Deploying Storage Spaces Direct – Part 7 #StorageSpacesDirect #mvphour
Prior to deploying Storage Spaces Direct we should probably make sure that our Storage Subsystem is healthy and ready to go. Here are some quick PowerShell commands that you can use to validate your S2D Configuration. Validate the Cluster prior to Configuring Storage...
Deploying Storage Spaces Direct – Part 6 #StorageSpacesDirect #mvphour
Before we can successfully build our Windows Failover Cluster we need to assign some IP Addresses to our nodes and their respective virtual adapters. Let's do this now Configuring the IP Addresses for the S2D Nodes #Configure S2DNode1 New-NetIPAddress -IPAddress...
PowerShell – Updating the .DEFAULT and All User Profiles Registry
There are times that you may need to push out a change to all existing user profiles and to new profiles that are created on a system. I've seen a few PowerShell scripts floating around out there, but they didn't seem to work for Windows 7 SP1. You may or may not be...
Deploying Storage Spaces Direct – Part 5 #StorageSpacesDirect #mvphour
As promised this is a bonus post that will take us into a bit deeper dive on the core Networking stack of Windows Server 2016. Specifically, the new SET Team and RDMA Configurations required for Storage Spaces Direct. Configuring Datacenter Bridging The following...
Deploying Storage Spaces Direct – Part 4 #StorageSpacesDirect #mvphour
Post-Configuration of the S2D Nodes With the nodes now fully turned on we can connect the S2D nodes to complete their final configuration tasks. It normally takes less than 1 hour to complete the entire post configuration. You can further automate this entire process...
Exporting SCCM Boundaries and Boundary Group Information
Working with SCCM 2012 R2 and SCCM 2016, there are PowerShell cmdlets to export several types of objects from System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). Alas, the boundary group Cmdlets just aren't there yet. Here are a few examples of SCCM objects that support...
Deploying Storage Spaces Direct – Part 3 #StorageSpacesDirect #mvphour
In this third part of our Blog Series on Deploying Storage Spaces Direct we will talk about probably the most important configuration – Network. Storage Spaces Direct relies on having a solid, high performing, and reliable network configuration in order to operate...
Deploying Storage Spaces Direct – Part 2 #StorageSpacesDirect #mvphour
This second part of our series on Deploying Storage Spaces Direct will focus on the core Switch Configurations. For this blog post series, we have chosen to use Cisco Nexus Switches and given the running configuration. Obviously, not everyone is going to be using...
Deploying Storage Spaces Direct – Part 1 #StorageSpacesDirect #mvphour
Deploying Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) The day has arrived for your company to start deploying its newly acquired HyperConveged Infrastructure from SuperMicro. Fortunately, the Out of Box experience process has been greatly simplified and a near instant-on...
#1 Best Selling Book – Master PowerShell Tricks Volume 2 – Free for the next 48 hours #PowerShell
Backed by popular demand #1 best-selling authors: Dave Kawula MVP - @daveKawula Thomas Rayner MVP - @mrthomasrayner Sean Kearney - @EnergizedTech Ed Wilson "The Scripting Guy"- @scriptingguys Mick Pletcher MVP – @mick_pletcher Allan Rafuse Future MVP - @AllanRafuse ...
#MVPDays – Storage Spaces Direct – Getting your feet wet
Today at the #MVPDays Vancouver we talked to people who had never heard of Microsoft Storage Spaces Direction (S2D). It’s hard to believe, but yes there are people out there that haven’t had the chance to get up to date on the latest Windows Server 2016 Operating System. This is usually due to meetings, ongoing projects and running older version of the Windows OS. So what were the big take aways from the session?
Opening/Upgrading SCCM 2012 R2 PowerShell
Nothing truly new here, but it is a new year and a new environment for me. I’ve just sat down at my seat at a customer’s location and wanted to inventory a bunch of things inside their System Center Configuration Manager 2012 R2 CU3 environment. Regardless it’s older and we’re in the process of migrating to Configuration Manager 2016! Exciting times ahead! In any case, I installed the Configuration Manager 2012 R2 console on my Windows 7 laptop (64-bit). See where things are going. We’re not running the latest and greatest… yet 😉
The Ultimate Veeam Production-Replica Test Lab Step by Step
As a consultant, I implement many different solutions, be they pilot, production, or proof-of-concept. In any organization of any size, it is important to test the implementation, functionality, and management of a new solution before the production environment is...
The Worlds Largest Availability Conference – VeeamOn, May 16-19, New Orleans
2017 is a big year for IT infrastructure. Non-volatile SSDs are readily available, Azure datacenters are cropping up in all corners of the planet, and HyperConverged Infrastructure is free to everyone running Windows Server 2016. A lot of companies have been keeping...
GPO/GPP – Control the Local Administrators Group
One of the issues that data center or even any Windows Administrator has is managing the local administrators group on each and every one of their domain members. There is a lovely security setting that has been around for many years, Restricted Groups, which can be controlled via local security policies of via GPO. This works, but has a few pitfalls as you’ve probably run into once in a while. Keep reading to see how you can solve some of them with Group Policy Preferences.
Master PowerShell Tricks Volume 2 – Now Available on Kindle
This time with the help of these amazing Co-Authors we have released another amazing volume of Master PowerShell Tricks. This time we have some new MVP's that helped out and in no particular order here they are: Thomas Rayner – MVP and Honorary Scripting Guy Will...
Free Azure Training – Microsoft Tech Summit Sessions on #Azure from 2016
Did you miss out on the Microsoft Tech Summit in Toronto, October 27-28, 2016? Well you can check out all of the amazing #Azure Sessions that were recorded. It is an amazing opportunity to ramp up your skills. Hope you enjoy, Cristal All Azure Sessions at Tech...
SCCM – Using Multiple SUPs, but clients aren’t switching
One of the issues I’ve come across is using Configuration Managers (2012 R2+) feature of being able to deploy multiple Software Update Points (SUP) within a site. This scenario is essentially to avoid using traditional network load balancing (NLB) and offload the work to the clients. One would think, if one SUP is not available it’s pretty simple, switch to the next one in the list. Well this doesn’t always happen as one may expect. Why?
Great Free Training – Live Stream Tech Field Day #TFD13
Hey folks you definitely need to check out this live event streaming via LiveSteam called Tech Field Day. My good friends and colleagues from Veeam Rick Vanover and Clint Wyckoff are presenting later this afternoon. The best part is that this 3-day event is streaming...
Configuring Multiple Software Update Points (SUP) in SCCM
I was working on a SCCM deployment where there was already one existing Software Update Point (SUP). Due to new firewall restrictions, a few new SUPs were required. Microsoft has changed their best practices with SCCM in regards to using multiple SUPs. The best practice is to share the WSUS Database (SUSDB) and the WSUS content directory. This cuts down on a lot of space, replication and administrative issues.
Master PowerShell Tricks – Volume 2
With the amazing success of our first release of Master PowerShell Tricks Volume 1 we have commenced Volume 2 already. This time we have added some amazing new Authors to the series. It is going to be another huge success and hit the #1 Best Sellers list just like...
Edmonton MVPDays Early bird tickets Sold Out #mvphour @mvpdays
Still want to attend MVPDays? Well you can you just have to pay for your ticket. I know you are asking yourselves: Man I wish I was faster and got one of the Free Early Bird tickets! Now I have to pay $99.00 to attend. Why would I do that? Well let's see what your...
Our PowerShell eBook is available… for Free (72 hours)!
Well it’s finally happened, I’m officially going to accept the title of author. After previous collaborating on a few books, and after a lot of time collaborating with other MVP rock stars and some hard work, our eBook, Master PowerShell tricks (Volume 1) has been released on Amazon.
Free E-Book Available for the next 72 Hours – Master Storage Spaces Direct
Just for you we have a promotion running on our latest book called Master Storage Spaces Direct Volume 1. This time it is 100 % free on Amazon for the next 72 hours. In this book, you will learn how to deploy Microsoft HyperConverged solution called Storage Spaces...
Free E-Book for the next 48 hours – Master PowerShell Ticks
Just for you we have a promotion running again on Master PowerShell Tricks Volume 1. This time it is 100 % free on Amazon for the next 48 hours. http://amzn.to/2jhiQBT The coolest part about this is we are currently ranked #329 on the Bestsellers list at...
PowerShell – Installing and Finding Modules (PowerShellGet)
Install-Module is a wonderful new cmdlet that comes with PowerShell v5 and can be found in Windows Management Framework (WMF) 5.0. This allows us to skip the whole search the Internet to find modules and pull them from pre-configured repositories. By default, your machines should be configured to look at https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/ .
EmoPowerShell Validate Parameters for you
When writing PowerShell scripts, one of the most time consuming tasks is validating input and handling invalid input. PowerShell does have built in mechanisms to deal with this and ease these tasks so that we can focus on creating a production level script.
Free – Azure Training!
On-going training is something that anyone in IT needs. IT changes as fast as the clouds come and go! You need to keep up! There are several ways to easily keep your head in the clouds using Microsoft’s resources and social media. The New Year is here and one of your...
Comparing Office 2016 and Office365 ProPlus
With the widespread adoption of Office365, a popular question that comes our way is whether to deploy the Office 2016 Client, Office365 Client, or a hybrid of the two. The Office365 ProPlus client is available to license as a standalone monthly/annual subscription, or...
PowerShell – My way to prepare a SQL Server VM
As I get called on a lot of to do SQL Server installations, I’ve come up with what I’ve found works best for me. Every location has different infrastructure, security, networks and their way of doing things. Since I’m the one doing the installation, and I know I’ll get called back in the future at some point to upgrade, troubleshoot or manage the SQL Server environment, I like to have a set of standards. Documentation, I actually do enjoy writing it (yes I may be sick), but having a self-documenting PowerShell script is even better!
Master PowerShell Tricks Volume 1 – Kindle Version is now Available
Well fearless @mvpdays followers it is official we are in print on Amazon. Kindle version of Master PowerShell Tricks is out today. Order your copy and support your MVP's. You can check out a copy of the book yourself below: Thanks, Dave and the MVPDays team....
PowerShell – Start-Service, Stop-Service, they work, but not always well enough!
Well as the title suggests, I’m happy with the code, but I always find myself adding more and more code around the cmdlets. Service control in Windows has been pretty straight forward for the past few decades. Obviously PowerShell can control the state and configuration of services, but one thing I’ve always run into with service control is reacting to how the service stops and starts and also managing the state of dependent services. I’m sharing some short code functions that I use.
Hyper Converged for the best price possible – E-Book
Well based on some extremely wonderful feedback from our attendees of the North American MVPDays Community Roadshow we have released our 2nd @mvpdays e-book. This one was compiled by Dave Kawula MVP @davekawula. The book reveals what you need to know about the Hyper...
Master PowerShell tricks Volume 1
Update.... Order your copy today. Our E-Book is available on Kindle from Amazon Below is a preview of the Kindle Version that was just released as of today. December 19, 2016. The book documents the following Master PowerShell tricks that these two experts employ with...
It’s that “Time” Again – Windows Server 2016 Time Changes
Well I recently blogged about time syncronization issues in Windows Time Sync – The fixes!. This troubleshooting still works on Windows Server 2016, but hopefully we don’t need to do it as often!
Windows Azure Pack (WAP) Overview
Do you empower your customers whether they’re colleagues, internal departments or even 3rd party entities to provision virtual machines, databases or websites in your data center?
PowerShell – Is your AD Sites and Services missing subnets?
This has been a very common pain point for Active Directory administrators. AD is perfectly planned according to Microsoft’s best practices and successfully deployed. But as time goes on, network admins change the network topology, devices are added here and there and if there is no formal process of adding new networks, AD Sites and Services will mostly likely not be updated to reflect these changes.
Massive Savings on Hyper Converged Infrastructure with Project @Data_Raft #S2D
Many customers and friends have been asking me why I am so passionate about the developments with Microsoft flagship operating system Windows 2016. The answer is really simple. It is because of the massive value that has been added free of charge allowing us to build...
Countdown to Orlando MVPDays
We are less than 1 week away from our last stop on the North American MVPDays Community roadshow. This time we are heading all the way down to Orlando Florida on December 2, 2016. We still have space left to come out and see some amazing presenters and support your...
Why Do Hyper Converged Installs fail?
About two years ago the term Hyper Converged infrastructure was not common in most discussions around that IT water cooler. Now it seems like this is all that people are talking about. Hyper Converged has skyrocketed onto the Gartner Magic quadrant and customers are...
Hyper-V Operational Training Part 2
Welcome to our second in a series of Hyper-V Operational Training. This training started prior to the release of Windows Server 2016. Most of it is based on current technology on Windows 2012 R2 however there is a ton of amazing content. In todays session we...
Hyper-V Operational Training – Part 1
Welcome to our first in a series of Hyper-V Operational Training. This training started prior to the release of Windows Server 2016. Most of it is based on current technology on Windows 2012 R2 however there is a ton of amazing content. The premise of this...
Huge Milestone – Episode 50 – MVPDays Countdown Show – Orlando
Wow I can't believe we finally did it. 50 Episodes are up and live at http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/interview-with-an-mvp I have to say a huge thank you to our fearless Microsoft CPM MVP Lead – Simran Chaudry @sim_100. He was the one that pushed us to start getting...
PowerShell – Copy directories/files to a list of remote computers
How often are you given a list of servers and you need to quickly copy files to them? I used to always take the wonderfully format list given to me and format them into a PowerShell array buy putting quotes around each of them and commas. Example:
$Computers = @(
“Server01”,
“Server02”,
“Server03.mydomain.local”,
“Server06”
)
Windows Time Sync – The fixes!
As many of you know when running a simple standalone machine at home, at work, in a datacenter or in the cloud, time keeping can be tricky. Very odd though, it’s been around for over a decade and people/enterprises still can’t seem to figure out how it really works or how they should configure it.
Every Windows computer has a lovely service on it that is called W32Time with a description that reads “Windows Time Service”. This service is set to manual, and for all intents and purposes can be left that way.
Azure Stack – @Data_Raft
The goal of this project is to bring affordable Hyper-Converged infrastructure to environments of all sizes using 100% native Microsoft technologies and a few cool Open Source tools too. The cost to you is FREE.
@MVPDays – Seattle 2016
What did you miss by not attending #MVPDays, Seattle 2016?
@MVPDays Orlando Registration and Schedule now live
Hey @MVPDays fans registrations are now open for MVPDays Florida on December 2, 2016. #mvphour Checkout www.mvpdays.com for more information You can see the schedule and speakers for the event at: http://mvpdaysfl.busyconf.com/schedule See you all in a month in...
Storage Spaces Direct #S2D for Everyone
This week at #MVPDays Seattle we had a chance to have some really great discussions on the future of storage in the Data Center. As such I had a chance to attend a really great session delivered by MVP's Anton Gostev @Gostev and Clint Wyckoff @clintwyckoff on ReFS. I...
Better Together – Learn more about how 5nine and Veeam will rock your Data Center
Hey .@mvpdays and #mvphour followers you know I always love to let you know about great webinars. Especially when they are done by two of my favorite partners. .@veeam and .@5ninesoftware have amazing platforms to Secure, Manage, Backup, and Replicate your #hyperv...
Hyper-V Rock Stars coming to VeeamLive – Live from Atlanta
Sign up today people!!! #VeeamLive episode, join our MVP duo @DaveKawula and @ClintWyckoff as they bring everyone up to speed on all the latest enhancements of Windows Server 2016. You'll see a live demo of Veeam® Availability Suite™ 9.5 which provides full support...
Made the cut this week on Channel 9 at Microsoft
I am always extremely proud to be recognized out of the thousands of videos up on @ch9. This week @clintwyckoff (Clint Wyckoff – MVP) and myself @davekawula made the cut. Our video on must attend sessions of MS Ignite was really popular and made the short list of...
Switch to Hyper-V and save big time with Microsoft
About five days ago Microsoft announce via a blogpost that they have introduced a new Switch and Save program. This program is called Vmware Shift and is gear to help drive adoption of Windows Server 2016's amazing Virtualization Stack. Here is a little snip from the...
Why you will move to Windows 2016 NOW – Hybrid Use Rights
.@Microsoft has dangled the carrot will you bite? With their licensing model is called Hybrid Use Rights. #mvphour @mvpdays This basically allow you to use the Windows Server Datacenter licenses on SA that you own today both on Prem and in Azure. I think this bold...
Are you kidding me – Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V Maximum Configurations
Thanks @microsoft for taking the Virtualization game to the next level. Today it was announced that the new Virtual Machine and Host Server Maximums will look like this: Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 Standard & DatacenterWindows Server 2016 Standard &...
My Favourite moments from MVPDays over the past 3 years
Hey folks I thought I would write this up as a quick post that truly shows the power of community. Here are also a few of the top moments @twitter has captured for us. I love a lot of this pictures captured from Various #MVPHour sightings across north America....
My Sessions at Microsoft Ignite 2016
Show your support and come cheer us on at Microsoft Ignite 2016. This year I have been so fortunate to have been selected for 2 x Sessions. The First one will be on Tuesday, September 27, 2016 – 11:30 – 12:15PM Room B203 Interact with an MVP discussion panel...
Community Sponsorship for MVPDays North American Community Roadshow is Free
Wait a minute you are probably reading this blog post because you saw the word Free in it…. Well you didn't read that wrong…. Yes Community Sponsorship of MVPDays is totally free. You are probably wondering why so read on and find out more….. One of the big...
Must attend Sessions of Microsoft Ignite 2016
Attending a conference like Microsoft Ignite can be a daunting task. There are over 25,000 attendees + Speakers + Sponsors etc. Right now there is a list of over 1,000 sessions to choose from and there are so many choices it is actually quite confusing. So my friend...
MVPDays Website – Relaunch today
Well we were in need of a new website as the old one had been live since 2014. So today we rebranded and re-launched the www.mvpdays.com website. We would love your feedback on it and as such send your comments via twitter to @mvpdays Hope you enjoy the new look and...
Veeam’s next Big thing – Veeam can now Backup Office 365
Hello Microsoft Office 365 fans, today Veeam made a huge announcement regarding Office 365 email backup capabilities. You will be able to fully protect your email in the Microsoft Office 365 cloud starting in Q4 of 2016. This was a massive hole for a lot of...
PowerShell for Everyone – Microsoft makes it Open Source
You wanted it and now you have it. Microsoft vision of joining forces with Linux and the Open Source community took another huge leap in the right direction today. This announcement has made Power Shell open and available to the community. Here is a snip from the...
Not all Backup Targets are created Equally – Exagrid + Veeam
We have been implementing Veeam Backup Solutions for about the past 4 + years now and one thing that we have learned is that not every backup target is the same. We are pleased to announce this week that we have signed up as a partner with Exagrid. Exagrid treats...
Ignite is Sold Out – Don’t fear you can win a free pass
Some huge congratulations are in order for the Microsoft Events team for selling out #MSIgnite 2016. Did you forget to buy your ticket or your boss would pay for it this year. Don't worry HyperGrid is giving away a free pass to Ignite. All you have to do is signup for...
MVPDays North American Community Roadshow – Countdown Show #1
We're back again this time for a MVPDays North American Community Roadshow tour. Some huge announcements in this countdown show including: 7 new Cities for MVPDays Community Roadshow in 2016/2017 Atlanta September 2016 Seattle November 2016 Orlando...
Huge Announcement – Ignite Cup the Coolest Event at MS Ignite 2016
Come join us in Atlanta for the absolute "Coolest" event at MS Ignite 2016. We hosting an event at the Duluth Ice Forum featuring an exhibition Hockey Game. Planning for this event started over 1 year ago and was originally going to happen with MS Ignite Chicago…...
All you need to know about Windows Server 2016 – E-book now Available
Announcing the new E-Book that I had a chance to work on as a technical reviewer. My good friend at Veeam Software Clint Wyckoff (MVP) wrote this e-book on Windows Server 2016 and asked me to review it for him. It is now available for download from the Veeam Website...
Black Belt – Hyper-V Security Design – 5nine Webinar Recording
The Recording for a webinar that I did on Hyper-V Security Design is now available. I had a chance to do this webinar in August of 2015 with Alex Karavanov from 5nine Software. Lot's of nice goodies in this one. Hope you enjoy. Dave
HyperGrid V-Tax Refund Webinar recording now available
The recording of a webinar I did with Hypergrid is now available online at: Click here to view the Webinar Replacing VMware with Hyper-V means a cool VMware tax refund. Do you know what your potential savings are? And while it looks great from a budget perspective,...
Huge announcement – Win a pass to Live 360 / TechMentor in Orlando
We have a huge announcement to make, MVPDays will be giving away a free pass to the TechMentor / Live360 conference in Orlando, Florida from December 5-9 at Loews Royal Pacific Resort https://live360events.com/events/orlando-2016/home.aspx. You will have a chance to...
MVPDays 2016 Atlanta Call for Speakers now open
MVPDays North American Roadshow is a technical event that is delivered by industry leading expert Microsoft MVP's and prospective MVP's. These sessions are not geared around Vendor Marketing fluff and have real content based on the deep expertise of our...
MVPDays is expanding to the US in 2016
MVPDays was founded by Cristal and Dave Kawula back in 2013. It started as a simple idea; "There's got to be a good way for MVPs to reach the IT community and share their vast knowledge and experience in a fun and engaging way" I mean, what is the point in recognizing...
Humble Beginnings with Channel 9
I can't believe that it has been almost a whole year since we started the journey of publishing our content on Channel 9 #C9. @supercristal1 and myself were on a mission to get at least 10 episodes created in the first 60 days. For any of you that have produced...
Interview with an MVP a year in Review
Folks it has been close to a year since we launched our Channel9 #CH9 series called https://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/interview-with-an-mvp . We have had such amazing feedback over the past 12 months that I thought we would highlight our top 8 Episodes. These 8 Episodes...
MVPAward #FridayFive
It is pretty cool when you wake up in the morning and your work is recognized. Today it was by the #MVPAward #FridayFive where they select content from top contributors from around the world and feature it. You can follow the Friday Five at #FridayFive...
Canadian Community Super Hero Award
This year I was extremely fortunate to win a Microsoft Canada MVP award for the top Channel 9 Contributor. I am not only honoured to received this award I am extremely grateful to everyone that helped me get http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/interview-with-an-mvp...
Hyper-V Networking Deep Dive
I recently had the chance to do a nice Deep Dive session on Hyper-V Networking. It is often hard for customers to visualize what exactly is being configures with Hyper-V once it is installed. The Diagram below was an illustration that walked through the following...
Veeam Community Pod Cast Live from London UK
I recently had the chance to speak at the London,UK VeeamON Forum with Cristal. We had a load of fun and one of our sessions was recorded and put up on the Veeam Community Podcast # 118...
Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V All you need to know Part 4
In this episode of Interview with an MVP your hosts, Dave Kawula and Clint Wyckoff discuss many of the new features and answer questions from a recent webinar. https://www.veeam.com/videos/largest-announcements-within-hyper-v-2016-8009.html Q. What the heck are...
Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V All you need to know Part 3
In this episode of Interview with an MVP your hosts, Dave Kawula and Clint Wyckoff discuss many of the new features and answer questions from a recent webinar. https://www.veeam.com/videos/largest-announcements-within-hyper-v-2016-8009.html Q. any improvements...
Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V All you need to know Part 2
In this episode of Interview with an MVP your hosts, Dave Kawula and Clint Wyckoff discuss many of the new features and answer questions from a recent webinar. https://www.veeam.com/videos/largest-announcements-within-hyper-v-2016-8009.html Q. Does hyper-v have...
Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V All you need to know Part 1
In this episode of Interview with an MVP your hosts, Dave Kawula and Clint Wyckoff discuss many of the new features and answer questions from a recent webinar. https://www.veeam.com/videos/largest-announcements-within-hyper-v-2016-8009.html Q. Do the Remote VM...
VMCE Advanced Training live from London
I had the privilege of attending the first worldwide run of Veeam's Certified Engineer Advanced (Architect) training this week. It was filled with some of the brightest minds from around the world. Attending training like this gives someone like myself the ability to...
Veeam Community Podcast 116
In this episode, Clint Wyckoff hosts Dave Kawula (@davekawula). Dave is a Microsoft MVP for Cloud and Datacenter Management, Inaugural Veeam Vanguard, Community Evangelist and Independent Blogger (CheckYourLogs.net). Dave and Clint discuss the Microsoft MVP Program,...
MVPDays 2016 Countdown Show #1
Hey there everyone Cristal Kawula here and I am so pleased to give your our first MVPDays 2016 countdown show. It has been a little while for me since I have appeared on Interview with an MVP and I am so please to be back. This year I will be presenting my own session...
Deploying Windows 10 like a Champ
In this episode I was lucky enough to snap Mr. Emile Cabot MVP and Deployment Guru. He walks through all of the deployment essentials For your very own Windows 10 Project. This was a great session that we did at Channel 9 studios in Redmond, WA. We hope you enjoy....
Dude Where’s my Server?
In this episode I was so lucky to be joined by my great friend Clint Wyckoff MVP from Veeam Software. We also had Emile Cabot MVP come in with a Cameo as "The Angry Boss". We were live trying to record another session as we got a call from the "Boss" that the servers...
Speaking at TechMentor 2016 Las Vegas
I'll be speaking at TechMentor, March 7-11 in Las Vegas. Surrounded by your fellow IT professionals, TechMentor provides you with in-depth, immediately usable training that will keep you relevant in the workforce. I'll be presenting the following sessions:...
Ultimate Tips for Certification and building your own Home Lab
"I have always found it difficult to find good information on building my home lab" à is a question I often get when speaking at conferences. As such Clint Wyckoff MVP and myself (Dave Kawula MVP) have decided to have a dedicated episode on Interview with an MVP. We...
MVPHour Live from Redmond
For only the second time ever we have recorded #MVPHour Live. In this episode Clint Wyckoff – MVP, Emile Cabot – MVP, and myself (Dave Kawula – MVP) discussed Some of the topics streaming in on our live twitter feed #MVPHour. "I think this one will be an instant...
Zero Downtime Migration between Hyper-V Clusters using Shared Nothing Live Migration
In this blog post I thought it would be fun to share how we migrated a customer environment from one Hyper-V Failover Cluster to another with Zero Downtime using Shared Nothing Live Migration. The image below was some chicken scratch I drafted up during a meeting...
SCOM 2012 R2 – Data Warehouse Service Account is not allowed to access Data Warehouse database
Well today I logged into a customer's site to deal with a SCOM issue in there SCOM 2012 R2 environment. The SCOM environment itself appeared to be working, but the data warehouse wasn't being populated. This occurred as they changed the service accounts from a...
Windows Azure Pack (WAP) Site to Site VPN (S2SVPN) with Cisco ASA
Problem I've run into an issue when a customer was using a Cisco ASA 5515 to connect into our WAP deployment. Cisco is a big player in the networking market and one would think that connecting a device such as this to a Windows Server Gateway (WSG) WAP S2SVPN would be...
MDT 2013 Update 1 Re-released
Anyone who installed MDT 2013 Update 1 experienced a number of issues with the initial release. As of September 16, Microsoft has re-released MDT 2013 Update 1 under build 8298, which addresses most (but not all) of these issues. The new build replaces the existing...
Windows 10 – Where is my 3rd Monitor!?
Well like most of us mobility workers, we don't always make it into the office. Today I showed up at the office and actually had time to sit at my desk. Odd, my 3rd monitor wasn't working. Worked fine in Windows 8.1. Did the usual checks... Windows 10 is not even...
Black Belt – Hyper-V Security Design
Hear the Black Belt tips and tricks to protect Hyper-V datacenters of all sizes by fixing numerous security vulnerabilities that you may be exposed to, but never even knew about.Join Hyper-V MVP and 5nine Technical Evangelist Dave Kawula to learn the best practices...
MVPDays 2015 Edmonton – Speakers
Meet your Amazing Speakers for MVPDays Community Roadshow - Edmonton September 25, 2015 If you have not yet registered go to www.mvpdays.com Edmonton
MVPDays 2015 Calgary – Speakers
Meet your Amazing Speakers for MVPDays Community Roadshow - Calgary September 23, 2015 If you have not yet registered go to www.mvpdays.com Calgary
MVPDays 2015 Vancouver – Speakers
Meet your Amazing Speakers for MVPDays Community Roadshow - Vancouver - Sept 21, 2015 If you have not yet registered go to www.mvpdays.com Vancouver
MVPDays 2015 Edmonton – Agenda
I am so pleased to present below our Agenda for the MVPDays 2015 Western Canada Roadshow. We have such an amazing lineup of guest speakers, sponsors, and event team this year. It will surely be the best event that we have ever put on. If you have not yet registered go...
MVPDays 2015 Calgary – Agenda
I am so pleased to present below our Agenda for the MVPDays 2015 Western Canada Roadshow. We have such an amazing lineup of guest speakers, sponsors, and event team this year. It will surely be the best event that we have ever put on. If you have not yet registered go...
MVPDays 2015 Vancouver– Agenda
I am so pleased to present below our Agenda for the MVPDays 2015 Western Canada Roadshow. We have such an amazing lineup of guest speakers, sponsors, and event team this year. It will surely be the best event that we have ever put on. If you have not yet registered go...
Interview with an MVP – Episode 6 – MVPDays 2015 Countdown Show 2
When we record these videos, Dave has it in his head that we must NOT edit! We do try to do these in one take. There are some exceptions however, and almost all of them include Dave being a goof when we start causing us to start over. You can apparently seem some of...
Interview with an MVP – Episode 5 – MVPDays 2015 Countdown Show 1
MVPDays 2015 is fast approaching. I am very excited to bring you our first MVPDays Countdown show. Our first year was a lot of unknowns. This year, I am happy to be able to share a bit of the process that goes into creating a roadshow like MVPDays. We go over the...
Interview with an MVP – Episode 4 – Advanced Windows Deployments
In Episode 4, we get to see one of my favorite Newfies present with Dave on Advanced Windows Deployments. Though at MVPDays 2014 Emile was a non-MVP guest speaker, I am proud to say that this year he will be presenting as an MVP on System Centre Cloud and...
Interview With an MVP – Episode 3 – Designing Hyper-V the Right Way
Hey Viewers! I’m back with another episode of Interview With An MVP. In this episode, Dave is bringing you another session from MVPDays 2014. He was joined by fellow MVP, Marcos Noguiera, in presenting Designing Hyper-V The Right Way. I was lucky enough to...
Interview with an MVP – Episode 2 – Windows 2003 EOL
In this Episode we discuss how to get rid of those pesky Windows 2003 and 2008 Servers once and for all. Dave was lucky enough to be joined by Rick Byrne @RickRByrne in this presentation. The video for this was shot at MVPDays 2014 in Vancouver in front of a sold...
Interview with an MVP – Episode 1 – Hyper-V Security
It's official people we have our very own Channel 9 show. In this first Episode I was able to catch my co-host Dave Kawula Hyper-V MVP and discuss some of the critical elements of Hyper-V Security. He goes into great detail discussing some of the common pitfalls...
Canadian MVP’s and Microsoft provide aid to Evacuee’s
I am so proud that we were able to provide some much needed assistance to the Northern Lights School District #113 in La Ronge during their time of need. On July 3, 2015 a notice was given to have the entire township of LA Ronge evacuated. Unfortunately part of the DR...
Speaking at TechMentor 2015 in Redmond
I will be speaking at the TechMentor conference August 3-7, 2015. This will be an exciting chance to meet some of the smartest and coolest geeks in the industry. My session with be T08 – From Zero to Hero in 75 Minutes: Deploying a HyperConverged Architecture for the...
Critical Patch for Hyper-V Servers – MS15-068
On July 14, 2015 Microsoft released a Critical Hotfix for Hyper-V Servers. The details are a bit vague right now, but it seems that if a Guest has elevated rights with the right tools they can gain access to the Host's Parent Partition. For obvious reasons this isn't...
Gridstore + Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track
It was announced today in a press release by Gridstore that they have been approved into the Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track Program. This is a major step forward by the industry towards accepting HyperConverged Technologies. Below is a sample illustration of a...
Cannot find useable certificate in Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V
I was doing some work on my home network this weekend, and in the process joined my Hyper-V hosts to a new domain. My demo laptop, which had about 20 VMs saved, threw an error when I attempted to start them, stating that Hyper-V could not find a useable certificate....
System Center Configuration Manager 2016 Technical Preview 2 Released
Microsoft published Technical Preview 2 for SCCM today with a few new features. There's support for side-loading Universal Windows Applications to Win10 devices, and the ability to manage Win10 PCs via MDM with on-premises SCCM infrastructure, using the same model...
Scripts for used for MVP V-Conf
As promised during my Black Belt – Troubleshooting Hyper-V Performance Session at the MVP V-Conf. Please find the Scripts that I used for the demo below: http://1drv.ms/1KTc7ET Enjoy, Dave
How All-Flash Hyper-Converged Infrastructure is changing the Data Center – June 16, 2015 Calgary, AB
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/how-all-flash-hyperconverged-infrastructure-is-transforming-the-datacentre-tickets-17109796863 Abstract: Hyper-Converged infrastructure is transforming the economics, performance and complexity of the datacentre. Gridstore...
MVPDays Facebook Fan Site
If you are looking to follow our announcements for the MVPDays Community including. Sessions, photos, recordings, speaker announcements, and much more. Go to www.facebook.com/mvpdays Also don't forget to register for this year's show at www.mvpdays.com You can use...
Introduction to Hyper-V Management for the VMware Admin
Join 5Nine Software for a free webinar on June 18! Featuring Symon Perriman and Alex Karavanov from 5Nine Software. Hyper-V can be overwhelming for new users or VMware administrators managing Microsoft virtualization for the first time. In this technical...
Overview of Patch Solution
When I decided to write PatchSolution it was to solve some very specific issues with a customer that I was working with. I am really pleased to now be able to start documenting this and sharing with the community. When looking at PatchSolution below is the...
PatchSolution is now available via CodePlex
I am so pleased to announce that thanks to the amazing work of Allan Rafuse we have released "PatchSolution" We have decided to make to this available for how much… Guess it…. $$$$ … Free!! Why you ask? Well it's because we love the community and feel that this type...
Building Tiered Jobs with Veeam using PowerShell
As part of a new White Paper that I am putting together for Veeam I have written a cool PowerShell Script to help build tiered jobs using Veeam Backup and Replication. The purpose of this script was to help automate three tiers of jobs: Platinum Gold Silver The...
Take Your Microsoft Certification Exams from Home – Now in Canada
Yes it is official everyone!! I received an email from Microsoft Certification earlier today. In Canada from your Home! You can now write Microsoft Certification Exams from the comfort of your own home or office! This is amazing news way to go Microsoft!...
Microsoft to Open Azure Data Center in Canada in 2016
This is huge news everyone!! Microsoft will open it's first Canadian Data Centers in Toronto and Quebec city in 2016. Here is a little snippet from their press release: Press Release From Microsoft: MICROSOFT CLOUD TO TOUCH DOWN IN CANADA Locally deployed Azure,...
Black Belt Session – Troubleshooting Hyper-V Performance – MVP V Conf
I am so happy to share this session that I did at the MVP Virtual Conference in May 2015. Over 5000 + people registered for this great event and it was an amazing success. Please feel free to view my session below.
MVP Virtual Conference 2015 Sessions are now online
Great news everyone you can view all of the sessions for the amazing MVP's that presented at the MVP Virtual Conference in May 2015. Click the link below to view any / all of them....
MVPDays 2015 is coming back to Western Canada
I am so pleased to announce the MVP Days will be coming back to Western Canada this year. We are going to be visiting the following cities: Vancouver – September 21, 2015 Calgary – September 23, 2015 Edmonton – September 25, 2015 You can Register at www.mvpdays.com...
MVPDays 2014 Sessions are now Online
Great news everyone the sessions from MVPDays 2014 are online and available. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKwKwTExLTHMn69hLNM03-w Don't forget to register for this year's roadshow at www.mvpdays.com We also have a Facebook Fan site at www.facebook.com/mvpdays...
25 Steps that will save your bacon when migrating from Windows 2003 to 2012 R2
Are you still struggling to get rid of your existing Windows 2003 Servers? Did you forget that July14, 2015 is the END? For more information you can go to: http://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/server-cloud/products/windows-server-2003/default.aspx Here is what...
Microsoft Intune Step by Step for Small Businesses with Office365
Many organizations today struggle with securing the plethora of devices that are used for business purposes, regardless of their size. Even users that have company-provided computers and phones will often still use their personal devices to some degree. For small...
Register for the MVP Virtual Conference Today
Register to attend the Microsoft MVP Virtual Conference I wanted to let you know about a great free event that Microsoft and the MVPs are putting on, May 14th & 15th. Join Microsoft MVPs from the Americas' region as they share their knowledge and...
Setting up Azure AD Connect Public Preview
QUICKPOST…. Hey there I wanted to write up a quick note on a new way to connect your on premise Active Directory to Windows Azure. It is called Azure AD Connect and can be is now available for download. http://connect.microsoft.com/site1164/program8612 ...
Taking Hydration to the Next Level – Part 4 – ViaMonstra SCCM Post Configuration
During the process of building the outline for our book Advanced Windows Deployments using 1E Software Emile and myself decided that it was really important to emulate a production environment. Most of the scenarios we had seen were simple configurations using a bare...
Taking Hydration to the Next Level – Part 3 – ViaMonstra SCCM Post Configuration
This is the last video that will cover the ViaMonstra Post Configuration tasks required to get the Hydrated environment working. In this video we will focus on creating the required Firewall Exclusion Group Policies, enable the Client Push Account and give our...
Taking Hydration to the Next Level – Part 2 – Reporting Services and Discovery
In the next BlogCast of this series, Dave and I start performing some post-installation tasks in our hydrated Configuration Manager environment for ViaMonstra. We install Reporting Services and start the discovery process. Check it out on YouTube! É...
Taking Hydration to the Next Level
For a number of years now, Johan Arwidmark has been publishing Hydration Kits from his www.deploymentresearch.com site. Hydration is the process of automating the build of an environment, either lab or production. This is important because it provides a consistent...
Installing System Center Configuration Manager 2012R2 Cumulative Update 4 Step by Step
The first step to install Cumulative Update 4 is to download the actual CU4 update binaries, which can be acquired by going to https://support.microsoft.com/kb/3026739 and clicking on the Hotfix Download Available link, selecting the appropriate file (there's only...
System Center Configuration Manager 2012R2 Cumulative Update 4 PowerShell Fixes and Additions
Cumulative Update 4 for System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager included many additions and changes to the PowerShell cmdlets that are used to manage the environment. Here is a list of all the additions, fixes, and changes to cmdlets used for CM12R2. The...
System Center Configuration Manager 2012R2 Cumulative Update 4 Released!
Cumulative Update 4 for SCCM 2012 R2 was release by Microsoft on January 29, 2015. Along with issues fixed by the previous Cumulative Updates, CU4 provides support for App-V 5.0SP2 and specifically addresses the following: Software distribution - After a Configuration...
Top Level Limiting Collections for Configuration Manager 2012
Having been through quite a few CM07 to CM12 migrations over the past few years, one of the things that I have seen heavily used in previous versions is nested collections, which had a similar functionality in SCCM as nested groups in Active Directory. However, this...
Dynamic Server Collections for Managed Endpoint Protection in Configuration Manager 2012
One of the reasons why I really like System Center Endpoint Protection is its ease of management. This goes double when we're using it to manage servers, as we get to leverage all the stuff that Configuration Manager has in its database to target policies. By...
Patching Images in Configuration Manager 2012 to Reduce Deployment Time
In my previous post, we went through the process of using Automatic Deployment Rules to create a fully automated patching process, complete with a pilot period, ideal for SMB customers. We're now going to take those same patches and apply them to our Gold Image. This...
Patching Workstations for SMBs using Automatic Deployment Rules in Configuration Manager 2012
MVPDays Session – Advanced Windows Deployments
This was a session that I did in Vancouver in September 2014 at MVPDays Session – Advanced Windows Deployments Presenters – Dave Kawula MVP / Emile Cabot You asked for a real world scenario for Advanced Windows Deployments and that is what we have created. This book...
MVPDays Session – Best Practices for Virtualizing and Managing SharePoint with System Center and Hyper-V
This was a session that I did in Vancouver in September 2014 at MVPDays. Session – Best Practices for Virtualizing and Managing SharePoint with System Center 2012 R2 and Hyper-V Presenters – Dave Kawula MVP / Marcos Nogueira MVP SharePoint 2013 is now a company...
MVPDays Session – Designing Hyper-V the Right Way – Building a Cluster in < 20 Minutes
This was a session that I did in Vancouver in September of 2014 at MVPDays. Session - Designing Hyper-V the Right Way – Building a Hyper-V Cluster in Less than 20 Minutes Presenters -Dave Kawula - MVP / Marcos Nogueira - MVP Have you struggled to find the right...
Calgary IT Pro – Designing Hyper-V the Right Way
As requested by the attendees of the presentation tonight. Please find the links to the presentation and scripts on Designing Hyper-V the Right Way below: http://1drv.ms/1DgeT4I Thanks, Dave
Windows 2003 End of Life (EOL) – Here comes trouble – Our First Windows 2012 R2 Domain Controller (Watch your Hotfixes)
Well we finally got the green light at one of my customers to upgrade them to Windows 2012 R2 Active Directory. We went through all of our due diligence and planned out the project accordingly. We took a phased approach when we would take the following high level...
Routing Mod for Johan’s Hydration Kit
I wanted to show a really cool routing Modification that I have built to Johan's Hydration Kit. His kit can be downloaded from www.deploymentresearch.com and is widely used by ConfigMgr professionals all over the world. One of the challenges I face with these labs...
OSDWeek with Johan Arwidmark and Dave Kawula
There are two main technical factors with implementing a new Operating System across your enterprise: Ensuring you have an infrastructure that can support the migration process, and acquiring the expertise to upgrade your end user workstations with minimal effort. Of...
Deploying Windows 8.1 to SMBs using Nomad Branch Step by Step
In the first post in this series, we created an OSD Task Sequence that is ideal for the SMB market. We touched on some of the automation options available with MDT, and were ultimately able to deploy operating systems to machines at the main office. Our next step is...
Deploying Windows 8.1 to SMBs using Configuration Manager 2012 R2
This is the first post of a series that will walk you through the process to create a Task Sequence in Configuration Manager 2012 R2 that can be deployed for all scenarios (Bare Metal, Refresh, Replace). It uses MDT 2013 to augment the sequence and provide some...
Upgrading to Windows 2012 Hyper-V – DR Site to Server 2012 and configuring Veeam Backup and Replication 7x for DR Replicas
For today's mission I was tasked with building a DR Site for Hyper-V using Veeam Backup and Replication 7.x. I wanted to walk you through the steps that I took in order to accomplish this task. The Current Configuration consists of the following: First of all let's...
Upgrading from Windows 2008 R2 Hyper-V to 2012 R2 – NIC Configuration
In this post I will show you how to move a Hyper-V Virtual Machine from one Hyper-V Server to another without the use of Live Migrations. If find this technique very useful when I am swapping out hardware and just need a simple process to follow to get the guest...
Upgrading to Windows 2012 Hyper-V – IO Accelerator IOPS Testing
In this post I will show a server that we have taken from Server 2008 R2 and upgraded to Server 2012.This particular server had been in production for the past 2 years and ran all production workloads for this company. Now it is being refurbished and will be used for...
Deploying Active Directory Replica DC to Azure
A lot of us have been setting up Hybrid Cloud (Azure) environments and one of the first things that needs to be done is setup a Replica Domain Controller. This post will show the steps that I followed to get this done. Before we get started it is important to note...
