Technology, training, learning and development blogs

Fancy a virtual certification?

Right now Microsoft seems to have gone off like a firework with new products and services flying out of Redmond almost by the second. No sooner had Hyper-V, SBS 2008 and SQL 2008 shipped than we get a new Zune, the BlueTrack mouse and...

…Photosynth. One area Microsoft is investing heavily in right now is virtualisation / or virtualization if you prefer. This week saw Bob Kelly, Microsoft’s corporate VP of infrastructure server marketing, officially launch its Virtualisation Strategy – Get Virtual Now. I want that on a tee-shirt.  If you want to “get virtual now with Bob” you can do so here.

Even humble old Terminal Services has had a Changing Room style make over and now fits into what Microsoft call “Presentation Virtualisation”. I’ve blogged (is blogged even a word) about Softgrid before, it’s now more integrated into the Microsoft technology stack. I’ve got it in the back of my mind that Microsoft has acquired another “Application Virtualisation” company recently. Of course Windows Server 2008 With Hyper-V is the flagship product.  Looking into the Duffield Crystal Ball, I predict great days ahead for somebody’s server virtualisation product.  (See how I edged my VMWare bets there?) Virtualisation is a no brainer for a number of reasons, not least the reduction in power consumption.  

That’s got to be good news. And not just for environmental reasons, the Guardian reported in May that the 2012 Olympics gets electrical priority over any new data centres. The same article predicts that our Olympics will have a requirement for 9000 servers. Time for Tottenham Court Road’s IT emporiums to scale up beige box server production.

For the IT teccy on the shop floor, the ability to easily bring up a server image on new hardware without hours of rebuilding and re-patching is a big benefit.

Let’s face it; many servers spend most of their time not really exercising their quad-core umpteen Ghz processors...as they dish out TCP/IP addresses. With all this in mind, Microsoft Learning has released (or announced) a series of new certifications.

 

Mystic Gary predicts virtualisation is going to be big. In case you are intrested, the mystic splash screens are Windows 1, 3.11, NT4 and 2003

Server Virtualisation:
From about now you can achieve the MCTS: Windows Server 2008, Virtualization certification by taking and passing exam 70-652. There also a new Systems Center product designed for managing and deploying Virtual Machines. No surprise then that there will be a  MCTS: System Center Virtual Machine Manager certification. Exam 70-403 will win you this certification. Don’t rush out, it’s not due till December. (2008?).

Application Virtualisation:
Another new kid on the virtual block, there is a certification for the Desktop Optimization Pack (Softgrid).  If you are not familiar with MDOP, it’s a desktop bolt on that includes a license for application virtualisation (I have an MDOP course I’m working on at the mo, PM me if you want more info). You can go for the MCTS: Microsoft Desktop Optimisation Pack Configuration certification today with  exam 70-656.

Presentation Virtualisation:
Also known as Terminal Services, no specific certification, however this is covered in the Windows Server 2008 MCTS for Application Infrastructure. Exam 70-643 seeing as you ask.

 

Systems Center Virtual Machine Manager – Physical-to-Virtual conversion from the comfort of your armchair (well nearly).

There is a range of training around virtualisation starting to appear, I’ll keep you posted.

Did you try out that Photosynth link? I played with the beta last year; now you can add your own. I’ve gone all creative and just added one – called Barcelona, you get 20Gb to play with. I can’t see the business value (yet) but it’s very clever.

Till next time

Keep in touch