Our team has been delivering Windows Server 2008 content and the following is a list of April’s webcasts. I recommend your reviewing of them as part of a daily or weekly training routine to bring your understanding of the features and capabilities offered by the product to a 300 level in a short and predictable period of time.

24 Hours of Windows Server 2008

Live Webcasts

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 10 of 24): IIS 7.0 Diagnostics and Troubleshooting (Level 300)

Friday, April 4, 2008                    9:30 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Pacific Time

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 11 of 24): IIS 7.0 Web and Applications Support (Level 300)

Wednesday, April 9, 2008             9:30 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Pacific Time

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 12 of 24): Migrating and Upgrading to IIS 7.0 (Level 300)

Friday, April 11, 2008                     9:30 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Pacific Time

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 13 of 24): Server and Print Management (Level 300)

Wednesday, April 16, 2008           9:30 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Pacific Time

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 14 of 24): Windows PowerShell (Level 300)

Friday, April 18, 2008                     9:30 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Pacific Time

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 15 of 24): Windows Deployment Services and Microsoft Deployment (Level 300)

Wednesday, April 23, 2008           9:30 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Pacific Time

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 16 of 24): Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Features (Level 300)

Friday, April 25, 2008                     9:30 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Pacific Time

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 17 of 24): Migrating to Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2008 (Level 300)

Wednesday, April 30, 2008           9:30 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Pacific Time

 On-Demand Webcasts

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 01 of 24): Overview (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 02 of 24): Server Virtualization with Hyper-V Features and Architecture (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 03 of 24): Managing Hyper-V (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 04 of 24): Presentation Virtualization with Terminal Services RemoteApp (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 05 of 24): Terminal Services Gateway and Terminal Services Web Access (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 06 of 24): Deploying and Migrating to Terminal Server (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 07 of 24): IIS 7.0 Overview and Architecture (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 08 of 24): IIS 7.0 Advanced Management (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Server 2008 (Part 09 of 24): IIS 7.0 Centralized Configuration (Level 300)

Group Policy On-Demand Webcasts

TechNet Webcast: Group Policy Fundamentals (Part 01 of 14): Introduction to Group Policy (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: Group Policy Fundamentals (Part 02 of 14): Applying Group Policy (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: Group Policy Fundamentals (Part 03 of 14): Creating and Editing Group Policy Objects (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: Group Policy Fundamentals (Part 04 of 14): Managing Group Policy with GPMC (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: Group Policy Fundamentals (Part 05 of 14): Managing Group Policy Operations with the GPMC (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: Group Policy Fundamentals (Part 06 of 14): Group Policy Processing Behavior-Initial Processing of GPOs (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: Group Policy Fundamentals (Part 07 of 14): Group Policy Processing Behavior-Using Objects to Affect GP (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: Group Policy Fundamentals (Part 08 of 14): Group Policy Administrative Templates (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: Group Policy Fundamentals (Part 09 of 14): From Basic to Advanced: Security (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: Group Policy Fundamentals (Part 10 of 14): From Basic to Advanced: Security Templates and IPSEC (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: Group Policy Fundamentals (Part 11 of 14): Designing and Planning Group Policy (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: Group Policy Fundamentals (Part 12 of 14): Managing Your Group Policy Environment with GPMC (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: Group Policy Fundamentals (Part 13 of 14): Troubleshooting Group Policy (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: Group Policy Fundamentals (Part 14 of 14): Group Policy Best Practices (Level 200)

Active Directory

On-Demand Webcasts

TechNet Webcast: Active Directory Inside Out (Part 01 of 11)—Active Directory Logical Concepts—Level 200

TechNet Webcast: Active Directory Inside Out (Part 02 of 11)—Active Directory Physical Concepts—Level 200

TechNet Webcast: Active Directory Inside Out (Part 03 of 11)—Active Directory Replication and the Operations Masters Role—Level 200

TechNet Webcast: Active Directory Inside Out (Part 04 of 11)—Installing and Managing DNS—Level 200

TechNet Webcast: Active Directory Inside Out (Part 05 of 11)—DNS Features and Configuration—Level 200

TechNet Webcast: Active Directory Inside Out (Part 06 of 11)—Interoperability and Migration from Novell Directory Services—Level 200

TechNet Webcast: Active Directory Inside Out (Part 07 of 11)—Migrating File Resources from NetWare to Active Directory 2003—Level 200

TechNet Webcast: Active Directory Inside Out (Part 08 of 11)—Deployment and Interoperability with NT 4.0 and Windows 2000—Level 200

TechNet Webcast: Active Directory Inside Out (Part 09 of 11)—Administration Features—Level 200

TechNet Webcast: Active Directory Inside Out (Part 10 of 11)—Replication Features and Forest to Forest Trusts—Level 200

TechNet Webcast: Active Directory Inside Out (Part 11 of 11)—Group Policy Management Console and Software Restriction—Level 200

I have recently met many with the same questions on Groove and thought here to share my answers. If you woudl like to know more technical information about Groove, recommend starting with my TechNet article, J

Get into the Groove: Solutions for Secure and Dynamic Collaboration

to get a technical overview, followed by reviewing the content at

Groove Advisor and Groove Tech Center

When deploying Groove Server on site, does one need to deploy both Groove Server Manager and Groove Server Realy?

For a Groove Server Relay to be associated with a Groove Server Manager (which is the root CA of a Groove Domain) and serve Groove accoutns issued by this Groove Server Manager, one will need to, from the Realy, request a certificate from the Groove Server Manager as required by Groove PKI. Operationally this can be done from Groove Server Manager console when setting up a Relay Set, or Groove Server Realy configuration applet. Either way, one will need to have an admin access to an intended Groove Server Relay. Not to mention, it is my undersatnding for an on-site Groove server deployment, Microsoft Product Support and Services supports only when both Groove Server Manager and Groove Server Relay are deployed.

Does a Groove Server keep all workspaces for all clients?

Not at all.  All Groove workspace content are replicated and stored at the client side. For instance, if three are 10 members in a workspace, there are total 10 copies of the content and each member has a copy of the workspace encrypted and stored locally. Groove can and will automatically sync workspace content for a member when a client-to-client or a client-to-relay connection is established. Groove Server Realy holds message queues for assigned users to temporarily store Groove messages (deltas, IM, etc.) when applicable, i.e. a client-to-client connection is not establishable, while a client-to-relay conneciton is. And these temporarily stored messages are permanently deleted once consumed by an intended recipient when connecting to the Relay. Groove Server Manager, on the other hand, provides a web interface for administering a Groove domain and stores only account configuration data in an associated SQL backend.

How can a Groove user  back up all files in all workspaces?

While highlighting a workspace in Groove Launchbar, right-click and  Save As, and Archive. This will save the content of a workspace by default at Groove Workspace Archives in a user’s Domument folder.To know more about Groove’s backup options, please review this whitepaper.

Should a Groove Server Relay be accessible from Internet? Which ports does it use?

Yes. Groove Realy Server is to provide a rendezvous point such that a sender and an intended recipient can exchange messages (here all Groove data are considered as messages) without the need to be on line at the same time, or within the same (IT) organizational boundary.

A Groove client can establish a connection with a Groove Server Relay (which never initiates a connection to client) via the following ports, in order of preference,

·         2492, if open, with SSTP (Simple Symmertric Transmission Protocol) (See 917165)

·         443, if open with connection to proxy is allowed, with SSTP (Notice Groove uses SSTPon 443  and  not SSL as described by 917165)

·         80 with HTTP

So, at least opening port 80 is necessary.Notice port 80 is also iused by a client to contact Groove Server Manager, when applicable.For more information, review Groove Security Architecture and Planning and Architecture for Office Groove Server 2007.

Putting A Groove Relay with no interface to Internet means that the Realy will relay traffic in only Intranet, in such case IPsec and domain/server isolation can take care of the network/connection security while AD and NTFS can manage access control, SharePoint in this scenario is the right and best solution for all intranet only collaboration.

Why IT decision makers care about Open XML? Here are media briefings and a technical discussion on Microsoft Office 2007 Open XML File Formats.