14 DAY TRIAL // With SharePoint Server 2010 having been released to manufacturing concomitantly with Office 2010, new resources are now available for both IT professionals and developers, providing an insight into the evolution of the product. Microsoft has published a number of Virtual Labs on MSDN and TechNet, simplifying a range of testing scenarios focused on SharePoint 2010. Customers already familiar with Microsoft’s Virtual Labs know that the resources are offered free of charge, and are available to all, not just MSDN and TechNet subscribers.
“Microsoft SharePoint 2010 makes it easier for people to work together. Using SharePoint 2010, your people can set up Web sites to share information with others, manage documents from start to finish, and publish reports to help everyone make better decisions,” Microsoft revealed.
At the bottom of this article, you will be able to find a list of links pointing you to the TechNet and MSDN Virtual Labs for SharePoint Server 2010. Obviously, the TechNet Virtual Labs are focused on IT pros, while the MSDN resources are designed for developers. SharePoint Server 2010 RTM’d in mid-April 2010, along with additional products including Office 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010. As of May 12, 2010, SharePoint Server 2010 along with all the solutions enumerated above became available for purchase to business customers worldwide.
SharePoint Server 2010 Virtual Labs are essentially virtualized instances of the product running in Hyper-V on a Microsoft Server. Customers that want to access the resources will need to be running Windows and use Internet Explorer 8, IE7, or IE6. Since the virtual machines with SharePoint 2010 are running on Microsoft servers, customers don’t need to worry about details such as downloading, deploying or configuring the product. For each Virtual Lab, IT pros and devs get a 90-minute block of time per module, but they can also sign up for more.
From TechNet:
TechNet Virtual Lab: Backup and Restore in SharePoint Server 2010 TechNet Virtual Lab: Business Continuity Management in SharePoint Server 2010 TechNet Virtual Lab: Configuring Remote Blob Storage FILESTREAM Provider for SharePoint Server 2010 TechNet Virtual Lab: Configuring Tenant Administration on SharePoint Server 2010 TechNet Virtual Lab: Configuring User Profile Synchronization in SharePoint Server 2010 TechNet Virtual Lab: Introduction to Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Upgrade TechNet Virtual Lab: New IT Pro Features in SharePoint Server 2010 TechNet Virtual Lab: Windows PowerShell in SharePoint Server 2010
From MSDN:
MSDN Virtual Lab: Developing a BCS External Content Type with Visual Studio 2010 MSDN Virtual Lab: Developing a Visual Web Part in Visual Studio 2010 MSDN Virtual Lab: Developing SharePoint 2010 User Interface with Silverlight in Visual Studio 2010