Windows Azure Camps in Manchester 10th Dec

In conjunction with Salford Software we are holding an exclusive,  IT Professional Azure Camp

Monday 10th December, 2012

Location – Media City, UK Plot B4, Salford Quays, Manchester, M50 2HE

This event is a technical hands on introduction to some of the IaaS Cloud Services that Microsoft is now offering to Academic organisations.

The camp will be led by an Azure specialist and is aimed at the IT Professional. On it you will build and deploy an entire SharePoint infrastructure with a dual-machine server-farm, Active Directory Domain Controller and SQL Server. On the road to that infrastructure you will create a dual-server, load-balanced IIS website, a WIndows Azure Virtual Network in to which you will deploy the Active Directory Domain plus all the member servers (SQL and SharePoint) and you’ll also learn how to generalise your images and add them to your library of images to make future deployment simpler.

All running in the Cloud!

You will walk away with a complete – Cloud based – service that you will be able to continue to use, further develop and show colleagues following the camp.

Please register at the site below:

https://www.salfordsoftware.co.uk/content/it-professional-azure-camp

Windows Azure IT Pro Camp

Note: Because you can leave your Windows Azure service deployed and you will have all the configuration and projects etc. on your laptop when you leave the camp, any unfinished labs can be completed at home/in the office.

You will need to bring a laptop and complete some pre-requisites to participate in the camp. Please see details below:

You will need a working Windows Azure subscription and you need to have applied for and successfully been granted access to:

Windows Azure Virtual Machines and Virtual Networks – for the IT Pro camp.

There is a video that describes how to apply for these features here.

Any working subscription is suitable; paid or free.

You can get a free trial subscription. This grants you access to certain resources free for 90 days. You will need a Windows Live ID and a Credit Card to register. The spending limit on the free trial account is set at £0.00. When the free trial period of 90 days has passed you will be asked if you’d like to remove the spending limit and from that point on treat it as a standard paid subscription.

If you use more than the free allocation of resources in a month, you will also be asked if you’d like to remove the spending limit. There is no perpetually free subscription available for Windows Azure.

Details of the free trial accounts are here:

To get a free trial subscription go to https://bit.ly/azure4free. . To register for this offer, you need a credit card to activate it, but the spending limit on the subscription is set to £0.00 so you won’t be charged.

To add Windows Azure benefits to your existing MSDN subscription, go to https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/member-offers/msdn-benefits/

To add Windows Azure benefits if you are a BizSpark customer, go to https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/member-offers/bizspark-benefits/

To add Windows Azure benefits if you are an MPN member go to https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/offers/ms-azr-0002p

There are also free trial subscriptions available to certain MSDN subscribers. Or if your at teaching academic you can apply for a Azure Educator account which offer a 12 month FREE subscription at https://www.windowsazure.com/education

IT Pro camp pre-requisites

As an IT Pro who uses a laptop, you’ll almost certainly have the required software already installed. You will need:

A working Windows Azure subscription – see details above. You need to have successfully applied and been granted access to the Windows Azure Virtual Machines preview.

A wireless-enabled 64-bit laptop with Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 8 RTM. The camp is written with Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 users in mind. If you are using Windows 8 there will be variations in the way the UI is described.

Bring the power supply: you will be using the laptop all day.

A basic knowledge of the Windows infrastructure stack (Windows, Windows Server, Active Directory, Web, Security, SQL Server etc) to the level required by an IT Pro.

Perform the following software setup:

1. Log in to an account that has full administrative privileges on the 64-bit machine. This is the account you will do the machine setup from and also the lab-work. It’s essential to ensure you use the same administrative account for both setup and lab-work to avoid permissions problems. By far the biggest problems on this bootcamp are to do with permission problems on machine setup.

2. Install the Windows Azure Powershell Cmdlets by following the instructions on this page:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/jj156055

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do I need to know about Windows Azure to attend this Camp?
You don’t need any prior experience or knowledge about Windows Azure to attend this Camp. The purpose of the event is to provide you with the basic skills and knowledge to get started with learning about Windows Azure.

Who can attend the Camps?
Students, developers, technologists, IT Pros, architects, hobbyist, technology enthusiasts. Everyone is welcome! All we ask is that you are ready and keen to learn about Windows Azure.

How much does it cost to attend this Camp?
Your luck’s in – it’s free.

What do I need to prepare in advance to make the most of the Camp?
There are a basic set of things you should prepare before attending the Camp, listed above. Please make sure you are prepared so you can make the most of your day at the Camp.

What if I have registered already and cannot make it on the day?
Please let us know as soon as you can if you can’t make the camp as there’ll be plenty of people who are keen to take your spot. Please respect the trainers and your fellow delegates by turning up if you have registered and committed. Thanks!