Upcoming Community Tech Events in SoCal

For those of you in southern California, I've gotten wind of some upcoming events that might be of interest.  Check them out if you are in the area.

So-Cal Azure User Group - Costa Mesa, 2/24
     Register Here: http://www.meetup.com/SoCal-Microsoft-Azure-User-Group/events/220261351/

So-Cal System Center User Group - San Diego, 3/2 or Irvine 3/3
Wally's Top SCCM 2012 Features with Cool Tips and Tricks
     Register Here for March San Diego Event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/microsoft-system-center-so-cal-user-group-msc-scug-san-diego-march-2nd-tickets-15150502561
     Register Here for March Irvine Event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/microsoft-system-center-so-cal-user-group-msc-scug-irvine-march-3rd-tickets-15149810491

San Diego SharePoint User Group - San Diego, 3/11
Fundamentals of Creating SharePoint Apps with Tim Odell
     Register Here: http://www.meetup.com/San-Diego-SharePoint-User-Group-SanSPUG/events/219661901/

PFE Days - San Diego, 3/19
Getting the Best from Azure IaaS with Javier Dominguez
     Register Here: http://www.meetup.com/Microsoft-PFE-Days-Technology-Event-SoCal/events/220098582/

Los Angeles Big Data Users Group - Multiple Events (visit their link)

Upcoming MVA Courses

I was poking around on Microsoft Virtual Academy today and discovered a bunch of great looking live events that are coming up in the next several weeks.  If you've never checked out MVA, now is the time to visit and register!

• Feb 25th - Getting Started with PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) 
• March 3rd - Azure and Open Source: What You Need to Know
• March 26th - Azure Active Directory Core Skills Jump Start

The Imperfect Lab: Check out the Microsoft Test Lab Guides

If you've been reading along for a while now, you know I've been having a blast building and expanding my Imperfect Lab. But I admit, if you are looking for a full step-by-step guide to what to actually put in you lab, I've haven't given you all that.  But I do know somewhere you can look!

Available right inside the official Azure documentation is the details (including PowerShell) for setting up a hybrid cloud environment for testing.  Now, this first guide requires you to have a physical data center lab to connect to using RRAS, but you can easily rework it for a VNET-to-VNET if that's what you desire, by following these instructions instead.

Once you have the basics in place, you can do things like build a full SharePoint Farm (on my short list), set up a Web-based LOB application or set up DirSync. Or do all of them!

Set up a SharePoint intranet farm in a hybrid cloud for testing

Set up a web-based LOB application in a hybrid cloud for testing

Set up Office 365 Directory Synchronization (DirSync) in a hybrid cloud for testing

You can find the official post about all this goodness here - http://blogs.technet.com/b/tlgs/archive/2015/01/19/new-set-of-hybrid-cloud-test-environments.aspx