By default, others within your organization can only see whether you are free or busy for a particular timeslot.  In theory, people should check whether you are available before scheduling an appointment with you, although nobody seems to do that for me.  Hooray for double and triple-booking...

The following screenshot will give a DBA severe indigestion (although I have to imagine it is not entirely uncommon on unmanaged installations of SQL, especially those where SQL is just the black box that is installed as a prerequisite). A SQL installation with the database files, logs, and backups on...

A year ago, I showed how to lock down SharePoint 2007 using the Security Configuration Wizard that was introduced with Windows Server 2003.  The last post includes information on how the tool works, but  as the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Administration Toolkit was just released (which includes...

You know… the kind of day where all of the hard drives fail on one of your domain controllers, and then the new sysadmin runs a script on your production AD environment that deletes all user accounts, and then a hurricane hits your backup datacenter and floods your server room, submerging the last few...

I just finished installing Service Pack 2 on my team’s SharePoint server, and the process went absolutely flawlessly (which is very different from some of my past upgrades).  What made the difference?  Reading the instructions (something we geeks tend to not do :)  Before we get started...

If you have been tasked with securing SharePoint, there  are a lot of considerations to take into account.  How do users authenticate? Does part of your farm live in an extranet or DMZ? How do you secure user-to-server communications? How do you secure server-to-server communications? ...

I’ve been waiting for this guide for a while (‘cause that’s how I roll), but if you are interested in guidance on when/how to use Active Directory in your perimeter network, the AD team has released a guide for that: Active Directory Domain Services in the Perimeter Network (Windows Server 2008) The...

Just released, and only weighing in at 490 pages.  You didn’t have anything better to do over the Thanksgiving weekend, did you? ;) Get it here. Brief Description This 490-page document covers the essential phases and steps to upgrade existing instances of SQL Server 2000 and 2005 to SQL Server...

I was just reading through the SQL Server 2008 Compliance Guide that was just released, and it actually has some great information on taking advantage of the new features as part of your GRC program.  Transparent encryption, policy-based management, auditing reports… good stuff! Get it here.

It has been too long since I posted about the latest Solution Accelerators from my favorite team at Microsoft (er… the Solution Accelerator team).  I have a couple of posts queued up in my head that I’ll write as soon as I have the time. In any case, this announcement is time-sensitive, so I wanted...

After mentioning the new SharePoint Best Practices Resource Center, I see that they have also put up a Performance and Capacity Planning Resource Center for SharePoint Server 2007 .  I am loving this Resource Center concept!

In my last post , I lauded the SharePoint team for putting up a site covering their Best Practices, and mentioned that the other Product Groups should do the same. Ask and you shall receive… SQL Server Best Practices here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/bb671430.aspx

Great concept!  I hope that the other product groups follow suit and put their best practices all in one place… http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sharepointserver/bb736746.aspx

It looks like the Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008 document has been updated to include information on Performance Tuning for Virtualization Servers.  As the Hyper-V RTM release is getting closer, this is good information to start reading now. What's New: •Added "Power...

As I mentioned in an earlier post , the recently released Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) v.4 is extraordinarily helpful from a practical standpoint in running your IT organization. I'm glad to see that they just released the job aids and templates that accompany the documentation available with...

I have been agonizing over this post for the last week and a half. I do my best in this blog to not post entries designed just to make me look smarter... I hope that you can use these posts to make your life easier, do your job better, and maybe have some more time to spend with the kiddoes. This particular...

Because why wouldn't you? Best Practice Guide for Securing Windows Server Active Directory Installations Best Practice Guide for Securing Active Directory Installations and Day-to-Day Operations: Part 1 Best Practice Guide for Securing Active Directory Installations and Day-to-Day Operations: Part 2...

Great post from Mitchell Ashley that accurately describes most demos I have seen (I've even been guilty of giving a few of these): Most bad demos are what I call "functional decomposition" demos. You know what I'm talking about -- after some perfunctory sales questions, the demo conversation...

This white paper provides guidance and script samples for integrating System Center Configuration Manager 2007 and Virtual Machine Manager 2007 to provide automated software updates for virtual machines stored in a VMM library (offline). By automating the enumeration and deployment of virtual machines...

Although the File Server Resource Manager (FSRM) has been around since 2005 (it shipped with Windows Server 2003 R2, is present in SBS 2003 R2), I have yet to meet anyone (even hard-core Admins) who have even heard of it. It is an excellent tool to have in your toolbox, especially as hard drives get...

Ever wondered what kind of sessions go on at TechEd, Microsoft Management Summit (MMS), OCS Ignite, IT Forum, WinHEC, etc? The following site has a ton of videos from these events: http://www.microsoft.com/emea/spotlight/default.aspx Watch Mark Russinovich , Steve Riley , Iain McDonald , and some other...

Alright... not the sexiest acronym, but the new Branch Infrastructure Implementation Solution - BIIS (formerly the Branch Office Infrastructure Solution, or BOIS) has been released, with great information on all of the decisions and design criteria that go into architecting a Branch Office/geographically...

If your co-worker knew something about you... that you forgot to put deodorant on, or that you had toilet paper stuck to your shoe, or that your habit of sending angry incoherent emails before you had consumed your morning coffee was about to become a career limiting move... Would you like them to tell...

Now that Windows Server 2008 has RTM'd, and you are preparing to roll it out in your environment (even if it is just a lab or test environment), the following guide will help you get the most out of the OS, both as you choose the hardware, and as you tweak the OS to meet your particular workload. This...

How do I back up AD? Seize an Operations Manager role? Recover a Domain Controller? Manage SYSVOL? There's a guide for that... Active Directory Product Operations Guide Process: Back up Active Directory Process: Non-authoritative Restore of Active Directory Process: Authoritative Restore for Active Directory...