Reuben's rambles... inc. tech tips & chat » Training

Training – Updating Your Windows Server 2008 Technology Specialist Skills to R2

reubenjcook — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:26:00 +0000

This week I have another couple of days out of the office (or our clients office) for yet more Microsoft Partner training - 2 days of updating your Technology Specialist skills Windows Server 2008 R2.

Updating Your Windows Server 2008 Technology Specialist Skills to R2

This course is so hot off the press that the materials were only delivered last Thursday… e.g. buggy labs – fun to fix! , no course DVD cut as yet, and a speaker that doesn’t know the materials, and fortunately doesn’t need too… as it’s being delivered by Andy Mallone (www.quality-training.co.uk/blog/ & http://www.divedeeperevents.com/)

Andy is an MVP in Windows Server, has been an MCT for 15 years (had a 4-digit MCP id), is a speaker at various events inc. just back from TechEd delivering , and will be in Redmond in 2 months time as an external member of the Windows 8 product team… likely to be the first x64 only client OS from Microsoft.

Global Knowledge use the strap line ‘Experts teaching Experts’ – they have nailed it on this one.

Anyway, on to the course (Top tips as usual at the end..):

Activity name: 44CO149 – Updating Your Windows Server 2008 Technology Specialist Skills to R2

Facility: Global Knowledge, London, 83 Baker Street, W1U 6AG

Who: Andy Mallone (www.quality-training.co.uk/blog/)
MVP Windows Server, MCT for 15 years, speaker at various events inc. just back from TechEd, and will be in Redmond in 2 months time as an external member of the Windows 8 product team!

Andy Malone has a deep and broad understanding so far beyond the subject (and that your average instructor) that allowed him to easily fill in the gaps in the somewhat lacking and already outdated course materials. The result was ‘quality training’ that has made a real difference to our long term understanding and ability to work with Windows 7 and the supporting technologies.

Activity Link (URL): https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/SYS_Login.aspx?lang=en-gb&RU=https%3A//training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/management/LMS_ActDetails.aspx%3FActivityId%3D549434%26UserMode%3D0

Activity description: 44CO149 – Updating Your Windows Server 2008 Technology Specialist Skills to R2

Summary:

This two day intensive course is aimed at fast tracking Windows Server Technical Specialists and IT professionals onto the new technology of Windows Server 2008 R2. This course will also provide enough knowledge and skills for Partners to pass the new WS08R2 exam, due out later this year.

Prerequisites:

Students who attend this 2-day ILT should have the following prerequisite knowledge:
• Possess core Windows Server 2008 Technology Specialist skills.

• Familiarity and experience with batch scripting or another scripting language.

• Experience with Windows deployment technologies and implementation.

• Experience with Windows networking technologies and implementation.

• Experience with Active Directory technologies and implementation.

• Experience with Windows Server 2008 server virtualization technologies and implementation.

• Experience with Windows Server 2008 Web application server technologies and implementation.

Objectives:

Students who attend this 2-day ILT should have the following prerequisite knowledge:
• Possess core Windows Server 2008 Technology Specialist skills.

• Familiarity and experience with batch scripting or another scripting language.

• Experience with Windows deployment technologies and implementation.

• Experience with Windows networking technologies and implementation.

• Experience with Active Directory technologies and implementation.

• Experience with Windows Server 2008 server virtualization technologies and implementation.

• Experience with Windows Server 2008 Web application server technologies and implementation.

Top tips & links picked up during the course…

- Using VHD’s created in disk management for storage whatever you need, whereever you need it, appearing as local storage (disk, volume, etc.) - helping towards the goal of ’elastic enterprise solutions’ & cloud computing

Demo on how to use a VHD to support native OS boot for Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 – more at Keith Combes excellent blahg at http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2009/05/22/dual-boot-from-vhd-using-windows-7-and-windows-server-2008-r2.aspx

- AD Administration Center… the shape of AD admin to come..?
(an R2 RSAT feature..)

- Technologies you need to embrace to succeed in this industry in the next few years… Virtualisation, Cloud, IPv6

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MinWin

- http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc730985.aspx

- Encryption types, data at rest (e.g. encrypting on the disk with bitlocker) vs. data in transit (e.g. encryption on the network with IPsec)

- MSAT (Microsoft Security Assessment Toolkit) – is gold!

Training – Microsoft SCCM & SCOM exam preperation bootcamp

reubenjcook — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:38:27 +0000

This week am attending SCOM & SCCM bootcamp exam preparation training with one of our close associates, Ashley Lawrence. Ashley has been involved with The Full Circle (www.thefullcircle.com) since its beginnings in 2002-03. Ashley & I had worked together (you’ll have to look at my linkedin profile) prior to this, and have succesfully continued to work on various projects together since even though he is now based in Qatar!

Anyway, this week rather than work, work, work, it’s train, exam, train, exam, the details of which are below:

Systems Center Specialisation - Exam Preparation Bootcamp - (SCOM and SCCM)

Event Title: 44HOL003 – Systems Center Specialisation – Exam Preparation Bootcamp – (SCOM and SCCM)

Full course - https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/register.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=256005

Exam 70-400: TS: Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007, Configuring

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exams/70-400.mspx

Exam 70-401: TS: Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, Configuring

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exams/70-401.mspx

44HOL003 – Systems Center Specialisation – Exam Preparation Bootcamp – (SCOM and SCCM)

We did the SCCM on the Wednesday afternoon, and fortunately most of what we were told must have sunk in as we both passed with flying colours! , we came to following conclusions to appraise…

SCCM Exam – in the context of the course, totally applicable, relevant, etc. but then it should be as the ‘course’ was a bootcamp designed to pass the current exam – as usual for a Microsoft exam quite a lot of poorly worded questioning more about one’s ability to read the question rather than test the subject matter.

SCCM Course – (i.e. an exam prep bootcamp) it did exactly what it set out to do – increase the numbers of certified SCCM partners (and therefore MCP’s) in the market, by passing the exam (see above re: exam vis-à-vis course), however I’d hope that the full blown course has more real-world examples, and more engaging labs, such as grouping/teaming delegates into sub-groups to work together on real world scenarios e.g. multiple secondary sites distributing and reporting on secondary site level client distributions, etc. to bring everyone together. Obviously the aforementioned example further alienates the smaller shops who don’t run or need multi-level hierarchies, but you get my drift – the labs are weak!

Firdous Gangat & Dave Allen – Firdous & David really made the difference to this course material, which alone would have been quite poor (labs anyway). Their knowledge added 1000% to its value, this said it did what it said on the tin as I passed both the SCCM & SCOM exams during the week as planned.

heating probems during the week (lack of cooling) caused some problems and some of the kit is quite old (ML310 G1, didn’t really have the horsepower for virtualised SCOM!), when ML110-G5’s came down to £100 someone should have snapped them up!

A well deserved beer at the end of the course, but not for me my beers scheduled for after the SCOM...

Summary:

This 5 day instructor-led course will help students prepare for Microsoft exam 70-400 on Configuring Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007, and Microsoft exam 70-401 on Configuring Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007. The course focuses on the domains covered on each exam.

The course will include lecture and demonstrations by the instructor, hands-on labs for the students, and tips on how to effectively prepare for a Microsoft certification exam.

Intended Audience:
Systems Integrators, Gold Partners – Technical Audience

Prerequisites:

Students should have a minimum of one year of experience with:
Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 or System Center Operations Manager 2007 including configuring distributed applications, using PowerShell, and configuring and deploying Management Packs.
Systems Management Server (SMS) or Configuration Manager 2007 including deploying and managing software and hardware assets.
Active Directory and the Windows server system.

The equivalent knowledge may be gained by completing the one or more of the following courses:
Microsoft Instructor Led course 50028: Managing System Center Operations Manager 2007, or Microsoft E-Learning Collection 3386: Implementing Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 and Microsoft Instructor Led Course 6451: Planning, Deploying, and Managing Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007

Objectives:
This 5 day instructor-led course will help students prepare for Microsoft exam 70-400 on Configuring Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007, and Microsoft exam 70-401 on Configuring Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007.

Agenda:

Part 1 System Center Operations Manager 2007 Exam 70-400
Configuring System Center Operations Manager 2007
Topics
Configure notification.
Manage roles.
Configure System Center Operations Manager options.
Discover and deploy agents within a trusted Active Directory forest.
Discover and deploy agents to systems not using Active Directory.
Labs
Use the Computer and Device Management Wizard
Implement profiles and user roles for Exchange Server
Configure objects for Maintenance mode

Deploying and Configuring Management Packs
Topics
Import a Management Pack.
Configure overrides.
Create a self-tuning threshold.
Migrate a Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Management Pack to System Center Operations Manager 2007.
Configure diagnostics and recoveries for a rule or a monitor.
Labs
Verify conversion of MOM 2005 management packs to SCOM 2007
Create and modify a self-tuning threshold monitor
Building and Deploying Custom Management Packs
Topics
Configure security options.
Configure discovery for Management Packs.
Create monitors and rules.
Create a distributed application.
Create a synthetic transaction.
Labs
Create rules with overrides for specific server roles
Customize Management Packs by creating monitors and related tasks
Create synthetic transaction monitors to check application performance and connectivity
Create a relationship to show a dependency between applications

Maintaining System Center Operations Manager
Topics
Maintain a System Center Operations Manager infrastructure.
Create views.
Create tasks.
Fail over from Root Management Server (RMS).
Back up and restore System Center Operations Manager.
Manage and maintain reports.
Labs
Create a Dashboard view and a State view
Create a scheduled task using PowerShell
Create a console task and diagnostic task
Configure data retention settings
Configuring Client Monitoring
Topics
Configure Audit Collection Service (ACS).
Configure Agentless Exception Monitoring (AEM).
Configure Collective Client Monitoring (CCM).
Configure Business Critical Client Monitoring (BCCM).
Labs
Agentless Exception Monitoring—create and configure filters
Configure Client Monitoring Wizard
Create BCCM monitors for Windows clients
Use ACS to monitor domain controllers

Part 2 System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Exam 70-401
Deploying a System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (SCCM) Server
Topics
Set up and configure an Active Directory schema.
Migrate from an SMS 2003 hierarchy to SCCM 2007.
Configure an SCCM hierarchy.
Set up and configure security accounts.
Configuring an SCCM Infrastructure
Topics
Configure client agents.
Configure site boundaries.
Configure core site system roles.
Configure discovery methods.
Configure client installation.
Configure SCCM infrastructure for Internet-based client management.
Labs
Configure Active Directory discovery method
Specify a boundary for dial up clients
Use VB script to specify download settings
Managing Resources
Topics
Build an SCCM collection by using queries.
Meter software usage.
Manage assets.
Manage inventory flow.
Manage client agents.
Labs
Create a query membership rule collection.
Create a query-based collection rule using WBEM Query Language
Create custom attributes in Active Directory and build a collection based on that attribute.
Create a PowerShell script that executes an action.

Distributing Applications
Topics
Manage packages.
Manage programs.
Manage advertisements.
Schedule distribution.
Track success and failure rates for distribution.
Manage distribution points.
Labs
Use the Copy Packages Wizard to duplicate a package
Create a program dependency
Deploying Operating Systems
Topics
Capture a reference computer image.
Manage task sequences.
Configure site system roles related to deploying operating systems.
Deploy operating system packages.
Customize user state migration.
Deliver applications.
Labs
Create update lists.
Deploy an operating system to a secondary site
Create a PXE service point
Migrate user state

Securing a Network Infrastructure
Topics
Configure Network Access Protection (NAP).
Maintain NAP.
Migrate from Inventory Tool for Microsoft Update (ITMU) to Windows Software Update Services (WSUS).
Deploy software updates.
Manage vulnerability compliance.
Labs
Enable software update management.
Create deadlines for update deployment
Configure maintenance windows

Managing and Maintaining an SCCM Infrastructure
Topics
Manage system health.
Configure automatic maintenance tasks.
Create custom reports.
Maintain clients.
Manage systems by using configuration management.
Manage Wake on LAN.
Labs
Import and export Collections, Reports, and Queries.
Generate alerts for distribution points.