Posted Saturday, 10 November 2007 by Misha Hanin
Sysinternals Tools have been updated. PSExec v1.90 improves handling of arguments, BgInfo v4.12 offers improved reporting, Process Explorer v11.04 fixes a memory leak, ADExplorer v1.01, DebugView v4.72 and Process Monitor v1.26 fix some minor bugs.
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Posted Saturday, 10 November 2007 by Misha Hanin
Previously code-named "Centro", Windows Essential Business Server is
a new integrated multiserver solution designed for midsize businesses.
The product is based on Windows Server 2008 and it combines software
for management, messaging and security.
The products that are in
the solution are Windows Server 2008 with Active Directory Domain
Services, Microsoft System Center Essentials, Microsoft Exchange Server
2007, Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server and Microsoft
Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA). Those are just for the
Standard edition. The Premium edition also includes Microsoft SQL
Server 2008 Standard Edition.
Especially the addition of System Center Essentials is interesting
because it allows the administrator to more effectively manage the
infrastructure. For more info about System Center Essentials go here. Also check out this intro video here.
You can find the Microsoft PressPass announcement here.
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Posted Thursday, 08 November 2007 by Misha Hanin
I've asked by one of companies, where i provide an IT consulting services, how to install directx on client's computers unattended? Equally, on internet existed a lot of articles about how to do this. Who use an old dxsetup.exe file, who try to edit an exe file in HEX-Editor and then use switch OPK . Also, admins use other tricks, likes an AutomatIT or similar products. Just one consider i can't understand :), why nobody tries to read a HELP?
By going to the http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb219742.aspx you can find, black on white, how to install directx in unattended mode. All you have to do, is to add the switch "/silent"!
Admins, I'm also VERY lazy admin, but reading a HELP save your time, remember the RTFM rule ;)
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Posted Thursday, 08 November 2007 by Misha Hanin
These technical overviews provide IT Professionals
with information about how a Windows Server 2008 technology works. They
may also cover design and planning considerations and basic setup and
operating instructions.
The download contains the following documents:
- DNS Server Global Query Block List
- Installing and Configuring and Troubleshooting the Microsoft Online Responder
- What's New in Failover Clusters
- What's New in Terminal Services for Windows Server 2008
Download: WS2008 Technical Overviews
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Posted Monday, 05 November 2007 by Misha Hanin
If the primary Windows NT account for a mailbox is changed, the new primary Windows NT account does not have immediate access to the mailbox and the previous primary Windows NT account still maintains access for some period of time. This problem may also occur after a move mailbox operation.
It's because of the information store caches information contained in the directory store and, by default, it re-reads it every 120 minutes. Therefore, any change to a directory object (for example, a primary Windows NT account change) is not reflected in the information store for two hours.
To have changes to directory objects picked up immediately by the information store, follow these steps:
- Run Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
- Locate the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\ParametersSystem
- On the Edit menu, click Add Value.
- Enter Mailbox Cache Age Limit for the Value name.
- Type REG_DWORD for the Data type.
- Type 1 for the Data of type DECIMAL, and then click OK.
NOTE: This registry entry is not a switch, it is a setting. If it is set to 1 the server rereads the cache every minute; if it is set to 2 the server rereads the cache every 2 minutes, and so forth.
- Stop the information store service.
- Restart the information store service.
The information store now updates its mailbox cache frequently by rereading the directory every minute.
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Posted Tuesday, 06 November 2007 by Misha Hanin
Microsoft internal IT:
600k connected devices
10,000 Servers
3 Datacenters 1 operations center
11% is virtualized in Microsoft Datacenters
330 of 385 servers run Windows Server 2008 (RC0) plus all 85 Microsoft.com servers
11 clustered systems
30,000 users in redmond domain (50,000 with vendors)
NAP reporting 140K clients, 90 clients deferred mode
The Redmond Active Directory domain is running in Windows Server 2008 mode since last thursday (Nov 1st)
Microsoft Email:
6 million internal emails per day
20 Million emails from Internet
97% rejected as spam
99,999 uptime
Worldwide:
140,000 end users
550 buildings
98 countries
1/3 of the sites are connected over Internet only
2300 Line of business applications
1 single SAP instance (5 Terrabyte database)
Dynamics/MSCRM
Windows Live Services:
130,000 servers online
435 Million unique users
280 Billion pageviews daily
12 Billion emails daily
6 billion Instant Messages daily
Remote connect
1 million VPN sessions per month
80,000 unique OWA users
Remote app portal
TS gateway 20,000 users
Direct Connect pilot
Microsoft.com figures
55,7 million unique users, #4 overall site in US
280,5 Unique users wordwide #6 site worldwide
15,000 request a sec
The Redmond Active Directory domain is running in Windows Server 2008 mode since last thursday (Nov 1st)
Source: Bink.nu
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Posted Monday, 05 November 2007 by Misha Hanin
Server Message Block (SMB), also known as CIFS (Common Internet File
System) is the file sharing protocol used by default on Windows based
computers. Windows includes an SMB client component (Client for
Microsoft Windows) and an SMB server component (File and Printer
Sharing for Microsoft Windows).
SMB in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista support the new SMB
version 2.0 that has been redesigned for today’s networking
environments (wireless, possible high loss, timeouts, high latency, …)
and for the needs of the next generation of file servers (EFS over the
wire, Offline Files and Folders enhancements, …).
Machines running Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista support both SMB v1.0 and SMB v2.0. However SMB 2.0 can only be used if both client and server support it!! So, the SMB protocol revision to be used for file operations is decided during the negotiation phase.
A Vista client advertises to the server that it can understand the
new SMB 2.0 protocol. If the server (Windows Server 2008 or otherwise)
understands SMB 2.0, then SMB 2.0 is chosen for subsequent
communication, otherwise they fall back to SMB 1.0.
This preserves “downwards” compatibility so that deploying Vista
clients or Windows Server 2008 servers should be simple and
straightforward. The following list below describes what protocol
will be used when communicating between different types of client and
servers.
- Vista client <> Vista client or Windows Server 2008 – SMB 2.0
- Non-Vista client <> Vista client or Windows Server 2008 – SMB 1.0
- Vista client <> Non-Vista client or Non-Windows Server 2008 – SMB 1.0
- Non-Vista client <> Non-Vista client or Non-Windows Server 2008 – SMB 1.0
For an overview of the impact on network throughput, have to look at the white paper
of a third-party benchmark study done by The Tolly Group which compares
network throughput and time-to-completion of several tasks when using
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 .
Source: http://trycatch.be/blogs/roggenk
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Posted Monday, 05 November 2007 by Misha Hanin
Microsoft has posted download links to Windows Vista SP1 RC Preview on the MSDN homepage for MSDN subcribers. "Get
the latest preview of Windows Vista SP1 on MSDN Subscriber Downloads.
This new release of SP1 addresses reliability and performance issues,
and provides support for new hardware and several emerging standards."
Windows Vista SP1 is slated for an early 2008 release but beta testers
can get their hands on early preview builds. Users have reported that
the service pack not only includes many bug fixes but several
performance enhancements as well.
This is BETA software!, please use caution when installing it on your system
Download: Vista SP1 RC Preview (MSDN Subscription Required)
Source: www.neowin.net
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Posted Saturday, 03 November 2007 by Misha Hanin
Anyone who has used Virtual PC / Virtual Server for a while will
have got their head around the fact that you cannot access physical
hardware directly from the virtual machine - with the exception of
devices connected to a serial or parallel port. Well, as a number of
people have discovered there is an interesting exception for 'internal
modems'. These are modems that are usually on a PCI card in the
physical computer - or on a PCMCIA card in a laptop.
The trick
here as that internal modems almost always implement a hidden serial
port - to which the modem is hardwired. This is true even of WinModems.
As
such - all you need to do is to figure out which COM port is used by
the internal modem (poking around under Device Manager will usually get
you the answer quickly) and map that to COM1 in the virtual machine.
You can then just use a 'generic modem' configuration in the virtual
machine to get this to work.
Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy
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Posted Saturday, 03 November 2007 by Misha Hanin
Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP) is a new form of (SSL-based) VPN tunnel with features that allow traffic to pass through firewalls that block PPTP and L2TP/IPsec traffic.
SSTP provides a mechanism to encapsulate PPP traffic over the SSL
channel of the HTTPS protocol. The use of PPP allows support for
strong authentication methods such as EAP-TLS. The use of HTTPS means
traffic will flow through TCP port 443. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
provides transport-level security with enhanced key negotiation,
encryption, and integrity checking.
SSTP supports multiple
authentication methods such as passwords, smart cards,
certificate-based and "One Time Password" authentication.
SSTP has
integrated NAP support for client health check, by using the NPS
(Network Policy Server - ex-IAS) for authentication and
authorization.
Client/Server Requirements
SSTP is
available through the Windows Server 2008 Routing and Remote Access VPN
Server. IIS is not required for running SSTP, since RRAS listens to
HTTPS connections directly over HTTP.SYS.
Only clients running Windows Vista SP1 are able to create SSTP-based VPN tunnels.
Additional reading:
Source:http://trycatch.be/blogs/roggenk
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Posted Thursday, 01 November 2007 by Misha Hanin
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 introduces many new features for each server role. Lets
- New deployment options: You can now install Exchange 2007 SP1 on a server that is running Windows Server 2008
- Client Access Server Role Improvements:
We’ve added an UI to manage POP3 / IMAP4, OWA improvements, Active sync
improvements with the addition of for example remote wipe information
and much more
- Transport: Enhancements to message processing and routing functionality on the Hub Transport role.
- Mailbox Server Role Improvements: Public folder management in the Exchange Management console, mailbox management improvements, etc...
- High Availability:
In SP1 we will introduce the Standby Continuous Replication in addition
to LCR and CCR, further more we support the WS2008 Failover clustering
and we improved the Exchange management console.
- Unified Messaging Server Role:
Unified Messaging has been improved and has added new features in
Exchange 2007 SP1. To use some of these features, you must correctly
deploy Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 in your environment.
As you can see we have made a
lot of improvements onto Exchange Server 2007 with this Service Pack
and especially for the Unified Communication Role.
Exchange
Server 2007 Unified Messaging combines voice messaging, fax, and e-mail
into one Inbox, which can be accessed from the telephone and the
computer. Unified Messaging integrates Exchange Server 2007 with the
telephony network in your organization and brings the features found in
Unified Messaging to the core of the Exchange Server product line.
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Posted Monday, 29 October 2007 by Misha Hanin
DNS provides the name resolution services required by Active Directory. The DNS server in Windows Server 2008 complies with the set of Requests for Comments (RFCs) that define and standardize the DNS protocol.
Because the DNS Server service is RFC compliant and it can use standard DNS data file and resource record formats, it can work successfully with most other DNS server implementations, such as DNS implementations that use the Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) software.
The DNS Server service in Windows Server 2008 includes some new and enhanced features described below.
1. Background zone loading
A DNS server running Windows Server 2008 now loads zone data stored in AD DS in the background while it (re)starts, so that it can respond immediately to requests for data from other zones. Because the task of loading zones is performed by separate threads, the DNS server is able to respond to queries while zone loading is in progress. Let's have a look at the startup sequence:
- The DNS server starts, it first enumerates all zones to be loaded.
- It loads root hints from files or AD DS storage.
- All file-based zones (stored in files rather than in AD DS-integrated) are loaded.
- The DNS server begins responding to queries and remote procedure calls (RPCs).
- All AD DS-based zones are loaded afterwards, by one or more threads spawned.
Because the task of loading zones is performed by separate threads, the DNS server is able to respond to queries while zone loading is in progress.
2. GlobalNames Zone
This new feature provides single-label name resolution for large enterprise networks that do not deploy Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) and where using DNS name suffixes to provide single-label name resolution is not practical.
When the GlobalNames zone is deployed, single-label name resolution by clients works as follows:
- The client's primary DNS suffix is appended to the single-label name and the query is submitted to the DNS server.
- If that FQDN does not resolve, the client requests resolution using its DNS suffix search lists .
- If none of those names resolve, the client requests resolution using the single-label name.
- If the single-label name appears in the GlobalNames zone, the DNS server hosting the zone resolves the name. Otherwise, the query fails over to WINS.
The GlobalNames zone provides single-label name resolution only when all authoritative DNS servers are running Windows Server 2008. No changes to client software are required to enable single-label name with this feature.
How to setup GlobalNamesZones (GNZ) in 3 steps:
- To get GNZ functionality for a given domain or forest, all authoritative DNS servers must be running Windows Server 2008.
- Create an Active Directory integrated zone called GlobalNamesZone.
Don't forget to choose the appropriate storage method and replication scope for this zone.
Recommendation: Create the new "GlobalNames" zone as AD DS‑integrated zone, stored in the forest-wide DNS application partition (replicating to all domain controllers that are DNS servers in the forest).
dnscmd ServerName /ZoneAdd GlobalNames /DsPrimary /DP /forest
- Enable the GlobalNames Zone functionality on the DNS Server.
Ensure that the GlobalNamesSupport registry setting has been enabled on all DNS servers, using dnscmd as follows:
dnscmd ServerName /config /EnableGlobalnamesSupport 1
For more information: DNS Server GlobalNames Zone Deployment white paper
Continue on source: http://trycatch.be/blogs/roggenk
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Posted Sunday, 28 October 2007 by Misha Hanin
The Infrastructure Planning and Design series is the
next version of Windows Server System Reference Architecture. The
guides in this series help clarify and streamline design processes for
Microsoft infrastructure technologies; each guide addresses a unique
infrastructure technology or scenario. All guides share a common
structure including:
- Definition of the technical decision flow through the planning process.
- Listing of decisions to be made and the commonly available options and considerations.
- Relating the decisions and options to the business in terms of cost, complexity, and other characteristics.
- Framing
decisions in terms of additional questions to the business to ensure a
comprehensive alignment with the appropriate business landscape.
- These guides complement product documentation by exposing and focusing on infrastructure design options.
Guides Available in This Release
SoftGrid Application Virtualization Guide
Microsoft
SoftGrid® Application Virtualization is the only virtualization
solution on the market to deliver applications that are never
installed, yet securely follow users anywhere, on demand. It
dramatically improves IT efficiencies, enables much greater business
agility, and provides a superior end-user desktop experience. The
Infrastructure Planning and Design Series: SoftGrid Application
Virtualization assists designers in the infrastructure planning process
for SoftGrid by providing a clear and concise workflow of the decisions
and tasks required for each method. This guide enables you to plan the
infrastructure required for meeting your application virtualization
service goals.
Windows Server Virtualization Guide
A
virtualized computing environment can improve the efficiency of your
computing resources by utilizing more of your hardware resources.
Windows Server virtualization enables you to create a virtualized
server computing environment using a technology that is part of Windows
Server 2008. The Infrastructure Planning and Design Series: Windows
Server Virtualization guide discusses Microsoft virtualization options
using Windows Server virtualization in Windows Server 2008 and
Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1. The guide explains design
considerations at critical decision points and helps with plans for an
optimized server virtualization architecture to meet organizational
goals for performance and consolidation.
Where to Find the Beta Program
The
Infrastructure Planning and Design Series beta releases for SoftGrid
Application Virtualization and Windows Server Virtualization are
available as open beta downloads.
To join the Infrastructure Planning and Design beta, follow these steps:
1) Visit the Microsoft Connect Web site (http://connect.microsoft.com).
2) Click Invitations on the Connect menu.
3) Sign in using a valid Windows Live ID to continue to the Invitations page.
4) Enter your Invitation ID in the box. Your invitation ID is: IPDM-QX6H-7TTV
5) Click Go.
If
you have not previously registered with Microsoft Connect, you might be
required to register before continuing with the invitation process.
If the link in step 1 does not work for you, copy the full link and paste it into the Web browser address bar.
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Posted Sunday, 28 October 2007 by Misha Hanin
There has been quite some noise around the talk that Eric Traut
(Distinguished Engineer) give at the University of Illinois. During his
talk Eric showed something is called MinWin which is a stripped kernel
of Windows 7 that will be the basis of our future products. Not just
the Windows OS but it's also the OS used for media centers, for
servers, for small embedded devices . However MinWin is internal-only
and won’t be productized as such.
MinWin
is 25 MB on disk; Vista is 4 GB, Traut said. The MinWin kernel does
not include a graphics subsystem in its current build, but does
incorporate a very simple HTTP server. The MinWin
core is 100 files total, while all of Windows is 5,000 files in size.
This is something big, the kernel is so small that there is no
graphical subsystem, in the screenshot below you see that when booting
the Logo is build from ASCII characters. Pretty cool.
If you only want to see the MinWin demo, istartedsomething.com has an 8-minute excerpt
Further
Eric also explains that in the Windows Server Virtualization technology
we expose Hypercall's which can be compared to kernel calls and earlier
this week we announced that those Hypercall API's will be available viaOpen Specification Promise. Read more about that at the Windows Virtualization Team Blog
I encourage you to watch the full video of Eric Traut’s talk ,because he explains our Virtualization technology more in depth.
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