Wintel Infrastructure notes and comments: 2012

Monday, 13 February 2012

A useful list of Microsoft blog sites for reference:

Windows 8 News

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/preview

Windows 8 Blog | Building Windows 8

http://blogs.msdn.com/b8

Windows Virtualization Team Blog

http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization

The World Simplified is a Virtual World

http://blogs.technet.com/virtualworld

The App-V Product Team Blog

http://blogs.technet.com/appv

The Official MDOP Blog

http://blogs.technet.com/mdop

Ask the Directory Services Team

http://blogs.technet.com/askds

Ask the Performance Team
http://blogs.technet.com/askperf

Microsoft Enterprise Networking Team
http://blogs.technet.com/networking

Ask the Core Team

http://blogs.technet.com/askcore

Ntdebugging Blog

http://blogs.msdn.com/ntdebugging

The Hot Blog

http://blogs.technet.com/hot

TRM
http://blogs.technet.com/trm/default.aspx

TechNet Webcast: Hyper-V: The Base of a Private Cloud

The term "cloud" refers to a new paradigm in the evolution of computing. It often entails running your servers, either internal or hosted, on virtual machines. In an IT career, the one constant is that you need to continually learn the new technologies to stay current. In this webcast, we cover the fundamentals of Microsoft’s technologies that support the private cloud. We overview Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualization technology and then dive deeper into the features of this hypervisor-based server virtualization technology. This webcast is heavily focused on demonstrations and has a Q&A session at the end.
https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032504314&Culture=en-US

Infrastructure Planning and Design

The Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) guides are the next version of Windows Server System Reference Architecture. The guides in this series help clarify and streamline design processes for Microsoft infrastructure technologies, with each guide addressing a unique infrastructure technology or scenario.

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=732

Sunday, 15 January 2012

Mapping Skydrive as a network Drive

Requires installation of 'Microsoft live essentials' from http://explore.live.com/windows-live-essentials and use the Skydrive URL to map.

XXXX.Docs.live.net

Get the URL above when logged into skydrive.

Microsoft Password Recovery Tools

http://www.lostpassword.com/

Train in Microsoft Virtualization

Virtualization is becoming increasingly important in the market place and whether you are looking for a new job or expanding your current role, certification in this technology will validate your skills and make you more valuable to any employer. For this reason, we would like to inform you of some Virtualization offers and training resources that may interest you.
Virtualization Exam Pack Offer: This gives you the opportunity to earn the MCITP: Virtualization Administrator by taking the three required exams: 70-659, 70-669, and 70-693 at a 20% discount. Please visit the MCITP Certification page for additional information.
Jump Start Offer: If you are not ready to pursue the MCITP certification, this offer allows you to take an online Virtualization training course plus the first exam, Server Virtualization 70-659, for only $99! Once you earn this certification, you will be on track to complete your MCITP with just two exams remaining. Please review the Virtualization Jump Start Offer for more information.
Are you new to Virtualization?
If you are not quite ready to pursue a certification in Virtualization but you are interested in the technology and corresponding job role, Microsoft Learning has training resources available that will help you reach your certification goal. Please review the table below to find a learning plan for each Virtualization exam.

MCITP: Windows Server 2008 R2, Virtualization
Required Exams	Learning Plans
MCTS Prerequisites Exam 70-659: TS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization and Exam 70-669: TS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Desktop Virtualization	Learning Plan for Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization Learning Plan for Windows Server 2008 R2, Desktop Virtualization
Professional Exam Exam 70-693: Pro: Windows Server 2008 R2, Virtualization Administrator	Learning Plan for Windows Server 2008 R2, Virtualization Administrator

If you are interested in classroom training to prepare for your certification, please visit our Class Locator tool to find a training partner in your area. Make sure ask your training provider about the Virtualization Challenge.

Microsoft “How Do I” Videos

Microsoft has assembled a list of “how do I” videos for customers to learn how to accomplish specific tasks with Microsoft products and technologies. These videos provide step-by-step instructions to help you further develop your skillset. We currently offer videos for both IT Professionals and Developers.

IT Professionals:	Developers:
Azure	ASP.net AJAX
Deployment	.NET Framework
Internet Explorer	Dynamics AX
Internet Explorer Security	Internet Explorer
Exchange	Native Coding
Exchange Online	Office
Forefront	Security
Microsoft Online	Team Foundation Server
Office Communications Server	Visual Basic
Script Center	Visual Studio 2008
Security	Visual C#
SharePoint Server	Windows 7
SQL Server	Windows Forms
System Center	Windows Phone
Virtualization
Windows Client
Windows Mobile
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server Terminal Services
Windows SharePoint Services

You can also subscribe to our TechNet videos RSS feed or the MSDN videos feed to be notified when new videos are released.

Microsoft Best Practice Analysers (BPA's)

Microsoft Best Practice Analysers

Best Practice Analyzers are free tools available for most Microsoft Enterprise products and they are used to determine the overall health of your platform.

The tools perform read only scans against your environment’s servers and identify items that do not conform to Microsoft best practices.

They should be run on a regular basis as part of your standard operations maintenance plan.

I’ve put together a list (see below) of available Best Practice Analyzers to help you get started.

- Windows Server (includes PAL, DHCP, Hyper-V, WSUS, Active Directory, Remote Desktop, File Services, DNS)

- SQL

- Exchange & Unified Communications

- Sharepoint, Project Server and Office System

- Forefront, ISA and Security

- Developer

- Miscellaneous (Small Business Server, Mobile Device Manager, Commerce Server, Biztalk)

Once you run the tools against your platform, if you identify items of concern that you’d like assistance resolving, please contact me and I can help you decide on the best Premier Support service available to help you eg. Logging a case, a full risk assessment analysis and report, Premier Field engineer remediation program etc.

Windows Server (includes PAL, DHCP, Hyper-V, WSUS, Active Directory, Remote Desktop, File Services, DNS)

- Performance Analysis of Logs (PAL) Tool (reads performance monitor counter logs and analyses it using known thresholds)

- Best Practices Analyzer for Network Policy and Access Services for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition (NPAS)

- Best Practices Analyzer for DHCP Server for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition

- Best Practices Analyzer for HYPER-V for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition

- Best Practices Analyzer for Application Server for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition

- Best Practices Analyzer for Windows Server Update Services for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition

- Best Practices Analyzer for Active Directory Rights Management Services for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition

- Remote Desktop Services Best Practice Analyzer for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition

- Best Practices Analyzer for File Services for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition

- Microsoft DNS (Domain Name System) Model for Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer 2.0

SQL