Author: jay f

Dynamic Data Center

The Infrastructure Planning and Design team is working on a new guide: Dynamic Data Center.

Delivering dynamically scalable IT resources can provide dramatic benefits to nearly all aspects of your organization’s IT environment. The design process in the Infrastructure Planning and Design Guide for Dynamic Data Center allows your organization to strategically plan a Dynamic Data Center infrastructure that is designed for ease of manageability. Key benefits of the guide include:

· The infrastructure is designed using best practices to reduce the administrative burden of managing the Dynamic Data Center.

· A single set of requirements is tracked throughout the entire design process and then transferred to the appropriate supporting Infrastructure Planning and Design guides.

· The infrastructure design of the virtualization hardware and the management software includes determining the scaling and architectural limits of each component.

With this guide, you can design a Dynamic Data Center that will allow your organization to be responsive to changing market conditions by presenting new ways to develop, deliver, deploy, and manage applications and IT infrastructures.

Related Resources

Check out all the Infrastructure Planning and Design team has to offer! Visit the IPD page on TechNet, http://www.microsoft.com/ipd, for additional information, including our most recent guides.

Join the Beta

Get the beta by visiting the Connect Web site at https://connect.microsoft.com/content/content.aspx?ContentID=6556&SiteID=14.

 

IT pros with kids should consider volunteering their talents to schools, suggests one consultant who overhauled the IT lab at his son’s elementary school in Mississauga. Why Windows 7 was the answer for PCs that took 20 minutes to boot

Dad performs IT makeover at son’s school

When Mitch Garvis asked his son’s elementary school teacher to print a document and the teacher asked him to come back and pick it up the next day, he realized something was wrong with the school’s IT system.

“I asked, ’Can’t you just print it up now?’ He said, ‘Well, it takes about thirty minutes to log on and open the program and get it printed,” said Garvis.

An independent IT consultant based in Oakville, Ont., Garvis decided to tackle the issue and volunteered to overhaul the school’s computer labs and network.

The IT makeover involved 30 computers spanning administration, classrooms and the computer lab at Meadow Green Academy’s south campus.

Well done Mitch, Mitch is a good friend who is involved in the user community as a APCUG, Board of advisor, Past president of ITProToronto, and a Microsoft MVP.

See the full article here

 

Download Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/206383783/direct/01/ Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 helps you achieve new levels of reliability and performance by delivering features that simplify your administration, protect your communications, and delight your users by meeting their demands for greater business mobility. And when you download the latest software, you’re automatically registered to access valuable product resources assembled in one convenient location.

Evaluate Forefront Server Security Management Console http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/206383446/direct/01/            Forefront Server Security Management Console allows administrators to easily manage Forefront Security for Exchange Server, Forefront Security for SharePoint and Microsoft Antigen, providing a web-based console to centralize configuration and operation, automate the download and distribution of signature and scan engine updates, and generate comprehensive reports. And when you download the 120-day trial software, you’re automatically registered to receive valuable resources delivered at strategic intervals throughout the software evaluation period.                                          

Download Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta                                                                                               

http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/206384120/direct/01/            Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 empowers your people to do their best work from more places – whether they’re using a PC, phone or web browser. It can maximize existing investments and help people accomplish more by bringing server.

Download Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Beta                                http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/206384022/direct/01/            Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Beta is the business collaboration platform for the Enterprise and the Web that enables you to connect and empower people through an integrated set of rich features. Whether deployed on-premise or as a hosted service, SharePoint.

Download Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010 RC           http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/206384218/direct/01/            Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010 RC provides IT professionals in mid-sized organizations a unified physical and virtual IT management experience. It enables you to better secure, update, monitor, and troubleshoot from a single console, so you can efficiently and proactively manage your IT environment.

Evaluate System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2                                                                                                      http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/206383685/direct/01/            Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 provides a comprehensive, cross-platform management solution for the virtualized data center that helps enable centralized management of virtual IT infrastructure, increased server utilization, and dynamic resource optimization of virtual IT infrastructure. And when you download the 180-day trial software, you’re automatically registered to receive valuable resources delivered at convenient intervals.

Download the Windows® 7 eBook
http://go.microsoft.com/linkid=9713986                                        Looking for guidance specific to Windows 7 deployment? Check out what the industry’s leading experts have to say in this free Microsoft Press eBook with selected chapters from the Windows 7 Resource Kit on Deployment Platforms, Planning, and Testing Application Compatibility.

 

Secunia Corporate Software Inspector (CSI) 4.0 BETA

– integrated with Microsoft WSUS for 3rd Party Patch Management

Using WSUS for automatic patching of 3rd party programs

Secunia is currently conducting public beta testing of the new patch management capabilities.

The goal with the Microsoft WSUS implementation has been to utilize the data collected by the Secunia CSI to automatically repackage 3rd party patches and updates. Currently we support fully automatic repackaging for more than 50% of the updates, more will be added as we get feedback from customers about their needs.

Patch Management

Secunia CSI now integrates with Microsoft WSUS, for easy deployment of 3rd party updates. Installing updates is simple and straightforward with the automatic repackaging feature and distribution approval via the CSI.
Patching of vulnerable software, in particular 3rd party software, which is not supported by Microsoft WSUS, has been a cumbersome and resource demanding process, causing many not to patch or only patch very few non-Microsoft programs.
With the seamless Microsoft WSUS and Secunia CSI integration, the patching process has been simplified and can literally be conducted with a few simple clicks:

• Inspect software on PCs
• Select insecure software to patch
• Approve automatic patch repackaging for Microsoft WSUS
• Approve distribution via Microsoft WSUS

Patch Management has never been easier and more straightforward than with the Microsoft WSUS and the Secunia CSI integration.
Existing patch management solutions require that customers use complicated tools for repackaging patches. However, due the information gathered by the Secunia Software Inspector technology, it is possible for the Secunia CSI to automatically repackage a majority of the patches.

Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.6

The Infrastructure Planning and Design team has released an updated guide: Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.6.

This IPD guide, updated for App-V 4.6, provides actionable guidance for planning your application virtualization infrastructure. With App-V, your organization can respond to the complex challenge of managing applications. This guide simplifies your App-V planning process; updates now include support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, including such features as BranchCache; support for 64-bit clients; and server-sizing data.

Strategically planning your infrastructure can help you avoid problems before they begin, allowing you to serve your customers more accurately and reliably, as well as saving you time and money.

Infrastructure Planning and Design series guides streamline the planning process by:

• Defining the technical decision flow through the planning process.
• Listing the decisions to be made and the commonly available options and considerations.

· Relating the decisions and options to the business in terms of cost, complexity, and other characteristics.

You can download it  Here.

 

AD LDS is a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory service that provides flexible support for directory-enabled applications, without the dependencies that are required for Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). AD LDS provides much of the same functionality as AD DS, but it does not require the deployment of domains or domain controllers. In environments where AD DS exists, AD LDS can use AD DS for the authentication of Windows security principals. You can run multiple instances of AD LDS concurrently on a single computer, and have an independently managed schema for each AD LDS instance.

Installing AD LDS

1. Download AD LDS for Windows 7.
2. Run the downloaded AD LDS file to install the AD LDS binaries.
3. Refer to the following instructions for installing AD LDS instances:
   1. Create a new AD LDS instance: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=177373
   2. Create a replica AD LDS instance: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=177371
   3. Perform an unattended install of an AD LDS instance: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=177375

Get AD LDS  Here

The Outlook Social Connector  allows you to synchronize your contact data right into Outlook and obtain information about your friends and colleagues. See status updates from various networks and recently posted files.
Easily track your communication history. Use the Outlook Social Connector to display a quick view of related Outlook content when you click on an email from a contact, such as recent e-mail conversations, meetings, and shared attachments.
Developers can connect and feed social streams from line-of-business applications or integrate their solutions directly into Outlook.

System Requirements

• Supported Operating Systems: Windows 7; Windows Vista; Windows XP

• Microsoft Windows XP
• Microsoft Windows Vista
• Microsoft Windows 7

This download works with the following Office programs:

• Microsoft Outlook 2010 Beta 32-bit (build 14.0.4514.1009)
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

Get the Beta Here

 

 

I have been teaching the Understanding and Administering Microsoft Windows HPC Server 2008 course and have created this resource for you.

Here is a group of links that can help you with Microsoft HPC Product.

Microsoft Windows HPC Server:

http://www.microsoft.com/hpc

http://resourcekit.windowshpc.net/

Download the 180-day trial and see how you can harness the power of supercomputing here

Microsoft Technet :

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/hpc/default.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc514029.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/hpc/cc511255.aspx

Community Forums and blogs:

http://windowshpc.net/

http://archives.windowshpc.net/

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowshpcitpros/threads

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/windowshpc

http://blogs.technet.com/windowshpc/

http://blogs.msdn.com/hpctrekker/

Whitepapers:

"Windows HPC Server 2008 Head Node Performance Tuning" is here

"Windows HPC Server 2008 System Management Overview" is here

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The test HPC Exam 70-690 will ask questions about Power Shell, if you are new to Power Shell, I found some good tutorial exercises at this link:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/7/1/47104ec6-410d-4492-890b-2a34900c9df2/Workshops-EN.zip

The HPC specific cmdlets are documented here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc947676(WS.10).aspx

The CLI commands are documented here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc972841(WS.10).aspx

In fact, it would be a good idea to make sure you study all of the Technical Reference and Troubleshooting sections from the TechNet Library.

It would be helpful to review this article as well:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd772590(WS.10).aspx

—————-

Some of the IB device drivers that have the Certified for Windows Server 2008 logo that are available are:

• Mellanox Technologies, WinOF device drivers (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139691)
• Chelsio Communications, Windows iWARP device drivers (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139692)

You can also download the latest device drivers that are published by the OpenFabrics Alliance (OFA), which work with most commercially available HCA cards. For more information and to download the latest device drivers that are published by the OFA, see The OpenFabrics Alliance (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=137347).

http://www.mellanox.com/content/pages.php?pg=windows_hpc

——————

HPC Server Activation Filter that Checks for License Availability is here.

 

If you received a call last week from the 809 area code….

The woman said ‘Hey, this is Karen . Sorry I missed you–get back to us quickly. I have something important to tell you.’ Then she repeated a phone number beginning with 809  or 284, 878

They  also get you to call by telling you that it is information about a family member who has been ill or to tell you someone has been arrested, died, or to let you know you have won a wonderful prize, etc..

DO not Respond !

In each case, you are told to call the 809 number right away.  Since there are so many new area codes these days, people unknowingly return these calls.
If you call from the U.S. . , you will apparently be charged $2425 per-minute.
Or, you’ll get a long recorded message. The point is, they will try to keep you on the phone as long as possible to increase the charges.  WHY IT WORKS:

The

809 area code is located in the Dominican Republic ..

The charges afterward can become a real nightmare. That’s because you did actually make the call.  If you complain, both your local phone company and your long distance carrier will not want to get involved and will most likely tell you that they are simply providing the billing for the foreign company. You’ll end up dealing with a foreign company that argues they have done nothing wrong.

Please forward this entire message to your friends, family and colleagues to help them become aware of this scam.

AT&T link for more information is Here

Group polices (GPs) are the easy way to configure and manage window computers. The user of GPs can do amazing things once you user stand the basics of this technology. You can same time and automate lots of things, for example control desktops, install, patch and remove software. But there more you now use power shell to expand the power. all cmdlets use the *-gp*.

You can use Windows Server 2008 Group Policy to manage configurations for groups of computers and users, including options for registry-based policy settings, security settings, software deployment, scripts, folder redirection, and preferences. Group Policy preferences, new in Windows Server 2008, are more than 20 Group Policy extensions that expand the range of configurable policy settings within a Group Policy object (GPO). In contrast to Group Policy settings, preferences are not enforced. Users can change preferences after initial deployment. For information about Group Policy Preferences, see Group Policy Preferences Overview.

Using Group Policy, you can significantly reduce an organization’s total cost of ownership. Various factors, such as the large number of policy settings available, the interaction between multiple policies, and inheritance options, can make Group Policy design complex. By carefully planning, designing, testing, and deploying a solution based on your organization’s business requirements, you can provide the standardized functionality, security, and management control that your organization needs. To learn more about using and deploying Group Policy Planning go here

To go to the Group policy blog go here