If you only attended the sessions given by myITforum.com members at MMS 2008, you'd glean a huge amount of valuable information from MMS this year.
Here's the full list of myITforum'ers at MMS 2008.
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Community Track
SU31 Microsoft Management Communities
200 Dave Morehouse; Rod Trent; Ron Crumbaker; Terri Worley
Titian 2201B Tue 4/29 4:00p - 5:15p
During this session, find out what Microsoft is doing to improve the IT
experience by promoting and participating in online and offline
communities. Learn about the Microsoft MVP program, meet your
MVPs attending this year's MMS event, and find the best ways to
leverage the Microsoft communities to enhance your job and your
career. Rod Trent and Ron Crumbaker of myITforum.com will be
demonstrating how valuable the myITforum site is to the System
Management space and how this online community is more than just a
web site.
SU32 Ask the Experts Panel
200 Rod Trent
Titian 2201B Wed 4/30 4:00p - 5:15p
This session continues to be one of the most popular at MMS each
year, where you can ask a panel of industry experts your burning
systems management questions. As in previous year’s, any and all
questions are acceptable, as you try to stump the carefully crafted
expert panel. Get help with your biggest technical issues back home or
find out more about upcoming product releases. Rod Trent, owner of
myITforum.com, the largest internet systems management community,
will moderate the session.
SU33 Conquering the Summit - A Freshman
Orientation
100 Warren Byle
Titian 2201B Mon 4/28 4:30p - 5:45p
If this is your first time attending the Microsoft Management Summit,
then you don't want to miss this session! You'll learn priceless tips and
tricks to maximize your investment in MMS. We'll give you the inside
scoop on all the sessions, labs and Expo vendors. If that's not enough,
we'll get you networked with other attendees or alumni from your
area. Finally, we'll answer all your questions so that you have
everything you need to conquer the Summit!
Microsoft IT Track
SI21 Advances in SMS 2003 and Configuration
Manager 2007 Client Health Management
300 Paul Thomsen
Veronese 2401B Tue 4/29 11:45a - 1:00p
SMS and Configuration Manager client health management is
becoming increasingly important, leading to a variety of new solutions
and insights developed within Microsoft's IT organization. Paul
Thomsen has been focused on this area for some time and has applied
most of the techniques in various hierarchies, including Microsoft's
own 300,000 client environment. He will share his findings, including
technical tricks, statistics, script samples and reporting queries. You can
then analyze your own environment to understand and correct your
client health challenges.
SI22 Going Big with System Center Configuration
Manager 2007
300 Paul Thomsen
Veronese 2401B Fri 5/2 10:00a - 11:15a
Paul Thomsen was initimately involved with Microsoft IT's deployment
and use of Configuration Manager (including SP1/R2), now on
managing more than 250,000 clients. This included use of the full range
of Configuration Manager's features, including software update
management, desired configuration management, internet-based
computer management, network access protection and the new site
roles and client deployment methods. He shares the team's insights
and gives best practices for maximizing your success with Configuration
Manager on any scale.
Client Management Track
SC31 Building the Perfect Master Image
Thursday, May 1 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM, Bellini 2001B
Speaker(s): Johan Arwidmark
Track(s): Client Management Technologies
Session Type(s): Breakout
Products(s): Solution Accelerators, Windows Client
This session provides you with tips & tricks on how to create the perfect master image of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. It covers techniques for creating hardware independent images and device driver handling. As a foundation for creating the master images, the Microsoft Deployment Solution Accelerator will be used. You can expect lots of live demos in this session.
Agenda:
The base foundation: the distribution share Using the Lite Touch structure from Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 Configuring the answer files (Unattend.xml, Unattend.txt and Sysprep.inf) Adding mass storage and other device drivers Adding post-configuration applications, scripts and actions Sysprep Internals Working with different HAL types Installing Mass Storage Device drivers Hardware detection and injecting drivers at deployment time Troubleshooting images
SC32 The top 5 things you have to know when migrating User State with USMT 3.0
Friday, May 2 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM, Veronese 2401B
Speaker(s): Johan Arwidmark
Track(s): Client Management Technologies
Session Type(s): Breakout
Products(s): Solution Accelerators, Windows Client, Windows Deployment
Can you afford not to migrate User State during a deployment? Learn how to master USMT 3.0 to transfer User State and Data as part of the deployment process. Automate the process for Lite Touch, Zero Touch installation processes using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 and SCCM 2007. You can expect lots of tips & tricks and live demos in this session.
Agenda:
Why migrate? Can you afford not to Migrate USMT Features, Scenarios and Requirements USMT 3.0.1 Features - Usage Scenarios System Requirements Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 Integration How USMT maps in to the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 structure Configure rules for USMT Customizing USMT templates Adding support for additional applications and data Troubleshooting Common Issues Scanstate and Loadstate Logs
Operations Management Track
SO05 Operations Manager 2007: Audit Collection
Services
300 Joseph Chan; Rory McCaw
Titian 2201B Thu 5/1 2:30p - 3:45p
One of the most difficult steps in implementing compliance solutions is
the gathering of security audit data from across a distributed
environment. System Center Operations Manager 2007 helps in the
process of gathering audit data from Windows systems through a
feature called Audit Collection Services (ACS). Join us to learn how ACS
collects, consolidates, and reports on Windows security log data in realtime
with an extensible infrastructure designed to support enterprise
compliance solutions.
SO31 Why move to Operations Manager 2007?
200 Cameron Fuller
Lido 3001A Thu 5/1 10:15a - 11:30a
You have MOM 2005 installed and running in your environment - so
why would you want to move to Operations Manager 2007? Even if
you don't have MOM 2005 installed are you considering deploying
MOM 2005 or Operations Manager 2007? This session is designed to
explain the differences between these products, digging into specific
areas of improvement where OpsMgr 2007 does better than MOM
2005.
SO32 Extending Operations Manager 2007
200 Cameron Fuller
Titian 2201B Tue 4/29 10:15a - 11:30a
The focus of this session is to discuss options available to extend out of
the box functionality in Operations Manager 2007. Discussions will
encompass third party functionality available, publicly downloadable
Operations Manager extensions, and will provide an overview of
options available to create Management Packs for Operations
Manager.
SO33 SharePoint 2007 Scorecarding with Operations
Manager 2007
300 Gordon McKenna
Titian 2201B Fri 5/2 11:30a - 12:45p
In this session you will learn how to create CIO scorecards in SharePoint
2007 for Operations Manager 2007 using SQL 2005 Reporting Services
and other technologies such as Dundas (soon to be featured in SQL
Server 2008). The session will look at why these types of views are
important within many companies, what impact this can have on your
business, and what simple steps you can take to achieve very effective,
high-level executive views of performance and availability of your key
LOB services and applications. The scorecards can show whether
important KPI's are being achieved and whether your IT department is
meeting the day to day needs of the business. The key demos in this
session will take you through the steps needed to implement effective
business scorecarding in Sharepoint 2007 using metrics collected in the
Operations Manager 2007 Datawarehouse based on "real-world"
experiences gained inthe field. After attending this presentation you
will have a good insight into how CIO Scorecards can really help add
value to Operations Manager deployments, providing real value to IT
executives.
Server Management Technologies Track
SE31 Using, Troubleshooting and Customizing the
Security Configuration Wizard
200 Greg Shields
Bellini 2105 Thu 5/1 11:45a - 1:00p
SANS reports an average of 7 minutes between attacks on Internetfacing
servers. This means that within 7 minutes another bad guy will
attempt to hack your network. Under this constant stress, you've gotta'
be smart about how you secure your servers. A component of Server
2003 and Server 2008 - get smart with the Security Configuration
Wizard (SCW). This comprehensive but complicated tool can help take
the guesswork out of this task. In this broad and very deep session we'll
discuss how to properly use the SCW and delve deep into its
customizable XML back-end. You'll take away the code you need to
protect all your network assets.
Security Track
MMS Session SS03 Manage Your Environment Using Microsoft Forefront Integration Kit for Network Access Protection through FCS to SCCM Integration
Make sure you stop by Titian 2201B at 10:15 on Thursday to watch me attempt to keep from looking like a deer in the headlights while I present the document I wrote on integrating Forefront Client Security (FCS) and ConfigMgr. I look forward to the opportunity to show off the documentation that I mentioned in an earlier blog post. I have gotten some pretty good feedback on the document and nobody has complained that it set their datacenter on fire (phew!) but MMS is a tough crowd from a technical perspective.
Kevin Kolby
Systems Management Track
SY23 How do they do that?!? The most efficient,
effective configuration management
operations found in the field.
200 Michael Schultz
Titian 2201B Tue 4/29 2:15p - 3:30p
This session covers the best processes and procedures identified over
several years relating to enterprise configuration management. This
analysis includes the makeup of teams, team roles, interactions,
responsibilities, service level agreements, tools, requirements, and
much more. You will be surprised at how quickly and effectively others
have been able to set up a team, complete a deployment and get the
job done.
SY31 Demystifying the Configuration Manager SQL
Database
300 Greg Shields
Veronese 2401B Mon 4/28 3:00p - 4:15p
SCCM 2007 is a powerful management tool that sits atop a powerful
database. While SCCM’s administrative consoles are great for many
tasks, there is great power in understanding the SQL that stores its
data. Queries return faster. Reports and Collections are easier to
create. In this deeply technical and hugely popular session, we’ll shine
a bright light on SCCM’s SQL database. You’ll learn how to relate what
you see in the console to what you see in the database. You’ll discover
how to translate between SMS’s internal WQL to native SQL. And
you’ll leave with the knowledge you need to create your own queries
outside the console and create your own tools using SCCM’s SQL data.
SY32 System Center Configuration Manager 2007
Client Troubleshooting
300 Angie Stahl
Bellini 2001B Fri 5/2 8:30a - 9:45a
Now that you have that shiny new SCCM 2007 infrastructure, let's talk
about client troubleshooting! This session is a deep dive into the client -
we'll talk about remote troubleshooting, process flow, and digging into
those logs to solve your problems as well as interpreting the new state
messages. Special attention will be spent on the new Software Updates
process, as well as Branch Distribution Points and Desired
Configuration Monitoring. We will also discuss how to leverage
PowerShell to intiate actions on remote clients.
SY33 SCCM 2007 Scripting and Console Extensions
300 Greg Ramsey
Bellini 2001B Wed 4/30 10:15a - 11:30a
In this session, VBScript and Windows PowerShell will be used to
perform site and client functions to make your job as an SCCM
administrator easier. Adding Right-Click console extensions to the
SCCM console will be examined in detail. You will learn how to script
advertisement creation, package modification, adding systems to
collections, monitor site status, and more! We'll also discuss how to
leverage Vista Gadgets to take care of some of those quick-and-easy
tasks without even opening the SCCM console!
SY35 SQL Performance Tips for SMS / SCCM
Reporting Gurus
300 Brian Mason; John Nelson
Veronese 2401B Mon 4/28 4:30p - 5:45p
Brian Mason (MS MVP SMS) and John Nelson
(www.number2blog.com) will show you how to speed SQL & web
reports so that they don't melt your server, time out, or make your
boss wonder if you know what you're doing. While Brian writes a few
reports (with an SMS/SCCM focus), John will improve Brian's attempts
(with a SQL focus). You'll get tips on how to find that data you're
collecting quickly and present it in speedy web reports or pivot tables.
You'll get tips on keeping SQL healthy and lean, and what to look for
when building a new server. How will Wells Fargo install SQL for its
200K client infrastructure? From web reports to SQL Management
studio to SMS/SCCM, let the Wells Fargo guys show you how they'd do
it and answer any questions along the way.
SY04 Advanced OS Deployment with Configuration
Manager - Part 3: Extending OS deployment
with the Microsoft Deployment toolkit
300 Michael Niehaus; Tim Mintner
Bellini 2001B Thu 5/1 10:15a - 11:30a
Microsoft Deployment is the next version of Business Desktop
Deployment (BDD) 2007. New features in Microsoft Deployment
integrate with and extend the native OS deployment functionality of
Configuration Manager 2007 while providing thorough project
management guidance. Examine how the Microsoft Deployment
toolkit uses and extends the OS deployment capabilities presented in
part 1 and 2, providing new wizards, task sequence templates,
SY05 Advanced OS Deployment with Configuration
Manager - Part 4: Provisioning your Windows
Deployment with Microsoft Deployment (BDD)
300 Michael Niehaus; Tim MintnerBellini 2001B Thu 5/1 11:45a - 1:00p
Now that you have a good understanding of the OS deployment
features and functionality provided by Configuration Manager and
Microsoft Deployment, we'll explore ways to create dynamic, datadriven
deployment processes. We will discuss performing rules-based,
data-driven deployments; using external data sources; adding your
own scripts and customizing those provided with Microsoft
Deployment; overriding task sequence properties and other advanced
topics.
SY34 SMS / SCCM: Beyond Package Deployment
300 Matthew Hudson
Veronese 2401B Wed 4/30 11:45a - 1:00p
SMS / SCCM can do more than just the standard package/patch
deployment. Here we will discuss tool development in scripting
languages and .NET and how to utilize these tools through the
SMS/SCCM MMC add-on, via Windows services or as a stand-alone
tool. See how creating and deploying script files, special registry files,
BIOS modifications (using the Dell OMCI) and custom HTA popup
messages to users can expand the usefulness of SMS/SCCM. Learn how
MIF/MOF data can be used to trigger special collection changes as well
as the use of special collections and queries to aid in the computer
management process. Learn about what other free tools have been
created for SMS/SCCM to help with the management process.
Solution Accelerators Track
SN02 What's New in the Microsoft Deployment
Toolkit (MDT) 2008? Updates for Windows
Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1
300 Michael Niehaus; Tim Mintner
Veronese 2401B Thu 5/1 2:30p - 3:45p
Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1 introduce new changes
in the underlying service stack and Windows Automated Installation
Kit. These changes are addressed in the second release of the Microsoft
Deployment Toolkit (formerly BDD). This session will introduce MDT
2008 changes, focused on Windows Vista SP1 support and Windows
Server deployment. MDT 2008 provides broader support for deploying
Windows Servers, including automated role installation using Server
Manager in Windows Server 2008. This session will be presented first
hand by solution developers and provide an overview of the Solution
Accelerator, updates versus previous versions, tool demonstrations and
the current roadmap and release schedule for future MDT releases.
SN31 Troubleshooting Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008
Friday, May 2 8:30 AM - 9:45 AM, Veronese 2401B
Speaker(s): Johan Arwidmark
Track(s): Solution Accelerators, Systems Management
Session Type(s): Breakout
Products(s): Configuration Manager 2007, Solution Accelerators, Windows Deployment
This session will provide you with the tools and processes you need when troubleshooting Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008.
Agenda:
Basic troubleshooting techniques Preventing leftover junk from breaking the process Where to look - Logfiles Increasing logging levels for Package creation and configuration OS Image Packages Boot Image Packages Driver Packages Driver handling Windows Drivers issues Windows PE Drivers PXE Site Role troubleshooting WDS integration Advanced troubleshooting Debugging the scripts