More irony

So they changed them during the last session...

Only at TechEd

Apparently the escalators work like Windows XP on a quad core machine. Only 1 really works and the others go the other way.

--Rich--

Session Full

It's now an epidemic... Session Full signs everywhere.

I think it's time for Microsoft to start refunding attendee fees.

We have the makings of the worst TechEd ever.

--Rich--

Monday - Afternoon Update

I heard the term "Deadblogging" for the first time today. Apparently that's what I'm doing since I can't blog in real time. The network at TechEd is completely useless at this point. With 9500 Techies on it, the network has crashed and may not come back. And it's not just wireless.

The Attendee stations are completely down:

Pen Update - Thanks to my Blog I got a real TechEd pen... Now I just need a manual to operate the thing.

Session Updates -

SIA336 - Wiretapping Kung Fu - Laura Chappell

This girl needs some drugs... Maybe it's the long nights of dreaming about packets on the network but she's wired. I actually can't recall when she isn't.

Another great session on Wireshark and how to use it with Microsoft Technology. Some hidden gems around VOIP tracing. I can't wait to get into a couple more of her sessions.

By the way, NEVER EVER do anything "unsecured" while near Laura. She's always listening. Even when you Telnet to your Cisco router and send your credentials in clear text. I'm pretty sure someone needed to change a password after that session.

UNC201- Microsoft Exchange SP1

Let me start with I heard earlier that people were getting locked out of sessions. I had no idea that my second session in I would be the one locked out. 10 minutes before the session started there was a sign on the door that the session was full. About 40-50 people came by trying to get in and the staff wasn't letting anyone in. I can tell you the room was completely full and the back of the room was standing.

I made a request to TechEd to rerun this session. We'll see if they figure this out but I think it's going to be a bad week for crowding.

More updates when the network works.

--Rich--

Monday Mid-Day TechEd Update

TechEd isn't off to a great start with me. Apparently they have already run out of "TechEd" Pens. You know the ones with the nice highlighter. I got a cheap “Staples” pen and no highlighter. Did they no know how many people were coming? I guess looking at the total number of people registered and then ordering pens would be way too technical for Microsoft. See me after the 1:00 breakout session. I'll be the guy yelling at the registration desk about pens. :)

Lunch - I know it's tough to feed everyone at somewhat the same time but lunch management today was probably the worst I've seen in 10 years at TechEd. Nobody directing anyone. There wasn't any food available for most lines. They better figure this out quick as by day 3 we won't just be blogging about service...

At least I can look forward to Laura Chappell and Wiretapping Kung Fu. She's one of the best WireShark people I've ever seen. Should be entertaining. (and educational).

--Rich---

TechEd 2010

It's "TechEd 2010 Keynote" T-2 hours and already the latest breaking news is the location for TechEd 2011. Atlanta in May 2011. The good news is MAY; the bad news will be telling my doctor why my cholesterol is up in June 2011. I'm sure it won't have anything to do with the 10 trips I'm going to take to the Varsity.


Atlanta, interesting choice. Average Daily high in May is 80 which is better than July when it's 89 and 100% humidity. They don't call it Hotlanta for nothing.

Enjoy the Keynote!

Rich

Exchange 2010 Certificates

I know there are hundreds of sites that show you how to create an Exchange 2010 certificate. It was nice of Microsoft to give us a GUI but it doesn't really cover everything you need or want.

I've taken the Hybrid approach to these certs. Let someone else tell me the PowerShell Code and then drop it in there.

So the basic PowerShell code to create a CSR looks like this:

Set-Content -path "C:\owa_acme_com" -Value (New-ExchangeCertificate -GenerateRequest -KeySize 2048 -SubjectName "c=US, s=Washington, l=Somewhere, o=Acme Corp, ou=IT, cn=owa.acme.com" -DomainName autodiscover.acme.com, mailserver1.acme.com, mail.amce.com -PrivateKeyExportable $True)

Now how did I create it? DigiCert has a great online Cert Generation tool.

https://www.digicert.com/easy-csr/exchange2010.htm

Basically you enter all your names and info and they create the PowerShell for you. It even exports it automatically for you.

Now nothing says you have to use digicert once you have the CSR.

Now once you have the CER fire up PowerShell and import it.

Import-ExchangeCertificate -FileData ([Byte[]]$(Get-Content -Path c:\acme.cer -Encoding byte -ReadCount 0))

And then assign it to Exchange Services and your done. You'll also need the Certificate to be exportable. You'll probably have more than 1 CAS and your Load Balancer will need it for SSL Offloading or at least to open the SSL traffic and take a peek in.

Good luck... Life is easier when someone else writes a tool!

--Rich--