Tag Archives: Server 2012

Nov 24

4 videos to understand Windows Server Desired State Configuration (DSC) and FREE eBook

Posted on by

Desired State Configuration is a big part of most 2012 R2 certification tests; get an understanding from these 5 videos.

I have tried to arrange these in order; if you watch them in order, you should have a good basic understanding of DSC. It’s a very useful capability. The first two are approximately 1 hour each. DSC can do PUSH or PULL. Push would normally be ad hoc, test, or small needs. Most normal production use would be PULL.

Free eBook from Powershell.org The DSC Book

number1VIDEO 1

Time = 1:09
Description; Targeted somewhat to developers; or with a dev mindset. Give a good overview of the design, deployment and possible uses. Lots of groundwork explanation. .MOF (Managed Object Format) file creation and use. This is a classroom recording, so there is some live Q & A.

number2VIDEO 2 – DSC is the ENDGAME for PowerShell

Time = 1:04

Published on May 19, 2014

Description; Windows PowerShell 4.0 introduces Desired State Configuration (DSC), and it’s time to put it to use. With DSC, you declaratively tell computers what you want them to look like, and how you want them to be configured, and let DSC make it happen and KEEP that configuration enforced. In this session, you not only see how DSC works, but you will be introduced to custom resource development, letting you start teaching; DSC how to configure internal applications, databases, and other infrastructure elements.

number3VIDEO 3 – More hands on and examples

Time = 1:17

Published on Nov 9, 2014

Description; Are you paying attention to DevOps? Adoption of DevOps practices can greatly improve your company’s deployment efficiency. PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) helps teams take the management of their Windows-based infrastructure into the DevOps space by capturing their infrastructure as code. The declarative PowerShell model enables autonomous, idempotent, and transparent configuration and deployment of Windows infrastructure and components. Capturing infrastructure as code is not only a means to manage what they have, at scale and speed, it is also a way to decouple the complexity of their existing environment in order to facilitate a migration to the cloud. Come see how DSC works and how you can use it to make configuration of internal applications, databases, and other infrastructure elements more efficient.

number4

VIDEO 4 – Use Powershell DSC to install SQL Server

Time = :14

Published on Dec 18, 2014

Description; I briefly show how powershell DSC can be used to configure and deploy a brand new SQL Server installation.

Jun 14

Windows Server 2012 R2 (70-412) MCSA and the 70-412 Exam – Study Guide

Posted on by

These notes are my personal notes from the FREE training on Pluralsight. You can get your FREE signup through technet/MSDN or Dreamspark. The title of this course is exactly the title of this post. These notes are from this specific course only. I use these as a refresher Study Guide. POWERSHELL topics and 2012GregShieldscmdlets are in purple. I have a few notes with the “DEMO” each time the training included a DEMO just so you can see how many demos there were which were really helpful. Thanks to Greg Shields @ConcentratdGreg, the trainer, contact info at the end.

After doing the Advanced Features training, I’m expanding into the rest on Pluralsight and will go through as many as I can before my test date. This content should also apply to the 70-417. The 417 is the one I’m taking is a combination of 410, 411, and 412 all in one. It breaks down the score for each section. You have to pass all three sections. I have passed two of them (410 and 411) but not the 412, so if you fail one of them, you fail the entire test.

  1. An Introduction to the MCSA’s Final Exam2012Exams
    1. bunch of stuff about exam, objectives, strategy
    2. 417 is a combination of 410, 411 and 412
    3. Intended audience; ok.
    4. Without taking a bunch of notes, let’s just say review the exam objectives, just scroll down on the appropriate page for the specific exam you’re looking at;
      1. https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/exam-70-410.aspx
      2. https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/exam-70-411.aspx
      3. https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/exam-70-412.aspx
      4. https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/exam-70-417.aspx
    5. R2 specific information has  been included since January 2014.  So, while I don’t think you’ll have a lot of questions about the differences from 2012 and Server 2012 R2, I WOULD expect to know the new Server 2012 R2 features.
    6. Link on what is NEW in Server 2012 R2
  2. The next section is titled Building Your 70-412 R2 Environment 
    1. I’m going to put the next section in a new post focused on how to build a lab.