While Windows Server 2008 (formerly code-named, “Longhorn Server”) is still several months from release, it’s never too early to start learning about the new features that will be included in the platform. As you might guess, five years of development has lead to a wide array of improvements. To help sort out the details, TechNet Magazine published a couple of posters in its July, 2007 issue. You can also download the posters in PDF format. It’s hard to take in all at once, but you can zoom in on sections of interest to find more useful details. And, if there’s ever any doubt about your level of techiness, you can print them out and proudly display them in your cube/office!
Archive for category General
Security to the Extreme?
Jul 22
A friend recently tipped me off to Microsoft Support Knowledge Base Article ID 276304, “Error Message: Your Password Must Be at Least 18770 Characters and Cannot Repeat Any of Your Previous 30689 Passwords”. As the title suggests, the error message this addresses is:
Your password must be at least 18770 characters and cannot repeat any of your previous 30689 passwords. Please type a different password. Type a password that meets these requirements in both text boxes.
Personally, I try to keep my passwords well under 10,000 characters. With thee requirements, brute force hacking would have to be pretty efficient to compromise security. Fortunately, seeing this problem in the real world is rather unlikely, and it only applies to Windows Server 2000. So, you can rest easy if you choose to use slightly shorter Windows passwords.
Online Backup Options
Jul 17
There are plenty of reasons to perform frequent backups. While most people seem to think of hardware failures first, it’s far more common for people to accidentally delete or modify files. Regardless of the cause, it’s helpful to be able to roll-back to earlier versions of files. While modern operating systems provide various methods of creating backups, there’s one problem: Protecting the backups themselves. In the past, I used to back up to DVDs and have friends keep copies at their houses. It’s not an elegant solution, but it does provide some level of “off-site” protection. The problem is maintaining the backup media with updates and performing a restore process (the latter of which would likely cost me a beer or two). Clearly, there’s room for improvement.
One excellent option is to back up your data to the Internet. A few years ago, bandwidth and storage limitations would have made this process difficult and costly. Today, there are numerous online sites that provide backup services. Some provide free trials or a limited amount of space that is available almost instantly. For more information and reviews on available options, see:
Or, just visit the various vendors’ web sites (they’re usually pretty good about telling you what features they can provide).
I’ve tried several of these products, but I’ve been using Mozy for over a year, and I’ve been really happy with it. Here are some benefits:
- Off-site protection: Data is transferred to an Internet data center that probably has better power, networking, and cooling support than my home office.
- Efficient file transfers: The Mozy client determines binary-level difference in files. It then compresses and encrypts the data before transferring it to an online server.
- Automated operations: Most backup clients are able to monitor for file changes and then send them periodically or based on a schedule. The main benefit is that the weak link in most backup plans (humans) are eliminated.
- Convenient Restore Options: Mozy provides the ability to perform restores using Windows Explorer integration (i.e., by right-clicking a file and choose a prior version), by using their web site, or by using a drive icon that allows you to browse directly to your files. Compare that to tape backups, and it’s easy to see the benefits.
- Revision tracking: Mozy lets you restore from previous versions of files. This, to me, is a useful feature. Again, it’s far more likely for me to accidentally modify or delete a file than it for an entire hard disk to fail.
- A non-intrusive client: The last thing I want to install on my computer is a memory hog or something that will scan every file I use. Mozy works on a scheduled basis, so it minimizes the overall impact. Usually, I don’t even notice it.
Of course, many of those features apply to other products and services. Some client software was either buggy or overly-intrusive (in my opinion), so that’s certainly something to keep in mind when you evaluate online backup solutions.
In addition to providing personal-level service, many companies also focus on enterprise-level services. There are some issue, as well. For example, in the United States, upstream bandwidth is quite limited. Transfer a few gigabytes of data can take a long time. Overall, though, backing up over the Internet is an excellent (and available) option. Check it out, and let me know what you think!
P.S. If you decide to try Mozy, please use my referral code: https://mozy.com/?code=CJM3BB (we’ll both get an extra 250MB of free storage space).
Update: I recently subscribed to the Mozy service to get unlimited storage. It took about 5 days, but I ended up backing up 15GB of data over the Internet. Overall, the process went very smoothly.
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.