Are we ready for the 2009 beam operation?

In preparation for the 2008 LHC beam operation, commissioning procedures were established by the commissioning team to safely bring up the LHC performance from the initial beam tests to the first 7 TeV physics runs with reduced intensity and intermediate beta* values. The status of the procedures and their usage during the 2008 beam experience is reviewed. The improvements needed for the 2009 operation, in particular as far as the squeeze, luminosity performance, backgrounds and operating at reduced beam energies are concerned, are discussed. Requirements for ion operation are also presented.