TechTips

Migrating from MSexchange to Google APPs

2010-04-18T12:24:00.000+03:00

Amazing ...here i love to play with cloud with Google

Google Apps delivers savings, security and innovation
Get 25GB inboxes, video chat, anti-virus/spam protection, disaster recovery, and a 99.9% uptime SLA for $50 per user per year with Google Apps Premier Edition.

HOW to???
http://www.petri.co.il/exchange-to-google-apps-issues.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Petri+%28Petri+IT+Knowledgebase%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Windows Azure !! is it moda?

2010-04-18T12:16:00.000+03:00

Did you hear about "Hailstorm" before?? "Hailstorm" is .NET project done by MS to make MSN-hosted user data available to the same users at non-Microsoft web sites.

so i think its the same idea but in different shape to be Amazon competitive in this field. so what is this Azure? new fashion from MS which always play with shape, names and projects to produce new products..

Windows Azure is Microsoft's "operating system for the cloud," and its associated Azure Services Platform." which i dont think MS will move all current tools and applications to web...

what do you think??

SQL2005 SP3 failed to install

2009-08-08T20:25:00.003+03:00

There any many reasons that causes SP3 for SQL 2005 to fail and you can predict that by trying installing SQL2005 SP2 Security update.
One of the important reason to cause it fail: is removing the installer folder under windows or cleaning it ,so SQL Sp3 files will not continue.

This problem can be solved by extracting the SP3 files and copying all .MSP to c:\windows\installer. i tried and works without problems

Other problem related to Server SID change and this is full covered in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925976

overall you have to check the log file and search for the reason that causes fail..

Compacting dynamically expanding virtual hard disks in Virtual Server 2005

2009-07-27T16:10:00.002+03:00

To ensure that you get the smallest possible file size when you compact the virtual hard disk, you need to do some file system maintenance before you compact the disk. In the guest operating system of the virtual machine that is using the disk you want to compact, do the following:

1. Remove any temporary folders or unwanted folders or files.
2. Empty the Recycle Bin.
3. Defragment the disk.

Compact a dynamically expanding virtual hard disk
To compact a dynamically expanding virtual hard disk

In the guest operating system, prepare the virtual hard disk for compacting.
Open the Administration Website.
Turn off the virtual machine to which the dynamically expanding virtual hard disk is attached.
In the navigation pane, under Virtual Disks, click Inspect.
Do one of the following, and then click Inspect:
1. In Known virtual hard disks, select the virtual hard disk to compact.
2. In Fully qualified path to file, type the fully qualified path to the virtual hard disk file to compact.
3. Under Actions, click Compact virtual hard disk.
4. Click Compact.

---------------
Caution
Compacting a virtual hard disk can use a large percentage of processor resources. We recommend that you do not perform this operation on a production computer. Compacting a virtual hard disk requires enough space to temporarily store the compacted file and the uncompacted file. This is because Virtual Server compacts a virtual hard disk by creating a new, compacted virtual hard disk and then deleting the original, uncompacted disk. If there is not enough space to complete the process, the problem is recorded in the Virtual Server event log.

Firefox 3.5.1 causes Internet disconnect!!!

2009-07-24T14:37:00.006+03:00

While working on Evaluating security products that requires removing Symantec Endpoint. all my internet traffic is dropped and i cant even ping the default gateway published by the DHCP. i found the problem is related to firefox and not to any other tool installed or windows updates installed that day.

Today i repeated the same scenario on new laptop and found the solution to fix FireFox issue that prevent me from surfing ..

The main problem was related to IP6 protocol and below the part that works with me

IPv6
By default, Firefox/Mozilla Suite/SeaMonkey will use IPv6 ("Internet Protocol version 6") if it is available. However, the user's local network or Internet environment may not be equipped to handle IPv6. (Read this discussion for an example.) To disable IPv6, change the preference network.dns.disableIPv6 from "false" to true . Here are the steps:

1.Type about:config in the address bar, press Enter.
2.Find network.dns.disableIPv6 in the list.
3.Right-click -> Toggle.
4.Restart your Mozilla application and try again.
If this doesn't work, re-enable IPv6 by resetting the preference to "false".

Speed up file transfers across a network in Windows Vista

2009-02-26T10:58:00.001+02:00

The Remote Differential Compression (RDC) feature should be disabled to speed up the file transfer from and to Windows Vista.
Details:
Remote Differential Compression (RDC) allows data to be synchronized with a remote source using compression techniques to minimize the amount of data sent across the network.
Many pre-Windows Vista computers and devices are not compatible with RDC which makes transferring files across a network slower for a Windows Visa computer because it’s trying to use RDC.
This guide shows you how to speed up your Windows Vista network transfer by disabling Remote Differential Compression (RDC) in Windows Vista.
Disable Remote Differential Compression
1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Open Programs and features.
3. Click Turn Windows features on or off.
4. Uncheck Remote Differential Compression.

Defrag & Integrity Check for Exchange Database 200x

2009-02-24T12:05:00.002+02:00

PREP FOR THE DEFRAG
The following steps are used to complete the defrag.

1.Shutdown All Exchange Services
a.Exchange Event
b.Exchange IMAP4
c.Exchange Information Store
d.Exchange Management
e.Exchange MTA Stacks
f.Exchange POP3
g.Exchange Routing Engine
h.Exchange Site Replication Service
2. Shutdown Exchange System Attendant

3. Shutdown all Antivirus Services

4.Go to d:\
a.COPY Exchsrvr folder to another location (backup)

5.Start Exchange System Attendant ONLY

6.Go to DOS prompt

7.Change directory to d:\exchsrvr\mdbdata

8.Run the following commands:
a.c:\progra~1\exchsrvr\bin\eseutil /d d:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.edb
b.c:\progra~1\exchsrvr\bin\eseutil /d d:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\pub1.edb
9. Now we need to do an Integrity Check
a.Launch Exchange System Manager and locate the mailbox store:
b.Right click each store / select Database Tab / check “Do not mount this store at startup!

c.Click OK
d.Open Services and Start Information Store “Make sure the store is NOT mounted”.

10.From command prompt locate the mailbox store (should be d:\exchsrvr\MDBDATA\) d:\exchsrvr\MDBDATA\> c:\progra~1\exchsrvr\bin\isinteg -s mailServer -fix -test alltests

NOTE: ONLY RUN ISINTEG AFTER you run eseutil!
NOTE: mailServer is the name of the server you are running the check against.
NOTE: If you remove the “-fix” option it will only run a report.
NOTE: you must run isinteg against all databases.

11.After you run the check the output will be displayed on the screen. **You will need to run the isinteg command until there are no errors or warnings, than you must run it again so the last two runs will have the same output information.

12. After the database is consistent
a.stop the information service
b.Uncheck “Do not mount this store at startup” from step 12 b.

13.Restart the server.

Note: You can add c:\program files\exchsrvr\bin to the environment path. This will allow you to execute eseutil and isinteg without specifying the entire path.

New folder creation on Desktop on XP is missing

2009-02-16T17:23:00.000+02:00

cause:After you install Internet Explorer with the Windows Desktop Update component, the following symptoms may occur:

* When you click the File menu in Windows Explorer, the New command may be missing.
* When you right-click the desktop, the New command may be missing from the context menu.
Solution :
1. Save lines below in .reg file
2. import it

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\New]
@="{D969A300-E7FF-11d0-A93B-00A0C90F2719}"

Source : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/180257

Cisco VPN installation and Vista

2009-02-15T12:28:00.002+02:00

1.Error 27848: Deterministic Network Enhancer installation requires a reboot first, to free locked resources.
Sol:regsvr32 /u dneinobj.dll
2. Internal Error 2738
Sol: 1. Run a command prompt in administrator mode (Start/All Programs/Accessories/ right click on Command Prompt, select Run As Administrator)
2. type: cd %systemroot%\system32
3. type: regsvr32 vbscript.dll

after that make sure to run the installer using Run As Administrator

Good luck

Cast from string to type 'Date' is not valid.Solution

2009-01-27T14:25:00.004+02:00

My conclusion after solving this problem that the main problem is Regional options in windows which sure that not all changes done on regional options not reflected to registry.

The problem occurs on VS2003 (.NET 1.1 and SP1 installed) running on windows XP with SP2 where all needed updates installed on it including .NET 2.0, 3.5 with SP1.

I checked the registry and found that main problem is related to these values under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International. so you update these values to be as below and search in all registry to be the same settings

SYSTEM hive is too large

2008-06-24T16:33:00.001+03:00

In Microsoft Windows 2000, 16 megabytes (MB) of memory are available during the startup process. In this 16 MB of memory, the following items must load: The System hive, the Page Frame Number (PFN) database,

Windows Server 2003 can increase the size of the memory that is available for the startup process as follows:

•	Windows Server 2003 (32-bit): The System hive size can be up to one-quarter of the physical memory (up to a maximum of 200 MB).
•	Windows Server 2003 (32-bit) with the /3gb switch: The whole startup process is limited to 16 MB, including the System hive. In Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1), the limit increases to 110 MB.
•	Windows Server 2003 (IA-64): The System hive is limited to 32 MB. The System hive plus HAL, kernel, and drivers can use up to 64 MB.

Since I still manage 2000 Servers and babysitting poor hardware and complicated applications running , I have to keep living in night mares for these legacies…

Lately I stucked with server failed to boot due to hive problem and since all work from my side done remotely, the support done by Panadol extra sponsorship .. I followed MS KB step /step with technician but It seems he forgot to do the most critical step (which is backup the system files before playing with ) so I lost the most critical sever we have and I had to stay till today working on recovering it ….

The steps in summary are

Restore a Backup of the System Hive

IMPORTANT: This procedure will not work on an active directory domain controller, because if you use the REPAIR folder system hive, then you are no longer a domain controller.

Use the Repair Console tool to replace the backup copy of the System hive from the repair folder. If the Repair Console tool is not installed on your computer, you can run it from the Emergency Repair process:

1.	Use the Windows 2000 CD-ROM or the Windows 2000 Startup disk to start the computer.
2.	When you see the "Welcome to Setup" message, press R for "repair."
3.	Press C to run the Recovery Console tool.
4.	Select the installation that you want to repair.
5.	Type the administrator password. If the computer is a domain controller, type the password for Directory Services Restore Mode when you are prompted to do so.For additional information about the Recovery Console tool, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 239803 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/239803/EN-US/) How to Change the Recovery Console Administrator Password on a Domain Controller 223301 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223301/EN-US/) Protection of the Administrator Account in the Offline SAM
6.	At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following commands, pressing ENTER after you type each command: cd system32\config ren system system.old ren system.alt systemalt.old
7.	If you have run the Emergency Repair Disk Wizard from Windows Backup and Recovery tools, copy the backup of the System hive from the %SystemRoot%\Repair\Regback folder. If you have not run the Emergency Repair Disk Wizard, copy the default System hive from the %SystemRoot%\Repair folder. IMPORTANT: You need to restore the most recent copy of the System hive. You also need to reinstall any hardware device drivers or programs that run as services that you installed since the last time that you updated your Emergency Repair Disk. To copy the default System hive, type the following command, and then press ENTER: copy c:\winnt\repair\system c:\winnt\system32\config To copy the System hive that was backed up the last time that you ran the Emergency Repair Disk Wizard, type the following command, and then press ENTER: copy c:\winnt\repair\regback\system c:\winnt\system32\config
8.	At the command prompt, type exit, and then press ENTER to restart your computer.

Reduce the Size of the System Hive

If a large number of resources are shared on the computer, the registry may become too large. To resolve this issue, use the following steps.

1.	Start registry editor (Regedt32.exe).
2.	Locate and click the following key in the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Share
3.	On the Registry menu, click Save Key.
4.	In the File name box, type Shares.new, and then click Save.
5.	Locate and click the following key in the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
6.	On the Registry menu, click Load Hive.
7.	In the list of files, click the System.old file, and then click Open.
8.	In the Key Name box type System.old, and then click OK.
9.	Locate and click the following key in the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Select
10.	Note the setting for the Default value.
11.	Locate and click the following key in the registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System.old\ControlSetx\Services\LanmanServer\Shares where x is the number that you noted in step 8.
12.	On the Registry menu, click Save Key.
13.	In the File name box, type Shares.old, and then click Save.
14.	Restore the Shares.new key to the System.old registry hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System.old\ControlSetx\Services\LanmanServer\Shares
15.	Click the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System.old key.
16.	On the Registry menu, click Unload Hive.
17.	Quit Registry Editor.
18.	Restart the computer to the Recovery Console.
19.	At the command prompt, type the following lines, pressing ENTER after you type each line: ren system system.org ren system.old system
20.	At the command prompt, type exit, and then press ENTER to restart the computer.

I hope anyone have the same problem to read the steps carefully before adopting them….

Service Unavailable error & TFS Server

2008-06-15T16:07:00.002+03:00

When installing TFS server, make sure that the TFS Setup account has never expire password settings or not locked for any reason since if this account's password changed you will receive the above error

So simply reset its password and

update the windows services that log on using the account
Update the password on the application pools where this account used (TFSWSSADMIN , TFS AppPool and TFSWSS)
Restart these app pools and ping your devs to continue bugging

Do you want BlackBerry! Or Shall we give you Blackcomb (windows 7)??

2008-06-04T16:44:00.007+03:00

With
my love to BlackBerry device that has a lot of amazing features but I can't accept the fact it could replace your laptop permanently specially if you work in IT company ….!!! Which I think its way of snipping benefits … :) ..I cant give more details :)

So to give these people the max benefits I think that we have to give them Blackberry shipped with Windows 7 hoping Microsoft will release it in 2010 or provide them with special edition of Blackcomb (windows 7) developed for their critical needs…

Blackcomb is MS code name for Windows 7 which expected to be released sometime in 2010. The client version of Windows 7 will ship in both 32 and 64 bit versions. I wish Microsoft takes its time to ship Windows 7 since Bill Gates seemed to admit that Vista shipped before it was ready when Gizmodo talked to him at CES this year.

In this version Microsoft prevents users from upgrade older versions from windows since Windows 7 will not be binary compatible with older versions except in the virtualization path.
Multi-touch will look dated when Apple (AAPL) releases its next OS!!
New version of Windows Explorer that is being built by the same team that designed the Ribbon user interface in Office 2007
64-bit is only supported
To be Continued ...

SQL Deadlock

2008-05-19T10:53:00.002+03:00

What is a deadlock?

A deadlock occurs when two system server process IDs (SPIDs) are waiting for a resource and neither process can advance because the other process is preventing it from getting the resource.

The lock manager's thread checks for deadlocks. When a lock manager's deadlock detection algorithm detects a deadlock, the lock manager chooses one of the SPIDs as a victim. The lock manager initiates a 1205 error message that is sent to the client, and the lock manager kills the SPID. Killing the SPID frees the resources and allows the other SPID to continue. Killing the SPID that is the deadlock victim is what causes the broken connection that the Visual Basic front-end application experiences.

In a well designed application, the front-end application should trap for the 1205 error, reconnect to SQL Server, and then re-submit the transaction.

Although deadlocks can be minimized, they cannot be completely avoided. That is why the front-end application should be designed to handle deadlocks.

How to identify a deadlock

Step 1

The following ports -T1204 and the -T3605 have to be added to the startup parameters to SQL Server. To add these two startup parameters, follow these steps:

•	Start SQL Server Enterprise Manager.
•	Select, and then right-click the server.
•	Click Properties.
•	Click Startup Parameters.
•	In the Startup Parameters dialog box, type -T1204 in the Parameters text box, and then click Add.
•	In the Parameters text box, type -T3605, and then click Add.
•	Click OK.

The startup parameters will take effect when SQL Server is stopped and then re-started.

Step 2

Using SQL Profiler trace. If you turn on the deadlock trace flag, you will get most of the required information, but not always. For example, in a case study the trace flag output identified that a sp_cursoropen system stored procedure and an "UPDATE tblQueuedEvents set notifyid = 3, ResynchDate" statement were involved in a deadlock. Unfortunately, you do not know the definition of the sp_cursoropen system stored procedure. You also do not have the complete UPDATE statement because it was truncated.

SQL Profiler can obtain the full statements in addition to the execution plans of the statements. A SQL Profiler trace also has a lock event for "deadlock" and for "deadlock chain." "Deadlock" corresponds to the -T1204 flag, and "deadlock chain" corresponds to the -T1205 flag. Turning on the deadlock trace flags and running a SQL Profiler trace during the occurrence of a deadlock should provide you the data that you must have to troubleshoot a deadlock. In this case, and in others, running SQL Profiler changes the timing of execution enough to prevent the deadlock. Therefore, you will typically capture the deadlock information with the trace flags, and then you run SQL Profiler.

Troubleshooting a deadlock

After a deadlock occurs, you can gather information about the deadlock by using the sqldiag utility and by using SQL Profiler. In the output of the SQLDiag.txt file, look for a "Wait-for-graph" entry. A "Wait-for graph" entry indicates that a deadlock was encountered.

Source http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832524

SQL Deadlock Detector is a good tool used to eliminate deadlocks and prevent long-running locks, SQL Deadlock Detector will constantly monitor your system for any lock and deadlock occurring events, while having no impact on your database's performance.

P.s DeadLock could be explained by real life example below :

Boss said to secretary: For a week we will go abroad, so make arrangement.

Secretary make call to Husband: For a week my boss and I will be going abroad, you look after yourself.

Husband make call to secret lover: My wife is going abroad for a week, so lets spend the week together.

Secret lover make call to small boy whom she is giving private tuition: I have work for a week, so you need not come for class.

Small boy make call to his grandfather: Grandpa, for a week I don't have class 'coz my teacher is busy. Lets spend the week together.

Grandpa(the 1st boss ;) ) make call to his secretary: This week I am spending my time with my grandson. We cannot attend that meeting.

Secretary make call to her husband: This week my boss has some work, we canceled our trip.

Husband make call to secret lover: We cannot spend this week together, my wife has canceled her trip.

Secret lover make call to small boy whom she is giving private tuition: This week we will have class as usual.

Small boy make call to his grandfather: Grandpa, my teacher said this week I have to attend class. Sorry I can't give you company.

Grandpa make call to his secretary: Don't worry this week we will attend that meeting, so make arrangement. :)

Tagged is SPAM SITE ... Dont use it ...?

2008-05-12T20:20:00.003+03:00

Tagged is one in a flood of new social networking sites targeting teenagers. Theyre all MySpace wannabees, and perhaps some of them are harmless, but Im going to focus on Tagged. It first got my attention several weeks ago when I got about six e-mails in rapid succession from it. They were obviously auto-generated invites to join a site and said "[my friends name] has added you as a friend on Tagged," and "Please respond or [my friends name] may think you said no :(". I could tell right off something phony was going on, but I still had better things to do, so I passed, and my friend was apologetic about it. I wasnt the only one who got the e-mails.

Tagged is also very aggressive with signing up new users. At registration users are strongly encouraged to invite their entire address book as friends. It’s a highly viral, albeit controversial, way to quickly add lots of new users.
Tagged markets itself as a premier teen social networking sit !!!

If that is the case then why am I receiving an invite from a 51 year old Harsh from India? He is not a teen and I sure as heck am not a teen :)..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagged.com

Microsoft acquires Calista Technologies

2008-05-07T16:32:00.003+03:00

The Calista Virtual Desktop (CVD) platform directly addresses the two major barriers to widespread virtual desktop adoption: the quality of the user experience and the cost per desktop. CVD provides a traditional desktop quality experience, including rich media and 3D graphics, to virtual desktops. CVD also dramatically increases the number of users per virtual desktop server resulting in decreased costs and form factors; thus, CVD is well suited to multi-core CPU and virtualized server trends and today’s densely populated datacenters.

So their products will dramatically improve the end-user experience of 3D and multimedia delivery for Microsoft multimedia applications, virtualized desktop deployments, and server-hosted virtualized desktops or applications using Windows Terminal Services.

Lets wait and See...

MS Vista and RDP6.0's Remote Desktop Prompt message

2008-05-06T15:56:00.000+03:00

With Windows Vista you always get ugly prompt when connecting to Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Server or XP machines saying:

Remote Desktop cannot verify the identity of the computer you want to connect to. This problem can occur if:

1) The remote computer is running a version of Windows that is earlier than Windows Vista.
2) The remote computer is configured to support only the RDP security layer.

Contact your network administrator or the owner of the remote computer for assistance.

Do you want to connect anyway?

You can stop this message either by:

1. Add a DWORD registry entry called AuthenticationLevelOverride in the \\HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client\ key and ensure that its value is set to 0.

•0 This value corresponds to "No authentication.

"•1 This value corresponds to "Require authentication.

"•2 This value corresponds to "Attempt authentication."

2. Click on the advanced tab in the Remote Desktop Connection tool and change the Authentication options to "Always connection, even if authentication fails

Enjoy no messages anymore

Enabling RDP remotely in remote PC

2008-05-04T23:00:00.004+03:00

I need to enable RDP on my work PC from home and i found its the same approach could be used in windows XP,windows 2003 and windows Vista after making sure that Remote Registry service is started on remote computer.

Remote Desktop can be enabled remotely by creating a new RDP listening port through the remote computer’s registry. You can accomplish this in vista by completing the steps described below:

Open the Registry Editor on your computer.
From the File menu, click Connect network Registry.
Locate or type in the name of the remote computer. Click OK.
Browse to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Terminal Server.
In the right pane, open the value called fDenyTSConnections (REG_DWORD).
Change the value data from 1 to 0. This will enable Remote Desktop on the remote computer.
Click OK and close the Registry Editor.

The remote computer must be restarted in order for the changes to take effect. and this of course could be done using shutdown -i command :). i was worry if the PC didnt show up again ....:)

I have Longorn CD with SP1..shall i use it ?

2008-04-28T11:53:00.003+03:00

Someone told me that his brother has longhorn CD with SP1?? J and he think that will use it for upgrade his windows XP laptop… amazing…

I asked him if he knows what longhorn is. He answered new OS will be launched after windows vista …..So I had to agree with him and asked him to do so quickly .. kidding

That guy didn’t know that longhorn is MS codename which is given to products it has in development, before these products are given the names by which they appear on store shelves. Many of these products (new versions of Windows in particular) are of major significance to the IT community, and so the terms are often widely used in discussions prior to the official release. Microsoft usually does not announce a final name until shortly before the product is publicly available.

Personally I like the codename idea since it gives IT people hints about Server’s naming convention if they couldn’t agree on naming convention. Some of these Codenames are

Code Name	Product Final Name
Janus	Windows 3.1
Kato, Sparta	Windows for Workgroups
Chicago	Windows 95
Memphis	Windows 98
Whistler	Windows XP
Springboard	Windows XP SP2 J
Whistler Server	Windows Server 2003
Longhorn	Windows Vista
Quattro	Windows Home Server
Magneto	Windows Mobile 5.0
Burton	Visual Studio Team System
Titanium	Exchange Server 2003
Shiloh	SQL Server 2000 (32-bit)
Yukon	SQL Server 2005
Katmai	SQL Server 2008

Hope you like them as I do

Server Performance Advisor (SPA) for Windows Server 2003

2008-04-28T11:33:00.001+03:00

Very good tool that helps you diagnose the root causes of performance problems in a Windows Server 2003 operating system deployment. Server Performance Advisor (SPA) 2.0 collects performance data and generates comprehensive diagnostic reports that give you the information you need to analyze problems and develop corrective actions.
Microsoft ® Windows Server ™ 2003 Performance Advisor provides several specialized reports, including a System Overview (focusing on CPU usage, Memory usage, busy files, busy TCP clients, top CPU consumers) and reports for server roles such as Active Directory, Internet Information System (IIS), DNS, Terminal Services, SQL, print spooler, and others.

SPA Roles
SPA has different templates used for AD, print servers, terminal servers, etc. Each one of these templates focuses on that role and collects different counters depending on the role. For example, on a DC SPA will capture the DS perfmon counters and then analyze the output from those counter and flag issues it finds for follow-up.
I used quickly for application server performance testing and it gave detailed report for Server summary status

Additional Information
What's New in Microsoft ® Windows Server ™ 2003 Performance Advisor?
Performance Advisor includes a number of new and improved features that help you collect, manage, and analyze data.

Data Management
you can now avoid filling up data disks by configuring Performance Advisor to use circular logging or to automatically stop logging when the disk reaches a preset limit of remaining free space. You can also set a retention policy to automatically delete the oldest archived report. For more information, see "Data management features" in the Server Performance Advisor Help.

Trend Reporting
Performance Advisor can track and report the trends in important performance counters. You can choose to track data trends in one of three ways: on a weekly basis, from the oldest archived report to the newest, or over a time interval you specify. For more information about trending, see "Trending data" in the Server Performance Advisor Help.

New Templates
Performance Advisor includes new XML templates for additional Internet Information Services (IIS) roles, information technology (IT) study roles, and sample providers. Many of the Server Performance Advisor 1.0 templates have been improved. For more information about templates, see "Server Performance Advisor templates" in the Server Performance Advisor Help.

New Server Role
Performance Advisor includes a data collector group for the domain name server role. For more information, see "Data collector groups" in the Server Performance Advisor Help.

Support for x64
You can run Performance Advisor on x64-based versions of Windows Server 2003.

Note:
Performance Advisor requires Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 to run on x64-based versions of Windows Server 2003.

Management Pack for MOM
Server Performance Advisor 2.0 supports a new management pack that passes the data it collects to Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM).

Note:
The management pack is not included in the installation package for Server Performance Advisor 2.0. For information about the management pack and how to obtain it, see SPA 2.0 Management Pack.

System Administrator Song

2008-04-27T12:27:00.002+03:00

What Song SysAdmin like to sing??

Using the above song, i discovered that i can blog using MS OneNote 2007 easily... this clip shows this nice feature of OneNote 2007 product..Good to know

Playing with MSCRM server 3.0

2008-04-27T12:12:00.000+03:00

I recently had the responsibility of moving an existing, in-use Microsoft CRM 3.0 database from its current location to an entirely new server on same domain; I followed MS KB 917948 and It works fine and was able to reconfigure the reports functionality after long fight with existing CRM installation on SQL server we moved to CRM databases to.
In parallel with this extra work hours and pressure made on me since of short working hours in Ramadan and client reports different error adding to performance. Below are solutions adopted to solve
The underlying connection was closed: The remote name could not be resolved.

Solution
1. Install Rollup2 on CRM server after backup CRM related Databases
2. Follow the steps below to solve Dynamic ports problem

Scope:
When users are trying access activities once in
awhile they will get the error of:

"The underlying connection was closed: Unable to
connect to the remote server"

Assessment:
This can happen for a couple of reasons the first

- A method in the CrmService Web service is
called multiple times.
- An ephemeral remote procedure call (RPC) port
is allocated for each of these connections.

If all ephemeral ports are consumed, Microsoft
CRM may return an error message.

Warning Serious problems might occur if you
modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry
Editor or by using another method. These problems
might require that you reinstall your operating
system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these
problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own
risk.

To resolve this issue, increase the default
number of ports that are available for program
traffic. The number of additional ports must be
sufficient to handle the number of simultaneous network
requests that are being made by all programs. The
number of allocated ports is governed by a
MaxUserPort registry entry. By default, this entry does
not exist. To create this entry, follow these
steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit ,
and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following
registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
3. Click Edit, point to New, click DWORD
Value, and then type MaxUserPort .
4. Double-click MaxUserPort, and then type a
decimal value that is larger than 30,000.

Note This value controls the number of dynamic
ports that are available. The valid range for this
value is 5,000-65,534. Specifically, this
parameter controls the maximum port number that is used
when a program requests any available user port
from the system.

5. Locate the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
6. Click Edit, point to New, click DWORD
Value, and then type TcpTimedWaitDelay .
7. Double-click TcpTimedWaitDelay, and then
set a decimal value of 260.

Note This parameter determines the length of time
that a connection stays in the TIME_WAIT state
when it is closed. When a connection is in the
TIME_WAIT state, the socket pair cannot be re-used.
This is also known as the "2MSL" state.
Typically, this value is two times the maximum segment
life time on the network.

8. Exit Registry Editor.
9. Restart the Microsoft Dynamics CRM
server.

Another reason is when the website service in IIS
changed from port:5555 to port:80 or a host
header is used. This can be changed but it also must
be changed within the CRM Server registry so the
ServerURL reflects these changes.

After solving this critical problem, Bulk import didn’t work on CRM !!! so it was one of two reasons
1. Rollup2 , which already installed
2. AD permissions and locating users or servers in right groups ; I added users and servers to right groups but I still wait final confirmation that all are working without problems

The only challenge I didn’t try before is moving CRM databases to other domain, so I think I can do it by update the CRM databases to match new organization name and license as below

UPDATE BuildVersion SET Revision = X (where X == the 3.0.5400.X of the SetupServer.exe product version)
UPDATE OrganizationBase SET Name = 'new organization name'
DELETE FROM License

ZOOM IN -Application Virtualization

2008-04-27T10:47:00.010+03:00

In standard OS environments, applications install their settings onto the host operating system, hard-coding the entire system to fit that application's needs. Other applications' settings can be overwritten, possibly causing them to malfunction or break.

With application virtualization, each application brings down its own set of configurations on-demand, and executes in a way so that only it sees its own settings.
Side-by-Side Virtualization:Each SoftGrid-enabled application brings down its own set of configurations and can run side-by-side without the settings conflicting with each other — or the host operating system. Despite this separation, inter-application communication with other SoftGrid applications and those installed locally is preserved, allowing for cut and paste, OLE, and all other standard operations.

Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization provides the most extensive virtualization on the market. In addition to virtualizing application related Windows Services, it virtualizes per user, per application instance, key application components including the Registry, file system, DLLs, COM/IPC, .INI files, fonts and more:

•	Registry: SoftGrid creates a virtual Registry for each application. Registry settings created by one application cannot be seen by other applications — including Regedit. Rather than copying the entire Registry, SoftGrid virtual registry utilizes an "overlay" method — items in the real registry may be read by the application as long as a virtual copy of that item is not available. Virtual application writes to the Registry are contained within the virtual Registry.
•	File System: SoftGrid also handles requests made by applications to files in specific directories by redirecting the requests. For example, if an application looks for a file located in a specific directory on the local C drive, SoftGrid can redirect any requests to the corresponding directory inside of its virtual file system. Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) specifically needed by the application are made available within SoftGrid, avoiding conflicts with different versions of the same DLL that may be installed locally. These components are shared and tracked inside of the Virtual File System.
•	COM/IPC: SoftGrid enables programs to redirect communication requests through services such as COM/ DCOM or IPC methods such as Named Pipes. This alleviates versioning problems and other conflicts at these interfaces.
•	.INI: SoftGrid allows each application or instance to have private settings within virtual copies of standard Windows .ini files.
•	Process Environment: SoftGrid stores private environment variables — including paths, port values and addresses.
•	Fonts: Installation of fonts can consume valuable resources as they are done on a machine-wide basis. SoftGrid can make fonts available individually on a per-application basis.

SoftGrid's application virtualization can work in concert with other virtualization technologies – including machine virtualization – as part of a comprehensive services-oriented architecture.

MS Virtualization Technologies* -PART2

2008-04-27T10:03:00.016+03:00

Windows Server Virtualization

Rather than adding virtualization code largely on top of Windows, as Virtual Server does, Windows Server virtualization makes supporting virtual machines part of Windows itself. This new approach provides a hypervisor that runs directly on the hardware. One or more partitions can then be created on top of the hypervisor, each providing a VM. One of these, the parent partition, must run Windows Server 2008. Child partitions (which are really just virtual machines) can run any other supported operating system, including various Windows versions and Linux distributions such as SUSE Linux. To create and manage new partitions, an administrator can use an MMC snap-in running in the parent partition.

This approach is fundamentally different from Microsoft’s earlier technologies for hardware virtualization. One important difference is that the low-level support provided by the Windows hypervisor lets virtualization be done in a more efficient way, providing better performance. Windows Server virtualization also improves over Virtual Server in other ways, including the following:

Because Windows Server virtualization is a native 64-bit technology, it supports a much larger physical memory space than the 32-bit Virtual Server. This is a useful thing when many virtual machines are running on a single physical server. Windows Server virtualization also allows the VMs themselves to have more memory, with an upper limit greater than 32 gigabytes per virtual machine.

While Virtual Server supports only 32-bit virtual machines, Windows Server virtualization supports both 32-bit and 64- bit VMs. VMs of both types can run simultaneously on a single Windows Server 2008 machine.

Rather than supporting a single CPU per virtual machine, as does Virtual Server, Windows Server virtualization allows assigning multiple CPUs to a single VM.

Windows Server 2008 has an installation option called Server Core, in which only a limited subset of the system’s functions is installed. This reduces both the management effort and the possible security threats for this system, and it’s the recommended choice for servers that deploy Windows Server virtualization.

Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services

As in Windows Server 2003, a user of Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services can create a virtual session with a complete desktop. While this is the only choice in the 2003 release, the new TS RemoteApp capability also lets a 2008 user create a virtual session containing just a single remote application, as the figure shows. If a Windows user creates a virtual session with a complete desktop, that desktop and all of its applications appear in a window on top of her local desktop. With TS RemoteApp, however, the application’s user interface appears on her local desktop just as if the application were running locally. In fact, an application accessed via TS RemoteApp appears in the Task Bar like a local application, and it can also be launched like one: from the Start menu, through a shortcut, or in some other way.

The next version of Windows Terminal Services also provides better support for using applications via the Web. Rather than requiring the full Remote Desktop Connection client, for example, a new Terminal Services Web Access capability allows single applications (via TS RemoteApp) and complete desktops to be accessed from a Web browser. This new release also includes a Terminal Services Gateway that encapsulates RDP traffic in HTTPS. This gives users outside an organization’s firewall more secure access to internal applications without using a VPN.

SoftGrid Application Virtualization

The first time a user starts a virtual application, this server sends the application’s code to the user’s system via a process called streaming. The virtual application then begins executing, perhaps running alongside other non-virtual applications on the same machine. After this initial download, applications are stored in a local SoftGrid cache on the machine, Future uses of the application rely on this cached code, and so streaming is required only for the first access to an application.

From the user’s perspective, a virtual application looks just like any other application. It may have been started from the Windows Start menu, from an icon on the desktop, or in some other way. The application appears in Task Manager, and it can use printers, network connections, and other resources on the machine. This makes sense, since the application really is running locally on the machine. Yet all of the resources it uses that might conflict with other applications on this system have been made part of the virtual application itself. If the application writes a registry entry, for example, that change is actually made to a registry entry stored within the virtual application; the machine’s registry isn’t affected.

For this to work, applications must be packaged using a process called sequencing before they are downloaded by the SoftGrid Server. Using SoftGrid’s wizard-based Sequencer tool, an administrator creates a virtual application from its ordinary counterpart. The Sequencer doesn’t modify an application’s source code, but instead looks at how the application functions to see what shared configuration information it uses. It then packages the application into the SoftGrid format, including application-specific copies of this information.

MS Virtualization Technologies* -PART1

2008-04-24T10:00:00.002+03:00

1. Hardware Virtualization:

This type is not the most important type of Virtualization but it’s the visible one. Any IT person by default will go to hardware virtualization technology type when virtual word shows to him....this type is divided to Server and Desktop virtualization depending on VM hosted on Server or client’s machine.

Hardware virtualization can be accomplished in various ways, and so Microsoft offers three different technologies that address this area:

Virtual Server 2005 R2: This technology provides hardware virtualization on top of Windows via add-on software. As its name suggests, Virtual Server provides server virtualization, targeting scalable multi-user scenarios.

Virtual PC 2007: Like Virtual Server, this technology also provides hardware virtualization on top of Windows via add-on software. Virtual PC provides desktop virtualization, however, and so it’s designed to support multiple operating systems on a single-user computer.

Windows Server virtualization: Like Virtual Server, Windows Server virtualization provides server virtualization. Rather than relying on an add-on, however, support for hardware virtualization is built directly into Windows itself. Windows Server virtualization is part of Windows Server 2008, and it’s scheduled to ship shortly after the release of this new operating system.

2. Presentation Virtualization

This type is used when decided to not save any sensitive data on desktop machine and IT cost will be high due to the number of machines managed by IT dept. presentation virtualization.

Running applications on a shared server offers several benefits, including the following:

1. Data can be centralized, storing it safely on a central server rather than on multiple desktop machines. This improves security, since information isn’t spread across many different systems.

2. The cost of managing applications can be significantly reduced. Instead of updating each application on each individual desktop, for example, only the single shared copy on the server needs to be changed. Presentation virtualization also allows using simpler desktop operating system images or specialized desktop devices, commonly called thin clients, both of which can lower management costs.

3. Organizations need no longer worry about incompatibilities between an application and a desktop operating system. While desktop virtualization can also solve this problem, as described earlier, it’s sometimes simpler to run the application on a central server, then use presentation virtualization to make the application accessible to clients running any operating system.

In some cases, presentation virtualization can improve performance. For example, think about a client/server application that pulls large amounts of data from a central database down to the client. If the network link between the client and the server is slow or congested, this application will also be slow. One way to improve its performance is to run the entire application—both client and server—on a machine with a high-bandwidth connection to the database, then use presentation virtualization to make the application available to its users.

4. Application Virtualization

Virtualization provides an abstracted view of some computing resource. Rather than run directly on a physical computer, for example, hardware virtualization lets an operating system run on a software abstraction of a machine. Similarly, presentation virtualization lets an application’s user interface be abstracted to a remote device. In both cases, virtualization loosens an otherwise tight bond between components.

Another bond that can benefit from more abstraction is the connection between an application and the operating system it runs on. Every application depends on its operating system for a range of services, including memory allocation, device drivers, and much more. Incompatibilities between an application and its operating system can be addressed by either hardware virtualization or presentation virtualization, as described earlier. But what about incompatibilities between two applications installed on the same instance of an operating system? Applications commonly share various things with other applications on their system, yet this sharing can be problematic. For example, one application might require a specific version of a dynamic link library (DLL) to function, while another application on that system might require a different version of the same DLL. Installing both applications leads to what’s commonly known as DLL hell, where one of them overwrites the version required by the other. To avoid this, organizations often perform extensive testing before installing a new application, an approach that’s workable but time-consuming and expensive.

*Taken from David Chappell White Paper

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007- Server Roles

2008-04-24T09:58:00.001+03:00

There are new concepts come with Exchange 2007 Server , and these concepts have to be understood before starting applying EXCHG 2007 Server in any network. typically if you have small business organization you will think that having one exchange server with daily backup will give me the needed solution for mail system!! but what about high available solution adoption ???

High availability is a system design protocol and associated implementation that ensures a certain absolute degree of operational continuity during a given measurement period. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_availability]

Microsoft Cluster Service nor Network Load Balancing (NLB) can provide more than 99% of availability due to restrictions that occur during a fail over (planned or unplanned). When fail over occurs there is a short time frame when the service is unavailable until the node restarts and its services work properly.

Back to Exchange 2007 new concepts

1. Server Roles

One of the primary new concepts introduced in Exchange 2007 is that of server roles. Instead of one generic installation of Exchange Server, you can now choose from several different roles. These roles are designed to logically group the features that are required to accomplish a set of tasks. The Exchange 2007 server roles are as follows:

Mailbox The Mailbox server role is responsible for hosting mailbox and public folder databases. A mailbox database contains the users' mailboxes.
Client Access The Client Access server role enables mailbox access through Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access, Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3), Internet Message Access Protocol version 4rev1 (IMAP4), Outlook Anywhere (formerly known as RPC over HTTP), and Exchange Server ActiveSync.

The Client Access Role is similar to the role a Front-End server would play in an Exchange 2000/2003 organization. The Client Access server is the server that users connect to with their mail client, mobile device, or web browser. The Client Access server handles all connections whether they come from an application such as Outlook 2003 or 2007, Outlook Express, or any other MAPI, POP3 or IMAP4 client.

Hub Transport The Hub Transport server role handles routing by using Microsoft Active Directory sites and site topology. The Hub Transport server also applies policies to incoming and outgoing mail.
Unified Messaging Unified Messaging (UM) combines voice messaging, fax, and e-mail messaging into a single messaging infrastructure that can be accessed from a telephone and a computer.
Edge Transport The Edge Transport server role provides antivirus and anti-spam protection in a perimeter network for the Exchange organization.

Mailbox Role is the most important role in Exchange2007 Server so one the following functions and high availability features could be used

1. Continuous Replication [Local continuous replication,Cluster continuous replication]

Local continuous replication :create “Transaction Log Shipping” for Exchange Server. This means that Exchange Server 2007 copies each transaction log file to another cheaper storage in your environment, attached to your server. So if you choose this solution you will not need a second server, you will only need to attach a second data storage to your single server.

Cluster continuous replication: Enhance version of Log Shipping but you need here other server at least

2. Single Copy Clusters :A single copy cluster is a clustered mailbox server that uses shared storage to allow multiple servers to manage a single copy of the storage groups. This is similar to clustering in previous versions of Exchange Server. However, there are some significant changes and improvements that have been made.

Mailbox role is only Clustered and all other roles not clustered and we can use NLB Services for making these roles high available.

Sources:http://technet.microsoft.com

http://www.msexchange.org/Markus_Klein/

sFtp and FTPS: What's the difference??

2008-04-24T09:57:00.001+03:00

FTPS (commonly referred to as FTP/SSL) is a name used to encompass a number of ways in which FTP software can perform secure file transfers. Each way involves the use of a SSL/TLS layer below the standard FTP protocol to encrypt the control and/or data channels. It should not be confused with either SSH file transfer protocol (SFTP), or FTP over SSH (no acronym).

The most common uses of FTP and SSL are:

The preferred method AUTH TLS, Explicit FTPS or FTPES, named for the command issued to indicate that TLS security should be used.

The client connects to the server port 21 and starts an unencrypted FTP session as normal, but requests that TLS security be used and performs the appropriate handshake before sending any sensitive data.

AUTH as defined in RFC 2228.

Implicit FTPS is an older, but still widely implemented style in which the client connects to a different port (usually 990), and an SSL handshake is performed before any FTP commands are sent.

SSL Certificates

· Much like https, but unlike SFTP, FTPS servers must provide a public key certificate..

· This certificate must be signed by a certificate authority, or the FTPS client will generate a warning stating that the certificate is not valid.

SFTP: the Secure File Transfer Protocol or SFTP is a network protocol that provides file transfer and manipulation functionality over any reliable data stream. It is typically used with the SSH-2 protocol (TCP port 22) to provide secure file transfer, but is intended to be usable with other protocols as well.

10 dirty little secrets you should know about working in IT

2008-04-24T09:32:00.001+03:00

I like to summary this killing post for by Jason Hiner, Executive Editor for Techrepublic.com

secrets are
10.) The pay in IT is good compared to many other professions, but since they pay you well, they often think they own you.
100 %
9.) It will be your fault when users make silly errors.

I live it and used to also :D
8.) You will go from goat to hero and back again multiple times within any given day
Depending on your Higher management mood ....or his last night dinner

7.) Certifications won’t always help you become a better technologist, but they can help you land a better job or a pay raise

No comment :)
6.) Your nontechnical co-workers will use you as personal tech support for their home PCs
Even your Mother-in-law will do that

5.) Vendors and consultants will take all the credit when things work well and will blame you when things go wrong

Nothing else matters :)

4.) You’ll spend far more time babysitting old technologies than implementing new ones

I have good example and my co-workers know it well too ...

3.) Veteran IT professionals are often the biggest roadblock to implementing new technologies
or evaluate new tech using install /uninstall or add/remove programs only :D

2.) Some IT professionals deploy technologies that do more to consolidate their own power than to help the business

1.) IT pros frequently use jargon to confuse nontechnical business managers and hide the fact that they screwed up

Microsoft Windows Hyper-V (WSV) VS VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3.5

2008-04-24T09:28:00.004+03:00

Product Name	Infrastructure v3.5 (Starter, Standard, and Enterprise)	Infrastructure Microsoft Windows Hyper-V
Pricing range paid product	$1000 - $5750 (two CPU versions)	Free, but you still got to buy Windows 2008.
Comments	For Microsoft Windows Hyper-V you still have to pay for the host operating system (Windows 2008), which is for some versions almost the equivalent of what you would pay for VMware 3.5. So if your virtual machines are not running windows 2008 and if you don't benefit of the special licensing offered by Microsoft for running several Windows version in a virtualized environment then people should look at the cost of Windows 2008 as the cost of Microsoft Windows Hyper-V.
Primary usage	Production Environment	Testing & Development Environment
Comments	MS Hyper-V is still in beta and does not seem to be mature enough to run in production in the near future.
Required Host OS (if any)	Infra v3:bare metal	Windows 2008 x64 Standard/Enterprise /Datacenter Editions
Comments	VMware bare-metal installation harden the security of its product and make it independent of any operating system security risks and breaches unlike the Microsoft Hyper-V which unfortunately still affected by the underlying OS (Windows 2008) bugs, viruses, and security breaches even if only windows 2008 core service is running. In addition, not using underlying OS make it more resource efficient although Hyper-V is using hypervisor technology equivalent to Xen which make it a lot faster than its previous virtualization product Virtual Server 2005, still got lot more constrains when compared to VI3 Infrastructure specially when it come to Linux and Legacy windows systems. Although the final release will be a part of Standard/Enterprise /Datacenter Editions of Windows 2008 at the moment the beta is only fully included the x64 edition of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Release Candidate 1.
Management tools	Virtual Center 2.5	Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) is planned to be the centralized management support for Hyper-V, but not yet integrated.
Supported Guest OS	- Microsoft WindowsNT4.0 /2000/2003/XP/Vista - Red Hat Enterprise 2.1/3/4 /5 - Red Hat Linux Advanced Server 2.1 - Redhat Linux 7.2/7.3/8.0 /9.0 - SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8/9/10 - SUSE Linux 8.2/9.0/9.1/9.2 /9.3 -FreeBSD 4.9/4.10/4.11 - NetWare 6.5/6.0/5.1 - Solaris 10 for X86 - Vista (Experimental Support) - Windows 2008 Beta (Experimental Support) - Windows 2003 Standard /Enterprise SP1/SP2/R2 64-bit + Virtual SMP (Supported in Production)	- MS Windows 2008 - MS Windows 2003 - SUSE Enterprise Linux Server 10 SP1
Comments	It’s obvious that VMware has production support for many more OS than Microsoft. Actually supported guest operating systems in Microsoft Windows Hyper-V is very limited.
Linux Support	Support most Linux version available today.	- Only SUSE Enterprise Linux Server 10 SP1 is totally supported - Xen supported version of Linux is planned to be supported. They should run by now, but with modification and not supported.
Comments	Its obvious at the moment that Hyper-V still lagging on Linux support, where VMware support running most version of Linux without the need to modify it, Hyper-V still only officially support SUSE Enterprise Linux Server 10 SP1 at the moment. .
Performance	- Higher Performance - More virtual Machines per hardware	- Slower Performance - Fewer Virtual Machines per hardware
Comments	The performance advantage of VMware is related directly with it being running bare-metal and have a smaller foot print than Microsoft Windows Hyper-V.
64-bit Support	Has full support for most of the 64-bit Operating Systems.	Support Windows 64-bit Operating Systems.
Comments	This is an obvious advantage of MS Windows Hyper-v over MS Virtual server which did not support any 64-bit guest OS, but still lag behind VMware on this one as well.
Live Migration (VMotion) High Availability (HA) Dynamic Resources (DRS) Storage VMotion (SVMotion)	Supported Supported Supported Supported	Quick Migration (not real Live migration) Quick Migration (Host Clustering) NLB is all MS Offer!! N/A
Comments	It’s a great feature that VMware came up with and Microsoft still can't match. Although many assume some of the Hyper-V features match these of VMware, you can see the differences below : VMotion vs Quick Migration: VMware Motion is real Live migration where Quick Migration is nothing more than host based clustering. It has more requirements on the host side as it have to support windows 2008 clustering requirment and not as easy as VMotion to setup. In addition, Hyper-V Quick Migration require a downtime enough to get the machine to save state then shift the LUN group owner then bring back the machine to running state. This downtime may vary depending on the speed of the SAN, size and usage of the virtual machine. In the other side, VMware VMotion require a zero downtime which can be a major advantage for environment which does not tolerate downtime. Even Microsoft clearly know the differences and announced that they have delayed the Live migration feature to a future release. HA vs Host Clustering: Windows host clustering is harder to setup than VMware HA, but it can do the job. DRS vs NLB: Network load balancing is nothing new, and it only work on the network layer. It distribute the network load equally between the virtual machines only depending on the traffic load on them not on how they are utilized. In addition, it require you to run several virtual machines with OS which support NLB and configure NLB for each of them depending on the configuration required for that OS which can be complex for some OSes. They does not come even near what VMware offer with DRS which distribute the load of the virtual machines dynamically and can shift Live virtual machines between different hosts as required to obtain best performance based on setting and configuration controlled by the administrator. In addition, VMware support NLB for its virtual machines, but it did not limit its capability to that. Storage VMotion: SVMotion is a new feature of VMware VI3 where and entire disk files of a virtual machine can be moved from one storage array to another without affecting the operation of that Virtual Machine. This mean VMware VI3 users can avoid downtime for their virtual machines when they need to carry a storage maintenance. It means as well they can easily upgrade or move to a new storage without the need for a down time. This feature has no equivalent in MS Hyper-V at the moment, which mean downtime for storage maintenance can't be avoided.
Virtual Machine support SCSI disk Boot	Yes	No
Comments	MS Windows Hyper-V still does not support booting virtual Machine from Virtual SCSI disk. It only support it from Virtual IDE disk which will highly slow the performance of these virtual machines. It is not clear yet if the final version of Hyper-V will support booting virtual machines from virtual SCSI disk as no announcement on that has been made. If MS does not come up with boot from virtual SCSI then they are risking their product of a very bad performance lag behind VMware which has that capability.
Online Backup	VCB (VMware Consolidated Backup)	Live Backups with VSS
Comments	VMware VCB Is a great backup advantage as you can with it take live backup (image) of running virtual machines without affecting the performance of the host neither the virtual machines performance, where with MS Hyper-V that still seems to depend on the host capabilities using the Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) to enable you to take Live Backups of running virtual machines in terms of snapshots, but still affect the Hyper-V Host performance while the backup is running.
Max virtual Machine Specs	64GB of RAM 4 CPU	64GB of RAM 4 CPU
Special Hardware Requirement	Require supported SCSI or SATA controllers.	x64 based processor computer hardware-assisted virtualization, and hardware data execution protection (Intel VT or AMD-V) is a must.
Comments	It seems Microsoft has forgotten again that many companies have some older hardware that does not run 64-bit and would like to virtualized their environment. MS Hyper-V force companies to obtain a newer more expensive hardware to be able to virtualize.

About ITIL

2008-04-24T08:28:00.001+03:00

The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) refers to a set of comprehensive, consistent and coherent codes of best practice for IT Service Management.

ITIL is the only comprehensive documentation of best practice for IT Service Management. Used by many hundreds of organizations around the world, a whole ITIL philosophy has grown up around the guidance contained within the ITIL books and the supporting professional qualification scheme.

ITIL consists of a series of books giving guidance on the provision of quality IT services, and on the accommodation and environmental facilities needed to support IT. ITIL has been developed in recognition of organizations' growing dependency on IT and embodies best practices for IT Service Management.

The ethos behind the development of ITIL is the recognition that organizations are becoming increasingly dependent on IT in order to satisfy their corporate aims and meet their business needs. This leads to an increased requirement for high quality IT services.

ITIL provides the foundation for quality IT Service Management. The widespread adoption of the ITIL guidance has encouraged organizations worldwide, both commercial and non-proprietary, to develop supporting products as part of a shared 'ITIL Philosophy'.

Why ITIL?
Many organizations have embraced the ITIL concept because it offers a systematic and professional approach to the management of IT service provision. There are many benefits to be reaped by adopting the guidance provided by ITIL.

Such benefits include but are not limited to:

· Improved customer satisfaction

· Reduced cost in developing practices and procedures

· Better communication flows between IT staff and customers

· Greater productivity and use of skills and experience

ITIL provides IT professionals with the knowledge and resources they need to run and maintain an effective and efficient IT Infrastructure which meets the needs of their clients while keeping costs at a minimum.

Why is Certification important?

· ITIL certification signifies that the holder of the certificate has an understanding of Best Practice for IT Service Management that can be applied immediately at some level.

· ITIL certification is recognized worldwide.

· Certification also lays the groundwork for a career road map in IT.

While still relatively new in the Middle East, ITIL certification is now required for most IT management jobs in Europe and North America

"The No Asshole Rule Book" simple review

2008-04-24T08:26:00.001+03:00

Starting up with people is not an easy task. A lot about working in different places, be it a small and medium enterprise or a multi-national company are about relationship management. If you have not encountered an asshole in your workplace, you must be either really lucky or you are the asshole yourself.....

You have probably encountered one of the following from people who worked with you or are your bosses:
(1) personal insults
(2) invading your privacy
(3) uninvited physical contact
(4) threats and intimidation (both verbal and non-verbal)
(5) Sarcastic jokes and teasing
(6) Withering email flames
(7) Status slaps intended to humiliate their victims
(8) public shaming or ’status degradation’ rituals
(9) Rude interruptions,
(10) Two-faced attacks,
(11) Dirty looks
(12) Ignoring or treating people as if they are invisible.

If you encounter these actions, you have more or less encountered the dirty dozen of what an asshole entails. Well, most bosses and managers are assholes, otherwise you would not be there. Believe it or not, this book also reviews that assholes are also victims of their own actions. So, what’s the solution to the problem?

My humble opinion is NO solution for this problem,but this book shows the steps needed to build the civilized workspace built on civilized people

* Say the rule, write it down and act on it:
* Assholes will hire other assholes:
* Get rid of assholes fast
* Treat certified assholes as incompetent employees
*Power breeds nastiness
* Accept that there is a chain of command in your organization, but do everything you can to downplay or reduce status differences among the team. It means flattening your team.

If you want to be nicer to people around you or you want to fend against assholes, this book might be a good read.