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Come and get an overview of the new features and capabilities of Internet Explorer 8.

IE8 has plenty of exciting new features for web developers, consumers and IT Professionals.

Leading the charge is a brand new rendering engine engineered from the ground up that renders websites stringently using today's web standards.

We will introduce you to this new engine along with Web Slices and Activities. We will then demonstrate for the first time features added after the first public beta of Internet Explorer 8!

Presented by Matt Heller from Microsoft US. Click here for more information.

Please register using the links below:ie8

Christchurch 8th September: 2pm
Christchurch Convention Centre Register

Wellington 10th September: 2pm - Sold Out
Microsoft Wellington

Wellington Session 2 10th September: 3.30pm
Microsoft Wellington Register

Auckland 12th September: 11am
Microsoft Auckland Register

IE8Blog2 We’re excited to release IE8 Beta 2 today for public download. You can find it at http://www.microsoft.com/ie8. Please try it out!

You’ll find versions for 32- and 64-bit editions of Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008.

While Beta 1 was for developers, we think that anyone who browses or works on the web will enjoy IE8 Beta 2. We focused our work around three themes: everyday browsing (the things that real people do all the time), safety (the term most people use for what we’ve called ‘trustworthy’ in previous posts), and the platform (the focus of Beta 1, how developers around the world will build the next billion web pages and the next waves of great services).

Checkout this blog post at our NZ IE8 blog for more information.

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An official source of Windows 7 information - Steven Sinofsky and Jon DeVaan have started a new blog called Engineering Windows 7.  If you’re interested in Windows 7, you should probably add this blog to your RSS reader.

Not a lot of detailed information there yet, but expect many more posts as we get closer to WinHEC and PDC 2008 events in the US, late this calendar year.

Engineering Windows 7

TN_Sept-08

ISA Server: A Guide to Securing ISA Server 2006

Many organisations rely on ISA Server 2006 to secure their environment, but few take the important step of securing ISA Server itself. Here’s a guide to using the Security Configuration Wizard and Administrative roles to limit its attack surface and secure your ISA Server 2006 implementation.

ISA Server: Enhance TS Gateway Security with ISA Server 2006

Using the new TS Gateway feature, Windows Server 2008 enables users to access their desktops from anywhere, without using a VPN. Find out how you can publish the TS Gateway through ISA Server 2006 and extend the ISA Server 2006 publishing scenario to include client health enforcement.

IIS 7.0: Top 10 Performance Improvements in IIS 7.0

The latest release of IIS introduces a modular and extensible platform with improved support for common deployment and management scenarios, enabling significant performance improvements. Here’s a look at 10 key areas in IIS 7.0 that provide these improvements.

Mobility: Take Your Line of Business Applications Mobile

Many mobile professionals today need the line of business applications they use in the office (CRM, ERP, and the like) to be accessible from a mobile device when they are in the field. See how Windows Mobile and Mobile Device Manager allow you to deploy rich mobile functionality for critical line of business applications.

Security: Understanding Shared Account Password Management

Shared and privileged account passwords are commonplace, but far too many organisations fail to adequately manage these shared passwords. This creates a serious security issue. Explore the risks involved with shared and privileged accounts, and discover better approaches to managing more secure passwords.

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Its up and running live @ https://aunz.msteched.com/nz/ so you can now start planning your TechEd experience and deciding on the sessions.

Login using your login & password that have been emailed to you, select your favourite speakers and tracks and build your own session plan for this year's event. Your session plan allows you to get the most out of Tech Ed 2008 and assists us with our room capacity planning. (Actual seats are allocated at sessions on a first come first serve basis.)

More info on Darryl’s blog here

If you’re MCP certified bring along your MCP card and get some free swag from Trika

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The "Mojave Experiment" 

Imagine if you had never seen or used Windows Vista, but hated it because of some negative things that you had heard or read somewhere. Then you were asked to evaluate a new Microsoft client Operating System, called "Mojave" and after the demo you absolutely loved it. 

Then you find out that it is actually Windows Vista

You can see the results of this experiment here http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/

mojave_1

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Some interesting upcoming training (LiveMeeting) available later this week for Microsoft Partners:

 

Understanding Microsoft's Licensing in Virtualised environments

Microsoft offers numerous virtualisation solutions, and proactive licensing policies, that provide a flexible framework for cost-effective virtualisation.  This session is intended to share the Microsoft licensing strategy for Virtualised environments, and provide best practices around engaging and working with customers in each area.  

In this session we will cover:

  • A Virtualisation overview, understanding the different areas of Virtualisation
  • An overview of Server Virtualisation, V-Motion (live Migration), Disaster Recovery and Clustering and the Licensing Ramification of each
  • A look at emerging areas of Virtualisation like (VDI, VECD, ACE and Kidaro) and concerns and questions you should be asking
  • How to talk licensing to a VMware customer, and using Microsoft's proactive licensing story as an asset in those conversations.
  • And overview of the significant licensing changes Microsoft will be announcing come 2 August (NZ time)

Register here: (you will need to sign into the Partner portal)

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=248725

With New Zealand Tech Ed 2008 selling out so quickly, we know there are many disappointed customers who missed out on securing tickets.  An option for some may be to attend Tech Ed 2008 in Australia.  Held in Sydney on 2-5 September, Tech Ed Australia features the same tracks and many of the same speakers as the New Zealand event. 

To help counter the additional travel costs, we have been able to secure a 20% discount on Tech Ed Australia registrations: reduced to $1,600 AUD, including GST (from $1,999).  This offer is available only to New Zealand based customers. 

To register and take advantage of this offer, please follow the steps below:

1. Click on link to Tech Ed 2008 home page: http://www.microsoft.com.au/teched/

2. Click on the Register now button

3. Select Tech Ed 2008 only registration

4. Select Code Customer

5. Enter the NZ delegates code: NZT899 and continue with the registration process

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The Windows Home Server team has whsjust recently released the much anticipated Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 and is now available on the Microsoft Download Centre!

Additional details can be found on the Windows Home Server team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver/archive/2008/07/21/power-pack-1-come-and-get-it.aspx

 

Power Pack 1 provides a range of improvements. These include the following:

• Support for home computers that are running Windows Vista x64 editions

• Backup of Home Server shared folders

• Improvements to remote access

• More efficient power consumption

• Improved performance

Additionally, this update resolves the data corruption issue described here

 

Additional resources:

Windows Home Server Community Forums

Windows Home Server Release Documentation

Power Pack 1 KB Article (KB944289)

Windows Home Server Home Page

Online and available for download here, highlights include:

technetaug08 SQL Server: Top Tips for Effective Database Maintenance
Far too often, people who are not trained database administrators somehow end up responsible for a database. They lack the proper training and knowledge to maintain their database, and problems begin to develop. Here’s a primer for all those involuntary DBAs  who need a crash course in database maintenance best practices.

Windows Administration: Taking Your Server’s Pulse
Your users are complaining that a server is running poorly—do you know where to look to diagnose the problem? PerfMon can be an indispensable tool for this as it has numerous diagnostic capabilities. Get an overview of the key indicators you should use to diagnose a variety of common bottlenecks that can slow down your servers.

System Center: Windows PowerShell in System Center Operations Manager
Windows PowerShell has been integrated into System Center Operations Manager 2007, offering a powerful way to perform and automate common administrative tasks. Get an overview of how you can use Windows PowerShell in OpsMgr to perform routine maintenance, manage agents, and more.

Internet Information Services: Scaling ASP.NET Applications: Lessons Learned
The key to successfully scaling an ASP.NET application is having a collaborative effort between developers and network administrators, starting at the beginning of the application’s lifecycle. Find out what factors are necessary to scale an application, and see how this collaboration can help ensure the application will run as intended.

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It’s Hyper-V day today, early this morning NZ time we made Windows Server 2008 fully Server Unleashed with the Release of Hyper-V.

IT24-7_B_10x7

Microsoft entered the Server Virtualisation space in a big way - with the release of the Hyper-V role, we will really see Server Virtualisation usage increase in a big way, now a Hypervisor is available with the OS – a proper enterprise class Virtualisation solution built into the Windows Server Platform.

A major differentiator for Hyper-V is the integration with and familiarity of the Windows platform.

We’ve had nearly 1.5 million downloads of the Hyper-V beta!  Hyper-V is ready for the masses - QLogic today announced an I/O benchmark just 10 percent shy of native performance for VM connections through Hyper-V - bringing the virtualisation advantages to the most demanding requirements.

Microsoft itself has been using Hyper-V in production environments, including Microsoft.com and MSDN / TechNet. MSDN has more than 3 million average page views per day, TechNet averages more than 1 million per day, and Microsoft.com averages more than 38 million per day. By the end of June, Microsoft.com is targeted to be 50 percent virtualised with Hyper-V.

Already running Windows Server 2008? Download Hyper-V now…

Download details: Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB950050)

(this is the installer package for x64 and installs into the Hyper-V parent partition, either Full or Core installations) will also be available on Windows Update from July 9 (NZ time)

If you’ve already been using the betas or RCs of Hyper-V you will definitely want to ready this resource page on how to install Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V including:

  • Prerequisites
  • Pre-installation Steps for Migrating from the Beta
  • Steps for Migrating from the RC0/RC1 to RTM
  • Enabling the Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V role
  • Migrating from Hyper-V Beta to RTM
  • Managing Hyper-V via MMC
  • Operating System Availability
  • Recommended Hardware Devices
  • Partner Tested Hardware
  • Removing Hyper-V

 

Hyper-V related websites, blogs and webcasts:

Videos:

Websites:

Blogs:

Webcasts:

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032368894&CountryCode=US

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032372420&CountryCode=US

We have received a lot of feedback from customers about the need for the Remote Desktop Connection client 6.1 to be made available as a standalone install for Windows XP SP2 to ease deployments of Windows 2008 Terminal Services.

In response to this feedback, we have released the Remote Desktop Connection client (RDC 6.1) for Windows XP SP2 on x86 platforms.

You can download RDC6.1 for Windows XP SP2 from the Microsoft Download Center (KB 952155)

These are some of the supported features of Remote Desktop Client 6.1 for Windows XP SP2:

  • Windows Server 2008 & Windows Vista feature support
  • TS Web Access support
  • TS Easy Print support
  • TS Remote Programs support
  • TS Gateway support

Please review the complete list of features and details about RDC6.1 for Windows XP SP2 in this Knowledge Base article.

RDC6.1 is now available on the following platforms:

This question came up during the Hyper-V section of the Exchange 2007 TechNet UNPLUGGED session today, so I thought I would blog the details and URLs of the Server Virtualisation Validation Program (SVVP) http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/svvp/default.aspx

 

The Server Virtualisation Validation Program (SVVP) is open to any vendor who delivers a virtualisation machine solution that hosts Windows Server 2008, Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 4 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 and subsequent service packs. The virtualisation solution can either be hypervisor-based or a hosted solution. The program enables vendors to validate various configurations so that customers of Windows Server can receive technical support in virtualised environments. Customers with validated solutions will benefit from the support provided by Microsoft as a part of the regular Windows Server technical support framework.


The Server Virtualisation Validation Program is not a logo program, rather a reference that companies and customers will be able to use in conjunction with their validated solutions.


Validated Configurations Submissions Open in June 2008
The upcoming list of validated configurations will enable customers to identify what scenarios have been tested and validated to work with Windows Server, similar to a support matrix for hardware devices. A validated configuration will consist of a specific version of third-party server virtualisation software, a specific version of Windows Server, and a specific WHQL-certified hardware configuration. Additional information will be listed with the respective hardware configuration to enable customers to obtain support for their virtualisation configuration.

Participating Vendors
The following companies who supply server virtualisation software to the marketplace have formally committed to participate in the Server Virtualisation Validation Program. Microsoft is working with them to validate their solutions as platforms for Windows Server 2008. Please contact them directly for any additional information.

    Citrix Systems, Inc.
    Novell, Inc.
    Sun Microsystems
    Virtual Iron Software
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What is the purpose of this alert?

This alert is to notify you that Microsoft has released Security Advisory 954462 – Rise in SQL Injection Attacks Exploiting Unverified User Data Input - on 24 June 2008.

Summary

Microsoft is aware of a recent escalation in a class of attacks targeting Web sites that use Microsoft ASP and ASP.NET technologies but do not follow best practices for secure Web application development. These SQL injection attacks do not exploit a specific software vulnerability, but instead target Web sites that do not follow secure coding practices for accessing and manipulating data stored in a relational database. When a SQL injection attack succeeds, an attacker can compromise data stored in these databases and possibly execute remote code. Clients browsing to a compromised server could be forwarded unknowingly to malicious sites that may install malware on the client machine.

The purpose of Security Advisory 954462 is to assist Web site administrators in identifying possible issues with their Web application code being susceptible to possible SQL injection attacks and to provide a stopgap solution to mitigate SQL injection attacks against the server while the applications are being fixed.

Recommendations

Review Microsoft Security Advisory 954462 for an overview of the issue, details on affected components, mitigating factors, suggested actions, frequently asked questions (FAQ) and links to additional resources.

Additional Resources

· Microsoft Security Advisory 954462 – Rise in SQL Injection Attacks Exploiting Unverified User Data Input - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/954462.mspx

· MSRC Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/msrc

· Links to other documentation on SQL Injection and coding best practices

SQL Server Injection Protection

Preventing SQL Injections in ASP

Coding Techniques for protecting against SQL Injection

Filtering SQL Injection from Classic ASP

How To: Protect from SQL Injection in ASP .NET

Security Vulnerability Research & Defense Blog on SQL Injection Attack

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Just a quick reminder about next weeks UNPLUGGED TechNet event series, this month on Exchange Server 2007.  Please register if you intend to come along, hope to see you there...

 e12iconCome along to this month’s TechNet UNPLUGGED event to get up to speed with the latest enhancements to the Exchange Server platform. Find out how Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 gives you more control, enables anywhere access to your e-mail inbox, and provides built-in security and protection mechanisms.


We will cover:

  • The new Exchange Management Console and describe how the improved management interface is simpler for you to use and quicker for you to navigate.
  • Windows PowerShell, the new administrative interface that provides a rich command-line experience.
  • Significant client improvements and transport rules in Exchange Server 2007 including SP1 enhancements such as Office Outlook Web Access (OWA), increased availability models, new management tasks, such as public folder administration built into the Exchange Management Console.
  • Demo CAS Certificate Configuration, Standby Continuous Replication (SCR) for Exchange 2007 SP1 and discuss how Exchange Unified Communications relates to Office Communications Server 2007.

Join us in the morning of Wellington (24 June), Auckland (25 June) and Christchurch (26 June).

This month's speaker is Sandy Millar, Architect, Microsoft Consulting Services, Microsoft NZ.

UNPLUGGED

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