Category: MCT

Microsoft Operating Systems and Me

People who know me, know that one of my slogans is “Who needs an Operating System”. Through some mysterious pathway I am currently taking some Operating System exams…. (MD-100 = Windows Client, AZ-800 and AZ-801 = Windows Server) Huh??

Organizations and their way of thinking IT only move so fast (actually real slow). Clinging to the Desktop, be it physical or virtual, and clinging to Servers, be it on-prem or in the Cloud. While the technology to rid of that ancient stuff has been out there for a while now. Who would need a full Desktop OS if all Applications were Web Apps? Why deploy IaaS solutions while PaaS and SaaS solutions are real?

So anyway, apparently, we live in a Hybrid IT world, in this context meaning that we are mixing and mingling traditional deployments with all the Cloud goodies. Which does not make it easier to use these goodies. And there pops up my reason to take another round (#8) at Microsoft Operating systems Certifications. To oblige as Trainer, Consultant and Advisor. Reality sucks , doesn’t it?

Happy Learning!

 

MCT: Delivering AZ-305, notes from the field

This week I did a first-time delivery of MOC AZ-305, Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions, towards Microsoft Certified Azure Architect Expert Certification. The Exam is still in beta, I took it a week before delivering the training. Making the time investment count double, preparing for both my Exam, and delivering the training.

I consider this training and this exam (topics, depth, and breadth) one of the better ones out of the whole Curriculum. The real “Expert level” deal. The 4-day training can be delivered without Labs, the GoDeploy Labs have no direct link with the course content but offer some great deep dives in specific technologies should they fall out of the knowledge scope of the participants. Long Labs, up to 3-4 hours. Each Module ends with one or more Case Studies, plenty of room to discuss various options.

After my preparation I had some concerns for the knowledge level of the participants, it happens too often that people over-estimate themselves in which case they might get lost on day 2 or so. The course really covers a lot of Cloud in just 4 days, the more knowledge the participants already have, the higher the value of this course gets. I would suggest to Microsoft Learning that the prerequisites (also for Certification) should be not just the AZ-104 Azure Administrator. Add 1 or 2 “electives” (as in the old days of MCSE Certifications). Electives can be almost any “Associate level” Certification (AZ-500, AZ-700, SC-300, AZ-204, etc.).

Luckily, the 6 participants in this group selected the right course, they were all very seasoned senior Azure Admins/Engineers and there was plenty of expertise in the (virtual) room on specific technologies like SQL and Kubernetes. But anyhow, take care of the intake of participants for this course.

I started of with a whiteboard session of the “Well Architected Framework”, to give some context on how to approach the content. So, in the discussions on the Case Studies, we could discuss possible solutions based on these principles. For in the Exam as well, references are made to these principles. Maybe a module on this could be added to the course. On day 1 and 2 (and planned for day 3 and 4) I allocated some 2-3 hours for them to work on the Labs. On day 3 however a request was made to not use course time for Labs and rather spend it on discussing the topics and the case studies. The vote on that was unanimous, Wonderful! We ended up in vivid discussions and we all learned a lot form each other. I invited them to look at becoming MCT! And I think some of them will take that path . As we all agreed that the Knowledge and Skills Gaps are a big showstopper for leveraging Cloud technologies. Do something about it instead of complaining about it.

Overall, I am very satisfied with this course and I’m looking forward to delivering it again (scheduled for March).

 

Happy Learning!

Following my Passion: Making a Difference as a Trainer

Back in 1996 I entered the IT Space as an “IT Professional”. Before that, I spent 8 years in accounting. IT manifested itself in that area already deeply and I did my fair share. Anyway, I decided I was done with accounting for other people’s money (although I’m good at it).

I started as a Trainer for a non-profit Organization, and I trained some 2,000 persons on the big switch back then from DOS to Windows. I watched some colleagues of mine carrying these MCSE NT4 books around, I thought “wow, that is interesting stuff”. In no time I mastered the Certifications, and I was teaching IT Professionals instead of end users. Those were the Days. Delivering the complete MCSE Tracks on NT4 and Windows 2000 a couple of times.

In retrospect, those were the days indeed. It was all about the marvels of the technology, anything was possible. Then I joined more commercial Organizations and became an Admin, an Engineer, a Consultant, a Senior Consultant and even a Solution Architect over the years. Some 80+ Certifications, another 1,000 Training Participants and 4 Employers later, I now come to the following conclusion:

With all my passion and drive for progress using the latest Technology the way it is supposed to be used, I always engage in conversations with both employers and customers to “move forward”. Of late, I discovered that Senior Consultant or Solution Architect may not be my best way of making people and organizations successful where they want to be successful. I believe the biggest stop on using the latest and greatest Technology is the Knowledge Gap, on all levels in all organizations. My drive is sharing knowledge with those who seek that and who want to benefit from that.

So, I go back to my Roots. Who I am is a Trainer. Out of Passion for making a difference for individuals and organizations. Out of Passion for the Possibilities of modern IT Technologies and its Power to drive Transformation.

Passion, Power and Transformation.

That is who I am and that is what you can count on!

Training or Learning, it is not the same

Kind of a re-iteration from a Blog Post I wrote in March 2019 (remember, pre-COVID19). You can read the Post here “Training means Train”

Now, we are in the middle of that pandemic and I am really, really getting so tired of all the Webinars, Exam preps, Learning videos and the lot of it. Let me quote myself:

Training is not the same as watching a “how-do-I-….” video on YouTube or attending a Webinar/Seminar. Training means practice, repetition, endurance, discipline, making mistakes, learning to understand why it is as it is. Training is an action; one needs to allocate time for it. Results will take a while. A new insight is not good enough if you do not practice the actions that come out of the new insight. The insight gives a moment of “aha”. After practicing it becomes obvious.

I never study or learn for an Exam, I only just practice, I train myself. The outcome is that I feel grounded in the matter. And in my line of business that matters! The two most important things here: allocate time and have the discipline. There are no shortcuts and no quick wins.

The point I want to make here, do not overwhelm yourself in attending too many webinars, videos, online learning programs, exam preps, etc. Set yourself some goals, dig in, TRAIN yourself and master the matter at hand.

One more quote: As a Microsoft Certified Trainer, I tell my students that the Labs are not about getting them done successfully. The Labs are about spending time on the technology, practicing. and learning to understand the why of the technology. The students train!

That is why I love the Role of being a Microsoft Certified Trainer!

 

Happy Training!

Public Speaking: Who is Listening for you?

Public Speaking ranks high in the Top-5 of what people are most afraid of. And, yes, it can be frightening, standing in front of room filled with strangers who seem to see straight through you, naked, vulnerable and all alone.

There are plenty of Trainings and Courses available to improve on your Presentation skills. It’s kind of an individual thing which courses suit you best but with some trial and error you will something that works great for you. And even then, you should have this rush when walking up front, I prefer to call it “excited” as opposed to “nervous”. It’s about the same physical sensation. If that is not there when you go on stage, your presentation will probably end up being a flatliner, no impact. The most important prerequisite of course is, that you want to be there on stage. Second to that, be prepared like really, be grounded in your story.

Most of the Trainings and Courses on Presentation Skills lack the following concept/idea that I picked up during my years of Training with Landmark Education: Having at least one “committed listener” in the room makes a huge difference for you, the presenter. Somebody who listens for you, an anchor, somebody who takes everything that comes out of your mouth for gold. In larger rooms you preferably have multiple “committed listeners” spread out in the room, sitting amongst the audience, your customers. They should nod, smile, acknowledge and appreciate your story (no matter how many times they heard it) and confirm that back to you and to their neighbors, your customers. You should even appoint one of those somebodies as your “room captain“, one who knows your timeline (and the breaks!), one who can manage questions coming from your audience, one who knows your story, just so that you can focus 100% on your story.

When you are presenting, it is very likely that you have at least one of your colleagues present, or maybe another presenter at the same event. Don’t be shy and make them the request they fulfill that role for you. To put it a bit sharper: do not allow “your people” to sit in the back of the room doing other stuff. If they don’t make the effort to really listen for you, what is the effect on the rest of the audience, your customers?

Yes, it is a scary thing getting up on stage, I invite you to try this out a couple of times, I am sure it will make a huge difference.

HAPPY PRESENTING!!!

Training means Train!

Digital Transformation, Adoption, learning methods, Adoption Specialists, Onboarding specialists, migration specialists. We can do it cheap and fast. Ouch. There is no cheap and fast when looking at Value.

We, as in the “communities”, are making mistakes. We must distinguish between knowing how to do something and understanding why it must be done in a certain way. Sometimes knowing the how-to is good enough. But when we look at Digital Transformation and Adoption, the real Value comes from a thorough understanding by all involved on the WHY.

Why is a business process structured like it is? Understanding that, and only then, we can find new ways of getting the same results by effectively using the right tools in the right way. Efficiency is about “Doing things the right way”. Effectiveness Is about “Doing the right things”.

Basically, we need to do 2 things during the Journey of Adoption/Digital Transformation:

  1. Inclusion. From C-level Management to frontline workers, all need to be involved. Involved, get that?
  2. Training. It means Train!

Training is not the same as watching a “how-do-I-….” video on YouTube or attending a Webinar/Seminar. Training means practice, repetition, endurance, discipline, making mistakes, learning to understand why it is as it is. Training is an action, one needs to allocate time for it. Results will take a while.

A year ago, I bought myself a new Rickenbacker bass-guitar. I dream of being on stage, playing like Paul Grey or Bruce Foxton. Keep on dreaming, I pick up the instrument no more than 30 minutes a week. It makes no sense to go to the gym for 8 hours straight. When you look in the mirror the next day, you’ll see no difference.

As a Microsoft Certified Trainer, I tell my students that the Labs are not about getting them done successfully. The Labs are about spending time, practicing, learning to understand the why of the technology. The students train!

A new insight is not good enough if you do not practice the actions that come out of the new insight. The insight gives a moment of “aha”. After practicing it becomes obvious. You cannot learn how to ride a bicycle from a book.

 

Just saying: don’t go for cheap and fast! No such thing……

 

Happy Training!

 

 

 

Good Fun with Surface Pro3, Nested Hyper-V, Nano Server and Azure Site Recovery

For a Microsoft event on Jamaica I was asked to deliver a session on Azure DR. I believe that seeing is believing so I always tend to use as little slides as possible and just demo the Solution. On a Saturday morning, I started out thinking and drawing out the Infrastructure I would need to pull that off.

I have a SOHO environment, and for Inova Solutions, my employer, I moved everything to the Microsoft Cloud. My Surface Pro3 (i5, 8 GB RAM) will just have to do as my “local datacenter”.

The steps for the Azure Site Recovery are very well explained here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/site-recovery-hyper-v-site-to-azure including the screenshots so I will not copy that into this blog. For my “Onprem Datacenter I need a Hyper-V machine, well, Windows 10 has Hyper-V. Download the Azure Site Recovery Provider from the Azure Portal and run it. Bummer.

Apparently, the installer does not see Hyper-V on Windows 10 as Valid to install the ASR Provider. I need a Server 2016 or Server 2012R2 Hyper-V. Lucky for me, both Windows10 Hyper-V and Server 2016 Hyper-V support Nested Hyper-V. To enable Nested Hyper-V you need to download and run a PowerShell script called Enable-NestedVm.ps1 from https://github.com/Microsoft/Virtualization-Documentation/tree/master/hyperv-tools/Nested after which you can test by running Get-NestedVirtStatus.ps1 downloaded from the same repository. In the 1st script I had to confirm that I’d be running the Nested Hyper-V Server with less than 4 GB of memory.

My Nested Hyper-V Server running with 3 GB of memory I need to create some seriously small servers. And, another reason for creating small servers is that I want small disks to replicate. Thanks again Server 2016, we now have Nano Server! Here is a Quick Start Guide for Nano Server https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server-docs/get-started/nano-server-quick-start . In no time, I created 2 Nano Servers, Nano1 and Nano 2, each assigned 128 MB of RAM and a 1 GB OS Disk. I successfully installed the ASR Provider and registered the Nested Hyper-V Server with the downloaded Registration file. Within 5 minutes my Server popped up in the Azure Portal and I could select my Nano1 and Nano2 Server to start replicating. And here they go:

And here they are:

I ran a Test Failover just to see if I could complete the whole exercise within 45 minutes, the length of my presentation. The test failover only took about 2 minutes.

Just to demonstrate that with minimal equipment you can demo an Enterprise grade feature like Azure Site Recovery using some neat Technologies. The first build took a bit longer than 45 minutes to figure it all out. Ran the whole thing 3 times now to get comfortable with it doing it on stage, well within 45 minutes J.

 

Happy demoing!!!

MCT Adventures

In 1996 I started as a Trainer: end user training in moving form DOS and WordPerfect to Windows95 and Office. During those first years I earned my MCSE on NT4 and as SICA, my employer had the C-TEC status, I was allowed to train the MCSE Tracks. I had a total of 6 Groups for the complete MCSE Track in first NT4, later on Server 2000.

That was Adventure #1. We decided one week before the Track started to do Server 2000 instead of NT4! I was exactly 1 week ahead of my participants! Raising the bar, stretching myself. If you are able to explain stuff to your grandmother you master your stuff. I took each exam one week before my participants….

Unfortunately, SICA (being a non-profit organization) went bankrupt in 2004. Time for me to become a “real” MCT. Adventure #2. The last requirement was to attend a Training led by an official MCT. So I looked around for the cheapest 3-day Course that would meet the requirement and I called that company, Fulcire. The owner/trainer called me back. Yes, you may attend, and even for free, if you allow me to make you a job offer if we like each other after 3 days of Training J. Cool! I got TWO for the price of none! I earned my MCT Status AND got myself a new job! I had a fabulous time there, learning a lot, a lot of new Certifications (Exchange, SharePoint, Server 2003), becoming also a “senior” consultant, doing great migration projects and what have you.

I decided to quit and take a 6 months’ sabbatical and my wife and I shipped our BMW Motorcycles to the US and cruised and camped for half a year. After which came MCT Adventure #3, a new job, Qwise, 100 engineers, Microsoft and Citrix. In the 2nd round of the application I was asked 3 questions by my to-be colleague MCT Remco: “Are you stubborn? Do you ride a motorcycle? Do you play bass guitar?” Yes, yes and yes. “You are hired”. At Qwise I became “Mr. Microsoft”. Going faster with Hyper-V, System Center, BPOS (later Office365) and Azure than the company or our customers could go. Earned some 20 certifications and had at least 4 MCT Adventures.

MCT Adventure #4. Worldwide I was the first to deliver the public Office365 training (Wave14). With a lot of help from Redmond and my colleagues Michael (who I mentored in becoming MCT) and Erik. History is repeating, MCT Adventure #5. Worldwide I was the first to deliver the public Office365 training (Wave15) some 2 years later. How cool was that! In the meantime, I trained the entire Dutch Partner channel in Office365 and delivered a lot of session on behalf of Microsoft. I co-founded the Dutch Office365 User Group (now some 600 members) together with Danny and Albert-Jan.

MCT Adventure #5 and #6. I got nominated twice as Office365 MVP. Unfortunately, I did not get that “reward” but the journey was awesome. And, who knows….

As I move to maybe not so much an MCT Adventure but a more personal one, we moved from Amsterdam to Aruba in The Caribbean! And I found myself a real cool job as a Solutions Architect @ Inova Solutions. Microsoft Partner LSP, CPLS, and since almost a year CSP. I either work from home or I travel The Caribbean, could be worse, no? We also have an office in Ecuador and I am writing this sitting in Quito where I deliver an Azure Training this week, including experiencing some earth quakes!

MCT Adventure #7. Throughout The Caribbean we organize a lot of “Events” for our Customers, sometimes by ourselves, sometimes with Microsoft. I created an “Office365 Theatre Play” to avoid the format of death-by-PowerPoint presentation style. We did performances on Curacao (twice), Jamaica, Trinidad and Aruba (which was a real blast, thanks to my colleague Ad, have a peak at https://www.magisto.com/video/P1EHPVgWGjs9Q0JnCzE?l=vsm&o=i&c=w )

Servicing customers in The Caribbean gave me the opportunity to deliver Training (Server 2012, Exchange, SharePoint, Office365, Azure) in the following countries (MCT Adventure #8 through #18):

  • Aruba
  • Curacao
  • Bonaire
  • Trinidad
  • Jamaica
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Turks & Caicos Islands
  • The Bahamas
  • Belize
  • Ecuador
  • Barbados

People tend to say I’m lucky. Well, let me give you all some advice. Luck has nothing to do with it. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Preparation requires passion and sometimes hard work. Look for the opportunities and seize them. I work 70-80 hours a week and I never work. The Training (p)Art is my favorite portion of the job: being able to make a difference for my participants and their employers (and mine) by sharing as much of my knowledge and experience as I can.

Aruba is One Happy Island!

I am One Happy Adventurous Microsoft Certified Trainer!

 

Be Inspired, Prepared, Able and Willing

 

 

 

 

 

Windows Phone Dead because of Lack of Apps – Really?

Yes, I am biased, I am a Microsoftie. That being said, I think it is a pity that people write off Windows Phone, especially if it’s for the wrong, or even non-existent, reason.

My Windows Phone does everything I need it to do and even more. I have my Office365 accounts on it, my Microsoft Band App, my Dash, my music, camera, Twitter, what have you. I’m not here to crunch numbers on how many apps are out there on the different platforms. Although that is the main thing people hold against Windows Phone: there is just not enough apps. Now, I just found a decent article on what we actually DO on our devices using ComScore “The 2015 U.S. Mobile App Report” as a source. The article is in Dutch. Sorry for that, the article came from a Belgian site. But here are some of the numbers.

We spend 89% of our time on a smartphone in apps, 11% goes to the Mobile Web. We spend 80% of our time on only 3 apps! Only 3 apps! With Facebook being nr.1 by far. Followed by YouTube, all flavors of “Chatter and Social” apps and Games. 65% of people hardly download any apps after buying their device. Those main apps come with the device Out-Of-The-Box. We install apps that come with some specific hardware like GoPro camera’s, health devices, smartwatches and we install apps for Banking, Starbucks and Dunkin-Donuts. In the ComScore report there is no app mentioned that does not run on Windows Phone. Funny detail in the article and the report: no mention on usage of the “phone-app”. Time to get rid  of the Phone-App?

So the general opinion “Windows Phone lacks apps” is not consistent with what we actually DO on our devices. Windows Phone is dead, must be the Conspiracy …. What say you?

Nevertheless, I will bring only my Windows Phone to deliver my presentations and demo’s on Azure Disaster Recovery during our events in Bermuda and Belize next week. Hello iOS, hello Android…. anybody out there?

Happy Apping to you all!

My IT year 2015

Following a great example from my former colleague Bas van Kaam, today, December 31st 2015, seems like the ultimate day of the year to acknowledge this year’s accomplishments.

Looking back on the year I realize the list is longer than I firstly imagined, already gone to oblivion…. So let’s go.

  • I was invited by Microsoft Academy to create two sets of exam questions on Office 365 for their People Readiness Health Check program. So the good old Dutch Microsoft Office 365 and Learning communities still knew where to find me on Aruba!
  • Microsoft Trinidad (MS HQ for Caribbean) invited me to become one of their “P-Sellers”, P-Technical Sales Professional, quit an honor! Even got myself an @microsoft.com mail address J.
  • I founded the Caribbean Office 365 User Group @o365caribug together with Trinidad based Akinola McLean and Jamaica based Roland Lattery.
  • With the team of Inova Solutions, my current employer, we delivered my creation “The Office 365 Theatre Play” for the 4th time. Location: Courtleigh Auditorium, Kingston, Jamaica. Yah Man! Positive vibes!
  • Time to take on some newly released exams as Microsoft published the Azure Infrastructure exams “Implementing” and “Architecting” Azure Infrastructure Solutions. Pass on both occasions.
  • Maybe the highlight of the year was the organizing of the Trinidad TechDays 2015. Thanks you Inova Solutions for making it possible to do a 3-day event:
  • On the first day we did once again our “Office 365 Theatre Play”.
  • Followed by the first official meeting of the Caribbean Office365 User Group.
  • The second day was all about moving away from Windows Server 2003 as the product ended life on July 14th (R.I.P.). Thanks to Darren Mohammed, Stephen Agard and Akinola McLean for doing your sessions.
  • Global AZURE Bootcamp on Day 3! Actually the whole 3-day event came to life out of this worldwide event. We hosted one of the over 140 locations in world where people were doing a whole Saturday of Azure, Azure, Azure. Thanks Basil Sands (flew in from the Bahamas where we did a huge Azure Project together), Yanek, Daryl, Stephen, Akinola for doing your sessions.
  • Microsoft Ignite, Chicago. Although no role this year as MCT Ambassador of MCT Proctor, it was great to be there and meet all of you who I met there. Thanks for being there!
  • In my role as Microsoft P-TSP and as MCT I delivered MS Cloud Training for the Caribbean Partner Channel. Thanks Microsoft Trinidad for the opportunity.
  • Inova Solutions became Cloud Solution Provider in July 2015, thanks Inova Solutions (specifically Hans Kruithof, CEO) for enabling me to drive that with you. LSP bye bye, hello CSP!
  • With the Inova team we did a “Cloud…what else?” Roadshow on Antigua and St. Maarten. We chose to do only sessions from the user and business perspective and not technical. The audience had a ball, as if they were watching the best Fireworks show!
  • Took the beta-exam 70-697 Devices & Deployment. Great content with lots of Office 365, Intune, Azure, Onprem, Windows 10, Windows Phone, iOS stuff covered. Have it on your resume, I say.
  • Throughout the year I delivered the complete Server 2012 MCSA Track two times, on the British Virgin Islands and in Belize. A PowerShell training on Bonaire, an Azure Training and an Office365 Training on Curacao. A total of 10 trainings this year, all of them successful. Love being a MCT.

So, now this will be saved for the next generations, ha-ha! And, the only way is up so this is all very promising for 2016. I already know some cool stuff ahead of me but I’ll keep it up my sleeve for now. May your way be up as well, carve out your future, starting tomorrow, January 1st 2016!