While it seems that the powers of marketing are often used for evil rather than good, every once in a while, we see an entertaining site or application. Microsoft has given us its share of humorous clips and commercials. This time around, it’s Microsoft Server Quest – a Flash-based, animated game that allows you to try to save the entire office with your superior intellect. You’ll also get some valuable discount codes (which are not-so-cleverly disguised in the standard dialog). It’s not exactly World of Warcraft, but you can earn up to 4,800 GeekPoints. You can use those… well, nowhere. But it’s still fun.
Archive for category Systems Admin
Microsoft Server Quest
Jun 12
DevTeach Conference Reminder
Apr 28
The DevTeach Conference in Toronto is quickly approaching, but there’s still time to register. The conference will be held on May 12th – May 16th and is a great opportunity to learn about Microsoft-focused development and IT details. I’ll be presenting three sessions:
- Evaluating Virtualization Tools and Technologies
- Windows Server 2008’s Hyper-V: Inside and Out
- SQL Server Data Protection and High Availability
For more details, see my earlier post, DevTeach Conference Sessions. You can find some compelling reasons to attend (along with a complete list of presentations) at the DevTeach web site.
Earlier this morning, I had the privilege of chatting with Richard Campbell and Greg Hughes, hosts of RunAs Radio. The discussion focused on Microsoft’s Hyper-V, and the importance of virtualization management/automation. It’s a fairly fast-paced conversation and is around 30 minutes long. The show will be available shortly (and for free) at http://runasradio.com/default.aspx?showNum=52.
I have been testing Windows Vista SP1 for many months now, since the early beta versions of the update. While I can’t say that it has solved all of my problems (see My Struggles with Windows Vista for details), it has made a few noticeable improvements in performance. However, with all the media coverage I have seen thus far, people tend to focus on one or two of the hundreds of changes included in the Service Pack. The information ranges from simple restatements of Microsoft press releases to "benchmarks" which use dubious measurement methods.
Fortunately, Microsoft has recently published a comprehensive guide that lists all of the changes introduced by SP1. You can download Notable changes in Windows Vista SP1 in PDF or XPS format. The guide is long, but it provides a concise, descriptive and (presumably) complete list of what you can expect. Certainly, there’s a lot of ambiguity based on "certain types of devices" and similar marketing-friendly terms. (Sometimes I wish Microsoft would just identify the hardware manufacturers that don’t follow the rules for driver development.) Overall, it’s a handy reference that I recommend. The document also includes a whopping 35-page index of all of the hotfixes and security updates that are included with the SP1 update.
Unfortunately, even with the latest updates, I still can’t get Sleep mode to work on two of my desktop computers (one of which shipped with Windows Vista and the other which is based on a clean installation). So far, it looks like Windows Vista SP1 will be "too little, too late" for me. I just hope something happens to prove me wrong.
One of the hardest parts of learning about a huge new operating system release like Windows Server 2008 is sifting through all of the available information for for what really matters to you. For example, if you routinely have to support Branch Office scenarios for your domain controllers, you’d like to avoid all of the marketing babble about how revolutionary the product is and get right down to to the technical details. And, if you’re like me, you don’t want to skip around a 90-minute webcast to find the five minutes of information you really want to hear.
The Windows Server 2008 Webcast Express Demo Videos highlights the many different improvements and new features in Windows Server 2008 through some concise videos (most are around 10 minutes long). It focuses on screencasts rather than PowerPoint slides so you can see various features in action. I recently checked out the High Performance and Scalable Networking webcast to learn about QoS options and IPv6 updates. Overall, this is my preferred way of getting information. I rarely like to set aside 90 minutes or so to attend a webcast, but it’s easy to find 10 – 15 minutes to learn about something new just about every day.
Among my many gripes about Windows Vista (see My Struggles with Windows Vista), is the lack of truly useful window management shortcuts. Multiple monitor configurations are becoming increasingly common, and the Windows desktop simply hasn’t kept pace. Sure, if I’m willing to click on numerous UI elements, I can reliably move a maximized window from one monitor to another and resize it to my liking. My current setup includes a widescreen 22" LCD and a 19" LCD that’s rotated for a portrait view (it’s great for editing documents and reading web pages). Overall, the common task of managing windows on multiple monitors shouldn’t be an ordeal.
Fortunately, there are several third-party software products (some free) which help make the process easier. I have evaluated a couple of them and thought I’d mention my findings:
- UltraMon is a commercial product that provides features for managing multiple monitors. It allows you to span wallpapers across multiple disparate displays. Most importantly (for me), it allows me to create simple keyboard shortcuts for moving and resizing windows between monitors. It’s a bit pricey for the functionality, but it really does help. Unfortunately, I started having some display driver issues with my Nvidia GeForce 8300 GS drivers after I installed the latest beta. Hopefully a final release version will address that.
- DisplayFusion: DisplayFusion looks like it was originally designed for managing wallpaper settings for multiple monitors. However, it offers a simplified configuration UI that allows you to create hotkey shortcuts for moving and resizing windows. Currently, this is my favorite as it hasn’t broken Windows Vista and you can’t beat the price (it’s free, but donations are accepted). This one gets my recommendation, at least for now.
- GoScreen: GoScreen is designed for use on Ultra-Mobile PCs (UMPCs), such as tablet computers or portables that have touchscreens. It provides features for more easily managing windows. I haven’t yet tested the product, but it does seem to have a large number of useful features
Overall, these utilities effectively fill some gaps in Windows Vista and make me far more productive (I also couldn’t turn down the shot at alliteration in this post’s title).
Virtual Strategy Magazine has published my latest article: Comparing Virtualization Approaches. The article examines the various approaches to virtualization, including presentation-, application-, and server/hardware-level virtualization. The following diagram provides a brief overview of the approaches and their details.
The overall idea is that organizations have a wide array of choices in deciding how to isolate and consolidate their workloads. The challenges is picking the right tool for the job.
The goal of the Microsoft Solution Accelerator team is to ease the design and deployment of infrastructures based on Microsoft products. Earlier this year, I authored guides in their Infrastructure Planning and Design Series (see Microsoft Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) Guides Available for details).
In keeping with the same goal, a new beta version of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator is available for download from Microsoft Connect. The description from the download site:
The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Solution Accelerator is an integrated platform with tools and guidance that make it easier for you to assess your current IT infrastructure and determine the right Microsoft technologies for your IT needs. It offers easy inventory, powerful assessment and actionable recommendations for Windows Server 2008, Windows Server Hyper-V, Virtual Server 2005 R2, Terminal Services, SoftGrid, System Center Virtual Machine Manager, Windows Vista, and 2007 Microsoft Office. The popular Windows Vista Hardware Assessment readiness tool will be integrated into this platform.
…
Target Audience
- Customers: IT Architects, Infrastructure Specialists and Desktop/Application Administrators.
- Partners: System Integrators, Value-Added Partners and IT Consultants in the Enterprise and Midmarket
Key Benefits
- Quick Assessment of Your Existing infrastructure and assets
- Adaptive Guidance and Actionable Proposals that provide specific recommendations that will help simplify your planning and deployment of Microsoft technologies
- One-Stop Shop for All Your Planning (or Pre-Sales) Needs
The good news is that this is a completely agent-less method of automatically analyzing your entire environment. The product generates detailed reports that would be tedious and error-prone to create manually.
Overall, the idea is to help organizations determine how best to deploy Microsoft’s virtualization technologies. If you’re currently considering an expanded virtualization deployment, this tool can help you make better decisions about your infrastructure needs. Give it a shot, and send feedback to the development team to improve the final version!
Perhaps one of the most-used features in the Windows Server platform is the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Just about every administrator relies on it to perform configuration changes, add software, and make other related changes to the system. By default, new remote connections created with the Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) application are created as additional user logons. This usually meets the needs, as up to two remote connections are allowed to be active at a time.
However, a somewhat common requirement in some situations is to actually log on to the "console" session. This type of connection allows you to connect to the system remotely utilizing a session that runs in "Ring 0". It’s necessary to troubleshoot potential issues with installing applications, and some particularly picky applications that don’t behave as expected. Effectively, this is the same thing as logging on to the computer at the physical console. The bottom line is that it’s like "being there". In "current" versions of the RDC application, you can use the /console switch to connect to the the console session using RDP.
This behavior is actually deprecated (i.e., retired from future use) in Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008. The Terminal Services Team Blog describes the changes (and the reasons for them) in an in-depth posting titled Changes to Remote Administration in Windows Server 2008. Without getting too deep into the details, the following portion of the article describes the new /admin switch:
Behavior of the /admin switch
You can start the RDC 6.1 client (mstsc.exe) with the /admin switch to remotely administer a Windows Server 2008-based server (with or without Terminal Server installed). However, if you are connecting to remotely administer a Windows Server 2008-based server that does not have the Terminal Server role service installed, you do not have to specify the /admin switch. (In this case, the same connection behavior occurs with or without the /admin switch.) At any point in time, there can be two active remote administration sessions. To start a remote administration session, you must be a member of the Administrators group on the server to which you are connecting.
Overall, for most routine administration, this won’t make a huge difference. But, eliminating (or at least reducing) the need to connect to the console session is a big step forward.
About this Blog
Jan 1
I have created this blog to share with readers my thoughts on specific technology and related topics. That’s overly-broad on purpose, as I hope to post about topics ranging from IT-related issues to gaming. Of course, audience participation is encouraged.
I’m an independent IT consultant based in Austin, TX. I do a wide variety of different things, ranging from IT architecture consulting to database and applications development. I’m also a writer of books and online articles. My technical focus is fairly broad, but it includes virtualization, Microsoft .NET, SQL Server, and the Windows Server platform. For more information about me and for technical information, see my web site at http://AnilDesai.net. And, you can e-mail me at Anil@AnilDesail.net.
