Kevin Remde's IT Pro Weblog
According the The Register (“Biting the hand that feeds IT”… I like it.), there are already viruses being created that target the new scripting shell Microsoft is developing. If they're looking for a name for the virus, I propose "Shmista".
“Scripting Shell? Really? And it will be in Vista?”
Whether or not it’s in Vista remains to be seen. However, the command shell formerly code-named “Monad”, now called MSH, is what they’re referring to. Last I heard they are planning on shipping it along with and as a feature of the next version of Exchange Server (Exchange 12 coming in 2006). I saw it in action for the first time at the Microsoft Global Briefing in Atlanta last week, and… all I can say (or am allowed to say), is… WHOA BABY THAT’S COOL.
“The goal of Monad (now MSH) is to provide a powerful command-line management solution. It is both a language and a framework for easily creating commands to manage windows platform. So - it's more command-line oriented than WSH but has a lot of the scripting abilities of the WSH languages. It's somewhat of a higher level language than VBScript, etc. Another quite significant difference is that it's an interactive environment.”
Back to the Register… I wouldn’t be surprised that people are already trying to break it. That makes sense. It was true with IE 1.0, is true today, and will be always: When Microsoft makes available functionality that makes coding or administration simpler, there is always someone ready to exploit it. And with MSH, well.. BRING IT ON. I’m sure the team would rather find the vulnerabilities sooner rather than later.
What do you think?
Oh my… the gauntlet has been thrown down!
I love it. Chris Avis (friend and fellow IT Pro Champion on the TechNet team) has a “Karaoke Challenge” that he’s promoting to his audiences. You can read his excellent post about it if you wish, but in a nutshell, he is challenging any and all of his live event attendees to a sing-off. The evening after an event, he and the challenger will go to any local club that’s hosting Karaoke. And if the audience likes the challenger’s song better than Chris’, Chris will provide the challenger with a full retail copy of Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition.
This gives me an idea… I’m going to do this, too!
Yes, that’s right. You heard me. I can sing. Better than you.
Kevin’s Karaoke Challenge
I challenge any and/or all of my live event attendees to a sing-off! You email me before the event, and let me know that we’ll be going out for some Karaoke. If the audience likes your singing/song/style better, you’re gonna get a copy of Windows Server 2003 Standard Ed. Retail copy – “no timeout crap”).
2008 UPDATE: That particular software package doesn't make sense these days. How 'bout I just surprise you? (Yes, it will be real software that would otherwise need to be purchased. I'll make it worth your while.)
(Heck.. I might even give a prize to anyone brave enough to take me on.)
—
So Chris – Are we going to get to challenge each other at the team meeting in October? And what can you afford to lose?
One of the last times I posted something about Windows Vista my blog got lots and lots of hits. I also used the same animated graphic in that post. So… either Windows Vista is hot, or this picture is.
Anyway… I’m working on a Windows Vista presentation. I have one hour to convince folks not only that Vista has a lot of cool new functionality and features, but that Vista is a necessity in their businesses. Tough sell? Maybe… if you don’t know exactly what it can do to help your business.
“What do you want from me, Kevin?”
My question to you is: What would you want to know more about? Is there something you’ve heard of in Vista that you think a 60 minute talk should cover or “clarify” for you?
For example, the three main bullets on the Windows Vista intro web page currently hint at some really great stuff…
“Confidence”. “Lower IT Cost”. “Get more out of…”. “ways to organize”. “seamlessly connects”. “maximize”. “and”. “to”….
Anything else jump out at you? Please enter comments!
“Where are you going to be delivering this presentation?”
I’m glad you asked! I’ll be speaking at three events being put together by Angelbeat.com:
I’d love to see you there!
PS – Their website says that the “Microsoft Keynote” (that’s me) will be about “Windows Vista, Windows Mobile 5.0, and Collaboration Technology”. Either they’ll be updating their web site soon to just say “Windows Vista”, or I’ll be learning a whole lot about Windows Mobile 5.0 in the next couple of weeks.
Wow. I don’t get a lot of comments on my blog. Aparently nobody reads it. Or perhaps I’m not controversial enough to promote discussion often enough. I’ll have to change that…
Or should I?
WARNING: Long Blogger Chain Here…
Robert Scoble recently pointed to an article by Dave Taylor who was talking about Aaron Wall… a person being sued for comments left in his blog comments area. It wasn’t something Aaron said in his blog, but something that Aaron or his company left buried in the comments, probably unknowingly, that got him sued.
“What I find most telling about this lawsuit is that it's aimed directly at a blog and a blogger, not related to what the blogger is writing about, but about what others are adding in his comments.”
That’s just downright scary. I and many of my coworkers like to leave comments wide open, just because we want to promote good discussion, and also often are travelling and have longer periods where we might not be able to moderate all the comments.
Perhaps a new, longer, more complete disclaimer will have to be added to the margin, removing myself from any responsibility for whatever garbage, slander, or confidential information some bozo might post to my blog.
I’ll have to ask my friend Chris Avis or some other former BBS SysOp what legal disclaimer they might have used way back when “comments” were “unmoderated” in the open discussion areas…
What do you think? Comment away!...
…although, I never have.
But you had me laughing out loud!
PS – the picture above is from a cute short film I found while looking for lawnmower images. Here is that film.
There’s a nasty worm making the rounds right now. It was reported yesterday afternoon that the worm “Worm:Win32/Zotob.A” is currently circulating. It’s taking advantage of a Windows Plug and Play vulnerability in Windows 2000, which was addressed in MS05–039 (one of the ones that came out last week).
This worm does not affect Windows XP (SP2) or Windows Server 2003. But if haven’t updated your system yet, now would be a really good time to do it. And if you’re running Windows 2000 and haven’t patched it yet, DO IT NOW!
Some more details:
So – Are any of you feeling the effects of this? Or have you already rolled out the patches? I’m interested in hearing what those of you supporting Windows 2000 are using in your environments for patch management. Maybe you can share some of your “best practices” here.
…or for anyone who wants to learn more about the tools available for Security Update management, there is what looks to be a very useful webcast getting into greater detail about using MBSA 2.0, WSUS, and SMS going on tomorrow.
“Hey! Those are three of the four topics you discuss today!”
Right! My session (a part of the Windows Server 2003 Administration Webcast Series) is an introduction to these tools, showing you some of the basics. The session tomorrow (a part of the Management Webcast Series) will focus more on using these tools together specifically for the sake of Security and managing the roll-out of updates.
Here are the details:
Thursday, August 25, 200511:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time
View this top-rated breakout session from Microsoft Tech·Ed 2005 in Orlando, Florida, and learn about Microsoft's strategy for update management.
The SBS Support team has launched their own blog, with the promise of doing a podcast in the near future, too.
And here is their first post.
Of course you might also want to subscribe to the “SBS Diva”.
Okay all you Family Guy fans… some of you might be old enough to remember this music video on MTV.
“What? MTV played music videos?”
Shut up.
Anyway, credit to Michael J. “Brother” Murphy for finding this gem.
CLICK HERE
...so to speak.
I’ve heard it many times…
“I want the Vista beta! How do I get the beta?”
This page spells it all out. It’s available currently “in English to select Beta 1 testers through the technical beta program, as well as to MSDN and TechNet subscribers.”
If you’re an MSDN subscriber of the proper “level”, you can download it today.
If you’re a TechNet subscriber at the plus level, you’ll be receiving it on disc in your September disc shipment.
And if you happen to be at my Spokane, Washington event on August 9, or my Redmond, Washington event on August 11, I might be pursuaded to give you a little demo on my spare laptop.
As you know, a new CTP (Community Technology Preview… call it a Beta) of the next Service Pack (SP2) is available for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.
My friend and colleague Keith “KingCobra” Combs has posted an excellent description of one of the key new anti-spam features, the Sender ID Framework.
Give it a read! He includes some very useful hints and links to tools for troubleshooting as well.
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 009
Ooops.. missed a day. Well.. let’s get back into these!
I got this from my coworker and friend, Matt Hester...
Q: Can you upgrade Small Business Server SQL 2000 to SQL 2005?
A: The feedback I have gotten is that technically you can upgrade to SQL 2005 but it is not supported!. However, Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 will add SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition for SBS Premium Edition customers. There are also a lot more enhancements to this moving forward. For more information on SBS and SBS R2: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/techinfo/overview/generalfaq.mspx —
Got an IT question? Give me a comment, or contact me.
I was thinking the other day, which I do from time to time, about what you might want to read about here. I post resources to events and webcasts, questions and answers, random geeky or fun news, etc… but I thought perhaps you might like to see an entry containing “a day in the life” of a TechNet Presenter on one of his TechNet Event days. And I was going to document the entire thing with photos so you could get a feel for my day visually, because as I always say, “a picture paints 999 words”. (Yeah… That one is mine. Are you going to argue with me?)
However:
I found out today that “a day in the life” of a TechNet Presenter is too busy to have time for photographs. So you’re just going to have to bear with the extra wordinesses.
—-
05:30 – Room at the Marriott Residence Inn, Redmond Town Center
[Phone Ringing]
Gaaaa! What? Huh? … oh man…<yawn-n-stretch> what was I thinking? That wake-up call was WAY too early. Okay… I’m up. Turn on the coffee maker. Turn on the computer. Get in the shower. Shower. Lather. Rinse. (No… I do not repeat. I got stuck in that infinite loop once… and that’s why I’m no longer a developer. Fool me twice, and all that.) Get out. Dry off. Fix hair. Shave. Fix hair again. Put on aftershave balm and deodorant. Put on extra deodorant. (Presenting events is stressful. Presenting Microsoft events IN REDMOND, doubly-so.) Fix hair one more time. Get dressed. Dang… I lost my comb somewhere… gonna have to buy one. Pour a quick cup of coffee and attempt to download the most recent event data to my cell phone (for event registration on our PDAs later), and do a quick check of email.
Out of the hotel. Checked out. Turn on the GPS and wait for the thing to see the satellites… plug in the address of the theater, and I’m off.
06:15 – Arrive at Theater.
Ooo… I’m early. Hmm… there was a Starbucks across the way (Really? In the Seattle area? Go figure.), and as luck would have it, the grocery store next to it is open. Do they have a comb? Yes! Purchased: One extra-heavy-duty comb. …and a tall black coffee at Starbucks. Mmmmm yeah. Head back to the theater.
06:30am – Arrive at Theatre (for my friends in the UK)
“Which Theater am I in?” The bigger one is Theater #1, and since we and MSDN have BIG registration today, we take that one. Upload event data from cell phone to PDAs. Help our concierge Angel (that’s both her name AND her title, in my opinion) set up, and then go plug in my laptop. “Are we going to have two speakers today?” (two of our AV Company’s speakers were stolen in Spokane, so we had to make due with one speaker in each room.) I’m told that we will.. but probably not until the afternoon. <sigh> Complete setup… Hmm… I have a choice of the room being too bright for people to see the screen, or too dark for them to see their evaluations (or me up front). I make the call that it’s better for them to see the screen, so we have the big flouresent lights turned off. (Theaters don’t usually have many lighting options… and why should they, really?)
07:30am
Take one of my two photos as people are just coming in. This is my view for the day.
08:00am – We begin!
Good turnout. Full room. GREAT questions! …pretty tough ones… some I don’t have the answer to…but I’m okay with that if they are. (Are they? Depends on the audience. Anyway, I’ll have the answers for them via email or on my blog.)
Am I having fun? You bet! I love this. Sincerely – the biggest thrill is to deliver really good news about cool new technology, functionality, or just ways to help these people have a better life in their jobs. I was an IT pro for a lot of years, so I KNOW WHAT THIS IS LIKE to sit there in those seats and hope to find something useful. And now… wow… I’m in a job where I’m able to DELIVER IT TO THEM! Am I a lucky guy, or what?!
09:30am – Break
09:45am – Part II
10:40am – Break II
10:50am – Part III
11:50am – Wow! Nice timing today, Kev!
We wrap it up, collect the evaluations, and draw for prizes. (BIG thanks to Rob Westover for running over to his office and picking up some additional goodies for this.)
12:02pm – Rats… we went over.
Oh well… two minutes isn’t too bad. But I’m feeling pumped up about a GREAT day!
Now I pack up the laptop, get out to the front table, and it’s my turn to help out with registration for the MSDN event.
12:20pm – 1:15pm – Just a blur.
We had so many people registered for the MSDN event, and it felt like just about every one of them came. I’m frantically scanning people in… and then one of my coworkers runs out and tells me to stop, because for some reason they’re getting all the wrong names printing out. Very odd. So I take the other PDA and help scan some more.
1:30pm – Meeting with a Microsoft person.
This will remain mostly a secret. But suffice to say, our discussion over coffee will set the course for Microsoft for years to come. (Okay.. maybe I exaggerate. A lot. But we were focused on all sorts of cool ideas on how to “engage” the “IT Pro” “community” in ways that will bring “value” and “promote” “good will” to our “audience”. Stay “tuned”.)
1:35pm – …no, actually 2:10pm. Go get lunch.
Ordinarily in the past the theater would order lunch for us through their caterer – often it was Boston Market or some-such. This year, though, they’re being more flexible and giving us a choice of what local restaurant we’d like them to bring in food from. I like it! Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure if my meeting might include lunch, so I passed on the brought-in food. No worries, though… I walked over to Nicholson-in-the-Box and had me an adequate burger and limpy “curly” fries.
2:45pm – Return to theater.
Look over my evals. Ouch… a couple of people didn’t like the lighting… and others were hard on me for not having all the answers. Fair enough. I didn’t write the product. I’ve never been a DBA, even. But I still felt I gave them a good talk. Oh well. I’m still here as a resource, and I will learn from what I didn’t know for the next audience. I still feel like I’ve done a great job. I’m exhausted… so I know I certainly have expended enough energy into this morning!
3:15pm – ooo… I gotta run.
Ordinarily I need to stay until the afternoon events are over and help out with the giveaways, etc. But Rob Westover (these were his events I was covering this week) was here and kind enough to fill in on that part of it so I could get back home tonight. I say my goodbyes to the team (the most excellent people a person will ever have the opportunity to work with. Seriously.), get the GPS fired up in the car (“To the Airport! And step on it!”), and I’m on my way.
3:30–5:00pm – STUCK IN TRAFFIC
Ouch. They weren’t kidding. Southbound I-405 is a parking lot. My flight is scheduled to leave at 5:55pm. I’m wondering if I’m going to make it to my pre-checked-in first-class seat. Ah… finally traffic lets up, and I do.
05:10pm – Get my boarding pass.
“What? Delayed?!” Just my luck. Flight isn’t leaving ‘til 6:45pm. I guess I would have had time to gas-up the rental car. <sigh>
05:20–06:10pm – Eat dinner
I parked myself at the bar near my gate. Sam Adams. Tall. And another, as I eat my turkey sandwich. And upload the event data from my PDA.
06:30pm – Boarding!
I’m in seat 2A. Nice. A320. More room than the 737 I came over on. But they are asking me what I would like for a “pre-flight beverage”. That’s okay. They’re anxious to get under-way, and so are we all.
07:00pm – Takeoff! …and I sneak a quick nap right through it.
Now… I have grown so very accustomed to flying recently, that the minute I hear, “Please direct your attention to the front of the cabin for some important safety…. “… It’s like hypnosis. I’m asleep. And snoring. Snoring loudly. I suppose I could wait to sleep/snore until the plane is actually in the air and generating some “cover noise”, but no. I usually wake up to the sound of “We have now reached an altitude where it is now safe to turn on all approved electronic devices…”, and I find that my mouth is open. And I’ve been drooling.
But the view from seat 2A is worth taking my 2nd photo.
09:20pm (Now on Central Daylight Time)
Type up a silly blog post about how I wanted to create a silly blog post using pictures, instead I typed and typed and typed. If you’ve read this far, you can have the other half of the Gin and Tonic that I’m nursing here. Good goin’!
11:55pm – Lug my tired self out of my seat.
Oh… they tell us that there is no gate agent available yet, so we’re stranded for several more minutes. We’re thinking they need to wake the agent up. Or honk the plane’s horn to get their attention. Finally, we’re off. Walk the 2.8 miles to the “Off-Site Parking Shuttles”. I’m in luck.. my off-site shuttle is on-site and in sight. 15 minutes later I find I’m standing behind my car, trying to find where I put my keys in my backpack. Found ‘em. Now… I drive home.
12:25am – Ah… it’s good to be home!
“Kevin… why on earth are you rushing home? Why didn’t you stay over and come home on Friday?”
It’s simple. I love my children and my wife. And this week my boys are up at a beautiful Scout Camp in Northern Minnesota, and I want to drive up there for their last evening, spend the night in a tent next to a beautiful lake, listening to Loon calls, and help drive a bunch of scouts home on Saturday. Yep. That is truly “what it’s all about”. And that’s where I’m heading right now.
An Associated Press article that I was pointed to on MSNBC talks about how a company fired a bunch of employees for posting bad things on their blogs. Very bad things. Bad things meaning sexually harassing in some cases, and downright insubordinative (is that a word?) in others.
I agree. They deserved to be fired.
The article, however, didn’t get written because these people got fired for sexual harassment or insubordination. It makes it sound like they got fired for how they used a blog. What’s so interesting about people being fired for being harassing jerks? Or for threatening work slowdowns? No… it’s only interesting because these were blog posts by idiots who didn’t realize that putting something on blog is just like writing something hateful on the company conference room white board… only this white board is big – really REALLY big – so big that the whole world can see it.
And what really strikes me as silly is that now the company is considering adding a policy on blogging to their company’s employee handbook. <sigh>
I hope they put it on the same page as their official company policy on “Proper use of the second-floor conference room white board”.
Pricing for the new version of the XBOX, the XBOX 360, has been announced, as well as some details about versions, components and options, and how widespread the rollout will be.
Will you be getting one for Christmas?
Will I?
Will my kids?
(If you’re reading this boys… I’m not ready to answer that one yet. Santa is still compiling his lists.)
Greetings! Here are the promised resources for the webcast I delivered today (Aug 17, 2005) on Windows Server 2003 Administration (Part 1 of 2). Official Content session number TNT1–121.
Hope you find these links useful!
Kevin
TNT1–121 Additional Resources
New Command Line Tools in Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298882
What’s New in Active Directory
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/overview/technologies/activedirectory.mspx
Active Directory Technical Overview
http://www.waypointsg.com/ADtechover.pdf
Multi Forest Considerations
http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/2/6/026ee2e2-e06d-4660-b9db-6926fd200ed9/Multiforest_White_Paper.doc
Windows Server 2003 Deployment Guide
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/all/deployguide/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/all/deployguide/en-us/acicc_ris_xbok.asp
Introduction to Group Policy in Windows Server 2003
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/gpintro.mspx
Free Live TechNet Eventshttp://www.technetevents.com
TechNet Events Bloggershttp://www.techneteventsbloggers.net
Microsoft TechNethttp://www.microsoft.com/technet
Official Series Content Resource Pagehttp://www.microsoft.com/technet/tnt1-121
Free Windows Server 2003 Virtual Labs:http://www.microsoft.com/technet/traincert/virtuallab/windowsserver2003.mspx
Windows Server 2003 Evaluation kit:http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/trial/evalkit.mspx
Windows Server 2003 Training and Events:http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/training/default.mspx
Microsoft Events page:
http://www.microsoft.com/events
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 003
Tidbit time! Number 3…
This tidbit comes as a result of a question an attendee from one of our live TechNet Events emailed me.
"Can SQL Server 7.0 be upgraded directly to Yukon? Or does 7.0 need to be upgraded to SQL Server 2000 first? And what are my options with MSDE 7.0?”
No, you can't upgrade SQL Server 7 directly to SQL 2005. First 7.0 needs to be upgraded to 2000. However, if you do a new installation (either on another computer or even side-by-side on your existing SQL 7 server), it will automatically upgrade the metadata of the databases by either doing a backup/restore, database copy, or even a detach / attach of your old database onto the new server. So your databases will be upgraded and usable right away. This is true of SQL 7 databases as well.And remember also that you have "backward compatibility levels" you can set for your database that will allow older T-SQL to run. (65, 70, 80, or the new 90 level). This only affects T-SQL, however. Other constructs may still need to be tweaked. (Actually, there is even a 60 compatibility level, but those databases can't be managed in the management studio.)
The same is true for an upgrade-in-place. The database metadata will be upgraded, but the data itself remains where it was.
This Wednesday, August 24, 2005, I’m delivering Part 2 of the two-part webcast set on Windows Server 2003 System Administration. We’ll be covering:
Here is the link to register for Part 2.
And if you missed it, Part 1 is available for On-Demand viewing HERE.
See you there!
Greetings! Here are the promised resources for the webcast I delivered on Aug 24, 2005 on Windows Server 2003 Administration (Part 2 of 2). Official Content session number TNT1–126.
Kevin’s TNT1–126 Additional Resources
Download MBSA 2.0
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=1&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d4b4aba06-b5f9-4dad-be9d-7b51ec2e5ac9%26DisplayLang%3den
MBSA 2.0 Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/Security/tools/mbsa2/qa.mspx
Step-by-Step Guide to getting started with WSUS
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3BA03939-A5A9-407B-A4B0-1290BA5182F8&displaylang=en
Deploying Microsoft Windows Server Update Services
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E99C9D13-63E0-41CE-A646-EB36F1D3E987&displaylang=en
WSUS System Requirements
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/updateservices/evaluation/sysreqs.mspx
WSUS Data Sheet
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/updateservices/evaluation/datasheet.mspx
WSUS Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/updateservices/evaluation/faqs.mspx
WSUS Operations Guide
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E26BCDB4-EF0B-4399-8A71-9B3B00C4F4CD&displaylang=en
SMS Product Overview
http://www.microsoft.com/smserver/evaluation/default.mspx
SMS Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.microsoft.com/smserver/evaluation/faq/default.mspx
Microsoft Operations Manager – Product Overview
http://www.microsoft.com/mom/evaluation/overview/default.mspx
MOM 2005 Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.microsoft.com/mom/evaluation/faqs/default.mspx
MOM 2005 Overview Demo
http://www.microsoft.com/mom/evaluation/demo/mom2k5.mspx
Free Live TechNet Events
http://www.technetevents.com
TechNet Events Bloggers
http://www.techneteventsbloggers.net
Microsoft TechNet
http://www.microsoft.com/technet
Official Series Content Resource Page
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tnt1-121
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 005
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit number FIVE..
This tidbit comes as a result of a question an attendee from one one of our live TechNet Events emailed me.
"Can 2005 Express be part of the multiserver environment? In SQL Server 2000, target servers running MSDE cannot be enlisted.”
According to the SQL Server 2005 Express information page (http://www.microsoft.com/sql/express/default.mspx), SQL Express can participate as a Transactional and Merge Replication Subscriber, as a client for the SQL Service Broker, and will support distributed transactions. Sweet!
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 006
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 6...
"Will linked servers work between different versions of SQL Server? i.e. SQL Server 2000 and Yukon and vice versa.”
Yes.—
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 007
Number 7 comin’ atcha!
"Can backups, etc, generated from a maintenance plan in Yukon have the same file name instead of a unique name?”
I can't find any information on this specifically, although I know that one of the plan steps you can create is just a T-SQL step, where it launches whatever script you want to launch. That could be a BACKUP DATABASE MyDatabaseName TO DISK = '\\MyServerName\Backups\MyDatabaseName.bak' (or a disk location, or some other defined device)With options to append or overwrite, etc.
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 008
Tidbit #8
This tidbit comes as a result of a question an attendee from one one of our live TechNet Events emailed me."
“Database mirroring, or parts of it, is available in Standard Edition of Yukon. What's the difference between what you get with Enterprise Edition and Standard Edition?”
Mirroring is supported in both Standard and Enterprise Editions of SQL Server 2005. According to the feature comparison page, in Standard there is only a single REDO Thread (on the mirror instance), and the "safety setting" is always on.
And again – here is a great resource on Mirroring: http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/8/5/f8520d64-f109-4111-b0b0-51f1f6d2d220/ProSQLServer2005_Ch15_ForTechEd.pdf
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 004
Another one! Number four…
"We have a multiserver environment with one master server and twenty-four instances of SQL Server as target servers. Will multiserver work in a multi-versioned environment? In other words, if I upgrade the master server to Yukon, will it still be able to download instructions, etc., to the target servers if they are running SQL Server 2000? If one of the target servers is upgraded to Yukon, will the master server running SQL Server 2000 choke?”
It's important to upgrade whatever server you're using as the central distributor first. That's where the services run. Once that's done, though, it doesn't matter which of the others you upgrade next. 2000 publishers can talk to 2005 subscribers, and vice versa.