Windows IT Solutions

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...

This article will discuss the differences between VMware Server and Microsoft Virtual Server. These differences demonstrate why VMware Server is still quite popular despite the fact that Microsoft's product is now freely available.

Extended device support
VMware allows a broader range of devices to be recognized by the guest OS -- mainly USB-connected devices that are plugged into the host computer. Neither Virtual PC nor Virtual Server can do this. That makes it difficult to use software in emulated operating systems when circumstances require, for instance, a USB dongle or even a device like a... More...

Think of SharePoint Server as plastic. If you have a vision for what you want SharePoint to become and you carefully define that mold based on features in the product, then you can mold SharePoint into virtually anything you want.

But what happens if you don't have a mold? It turns into goo.

Think of SharePoint service models as the molds. IT shops have turned to...

Figuring out the best enterprise content management option for an enterprise is a multi-layer process that requires active contribution from all of the project's stakeholders. Many enterprises wish to use Microsoft's Office SharePoint Server for enterprise content management (ECM). The software can do the job but customers must realize that SharePoint is...

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.

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...

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...

LOS ANGELES -- Discussions of volume licensing and pricing policies weren't on the official docket at Microsoft's largest IT conference here, but IT managers' concerns bubbled to the surface.

At a TechEd 2009 session on IT strategy this week, one IT pro asked a panel, including two Microsoft IT evangelists, why the company's Enterprise Agreements are so pricey. He said he had helped his former employer, a large Microsoft hardware partner, hammer out that company's EA.

"The negotiations got quite contentious," said the attendee, who declined to be identified. "I'm not at liberty to say what we paid exactly, but it was tens of millions of dollars. You were one of our big cost drivers. What are you doing to get more efficient?"

Karen Forster, a director at Advaiya Inc., said many companies pay for more software than they end up using and should make sure they deploy and use it all. Advaiya is a consultant specializing in Microsoft technologies.

"Advaiya does a lot of business value assessments and we're finding people not using them to their best advantage -- it's like throwing money out the window," Forster said.

Others here said they'd like to buy just what they want from Microsoft and not invest in "shelfware" that's part of Microsoft's integrated stack vision.

Corporate IT scrutinizes maintenance costs, volume deals

In this economy, IT shops are scrutinizing the cost of volume, multi-year contracts that cover support and maintenance. It's hard for a cash-strapped IT manager to justify paying 20% to 29% of the license cost annually for support.

Oracle charges 22% per year for ongoing support and maintenance. Some experts said if you look at Microsoft EAs and related Software Assurance deals, the percentage is even higher. Support for desktops is about 29% of the software price; for servers, the number is more like 25%.

The CTO of a large Midwestern financial services firm said his company is pushing its software vendors to get maintenance and support down to 18% of the discounted license price. So far, he said, he's "batting .500 with Microsoft yet to go."

Directions on Microsoft analyst Paul DeGroot said that many companies trying to preserve cash flow may just let maintenance agreements -- which often run to tens of millions of dollars per year -- lapse.

"They realize that, 'hey, here's a place we can cut a million' and, unlike a lot of cuts that affect the business, such as laying off staff, nothing will happen…," DeGroot said. "If someone complains, you can give them a choice between paying their salary or buying them new software. I have a feeling how that will go."

No one expects the vendors to waver publicly. Upgrade and support revenue is hugely profitable. But all of them also quietly negotiate one-off deals with their big customers.

The CTO said if his company gets all its support and maintenance down by 4%, it will save $4 million per year.

Tony Wenzel, an IT manager for Newton, Mass.-based Atrius Health, said EA agreements are a big concern for all companies in these tough times. "You've got to be concerned with them now."

Another attendee said he took his concerns about his EA price to a Microsoft rep at the show. "He agreed it was too high and told me we should deal directly with Microsoft instead of going through a third-party partner."

New wiggle room in EA negotiations

Some say Microsoft, getting the message, is newly open to cutting better EA deals. "I'm hearing from some resellers that Microsoft has never been more willing to deal than now…. [That's] quite a change from a year ago [when] customers were complaining that Microsoft wasn't budging," DeGroot said.

"Microsoft has started offering early EA renewal incentives and discounts on volume software including virtually all of their servers," DeGroot added. "There's a terrific deal on Exchange and Exchange CALs, which are rarely discounted, where you can get a 35% discount. Since that includes [Software Assurance], you'll get the upgrade to the next version of Exchange out of it as well."

More TechEd 2009 coverage

Top of mind for many is the timetable for a full Windows 7 release. Microsoft posted a Windows 7 release candidate this week, just days after posting a Windows Server 2008 R2 release candidate.

For many IT shops Windows Vista is now officially dead, despite attempts by Microsoft to cajole business users into adopting Vista before moving to Windows 7.

"That ain't going to happen," said one Boston-area IT manager.

Windows 7: The hot topic at TechEd

Richard Warren, principal with North Carolina Technologies in Wilsons Mills, N.C., agreed Windows 7 success is critical for Microsoft.

"The organizational desktop has to evolve quickly," he said. "This is make or break for Microsoft, and it looks like the [Windows 7] experience will be positive."

An IT manager for a New York-area publishing company has been following the Windows 7 pre-releases.

"I am interested in doing the testing since, like most places, we skipped Vista," he said. "Win Server 2008 is also important, but there's not a huge rush to jump to it."

TechEd keynoter Bill Veghte, senior vice president of Microsoft's Windows business, is slated to talk about the upcoming server and client operating system tandem, Exchange 14, and the need for IT to deliver more "connected services" -- one of Microsoft's pet phrases.

But Microsoft's problem is many IT shops are due for hardware-driven technology refreshes, and even many in Windows-centric companies see faster, lighter alternatives to parts of Microsoft's stack.

In a tough economy, it's evident that corporate upgrades and migrations no longer occur on any vendor's timetable. And as Vista evidenced, companies won't jump to products that don't show value.

"[Vista] only took hold with home users that wanted to try it or were forced to get it when it was pre-installed on their new PCs for home -- usually the second scenario," said Rick Weigand, an IT professional based near New York. "There is big interest in Windows 7 as an XP replacement, since most of the new hardware will not support XP anymore. Corporate IT groups need to make a change and are waiting for a good alternative. Vista was not it."

The hope is Windows 7 will live up to expectations and be a leaner, faster-starting, more nimble release with fewer driver and compatibility issues. Others expect it to power not only full-featured desktops and notebooks but also small netbooks, the hottest-selling class of PCs. Google is making a play for these netbooks -- typically used to connect to and surf the Web. Microsoft, with its full-featured Windows and Office, is at a disadvantage in that area.

Developers seek Visual Studio 2010 details

Some on the Microsoft developer front will be looking to the TechEd 2009 conference for more on Visual Studio 2010. Andrew Brust, chief of new technology for consulting firm Twentysix New York, cannot attend this year but said he will be watching for news on the "hugely revamped 'Cider' designer in VS 2010 for [Windows Presentation Framework] and Silverlight."

"It apparently provides much better tooling and also provides support for line-of-business data-binding apps that's near or at parity with the Windows Forms designer's capabilities in that area," Brust said. "The Team System/Team Foundation Server stuff is a big improvement as well, especially around testing. Doesn't sound so sexy, but it's quite important."

Silverlight is a Microsoft tool for developing multimedia apps that run across browsers and platforms.

At the framework level, support for REST in Microsoft's Windows Communications Foundation (WCF) and changes from Windows Workflow Foundation 3.5 to 4.0 will also be hot topics for developers, Brust said.

TechEd 2009 previews SQL Server 2010, Hyper-V R2

For DBAs and other database aficionados, there will be at least one session on SQL Server 2010. The next gen-database, aka Kilimanjaro, will focus on "managed self service" with new reporting tools.

Microsoft promised a SQL Server 2010 community technical preview (CTP) for this year back in October, so it could be delivered at the TechEd conference. According to the course description, Kilimanjaro will make it easier for users to find, manage and monitor SQL Server instances, easing overall database management and resource optimization.

For Web types, there will be sessions on Dublin, a bulked-up Windows Server with extended Internet Information Services (IIS) for hosting workflow and communications applications. And for enterprise developers there will be an Oslo session by Microsoft distinguished engineer Don Box. Oslo is the code name for technology that could help enterprise developers build model-driven applications and services.

And on the virtualization front, as Microsoft is bound and determined to steal market share from VMware, the company is offering dozens of sessions on Hyper-V R2, System Center Virtual Machine Manager R2 and other products at TechEd.

Others hot topics will be green IT and cloud computing.

Microsoft takes on Amazon, Google

Forward-thinking IT sorts will look into the sessions on Microsoft's Azure cloud deployment platform to see how it stacks up with the on-demand infrastructure capabilities offered by Amazon and Google.

Many Microsoft shops are intrigued by Azure, but some see it as too proprietary.

"If you go with Azure, you're locked in," said a New England commerce site developer. "If I want to set up a brand new app in the cloud for less than the cost of electricity, I can use Oracle Express, the free database for up to four gigabytes of data -- pretty good size -- and pay Amazon for all the other infrastructure I need. Java ain't perfect, but the tools are getting better, and it's less expensive to build on than Microsoft .Net."

It is this type of customer that Microsoft really needs to worry about going forward. And Microsoft's TechEd 2009 session catalog demonstrates another area of concern. The company has always been long on code names and razzle dazzle, but has been slammed for delivering products that were late and underwhelming.

Perhaps more importantly, Microsoft's Office and Windows desktop legacy meant the company kept cramming in more features that confused users. Google's spare (or at least less busy) interfaces come as a relief to newer computer users.

A good example of Microsoft's problem was the Office 2007 ribbon, which was meant to streamline user interaction but ended up confusing and irritating users of earlier Office versions. Microsoft even released videos on how to use the ribbon and how to find frequently used features.

"Microsoft is so bloated," said a Boston-area Microsoft consultant and integrator. "It's too big and too ponderous. There are too many parts, although many of them are well architected. I've spent a lot of time lately with iPhone developers. They do simple, small but elegant things. Nothing extreme. Google is the same. They don't cram their stuff full of features. Microsoft says having a million ways to do the same thing is freedom, but it's really just confusing."

Custom Support Agreements, typically on technology that has aged out of Microsoft's volume support programs, usually increase in price year-over year, with the price change announced for the next three years, a Microsoft spokeswoman said. She said Microsoft made the move in response to the "global economic crisis."

The decision to maintain the current price level was made after weighing customer input, Maria Martinez, corporate vice president for Microsoft Services said in a statement.

Custom support includes problem resolution for older products; security hotfixes for vulnerabilities that Microsoft deems "critical" and "important;"and access to a hotfix database.

The price freeze matters to a subset of Microsoft business customers that have not upgraded from Windows NT, Exchange Server 5.5 and other older applications, said Paul DeGroot, analyst at Directions on Microsoft, Kirkland, Wash. "This is not for a lot of customers but maybe some public sector customers and others. In general, of course, Microsoft wants people to move to new products but there are still some VIP customers who have older systems that need and want support."

Will the sour economy put a chill on corporate spending and put off interest in virtual desktops? Will enterprises buy services? Will cloud computing take off in 2009? We won't know until next January, of course. In the meantime, check out our top stories of