Training Discovery

SQL Server supports mission-critical applications and big data solutions—without having to buy expensive add-ons or high-end appliances. Learn the essentials of Microsoft's latest release, SQL Server 2016. Use tools like SQL Management Studio and the Configuration Monitor to deploy and manage databases both on premises and in the cloud. Learn how to create new databases, build tables, define relationships, write queries, and use stored procedures and built-in functions. Instructor Martin Guidry—a SQL Server veteran—also shows how to manipulate XML and JSON data, and perform crucial database administration tasks, such as backups and restores, security enhancements, and performance monitoring. Plus, find out how to extend SQL Server by integrating it with cloud services like Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager is used to centrally manage one's datacenter, user devices, and infrastructure. In this course, learn how to get started with System Center Configuration Manager. Discover how to deploy Configuration Manager in a central site, and then deploy a multisite environment including secondary sites. Explore content management, replicating data stores, resource discovery, and how to assign clients. To wrap up, learn how to integrate Configuration Manager with Microsoft Intune and provide advanced security features, how to maintain and monitor Configuration Manager using various tools, and how to upgrade to a more current branch.

Migrate your animation workflow from Flash to Toon Boom Harmony. While these 2D animation programs are similar, the differences can really prevent an experienced Flash animator from making a smooth transition. Having a concise, go-to guide for comparison, as Dermot O' Connor provides here, is an enormous time saver. Join Dermot as he introduces the Flash tools and their Toon Boom equivalents and shows how to complete common drawing and animation tasks in Harmony, including onion skinning, pivoting and scaling, shape optimization, bitmap tracing, easing, tweening, IK rigging, facial animation, effects, and more. At the end of the course, he'll teach you how to edit audio and export your Toon Boom work as still images and movies.

You don't have to start over if you want to switch from Gmail to Outlook. This course shows you how to migrate your data, including how to add email accounts, import calendar entries, and import your contacts. While learning how to make the switch, you'll also learn how to use Outlook features, including adding signatures to email, setting up an automatic respond for when you are on vacation, sharing calendars with others, and more.

Lynda.com is a PMI Registered Education Provider. This course qualifies for professional development units (PDUs). To view the activity and PDU details for this course, click here.

The PMI Registered Education Provider logo is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Making the switch from Google Docs to Microsoft Word can sometimes be a bit disorienting—particularly when you've grown accustomed to the locations of features and tools in Docs. In this course, Garrick Chow helps you get up to speed quickly with Microsoft Word by providing a quick overview of the popular word processing application, and helping you understand the differences and similarities with related apps. He walks through the Word user interface, and explains how to create and format documents in Word. He also covers saving and sharing documents, and using Word Online and the Word Mobile app.

LinkedIn Learning (Lynda.com) is a PMI Registered Education Provider. This course qualifies for professional development units (PDUs). To view the activity and PDU details for this course, click here.

The PMI Registered Education Provider logo is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Upgrade your office infrastructure. Learn how to migrate from Exchange Server 2010 to 2013 and take advantage of the newest features and productivity enhancements, while minimizing the impact on users. David Elfassy discusses how to prep for migration, deploy Exchange Server 2013, redirect client connections to 2013, move mailboxes and public folders, and, finally, decommission your 2010 server. Follow along with each phase to make sure you're on track for a smooth migration.

Enhance your Microsoft Azure solution design skills by exploring Azure networking and infrastructure. In this intermediate-level course, learn how to design virtual machines and virtual networks, as well as design for availability. As this is an intermediate-level course, an existing understanding of the Azure platform is required. This course can also serve to deepen the skills of IT professionals wishing to prepare for Azure certification.

Ensure that your business is able to overcome unexpected or challenging events by using options in Microsoft Azure for your business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) plans. This course provides network administrators instructions for how to use Azure Backup Server and Site Recovery to keep data safe and recoverable. Instructor Matt Hester demonstrates how to implement a BCDR strategy, regardless of whether your infrastructure is on-premises, in the cloud, or a hybrid setup. He shows how to configure your systems to remain continuously available during planned or unplanned downtime.

Build upon your existing Azure implementation knowledge and broaden your skills by learning how to create, scale, and monitor virtual machines. This course is designed to teach IT professionals the skills needed to implement ARM (Azure Resource Manager) virtual machines, including deploying workloads, configuring networks, and implementing storage. The course can also be used to prepare for the 70-533 exam, Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions. The instructor, cloud platform and infrastructure expert Sharon Bennett, also covers how to automate your configuration using extensions, how to use the new VM Scale Set feature, and how to secure your virtual machine while keeping it available.

Native Instruments, makers of MASCHINE and the KOMPLETE suite of virtual instruments, have tightly integrated these two products. In this course, author JK Swopes will demonstrate how to use the pair for songwriting and music production, and configure your plugin preferences so you can browse, load, and use KOMPLETE sounds easily within MASCHINE. He also demonstrates how to create melodic elements, build beats, add effects, and build a song within MASCHINE using scene and pattern variations—all based on sounds from the KOMPLETE library.

Preparing for an interview can be daunting. Learn how to master the top 10 most common interview questions you'll encounter when looking for a new job. The tips provided in this course will help you craft authentic answers that showcase your experience and your enthusiasm for an organization. For each question, career coach Valerie Sutton explains why the interviewer is asking it and then provides you with the best response. She also provides advice for tailoring your answer to entry-level or midcareer roles. In each chapter, we provide role-playing scenarios to illustrate the questions—and answers—in action.

Discover how to work with Xamarin.Forms to create native apps on iOS, Android, and Windows from a single shared code base. In this course—the fourth installment in the nine-part Mastering Xamarin.Forms Development series—explore binding, command, and converter concepts. Scott Peterson discusses various techniques for binding data and resources to different element properties in Xamarin.Forms, and shares common binding scenarios. He also covers how to separate actions from events using the command logic, discusses value converters and how they can simplify binding scenarios, and more.

Dependency services allow Xamarin.Forms developers to include platform-specific functionality in their apps. In this installment of the nine-part Mastering Xamarin.Forms Development series, Scott Peterson takes a deep dive into dependency services. He discusses essential interface and registration concepts, and explains how to call and create a dependency service. Plus, he demonstrates how to use dependency services to add platform-specific features to the news reader app he's been working on throughout the series.

Maxwell Render—the 3D rendering software for designers and architects—boasts a suite of tools that can help you create stunningly realistic 3D renders. It's also a recognized standard in product design, architectural visualization, film production, and other high-end rendering markets. In this beginner's course, learn how to get up and running with Maxwell Render.

Instructor Leon van den Heever provides an overview of the functions, capabilities, and material system of this powerful, physically-based renderer. He covers how to navigate the user interface and work with objects and the Material Assistant, primarily focusing on Maxwell Studio as the staging interface of the Maxwell suite, and on tackling actual rendering in Maxwell Render. Plus, he goes into the different types of emitters or lights that you can use to light your scenes, how to create and position the camera, and how to set render options.

Materials define how the surface of 3D objects appear and lend them color, transparency, and texture that allow you to view the characteristics of a surface. This course introduces the basics of creating materials in Maya. Author George Maestri presents the basic material types as well as how to apply and align bitmap textures. He also discusses the concepts behind transparency, specularity, and reflectivity, which impact the appearance and light receptiveness of materials.

Need to get a strong foundation in Maya? Start here. This Essential Training course covers all the latest features in Maya 2015, while giving you a background in the basics of 3D modeling, texturing, animating, and rendering. Need a quick overview? Check out the first chapter of the course, which covers the interface and basic object manipulation tools. Author George Maestri then takes you deeper into polygonal modeling, editing and refining meshes, and NURBS modeling—for sculpting curves and organic surfaces in Maya. After that, learn how to create and apply materials to give the surface of your models color, texture, reflectivity, and more. Next, create realistic images (with lighting and depth-of-field effects) in the final rendering process, and finally, add movement and life to your characters with Maya's animation tools.

Protect your Azure deployments. Learn to secure Azure resources using managed identities, hybrid identities, and identity providers. Sharon Bennett discusses technologies such as Azure Active Directory, the AAD Graph Explorer, OAuth, SAML, Key Vault, and Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS). Discover how to secure AAD and ADFS, implement AAD B2B and B2C directories, and create custom roles for role-based access control. Plus, learn to identify an appropriate security solution, whether you're securing virtual machines, cloud apps, or databases, and monitor your resources with Azure Security Center and the Microsoft Operations Management Suite. As an intermediate-level course, an existing understanding of the Azure platform is required to get the most of the training. This course can also deepen security skills in preparation for Azure certification.

The rise of the hybrid cloud has rendered traditional data center infrastructure security approaches insufficient. The modern IT professional must be equipped with the knowledge and skills to defend against an array of threats, such as threat actors trying to penetrate IaaS and PaaS resources hosted in public clouds. In this installment of the Microsoft Cybersecurity Stack series, instructor Pete Zerger demonstrates how to design and implement an approach to securing your data center and cloud infrastructure from a variety of internal and external threats. Pete goes over the features and benefits of Hyper-V guarded fabric, explores shielding data in VMs on guarded fabric, explains how to manage and respond to security threats, and discusses encrypting data in Azure virtual machines.

MEAN combines MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS, and Node.js into a single, full­stack solution for JavaScript development. This course introduces development techniques that capitalize on the strengths of every layer in the MEAN stack, using a simple discussion board project that exchanges data between a browser­based client and an API service using JWT or token authentication to register users and to provide access to secure service resources. Learn how to create a form for users to post topics and replies, process the submissions on the back end, and store and display the data. Author Alexander Zanfir also shows how to create registration and login components to authenticate users. These techniques can be reused and recombined in your own MEAN­based web applications.

In this weekly series on being productive with technology, authors Jess Stratton, Garrick Chow, and Nick Brazzi introduce tools and tips to help make today's software and devices work more efficiently and powerfully for you. With everything from pointers on using Microsoft Office and Google platforms to learning social networking skills and discovering the most useful apps for your iPhone or Android device, there's something for everyone.

The benefits of moodboards are twofold: they provide a value-added service for clients, and can help designers make aesthetic decisions before the design process begins. If you're interested in creating moodboards for your own web projects, including websites, apps, presentations, or even onscreen graphics, start here. Sue Jenkins shows how to create the three distinct types of moodboards—traditional/physical, digital, and business—and walks through the development of three sample projects, using hands-on materials and digital assets. She also includes a brief overview of the legal implications of using stock images, Google images, and your own work in moodboards.

Teachers, learn how to create engaging courses with Moodle 2.5 and get your students excited about online learning. In this course, Moodle expert Mary Cooch shows you all the steps to creating classes for K–12 and college settings. Learn how to set up Moodle so it's just right for your classroom, add course materials (including videos, widgets, and web links), get your students enrolled, and start fostering collaborative learning with blogs and chats. Plus, learn to build quizzes, grade assignments, and get student feedback. Mary also shows you how to back up a copy of your course to use again the next year, or share with others.

Create engaging online learning environments for professional development and training, K–12 classes, and college courses and get students excited about learning with Moodle. Kevin Kelly first gets you up to speed with the Moodle 2.8 interface and then shows how to build a digital classroom from the ground up, starting with learning outcomes and topics. Then Kevin demonstrates how to organize a course; add content, students, and co-teachers; create online quizzes and assignments; manage your gradebooks; and more. Plus, learn how to make your courses more engaging and interactive with links, wikis, polls, discussions, and other digital resources that students can access online.

Moodle Administration Essential Training tackles Moodle's administrative side. It provides a simple introduction to installing and setting up a Moodle site—even for those with no server or database-related experience. Author George Papazian explores the server environment required to install and run Moodle 2.8, describing how to configure the LMS for a variety of applications. George also covers common administrative tasks such as creating and managing users and courses, adjusting permissions, and setting up a school-wide grading system. He shows how to enhance Moodle with themes and plugins, which allow administrators to customize the look and functionality of their sites. The course closes with some tips on keeping Moodle more secure.

Discover how to create and design dynamic motion graphics projects using Apple Motion. In this course, Ian Robinson teaches you all the tools and techniques you need to get up and running with Motion 5.3 for the first time, or master its finer points. Find out how to stabilize footage, create accurate green-screen keys, and apply retiming effects to slow down, speed up, loop, and reverse clips. Learn how to generate custom animated elements from scratch using Motion's generators, shapes, and particles. Explore how to animate in 3D space with 2D graphics and build true 3D type. Discover how to animate virtual cameras, add realistic blur and depth of field, and create a new sense of dimension with light and shadow. Plus, learn how to save time by creating templates, ensure your footage looks its best using the optimum compression settings, and archive projects for safekeeping.