Windows Server 2008

The importance of having correctly configured time on a PC or server. We will then move on to what is new with Windows 7 when it comes to time configuration. Finally, what happens with the NTP configuration when a server becomes a domain controller.

Help Desk Pilot was selected the winner in the Help Desk category of the WindowsNetworking.com Readers' Choice Awards. ExDesk and ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus were runners-up while LiveTime Help Desk was second runner-up.

This series of articles on deploying Windows 7 continues examining how to create and configure the MDT database.

Concluding the introduction to the AppLocker series by discussing the anatomy of an AppLocker rule, describing how to create rules both manually and automatically and how to modify existing rules.

The process of adding a Bluetooth device in Windows 7 as well as giving you some gotchas to watch out for so that the process runs smoothly.

Danger, Will Robinson! If you’ve got machines still running Windows 2000 Server in your enterprise, your robot will be blaring this warning ever more urgently the closer we get to July 13, 2010. That’s the end-of-support date for the Windows 2000 Server platform. Folks still running Windows 2000 after this date will be doing so without security hotfixes, patches or service packs.

Keeping your corporate infrastructure, data and especially customer or partner data safe is a key requirement to stay within regulatory compliance requirements. But it also means:

Staying competitive: Move to the latest business software and the best tools for your workers, and use R2’s in-box virtualization suite to deliver those resources to your users and customers easily and with the ability to quickly respond to changing requirements and workloads.

Saving IT costs: Using in-box virtualization to consolidate server sprawl as well as new power saving features that extend from the server to the desktop, Windows Server 2008 R2 can save you significant power and cooling costs both in the data center and the office.

Easily Manage Your Network: The Windows Server family has significantly decreased the complexity of managing your infrastructure. New console UIs have been coupled with new wizards to give IT generalists the lowest learning curve possible for managing their servers. And new features like PowerShell 2.0 give Windows Server 2008 R2 administrators a simple and powerful toolkit for IT administration building custom management tools.

That said, migrating servers is no one’s idea of a party. If you’re worried about your migration project generating migraines, make sure you leverage all the resources Microsoft is making available to Windows 2000 Server end of lifers:

Your first stop should be the Windows 2000 End-of-Support Solution Center, a new site loaded with migration planning and technical tools. Check out the Windows Server 2008 R2 Upgrade Paths as well as the Windows Server Migration Tools, the Assessment and Planning Toolkit and the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit. The site also has great guidance on migration planning as well as technical guidance on migrating specific server roles.

Look for more tools and guidance around Windows 2000 Server end of life in the coming months, both here and on www.microsoft.com/windowsserver.

Oliver Rist

 

Sr. Product Manager

Windows Server Marketing

This series of articles on deploying Windows 7 continues describing how to automate the migration of a Windows XP computer to Windows 7 while preserving user settings and data.

This is fantastic news for customers. Microsoft and HP have had a long-standing technology partnership that's spanned over 25 years. But today, we've announced an expansion of that agreement that likely makes this the deepest and most far-reaching alliance of its kind in the industry.

Today, both companies have agreed to invest $250 million over the next three years aimed at simplifying IT technology environments and driving innovation for the next generation of computing. The idea is to provide a series of new end-to-end solutions tightly integrated from the hardware layer up through applications and services - a concept we're calling the infrastructure-to-application model.

This long-term agreement is huge news for customers across several fronts. First, we'll be collaborating with HP on engineering roadmaps and product development. That means total management control and performance tweaking capabilities across the entire IT technology stack. It also means the ability to much more easily deliver on new technology visions, including on- and off-premise cloud computing. Tight product integration also means new product possibilities, notably pre-configured hardware/software stacks optimized not just for performance and reliability, but also capable of delivering push-button simplicity when it comes to management and monitoring. This will be especially helpful to Microsoft Exchange Server and SQL Server customers with easy deployment, simple management and lower TCO. Look for these products to be:

• Optimized for virtualization via Hyper-V,
• Offer new management capabilities with the integration of Microsoft's and HP's management software, and
• Leverage these technology combinations to help deliver on on-premise cloud computing in heterogeneous datacenter environments.

These solutions will combine server, storage, networking and application technologies into automated and self-managing product offerings all aimed at redefining what businesses can expect from their IT resources. And that concept will be extended beyond your in-house servers and out to the cloud with Microsoft and HP collaborating on the Windows Azure platform with new tools and services.

What I really like about the agreement is its intention to develop not just for enterprises but for small- and medium-sized businesses as well. The new IT stack that will come out of this alliance will offer tools that let enterprises build the most powerful data centers they've ever had. But it'll also redefine how small- and medium-sized businesses can compete and differentiate themselves using IT. And with both Microsoft and HP's partner networks available and capable of designing customized IT solutions using the fruits of this alliance, the next three years look especially rosy for businesses looking to maximize their IT investment dollars.  

Which also means new opportunities for Microsoft and HP's partner community. The new agreement means shortened sales cycles using new Smart Bundles and all-inclusive product packages that will appeal to many industry segments. Partners will also be able to leverage flexible financing options through HP's Financial Services as well as new sales and lead-generation tools via HP and Microsoft's combined partner resource community.

Check here for some immediately available solutions out of the new alliance. And for more information there's this outline of the new agreement as well as a teleconference of Microsoft and HP executives announcing the agreement available here.

Oliver Rist

Sr. Product Manager

Windows Server Marketing

In part two of the series, the author discusses Long Term Evolution as a competitor to WiMax.

The various options available to create a software-based iSCSI Server (or target in iSCSI terminology).