Matt Hester's WebLog

Proud Dad Moment: Mitchell’s first TD

Here is a proud moment I got to witness and extremely lucky one of the team moms (thanks Liz!!!) was video taping that day.  BTW the voice you here in the background yelling go, is little ole me.  I was very excited.  Go Mitchell!

Available now Bets of the Next Wave of Productivity … Office 2010!

Click the picture for more information.

Do you want to be a TechNet Subscriber? Use TMSAM09 and you will save 25%

Good morning everyone, I want to mention we are still offering the discount for the TechNet Subscriptions.   Due to the continued success of the program, it is back again this year and the savings have been increased to 25%!!!!!

Just Use TMSAM09 when ordering your new subscription.

Click here to get your TechNet Subscription:

Purchase a TechNet Subscription

Then just enter the Promotion Code:  TMSAM09

If you have not checked out what you get with a TechNet Subscription here are a few of the benefits:

• Full-version software licensed for evaluation purposes; includes Microsoft operating systems, servers, and Office System software as well as Beta software: pre-release versions of Microsoft software to keep up to date on the latest technologies.
• Two (2) complimentary technical support incidents and a 20% discount on additional phone support incidents you purchase.

And of course you still get the TechNet Library containing the Microsoft Knowledge Base, security updates, service packs resource kits, utilities, technical training, and product documentation to keep your systems and IT skills up to date!!!!

Some details about the offer:

This promo code is only for new subscriptions, you can use the code for renewals as well, however you are already saving 33% on renewals (but if you use my code it makes me look like I am doing my job :-)  Again we are having a bit of a contest so please use my code: TMSAM09. 

So go get your TechNet Subscription today, and remember use the promotion code: TMSAM09 to save 25%!!!!!!!!

Do you want to be a TechNet Subscriber? Use TMSAM09 and you will save 25%

Good morning everyone, I want to mention we are still offering the discount for the TechNet Subscriptions.   Due to the continued success of the program, it is back again this year and the savings have been increased to 25%!!!!!

Just Use TMSAM09 when ordering your new subscription.

Click here to get your TechNet Subscription:

Purchase a TechNet Subscription

Then just enter the Promotion Code:  TMSAM09

If you have not checked out what you get with a TechNet Subscription here are a few of the benefits:

• Full-version software licensed for evaluation purposes; includes Microsoft operating systems, servers, and Office System software as well as Beta software: pre-release versions of Microsoft software to keep up to date on the latest technologies.
• Two (2) complimentary technical support incidents and a 20% discount on additional phone support incidents you purchase.

And of course you still get the TechNet Library containing the Microsoft Knowledge Base, security updates, service packs resource kits, utilities, technical training, and product documentation to keep your systems and IT skills up to date!!!!

Some details about the offer:

This promo code is only for new subscriptions, you can use the code for renewals as well, however you are already saving 33% on renewals (but if you use my code it makes me look like I am doing my job :-)  Again we are having a bit of a contest so please use my code: TMSAM09. 

So go get your TechNet Subscription today, and remember use the promotion code: TMSAM09 to save 25%!!!!!!!!

Windows 7 Film Fest Contest

Check out the fun films from the Windows 7 Film Fest 

The contest took 17 film teams in the Seattle area competed.  Rules were to create a 30 second to 2 minute film, targeted to IT Pros.  Each team picked a different genre from a hat (e.g. Comedy, Music, Parkour, Blast from the Past, etc.).  And they had to include the following in their film:

1. A character called “CIO Wiggins”
2. A line of dialog “The guys in IT are going to like this”
3. Mention “Windows 7”

The results are were pretty funny and interesting.  Check them out!   

Nachos vs Popcorn?

Who doesn't love the movies...and the movies' snacks? It's hard to resist the colorful candy packages and smell of fresh popcorn wafting through the air. But for the calorie conscious, which of these salty snacks is the better choice--the light-as-air popcorn or the crunchy chips dipped in gooey cheese?

This one really surprised me from the Spark people. Which do you get when you go to the theatre?

The average serving of movie theatre nachos (about 30 chips plus cheese sauce) contains 554 calories and 44 grams of fat. If you planned for the treat and split it with your movie date, you won't walk away with too much damage. However, the medium popcorn from the theater packs more than 1,100 calories and an artery-clogging 90 grams of fat (138% of your daily value). Of course, you'd do best to avoid the snack bar completely or bring your own healthy choices, such as bottled water, pretzels, or bite-size raw veggies.

Movie Theatre Snack Attack!
Share Your Reaction to this Showdown on SparkPeople's Message Boards

IT Pro Momentum Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

This is great project involving both Windows Server and Windows 7, take a look at the challenges and solutions below.

Objectives of the project:  We are still running win XP and 2003 server. The great debate we’ve been having is which to upgrade first or at the same time. Coming from the PC side, I’m pushing to do all the desktops first then move to the servers. But, I can see the wisdom of a server first upgrade, which in all likelihood is the direction we are going. Any issue that we have with either our servers or desktops are problems inherent to XP and 2003 server.

Are you piloting or deploying the products:  We are currently piloting and working out the particulars of our rollout plan. We plan to start sometime in the late first quarter early second with our rollout and to finish by the end of summer at the latest. Due to the nature of our business, downtime is not an option. So our pilot planning time is longer than most and pretty extensive.

Products used in the project: Currently testing windows 7 and server 2008 R2 at my site. The Exchange, SQL servers are being tested at another site.

Project description:  We have had great success. The issues I’ve run into have been few and far between. Although, I will say that the configuration for 2008 server has been quite extensive. I was a little unprepared for how much work I was going to have to put into the initial build. For my testing portion, I have 10 win 7 PC’s and several 2008 severs, a DNS, file and print server and active directory. All are DC’s.

Were the objective stated at the beginning satisfied?  Our goals are pretty straight forward. We are to be the test site for the upgrade. If all goes according to plan, then we will talked with developing a rollout plan for all of our site both here in the US and overseas. We are to migrate off XP to win7. Pay special attention to homemade apps and end of life apps. The later are to be tested and if found to not work, then alternatives are to be found. Stay within our ISO goals and maintain quality within the clean rooms. Ease of use amongst our lesser computer literate employees. Also, maintain security among our clean room, shop and warehouse PC’s and servers.

What do you think about the IT Pro Momentum program?   We tried to make this as easy as possible on everyone. I’m sure we would have been able to do it without the program, just would have taken longer. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten my TechNet subscription yet, so I’ve had to use the another admins TechNet account to research issues I’ve run into. As for planning, it’s been pretty good. I like having my plan online so I can bring it up in offsite meetings or anywhere I’m not at my desk. The server 2008 TechCenter was probably the most useful for me. I am still fairly new to the admin position and I wasn’t here for the 2003 server upgrade. So, I utilized the TechCenter a lot when doing my server builds. Along with the TechNet forums, it was invaluable for me.

TechNet Azure webcast - now available for viewing

In Q1 we did a number of events in the Central Region of the US on the topic of Azure.  Budgets being what they are these days, we can’t go everywhere but fear not, we recorded the sessions from the Nashville, TN event.  Here are the links to those recordings.  You can watch the streaming version or download for offline viewing. 

Since we also delivered a develop focused version in the afternoon of the event, I also included the link below to the MSDN session.

TechNet Events Presents: Real World Azure – Live Meeting

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032428582&EventCategory=3&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

MSDN Events Presents: Real World Azure - Live Meeting

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032428630&EventCategory=3&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Here's the Silverlight streaming version of this webcast.

The hard-luck life of a Browns fan

Had this article forwarded to me, thanks John!

Hard-Luck Life of a Browns Fan 

Go Browns!

TechNet & MSDN Events Present: Highlights from “the New Efficiency” Launch

Two System Center betas Announced: System Center Essentials and Data Protection Manager

I just got wind of two

System Center Essentials 2010

More information on SCE here:

• Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/systemcenteressentials/archive/2009/09/29/sce-2010-public-beta-is-here.aspx
• Main Site: www.microsoft.com/SCE

SCE 2010 is designed specifically for mid-sized organizations and delivers a unified physical and virtual IT management experience.

It enables you to better secure, update, monitor, and troubleshoot from a single console, so you can efficiently and proactively manage your IT environment:

• A unified solution with a single console for managing your physical and virtual servers, client computers, hardware, software, and IT services
• Smart alert notifications of IT issues, providing expert diagnostic information to accelerate problem diagnosis and quickly resolve issues before they cause downtime
• Simplify complex management tasks, like creation of virtual servers, software deployment, update management, and inventory collection
• Designed to be easy to deploy and maintain, exclusively for mid-sized organizations

System Center Data Protection Manager 2010

More information on DPM here:

• Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/jbuff/archive/2009/09/29/announcing-the-beta-for-dpm-2010.aspx
• Main Site: www.microsoft.com/DPM

There are lots of reasons to be excited about DPM 2010.  Here are a few:

• Virtualization folks get item-level restore from within VM backups, as well as support for LiveMigration (CSV) scenarios for Hyper-V R2
• SharePoint folks lose the need for a Recovery Farm and gain auto-protection of new content databases
• SQL Server administrators get auto-protection at a SQL instance level, huge scalability increases and a self-service restore utility for DBAs
• Exchange managers get support for Exchange 2010, including DAG configurations, as well as CCR/SCR
• Windows client users get protection and recovery for remote laptops, with protection online and offline
• Disaster Recovery planners get lots of new options around multi-site chaining and protection between sites

Interviewed: Windows Server 2008 R2 Overview

Normally I am the one giving the interviews, well the table was definitely turned on me this time.  David Giard was able to sit me down for a few minutes after my event in Columbus, OH. 

We had a brief chat on Windows Server 2008 R2 and what you can expect to get from the product.

Take a look at the interview here:

http://www.davidgiard.com/2009/09/28/MattHesterOnWindowsServer2008R2.aspx

Books of the Month for October 2009: Dean Koontz's Frankenstein Trilogy

For this month I have chosen a Halloween treat for everyone.  I have chosen a relatively new trilogy for you by Dean Koontz.  Dean Koontz wrote his own twist on the Frankenstein story.  This is almost a retelling of this legendary story and he did a wonderful spooky story in 3 parts:

Prodigal Son

City of Night

Dead and Alive

The great thing for you is if you enjoy these stories you can read all stories back to back.  Even though the books have been re-published they originally came out close to 3 years ago.  What this meant for me is quite simply I had to wait nearly a year between each book.  Which in a word: Sucks!!!  Especially when each book gives you no sense of closure and leave you looking over the edge of cliff…..aaarrggggghhhh.  This is really the only negative thing I have to say about the books.

Dean Koontz set the story in the city of New Orleans, and moved the Frankenstein story into modern times, and yes the 2 original principal characters are still in play.  Dean also adds in a detective, her son and partner into the mix and you are set in a wild ride.  This is vintage Koontz, where he takes you down separate plot lines, chapter-to-chapter until the cross paths.  This is the fun part of reading the book, as you get sucked into a plot line from one chapter, the very next takes you down another road.  Sometimes I would skip a chapter to continue the chapter I was on.

These books tell a great story in an interesting and new way, and I think you would enjoy.  If you have read the books, let me know and if you pick them up let me know what you think.  Enjoy

IT Pro Momentum powered Windows 7 Project

Here is another Windows 7 upgrade project, powered by the IT Pro momentum program.  The only issue they are currently working on is a POS system.  Overall interesting project.  Enjoy!

Objectives of the project:  Begin to roll-out Windows 7/Windows Server 2008. Problems we set out to solve were for sure Driver incompatibilities. We have mostly Windows XP machines and were eager to see what Windows 7 had to offer and how it was going to handle the older hardware/software

Are you piloting or deploying the products?  Right now we are in piloting products with windows 7. We are planning on moving forward with this.

Products used in the project: Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008

Project description:  Deploying windows 7 on test machine checking for stability, reliability, and compatibility with older hardware/software. As of now we are having trouble with drivers for printers and software that runs point of sale software. But other than than we are really enjoying this experience

Are you going to save money?  How much over how many years? Yes/no Were currently gathering figures for you right now.

What do you think about the IT Pro Momentum program?   This program is awesome. A great way for people like me to test software that is out and make sure or at least try to keep our company up-to-date with everything. Without this program we would probably not be planning on rolling out windows 7 any time soon. There is nothing I would change about this program.

Become a System Center Configuration Manager and Operations Manager R2 Guru!

My good friend Kerrie Meyler, is already a guru and her books can help you get there.  Kerrie has written one great book on System Center Configuration Manager 2007.

She is also is writing another great book on System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2.  The trick with R2 is currently only being scheduled to be in electronic form, unless there are enough pre-orders for the book.  So if you want to get a hard copy of the R2 book, check it and you can read more about her upcoming book here:

In Development – System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 Unleashed

Enjoy the books and if you have read her books, let me know what you think!