Windows Deployment Services is Microsoft's newest upgrade to our old nemesis, RIS. If you've used RIS before and tossed it aside because of its quirkiness, you might want to give WDS another look.

Rhonda Layfield, one of the contributors for www.minasi.com as well as a co-author for the book Windows Server 2003, Upgrade Edition for SP1 and R2, joins us in this podcast. We talk about why the features of WDS make this tool once again a great choice for Image Administrators. We also talk about the differences between the command-line ImageX tool and the GUI-based WDSCapture tool used to grab images from your "master computer".

She also shares with us a little trick on how to significantly increase the speed of image downloads when using WDS. Take a listen to the podcast below or click below for more info on how to speed up those TFTP image transfers.

MP3: Greg Shields - Interview with Rhonda Layfield of www.minasi.com on Windows Deployment Services

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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

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So Windows Longhorn Beta 3 is now publicly available, but do you really have the time to take a look at it? Moreover, do you have the hardware resources to install it in?

If your answer to either of these questions is "no", then today's video podcast is just for you. In this, our first video podcast, we'll be going over the installation and initial configuration process involved with setting up your first Windows Longhorn server.

Once we've looked at the initial Longhorn installation, we'll discuss the concept of Longhorn Roles. We'll talk very specifically about the Application Server, File Server, and Terminal Server roles, how they're configured, and how to enable them.

Your thoughts on the Longhorn installation? In my opinion, I think they've gone far with making it easy to set up new servers very quickly. The new Server Manager tool is nice for managing server roles once they're configured.

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I had the pleasure of meeting noted clustering expert J. Peter Bruzzese at TechMentor a few weeks ago. Peter is a noted author and speaker, having worked with Goldman Sachs, New Horizons, and even Microsoft on various topics.

Peter is currently building a new web community on clustering at http://www.clusteringanswers.com. Still in its infancy, he intends his community to soon be the Internet clearinghouse on all things clustering.

I sat down with Peter to talk specifically about clustering in Exchange 2007. We talked about the new Continuous Cluster Replication and Local Cluster Replication options in E2007, which enable easy and low-cost clustering for Microsoft's newest mail platform.

MP3: Greg Shields - Interview with Peter Bruzzese on Exchange 2007 Clustering

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In this episode, we'll be discussing the new version of Windows Server Upgrade Services or WSUS, and what about it should interest you (and there's a lot). We'll talk about how WSUS 3.0 includes new features like multiple targeting groups, an improved upgrade engine, improvements to performance, and the move from a web interface to a full MMC console.

We'll also review this week's focus on Advanced Patch Management, and the five scripts that you can use to extend the use of your existing WSUS 2.0 infrastructure.

MP3: Greg Shields - What's Cool with WSUS 3.0 RC and Scripting WSUS 2.0

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