Brad Bird at myITforum.com

Private Cloud Boot Camp in Ottawa!

2012-05-03T15:30:44Z

Private Cloud Boot Camp Brought to you by Do you keep hearing the term Private Cloud wherever you go? Are you curious to understand how you can enable Private Cloud in your organization? Curious to understand how System Center 2012 can be used to enable self-service for you organization while allowing you to maintain control of the environment? Want to understand how to manage all of your virtualization hosts from a single toolset? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, you need to...(read more)

Local Microsoft Professionals Panel: Windows 8 and Server 2012 Futures

2012-05-01T01:55:33Z

As in previous years, we like to have our May event as a Microsoft panel. This year, I have reached out to Microsoft to engage with some different professionals. The panel will feature an introduction of these professionals along with what they do at Microsoft and an idea of their day to day tasks. The panel will be informal Question and Answer style. Also featured will be Windows 8 and/or Server 2012 Futures. We will see an informal presentation on these from our professionals as well. So far, in...(read more)

OWSUG April Event – Bitlocker in the Enterprise

2012-04-12T20:17:58Z

Bitlocking your entire fleet of computers can be a bit daunting and if you lose the keys to the drive it can be disastrous. Take away the pain points of managing the encryption keys and bitlocker with Microsoft Bitlocker Administration and Monitoring. In this session, we will cover off topology design, server configuration, server deployment, SQL Server database configuration, registry tweaks and client deployment. About Todd Todd is a Data Centre Administrator for the Upper Canada School Board....(read more)

Let STEP know how they did!

2012-03-23T12:33:36Z

Did you enjoy last night’s presentation? Was it effective? Let STEP know how they did, fill out a SHORT survey here: http://tinyurl.com/STEP423 Best, Brad Bird OWSUG President...(read more)

Getting Started with Cloud Computing

2012-03-21T17:33:47Z

You’ve likely heard about how Office 365 and Windows Intune are great applications to get you started with Cloud Computing. Many of you emailed me asking for more info on what Cloud Computing is, including the distinction between "Public Cloud" and "Private Cloud". I want to address these questions and help you get started. Let's begin with a brief set of definitions and some places to find more info; however, an excellent place where you can always learn more about Cloud...(read more)

It’s About You: Tell Microsoft How They’re Doing!

2012-03-21T17:31:00Z

Every fall and spring, a survey goes out to a few hundred thousand IT folk in Canada asking what they think of Microsoft as a company. The information they get from this survey helps them understand what problems and issues you’re facing and how they can do better. The team at Microsoft Canada takes the input they get from this survey very seriously. Now I don’t know who of you will get the survey and who won’t but if you do find an email in your inbox from "Microsoft Feedback” with an email...(read more)

Need help with software licensing? Read on…

2012-03-21T17:26:32Z

Figuring out which software licensing options best suit your needs while being cost-effective can be confusing. Some businesses end up making their purchases through retail stores which means they miss out on volume licensing opportunities and others may unknowingly be using unlicensed software which means their business may be at risk. So let me help you make the best decision for your situation. You may want to review this blog post that lays out licensing basics for any organization that needs...(read more)

OWSUG March Session - STEP event: Architecting and Supporting the Back-End Infrastructure for the Consumerization of IT

2012-03-08T00:59:04Z

Architecting and Supporting the Back-End Infrastructure for the Consumerization of IT This two-hour session will show you how to plan for, build, and manage your VDI environment on Microsoft’s Hyper-V, using Citrix’s Xen Desktop and System Center Virtual Machine Manager to manage it, including creating templates, easy provisioning, and improving the end-user experience. Come see how you can make your life easier while giving the end user what they want in a safe and secure way! Register for...(read more)

Having trouble Keeping Track of Current SQL Builds or Cumulative Updates?

2012-03-07T14:46:18Z

I work with System Center Products all the time and these ALL rely on SQL Server as the back end database server. One issue that comes up ALOT is keeping SQL current and patched. For those unaware, SQL like IIS, like Windows or any other application must be kept current and patched both from a security and operational perspective to keep your infrastructure running optimally. Typically, I haven’t found a single source which lists current builds so I usually search it out and through back and...(read more)

TechNet Wiki is NOT Dead! Windows 8 Test lab guides now published

2012-03-01T18:47:27Z

I love Test lab Guide guidance. Never heard of it? Haven’t tried it? Have a look here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/7807.windows-server-8-beta-test-lab-guides.aspx...(read more)

Holy Smokes, there is ALOT going on in the Ottawa IT PRO Community–Check it out!

2012-02-13T19:02:00Z

That is an understatement… At OWSUG here is what is going on at the moment: This Thursday Feb 16, there is a Lync Server 2010 presentation being offered at our regular monthly event. See below: http://www.eventbrite.ca/event/2907254677 On Friday Feb 17 AND on Saturday Feb 18, there are Virtualization Boot Camps happening. The event is given twice. See below: http://www.eventbrite.ca/event/2892520607 On Sunday Feb 19, we are starting our virtualization study group, see below: http...(read more)

OWSUG February Event: Lync Server 2010 - One year after unleashing the LYNCs

2012-02-05T23:47:00Z

David Marks shares his experiences from the past year with his project to introduce Microsoft Lync Server 2010 at one Government of Canada department. A demonstration of the tools available for the planning and deployment of a Microsoft Lync environment as well as a Lync online meeting will also be given using the virtual environment David created to learn about this product. Register for this event here: http://www.eventbrite.ca/event/2907254677 Bio: David Marks is an information technology team...(read more)

OWSUG and Microsoft sponsored IT Virtualization Boot Camp in Ottawa

2012-02-02T19:49:59Z

These events are live and they’re HOT. 40 seats per event but they’re not free. The event cost is $25/person and registration is NOT optional. 40 seats is a HARD limit because that is the number of computers. Payments are collected via Paypal. Please register below. I hope to see you there! http://www.eventbrite.ca/event/2892520607 Regards, Brad Bird President OWSUG...(read more)

STEP Event from January OWSUG meeting Deploying Windows 7 for Enterprises of ANY size–Still waiting?

2012-01-31T03:18:10Z

This presentation was popular and very well received. Members asked me to post the slides so here they are! Right Click link and Choose Save As to download Windows 7 for Enterprises of ANY size–Still waiting?...(read more)

Weird Bug/Limitation in the SCOM 2007 R2 Maintenance Mode Scheduler from the Administration Toolkit

2011-11-21T20:34:39Z

I have been fighting with the maintenance mode scheduler for a fair bit of time at this customer of mine. They have a significant challenge. They have pods of web and DB servers with F5 load balancers which they rotate on a schedule to synchronize their content. There are 6 of these pods. Here is an example of the scheduler: The limitation/bug I have discovered is when you attempt to add more than 6 objects… The scheduler will actually let you complete the form by picking a category...(read more)