Archive for August, 2009

• The imaging begins

  Date: 2009.08.31 | Category: Uncategorized, tech•ed 2009 | Response: 5

  

• What’s in a colour?

  Date: 2009.08.26 | Category: Australian Partner Conference 2009, networking, planning, tech•ed 2009 | Response: 0

  Have you been to tech•ed in years past? Have you seen the array of colours used for cables in CommNet areas, Recharge Bars, around the Exposition Halls and inside the Session Rooms? You’ve thought either the person laying all those cables is colour blind or needs some serious tips from House & Garden on matching seasonal hues? Not so. Read the rest of this entry »

• When I said 16 percent I meant … 16 percent

  Date: 2009.08.26 | Category: networking, tech•ed 2009, wireless | Response: 3

  You will recall our earlier posts regarding the performance problems with the Cisco WLC at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre. If you’ve not seen them catch up here:

  • Making Wireless Work
  • Diagnosing and resolving extremely high RF utilisation
  • Resolving a Hunch– Wi-Fi Performance @ GCCEC

  Insufficient Traction Error

  We had been working extensively with a number of suppliers to get the WLC issues resolved. To be honest, I reached the end of my tether some time ago as every call seemed to revolve around either co-channel interference (so much so that is now the standard butt of jokes on the tech team … car won’t start? co-channel inteference :\), or some discussion of why there were methodological defects in the reports we’d written rather than just focusing on the obvious @#(*&@ issue. Read the rest of this entry »

• Update on the Internets

  Date: 2009.08.25 | Category: funny, networking, planning, tech•ed 2009 | Response: 3

  Tomorrow is my first day on site at the venue (I don’t get to leave again until the 11th of September). I was supposed to be down there today but some lingering issues with the 2140 imaging procedures and timings delayed my trip to the convention centre by a day. David Haysom sent me an empty e-mail today with the subject of “Techops no turning back” and this image attached:

  

  TechOps (or will be) - This is the room from which we will run all technology related technical activities during APC and tech•ed 2009!

  Read the rest of this entry »

• Ensuring IP address allocation integrity with DHCP snooping

  Date: 2009.08.19 | Category: Uncategorized, networking, planning, tech•ed 2009 | Response: 0

  Nearly every IP network you use allocates IP addresses to clients via DHCP. There is a lot you can do with DHCP and it is a fairly well thought out and extensible successor to BOOTP.

  This post briefly explores the sorts of issues we have with DHCP on a large scale temporary network, and the sorts of things that go wrong.

  Read the rest of this entry »

• The final coundown….

  Date: 2009.08.18 | Category: Australian Partner Conference 2009, Uncategorized, tech•ed 2009 | Response: 4

  We hit some big milestone in planning land this last week.

  The week started with an integration meeting. A group of us from across  the project (logistics, construction, technology, catering) lock ourselves away for half a day. We review each task from the moment the first person sets foot at the venue to the moment the last truck departs at the conclusion of the event. It’s a mind bending job, but on a project like this with literally hundreds of people making things happen, it’s an important milestone to have this integration meeting. You can imagine we always uncover a few issues where the schedules haven’t matched up entirely during the previous months of decisions. The document, with over 1,000 line items, then undergoes updates by everyone and then we come together to do it all again later this week.

  Last week ended with another important milestone for the technology team. We locked down the technology requirements / change requests on Friday night. While the project owners signed off the statement of requirements months ago, we obviously have a period where we need to cater for changes to the needs of the various event owners and Exhibitors. This week it’s all about our documentation, training crew, preparing final briefs and this Thursday we send the first shipment of technology gear from Sydney to for the venue.

• JeffA asks: What Do You Want on Your Netbook?

  Date: 2009.08.17 | Category: netbooks, tech•ed 2009 | Response: 2

  Over on the Linkedin TechEd group, Jeff Alexander asks “We are close to finishing the Netbook Image for TechEd Australia. Get you suggestions for inclusions this week. What would you like to see in the image?”

  Pop over and have your say.

  At this stage we should note we leaving the Netbooks open for you to install whatever you like; Microsoft or non-Microsoft. These are your machines – and we’d love you to give Windows 7 RTM a really good test.

• Internet Connectivity… plan A to F, plus a few more

  Date: 2009.08.17 | Category: Uncategorized, networking, planning, tech•ed 2009 | Response: 4

  I’ve not forgotten to post – I’ve just been busy undebacling a debacle.

  Everyone loves fast Internets. Providing really fast Internets at tech•ed this year has provide to be a complete pain in the proverbial.

  Read the rest of this entry »

• Connectivity is easy… right?

  Date: 2009.08.16 | Category: Australian Partner Conference 2009, Uncategorized, networking, tech•ed 2009 | Response: 0

  “You just have to flick a switch and its on, right?”

  “It won’t cost that much…”

  i wish i had recorded some sound bites of these conversations over the past week, and no, I won’t name names… Over the past few weeks we’ve been a little quiet, but the guys have been working tirelessy on the relentless march to arriving onsite. A major piece of work i’ve had the Codify, Jomablue and GCCEC guys working on, is getting the venue wired for internet for the APC and tech•ed. So while i’ve been off on a quick week of leave, the world for these guys manage to turn upside down as you’ll see, almost to the point that I thought might come back to a bunch of frazzled network engineers splicing fibre late into the night…  and that might happen just yet.

  From Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesstewart/

  I have to say, i’m constantly impressed by the commitment these guys have to quality outcomes and the sheer amount of effort to every aspect of the delegate experience. There are quite a few unique challenges that mandate we need super speedy internets; such as the thought of 2500 HP Mini-notes turned on at once to Windows Update or Youtube.. and i’m sure over the next series of posts you’ll see the huge amount of effort the guys have put into giving you the fastest internet connection for tech•ed Australia ever.

  - jorke

• Friday Funniez

  Date: 2009.08.07 | Category: funny, tech•ed 2009 | Response: 1

  We are 22 working days out from TechEd Australia. We have a warehouse full of HP Mini-notebooks, a deployment plan, a committed team and a tank full of gas. Oh, and Windows 7 RTM is now available for MSDN/Technet subscribers.

  All of this said, the following LOLCAT appeared to me today. Don’t panic. There can be no delays.

  
  see more Lolcats and funny pictures

• Windows Server 2008 R2 NAT Performance – Guest post by the Windows Product Team!

  Date: 2009.08.05 | Category: networking, planning, tech•ed 2009 | Response: 0

  [ The following performance analysis was submitted to tech•ed backstage by Arpan Gupta and the RRAS team. They own the RRAS/ipnat.sys components of Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2. Given that we're using it for address translation at tech•ed 2009, it is rather handy having them on board. We challenged the RRAS team to validate using RRAS as a NAT solution for 3000 concurrent clients; here is their excellent and helpful response. They did all the hard work with a physical simulation too! -- David ]

  Read the rest of this entry »