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May 15, 2007

Microsoft and Packeteer Announce Windows-based Branch Office Solution

For IT people, branch offices really stink. They're far removed and the network connections between them and the main office are often expensive and sometimes unreliable. The problem is getting the necessary data and applications down to the branch offices without compromising network performance.

One solution for doing that is a network accelerator that optimizes, prioritizes, and compresses traffic as it moves from the main office to the branch office. But, too often these tools have been historically vaporware or too expensive.

To combat this, Microsoft recently announced a partnership with Packeteer -- a company well-known for its network traffic shaping technology -- to produce a branch office solution that will do just that. The solution, called the iShaper...

 
Continue reading Microsoft and Packeteer Announce Windows-based Branch Office Solution...

Tuesday "Just for Fun": Ether-eal vs. E-ther-eal

Everyone's got pet peeves, and everyone thinks everyone else's pet peeves are silly. So, here's one of mine, and you can tell me if you think its silly.

There's a freeware protocol analyzer on the market that is spelled "Ethereal". I love this particular protocol analyzer, but I've gotten into wars with people over the correct pronunciation of the name.

I happened to be on the ethereal site today, http://www.ethereal.com, and noticed in their FAQ that they actually have that as a question. So, apparently, others have had the same argument.

So, is it Ether-eal. Or, is it E-ther-eal. The verdict is in...

 
Continue reading Tuesday "Just for Fun": Ether-eal vs. E-ther-eal...

May 14, 2007

Cisco Unity Servers Should Not Allow Microsoft Automatic Updates?

I was having a conversation with Brad Beaber, one of the Senior Network Engineers for my company, 3t Systems, earlier today and we were having a conversation about Microsoft patches on Cisco Unity servers.

A Cisco Unity server ties into a Microsoft Exchange infrastructure to provide Unified Communication (voice mail, etc) capabilities for the organization when used in conjunction with Cisco phone hardware.

One comment Brad made that peaked my concern was related to Microsoft patches. According to Brad, Cisco servers should not have Automatic Updates enabled. Instead, these servers have their own patching engine that talks not to Microsoft, but to Cisco for Microsoft patches.

Cisco is ponying up to quality Microsoft patches for their servers? Sounds like a tall order to me. According to Brad...

 
Continue reading Cisco Unity Servers Should Not Allow Microsoft Automatic Updates?...

May 11, 2007

Its Official: Longhorn is Windows Server 2008

Well, its official. Windows Longhorn has officially been named Windows Server 2008. The new name was posted on the web page for the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC). It appears to have been removed now.

You heard it here second!

You heard it first on Mary Jo Foley's blog at: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=434

LogIn Consultants Releases SoftGrid Client ADM File

Need to customize your SoftGrid client behavior and want to do it globally using Group Policy? All this gets much easier with LogIn Consultants' recently released SoftGrid Client Configuration ADM file. If you're familiar with ADM files, they are excellent ways to customize Group Policy on clients in your Windows domain.

The problem with many custom ADM files is in creating them. ADM files modify the registry. So, to create them you need to know what registry keys need to be modified to accomplish the task.

I downloaded the file and dug into it to find out what it does. This particular ADM file will help centrally control the following items...

 
Continue reading LogIn Consultants Releases SoftGrid Client ADM File...

May 10, 2007

Easing the Pain of Server Migrations: An Interview with Stephen Lawton of Acronis

Ever felt the pain of trying to move a server instance from one hardware platform to another? How about from one hardware platform to a virtual one? Those are fairly easy these days. But, what about from a virtual platform to a physical one? Now, that's hard!

Unless, you use some of the tools provided by Acronis.

In this podcast we'll be talking with Stephen Lawton of Acronis about just that very pain. Acronis has a few nifty products, like their "Universal Restore" that makes the movement of server instances much easier.

Check it out! You can find out more about Acronis' products on their web site at http://www.acronis.com.



MP3: Greg Shields - Easing the Pain of Server Migrations: An Interview with Stephen Lawton of Acronis

May 9, 2007

Citrix & VMware: Oil & Water?

This month's Redmond Magazine also sports an article written by myself and Steve Kaplan that discusses the rather gnarly topic of whether its a good idea to run Citrix servers inside virtualization environments.

We talk about the problem both from the performance standpoint as well as from the idea of easy recoverability. Although, in the end, you're going to see a decrease in performance any time you squoosh servers together into virtualization environments -- you cannot change the laws of physics! But, the other benefits of virtualization sometimes outweigh that performance loss.

Click below for the link to the article. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on it.

 
Continue reading Citrix & VMware: Oil & Water?...

Isolation Automation Exploration: Part I

In this month's Redmond Magazine, my Windows Insider column discusses the use of IPSec to create "Isolation Groups". Its a neat idea that was hard in previous versions, but with Vista (and soon-to-be Longhorn) it gets a lot easier. You can use an isolation group as a kind of extra ACL on the network to ensure that only certain computers have access to other computers. Its a potential protection against mistakenly opening up permissions.

Click below for the link to the article at Redmond Magazine...

 
Continue reading Isolation Automation Exploration: Part I...

May 8, 2007

Colorado Technology Association Nominates 3t Systems for CSIA Apex Award

Press Release DENVER ­ May 2, 2007 -- CSIA today announced 115 nominations from 94 companies for the 7th annual CSIA Apex Awards, one of the largest annual technology award events in the nation. The 115 nominations exceeds all previous years, marking this the largest pool of nominations in the organization¹s history.

The nominated companies represent...

 
Continue reading Colorado Technology Association Nominates 3t Systems for CSIA Apex Award...

Microsoft Security Bulletin for May is Released

Looks like one for Excel, Word, Office, and Exchange, a cumulative IE one, a vulnerability in the Cryptographic API COM, and the DNS one we've been waiting for.

Click through for the detailed posting on Microsoft's web site:

 
Continue reading Microsoft Security Bulletin for May is Released...

Windows Server SP2 Causing Networking Problems on SBS Servers

The Microsoft SBS Blog released a post last week with some excellent information about a known problem with networking that occurs after the installation of SP2 onto Small Business Server. A series of resolutions is also posted.

Some of the network problems being seen involve:

Unable to VPN to the Server ("Error 800: Unable to establish connection").
Unable to RDP to SBS server
Unable to connect to shares on SBS server from the LAN
Unable to join a client machine to the domain
Unable to connect to Exchange from Outlook
Unable to connect to SSL sites either on the SBS server or on the Internet (including CompanyWeb)
Slow network performance
Outgoing FTP connections fail
DHCP Server service crashes
Slow domain logins
Intermittent connection failures from NAT clients behind the server
Intermittent RPC communications failures

If you are experiencing any of these problems...

 
Continue reading Windows Server SP2 Causing Networking Problems on SBS Servers...

Tuesday "Just for Fun": Google Trends

Interested in finding out how many people are interesting in finding out about things?

Google Trends, at is Google's newest mashup that will tell you how many people are checking out any search string you can enter. It'll also tell you where they come from and what language they speak.

Here's a sample...

 
Continue reading Tuesday "Just for Fun": Google Trends...

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Greg Shields' Bio:

Greg Shields is a Principal Consultant with 3t Systems in Denver, Colorado. With more than 10 years of experience in information technology, Greg has developed extensive experience in systems administration, engineering, and architecture specializing in Microsoft, Citrix, and VMware technologies. Greg is a Contributing Editor for both Redmond Magazine and Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine, authoring two regular columns along with numerous feature articles, webcasts, and white papers. He is known for his abilities to relate highly technical concepts with a drive towards fulfilling business needs. Greg is also a highly sought-after instructor and speaker, teaching system and network troubleshooting curriculum for TechMentor Events, a twice-annual IT conference, and producing computer-based training curriculum for CBT Nuggets on numerous topics. Greg is a triple Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) with security specialization and a Certified Citrix Enterprise Administrator (CCEA).