Realtime Community | Windows Server

Realtime Windows Server Goes in a Different Direction

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:30:00 -0500

All good things must come to an end. But with one ending comes a new beginning. This will be my final post to the blog/community/central-stomping-ground that we've come to know as Realtime Windows Server, and I'm happy to say that its been a wonderful experience. With over two years and nearly 1200 posts to this community, I'm happy to say that my time and experiences as a professional blogger have been wonderful. Maintaining a blog-like community like this one involves daily effort, constant vigilance in monitoring the news of the day, and a keen eye for the topics, trends, and...

Stop Complaining about the Speed of Your OS

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:30:00 -0500

In today's "wag of the finger" I introduce a dose of reality into the ongoing war about the speed of various operating systems. That reality injection arrives after a recent trip to the local Micro Center computer superstore where I found myself absolutely floored by the power of computer that can be bought at the sub-$1000 level. This one in particular threw me for a loop. A first-party desktop from manufacturer HP that contains eight processors and eight gigs of RAM. Its video card is more than suitable for business processing, and it comes equipped with both hard-wire as well...

Chapter 3 Released in Realtime's Tips and Tricks Guide to Windows Server 2008 Features

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:30:00 -0500

Are you using - or preparing to use - Windows Server 2008? Make sure you're not just upgrading the OS, but also upgrading what you do with it by taking advantage of new features, new techniques, and subtle new capabilities. IT guru Don Jones guides you through WIndows Server 2008's most important new capabilities in a short, tip-focused format that helps you immediately take advantage of the greatest new features. Walk through installing a Server Core domain controller, secure Windows PowerShell, use a Read-Only Domain Controller, and much, much more... Volume 1: Server Core Domain Controllers, Read-Only Domain Controllers, CHKDSK,...

Windows 7 RTM Bits are Up on TechNet

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:08:35 -0500

Like a kid in a candy store, I'm happily downloading Windows 7's RTM bits now. You should do the same!...

Windows 7 RTM Bits are Up on TechNet

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:08:35 -0500

Like a kid in a candy store, I'm happily downloading Windows 7's RTM bits now. You should do the same!...

Veeam Announces "Full Support of Hyper-V R2"

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:30:00 -0500

Veeam, makers of many tack-on technologies for the VMware ESX space announced this week their intentions to extend product support into the Microsoft Hyper-V ecosystem. This means that Veeam's excellent monitoring, backup, and management products will soon see equivalent releases for Microsoft's hypervisor. Doug Hazelman, Director of the Global Systems Engineers Group at Veeam Software made this announcement recently on Microsoft's Windows Virtualization Team Blog: Veeam's tagline is "listening to you, building the tools you need." We've heard your requests and we'd like to announce now that Veeam is committed to fully supporting Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and...

Citrix's Brilliant Move: XenServer Integration with Hyper-V

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:30:00 -0500

You've heard me saying here over and over that the hypervisor wars are essentially over. The three hypervisors with non-negligable market share are essentially at feature parity in today's versions. My argument now is that the battlefront has subtly shifted away from core hypervisor capabilities to the new topic of virtualization management. You've also heard me ponder endlessly about Citrix's XenServer acquisition over a year ago, and how that seemed like a poor move for Citrix. While I still feel its price tag was too high in relation to its market capitalization at the time, Citrix is redeeming itself by...

Greg to Keynote Virtual "IT Virtualization Live" Conference

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:30:00 -0500

No budget for conference attendance this year? Try an online alternative. This year's IT Virtualization Live conference is going virtual, and will be held anywhere you can get an Internet connection. Best yet, they've asked yours truly to do the keynote. In my career's debut conference keynote, I'll be presenting Virtualization Today: Where we're at, Where we're going. Here's the blurb: "State of the Industry" speeches are a lot like ROI's. Never trust one you didn't write yourself. That's often the truth with IT conference keynotes presented by industry speakers. Not so with IT Virtualization Live. This conference and its...

Citrix Adds XP Mode-like Seamless Apps to XenApp 5 FP 2

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:30:00 -0500

Brian Madden reports that Citrix has announced the upcoming support for single-source to single-target seamless applications. This new feature effectively enables you to connect a single application from a source machine to a single target machine, not unlike how Windows 7's XP Mode operates. Why do this? Simply put: Compatibility. Some applications don't function well in the Terminal Services environment. Those applications today are instead stuffled to VDI environments where they're run as entire desktops. With this new feature, it is possible to create single servers for these applications and connect unique users just to the app on that server...

The Essentials Series: Fulfilling Compliance by Eliminating Administrator Rights

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:30:00 -0500

Realtime Publishers releases another new Essentials Series this week. A unique five-pronged approach, this guide drills down into the specific compliance regulations that impact the spread of administrator rights in your business. You'll be surprised at the similarities, and how every set of regulations has similar goals in mind. Get your copy at http://nexus.realtimepublishers.com/esfcear.php. Here's a synopsis: The widespread distribution of administrator rights in an IT infrastructure is not only a problem for security. It can also be the source of major findings during a company's regular compliance audit. Due to issues with application design and intra-office politics, many IT...

The Definitive Guide to Windows Application and Server Backup 2.0

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:30:00 -0500

The ever-popular Don Jones has just finished Chapter 1 in what is sure to be an exciting new 12-chapter book. Sign up for his monthly chapter updates at http://nexus.realtimepublishers.com/dgwasb.php. Here's a quick synopsis of what you can expect. Are you still making backups the old-fashioned way? Whether you back up Windows, Exchange Server, SharePoint, SQL Server, or virtualization servers, the old-school backup mentality may not be serving your actual needs. In The Definitive Guide to Windows Application and Server Backup 2.0, IT author and Microsoft MVP Don Jones explores the "Backup 1.0" mentality and its shortcomings, and proposes a new...

An Excellent Q&A about VMware's vSphere

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:30:00 -0500

Forgive the reposting today, but I discovered what amounts to an excellent list of questions and answers, compliments of Conrad Agramont's Blog. Agramont attended a recent vSphere Road Show in Tyson's Corner, VA, where he took meticulous notes. The list below, which I've copied in its entirety, sums up a lot of the questions users are having about VMware's new update. Click through to Agramont's website for a full rundown on what he learned. Its worth your time. Wants to use vMotion with VM's that are also clustering inside. This isn't supported because "Someone" must own the low level resources....

Realtime Publishers is Seeking Talented New Authors!

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:30:00 -0500

I haven't posted a new want ad for authors in a while, so I figured I'd send out a little reminder today. We're always on the lookout for new talent, because it seems that our pipeline of projects never has an end. Are you a talented author, or even just someone with a good grasp of the English language and a writing "voice" that others like to hear? Do you have a deep and/or broad familiarity with the topics, trends, and technology that makes up the IT ecosystem? Then, we want to hear from you. Click the link on this...

The Shortcut Guide to Data Center Energy Efficiency

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:30:00 -0500

Virtualization and commitments to green IT initiatives are changing the way that data centers operate. By utilizing new technologies, repurposing existing equipment, and matching power and cooling supply to actual data center demand, IT will receive maximum benefit in the form of greater data center energy efficiency and decreased power and cooling costs. The Shortcut Guide to Data Center Energy Efficiency offers insight on building a data center infrastructure that matches data center power and cooling demands in a way that optimizes operational efficiency while meeting the IT business and computing needs. This eBook will show you methods for minimizing...

Virtualization is All About Performance. Bad Performance = Failed Virtualization. Vkernel = Successful Virtualization.

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:30:00 -0500

Do you ever feel like advertising for a product on behalf of a company? I've got just that feeling today as I spend more time with Vkernel. They don't know who I am, but I sure know a bit about them! I really like this product. Having seen it only once at Tech Ed this year, I'm now starting to dig in further with Vkernel's virtual appliance-based solution for measuring/monitoring/alerting on virtualization performance. I've reported before that 44% of virtualization deployments are considered a failure by their businesses (from a CA study), and that 55% of companies experience more problems...