To paraphrase a statement by Arthur C. Clarke “the way to find the limits of what is possible is to push in to the realm of the impossible.” In the world of networks there are things that have formerly been impossible but are now in the realm of reality. Streaming HD video content delivery on an internetwork. 
That’s a big deal! What would we do without TV. Composite IP network protocol that natively understands both IPV4 and IPV6. Think of the possibilities! While both of these advances are spectacular if we take the next step we get to something truly amazing! Secure Direct Intra-network access using internal network credentials (held in Active Directory) from anywhere with an internet connection. You read that correctly. That means secure connectivity to your internal corporate network even if your connecting from Starbucks. I know what you’re thinking. How?
We stood on the shoulders of giants and took the next step.
IPV6 from the composite IP protocol provides the base functionality. Then we add the functionality of Active Directory, Network Access Protection and a Direct Access server. Bingo. The nirvana of network access. You will notice that at no time during that description did I mention the 3 letter acronym VPN. I didn’t mention it because we don’t use it. VPN offered a connection that had to be turned on and validated and then disconnected when we were finished using it. That is just not really effective. Especially in light of the current environment in which our portable machines operate. The last thing we want is to have a mode of operations where the security policies of our network don’t apply.
One of the best things about Direct Access is that the connection is always on. That means that the security policies (GPO’s) of the network apply to the machine all the time. We can provide a degree of protection and control to our portable machines and users that has hitherto been “Impossible.” If you haven’t tried Direct Access its time to pull out the white papers and step by step guides and take this technology out for a spin. Take my word for it, You will love it!
Here’s a great intro video to get you started. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd572177.aspx
Here’s the Direct Access Step by Step guide for Lab testing. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8D47ED5F-D217-4D84-B698-F39360D82FAC&displaylang=en
Here’s to Arthur C. Clarke and to doing the things that we consider impossible.
As I am sure you are all well aware one of the ways that Microsoft makes our software available for testing is through the use of trials. Here is a list of the current trials i would recommend using and the links to download each of them.
Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9701662
Download the Windows Server 2008 R2 Trial Software
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9701666
Evaluate Forefront Server Security Management Console today
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9701670
Download Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010 Beta Today
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9701674
Evaluate System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 today
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9701678
Evaluate Windows HPC Server 2008
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9701682
Of course if you are interested in pushing your test and trial machines to another level you could also Sign up for the TechNet Plus Subscription using the discount code TNITE02 and save $97 off the regular price of $349.
Have fun Trying out the latest and greatest stuff!
I really can’t believe i am writing this post. I never thought I would be a published author. I have always been interested in writing but never really thought I would actually do it. Well, I did! The result is the really cool looking book you can see in the post. I got to work with Matt Hester, one of my best friends and co-workers, and over the course of the summer we were able to write what I think is a great guide to administration in Windows Server 2008 R2.
The process of writing the book was challenging. When my wife and kids were out at the beach playing in the waves i was writing a chapter for the book. When they were out enjoying a long day hike I was writing a chapter for the book. I even spent time writing during a fishing trip. The process taught me a lot about what I like in a good technical manual. Matt and I had technical editing help from Harold Wong. Harold is great! His expertise and gentle suggestions about ways to make the book better resulted in a better product that is much more user friendly. On one occasion I can recall thinking it would be fine to have just lines of command line text in the book. Harold wouldn’t have it. He wanted pictures of the text and its outcome when executed. I listened (somewhat reluctantly) and the book is better because of him. There is a life lesson in there for me. I need to listen closer to my friends and family. My family was very supportive during the whole process and put up with a lot of “Sorry, I need to work on the book.” More than anything I guess I learned that the process of writing a book is a process of learning, relearning, and teaching concepts. Hopefully we got it right! Enjoy the book!
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During my college days long ago I learned that all communication is built on a framework. Whether the communication is interpersonal or intercontinental, between individuals or nations, written, spoken, or even unspoken. All communication is based on a framework of rules and maxims that define the context, content, language, participants, 
roles, timing, and acceptable level of noise in any communication.
Enter the digital age. E-mail, cell phones, instant messaging, video conferencing, social networking, tweets, document sharing, online storage and collaboration. The pace of communication has accelerated at an alarming rate. Individual availability and presence information is at an all time high. We have the ability to communicate with just about anyone, just about anywhere, just about anytime. The ever present option for communication is an extension of an overlooked, but hard to overstate, set of changes that have been made to the communications framework. You cannot have the ends without the means. In this case one of the biggest things to happen to communications was the development of Windows Server. Think about it! Try to find a communications mechanism that is not supported (directly in most cases) Windows Server. Email, IM, video conferencing, cell phones, the whole lot disappears if you take way Windows Server. I know there are many of you out there who think I am overstating this. I'm not! If you take away Windows Server and the protocol advancements it has made through the years you eliminate most of the modern communication mechanisms we have come to rely on. 
So what if there were no Windows Server. The logical answer is that in order to maintain the communications tools we know and love someone would have to develop a tool with protocol and application support that was at least as good as Windows Server. (And believe me there are companies out there trying.) See, you just can't get away from it.
So while Exchange 2010 is sexy beyond belief, and Share Point takes document sharing and collaboration to an entirely new level, while Office 2010 pushes the envelope of document creation and integration to new heights, and Office Communications Server gives us opportunities for communications through online network channels that are just astounding, lets keep just one thing in mind. All of these amazing tools are nothing without an even more amazing platform to run them on.
And so we raise a glass, "To Windows Server! The Quiet King of Communication and Collaboration!"
"Born of the gun making expertise that brought you the best-selling, most trusted shotgun of all time – the Model 870™ – the new Model 887™ Nitro Mag is an armor-clad warrior here to carry the torch of our great pump-gun legacy through the most extreme conditions on earth. The most durable and reliable shotgun ever built, it has no external surfaces to rust. Our exclusive ArmorLokt™ construction process seals the receiver and barrel in a vault of weather-impervious synthetic armor, so you can wipe it down with your wet dog or a decoy bag at the end of the day."
There is something about a great shotgun that just feels good in your hands and your heart. When you lift it to your shoulder and lie your cheek on the stock its almost like giving it a hug. I know that's a little sappy, after all this is a weapon we are talking about. I have been a rifle and pistol guy for most of my life. The shotgun never really played into my outdoor gun enthusiasm. Recently I started shooting shotguns with my brother-in-law Gary. He loves to hunt ducks and geese, and the occasional clay pigeon. I went because I wanted to see what it was like. I was hooked on the first day. My shoulder hurt for a week afterwards. We shot 12 gauge Remington 870's because that's Gary's favorite. I decided that even though I have very little experience with the shotgun family I might have missed an opportunity for a heck of a lot of fun. I have a friend named Mike who runs the gun counter at Smith and Edwards. Mike knows his guns, and he's a good friend. I trust him.
I took the kids with me and we went out to Mike about Shotguns. I told him I was looking for a shotgun and he handed me the 887. I loved it! I looked at a bunch of other guns but really the only choice for me was whether I wanted it in black or Camo. I went with Black. The gun just looks mean. It shoots like a dream! Its easy to point and shoot. It has a special pad that noticeably reduces the recoil. I shot 50 rounds one afternoon and my shoulder didn't hurt at all. I have a long way to go before I start shooting like my brothers-in-law. I let Gary shoot the new 887 and his comments say it all.
"I have to say, I hate it!" Then he shot 5 more rounds, hitting every clay and handed the gun back to me. Translation: If I say I love it I'll have to sell one of my 870's to get the new 887.
Something tells me he's a Camo man.
I spend a lot of my time talking and writing about Hyper V and virtual machines. Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper V version 2.0 provide a platform to do some great things in your network. The virtual hard disk (VHD) that Hyper V, Virtual Server, and Virtual PC all use as the base component for virtual machines contain the operating system, applications, and data. Generally VHD's are built from scratch. Raw disk space is allocated, then an operating system is installed in that vhd space. Early on in the timeline of virtualization someone decided it would be a great idea, instead of creating raw disk space and then installing an operating system, it would be very convenient to be able to build a vhd out of a running physical machine. The possibility has existed in the physical to virtual wizard that is part of System Center Virtual Machine Manager. Unfortunately there is a cost associated with SCVMM. Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell have produced a tool called Disk2vhd. This tool has 2 huge benefits. first its free. Second It will capture a running online physical machine and make a vhd out of it. You have to see it in action. I recorded a short video for your enjoyment.
Click the TV to view the segment.
So I was at one of my live events here a few weeks ago and we were talking about bitlocker drive encryption. The question arose as to whether Bitlocker was FIPS 140-2 compliant. At the time I was not sure that it was approved in FIPS 140-2. I went back and did a little searching to verify the date of certification. I am happy to officially answer that Yes bitlocker is FIPS 140-2 compliant and was certified in 2008. You can read about the compliance certification here.
http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/STM/cmvp/documents/140-1/1401val2008.htm
As always I am a huge fan of Bitlocker drive encryption.
There is something magical for me about the major league baseball postseason playoffs. The players are playing for more than the money. (Yes, I realize they get huge bonuses for making it further into the playoffs.) There is a pressure to perform at your peak, and every game counts! If you hit a slump in the playoffs your season is over. A player who can hit his stride and play above his potential in the playoffs can attain baseball immortality.
Its 1988 and I am sitting on my couch in Southern California watching the Dodgers play the Oakland A's in the world series. I was elated that the Dodgers were back in the World Series after a drought of more than 5 years. The A's are leading in game 1 and the closer Dennis Eckersley is in for the A's. The injured Kirk Gibson asks to pinch hit and Tommy Lasorda lets him. I'll admit I thought Lasorda was a little crazy, but hey we're behind and Eckersley is pitching and its the bottom of the ninth. What do we have to lose by letting a guy with injured knees come in and get a bat in the world series. Kirk Gibson had played well for the Dodgers all season. His injuries were an unfortunate development. So Gibson literally hobbles to the plate. Eckersley, and his side arm style delivery overpower Gibson. Kirk Gibson swings and falls down in the batters box. It was a little sad. The guy did not know when to give up. Then the magic happened. Eckersley delivers a pitch and Gibson turns and smashes it out to right field.
I was jumping up and down on my parents couch, screaming at the top of my lungs. It was unbelievable! Tommy Lasorda is a genius for letting Gibson bat.(Despite what I thought 3 minutes before.) Gibson is now in the halls of the Dodgers immortals. Many people consider it one of the greatest sports moments of all time.
The sad thing is that this magical moment marks the last time the Dodgers have been in the World Series. They start their playoff quest this afternoon against the St. Louis Cardinals. I will be watching anxiously for another one of those magic moments. Will you?
It's official! Microsoft has scheduled a series of launch events around the United States to showcase Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Exchange 2010. You can register for the event in your area at the following link.
http://www.microsoft.com/business/thenewefficiency/default.aspx
Based on the image on the launch site there are some pretty cool incentives for those who attend the launch events. I am excited! How about you? I will be speaking at many of these in the Western United States. I look forward to seeing you there!
This last week I received an interesting question via email.
"I occasionally do offline defragmentation of Active Directory of my Windows server 2003 and 2008 boxes, the process is painful with the shut downs and restarts. Do you really need to do Offline Defrag? How do you do an offline defragmentation of the Active Directory database in Windows Server 2008 R2? I hear the process has improved."
I guess that's really more than one question, however they are all centered around a single topic. In short the process for offline defragmentation has improved dramatically in Windows Server 2008 R2. I made a short (5 minutes) video talking about why we defragment AD, and showing exactly how it is done.
Click the monitor to watch the video
For those of you who would like the documentation you can find the Offline Defragmentation for Windows Server 2008 here. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/232122/
I assume we will see something specific to R2 here shortly.
I get so excited about the IT Pro Momentum projects I thought I would share just one more with you. Actually in this case it is more like 2 projects that are being set up in a single organization. I met Rob at one of my live speaking engagements and he mentioned he was interested in participating in IT Pro Momentum. Since then he has really been working hard! His organization is in the process of moving to a new larger location to help them deal with the growth of their business, and Rob has been building out the network.
Robs comments are inline. I love what he is doing!
"I have started a couple of projects. The first was to setup a 2008 server machine (since I am not using 2008 server in production yet). I wanted to use it for several applications that our engineers use (license server for some engineering software and a Source Safe database). I had some difficulties getting it configured. It kept losing the network connection. I messed around with it and learned several things before it finally just started working. It was a really weird thing with no explanation as of yet. This test is going well and I think I’m about ready to purchase Server 2008. For the most part the project has gone well. I had some difficulty with the connection of the new server but after it started working it has gone well. I can’t even tell you what I did to fix it.
The second project I was going to do was set up an exchange server. We had it in our budget to move to Exchange this summer. This has now been put on hold until we move. I still think I am going to proceed with setting up a server with the latest Exchange so I can test the process of moving our company to Exchange server. I will let you know how that goes. The feedback on this project will be more extensive since it is a much more complex project.
I don't know whether I am more impressed that his server fixed itself or that he is willing to pilot new technologies in the process of moving to a new office.
Great Work Rob!
If you're interested in participating in the IT Pro Momentum program please send me an email request and let me know.
I am hearing great things from the IT Pro Momentum Program. Today our focus is on a school district who is using the IT Pro Mo0mentum program to pilot Windows Server 2008. Like the two previous Momentum examples I shared with you I was able to ask some questions to the IT Pros running the Pilot. Some of their responses are absolutely great!
I first asked about the pilot.
"We are trying to have more end user control over our network. I had heard that Server 2k8 had some better tools for controlling network activity as well as some very good Virtual tools.
As of right now we are still piloting but have high intentions to move forward."
Which Products are you working with at the moment?
"Server 2k8, Vista, and Citrix"
Can you give me some more details?
"We are building 5 demo 2k8 servers at one of our smaller schools. We are using 2 for citrix, 1 for a DC, 1 for an IIS7 box, and 1 for our file and print sharing and a WSUS. So far I would have to say that we are pleased with the results so far. I especially like the management and search capabilities."
Do you feel like the pilot has been a success? Have you run into any unforeseen issues?
"For the most part yes. The only issue we can’t improve on is terminal server licensing. Because we are a school district we have students that will mess up computers. After we reimage the computer it seems like the terminal server is handing out a second terminal server license. One for the machine before the image and one for the same exact machine after the image and having to wait 89 days is way too long to resolve this when we have over 1000 thin clients using Citrix daily."
How much money will this project end up saving your organization?
"Since I don’t handle the budgets I can’t give a number on savings but it would be substantial with the Virtual environments we plan to implement as well."
So how do you feel about the IT Pro Momentum Program?
"I love the program. Without it I probably wouldn’t have tried to pilot server 2k8 for some time but with the program I have been able to build server 2k8, iis7, sql server2k8, and even some windows 7 boxes."
Great Stuff!
If you are interested in the opportunity to Pilot Microsoft products in your network and get the Tech Net Plus subscription as one of the included benefits please send me an email requesting an invitation to the IT Pro Momentum Program.
Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 are getting a lot of airtime in the media. I thought it might be interesting to get some insights from some of the folks who are piloting these products in their actual networks. One sizable US based company who would like to remain anonymous at this point is working with Microsoft through the IT Pro Momentum Program to test Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. I asked one of their IT Architects some questions about their initial findings.
· What are the objectives of the project?
"Right now, just testing 2008 R2 and Win 7, hope to venture into Hyper-V with live migration."
· What products are being used in the project?
"Windows Server2008R2 domain controller & Windows 7"
· How are you feeling about the products?
"Currently the only part of the project in progress is piloting Windows Server2008 R2 in a domain controller in the lab. It was a pretty simple setup (even though server core isn’t the simplest to configure). Windows 7 client is a giant leap forward for Microsoft Desktop!"
· Were the objective stated at the beginning satisfied? Did you solve the problem?
"For Phase 1, yes. Haven’t defined Phase 2 yet, but hopefully it involves Hyper-V."
· Are you going to save money? How much over how many years?
"Hyper-V will save us money from a hardware perspective. We are currently using Hyper-V in 2008 with 20ish machines so the hardware savings are about 5k-6k per server."
· What do you think about the IT Pro Momentum program?
"I really like the IT Pro Momentum program. I haven’t used many features, but having access to TechNet is a GIANT plus!"
One of the best things about my role as an IT Evangelist is being able to assist organizations with resources and expertise to help them find solutions to their network challenges. One of the ways that Microsoft has facilitated this process is through the use of the IT Pro Momentum Program. As we work with organizations we will often highlight the work they have been doing and the results they are getting. One of these organizations is Educational Service District 112 in the state of California. They were having some real challenges solving problems related to desktop management and reporting issues in their network.
They profiled a project to work with System Center and test its functionality in their network. The initial evaluation went well and they decided to pilot a solution using System Center. Early on in the pilot one of their Key IT Professionals said,
"We’re just at the beginning of this project. Our hope is to be able to install changes, monitor problems both related to errors and hardware problems before the user contacts us."
What a great concept! This kind of proactive management philosophy will have a significant positive effect on the overall health of the network and the users in it. When I asked about other benefits to running System Center they are hoping to save more than 100 hours of labor. Easier management, savings, and better control seem to represent a better solution for this organization.
Finally, I asked about the value of the IT Pro Momentum program in this pilot project. The response was clear.
" It’s doubtful that we’d push forward with this process without seeing how the product would help us."
That's exactly what I had hoped to hear.
If you are interested in participating in the IT Pro Momentum program and are willing to provide tracking and feedback information about a project in your organization please contact me.
