2008 MVP Global Summit

At this time I have been in Seattle, on the MVP Summit 2008. Soon I’m going back to home. I had a lot of good sessions about Windows 2008, Exchanges, SharePoint, PowerShell and much more. The detailed report about new Microsoft staff I will write a bit later. It’s not going to be a report with big details, a lot of information on this Summit is under NDA, but I’ll try to publish as much as I can. So, keep checking for a new posts

How to Create File for a Desired File Size

Time to time I get the need to have some temp files of varying sizes. In Linux environment it’s not a problem to do. And, in Windows environment it’s not a problem anymore :).
I’ve used a “dd for windows“. “dd for windows” could be downloded from official web site. I’ve created a very simple script, mkef.bat. Here is a syntax for using mkef.bat:

mkef.bat <filename> <size>

And now the content of mkef.bat:

@echo off
if {%1}=={} @Echo Please use the following syntax: mkef.bat filename size &goto :EOF
if {%2}=={} @Echo Please use the following syntax: mkef.bat filename size &goto :EOF
dd if=/dev/zero of=%1 bs=1024 count=%2

On a long-awaited package, Windows XP SP3

Build 5511 from April 4, 2008 likely will be the last beta build and this build has already distributed to internal testers. If all goes smoothly by the end of next week, Microsoft will bring the RTM final build of SP3 for Microsoft Windows XP.

Windows 2003 Loses Network Connections

If you have a server, with Windows 2003, one day you can find your server disconnected from network :).

It’s exactly what I get. Simple reboot and server lost network connectivity.
Event log full with system errors like:

Event iD: 12291, SAM failed to start the TCP/IP or SPX/IPX listening thread

Event iD: 7023, The IPSEC Services service terminated with the following
error: The endpoint mapper database entry could not be created.

When you check MS Knowledgbase for those errors you will find the following articles, the very popular is those:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930220
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912023
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;870910

BTW, apparently it’s not caused by SP1. So, if you implemented all WORKAROUNDs mentioned in those articles, and server still disconnected from the network, try VERY simple solution :), changed RPC to start with localsystem instead of network service. Of course, remember to reboot your server :).

Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for March, 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-mar.mspx

The Windows Server 2008 Security Guide

Protect your organization from attacks with the Windows Server 2008 Security Guide. You’ll get comprehensive security guidance, preconfigured security settings, and automated tools that reduce security policy deployment times by up to 80 percent.

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8514046

External Collaboration Toolkit for SharePoint

This new solution accelerator offers software and guidance that will help you to deploy a customizable solution built on Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 that teams can use to collaborate easily and more securely with customers, partners, and vendors across the Internet.

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8514047

Hyper-V Management tool for Vista Released

Install this update to enable remote management of a Windows Server 2008 computer running the Hyper-V RC0 role.
Update for Windows Vista (KB949758)

Install this update to enable remote management of a Windows Server 2008 computer running the Hyper-V RC0 role
Update for Windows Vista x64 Edition (KB949758)

Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Vista

Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) enables IT administrators to remotely manage roles and features in Windows Server 2008 from a computer running Windows Vista SP1.
Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems

Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) enables IT administrators to remotely manage roles and features in Windows Server 2008 from a computer running Windows Vista SP1.
Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista 

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2008

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 is the next version of Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007. It is the recommended process and toolset to automate desktop and server deployment. This release includes updates to support Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 in addition to previously supported platforms.

Source: www.microsoft.com