I’ll admit it. I was a little slow out of the gate on the second day of TEC. But my first session of the day was one of the best of the conference.

As you know desktop virtualization is my passion and  Robert Nottoli presented on the VDI Enhancements coming down the pipe with Windows Server 2012.

Microsoft focused on three key goals to provide remote access:

1.       Give users access to data and applications from virtually anywhere, on whatever device they choose.

2.       Enable users to enjoy the full Windows experience, wherever they are.

3.       Improve the security of the entire experience while aiding compliance with applicable regulations.

Remote Desktop Services will benefit IT by simplifying deployment and management by providing a centralized and unified administration console, simplified scenario-based deployments for sessions and VDI, centralized RemoteApp and desktop publishing, easy and intelligent VDI patching, and cheaper, easier storage options for VDI with Hyper-V over SMB and Remote Desktop Services Smart Cache. This new version will enhance the user experience by providing Metro-style remote desktop applications, a rich full-fidelity end-user experience with RemoteFX over the LAN and WAN, broad support for USB devices, improved user personalization with User Profile Disks, and single sign-on for RemoteApp programs and virtual machines.

Microsoft has created one centralized console named Server Manager. Server Manager provides a single view to manage Remote Desktop Services. With Server Manager, administrators can centrally administer and manage groups of servers and roles, publish RemoteApp programs, and manage virtual desktops and session virtualization collections. The existing RemoteApp Manager and RD Session Host Configuration consoles have been removed.

Microsoft introduces the concept of collections with Server 2012. There are two flavors of collections pooled collections and personal collections. With this update Microsoft is just catching up with their partners. Pooled collections are based on a single, shared master virtual machine and user changes are discarded at logoff. Personal c collections are based on providing a separate VM instance for each user and changes are retained.

In earlier versions of Windows, Hyper-V used three main storage options: direct attached storage, iSCSI SANs, and Fibre channel SANs. In the next release SMB-based NAS can be leveraged. Another storage enhancement that is being introduced is RDS Smart Cache for pooled collections. The concept is to deploy a VHD to an SMB share. When a new pooled VM is created, the image is streamed from the SMB share to the local disk or DAS on the Hyper-V host.

On the RemoteFX front, Microsoft strives to ensure a rich, full-fidelity RDS user experience over a variety of network conditions. RemoteFX includes the following new or enhanced features which will enable fluid remoting of the Windows Metro UI:

·         RemoteFX Adaptive Graphics

·         RemoteFX for WAN

·         RemoteFX USB Redirection

·         RemoteFX Media Remoting

·         RemoteFX Multi-Touch

·         RemoteFX vGPU

·         DirectX 11 Support

 

RemoteFX treats images, videos, and text individually to maximize response time.

RemoteFX Adaptive Graphics provides graphics processing that will enable higher fidelity delivery of the experience.

With progressing rendering: Text remains clear while images are refined.

Microsoft has made significant improvements to provide efficient management and a richer user experience at a higher value.

So the last presentation on Day 1 of TEC was given by Adam Driscoll. Adam's presentation was titled Dive into the new Hyper-V PowerShell Module. This presentation was a combined  session with the PowerShell and Virtualization & Workspace Management tracks.

As for PowerShell in general, I am old school and my scripting experience was based on VBScript (insert old dog new tricks here). Every time I take a few moments to focus on PowerShell I see the power over VBscript.

Adam started the session off by highlighting the improvements in Hyper- V version 3:

• native PowerShell support
• improved scalability
• replica
• live migration
• networking and monitoring enhancements

Then it was time to fire up the PowerShell environment and start demo'ing the new features.

The first step was to add the Hyper-V role to the server using the command:

 add-windowsfeature Hyper-V

The next CmdLet demo'ed was the Get-VM, Stop-VM, and Start-VM. Other CmdLets demo'ed included checkpoint-vm, new-vm, and remove-vm.

Hyper-V replication can be managed with PowerShell but there all some limitations. Replication over TCP\80 requires the host to be in the domain, if using TCP\443 this is managed via certificates.

Adam concluded with PowerShell CmdLets, in to order to failover VM's, create VM Resource metering, and showing off the new VMSwitch features.

As you can tell much of this was new to me but impressed me significantly. Microsoft's new philosophy around PowerShell is really impressive. I am back on the PowerShell fan boy train.

As a vFabric Lighthouse Partner, I have had the ability to play with a new vApp that can be leveraged for customer engagements nad demos. The vApp is called vFabric on vSphere. The idea is to be able to quickly deploy a vFabric demo application in order for a customer to evaluate.

This vApp creates a vFabric virtual infrastructure that leverages multiple vFabric products. The above architecture diagram shows the flow of data between the deployed components.

The first step in the deployment is to import the vApp into the VMware vSphere environment.

 First log in to vSphere Client. After login, the vApp must deployed to the virtual environment using the Deploy OVF wizard.

 

Browse to the location of the vApp OVF then select Next...

Click Next...

Select the desired location to deploy the vApp then select Next...

Select the deployment host or cluster then Next...

Highlight the desired storage location and then Next...

Select the Network for deployment, Next.

 At this point, click Finish and the vApp will be imported into the environment. The next time around I will walk through the power on sequence and deployment.

Up next on my first day at TEC2012 was another session presented by Greg Shields. In this presentation, Greg focused on the Microsoft tools available to address applications when migrating from Windows XP.

Greg focused on two Microsoft tools:

1. Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP)
2. Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT)

I have heard of MAP and ACT prior to this session but never paid much attention to these tools. In a Microsoft leveraged project, these tools would come into play.

MAP would be leveraged to inventory the applications and drivers on the network. This would provide the information an organization the neccessary information in order to determine the scope of the project. What applications should be consolidated? Eliminated? Migrated?

While MAP is an agentless and fairly easy to use, ACT is not. ACT uses a self-dissolving agent which is another layer of complexity. It provides significant reporting with suggested fixes and provides some workflow to the process.

If attendance was any indication, many organizations are not leveraging these tools from Microsoft. I am a not a fan of the idea of deploying the application configuration to the desktop rather than modifying the application in place.

Give me ChangeBASE, please.

 

My first session at TEC2012 was presented by Greg Shields of Concentrated Technology. I have read many of Greg's works but this was my first opportunity to meet Greg.

The focus of the presentation was how to leverage base Microsoft utility's in order to migrate to Windows7/8.

Greg's core thought was around the above slide that broke out the various layers of Windows and what Microsoft tools are leveraged at each layer.

We delved into the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and focused on the LiteTouch deployment process. This was my first exposure to this tool since in general I have leveraged 3rd partner solutions for deployment. It was informative and highlighted the benefits of a pay for add-on.

One tool that did peak my interest, if you must use MDT, is a product called USMT XML Builder GUI . This tool was a huge help in the demonstration in order to properly configure the required XML files that are leveraged in the LiteTouch process.

Even though I found the content informative, I do not generally have an opportunity to leverage the native Microsoft tools.

This year's keynote was given by Brian Madden. Brian is an application and desktop virtualization enthusiast. Brian is a fantastic speaker even though some do not like his style.

Unfortuantely, Brian's keynote was an updated presentation that I had seen before. I learned a few new things but the content was a little stale. (Who can blame a guy that presents roughly two times a week?)

Brian has an interesting take on "tiering" users to the right virtualization solution. Brian feels that in almost every case, non-persistent environment would be better fitted for RDS and VDI should only be leveraged as a persistent solution. Even though I agree with this view, many server admins do not have the skills to configure and administer Windows RDS so platforming this use case on non-persistent desktops eliminates the challenge.

The other thought of note was the proper method for architecting applications. Brian broke down the decision process:

• Native or HTML
• Touch or Keyboard\Mouse
• Full Featured or "Focused"
• Create or Consume

 All in all I am always impressed with Brian and his views.

Yesterday, Quest Software kicked off TEC 2012 with Quest Day. The presentations focused on Quest's vision and solutions around the challenges involved with addressing challenges to various topics. I always enjoy this type of event because it presents topics outside my comfort zone, expands my horizon.

Steve Dickson kicked things off with an overview of Quest and some of the changes that have been implemented in order to realign the company. He highlighted Quests commitment to R&D by explaining that Quest reinvests about 19% of its revenue back into R&D. Steve continued to explain the new top level organization and how it broke down. The Quest business areas are:

• Database Management
• Windows Server Management
• Performance Monitoring
• Identity and Access Management
• Data Protection 
• User Workspace Management 

This current vision gets me really excited and I think it is long overdue for Quest. Being focused in the User Workspace arena for a few years, it was a challenge to present more than a vWorkspace product pitch to the customers. With the new solution based approach that Quest has introduced, I can now offer a more complete solution to my customers.

Next on stage was Michael Tweddle. Michael presented on the Windows Server Management vision. The Quest vision in this space is a five pronged approach:

Windows migration, consolidation, and restructuring - pre-migration assessment; project management and scheduling; full coexistence; and post migration cleanup

Compliance, audit, and security - inventory your infrastructure; prevent rogue changes and unauthorized access in real time; report on all change activity from a single interface; support for windows and non-windows infrastructure

Recovery and availability - full object, domain, and forest level recovery; email level recovery and discovery; detect, diagnose, and resolve performance problems

Administration and automation - automated data collection and reporting; streamline admin tasks; user, group, and GPO management and security; mobilize your apps

Development and customization - customize sites and create dashboards that the business needs; eliminate the need to develop and support complex custom code; deliver SharePoint solutions to the business up to 80% faster than custom coding alone; bring an UI to PowerShell scripting

Nick Nickols was up next to discuss the Identity and Access Management business unit. Nick started the presentation with industry trends. One trend that caught my attention was that 86% of data breaches had evidence in the logs. With Quest being a fairly new vendor in this space it will be interesting how they will take advantage of this opportunity. Another noteworthy trend was that attacks are occurring more and more at the local hospitality and retail arena. These victims tend to have less sophisticated security and attackers are using these targets to access customer credit card and PII information.

Within the IAM space, Quest's approach is around:

• Access governance - manage access to business critical information
• Priviledged account management - understand and control administrative activity
• User activity monitoring - audit user activity
• Identity administration - simplify account management

Toby Gaff from Lincoln Financial Group took the stage to present on LFG's Active Migration project and how they leveraged Quest Software solutions for the project. Toby did a fantastic job of demonstrating the value of the Quest products leveraged through the various phases of the project. LFG was all in with the Quest vision and had the following tools that were used: Quest Reporter, ChangeAuditor for AD, Intrust, Recovery Manger for AD, GPOAdmin, Active Roles Server, Spotlight on AD, ChangeAuditor for LDAP, ChangeAuditor for NetApp, Quest Migration Manager for AD, Migration Manager for Exchange, Quick Connect Virtual Directory Server, Quest ActiveRoles AD Powershell Cmdlets, and Quest Access Reporter.

After a drawing for an Apple iPad (which I did not win), David Sengupta and Patrick Rouse presented on migration industry trends. Quest looks at the changing role of IT as:

• Consumerization of IT
• Explosion of mobility
• IT as a commodity

In order to meet these new challenges, Quest has positioned itself to assist customers to prepare, migrate, coexist, and manage the transition to these next generation platforms. The opportunity that Quest is leveraging is to migrate from source platforms (Lotus Notes, GroupWise, Gmail, Exchange, SharePoint, ActiveDirectory, NDS/eDirectory, Exchange Public Folders, and Windows File Shares) to new target platforms (Exchange, Sharepoint, Office 365, AD, and Lync).

The next challenge that was presented was the migration to Windows 7/8. Quest's vision for this migration is:

• Application discovery
• Determine appropriate user workloads for virtualization
• Convert, virtualize, assess, and fix applications
• Virtualization from any device
• Manage Apple and Android Devices

The session concluded with a presentation from Quest Partner Infrascience. Phil Bartholomew presented on how his organization leverage's Quest products to delivery IAM solutions to their customers.

This is my second time at TEC and really looking forward to it. Last year's focus for me was the Virtualization and Workspace Management track. This year around I'll spread my wings some and dabble in the other tracks.

Initial thoughts:

• Better t-shirt than TEC2011 (that one was way to graphic)
• Better location - never been a fan of Las Vegas but San Diego I am a fan
• Great bag
• Easy commute from the airport

Unfortunately I didn't get a hotel room on the bay side but I'll take the urban view for sure.