markwilson.it

A list of items I’ve come across recently that I found potentially useful, interesting, or just plain funny:

• Microsoft Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool v2.0 - Updated with support for Hyper-V, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 and Windows Server 2008 (as well as System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 and , System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 and Windows Server Update Services 3.0 SP1).
• OS file/folder limits (Windows/Mac) - A reference for the limits of various file systems (including minum/maximum volume/file sizes).
• Configure Hyper-V Remote Management in seconds - John Howard had some leave to use up… so he wrote a tool to configure a Hyper-V host for remote management.
• Visual Studio 2010 Lab Management uses virtualization - Is this Microsoft's answer to VMware Stage Manager?
• Installing the evaluation version of WUDSS 2003 Refresh and the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target Version 3.1 on a VM - Jose Barreto describes how to install the Microsoft iSCSI target on a VM (by extracting it from an evaluation edition of Windows Unified Data Storage Server).
• Example domains - Certain domain names are not available for registration and are reserved for documentation purposes.
• Server Core changes in Windows Server 2008 R2.
• YouTube - How RedDog (Azure) Werks - A few Microsofties explaining how Windows Azure scales to cope with demand… using a few treadmills as props…
• Let me google that for you - Have you ever been asked a question that a simple Google search would have answered? (via Garry Martin).
• Steve Jobs’s Face, Meet John Curran’s Balls - Microsoft sets up stall outside the Birmingham Apple Store!
• ShutdownGuard - interrupts Windows when shutting down, rebooting or logging off and prompts to continue (for those times when Windows Update insists on rebooting, regardless of its configuration) (via Garry Martin).
• Internet Map - Fascinating maps showing the connectivity of the Internet based on router configuration.
• PacketLife.net - Loads of technical information about networks. I mean loads. This should be a first port of call for all sorts of things including cheat sheets, example captures, tips, Visio stencils, default passwords and more.
• Stanford University Network Diagnostic Tool - A Java applet to test the reliability and operational status of a desktop computer and network connection.
• Using Wireshark to Display DNS Requests - Simple command line to log all of the DNS requests seen on a network.
• AVG Resident Shield Disabled, Inactive or Not Loaded Error - My Digital Life explains how to fix a problem where AVG Anti-Virus will fail to load the Resident Shield component.
• Apple iPhone and iPod Touch Enterprise Deployment Guide.
• VIA Technologies ARTiGO Pico-ITX Builder Kit A1000 - A kit to build tiny (ultraportable) PCs.
• Hyper-V RTM and SCVMM 2008 RTM: Hyper-V host ‘needs attention’ - Matt McSpirit explains why Hyper-V needs a couple of updates to work with SCVMM 2008.
• V-Mailer - Free 32-bit Windows command-line mailer with SMTP authentication.
• 10 top tips for using Microsoft Office Communicator - A few tips for getting the most out of corporate IM solutions.
• Running SQL Server 2008 in a Hyper-V Environment - Best Practices and Performance Recommendations - Whitepapers - White paper on running SQL Server on Hyper-V.
• Microsoft knowledge base article 888794: Considerations when hosting Active Directory domain controller in virtual hosting environments.
• Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager demonstration - Silverlight demonstration of SCVMM 2008.
• Scheduling a Hyper-V snapshot using PowerShell - James O'Neill provides a PowerShell script for scheduling Hyper-V snapshots - as well as explaining some of the gotchas with such an approach.
• ADMT v3 migration guide - Microsoft's Active Directory Migration Tool (v3) migration guide.
• Best practices for NT to Active Directory migration - As should be expected with a white paper from Quest Software, this includes plenty of references to their products but it's also full of good advice for NT to AD migrations.
• Software + Services: The Greater Sum - Microsoft's Software plus Services microsite.