Anthony Steven's Rant-n-Ramble

Bed and Breakfast with Wireless

anthony — Thu, 18 May 2006 03:41:00 GMT

I have just set up a wireless network at the Black Horse pub in North Nibley, South Gloucestershire. So now I can post blogs rather than drinking too much. Oh, but it works in the bar as well. So in theory, I could do both...

Looking for Technical Content Developers

anthony — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 18:23:00 GMT

Content Master are having a cracking year so far, and we are planning to recruit new people over the next six months. Because I'm now managing the Communications and Management technologies group, I'm particularly interested in finding people (both full time and associates) from anywhere in the world with the following skills/experience/interests:

Technical Areas (in current order of importance)

Speech Server 2004, Speech Server 2007 (infrastructure rather than developer)
Live Communications Server 2005 SP1, Live Communications Server 2007
SMS 2003, SMS 2003 R2, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (formerly SMS 4.0)
MOM 2005, System Center Operations Manager 2007 (formerly MOM 3.0)
Exchange 2003, Exchange 2007 (formerly Exchange 12)
Windows Mobile 5.0 with Messaging and Security Feature Pack
Windows Software Update Services

Writing Skills

Ability to write advanced technical documentation
Good working knowledge of English grammar (can write consistently, concisely and accurately in second person, active voice, present tense)
Experience of creating courseware or e-learning (preferred but not essential)

Personal Skills

Passion for new technology
Self motivated
Able to work to tight deadlines and get the job done
Excellent attention to detail
Equipped for teleworking (suitable work area, broadband connection)
Good customer liaison and interpersonal skills

If you enjoy teleworking, would like to see more of your family growing up, and want a career (or to do some freelance work) with a dynamic technology company that works with industry leaders like Microsoft on pre-release products, drop me an e-mail on anthonys (at) contentmaster.com. We also pay quite well, BTW.

The end is in sight for Application Center...

anthony — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 19:44:00 GMT

Application Center 2000 is a product I've worked with in the past. However, it looks like Microsoft are not going to release any further updates to this product.

The justification is that Application Center functionality will be provided through Windows Server "Longhorn" and future releases of the Systems Center family. Some features are already in MOM 2005.

In the meantime, support for Application Center 2000 has been extended to 2009, which must make it a good candidate for the title of "Longest Supported Microsoft Product". Extended support will continue until 2014!

For more information, see this recent announcement.

Update to the Microsoft Identity and Access Management Series

anthony — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 03:58:00 GMT

I've also been involved in the minor update to the Microsoft Identity and Access Management Series, which has just been released as version 1.3.1. I am now working on taking this series to v1.4, which will incorporate Microsoft Identity Integration Server (MIIS) 2003, Enterprise Edition SP1, alongside some other improvements and changes.

If you work with MIIS or multiple directory service and e-mail systems, then it would be worth your while to take a look at the IdM series. You can download it from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=14842.

Writing an IT Showcase Paper

anthony — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 03:51:00 GMT

I'm just finishing off an IT Showcase paper on how Microsoft IT implemented Exchange Server 2003 SP2 together with the Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP) for Windows Mobile 5.0 on the Microsoft corporate network. It was really Adam Field's project, but he had to be moved onto something else (also Exchange Server 2003 SP2 and Windows Mobile 5.0 related).

It should be published soon, and I'll put up a link when it is. It's been an interesting experience finding out how Microsoft did implement Exchange Server SP2 internally, and about the sort of loading that their front-end Exchange servers can manage.

Beta Time!

anthony — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 03:33:00 GMT

I've got myself on several of Microsoft's Beta programs, specifically the SMS 2003 R2, SMS 4.0, MONAD and SBS 2003 R2 betas.

The SBS R2 beta did take some begging to get on - apparently, more than 60% of the applicants were from the UK, and I was told that "they were over quota for English guys". However, some abject grovelling later, I was allowed on the program.

The beta web site is http://connect.microsoft.com/

To begin with, I didn't like SBS at all, but I've begun to appreciate it now, especially since I've been managing two SBS sites remotely for nearly two years now. One site is in Northumbria, the other in Skipton, whereas I'm in Harrogate. I have a third site I manage in France, but that's not on SBS and its at the end of a dial up link (!). Yes, painfully slow is a good description.

It will be interesting to see how SBS changes with R2, and hopefully I'll be able to publish some news on how the testing goes.

Stop Moaning about MONAD

anthony — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 04:56:00 GMT

If you are like me, and come from the "if I can't click it, its not configurable" school of systems management, but you realise that need to get up to speed on MONAD, take a look at the MONAD download site at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=E8E5203A-574C-4105-AF6B-B2FEF39ADF55&displaylang=en.

There is also some MONAD documentation available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/thankyou.aspx?familyId=6387c46b-4753-4eaf-8d8b-368074f39ccc&displayLang=en&oRef=http%3a%2f%2fwww.windowsdevcenter.com%2fpub%2fwlg%2f9058

This documentation includes a hands-on lab that covers the basics of MONAD, and is well worth doing, particularly if you are likely to be tussling with Exchange 12 when that comes out at Beta 2.

Also thanks to Eileen Brown for recommending the O'Reilly book on MONAD. Mine's on its way.

Moving to the 64-bit platform

anthony — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 00:49:00 GMT

I'm very chuffed that we have started the process of migrating to a 64-bit environment in preparation for the move to Exchange 12. We've just ordered a test server so that we can experiment with the 64-bit version of WIndows Server 2003 and the 64-bit edition of Virtual Server 2005. I think at this rate we'll be looking for another server rack!

Exchange Server 2003 Repeated E-mails

anthony — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 15:37:00 GMT

I've been struggling with a slightly strange issue on our Exchange 2003 server at work. Sometimes (but maddeningly, not always), messages sent to associates where we do not host the associates' mailboxes (i.e. mail-enabled user accounts with a primary external SMTP address) result in repeated emails sent to those people. Typically, the repeat emails are sent every 15 minutes.

There is no sign of these emails on any queues in Exchange, and the MTA check comes up as fine. Restarting the IIS Admin service seems to stop the problem, but I've had a tip-off that the issue could be connected to the antivirus software. So next time it happens, I'm going to try restarting the antivirus services, and see if that fixes it. I'm also going to look at disk access, to check that we don't have a performance issue there.

New Workstation

anthony — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 03:39:00 GMT

I'm feeling quite proud of having built a new workstation over Christmas, particularly as it worked first time.

Spec isn't too bad either:

ASUS NCCH-DL motherboard with 800MHz FSB
Dual XEON 3.0 GHz "Nocona" with HyperThreading and active cooling
4GB non-ECC PC3200 RAM dual channel enabled
250GB SATA HDD
nVidia GeForce 6600GT 128MB 8xAGP with dual DVI outputs
nVidia GeForce 5200FX 128MB PCI with DVI/VGA output

As this was a work beastie, I paid for the following myself:

Creative Soundblaster Audigy 7.1 SE sound card OEM
Logitec X-530 5.1 speakers

I work from home nearly all the time, so some half-decent music is a requirement.

By now, you're probably thinking "Huh, what's with the two graphics cards?" Well, here's the interesting bit.

I've had a dual monitor configuration for a couple of years now, starting off with a Dell 19" FST CRT and a laptop. When the CRT got annoyingly flickery, I decided to get a Dell 2405FPW 1920x1200 TFT, my "hottie". And I'm quite sure that my dual screen setup makes me more productive. But I still had the laptop beside the big screen, and because that was a 15" 1600x1200, I started to find it irritating that I was having to squint at the laptop screen. OK, that might have been because I'm also getting older...

I thought that what I really needed was a screen with the same resolution, but a similar physical height. So I splashed out on a Dell 2005FP 1600x1200 screen, and connected the second DVI output from the 6600GT card to it. Fantastic! The 2005FP is less than an inch smaller from top to bottom than the 2004FPW, so windows hardly change size as I drag them from one screen to the other.

But that left me with a redundant laptop, and some space on my desk. The next improvement was to get a copy of Maxivista virtual screen software, and connect up the laptop as a third screen on the left hand side. I then had a much bigger desktop, but the laptop is still too small, and I'm squinting at it again. I realised that the 2405 and the 2005 fit together so well that I just had to...

...splash out on a second 2005FP and another video card. Now I have a Dell 2405 1920x1200 in the centre, and the Dell 2005FPs on either side. I had to get the FX 5200 PCI card, as there is only one AGP slot on the motherboard, and I wasn't splashing out £500+ for a graphics card with 4 DVI outputs. I can't notice any performace difference between the two cards, but then I don't play games.

Now I have it all set up, and apart from a gentle humming under the desk, everything is working fine.

Best of all, I have been able to run 8 VPC images simultaneously, most of them with 256MB RAM, and my workstation doesn't break into a sweat. In fact, I don't think the fans have gone off low speed since I set the system up.

I'll post some pictures of the monitor setup when I get my digital camera back from my brother's house.

Total cost of the setup? About £3,000+ for monitors and workstation, providing a physical desktop of 5120x1200.

And then Dell had to do this to me...

Now, if I had one of those, and turned my 2005FPs to vertical orientation, that would give me a desktop of 4960x1600...

Limited User Access (LUA) Paper

anthony — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 03:30:00 GMT

Microsoft have just published my white paper "Applying the Principle of Least Privilege to User Accounts on Windows XP" on TechNet at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/luawinxp.mspx

This paper got probably the longest and most exhaustive reviews of any document I have ever written, including reviews by the LUA gods such as Aaron Margosis, and it was pronounced good. In fact, I see that Aaron's site still has the request for Beta reviewers for this paper.

Windows Vista is going to have limited user access built in from the ground up, and everything will be carried out under a limited user account. If you attempt to carry out a task that requries adminstrator access, a dialog box will prompt you to enter your administrative credentials.

If anyone does have a read of my LUA paper, do drop a comment and tell me what you thought of it.

Feeling Guilty - and a quick catch up

anthony — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 03:23:00 GMT

Oops. Is it really that long since I posted an entry? Oooooh, those blogging timestamps don't lie, do they.

Well, I was very, very, very busy in December, including having to pull an all-nighter to get four Virtual PC images built and shipped to the states for a TechNet session on Windows Server 2003 R2 technical resources. I also wrote the session on Exchange 2003 SP2.

Things have changed a bit at work, and CM Group have reorganised. We've created six technology silos, and I'm now leading the Communcations and Management team. I'm particularly pleased that Adam Field is in this team.

Communications and Management covers Exchange, MOM, SMS, presence technologies such as IM and even Speech Server, as that is now part of the Exchange product group at Microsoft. I'm really looking forward to this new role, and to getting involved in a lot more community activities.

Windows Server 2003 SP1 Firewall and eTrust Antivirus Signature Updates

anthony — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 18:14:00 GMT

If you have switched on the Windows Firewall in Windows Server 2003 SP1 (either manually or through the Security Configuration Wizard) and you use eTrust Antivirus then you may find that eTrust can no longer carry out scheduled or manual downloads of AV updates. This issue can be easy to overlook if your client PCs update from a central server, as it will be more than 50 days before you get notifications that the client AV signatures are out of date.

To fix this, add an exception to the Windows Firewall for the Inodist.exe program (C:\Program Files\CA\SharedComponents\ScanEngine\Inodist.exe) with scope Any computer (including those on the Internet). This exception allows the eTrust AV anti-virus update process to work normally, and to download updates for the local computer and for any client computers that update from that distribution point.

OK, I'll admit it. My distribution server didn't have any AV updates for 2 months...

Exchange Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer Tool

anthony — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 06:29:00 GMT

Microsoft have just updated their Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer tool to version 2.5. This version increase mainly reflects the fact that this tool now provides multi-language support.

The Best Practices Analyzer is IMHO one of the best free tools that Microsoft have ever produced. I have already solved an open issue with the CM Group Exchange Server with this tool (messages getting stuck in the SMTP queues), and have taken pre-emptive steps to improve reliability on several other Exchange servers that I manage remotely.

If you haven't done so already, download and run this tool ASP - you will be surprised by what it can find.

There's another couple of tools from the same stable that I haven't had time to look at yet, but they sound very good as well.

The Microsoft Exchange Server Disaster Recovery Analyzer tool v1.0, and the Microsoft Exchange Server Performance Troubleshooting Analyzer Tool v1.0 build on the framework of the ExBPA for more specific information on DR and troubleshooting.

Hey, I wonder if the DR tool has a special attachment that slaps admins who didn't back up the night before, and also slaps them if they don't do a trial restore at least twice a year.

TechNet Event in London - Monday 24th October

anthony — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 03:44:00 GMT

I've agreed to take part as a presenter at Steve Lamb's TechNet presentation in London on Monday. I'm going to be doing a session covering User Account Protection (UAP), also known as Limited User Access (LUA). Oooh, that could be a plug for the UAP White Paper I'm writing at the moment.

Hope to see you there.