My latest article for SearchStorageChannel.com deals with Disaster Recovery Planning and Virtualization Technology. In three sections, I go over how virtual storage (iSCSI), Ardence Software Streaming Platform, and virtual server technology can be combined for a highly flexible production and Disaster Recovery environment.
The information could be especially useful for SMB’s.
Happy Reading!
Technorati Tags: Virtualization, Disaster Recovery, DR, Storage
This particular discussion was the least valuable of the three topics. This is a shame, since I was looking forward to the virtualization discussion most of all. We had the privilege of seeing the defensive side of Microsoft when questions that were critical of Microsoft were asked. The panelists in this discussion were Bob Muglia: Senior VP, Server and Tools Business, Microsoft Corporation, Ron Markezich: VP of Managed Solutions, Microsoft Corporation, Dan Holme: Windows and Office Technologies Consultant, Intelliem, and Mark Minasi: Technology Author and Directory Services MVP. Continue reading ‘Microsoft IT Pro Townhall Event: Virtualization and Managed Services’
Well, the Microsoft IT Pro Townhall discussions are over and the only thing left is dinner tonight. Overall, I think that the topics that were brought up in the three panel sessions were valid and interesting. However, in some of the discussions, the responses from the Microsoft folks were a bit defensive instead of opportunistic. This could have been a great opportunity for Microsoft to get some poignant feedback from the IT Pro Community on new technology trends and in some cases, I believe they did. However, in the cases where Microsoft gave defensive answers, I believe that they missed an opportunity to ask “Ok, we see that you have a concern or suggestion, what do you (as an IT Professional) think we should do to improve our products or move toward a solution.” Getting an outside perspective on any product or service is, in my opinion, one of the best things that a company can do to foster product growth and acceptance. In the next few posts I will briefly discuss some of the topics that came up during the panel discussions and what Microsoft did right and what they could have done to improve the event. I will post the details as I gather my notes.
FYI- I am outlining these posts before the dinner provided by Microsoft, so that I am completely free of any kool-aid influenced statements 
.
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Web 2.0, Information Technology
So, I got invited by Microsoft to attend an IT Pro Townhall Event. This is a panel discussion with many Microsoft Executives, including Steve Ballmer. I was one of the approximately 50 IT Professionals invited to Redmond, WA for the event. I arrived at 11PM Pacific and was too tired to post last night. My original flight with an arrive time of 2:20 PM got cancelled as we were heading out to the runway (long story 
) Anyway, I am here now and I am looking forward to the event tomorrow. Topics of discussion will include upcoming virtualization and web technologies (two of my favorites). Dinner at a local winery is also being provided by Microsoft. I will probably post more about the meeting tomorrow (barring any NDA requirements ). For now, I am going to check out Bellevue. It’s actually not raining outside and my hotel has a great view of the hills in Bellevue, WA.
Technorati Tags: Virtualization, Microsoft, Information Technology, Harley Stagner
Well, my first screencast has been posted over at SearchEnterpriseLinux.com. This screencast complements my article about “Running Windows as a VM on Linux with VMware Server.” The blog post about this article can be found here.
I know I sound a little like Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller’s Day off in the screencast, but I never claimed to be a professional voiceover artist . Anyway, happy listening!
My latest article is up at SearchSystemsChannel.com. This article covers some items to consider when a VAR is helping a client implement a virtualization pilot. It covers virtualization target choice, storage considerations, and server capacity considerations. If you are a VAR looking to help a client with a virtualization pilot, or a client looking to do this yourself, this article provides some good advice. Happy Reading!
The fifth and final installment of my securing Microsoft Virtual Server series is now up at searchservervirtualization.com. In this article I go through some steps required to prevent and detect rogue VMs that may sneak up on your network. I even show you how one might hide a virtual machine inside of an NTFS Alternate Data Stream (ADS) and run the virtual machine from within the Alternate Data Stream. Finally there are some scripts to download that will query your network for the Microsoft Virtual Server service and email you the results of its findings. It has been fun writing this series and I hope that you retain some good information from it. Happy Reading!
Technorati Tags: Virtualization, Microsoft Virtual Server
Part IV of my new series on securing Microsoft Virtual Server is up at searchservervirtualization.com. This article goes through some steps that should be taken before shutting down a compromised Virtual Server 2005 host machine. We hope that it would not get this far, but sometimes breaches do happen. The next article in this series will go over preventing rogue VM’s from popping up unexpectedly on your network! Happy Reading!
Technorati Tags: Virtualization, Microsoft Virtual Server
Part III of my new series of articles on securing Microsoft Virtual Server is up at searchservervirtualization.com. This article goes through what to audit on your Virtual Server for security logs and offers some advice and scripts for collecting event log entries. In the next article of this series I will go through some steps to take before powering down a breached Microsoft Virtual Server host machine. Happy Reading!
Technorati Tags: Virtualization, Microsoft Virtual Server
Part II of my new series of articles is now up at searchservervirtualization.com. In this article I go through securing remote access to Microsoft Virtual Server by requiring ssl on the Administration page and requiring ssl to use the VMRC client. In the next article in this series, I will go through virtual machine log file monitoring where you will see some scripts used to collect events from the event logs of your Microsoft Virtual Server host machine. Happy Reading!
Technorati Tags: Virtualization, Microsoft Virtual Server
