The IT Pro Exchange

The New York City Techstravaganza is a one-day grassroots technical conference for IT Pros that is brought to you by a few of the local community user groups in cooperation with Microsoft.  The 4th Annual Techstravaganza NYC 2014 event will be held on March 21st in Microsoft’s brand-new state-of-the-art 11 Times Square office.  Tracks on Windows PowerShell, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Windows and an IT Camp track are fully outlined at www.techstravaganza.com.  Breakfast and lunch are provided, so don’t miss it! 

Hope see you there.

http://www.techstravaganza.com/registration-available/

After nearly four fun-filled and awesome years of fulfilling the role of IT Pro Evangelist/Technology Evangelist and working with the local NY Metro community I’m pleased to announce I’ve accepted the role of Account Technology Specialist in Microsoft’s NY Metro District.  I’m currently transitioning to this role throughout the month of November and my colleague Dan Stolts (@itproguru) will pick up local NY Metro IT Pro Evangelist duties until my replacement is identified. 

I encourage you to keep reading, there’s lots more technology goodness to be shared here.  Thanks for being a loyal reader and I’ve got much more to share soon.

Enjoy!

As a follow up to today’s Enterprise Cloud Storage event with CommVault, EVault and StorSimple, I have made the Windows Azure Overview slide deck available.  I will also post the slide decks from CommVault, EVault and StorSimple here as I receive them.

Feel free to share or come back to this blog post anytime directly by leveraging the short URL http://aka.ms/EntCloudStorage. 

Enjoy!

Enterprise Cloud Storage with Windows Azure

CommVault Presentation (coming soon!)

Evault Presentation (coming soon!)

Azure StorSimple Presentation

As a follow up from the previous Virtualization IT Camp, I wanted to post the slide deck and lab guide.

Thanks to everyone who attended!

Enjoy!

IT Camp – Microsoft Virtualization – public

IT Camp – Microsoft Virtualization – Lab Guide v2

We are happy to announce a new free ebook – Introducing Windows Azure for IT Professionals by Mitch Tulloch with the Windows Azure Team!

Whether you’re new to the Windows Azure platform or are already using it in your business, this book has something that should interest you. Most Windows Azure services are described in some detail, with screenshots used to demonstrate some of the multitude of capabilities of the platform. And for the experienced we have lots of under-the-hood insights and expert tips written by Microsoft insiders who develop, test, and use the Windows Azure platform.

DOWNLOADS

Enjoy!

As I start the process of evaluating Windows Azure as the next platform for my blog, I’ve had some conversations with my colleagues who’ve made the move to Windows Azure and they’re generally quite happy.  While I’m told the performance of the site on the Azure is awesome, there are a good number of differences in the platform, namely the ability to use WordPress as the platform and MySQL as the database where the content is stored.  One of my colleagues, Maria Naggaga, has written a few articles on this topic I’d recommend you take a look at.  She covers a few relevant topics in this area, so go ahead and take a look!

Enjoy!

Connecting a new MySQL Database to an existing Azure WordPress Site

Re-provisioning a MySQL Database for an existing Azure WordPress Site

Following yesterday’s highly successful and very well-attended IT Camp, I wanted to post both the presentation materials and the Hands-on-Lab in electronic format so that attendees had access to these resources.  Links to both of these items are below.

Enjoy!

Windows Azure Infrastructure Services – PowerPoint Deck

Hands-on Lab: Build a SharePoint Dev/Test Farm in the Cloud using Windows Azure Infrastructure Services

We’ve just announced the latest set of IT Camps for the New York City area, check out www.technetevents.com to register for these high-demand events.  I just received the registration report and due to the very few number of seats available, there are only a small number of seats left so REGISTER TODAY! 

These IT Camps are focused on Windows Azure Infrastructure Services and will take place in the Microsoft NYC and NJ Offices.  The agenda for these events are as follows:

As we have been doing for all IT Camps, these events will include presentation, demo, and a Hands-on-Lab, so be sure to bring your computer to fully participate in the Hands-on-Lab exercises.

I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Enjoy!

To update my previous FAB4 download link page with the latest and greatest download links for my most-requested downloads and signups, please see the updated list below.  These links include FREE signups for a Windows Azure FREE Trial and Microsoft Virtual Academy (Microsoft’s FREE E-Learning platform) as well as evaluation downloads of Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012. 

I’ve also included some BONUS Links for Windows Server 2012 R2 and System Center 2012 R2 Previews (which will convert to RTM links post the October 18th General Availability of those products) PLUS Hyper-V Server 2012 and Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 to round out the list. 

Ooh, but don’t forget, you can always come straight back to this post by going to http://aka.ms/FAB4.

And now, on to the list!

My Top Four most requested download links for IT Pros are:

Windows Azure FREE Trial

Windows Server 2012

System Center 2012

Microsoft Virtual Academy

BONUS Links! (And you thought you were only going to see four downloads here!)

Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview (will convert to RTM version on/after October 18)

Hyper-V Server 2012

Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 Preview (will convert to RTM version on/after October 18)

System Center 2012 R2 Preview (will convert to RTM version on/after October 18)

Enjoy!

Windows Server 2012 R2, the follow up to the hugely successful release of Windows Server 2012 has reached the milestone which we at Microsoft call RTM or “Released to Manufacturing.”   For those of you unfamiliar with this Microsoft terminology, this means that we have received signoff from our beta test customers that Windows Server 2012 R2 is ready to release, we have ceased development on this version, and moved our development efforts to the next release.  It takes a good while to get Microsoft’s partner ecosystem ready for a release, so today’s RTM gives partners a good bit of time to get ready for the General Availability of Windows Server 2012 R2. 

So when is the General Availability (GA in Microsoft-speak) of Windows Server 2012 R2 taking place when I can purchase/download the final released code?  Well I’m glad you asked!  October 18th is the date when Windows Server 2012 R2 will be Generally Available. 

GREAT NEWS!  To get ahead of the many changes coming with Windows Server 2012 R2, you can download a preview copy TODAY of Windows Server 2012 R2 from here.

In the meantime, to help IT Pros get up-to-speed on the many changes that are coming with this release, I encourage you to check out Brad Anderson’s 9-part blog series on “What’s New in 2012 R2.”  The first post in that series can be found here.

Other downloads such as System Center 2012, Microsoft Virtual Academy, and a Windows Azure Free Trial can be found off my download links page at http://aka.ms/FAB4.

Enjoy!

After a summer hiatus, the NYC IT Architects Meetup which doubles as my weekly office hours will resume on September 4th from 9-11 AM in the Microsoft NYC office.  This session, currently focused on Windows Azure, will offer an update on the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) aspects of this fast-moving cloud platform from Microsoft.  This Meetup also allows community members to stay in close contact with the latest changes to this platform as well as keep abreast of the community updates taking place in the NY Metro area for IT Pros and developers alike.  While the room where this session is held does move from time to time, please check the Meetup site for the latest updates.

You can register for the NYC IT Architects Meetup here.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Enjoy!

As you know, Exchange 2013 is a very popular enterprise messaging application used in over 90% of enterprise customers. SharePoint 2013 is also one of the most widely collaboration tools for many enterprises. In the latest avatar of these products, we have exciting new features which allow seamless integration between SharePoint 2013 and Exchange 2013, some of which we have discussed in previous posts.

Kamal Abburi (Exchange PFE) and Sowmyan Soman Chullikkattil (SharePoint PFE) are our Microsoft experts who will be speaking about these Exchange and SharePoint integration features on Thursday, 18^th July 2013. The event is being organized under the aegis of the NJ Unified Communication User Group (NJUCUG), which was co-founded by another PFE, Pragnesh Somaiya.

So if you are in the Iselin, NJ, area on the 18th of July, and have a keen interest to learn more, do sign up for the User Group and thereby register for this event! You’ll be glad you did!

Enjoy!

For additional resources on Windows Azure, see the below list:

• You can sign up for a FREE Windows Azure Trial here
• Get up to speed on Windows Azure at http://aka.ms/AzurePrimer
• Windows Azure PowerShell scripts and IaaS Resources located at http://aka.ms/IaaSSetup

Enjoy!

As I have been getting deeper and deeper into Windows Azure and deploying workloads to Windows Azure, the IT Professionals that I speak with in the community and at local users groups seem to have the same key interest in the ease of deployment of workloads for a lab environment or even test/development of a particular workload.  One such workload that seems to be a perfect fit for overcoming the challenges of creating an inexpensive, fully functional lab environment quickly is SharePoint 2013.  I’ve had literally numerous conversations with colleagues, SharePoint folks and SharePoint Users Group attendees about the ongoing challenge of having a complete SharePoint farm available at their disposal to test a particular feature, get familiar with SharePoint 2013 or similar.  I think a solution is finally here!

For those of you who aren’t aware of this challenge for BOTH IT Pros and Developers alike, you’re probably aware that SharePoint 2013 is a complex, multi-tiered and highly popular platform that offers many different highly-sought-after features and functionality.  Its wonderful that SharePoint is made available to run on your own hardware on-premise or that you can consume many of the SharePoint 2013 features through Office 365.  Both of these options have their challenges which complicate the evaluation and testing of SharePoint 2013.  Running a SharePoint 2013 environment locally requires a fairly large SQL Server environment that is most likely no longer suitable for even the largest 32 GB laptops, and has lots of moving parts that you or your team many not have expertise in running as SharePoint 2013 requires a web front end, SQL back end, access to Active Directory, plus an app tier for any applications or functionality integrated into the SharePoint environment.  OK, so I’ll run it in Office 365, right?  Well that may be the right fit for you, however, keep in mind that the SharePoint Online functionality in Office 365 doesn’t offer the full feature set of SharePoint 2013 (No Business Intelligence, Enterprise Search, etc.) and is generally unable to integrate with many of the 3rd party SharePoint 2013 apps (K2, AvePoint, etc.) that integrate with the base SharePoint 2013 farm.  OK, so now what?  Windows Azure to the rescue! 

As presented at the recent Windows SharePoint Developer Users Group, there are a number of ways to get a FREE or very inexpensive SharePoint 2013 farm created and hosted in Windows Azure, one being a simple install and the other being a PowerShell-enabled automated deployment of an entire SharePoint 2013 farm.  First off, be aware that the entirely FREE version only gets you a limited time (the Windows Azure FREE Trial does expire) and the SharePoint 2013 Trial that is offered as an image pre-setup in Windows Azure is a single server implementation of SharePoint and carries the technical and scale limitations of a single server SharePoint environment.  If this interests, you go ahead and sign up for a Windows Azure FREE Trial and then sign into the Windows Azure Portal located at http://manage.windowsazure.com like at the picture below:

Once in the portal, click on the “+ NEW” in the bottom left hand corner of the screen and choose “COMPUTE” from the left hand column and “VIRTUAL MACHINE” from the center column, and “FROM GALLERY” from the third column as shown in the screen shots below.

The “FROM GALLERY” option opens a window with a list of pre-created Operating System Images, some of which include applications as well, such as what we’re looking for in this case, the “SharePoint 2013 Trial.”

From this point you can continue through the virtual machine wizard to create the single server SharePoint 2013 virtual machine hosted in Windows Azure that you will be able to configure on your own, including being able to use Remote Desktop to get into and manage the virtual machine.

While that’s certainly interesting and cool, its not as cool as the fully automated deployment of SharePoint 2013 that includes the full creation of an entire SharePoint 2013 farm with the associated web front ends, SQL Servers and more.  Now keep in mind that a “fully automated” SharePoint 2013 deployment on Windows Azure will require you to use PowerShell with the associated Windows Azure module for Windows PowerShell as well as configure your machine and the Windows Azure subscription.  Details on how to do this can be found here. 

Once you’ve got this going, the good folks in the Windows Azure product group have made a number of sample scripts and related documentation available for a Single VMs template and a Highly Available template for automating the creation of SharePoint environments in Windows Azure.

The Single VMs template is designed to produce a SharePoint farm for evaluation, development or testing.

• 1 Windows Virtual Machine for Active Directory - Small Instance Size (1 core and 1.75 GB memory)
• 1 SQL Server Virtual Machine - A6 Instance Size (4 cores and 28 GB memory)
• 1 SharePoint Server 2013 Virtual Machine with all Services - Large Instance Size (4 cores and 7 GB memory)

The Highly Available template produces a SharePoint farm configured for high availability. Each tier is in an associated Availability Set. The SQL Server tier is configured with an AlwaysOn Availability Group with the SharePoint databases replicated for high availability.

• 2 Windows Virtual Machines for Active Directory - Instance Size Small (1 core and 1.75 GB memory)
• 2 SQL Server VMs - Instance Size A6 (4 cores and 28 GB memory)
• 1 Windows VM for Quorum - - Small Instance Size (1 core and 1.75 GB memory)
• 2 SharePoint Application Servers - Instance Size Large (4 cores and 7 GB memory)
• 2 SharePoint Web Servers - Instance Size Large (4 cores and 7 GB memory)

Default instance sizes can be adjusted by modifying the configuration files in the \Config\Template directory.

As I mentioned, and as the documentation outlines, these scripts require the installation and use of the Windows Azure module for Windows PowerShell and related configuration to execute these scripts against your Windows Azure subscription. 

One of the fantastic features of Windows Azure is that after you’ve completed the setup of your SharePoint 2013 farm using one of the provided scripts, is that you can literally just turn the virtual machines off in Windows Azure and there is no charge for the virtual machines while they’re not running.  Now keep in mind that if you shut down the virtual machines, you will lose the public virtual IP’s that you were assigned when you first provisioned the environment.  If that’s an issue, you can shut them down and retain their public IP addresses, but the virtual machines will continue to accumulate billing time. 

The initial blog post on this topic authored by Michael Washam from the Windows Azure Product Group is located here.

The sample PowerShell Scripts .ZIP file for for both the Single VMs and Highly Available template can be downloaded from GitHub here.

The documentation on using these PowerShell Scripts is located here. 

To get up-to-speed on Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), you can hit my blog post at http://aka.ms/IaaSSetup.

You can always come back to this blog post via the short URL http://aka.ms/SP2013onAzure or http://aka.ms/SPSNJ.

The Automated Deployment of SharePoint 2013 on Azure Slide deck can be found here.

Enjoy!

Tomorrow night at the NYC Azure Users Group my colleague Jim Priestley (NYC Azure Technology Specialist) will be delivering a chalk talk/live demo on building large server farms in Windows Azure using PowerShell.  Jim will be showing how to use remote PowerShell against Windows Azure and Windows Azure Virtual Machines as well as offer an open Q&A. 

This is a rare opportunity to interact with a true Windows Azure expert who regularly gives architectural guidance on Windows Azure to Fortune 500 customers, as well as who authored the Windows Azure Hybrid Networking with IaaS Whitepaper.

This presentation will be held in the Microsoft office at 1290 Avenue of the Americas, 6th floor.  In order to attend, you need to register at the NYC Azure Users Group website.  This is a don’t-miss event, so REGISTER TODAY.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Enjoy!

This month I have the awesome opportunity to present on Windows Azure IaaS to the NY Enterprise Technology Meetup.  This highly-successful meetup is currently being hosted at the Microsoft midtown Manhattan offices at 1290 Avenue of the Americas on June 12th, 2013.  The NY Enterprise Technology Meetup generally sells out each month and offers a wide range of demos from four different companies including my presentation on Windows Azure IaaS.

Not familiar with Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)?  Get up to speed at http://aka.ms/AzurePrimer. 

You can download this presentation here.

Enjoy!

I will be delivering four more IT Camps that are taking place in the NY Metro area on June 25th (Iselin, NJ) and June 26th (NYC) at the local New Horizons offices.  These half-day sessions will focus on Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and offer a combination of technical presentation and Hands-on-Lab.  The first part of the session will provide an in-depth look at Windows Azure IaaS via presentation and demo, and the second half will allow attendees to use Windows Azure in a Hands-on-Lab setting to get familiar with this leading edge cloud platform. 

NOTE: Attendees are encouraged to bring their own computer to fully participate in the Hands on Lab portion of these sessions

Registration links for these sessions are below for the morning and afternoon sessions.

I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Enjoy! 

The recent Windows Azure for IT Pros webcast series I’ve been delivering contains technical guidance on educating IT Professionals on Windows Azure and how to get familiar with this cloud platform.  For those of you who have attended any of my in-person events, you’ve probably heard me say that Windows Azure is Microsoft’s platform of the future and all of Microsoft’s server products either are or will be supported in Windows Azure.  What this means for you is that getting ahead of this curve and familiar with this platform is a good thing to grow your cloud expertise/architecture, as well as be a great feather in your cap as you continue your career in IT.

So how should you get started with Windows Azure?  Well, you’ve come to the right place.  Here’s a short list of resources that will get you up and running with Windows Azure in no time. 

Windows Azure Resources:

Preparing Your Datacenter for the Cloud presentation

Windows Azure Virtual Machines Detailed Overview

Windows Azure IaaS reaches General Availability blog post

Windows Azure for the IT Pro–VM, Linux support and more blog post

31-part blog series on Windows Azure IaaS features located at http://aka.ms/IaaSSeries

Windows Azure IaaS Webcast series resources located at http://aka.ms/IaaSSetup

Azure Primer for IT Pros – Part 1 (Webcast part 1 PowerPoint Presentation)

Azure Primer for IT Pros – Part 2 (Webcast part 2 PowerPoint Presentation)

Azure Primer for IT Pros – Part 3 (Webcast part 3 PowerPoint Presentation)

Windows Azure Hybrid Networking with IaaS Whitepaper

Windows Azure Training:

You can sign up for the Windows Azure IaaS in person events from the links here

Sign up for Microsoft Virtual Academy for FREE TRAINING on Windows Azure here

You can always return directly to this blog post by going to http://aka.ms/AzurePrimer.   

Enjoy!

As I write this blog post, the current set of upcoming events is focused on the features in Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).  These events contain both presentation and hands-on components where attendees are encouraged to bring their own computer to participate in the hands-on exercises where we walk through setup and configuration of Windows Azure IaaS including but not limited to Windows Server 2012 Virtual Machines, Active Directory, PowerShell management of Windows Azure IaaS resources, virtual networking and much, much more.

You can sign up for the Windows Azure IaaS in person events from the links here.

These events utilize a number of resources to fully leverage your learning experience with Windows Azure including a number of setup and configuration articles, PowerShell scripts, and other resources.  The list of these resources are linked below.

Get Started with Windows Azure Cmdlets

Importscript.ps1

Importscript2.ps1

Exportscript.ps1

Removescript.ps1

Preparing Your Datacenter for the Cloud presentation

Windows Azure Virtual Machines Detailed Overview

Azure Primer for IT Pros – Part 1

Azure Primer for IT Pros – Part 2

Azure Primer for IT Pros – Part 3

You can always return directly to this blog post by going to http://aka.ms/IaaSSetup.  

Enjoy!

Join me for this three-part Webcast series focused on Windows Azure designed to help you understand the true ROI for ‘on-demand’ infrastructure scenarios and walk away with real-world proof of concepts that you can implement in your production environment.  This scenario focuses on using Windows Azure PowerShell for remote Administration of your newly created environment.  This three part series will take place over the course of a 10 day period highlighted by three online events which are outlined below.

You must have a paid subscription to Windows Azure before attending these webcasts. Get one here: http://aka.ms/azurebootcamp.

Please NOTE: Windows Azure service fees will be charged to your account during the ~10 day period these VMs will be active. This gives you the advantage of quickly analyzing the real costs associated with the scenarios, and enables you take with you the work you complete during this exercise.  We estimate the fees incurred to be within $50-$75 total.

Part 1: Create Virtual Machines and use PowerShell for remote administration
In Part 1, we will create two new virtual machines in Windows Azure, add the Active Directory feature set to one of them, setup networking, and enable the PowerShell capabilities to enable remote administration of this newly created environment.  We will also demonstrate the steps of uploading a virtual machine Windows Azure via PowerShell to give attendees an overview of what will take place in part 2.

Part 2: Configuration and Troubleshooting Support with Q&A
In Part 2, we will leverage the feature set of Windows Azure PowerShell and have attendees walk through the steps of uploading either a virtual machine or image to Windows Azure via PowerShell.  We will discuss these features in detail, share PowerShell scripts, clarify pricing, and learn many of the new ways that you can utilize Windows Azure to become more productive.

Part 3: De-provisioning the Virtual Machines and Reviewing Cost Analysis
In Part 3, we will de-provision the virtual machines created in Windows Azure and review the cost analysis so that you walk away with a clear understanding on the costs and ROI of the various scenarios and live, ‘production’ proof of concepts.

REGISTRATION: http://www.microsoft.com/click/services/Redirect2.ashx?CR_CC=200226731&CR_EAC=300095220

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Enjoy!

My colleague Jim Priestley recently helped author an incredible whitepaper on Windows Azure Hybrid networking that is an absolutely must read.  This whitepaper gives you detailed insight into leveraging many of the features of Windows Azure IaaS including most notably the hybrid networking functionality which extends your existing infrastructure to Windows Azure.  Highlights of the document includes step-by-step guidance on setting up a hybrid network, leveraging PowerShell to manage Windows Azure, and much, much more.  The whitepaper also includes a number of detailed checklist on running various workshops on Windows Azure. You can download the document here.

More Windows Azure Resources
Get your Windows Azure account here.
Learn more about the Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service features at http://aka.ms/IaaSSeries
Feel free to share this post or come back anytime by using http://aka.ms/AzureHybridCloudWP

Enjoy!

Windows Azure events focused on the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) features of Windows Azure have just been announced, with two events scheduled to be held in the Microsoft NYC office in the coming weeks.  See the schedule below for details and a link to the registration site.

These events will include both presentation and demo on Windows Azure as well as hands-on-labs covering a number of scenarios for IT Pros.  Planned scenarios include creating VMs in Windows Azure, virtual networking, using PowerShell to manage and maintain Windows Azure, uploading VMs and/or images to Windows Azure, PowerShell deployments with Windows Azure, a cost analysis of the VMs we’ll create, and much more.  We will be bringing up a number of VMs in Windows Azure in a pay-as-you-go account and run them for ~10 days which will give attendees an idea of the costs associated with running the VMs in the cloud.

These in-person events will also include two additional follow up events that will take place online.  In these follow up online events, the first one will take place shortly after the in-person event to check-in on the VMs we created in Windows Azure the day of the in-person event.  The second and final follow-up online event will take place ~10 days after the date of the in-person event to de-provision the VMs and cap the cost in the ~$50-$75 range.

Prerequisites: You must have a subscription to Windows Azure before arriving to the event. Get one here: http://aka.ms/azurebootcamp

Please NOTE: Windows Azure service fees will be charged to your account during the ~10 day period these VMs will be active. This gives you the advantage of quickly analyzing the real costs associated with the scenarios, and enables you take with you the work you complete during this exercise.  We estimate the fees incurred to be within $50-$75 total. 

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Enjoy!

The latest round of IT Pro Events has been officially announced and these events will focus on Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) functionality and include both online and in-person events in the coming weeks.  These sessions will get IT Pros up to speed on Windows Azure IaaS functionality and the online events will include four Series on different topics.

The first online event is taking place this coming Wednesday, May 8th, details of the event are below:

Windows Azure Infrastructure Services (IaaS) for IT Professionals

Join us for Four Series of interactive weekly Webcasts designed to help you understand the true ROI for ‘on-demand’ infrastructure scenarios and walk away with real-world proof of concepts that you can implement in your production environment.

Series 1: Building Virtual Machines in the New Microsoft Cloud: From Deployment to Cost Analysis

In Series 1, you will walk through building networked servers on the Windows Azureâ„¢ platform. No physical servers or licenses are required, just a PC with a web browser. Through this online hands-on series we will create a “Pay-As-You-Go” account, three virtual machines, and the networking required to link the two machines together.  We will network a web server with a file server, authenticate through an AD controller, and configure the three servers in a working scenario.  We will discuss each area of the portal, clarify pricing, and learn many of the new ways that you can utilize Windows Azure to become more productive.  You will walk away with a clear understanding on the costs and ROI of the various scenarios and live, ‘production’ proof of concepts.

Part 1: Creating the Virtual Machines and Active Directory - Wed, May 8th, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm Eastern Time – Webcast Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/join?id=JC92SP&role=attend&pw=C%29%7E%7E_m%2C%3C6

Prerequisites: You must have a subscription to Windows Azure before arriving to the event. Get one here: http://aka.ms/azurebootcamp

Please NOTE: Windows Azure service fees will be charged to your account during your proof of concept experience. This gives you the advantage of quickly analyzing the real costs associated with the scenarios, and enables you take with you the live proof of concepts.  We estimate the fees incurred to be within $50-$75 dollars total.

Recommended:  It is recommended that participants have 2 monitors available.  One for viewing the live walk-through, and one for configuring your own Azure experience.

After several hours of coming up with a concept, working with my colleague Maria Naggaga, and using templates created by my colleague Jim O’Neil for Scirra’s Construct 2, my first Windows 8 App is now available in the Windows 8 Store.  Squish-a-Fruit is a family game for all ages where the goal is to squish as many pieces of fruit as you can.  Now be careful, the game’s over once you miss three pieces of fruit, and I’ve also found it to be a bit addictive…  Feel free to download it here, its FREE.

There’s lots to share about this entire process, beginning with the fact that most of you know I’m an IT Pro, not a developer.  Sure, I could write bad code on some antiquated and obsolete programming languages I used years ago, but they wouldn’t get me very far to developing a modern HTML5 game like Squish-a-Fruit.  Scirra’s Construct 2 is a fantastic tool to do just that and my colleague Jim O’Neil had created a number of templates and starter kits to help us non-developer types put together a game in just a few short hours.  You can find a blog post he did with a link to those templates here.  After I discovered this, I approached my colleague in New York, Maria Naggaga to help me with some pointers on Construct 2, understand what I needed to modify in the template, and how to submit the app, once created, to the Windows 8 store.  After several hours of going through coming up with the concept and modifying the template, the app was done.  I then created a Windows 8 Developer account on http://dev.windows.com, setup the account and the release of the app, and then submitted to the store.  This was a lot of fun and I wouldn’t be surprised if I did another one soon.

Enjoy!

Today marks the next major release of Windows Azure, the General Availability (GA) of the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering where customers can host virtual machines in the Windows Azure Cloud.  Also included in today’s GA is the Virtual Networking component of Windows Azure that lets you extend your existing network to Windows Azure. 

For the many of you who have recently attended one of my IT Camp or IT Lab events and chose to run the Windows Azure IaaS Lab, you are now ahead of the game and ready for what this dynamic cloud service has to offer. 

Not familiar with Windows Azure? (or thought it was only for developers…)  Check out the Windows Azure IaaS Series at http://aka.ms/IaaSSeries.  This 31-day series was written by myself and my peer IT Pro Evangelists and gives the reader a wealth of information on the many capabilities of Windows Azure IaaS.

Interested in trying out Windows Azure?  Sign up for a FREE 90-Day Trial today!

The full details of today’s announcements can be found on Scott Guthrie’s Blog at http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2013/04/16/windows-azure-general-availability-of-infrastructure-as-a-service-iaas.aspx 

For those of you who haven’t seen the email to those of us who are already Windows Azure customers, the contents of the email can be found below.

Enjoy!