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Atlanta

Atlanta PowerShell User Group – November Meeting

Nov 15th, 2010
by Aaron Nelson.
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Atlanta & Virtual PowerShell User Group - November MeetingThis month is a special meeting as the Atlanta PowerShell User Group and the Virtual PowerShell User Group are joining forces to bring you Ed Wilson, the Scripting Guy.  He will be joining us to give his presentation on PowerShell Best Practices.

Please register so we know how much pizza to order.  Orrrrr, don’t complain when we run out of pizza again. 

When:
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 from 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM (ET)

Agenda:
6:00pm: Networking, free pizza and soft drinks, and open discussions.
6:30pm: User Group News and Information – Mark Schill
6:45pm: PowerShell Best Practices – Ed Wilson

Where:
New Horizons Atlanta
211 Perimeter Center Parkway
Suite 200
Atlanta, GA 30346

Speaker Bio:

Ed Wilson is one of the Microsoft Scripting Guys and a well-known scripting expert.  He is a Microsoft-certified trainer who has delivered a popular Windows PowerShell workshop to Microsoft Premier Customers worldwide.  He has written 8 books including 5 on Windows scripting, including: Windows PowerShell Scripting Guide, and Microsoft Windows PowerShell Step by Step both published by Microsoft Press.

He has also contributed to nearly a dozen other books, and is currently working on a PowerShell Best Practices book.  Ed holds more than 20 industry certifications, including Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).  Prior to coming to work for Microsoft he was a senior consultant for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner where he specialized in Active Directory design and Exchange implementation.

In his spare time he enjoys woodworking, underwater photography, and scuba diving.

Live Meeting URL for remote participants: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/UserGroups/join?id=8RFF4R&role=attend&pw=dDs%405B%21-X

Atlanta PowerShell User Group: To receive the latest news and updates from the user group, sign up for the ATLPUG Mailing List at http://powershellgroup.org/content/atlanta-powershell-user-group-mailing-list.

Atlanta PowerShell Group – October Meeting

Oct 18th, 2010
by Aaron Nelson.
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PoShAfter a short summer break we’re glad to get back to business with PowerShell.  We’re very excited to have Mark Mitchell ( blog | twitter ) dropping by to show us how to create GUIs with PowerShell Smile

Date: 10/19/2010 (Tuesday) 6:00pm EDT (GMT-4)

Location:
New Horizons Atlanta
211 Perimeter Center Parkway Suite 200
Atlanta, GA 30346
Phone: (770) 270-2000

Agenda:
6:00pm: Introductions and Opening Remarks and free pizza and soft drinks.
6:15pm: Creating PowerShell Graphical Interfaces – Mark Mitchell
7:15pm: Script Club
7:45pm: Giveaway: Multiple copies of Lee Holme’s “Windows PowerShell Cookbook”

Speaker Bio:

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Mark Mitchell has been working in IT for 30 years. He has worked about half his career time as an independent consultant, and the rest in the employment of companies. Mark has built or supported applications ranging from Finance, Mortgage Banking, HR, Transportation, Billing, Manufacturing, Project Management, and Sales Order systems; Running on Mainframe, Unix, and Windows platforms.  Mark has worked with and designed Databases from Network(IDMS), hierarchical(IMS), and Relational(Oracle,SQL Server). Compiled languages of Cobol,Pascal/Delphi,VB,C/C++,ABAP(SAP),Java,C#. For Y2K, Mark rewrote a dBase shopfloor management application as an ASP web based application using a SQL Server backend.

Mark Mitchell’s Scripting history:

  • 1981 scripting mainframe editors (Wylbur, TSO/SPF-Clists ,VM/CMS)
  • 1984 Dos batch scripts
  • 1996 Unix bash scripting with SED and AWK.
  • 1998 VBScript and Windows Scripting Host
  • 2000 CScript, and Perl
  • 2005 AutoIt
  • 2008 came across PowerShell

In January 2009, volunteered to learn enough about PowerShell to do a presentation for the Microsoft Professionals group, And then promptly found an Atlanta PowerShell MVP – Hal Rottenburg ( blog | twitter ) to do it – in January 2010.

Mark Mitchell has been active in the Microsoft developer community in Atlanta attending meetings of Microsoft Atlanta Professionals, Atlanta MDF(SQL Server), Atlanta SharePoint User Group, Atlanta .Net User group, and Atlanta PowerShell User Group. He has attended the SQL Saturday, SharePoint Saturday, CodeStock, Devlink, Atlanta Code Camp, and ReMixAtlanta conferences.

Mark has built 5 of his own desktop computers over the last 10 years, and one of those computers that has never been connected to the internet – dedicated entirely to music composition and recording, with terabytes of sound libraries. Mark plays Keyboards,Guitar,Bass,flute,violin, and has sung in choirs. He is also a semi-professional photographer.

 

Live Meeting: http://www.livemeeting.com/cc/UserGroups/join?id=JGK9RJ&role=attend&pw=gh%3D*258FbRegistration: http://www.powershellgroup.org/atlanta.ga

SQL MVP Denny Cherry Speaking at AtlantaMDF

Oct 7th, 2010
by Aaron Nelson.
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We’re excited to announce that SQL Server MVP Denny Cherry ( blog | twitter ) will be speaking at our next Atlanta MDF meeting!  :-)

Topic: Database Virtualization
We’ll be looking into the pros and cons of moving SQL Servers into a virtual server environment.  Specifically we’ll be looking into when it’s a good idea and when it’s probably not a good idea.  Like all problems in the database world there are no hard set answers as to if virtualization is a good idea, but there are some times when virtualizing a SQL Server is a good idea, and can save you some money.  There are some other times when you will be shooting yourself in the foot and shouldn’t.  We’ll be focusing on when how to make this decision, and how to gather the metrics that you need in order to come to this decision.

Denny_Cherry About Denny:
Denny Cherry has over a decade of experience managing SQL Server, including MySpace.com’s over 175 million user installation, one of the largest in the world. Denny’s areas of technical expertise include system architecture, performance tuning, replication and troubleshooting.  Denny currently holds several Microsoft Certifications related to SQL Server as well as being a Microsoft MVP.  Denny is a longtime member of PASS and Quest Software’s Association of SQL Server Experts and has written numerous technical articles on SQL Server management.

When:
Monday 10/11/2010 6:30 PM

Where:
1125 Sanctuary Pkwy., Suite 300, Alpharetta, GA 30004

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Atlanta B/I User Group Meeting

Aug 23rd, 2010
by Aaron Nelson.
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Did you know Atlanta has a B/I User Group?  This new group is a special extension to Atlanta MDF that focuses on providing monthly BI content and discussions for imagethe hard working people of Atlanta.  The first meeting of the B/I SIG of the Atlanta MDF is tonight, 6:30 pm at Matrix Resources in Perimeter.  (Did I mention that Matrix is a wonderful sponsor of us SQL folks here in Atlanta?)  The topic is going to be something I keep meaning to try out: PowerPivot. Come on ouy and help get this new group off to a great start.

Here are all the vital details for you:

Topic: Self-service B/I with PowerPivot
Date: Monday, August 23, 2010
Speaker: Teo Lachev

Meeting Agenda
6:30 – 6:45 – Networking, Announcements
6:45 – 7:15 – Sponsor Presentation(s)
7:15 – 8:15 – Main Presentation(s)
8:15 – 8:30 – Q&A, Discussion

Meeting Place
Matrix Resources
115 Perimeter Center Place
Suite 250 (South Terraces Building)
Atlanta, GA 30346

Directions and parking information

Atlanta MDF Code and Slides

Aug 9th, 2010
by Aaron Nelson.
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We had a great crowd of about 60 people last night at the Atlanta MDF which was really great considering it was the first day of school for a lot of the parents in the area. The crowd had a bunch of great questions and while I couldn’t handle all of them I took several notes and will hopefully blog about the answers as I find them over the next couple of weeks.

imageAs promised, here are the scripts and slides I used.

Resources:
I mentioned several different resources last night and here are the ones I remember (just comment if you’re looking for one I forgot about):

I'll be speaking at the Atlanta MDF

Aug 6th, 2010
by Aaron Nelson.
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I’ll be speaking at the Atlanta MDF Monday night (2010-08-09).  I wanted to talk about internals but they’re making me speak about PowerShell.  ;-)   I have a couple new demos since my Standing-Room-Only presentation at SQL Saturday #41 – Atlanta and as always I will have one new demo that I’ve never shown before.  If you’re in the area please come on out and see why I love using PowerShell to work with SQL Server so much.image

Details:

  • Please register so we know how much pizza to order.
  • Date: 8/9/2010
  • Time: 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM
  • Place: Microsoft 1125 Sanctuary Pkwy., Suite 300, Alpharetta, GA
  • Speaker: Me.

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Atlanta PowerShell User Group July Meeting

Jul 15th, 2010
by Aaron Nelson.
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Please come join us for our sixth meeting :-)

When: Tuesday July 20, 2010 at 6 pm
Where: 211 Perimeter Center Parkway, Suite 200, Atlanta, GA 30346
How: Please RSVP so we can get a head count, bring your laptop if you can
What:  People from all over Atlanta getting together to talk PowerShell

The July meeting of the Atlanta PowerShell User Group will be all about Jobs and Remoting. The presentation will be presented by Aaron Nelson, aka SQLvariant. <—Oh wait, that’s me!

Some of the items covered include:

  • How to run PowerShell scripts without having to wait for them to complete.
  • How to run PowerShell scripts on multiple remote systems.
  • How to interactively run PowerShell on remote systems.
  • much much more.

Map picturePlease RSVP so we can get a head count. Pizza and drinks are provided by the ALTPUG thanks to UGSS.org Our meeting will be held at the New Horizon’s training center at 211 Perimeter Center Parkway, Suite 200, Atlanta, GA 30346. Click here for directions and a map. We currently do not have access to the site’s computers so bring your laptop if you can.

TechEd is Coming to Atlanta!

Jul 10th, 2010
by Aaron Nelson.
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TechEd is coming to Atlanta in May 2011!

TENA_header_Atlanta_A

That’s right in just 10 months over 10,000 IT Professionals from around the world are going to descend on Atlanta for a week.  I was really surprised to hear this since they were not that far away in New Orleans this year but who cares this is awesome news!

Why is Microsoft bringing TechEd to Atlanta?  Well they sure didn’t check with me but my first guess would be that it has something to do with the fact that:

Although instead of focusing on being open and accessible to as many people as possible Microsoft could have just been looking out for peoples wallets.  The over 12,000 hotel rooms located in close proximity to the Georgia World Congress Center are probably the cheapest of any of the 10 largest cities in America.  (I think only Dallas can come close.)

So how on earth can over 10,000 IT Pros fit into a single convention center here in Atlanta and it not be cramped?  Pretty easily actually because:

  • The Congress Center’s Building B exhibit halls are more than twice as long as Atlanta’s highest skyscraper is high (which happens to be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere outside of New York and Chicago).  From one end of these halls to the other, the earth curves 3/4 inch.
  • As many as 125,000 people have attended a single event at the GWCC.
    • For relevance sake: that’s approx. 50x larger than the PASS Summit
    • Or… Larger than every PASS Summit and every SQL Saturday ever held, COMBINED.
  • The lobby of Building C alone is large enough to hold the Titanic.
    • Building C: entrance lobby is over 1,000 feet long, 80 feet wide and over 90 feet high
    • Titanic: 882 feet long, 92 feet 6 inches wide, and 60 feet 6 inches from the waterline to the main deck.
  • Heck there’s over 90 acres or 3.9 million square feet throughout the GWCC

The local users groups here in Atlanta are busy working on ideas to capitalize on this great opportunity and you can look forward to me blabbing all about what we’re up to sometime in the near future.  :-)

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* Facts obtained from http://www.gwcc.com/about/Fun_Facts.aspx, http://www.atlanta-airport.com/Airport/ATL/ATL_FactSheet.aspx, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_America_Plaza_%28Atlanta%29

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