A couple of weeks ago Citrix released Provisioning Services 5.6, which is a component of their XenDesktop 4.0 suite. Provisioning services is supported on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2, however it does not automatically add firewall rules. In fact, when you configure provisioning services it tells you...
When VMware released ESX(i) 4.0 U1, they officially supported booting your OS drive from a paravirtual SCSI controller. Prior to U1 you could only use one of their other SCSI controllers such as BusLogic. However, when you try and install Windows with a PVSCSI controller it will not detect any...
One of the sessions that I attended today was by the very popular Marcus Murray. He's a Swedish security expert and Microsoft security MVP. I heard him speak a couple of years ago at TechEd Orlando and was really blown away by the content and his presentation style. Thankfully Microsoft...
This session talked about several proven methods of high availability and disaster recovery for SQL 2008. It focused on several case studies of real-word companies, their HA/DR approach, and metrics from their environments. It didn't cover any new wizbang technology or third party products. With the proper design, processes, procedures,...
This was a KILLER session by Laura Chappell, who is the author of Wireshark Network Analysis. I've never heard her present before, but she really rivals Mark Minasi in every way. Her presentation was filled with great tidbits of information including:- Full duplex taps - These are much preferred over...
This was a fairly dry session covering the setup and deployment of OCS 14. I won't go through all of the somewhat boring details, but will cover a few juicy tidbits that I learned.- The Setup of OCS 14 is a completely new experience, 100% different than any previous version...
This session covered some new cool features of RMS when combined with Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange 2010. Some of the new features include:- AD RMS bulk protection tool. This tool can bulk encrypt and decrypt Microsoft Office files and attachments within PSTs. The tool can be extended to...
Released a little over a week ago, Microsoft Systems Center Service Manager, is a product that ties together Configuration Manager, Operations Manager, helpdesk ticking functionality, change control tracking, and configuration change auditing. Since the product is literally brand new, not many people know what it is. There's a session tomorrow...
This session focused on a ton of tips and tricks for Windows and AD administration. The speaker went 100 MPH and it would be impossible to cover everything. But he will be uploading his presentation slide deck, scripts, and other goodies on his website here. He also wrote a book...
This session, Active Directory Recycle Bin, was presented by Mark Minasi, which is always a riot to listen to. In addition to really knowing his stuff, he's probably in the the top two TechEd presenters for style. Guaranteed laughs! Prior to Windows Server 2008 R2, when you delete an object it's...
This session focused on the all-new permissions model of Exchange 2010/SP1. Back in the days of Exchange 2003/2007, Microsoft had a very, very limited permission model that just consisted of a handful of rights. This caused problems in organizations where you want to granularly delegate permissions to specific groups such...
This session was really stellar, and covered a lot of good technical details. The session was so information packed that I'll just highlight a few of the major new features or enhancements in OCS 14.- The Central Management Store is a completely new feature that schematizes the definition of the...