I attended many interesting sessions and met - between the sessions – many interesting people. Also I was surprised how many people recognized me because of my blog and complimented me with it. Never thought that my blog carried so much weight. So thank you everybody for your compliments and nice words. Made me feel kind of special.
During MMS an awesome thing happened to me. I have presented a BOF session!!!
How it happened…
Fellow MVP Cameron Fuller was scheduled for presenting two BOF sessions, all about System Center 2012. These two sessions were planned one after another which is a challenge to do. So many fellow MVPs were asked to join the sessions and to help Cameron out.
So I went to those sessions and soon I was given a microphone as well, just to assist Cameron. Soon the first session came to an end and then Cameron walked up to me, introduced me and set me on stage in order to run the second BOF session. He self went away for some minutes in order to get a drink…
Wow! For the first five to ten minutes I was a bit nervous but then it all became better and I started to enjoy it very much. Good questions were asked since the audience knew their stuff as well. Other fellow MVPs were present as well and helped me out when needed. Cameron also returned and assisted me as well. 
It was an awesome experience which Cameron made possible. So thank you Cameron and many thanks to the audience as well for their good questions. A true community spirit was present those two hours.
Takeaways
These are some of the takeaways of MMS 2012, based on the sessions I visited and the people I spoke.
- It’s a stack now, labeled Private Cloud
Yes, I know. All the System Center 2012 products are like islands, all separate products. BUT… the true power lies within their ability to connect and operate in concert. Only then one has a Private Cloud as Microsoft sees it. These products are (besides Hyper-V of course or any other mainstream hyper visor) crucial to it:
App Control
A portal to connect to the private and public clouds, enabling the users to move applications to and from the cloud. Also used for service offerings.
SCVMM
The tooling for carving up resources and offering them to the (internal) customers as a private cloud.
SCOM
The tooling for monitoring every detail of the Private Cloud.
SCOrch
The ducktape and mechanism to automate many procedures. The only way to make the cloud self sustaining.
DPM
For disaster recovery and business continuity.
SCSM
Last but not least. The UMBRELLA of the whole cloud solution mainly based on all the Connectors (AD, SCOM, SCCM, SCVMM and SCOrch) so all the CIs contained in the CMDB are really enriched with tons of relevant information. Also the starting point for many automated workflows in conjunction with SCOrch, SCVMM and SCOM.
In conjunction with the ‘Cloud Services Provider Pack’ Solution Accelerator, containing templates for SCSM, runbooks for SCOrch and a MP for SCOM, charge back and cost centers are added to the mix, thus enabling a real Private Cloud solution.
- MP Authoring tools are growing up
Finally, the tools for MP authoring have grown up. No more awful MP Authoring Console but two new tools, each of them targeted at a different audience:
IT PROs
For IT PROs Visio MP Designer is build. This tool uses Visio 2010 PREMIUM and enables on to create good MPs in a fast and highly visualized manner. When one has a LOB which needs customized monitoring this tool is really nice to use. One can visualize the LOB in Visio and create the required MP in no time!
Developers
For developers Visio MP Designer won’t do at all. For them Visual Studio has a new add-on, enabling one to create MPs like a real developer, with all the control mechanisms in place and IntelliSense.
These tools are about to released to the public this week.
See AM-B311 and FI-B313.
- APM (Application Performance Monitoring)
In OM12 APM is something really special. It’s the latest version of AVIcode and fully integrated into OM12. It enables organizations to look inside .NET based applications in order to catch exceptions and get rich information about it. Pete Zerger and Alex Fedotyev gave an awesome session about it. Learned a lot from it.
See AM-B310.
- OM & SCOrch, a happy marriage
How two totally different products are capable of enhancing one another thus enabling better monitoring and remediation. Brian Wren gave some demonstrations which are very usable in everyday practice of any IT shop.
See DB-B305.
- Australia and UK together: How one plus one makes three!
There was this session all about advanced analytical reporting, presented by Gordon McKenna (UK) and Sean Roberts (Australia). Besides a lot of humor (and strange voices) they shared good information and insights about how to get the most out of your SC 2012 implementation when reports or visual representation of crucial information is required. A very good session it was. And refreshing as well because they really had fun while presenting.
See FI-B326.
- Service Delivery and automation
All about the Private Cloud and the importance of Services. How to create them, offer them and automate much of the underlying processes. Very informative session it was.
See SD-B308.
- Microsoft has embraced JAVA?
No, not really. Phew! But… OM12 is very capable of monitoring JAVA applications. In a session this was clearly demonstrated and explained. I don’t do Java (my devices and websites do but no interaction of myself is required here) but even I understood the mechanisms of it all. A good session it was.
See AM-B318.
- Microsoft knows how to PARTY!!!!
Yesterday evening Microsoft invited all attendees to a party. And boy, did this party ROCK! Awesome! As location the casino/hotel Paris was chosen. Under the Eifel Tower (!) – set in thousands of lights – and at the pool deck the party was pumping. An awesome surrounding. There was plenty of food, served by beautiful women (loving Vegas!) and drinks. There was a good DJ and a drummer, really making the party go. An awesome experience I’ll never forget. Thank you Microsoft!!!
Some impressions:
So it was an awesome experience. Combined with Las Vegas even a bit crazy. Had the time of my life.
When you haven’t been at MMS 2012, you still can watch online the sessions. Go here, sign up (for free!) and check out the sessions. When you’re interested in the sessions I have mentioned in the posting, search for the related session number as listed per topic in this posting.
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