Alazka

So my next rotation isn't until later this year (we will annouce exact dates soon, but a hint for you... mid to late September and early November... read into that what you will....) and so I now have some time to catch up on other things, get exam re-takes completed (a lot booked in, so should be more good news to annouce over the next month or so), maybe even take a vacation (sorry, that's holiday to the real English speakers...) etc.

But one really exciting thing I have planned and wanted to post about is the re-development of the curriculum to teach Exchange 2010. Over the few weeks I'm spending time with my instructors, some Product Group folks and anyone else who has an opinion, to discuss how we will change the content to teach the new version of Exchange. It's actually going to be quite challenging I suspect. There's a LOT of new stuff and nothing is going away... That sounds a bit marketing to me, but it's true, think about it. Rather than risk falling foul of an NDA and listing a bunch of new features, I'll avoid listing them and let some other web site tell you what is coming, but the real issue is that we aren't taking anything out... So, it's not like we can drop content to include new features. That's my problem. Sure there is no CCR/SCR/LCR as such, but now we have DAG, so that's an easy swap I guess, but what about the new transport, maillbox, federation and CAS features? There's lot of new stuff, but the old stuff, routing, perf and scale, certificates and namespace, storage fundamentals etc, are all still there... That's my problem, how do we fit it all in without extending the duration? I'm sure we'll work it out, but it will make for an interesting few weeks as we have to prioritize what we want to teach and then build a course around it...

So, if you have an opinion, drop me a line, post here, tell me what you think. And if you don't have an opinion, enjoy the weather, get some rest and then carry on with your life, it's ok, we'll work it out.

As another reminder, the 2010 deliveries we will be doing will have real expereince pre-reqs for attendance. If you are great at 2007 but aren't already involved in a TAP or RDP program, then 2007 is the cert for4 you, you can upgrade later.

Greg
Filed under: Exchange, Planning, Future Plans
I was hoping for a trip home to Germany, but looks like MCM will stay Redmond only for now.
03 June 09 10:03 PM | A Certified Master | 0 Comments

This past year (we always think in fiscal years over here, and ours run from July 1 to June 30, so it's time to reflect ;-) ), we put in a considerable amount of time and energy into figuring out how we might deliver our programs outside of Redmond. After a lot of back and forth, the answer is that we're not goint to....at least not this next fiscal year. Here's why...

Why do people want it / need it outside of Redmond in the first place? I'll be bold and say the only good reasons for wanting it local are:

* Visa reasons (depending on where you're coming from, it can be difficult to get one for the US)
* Relatively small savings on airfare, and
* Foregoing jetlag.

What many people don't think of right away is that if we were to offer the trianing in Munich, for example, (most) everyone would still need to fly there, everyone would still need to stay in a hotel, everyone would still need to pay for meals. Saving $1-2k in flights does not outweigh the advantages of being here in Redmond. The T&E difference between staying in a hotel in Munich vs. our housing in Redmond is minimal...the price is better in Redmond, actually.

What do you get having the training here in Redmond?

* You get to be 'on campus'...it's still pretty darn cool to be here, to see 'where it all happens', to breathe in the true geek air, visit the company store, etc.
* You get to meet many people who are deeply involved in the product of your choice
o Does the class have a question about something in particular that came up regarding future implementations? - - We'll have the Program Manager responsible for that component stop on by to discuss (a great advantage of signing an NDA when you come to the training :) ).
o Want to meet some of the people in the product group? The people who determine what the product will be and how it will function? - - We schedule a "Meet the PM's" session for each rotation in the building where the product group resides. Food, drink, and discussion with them allows candidates to make a more personal connection. BTW, Vice Presidents of the company have been known to stop by here, too..not too shabby.
o Curious about how Microsoft IT deals with some of the same issues that you face very day? - - We'll have someone stop by and spend an hour discussing it. No bull, no PR, just the facts.
* You are far from home which will allow you to focus better. Trust me when I say that if the training were in your home town, it'd be terrible. Your family would expect you to be available, your company might, too, but the reality is: there is zero time for anything else when you're going through this. Class from 8-6, grab a bite to eat, study in your apartment with team mates, go to bed, rinse, repeat...

What else do you get for having it in Redmond?

* Well, you get to have great people who will guide you during your 3 weeks. In other words: I probably get to have my awesome team together longer. If I chased them around the world non-stop, I'm guessing they'd wave the surrender flag fairly quickly.
* The price doesn't go up...(I know, I know..it's so cheap now! ;-) )
o Since our instructors are 95% US based, we'd now be looking at substantial increases in T&E (remember, it's not just one instructor, it's about 7-10 per 3 weeks of training)
o Infrastrucutre - How on Earth are we going to allow you to access our state of the art labs? We considered remote access back to Redmond - too risky. We considered hosting at key data centers around the world - too expensive, as we'd need to duplicate hardware...same goes for paying a hosting company, never mind the logistics of staging the machines, etc. We investigated running at Microsoft Technology Centers that potentially already have some hardware...that didn't pan out either.

So, there you have it; we're staying in Redmond for now. Perhaps many will boo this decision (I know the cost discussion gets less advantgeous when considering various regions where cost of living is much lower), but I think once you consider all factors, it does make sense for now. We'll keep looking at when / how it would benefit everyone to spread our wings beyond that.

For now, my Exchange Ranger jacket label will remain fairly true:

Microsoft Certified Architect: Messaging Master
Built by the Ranger Master Programs in Redmond, WA

All the best,
Per



PS - stay tuned for our updated calendar of offerings which will be posted within the next 2 weeks.




Filed under: Future Plans
Please Welcome and Congratulate the Newest Exchange 2007 MCM's!
03 June 09 07:26 PM | Greg Taylor | 1 Comments

MCM Exchange 2007 R3 finished on May 22nd, and resulted in seven new MCM's. They were;

* Chris Antonakis - Chris is a PFE for Microsoft based in South Africa
* Mark Biernatowicz - Marek works for Polska Telefonica in Poland as a Mail Specialist
* Sol Keston - Sol works for MCS in the US East Region for Microsoft
* Ryan Sanders - Ryan works for Forsythe Solutions Group as a Senior Consultant
* Dustin Smith - Dustin works as an Advisory Architect for EMC
* Steve McIntyre - Steve is a Solutions Architect for Dell in the UK
* Rolf Tröndle - Rolf works for Econis AG as an IT Architect

Well done to them all, it was another intenstive 3 weeks, 16 came, 7 passed first time, and I'm sure many more will complete the exams over the next month or two.

Coming to this blog soon will be the schedule for the two remaining Exchange 2007 deliveries, before we re-develop for 2010. Now, if you are reading this, thinking of attending but are thinking you'll just wait for 2010 I would say this - unless you are going to be getting real hands-on expereince with 2010, don't wait. There's a good chance you won't be accepted straight onto the 2010 delivery if you can't show real world experience. My suggestion would be to get onto the 2007 training and then take advantage of the upgrade options we will offer next year. So don't delay, get yourself registered.
Filed under: Exchange, New Cert Annoucements, Upgrades
Rotation 2 OCS MCM - showing Exchange and Directory that real time comms is where it's at!
22 May 09 04:23 PM | adymac | 3 Comments

In between all the work during rotation 2 we managed to squeeze in some group events. The usual favourite was karting at K1 Speed in Redmond. For this rotation we combined forces with Exchange and Directory which were running at same time in Redmond and what is normally a fun filled 2 hours on the track turned into a vicious inter program race off (OK - maybe not but I'm trying to talk it up). After 2 hours of nonstop time trials the 8 fastest from the evening were called forward for a final race. The final was a 'take no prisoners' fight for the chequered flag. The race started with some shocking driving by the Directory and Exchange PMs where they resorted to dirty tricks and un-gentlemanly conduct. Despite all this Team OCS won the evening taking first place (Juergen Fruehwirth), third (Nick Smith), fifth and seventh and ALSO recording the fastest lap of the night. So if you need an answer as to which program is the best. Here you have it.....

OCS cleans up at K1



So long Exchange and bring it on Sharepoint in rotation 3. We'll be waiting......
Filed under: Exchange, OCS, Fun, Directory
Congratulations to a new OCS MCM
22 May 09 04:15 PM | adymac | 2 Comments
Congratulations to Maureen Magnotta from MCS, a candidate from rotation 1, who has now certified after an exam retake. Way to go Maureen!
Filed under: OCS, New Cert Annoucements
Announcing the new OCS Masters!
22 May 09 03:55 PM | adymac | 0 Comments

A few days ago we finished the second rotation of OCS Master. It was quite a ride and the group was really strong. I'm thrilled to announce the following candidates successfully completed the program and are now certified.

Partners and Customers

· William Scheffer - Enabling Technologies (US)

· Benoit Boudeville – Avanade (France)

· Marco van Olst – VX Company (Netherlands)

· Mark Stafford - Extend Health (US)

· Jeff Balsdon – Dell (US)

Microsoft

· Doug Lawty – MCS (US)

· Indranil Dutta – PFE (US)

· Nick Smith – MCS (US)

· Scott Stubberfield – MCS (Canada)



Here is a picture of the group taken right before they got stuck in to the qual lab on the final Saturday.

All smiles right before the qual lab

As you can see they could hardly contain their excitement at the task ahead of them...

Adrian
Filed under: OCS, New Cert Annoucements
See What Happens When You Pass a Masters Exam....
19 May 09 11:30 PM | Greg Taylor | 1 Comments

So we're in week 3 of MCM Exchange 2007 Rotation 3 right now, which is why it has been a bit quiet... busy busy...

On Monday the class took exam number 2, covering mailbox, performance, ccr, scr etc. It's a very tough exam. At 8pm Monday night the class got their results.

A few of them were together at the time, check out the happiness that comes as a result of being one step closer to being an MCM.... Just two more exams to go...

Happy Masters

(and look how happy the waitress was to have this group of brain-the-size-of-a-planet people in her restaurant that night... ahem...)

Only a week from now these guys will all know whether they made MCM this time, or might need another go at an exam. It's been a fun, and intensive two and a bit weeks.

I'll leave it to the guys in the picture to identify themselves.
Filed under: Exchange, Fun
Another Write-Up on the MCM Experience
05 May 09 05:40 PM | Greg Taylor | 6 Comments
Neil Johnson from MCS in the UK, who attended Exchange R2 has written up a very comprehensive account of his recent experience - go check it out at http://blogs.technet.com/msukucc/archive/2009/05/05/microsoft-certified-master-exchange-2007-a-survivors-guide.aspx
Filed under: Exchange, From a Certified Master, Preparing for training
A new OCS MCM from Rotation 1!
04 May 09 05:31 PM | adymac | 0 Comments
Congratulations to Mohammad Vakil from MCS in Dubai who has just certified after an exam retake!
Filed under: OCS
Introducing the SharePoint MCM Program and the First Microsoft Certified SharePoint Masters!
29 April 09 05:27 PM | Petro | 14 Comments

As the Program Manager for the SharePoint Master and MCA programs, I am pleased to introduce the programs and the first two groups of Certified SharePoint Masters! (Microsoft Certified Masters for SharePoint 2007)

To recap, the Alpha delivery (Rotation 1, or “R1”) was held in November of last year and the Beta delivery (R2) finished up in early April. Throughout this process I’ve had the great pleasure of working with the SharePoint MCM Instructor team to design, build, deliver, improve, update, redeliver, (repeat) the SharePoint MCM program.

The Instructor team is made up of 15 – 20 of the top subject matter experts in the world. Each Instructor is a SharePoint expert, either as members of the SharePoint Product Group or as deployment professionals in the field, and they’re exceptionally deep in the areas they instruct. Additionally, in a few target areas we pair Instructors with domain expertise in dependent technologies (SQL, AD, etc.) with SharePoint SMEs in the same area – such as paring our SQL Instructors (Paul Randal and Kimberly Tripp) with our resident SharePoint SQL SME (Bill Baer.)

Each delivery, or “Rotation”, spans three back-to-back weeks of training in Redmond, WA. The first step in the SharePoint MCM journey is to ensure application pre-requisites are met. Once the pre-requisites have been met, the next step is to complete an application. After application pre-requisites are verified, the Instructor team will review the applicant's documentation and then schedule a one hour technical interview conference call. This phase of the process is important for a number of reasons. Due to the intense nature of the program and the depth and breadth of material covered, the Instructor team conducts the technical interview to gain a better understanding of the applicant’s skill level and subject matter expertise. This is a very rigorous, comprehensive, and thorough application process. Applicants should expect to demonstrate a working knowledge, expertise, and hands-on experience across SharePoint Products and Technologies, as well as a willingness to share their knowledge with and learn from others. The documentation along with the technical interview provide the basis for assessing an applicant's readiness to enter the program. Applicants whose applications are accepted should be very proud for having become “MCM candidates.” This in itself is a great accomplishment and having great experts in the room is a key aspect of each rotation.

The candidates that attend and work through each rotation bring a terrific amount of expertise and a wide array of experience to each delivery. As the SharePoint Master program is targeted at SharePoint professionals who actively design, build, configure, deploy, support, and troubleshoot SharePoint implementations, each candidate has a background across the SharePoint stack. If you’re a SharePoint professional, you’ll realize that this covers quite a lot of ground. In fact, to get a feel for some of the areas covered, a good place to start is the recommended pre-reading list for each rotation located here.

To provide more insight into the program, some of the members of R1 and R2 have recently posted blog posts describing their rotation experience. I’ve posted these below along with posts from Arpan Shah, Andrew Connell, and Todd Baginski as they provide a good view into the program from different vantage points:

· Bill Baer: An inside view of the SharePoint MCM Program

· Russ Houberg: Master Training: Are You Ready?

· Mirjam van Olst: My Microsoft Certified Master Experience

· Maurice Prather: A Perspective on the Microsoft Certified Master Program for SharePoint

· Spencer Harbar: Certified Master for SharePoint 2007 “R2”

· Arpan Shah: Meeting Potential Future SharePoint Masters

· Andrew Connell: Microsoft Certification Master for SharePoint - My Involvement in Helping Create the Certification Content and Some Thoughts...

· Todd Baginski: SharePoint Certified Master - An Inside Look

Hopefully the above links provide more insight into the program and help provide a better understanding of the overall experience of a rotation.

So with that, without further ado, it is my great pleasure to introduce our first SharePoint Masters! Each of these individuals has demonstrated deep knowledge and subject matter expertise as well as real-world hands-on experience with SharePoint. As mentioned earlier, each SharePoint MCM has undergone a thorough interview process, attended a full rotation, passed three comprehensive written exams, and finally, has successfully completed a thorough qualification-lab (aka “the qual lab”) practical hands-on exam.

Please join me in congratulating our newest Certified SharePoint Masters!

Listed below in alphabetical order:

· Aku Heikkerö: Aku is the Lead IW Architect for Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) in Europe and is based in Helsinki, Finland.

· Ali Mazaheri: Ali is a Senior Consultant with MCS and is based in the West region of North America.

· Bill Baer: Bill is a Technology Architect with Microsoft Online and is based in Redmond, Washington.

· Brett Geoffroy: Brett Geoffroy is a Principal Consultant for Microsoft Consulting Services in the Netherlands. He originally hails from the US – most recently the San Francisco Bay Area - and currently resides in Amsterdam.

· Ingeborg Struijk: Ingeborg is a member of Microsoft Services in the Netherlands and works as Information Worker Consultant.

· Kimmo Forss: Kimmo Forss is an Architect in the Microsoft Online Services Group, with particular focus on SharePoint. Previously, Kimmo served as a Lead Architect for Microsoft Enterprise Services and is based in Helsinki, Finland.

· Maurice Prather: Maurice is an enterprise architect, SharePoint MVP, and serves as the Lead Architect for ShareSquared, Inc. (http://www.sharesquared.com).

· Mitch Prince: Mitch is a Principal Consultant and Delivery Architect with Microsoft Consulting Services based out of New York City.

· Nakul Joshi: Nakul is a Consultant with Microsoft Consulting Services and is based in India.

· Peter Williams: Peter is a Senior Consultant for Microsoft based in Sweden.

· Scott Jamison: Scott is a Director of Enterprise Architecture with the Enterprise Product Group at Microsoft.

· Spencer Harbar: Spencer is an independent SharePoint consultant, trainer, and SharePoint MVP based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

· Todd Carter: Todd is a Principal Premier Field Engineer with Microsoft and is based in Las Colinas, Texas.

· Vesa Juvonen: Vesa is a Senior Consultant for Microsoft Consulting Services and is based in Helsinki, Finland.

Congratulations to all of our new SharePoint Masters. We expect to add additional names to this list in the coming months as we’ll have more qual-lab and written exam retakes in the next few months (from R1 & R2), as well as an R3 delivery in June. We’ll be sure to post updates with regards to new SharePoint MCMs as needed.

I’m looking forward to working with the new group of candidates in June and to continued collaboration with our new community of SharePoint Masters!

James Petrosky
And Another Two Makes ... I've Lost Count...
28 April 09 10:40 PM | Greg Taylor | 1 Comments

This week two more of those who attended MCM Exchange R2 took and passed their Qual Labs. So, a big well done and a ho ho ho to;

* Tim Thomason - Tim is a Senior Messaging Consultant for IBM, based in Canada. Tim has lived all over the world and has a weatlh of experience, not just in Exchange, but in things like virtualization. A great asset to have Tim in the community.
* Gabriel Velilla - Gabriel is a Senior Engineer and the Lead Engineer for Exchange for the New York City Dept of IT and Telecommunications (aka DoITT...How NY is that?!). His business card is therefore 9" wide, just to get the job title and org name on it.

Well done to you both, great to have you certified and part of the MCM community.

Greg
Filed under: Exchange, New Cert Annoucements
Introducing MCM Exchange R2
27 April 09 07:13 PM | Greg Taylor | 1 Comments

I would have done this earlier but I'm not all that technical and couldn't figure out how to publish a picture... Anyway, here's a class picture of all those that attended MCM R2.

So, from left to right we have.... Morten Banke, Tyler Jin, Atif Mazhar, Kris Becan, Riaz Malik, Morten Kjønnø, Tim Maynes, hocheol Kang, me, Theodore the Chipmonk, Brian Gibson, Davide McGarr, Sjaak Rovers, Kay Sellenrode, Tim Thomason, Gabriel Velilla, Neil Johnson, Wayne Filin-Mathews.

What a handsome bunch they are eh?

A week today another 15 turn up for MCM Exchange R3. I can't wait.....
Filed under: Introductions, Exchange
SQL Cat publishes XEvents Waitstats reporting tool!
27 April 09 05:11 PM | Ken Tanner | 0 Comments

Mentioned during the last rotation was SQL CAT team's Waitstats reporting tool. I was pleased to learn today that the tool is finally available on codeplex, at the following link. I've come to rely on WaitStats in my most frequent customer requested task, performance tuning (PTO). I harken back to the SQL 2000 days when I was fortunate to stumble upon a whitepaper written by Tom Davidson (SQL CAT Team) and found it provided unbelievable insights previously hidden from my poor eyes. Many of the waitstats of today can be discovered using DMV's in the box. This tool allows the user to collect "Response time analysis at the session or statement level including waitstats using the new Extended Events infrastructure in SQL Server 2008". This represents another arrow in the waitstats quiver that I find is frequently one of my steps when evaluating performance problems on large database systems. I hope you find this as useful as I expect.

-kt
Filed under: SQL, SQL performance Tuning
Two More MCM Exchange 2007's from MCM R2
22 April 09 12:00 AM | Greg Taylor | 2 Comments

Today two more of the R2 attendees passed their Qual Lab and became MCM's in Exchange Server 2007. Please congratulate;

*
Morten Kjønnø - Morten is from ErgoGroup AS in Norway. Not only is he now an Exchange Master, but he's a very good photographer...many of the pics I might publish are his work.
*
Tim Maynes - Tim is a PFE for Microsoft in the US and works with all the big US government customers.

Well done to you both, and welcome to the MCM community.
Filed under: Exchange, New Cert Annoucements
Maybe I Didn't Shout Loud Enough?
21 April 09 11:46 PM | Greg Taylor | 2 Comments

Have you seen the rather fantastic and funny video about shouting at your disks in the datacentre? If you haven't, you should... it's interesting stuff.

So much so that when we talked storage in the MCM Exchange R2 rotation we just finished, we decided to test this theory ourselves. So our instructor, Jud Doran from Microsoft's Exchange Center of Excellence in Redmond set up a webcam next to a storage array we have in the lab we use and sent over some poor soul (that would be me) to shout at some disks, whilst he and the class watched me through the webcam and listened to me over my cell phone and OCS at Jud's end.

It was already noisy in there. But I gave it my best effort and shouted at the disks - and nothing happened... so I did it again... still, nothing... so we concluded that either I can't shout loud enough (I think that's unlikely, but I was out voted), the array we have is too good at dampening vibration, the disks in the array were too spread out, or, just to make me look daft, I was shouting at the wrong array...but it would be entertaining to those that were watching...

So seeing as how it didn't work, I yanked a disk out. :-) that didn't really do much either, so conclusion was - good storage. Lots of green twinkly lights and the storage carried on just fine. .

I did get some very funny looks though from the three guys standing outside the door to the lab when I came out.....

SUMBER