Kevin Remde's IT Pro Weblog
Okay…Now I’m excited.
“Oh Kevin, you’re always excited about something…”
Hey.. I love my job. Is that a crime?!
I don’t know what the final URL will be (or even if I should be telling you about this yet), but we will soon have a really cool new communication channel opening up for us, and you’re all invited not only to read and subscribe, but to participate.
Here’s the deal – We’re putting together a web site that will be an IT Pro community blogger / events site. We’re in the preliminary stages of planning now, but it will eventually contain agreggated posts from bloggers on the Microsoft Across America – TechNet team. We will likely also allow partners, Microsoft MVPs and others to contribute by adding feeds from their own blogs. We’ll include additional news from Microsoft or perhaps other sources also – all IT Pro related. And this can be a place where you can then subscribe to RSS feeds on specific topics, bloggers, event types, location (for live events), IT Pro news, etc. The possibilities are staggering!
Here’s a thought: Put YOU in charge of how you get contact from Microsoft as far as when events are coming to your area, or webcasts are happening that interest you.
A really good example of the kind of site we’re considering is the TechEd Bloggers site.
So – Why am I telling you this? I want to know what would you like to see! Give me some feedback if you have an opinion about how we’re using blogs and RSS to keep in touch with you. What information would you find useful showing up in your RSS aggregator/reader every day? Do you want Microsoft advertisements? Do you want to know what your favorite TechNet presenter had for breakfast? …or do you want just the information you need to get your job done and make your work life better? (And what form should that information take?)
I’m writing up my own thoughts on this today, for a meeting tomorrow.. so your input now will be invaluable to this process!
Thanks!
I’m reading a very thought-provoking thread on Scoble’s blog. He is visiting Target’s HQ today, and because it’s based here in my home town, I was curious to see what he has to say about it.
He posed some questions for his readers, which have generated a really great discussion on the merits of blogging in general. He asks basically, “What would Target get out of blogging?”
Is blogging ready for “prime-time”? Would a company like Target get something out of it, or is it just for geeks? Is Scoble, or are the bloggers at Microsoft, trying to make people look at “blogging as a hammer and the whole world as a nail”?
Well?
A new KB article has been posted listing applications tested and found to perform just fine, as well as a list of those with known compatibility issues, and links to additional information on how to resolve the issue.
Here’s the link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896367
“How did you find out about this, Kevin?”
I’m glad you asked. You can use RSS and News Aggregator software to watch for KB articles for areas you’re interested in to be published. Check out this old post for more info…
I’ve mentioned this series several times during our live TechNet Briefings recently, and now I see that a UK counterpart of mine, Matt Stephen, has posted a nice summary about it.
So rather than duplicating what he’s done, I’ll just link to his great writeup.
I’m sorry, Paul, but I’m sure I’m not alone in being worried about trusting your home’s security to Windows XP Embedded. You mention that the system will be set up to get updates automatically – which is fine for a desktop or laptop PC, and questionable for a server (please, people.. TEST all updates!), but do you really want to trust your home to this?
What happens when the update causes it to crash? I assume they didn’t design the thing to unlock all the doors if it goes haywire. Or did they?
I dunno.. maybe I’m just being alarmist. (pun intended)
Hello again, my Milwaukee friends! Other than a noisy start, and an annoying fire drill interruption, I had a great time with you all! How did you like the event? I got a few helpful comments, but if you have more to say please feel free to email me or, even better, enter your comments here in feedback so we can discuss them. For example – I’m not so sure this was a good venue to come back to. To be blunt – the staff at the Sheraton was hard to find and not very helpful, the pastries were not very good, and the room was not set very well. But if you like it as a convenient location, rather than the MayFair Mall in Wauwatosa, or if you have other venue suggestions, please let us know!
Anyway.. Here are the promised answers to the questions I jotted down during our event; things that I wanted to look into further. I hope you find them useful.
—
Q: Can the new SCW (Security Configuration Wizard) included in SP1 for Windows Server 2003 target other server versions besides Windows Server 2003? Like maybe Windows 2000 Server?
A: SCW is very limited in as far as what servers it can target. It only runs on or targets servers that are running Windows Server 2003 with SP1 installed. That’s it. See the “Quick Start Guide” for more informaiton about SCW.
Q: I’ve noticed that if I have an installation CD of Windows Server 2003 with SP1, and another I386 folder containing a Windows Server 2003 install image that includes the SP1 bits slipstreamed into it, the two installation images are not identical. I perform a “diff” against them and see there are differences. Why is that?
A: Well… I wasn’t able to find anything on our web sites about this. I don’t really know why this would be – unless there are subtle changes or some tools that aren’t updated in the same way. (Does anyone else reading this have an explanation for this?)
Q: When using the DTA (Database Tuning Advisor) in SQL Server 2005, after I apply the recommended changes, can I roll them back somehow automatically?
A: No. There is no automated way to do this. I would be selective about the changes you make, and make sure you keep a copy of scripted changes, so that if you need to you can edit the scripts (replacing “ADD”s with “DROP”s, and vice versa) so that you can execute it and undo what was done.
Any other questions or comments? Be sure to send your feedback here.
Interesting. Are they really going to make us all of here in the U.S. get new Social Security Numbers?
Here’s the C|Net article about it.
Personally I think it’s a good idea. But along with this someone has to come up with strong and enforced standards on how to use and protect that information. Anything short of inserting RFIDs under your skin behind your ear…
Dean Andrews, our man in charge of all TechNet Webcast events here in the US, has finally started blogging!
Check it out, and subscribe (RSS) to it if you want the latest webcast news straight from the guy who knows all.
A recent Robert Scoble post pointed to a web site by a person referring to themself as Kibo (James “Kibo” Parry).
I took a quick tour of his web site, and I’m still chuckling. Check out the “virtual reality tour”.
I guess some of the IT Jedi might miss a day of work this week.
(Nod to Georgeo Pulikkathara for finding this.)
…buses?!
Yep. Alex Barnett is absolutely right.
A review of Episode III?
I’m sorry – I haven’t seen it yet. My review will have to wait.
But I’m still chuckling over Rory Blyth’s review. It really is “The only review you will ever need”.
What do I like about working for Microsoft? Many people have different experiences working for different companies, or even different parts of this one; so not all will agree. But my personal experience here has been one of un-paralleled joy. I finally feel like I’m working with and for people who “get it”… who know that a company will succeed if it has the best people, and is willing to let these people stretch and succeed in areas that may not necessarily be their main role.
In past jobs, I’ve experienced both bad and good; sometimes at the same place, depending on who was in charge, or more often, what the current economic situation was at the time. At the small subsidiary of NCR where I started as a developer, it was four years surrounded by fear and CYA. I survived two large layoffs before me and 200 of my close friends were all “let go”. Then at little JobBOSS Software, Inc, when it was JobBOSS-the-small-independently-owned company, it was WONDERFUL. We were truly in charge of our own destiny. But then it grew, was sold, and then sold again, becoming too political and stressful… and admittedly, much of the stress and corporate angst comes from the economic climate during those times; not really the fault of any one executive. Not every manager was an a**hole. <grin> And, sincerely, I never worked for one that I didn’t like or didn’t respect. They are all good people.
So now, when I read this InfoWorld article about how Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, plainly states that he values letting engineers have time to just work on whatever they want… well, obviously, he “gets it”, too. It struck a chord with me. Here’s my opinion: The company – any company – that fosters and encourages that level of trust and nurturing to the very smart people they employ, and is able to maintain that culture throughout their organization, is going to succeed in a big way. This has now made it all the more obvious why Google is doing so many things right.
And what does that mean for Microsoft.. or anyone competing with Google in some way? Be afraid. Be very afraid.
…or should we really? Do we at Microsoft have to be? Maybe not. Does the fact that I and so many other employees have the approval (and even the encouragement) to say whatever the heck we want (within reason) on our company-hosted blogs somehow imply or infer that perhaps we also give our employees the same freedom in the ways that Google values? If I learn of some corporate policy or stand that I strongly disagree with, and in this blog call Steve Balmer an a**hole, will I be fired, or merely Scobleized?
(Honesly, I would expect to be reprimanded. I don’t think anything warrants that kind of disrespect to anyone, ever. But in Robert’s case, it sure did have an amazing impact.)
So from my somewhat limited, less-than-two-years-here perspective, I’m happy to report that every one my 7 superiors from Steve Balmer on down, also “get it”.
Making the rounds: Grocery STORE WARS.
Check it out. A new contest! “start something amazing”
Send in your stories about your passion and how technology has helped you bring that passion to life. There are 5 categories to choose from:
Lots of prizes, including a chance to meet billg. Other prizes include an overseas trip with National Geographic Expedition, VIP access to a major movie premiere and a home makeover with an HGTV designer.
The contest started today, and ends September 30th, 2005.
Good luck!
You can pre-order the Event DVDs! Even if you’re not able to attend, $195 will get you recordings of all the TechEd 2005 sessions.
Did you know that Microsoft has this “Event DVD Store”? I didn’t know it until I saw today’s Windows Platform News email. Sweet!
Here’s an encouraging/enlightening news story posted yesterday on C|Net containing notes from an interview with Jason Garms, who heads Microsoft’s anti-malware product team.
Comments posted to that story are as expected though. “15x nothing equals… ?”
Cute.
Hi!
Here are the questions I jotted down at our TechNet Briefing in Bloomington, as well as some answers and additional resources.
Also, for your convenience, here is the link to my blog post containing the link to that resource document I handed out.
Q: I’m running Windows Server 2003 servers in an Active/Active cluster. Are there any known issues with SP1 for Windows Server 2003?
A: Doing a search of the knowledge base on “Service Pack 1 Windows Server 2003 cluster” give the results here, where there are several articles related to some issues that may arise.
Here are a couple that seem applicable:
Q: COM+ and DCOM
A: Unfortunately, I have to confess that for this one I didn’t write down enough of the question to remember what was asked. (Sorry!) As I recall it had something to do with whether or not there were also changes to how COM+ objects permissions are managed. And for that I was not able to find an answer. However, I would recommend you check out the great help documentation that is included in the Component Services console.
Q: When do I get my SQL 2005 Beta?
A: This question was from a gentleman who had attended Bryan von Axelson’s SQL 2005 Webcast Series, where live attendees who filled out evaluations would be sent a copy of the beta. I’ve sent an email to Bryan, and will update this page when I get his response.
UPDATE: Bryan says…
First, we are not supposed to call it ‘BETA’ anymore. It is now the Community Technology Preview Build – Gotta Love it!! Second, they are being shipped now. They starting processing everything last week.
First, we are not supposed to call it ‘BETA’ anymore. It is now the Community Technology Preview Build – Gotta Love it!!
Second, they are being shipped now. They starting processing everything last week.
Q: I’m using the release candidate of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) in production, and it did NOT pull down SP4 for SQL Server 2000. Why is that?
A: At release, the plan is for WSUS is to support updates Windows, Office XP, Office 2003, SQL Server 2000, MSDE 2000, and Exchange Server 2003. I don’t know why the Service Pack wasn’t there, but I suspect it has to do with the fact that it is still just a release candidate. It may be that SP4 for SQL wasn’t made available throught the
I highly recommend you check out the WSUS FAQ page. Great info. I also found a “Known WSUS RC Issues” wiki. I didn’t seen any mention of your issue there, however.
Q: I’m configuring ISA 2004 to let my users have FTP access externally. But it’s not working. What am I doing wrong?
A: I wonder if you’re running into the problem that is described in KB article #884580, having to do with FTP clients that operate in Active Mode. The article describes the issue, and possible solutions, including the mention of a hotfix (although you will have to contact MS Support for that).
UPDATE: My friend and teammate Keith Combs has dealt with this issue directly, and was good enough to post the solution on his blog. Thanks, Keith!
If you have a followup question or comment, feel free to enter it by clicking the comment link below.
Many of you who run or support customers running Small Business Server 2003 have had issues with (and understandable confusion around) installing SP1 that came out for Windows Server 2003.
I’m happy to report that they’ve improved things now with the new SBS SP1 that is out.
The big updates:
I highly recommend you read the through this FAQ about SBS with SP1.
…or even just an informal “meet-n-greet”?
Jeffrey Palermo is hosting a get-together on Saturday, June 4th, at the Peabody Hotel (right across the street from the convention center). Here are the details.
The next version of IIS, slated for release in the Windows “Longhorn” products (BOTH Server AND Workstation, and perhaps even in the “HOME” version) has some cool and useful new features.
This post on The Longhorn Blogs the other day has the details.
Indianapolis!
Here are the questions (with answers) I jotted down at our TechNet Briefing in Indianpolis.
Q: Will there be or is there currently a 64–bit version of Small Business Server 2003?
A: Here’s the answer that comes straight out of the SBS 2003 FAQ page –
“Windows Small Business Server 2003 and Windows Small Business Server 2003 with SP1 run well on 64-bit capable CPUs today. Customers today will see performance benefits running 32-bit Windows Small Business Server 2003 on 64-bit chips. To build a 64-bit version of Small Business Server, we need all the Small Business Server components, such as Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server, to be 64-bit. Once these products reach 64-bit capability, we will evaluate a version of 64-bit Small Business Server based on customer need.”
Q: Does or can the new SQL Management Studio use Visual Source Safe?
A: Yes! MSDN Presenter and Developer Evangelist Jacob Cynamon gave me this snapshot that shows what you will see when it’s available from within the SQL Management Studio.
<— Click to see full image.
Q: You showed how I can run SQLCMD from within a Query Editor window as well as the command line. Can I also launch it from within a stored procedure?
A: If there is a way to make a T-SQL stored procedure execute in “SQLCMD” mode, then yes, I’m betting that you can. I’ve emailed this question to some folks who will know for sure, and I’ll update this answer as I get a better one. (Or if you know, feel free to add a comment below.)
Q: With Database Mail – Does the SMTP and POP3 support have to be installed on the Database Mail Server?
A: No. During the configuration of the Database Mail, you first configure accounts, and then add those accounts to profiles. Accounts simply refer to an email name and address and a server to send to. It doesn’t have to be the local machine (in fact, most likely it won’t be). My example used a POP3 mailbox on my local server, but it could just as easily have been an Exchange mailbox. Here’s what the Account setup looks like:
Then you can add your configured accounts into a profile. Here’s what that page looks like:
Q: Is there a way to diagram the database tables as there is in SQL 2000?
A: Yes. In the beta I was using for the demos, that function wasn’t there. In the latest CTP (Community Technology Preview) build, database diagrams can be built in the Database Diagrams container under the database you’re working on in the Object Explorer.
Q: Is MAPI support gone, or will my SQL Mail configurations still work after an upgrade to SQL 2005?
A: SQL Mail is still supported for backward compatibility, and managed under the Management container in the Object Explorer. NOTE: there is a hint in the current documentation that suggests that it will be removed in future versions of SQL Server.
Q: Is there a web interface for SQL Server management?
A: No, not for SQL administration. There is for SQL Reporting Services, however.
Q: Are there any improvements on how SQL Server works in a clustered configuration?
A: Yes! Much of the improvement comes from improved clustering in the foundation of Windows Server 2003. SQL Server 2005 can now be implemented on clusters of up to eight nodes on Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition, four-node clustering on Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, and a max of 2–node clustering on Windows 2000 Advanced Server.
SQL Server 2005 specific improvements include support for an unattended cluster setup. Also – all of the different services within SQL 2005 are cluster-aware, including:
Also, all of the major management tools (Management Studio, Profiler, etc) are also cluster aware.
Did you know that without this update, if you’re moving to 64 bit Windows XP from 32 bit XP and using the File and Transfer Settings Wizard, you might have problems?
I found that out by looking at this page that has all of the most recent updates on it. Cool!
Okay.. Time reported on it, so it must be true.
But wait? Is it really?
Actually.. no. Blogebrity Magazine is not actually happening. It was a hoax. Well… not really a hoax… but it was actually part of a “Viral Marketing” contest that attempted to get hits just by word-of-mouth (or link-stream) publicity. In fact, I’m playing right into their hands, discussing it here.
I’m being used! I feel so… cheap! <*sob*>
Well… fine. Check out the one of the contest current leaders: CryingWhileEating.com
Actually… I’ve heard that some of these “products” may actually happen, given the number of hits and amount of interest they’ve generated. I for one will subscribe to Blogebrity as soon as it hits the virtual newstands.
On second thought.. no, I won’t.