Brian Randell and I have been selected to present a pre-conference session at Microsoft Tech Ed 2014 in Houston, Texas. The pre-cons are on Sunday, May 11th, and are focused, day-long classes covering specific topics.
Brian and I are delivering the following:
PRC02 | From Code to Release: DevOps for Developers
Here is our abstract (yes, it is long, but it is very thorough):
We know you know how to write code. Websites, services, and even mobile apps—you build them all. You hold your daily scrum, you burn down your work, and you check off those user stories. But are you checking off that most important feature as much as you’d like? Of course we’re referring to shipping.
In this seminar, Brian and Mickey show you how to make shipping a feature you check off every time you finish your work. We take a .NET web application and show you how to ship locally and to Windows Azure as often as you want.
In doing this, we begin by looking at the features available to you from Microsoft in the latest version of Team Foundation Server as well as the cloud-based Team Foundation Service. We look at the monitoring tools available both on premises and in the cloud and look at how the world of shipping software has matured, including what the industry calls devops.
We discuss what you need to do to support continuous deployment. Learn how to use the latest build features as well as look at various deployment tools like InRelease. See how better testing, using tools like Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager and Lab Management in Team Foundation Server, can make testing easier and more accurate. Learn how you can use Load Testing in conjunction with Windows Azure to know your app is ready.
Sometimes bad things can happen to the best programmers, so you’ll want to ensure that you’re prepared for issues in production. We look at features—like Application Performance Monitoring and the new Microsoft Monitoring Agent—that you can use with and without System Center Operations Manager. We also look at Global Service Monitor for your publically accessible websites as well as the new Application Analytics.
In the last section, we cover how you can customize your devops practice as we look at how PowerShell DSC, custom workflow tasks for build and deployment, and System Center Orchestrator can make your life better to where you can ship when you want to—every week or even every day, multiple times a day.
Now, I’ll be up-front with you, the pre-cons aren’t free. If you are attending Tech Ed and want to attend a pre-con as well, it is an extra $400. But in return you get an all-day event catered to a specific topic you are interested in.
And somehow I have to still convince you to attend our pre-con as opposed to any of the other pre-cons. Brian and I are working on some “incentives” to convince you that our pre-con is the one to attend. And I’ll be providing more details about our talk over the next few months, to enable you to make an informed decision.
I’m super-excited to get to do this, especially in tandem with Brian. This is going to be an exciting ride.
