Swiss IT Professional and TechNet Blog : Reference Guide

New White Papers for SQL Server Published

mepprecht — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:55:41 GMT

A number of new white papers have been published relating to SQL Server and Microsoft or 3rd Party Applications:

Configure disaster recovery across SharePoint farms by using SQL Server log shipping
Create a disaster recovery farm in a geographically distributed data center for SharePoint
Disk Partition Alignment Best Practices for SQL Server
This paper documents performance for aligned and nonaligned storage and why nonaligned partitions can negatively impact I/O performance
Data Compression: Strategy, Capacity Planning and Best Practices
The data compression feature in SQL Server 2008 helps compress the data inside a database, and it can help reduce the size of the database. Apart from the space savings, data compression provides another benefit: Because compressed data is stored in fewer pages, queries need to read fewer pages from the disk, thereby improving the performance of I/O intensive workloads.
Improving Microsoft CRM Performance and Securing Data with SQL Server 2008
This paper provides an overview, benchmark results, and recommendations for implementing selected Microsoft SQL Server 2008 features that can improve the performance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and secure the CRM database.
SQL Server 2008 with Siebel, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards Applications
This white paper describes why SQL Server is the optimal data platform to use with JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, and Siebel applications that run on the Microsoft platform
Competitive Review of Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC)
This white paper examines the main reasons why customers might not want to implement Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) in their database solutions.

PowerShell Manual – Updated download links

mepprecht — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:00:00 GMT

The popular free Windows PowerShell v 1.0 Manual, written by Frank Koch is available on the following links:

English:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/7/1/47104ec6-410d-4492-890b-2a34900c9df2/Workshops-EN.zip

German:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/7/1/47104ec6-410d-4492-890b-2a34900c9df2/Workshops-DE.zip

There are a number of links on the Internet that are pointing to locations that are no longer valid.

Windows 7 IT Pro Guides: What’s new and Manageability Overview Published

mepprecht — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:00:00 GMT

A couple of documents have been published recently concerning Windows 7 that are interesting for IT Professionals and Administrators:

Windows 7 What’s New (things like DirectAccess, BranchCache, VHD boot, deployment technologies, and AppLocker)
Windows 7 Manageability (Improvements that can reduce TCO increasing automation, user productivity, flexible administrative control)

Download them from Microsoft here.

SQL Server 2008 Infrastructure and Planning Design Guide

mepprecht — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:19:00 GMT

The Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) guide for SQL Server 2008 has been released here.

This guide is one in a series of planning and design guides that clarify and streamline the planning and design process for Microsoft infrastructure technologies. ‘Each guide in the series addresses a unique infrastructure technology or scenario. These guides include the following topics:

Defining the technical decision flow (flow chart) through the planning process.
Describing the decisions to be made and the commonly available options to consider in making the decisions.
Relating the decisions and options to the business in terms of cost, complexity, and other characteristics.
Framing the decision in terms of additional questions to the business to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the appropriate business landscape.

The guides in this series are intended to complement and augment the product documentation.

The series of guides cover Windows Server, to Virtualization, Desktop Optimization, System Center, Exchange and other mainstream Infrastructure products and technologies.

DirectAccess Early Adopter’s Guide Published

mepprecht — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:04:58 GMT

The DirectAccess Early Adopter’s Guide is now live for public download here.

Working outside the office is about to become a lot simpler. DirectAccess in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 enhances the productivity of mobile workers by connecting them seamlessly and more securely to their corporate network any time they have Internet access—without the need to VPN. DirectAccess marks the beginning of the shift to thin-edge networking and a continuation of policy-based security. By implementing DirectAccess, your organization is deploying the foundation for connectivity and security that will carry it into the future.

As well as authenticating the computer, DirectAccess can also authenticate the user and supports multifactor authentication, such as a smart card. IT administrators can configure which intranet resources specific users can access using DirectAccess. DirectAccess uses IPv6-over-IPsec to encrypt communications transmitted across the Internet. With DirectAccess, IT administrators can manage mobile computers by updating Group Policy settings and distributing software updates any time the mobile computer has Internet connectivity, even if the user is not logged on. This flexibility gives IT the opportunity to service remote machines on a regular basis and ensures that mobile users stay up-to-date with company policies.

SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Technical Reference Guide

mepprecht — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:26:13 GMT

The SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Technical Reference Guide is now available.

This 490-page white paper covers the essential phases and steps to upgrade existing instances of SQL Server 2000 and 2005 to SQL Server 2008 by using best practices. These include preparation tasks, upgrade tasks, and post-upgrade tasks. It is intended to be a supplement to SQL Server 2008 Books Online.

In addition to the Technical Reference Guide, a companion list of Upgrade-related resources is also available

SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Technical Reference Guide

Resources for Upgrading to SQL Server 2008