Kevin Remde's IT Pro Weblog
Web 2.0. Social Bookmarking. Social internetworking.
I finally have some "downtime" (translation: I'm not traveling. I'm working from home. And I don't have any pressingly urgent events to gear up for at the moment), so I thought I'd try out some of the cool ways people are communicating and keeping-tabs with each other online.
MySpace? Yep.. I set that up so I could be a "friend" to my sons. I'm not sure they really wanted me as a friend, but it was a requirement of them having a My Space account.
Facebook? Yep. I set that up after I learned that my boys found out that there was this other site that Dad wasn't yet on. Plus, I started getting many more requests for associations there than I was on MySpace. Many of my coworkers are also there.
Linked-In? Sure. I've been on this one longer than any other. But recently I discovered a lot of my former coworkers are also there - so I'm keeping connected with old friends and associates that way.
SecondLife? Why not. I have a couple of coworkers (Chris Avis and Zain Nablouski) who actually hosted one of our "Heroes Happen { here }" Launch events completely online on their own island. I currently haven't done much with it. I'm easy to spot, though. I'm the guy with dark hair and a white t-shirt.
Twitter? Yeah.. I just joined this one today. Got a little concerned, though, when I got this
I guess they're all twitterpated. It's springtime, after all...
But it eventually worked. Go ahead... follow me. Just try and keep up. (smile)
What's your favorite? How can I follow you?
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"Who me?"
Yeah, I'm talking to you! You're a bozo** if you don't already have a TechNet Subscription. But here's your chance to fix that...
May 31st, 2008 is fast approaching, and that's the end of our current promotion on TechNet Subscriptions.
See this blog post for more details.. or go straight to http://www.microsoft.com/technet/subscription, sign up for a new subscription, and use promotion code TMSAM08 (That's zero-eight. Not the letter O. Think of 2008.) and get $100 off!
NOTE: this is only good on new subscriptions, and only for residents of the U.S. and Canada.
** Okay.. perhaps I shouldn't call you a bozo. That's a little strong. I apologize. If you don't want to have lots of non-timeout evaluation software and free training and support calls and TechNet Magazine and... well, that's your own business. I'm sorry I called you a bozo. Can we still be friends? [hug]
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So.. what about you? Are you already a subscriber? If you are - what do you like best about your TechNet Subscription? Is it all the software? The free eLearning courses? Two free Microsoft support calls? TechNet Magazine? Special support forums for your use? Early access to Betas, CTPs and Release Candidate software?
Just for fun...
I'm on a "Cool Stuff" DL (distribution list) internally at Microsoft, where coworkers share cool things they find on the Internet or within the company. Some of the "stuff" is business-related, but mostly the subjects range between the insanely-geeky to the just-plain-fun. This one is the latter.
A "spec spot" (speculative advertisement) was created for the Microsoft Zune. "Music is Life." It's GREAT! I hope it, or one like it, eventually gets put on television.
My family owns three Zunes** - belonging to the three oldest (eldest?) of my four children. My youngest girl, Laura, who also happens to be a fanatical animal lover, will be getting one for her 11th birthday. (Don't tell her!) Combining these two facts, I thought it was interesting (and fun) to see this ad.
Click here to visit the site and view the video.
I just hope Laura doesn't actually try to resuscitate the dead mouse on the side of the path near our house.
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**We used to have four Zunes, but I crushed mine in an unfortunate fitness center accident. <sigh> My birthday is coming (hint hint)
Yes.. this is my last one! Unless I get the call to fill in for another presenter, I am done with all of my Heroes Happen { here } events.
It's been a blast. Every event was full of IT Pros who really enjoyed learning more about Windows Server 2008. I don't know if it was everybody, but the overwhelming majority left the event feeling like it was worth their time and effort to be there.. having had at least one of those "Ah ha!" moments.
So.. to recap; here are the links to my 7 previous Launch Video Diary entries:
And last (but not least), here is part 8: Grand Rapids!
(Remember to double-click to get to the full-screen view. It's HD-rific!)
From the ol' mail bag...
I just received this e-mail, and thought I'd share it plus my response here on my blog:
Hi Kevin, I find your virtualization webcasts very good. I plan to investigate setting a DR solution using Hyper V with our systems in a different site Currently we have approx 12 physical boxes (mainly windows boxes) and I would like to setup some sort of failover mechanism which ideally would form as a DR solution or individual node failover. I was wondering whether there are any limitations with using this new technology as to system incompatibilities or will it be pretty solid. I guess the answer is to test although for this we will have to purchase a 64 bit machine. If you have any further info which could help me it would be great. We’re currently running a HP EVA SAN. Many Thanks, Stan the Bat**
Hi Kevin,
I find your virtualization webcasts very good. I plan to investigate setting a DR solution using Hyper V with our systems in a different site Currently we have approx 12 physical boxes (mainly windows boxes) and I would like to setup some sort of failover mechanism which ideally would form as a DR solution or individual node failover.
I was wondering whether there are any limitations with using this new technology as to system incompatibilities or will it be pretty solid. I guess the answer is to test although for this we will have to purchase a 64 bit machine.
If you have any further info which could help me it would be great. We’re currently running a HP EVA SAN.
Many Thanks,
Stan the Bat**
(**Not his real name.. but you get extra credit if you can tell me in a comment here just where a "Stan the Bat" reference might come from.)
Well Stan (if that is your real name), I have to first remind you that, it is indeed a very new technology (as you say).. so new in fact that I can't officially recommend that you run it in production just yet. It is still in RC0 (RC1 may be coming soon), and is on track to release "within 180 days of the release of Windows Server 2008", which was February 5th. That said, I'm hearing GREAT THINGS about its stability. Microsoft is indeed using it in production to host some very public customer facing applications (I don't know that I'm allowed to share with you specifically which ones they are, so I'll err on the side of keeping my job <grin>).
As for resources, I definitely hope you took advantage of the resource links I created for that webcast. Those can be found here. You'll find links to related resources there.
I would also add that a good blog to watch is the Windows Virtualization Team Blog. In particular (with regard to your question on Disaster Recovery), here is a post entitled "Disaster Recovery - not a nightmare with virtualization"
A friend and board member of a local user group pointed me to a recent article in BetaNews, talking about some cool new capabilities in the next version of Windows PowerShell.
According to the CTP 2 download page (yes, you can download a Community Technology Preview version of 2.0), here are some of the main improvements and new abilities:
Bart De Smet has written some excellent "feature focus" blog posts all about some of these new capabilities in PowerShell 2.0.
**NOTE: If you want to start playing with the new PowerShell Remoting capabilities, you'll also need to be running a new version of WinRM (Windows Remote Management). Here is the CTP download for it.
You may also want to keep up with the PowerShell Team Blog. Guys like Jeffery Snover (PowerShell Architect) and others post up there quite frequently. In fact, here's a good "Remoting with PowerShell Quick Start" (by Krishna Vutukuri) to help you get your feet wet in the new PowerShell Remoting.
From April 24, 2008...
Didn't take a lot of video during this day - so it's a short diary entry.
Enjoy!
Double-click to get the full-screen view!
Video diary from April 22, 2008.
"Wow.. that was awhile ago, Kevin!"
I know.. but I finally have been home long enough to edit and render these for Silverlight. Let me know what you think!
And remember to double-click to get full-screen.. to see the HiDef in all its beauty!
Those of you who have followed my blog for more than 12 months already know what a HUGE FAN I am of the TechEd conference. Since it began in 1993, I have only missed three TechEds. And during my 4+ years as a Microsoft employee, it's been a real treat to work at TechEd as well as attend.
"What will you be doing there this year, Kevin?"
This year I'm going on behalf of TechEd Online, during the TechEd IT Pro week (June 9-13, 2008) in Orlando, Florida. Remember last year's "Virtual TechEd"? Well.. this year the name has changed.. but the mission is pretty much the same. We're bringing the TechEd experience to the world through online media - blogging, podcasting, and video interviews. Again this year I will be one of the folks doing interviews; some audio and some video.
"What else will you be doing?"
As I mentioned yesterday, I hope to take a couple of certification exams while I'm there. And I also plan on recording and sharing my own video diary creations again this year as well. (This year in HD! And using Silverlight streaming!)
So if you see me walking around with a camera or a microphone.. or perhaps a video crew following me around, please come up and say 'hi'. And if I don't see you there, then I'll see you online!
Will you be there?
(RTW = Released to Web)
Yessir! VIrtual PC 2007 has an upgrade available. Service Pack 1 (SP1) for that product was released and made available today.
For more information, see the Release Notes. And also the Virtual PC Web Site.
In the MCP Flash e-mail I received at 1:39AM this morning, the top item is about three FREE webcasts devoted to helping people get ready for three different certification exams.
"Which ones?"
Here is the text from the e-mail:
Walk in to your exam with confidence! Your Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) coach will provide pointers to study materials; share lessons learned about each particular exam; review the technical content covered in the exam; and give you a test-day checklist and tips all in a free, one-hour Live Meeting session. Appropriate for first-time or experienced test takers with more than six months' experience on the technology. All sessions are offered at 7:30 A.M. Pacific Time. Cram for Exam 70-620: Windows Vista on May 20 Cram for Exam 70-640: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory on May 21 Cram for Exam 70-536: .NET Framework, Application Development on June 11
Walk in to your exam with confidence! Your Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) coach will provide pointers to study materials; share lessons learned about each particular exam; review the technical content covered in the exam; and give you a test-day checklist and tips all in a free, one-hour Live Meeting session.
Appropriate for first-time or experienced test takers with more than six months' experience on the technology. All sessions are offered at 7:30 A.M. Pacific Time.
"What about you, Kevin? Are you going to up your certification someday?"
I really should. I'm an MCSA and MCSE on Windows Server 2003, and want to choose one or more of the upgrade paths to MCTS or MCITP. I'll probably take one or two while I'm at TechEd this year. I am fairly familiar with Active Directory in 2008 now, but I may attend that cram session on the 21st, just to see if there are some areas that I haven't worked with yet.
Also - if you're going to take an exam in the next month, don't forget that you only have until May 31st to get signed up for your Free Second Shot exam.
I'm certifiable. Are you?
This is so cool. Microsoft Surface is cool, of course... and even available now for purchase. (AT&T stores have 'em now.) But what if I wanted any old surface to be a computing surface? How about cool multi-touch click/drag/shape? And pretty simple hardware that costs very little compared to Microsoft Surface?
Check out this thing called TouchWall. At the Microsoft CEO summit this week, Bill Gates demonstrated this new idea to the attendees.
Check out the video of Bill doing the demo.
Also - here's a YouTube hosted video (Props to TechCrunch, which is where I saw this first.):
What do you think? Cool enough for ya?
This was a surprise to me, so I have to imagine that it is new news to a lot of you as well. With Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1, you now have the ability to set up a VPN using RRAS (Routing and Remote Access) to use port 443 (HTTPS - or SSL) as the transport. It's a "firewall friendly" kind of VPN.
I found a good screencast all about how to set it up.
Here also is the Step-By-Step guide for doing it yourself:
Deploying SSTP Remote Access Step by Step Guide.doc (document download)
Step-by-Step Guide: Deploying SSTP Remote Access (Windows Server Technical Library)
Multiply your power! Today Microsoft announced newly available Public Previews, plus the pricing details, for Windows Essential Server Solutions.
"What is that?"
For those of you not aware of it - this is what we're calling the options such as Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Essential Business Server 2008. And today the company made previews available, as well as what the suggested retail pricing will be.
Here is the official announcement / press release.
"Okay.. I know what SBS is.. but what is EBS?"
This relatively new offering (formerly codename: "Centro") is kinda like Small Business Server... but for bigger businesses. It's a long-neglected segment of the IT and business world.. companies that have more than 75 people... so Windows Small Business Server is not going to work for them. But they aren't quite large enough to take advantage of some of the great large enterprise-sized offers from Microsoft. These shops typically don't have a large team of IT folks; there's just one or two people heroically struggling to maintain the IT infrastructure. These businesses need a good product suite that fits well in their mid-sized organizations.
Click on these links:
"I'm not sure which one to choose!"
Here is a great chart to help you decide which solution will meet your needs the best.
Below are the best of the questions and answers that occurred during our TechNet Webcast entitled, "24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 18 of 24): Network Access Protection"
Thanks for attending! ...and if you haven't seen the webcast yet, you can click on the link above (or the picture to the left) to get to the registration page.
PS - here are the RESOURCES I pulled together for this webcast
Questions and Answers
“I am running XP SP3. how could find NAP client? I did look in the mmc and could not find the NAP Client snap-in.”
First of all – to those of you who heard me say on the webcast that you should be able to find it that way, I apologize. And I was correct in one sense.. that’s where it SHOULD be. But I hadn’t personally worked with XP SP3 yet (probably won’t ever, quite honestly). The reality of it is that you will need to configure the NAP Enforcement Client using NETSH. (Another reason to just go with Vista.)
To enable the NAP Client on XP SP3 you need to do the following three things:
You will need to replace the ##### with the ID based on whichever enforcement method you are using. You can use the following IDs for the various enforcement methods:
Credit where credit is due: BIG thanks to “The Lazy Admin” for the article I “borrowed” this answer from.
“Can NAP be used to prevent people from using computers on our network that are not joined to our domain (without breaking UNIX boxes, printers, etc. that cannot be domain members)?”
Great question!
I believe you would need to define policies to make exceptions to the rules that block other non-domain members on behalf of those machines that you trust. For DHCP-based NAP, it’s easy. Just give ‘em static addresses (which they probably already have). For IPSec, manually configure the cert (provided the devices support it).. though it’s not often that you’ll need to protect a sensitive server from a printer.
“Does the usage of health certificates in ‘IPSec - mode of the NAP’ require an existing PKI structure and auto-enrollment configured?”
Yes, it does. Auto-Enrollment will be how your "NAP Exempt" machines (such as the protected servers and your policy servers) get their health cert.. and you'll also configure the security settings on the Cert Server to allow the machine that is your HRA (Health Registration Authority) to be able to enroll for certificates on behalf of the clients have requested access and were found to be healthy.
“NAP replaces ISA?”
Nope. Two different things. ISA = Internet Security and Acceleration Server, which is a great corporate firewall solution (among other things). When I talk “firewall” in the context of NAP, I’m referring to the “host firewall”; the firewall protecting an individual server or workstation. And don’t be confused when I say “IAS”. That’s the old Internet Acceleration Server that contained RADIUS and RRAS capability.. which has been superseded in Windows Server 2008 by NPS (Network Policy Server), to include those old functionalities, as well as the NAP supporting role services.
Here are some resources relating to webcast I delivered on May 2nd, 2008, entitled "TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 18 of 24): Network Access Protection (Level 200)"
I hope you find them useful.
Kevin
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Network Policy Server (NPS) http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/9af0667e-aa7d-4b1f-a054-7102a85eb2bc1033.mspx
Network Policy Server Infrastructure http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/b1a177e6-fd36-4396-9fe7-314460d83c3f1033.mspx?mfr=true
First Look: Getting Started With Security and Policy in Windows Server 2008 http://www.microsoft.com/learning/syllabi/en-us/6406afinal.mspx
NPS Network Access Protection http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/b1a177e6-fd36-4396-9fe7-314460d83c3f1033.mspx?mfr=true
Introduction to Network Access Protection (document) http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/nap/napoverview.mspx
Network Access Protection (NAP) for Windows Server 2008 http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/network-access-protection.mspx
NAP Server Architecture http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa369707.aspx
Network Access Protection Technology Center http://www.microsoft.com/nap
Network Access Protection (NAP) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/nap/napfaq.mspx
TechNet Virtual Lab: Network Access Protection with IPSec Enforcement http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032345136&EventCategory=3&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US
Network Access Protection Partners http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/nap-partners.mspx
Microsoft Network Monitor 3.1 (download) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=18B1D59D-F4D8-4213-8D17-2F6DDE7D7AAC&displaylang=en
Frequently Asked Questions about Network Monitor http://support.microsoft.com/kb/294818
How to use Network Monitor to capture network traffic http://support.microsoft.com/kb/812953
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