December, 2007

Updated Documentation for Hyper-V Beta

Release Notes:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/4/8/e48d5cff-53d2-4eed-85bf-4af50e25b78c/relnotes.htm

Step-by-step guide:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/b/6/1b687175-0b30-4f56-bb58-2349b2ee1c98/Step-by-Step_Guide_to_Getting_Started_with_Hyper-V.doc

Sysprep unattend file in Windows Server 2008

The answer file is now an XML file instead of an INF file. You should to use Windows System Image Manager to create the XML file. Windows System Image Manager is part of WAIK and can be downloaded here.
To actually use this XML file, copy it sysprep.xml to c:\windows\system32\sysprep. That is the folder on a Windows Server 2008 system where sysprep.exe is located by default. From that location, you execute the following command:

sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:sysprep.xml

The system will shut down. The next time you start this system (after cloning it), it will install with the settings in the XML file. The Computer Name will be automatically generated.

Whitepapers on Exchange Server 2007

Microsoft has released new WhitePapers about Exchange Server 2007:

• Exchange Server 2007 Design and Architecture at Microsoft
• Managing the Calendaring and Collaboration Process By Using Exchange Server 2007 Web Services
• Daily Operations with Exchange 2007
• Exchange Server 2007 Deployment Checklist

Universal TCP/IP Network Bootdisk - Version 6.02 Released!

The Universal TCP/IP Network Bootdisk is a DOS bootdisk that provides TCP/IP networking support. It’s designed for use in Microsoft networking environments, on either peer-to-peer or domain based LANs. Currently 94 different network card drivers all included, all on the single 1.44MB disk!

Change Log:
* Added Attansic L2 Driver
* Added Agere ET1310B driver
* Updated Broadcomm B57 Driver + 2 more autodetection ID’s
* Updated Broadcomm NetXtreme II Driver
* Updated Intel Pro 1000 Driver + 6 more autodetection ID’s
* Updated RealTek 8168 Driver
* Updated RealTek 8169 Driver
* Updated Yuken Driver + 16 more ID’s
* Added Nvidia autodetection 0268
* Disabled Ultra DMA on CD-ROM Driver - should prevent freezing issues
* Fixed Set=Drv bug in MakeDisk.bat build file

Note: Take a look at Microsoft Article ID : 811497 to resolve a problems logging on to a Windows 2000-based server or a Windows 2003-based server
Download

Microsoft Releases Windows XP Service Pack 3 RC Refresh build 3264, download now

SP3 Update packages for English, German and Japanese are now available on the Windows XP SP3 Beta site on Microsoft Connect. Release notes and an updated list of fixes are also available. Update Package for Windows XP Service Pack 3

What to expect from Microsoft in 2008

The famous Bink.nu “expect list” is back! Just as previous years, He made a list of what releases we can expect from Microsoft.

Windows 

“Windows Server 2008 Standard” Edition (x64, with Hyper-V)
“Windows Server 2008 Enterprise” Edition (x64, with Hyper-V)
“Windows Server 2008 Datacenter” Edition (x64, with Hyper-V)
“Windows Web Server 2008″ Edition (x86 and x64)
“Windows Storage Server 2008″ Standard Edition (x86 and x64)
“Windows Storage Server 2008″ Express Edition (x86 and x64)
“Windows Unfified Data Storage Server 2008″ Edition (x86 and x64)
“Windows Small Business Server 2008″ (Codenamed “Cougar”) (x64) for small businesses
“Windows Essential Business Server 2008″ (Codenamed “Centro”) (x86-64) for medium-sized businesses [17]
“Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems” (IA-64) (same features as Datacenter Edition)
“Windows Server 2008 Standard without Hyper-V” Edition (x86 and x64)
“Windows Server 2008 Enterprise without Hyper-V” Edition (x86 and x64)
“Windows Server 2008 Datacenter without Hyper-V” Edition (x64)
“Windows HPC Server 2008″ (High Performance Computing, previously Compute Cluster Server)
Most editions support “core” installations

Windows 2008 Hyper-V stand alone SKU

“Windows Home Server R2″ (based on 2008? Dont think so)

“Windows mobile 6.1″ Q1 2008
“Windows mobile 6.1 Professional” q1 2008
“Windows mobile 7″ RTM Q4 2008 (First phones in 2009, just 1 edition!)
“Windows CE” 7 ?
“Windows Mobile for Automotive” 6.0? -> “Microsoft Auto” 2.0?

Windows Vista Service Pack 1
Windows Vista for Embedded Systems
Windows Vista Media Center Update (Fiji) I expect at least a beta
Windows Vista Ultimate Extra’s ….

Windows XP Service Pack 3

Windows 7 Beta (Codename Vienna)
MinWin beta (Windows 7 kernel based mini OS)

Internet Explorer 8!

Servers

SQL Server 2008 standard Edition
SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition
SQL Server 2008 Express Edition
SQL Server 2008 Workgroup Edition
SQL Server 2008 Developer Edition
SQL Server 2008 Compact Edition?

ISA Server 2008 standard Edition x64
ISA Server 2008 Enterprise Edition x64

Biztalk Server 2008 Enterprise Edition
Biztalk Server 2008 Standard Edition
Biztalk Server 2008 Branch Edition
Biztalk Server 2008 Developer Edition

Search Server 2008 (standard Edition)
Search Server 2008 Express Edition

WSUS 3.0 SP1

Exchange 2007 Service Pack 2 beta

Finaly a new Microsoft Identity and Integration Server?

Host Integration Server 2008 ?

Commerce Server 2007 R2 ?

Forefront
Intelligent Application Gateway 2007 R2?
Microsoft Forefront codename “Stirling” Beta

System Center

ServiceDesk 2008
Mobile Device Manager 2008
Capacity Planner 2007 with sharepoint 2007 support
Application Virtualization 4.5 (softgrid)
Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance
Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset 6.0 (DaRT)
Operations Manager 2007 SP1 (Q1)
Configuration Manager SP1 (H2)
Configuration Manager 2007 R2
Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2
System Center Online Services

“Microsoft Deployment” Solution Accelorator update for WS08 RTM

Office

Office 14 Beta ?
Office Live Workspace launch

Dynamics

CRM 4.0 general availability (it just RTM’d)
Point of Sale 2.0 sp1

Consumer

Encarta 2009
Money 2009
Streets and Trips 2009

Hardware

Probably new mice
Zune firmware 2.3
Zune Phone?

Xbox

HD Video for Europe

Windows Live

Windows Live Messenger 9.0
I need some help here…

Visual FoxPro
Visual FoxPro version 9 service pack 2 is last that was released for this product (oct 2007), no Foxpro 10, version 9 is end of life in 2015

Visual Studio

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 ?

Windows Server 2008 RC1 with Hyper-V Beta

Few days ago Microsoft announced the PUBLIC RELEASE Windows Server 2008 RC1 with Hyper-V Beta!  In addition to the Hyper-V Beta release, Microsoft also released Beta integration components for Linux, specifically SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 through connect.microsoft.com!

Windows Server 2008 RC1 with Hyper-V Beta is publicly available here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8F22F69E-D1AF-49F0-8236-2B742B354919&displaylang=en

How to choose the right VMware Infrastructure ESX Edition

Many of my clients asking me, what the right VMware Infrastructure ESX Edition for them. I’d like to recommend to read a very interesting post about this on Petri. co.il.

PXE, aka Pre-Execution Environment and Acronis - Part 2

Since I’ve published article “PXE, aka Pre-Execution Environment - Part 1” I’ve got a lot of emails with the same question - ‘Where is a Part 2?”. So, here it is.

I know many Network Administrators who work with Acronis products and i also sometime work with those good products. This week i did a project for one of my clients in Seattle, WA. The main idea was to deploy an Acronis image on new servers and configure those servers according to system requirements. So, again, those servers came without floppy drive and CD/DVD and as all of you know, to restore Acronis image on a new machine we have to use Bootable Rescue Media, aka Bootable CD with Acronis on it. Yes, i know, that Acronis provides a products with PXE integrated, but i don’t have it and I’ve used my own PXE server.

The first step I did was create Bootable Rescue Media. Then I took 2 files, kernel.dat and ramdisk.dat  from Acronis’s directory and put them into C:\PXEServer\TFTPRoot\Boot directory. Well, now was the time to make a small changes to our “default” file (default file located in C:\PXEServer\TFTPRoot\Boot\pxelinux.cfg\ directory). After all those changes my “default” file now looks as follow:

DEFAULT menu.c32

LABEL MemTest
MENU LABEL ^Memory Test
kernel memdisk
append initrd=W98_MemTest.IMA

The next steps were pretty simple ;), Boot, Select Acronis from the menu, Select Image for recovery and…..

Thanks to time PXE saved me I was able to spend some time in very beautiful city Seattle.

Relaited Articles
PXE, aka Pre-Execution Environment - Part 1

PDC 2008 Announced

Next Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC): October 27–30, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

PDC is the definitive Microsoft event for software developers and architects focused on the future of the Microsoft platform.