To celebrate the Web's 40th anniversary, DARPA wants to explore social networking's role in time-critical communication. It's offering $40,000 in hard cash to the first entrant who finds ten 8-foot weather balloons located at fixed locations around the U.S.
Registration begins on December 1, and the balloons will appear on December 5. The first to submit the latitude and longitude of all ten balloons walks away with the cash. Pretty cool. Full rules at: [DARPA via BoingBoing]
Thanks to Neil Johnson over at MSUKUCC for this cool snippet of PowerShell goodness;
Everyone knows its a good idea to automate your installations of Exchange. It provides a solid, repeatable process by which to deploy your infrastructure – and it takes less time to complete the process – a real win/win!.
One area that I have witnessed repeatedly over the last 12 months or so is organisations automating their OS build and Exchange build, but deploying the Exchange pre-requisites manually. This obviously leads to inconsistencies in the built out environment.
Since Windows Server 2008 we have been able to automate the pre-requisites deployment with “servermanagercmd” and appropriate xml files for each role. However, in Windows Server 2008 R2 this method is deprecated.
Instead of “servermanagercmd” in Server 2008 R2 and SP2 we use a powershell cmdlet “add-windowsfeature”
As a quick example, if you are installing the Client Access, Hub Transport and Mailbox roles onto a single server (and i expect this to be the common 2010 deployment) the following PowerShell commands will take care of the pre-requisites for you…
This is discussed in more detail, including the features required for each specific role here : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354(EXCHG.140).aspx#WS08R2
I have been asked by a few people now to consolidate a list of public webcasts regard the new functionality of Exchange 2010. Luckly the Exchange team have saved me the hard work by publishing the following great topic list on thier blog;
MsEvents featured an eleven-part webcast series on Exchange 2010 during June and July of 2009. These webcasts are now available for on-demand viewing. Simply select the webcast you would like to view from the list below, register for the webcast, and then select how you would like to download the file. NEW! TechNet webcast: Storage in Exchange 2010 Exchange 2010 High Availability TechNet Webcast: Exchange 2010 Overview TechNet Webcast: Exchange 2010 Management Tools TechNet Webcast: Exchange 2010 Archiving and Retention TechNet Webcast: Exchange 2010 Architecture TechNet Webcast: Federation in Exchange 2010 TechNet Webcast: Exchange 2010 Voice Mail enabled by Unified Messaging TechNet Webcast: Exchange 2010 Information Protection and Control TechNet Webcast: Exchange 2010 Transition and Deployment As always - feedback welcome :)
Exchange 2010 carries on the tradition begun in Exchange Server 2007 of dramatically reducing mailbox storage costs. View this webcast and learn how we've enabled new levels of storage flexibility in Exchange 2010 and find out the technical details that will help you select the right storage for your Exchange 2010 environment. https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mseventsbmo/view?id=1032418920&role=attend&pw=6064172E
Welcome to the future! The future of Exchange high availability, that is. In this webcast, we reveal the changes and improvements to the built-in high availability platform in Exchange Server 2010. Exchange 2010 includes a unified framework for high availability and disaster recovery that is quick to deploy and easy to manage. Learn about all of the new features in Exchange 2010 that make it the most resilient, highly available version of Exchange ever.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032416676&Culture=en-US
This webcast will introduce you to Exchange Server 2010, reviewing the major areas of investment for this release and highlighting marquee features.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032416679&Culture=en-US
Exchange 2010 includes new capabilities that make the operation of your Exchange environment more efficient. Learn how we've made the Exchange Management Console more powerful, extended the reach of PowerShell, and made it easier to delegate management tasks.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032416687&Culture=en-US
This webcast will introduce new ways to address archiving and retention with Exchange Server 2010.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032416694&Culture=en-US
This webcast describes the overall architecture of Exchange 2010 and key considerations for the scalability and performance of each server role. This webcast will provide the background and framework for the other Exchange 2010 webcasts, serving as a bridge between the overview session and drill-downs in each product area. This webcast is a recommended pre-requisite for the Exchange 2010 transition and deployment webcast.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032416706&Culture=en-US
Federation is a key part of the architecture of Exchange 2010, powering new organization-to-organization sharing scenarios. Learn how federation enhances the capabilities of Exchange 2010 and enables advanced coexistence between Exchange Server and Exchange Online.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032416724&Culture=en-US
Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging is Microsoft's second generation unified messaging and voice mail solution. In this webcast, learn about the features, benefits, and architecture of Unified Messaging in Exchange 2010.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032416726&Culture=en-US
This webcast will introduce you to new ways to address information protection and control with Exchange Server 2010. A discussion of the use of encryption and rights management in parallel with Exchange will be included as well as an introduction to new functionality in Exchange that supports information protection scenarios.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032416728&Culture=en-US
In this session we will cover the migration planning and deployment path to move an organization from Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032416708&Culture=en-US
The Exchange team have announced a good webcast coming up next week to discuss recommendations for virtualizing Exchange server and the benefits of choosing Hyper-V + System Center as your virtualization solution. Heres hoping they talk about Exchnage 2010!
TechNet Webcast: Microsoft Virtualization Best Practices for Exchange Server (Level 300)
Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 10am Pacific time - Expect an offline download to be available shortly afterwards
Virtualizing business critical applications will deliver significant customer benefits including cost savings, enhanced business continuity and an agile and efficient management solution. This session will focus on virtualizing Exchange using Microsoft solutions, and guidance for virtualizing Exchange for various Production scenarios. We will go into technical details with best practices.
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The first Exchange 2010 exam has now gone live, also confirming the new Exchange 2010 track for the new product. Details here; Audience Profile
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| Credit Toward Certification - When you pass Exam 70-662: TS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Configuring, you complete the requirements for the following certification(s):
Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Configuration Exam 70-662: TS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Configuring: counts as credit toward the following certification(s):
Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP): Enterprise Messaging Administrator 2010
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Note This preparation guide is subject to change at any time without prior notice and at the sole discretion of Microsoft. Microsoft exams might include adaptive testing technology and simulation items. Microsoft does not identify the format in which exams are presented. Please use this preparation guide to prepare for the exam, regardless of its format. Get your exam booked today! |