Archive for category General

“Habits of Highly Successful South Asians” in Austin: August 24th

Aug 10

Posted by Anil Desai in General, Presentations | No Comments

The Austin Chapter of the Network of Indian Professionals (NetIP) is hosting it’s annual Professional Development event this Saturday, August 28th, 2010 from 10:00am to noon. I decided to take a somewhat different track from other professional development events in putting this one together. Most events have a single or two speakers (or sometimes a panel) of “experts” that will focus on a single topic. While that approach can certainly be helpful, I prefer to hear from a wide range of successful people about their careers, backgrounds, and what they’ve learned. The focus of this event is on having numerous ~10-minute presentations from a wide variety of different backgrounds.

For more details, including a list of speakers and their topics, see the NetIP Austin Web Site and Events Calendar (we’ve got a lot of other stuff going on, as well). If you’d like to attend, please RSVP via our Facebook Event Page. I hope to see you there!

SQL Server 2008 R2 Report Builder 3.0 (RTM)

May 12

Posted by Anil Desai in Databases / SQL Server, Development, IT Tips | 8 Comments

By far, the most popular posting on this site is Visual Studio 2008 & Business Intelligence Development Studio (Troubleshooting). The post currently has over 60 comments. It seems that here’s a lot of confusion about ways in which developers and report designers can get the tools they need to create and manage SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports. If you’re trying to work with the Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) with SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008, or you’re planning to use Report Builder 2.0, that post should point you in the right direction.

So now that SQL Server 2008 R2 has been released, what’s the story for report development? Fortunately, it’s not quite as confusing. The primary tool you’ll use for developing reports is Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Report Builder 3.0. You can download it manually using the link to the Microsoft Download site, or you can install it using ClickOnce by loading your Reporting Services web site (e.g., http://localhost/Reports). The download is also available as part of the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Feature Pack (along with a wide variety of other tools and utilities). Report Builder 3.0 supports the creation of reports for both SQL Server 2008 and the R2 version.

If you’re moving to (or testing) the RTM version of SQL Server 2008 R2, Report Builder 3.0 is likely the best way to get acquainted with the new features of this release. And, thankfully, the migration process should be much simpler than it was for previous versions of SSRS. A great resource for more information is the MSDN SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services Forum. Or, if you have any questions, feel free to post them here.

Microsoft Thrive: IT Pro of the Month!

Apr 12

Posted by Anil Desai in General, IT Tips, Presentations, Systems Admin, Virtualization, Webcasts | 4 Comments

It’s no secret that IT professionals and their organizations have been significantly affected by the downturn in the economy. Those of us that have been through the so-called “dot-com” days can see how much things can change within a few years. Fortunately, at least some companies are developing resources to help IT professionals weather the downturn. I’d go a bit further in saying that these otherwise dismal times can provide significant opportunities for those that are willing to invest in their skills and their profession.

The Microsoft Thrive web site is a free resource that is designed to help IT professionals in a variety of ways. For example, the site includes the following goals and areas:

Advance Your Career
Enhance Your Technical Skills
Align IT with Business

Some of the content is Microsoft-focused, but much of it applies to just about any area of IT specialization.

I’m honored to say that I’ve been chosen as the Thrive IT Pro of the Month (see Thrive IT Pro of the Month: Anil Desai)! I recorded a brief (~9 minutes long) presentation that covers, among other things, some recommendations for IT pros to get ahead, how IT pros can demonstrate their value, details on technology-focused topics and even a mention of the importance of hobbies.

The entire audio presentation is available from download using the previous link. Here’s an excerpt from the written transcript:

As an independent consultant, I’m fairly diversified in the area of IT. I’m also used to the ups and downs in the IT industry, starting from the dot-com days in the late 1990′s to today. I use a variety of different specializations to fill in the inevitable downtime between projects. So, I’m fairly fortunate in that I’ve been able to maintain my business through the recent crunch.

However, the downturn in the economy has certainly had an impact on my clients, especially in the area of prioritization. Many organizations have focused on cost-cutting and many organizations have removed or scaled-back many of their non-essential projects. Those changes can sometimes translate into lay-offs, increased work for remaining staff, and short-term changes at the expense of long-term gains.

All of this provides some serious challenges (as well as some opportunities) for IT professionals. One change is that it really puts the emphasis on IT professionals’ ability to work as a strategic part of their businesses. I’ve heard it said that people know when IT departments are doing their jobs when they don’t know that IT departments are doing their jobs. The idea here is that IT is traditionally seen as a behind-the-scenes force (or sometimes just as a cost center). Business leaders might feel that IT provides little strategic value to the overall business.

Tough economic environments bring this issue to the forefront: IT professionals must understand overall business goals and must be able to apply the right technical solutions to solve business problems. And, they need to demonstrate their value within and outside of their IT groups. For those IT pros that have been able to focus on just the technical aspects of their skillset, this is a good time to branch out into the rest of the business world.

Feel free to e-mail me if you’d like the entire transcript. And please post here if you have any questions, comments, or recommendations for your IT peers.

MVP Award for 2010

Apr 5

Posted by Anil Desai in General | No Comments

I’m happy to report that I have again received the Microsoft MVP Award in the area of “Windows Server – Virtualization”! Thanks to everyone at Microsoft for the recognition and the excellent benefits that are part of the program.

For more details, please visit Anil Desai’s MVP Profile page. It includes links to my upcoming events, presentations, publications, and related details. The MVP web site is also a great place to search if you’re looking for an IT pro with a specific area of expertise.

Connection errors when migrating from Visual SourceSafe (VSS) to Team Foundation Server (TFS) using VSSConverter (Error TF31002)

Feb 11

Posted by Anil Desai in Development, IT Tips | 3 Comments

If you haven’t yet heard, the Release Candidate (RC) version of Visual Studio 2010 is now available to MSDN Subscribers. Personally, I was waiting for this release to move my primary development environment over to the new version. Overall, the installation and setup process was easy enough on two of my development machines. The biggest problems I ran into were related to migrating my dozen or so development projects from Visual SourceSafe to Team Foundation Server. I know I’m a bit behind the curve, but I’m an independent developer, and I was actually happy enough with VSS.

Using VSSConverter

The VSSConverter.exe utility is Microsoft’s command-line tool for migrating Visual SourceSafe repositories to Team Foundation Server. The utility includes analyze and migrate modes and is driven by XML-based configuration files. The process was simple enough and is documented in the following MSDN articles:

Migration Errors

The basic process went well until I got to the step of actually performing the migration. That’s when I encountered the following dreaded TF31002 error:

I checked my server name, port, and other settings numerous times but still couldn’t get it to work. Web searches provided some basic troubleshooting information, but nothing relevant to my issue. All diagnostics that I ran (including the Best Practices Analyzer from the Team Foundation Server Power Tools) reported that everything was OK.

The Solution…

I finally stumbled upon the solution in an old bug reported via Microsoft Connect. The defect report is titled VSSConverter cannot connect to the Team Foundation Server and offers the following problem description and solution:

When trying to migrate a Source Safe database to TFS2010 the VSSConverter tool exits with the following error:
TF60070: Unable to connect to the Team Foundation Server: ‘http://ts01:8080/’. Please ensure that the Team Foundation Server exists and try again.
The Team Foundation Server exists but at http://ts01:8080/tfs (default installation) The VSSConverter tool is unable to access this location.

UPDATE!
There is a new configuration option in the TeamFoundationServer element to specify the collection to which the sourcesafe database should be merged. It’s nowhere to be found in the documentation yet.
The solution is to add collection="tfs/DefaultCollection" to the TeamFoundationServer to specify which collection should be used.

After adding the “collection=” attribute, the migration worked flawlessly. It took about an hour to transfer all of my code and versions, but everything looks good now. The migration process could be simpler, but (if I’m lucky), I’ll only have to do this once. I hope this helps some of you that might have run into the same problem.

Live Webcast: Data Center Cost-Efficiency, Security and Compliance

Feb 2

Posted by Anil Desai in Management, Presentations, Systems Admin, Webcasts | No Comments

IT operations groups and datacenter managers are always searching for new ways to reduce costs while still meeting security, configuration, and compliance requirements. Fortunately, there are numerous methods by which organizations can achieve these goals. On February 25th, I’ll be presenting a free, live webcast on the topic of The 2010 Data Center: Driving Cost-Efficiency, Security and Compliance. Here’s an overview of the topic from the webcast’s web site:

Thursday, February 25, 2010
10AM PST / 1PM EST

With the new decade comes new opportunity to implement the best technologies and practices for IT. Join this FREE live webinar to learn how to cost-effectively plan, implement and manage a 21st century data center to drive greater efficiency, security and compliance.

You’ll hear from leading experts about ways organizations are leveraging technologies such as virtualization and configuration management to build flexible, resilient, cost-efficient and high-performing data centers for 2010.

Join now to:

• Get a blueprint to plan and implement IT best practices to modernize, consolidate, and secure your technology environment
• Hear how to cost-effectively drive improved security and compliance across your IT infrastructure while staying agile and competitive
• Learn about the benefits of a combined solution for configuration assessment with configuration change auditing for improved data center operations

The presentation is arranged by Focus.com and is sponsored by TripWire. I’ll begin the presentation with an overview of technical best practices. Then, Barak Engel from EAmmune will provide specific information on products, technologies, and approaches you can use to achieve these goals. We’ll wrap up by taking live questions from the audience. The entire webcast should last under an hour.

Microsoft Office Labs’ Ribbon Hero

Jan 23

Posted by Anil Desai in Fun Stuff, IT Tips, Microsoft Office | No Comments

Perhaps one of the most challenging issues with complex applications is in teaching users to take advantage of their many features. Modern software like the Microsoft Office suite provide an overwhelming number of options and features that can be used to make work easier. However, the most requested “new” features that are received by the Microsoft Office development team are already in the product. Yes, they’ve likely been there for a long time, but users just haven’t found them.

In many of the apps I’ve written, users are often unaware of keyboard shortcuts, simpler ways to move between fields in web/Windows forms, and efficient methods for entering data. I often cringe when I see people spend hours trying to manually perform tasks that are easily automated using application features. Still, many application users will go to great lengths to avoid having to learn anything new (even if it will pay off in the long run). But what about those who actually want to learn how to best use specific pieces of software?

Enter The Microsoft Office Labs Ribbon Hero. Here’s a brief description of how it works:

Ribbon Hero is a game for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel 2007 and 2010, designed to help you boost your Office skills and knowledge. Play games (aka "challenges"), score points, and compete with your friends while improving your productivity with Office. As a concept test, this add-in is not supported, but is an opportunity for you to try out an idea we are working on and let us know what you think. For additional challenges and the opportunity to earn more points, download Office 2010 Beta.

The idea is somewhat unconventional, but this demo video provides a great example of how you can use it to make yourself a better Microsoft Office user.

While learning is often its own reward, the game also allows you to automatically share and compare your score with others using Facebook. Here’s a screenshot from within Microsoft Word.

Of course it’s unsupported code. So, don’t plan to open up a Severity 1 case with Microsoft Product Support Services if you think you didn’t get all the points you deserve.

Overall, I think the Ribbon Hero project is a fun and useful way to stretch users’ abilities with one of the world’s most popular productivity suites. I’m planning to rack up a pretty high score. Who’s up the challenge?

Network of Indian Professionals (NetIP) – Austin

Jan 8

Posted by Anil Desai in General | No Comments

I’ve been elected to be Technology Director for the NetIP Austin Chapter. NetIP is a national non-profit organization with chapters in numerous cities in the United States. Here’s a brief excerpt of the organization’s mission:

The purpose of NetIP is to serve as an organization that meets the needs of South Asian professionals in North America as they grow in their personal and professional lives. Over the years, NetIP has become a premier networking brand in our community. It has become the unequivocal voice for an emerging group of South Asians, who excel in every aspect of western society, from business to politics to the arts. The rise of NetIP and its affiliated chapters reflects a general "Coming of Age" by South Asian professionals. We are proud to state that many of our present members and past alumni now hold respected positions of leadership in the private, public, and non-profit sectors all over the world.

You can find more details about NetIP’s purpose and mission at the NetIP North America web site.

NetIP Austin

If you’re an Indian or South Asian professional in the Austin area (or you’re thinking of visiting or moving here), please do check out the NetIP Austin web site. We have many fun and engaging events planned for 2010. They’re organized into four main pillars:

Professional Development
Cultural Awareness
Community Service
Political Awareness

In addition, we have general social events like a monthly happy hour. Complete details are available on our Events page with more details coming very soon.

Technology Platform

OK, on to technology: NetIP has standardized on the use of the Joomla! platform for all chapters’ web sites. So far, I have mixed feelings about the Joomla! Content Management System (CMS). It seems to be stable and well-designed, overall. However, the organization concepts of articles, categories, and sections seems difficult to apply in some cases. For now, the site has been built with completely static navigation, which makes it really difficult to manage content. I’m working on changing this, but it seems to involve more work than it should. Hopefully, I’ll be able to provide an update on my impressions of Joomla soon. In the meantime, I’d be happy to hear about others’ experiences with the platform.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Poster

Dec 17

Posted by Anil Desai in General, IT Tips, Systems Admin, Windows Server | 1 Comment

IT people tend to be known for a lot of things (both good and bad), but the classic geeky poster seems to be a mainstay for most technical professionals. Among block diagrams, Dilbert comics that take thinly-veiled shots at clueless management, and software architecture posters, it seems like there’s something for everyone.

Of course, posters can actually be informational and useful. Microsoft has recently made a Windows Server 2008 R2 Feature Components Poster available for free download. While it would be difficult to print this out (it’s roughly 44” x 24” in full size), it provides a really clear, concise overview of the new features in Windows Server 2008 R2. The list of sections includes:

Active Directory Domain Services
Hyper-V
File Services
Remote Desktop Services
BranchCache
DirectAccess

The content helps illustrate that the R2 release isn’t just a minor upgrade – there’s probably a lot more in here than most administrators are aware of.

You’ll also find a sidebar of acronyms and plenty of useful notes and tips. While it’s no replacement for complete documentation, I think these posters do a great job of providing a lot of information in a limited space.

Office 2010 Beta Now Available to MSDN / TechNet Subscribers

Nov 16

Posted by Anil Desai in Development, General, Microsoft Office | 1 Comment

While I spend a lot of time writing and speaking about enterprise technology (such as server virtualization), like most techies, I do it using Microsoft Office. I’m a big fan of Microsoft Office 2007, and I’m always eager to try new beta version of the product suite. Thanks to the MSDN Subscriber Download’s RSS feed, I found out that the official first beta of Office 2010 is now available for download. If you have a subscription, you can access the downloads from the following sites:

Just search for “Office 2010”, and you should see the relevant downloads. Be sure to generate keys for activation of the beta, as well. I’m not sure about the exact plans for making the downloads available publicly, but Microsoft will hopefully make the beta easily accessible to a wide range of potential testers later this week.

For more information on what’s new, see the official Microsoft Office 2010 product site. As far as at the client applications themselves, the changes seem to be largely incremental (all apps now have the Ribbon UI). I’m pondering upgrading my primary computer to the newest beta and will likely post some more details here if I do. Particularly, I’ll focus on backwards-compatibility and file format upgrade issues (such as upgrading my Outlook PST files to work with Outlook 2010). Happy downloading!

Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 Available for Download

Oct 19

Posted by Anil Desai in Databases / SQL Server, Development, General | No Comments

Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2010 development environment is a complete overhaul of the popular IDE. It will continue to support all current Microsoft development languages and technologies, but it also features a completely revamped UI that’s based on Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). If you have an MSDN or Microsoft TechNet subscription, you can download the files now. The available editions include:

Visual Studio 2010 Professional
Visual Studio 2010 Premium
Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate
Visual Studio 2010 Team Foundation Server

You can also find a number of “Additional Resources”, including web installer packages and tools for testing and team-based development. More information is available on the Visual Studio 2010 Product Information Site (note that, as of this writing, the site still provides links to the Beta 1 version of VS 2010).

Mary-Jo Foley at ZDNet’s Microsoft Watch provides some more details in Testers to get Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 this week; final by March 2010. It looks like the plan is to open up the beta to all testers later this week. The article also provides some basic details about the various editions, their estimated prices, and how you can get hold of them upon release.

The first official beta version of VS 2010 came out in May, so it has been a refresh is very welcome. I have done some informal testing of the first beta and it seems to be fairly stable overall. That version was clearly nowhere near the polish that the release version should have, but it was certainly usable and provided some exciting new features (I’ll cover the highlights in an upcoming post).

Currently, it looks like the final version will be available in Q1, 2009 (based on reports from ZDNet and other bloggers). Let’s hope that it provides all the improvements and new features we’ve been waiting for!

Can your computer run Windows 7?

Oct 18

Posted by Anil Desai in IT Tips, Systems Admin, Windows 7 | No Comments

With the official consumer release of Windows 7 just a few days away, a lot of people are probably wondering whether their computers will be able to run Microsoft’s newest OS. Potential issues include device drivers, hardware, software, and user settings. The free Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta can help you answer these questions quickly an easily. The process couldn’t be much easier: Just install and run the Upgrade Advisor (it runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7). The utility will take a few minutes to run and will then return a report like the one below (assuming you’re running a fairly current desktop or notebook computer).

You can also view a list of system requirements and your current specifications:

For the most part, users shouldn’t have much trouble when upgrading to Windows 7. The magnitude of under-the-hood architectural changes is much less than it was during the leap from Windows XP to Windows Vista. And, third-party hardware and software vendors have finally caught up (for the most part) and are providing reliable drivers.

From my experience, Windows 7 seems to run about as fast as Windows XP (which means it’s much faster than Windows Vista). I have upgraded numerous desktops and notebooks to Windows 7 without any problems that I couldn’t quickly and easily resolve. I think it will be a worthy upgrade for most users, and the Upgrade Advisor should be able to provide some warnings related to potential problems before you take the plunge.

Convert Physical Hard Disks to VHDs using Disk2VHD

Oct 8

Posted by Anil Desai in Systems Admin, Virtualization | 2 Comments

There are numerous free and commercial physical-to-virtual (P2V) conversion tools on the market, but often they require some setup or at least a minimal initial investment. Sometimes, all you want to do is make a copy of a physical disk and then attach it to a virtual machine. The Disk2Vhd utility is a simple program for doing just that. Here’s the info from the TechNet site:

Disk2vhd is a utility that creates VHD (Virtual Hard Disk – Microsoft’s Virtual Machine disk format) versions of physical disks for use in Microsoft Virtual PC or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines (VMs). The difference between Disk2vhd and other physical-to-virtual tools is that you can run Disk2vhd on a system that’s online. Disk2vhd uses Windows’ Volume Snapshot capability, introduced in Windows XP, to create consistent point-in-time snapshots of the volumes you want to include in a conversion. You can even have Disk2vhd create the VHDs on local volumes, even ones being converted (though performance is better when the VHD is on a disk different than ones being converted).

You can download Disk2Vhd directly from the Microsoft TechNet SysInternals site (it’s only 704KB). You can then run it directly from your file system to launch the GUI.

While it’s easy to create a VHD, it’s important to keep in mind potential issues with using this approach to “clone” an already-running machine. Depending on your environment, you might need to consider the impacts of network addresses, MAC addresses, computer names and Security Identifiers (SIDs). Most of this only applies if you’re using this approach to clone a non-OS hard disk. Overall, the utility makes it really simple to perform a P2V conversion of a hard disk.

Home Theater Power Consumption

Aug 15

Posted by Anil Desai in Articles, Fun Stuff, IT Tips | No Comments

I’ve always been curious about power consumption ever since the days before it was fashionable to think about this stuff. The poor, lonely, unemployed, set of servers in the data center used to bother me. Sure, they kept to themselves and rarely bothered anyone. But, no one had the guts to fire them, and they continued to generate heat, suck down power, and take up space (who hasn’t felt that way at some point?).

Of course, power frugality should start in the home. When looking into getting a new TV, I noticed that actual power consumption statistics were really hard to come by. Wattage ratings sometimes give a partial picture, but they’re far from real-world usage stats. So, taking the problem into my own hands (literally), I used a handy power consumption meter to measure how much juice each of these devices used. Below are details of my “test environment”. The information is just for one configuration of devices and is completely anecdotal. Still, I hope the information will be useful in some way and will inspire others to do the same types of tests.

The Test Environment

My current home theater setup is somewhat outdated (would-be thieves, please take note). It includes the following:

A Microsoft Xbox 360: This is one of second generation units with a 120GB hard drive upgrade, obtained after a warranty replacement. It has been running without problems for several years now.
Samsung LN52A630 TV: It’s a 52” LCD display; 120Hz refresh rate.
ReplayTV 5500 Series DVR: A standard-definition hard driver-based DVR.
Onkyo TX-SR507 Receiver: It’s in a standard 5.1 configuration.
Yamaha NS-A1738 Speakers: These are single-amped and hooked up to the received. I also have a Polk center channel speaker and some small Polk Audio rear channels (yes, it’s a Frankenstein setup).

Power Consumption:The Results

The below tables provide details on instantaneous power consumption (in Watts) of each component in the setup. I have tried to show the various modes, settings, and operations of the different devices.

LCD TV Power Consumption

Below are the results for various modes of my Samsung LCD TV. The X360 uses component video cables, and the TV’s speakers are powered off (unless otherwise noted).

Mode / Configuration	Power (Watts)
Off	0
TV (Snow)	176
TV (Snow w/Menu)	226
Channel Search (Black Screen)	126
Digital TV	235
X360 (Dim)	112
X360 (On)	236
1080P Movie	236
Entertainment Mode: Sports	307
Entertainment Mode: Cinema	190
Entertainment Mode: Game	223
Dynamic Mode	303
Movie Mode	186
Energy Saving (Off)	228
Energy Saving (Low)	177
Energy Saving (Medium)	143
Energy Saving (High)	116
Energy Saving (Auto)	233
AutoMotion (Off)	227
AutoMotion (Low)	227
AutoMotion (Medium)	227
AutoMotion (High)	227

Xbox 360

Below is X360 power usage, based on various operations.

Mode / Configuration	Power (Watts)
Xbox360 (Dashboard)	248
Xbox360 (1080p movie)	243
Xbox360 (Halo Wars)	240
Xbox360 (Halo 3 – Disc)	265

Replay TV Power Consumption

As a note, the device never spins down the hard drive – it’s always running as long as the unit is plugged in.

Mode / Configuration	Power (Watts)
ReplayTV	47
ReplayTV + Receiver	97
ReplayTV + Receiver (No Audio)	50

Do It Yourself

Power usage meters such as the Kill-a-Watt are readily available and fairly inexpensive ($20 at NewEgg, at the time of this writing). The general process is to simply place the meter between a plug and a wall socket. Most of these meters will allow you to enter your cost-per-kWh rates to get estimates on daily, weekly, and annual costs.

Summary

Hopefully this information is somewhat interesting to readers of this blog. The fact remains that, at least in the United States, electricity costs are still far lower than they should be (based on the global impact of our consumption). That makes this information academic, for the most part – it’s unlikely to result in significant costs savings. Still, I somehow feel better with knowing how much power I’m burning when I’m being thoroughly destroyed in Halo online matches.

I’m also interested in seeing some other results, so please post them if you’ve got them!

Combining Virtualization Approaches

Jul 27

Posted by Anil Desai in Systems Admin, Virtualization, Windows Server | No Comments

While server virtualization seems to get the bulk of virtualization mindshare, there are several other approaches that are worthy of consideration. Examples including presentation, application, storage, and network virtualization. In fact, you can effectively combine these different approaches to find the best performing and most cost-effective solutions to common IT problems.

That’s the topic of my SearchServerVirtualization.com article, Combining virtualization approaches for a data center’s ‘secret sauce’. From the introduction to the article:

Being an IT professional is similar to being a good cook. Even if you have great ingredients, success is realized only when you combine these ingredients in the ideal way. The same holds true for virtualization — many technologies can work well together. The art is in determining which applications and services will benefit from one another.

The good news is that virtualization doesn’t come in just one flavor — administrators have numerous options from which to choose. You can combine different virtualization approaches to address some of the more difficult data center management tasks.

As long as you can handle some cooking-related puns, I hope the information provides to be useful.

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