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November 2005 - Posts

Blogcast: Virtual Server 2005 R2 Host Clustering How To - Part 3 of 5

If you watched the demonstration blogcast of Virtual Server 2005 R2 I posted up at the weekend, yesterday, I ripped the environment apart to build it again from scratch so you can see how I built it. Part 3 of 5 gets into the "nitty-gritty" of the configuration. Read More...
Posted Wednesday, November 30, 2005 9:58 AM by jhoward | 0 Comments

Part 24: Infrastructure essentials Blogcast - RPC/HTTP for Outlook & Exchange - RPC Publishing

Continuing the blogcast series on infrastructure essentials. In the last part, forms based authentication for Outlook Web Access was back running again, bouncing through the localhost listener. In this part, we put RPC/HTTP back into place. We create Read More...
Posted Tuesday, November 29, 2005 10:48 AM by jhoward | 0 Comments

Blogcast: Virtual Server 2005 R2 Host Clustering How To - Part 2 of 5

If you watched the demonstration blogcast of Virtual Server 2005 R2 I posted up at the weekend, yesterday, I ripped the environment apart to build it again from scratch so you can see how I built it. Part 2 of 5 performs a similar configuration to what Read More...
Posted Tuesday, November 29, 2005 10:10 AM by jhoward | 0 Comments

Blogcast: Virtual Server 2005 R2 Host Clustering How To - Part 1 of 5

If you watched the demonstration blogcast of Virtual Server 2005 R2 I posted up at the weekend, yesterday, I ripped the environment apart to build it again from scratch so you can see how I built it. So, another blogcast series starts, but only 5 parts Read More...
Posted Tuesday, November 29, 2005 9:57 AM by jhoward | 1 Comments

Blogcast: Virtual Server 2005 R2 Host Clustering Walkthrough

With Virtual Server 2005 R2 just a few days away from public availability, many of you will want to know more about Host Clustering - a new capability supported with this release - what better way to find out than with a live on-demand demonstration, Read More...
Posted Sunday, November 27, 2005 2:03 PM by jhoward | 6 Comments

Virtual Server 2005 R2 Release Notes available online

The title says it all - here's the download link for the release notes to Virtual Server 2005 R2. For my summary instructions on the upgrade process, take a look here . Read More...
Posted Sunday, November 27, 2005 1:52 PM by jhoward | 0 Comments

Virtual Server and Virtual PC differences - today's triva

Ben posted up an article a few days ago about the amount of Video Memory in the emulated S3 Trio graphics adapter under Virtual PC. His answer - 8MB. Obviously there are a number of differences between Virtual Server 2005 (R2) and Virtual PC 2004 in terms Read More...
Posted Friday, November 25, 2005 8:00 AM by jhoward | 4 Comments

Part 23: Infrastructure essentials Blogcast - RPC/HTTP for Outlook & Exchange - OWA back to HTTPS

Continuing the blogcast series on infrastructure essentials. We now move Outlook Web Access back to HTTPS, and we correct a naming error on the Network Listener "FBA LocalHost 443" in the last part (it's actually listening and remains listening on port Read More...
Posted Thursday, November 24, 2005 1:51 PM by jhoward | 1 Comments

Outlook calendars - display multiple timezones

I've just got out from a meeting and after a colleague happened to display their calendar on the projector noticed something which (for me at least) is really dead useful. I never knew you could display more than one timezone on your Outlook calendar Read More...
Posted Wednesday, November 23, 2005 9:43 AM by jhoward | 6 Comments

Virtual Server 2005 R2 Reviewers Guide

There's a lot of revised information on www.microsoft.com/virtualserver since R2 was released to manufacture last week, although a really useful document is the new reviewers guide. This document provides a great deal of useful information and answers Read More...
Posted Tuesday, November 22, 2005 7:40 AM by jhoward | 2 Comments

Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) 4.1 download link

Boy, things can move fast when you're busy keeping a close eye on other technologies, hence I didn't spot this one released onto the web - version 4.1 of the ACT is available for free download here . Read More...
Posted Monday, November 21, 2005 3:00 PM by jhoward | 0 Comments
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Hows Windows stores passwords and how passwords can be attacked

I was forwarded this by a colleague last week and found it interesting reading. It's a short article written by Jesper Johannson and published last month up on TechNet. It raises many good questions, many of which arise on a frequent basis, but after Read More...
Posted Monday, November 21, 2005 2:44 PM by jhoward | 0 Comments

Mice have nine lives as well as cats.

OK, so this is a slight rant, but I'm a little (understatement) annoyed right now! Having just spent the best part of an hour preparing a blog post, all the way through I'd been using the keyboard. At the point everything was just right, I grabbed the Read More...
Posted Saturday, November 19, 2005 7:09 PM by jhoward | 0 Comments

Virtual PC Express and Windows Vista virtualisation

Virtual PC futures have been a little quiet in terms of announcements. There will be more shortly, but if you weren't already aware, Virtual PC Express will be out sometime around March next year. Virtual PC Express is a benefit for SA (Software Assurance) Read More...
Posted Thursday, November 17, 2005 9:14 AM by jhoward | 2 Comments

Virtual Server 2005 R2 changes summary

Now that Virtual Server 2005 R2 has been officially launched at IT Forum this week, here's a quick summary of what's different: - Performance improvements - particularly for guests which are running memory-intensive applications - Performance improvements Read More...
Posted Tuesday, November 15, 2005 9:26 AM by jhoward | 0 Comments

Virtual Server 2005 R2 Price Reduction Announcement

As just announced by Bob Muglia at the keynote for IT Forum 2005, the cost of Virtual Server 2005 R2 has been significantly reduced. The Standard edition now will retail at $99 US estimated, and the Enterprise edition will now retail at $199 US, estimated. Read More...
Posted Tuesday, November 15, 2005 9:24 AM by jhoward | 4 Comments

How to upgrade to Virtual Server 2005 R2

With the Beta program for Virtual Server 2005 SP1 (as it was named when released to the web) having come to a close last week, and the imminent release of Virtual Server 2005 R2, here's run through of the steps to get you to the production release. Critically, Read More...
Posted Monday, November 14, 2005 9:22 PM by jhoward | 3 Comments

Part 22: Infrastructure essentials Blogcast - RPC/HTTP for Outlook & Exchange - Bounce OWA through Localhost

Continuing the blogcast series on infrastructure essentials. To make the next steps clearer, here's a picture of what we're trying to achieve in combining Forms Based Authentication with RPC/HTTP, and the routes through which traffic will flow. Hopefully Read More...
Posted Friday, November 11, 2005 11:29 AM by jhoward | 2 Comments

Intel VT Chips

Just noticed that Intel series of Xeon based server processors which suport hardware virtualisation (aka VT Technology) - their 7000 series of processors more specifically - are available to order through several server manufacturers. More info on VT Read More...
Posted Friday, November 11, 2005 11:07 AM by jhoward | 0 Comments

Virtual Server 2005 R2 and iSCSI

And while on the subject of official Virtual Server 2005 R2 information starting to becoming public , we now support iSCSI for VHD storage and clustering shared storage. Typically iSCSI can be a far cheaper alternative to fibre channel attached storage, Read More...
Posted Thursday, November 10, 2005 6:09 PM by jhoward | 1 Comments

Virtual Server 2005 R2 Host Clustering Instructions

If you're a regular reader, you'll know that Virtual Server 2005 R2 (previously known as Virtual Server 2005 SP1 when in beta) is going to launch soon. Very soon actually - more to follow when as it's announced. Along with a name change from SP1 to R2, Read More...
Posted Thursday, November 10, 2005 6:01 PM by jhoward | 2 Comments

IE Freezing - Add-Ons could be the problem

Annoyance of the past few weeks for me has been Internet Explorer 6 has been temporarily freezing (something like 3 seconds) while opening pages. After enough being enough, I set about yesterday trying to find the cause. It turned out to be an add-on Read More...
Posted Thursday, November 10, 2005 9:25 AM by jhoward | 1 Comments

Moving WSUS data to another server

Through Rokus.net (which also has lots of useful snippits of info) I found this link on Technet which provides information on the steps needed to copy WSUS data from one server to another. It's actually intended for deploying WSUS on a disconnected network, Read More...
Posted Thursday, November 10, 2005 7:52 AM by jhoward | 0 Comments
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ADS to deploy Windows XP?

I have to admit, I'd never thought of this one. Yes, I've looked into using ADS (Automated Deployment Services) for deploying Windows Server 2003 and use it as part of the Virtual Server Migration Toolkit ( VSMT ) solution but never thought of using it Read More...
Posted Wednesday, November 09, 2005 1:43 PM by jhoward | 1 Comments

Planning and Deploying the Branch Office Technologies

Just a quick reminder for another Windows Server 2003 R2 related webcast tomorrow (10th Nov) at 9.30AM Seattle Time, 5:30PM UK Time. This session will cover the essential elements that are required for successful branch office planning and deployment. Read More...
Posted Wednesday, November 09, 2005 1:12 PM by jhoward | 0 Comments

HMV Case Study

There's an interesting case study recently published on the Microsoft UK web-site for HMV who are using Microsoft Technologies to support both their physical stores and online store. You can read more here . (Just also noticed it was mentioned in the Read More...
Posted Wednesday, November 09, 2005 10:51 AM by jhoward | 1 Comments
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Media Center (Centre) - new downloads available

Just noticed that TweakMCE 2.0 is now available for download . My main Media Centre machine was playing up (OK, fair cop, I'd been playing with it, installing Beta software left right and centre) to the extent that I was forced to rebuild it last weekend. Read More...
Posted Wednesday, November 09, 2005 10:44 AM by jhoward | 0 Comments

TechNet Magazine - you can now read it online for free.

As I mentioned a little while ago , TechNet Magazine subscriptions were free (to US based people though). Although there's something in the pipeline to make the magazine available in the UK, the good news is that you can read the full content online now Read More...
Posted Tuesday, November 08, 2005 12:29 PM by jhoward | 0 Comments
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Singularity Operating System - another use for virtualisation?

I've always had an interest in Operating System internals, and have just finished reading the in-progress research document on a new operating system called "Singularity". The research work is being done by Microsoft Research, and the aim of this OS is Read More...
Posted Tuesday, November 08, 2005 10:16 AM by jhoward | 0 Comments

Part 21: Infrastructure essentials Blogcast - RPC/HTTP for Outlook & Exchange - Outlook OK, OWA needs some work

Continuing the blogcast series on infrastructure essentials. With our new rule in place on the ISA Server, this sixth part of configuring TPC over HTTP for Outlook 2003 first takes a quick look at the effects on Outlook Web Access - we now get a basic Read More...
Posted Monday, November 07, 2005 10:10 AM by jhoward | 0 Comments

Gigabit network performance problems with Virtual Server & Virtual PC

Many people are in the process of upgrading from 100MBps to Gigabit (I've got a few machines Gigabit capable at home, but am still running almost exclusively 100MBps except for my iSCSI storage device). I noticed there's a KB article on microsoft.com Read More...
Posted Monday, November 07, 2005 10:08 AM by jhoward | 2 Comments

Outlook is preparing the requested view

I thought I'd seen all the Outlook prompts possible, but when I saw this one and it sat there for 30 secs or more, I had to hit "Prnt Scrn" to capture it. I've absolutely never seen this one before. Admittedly, my machine was running a couple of Virtual Read More...
Posted Monday, November 07, 2005 8:09 AM by jhoward | 1 Comments

Rootkits. Be worried - very worried

Its been a busy week for me, so it's only now that I'm getting a chance to catch up with what's going on the world of IT, or even watch or listen to the news. Hence apologies if you've already seen this. For me, RSS is a great way of catching up, and Read More...
Posted Saturday, November 05, 2005 1:41 PM by jhoward | 1 Comments

Only SMTP, Outlook and Exchange Gurus need read further

Iif you don't fit into the subject line category please switch off now - I just know you won't know the answer (no offence, of course). I've been an Exchange dev for years (although a little rusty now) and still don't know. However, read-on if you want Read More...
Posted Friday, November 04, 2005 7:04 PM by jhoward | 6 Comments

Improved Generic Exchange Backup Script

So after numerous emails about this, and some comments on my previous blog post back in June , I spent a couple of hours this afternoon improving the backup script (which although was written as a generic Exchange backup script, is suitable for file system, Read More...
Posted Friday, November 04, 2005 6:36 PM by jhoward | 4 Comments

Download details for robocopy.exe (Robust File Copy)

I've been asked this so many times, hence oo save me keep looking up the link each time, I've book-marked it here - it's part of the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools which are freely downloable (around 12MB). There's loads of useful utilities in Read More...
Posted Friday, November 04, 2005 11:53 AM by jhoward | 0 Comments

Part 20: Infrastructure essentials Blogcast - RPC/HTTP for Outlook & Exchange - Start External Config

Continuing the blogcast series on infrastructure essentials. This fifth part of configuring RPC over HTTP for Outlook 2003 changes direction in getting RPC/HTTPS available from the Internet now that it is working internally. We backtrack on our ISA Server Read More...
Posted Thursday, November 03, 2005 10:44 AM by jhoward | 0 Comments

Online Labs

Just got news in my inbox that all the US Virtual Labs for both Technet and MSDN are running on Virtual Server 2005 R2 which I thought was kind of cool. If you haven't had a chance to play with the online labs - you should. There's lots of labs which Read More...
Posted Thursday, November 03, 2005 9:13 AM by jhoward | 4 Comments

Oracle User Group Conference

OK. Strange title maybe, but have just arrived home and am back online after spending a couple of days on-site at the Microsoft booth at the UK OUG (Oracle User Group) conference in Birmingham. Apart from doing some quick demonstrations of Windows Vista Read More...
Posted Wednesday, November 02, 2005 6:09 PM by jhoward | 0 Comments