Jan 6 2012

Free online Microsoft Training tracks

 

One super interesting location to find (free) Microsoft Computer Based Trainings is on the Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) website, where you can sign up and follow many courses.

 

Microsoft Virtual Academy

Improve your IT skill set and help advance your career with a free, easy to access training portal. Learn at your own pace, focusing on Microsoft technologies, gain points and get recognition.

 

As today (Jan 6th 2012) there are tracks on the following subjects (16 in total):

  • Introduction To SQL Azure
    Microsoft® SQL Azure™ Database is a relational cloud database service (RDBMS) built on SQL Server® technologies. It is a highly available, scalable, multi-tenant database service hosted by Microsoft in the cloud. SQL Azure Database helps to ease provisioning and deployment of multiple databases. Developers do not have to install, setup, patch or manage any software, as all that is taken care of by Microsoft with this platform as a service (PAAS). High availability and fault tolerance is built-in and no physical administration is required.
    Customers can use existing knowledge in T-SQL development and a familiar relational data model for symmetry with existing on-premises databases. Additionally, customers can get productive on SQL Azure quickly by using the same development and management tools they use for on-premises databases services.
  • Windows Azure Security Overview
    Learn the essentials of Windows Azure Security by covering the security protection included at every layer. We cover the security mechanisms included with Windows Azure at the physical, network, host, application, and data layers. Furthermore, get a basic understanding of some of the identity options you have to authenticate to Windows Azure.

    Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals – VDI
    Centralizing desktops and client computers is an increasing important consideration for all IT departments as they begin to evaluate Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). Using VDI to consolidate maintenance activities reduces the time which end-users must spend on OS and application deployment, configuration, patching and compliance, while decreasing hardware costs through virtualized resource pooling and sharing. The VDI course provides a deep-dive into VDI planning and solutions as the final section in the three track program covering Microsoft Virtualization. Learn about when to use VDI, planning considerations, desktop models, Windows 7 integration, application delivery, user state virtualization and comparisons to other technologies. Explore how Microsoft’s v-Alliance partnership with Citrix strengthens and broadens the VDI offerings. Upon completing this course you will be able to understand, plan and deploy the appropriate VDI solution for your business.

  • Enhancing Your Business and Career with the Private Cloud
    This track focuses on how the private cloud can help your business and your IT Pro career. You will learn about cloud business drivers and business processes. And you will be exposed to cloud computing at the business level and how to extend that knowledge to the technical level. Lastly you will learn how to extend your private cloud to the outside world and how the resulting hybrid cloud will benefit both your organization and the IT Pro.
  • Overview and Infrastructure Changes in SCCM 2012
    This course provides an overview of the new System Center Configuration Manager 2012 (SCCM) product.
    After completing this course you will understand the features that enable SCCM to:-
    • Easily distribute applications to users, regardless of device or form factor.
    • Perform software updates.
    • Device management improvements.

      The course will also cover how SCCM makes it easier to service the rapidly growing number of connected devices in your organization, such as smartphones, tablets, and virtual machines, through centralized global configuration management.

      Course modules will also show you the changes that help simplify the configuration and management of the infrastructure, how to use SCCM to gain insight to and control IT systems through easier maintenance, improved security and simplified configuration, as well as a number of other new features and updates to self-service application delivery, integrated settings management, antivirus management, UNIX and Linux support, compliance improvements, security updates, the new GUI, and much more!

  • Understanding Microsoft’s High-Availability Solutions
    This course covers the best ways to provide continual availability to all applications, services, servers and VMs in your datacenter. The modules will cover all the planning, deployment and management considerations for bringing high-availability to every components of your datacenter or Private Cloud.
    By the end of this course you will have an understanding of the basics of each of Microsoft’s HA solutions and when each of them should be used. You will understand all the different methods you can use to keep your services up and running.
    Technologies that will be covered in this course include:-
    • Hyper-V,
    • Failover Clustering,
    • Network Load Balancing,
    • SQL Server,
    • Exchange Server,
    • IIS, DFS-R, DNS
    • And every System Center product (including SC 2012) with a focus on Virtual Machine Manager (VMM)
  • Office 365 for the IT Pro – Platform
    Just exploring the features of Office 365? Wondering if it’s right for your business? Trying to determine what’s involved in migrating to Office 365? This track provides you an overview of the components that comprise Office 365, including the different licenses available and what’s included with each. From that overview, the next modules go in to greater detail on Office Pro Plus – the version of the Office suite unique to Office 365 – and how to deploy/activate it. Additional modules go in to detail on what kinds of administration you can perform with PowerShell, and an overview of the sign-on options available with Office 365, including directory synchronization with your existing Active Directory, and implementing Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) for single sign on between on premises and Office 365 cloud services.
  • Microsoft Private Cloud Infrastructure
    This course focuses on how using technologies and tools from Microsoft can help your business build, deploy, and maintain a private cloud. You will learn about the core Windows Server products, and how to use them to build and support the virtualized and physical resources that are part of your private cloud infrastructure. You will be exposed to common cloud computing configuration and management practices, as well as technical details to help you be successful in building a private cloud for your business. Lastly, you will learn how using tools and technologies from Microsoft as part of your private cloud will benefit both your organization and you as the IT professional.
  • Building Business Apps with Visual Studio Lightswitch
    Do you think building business applications requires hours of effort and big development teams? This course introduces Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch, the simplified, self-service development tool that enables you to build those business applications you need, quickly and easily for the desktop and cloud. These 5 modules will step you through Visual Studio LightSwitch and have you creating a business application by the end of module 2. After completing all 5 modules, you will have seen how to create an application, connect to and use data, make your application interface more friendly and also see how to extend Visual Studio LightSwitch.
  • Office 365 for the IT Pro – Exchange Online
    Wondering how Exchange Online differs from Exchange on premises, and what it takes to migrate or coexist between the two?
    This track covers Exchange Online for IT pros.
    In addition to an overview of Exchange Online, additional modules in this track cover Administration, Migration, Hybrid environments, and Compliance and Archiving options in Exchange Online.
  • Office 365 for the IT Pro – Lync Online, SharePoint Online & Deployment
    This track covers some of the collaborative aspects of Office 365, including Lync and SharePoint online, as well as best practices for an Office 365 migration/deployment.
    The modules include Lync Online Overview and configuration, SharePoint Online Overview, Administration, and Extensibility/Customization, as well as the deployment overview/best practices.
  • Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals – The Platform
    Virtualization has become a key component of any modern datacenter, offering such advantages as easier deployment, resource pooling, server consolidation, application compatibility, high-availability, reduced costs and centralized management. The Platform course offers a deep-dive into the important technologies that contribute to the core virtualization infrastructure, and is the first track in the three track program covering Microsoft Virtualization. Learn about Microsoft’s virtualization offerings and strategy, datacenter planning, Hyper-V architecture, VM management, virtualized networking and storage, numerous other Hyper-V features, as well as advanced management with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2. Understand high-availability and disaster recovery considerations to keep your VMs up and running using Windows Server Failover Clustering. Explore how Hyper-V is both different and similar to VMware virtualization through technical and terminology comparisons. By the end of this track you will have the tools you need to plan, design and deploy your virtualized datacenter or Private Cloud infrastructure.
  • Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals – Management
    Management has become a critical piece of maintaining a virtualized datacenter or Private Cloud by providing increased scale, faster deployments and integrated automation to reduce the total cost of IT ownership. The Management course provides an overview of Microsoft comprehensive management suite, System Center, and is the second course in the three course series covering Microsoft Virtualization. Learn about the System Center products at a high-level, or dive into any of the technologies which include: Operations Manager for monitoring servers and services; Configuration Manager for deploying software and maintaining compliance on all types of devices; Service Manager for automating IT processes; Data Protection Manager for backing up and restoring servers and VMs; Opalis for integrated and customized workflow processes; and Virtual Machine Manager 2012 for advanced VM deployment and management. Additional modules will cover the PowerShell scripting utility, the VMM Self-Service Portal 2.0 and Private Cloud concepts. After completing this track you will understand how to centrally manage and automate a datacenter of any size.
  • Planning, Building and Managing a Private Cloud
    This track will cover the full cycle from understanding, planning and managing Microsoft private cloud offerings. It will start by introducing Microsoft’s vision for private cloud computing and give details on how to plan a successful private cloud project, i.e. from a business & capacity planning perspective and how to work with Microsoft’s Assessment & Planning toolkit. The last part of this track will focus on implementation using a hands-on view at how Microsoft System Center Management tools help manage a private cloud, plus an in depth discussion on how to implement these tools. We will also demo System Center VMM, Opalis and Avicode.
  • Introduction To Windows Azure
    Cloud computing is here. Running applications on machines in an Internet-accessible data center can bring plenty of advantages. Yet wherever they run, applications are built on some kind of platform. For on-premises applications, this platform usually includes an operating system, some way to store data, and perhaps more. Applications running in the cloud need a similar foundation. The goal of Microsoft’s Windows Azure is to provide this. This track is dedicated to provide the foundational knowledge an IT Professional needs to be successful with the Windows Azure.
  • System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012
    This course focuses on how using System Center Virtual Machine Manger 2012 can help your business build, deploy, and maintain a private cloud. After completing these three modules you will have learnt about the Virtual Machine Manger 2012 product, and the features it utilizes to build and support the virtualized and physical resources that are part of your private cloud infrastructure. The course will also expose you to cloud computing at the business level, from the perspective of Virtual Machine Manger 2012, and show how to extend that knowledge to the technical level. The last module will show you how to manage applications within your private cloud using Virtual Machine Manger 2012 to deploy, update, and manage them. At the end, we will have illustrated how using Virtual Machine Manger 2012 as part of your private cloud infrastructure will benefit both your organization and the IT Pro.

source: Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) website.

By Henk Arts • Microsoft • • Tags: