Tech Ed 2007 (Orlando): Day 3 Recap
Day 3 of Tech Ed 2007 is now officially over and I need to get to bed so I can get up early tomorrow for an 8 AM start time.
Here's my recap of Day 3:
I started the morning with my Triple Venti, No Whip, No Foam Mocha from Starbucks (who would have guessed, right?)
My first session of the day was Windows Powershell scripting for Exchange Server 2007. I figured it couldn't hurt to get as much as possible on Powershell tips and tricks as it relates to Exchange Server 2007. Evan Dodds did a great job of showcasing different commands in the Exchange Management Shell. I liked how he showed different individual tasks and then combined them into one "big" task or sequence. I thought he also did a great job explaining how to use variables and functions to simplify repetitive tasks. I can see that we (Microsoft) needs to provide more in-depth training on the use of Powershell in general as this is definitely the trend we are moving towards (just look at the Virtual Machine Management tool).
My second session of the day was Top 10 Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering Enhancements over Windows Server 2003. This definitely had some very interesting pieces of information regarding the new options available in Windows Server 2008 Clustering. I was glad to hear that the setup process has been simplified down to 10 clicks. Also, the fact that NetBios is no longer required on the host node is a welcome enhancement. There are more of course, but I don't feel like listing them all here - :-).
Lunch today was actually pretty darn good (for the most part). As usual, there was salad and vegetables. My favorite dish was the braised boneless short ribs. These pieces of meat were very tender, juicy and tasty. I didn't even need a knife as they were so tender. I think this was one of the better lunches I've had this week!
The last session I attended today was the one right after lunch on Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager. I definitely see potential for this product to easily manage Virtual Machines in an enterprise environment. I like the ability to have templates that I can use to easily and quickly provision new Virtual Machines. I also like the delegation ability to provide non-administrative users the ability to manage existing VMs or even provision new VMs. I can't wait to get my hands on this so I can test it!
After these sessions, I ended up working booth duty until 7 PM today. During the slow periods, I also did some video interviews of some Program Managers with the Exchange Product Group as well as the Office Communications Server Product Group. I hope to have these edited and ready to post to the Exchange and OCS Team Blogs as soon as possible.
As usual, there were a slew of parties taking place tonight. I considered doing the party hopping thing, but in the end, I just stuck with the Influencer party that took place at Margaritaville at the Universal City Walk. The food wasn't too bad and the Diet Coke was good too. We left at about 10:15 PM and I started working on the editing of the interviews.
Well, that's it for now. I gotta get to bed or I'll definitely fall asleep during the sessions tomorrow morning!
Harold Wong
harold.wong@microsoft.com