Windows IT Solutions

Yes, it's true, I admit it; I'm a habitual learner. It's a real character flaw, and it drives my wife nuts. As an individual afflicted with this interesting little mental defect, I suppose it's understandable that technology should excite me so much. After all, there's always a new product or standard coming down the line, and this offers endless opportunities to learn new things. Most of the IT pros that I talk with every day feel the same way.

I've also been a huge believer in technical academics. The way I look at it, a technical degree or certification demonstrates an established measure of learning -- an... More...

In the rush to consolidate servers and save precious data center space, many companies are turning to virtualization. By consolidating a data center's physical servers into virtualized servers, the enterprise can experience higher server utilization and increased operational efficiency.

Although virtualization brings lots of benefits and features, it is important to keep in mind that virtualization is not the Holy Grail and may not be appropriate for every situation or environment. It does come with some drawbacks. These drawbacks may not be deal breakers, but you should be aware of them... More...

What is a JAD session? This term is referred to often in job postings and seems like some kind of brainstorm you carry out with a client to define IT specification/requirements. What does it stand for? And what does it mean? JAD stands for Joint Application Development. It's one of those software engineering techniques that some folks with lots of time on their hands sat around and dreamed up. You've summed it up in your question. All the design methodologies like this are complicated... More...

Today, many medium to large organizations seem to have a team of people whose job it is to review and approve software patches. As a SharePoint administrator, placing the burden of patch management onto another team may initially seem like a great idea. However, doing that can mean losing some control over the SharePoint servers.

The big problem when you allow a...

Business continuity and disaster recovery plans are enhanced when they include a risk management analysis.

But risk management analysis is often neglected when IT departments are hampered by time constraints and high-priority projects. When this happens, your disaster recovery (DR) plan becomes just another technical recovery document and your business...

SearchWinIT.com: Is there motivation today for Windows administrators to become certified in Vista?

Yes, there is some motivation, but it primarily comes from three somewhat specialized or narrow groups:

Those who develop for and thus must work with Vista, who basically lead the way to new software and hardware that many of us will someday use with Vista. Those who train or support Vista users, who usually start down the road earlier than most so they can be ready to handle questions and solve problems by the time the vast bulk of the market starts migrating. Early adopters who, either by choice or out of insatiable curiosity, decide to jump into Vista as soon as it becomes available. Otherwise, there really is no immediate motivation at present. I've read many pundits who claim that people really won't consider the upgrade until it's time to buy new hardware because Vista makes so many more demands on desktop machines than does XP.
Which Vista certification exams are currently available?

They're just starting to show up on the Microsoft training and certification/learning pages. So far, you've got: 70-620: TS: Configuring Windows Vista Client
70-621: Upgrading MCDST to Windows Vista and Office 12 -- Enterprise
70-622: Pro: Microsoft Desktop Support -- Enterprise
70-624: TS: Deploying and Maintaining Vista Client and Office System 2007 Desktops People can stay up to date on this by checking Web pages on certification exams by number or certifications by title from the Exam Guides page on Microsoft's Web site.
Microsoft recently made some revisions to three Vista certification exams. How does this affect those preparing for Vista certification?

Not much, because none of those exams has been out long enough for much supporting infrastructure to have developed just yet. [All of them came out in December 2006 or January 2007.] People should study whatever materials and information they can find, and they should be OK. Post-release adjustments usually are more for [Microsoft] quality control rather than content control anyway.
How does the Windows Vista certification track affect those going for MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) and MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) certs?

That track won't really be in full flower until late 2007 or early 2008 after Longhorn Server makes its debut and the attendant exams are released. Until then, MCSA/MCSE on 2003/XP are really the only choices, but after that it will be time for current MCSA/MCSE holders to start thinking about moving up to TS [technical specialist] and IT Professional level certs.

By 2009, the old guard will be waning, and the new crop will be taking over the world. I'd advise someone who is working on a certification now to keep going and plan on upgrading about 12 to 18 months after Longhorn goes commercial. That will keep you close enough to the leading edge and make you as employable as certified Microsoft professionals get nowadays
Why did Microsoft decide to expire the MCSE certifications? Is MCSE useless to have at this point?

Microsoft does not expire certifications per se. They just become passé when the versions to which they're tied fall out of use. [There is a good discussion regarding what happens to current certifications on Microsoft's Certification FAQ page.]

Thus, the MCSE is by no means useless and will retain usefulness as long as employers continue to use Windows 2000 and XP and Server 2003 -- which will probably be quite a bit through 2010 through 2011. Basically, those with MCSE shouldn't worry. They should be OK.
Which certifications are in the highest demand? Do you expect to see any changes in this over the course of the year?

The best way to get answers to this is to check the highly desirable certs that CertCities publishes every December/January and to check their annual salary surveys, along with those at Certification magazine. Microsoft certs are neither at the top of this heap nor are they too close to the bottom. This stuff changes every year as economic conditions and industry boom or bust cycles bring some things up and take other ones down. So yes, I expect this to keep changing as it always has in the years ahead, just as it's done in previous years.

Ed Tittel is a long-time follower of the IT certification market, who usually keeps at least one eye on what Microsoft is doing. Among other things, Ed created (and edited) the Exam Cram cert prep book series from 1997 through 2005; he's also a contributing editor for Certification Magazine.
With so many companies yet to adopt Windows Vista, what is the motivation for people to pursue Vista certification exams right now? What will Microsoft's revisions mean for those who have already taken them?

Certification expert Ed Tittel keeps track of all the latest trends in Microsoft certifications, including why Windows administrators might want to opt for certification and how to check which certifications are most in demand. Tittel updated SearchWinIT.com about the current state of Vista certifications.

More...

How does ITIL affect a data center relocation?

Having implemented the concept of ITIL will make [an organization] far more mature and ready to take on this type of project. Change management and configuration management are two of the key processes in ITIL service support and those are two things that most customers don't do really well.
Why is change management key?

Use any example you want, say e-mail. E-mail is made up of many components on the backend from an IT perspective -- everything from the Outlook client to servers and storage and network and people that support it.

Do I know what all those components on the back end are? Do I have them stored somewhere that can be maintained for process? Do I understand the interrelationship between all of them? The configuration management is the storing and maintaining of all that information. So now when I do change management, when I do the risk and impact analysis of implementing that change, I have that information at my fingertips to do that effectively.

Most organizations don't have that information stored. They may have a spreadsheet of all their components, but the real value is how they interrelate, how changing one impacts another. Those concepts are so critical to doing something successful, whether it's a data center move or any other major change. If they're not very good at change and configuration management, it's going to be hard -- the move is harder to make successful and they should improve on those processes, before, during and after a move.
Could you give an example of the repercussions of being under prepared?

The customer that does not have a good understanding of the interrelationships of the assets to the business can make mistakes. They'll take a server down, and they don't understand the impact to one business area. They think it primarily supports finance but, lo and behold, manufacturing needs some of that information. They bring that down during a time where finance perhaps has an ability to have an outage, but manufacturing is still running. Or it could be something more complex. They mistakenly take a piece of the infrastructure down that supports all of their systems. Maybe it's a DNS [domain name server], maybe it's something in the monitoring and management system. Understanding the multiple layers of IT, how they fit together and how they all correlate is really a critical, critical piece of this.
Do you find there's much of a difference between industries, or does it depend more on individual data centers?

I do believe there's a layer of commonality across all industries for IT, and that's what ITIL is really about; best practices, the best way to run regardless of the industry. By taking that up a layer, there are special requirements. If you're in the pharmaceutical industry, that's highly regulated by the FDA, you have to go through very special processes to ensure no changes have been made to any systems that are related to the manufacture or distribution of drugs.

In the financial industry, or anybody that deals with public information, there has been an increased level of scrutiny as far as security of data during relocation. Who has access? How do you ensure that you don't lose data? During these types of projects, you're going to be bringing in a significant number of people that generally are not on site that have access to your systems. There's a lot of diligence that needs to be played. Making sure there's traceability of everything throughout the entire event. All the way down to, in some cases, applying special seals to the trucks to make sure that we can prove that the doors were not opened and nothing could have been touched.
What are some common mistakes or factors people might overlook more than others?

It comes to communication, inevitably. A customer will have one phase of a plan that was used for the electricians to layout a data center. Subsequently, rack locations have changed, things move around, there's no communication. Moving day comes, everybody gets there, everything's put in place, they go to plug in and the connector is six feet short from where the plug is. That effective communication, change management of a project and attention to detail comes into play. The same thing occurs with networking. It's all about preplanning.

Another thing that bites people is logistics. Not understanding that there are inherent choke points in an environment. Like 'Wow, hey, if I bring a lot of people in to do this work, we can get it done a lot faster.' But then they don't understand you can't have all the cabinets open at the same time and have all these people in the same rows. If you don't take things out in a proper sequence, it's like a Tetris game.
How do you keep the momentum after the move?

You need sponsorship and support, and defining it as a project, laying out a plan. If you can start that before and during the process, then once you go through this event, you are going to have a wonderful set of perspectives on your environment, up to date documentation about your assets and how they're interrelated, everything about how you physically set this environment up. Don't fall in the trap of not maintaining that.

Let us know what you think about the story; e-mail: Joe Spurr, News Writer

This article originally appeared on SearchDataCenter.com.
Moving your data center inevitably demands vigorous infrastructure scrutiny beforehand to ensure a smooth swap. But don't let such a mammoth task be valued only as a means to relocate, said Fred Latala, director of data center relocation services at Forsythe Solutions Group, which aids moves with partners such as EMC Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM, StorageTek, and Sun Microsystems Inc. Latala, a consultant during relocations involving plenty of potentially messy IT scenarios, says using the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) can help turn a relocation event into an opportunity to improve your network and ability to manage. Since the mid-90s, ITIL, a customizable framework of best practices that's "more descriptive than prescriptive," has been promoted as a standard and is generally considered the most widely accepted approach to IT Service Management. When it comes to relocation, Latala says, you're putting in the work anyway -- why not take the opportunity to make it repeatable? More...

What will be the main message of your presentation at the RSA Security conference?

The main point I'll make is that it's not enough to protect the perimeter. Firewalls are becoming less effective because enterprises are using a growing number of applications. Those applications are becoming so integrated in financial institutions and other companies. Many are built using complicated frameworks. When something complicated is implemented, problems can occur later. My concern is that there is so much integration using complex tools that it's diluting the effectiveness of the firewalls.
Give an example of how this becomes a problem.

In Finland, if a company wants to fetch credit card invoices electronically for accounting purposes, it's fetched using a .NET-based protocol. Every major enterprise in the country is supposed to use that protocol. .NET [and] Java-based frameworks are the main ones used to integrate. If there was a virus using .NET to spread -- using a bug in the framework -- it could spread to credit card company servers and servers of enterprises all over the country.
The SANS Institute has warned that attacks are moving away from the perimeter and targeting application flaws. Do you agree?

Yes. Application attacks are a growing trend. My real concern is that this integration of applications, combined with the potential for fast-spreading viruses, could cause major problems, something that would be truly upsetting to society.
What's the answer?

We must be more careful in what we integrate and how we design the protocols. We must hold back on integration and leave gaps between systems. It would only take one very bad thing to be exploited and it'll be years before we fully recover. We need to learn to hold back a bit. We can also build defenses in-depth so if it's possible for something to get inside, we can defend against the attack. You need internal boundaries so if something comes through integrated avenues, its reach is still limited and there are multiple lines of defense.
What level of user intervention would be required in that type of defense paradigm?

Whatever is done must be done automatically. You can't shut everything down. So whatever you do, plan it out in advance. Don't have things you don't need running. As a general rule, don't have all the applications and protocols running all the time. Just have the things you really need. It's very critical to protect the database passwords as well as the data transferred between database server and application server. Multiple defenses and comprehensive backup recovery plans are a must.
How does user behavior factor into all this?

It's important to educate users on how social engineering works and what the threats are, such as automated attack systems like worms. They've become quite sophisticated. But it's not realistic to educate the user on the deeper aspects of security. When all is said and done, protection must be built into the back-end systems. Something must be built into the infrastructure -- encryption, authentications. Mostly, it must be invisible to the users.
Secure Shell has been around for 10 years. Are you satisfied that it is accomplishing what you had envisioned?

The protocol has been quite stable. Many cryptographers have gone through it and analyzed it. I don't necessarily see the technology changing, but I see a change in how it is used.
How so?

It is increasingly used to protect applications. Recent versions now make it possible to automate, so one can effectively add encryption to applications without modifying the applications. People are using SSH for things it wasn't written for, but it seems to be working well. One customer uses it to secure digital archiving. It's not so much how we develop the product to meet the need. People are figuring out ways on their own to use it in nontraditional ways to secure themselves.
Based on user feedback, where has there been room for improvement?

Before, if someone asked what a drawback of SSH was, it was that it's hard to implement in large environments. Deployments would take years. We've been working on those issues with [the Tectia product line] for the last three years. SSH Tectia Manager was our answer to the changing way in which SSH is being used to deal with today's threats. You can centrally manage the Tectia environment and have audit logs, change policy and restrict users.

Originally, my goal was to make it very easy for administrators to use on a small network of machines. Now we have to make it work well within a larger organization with integrated security policies. That has been our focus.

This article originally appreared on SearchSecurity.com.
Tatu Ylönen, founder of Helsinki, Finland-based SSH Communications Security Corp., developed the Secure Shell protocol in 1995. Today, millions worldwide use it for secure remote logins and data transfers over the Internet.

At next week's RSA Security conference, he'll give a presentation on how the growing use of integrated, complex applications has made cyberspace more dangerous, blunting the effectiveness of perimeter security. (The session is Feb. 14, 3:25 p.m., in SJCC Room J2 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center.)

In this Q&A, Ylönen explains how attacks against integrated applications could cause widespread damage, and how the program he created is being used to counter the threat today. More...

Microsoft no longer offers the free System Center Capacity Planner for SharePoint Server, but third-party vendors are stepping up with both free and paid-for planning and analysis tools to help administrators build and manage SharePoint 2010 environments.

Administrators relied on automation tools such as System Center Capacity Planner (SCCP), particularly for large SharePoint farms, because proper infrastructure planning is one of four factors that drive successful SharePoint deployments. The others are SharePoint governance, change management and user experience, according to Simeon Cathey, general manager for Neudesic LLC, a systems integration company and Microsoft Gold partner.

Microsoft discontinued the SCCP for SharePoint 2007 in February without explanation and said it would not offer the tool for SharePoint 2010. Instead, Microsoft referred customers to its SharePoint Products tech center for planning resources.

SharePoint capacity planning: Who's got what
But there are a few freebie SharePoint tools on the Web for capacity planning and cost estimates.

Hewlett-Packard offers a free SharePoint 2007 and 2010 sizer tool to help administrators determine server and storage configurations with detailed, customizable server and storage. Users input data, and that information is combined with built-in defaults to determine optimal configurations based on SharePoint deployment best practices. Of course, the tool gives users a bill of HP materials and pricing, just in case they want to spend some money on HP gear.

A Microsoft SharePoint technology provider, Bamboo Solutions, out of Reston, Va., has both free tools and ones you can buy, including a free SharePoint Price Calculator that should be updated for SharePoint 2010 within the year.

For additional functionality, two SharePoint Server 2010 tools became available this month that aren't free.

Idera, a Houston-based provider of tools for Microsoft SQL Server, SharePoint and PowerShell management and administration, launched a SharePoint 2010 performance monitoring and capacity planning tool called SharePoint Diagnostic Manager this month.

The Diagnostic Manager is software that IT pros download and use at their own site to monitor multiple Microsoft Office SharePoint Server farms (versions 2007 and 2010) from one console. It provides continuous monitoring and performance data that is collected into a database and can be used to plan future SharePoint deployments.

Unlike some other SharePoint tools, Diagnostic Manager can also be accessed when SharePoint servers are down, said Julia Ito, director of SharePoint products at Idera. Prices for the Diagnostic Manager start at $995 per server.

Azaleos, a managed services provider for Microsoft products based in Seattle, introduced a SharePoint Deployment Calculator on Tuesday that's available as part of the company's consulting services.

The Azaleos SharePoint calculator uses 25 input factors including the number of users, MySite usage plans, deployment type, user quotas. It uses Search to model growth, infrastructure sizing and capacity frameworks for Content, Search, MySites, Foundation Services, Standard Server, Enterprise Server and Administration.

The tool is available as part of the Azaleos SharePoint Assessment, a one day consultation that starts at $2,500, or the Azaleos SharePoint HealthCheck, a multiple day assessment that starts at around $5,000.

Administrators can plan a SharePoint environment without these tools and services using SharePoint capacity management and sizing information on TechNet, white papers and SharePoint site planning worksheets, but it takes much longer and isn't always realistic for large enterprises with limited IT staff.

But IT pros in small shops can plan their SharePoint environments using Microsoft's guidelines, which are useful for small companies that fit the profiles in those guidelines, said Rob Helm, a SharePoint analyst for the Kirkland, Wash.-based independent analysis firm Directions on Microsoft.

While worksheets, guidelines and calculator tools can be a great help, "no tool can replace having someone with experience sitting in the driver's seat making the right topology and configuration decisions," Neudesic's Cathey said.

Helm added that IT pros will be able to offload the capacity planning burden entirely with Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Online services when it becomes available sometime this year. SharePoint 2010 is already offered as a hosted service from providers such as Intermedia.

Let us know what you think about the story; email Bridget Botelho or follow @BridgetBotelho on Twitter

Microsoft axed its own SharePoint planning calculator, but IT shops have plenty of choices from third-party vendors that help with SharePoint Server 2010 capacity planning and analysis. More...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As expected, the second beta release for both Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 were made available at a Microsoft partner conference here this week, adding better deployment and management tools for virtual desktops -- and not much else.

Michael Cherry, an analyst with the independent firm Directions on Microsoft, runs Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and said these service packs aren't as critical as past service packs because both operating systems are "very solid."

"In other times in Windows' history, I had already reported issues and would have been frothing at the mouth waiting to get my hands on the first service pack by now," Cherry said. "That's not the case this time around."

In fact, the SP1 for Windows 7 doesn't actually include any new features; it is simply a combination of updates already available through Windows Update and additional hot fixes based on customer feedback, Microsoft said on its blog.

But desktop virtualization users will want to get the SP1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 because it includes the VDI tools Microsoft first disclosed in March: the new virtual machine memory management feature (dynamic memory) and VDI protocol technologies (RemoteFX). The final SP1 version is due out in the first half of 2011.

Dynamic memory gives Hyper-V admins a way to pool available memory on a physical host and allocate it to VMs running on that host as needed, without service interruption. For VDI environments this means improved memory resource allocation on the back end, minimizing the need for additional memory capacity.

RemoteFX is essentially a set of Remote Desktop Protocol technologies that delivers rich content to virtual desktops so end users can watch videos and graphics; it's similar to Citrix Systems' HDX technology or VMware's PCoIP.

Cloud computing was also a prevalent topic at the Worldwide Partner Conference. Microsoft launched the release candidate version of System Center Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal 2.0, which helps administrators build cloud services on their internal Windows Server platforms. The company also announced the Windows Azure platform appliance, which lets customers run Azure in their own data center.

Let us know what you think about the story; email Bridget Botelho or follow @BridgetBotelho on Twitter

Windows 7 SP1 doesn't actually include any new features, but the server offers VDI features that IT shops need. More...

BOSTON -- For Microsoft, SharePoint has by many estimates been a runaway success, but for many IT pros and business users here this week, the enterprise collaboration software is no game changer. In fact, in some cases it can be an expensive boondoggle.

Everyone agrees that SharePoint is here to stay. Some IT experts say it's quickly becoming the de facto collaboration platform not just in Windows shops but also at companies that may not traditionally consider Microsoft platforms -- say, those with a large population of Unix and Linux machines.

But for many IT managers and users gathered at the Enterprise 2.0 conference , it hasn't really changed their work processes or opened up the enterprise to easy collaboration. At least, so far.

One IT consultant acknowledged that social media applications have a real place in the enterprise, but managers must pick their battles and install technologies that end users could see a benefit from using and that help them do their jobs. With SharePoint 2003 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, SharePoint hadn't moved past its core content management application functions, said Carlo Delumpa, a Portland, Ore.-based consultant.

On the other hand, social media applications like blogs, wikis and chat services are winners among office workers. "They actually use these things," Delumpa said.

But Delumpa knows that SharePoint is everywhere, particularly since Microsoft distributes a free version, Windows SharePoint Services, which comes as an add-on to Windows Server 2003 SP 1 and 2008. Microsoft made its latest version, SharePoint 2010, available in May. The latest version supports only 64-bit hardware, but adds the Office ribbon interface. It also adds better search features and enables larger lists and user libraries.

"What Microsoft was able to fix [in SharePoint 2010], it's done a good job of," said Craig Roth, an analyst at Gartner Inc., a Stamford, Conn.-based consulting firm. "On the technical side there are a lot of improvements."

As to the nontechnical issues associated with SharePoint uptake -- well, there's not much Microsoft can do about that. Governance is still hard and SharePoint still steps on the toes of existing applications. End users don't always know what they want. They think they do, but they then realize when they get into [it] that it may not be what they're looking for, Roth said.

Installations are doomed by poor planning

One of the problems with SharePoint installations is that they can lead to more silos within a company, said Rick Ladd, who is recently retired from a twenty-year career in the aerospace industry. Ladd worked with his firm's SharePoint installation from the start.

When planned poorly, a SharePoint site inside a business unit could lead to balkanization. Tech savvy and advanced users might take advantage of SharePoint and put it to use. The majority of end users would only do so under protest. Ladd said that the fault lay mostly on how it was deployed.

"They kind of threw it over the fence," he said. "But that's an IT problem, that's not SharePoint ."

SharePoint doesn't work for every employee

An IT professional at a large northeastern manufacturing center who declined to be identified, said the effort of deploying SharePoint had been an expensive lesson in futility. "We've been learning all about the things SharePoint still can't do; [but] it can help you spend money," he said.

At the heart of it, he said the intranet collaboration software platform just wasn't enough of an improvement on how documents and information were shared and changed. "You could probably find 3% of users in my company that say they absolutely love it," he said.

He added that the response of most users ranged from completely ignoring the SharePoint application to active hostility. The administrator said one example was the research and development unit, where scientists absolutely refused to share or collaborate on their findings because of the company's convoluted incentive system.

"We pay them for [making new] inventions," he said, and consequently, researchers kept handwritten logbooks that could prove a breakthrough. But [they] wouldn't share with co-workers for fear of getting scooped on a patent or new product. He added that the firm was still using Office 2003 on the desktop, which made it impossible to use many of the features that SharePoint touts as integrated.

Hard to get your arms around

Beyond poor planning, one reason companies still have trouble understanding SharePoint is that it has so much built-in functionality – content management, intranet, blogging, Wikis, etc. Some of the features are close to being the best available, and others may be just good enough.

"After it is installed, IT may not even be able to manage it and may let it go," said Joel Oleson, a SharePoint evangelist and product manager at Quest Software Inc., in Aliso Viejo, Calif.

If enterprises don't use SharePoint for quick and inexpensive deployment of business intelligence to the masses, or intranets, blogs, wikis, etc., then why do they use? There are likely to be better point products out there. "Perhaps there is another specialized application," Oleson said. "But what other platform does all these things in a cheap way. It's goo that can be quickly deployed."

According to SharePoint boosters, that goo can take any form the organization wants.

Margie Semilof contributed to this story. SharePoint is Microsoft's fastest growing server software, but IT managers still grouse about its lack of acceptance and the difficulties in supporting this increasingly common collaboration platform. More...

NEW ORLEANS -- IT managers received the expected news about service pack betas for Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7 and Exchange Server 2010. But to get these kernels of information, they had to slog through more detail on cloud computing than many are ready to hear.

At Microsoft TechEd 2010 this week, Bob Muglia, president of Microsoft's Server and Tools division, continued the discussion that began in April at Microsoft Management Summit 2010, and outlined why IT shops should think about moving to cloud computing. At the same time, he said, IT pros should move to the cloud at their own pace and shouldn't sacrifice existing product investments.

Cloud education, not implementation

For some IT managers, the education is helpful. Curtis Johnson, a unified communications architect at Quest Software, for example, said he is interested in how Microsoft's development of a common platform for companies to host their own cloud through partners or though their own data centers. Until this week, he hadn't understood the extent of Microsoft's cloud initiative.

One IT manager was impressed by Microsoft's own cloud development work on Exchange Server 2010, but Peter Kretche, a senior systems administrator at the University of Wisconsin in Green Bay, Wis., said the university won't move to cloud computing anytime soon. "We use a PeopleSoft student admission system, and [administrators] won't even let me put it on a VM [virtual machine]," Kretche said.

Intellectual property is the jewel of a university. So to put 20 to 30 years of a professor's research out there is nerve-wracking, he added.

Many IT shops share frustration about what they perceive as a big disconnect between their reality and what vendors are building. "Getting management to understand that you'd be pushing data to someone else doesn't go over very well," said Shawn Reed, a network manager, at Benchmark Group, a Rogers, Ark.-based architectural engineering firm.

IT pros have real problem with cloud because of security concerns, said Alan Silverman, a practice leader at Warwick, R.I.-based IT services firm Atrion Networking Corp. "No matter what is said, [the value of cloud computing] will have to be proven by experience," he said.

Even so, Microsoft believes computing is blowing in this direction, and has begun to combine products and services that let customers transition easily. For instance, the company promises to deliver platforms that works across both on-premises and off-premises clouds. For developers, that platform is Windows Server Appfabric, which became generally available this week.

What about Windows Server and Windows 7?

At the conference, IT managers who are migrating to Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 heard only a brief mention of the service pack beta releases."I wanted to hear more about Windows Server 2008 R2," Benchmark Group's Reed said. "There was almost nothing about the server technologies."

Microsoft did provide some PC-related rhetoric, as Muglia reiterated the strength of PCs and Windows 7 adoption. Microsoft has had to defend traditional desktops in the face of netbooks and iPads, which have grown in popularity as executive jewelry and PC supplements. "The PC is thriving like never before," Muglia said. "Windows 7 [is] going like gangbusters."

Service pack updates

The SP1 public beta for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 are due by the end of July. The new virtualization tools in SP1 will help Windows Server 2008 R2 include Remote FX, which offers a better end-user experience for virtual desktops, and Dynamic Memory, which gives Hyper-V long-overdue memory management capability.

The service pack also will include a series of incremental updates, previously delivered through Windows Update, for both Windows Server and Windows 7 users.

As previously disclosed, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP1 beta is now ready. The SP1 beta includes expanded email archiving, e-discovery enhancements, and Outlook Web App improvements based on customer feedback. Meanwhile, the company has yet to release an update to support Exchange Server 2007 on Windows Server 2008 R2, which Microsoft promised to provide in SP3 during the second half of 2010.

Margie Semilof and Bianca Strzelczyk contributed to this report.

Let us know what you think about the story; email Bridget Botelho or follow @BridgetBotelho on Twitter

At TechEd 2010, Microsoft executives breezed through service pack news in an effort to assuage IT managers' concerns about the company's shift to cloud computing. More...