Lukas Beeler’s IT Blog

The second last day of the Microsoft TechDays 2007 in Switzerland.

I’ve attended 4 speaks:

• Remote Access & Security
• Longhorn Virtualization
• System Center Configuration Manager 2007
• System Center Operations Manager 2007

All three talks were very interesting.

Remote Access & Security

A lot about RPC over HTTPS, two factor authentication, and TS over HTTPS. It’s funny that everyone starts tunneling stuff over HTTPS now, just wondering when people start to block this, or start implementing an ALG for HTTPS.

Longhorn Virtualization

This was particularly interesting, because this guy obviously knew the underlying architecture, and explained it pretty well.

What i found rather interesting here is that Microsoft repeats the same mistakes IBM made when they started with virtualization (which IBM calls Logical Partitioning, or LPAR for short). Windows Server Virtualization uses a primary partition - even though Longhorn mitigates the risk by preferring “Longhorn Core” as the primary partition.

IBM only uses a complete Hypervisor, with no primary Partition in it’s current System i5 lineup. But the previous, Power4 generation used a primary partition, with a few obvious drawbacks.

But there are technical reasons why Microsoft can’t do this. And it’s simple: Drivers. If you’re using Longhorn Core as the primary partition, you essentially get a very, very big hypervisor ;)

System Center Configuration Manager 2007

It was pretty interesting to see how big businesses handle their desktops. SCCM is recommended for Business with more than 500 desktops, so it’s way out of league for me. There’s an alternative product for smaller businesses, called System Center Essentials, but these geared down versions usually aren’t that funny.

System Center Operations Manager 2007

I’ve had big expectations for this speak, because i’m planning to use SCOM internally. However, most of the talk covered things which are also published as Webcasts. So it was a bit of a letdown since i’ve already seen this stuff, but the talk itself wasn’t bad.

Personal Sidenote:

After leaving TechDays, and getting myself a very nice bag, i’ve lost my wallet in the parking garage. When i returned a few minutes later, it wasn’t there anymore. I’ve spent two hours cancelling all my cards, badges, etc. I even went to the police station to file a report (but that was declined, i had to wait three days). Just a few minutes ago i got a call that my wallet was found. I don’t know if i should be happy about that or not, because i’ve already wasted lots of bucks on new cards.