Download the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and Technical Information

Download the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit

User State Migration Tool (USMT 5.0 Technical Reference

Windows Performance Toolkit Technical information

Windows Assessment Toolkit Technical information

Internet Explorer Administration Kit Download and Technical Information