Andy Malone’s MCT Blog

Gosh things have been quiet on my blog for the past few weeks. Sorry about that. I have been in the US recording training material for Testout. Based in Pleasant Grove, outside Salt Lake City. I just want to thank Roweena, Gerry, George and Don for there wonderful hospitality during my 2 week stay.

I was recording an e-learning self study course for Exam 70-640 TS: Configuring & Managing Windows Server 2008 Active Directory. 1 week behind a TV camera and 1 week recording demos. I will tell you it was no cakewalk, dam hard work, but great fun just the same.

It’s great to be back in Scotland. This week I have been delivering Windows Server 2008 training for a client in Edinburgh. It has felt very strange going to work on a train rather than a plane. We have got some great plans for Scotland. A host of new courses as well as some exciting developments in our MasterClass series.

Watch this space for more details.

Well it’s Sunday morning and surprisingly I wasn’t sleepless last night. Having just arrived in Seattle for the 2008 MVP Global Summit I am not only looking forward to the event but I am also looking forward to exploring this interesting and vibrant city. Seattle according to our airport shuttle bus driver hosts not 1 but 8 billionaires including you know who! Home to two sports stadiums costing over $1 Billion dollars as well as being home to Microsoft and Boeing.

You can tour the factory. You know I might just do that.  Across the street I can see huge tower blocks of hotels and trendy apartment blocks, a far cry to the rolling hills of home.

Already at 7.30am I can see the streets starting to bubble. Prior to the Microsoft event I plan to visit the Boeing Factory as well as take in a tour of the city to get my bearings. One of the first stops I plan to make is at the world famous Pike Street Market and of course the Seattle Cheesecake Company (yum!) Anyway onwards and upwards I am looking forward to meeting my fellow MVPs and other Microsoft contacts for what promises to be a very interesting week. I will keep you updated as the week progresses.

This week I have just returned from a week in Norway. Firstly many thanks to all who attended my Windows Server 2008 event at Microsoft Oslo. Also many thanks to everyone who attended the MS Partner Readiness training in Stavanger.

With only 16 hours at home before I am off again (This time to the MVP Summit in Seattle, US) I am quickly catching up with paperwork and answering email’s. I must say I am looking forward to catching up with my Microsoft colleagues in Redmond as well as fellow MVPs.

Watch this space more Seattle updates.

I am delighted to announce that we have secured some great international speakers for Dive deeper tech Forum 08 in Iceland in October. This 2 day event promises to be something special. Speakers including Microsoft’s premier SharePoint guru Richard Taylor, myself delivering some hard hitting sessions on Virtualization and Windows Server 2008. The ever popular Christian Schindler (Austria) a Microsoft Architect on Microsoft Exchange will be proving deep content on Exchange 2007 and perhaps an insight into the future. It all sound rather exciting doesn’t it? Watch this space for more information coming soon.

I am delighted to announce that my colleague Marcus Carey have agreed to a further run of our security summit 08 event. As the event has been so popular we are running the event in association with the Teknologisk Institut in Copenhagen. This time the event promises to be even more intense. Focussing on Identity theft, black opps intrusion techniques, wireless hacking and reverse engineering. If you want to see and be be part of something that little different then join us on the 11^th & 12^th September in Copenhagen. For bookings and further information visit http://www.teknologisk.dk/uddannelser/k88693 or call Mette on +45 72 20 30 14 be aware though that seats are very limited and early booking is strongly advised.

Can’t make the Copenhagen event, no problem we are also in negotiations to bring the event to Oslo, Norway or Stockholm, Sweden. Watch this space for more details.

Well today has been an eventful day. My MVP status has been renewed. So thank you Microsoft. I have also renewed my Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) status for a 13^th year, wow! It’s been great fun over the years. God bless you Bill! Keep the upgrades coming! Anyway, seriously after spending a great week in Iceland which I was fortunate enough to witness a childhood dream. I got to witness the awesome Aurora Borealis, AKA the Northern Lights. Wow is the only word that comes to mind. Thanks Herman, you are the man!!

Today I have just finished another set of Windows server 2008 seminars in Copenhagen. Next week I am off for a final bite at Norway, starting Monday in Oslo and continuing on to Stavanger for the remainder of the week. Then it’s off to Seattle for the MVP Summit 08. I must admit I am really looking forward to this and to getting my head into some deep content. Oh well onwards and upwards

Windows Server 2008 has a number of gems hidden beneath its surface. One of these is Active Directory Rights Management. This tool helps protect your important information in the form of right’s management. By this I mean Intellectual property rights. An example of this can be seen on the iTunes website where users can download music, but not copy or distribute it.

For RMS you need the following infrastructure, a Windows server 2008 DC plus one additional member server which has been installed with the Right’s Management role. Note that RMS cannot be installed on a DC. This combined with Microsoft Office 2007 and a little client configuration you can protect your company secrets and ensure that your data is secured.

For more information simply visit http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/437d3040-89f0-40ac-a2af-c288a48714c41033.mspx?mfr=true for a complete how to guide and walkthrough.

Over the last few weeks I have had the odd conversation regarding Windows Server 2008 technologies. One of which the addition of DNS Global Names Zones. If you are new to Windows Server 2008 you will notice that the platform no longer has WINS (Windows Internet Naming Service) as a major role. This has been downgraded to a “feature”.

To old time NT people like myself WINS traditionally maintained a simplified NetBIOS name resolution mechanism. In fact looking back it provided a simple method that users could identify resources by a simple short name. With DNS this is harder to accomplish manly due to the nature of its structure.

 So what’s the solution? Well its Global Names in DNS. GNs allows applications to  have the advantages of having a short names resolution tool without having to install WINS on a server. The result is complete name resolution for applications without the hassle of a complex DNS solution. Installation is simple.

1.       In DNS Create a forward lookup zone call GlobalNames. Ensure that it is set to replicate to all DCs in the forrest.

2.       By default the component is not activated. To do this type the following: dnscmd <ServerName> /config /enableglobalnamessupport 1

3.       Replicate to all DNS Server in the Forrest

If you are configuring the local server just replace the <servername> with a period <.> There you are, that,s it? For more information visit www.microsoft.com/technet or www.microsoft.com/windowsserver

During the past couple of weeks I have been on yet another whirlwind tour of the Nordics. Including the lovely Bergen in Norway, where I was delivering to Partner readiness training for Microsoft. Thanks to all delegates for being so positive about Windows Server 2008.

I was also in Copenhagen yesterday and Stockholm today delivering some Server 2008 presentations for Global Knowledge. Very enthusiastic delegates, great place. Although being stuck in Copenhagen airport last night for 3 hours was not fun. A big thanks to Peter, Ann, Rickard and the st of the team for your hospitality.

This week I am in Bergen, Norway. In between teaching Server 2008 to some Microsoft Partners. During the evenings I have been getting my head into the technologies that are likley to go forward into the development of the Windows 7 platform. I have done some reserch and drawn together some information from various sources. Enjoy! 

Windows 7 (formerly known as Blackcomb and Vienna) is the working name for the next major version of Microsoft Windows as the successor of Windows Vista. Microsoft has announced that it is “scoping Windows 7 development to a three-year timeframe”, and that “the specific release date will ultimately be determined by meeting the quality bar.” The client versions of Windows 7 will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

A server variant, codenamed Windows Server 7, is also under development.Microsoft is maintaining a policy of silence concerning discussion of plans and aspirations for Windows 7 as they focus on the release and marketing of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, stating that Microsoft doesn’t want to promise features and then fail to deliver, though some early details of various core operating system features have emerged. As a result, little is known about the feature set, though public presentations from company officials have disseminated information about some features. Leaked information from people to whom Milestone 1 of Windows 7 was shipped also provide some insight into the feature set.FocusMicrosoft’s Ben Fathi claimed on February 9, 2007 that the focus on the operating system was still being worked out, and could merely hint at some possibilities:

Bill Gates, in an interview with Newsweek, suggested that the next version of Windows would “be more user-centric.”[8] When asked to clarify what he meant, Gates said:

Milestone 1

The first known build of Windows 7 was identified as a “Milestone 1 (M1) code drop” according to TG Daily with a version number of 6.1.6519.1. It was sent to key Microsoft partners by January 2008 in both x86 and x64 versions.

Though not yet commented on by Microsoft, reviews and screenshots have been published by various sources. The M1 code drop installation requires Windows Vista with Service Pack 1, and creates a dual-boot system with Windows Vista. Later buildsAccording to TG Daily, the Milestone 2 code drop is scheduled for April or May 2008. UI changes are expected to appear in later builds of Windows 7. Milestone 3 is listed as coming in the third quarter, with the release to manufacturing in the second half of 2009. The release dates of a beta version and a release candidate are “to be determined”.Features Right-click desktop menu showing options for Gadgets, and the new link to the Display property window.Windows 7 has reached the Milestone 1 stage and has been made available to key partners. According to reports sent to TG Daily, the build adds support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards and a new version of Windows Media Center. New features in Milestone 1 also reportedly include Gadgets being integrated into Windows Explorer, a Gadget for Windows Media Center, the ability to visually pin and unpin items from the Start Menu and Recycle Bin, improved media features, a new XPS Viewer, and the Calculator accessory featuring Programmer and Statistics modes along with unit conversion.Reports indictate that a feedback tool included in Milestone 1 lists some coming features: the ability to store Internet Explorer settings on a Windows Live account, updated versions of Paint and WordPad, and a 10 minute install process. In addition, improved network connection tools might be included. MinWinA minimalistic variation of the Windows kernel, known as MinWin, is being developed for use in Windows 7. The MinWin development efforts are aimed towards componentizing the Windows kernel and reducing the dependencies with a view to carving out the minimal set of components required to build a self-contained kernel as well as reducing the disk footprint and memory usage. MinWin takes up about 25 MB on disk and has a working set (memory usage) of 40 MB. It lacks a graphical user interface and is interfaced using a full-screen command line interface. It includes the I/O and networking subsystems. MinWin was first publicly demonstrated on October 13, 2007 by Eric Traut. The demo system included an OS image, made up of about 100 files, on which a basic HTTP server was running. Incidentally, the name MinWin was also used earlier to refer to what is currently known as Server Core in Windows Server 2008. However, the two are quite different. While both efforts are to consolidate and componentize the core of Windows, with server core, the functionality of the OS is constrained according to server roles, and unneeded components (which will never be used as the role isn’t supported) are removed from the binary image. However, the dependencies still exist in code, and the code cannot compile without the components. In contrast, with MinWin, the dependencies are consolidated into MinWin and what is not needed is removed at the code level itself. As a result, the code compiles even without any extraneous components and builds a stripped-down self-contained OS kernel image. Methods of inputOn December 11, 2007, Hilton Locke, who worked on the Tablet PC team at Microsoft reported that Windows 7 will have new touch features.