Rob Costello : General

Daylight Savings Changes - October 2008

robcost — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:01:07 GMT

It's that time again, when Daylight Savings changes need to be applied. Please read the guidance below and make sure you don't get caught out...

In October this year, we will again be experiencing Daylight Savings changes in Australia. These changes can have a significant impact on business performance if not dealt with proactively. These effects can range from the incorrect time display on the clock, to calendaring problems, to financial and reputation loss if business critical services fail.

Daylight saving now commences on the first Sunday in October and ends on the first Sunday in April in Australia Eastern (New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania) and Central (South Australia). This change affects Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office Outlook and other Microsoft, third party and custom applications. Please find below some of the key things you need to know.

What is the impact of Daylight Savings changes?

Effects can range from the incorrect time display on the clock, to calendaring problems, to financial and reputation loss if business critical services fail.

The 5^th of October commences the second window of time zone harmonisation for this year, however, we expect a greater impact in October as the change is 21 days difference, whereas the adjustment earlier in the year was only 7 days.

What is affected?

- All Microsoft Windows PC, server and mobile devices in the affected time zones must be updated to ensure accuracy of internal time zone tables and correct operation of the system clock.

- Microsoft Office Outlook calendars may need to be adjusted. Client and Server-based tools are available to automate this service.

- Microsoft, third party and custom applications which schedule events at future dates should be reviewed to ensure they will operate correctly during the extended daylight saving period. Previously scheduled events may also need to be adjusted.

- Microsoft recommends that all PC and server systems are updated regardless of location to ensure consistency of operation.

What do I need to do?

Thorough planning and testing for these changes is critical to ensure the change results in minimal user impact, so to help customers prepare Microsoft has developed the Australia 2008 Daylight Saving Planning document which details the nature and impact of the DST changes, along with planning guidance to avoid user impact.

What if the systems have been previously patched?

Where servers, workstations and mobile devices have been added to the infrastructure, organisations will need to audit their environment to ensure all systems are patched according to the organisation’s Daylight Savings Plan.

Where the environment does not have a consistent Daylight Savings Time (DST) patch level, appointments may have been created with a mix of correct and incorrect DST transition dates. Furthermore, Microsoft recommends customers update all systems to ensure consistency of operation, even if none of your systems are in the affected time zones.

Planning for Daylight Savings changes

Microsoft has revised the Australia 2008 Daylight Saving Planning Guide with learnings from the April transition and additional considerations for the October transition. Download the guide and update your daylight savings plan.

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Is Your Mobile Phone Another Vital Organ?

robcost — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:20:18 GMT

Well, turns out mine is. I'm in Sydney this week for the Unified Communications Voice Ignite workshop (and going to KL next week), and I forgot to pack two very critical pieces of hardware. Firstly, my Western Digital 250Gb external drive. Usually, that little thing goes everywhere with me. Secondly, but what turns out to be most critical of all, is my charger for my Samsung Blackjack mobile phone.

I did bring my spare battery, but that didn't last long at all, so I've been going since about 12 noon yesterday without a mobile phone. As it turns out, I use that little puppy a lot more than I thought. It's got my email, contacts, calendar, notes and a bunch of other stuff that a standard Windows Mobile phone has these days. It's only when your forced to go without it that you realise how much you've come to need it, and I need it bad.

So I've been roaming the streets of Sydney the last two nights trying to find a store with a charger, but to no avail, so for one more night and day I will be phone-less. Seriously, I feel like I'm running with one piston down without my phone.

So finally, to end this rather pointless entry, I'd like to send out some thank you's:

To Samsung, for making a great, neigh, absolutely awesome phone, with a completely useless non-standard USB connection. I have my USB cable with me, but turns out it's only good for syncing, not charging. Great.
To all the phone stores in the Sydney CBD, for not stocking any chargers for the Blackjacks. Apparently they aren't that popular.
To my wife, for running to the post office today to post me my forgotten items, thanks darling.

OCS Edge Deployments

robcost — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:11:10 GMT

Ok, so we know the OCS 2007 Edge Server Deployment Guide has heaps of great details on how to get your Edge deployment up and running, but it can be a little confusing, especially around some of the different firewall scenario's that people have. Some people have plenty of external IP address, some don't have many spare, some people have external and internal firewalls, some have a 3-leg firewall. It can get confusing, believe-you-me.

Jeff Schertz from PointBridge has a great post on some of these scenarios and good explanations of how you implement them. Check it out here...

https://blogs.pointbridge.com/Blogs/schertz_jeff/Pages/Post.aspx?_ID=19

Technorati Tags: OCS, Edge Deployment

Long Time, No Blog

robcost — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:04:25 GMT

Wow, so I've just realised it's been a couple of months since I've been blogging. Things have been pretty crazy lately, with Christmas/New Year, tons of work going on, renovating rental properties, blah blah blah.

Well now I'm back, so expect to see some more content coming soon.

Just Mo It - Week 1 Update

robcost — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:27:56 GMT

Well the Mo is coming along quite nicely, chicks dig it, and dudes tell me all the time they wish they were as manly as me.

Any-who, here's my 1-week old Mo...

Technorati Tags: Movember

Just Mo It

robcost — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 05:32:31 GMT

Gentleman,

Are you ready to be challenged?

We are now in Movember (the month formally known as November), and it’s time for you join up and help raise money and awareness about male health issues.

The aim of Movember is to change these attitudes, make male health fun by putting the Mo back on the face of fashion and in the process raise some serious funds for key male health issues, including:

· Prostate Cancer: because every year in Australia 2,900 men die of prostate cancer - equivalent to the number of women who die from breast cancer annually. [ Find out more ].

· Male Depression: because one in six men experience depression at any given time but most don't seek help. [ Find out more ].

The money raised by Movember is donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative, which will use the funds to create awareness, fund research and increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer and male depression.

At the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. The Movember participants known as Mo Bros then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache.

If you would like to register, go to the Movember website at: http://www.movember.com/au/

Movember culminates at the end of the month at the Gala Partés. These glamorous and groomed events will see Tom Selleck and Borat look-a-likes battle it out for their chance to take home the prestigious Man of Movember title. If you would like to be part of this great night you'll need to purchase a Gala Parté ticket . If you raise more than $100 then you get a free ticket to the Parté!!!

If you would like to support my Mo, please go to http://www.movember.com/au/donate, enter my registration number which is 127616 and your credit card details. Or you can sponsor me by cheque made payable to the "Movember Foundation" clearly marking the donation as being for my Registration Number: 127616. Please mail cheques to: PO Box 292, Prahran VIC 3181 Australia. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.

X-Wing Update - it broke

robcost — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 02:28:27 GMT

Well they launched the Real Life X-Wing yesterday. Check out the video for yourself, the story is to sad to tell...

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/boom/x+wing-rocket-launches-disintegrates-mid+air-307945.php

Real Life X-Wing

robcost — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:27:06 GMT

So this is a little off-topic for a techo's blog, or some might think this is a very appropriate place for it. This is so cool, a bunch of nerds have built a real Star Wars X-Wing, which they are actually going to fly!!! It's powered by four solid-fuel rocket engines complete with radio-controlled moving wings!!! How cool is they hey?!

Check out the full story here...

http://www.polecataerospace.com/X-Wing.htm

Daylight Savings Time Updates

robcost — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 03:12:08 GMT

We've released some videos to detail how to handle the current round of DST updates.

Check them out here...

DST: How to Address Daylight Saving Time by Using the Exchange Calendar Data Update Tool
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=341747

DST: Using the Outlook v2.0 Time Zone Data Update Tool
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=341649

DST: Cumulative Time Zone Update for Microsoft Windows
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=341535

Or you can check out the KB articles...

How to address daylight saving time by using the Exchange Calendar Update Tool

How to address the daylight saving time changes in 2007 by using the Time Zone Data Update Tool

Technorati Tags: Daylight Savings Time Update

New Windows Server Virtualization Video

robcost — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:07:22 GMT

Keith Combs has put together a great screencast video demonstrating the cool new features of Windows Server Virtualization, which will be available as a new role in Windows Server 2008 (actually it will RTM after Server 08 is released, but it's very close).

Check out the full post here...

Windows Server 2008 screencast - Virtualization 10 Minute Tour

Or the video is available for download or you can stream it off the web here...

Video for download: http://keithcombs.members.winisp.net/screencast/WSvTour.wmv
Streaming video: mms://wm.microsoft.com/ms/inetpub/keithcombs/ws2008/WSvTour.wmv

For more information on Virtualization tools from Microsoft...

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualization/default.mspx

Technorati Tags: Virtualization, Windows Server Virtualization, Windows Server 2008

System Center Virtual Machine Manager RTM's

robcost — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 03:42:34 GMT

Some huge news today, as we've just announced that System Center Virtual Machine Manager has Released To Manufacturing. How cool is that hey?!?!?!

Check out the full post on the Windows Virtualization Nation Blog here... http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/archive/2007/09/06/system-center-virtual-machine-manager-huge-announcements.aspx

Some major points from the announcement:

SCVMM will manage Virtual Server and Windows Server Virtualization.
Licensing information is included.
A workgroup edition is available for managing 5 physical machines with UNLIMITED virtual's.
In our next set of releases will be adding support for non-Windows virtualization environments – specifically VMWare and Xen.

For all the details of System Center Virtual Machine Manager check out the product site here... http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/scvmm/default.mspx

Technorati Tags: System Center, Virtualization, Virtual Machine Manager, SCVMM

New OCS and OC Blogs

robcost — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 03:57:19 GMT

There are two new blogs from our Office Communications Server and Office Communicator teams, check them out here...

Communications Server Team Blog - http://communicationsserverteam.com/default.aspx

Communicator Team Blog - http://communicatorteam.com/default.aspx

Technorati Tags: Office Communications Server, Unified Communications, Blogs

64-bit Exchange in Microsoft

robcost — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 07:34:07 GMT

I just came across this great article called Going 64-bit with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. It's been out for a while, but still has lots of relevant details on how Microsoft deployed Exchange 2007 internally, including hardware sizing and differences between Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2003. If you're planning a large deployment of Exchange 2007 and want to know how we did it, this article is a great read.

Blurb from the article:

Almost two years prior to the Microsoft® Exchange Server product group's decision to support Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 on the 64-bit platform only, the Microsoft Information Technology (Microsoft IT) group began to migrate from 32-bit to 64-bit server hardware. All server computers purchased for messaging purposes after the year 2004 are 64-bit systems and suitable for Exchange Server 2007. By running the new Exchange Server version on the 64-bit platform, Microsoft IT can keep pace with ever-increasing performance expectations, raise mailbox quotas by up to a factor of 10, lower storage costs, and eliminate tape backups to save an additional $5 million U.S. per year.

Technorati Tags: Exchange 2007, 64-bit

Blogging is so old school, bring on Facebook

robcost — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:21:48 GMT

Ok, so I've given in after being harassed by some "friends". Even though I've been blogging for over 3 years now, apparently I'm not cool if I don't have a Facebook site.

The whole social networking website thingy is new to me, but it only took a couple of days on there to convince me it's a great way to find and communicate with people. Just more proof I think that the Web 2.0 phenomenon is actually something real.

So, if you want to be "cool", then add me to your Facebook friends.

I think I might have to investigate this new social network stuff some more, maybe setup a MySpace next.... kidding!!!

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Social Networking

Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta 2

robcost — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 03:53:49 GMT

We've just released Beta 2 of Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1. We are distributing the release through MSDN and TechNet Plus subscriptions.

Some features include:

Standby Continuous Replication – Now Exchange's built-in log file shipping can be used to keep a standby server up-to-date. This is great for organizations who need to quickly recover from datacenter-level failures, such as those caused by power failures or natural disasters.
Office Communications Server 2007 integration - Certain OCS 2007 and Office Communicator 2007 qualified devices will work with Exchange Server 2007 for added functionality like a new message indicator that shows when a user has new voice mail messages waiting in their inbox. Now you can also use your Office Communicator 2007 client to call Outlook Voice Access directly without the need to enter an access number, extension, or pin as it uses your Communicator credentials to authenticate.
Windows Server 2008 support - Exchange now runs on Windows Server 2003 SP2 and Windows Server 2008. The update also allows Exchange Server 2007 management tools to run on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Among other benefits, Windows Server 2008 clustering will make it easier for companies to deploy geographically dispersed Exchange Server clusters.
Exchange ActiveSync Policies - New policies in SP1 build on Exchange Server 2007's security and management features with new policies for synchronization, authentication, and encryption. For more advanced data protection needs, Exchange Server 2007 SP1 also offers device, network, and application controls. These new features allow network administrators to help manage and secure Exchange ActiveSync enabled mobile devices.

Overall, these features should add up to greater security, easier management, and advanced mobility tools for our customers. You can check out a full list of the features included in SP1 Beta 2 here.

There's also some new eye-candy in this beta of SP1, with two new themes added, XBOX360 and ZUNE!!!

Technorati Tags: Exchange, SP1, Beta