There’s nothing I like better than a “flipped script.” I’m good—actually great—at figuring out what is going to happen. I can read the clues in social situations, usually figure out what our organization’s corporate office will do next, and even deduce the ending of most any movie. So when someone comes along and surprises me, I have all that much more respect for them. And in a tough job market where you have to show that not only can you do the tasks you’re hired for but also anything else the company throws at you, it helps to have some skill surprises up your sleeve. Make sure your abilities don’t get pegged for less than they are: boost your skills with my favorite scripting resources:
“Scripting on a Cluster,” InstantDoc ID 101466: Find out what happens as Jim Turner works to avoid long run time and network traffic by running a .cmd script locally on each cluster node.
“Features of PowerGUI Script Editor,” InstantDoc ID 100758: Learn how to put a GUI face on your Windows PowerShell scripting, plus what Michael Otey loves best about the tool, with his Top 10.
asp.netPRO magazine: If your interest lies in ASP.NET code, check out our newest addition to the Windows IT Pro family—complete with ready-to-run code and pages—at aspnetpro.net!
To step outside your comfort zone and into your can-do zone, check out other hot topics that aren’t your specialty and beginner how-tos on windowsitpro.com. Who knows? You might just surprise yourself.
Taking it literally, you’d think that an email retention policy would have something to do with actually retaining some emails. But when my company enforced its new guidelines, it involved a whole lot more deleting than keeping. My bold resistance soon met defeat, followed by pouting and eventually resulting in understanding. In “Establishing an Email Retention Policy: The IT Perspective” (InstantDoc ID 101728), I was reminded of all the hard work IT heroes put into company-wide policy changes like this. So in remembrance of the six months worth of email messages I’ll never see again, here are my top six email resources that I hope will help you for years to come.
“Exchange Management Tools Compared” (February 2009, InstantDoc ID 101054): Find out how Microsoft Exchange management tools MessageStats 4.0, PROMODAG Reports 8.4, and AppAnalyzer 4.01 match up in William Lefkovics’s product comparison. See which product best assesses over- and underuse.
“Modernizing Exchange Server Backup and Recovery” (March 2009 web-exclusive, InstantDoc ID 101488): Brien M. Posey offers tips on improving your backup system and explains the performance and recovery problems with tape backup. Learn how disk-to-disk-to-tape backup often offers advanced capabilities that you can't achieve through traditional backups, and how this solution might be right for your organization.
“Xobni” (March 2009, InstantDoc ID 101726): Windows IT Pro editor Anne Grubb overviews the cool new Outlook add-on called Xobni—that’s inbox spelled backwards. Check out her step-by-step guide on how to get started, and find out if this tool could help you.
“What Exchange/Outlook APIs Should I Use for Applications?” (March 2009, web-exclusive, InstantDoc ID 101503): William Lefkovics clears up the “dizzying array of APIs and technologies to access Outlook and Exchange data for application development and design.”
“Virtualizing Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2003 with Hyper-V” (April 2009, InstantDoc ID 101294): In this subscriber-only exclusive article, Brien M. Posey overviews what you should consider, the processes you can follow, and the requirements you need to meet to virtualize Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2003 with Hyper-V.
Exchange & Outlook UPDATE: This free e-mail newsletter is packed with news, strategies, products, and developments in Exchange Server and Outlook messaging. Sign up to receive this weekly resource and expert commentaries at windowsitpro.com/email.
Now Twitter is more than a connection to your network of peers—it’s your ticket to win! Announcing the Savvy Asst Daily Giveaway contest!
Giveaway Details Starting today, each day this month, I’ll select a SavvyAsst Twitter follower at random and give him or her a free 1-year digital subscription to Windows IT Pro or SQL Server Magazine (winner’s choice). That’s a $70 value!* Plus, every week, I’ll choose from that week’s batch of followers and retweeters a lucky person to win the weekly grand prize: a 250GB Western Digital (R) My Passport (TM) Essential (TM) Portable External Hard Drive—valued at almost $100!*
How to Play and Win! Contestants need to follow me at twitter.com/SavvyAsst and ReTweet the following message between the hours of 12:01 AM (EDT) and 11:59 PM (EDT) each day to enter: Win a FREE WinITPro or SQLMag Sub – plus the Grand Prize WD Portable Hard Drive! Follow @SavvyAsst & RT to enter! http://bit.ly/4lZfH
This contest will run every day the rest of April 2009, so keep playing until you win! Mon-Thurs winners will be tweeted the following day, while Fri-Sun winners—including the weekly External Hard Drive Grand Prize Winner—will be tweeted the following Monday. Good luck and Happy Tweeting!
*Only one subscription and or hard drive per winner.
I’m usually the last person to jump on a bandwagon, for fear of falling off. So I wasn’t the first to sign up for social networking. I thought that it would be a virtual hang out for high schoolers—or for those stuck in the high school frame of mind. But now I realize that social networking can be a great source for staying competitive in your field, a hotline for quick tips and instant solutions, and a harbor of contacts. Now you can do all of that with help from the Windows IT Pro network you trust.
Twitter When my coworker asked me if I Twittered, I wasn’t sure if I should be offended or flattered. I came to find out that it wasn’t some offhand remark; Twitter is another way to stay in touch with your network.
SavvyAsst. This account will inform you of helpful resources, free tools, new events and industry happenings. Come follow me at twitter.com/SavvyAsst.
EmpowerITDev. This feed is used to inform user group leaders and members about our UG sponsorship opportunities; to cross-promote meetings, activities, and news for groups that we follow (and ideally partner with). Empower your user group at twitter.com/EmpowerITDev.
LeftBrainStore. Left-Brain.com is the new online resource superstore stocked with educational, training, and career-development materials concentrated on the needs of IT professionals like you. Sign up to receive new product alerts and special discounts at twitter.com/LeftBrainStore.
IT Job Hound. IT Job Hound is an online job-search engine that concentrates on the IT industry. (To learn more, see a previous Your Savvy Assistant). This feed will keep you on track with new positions, jobseekers, and trends in your fields of interest. Sniff out the right career or employee at twitter.com/ITJobHound
Windows IT Pro. As the Twitter feed of the industry’s independent resource for product news, information, and community, this account shows how we’re in IT with you: twitter.com/WindowsITPro.
LinkedIn LinkedIn is the most professionally formal site of the social networking world. Record your work history, link up with current and former coworkers and managers, and even compile all of those shining recommendations. Link up with Windows IT Pro for your career connections.
Facebook From what I’ve heard from IT pros, Facebook is used more for peer development than for career development, but this can be a more comfortable and casual forum for your networking needs. Windows IT Pro has a Facebook account at facebook.com/pages/Windows-IT-Pro-Magazine. Check us out to connect with other IT pros and our experts.
To learn more about IT industry social networking (beyond the jam session at TechEd), contact me at Christan.Humphries@penton.com.
With the economic climate as cold as the US has experience recently, we're trying to squeeze all we can out of the money we work so hard to earn—or, for some, work pretty hard to earn. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, but with these resources from Windows IT Pro, you can still feed your mind at no cost.
“Exchange Storage Ins and Outs,” Technical Advisor: Technical Advisors are quick-reference guides written by Windows IT Pro experts. In this Technical Advisor, Tom Clark, Paul Robichaux, and Alan Sugano demystify server storage options and help you determine which solution is best for your situation.
“Tracking Changes in the Modern Windows-centric Regulatory Environment,” web seminar: Ensure that your Microsoft-centric networks are up to the challenges of monitoring and change management. This web seminar covers shared requirements between network operations/compliance and monitoring/change management; drivers for accurate, complete monitoring and change management; monitoring as a vital aspect of day-to-day operations and compliance scenarios; and challenges with the native tools in Microsoft-centric networks.
“Recession Proof Your Business Email” white paper: Learn how to maintain robust email capabilities, while reducing costs in a way not seen in the industry since email became the critical business tool it is today. In this white paper, Osterman Research covers the key challenges of email management and discusses how outsourcing may be the best way for an organization to leverage its IT dollars in 2009 and beyond.
“Backup Lifecycle Management for Remote Offices” podcast: Join David Chernicoff as he leads a discussion about managing the information lifecycle. Find out about the efficiencies of applying backup lifecycle management to an effective remote offsite backup solution, using the key components of the strategy, and nearline and offline storage.
“Business Process Automation: Managing Cost in Your Enterprise” eBook: Make your enterprise more efficient with this eBook’s solid foundation on the basics of business process automation, a look at the way BPA tools work, and how they can be utilized to benefit both IT and overall business efficiencies. Learn where BPA can fit into your existing business process model, how BPA differs from other basic scripting and scheduling techniques, and what benefits your business model can derive from implementing a BPA solution.
In his January 2009 web-exclusive article, “Top Ten Infosec ‘Oops!’ of 2008”, Tony Howlett lists the biggest screw-ups of last year. While I mocked accordingly the Spores amoeba’s evolution dissolution and the Zune’s Christmas-time crash, I couldn’t find fun in the folly of 11,348,196 compromised private records—in 687 separate incidents.
Tony asks, “Is it wishful thinking to hope it will be better in 2009?” I say that wishes can come true. To keep you off of his naughty list for 2009, I’ve made a list of my own. Check out these must-see security resources, and seal up the cracks in your organization before it’s too late!
“A 5-Step Security Plan” With the matter-of-fact tagline “‘It can’t happen here’ is no excuse,” this web-exclusive article summarizes a security seminar’s advice into an easy-to-follow plan for your organization.
“Ease Security Headaches” Russell Smith reviews common security aggravations and offers suggestions for how to handle them.
“Lumension Survey Notes Top Threats” Find out the top security concerns from a recently posted trends survey and read more about the survey results with picks from Security Editor Lavon Peters.
“Top Ten Net-Surfing Risks at Work” Tony Howlett warns of the 10 most dangerous Internet activities for the workplace and gives me at least 4 things to feel guilty about.
Vista Security, Parts 1 and 2 Windows Vista has been touted as Microsoft’s most secure OS ever. Karen Forster interviews Microsoft product managers about Vista’s built-in security features.
Security UPDATE Learn how to avoid or fix Windows security risks and attacks with the expert commentary and tips in this free weekly email newsletter. Find out more at windowsitpro.com/email.
When it comes to being green, I can proudly say that my environmental consciousness is well pruned. I recycle everything that I can’t reuse, bring my own shopping bags to the store for locally grown produce, suffer through teenagers’ loud conversations about terrible music on my bus ride to work, and give an adequate amount of thought toward (maybe) starting my own compost pile. I find it quite easy to be green in my personal life, despite Kermit’s thoughts on the matter. But when the hot topic “green computing” started popping up in office conversations like SUVs in the '90s, I saw a whole new perspective on being green.
Other than including one of those “Please consider the environment before printing this” images as part of my email signature, I hadn’t really thought about how my work environment affected my other environment. Thankfully, the Windows IT Pro editorial team has a whole web page dedicated to the topic at WindowsITPro.com/GreenComputing.
According to Senior Editor Karen Bemowski, green computing refers to actions—such as consolidation and power management—that reduce IT departments’ impact on the environment. In her August 2008 web-exclusive article, “The Biggest Barriers to Going Green” (InstantDoc ID 99926), Karen references a CDW survey and explains that understanding why to implement green computing is fairly easy, but the how has stalled some organizations. “Although 80 percent of IT decision makers in government and corporate organizations believe that implementing green IT solutions is important, only 46 percent said their organizations were doing so.”
Even if you’re not personally interested in reducing your computing footprint, it’s likely that the money savings will interest your boss—or your boss’s boss. “IT Decision Makers Reveal Their Views on Going Green” (InstantDoc ID 99805) reports that “more than 70 percent of the IT decision makers [surveyed] said that they would probably or definitely increase their preference for purchasing green products if they were convinced there would be a positive effect on the environment and the business.” And with savings of up to $73 per computer, as stated in “How Much Money Can We Save If We Use Power-Management Policies” (InstantDoc ID 100877), I’d say these decision makers won’t have a hard time finding any “positive effects.”
As I breathe in the fresh air of 2009, I relish the opportunity to forget all my 2008 wrongs and look forward (overconfidently) to a new year of promises kept and resolutions met. Given that my 2008 was plagued by way too many bad-mannered vote-offs in negatively focused reality TV shows, I’d like to start my year positively with my 8 favorite resources from last year.
Cloud computing roundtable at TechEd 2008, parts 1 and 2—Executive Editors Amy Eisenberg and Jeff James interview experts Sean Deuby, Guido Grillenmeier, Michael Otey, Rhonda Layfield, and Mark Minasi concerning their thoughts about cloud computing.
“10 Reasons to Deploy Windows Vista” (November 2008, InstantDoc ID 99986)—If you read my blog post “Love at First Vista” (InstantDoc ID 96849), you know that I said goodbye to Windows XP without a second thought. Mark Minasi’s arguments provide good reason to feel that way.
“10 Reasons Not to Deploy Windows Vista” (November 2008, InstantDoc ID 99988)—I like Vista, so this one is strictly for those readers who don't. (And because Alan Sugano makes some good points, I suppose.)
“PowerShell 101, Lesson 1” (February 2008, InstantDoc ID 97742)—PowerShell earned its name in 2008 with its explosion into the IT industry. This article will help you get started with this powerful yet flexible scripting language.
“Gold Medal SharePoint Applications in Beijing” (August 2008, InstantDoc ID 99504)— If getting Dan Holme's behind-the-scenes perspective on NBC's coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games isn't enough of an attraction, his four real-life Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 solutions make this article a must-read.
“Apple Envy in Redmond” (October 2008, InstantDoc ID 100045)—If there’s anything I like more than someone who knows his stuff, it’s someone who knows other stuff too. Jeff James’ first Everything But Microsoft column shows that there’s more to care about than what’s-its-name in Washington state.
“New Belgium Brews a Potent Unified Communications Combo” (December 2007, InstantDoc ID 97481)—A December 2007 article doesn’t quite count, but it’s close enough, and it's a great real-life overview of a unified communications setup, so you just have to give me this one. (Besides, it’s about a brewery!)
I never believed in Santa Claus. This revelation shocks most everyone who hears it. I have to look into the concerned, slightly teary eyes of the person I'm talking with and confirm that I never made cookies for an old, fictitious man in anticipation of his breaking and entering to give me material goods for doing exactly what I was supposed to do anyway: behave. But I turned out just fine—albeit a little cynical. And as I read the Windows IT Pro network coverage about cloud computing, I’m beginning to suspect that the reasons behind the cloud computing rage may be just as fictitious as ol’ Saint Nick.
In a May 25 blog post on the SuperSite for Windows, Paul Thurrott describes cloud computing as “obtaining computing resources—processing, storage, messaging, databases and so on—from someplace outside your own four walls, and paying only for what you use.” And in the August 2008 web-exclusive article “Gartner: Cloud Computing Is Reshaping IT” (InstantDoc ID 100115), Paul further touts the potential of cloud computing, stating, “In many ways Gartner is just waking up to what much of the IT world has understood for years: Cloud computing is real, it's happening now, and it will transform IT.”
But just as I start to believe, I see comments from readers that put a raincloud over my head. Commenting on Paul’s May blog post, reader Suraky said that cloud computing is “just another meaningless buzzword.” And in response to the August web-exclusive article, Bruce Arnold commented, “The only true cloud computing takes place in aircraft. What they’re actually referring to by ‘the cloud’ is a large-scale and often remotely located and managed computing platform. We have had those since the dawn of electronic IT.” He goes on to say that any journalist making a buzz out of cloud computing is wasting time. (Hopefully this counts as more of a rumble.)
In my search for better understanding, I turn to Executive Editor Amy Eisenberg. In her blog post “TechEd in the Cloud” (InstantDoc ID 99433), Amy expresses her initial feeling of déjà vu: “While the name might be new, the concept is not. The basic idea is Internet software delivery. Can you say hosted services?” She goes on to say that she’s warmed up to cloud computing because “times have changed.” So help me through this haze called cloud computing: Is it worth believing in or is it just an old, dressed-up uncle trying to fool everyone?
After months of events, campaigning, and horn tooting, we’ll soon see the results of one of this year’s hardest-fought battles. Two contenders—one that's new and touts a fresh perspective; the other born to a heritage of authority and adorned with expectations of greatness—are striving for the same goal: to be your organization’s virtualization hypervisor.
That’s right; we’re not talking about Barack Obama and John McCain. It's Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware ESX Server that are going head to head, without any thrilling (and not-so-thrilling) speeches and forgoing the use of cosmetics on farm animals (at least, let’s hope so). With both products’ hypervisors now available for free and a Microsoft veteran at VMware’s helm, we can only guess what’s next in this race to be the best. But for me, at the time of writing this article, I’m preparing to witness the final round of this fight: a throw-down in Denver—a competition of pure performance—from which only one competitor will walk away a winner. (OK, so it’s a local event and the user group organizing it prefers the term “neutral comparison,” but I still expect there to be a duel to the death—or at least an exchange of unkind words. )
Hype aside, the competition between ESX Server and Hyper-V will continue far beyond the Denver event. Even after your organization has made the move to virtualization, you’ll need to deal with virtual machine sprawl, security, and single-point-of-failure difficulties. Avoid being trampled in the virtualization race and those running in (or from) it by equipping yourself with the library of information on WindowsITPro.com, from product reviews to expert commentaries. Read what the Hyper-V camp says about its candidate in Paul Thurrott’s web-exclusive article “Microsoft Finally Details Standalone Hyper-V” (InstantDoc ID 100238). For background on ESX Server, see Alan Sugano’s web-exclusive “VMware Infrastructure Starter Package” (InstantDoc ID 97037).
For a side-by-side comparison of the products, you can't beat Michael Otey’s two-part “Virtualization Shootout” (InstantDoc IDs 98879 and 99248). To stay up-to-date on virtualization, subscribe to the Virtualization UPDATE e-newsletter for monthly news and developments and join the virtualization forum for tips from your peers.
Stay tuned for results from the “neutral comparison” in Denver. I’m Your Savvy Assistant, and I approve this message.
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