My information Resource (blog.mir.net)

Here is a link to an article about the end of life for Windows XP 1 year and counting. I have blog about this before  and  I have explains some tools you can use including downloading and using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT).

Here an article by Steven Rose that explain this in detail, what end of life means.

Click Here

The transition to the cloud presents every business and individual with new possibilities and challenges. As the cloud continues to transform IT, the need for qualified IT professionals has never been more urgent, and certification has never been more valuable. Microsoft has a strategy to help IT professionals accelerate their career path, narrow the existing skills gap, and prepare them for new opportunities.

Registration is now open for Certified Career Day, taking place on March 12, 2013. The day will begin with a live, interactive panel discussion with IT managers and industry experts who will discuss how the cloud is redefining IT recruitment and the growing need for up-to-date certification. The panel will be followed by an exclusive interview with special guest Mark Russinovich, Microsoft Technical Fellow. Next, attend the technology focused sessions with Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012 product group experts.

Attendees of Certified Career Day are eligible to win an Acer tablet with full Windows 8. Event capacity is limited so register now!

Here is the LINK

The agenda:

	8:30: Registration Opens 8:45: Behind-the-Scenes Commentary
	9:00–10:15: Live Industry Panel Broadcast Moderated by Eddie Yandle, Senior Director, Microsoft

Mel Beckman CEO, Beckman Software Engineering   Michael Bender Instructor, Madison Area Technical College, MVP, MCT Wes Miller Research VP, Directions on Microsoft   Paul Thurrott Technology Analyst and editor of Supersite for Windows

	10:15–10:30: Special Guest Interview with Mark Russinovich Microsoft sees Cloud computing as a path towards better business agility, economics, and user experiences. In this exclusive interview with Microsoft Technical Fellow Mark Russinovich, Wes Miller brings this discussion to the technology level as they explore the challenges organizations will encounter when migrating workloads to the cloud and the key capabilities IT professionals and organizations will need as they make this transition.
	Mark Russinovich Technical Fellow Platform and Services Division Microsoft

	10:30–11:30: Windows Server 2012 Live Product Session Windows Server provides the best foundation on which to build your IT infrastructure, redefining the server category entirely by delivering hundreds of new features spanning virtualization, networking, user experience and most importantly, cloud computing. Attend this session to better understand how to get the training you need to transform your IT operations and deliver a whole new level of business value.
	Rick Claus Senior Technical Evangelist   Joey Snow Senior Technical Evangelist

	11:35–12:35: Windows Server 2012 Live Product Session Windows Server provides the best foundation on which to build your IT infrastructure, redefining the server category entirely by delivering hundreds of new features spanning virtualization, networking, user experience and most importantly, cloud computing. Attend this session to better understand how to get the training you need to transform your IT operations and deliver a whole new level of business value.
	Dandy Weyn Sr. Technical Product Manager SQL Server Group   Jennifer Moser Sr. Product Marketing Manager, SQL Server Group

 

Here is the LINK

 

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 !!!

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

 

You can download at PDF version of this book.

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

 

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…

 

 

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

 

As you move in your journey to Windows Server 2012 certification, you need to understand the path to get certified, This is a tool that will assist you in choosing the type of training that fits your learning style and schedule and prepare for your first—or next—exam to reach your certification and career goal.

Click here for a bigger copy

What’s New in Windows 8 Security Explore the new and changed functionality in Windows 8 security from BitLocker, AppLocker, and smart cards to security auditing and Windows Firewall with Advanced Security and IPsec.

Windows 8 Security Demonstrations Watch short, technical demonstrations of key Windows 8 security features for IT professionals and learn how to better secure your Windows 8 PCs while enabling the mobile productivity users have come to expect. BitLocker in Windows 8 – Learn how, with the BitLocker improvements in Windows 8, you can now protect valuable data on often easy-to-lose USB drives in less time and thereby increase end user acceptance of this form of data protection. Secure Boot – Explore Secure Boot, also referred to as Trusted Boot, a new security feature in Windows 8 that leverages the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) to block the loading and operation of any program or driver that has not been signed by an OS-provided key, and thus protects the integrity of the kernel, system files, boot-critical drivers, and even antimalware software. Windows to Go – Explore this new feature for enterprise users of Windows 8 that enables users to securely boot a full version of Windows from external USB drives on host PCs.

Security Events and Training

Windows 8 Jump Start: Recovery and Security Learn how to better control, secure, and manage Windows 8 PCs with BitLocker, UEFI, Secure Boot, and Measured Boot. This course will go over the security features integrated into Windows 8 and then walk you through the process of leveraging complementary technologies such as the Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT) and Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring (MBAM).

Microsoft Virtual Academy: Operating and Managing a Secure Windows 8 Environment Find out how to keep your users safe and protect your infrastructure by using advanced Windows 8 technologies like AppLocker, BitLocker, and Windows Firewall. In this course, you will explore the security and privacy options in Windows 8 and learn how to manage a more secure Windows 8 environment.

This is a repost off the Microsoft security newsletter .

Mitch Tulloch has updated his very popular free ebook on Windows Server 2012 based on the RTM version of the software. 

A key feature of this book is the inclusion of sidebars written by members of the Windows Server team, Microsoft Support engineers, Microsoft Consulting Services staff, and others who work at Microsoft. These sidebars provide an insider’s perspective that includes both “under-the-hood” information concerning how features work, and strategies, tips, and best practices from experts who have been working with the platform during product development.