Kevin's TechEd 2006 Diaries - Day 2
Finally got into the typical TechEd routine. Breakfast, Breakouts, and [insert something else here that starts with B that you’d find at TechEd]
I had another chance to witness an incredible presenter work his magic yet again. Steve Riley did a great presentation on what’s new and cool in ISA Server 2006.
Here are a couple of his comments that delighted the audience:
"If you want to let me know that you disagree with me, that's fine! …I'll just let you know where you're wrong and then we'll move on."
“Of course you’ll first install this in your lab. And as everyone knows, ‘Lab’ is just a synonym for ‘Pre-Production’."
"NLB does unnatural acts with Network Switches"
“I don’t DO demos. Demos have zero risk; they ALWAYS fail.”
"The DMZ is dead. Get over it. Get out your trumpet and play taps. It is a solution to a problem that existed 10 years ago."
Then in the afternoon I enjoyed browsing through the TLCs (Technical Learning Centers) and the Exhibit Hall. From 5–9PM I worked answering questions in the Messaging TLC, answering (or attempting to answer) Exchange Server questions. Actually, and honestly, I think I did more learning than answering. But I helped a few people and enjoyed talking with everyone I met. Also finally met MVP, fellow blogger, and good friend of the SBS community in Florida, Vlad Mazek. (Vlad – I need your email so I can send you a larger copy of this picture of us!)
Then after getting back to the hotel and changing, I hopped the shuttle to the TechEd “Jam Session” and managed to belt out a couple of tunes with many talented folks there. (Pictures and proof are forthcoming. A couple friends were there taking photos – so as soon as I get a good one from them I’ll post it here. In the meantime, here’s one of the folks on stage.
Coolest demo I saw:
Well, it wasn’t a demo, because he doens’t DO demos. But Steve Riley described how ISA Server 2006 can actually provide the load-balancing mechanism for a web server farm. It lets you manage the servers, mark them as Active, Removed, or about to be removed (called “Draining”, so it can finish up processing current requests before you remove it from the farm), and ISA 2006 will handle distributing the load appropriately. Awesome!
Funniest thing I heard:
Another from Steve Riley –
"Do the criminals login before they attack your web server? No. We have a special name for those kinds of attackers: ‘Employees’."
I didn’t get to bed ‘til 2:00am, so I missed the first sessions of the morning (don’t tell my boss). Time to head in now!