RunAs Radio

Richard talks to Boris Hristov about Distributed Transaction Replay in SQL Server 2012. New to SQL Server 2012, Distributed Replay uses a SQL Profiler template to collect transactions that can be replayed on your server. The tool is largely command line, and can be distributed across as many as sixteen clients. Boris talks about the different types of replays that can be done to simulate a workload in detail for testing purposes - say to make sure an upgrade will work properly, or in stress mode, to see what the limits of your SQL Server are. This is a great new tool for your SQL toolbox, check it out!

Richard chats with Ed Horley about his new book, Practical IPv6 for Windows Administrators. The conversation starts out with the evolution of IPv6 from a Windows perspective, starting back in 2006 with Vista and Windows Server 2008. Ed digs into the fundamental things that all administrators need to know about IPv6, how it works in your internal network, the advantages it gives, and how to get away from the archaic thinking that IPv4 has created to keep itself alive for so long. You need this book!

What happens when a podcast host talks to another podcast host? You get confused about who is interviewing who. Hal Rottenberg from the PowerScripting podcast chats with Richard about DevOps - and the conversation travels all over the spectrum on the topic. Where is the DevOps movement really at? Is this something we all should be doing? Is it developer-centric or operations-centric? How do you actually get better, and how do you get your whole organization to get better as well? Fun conversation with Hal!

Richard chats with PFE Chris Evans about using Surface devices in the enterprise. After a quick recap of the various Surface models, the hard conversation starts - how do we use tablets in the enterprise in general? What does it take to get your own custom apps on a Surface device? Do the ARM devices make sense? Can Bring Your Own Device really work? Chris takes them all on and outlines some interesting plans for pilot projects in your organization. The Tablets are coming!

Happy New Year! Richard chats with Stephen Rose about the crazy things that went on at Microsoft in 2013 and some thoughts about the potential of 2014. A little Windows 8, tablets, Windows Phone and new development tools... and what about the whole CEO thing? Fun conversation to help you start thinking about your goals in 2014!

Richard talks to Martin Booth from Microsoft about their vision of the People-Centric IT. A cornerstone of this vision is unified device management, covering desktops, laptops, tablets and phones across all platforms. Martin digs into how tools like Intune, Configuration Manager and Window Server 2012 R2 work together to be able to deal with Bring Your Own Device, effective Information Security and data sharing. The conversation gets beyond the devices and into the diversity of services such as multi-part authentication, file sharing and computing. A great set of thoughts to end the year! Merry Christmas!

Richard chats with Steven Murawski about implementing Microsoft's Desired State Configuration (DSC) in the Stack Exchange infrastructure. DSC is part of the Windows Management Framework 4.0 that comes with Windows Server 2012 R2 but is also backward compatible for Server 2012 and 2008 R2. Steven talks about being able to create detailed configuration documentation as part of DSC that then actually works with tools to generated pre-configured virtual machines in detail. The conversation also dives into the magic of using source control to handle these files and how it helps connect Ops folks to developers to support self-service configuration, reduce problems between the teams and generally spread the DevOps goodness.

Richard talks to Scott Lowe about VMWare's NSX product, which provides network virtualization to the vSphere world. NSX came from VMWare's acquisition of Nicira in July 2012 and their own development efforts to bring Software Defined Networking to life. Scott talks about being able to provision and configure networking the same way that you do with virtual machines, and what that means to networking, applications, security and performance. The conversation also looks to the future where applications and infrastructure are smart enough to move themselves together for speed, a part for reliability and know what hardware to use and how. Great thinking beyond the basics of virtualization!

Richard chat with Dana Epp about the latest on Microsoft Intune. Dana digs into the latest in Intune, which is it's second version, both for small organizations and large. The basic version is a pure cloud offering for smaller organizations that allows you to push software, manage policy and track inventory with no on-premise infrastructure. And it works across platforms - Windows, Windows RT, Windows Phone 8 and Apple iOS! Dana talks briefly about large organization implementations using System Center Configuration Manager as well. Intune is shaping up to be a great way to manage configuration for all your organization's devices in one place.

Richard talks to Kevin Kline about what's coming in SQL Server 2014. Yes, the database continues to evolve and Kevin digs into many of the new features. The conversation also jumps into the NoSQL movement and it's many forms, including making simple data storage easier for developers as well as the creation and management of big data solutions. Kevin also talks about the impact of new licensing models and new hardware of SQL, and how the role of the database in the organization continues to evolve.