Friday, April 27, 2012

Learning Microsoft MCTS 70-516 Exam

Microsoft certification exams are a great way to build your resume and let the world know about your level of expertise. Certification exams validate your on-the-job experience and product knowledge. While there is no substitution for on-the-job experience, preparation through study and hands-on practice can help you prepare for the exam. We recommend that you round out your exam preparation plan by using a combination of available study materials and courses. For example, you might use the Training kit and another study guide

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for your “at home” preparation, and take a Microsoft Official Curriculum course for the classroom experience. Choose the combination that you think works best for you.

This article will let you understand the core developers who write or support applications that access
data written in C# or Visual Basic using Visual Studio 2012 and the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 and who also plan to take the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) exam 70-516. Before you begin using this kit, you must have a solid foundation-level understanding of Microsoft C# or Microsoft Visual Basic and be familiar with Visual Studio 2012..

Topics to know in C# or Visual Basic using Visual Studio 2012
ADO.NET Disconnected Classes
ADO.NET Connected Classes
Introducing LINQ
LINQ to SQL
LINQ to XML
ADO.NET Entity Framework
WCF Data Services
Developing Reliable Applications
Deploying Your Application

Most of the examples in the article could run very well on a single server running both the Active Directory and Exchange Server 2010, if you do not have the time or resources to set up a fully functional lab. (Keep in mind that it is highly recommended that the Active Directory Domain Controller and the Exchange Server do not coexist on the same physical or virtual machine in the real world for a variety of reasons.)

Make use of the Testing Engines that are available, as well as the free Webcasts. Practice test material is just for that... PRACTICE. It may help you pass the test but believe me you will only last one day in a job if you don't know what you are doing, so if you use practice material, read the question and if you don't know the answer, research it and learn it, don't just memorize the answer....I will tell you right now that their answers are not always right.

If your ready for career change and looking for Microsoft MCTS Training, Microsoft MCITP Training or any other Microsoft Certification preparation get the best online training from Certkingdom.com they offer all Microsoft, Cisco, Comptia certification exams training in just one Unlimited Life Time Access Pack, included self study training kits including, Q&A, Study Guides, Testing Engines, Videos, Audio, Preparation Labs for over 2000+ exams, save your money on boot camps, training institutes, It's also save your traveling and time. All training materials are "Guaranteed" to pass your exams and get you certified on the fist attempt, due to best training they become no1 site 2012.

About The Author
Hi I educated in the U.K. with working experienced for 5 years in multinational companies, As an IT Manager and IT Instructor, I am attached with certkingdom.com here they provide IT exams study material, the study materials included exams Q&A with Explanation, Testing Engine, Study Guides, Training Labs, Exams Simulations, Training Videos, Audio Exams Training, etc. for certification like MCTS Training, MCITP MCTS, MCSD, MCSA, MCSE Training, CCNA exams preparation, CompTIA A+ Training, and more Certkingdom.com provide you the best training 100% guarantee. “Best Material Great Results”

My Specialties
I’ve worked with a lot of technologies, but these are where my focus has been in recent years:
* Microsoft SQL Server (particularly high availability and disaster recovery)
* VMWare Virtualization
* Oracle (yes, Oracle, I’ve worked on 7-11)
* Microsoft Clustering
* Red Hat Linux (I can still write shell scripts)
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Thursday, April 26, 2012

Over View Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 : MCTS 70-662 and MCITP 70-663

A number of articles have been published on Windows PowerShell, but very few of these are dedicated to Exchange Server 2012. I am an Exchange administrator. I am not a developer. Yet, I have found an increasing need to improve my development skills in order to be an effective administrator—first with Exchange Server 2007, then with Windows Server 2008, and now with Exchange Server 2010. Fortunately, with Windows
PowerShell and Exchange Management Shell, I can do so without having to learn a complicated language and extensive developmental concepts—something I really have no desire to do as an administrator. With just a simple verb-noun combination, I can achieve fantastic things in the Exchange organization and still be able to sleep at night without pieces of code swirling around in my head as I dream.

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What’s New in PowerShell 2.0
Microsoft Windows PowerShell is a combined command-line shell and scripting language designed primarily for administrators, not developers. Prior to the introduction of Windows PowerShell into operating systems, administrators were forced to learn a programming language such as Visual Basic to fully manipulate objects in the Active Directory and Exchange environment if the graphical user interface (GUI) did not provide
an easy means for administration. Mainly, an administrator found the need for additional tools, such as custom VB scripts, when he or she wanted to manage objects in bulk. PowerShell 2.0 includes significant changes from the original version.

Topics To Understand Exchange Server 2010 Portable Command:
An Overview of Windows PowerShell 2.0 for Exchange 2010
New Features and the Exchange Management Shell
Basic Techniques
Achieving a Comfort Level with PowerShell
Advanced Techniques
Customizing the PowerShell Environment
PowerShell and the Exchange 2010 Deployment Process
Standard Deployments
Disaster Recovery Deployments
PowerShell and Recipient Objects
Working with Recipient Objects
Bulk Management of Recipients
PowerShell and the Transport Roles Message Routing
The Hub Transport Role
The Edge Transport Role
Configuring Rules and Agents on Transport Servers
PowerShell and the Client Access Server Role
CAS Services
Working with Certificates
PowerShell and the Mailbox Role
Mailbox Servers and Databases
Working with Mailboxes
Using the Recovery Database (RDB)
PowerShell and the Unified Messaging Role
Working with Unified Messaging (UM) Role Objects
Managing Unified Messaging (UM) Users
PowerShell and Message Routing
Exchange Server 2010 Message Routing
Integrating Exchange Server 2010 into an Existing Exchange
Server 2003 Environment
PowerShell and High Availability in Exchange 2010
Database Availability Groups (DAGs)
Mailbox Database Copies
Using DAG to Mitigate Failures
Monitoring Highly Available Databases
PowerShell and Public Folders
Public Folder Database Management
Managing Public Folders
Public Folder Permissions
Troubleshoot Exchange Server 2010 Using PowerShell
Troubleshooting with the Test Cmdlets
Event Logging with PowerShell
PowerShell and Automating Exchange Server 2010 Administration
Using and Finding Scripts to Automate
Monitoring Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) Permissions,
Mailbox Audit Logging, and Reporting with PowerShell in Exchange Server 2010
Configuring Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) Permissions
Using Mailbox Audit Logging to Monitor Exchange Server
Reporting and Other Useful Cmdlets

Most of the examples in the article could run very well on a single server running both the Active Directory and Exchange Server 2010, if you do not have the time or resources to set up a fully functional lab. (Keep in mind that it is highly recommended that the Active Directory Domain Controller and the Exchange Server do not coexist on the same physical or virtual machine in the real world for a variety of reasons.)

Make use of the Testing Engines that are available, as well as the free Webcasts. Practice test material is just for that... PRACTICE. It may help you pass the test but believe me you will only last one day in a job if you don't know what you are doing, so if you use practice material, read the question and if you don't know the answer, research it and learn it, don't just memorize the answer....I will tell you right now that their answers are not always right.

If your ready for career change and looking for Microsoft MCTS Training, Microsoft MCITP Training or any other Microsoft Certification preparation get the best online training from Certkingdom.com they offer all Microsoft, Cisco, Comptia certification exams training in just one Unlimited Life Time Access Pack, included self study training kits including, Q&A, Study Guides, Testing Engines, Videos, Audio, Preparation Labs for over 2000+ exams, save your money on boot camps, training institutes, It's also save your traveling and time. All training materials are "Guaranteed" to pass your exams and get you certified on the fist attempt, due to best training they become no1 site 2012.

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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Microsoft 70-640 Exam Quick Pass Tips (Windows Server 2008)

As the your know that getting good job you need pass Microsoft exams and get certified to eligible for the job. Some Microsoft exams are not as simple and easy to pass; you need get the core concept of the exam this article will help you to under stand Microsoft Server 2008 for the exams of 70-640, 70-642.

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WHAT IS WINDOWS SERVER 2008
Windows Server 2008 R2, or simply R2 for short, is the second release of Windows Server 2008 . It isn’t a completely new release, but rather adds additional features and refinements to the existing release . In this book, we focus on the new features and refinements in R2 . We assume you have at least a general knowledge of Windows Server, and that you have some familiarity with Windows Server 2008, although we don’t assume you’re actively running Windows Server 2008 . Where an R2 feature is a refinement of a feature that was new in Windows Server 2008, we provide background on the Windows Server 2008 feature to provide context .

THE ROLE OF SERVER ADMINISTRATOR
Windows server administrators who are responsible for hands-on deployment and day-to-day management of Windows-based servers for large organizations . Windows server administrators manage file and print servers, network infrastructure servers, Web servers, and IT application servers . They use graphical administration tools as their primary interface but also use Windows PowerShell commandlets and occasionally write Windows PowerShell scripts for routine tasks and bulk operations . They conduct most server management tasks remotely by using Terminal Server or administration tools installed on their local workstation .

9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WINDOWS SERVER 2008
1. What’s New in Windows Server R2
2. Installation and Configuration: Adding R2 to Your World
3. Hyper-V: Scaling and Migrating Virtual Machines
4. Remote Desktop Services and VDI: Centralizing Desktop and Application Management
5. Active Directory: Improving and Automating Identity and Access
6. The File Services Role
7. IIS 7.5: Improving the Web Application Platform
8. DirectAccess and Network Policy Server
9. Other Features and Enhancements

Make use of the Testing Engines that are available, as well as the free Webcasts. Practice test material is just for that... PRACTICE. It may help you pass the test but believe me you will only last one day in a job if you don't know what you are doing, so if you use practice material, read the question and if you don't know the answer, research it and learn it, don't just memorize the answer....I will tell you right now that their answers are not always right.

If your ready for career change and looking for Microsoft MCTS Training, Microsoft MCITP Training or any other Microsoft Certification preparation get the best online training from Certkingdom.com they offer all Microsoft, Cisco, Comptia certification exams training in just one Unlimited Life Time Access Pack, included self study training kits including, Q&A, Study Guides, Testing Engines, Videos, Audio, Preparation Labs for over 2000+ exams, save your money on boot camps, training institutes, It's also save your traveling and time. All training materials are "Guaranteed" to pass your exams and get you certified on the fist attempt, due to best training they become no1 site 2012.

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Sunday, April 22, 2012

Troubleshooting SQL Server 2008 Business Intelligence Development Studio

Troubleshooting SQL Server 2008 Business Intelligence Development Studio

If you have problems with SQL Server 2008 Business Intelligence Development Studio, review this troubleshooting checklist to find potential solutions.

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1. Install the latest SQL Server 2008 service pack.
Because many Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) bugs were fixed in SQL Server service packs, you should install the latest SQL Server service pack.
At the time this article was written the latest SQL Server 2008 service pack was service pack 2.

You can download the SQL Server 2008 service pack 2 at here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=8fbfc1de-d25e-4790-88b5-7dda1f1d4e17&displaylang=en

2. You cannot open a Business Intelligence (BI) project after you upgrade this project to the Visual Studio 2010 format.
This problem occurs because Visual Studio 2010 does not let you edit a BI project that is created by using BIDS in SQL Server 2008. To resolve this problem, you should create a new SQL Server BIDS project with the same name as the original BI project in a different directory, add all relevant project items from the upgraded BI project folder and then save the new BI project. Now, you can open a new BI project in Visual Studio 2010 or in SQL Server 2008 BIDS.

3. You may be prompted for credentials indefinitely when you use BIDS to deploy a SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services report.

This problem occurs when you configure SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services to run in SharePoint integrated mode. This bug was first fixed in Cumulative update package 9 for SQL Server 2008. You can download the Cumulative update package 9 for SQL Server 2008 at here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977444

4. The error occurs when you run a SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services report in Business Intelligence Development Studio.

This is the error message text: "An item with the same key has already been added". This problem occurs when a subreport is shared two or more times for use in an outer subreport. This bug was first fixed in Cumulative update package 3 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1. You can download the Cumulative update package 3 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 at here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971491/LN

5. When you try to deploy the Data Mining Model Training task in an Integration Services project in BIDS, the mining model opens a blank task editor window.

This is SQL Server 2008 bug. This bug was first fixed in Cumulative update package 1 for SQL Server 2008. You can download the Cumulative update package 1 for SQL Server 2008 at here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956717

6. SQL Server 2008 BIDS may stop responding when you stop debugging a SQL Server 2008 Integration Services (SSIS) package.

This is SQL Server 2008 bug. This bug was first fixed in Cumulative update package 4 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2. You can download the Cumulative update package 4 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2 at here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2527180

7. When you select a dimension as a nested table in a Data Mining model in BIDS, some attributes of the dimension do not appear.

This problem occurs when you select a cube as the data source for the Data Mining model. This bug was first fixed in Cumulative update package 3 for SQL Server 2008. You can download the Cumulative update package 3 for SQL Server 2008 at here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/960484

8. When you try to install BIDS on a SQL Server 2008-based computer, the installation is not successful.

This problem occurs when Visual Studio is installed in a non-default location. This bug was first fixed in Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2008. You can download the Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2008 at here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/9581861

9. The error occurs when you run a SSIS package that uses a configuration table in BIDS.

This is the error message text: ?The connection "" is not found?. This problem usually occurs when you use a shared configuration table in multiple packages and the configuration filter values in the configuration table are the same for each package. This bug was first fixed in Cumulative update package 5 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack
1. You can download the Cumulative update package 5 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 at here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975977/LN

To work around this problem, do not use the same configuration filter in a shared configuration table for multiple packages.

10. When you install SQL Server 2008 without the SSIS feature, you cannot edit or debug an SSIS package in BIDS.

This is SQL Server 2008 bug. This bug was first fixed in Cumulative update package 4 for SQL Server 2008. You can download the Cumulative update package 4 for SQL Server 2008 at here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/963036

To work around this problem, you can add the "Integration Services" feature to the existing installation of BIDS.

11. The error occurs when you resize a Chart control in the Report Designer in BIDS on a computer that is running Windows 7.

This is the error message text: "Chart Exception: Parameter is not valid". This bug was first fixed in Cumulative update package 4 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1. You can download the Cumulative update package 4 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 at here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973602/LN

12. The "Page 1 of 1" may be displayed for all the pages after you export a report to Excel format in BIDS.

This is SQL Server 2008 bug. This bug was first fixed in Cumulative update package 3 for SQL Server 2008. You can download the Cumulative update package 3 for SQL Server 2008 at here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/960484

13. The error occurs when you try to deploy a report to a server that is running Windows SharePoint Services in SQL Server 2008 BIDS.

This is the error message text: "Error rsInvalidItemName: The name of the item 'Data%20Sources' is not valid". This problem occurs when the target folder does not already exist on the target server. To work around this problem, you should manually create the target folder on the server that is running Windows SharePoint Services and then deploy the report in SQL Server 2008 BIDS.

14. The error occurs when you create a report server project in SQL Server 2008 BIDS and then export a report to a PDF or TIFF file.

This is the error message text: "An item with the same key has already been added". This problem occurs with Cumulative update package 1 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2. This bug was first fixed in Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2. You can download the Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2 at here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2467239/LN

.

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Saturday, April 21, 2012

Microsoft Windows RT tablets will be more security friendly than iPad, Android devices


can perform a type of network access control on Windows RT devices as a way to protect corporate networks from harm these devices might inflict if put to corporate use, making them a cut above iPads and Android tablets in this regard.

The newly announced capability can check the devices for compliance with corporate policies surrounding passwords, encrypting data, antivirus, anti-spyware and auto updates, according to the Building Windows 8 blog. This is similar but less comprehensive than what some NAC schemes do in order to keep devices that don't comply from connecting to networks.

Previously Microsoft had announced four flavors of Windows 8 -- Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Enterprise and Windows RT -- with Windows RT lacking many of the features included in the Enterprise edition that might make the devices more palatable to businesses.

BACKGROUND: Windows RT tablets will add to the BYOD nightmare

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TEST YOURSELF: The Windows 8 Quiz

Windows RT is the name Microsoft has given to a Windows 8 operating system that is packaged with ARM-based hardware such as power-efficient tablets. They are expected to ship later this year or early next. The devices don't support applications that run on standard x86/64 machines, and until now, would accept Metro-style applications designed for Windows 8 only directly from Microsoft.

None of this made Windows RT seem any more BYOD-friendly than Android tablets or iPads.

But a client announced by Microsoft will monitor the security posture of the devices and enable downloading proprietary business applications to them. The client will communicate with an undefined cloud-based management platform that will be announced later by the team working on Microsoft's System Center.

The client's main function is to download and install Windows 8 Metro-style applications that are designed to work on both x86/64 and ARM devices. Without the agent, owners of Windows RT devices can only download applications that are stocked in the Windows Store or via Windows Update or Microsoft Update.

But Microsoft recognizes that businesses will create their own Windows 8 Metro apps that they want to deploy to personal Windows RT devices that employees might want to use for work, according to the blog.

The client makes this possible by connecting to the corporate management infrastructure and to a self-service portal, which displays applications that are available for each user to download. This provides a mechanism to download proprietary line-of-business Metro apps to employees without placing them in the public Windows Store. As the blog says, "... there is no reason to broadcast these applications to others or to have their application deployment managed through the Windows Store process."

If the business or the owner of the device decides to remove it from corporate management, the client wipes out the proprietary apps.

Before users can connect their Windows RT devices to the management service, their Active Directory settings must be changed to allow it and to specify how many devices they are allowed to connect via SSL authentication. The process involves registering the device with the network.

Each user authorized to use the management service must be specified within Active Directory as someone allowed to connect devices. Once connected, the client makes daily maintenance reports about the hardware, applies changes to settings policies on the devices, reports on compliance with those policies and updates the proprietary apps as needed.

The client also informs the management platform whenever users initiate application installation from the self-service portal, the blog says.

Administrators can set security parameters the devices must comply with such as maximum failed logins, lockout after a maximum period of inactivity, requiring passwords of specified length and complexity, imposing enabled and expired dates on passwords and maintaining password history.

The agent can also set up VPN connections automatically to the management infrastructure so users don't have to do it manually. The client also reports the status of drive encryption, auto update, antivirus and anti-spyware.

"Leveraging this compliance information, IT admins can more effectively control access to corporate resources if a device is determined to be at risk," the blog says. "Yet once again, the user's basic experience with the device is left intact and their personal privacy is maintained."

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Saturday, April 14, 2012

Is an IT boot camp the way to shape up for Windows Vista?

Because we all know how well cramming for exams worked in college


Computerworld - The attractions of an accelerated tech training course are obvious. Why spend weeks or months reading boring computer books or lurching through online courseware when you can have high-energy instructors helping you to cram all that information in over a single long weekend?

Nicknamed boot camps for their abbreviated length and grueling methods -- 12 hours in class per day, along with assigned homework at night, is not unusual -- some even have students taking certification exams by weekend’s end -- and still boast a respectable pass rate.

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Unsurprisingly, a number of boot camps aimed at training both system administrators and end users in Vista and Office 2007 are starting to spring up.

The courses aren't cheap. Prices typically start at more than $1,000 for a long weekend’s course, and the costs go up rapidly from. But some experts see value in these crash courses. IT boot camps "are very helpful to get a team up to speed prior to a software deployment," said Cushing Anderson, an analyst at Framingham, Mass.-based IDC.

A constellation of camps

Training Camp, the boot camp division of TechTrain, will begin offering Vista boot camps in June with a three-day course aimed at helping Microsoft Certified Technology Specialists (MCTS) pass the certification exam for configuring Vista.

Jeff Porch, director of educational services at Philadelphia-based Training Camp, says the $2,195 course is aimed at people who provide IT support, both in person and via call centers.

All of the instructors employed by Training Camp are Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCT). Classes are limited to 10 students, allowing them to get a lot of one-on-one attention, Porch said. They are also worked hard. "The camp will run from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., with an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner," Porch said.

Training Camp is also developing courses for Office 2007 and Exchange that should be available by the end of the summer, Porch said.

Other providers include Vigilar Inc.'s Intense School, which is holding a series of five-day Vista-Office 2007 boot camps starting in August. The $2,495 course will prepare students for the Vista configuration exam. Intense School Chief Technology Officer Barry Kaufman said 97% of students in Intense’s MCSE classes pass their exams.

Atlanta-based CED Solutions’ six-day, $2,995 course claims to go one better by preparing students for two MCTS exams on configuring and deploying Vista and Office 2007.

Meanwhile, Houston-based ETEC is, until the end of this month, letting students who register for a 14-day, $5,990 course for Microsoft Certified System Engineering (MCSE) certification also attend a three-day Vista boot camp for free.

Learn IT is offering three-day Vista deployment courses for $1,400 in San Francisco and Santa Clara, Calif. Compared to Training Camp's courses, Learn IT's weekday classes run at a relatively light pace -- 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. -- and the company makes no mention of preparing students for passing certification tests.

Certifications less valuable today

One reason why not all training companies offer certification exam preparation may be because of the recent decrease in the prestige of technical certifications. The dot-com crash left many IT workers, even those with certifications and years of experience, unemployed for many years..

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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Microsoft adds 6 months to Office 2007's support lifespan

End of free non-security fixes once set for this month now scheduled for October

Microsoft has extended the mainstream support period for Office 2007 by six months to align the suite's lifecycle with a little-known provision in the company's support policy.

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15 incredibly useful Microsoft tools
Although it's unclear when Microsoft added the six months to Office 2007's lifetime, at one point the software was to leave mainstream support this week, and be put out to pasture in April 2017, the same month that Windows Vista is to retire.

Office 2007 will now exit mainstream support in October 2012, and fall off the support list for good in October 2017.

During the five years of a product's mainstream support phrase Microsoft issues security updates and free fixes for other problems, such as stability and reliability flaws, as well as major upgrades, called "service packs."

In extended support -- also five years -- Microsoft continues to provide security patches but offers other fixes only to organizations that have signed support contracts with the company.

By its January 2007 on-sale date, Office 2007's original April 2012 and April 2017 milestones fit the usual five- and ten-year spans. But Microsoft's lifecycle policy has a provision that can in some instances supersede the norm.

"Mainstream support ... will be provided for 5 years or for 2 years after the successor product (N+1) is released, whichever is longer," Microsoft's support lifecycle FAQ states.

Because Office 2010, the "successor product" to Office 2007, went on sale mid-June 2010, Microsoft pushed out the end of mainstream support to October to meet the two-year minimum requirement.

A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed the extension Wednesday.

"Based on our support policies, we moved the [end-of-life] support dates for the Microsoft Office Division 2007 editions forward to October to give two full years of mainstream support after the launch of the 2010 product," she said in an email.

Microsoft has had a minor run of support changes: In late February, the company quietly doubled the support lifespans for the consumer versions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista, giving them a total of 10 years to match that of the enterprise editions.

Office 2007's third and final service pack was released in October 2011.

Its precursor, Office 2003, will be retired from all support in April 2014, the same month that Microsoft will finally put Windows XP to rest.

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Monday, April 9, 2012

Beyond virtualization: Envisioning true cloud computing

When operating systems break their hardware bonds and deepen their ties with hypervisors, virtual machines will seem almost quaint

I find it puzzling whenever I come across any reasonably sized IT infrastructure that has little or no virtualization in place, and my puzzlement turns to amazement if there's no plan to embrace virtualization in the near future. Whether it's due to the "get off my lawn" attitude that eventually killed off many AS/400 admins or simply a budget issue, clinging to a traditional physical infrastructure today is madness.

For one thing, what are these companies buying for servers? If they're replacing old single- and dual-core servers with new quad-core boxes (at minimum) and simply moving the services over, then they've got a whole lot more hardware than they need. Each of their server workloads is running on hardware that could easily handle a half-dozen virtual servers, even with free hypervisors. Are these companies only going to embrace server virtualization when the rest of us have already moved past it?


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[ Also on InfoWorld: Download the "Server Virtualization Deep Dive" PDF guide. | Keep up on virtualization by signing up for InfoWorld's Virtualization newsletter. ]

If we look forward a few years, we can expect to see fundamental changes in the way we manage virtual servers. As if the advent of stem-to-stern enterprise virtualization wasn't already revolutionary, I think there's plenty more to come. The next leap will occur when we start seeing operating systems that were explicitly designed and tuned to run as VMs -- and won't even function on physical hardware due to the lack of meaningful driver support and other attributes of the physical server world. What's the point in carrying a few thousand drivers and hardware-specific functions around in a VM anyway? They're useless.

Eventually we'll start to see widely available OS builds that dispense with a vast majority of today's underpinnings, excising years of fat and bloat in favor of kernels that are highly specific to the hypervisor in use, and with different ideas on how memory, CPU, and I/O resources are worked and managed. We're backing into that now with the advent of introducing CPU and RAM to a VM through the use of hot-plug extensions that were originally conceived to be used for physical RAM and CPU additions.

But this is the long way around -- it's a kludge. When an OS kernel can instantly request, adapt, and use additional compute resources without going through these back alleys, we'll be closer to the concept of true cloud computing: server instances with no concern for underlying hardware, no concept of fixed CPUs, no concept of fixed or static RAM. These will be operating systems that tightly integrate with the hypervisor at the scheduling level, that care not one whit about processor and core affinity, about optimizing for NUMA, or about running out of RAM.

(I should note that Microsoft has already done something like this in the forthcoming Windows Server 8 Hyper-V, enabling the hypervisor to hot-add RAM to a Microsoft OS even as old as Windows Server 2003 R2. It just says, "Oh, more RAM," and goes with it -- good show.)

This will naturally take years to be fully realized, but I'm sure it's coming. The hypervisor will become strong and smart enough to take over these functions for any compliant host OS and essentially turn each VM into an application silo. As the load on the application increases, the kernel is more concerned with communicating the growing resource requirements to the hypervisor, which then makes the lower-level decisions on what physical resources to allow the VM to consume, and transition other instances to different physical servers to make room when necessary.

In turn, this will dispense with the notion of assigning emulated CPU and RAM limits to VMs and instead set minimum, maximum, and burst limits -- like paravirtualization, but completely OS-agnostic, without relying on the core host OS to play the middleman and fixed kernel. Each VM may know it's running as a VM, but will also run its own kernel and be able to address hardware directly, with the hypervisor managing the transaction.

We're talking about fixed-purpose servers that have embedded hypervisors, probably redundant, with the ability to upgrade on the fly by upgrading a passive hypervisor, transitioning the load nearly instantly, then upgrading the other. While we're at it, we're also talking about small-footprint physical servers that are essentially CPU and RAM sockets with backplane-level network interfaces completely managed in software.

Are these advanced virtual servers virtual servers at all? Or are they services? If they evolve to become software services like databases and application servers that understand their environment, there may be no need to run more than one or two instances -- period.

Rather than dozens of Web server VMs, you might have just two -- but two that can grow from, say, 500MHz to 32GHz in an instant as the load jumps, from consuming 6GB RAM to 512GB in the same timeframe, but without the need to assign any fixed value. With a suitably high-speed backplane, it's conceivable that a single server instance could span two or more physical servers, with the hypervisors divvying up prioritized tasks, keeping RAM local to the individual process, wherever that happens to be. Naturally, we're talking about massively multithreaded apps, but isn't that the whole idea behind virtualization and multi-core CPUs?

Perhaps, at some point in the future, we'll look at a blade chassis or even several racks of them, and instead of seeing a few dozen physical servers running our hypervisor du jour, we instead view them as a big pile of resources to be consumed as needed by any number of services, running on what might be described as an OS shim. If there's a hardware failure, that piece is easily hot-swapped out for replacement, and the only loss might be a few hundred processes disappearing from a table containing tens of thousands, and those few hundred would be instantly restarted elsewhere with no significant loss of service.

Maybe, if we ever get to a reality such as this, those stalwarts who are still nursing a decrepit physical data center might have finally warmed up to the idea of running more than one server per physical box. Heck, at that point, they won't have a choice. There will be no other alternative.

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Saturday, April 7, 2012

70-630 Q&A / Study Guide / Testing Engine

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QUESTION 1
You work as a SharePoint Server administrator at Certkingdom.com. You have just the completed the
insertion of new content in the root site. However, later that day the users complained that the new
content is not added in the search results when they run searches on the root site. You need to
make sure that the relevent content is included in query results.
What actions should you take to perform this task?

A. The best option is to set the Complete Through constraint.
B. The best option is to reset the crawled content and start a full crawl.
C. The best option is to set the Resource Center view.
D. The best option is to edit the CSS style sheet to include the new content.

Answer: B

Explanation:


QUESTION 2
You work as a SharePoint Server administrator at Certkingdom.com. One of Certkingdom.com branch offices
consists of a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory domain. You have received instructions from
the CIO to extend SharePoint user profiles to include the userID property from the users' domain accounts.
What actions should you take to perform this task?

A. The best option is to add a Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) server.
B. The best option is to create a custom Microsoft Management Console that can access the branch office.
C. The best option is to create a new user profile property that is configured with import mapping.
D. The best option is to run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration.

Answer: C

Explanation:


QUESTION 3
You work as a SharePoint Server administrator at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network contains a
SharePoint Portal Server 2003 server named Certkingdom-SR44. Certkingdom-SR44 hosts a SharePoint portal
that is accessed through a hyperlink on the users' client computers. The hyperlink points to
http://www.Certkingdom.com/ms/certifications.
You want to migrate Certkingdom-SR44 to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007. You need to
ensure that the SharePoint portal will be accessible after the migration.
What actions should you take to perform this task?

A. By running the stsadm command with the osearch operator.
B. By editing the hyperlink so it will point to the new URL of the migrated content.
C. By running the stsadm command with the enumsites operator.
D. By enabling the Shared Services Provider Synchronizing job.

Answer: B

Explanation:


QUESTION 4
You work as a SharePoint Server administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com contains a Microsoft
Content Management Server 2002 computer named Certkingdom-SR11. You have received instructions
from the CIO to uCertkingdomrade Certkingdom-SR11 to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007.
What actions should you take to perform this task?

A. The best option is to run the stsadm command with the addwppack operator.
B. The best option is to run the stsadm command with the installfeature operator.
C. The best option is to run the CMS Assessment utility on Certkingdom-SR11.
D. The best option is to run the Optimize HTML command in SharePoint Designer.

Answer: C

Explanation:


QUESTION 5
You work as a SharePoint Server administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com has a Development
department with a database server named Certkingdom-DB02. Certkingdom-DB02 hosts a database named
CkdProducts. Certkingdom.com has implemented a Web application in the SharePoint site that must
access data in CkdProducts.
What actions should you take?

A. The best option is to obtain and install an application definition file from the Development department.
B. The best option is to enable the Save for Sharing option, then save CkdProducts in the Development department.
C. The best option is to save CkdProducts as a Microsoft Excel 2007 worksheet.
D. The best option is to create a custom group in the Site Settings page to the trusted file locations list.

Answer: A

Explanation:


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Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Microsoft counted as key Linux contributor, for now anyway

Microsoft's work on the Hyper-V driver accounted for a significant chunk of recent Linux kernel development

For the first time ever, and probably only temporarily, Microsoft can be counted as a key contributor to Linux.

The company, which once portrayed the open-source OS kernel as a form of cancer, has been ranked 17th on a tally of the largest code contributors to Linux.

COME AGAIN? Microsoft: 'We love open source'
The Linux Foundation's Linux Development Report, released Tuesday, summarizes who has contributed to the Linux kernel, from versions 2.6.36 to 3.2. The 10 largest contributors listed in the report are familiar names: Red Hat, Intel, Novell, IBM, Texas Instruments, Broadcom, Nokia, Samsung, Oracle and Google. But the appearance of Microsoft is a new one for the list, compiled annually.

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Overall, Microsoft contributed 688 changes, or about 1.0 percent of the accepted changes to the kernel, since version 2.6.36. Company engineers also signed off on 2,174 changes, or about 1.1 percent of all the changes in this review period.

Much of the work Microsoft did centers around providing drivers for its own Hyper-V virtualization technology. Microsoft's Hyper-V, part of Windows Server, can run Linux as a guest OS. Linux kernel developer and LWN.net editor Jon Corbet, a co-author of the study, estimates that Microsoft's involvement peaked around last year's 3.0 release of Linux and will diminish over time. "Even the [hypervisor] drivers can only need so much cleaning up," he wrote in an article explaining the influx of Microsoft contribution.

For the Linux Foundation, Microsoft's involvement in Linux shows how widely used the OS kernel is these days. Microsoft must work with Linux to be part of the larger enterprise computing ecosystem.

In the time period covered by the report, more than 1,000 developers from nearly 200 companies contributed to the kernel. Lone contributors provided the largest number of changes, 11,413 changes or about 16.2 percent of all the changes in this review period. Among contributions from companies, Red Hat provided the most changes, or 7,563, or 10.7 percent of all changes. After Red Hat, Intel provided the next largest batch of changes, 5,075, or about 7.2 percent of all changes.

On average, between 8,000 and 12,000 patches are added to each new kernel release, which, overseen by Linus Torvalds, come out every two or three months. The vast majority of these changes are developed by outside parties.

In addition to Corbet, Linux kernel maintainer and Linux Foundation fellow Greg Kroah-Hartman, and Linux Foundation Vice President of Marketing and Developer Services Amanda McPherson co-wrote the report.

The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit organization devoted to further developing and maintaining the open-source Linux kernel. It is funded by companies that use Linux in their products and services, including Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Novell and Oracle.