Wrong! Innovation in IT will require more sysadmins: 9 hrs ago My laptop with 1TB hosts about 1 million objects. So S3 stores 100,000 TB? 17 hrs ago 1 day ago 1 day ago
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Recently I read that one of the new features of VMware Workstation 5.5.3 is that it has better support for Windows Vista. It is still experimental, though. Since I am testing Vista mostly in a virtual environment, I was curious to know, if all the problems I had with Vista RC1 and RC2 on VMware Workstation still persist.
I read an interesting article in the German magazine Chip (11/2006). They tested Vista’s performance on different kinds of hardware. All in all, they confirmed my expectations and also my fears.
Microsoft published the Windows Vista Product Guide with 316 pages. Many of the information there can also be found on the Web, but with this guide, you will have it all in one document. I just skimmed over it and found some information I didn’t see before anywhere else.
Update: The Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Vista SP1 replace the Adminpak.
A while ago, I liked to an article that explains how to install the Adminpak on Windows Vista. Meanwhile I found out that there is a much easier way.
Today, I started preparations on my own desktop for Windows Vista. I know, I am late. Windows Vista RTM has been available on MSDN for a couple of days already. And I know that many admins have moved to Vista RC2 sometime ago. My post about the Adminpak for Windows Vista is the most often accessed article on this blog for some time now. Obviously, many sysops could not wait until the final version of Vista is out.
Last week, I introduced Symantec Continuous Protection Server (CPS). Today, I will discuss, how CPS interacts with Backup Exec 11d.
Windows Server 2003 SP2 RC is now publicly available for download. So it might be time get prepared for Microsoft’s latest Server Service Pack. There are, however, no major changes in SP2, like in SP1. Microsoft has a list of top 10 reasons why we should deploy SP2.
This article is part of a series about my experience during my trial of Backup Exec 11d and Continuous Protection Server (CPS), Symantec’s CDP tools. I will discuss CPS, how Backup Exec and CPS interact, and how continuous protection of Microsoft Exchange works. Today, I will start with CPS.
I just installed Symantec Backup Exec 11d and was somewhat surprised that there are no major changes to the core product, the good old backup tool that copies your files to tapes. Then, why did Symantec release a new version? The major changes come with Continuous Protection Server (CPS), which was originally planned as a stand-alone product. Since version 10d, CPS has become a component of Backup Exec. It seems that Symantec focuses now on Continuous Data Protection (CDP) . This raises the question, whether conventional backup tools will soon vanish from our server rooms.
You can now download Microsoft’s new command line shell and scripting language. If you don’t run an English Windows version, make sure that you also get the Multilingual User Interface Package. It is interesting to note that there is not yet a version for Windows Vista. You can download Windows Powershell 1.0 RC2, but it is only for Vista RC1. There seems to be a big interest in Powershell, judging from the number of comments in the relatively new Powershell blog. However, I think, most Windows administrators will need some time to make friends with the idea of going back to the command line, like in the good old times of MS DOS. Okay, Powershell is a bit more powerful.
Microsoft Forefront Client Security Beta (formerly Microsoft Client Protection) can now be downloaded at Microsoft Connect. The final of Microsoft’s malware protection software for business desktops, laptops and servers is scheduled for the 2nd quarter of 2007. I just skimmed over its product description. Forefront Client Security (FCS) could be a very interesting solution for mere Windows shops.
If you are sys admin you probably know the Sysinternals tools. You might have heard that they were bought by Microsoft a while ago. Meanwhile the tools are available at Microsoft’s Windows Sysinternals technet site. If you don’t know about Sysinternals tools, I highly recommend having a look at them. Many of them are must-have-tools for system administrators. You can download now the complete Sysinternal Suite. I discussed Sysinternals Process Explorer and Sysinternals Autoruns some time ago. There also is a new tool, called Process Monitor, which combines the functionality of Filemon and Regmon.
I was quite surprised when someone from Microsoft told me that DPM v2 Beta 1 not only allows backups of Exchange, SQL Server, and SharePoint, but also supports tape libraries. This would make DPM v2 a serious competitor to backup tools like Symantec Backup Exec or CA ARCserve. It made me quite curious to try DPM v2. Microsoft’s latest CDP solution certainly is an interesting backup tool. However, Beta 1 has one major shortcoming.
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