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SCU 2016: Prepare to have your mind blown!

I got the news that I have the privilege (that’s how I definitely see it) to speak once again at SystemCenterUniverse in Dallas on the 19th of January 2016.

I consider this a huge privilege as I have a special relationship with this particular event. This is in fact where my wild journey through the System Center Universe as a speaker started. 2 years ago SCU held a fierce battle to determine who would be the new SCU_Jedi winning a session at this event… I was lucky enough to pull it off and suddenly I was presenting among the (what I consider) big shots in the System Center world…

Most of them are still presenting today if you look at the list of speakers it is quite impressive:

The first but not complete list: http://www.systemcenteruniverse.com/presenters.htm

As you can see al the usual suspects are there!

For the full agenda please check here: http://www.systemcenteruniverse.com/agenda.htm

this year again there’s a 2 track approach so you have the ability to cross over and see a session out of your comfort zone to learn really new cool stuff!

My session will be about the vast power of OMS and how it can create new possible insights in your environment. A truly not to miss session if you ask me

Can’t fly in?

Too bad… You are missing out…

Not really! Because SCU is (I think) the only event who offers free streaming of the event over the web. There are even a lot of viewing parties organized near your location where you can easily follow the event from your location!

OK but why should I fly in then?

Well that’s very simple as well! IF you have the ability to fly in you get a chance to mingle with peers and talk to the speakers. There are no designated areas for speakers or whatsoever so everyone is really accessible to have chat or answer your questions…

So this is probably expensive right?

A full day of training on different subjects for only 150$ that’s a bargain if you ask me!

Last but not least

This is one of the events who are really embracing the social media (twitter, facebook,…) to reach out to attendees onsite but also across the world to engage during and after the event.

Make sure you follow: @scu2016 and #scu2016 on twitter for the latest updates and feeds!

Hopefully see you all there!

System Center Universe Dallas around the corner

Wow I can’t believe it has already been a year when I spoke at System Center Universe in Houston. And what a year it was! For me personally a lot of things have changed. System Center Universe 2014 was a great experience after winning the SCU Jedi contest in 2014 I got the possibility to speak at this fine convention.

I don’t know whether it had something to do with SCU but a couple of months later I was awarded with my first MVP in Data Center and Could management which enabled me to even more engage in the System Center Community.

So that’s me… Why should you come to SCU Dallas or take the time to watch the free live cast. Well because the organizing team of SCU has done it again this year… They brought the usual suspects back together for a multi track 1 day event to bring you all the new ins and outs of System Center and Azure. SCU is not only the 1 day event in Dallas but a global event (and who knows even an intergalactic one). The freely available livefeed gives people the ability to watch the sessions in realtime from around the globe and viewing parties are organized to mingle with peers during the event.

Last year I’ve talked about monitoring and embracing the cloud / azure in your monitoring environment. This year I will be talking about another problem I see at a lot of clients and receive a lot of questions about when attending events: How do I create the ultimate dashboard to show my stakeholders at a glance what they want to see.

During my session I’ll go over the do’s and don’ts of dashboarding and will give you quick tips  and tricks from the field to get you going fast to create the ultimate dashboard to monitor your death star.

Check out the agenda  and timeframe to attend in person, attend a viewing party near you or check out the livefeed which is freely available.

Check the speakers: http://www.systemcenteruniverse.com/presenters.htm

Check the agenda here: http://www.systemcenteruniverse.com/agenda.htm

Check the viewing parties: http://www.systemcenteruniverse.com/venue.htm

Hopefully see you there whether it’s virtually or physically!

Social Update: A manner of speaking…

A lot of exciting things are happening in the System Center community these days. Different new releases; new features are already delivered or are on the brink of being delivered shortly. TechED NA is right around the corner and other events are being planned as well. I always enjoy being part of these events and meet old and new friends all with the same interest: System Center products.

This blog post will be my (and your) one place to keep track of all sessions which I’m presenting and events I’ll be attending both national and International.

Hope you will attend one of my sessions and if you do, make sure to take the time to meet up!

If you have any suggestions or question about this list please sure to drop me a line on twitter or send me a mail

System Center Universe 2014 Houston session video online

Wow I can’t believe it has been already 3 weeks ago that I was able to speak at System Center universe 2014 in Houston. The topic of my session was all about connecting both your on premise SCOM environment with your Azure cloud.

The event was a cool experience and a great chance to catch up with a lot of people and meet new ones while we are at it. Had some great talks about our beloved technology and how we see it developing in the next year.

My Session video is available here:

In addition to the video above I’m including some links to articles with more info on how to connect your on prem with your Azure cloud:

Introduction and install of a Scom Azure Gateway server (Cameron Fuller): http://blogs.catapultsystems.com/cfuller/archive/2013/12/04/operations-manager-and-azure-better-together-introducing-the-azure-monitoring-gateway-[sysctr-scom-azure].aspx

Configure Site to site vpn: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/documentation/articles/virtual-networks-create-site-to-site-cross-premises-connectivity/

Configure point to site vpn: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/dn133792.aspx

Configure the Scom Azure management pack: http://blogs.technet.com/b/cbernier/archive/2013/10/23/monitoring-windows-azure-with-system-center-operations-manager-2012-get-me-started.aspx