Summary: some details about my MMS presentations as webinars, and related notes.
One of the pleasures of working here at Microsoft is that I not only get to present at conferences and directly to customers but also in webcasts. I did two this morning based on my MMS presentations and they will be available soon. I'll update the blog with those details but in the meantime you can watch for them at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb687780.aspx
In the client health presentation I referred to Brian Huneycutt's great recent posting on the WMI troubleshooting techniques. However I didn't realize he spells his last name with a "u". So here's that link: http://blogs.technet.com/configmgrteam/archive/2009/05/08/wmi-troubleshooting-tips.aspx
A few people pointed out that they couldn't see a way to find the attached ZIP file to yesterday's post. Those files are also the downloads for today's webcasts. It's true that if you go to the blog home page it's not visible. You should open the blog entry itself and then scroll to the bottom. So that's at http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/pthomsen/archive/2009/05/11/136303.aspx. Then you should see a link like so:
I also referred to one of my coworker's, Mark Seely's, blog on local policies: http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/mseely/. It's lite on content at the moment but he promises to add more soon, including some today.
Finally, in converting the MMS presentation to the LiveMeeting format I see that one of my favorite slides got dropped. In particular, the one that lists community and partner solutions. You can find its content in this blog but for ease of reference, here it is:
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Computer startup scripts
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Remote remediation scripts/tools
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Collection-based targeting
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Partners: 1E, Adaptiva – 1E.com and Adaptiva.com
Summary: the recovery period is over, so it's time to get serious again. Here's some conference notes and the the sample scripts/queries from my presentations.
Have you recovered from MMS (assuming you were there this year)? It always takes awhile to get unpacked, catch up on work, catch up on household duties, and psychologically unwind. I'm now there, but still inspired! Given the ConfigMgr v.Next directions I'll finally get serious about SQL Server Reporting Services and get more familiar with SQL Server replication. That will eventually make for some good blog posts (I hope).
The conference is always intense for me, with full days from early Sunday afternoon to Friday afternoon. Up by 7AM each day for the breakfasts and keynotes and to bed no earlier than midnight (4AM Wednesday, but that's another story...). Great conversations throughout, and many of them are on unexpected topics. I chatted with a guy from Intel at breakfast and he got me enthused about AMT/vPro. Another fellow at a lunch managed datacenter servers but I loved it when he said "I cry like a little girl when I have a problem that I can't solve with PowerShell and have to use vbScript". That's a guy that loves PowerShell, and so maybe I should give it another chance (you may know I'm a vbScript fan). I met a dedicated client health administrator from a large organization at one of the big parties (and later at my presentation) and I'm sure we'll have some ongiong serious conversations. So many great memories, conversations, and relationships...
That actually leads to a good point (though you've probably heard it already). Apparently there's some possibility of merging MMS with TechEd. No doubt there's pro's and con's to that idea, so get out and voice your opinion: http://www.myitforum.com/absolutepm/polls/mms-teched.asp.
The evaluations for my presentations were around the average for the conference, with the client health presentation a little above and the local policies presentation a little below. Some people loved each and some were not so pleased, which is typical. My aim is always to please as many people as possible but it is tricky (as you can probably imagine). The scores weren't as good as I usually get and not as good as I would like, but they give ideas for improvement. Hopefully I'll be able to demonstrate that next year. Both did better than similar presentations done in past years.
In any case, if you attended the presentations (or see them in future forms), the attached file has the local policy sample scripts and the client health queries. [To see the attached file click on the title of this posting to open it as a seperate page (as opposed to the home page of the blog) and you'll find the link near the end]. The files should be available on the conference CommNet (I didn't have a chance to check) and the DVD, but if all else fails you have this option.
p.s. I have to post the pictures of the conference bags (one for speakers and one for everyone).