Upcoming IT Camp in the Bay Area and Beyond!

Explore the cloud for modern business!

Learn how to get your organization hybrid-ready at a FREE IT Camp near you. In just one day of hands-on training, you’ll learn how to move your IT workloads from on-premises to the cloud and back again. After all, who wants to choose between your datacenter and the public cloud? 

With Microsoft Azure, you get the best of all possible scenarios – plus, powerful virtualization, on-demand application scaling, complete data control and much more.

Sunnyvale: June 4th

Seattle: June 9th

Las Vegas: June 23rd

If those locations aren't for you, we have others! 

Find an event near you: http://aka.ms/itcampevent

Microsoft IT Camps

Events run from 9am‒4pm
Cost: Free!

Azure Infrastructure Services Implementation Guidelines

One of the things I've found the most challenging when working in Azure to design and build servers is naming things (because the external DNS names have to be unique across Azure) and keeping track of how servers relate to each other.  Mostly these challenges exist because everything physical has been abstracted away - no wires to color code/label or servers to group together physically!

When I was first experimenting in Azure, it took a few rounds of creating and deleting things until I really go a hang of what went where.  But to save you some time, you might want to check out this handy piece of documentation publish earlier this month.

It really helps to clarify how naming in Azure can work, how subscriptions and accounts work, how storage and networking tie in, etc, with an example implementation.  I hope you find it useful - I wish I had it two years ago!

Microsoft Virtual Academy for Office365, Windows 10, Enterprise Mobility and More!

I wish I had more time to watch some of the things that are available on the Microsoft Virtual Academy.  If YOU have some time, here are a few things that could be worth checking out.

• Office365
• Office365 ProPlus Deployment for IT Pros
• Getting the Most out of Your Office 365 Trial
• SharePoint
• Deploying & Managing SharePoint 2013 with PowerShell
• SharePoint2013 Best Practices
• Windows 10
• Windows10 Technical Preview Fundamentals for IT Pros
• Enterprise Mobility
• Enterprise Mobility Immersion V3.1
• Taming Android and iOS with Enterprise Mobility Suite
• System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager & Windows Intune
• Datacenter and Infrastructure
• Establish Microsoft Azure IaaS Technical Fundamentals
• Dive Deep into Networking Storage and Disaster Recovery Scenarios
• Active Directory and Identity
• Getting Started with Microsoft Azure Active Directory
• Azure Active Directory Core Skills Jump Start
• Azure Multi-Factor Authentication

Love 'em? Hate 'em? Let me know!  

Spring Cleaning? Nah... Go to Tech Events Instead!

Wow... it's been a pretty crazy few weeks around here in Microsoft-land.  First BUILD, then Ignite... plus a bunch of IT Camps.  There is a lot going on with more to come, I can barely keep track of it all.  I'm hoping this week I will have time to check out a few sessions that I missed at Ignite (I'll share my list!) as well as get more hands-on with whatever version of Windows 10 we have flighting for those Windows Insiders.

Meanwhile, don't miss a few more upcoming learning events!

Next week in SF on 5/19  - Hybrid Cloud and Azure, IT Camp!  If you are just starting to think about using the cloud for workloads you've had on-prem for decades or just want to get your feet wet with Azure, this camp is probably for you!  Seriously, come pick my brain about Azure IaaS.

• For other IT Camps in other cities, visit http://www.technetevents.com/

Mobility Transformed: The Path to Windows 10 roadshow will be coming to 11 cities in May and June. Join members of the Microsoft product team for interactive discussions & demos and be one of the first to learn tips and tricks for Windows 10, Office 365, and more to ensure you are on the leading edge of devices and services!

Check out https://itpro.mobilitytransformed.com/ and register for a city near you:

• 5/12 - Seattle, WA
• 5/12 - Houston, TX
• 5/14 - Denver, CO
• 5/19 - Minneapolis, MN
• 5/26 - San Francisco, CA
• 5/28 - New York City, NY
• 6/2  - Anaheim, CA
• 6/3  - Newton, MA
• 6/4  - Indianapolis, IN
• 6/9  - Charlotte, NC
• 6/11 - Jacksonville, FL

If you are Dev-minded or have Dev buddies who didn't get to BUILD, the Build Tour is starting and hits 5 cities:

18-May New York City - https://newyork.build15.com/
20-May Atlanta - https://atlanta.build15.com/
29-May Austin - https://austin.build15.com/
10-June Chicago -  https://chicago.build15.com/
15-June Hollywood - LA - https://losangeles.build15.com/

Didn't Get to Ignite? Free IT Camps in 6 Cities Next Week!

I've had the pleasure of spending this week at Microsoft Ignite, but not everyone can get away for a week long conference.  If you would like to learn how to get your organization hybrid-ready, consider one of the FREE IT Camps near you.

In just one day of hands-on training, you’ll learn how to move your IT workloads from on-premises to the cloud and back again. After all, who wants to choose between your datacenter and the public cloud? With Microsoft Azure, you get the best of all possible scenarios – plus, powerful virtualization, on-demand application scaling, complete data control and much more.

• Tempe (5/14) – http://aka.ms/AzureITCampAZ 
• Philadelphia (5/14) – http://aka.ms/AzureITCampPhil 
• Downers Grove (5/12) - http://aka.ms/AzureITCampDG  
• Minneapolis (5/12) - http://aka.ms/AzureITCampMPLS 
• Denver (5/12) -  http://aka.ms/AzureITCampCO   
• Orlando (5/11) – http://aka.ms/AzureITCampOFL  

These are all being presented by some of my good friends and colleagues, so you won't be disappointed!