Windows Server 2008

The winning solutions for the 2009 Readers' Choice awards.

Barracuda Spam Firewall was selected the winner in the Anti Spam Hardware category of the WindowsNetworking.com Readers' Choice Awards. Symantec Brightmail Traffic Shaper and SonicWALL Email Security were runner-up and second runner-up respectively.

Deb Shinder gives a brief background on DirectAccess and the UAG DirectAccess wizard.

How to enforce BitLocker security in a more uniform manner through the use of group policy settings.

Using Remote Server Administration Tools with Windows 7.

IDC recently released a analysis of the x86 server market “Business-Critical Workloads: Supporting Business-Critical: Computing with an Integrated Server Platform.”  If you don’t have time to read the whitepaper, check out the ComputerWorld webcast covering this material here.

What does the white paper show?  Clearly, IT managers have realized that large, proprietary UNIX systems cost their businesses more all up (support, staff, hardware, other).  That realization shows itself in IDC’s numbers - shipment growth rates for these big RISC dinsours is flat or declining while the rest of the technology world continues to expand.  In many data centers UNIX systems are already gone.  Archeologial expeditions below the raised floor can yield remiders of their existenct - strange LVD SCSI cables and nutty looking power connectors.

How does this relate to Windows Server and business critical applications?  The move away from these monotlithic hosts to x86 is real and I believe it is accellerating with new technology introductions like Intel’s Xeon 7500 processor line.  The question for IT managers isn’t if it makes sense to move (the whitepaper and other industry analysis shows that!), but to what operating system to migrate critical business processes. 

Microsoft and server OEMs have invested heavily in improving software and hardware to support business critical workloads.  In the last decade there have been huge increases in the percentage of business workloads trusted to Windows Server - from Windows 2000 through Windows Server 2008 R2. 

The IDC whitepaper includes real world customer “snap shots”  that are worth reading through.  I’m sure organizations that have already moved key business process from UNIX to Windows may find it hards to remember what it was like working the RISCy stone age! 
-John
John Kelbley, Senior Technical Program Manager, Windows Server

Next week on Tuesday and Wednesday be sure to visit the Microsoft News Center to view the Microsoft Management Summit executive keynotes live on the web!  Don’t miss this opportunity to see our top executives discuss the latest IT Management news, strategies, and solutions from Microsoft, and how to apply them in your organization.

·         Tuesday, April 20, 8:30 – 9:45 AM PST:  Managing Systems from the Datacenter to the Cloud,  Bob Muglia, president, Microsoft Server and Tools

·         Wednesday, April 21, 8:30 – 9:45 AM PST:  User Centric Client Management, Brad Anderson, corporate vice president, Management and Services Division

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This series of articles on deploying Windows 7 continues by describing more steps you can take to secure your MDT deployment environment.

How to critically examine the applications that are being run within your organization, prior to beginning the compatibility testing phase of the deployment process.

Various operating systems used on network routing hardware; focussing on large-scale implementations.