So now with all services started we are ready in this final part to create and enable our first Lync users but let me show you first the Lync Control Panel. 1. From the start menu open the ‘Lync Server Control Panel’ 2. You will be prompted for the admin...

Do you want to build your own Lync lab and you need guideline, I’ll post a series of four parts for a walkthrough for my lab setup and configuration over the next period… So let’s start by part 1: The Lab environment: Windows 2008 R2 as the OS for Lync...

In part 1 of this series we went through the deployment prerequisites, prepared the servers and prepared the environment for the deployment. In this part we will go through the planning tool, topology building and the server deployment. 1. First we need...

In this post I’ll list to you 30 fact and info about Lync which is totally new and different than OCS: You can virtualize all topologies and we support all workloads, including Enterprise Voice to be virtualized When you virtualize, Scalability is roughly...

Do you have IIS on Windows 64 bit and want to run application that is for 32 bit. No problem. From the Inetpub admin scripts run the following: " cscript.exe adsutil.vbs set W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32BitAppOnWin64 true" Here are the details. Windows...

Sometimes i join discussions regarding Exchange cross-org migrations and the most hot topics is always about migration planning, mailboxes content migration, user’s notification, outlook profiles, etc… but what about the below two important...

In this part we need to deploy a local configuration store with the published configuration in the central management store on our Lync server, we will do that by using the deployment wizard again and selecting the ‘Install or update Lync Server System...

Did you tried to enable SQL encryption between the client and your SQL instance? I thought that configuring SQL 2005 cluster to encrypt its traffic is simple however I discovered that it is not that straight forward and you always get this error “The...

Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA): Windows Server 2012 validates a set of primary skills that are relevant across multiple solutions. OR Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE): Server Infrastructure provides a comprehensive platform...

The Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter Beta Solution Accelerator is a 4 MB download that converts VMware virtual machines to Hyper-V. The Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter: Provides a quick, low-risk option for VMware customers to evaluate Hyper-V...

What is a DAG? A database availability group (DAG) is the base component of the high availability and site resilience framework that is built into Exchange 2010. A DAG is a group of up to 16 Mailbox servers that host a set of databases and provide...

Exchange team just released our Exchange 2010 SP1 information, read the details here http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2010/04/07/454533.aspx You will see that with SP1 we can now host the Archive mailbox on different database from the users primary mailbox...

Microsoft has released Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) to manufacturing. SP1 is a combined service pack for both operating systems encapsulated in a single installer. Based on business value, customers all over the world continue...

We are pleased to announce the release of the new Linux 3.1 Integration Services and support for the following Linux distributions as supported guests within Hyper-V: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x (x86 & x64) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6...

I am thrilled to share with you this announcement from our UC team about the next release of OCS (Microsoft Lync)… Yes, Lync is the new name for the next generation of our real-time communications products, known until today as Communications Server...

To all of the Datacenter gurus in MEA, feel free to join our Facebook group Datacenter gurus in MEA to get and share the knowledge… Looking forward to see all of the gurus.

Take care… There is currently a new mass mailing worm that sends out thousands of messages from infected machines. This message has a link to a file on the internet. The file in the link displays a .pdf but the Hyperlink is to a “_pdf.scr” file. If you...

Finally we released our long awaited Exchange 2010 SP1… You can download a copy from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=50b32685-4356-49cc-8b37-d9c9d4ea3f5b&displaylang=en

If you want to try out some of the System Center 2012 components without downloading and installing the bits, consider trying one of the free virtual labs from TechNet . Configuration Manager Introduction to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Introduction...

Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) is a free, virtual learning center that helps IT Professionals acquire the essential skills and gain credibility as a cloud computing expert in their organizations.  Through MVA, IT Pros can select a track, study a...

Convert-WindowsImage is the new version of WIM2VHD designed specifically for Windows 8. Completely rewritten in PowerShell, this command-line tool allows you to rapidly create sysprepped VHD and VHDX images from setup media for Windows 7/Server 2008 R2...

On June 20-21, 2012, Microsoft Learning partnered with the Microsoft Server and Tools team and Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE) to deliver the “Windows Server 2012 Jump Start: Preparing for the Datacenter Evolution” presented by Rick Claus and...

Key new features of Exchange Server 2007 SP2 unveiled today include: Enhanced Auditing - New Exchange auditing events and audit log repository enable Exchange administrators to more easily audit the activities occurring on their Exchange servers. It allows...

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Design and Architecture is released to web. Very interesting reading for Exchange geeks:) Download the document from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=accec9cd-9c09-4f7e-91c6-41f0e201b680&displayLang...

I was building a TMG 2010 architecture for one of my customers and during this period I consolidated some of the limitations and considerations in specific scenarios. This article is a one place summary for them: Single network adapter functionality:...