General Pre-Requisites – Across the 3 tracks

Student - Lab Access

Student Portal

On class start date, students should go to the Microsoft Partner Network Portal: .

In order for students to access course materials on event day, the instructor will need to distribute the unique event Training Key to all students on event start day. This Training Key should be communicated along with the PPE Portal URL to instructors prior to event start date by the Main Contact who booked nominated the event. This information gets sent to the Main Contact that booked the event approximately one week prior to event start date via an event confirmation email and should immediately be forwarded along to the event instructor(s).

On the class start date, instructors will need to provide students with the Training Key. Students will need to sign in to the MPNESP Portal with their Training Key and redeem their Training Key to view course materials. This Training Key will also provide students with access to the labs for 90 days after the event is over.

NOTE: If the event location is not able to offer internet for lab access, students can use Post Event Access to labs and course materials for 90 days post event.

Student Lab Access

When students navigate to the MPNESP Portal, they should sign in with a Microsoft Account. We strongly encourage all instructors to ask students to always sign in with a Microsoft Account. If for some reason Microsoft Account system is unavailable, the students can then sign in with a Learn on Demand Systems Account. If the student is not an existing user, they will then be prompted to create a user account.

After a student logs in to the student portal, they will see “Redeem Training Key” underneath their name. When students click “Redeem Training Key” they will be directed to a page where they can enter in the unique class training key. Students can only redeem a unique Training Key once, and not prior to class start day.

After they redeem their training key, the class Name will appear on the page. Students should click the class Name and they will be directed to a page containing materials for that particular event.

Students can launch a test lab at the top of the page, or view Activities (which include the course labs). Students can easily launch a lab by clicking the Launch button(s). Course Resources including downloadable lab manuals can be found at the bottom of the page.

The student will be able to view all classes they are enrolled, that are currently running, by clicking the My Training tab at the top of the page.

There is also a Support tab on the PPE Portal for students, which only includes platform and technical support contact information.

Post Event Access

For all Partner Practice Enablement courses, students will be granted 90 days Post Event Access to labs and course materials in addition to having in class access. Students can continue to access the labs after the event is over from the same portal they used during the event. Students should log on with the same account they used to redeem the Training Key with on event day. Once students are in the PPE Portal, they can click Post Event Access at the top of the page to see the class(es) they have attended. They can then click on the specific class they desire to get post event access to.

Students should click the Post Event Access tab at the top of the page to view course materials after the event end date.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What should instructors do if a student tries to redeem a training key and receives this message: “The selected training key could not be redeemed because the selected event was full”?

A: First,Ensure the students are using the correct Training Key. Training Keys are unique for each class and are only redeemable on the scheduled delivery days. If students are using the correct key and still receive this message, call the LODS support number as soon as possible at +1.888.763.7730. This means the class capacity has reached its limit and can only be increased by one of the support staff. This is considered an urgent support matter.

Q: Are students able launch multiple labs?

A: Students can only launch one lab at a time.

Student - Personal Laptop Setup

NOTE: Make sure this information is shared with students beforehand in a reminder email!

Students who will be using their own laptops are encouraged to verify that they can successfully launch labs from the Learn on Demand Systems platform prior to their class. Students can find a test lab and a link to all of our system requirements here so that they can verify their ability to successfully launch labs.

From the LODS test page (pictured above), students can:

  • Click Launch Lab (to test lab launch)
  • Click View System Requirements (to view in depth requirements details)

Students can also test their device on the day of the class. There is a launch link for a test lab that will appear on the class page (in the student portal). However, we highly recommended that they launch the test lab before coming to class.

Classroom Requirements

When looking for a venue for the PPE, we recommend that the facility have the following capabilities:

  • Classroom style set up
  • Power strips
  • The internet connection requirement for labs is 128 kbps per attendee both up and down
  • TCP ports 21001-21100 need to opened
  • Hardwired internet connection for presenter; Ethernet back for students preferred
  • LCD Projector
  • Lectern or table for presenter
  • Depending on classroom size, cordless mike for presenter

To ensure proper onsite requirements are met, use the link below to test that the internet capabilities are sufficient for the labs.

  • To test the lab environment use:

For detailed system requirements go to

Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure

Students should complete the steps below prior to coming to class.

  • Sign up for Azure Trial Subscriptionusing HOL access.
  • Bring a lab system with at least:
  • 40 GB Free Disk space
  • 8 GB RAM (16 preferred)
  • InfoPath 2013
  • Hyper-V Role installed (can use Windows 8.1/10 client Hyper-V)

Empower Enterprise Mobility PPE for FY17

Labs: Labs for this PPE are conducted within Azure rather than downloaded as in other PPEs. When accessing the content for this PPE, each module containing a lab has lab set up instructions that the instructor should use to instruct students to access and participate in each lab.

Students should complete the steps below prior to coming to class.

  • Sign up for Azure Trial Subscription. Azure Passes will not be distributed.
  • Make sure laptops meet the hardware and software specs
  • To do this, download and follow the EMS Demo Tool Getting Started Guide.
  • Note that setting up your Azure environment and EMS-enabled demo tenant is much more involved than a standard Office 365 tenant.
  • Recommend attendance of EEM PPE – Product overview or completion of Empowering Enterprise Mobility Technical learning plan. Labs/demos will utilize Microsoft Demos portal (
  • Bring a lab system with at least:
  • 40 GB Free Disk space
  • 8 GB RAM (16 preferred)
  • InfoPath 2013
  • Hyper-V Role installed (can use Windows 8.1/10 client Hyper-V)

Data Platform PPE Delivery Suggestions - Main Menu of Available Courses

Students are required to bring their laptops to the training. If a wired connection is provided, they need to bring appropriate network adapters to use the wired connection. To access the labs the students will need to have a Microsoft Azure account. If they don’t have one, they can sign up for a free trial:

For SQL Server 2016, students will be provided opportunities to remotely connect to a virtual machine. Students should ensure they have the following:

  • Win 7 OS or higher
  • Laptop needs to have RDP installed. It is by default on Win 7 machines
  • Laptop needs to have Internet Explorer available
  • Have "local admin" rights
  • Need to be able to connect to internet and VPN

For the SQL Server Extended Content for Service Providers (1 Day), it is assumed that Partners are familiar with Service Providers environments. It is assumed that partners are familiar with Multi-Tenant, High Density and Hybrid environments, including infrastructure requirements. It is assumed that partners have minimum knowledge in Azure IaaS Services to deploy VMs.

For Apache Spark on HDInsight, students will be provided opportunities to remotely connect to a virtual machine. Students should ensure they have the following:

  • Win 7 OS or higher
  • Laptop needs to have RDP installed. It is by default on Win 7 machines
  • Laptop needs to have Internet Explorer available
  • Have "local admin" rights
  • Need to be able to connect to internet and VPN

For Azure Data Lake, students will be provided opportunities to remotely connect to a virtual machine. Students should ensure they have the following:

  • Win 7 OS or higher
  • Laptop needs to have RDP installed. It is by default on Win 7 machines
  • Laptop needs to have Internet Explorer available
  • Have "local admin" rights
  • Need to be able to connect to internet and VPN

For Hadoop on HDInsight, students will be provided opportunities to remotely connect to a virtual machine. Students should ensure they have the following:

  • Win 7 OS or higher
  • Laptop needs to have RDP installed. It is by default on Win 7 machines
  • Laptop needs to have Internet Explorer available
  • Have "local admin" rights
  • Need to be able to connect to internet and VPN

For Azure Data Services, students will be provided opportunities to remotely connect to a virtual machine. Students should ensure they have the following:

  • Win 7 OS or higher
  • Laptop needs to have RDP installed. It is by default on Win 7 machines
  • Laptop needs to have Internet Explorer available
  • Have "local admin" rights
  • Need to be able to connect to internet and VPN

For MPP Data Warehouse, students will be provided opportunities to remotely connect to a virtual machine. Students should ensure they have the following:

  • Win 7 OS or higher
  • Laptop needs to have RDP installed. It is by default on Win 7 machines
  • Laptop needs to have Internet Explorer available
  • Have "local admin" rights
  • Need to be able to connect to internet and VPN

Once your class is confirmed, the main booking contact of the event will receive a confirmation email. This email will include the link which should be shared with students prior to class. Students who will be using their own laptops are encouraged to verify that they can successfully launch labs from the Learn on Demand Systems platform prior to their class. Students can find a test lab and a link to all of our system requirements via this link, so that they can verify their ability to successfully launch labs.

From the LODS test page (pictured above), students can:

  • Click Launch Lab (to test lab launch)
  • Click View System Requirements (to view in depth requirements details)

Students can also test their device on the day of the class. There is a launch link for a test lab that will appear on the class page (in the student portal). However, LODS highly recommends students launch the test lab before coming to class.