Jeff's Connected Corner

Goodbye WindowsConnected

2009-07-21T17:03:13Z

I’m typing (and posting) this final blog entry from 30,000 feet above the United States in a Delta MD-88. Delta contracts with GoGo to provide high-speed Internet… which is freaking amazing. Check out my connection speed:

Considering the cost of WiFi on the ground… paying $10 at altitude seems like a bargain. I only hope Joe Six-pack doesn’t fire up Skype on his laptop. I draw the line at phone conversations in the air. What about you?

Anyway – back to the original purpose of my post. I’m retiring Jeff’s Connected Corner on WindowsConnected.com. It’s been a blast working with Josh and the other guys at WC since my first post back in February, 2006. Hopefully my posts will stay archived for some time… I’m always amazed at the traffic search engines drive to old posts. Thanks go out to the WC volunteers and readers for all their support and kind words over the years.

I still haven’t decided if I’ll create a TechNet blog now that I’m “inside” the Microsoft machine. Oh, I guess I should mention that as well. I started with Microsoft on June 22, 2009. I’m a technical sales resource (official title = Account Technology Strategist) dedicated to a handful of large customers in Kansas City. Bottom line – I’ll only start my own blog if I have enough interesting content to post regularly. Time will tell.

So, this is goodbye for now. --Jeff

EMC World – Day 2

2009-05-19T13:21:56Z

Another rainy day here in Orlando, FL. The bloggers Lounge is hopping this morning – it must be the free latte & cappuccino. I opted for comfortable sandals today, which I’m sure violates our EMC employee dress code. I think this is the lesser of evils vs. a work comp claim for blisters. I’ll try to do some more live blogging today – starting with a morning session on Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2.

Session Plans:

Morning – Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008
Afternoon – ~~Microsoft Apps in a Virtual Environment (Panel Discussion)~~, ~~Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Considerations~~, ~~Database Deployments on Flash Drives~~, EMC Replication Manager

Microsoft Hyper-V Session: The presenter did a good job of holding his own in a hostile environment. After all, this is EMC World… and the keynote included Paul Maritz (VMware CEO). Topics included differences between Win2008 Hyper-V and Win2008 R2 Hyper-V, an overview of the Cluster Shared Volume (CSV), Live Migration demo, and a lively Q&A. I took a BUNCH of notes on my tablet and will upload them to the blog soon.

Afternoon Plans: Unfortunately I was sequestered in an internal meeting from 12:00-1:30, and I have another one at 2:45. This means I missed/will miss my afternoon Microsoft panel discussion and Cisco FCoE session. That’s one of the unintended consequences of combining the (EMC employee only) Technical Consultant Conference with EMC World.

Oh well, I’ll still get to catch the Database ~~Deployments on Flash session at 4:15~~. Strike that… the Flash session was standing room only. I decided to try a Replication Manager (RM) session instead, but it was rather basic. Not a bad thing if you are new to the product; however, I was hoping for something in the 201/301 range (sizing, troubleshooting tips, etc.). You win some, you lose some.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V Session Notes:

Coming soon…

--Jeff

EMC World Day 1

2009-05-18T13:08:00Z

I’m in Orlando, FL this week attending EMC World 2009. Since this is WindowsConnected.com and not EMCConnected.com I’ll primarily focus on Microsoft/EMC tie-ins and overlapping solutions. If anyone in the WindowsConnected audience is here @ EMC World… please drop me a PM and we’ll hook up for coffee in the Bloggers Lounge.

Status Update (Final for Day 1):

Internal EMC Pre-Sales Session: Check

Registered at Bloggers Lounge and affixed annoying blinking LED button to my badge: Check

Keynote with Tucci and Maritz up next – I”ll blog any key announcements. UPDATE - No major announcements... Tucci seemed a bit flat (maybe he's sick?) and Maritz basically covered the same content that he did during the vSphere launch. Kind of bummed... I was hoping for a new product announcement or something.

Let the sessions begin - I'm headed to a session on EMC SourceOne, our new e-mail archiving and eDiscovery application. This application replaces EmailXtender, an app that functioned OK but looked like it was written for Windows 3.1. SourceOne offers more features and also sports an Office 2007-like ribbon interface. It's good stuff... one of my customers just finished a virtual lab proof-of-concept and is moving toward a limited pilot deployment with Exchange 2003/2007. I'll blog more about this in the near future.

SourceOne Session Update – This one was standing room only. Looks like customers are interested in this new product. If you were turned away like I was, check back Tuesday @ 4:15pm for a replay session (same content, same speaker).

I’m off to an Avamar lab at 3:00pm… then a Celerra performance monitoring/troubleshooting lab at 4:30. I learn best by doing vs. watching… so I’m hitting as many labs as possible.

Avamar Lab Update: This is a product you must see to believe. Seriously… when I hear dedupe stats like 500:1 bells and buzzers go off in my head. However, now I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Not every workload will see this kind of dedupe, but Avamar should be on your short list for backing up dense VMware environments, remote offices, and NAS installations. Avamar also supports Microsoft SQL Server and Exchange Server – with no extra charge ‘per agent/client’.

FWIW the Avamar user interface could use some work. I’m not a big fan of a Java UI, let alone one that isn’t consistent from one screen to the next (right-click works one place, but not another). Anyway – I’m sure this will be fixed in the near future and shouldn’t prevent you from evaluating the solution. Note to Avamar team – talk to the SourceOne UI designers for some tips/tricks on good UI design.

Other Sessions: I waited in line for the Celerra session only to be turned away by some silly Fire Marshal rules ;) I also had to leave the Symmetrix V-Max performance session because I was getting claustrophobic. Seriously – the place was packed *and* warm. I vote for larger (and cooler) meeting rooms next year.

Useful Tips and Useless Info:

This is the 9th EMC World… and by far the most sanitary. Due to concerns over Swine Flu the convention center is sporting quite a few hand sanitizer stations.

I’m using TweetDeck to monitor the Twitterverse for EMC World info. I really like this little Adobe Air application for monitoring multiple search terms in one window. It could use some work – specifically around the filtering capabilities of broad search terms (ex. EMC, V-Max). However, it’s still an excellent app in my opinion. Here’s a screen shot of my current TweetDeck window…

Global economy meltdown = no ‘melt in my mouth’ snacks :( So far I’ve only seen water and coffee at the beverage/snack stations. Oh well, such is life. UPDATE – I was just being impatient… and showing how bad my sweet tooth really is. They brought out the snacks mid-afternoon. Cookies, salt water taffy, brownies, and even some trail mix if you want to feel good about yourself. Thanks, EMC! You helped me survive the afternoon.

I’ll blog more tomorrow.

--Jeff

The New Rumor Mill (F'd Company Replacement)

2009-03-30T16:09:54Z

Some of you who lived through the post-Y2k and dot-com bubble burst may remember a little site with a foul name (I'll shorten it to F'dCompany.com to avoid any web filter issues). F'd Company was a great source for layoff rumors. Heck, I probably spent a good 30 minutes every night looking for news on my employer at the time. Not only was it a sick, morbid curiosity that drove my eyeballs to F'd Company... more often than not it was the humorous forum threads that kept me reading long past bedtime. Anyway - I haven't found a suitable replacement for the humor element... but the rumor mill component is covered by the following sites:

Note: Some of these sites may contain foul language and other inappropriate content. Please view them after hours to avoid violating your acceptable use policy at work.

Of course you can also mine Twitter if you’re fond of information overload. You can use Twitter’s built-in search engine at search.twitter.com or one of the numerous external tools like Tweetscan.com and Tweetag.com.

Bottom line – try to stay upbeat about the current situation. One of the best things that ever happened to me was getting fired from an apartment leasing position very early in my career. That got me into IT, and I’ve never looked back ;)

Windows Live Alerts/Calendar Goes Crazy

2008-12-30T15:20:52Z

Did anyone else just experience an issue with Windows Live Alerts? I was sitting here minding my own business (and working on company tasks, mind you) when all of a sudden I got WL Alerts for all my contacts within minutes. For me, that’s over 350 alerts. I certainly hope my case is an isolated one… or else we’re looking at an unintended DoS attack :|

PS. Yes, I realize I haven’t blogged in a while. More on that later…

Potential WSUS 3 Issues

2008-06-18T15:13:00Z

This morning I received notice from Microsoft about a potential issue with WSUS 3.0 - specifically installations that serve updates to clients running Office 2003. If you are running Office XP or Office 2007 this issue *should not* impact you. I say *should not* since this is a new issue, and also because sometimes you'll have Office 2003 binaries on your system thanks to 3rd party software dependencies, in upgrade scenarios, etc. Also, I have not experienced this issue myself - even though I have a handful of test machines running Office 2003.

Update 1: Microsoft has an official blog post regarding this issue on the WSUS Product Team Blog. I've removed the details from my earlier post since you can find them at the source. I'll continue updating this post with my own findings and those of the community. Feel free to post in the comments section if you have first-hand experience with this issue.

Update 2: I looked at the Office 2003 SP1 revisions on my WSUS server and found something odd. Take a look at the date of the 2 most recent revisions:

I'm not saying this is the root cause... but it sure seems strange to me. Stay tuned for more info.

Update 3: Just heard from Cecilia Cole (WSUS Program Manager). Apparently the date typo in my update revisions screen shot isn't an issue since the update is expired. Cecilia and team are also working on an updated blog post and KB article to address the scenario(s) where you might run into this failed detection issue. Let's just say it looks fairly rare and should not be keeping you up at night.

WSUS and Vista SP1 Heads-Up

2008-06-11T18:25:49Z

Here's a quick non-TechEd news item for you. As Cecilia points out on the WSUS blog, Vista SP1 is coming to WSUS any day now. If you are synchronizing Vista updates be sure to read Cecilia's post and the linked support articles. Bottom line - if you are running WSUS on Windows 2003 (probably the majority of WSUS installations) please download the patch referenced in KB938759 to prevent issues. Interestingly enough, this patch is necessary due to the size of Vista SP1... and *not* due to anything inside the SP1 file itself. If you are running WSUS on Windows Server 2008 then the patch above isn't required.

Note: If you're running the R2 flavor of Windows Server 2003 you still need to patch for this issue. After all, it's still Windows 2003 at the core ;)

Oh, and one more thing while I'm thinking about it. A new WSUS blog popped up last month. The WSUS Support Team Blog is off to a great start with info on common errors, and other helpful troubleshooting tips. If you run WSUS make sure to add this blog to your RSS feeds.

Take a Deep Breath - OGA Was Not Silently Installed

2008-04-21T14:02:53Z

My RSS reader was on fire this weekend after word of the Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) mix-up made the rounds. To prevent this issue from getting (further) blown out of proportion I've listed a few key details below.

Point #1:

The OGA hotfix requires admins to accept an End User License Agreement (EULA) before deploying anything to WSUS clients. I captured a screen shot of the OGA EULA using my lab WSUS server.

Point #2:

Even if your WSUS server(s) use automatic approvals, an EULA-enabled update still requires manual approval. This is an important point that every WSUS admin who uses automatic approvals should understand. I prefer to manually approve all but Definition Updates; however, your environment may allow less stringent controls.

Point #3:

Immediately after recognizing the mistake (yes, mistake... not conspiracy) Microsoft marked the update as Expired by issuing an update revision. This action essentially disabled OGA and prevented unsuspecting WSUS admins from approving it. Unfortunately most WSUS servers only sync once or twice per day, which means OGA was hanging around unexpired for 12-24 hours. However, this doesn't change the fact that OGA still required an EULA before being deployed (see first bullet). Here is a screen shot of both revisions, with the second one highlighted.

Bottom Line:

OGA shouldn't have been published in the first place. Microsoft needs to implement tighter controls on the publishing channel. However, in this instance OGA could not be deployed without admin intervention. I hope this post answers any questions you had after reading other accounts of the incident. Feel free to post a comment if you have any questions. Note: Due to comment SPAM your question will not appear right away (I need to moderate first). Depending on my schedule this could be anywhere from 2-24 hours. Thanks for your patience.

Blog Post Changelog:

4/21/08 (v.1) - Initial post

4/21/08 (v.2) - Added info to clarify EULA-enabled updates still require manual approval. Also misc. typesetting changes.

RSAT Available - Also Hyper-V Management

2008-03-25T20:40:15Z

Want to administer your Windows Server 2008 servers (including Server Core and Hyper-V) without using Terminal Services? Microsoft just released the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows Vista SP1. The links may or may not work for you... but here you go:

For anyone testing Hyper-V there is a separate download for that role (probably separate since Hyper-V isn't finalized):

Keep in mind these downloads require Vista SP1 in an Active Directory domain environment. If you have trouble with the links just hit www.microsoft.com/downloads - search for RSAT or Hyper-V and sort by date. They should be at the top of the list. Enjoy!

Exchange 2007 Update Rollup Confusion

2008-02-28T21:47:00Z

Exchange 2007 is serviced by a new 'Update Rollup' strategy that is designed to simplify testing and deployment. Here's a useful post on the Exchange Team Blog if you need some background.

However, the way Microsoft decided to name the updates will likely cause confusion among IT Pros. Instead of increasing the version number by 1 each time a new update rollup is released, we now have a forked release path. For example, we were at Update Rollup 5 around the time Exchange Service Pack 1 (SP1) released. Shortly *after* SP1 was finalized Microsoft released Update Rollup 6. In the overview section Microsoft clarifies that Update Rollup 6 does not apply to Exchange 2007 SP1. The updates included in Update Rollup 6 that are not included in SP1 are included in Update Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (confused yet?).

I've created a Visio diagram to make sense of the Update Rollups (click here for the .VSD file). Each shape in the Visio file includes a link to the appropriate Update Rollup KB article. I'm also including a PNG version below in case you don't have Visio, or don't want to download the viewer.

Bottom line - once you wrap your brain around this servicing model it makes sense why Microsoft *must* maintain separate release paths. After all Exchange 2007 RTM will be supported until Jan. 2009 per the MS Lifecycle site. My only recommendation is to come up with a simpler naming strategy. Update Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 doesn't exactly roll off the tongue now, does it ;)

WS08 Launch Day Thoughts

2008-02-27T19:09:00Z

Windows Server 2008 (WS08) had an official launch event in Los Angeles, CA today. Instead of enjoying the festivities - I'm in the trenches having my own 'virtual launch party' by deploying WS08 in a production environment. Granted, it's a limited deployment... but still important. Here are a couple items to keep in mind as you begin deploying WS08.

Hardware Support

As always, make sure you are deploying on supported hardware. I'm working with a client who appreciates the best server hardware - HP ProLiant servers (and no, they aren't paying me to say that). HP has an excellent support page for WS08 that you should review. Of particular interest are links to the new SmartStart v8 and ProLiant Support Pack v8. You'll want to grab these ahead of time to ensure smooth deployments. SmartStart v8 is the first version to offer integrated support for WS08. If you pop in a previous version you'll know right away since it won't offer WS08 as an install option.

Yes, SP1 is Baked In

There is plenty of logic behind the decision to label WS08 as SP1 - but this won't stop the peanut gallery from conjuring up all kinds of conspiracy theories. Just ignore C|Net and other mainstream bloggers for a few days, will ya?

Hyper-V is Still Beta

Here's a quick tip in case you aren't following Hyper-V development closely. Even though you will see WS08 RTM SKUs 'with Hyper-V' on the MS Volume License Download site, Hyper-V is STILL BETA. I'm honestly surprised Microsoft baked it in to the final DVDs. More than a few IT Pros will be surprised when the RTM version of Hyper-V ships in a few months (thinking they already had the final version installed). And here's a question for Microsoft - will you guys press/issue new DVDs with RTM Hyper-V code? I hope to see some info about this on the MS Virtualization Blog.

List of Supported Microsoft Applications

Knowledge base article 948680 contains a list of Microsoft server applications that are/will be supported on WS08. Another excellent read as you plan your WS08 deployment.

Alright - lunch break is over... back to the rollout.

Updates: WSUS 3.0 SP1, Windows Server 2008 & Vista SP1

2008-02-11T22:30:00Z

I just got back from a nice family vacation to Florida (Orlando & Cocoa Beach). The weather was fabulous with daytime highs in the 70-80F range vs. 10-20F here in Kansas City. We also got to see a Space Shuttle launch, which has always been on my 'bucket list'. Of course, the week I decide to unplug is also the week Microsoft decides to release Windows 2008, Vista SP1 and WSUS 3.0 SP1. Oh well - Josh and Aubrey have done a great job picking up the slack. So from the 'Better Late than Never' department, here are my thoughts on recent Microsoft developments:

WSUS 3.0 SP1 RTM

Microsoft released WSUS 3.0 SP1 on 2/8/2008. This release fixes a few bugs, adds some minor features, and most importantly adds Windows Server 2008 as a supported platform. In fact, sometime in the next few weeks/months there will be an update to the Server Manager UI in Windows Server 2008 that allows direct integration with WSUS. I covered WSUS 3.0 SP1 back in November, 2007 when the product achieved Release Candidate status. Very little changed since November, so you can refer back to my previous post for details (including Server Manager integration screen shots).

So far the only upgrade issues I've read about are related to long (12+ character) e-mail notification passwords. The current work-around is to shorten the password... upgrade to WSUS 3.0 SP1... then reset the password to the desired length. Yes, this is a pain... but it won't impact everyone and it isn't a show-stopper. I'll post more info after working with the RTM code for a few days.

Windows Server 2008

After a long and thorough development/test cycle Windows Server 2008 was finalized on 2/4/2008. I'm pumped about Win2008... and not just because I'm in the consulting business. ;)

God willing, I'll blog more about Win2008 over the next few weeks/months. I'm also part of the Heroes Happen {here} campaign and will be hosting several user group meetings on Win2008. In the meantime here are my 'Top 5' new/improved features:

Active Directory (Read-only DCs, granular password policies, DFS-R for SYSVOL, improved auditing)
Server Core (as Iain McDonald likes to say, "The Wow Stops Now")
Terminal Services (TS RemoteApp, TS Easy Print, TS Session Broker, TS Web Access)
Failover Clustering (improved setup, ability to span IP subnets, NetBIOS dependency eliminated)
Security Improvements (new TCP/IP stack, NAP, firewall enabled by default, BitLocker, etc.)

I'm not sure about the Volume Licensing download site - but Connect and MSDN/TechNet users can download the RTM bits now.

Windows Vista SP1

As expected Windows Vista SP1 hit RTM alongside Win2008. Marketing-speak aside... this is a major upgrade to Vista RTM and not simply a collection of security/bug fixes. If you need proof, check Mark Russinovich's blog post on file copy improvements. However, Vista SP1 won't usher in a new wave of UI changes either. To use a car analogy... think of Vista SP1 as a manufacturer recall to replace the engine. The car looks the same, but it runs a heck of a lot better and faster. Microsoft is hopeful that SP1 address most issues preventing large organizations from deploying Vista. It won't quiet the 'Resurrect Windows XP' crowd... but then again, nothing will.

Want to get your hands on Vista SP1? If you're a beta tester with access to Connect... have at it. The RTM code was uploaded over the weekend (stand-alone, ISO and WU script). As for the rest of you... check out this blog post from Mike Nash regarding external availability. Patience, grasshopper. I've done one successful upgrade so far - my home Media Center machine. Will hit a few more this week and report back if I run into problems. Happy upgrading!

AT&T Releases Palm Treo 750 WM6 Update

2007-12-05T00:52:57Z

... and there was much rejoicing (yea). Here's the link to Palm's Treo 750 Updater 2.25.

Of course, yours truly has been running WM6 on his Treo 750 already... but only because running 'unsupported' software is a way of life for me ;)

Note to AT&T: What took you so long? Recoup some customer sat and come clean with the technical difficulties around this update. Treo and Windows Mobile forums haven't exactly been singing your praises lately. Heck, your own forum has a discussion thread with 300+ replies dedicated to the misleading communication about this update. This situation brings to mind the story about how Lexus handled their first big recall in the US. You can read about it in the Time.com archives. I really don't think AT&T is adhering to the "Lexus Covenant" of customer service, which states in part "Lexus will treat each customer as we would a guest in our home".

Microsoft Asset Inventory Service RTW

2007-11-16T22:51:41Z

Today at TechEd IT Forum in Barcelona Microsoft released Asset Inventory Service (AIS) to the web. In case you aren't familiar with AIS, it includes technology Microsoft acquired from AssetMetrix in 2006. In addition to the hosted service announced today, the 'brain power' behind AIS is also available in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 and SMS 2003 SP3 in the form of Asset Intelligence. Bottom line - we're talking about tools to help make sense of all the software products deployed across an enterprise. Here's the full PDF datasheet on AIS if you're interested.

The First System Center Online Service

One important thing to note about AIS is that the entire solution is hosted by Microsoft. As an administrator all you do is deploy a small client to your PCs and wait for the data to appear at https://sc.microsoft.com. I've included screen shots at the end of this post to give you a feel for the interface.

How Do I Get It?

If you own Microsoft Software Assurance and the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) you're half way there. You'll need to activate the MDOP-AIS 'benefit' through the Volume License Portal and designate an AIS administrator. The System Center Online team has a detailed post on the activation process over at their blog - so I won't delve into the details.

Other Details

Right now the AIS client installer weighs in at 1.37MB. I've been running various iterations of the AIS client over the last few months with no negative side-effects (including on Vista x64). Microsoft even published an ADM template on the public download site so you can tweak AIS settings using Active Directory.

Screen Shots

As usual I'll update this post with more info and screen shots as time permits. However, I wanted to get something in your hands before the weekend. The following screen shots were taken about a week ago using the final Release Candidate version of AIS. Differences between the RC and RTW interfaces are almost non-existent except removal of the word Beta. This should represent what you'll see on your own AIS home page. I've included images of the management page and several example reports (software and computer).

Expect to hear more about AIS and the System Center Online group in the near future. Check back in a couple days for updated info... or better yet, subscribe to the site RSS feed and get notified of any changes to this and other posts.

Information on WSUS Issues

2007-11-13T04:59:40Z

A few of you posted questions about the WSUS issues that started this morning. If you haven't already found the fix (or maybe you didn't even know there was a problem) check the WSUS Team Blog for information. Additionally, keep an eye on the public WSUS newsgroup for late-breaking info (microsoft.public.windows.server.update_services). As was the case today, you often find people discussing issues in the newsgroup long before something appears on a team blog or on the official Microsoft Support site.

Note: If you aren't into traditional NNTP, just point your web browser to http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/list/en-us/default.aspx for the entire list of Microsoft newsgroups (English only). RSS and blogging are great... but a traditional newsgroup is still a fast and efficient way to discuss hot topics.