Get Microsoft Exam 417 for free !

Get a Voucher for 417 for free along with free training and free second chances to pass the exams. I found this on the web and wanted to share this with you.

Laid out below are the sets of exams necessary to upgrade your MCSA: Windows Server 2008 to either a MCSE: Server Infrastructure, MCSE: Desktop Infrastructure, or MCSE: Private Cloud certifications. These sets of exams give you exam 417 free, access to a free Jump Start, and comes with a 2nd shot attached to each exam.

Which certifications are qualified for this offer?
MCSA: Windows Server 2008
MCITP: Virtualization Administrator
MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator
MCITP: Lync Server Administrator
MCITP: SharePoint Administrator
MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator

When this offer expires?
These vouchers expire on Dec 31st, 2013. All exams and retake exams in the pack must be taken by December 31st, 2013.

To use this offer go to the following Page the choose what you like upgrade to and click on BUY Voucher.

This offer does include TRAINING !!!

Network tracing (packet sniffing) built-in to Windows 7,8, Server 2008r2 and Server 2012

I was hunting for some information and came across this post on a blog on TechNet, by YongRhee at Microsoft. I am copying his post here because it such a great idea to share.

Applies to:

Windows Server 2012

Windows 8

Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows 7

In Windows Server’s, if you wanted to capture network packets (for those coming from a Unix background, Packet sniffer or protocol analyzer, or TCPDump), you would have to install an add-on such as Network Monitor (Netmon) or Wireshark (used to be known as Ethereal). In order to install these products, you would have to go thru a change control process.

Starting with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, network capture has been built-in and native to the Windows O.S.

Start, CMD (Run as admin)

Type “Netsh trace start scenario=NetConnection capture=yes report=yes persistent=no maxsize=1024 correlation=yes traceFile=C:LogsNetTrace.etl” without the quotation marks and then press Enter.

Note: Details of all the options are available in the links to more information.

Note 2: You always want to take network traces from both sides (sending and receiving).

Reproduce the issue.

Open a second CMD (Run as admin)

When you have the repro, to make the network trace with a ‘marker’ that you are done.

Type “ping 127.0.0.1” without the quotation marks and then press Enter.

To stop the network capture

Type “netsh trace stop” without the quotation marks and then press Enter.

Once you have the nettrace.etl file, you could copy it off the server to your Windows client.

In your Windows client, you would use Microsoft Network Monitor 3.4 to analyze the network packets.

More information:

Scenarios
Troubleshoots what type of related issues?

AddressAcquisition
address acquisition

DirectAccess
DirectAccess

FileSharing
common file and printer sharing problems

InternetClient
Diagnose web connectivity

InternetServer
server-side web connectivity

L2SEC
layer 2 authentication

LAN
wired LAN

Layer2
layer 2 connectivity

NDIS
network adapter

NetConnection
network connections

RPC
RPC framework

WCN
Windows Connect Now

WFP-IPsec
Windows Filtering Platform and IPsec

WLAN
wireless LAN

Network Tracing in Windows 7
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee918726(v=ws.10).aspx

Network Tracing in Windows 7 (Windows)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd569136(v=vs.85).aspx

Netsh Commands for Trace
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd878498(v=WS.10).aspx

Netsh Commands for Network Trace in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd878517(v=WS.10).aspx

Event Tracing for Windows and Network Monitor
http://blogs.technet.com/b/netmon/archive/2009/05/13/event-tracing-for-windows-and-network-monitor.aspx

For those administrators that want to learn more and their company has a Premier contract. There is a workshop available called “Netmon for Enterprise Troubleshooting”. Please contact your Technical Account Manager (T.A.M.) about availability in your neck of the woods.

Microsoft Services – Premier Support Proactive Services – Proactive Education

Link to his original Post

 

Free ebook: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012

You can download at PDF version of this book.

sql server 2012

Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012 includes 10 chapters:

PART I DATABASE ADMINISTRATION (by Ross Mistry)

1. SQL Server 2012 Editions and Engine Enhancements

2. High-Availability and Disaster-Recovery Enhancements

3. Performance and Scalability

4. Security Enhancements

5. Programmability and Beyond-Relational Enhancements

PART II BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPMENT (by Stacia Misner)

6. Integration Services

7. Data Quality Services

8. Master Data Services

9. Analysis Services and PowerPivot

10. Reporting Services

Information was supplied by MS Press

Download the book here

 

SMB 150

I’m honored to have been nominated for the SMB 150 list, but I can’t win by myself. I need your vote! You can express your support for me and what I’ve accomplished in the SMB technology field by voting at smb150.com (you can vote once per day). Thanks in advance for your support for this distinguished industry award! #smb150

"I’m both honored and humbled by my inclusion in the SMB 150. Some of the channel’s heaviest hitters are on this year’s list, so I look forward to seeing how I fare against them. Whatever happens, I’m thankful to all the colleagues and clients who have shown their support for me."

"It’s always great when people you respect from your own professional community recognize the contributions you’ve made to the field. I’m thankful to everyone who votes for me and can’t wait to see who the channel picks as this year’s top influencers."

Thank you all Jay…

 

 

Technorati Tags:

Most Popular 2012 Passwords Revealed

SplashData.comrecently published the following information regarding the most popular 2012 passwords on the web. The ranking was based on password information from compromised accounts posted by hackers online. The article was also featured on blogs.avg.com.

This year, the list is back! So it’s time to see how, if at all, users have learned their lessons about what makes a strong password.

Here’s the full list and how it compares to last year’s:

#

Password

Change from 2011

1.

password

Unchanged

2.

123456

Unchanged

3.

12345678

Unchanged

4.

abc123

Up 1

5.

qwerty

Down 1

6.

monkey

Unchanged

7.

letmein

Up 1

8.

dragon

Up 2

9.

111111

Up 3

10.

baseball

Up 1

11.

iloveyou

Up 2

12.

trustno1

Down 3

13.

1234567

Down 6

14.

sunshine

Up 1

15.

master

Down 1

16.

123123

Up 4

17.

welcome

New

18.

shadow

Up 1

19.

ashley

Down 3

20.

football

Up 5

21.

jesus

New

22.

michael

Up 2

23.

ninja

New

24.

mustang

New

25.

password1

New

As you can see, people haven’t changed their password habits a whole lot in a year.

If your password is included on that list, or is a close variation of these passwords, it’s really important to take action now!

Fixing your password problem can be very simple;

Long is strong: The longer the password, the more difficult it will be for someone to try and crack it using brute force. So, instead of a single word, with a jumble of symbols, numbers and characters, try a string of words. Use a line of your favorite poem, song or just something memorable. Feel free to add your lucky number at the end if you like.

Something like: "withnodirectionhome1085"

This is a copy of a post at SplashData.com. I have posted this here as a Public Service