• Hyper-V Best Practices Analyzer is now available for Windows Server 2008 R2

    For all of you that are running Hyper-V on demo machines or in production, this is a good reality check! http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977238

    See a screen capture of the Hyper-V BPA on my demo laptop:

    Microsoft Project 2010 

    As usual follow the documented best practices on TechNet to avoid the above :)

  • April 2010 Cumulative Update (CU) for Project Server 2007, Office SharePoint Server 2007, WSS and Project 2007 now available!

    Great News!  The latest Cumulative Update (CU) has been released: April 2010.  This include a number of fixes, so Microsoft strongly recommends that you test this in a test environment based on your production environment before putting this fix live in production. 

    The article below provides information on how to deploy the Project Server Cumulative Update: Deploy cumulative updates (Project Server 2007) http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd239177.aspx 

    We strongly recommend that you install WSS and Office Servers 2007 Service Pack 2.  The KB articles below provide information on how to download and install SP2 if you have not already done so.

    The server patches require that WSS and Office Servers 2007 SP1 be installed.  For clarity, SP1 is required and SP2 is strongly recommended.  Here are the links to the SP1 Server Patches for your convenience:

    The Server CU is released in two different versions.  The first version is in Individual Packages specific to a particular product like WSS and Project Server.  These are smaller downloads but they do not include language packs or patches for other products so patches for those products would have to be downloaded and installed separately. 

    The second version is the Server Rollup Packages.  This is a set of two rollup packages which contains all the fixes for WSS, Project Server and MOSS.  These packages should be used when MOSS is part of the deployment and/or you have language packs installed.  The Server Rollup Packages are much larger (~200MB each) but they will greatly simplify MOSS patch deployment.

    You can read about the fixes included in the April CU from the following articles:

    Note:  There may be a few day delay before all of the articles are published.  You can download the CU files through the links at the end of this email should the articles not be available when you click the link.  This will give you a head start on testing the patches in preparation for deploying them into production.

    Also check this blog post for more information: February 2010 Cumulative Update (CU) for Project Server 2007, Office SharePoint Server 2007, WSS and Project 2007 now available!

    Following a two month cycle, next Cumulative Update is due at the end of June 2010.

    Server Rollup Packages:

    Individual Product Packages:

    Client Installation:

    In order to install this hotfix, you will need to have Microsoft Project 2007 SP1 installed on the client. The article at the URL below contains information on how install download and install SP1 should you not have it installed already.

    Note:  We strongly recommend that you install Project 2007 SP2 from the information earlier in the article.

    Once we know that SP1 is installed, you will install the hotfix by performing the following steps:

      NOTE: Microsoft strongly recommends testing within a NON-Production environment prior to rollout. 

    1. Download the hotfix from either the KB Article or by using the information at the end of this email.
    2. Extract the patch package by running the .exe file that you downloaded.
    3. Run the extracted .exe file to apply the patch to your Project Professional/Standard SP1 client.
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 is RTM

    Exciting times at Microsoft, after Visual Studio 2010 and Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Project 2010, Project Server 2010, SQL 2008 R2 is RTM (press release: Microsoft Kicks Off Worldwide Launch of SQL Server 2008 R2). A good summary of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 can be found here: http://blogs.technet.com/dataplatforminsider/archive/2010/04/21/sql-server-2008-r2-released-to-manufacturing.aspx

    Also check out this free book that discusses the key enhancements to this release: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

    R2 is Here

  • Project Server 2010 – Coexisting with SharePoint Server 2010 webcast on April 21st

    Following this announcement at the beginning of March 2010: ANNOUNCING Microsoft Project Server 2010 IT Professional TechNet Webcast Series, don’t miss out tomorrow (April 21st) this free opportunity to learn from Jean-Francois LeSaux, EPM Lead Architect, Microsoft Corporation, Project Server 2010 - Coexisting with SharePoint Server 2010.

    Live at a browser near you starting at 8:30 Pacific Time (Seattle time!): https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032442979&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

    Webcast Agenda:

    • The Challenge
    • Deployment Scenarios Pros and Cons
    • Deployment Procedures
    • Resources

    As a reminder all upcoming and recorded webcasts and podcasts can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/epm.aspx

  • Capacity Management for SharePoint Server 2010 and Project Server 2010

    Now that we have announced the Project Server 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 Release To Manufacturing (Project 2010 reaches RTM!!!) a great series of assets went live last week to help you plan your 2010 Farm: Capacity Management for SharePoint Server 2010. Since Project Server 2010 is built on top of SharePoint Server 2010 it is key to fully understand how to do SharePoint capacity planning prior to performing Project Server capacity planning, both go hand in hand!

    For instance you should all read these whitepapers (both contains Project Server information as well):

    Except a lot more documentations in the coming months not to mention the recently delivered webcasts on the subject: Project Server 2010 - Architecture, Sizing, and Capacity Webcast