To obtain your free copy of Understanding Microsoft’s Virtualization Solutions Click Here

Forefront "Sterling" is on the lose...

For anyone wanting to test drive more details can be found at: http://blogs.technet.com/forefront/archive/2009/04/23/forefront-stirling-beta-2.aspx 

Last week, as part of introducing the Business Ready Security strategy, we publicly released beta 2 of Forefront codename "Stirling.". 

“Stirling” is an integrated security suite that delivers comprehensive protection across endpoint, application servers, and the edge.  It also integrates with existing infrastructure software, such as Active Directory, System Center, and Network Access Protection, for better protection and reduced complexity.

Go here to download and evaluate with trial software or pre-configured virtual machines.   Below is a video demo worth watching, too.  Stay tuned for more info on "Stirling," such as the Security Assessment Sharing capabilities that enable interoperability with partner solutions.

Thought i would write a quick note on this process as i just got myself a HP 2140 Netbook & i am installing Windows 7 on there right now. Just got the machine this morning so the process is not yet complete, but i also bought a new 120GB SSD SATA Drive to replace the drive that came with the 2140.

So, since the 2140 obviously does not come with a CD/DVD Drive we have to look for alternatives, mine is to use one of my 8GB USB Drives as i don't want to but a USB DVD Drive of course. First order of business (assuming you have a USB drive in hand that is capable of holding at least 2.5GB) is to make our USB Drive bootable.

(Note: This set of commands assumes that the USB flash drive is addressed as "disk 2".  you should double check that this is the case before proceeding with the cleaning as you could inadvertently wipe data in error. To check this change directory into the USB Drive at the command line & type in "list disk" this should return a result similar to:

Once you have verified that you are using the correct Disk # lets proceed with the formatting.

1. Start/Run type in CMD (opens the Command Line utility)
2. Change your working drive to that of the USB drive (e.g. C:\F: “This changes your current working drive from C:\ to F:\)
3. diskpart
4. select disk 2
5. clean
6. create partition primary
7. select partition 1
8. active
9. format fs=fat32
10. assign
11. exit

If you were a user of the Windows XP Power toys there was a tool in there that i used all the time called Image Resizer. Unfortunately it was not carried over to Vista but i just came across this cloned copy on Sourceforge.net

It is a 13MB package, here is the link if your interested in a copy:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/phototoysclone 

I have always found it a killer to load up your digital photos & see your space be just gobbled up by each image being 3MB + in size.

Anyway, hope this useful.

Shouldn't have downloaded that last movie… :)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10221666-93.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.1

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop to the datacenter, will host a webcast presentation to unveil the next generation virtualization platform from VMware. 

Join Paul Maritz, president and chief executive officer, VMware as he and other VMware leaders officially unveil how VMware is bringing cloud computing to businesses of all sizes.

Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Time: 9:00am > 10:30 pm PT

To register please visit: http://www.vmware.com/landing_pages/nextgen.html

Want to learn more about the new features in Exchange 2010 in a more interactive way than via the Exchange 2010 TechNet documentation? Then I suggest you take this course over on the Microsoft Learning site.

Collection 6899: Exploring Features of Exchange Server 2010

Overview
This two-hour collection provides you with an overview of the new features in Exchange Server 2010. It also describes the enhancements made over Exchange Server 2007.

The clinics within this collection cover:

- New features in Exchange Server 2010
- Technology enhancements
- Management tools used in Exchange Server 2010
- Managing a Mailbox server
- Unified Messaging in Exchange Server 2010
- High availability features in Exchange Server 2010

Users completing this collection should have three or more years of experience working with previous versions of Exchange Server, including the implementation of Exchange Server 2007. They should be familiar with Active Directory, Exchange messaging, and SharePoint and fundamentals of Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft Office 2007, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008. It is beneficial if they have experience with a Windows or command-line scripting.

The Tech·Ed Web site has some great reasons as to why you should attend this year, but I thought I would add a few more:

• Sessions, sessions, and more sessions.  In case you haven't looked at the Session List, there's 738 technical sessions available.
• Of the 738 sessions, 67 of them are Unified Communications sessions.
• If you review the 67 UC sessions, you'll see titles like:
  • UNC204 Introduction to Microsoft Exchange Server "14" 
  • UNC312 Archiving and Retention in Microsoft Exchange Server "14"
  • UNC313 High Availability in Microsoft Exchange Server "14" (this one is presented by yours truly)
  • UNC316 Microsoft Exchange Server "14" Architecture
  • etc., etc. (I think you know where this is going)
• You'll also find several Hands On Labs, interactive instructor led sessions, and more!
• If you need help convincing your boss that you should attend, we can help with that.
• If you need help convincing your friends and co-workers to attend, we can help with that, too.

The future is coming, and you can see it at Tech·Ed North America 2009!

Now that Exchange Server 2010 is available to download and try in Beta format, I wanted to provide a quick blog on how to install the Exchange Server 2010 Beta.

Installing Exchange Server 2010 begins with installing and preparing the operating system.  Exchange Server 2010 can be installed only on Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition.  If you plan on trying out database availability groups and mailbox database copies, you will need to use the Enterprise Edition of Windows Server 2008. For more information about the requirements for Exchange Server 2010, see Exchange 2010 System Requirements.

Once the operating system has been installed, several pre-requisites must be installed.  These include:

• Operating system components, including RSAT-ADDS (needed on server that will perform schema updates), Web-Server, Web-Metabase, Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console, Web-ISAPI-Ext, NET-HTTP-Activation, Web-Basic-Auth, Web-Digest-Auth, Web-Windows-Auth, Web-Dyn-Compression, RPC-over-HTTP-proxy, Web-Net-Ext and Net-Framework.  You can install all of these components at one time (e.g., for the Mailbox, Client Access and/or Hub Transport Server roles) by running the following command:
  ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDS Web-Server Web-Metabase Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console Web-ISAPI-Ext NET-HTTP-Activation Web-Basic-Auth Web-Digest-Auth Web-Windows-Auth Web-Dyn-Compression RPC-over-HTTP-proxy Web-Net-Ext -Restart
  For more information about the prerequisites for Exchange 2010, including those for the Edge Transport server role, see Exchange 2010 Prerequisites.
  You might have noticed that Failover-Clustering is not listed as a pre-requisite. There is a feature in Exchange Server 2010 called a database availability group that does use Windows failover clustering technologies. However, thanks to another Exchange Server 2010 feature called incremental deployment, you no longer install failover clustering before installing Exchange.  If you decide to use a database availability group, you simply create one, and then add Mailbox servers to it. When you add a Mailbox server to a DAG, we install the Windows failover clustering feature and automatically create a cluster for you. So while you do need to have Exchange installed on an operating system that supports Windows failover clustering, you do not install the failover clustering feature manually, or ahead of time, and you don't manually create a cluster. It makes deploying highly available mailbox databases quick and easy.
  Exchange Server 2010 also supports installing the above pre-requisites by using an Answer File with ServerManagerCmd, and answer files are included in the \AMD64\Scripts folder.  To use them, you run ServerManagerCmd -ip <Name of File>.  For example:
  ServerManagerCmd -ip Exchange-CAS.XML
  I recommend that you don't use the XML Answer Files for Exchange-Typical or Exchange-MBX as is, because in the Beta build it mistakenly includs the Failover-Clustering feature, which does not need to be installed before Exchange is installed.  This is a remnant from the Answer Files we had in Exchange 2007 that we've since removed.
• Next, are the software pre-requisites, which include:
  • Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
  • Windows Remote Management (WinRM) 2.0 CTP 3
  • Windows PowerShell 2.0 CTP 3
  • Update from KB 951725
  • Update from KB 950888
  • Update from KB 951116
  • Update from KB 952664
  • Update from KB 953290
  • Update from KB 958178

See Exchange 2010 Prerequisites for information about and links to other pre-requisites that might apply to your environment (e.g., for Edge Transport and Unified Messaging server roles, and for environments that use System Center Operations Manager). 

Once the above pre-requisites have been installed, check Microsoft Update for any additional updates that might be needed.  Make sure the system has been rebooted after installing any updates which require a reboot.

Now you're ready to install Exchange 2010.  You can perform the installation using the GUI or command-line version of Setup.  In this example, I'll use the GUI.

I'll start by launching Setup.exe from the AMD64 folder.  This launches the Exchange 2010 splash screen:

As you can see, the Exchange 2010 splash screen is very similar to the one we had in Exchange 2007.  Any needed pre-requisites which are detected, are greyed out, indicating they have been installed, and that you can proceed to the next step.  In this case, I can proceed directly to Step 4: Install Microsoft Exchange.

I click that link and it launches the GUI version of Exchange Setup, beginning with a file copy process, and the initialization of Setup.

Once Setup is initialized and the file copy process has completed, the Introduction page appears:

I click Next, and the Language Files Location page appears:

I don't have any additional language files, so I'll leave the default setting of Continue setup without language files and click Next.  The Language Pack Confirmation page appears:

I click Next, and the License Agreement page appears:

After reading the license agreement, I select I accept the terms in the license agreement and click Next.  The Error Reporting page appears:

Error reporting is very helpful to us, which in turn is helpful to our customers, as it enables us to gather a minimal amount of diagnostic data to troubleshoot and resolve errors and crashes more quickly. So I am going to choose Yes (Recommended) and click Next.  The Installation Type page appears:

Immediately, you might notice some differences from Exchange Server 2007.  First, the Custom Exchange Server Installation option no longer lists any clustered mailbox server roles.  That's because clustered mailbox servers don't exist in Exchange Server 2010.  Exchange 2010 includes a new feature called Incremental Deployment.  This feature enables to you configure high availability and site resilience for your mailbox database after Exchange has been installed.

Second, the default path for the Exchange Server installation is new and different. If I choose Custom Exchange Server Installation, the Server Role Selection page appears:

If I choose Typical Exchange Server Installation instead of Custom Exchange Server Installation and click Next, or once I've completed the Custom Exchange Server Installation choices and clicked Next, the Exchange Organization page appears:

I specify a name for my Exchange Organization, and then I click Next.  The Client Settings page appears:

If the Exchange organization uses Outlook 2003 or earlier, or Microsoft Entourage, then a public folder database is needed so that those clients can access system data, such as Free/Busy information. In that case, you would select Yes on this page.  Since my organization does not use Outlook 2003 or earlier, or Entourage, I can leave the default setting of No and click Next.

The Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) page appears:

This program helps us improve our software by collecting data about how Exchange Server is used. I'll click Join the Exchange Customer Experience Improvement Program and specify an industry of Computer-Related Products/Services. 

I click Next. The Readiness Checks page appears, and Setup automatically performs readiness checks for any installed language packs, as well as the selected server roles to be installed.

As you can see, the readiness checks don't take much time at all.  Once all readiness checks have successfully passed, the Readiness Check page will look similar to this:

At this point, the system and server are ready for the installation to begin.  I click Install to start the installation of Exchange 2010 Mailbox, Client Access and Hub Transport server roles, as well as the Exchange Management tools (Exchange Management Console and Exchange Management Shell).

While Setup is progressing, a Progress page will be appeared:

Once Setup has completed successfully, the Completion page will appear:

As you can see, installing Exchange 2010 is quick and easy.  On my system, Setup took just under 10 minutes to complete.

I prefer to reboot the system before finalizing the installation. Uncheck the Finalize installation using the Exchange Management Console checkbox, and click Finish to complete the Setup process.  This returns Setup to the splash screen.  Click Close to close the splash screen, and when the Confirm Exit dialog appears:

Click Yes.

Then, reboot the server.  OK, technically, you don't need to reboot the server, but I do anyway.

The installation of Exchange Server 2010 is now complete.  Check out the Exchange 2010 TechCenter for documentation and other resources for Exchange 2010.

CREDIT TO: Scott Schnoll @ http://blogs.technet.com/scottschnoll/