AZSMUG 20th Anniversary Meeting

AZSMUG 20th Anniversary Meeting

8:30 AM - 9:00 AM Welcome

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM PowerShell Management of Hardware Devices - Gary Blok

10:00 AM - 10:15 AM Morning Break

10 :15 AM - 11:15 AM DeployR Community Edition - Michael Niehaus

11:20 AM - 11:30 AM Remembering Harold Wong

11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Lunch and Sponsor Session by 2Pint Software

12:35 PM - 1:35 PM Device Management Through the Years - DJam

1:45 PM - 2:45 PM Vibe Coding 101 - Greg Ramsey

2:45 PM - 3:00 PM Afternoon Break

3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Real-World Intune Automation - Kristen Schumm

4 :00 PM - 4:30 PM Open Discussion & Closeout

5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Social Time at Loco Patron sponsored by 2Pint Software

PowerShell Management of Hardware Devices for the Endpoint Admin

Gary Blok

PowerShell, it's everyone's favorite scripting language to manage endpoints, right? Works with any Endpoint Management system (WSOne, Intune, CM, etc), and can be leveraged in any OSD Tool (DeployR, CM, MDT, OSDCloud), so lets talk about the tools OEMs have provided (or not provided) to help you manage HP, Dell and Lenovo devices like a Boss, setting BIOS configs, updating BIOS firmware, running OEM Updater Tools, and overall keeping your devices in good working order using PowerShell. I'll cover the OEM provided tools and Community Tools including a PS module I recently released for Dell.

Passionate about endpoint management and automation, Gary Blok works with Intune, Configuration Manager, and Azure to help organizations streamline device management and gain better operational insights through reporting and analytics.

His experience spans a diverse range of industries, including OEM hardware vendors, financial services, state government, startups, K-12 education, higher education, and consulting.

Gary is perhaps best known for GARYTOWN, his influential technical blog, where he shares knowledge, troubleshooting tips, and innovative solutions related to OSD, Windows lifecycle management, task sequences, and enterprise deployment.

DeployR Community Edition: Beyond the Basics

Michael Niehaus

Join us as we move beyond the fundamentals and explore practical, real-world techniques for getting the most out of DeployR Community Edition. Drawing from hands-on experience deploying, customizing, and troubleshooting DeployR environments, this session will cover proven tips, time-saving tricks, and lessons learned from the field.

You'll discover how to simplify content management, automate repetitive tasks with PowerShell, build streamlined deployment workflows, manage drivers efficiently, and avoid common pitfalls that can slow down even seasoned deployment professionals.

Whether you're searching for an MDT alternative, investigating modern deployment solutions, or already testing DeployR in your lab, this session will equip you with practical knowledge, best practices, and actionable guidance that you can immediately apply in your own environment.

Michael Niehaus is a Programme Director and Master Inventor at 2Pint Software, working on device management and OS deployment technologies. Previously, Michael spent 16 years at Microsoft working on MDT, Windows as a Service, Windows Autopilot, and related management and deployment technologies. Prior to that, he spent 14 years working as an IT pro.

Device Management Through the Years

DJam

Device Management Through the Years explores the evolution of enterprise device management, from the early days of Systems Management Server (SMS) to Configuration Manager and today's cloud-first management with Microsoft Intune. Through two unique perspectives, one from the end user experiencing the changes and another from an industry insider involved in the decisions that shaped these technologies, we'll examine how device management has adapted to changing business needs, security requirements, and workforce expectations. Along the way, we'll highlight key milestones, lessons learned, and the innovations that transformed device management into the platforms that we rely on today.

David James is the CTO and VP of Engineering at Patch My PC. He was previously the Director of Engineering at Microsoft for ConfigMgr. A short bio stolen from another site:

Studied Computer Engineering and Music Theory/Composition at University of Utah. Joined Microsoft in 1999 to work on SMS Installer, and eventually SMS 2.0 SP2.Has worked on every version of SMS/SCCM since.Was an engineering manager in Intune, 2012-2015.Outside of work, likes to code, and dabble w/ music, and hang out and play with my kids.

Vibe Coding 101: GitHub Copilot, VS Code, and the Future of Cloud Automation

Greg Ramsey

GitHub Copilot is not just for full-time software developers. It can also help cloud engineers, systems administrators, and automation-focused teams move faster in their day-to-day work. In this session, we’ll get hands-on with GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code and explore how AI-assisted development can help you create scripts, understand unfamiliar code, troubleshoot errors, generate documentation, and build small tools more confidently.

We’ll introduce the idea of “vibe coding” as an iterative workflow: describe what you want, let Copilot help generate a starting point, review and refine the result, test it, and keep moving. By the end of the session, attendees will understand how to use Copilot effectively inside VS Code while still applying the technical judgment needed for reliable cloud and systems work.

About Greg: As a Senior Distinguished Engineer, I collaborate with peers in the Dell Technical Leadership Community (TLC) to help grow our engineers' technical career paths and identify opportunities across our business. As an Enterprise Architect, I design IT systems leveraging standard enterprise architecture frameworks (like TOGAF) to support Dell Services' strategy. I specialize in systems integration and automation with tools that support management, monitoring, automation, and service management.

Real-World Intune Automation with Azure Runbooks

Kristen Schumm

Learn how Azure Automation and Managed Identities can simplify and secure routine administration tasks in Intune and Entra ID. This session covers Automation Accounts, runtime environments, shared resources, and the security benefits of passwordless authentication. Through real-world examples, you'll see how to automate device categorization, dynamically manage group memberships, and generate scheduled reports with minimal administrative effort.

Kristen is a Customer Engineer at Patch My PC with nearly three decades of IT experience. Around 2010, I was tasked with rebuilding an SCCM 2007 environment despite having no prior experience with it. That challenge sparked a lasting interest in endpoint management that continues today. My hobbies include PowerShell, mechanical keyboards, writing, cyberdecks, 3D printing, and dogs.

2Pint Software specializes in advanced IT infrastructure solutions for large enterprises. We help organizations manage clients and network traffic efficiently in complex environments. Our products ensure software, operating systems, updates and other data is delivered efficiently no matter the network condition, infrastructure, cloud or vendor. The products are platform agnostic and work with all of Microsoft's management solutions like Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager as well as Microsoft Intune, or any third-party solution.

Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.