Most IT Professionals agree that having a lab for proper testing and staging is crucial to a stable, successful Citrix environment. However, some may argue that labs are complicated, costly and seemingly unjustified. Although these may seem like valid points, the risk of having your production environment come crashing down due to an untested patch or software upgrade proves that it's well worth the time and cost of setting up a lab.
A lab is a great tool to have at your disposal. You can use it to test a new software release or security patch or possibly a new printer driver that a client is requesting. Perhaps you just want an environment where you can learn more about the inner workings of Citrix, Web Interface or Secure Gateway. If you'll be faced with upgrading your production environment to MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0, it’s best to do a “dry run” in a lab before victimizing your production environment and possibly causing serious downtime.
Many times, people don't build labs because there is no spare hardware, no space available, or simply no time to commit to assembling a lab. However, with the advent of server virtualization, building a lab can be accomplished with significantly less hardware and in a much shorter amount of time.
Read further at
Brian Madden's Website
Dear Microsoft Beta Tester,
We are pleased to announce the release of the Virtual Server 2005 Migration Toolkit (VSMT). You can download the release from the Microsoft
VSMT web page. This will conclude the VSMT beta program.
Thank you for participating in this beta program and providing value feedback that made this release possible.
(download)
After you apply Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1), Outlook clients that use remote procedure call (RPC) over HTTP connections to a server that is running Exchange will use the DSProxy process to access information from global catalog servers. Therefore, if you view server connections in the Exchange Server Connection Status dialog box in the Outlook client, you will see the Exchange computer listed in the Server Name column for the item where the Type column lists Directory. These changes are intentionally made by Exchange 2003 SP1 so that global catalog servers no longer have to be published through the RPC Proxy server.
Newssource
KB Article 872897 (more)
At A Glance:
- Prevent automated attacks from reaching legitimate Web domains
- Automatically divert attacks into a dead end
- Get a single log that shows all attack traffic
In this article, a presenatation is given that will present an easily implemented strategy that uses HTTP 1.1 host headers to divert port 80 attacks away from unsecured public Web sites into a dead end where they can't do damage. The site, called Hackerbasher, stops the automated attack and records the details about the attack along with the IP address used by the attacker. Hackerbasher doesn't require any special software and its only cost is the time it takes to set it up on your server. You also get the added benefit of being able to monitor port 80 attacks in a single log file.
Read more
here
Virtual Server is a Microsoft Windows®–based server application that is optimized to provide virtualization of Windows Server operating systems concurrently on a single physical server. In combination with the Windows Server 2003 operating system, Virtual Server provides a platform for implementing domain controllers in virtual machines. With this platform, you can install multiple Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000 Server domain controllers in separate virtual machines on a single physical server. In this way, you can host multiple domains, multiple domain controllers for the same domain, or even multiple forests on one physical server that is running a single operating system.
Running domain controllers in virtual machines is best suited for test and pre-production piloting environments. With strict adherence to the requirements described in this document, domain controllers running in virtual machines can also be used in a production environment.
This document is intended for IT administrators, engineers, and architects who are evaluating using Virtual Server to host domain controllers that are running Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000 Server in virtual machines.
Read more
here
Active Directory® Application Mode (ADAM) is a special mode of the Active Directory directory service that addresses certain usage scenarios that require dedicated directory services for applications. Active Directory handles infrastructure management, and it also provides a store for application data, which can be less desirable for some applications that need more autonomy and local control over their data. ADAM architecture is the same as Active Directory architecture but without the infrastructure management.
This
introduction to Active Directory® to ADAM Synchronizer compares Active Directory to ADAM Synchronizer with other existing synchronization technologies and shows why Active Directory to ADAM Synchronizer is the better option for certain scenarios. Also describes usage scenarios for Active Directory to ADAM Synchronizer, and describes the benefits of using this new ADAM feature.
Microsoft will release a free toolkit later this week to help organizations migrate to Virtual Server 2005, the company announced Tuesday.
Virtual Server is Microsoft's virtual machine software for servers based on beta software the company acquired from Connectix Corp. early last year. Since making a 180-day evaluation edition version of Virtual Server available on Sept. 13, Microsoft says 45,000 copies have been downloaded.
The toolkit supports migration of Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 systems to virtual machines running on Virtual Server 2005. According to Microsoft, the toolkit will also support the movement of operating systems and applications running in other virtual machine environments to Virtual Server 2005.
Microsoft positions Virtual Server as a tool for operational efficiency in software testing and development, server consolidation scenarios and application re-hosting.
More information on the toolkit is available
here.
Newssource
ENT News
The Solution Accelerator provides customers with best practice guidance and automation to assist with establishing a patch management process for assessing, identifying, planning and deploying patches to the Microsoft platform using SMS 2003/SMS 2003 SP1. Topics will address reducing risk and increasing reach through identification of machines in the SMS unmanaged space, sample automation script usage and reporting to more effectively plan and prepare for patching systems with SMS 2003/SMS 2003 SP1.
Specific technologies assessed through sample scripts provided in this solution include:
- Virtual Server 2005 and Virtual PC 2004 installations to include - Host and guest OS Type, Virtual Server 2005 Guest State (Saved, Stopped, Running), Undoable mode (Enable/Disabled), combination reporting which joins host and guest sessions into a single view for end to end patching of virtual computers.
- Microsoft SQL Server 2000 installations on server and desktop operating systems, SQL Server instances, and installed OS
- Microsoft Office component level details to include Suite (XP, 2000, 20003), ProductID, Install source paths, installation dates, and language versions. This is done by providing automation and guidance to customers on how to extend SMS Hardware Inventory or using SMS Software Inventory thus complementing and extending existing SMS capabilities.
- Patching products not supported by MBSA using SMS 2003 Software Inventory
Download
here (more)
Microsoft announced the completion of Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005, the company's Instant Messaging (IM) and presence-awareness server product. Part of the Microsoft Office System product line, Live Communications Server 2005 will ship in standard and enterprise editions in December.
(more)
Did you get your copy of Virtual Server yet? You should, it's available on MSDN subscriber downloads. I'm sure many of you too are waiting to see what Virtual Server can do and if it's worth the buy for your production environment. In either case, I wanted to post a few differences between Virtual Server and Virtual PC. The biggest difference is purpose.
Virtual PC is designed primarily for running desktop operating systems & applications in interactive mode. Can Virtual PC run server operating systems? Yes. Will Microsoft support you? No. Virtual Server is designed to run server operating systems & server applications in daemon mode. Other differences:
Virtual PC supports sound. Virtual Server does not.
Virtual Server provides support for SCSI disks (guest drives). Virtual PC does not.
Virtual Server exposes a COM api (with .NET PIAs) for extensibility. Virutal PC does not.
Virtual PC supports shared folders with the host. Virtual Server does not.
Virtual Server supports running guest without an interative session (a daemon). Virtual PC does not.
Well that's a start for now. I'm curious to see if other people can point out more differences.
BOSTON—Microsoft Corp. announced Tuesday an early beta of a new rich client for its Live Communications Server product designed to unite instant messaging with telephony and video, and to embed such technologies in other applications. Code-named "Istanbul," the company is demonstrating the new Office-based technology at the Fall 2004 VON conference here this week and seeking testers for a managed beta program.
Istanbul will replace Windows Messenger as the preferred client for Live Communications Server, though Windows Messenger will continue to be included within the Windows operating system, Microsoft officials said. "Istanbul is a richer client with richer capabilities," said Anoop Gupta, corporate vice president in Microsoft's Real-Time Collaboration Business Unit, who formally announced Istanbul during his Tuesday morning keynote at VON."
(more)
ADTest is an Active Directory load-generation tool. It allows you to simulate client transactions on the host server. By varying client load, you can relate the transaction rate to resource utilization on the server and get some idea about the requirements for your environment. Because ADTest can perform generic Active Directory requests, it can also create an organizational unit structure inside Active Directory. You can add many organizational units and user objects in those ADTest-created organizational units. You can also add attributes to the user objects. Once you have created the Active Directory structure you require, you can use ADTest to perform various Active Directory requests, including Modify and Search. Several pre-built tests have been written to reproduce some typical activities you might want to evaluate.
(download)
The Solution Accelerator for Exchange Consolidation and Migration helps you accelerate the design, planning, and deployment of Exchange Server 2003 messaging systems deployed as upgrades to, or replacements for, your existing Exchange Server 5.5 or Exchange 2000 Server messaging systems. Business agility and efficiency depend on messaging systems deployed by organizational IT operations; to deliver the required functionality, IT operations themselves must be able to quickly adapt to changing business requirements, then implement secure, efficient solutions to meet these requirements. These solutions require not only great technologies, but also efficient and effective operations with all application and system services driven by mature processes and delivered to the business at an acceptable cost.
Download
here
Microsoft® Active Directory® service domain controllers are increasingly being deployed on networks segmented by firewalls. Three common scenarios are: (1) domain controllers separated from clients in a perimeter network (also known as DMZ, demilitarized zone, and screened subnet), (2) domain controllers in a perimeter network separated from other domain controllers on the network, and (3) networks divided into segments, each containing clients and domain controllers. This white paper describes best practices for deploying domain controllers in segmented networks in a manner that supports client authentication, secure resource access by clients, and replication traffic between domain controllers on opposite sides of a firewall. This paper also provides detailed procedures for configuring IPSec policies to protect Active Directory traffic between domain controllers on opposite sides of a firewall and recommended practices for managing IPSec policies that are assigned to domain controllers.
Download
here
PowerPoint presentations can become very large when you are inserting images into the slides. One option you have to get around this problem is to manually convert all the graphics to a more compressed file type such as a JPG.
An even easier method is to have PowerPoint take care of this for you. Once you have your presentation open, click View, point to Toolbars, and place a check beside Pictures. The Picture toolbar will appear in your presentation. On this toolbar there is a button called Compress Pictures. If you click on this button, the Compress Pictures dialog box will appear. Under the Apply to section, you can select which pictures you want to compress. You can compress selected pictures or you can compress all pictures in the presentation. You can also change the resolution of the pictures. The resolution for Web/Screen is 96dpi and 200 dpi for the Print option. You can also have the cropped areas of pictured deleted (in case you didn’t know, the cropped area of pictures is usually just hidden, not deleted).
The Windows Update Catalog is a portion of the Windows Update web site where administrators can go to search for and download updates for Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. These updates can include service packs, security updates, critical updates, rollups or cumulative updates, multi-language features, and recommended updates that can be helpful but are usually non-essential. In addition, administrators can use the Windows Update Catalog to download updated device drivers that comply with the specifications of the Designed for Windows Logo Program. Once you download updates from the Catalog, administrators can then deploy these to computers that need them using their preferred deployment method i.e. manual deployment, Software Update Services (SUS), Systems Management Server (SMS), or any third-party software distribution platform.
Read futher on
Windowsnetworking.com
Microsoft has just released free suite of software dubbed the "Partner Pack" for computers running Windows XP. The free add-on pack includes new Microsoft and 3rd party sofware items.
The Partner Pack is the ultimate application package for your Windows XP PC. Install this package and you will be able to play new games and have more fun, explore the internet in new ways, keep in touch and share information with friends and family, better protect your PC and do more with tools and desktop utilities.
Download
here
Newssource:
Neowin.net (more)
opened a case with Microsoft just a few days ago about an error I was getting when right clicking on a mailbox in a RSG. It turns out the issue was caused by commas in the display name. The error was an ldap error: Invalid DN Syntax. This new error only happens with SP1 of course, because the RMD feature I was trying to use wasn't released with SP1.
What is RMD you ask? The Recover Mailbox Data (RMD) feature. The major advantage with the Recovery Storage Group (RSG) in Exchange 2003 RTM is that it provides greater flexibility when restoring mailboxes and mailbox stores, as you are no longer required to setup a separate active directory and recovery server. You can now simply recover to the same server or to any server in the administrative group. Microsoft has released a hotfix for this error. This KB is not yet public, but will be soon I think:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=883419. Call PSS if you need the hotfix now.
While they are bullish about Windows XP SP2 (Service Pack 2), PC makers aren't putting all of their security eggs in the Microsoft basket. PC vendors are well on their way toward getting SP2, Microsoft Corp.'s most recent operating-system update, preloaded on all of their new machines. But many PC vendors are complementing—and in some cases replacing—SP2 features with third-party products.
Take Hewlett-Packard Co., for instance. HP is currently preloading SP2 on its Pavilion and Compaq Presario lines, as well as on its HP Media Center PCs (which run the Windows XP Media Center Edition variant of SP2). But HP isn't using SP2 as is, said Carol Ozaki, senior product manager for consumer PCs at HP. Instead, the company is replacing the Windows Security Center status bar with Symantec's Norton Security Center.
(more)
In an article just posted to the web, Paul Thurrott has shed some light on current beta and release dates for Microsoft Office 12 and Windows Longhorn:
Ballmer touched on one of the more controversial Longhorn topics--the recently delayed WinFS storage engine--and noted that progress was being made, "just not good enough for the '06 [Longhorn client] delivery." Instead, WinFS will ship as a free add-on for Longhorn a year later, when Longhorn Server ships.
According to very recent internal schedules I've viewed, Longhorn and Office 12 are set to arrive concurrently on May 22, 2006. And the first Longhorn beta is set for February 16, 2005, the exact same Beta 1 date I first reported back in April. Naturally, this schedule could change--this is Microsoft we're talking about, after all--but it seems that the massive Microsoft infrastructure is finally starting to rumble to life. For beta testers and Windows enthusiasts, 2005 looks to be a busy year. (more)
The Microsoft MOM 2005 Conceptual Guide describes high-level overview information about MOM architecture, components, and features. This guide does not include information about deploying, operating, or maintaining MOM in an enterprise environment. This guide has been created for the final release of Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005.
Download
here (more)
The Microsoft Exchange Team has recently released several new and intresting guides, if you have the time take a look at this intresting reading material.
Exchange Server 2003 high availability guide
Exchange Server 2003 site consolidation: Preliminary results
Server consolidation using Exchange Server 2003
Exchange Server 2003 Transport and Routing Guide
This excel sheet gives an overview of which ports are required to be open for which function on a Windows Server. You should use this excel sheet as an reference.
Download
here
Newssource:
Michael Kalbe's weblog
You may be surprised to learn Windows XP has a built-in feature that offers considerable protection from spyware, adware and such.
Most operating systems make a distinction between Limited users, who run programs and work with documents, and Administrators, who change the way the computer works. Limited users can't make changes that affect the entire computer, only their own folders, desktop and settings.
It may sound inconvenient, but it's really a wonderful safety net. I've been an Administrator on many, many computers over the years, but still login as a Limited user 90% of the time. It protects me from making stupid mistakes. But these days the best part is it stops spyware, adware, and similar attacks dead.
Microsoft intended to make Limited users the default in the original release of XP, but too many applications had problems so they backed off. But now most software now works fine on Limited accounts. And XP Service Pack 2 added some finishing touches that make it a practical choice.
Read more at
Techproblemsolver
Also
Aaron Margosis' Weblog provides a lot of information about this topic
Microsoft Corp. today announced its decision on how the company will license server software on new servers with multicore processors expected in the market next year. Microsoft software that is currently licensed on a per-processor model will continue to be licensed per processor, not per core, for hardware that contains dual-core and multicore processors. This policy is effective today and applies to several products in the Windows Server System (TM) family, including Microsoft® SQL Server (TM) , Microsoft BizTalk® Server and others. Microsoft is approaching this decision with the goal of driving high volume and high value to standards-based computing through logical licensing and more cost-effective adoption of multicore processors.
Today's announcement allows customers to benefit from dual-core technology with no change to the licensing or edition requirements of Windows Server (TM) and Microsoft enterprise server software. For example, Microsoft SQL Server Standard edition will run on a four-processor server with dual-core processors, utilizing all cores on the processors, without requiring more than four licenses. The same number of licenses will be required whether SQL Server software is running on a server with dual-core or single-core processors.
Newssource:
Activewin
Microsoft Corp. today announced the immediate availability of Microsoft® Plus! SuperPack for Windows® XP at leading retailers nationwide. Plus! SuperPack is the ultimate enhancement pack for Windows XP, enabling consumers to personalize their PCs with screen savers and themes, enjoy exciting games, and do more with digital photos, music and home movies.
Plus! SuperPack combines two popular Microsoft products: Plus! Digital Media Edition and Plus! for Windows XP. The estimated retail price (ERP) for both products is $50 (U.S.), but they are offered together in Plus! SuperPack for one low ERP of $29.95 (U.S.), representing an amazing value for consumers and providing them with everything they need to take their Windows experience to the next level. In addition, for customers who have already acquired either Plus! Digital Media Edition or Plus! for Windows XP, Microsoft is offering a $10 (U.S.) rebate on Plus! SuperPack.
Newssource:
ActiveWin
Goto the
Plus! Superpack Website
64-bit is the hot thing right now. There's a ton of buzz in the market about it - what will the impact have on "real life", though? The MSDN Team has put together a great webcast series to help folks figure that out. From November 1-5, the MSDN Team is delivering a webcast series that will help you take advantage of the sweeping change in technology offered by 64-bit computing.
Run existing 32-bit code without modification on 64-bit Windows
Write native 64-bit code (managed and unmanaged)
Learn about the next generation of development tools
Find out about 64-bit processor architectures
You can see a complete list of the webcasts (on everything from "Welcome to 64-Bit Windows Computing" to "Managed Code on 64-bit Windows Platforms") and register for one of the webcasts by visiting
this site.
Bonus: They're giving away cool stuff like a 64-bit Acer Ferrari laptop.
Here are the rules.
Newssource:
Roudybob.net
Microsoft has released its first product based on the Navision software suite since its 2002 purchase of the company. Microsoft Navision 4.0 will target small and medium-sized businesses and marks the software giant's aggressive efforts to break into the business app market. It has been trying to carve a niche in it for the past few years, investing $2.4 billion by buying Navision and Great Plains Software. Navision 4.0 includes financial, manufacturing, customer management, supply chain, analytics and e-commerce data tools and comes with a new interface modelled on Microsoft's Office Outlook 2003. The main change is a tighter integration with Microsoft technology.
I couldn't agree more with
Steven Bink:
This is a sad day for Windows Server admins, like few months ago when I reported that "BearPaw" codename for the next generation Terminal Services would not be inlcuded in the R2 release of Windows Server 2003. Today MS announced that 2 more killer features are removed, Network Access Protection and Access Anywhere, the RDP and filesharing over https (rpc proxy) killer feature. So what's left for R2? I'm not sure the VPN quarantine security feature will be released earlier in SP1. It seems R2 will be nothing more then Windows Server 2003 with SP1. I'm sure there are reasons, but come on, this feature teasing sucks, can't they just hire 50 extra developers and get it done in time? Now we have to wait until 2007, while it is very clear these features are needed NOW. Just like SUS 2.0 (wus).. we need it now, not end of 2005!
The 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition do not include certain features that are included in the 32-bit versions of those operating systems.
These features are not included because of underlying differences between the 32-bit and 64-bit architectures or because the features are not appropriate in the environments where the 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition are deployed.
While there might be references to these features in Help and Support Center or in other Help material, the features themselves have been removed.
The following list identifies features that are not available in the 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition.
(more)
Do you want to know how Microsoft SQL Product Support Services (PSS) engineers break down problems? Originally designed as an opportunity for customers to work with Microsoft SQL Server Escalation Engineers at the SQL PASS 2004 Conference, these labs can be used for self-paced troubleshooting training on SQL Server 2000.
All labs are documented so that users can work through different scenarios in a self-study environment. These labs cover popular topics such as blocking, performance, memory, and debugging, and data recovery. They include hands-on usage of the PSS tools: READ80TRACE, OSTRESS, and PSSDiag.
Download here
Rolling out an Exchange Server deployment can be a complicated task. Need some help? The people of
techtarget.com have put together a list of 12 commandments to follow when you find yourself heading an Exchange 2000 or 2003 deployment.
(more)
A one-stop shop for information concerning games that run on Windows - that's what the Windows XP Game Advisor seems to be. From one web-based interface, you can search across hundreds of games and find out all about them - complete with demos, screenshot, trailers, etc. There's even a feature that allows you to check for updates to the most popular games. You can search by game title, age group and game type. When you've found the game you want, you can order directly from this site.
Don't know whether your puny little rig can run Doom 3? That's where the neat part comes in - by clicking on the "Will it run on my computer?" link, the Game Advisor will do an analysis of your machines CPU, memory, graphics card, disk space and operating system and tell you where your setup fits on the spectrum between "Minimum" and "Reccomended".
(more)
Newssource:
Roudybob.net
Update Rollup 1 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 contains various updates for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and includes HDTV (ATSC) support for customers in the United States.
This update is recommended for all Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 customers.
For a complete list of changes included in this update see
KB873369
More information about HDTV can be found on the Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
HDTV Information Page.
Download
here
Technically, a logon script is nothing more than a script that runs whenever a user logs on to a network or, less commonly, whenever a user logs on to a local computer. Logon scripts are not new; in fact, logon scripts have been around almost as long as computer networks have. Many system administrators, for example, got their introduction to logon scripts, and scripting in general, by managing Novell Netware networks. Logon scripts were a staple of Netware networks, performing such tasks as mapping network drives to specified folders on the Netware server. Rather than require users to manually map drives each time they logged on, administrators created logon scripts that carried out this task automatically.
The purpose of this paper is to help clear up that confusion by doing the following:
• Define the different types of logon scripts and explain when one type of logon script might be more appropriate to use than another.
• Explain how to assign the types of logon scripts.
• Discuss useful techniques for writing and debugging logon scripts.
• Provide sample scripts that carry out common logon script tasks.
Download
Here
Internet Light and Power says it will become one of the first ISPs to deploy Microsoft Corp.'s anticipated Sender ID technology in daily operations. Sender ID will become part of the Toronto-based company's iPermitMail virtual e-mail firewall, which ILAP developed as a means of combating e-mail fraud. According to ILAP President Tristan Goguen, the product is already quite effective against spam, but it still has problems with fraudulent e-mail addresses; he expects Sender ID to solve those problems. iPermitMail is in use at a number of other ISPs and enterprises throughout the world in addition to ILAP, Goguen said.
With Sender ID, "businesses no longer have to worry about their trademarks being compromised, and recipients can have confidence that their mail isn't fraudulent," Goguen said. He said that his company plans to layer Sender ID on top of iPermitMail to assure its users that that their mail will be essentially free of fraudulent e-mail, phishing scams and spam. "The objective," Goguen said, "is to solve the spam problem."
(more)
SQL Server 2005 Express is the next version of MSDE 2000. It is a free, easy-to-use, lightweight version of Microsoft SQL Server 2005. To obtain additional information about SQL Server Express, click
here.
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition - Community Technology Preview October 2004 is unsupported pre-release software.
Download here
Via
Bink.nu: This is cool! Mark Russinovich just discovered a new boot.ini switch for winXP and 2003. Use the /BOOTLOGO switch to have Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 display an installable splash screen instead of the standard splash screen. First, create a 16-color (any 16 colors) 640x480 bitmap and save it in the Windows directory with the name Boot.bmp. Then add "/bootlogo /noguiboot" to the boot.ini selection.
(more)
Our affiliate, The Tweaking Experience, reports that MSN has released a new official beta build of MSN Messenger 7 to beta testers. It seems that Nudges are still included but Winks are disabled. You can download the beta
here and download the ads remove for that build
here.
(more)
Microsoft has launched an update to the
Microsoft Help and Support page. It looks like some of the features, particulalry the KB Search feature, have been dropped - or made more difficult to find. And the searching still results in far too much irrelevant material: for example, when searcing for content related to, say, Windows Server 2003, many of the hits related to other, not direclty related, technolgies. I do wish MS would stop making searching for content more difficult.
The Schema Documentation Program, also known as schemadoc.exe, is used to document extensions made to your Active Directory schema. It will search your directory based on a prefix that you give it and copy the information from the classes and attributes that match the prefix into an XML file. All data that is entered during the course of this program, except the Directory Path and password fields, is stored in a file called xml.cfg.
Download at Microsoft (more)
This book is an introduction to enterprise computing capabilities offered by Microsoft® as compared to mainframe technology, and how the Microsoft Windows® platform can be an effective alternative to the mainframe environment. The goals are to provide an overview of the Microsoft enterprise platform including the Windows Server System™, the Windows development environment, and available prescriptive guidance and support relative to platform migration and subsequent operation. The mainframe is traditionally assumed to be the most robust and powerful computing environment available to businesses. However, for businesses to stay competitive, it is important that the computing environment is not only powerful, but also provides the flexibility necessary to respond to rapid business change.
Download at Microsoft (more)
Google Desktop Search is how our brains would work if we had photographic memories. It's a desktop search application that provides full text search over your email, computer files, chats, and the web pages you've viewed. By making your computer searchable, Google Desktop Search puts your information easily within your reach and frees you from having to manually organize your files, emails, and bookmarks.
Download here
Detailed overview of how Microsoft IT deployed and manages Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 to provide its employees with a real-time communications and instant messaging solution. The Microsoft installation of Live Communications Server 2005 is redundant, scalable, highly available, capable of operating across multiple forests, and provides encrypted communication with contacts outside corporate firewall.
(more)
Coming from
Paul Thurrot's Supersite for Windows:
It's gone. In February 2003, internal Microsoft documentation described a feature planned for XP SP2 called "concurrent sessions." This would have enabled XP Professional Edition systems with Fast User Switching (FUS) enabled (i.e., non-domain systems) to support two concurrent interactive users. The current XP version is limited to one interactive user at a time; this user can be sitting at the XP machine locally or connecting to it remotely through Remote Desktop Connection (RDC), Microsoft's desktop version of Windows Terminal Services.
(more)
Microsoft ISA Server 2004 Standard Edition is designed to run on servers with up to four (4) processors (when licensed individually). However, when installed on a multi-processor computer, ISA Server 2004 Standard Edition incorrectly counts hyper-threaded processors (e.g., Intel Pentium IV), causing the ISACTRL and WSPSRV services to not start if more than two (2) such processors are present. The ISA Server Control Service incorrectly views each HT-enabled processor as two (2) processors, and perceives the installation as being in violation of the licensing terms as ISA Server 2004 Standard Edition is limited to a maximum of four (4) processors.
(download)
When Office 12 debuts in 2006+, an Excel Server, Visio Server and other brand-new servers are expected in the line-up.
Microsoft has been holding its Office 12 cards close to the vest. But it's becoming increasingly apparent that there will be some new Office Server products in the company's next-generation office-suite line-up.
Sources close to Microsoft say that the company is well on its way to developing a server version of its desktop Excel spreadsheet product. And Microsoft has been hinting since 2003 that it is strongly considering adding a server version of its Visio charting/diagramming product to its family of Office System products.
Newssource:
Microsoft Watch by Mary Jo Foley
Read the full story
here
Virtual PC is a powerful software virtualization solution that allows you to run multiple PC-based operating systems simultaneously on one workstation, providing a safety net to maintain compatibility with legacy applications while you migrate to a new operating system. It also saves reconfiguration time, so your support, development, and training staff can work more efficiently.
This is a 45-day time-out, full version of the Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 product. No serial number is required.
Download at Microsoft
Microsoft® Windows® User State Migration Tool (USMT) version 2.6 migrates user files and settings during deployments of Windows 2000 or Microsoft Windows XP. USMT 2.6 provides enterprise migration capabilities such as unattended migration, multi-user profile support and compression. USMT 2.6 is intended for administrators who are performing automated deployments.
USMT 2.6 includes two command-line tools named Scanstate and Loadstate. Scanstate captures an intermediate store with the user files and settings from the source computer. Loadstate restores these files and settings to the destination computer.
USMT 2.6 also has five default migration rule (.inf) files named Migapp.inf, Migsys.inf, Miguser.inf, Sysfiles.inf, and ArchiveApp.inf. You can alter the default .inf files and you can create customized .inf files. Depending on what you want to migrate, you can specify all or none of the default .inf files on the command line.
The entire migration process is driven by the .inf rules, which you can modify, and logic that is built-in to the tool. When using USMT for automated migration, in almost all cases you should modify the .inf files to better handle your unique situation.
Download at Microsoft
Although it is extremely common for organizations to back data up to tape each night, the technology behind tape backups is over twenty years old. At the same time, network administrators are being asked to back up more and more data in less and less time and to be able to perform nearly instant restore operations. The old tape backup technology is having a hard time keeping pace with such demands. Fortunately, Microsoft is about to release a new, disk based, backup solution called Data Protection Server that is designed to solve all of these problems.
Read the
full article written by Brien M. Posey at Windowsnetworking.com
(more)
Typically, when you upgrade a domain from Windows NT Server 4.0 to Windows Server 2003 and the domain is the first one in a new forest, during the upgrade you can set the domain and forest mode to interim. Interim mode has advantages over Windows 2000 Server native mode--for example, interim mode has no 5000-group membership limit and provides Knowledge Consistency Checker (KCC) and topology enhancements.
Source:
Windows IT Pro Magazine (more)
This month 7 Critical and 3 Important security bulletins from Microsoft. They are numbered MS04-029 through MS04-038.
Go
here for the Microsoft website containing all the information about the new patches.
Installing Windows® Media Connect enables you to deliver music, photos, and videos that reside on your Windows XP PC to devices that support the uPnP protocol. This includes digital audio receivers, connected DVD players, set-top boxes and more. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Download here
Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 Service Pack 1 (SP1) contains the latest software updates for Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 that improve the reliability, performance and manageability of Virtual PC. Updates have been made to improve the performance of Windows XP Service Pack 2 as a guest in Virtual PC, to improve the manageability of virtual machines when used with SMS 2003 Service Pack 1, and to provide support for running Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition as the host operating system.
Some of the fixes included with SP1 have been previously released as separate updates. This service pack combines them into one update.
Download here
This download contains the latest ExBPA.Config.xml and ExBPA.chm files. Use this package to update your existing installation of the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer. NOTE: If Internet connectivity is available, the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer will attempt to automatically update itself from the Internet. Where updates are being applied automatically, there is no need to download the Web Update Pack.
To find out which version of ExBPA.Config.xml is installed on your computer, click the 'About Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer' link within the tool. The upper version number refers to the core application (e.g. 1.0.7408.1), the lower version is for the configuration XML file.
Download here
Another candidate in the growing list of exploits on instant messaging clients and servers arrived in the wild. Called W32.Funner, the worm on Monday circulated to attack on the Windows Messenger platform. At the same time, Microsoft Corp.'s MSN Messenger service was unavailable much of the day Monday and several online sites wondered if the worm was implicated in the problems.
Microsoft officials confirmed the outage of its MSN services for most of Monday. A spokeswoman said that following system maintenance over the weekend, MSN "began experiencing some issues with the MSN Messenger service that may have affected customer's ability to log in to the service or exchange IMs."
(more)
Microsoft plans to announce Windows Media Player 10 Mobile for Windows-based cell phones and PDAs later today. The software turns these devices into portable media players that will work with Media Center PCs, allowing users to take content with them. Further details about Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center 2005 and news that Microsoft is to launch MSN Music Store in the US and eight european countries are also to be announced today.
Windows Media Player 10 Mobile also includes support for Microsoft's new "Janus" DRM technology, which allows subscribers to online music services that support the technology to download vast music collections. The software will ship on many devices, starting with a new smart phone from Audiovox and a new Axim X50 PDA from Dell. Existing devices can be upgraded, but users will have to get an upgrade from the device maker, according to Microsoft.
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Mark Minasi is asking Microsoft to add the ability to delete from the schema in Longhorn server.
Robbie Allen reported back in 2002 that you actually could delete from the schema in pre-SP2 W2K AD via a very simple (previously undocumented) procedure. Unfortunately, MS discovered the "workaround" he documented and disabled it in SP3 and later.
The reason MS hasn't allowed this feature is because deleting from the schema in a distributed database is much more difficult than deleting from the schema in a single-master database. What happens if you delete a class or attribute that is currently in use? It is very difficult in a distributed database to guarantee that a class or attribute is not being used and therefore safe to delete. But we are all grown-ups, I think with sufficient precautions and warnings in place, MS could let people delete from the schema without much concern. And there are checks they could put in place to reduce the chance of a mistaken deletion.
Windows 2000 Server introduced two Active Directory modes, mixed and native, to support different deployment scenarios. Mixed mode provides backwards compatibility for Windows NT domains, while native mode provides expanded Windows 2000 functionality. Windows Server 2003 adds two additional modes, Windows Server 2003 interim and Windows Server 2003, giving you four modes from which to choose when deploying Windows Server 2003 Active Directory. In this Daily Feature, they explain each of these modes and the implications and uses for each."
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Preparing for the release of Windows Media Center 2005 tomorrow, Microsoft has released the official Media Center 2005 theme (Royale) today for Tablet PC Edition 2005. To install the theme on any other XP just extract the theme in WinRAR.
(download)
The next release of the MyQSL database server will include a Windows installer based on an open-source toolset released by Microsoft earlier this year. The upcoming MySQL 4.1 release will, according to documentation on the group's Web site, use the latest version of the Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) available for the Windows 2000 and XP operating systems. As part of the installation package, MySQL will make use of the Windows Installer XML (WiX) toolset, released as Microsoft's first open-source contribution earlier this year.
The WiX toolset is currently available on the SourceForge Web site for free download, using the Open Source Initiative-approved CPL license. Microsoft has also contributed two other open-source projects: the Windows Template Library and FlexWiki. "We switched to WiX for two reasons," wrote Michael Zinner, lead developer of the MySQL GUI team. "First, it is an open-source project and second, it allows us to handle the complete Windows engineering process in a flexible way with scripts."
(more)
Network Access Protection (NAP) is a policy enforcement platform built into the Microsoft Windows operating system that allows IT professionals to set policy (for example, operating system and antivirus update policy), which restricts clients from accessing a network until the clients can prove policy compliance. The initial release of NAP will be delivered in Windows Server 2003 Release 2 (R2). For more information about Windows Server 2003 R2, see the Windows Server Product Roadmap.
You can find the 'Introduction to Network Access Protection'
here
Find out more about this technology
here
Lately, you might have been hearing a lot about two new forthcoming operating systems, Longhorn and Blackcomb. Longhorn is the long awaited successor to Windows XP, and Blackcomb, also known as Longhorn Server, will be the successor to Windows Server 2003. In spite of all of the press that these operating systems have been getting lately, they are still a long way off. According to Microsoft, Longhorn won’t be released until sometime in 2006 at the earliest, and Blackcomb isn’t slated for
release until 2007.
Being that it’s still going to be a long time until these operating systems are released, Microsoft has decided to grace us with some interim Windows releases. Microsoft is currently working on a new version of Windows Server 2003 that is presently code named R2 (release two). There has also been a lot of talk about an interim release of Windows XP.
So the big question now is what can you expect from these new releases? As with any pre-release software, details tend to be a bit sketchy and there are a lot of contradictory rumors. However, I will attempt to cut through all of that and let you know what you can expect from these two new releases. Keep in mind though that since the actual operating systems have yet to be released, Microsoft still has time to make substantial changes.
Read further at
Brien M. Posey's article posted on
WindowsNetworking.com
Citrix spent a lot of time talking about future technologies at this year’s iForum. Some of these technologies will make it into Presentation Server 4, while others are in earlier stages of development and won’t be released for some time.
Some of Citrix’s future technologies include:
- Smart Access
- ActiveSync via ICA
- TWAIN imaging device ICA redirection (scanners, cameras, etc.)
- Performance management technology licensed from Aurema and RTO
- Audio enhancements in preparation for VoIP
- EMF-based Printing
- Windows 64-bit support
- Application Isolation Environments
- Virtual IP addresses
- GoToWebinar
- ICA Session Recording, Archiving, and Surveilling
- Hardware Appliances
Read further at
Brian Madden's website
The Microsoft® Internet Information Services (IIS) Management Pack monitors IIS 5.0 and IIS 6.0 and includes availability, health, and configuration monitoring of IIS and its related services. By monitoring the applications and Web sites running on IIS, the IIS Management Pack highlights issues that cause downtime or poor performance, such as broken links, unavailable sites, and security breaches.
The IIS Management Pack also collects performance analysis and capacity planning data by tracking application performance and user load.
This guide was developed with the September, 2004 version of the IIS Management Pack. Ensure that you are using the most recent version of the Management Pack by going to
http://www.microsoft.com/mom/managementpacks (
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=33752).
SQL I/O Stress Tool
Here is the link where you can download the SQLIOStress utility. The download has a 47-page white paper. This utility will simulate SQL Server disk I/O activity. You can use it to stress out the disk subsystem prior to the migration. You should add the -H option to the defaults to test more heavily stale reads.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;231619
Exchange I/O Stress Tools
Here is the link where you can dowload the LoadSim utility. The download has a 16-page white paper. This utility will generate mailbox infrastructure to allow for simulating disk I/O activity. You can use it to stress out the disk subsystem prior to the migration.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=92eb2edc-3433-47ca-a5f8-0483c7ddea85&displaylang=en
Here is the link where you can download the JetStress utility. The download has a 38-page white paper. Jetstress helps do this by simulating the Exchange disk I/O load. Specifically, Jetstress simulates the Exchange database and log file loads produced by a specified number of users. You can use it to stress out the disk subsystem prior to the migration.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=94b9810b-670e-433a-b5ef-b47054595e9c&displaylang=en
Generic I/O Stress Tool
Here is the link where you can download the IOMeter utility. There is documentation available at
http://www.iometer.org/doc/documents.html. IOMeter is an I/O subsystem measurement and characterization tool for single and clustered systems. You can use it to stress the disk subsystem prior to the migration. However, limitations may not allow for the tool to stress a modern SAN architecture to upper performance limits.
http://www.iometer.org/doc/downloads.html
Newssource:
Nick MacKechnie's Microsoft Community Weblog
We’ve received several requests on the tools newsgroup for the history of the development of ExBPA, so here it is. The concept for such a tool has been around for several years, and there have been a few prototypes created previously. For one reason or another, these earlier efforts didn’t get very far or never went external. One particular effort, called ExConfig, is worth calling out because it got my team looking in this direction in the first place. ExConfig was developed by Jon LeCroy in the Microsoft IT group and is designed to track configuration changes across servers. A portion of its functionality has been incorporated into ExBPA through our baseline logic, and further work will likely be done in this area in future versions. ExBPA itself (originally called ExDiag) first started taking solid form around January of this year when Paul Bowden and I began to exchange ideas around it.
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IBM Redbooks department just released another virtualization redpaper, this time on Microsoft new product Virtual Server 2005.
Here the abstract:
Businesses continually seek ways to reduce cost and risk while increasing quality and agility in their IT infrastructure. Virtualization is a key enabling technology that can be leveraged to achieve these business benefits. Virtualization technology enables customers to run multiple operating systems concurrently on a single physical server, where each of the operating systems runs as a self-contained computer.
Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 hosted on Windows Server 2003 and IBM xSeries servers delivers the performance necessary to carry out time- and cost-saving tasks through virtualization technology in an enterprise-ready computing environment with advanced levels of scalability, manageability, and reliability.
This redpaper introduces Virtual Server and describes the main features and functions, the product’s architecture, and the typical customer uses. It also introduces the management tools available, including IBM Director with Virtual Machine Manager, and Microsoft Operations Manager.
This redpaper is targeted at IT specialists who need to understand this new product and how it can be used in their environment
You can download it (still draft)
here.
Newssource:
virtualization.info
To some, the command-line (Start, Run, CMD) is a confusing place to be. To others, it’s the place to get stuff done quickly. Here are a few useful links for that second group, or if you’d like to be part of that group:
Command-line reference for Windows Server 2003: All of them for Server 2003
Command-line reference for Windows XP: All of them for WinXP
Automating Administration of Windows Server 2003: A pre-recorded event that can teach you different tasks using the command line
Command-line Nirvana: This is a nice little introduction to WMI Command-line, or WMIC, for those of you who want to get REALLY serious about doing everything/anything from a command-line.
How to Use Command-Line Shortcuts: A pretty lengthy article on the entire topic.
Newssource:
Brian Groth's Weblog
Symantec Corp.'s Threat Analyst Team has discovered an exploit in the wild that utilizes the recently announced
JPEG vulnerability in Microsoft Corp.'s GDI+ library to install a new and sophisticated phishing system.
eWEEK.com spoke with Oliver Friedrichs, senior manager of Symantec Security Response, who said the infected image is not able to attack a system from within Internet Explorer or Outlook, but only from within Windows Explorer, the file system browsing utility. Therefore, an attacker would likely need to entice a user to view the file from within the file system. Perhaps for this reason, Symantec says the spread of the attack is limited for now.
(more)
Microsoft plans to offer its own anti-spyware software, Chairman Bill Gates said Friday. Gates said Microsoft will offer software to detect malicious applications and that the company will keep it up-to-date on an ongoing basis. He did not say when the software would be available or whether Microsoft would charge for it.
Although progress is being made against spam and viruses, Gates said the adware and malware problem is getting worse. "This malware thing is so bad," he said in a speech at the Computer History Museum here. "Now that's the one that has us really needing to jump in." It's also a problem that has affected Gates personally. He said his home PCs have had malware, although he has personally never been affected by a virus.
(more)
Updated October 2004. This download contains all Exchange 2000 technical articles produced by the Exchange team.
Download
here (more)
Microsoft is putting ActiveViews end-user reporting capabilities into its next-generation SQL Server 2005 database, the company said Wednesday.
Microsoft bought ActiveViews, a small company last April for its ad hoc reporting capabilities. Those functions, with a re-written interface, will now be poured into a "self-service ad hoc report builder" for business users. The first bits of the Reporting Services Report Builder will surface in beta 3 of SQL Server 2005, code-named Yukon, by year's end, the company said. A Microsoft spokeswoman said the inclusion should not affect the latest projected ship date for Yukon, which is the first half of 2005.
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With the increase in security flaws, viruses, hackers, and holes in software, making sure you have the latest security patches and software updates is now more important then ever. Symantec, the leader in Information Security introduces Symantec ON iPatch(TM), a quick and easy-to-use patch management solution. Now you can proactively scan for missing patches and service packs and perform targeted deployments, all with a click of a mouse.
Click here for more information.
