TechReady or not .. here it comes.

Today I went to TechReady to help out with the hands on labs for DFSR . Some pretty cool new stuff in there.

Windows Server 2003 R2, the first in a wave of upcoming branch office technologies from Microsoft and industry partners, offers functionality that streamlines operations for remote file and print servers. Windows Server 2003 R2 features deliver distinct advantages for branch office integration through:

· Robust File Replication — Windows Server 2003 R2 includes a completely rewritten replication engine for the Distributed File System (DFS). DFS Replication (DFS-R) provides a robust multimaster file replication service that is significantly more scalable and efficient in synchronizing file servers than its predecessor, File Replication Services (FRS). DFS-R schedules and throttles replication schemes, supports multiple replication topologies, and utilizes Remote Differential Compression (RDC) to increase WAN efficiency. If WAN connections fail, data can be stored and forwarded when WAN connections become available.

· Advanced Compression Technologies — Remote Differential Compression (RDC) is a WAN-friendly compression technology that replicates only the changes needed to ensure global file consistency. RDC thus provides significant WAN efficiencies, including enhanced performance with replicated file size, an area of primary importance for branch office servers based on customer feedback.”

Another very interesting part of my day was the ADFS labs and info. Honestly it makes me nervous – this is something which has the potential to be very hard to troubleshoot and fix – its hard enough to track down a bug in a single application, or even a tiered application within a company. Now we are crossing boundaries to 2 companies who barely trust each other and we need them to work together to fix a bug? Ouch… Don’t get me wrong, the technology itself is very very cool – but remember that I only really get to see it when it has all gone downhill and everyone else has shrugged their shoulders. This also crosses many components - IIS, ASP.NET, AzMan, Active Directory etc.. .. my oh my.. I'd better get my boots on for this.

On another note. TechReady itself was a lot bigger than I thought, and it was nice to meet people from all over the company, developer evangelists, Rapid Response Engineers, Techincal Account Managers’s, Technical Specialists and on and on. Makes me realize how small my world is when it comes to all the things that make MS tick.

spat