Foundations for Windows Administration
Never be afraid to go "back to basics," even if you're an experienced administrator! Our "fundamentals" track is designed to teach and refresh the critical, core skills that make Windows administration possible - and more efficient. You'll work with real-world experts to learn practical tips that have immediate application in any production environment, and you'll learn (or remember) the underlying technologies and techniques that give any administrator a "leg up" when solving tricky administrative challenges.
MONDAY, March 31
TF3
Windows PowerShell Fundamentals
Don Jones10:15 a.m.
Learn the basic skills that you'll need to use Windows PowerShell for any kind of administration — Windows, Exchange, System Center, VMWare, Citrix, and more. PowerShell MVP and expert Don Jones introduces you to PowerShell, why Microsoft made it, how it works, and how to use it. You'll see the core cmdlets ("command-lets") used for ANY kind of PowerShell-based administration, and you'll even get a quick peek at PowerShell's scripting language.
TF8
Fundamentals of Failover and Load Balancing Clusters
Bruce Mackenzie-Low11:45 a.m.
In today’s business environment, downtime equals lost productivity and revenue. To guard against a single point of failure, Microsoft has embraced several clustering technologies. This session will cover the fundamental principles of Failover and Network Load Balancing clusters. Start from the beginning with the basic principles of clusters and what applications are best suited for which clustering technology. Learn tips and tricks for installing, configuring and maintaining clusters including a glimpse of Windows 2008 Failover clusters. This session is for anyone currently using or planning to use Microsoft clustering technologies. From basic file & print server clusters, to highly complex SQL, Exchange or IIS clusters, you won’t want to miss this informative clustering session.
TF13
Active Directory Fundamentals
Bruce Rougeau3:00 p.m.
It is impossible to be a great system administrator without a thorough knowledge of Active Directory. This session will begin by introducing all the key buzz words for Active Directory and explores the options for building an AD infrastructure. Then we’ll cover all the ways to install domain controllers and add users via the GUI, LDIFDE, CSVDE, and vbscript. This session will not be complete without a complete understanding of all the variety of groups and the different combinations for effectively using groups to manage permissions in a complex environment.
TF18
Active Directory: Group Policy Fundamentals
Derek Melber4:30 p.m.
So you want to use Group Policy? Well, before you go to far, come listen to Derek Melber, MVP in Group Policy, talk about the fundamentals of Group Policy. Here, you will learn about how GPOs are created, their structure, inheritance, filtering, searching, and the amazingly powerful targeting.
TUESDAY, April 1
TF23
Terminal Services Fundamentals
Bruce Rougeau10:15 a.m.
Terminal Services-style computing is one of the greatest things since sliced bread. Whether it is Citrix Remote Desktop or Microsoft Terminal Services, the architecture and building blocks are the same. This session will explore all the components of a thin client computing environment and how to make the most of it. Licensing will be covered for the Windows 2000 vs. 2003 Terminal Services servers, as well as how to configure access. Last but not least, we will look at Terminal Services manager, GPOs, and Terminal Services configuration tools and show how these tools can let you know what is going on in your environment.
TF28
System Recovery: The Good, the Bad, the Lifesaving
Bruce Rougeau11:45 a.m
How would you fix a server that will not boot due to a corrupted registry? If you haven’t encountered this, chances are you will — and probably soon. The old saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is just as true for servers as it is for medicine.
We will teach you that prevention, first by talking about the variety of techniques and settings for backing up various types of servers. Then we will explore the various restore techniques including Safe Mode, Recover Console, ASR and Restoring an OS from NTbackup. Next, we will explore the benefits of Exploring a system state backup by restoring it to an alternate location. This session will conclude by looking at the Recovery options for Vista.
TF33
IIS 7.0 Fundamentals
Bruce Rougeau3:00 p.m.
Every IT professional should know how to build a Web server and create a Web application using Windows Server. But even if you thought you knew it all, Microsoft has significantly changed the IIS architecture, which now deserves a complete review. We will show how the base install of IIS has increased security by limiting functionality out of the box, and how to add functionality by enabling Active-X and Webdav. Then we will take this knowledge and install WSUS and show how the architecture of IIS provides power to the Microsoft patching solution. Then we will explore the new look and features and configuration of IIS 7.0.
TF38
Learn to Subnet in Your Head in 60 Minutes
Todd Lammle4:30 p.m.
No one believes me when I tell them that I can teach just a few simple memorization techniques and have you subnetting difficult IPv4 mask with ease in a matter of seconds. It’s true! Like working out at the gym to get in shape, I can teach you the simple exercises to master this skill. Come to this session and learn to subnet in a matter of seconds, with ease, and just a tad of math. Amaze yourself and impress your co-workers and friends with your new found skill!
WEDNESDAY, April 2
TF43
Become a Disk Management Guru with Vista and Server 2008
Rhonda Layfield9:00 a.m.
Get the skinny on storage for both Vista and Server 2008 in one session. Rhonda Layfield, a 25 + year veteran in the IT industry, will cover basic / dynamic disks and how to convert from basic to dynamic, and Master Boot Records (MBR) vs. GUID Partition Tables (GPT). Learn how to control the amount of data each user is allowed to store on your server via Disk Quotas and the type of data by implementing File Server Resource Manager (FSRM). Fault tolerance is always at the top of the list when it comes to storing data. Rhonda will walk you through each RAID option. Last but not least — Volume Shadow Copies allow your users to revive their own deleted files or previous versions of files that have been modified. This session is heavily demo driven.
TF48
Group Policy Preferences — Vista's LUA Fix and Logon Script Eliminator
Derek Melber10:30 a.m.
With Windows Server 2008 and Vista, Microsoft has introduced an amazing new technology — Group Policy Preferences. These Preferences include around 3,000 GPO settings that give you ultimate control over your Windows environment. Come see how you can implement LUA and get rid of that pesky logon script with just a few clicks!
TF53
Logon Scripting Fundamentals
Jeff Hicks12:00 p.m.
Do you have logon scripts for your users? Do you still need them? Do they do what you want them to do? What good are logon scripts anyway? IT veteran and Microsoft MVP Jeffery Hicks answers all of these questions. You'll learn the best way to leverage logon scripts and integrate them into Group Policy. You'll also see how to create logon scripts with no scripting required. In fact, no scripting experience is required at all for this session.
TF58
Kerberos Fundamentals: How Windows Logon Works
Don Jones3:00 p.m.
Ever wonder what happens under the hood when you log on. Ever want to actually SEE Kerberos, the Windows authentication protocol, in action? Learn how Kerberos helps to distribute the load of authentication processing, keep Windows systems secure, and more - and learn the little "gotchas" that can keep Kerberos from working smoothly in your environment.
TF63
What’s New in Vista/Server 2008 Administration
Mark Minasi4:30 p.m.
The latest desktop and server versions of Windows bring a host of new administrative tools, from new Group Policy settings to better system performance monitoring to vastly improved scheduling tools and more. Join Windows expert Mark Minasi in an in-depth look at Vista and 2008’s new admin goodies — including a few items that you won’t see covered anywhere else!
