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From the Editor
Hi,
October is here and I'm glad to say that Microsoft has reached a major milestone with the initial release candidate (RC0) of Windows Server 2008. And you can download the Windows Server 2008 RC0 for evaluation. The release candidate includes a customer technology preview (CTP) version of Windows Server virtualisation, the new, thin, hypervisor-based software virtualisation layer that gives customers greater flexibility to provide multiple applications and services to servers and blades, while achieving greater application performance than is offered by traditional virtual machine environments.
There has been a lot of work done in the past few months to unify the deployment tools for desktops and servers. For a preview, join the Deployment 4 Beta 3 programme. Deployment 4 is the code name for the next version of Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007. Once you've accessed the Connect site and entered your Windows Live ID, enter your invitation ID - DTNU-Q77D-9QVK - to access the Deployment 4 Beta. Deployment 4 unifies the tools and processes required for desktop and server deployment into a common deployment console and set of guidance. On 24 September, we made available a limited beta release of Windows Vista SP1. Hear Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President in charge of Windows Client operating systems product management, talk candidly about SP1. A later pre-release of SP1 will be available to a larger group of testers via MSDN and TechNet. To help you to better plan and confidently move forward with your current pilots and staged deployments we offered guidance on what SP1 is or isn't in September. For more details please see the SP1 overview. From TechNet Magazine:
"Active Directory provides a great deal of flexibility for supporting a large or decentralised environment, but maintaining the integrity of your data can be challenging. Read A Guide to Active Directory Replication for everything you need to know to meet the challenge. See how updates are communicated throughout your environment and how conflicts are resolved." Thanks for reading,
Colm Torris
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Your Featured Content
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Ensure that the content most relevant to you is presented in this opening section.
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Determine your existing PCs' readiness for Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system with Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool and get your assessment results in a few hours or less. Windows Vista Hardware Assessment is a network-wide agent-less assessment tool that provides assessment reports and migration proposals in seven languages. It is part of the Windows Vista Solution Accelerators family including Windows Vista Security Guide, Windows Vista Service Life-cycle Management and Business Desktop Deployment 2007.
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Friday, October 5, 11:30 AM Pacific Time
Learn how to do large-scale deployments of Windows, including Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, in an enterprise using Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007. Automate the end-to-end process and drive down the cost of deploying clients and servers using task sequencing. Handle wipe-and-load upgrades, side-by-side migrations, bare metal provisioning and deployments in low or zero network bandwidth environments.
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Wednesday, October 10, 9:30 AM Pacific Time
The next release of Analysis Services, with SQL Server 2008, includes advanced features for manageability including Dynamic Management Views. These views enable the administrator to query for information regarding connections, sessions and server performance. In this webcast, we will introduce these views and drill into many examples of how they are used.
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Wednesday, October 10, 11:00 AM Pacific Time
On October 9, Microsoft releases its monthly security bulletins. Join us for a brief overview of the technical details of the October security bulletins. Most of the webcast is devoted to attendees asking questions about the bulletins and getting answers from our security experts.
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Thursday, October 11, 9:30 - 11:00 AM Pacific Time
Learn how to deploy and manage web farms using new features in Internet Information Services (IIS) 7, like Universal Naming Convention (UNC) support. Learn more about the new IIS 7 configuration system that replaces the metabase and how it optimises web farm scenarios. In this session, we outline the fundamental new changes and how to turn these features into a great solution.
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Monday, October 15, 11:00 AM - noon Pacific Time
Join this webcast as we provide a broad overview of Windows Server 2008, discuss the associated technologies and describe the latest product features.
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Tuesday, October 16, 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Pacific Time
Learn how web publishing is changing for Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0. This session takes an in-depth look at the new FTP service for IIS 7, with demonstrations that showcase new features such as FTP over Secure Sockets Layer, enhanced security features and improved supportability options. We will also discuss Microsoft plans for a version of the Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista, as well as a new WebDAV implementation for IIS 7.
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Tuesday, October 16, 1:00 PM Pacific Time
In this session, we will introduce Desired Configuration Management key concepts and capabilities, as well as explore setting up Configuration Manager to provide baseline monitoring. We will cover an overview of configuring and deploying baseline monitoring for a few key applications that include software- and hardware-based settings.
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Wednesday, October 31, 9:30 - 11:00 AM Pacific Time
In this session, we look at how two fictitious companies implemented a management strategy for their new virtual environments. We see how Microsoft System Center allowed them to back up and restore services as quickly as possible and to manage and update not only the virtual servers, but also guest images. We cover Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager for backup and restore, and Microsoft System Center Operations Manager and Virtual Machine Manager for management and performance tuning.
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Download a collection of tools that can simplify and enhance management using Operations Manager 2007.
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Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP3) further hardens the Office suite against potential attacks and other security threats. This service pack also includes fixes that have been previously released as separate updates.
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Find your way across rush-hour London through a maze of clues, puzzles, brain teasers and unsavoury characters. Along the way, you'll see some of the improved features and functions of Microsoft Office Visio 2007 and Microsoft Office Project 2007. After playing, enter your details to receive a free DVD featuring more than eight hours of Visio 2007 and Project 2007 training.
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In the past, bringing diverse content sets together in a single search-centre experience has been a challenge. With Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, it's possible to allow users to search against different content repositories with just a few clicks.
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Keep your system up to date with the most recent cumulative update package for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP2. This package contains all of the SQL Server 2005 hotfixes that have been released since the initial release of SQL Server 2005 SP2.
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SQL Server 2005 powers a 27 terabyte data management system called ICE 3.0 that gathers forensic data from more than 85 Microsoft corporate proxy servers into a single database. The ongoing work of forensics engineers - such as query activities and analysis - is not interrupted by event processing or database loading.
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Learn about Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 2 and evaluate it in the way that works best for you: in a virtual hard disk or through an online trial account.
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Exchange Server 2007 offers a new way to efficiently perform day-to-day administration tasks. In this article, technical writer Patricia DiGiacomo follows an Exchange Server 2007 administrator through a day's work - including user configuration, server maintenance and script creation. Also updated for Exchange Server 2007 is the transport journaling feature, explained by Exchange Server PM Naveen Chand.
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Visit the ultimate IT pro resource for unified communications, which features the "best of UC" webcasts, podcasts, V-labs and more from TechNet and elsewhere - all in one place.
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Technical writer Andrea Fowler provides a handy reference to compare the way you manage a task in Exchange Server 2003 with how it's done in Exchange Server 2007.
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At Microsoft, almost half of the company's global employee base uses mobile devices, not only for voice communications, but also for other important business tasks, such as connecting to the network to manage email and schedules and viewing work-related documents on the network. Microsoft IT has developed multiple strategies to manage the rapid growth of mobile devices in the enterprise.
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Ready for a helping hand? Three new starter kits will help you create applications that make the most of new Ink features, DirectDraw and Home Screen plug-in architecture.
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Microsoft has released Microsoft Software Licensing and Protection Services, a new product line that helps software application developers protect their software from piracy as well as license and activate their products to increase the success of their business.
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Evaluation Center Updates
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Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 is a comprehensive solution optimised for the management of server computers running Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 in the virtualised data centre. And when you download the 120-day trial software, you're automatically registered to receive valuable resources delivered at strategic intervals throughout the software evaluation period.
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With Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2, you can connect to .NET applications and infrastructure with your non-.NET applications and platforms, as well as those of your partners. And when you download the 120-day trial software, you're automatically registered to receive valuable resources delivered at strategic intervals throughout the software evaluation period.
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Try out Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007. It brings continuous data protection for Windows applications and file servers and allows for rapid and reliable recovery for enterprises of all sizes.
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Scripting for IT Pros
Hey, Scripting Guy!
Support and Troubleshooting
How-to Articles
Hotfixes
Knowledge Base Articles
See a selection of new Knowledge Base articles on the TechNet website. KB articles feature an Article Translations box in the right column. You can select a language from the drop-down list and read the article in the selected language. Also available via RSS 
Featured Downloads
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Test the powerful new server scenarios and plan IIS 7.0 rollouts before Windows Server 2008 ships. An in-place upgrade from IIS 7.0 Beta 3 to RC0 can be performed providing a simple upgrade path to the latest build. Using the Go Live licence, Windows Server 2008 and IIS 7.0 can be deployed in production environments.
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Learn how Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007 integrate with Active Directory and the 2007 Microsoft Office system to provide a foundation for future-ready, people-ready, IP-based communications.
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Upcoming Webcasts
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Thursday, October 18, 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Pacific Time
Virtualisation requires a new way of looking at technology and how it can work for you. Join Microsoft and Acronis in this 90-minute webcast, as we look at server virtualisation and migration issues, as well as disaster recovery. Learn best practices for working within your environment and ways to optimise your infrastructure.
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Tuesday, November 6, 8:00 - 9:30 AM Pacific Time
Deploying a virtualised data centre with Microsoft Virtual Server demands a unique approach to storage. This webcast explores the essential requirements for a shared storage environment being deployed with Virtual Server. It shows how Industry Standard Coding Identification (iSCSI) storage is set up with virtual machines, how to manage volumes to ensure maximum performance and flexibility and how to scale your storage environment as your virtual environment grows. There will also be a demonstration of a "virtual iSCSI SAN" built on top of Virtual Server.
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Security
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The Microsoft Forefront comprehensive line of business security products provides greater protection and control through integration with your existing IT infrastructure and through simplified deployment, management and analysis.
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Learn how and why the hardened perimeter is giving way to a process known as "de-perimeterisation" - the slow disappearance of the perimeter network (also known as DMZ, demilitarised zone and screened subnet) in order to accommodate the reality of today's business networks and environment.
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Having access from anywhere can drive productivity, but it is challenging for companies to create a user experience that is both easy to manage and that helps to protect against security risks. This article describes how Microsoft Intelligent Application Gateway 2007 provides tools to help companies publish applications in a more secure and user-friendly manner and achieve a better balance between access and security.
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On Demand
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Prepare yourself for the next release of the Microsoft server operating system - Windows Server 2008. Watch these on-demand webcasts at your convenience and learn from subject matter experts how you can take advantage of its new features to improve your organisation's networking infrastructure and security, server performance and reliability, remote resource access and client deployment.
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Learn about how to manage a mixed physical and virtual infrastructure, the licensing implications of adding or removing virtual machines, and get practical advice on deployment, plus find out where the technology is headed.
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Virtual Labs
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Learn more about Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007 by taking part in a virtual lab. Sign up, get a downloadable manual and 90-minute block of time and walk through installation, deployment and configuration scenarios.
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Test drive Microsoft Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS 7) in a virtual lab and see for yourself how the graphical user interface (GUI) in IIS 7 offers a new, more efficient tool for managing the web server. You can test the comprehensive set of administration tools, which include new administration GUI and command-line tools and see how your daily tasks can be simplified.
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What's New Online in TechNet Plus
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Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, formerly called Live Communications Server, delivers streamlined communications to help you find and communicate with the right person, in real time, from the applications you use most - like Microsoft Office Outlook messaging and collaboration client. Visit the subscriber-only benefits portal and download it today. Are you still receiving media shipments? Consider switching to TechNet Plus Direct. TechNet Plus Direct offers all the benefits of your current subscription without media shipments to manage. To stay up to date on TechNet Plus news, sign up for the TechNet Plus Blog RSS feed. 
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Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007
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National and Global Events
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Join Bill Gates and Jeff Raikes at Unified Communications Launch
Tuesday, October 16: San Francisco
This free, day-long event includes a keynote with demos, a series of technical sessions, the Unified Communications Starter Kit, and a partner pavilion. See how Microsoft solutions will help streamline communications between people and organisations regardless of medium, platform, device or location.
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Microsoft Application Platform and BI Virtual Conference
Thursday, October 4,
11:00 AM Eastern Time
Participate in a new interactive online event format without leaving your desk. Learn how the Microsoft Application Platform Optimisation (APO) model can help you determine how to apply process-led, model-driven platforms to improve organisational agility and make IT more strategic to the business.
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TechNet Plus Direct
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Full library of Microsoft software for evaluation without limits
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Immediate access through subscriber downloads
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Two Professional Support incidents
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Access to beta software before public beta releases
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Exclusive tools and utilities
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