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Good afternoon,
I hope this edition of the Irish TechNet newsletter, my last edition,
finds you well.
It was around this time three years ago when I launched the TechNet
Ireland newsletter and programme. Since then I met many of you at the
numerous TechNet and IT community events around the country (or even in
Barcelona at the IT Forum). A personal favourite of mine was the
largest ever Irish Microsoft Management Summit in the Guinness Store
House in October 2006. Omar Kouatly and Martin Dey of the System Center
product group delivered a great event and we followed that up with some
great networking and Guinness in the Gravity Bar afterwards!
Although these are all things that I will miss, I am moving on to a
very exciting new role within Microsoft. So while it is my last TechNet
newsletter I'm sure it won't be your last, as I am handing the
management of the programme over to Enda Flynn, a very capable
colleague of mine. Enda has really impressed me with his plans for next
year and I'm sure you will notice a ramp in local TechNet activity over
the coming weeks and months. Enda is going to introduce himself below.
That's it from me - all the best to you and your IT endeavours!
Take care,
Colm Torris
Hi,
As Colm said, my name is Enda Flynn. I have been part of the Microsoft
Ireland team for close to four years now, working in the Information
Worker product group for most of this time. I am delighted to be taking
over the TechNet mantle from Colm and I really think it will be a fun
challenge to continue serving and growing the fantastic community he
has built over the past three years. Hopefully I have already picked up
some of the fundamentals from Colm, having sat on the other side of a
partition from him for the past couple of years.
We have quite an exciting TechNet programme heading your way this
coming year, and I look forward to helping you in your jobs by
delivering useful content and resources, as well as great events with
top speakers. A range of themes will be covered during the year, from
Virtualisation and Management to Business Intelligence - and TechNet
will support you all the way with the following:
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General cool stuff that's happening within
Microsoft
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My TechNet plan for the year
is still very much a work-in-progress, so please, now is the time to
shout if there is anything you would like covered or given special
attention. Your feedback is always welcome - I would especially like to
hear which IT professional training you would see as most valuable.
Watch this space for further details on TechNet events and more!
With the recent release of
Hyper-V and the upcoming release of System Center Virtual Machine
Manager 2008, I'm going to be looking at virtualisation in detail over
the coming weeks. And the focus won't stop at Server Virtualisation.
I'll delve into how you can virtualise your desktops and applications
as well as how you can manage your virtual environment. There are a
large amount of resources available in this area, which I plan to guide
you through over the next couple of TechNet Flash editions. My
colleague Dave Northey will also be blogging on these topics. For now,
a good place to start is the Microsoft virtualisation
website.
Make Sure Your Websites Work
with Internet Explorer 8!
Windows Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) Beta 2 was released on 28 August,
with RTM expected in 2009. IE8 includes a host of new features and
improvements with a focus on making sure consumers have the safest,
most reliable browsing experience possible. A lot of work has also been
put into supporting the latest web and interoperability standards as
well as providing new browser features that enable experiences that
reach beyond the web page.
IE8 encourages developers to
adopt standards across the web by defaulting to Internet Explorer 8
Standards mode. However, you should be aware that browsing with this
default setting may cause content written for previous versions of
Internet Explorer to display differently than intended. Therefore, we
would like to remind you that now is the time to check your websites
with IE8 to ensure your content will continue to display seamlessly
in the new browser. Check out Martha Rotter's blog
for a simple set of instructions to help you get ready for IE8.
The final thing I wanted to
mention to you is feedback to Microsoft Ireland across all areas. In
our continuing efforts to improve your experience with Microsoft
Ireland, we'd like your input and feedback on our products, services
and staff. You will soon receive an invitation to the upcoming Microsoft
Customer and Partner Satisfaction Survey. I would really appreciate
it if you could please take the time to complete it.
You will be contacted by IPSOS, our certified research vendor, to
complete a customer satisfaction survey. If you use a spam filter,
please adjust the settings to allow email from domain feedback.en@satisfaction.ipsos.com
Thanks for reading,
Enda Flynn,
TechNet Manager
Microsoft Ireland
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Many organisations rely on
ISA Server 2006 to secure their environment, but few take the important
step of securing ISA Server itself. Here's a guide to using the
Security Configuration Wizard and administrative roles to limit its
attack surface and secure your ISA Server 2006 implementation.
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There are lots of choices
when it comes to storage, and the options can be confusing. If you're a
busy storage administrator adding storage capacity or planning a move
towards storage consolidation, use this tool to help determine the
right solution.
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Windows Server 2008 and
Windows Vista help increase security by automatically enabling the
firewall. Before you connect to an instance of SQL Server from another
computer, you must configure the Windows Firewall to allow appropriate
access and still continue to block inappropriate access. For more on
SQL Server security see the SQL Server Security team
blog.
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One of the common complaints
in using database snapshots is how to get queries and reports to switch
over and start using the new snapshot as soon as it's available. Here
are three basic ways to accomplish this.
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Watch the first interview of
a series with the server virtualisation team, who provide details on
components of Hyper-V architecture.
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The latest release of IIS
introduces a modular and extensible platform with improved support for
common deployment and management scenarios, enabling significant
performance improvements. Here's a look at 10 key areas in IIS 7.0 that
provide these improvements.
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Many mobile professionals
today need the line of business applications they use in the office
(CRM, ERP and the like) to be accessible from a mobile device when they
are in the field. See how Windows Mobile and Mobile Device Manager
allow you to deploy rich mobile functionality for critical line of
business applications.
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Microsoft System Center
Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) 2007 has launched a new Desired
Configuration Management (DCM) pack that fully complies with ENERGY
STAR configuration guidelines.
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Watch this Tech·Ed interview
about security, compromised systems, wireless traffic and cool new
tools you can use to improve your security.
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InformationWeek - August 11, 2008
Microsoft product unit manager Shanku Niyogi said in an interview that
developers will see a "significant increase" in the
scalability of .NET applications written for both client and server.
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The goal of the ADO.NET Data
Services Framework is to create a simple REST-based framework for
exposing and consuming data-centric services easily.
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This article provides
information about using the chaining feature to customise Setup to
install an additional Windows Installer (MSI)-based product.
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Three server editions are
available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0: CRM 4.0 Workgroup Server, CRM
4.0 Professional Server and CRM 4.0 Enterprise Server.
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This updated article
includes information about the federation feature that is provided by
the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers.
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Evaluation
Center Updates
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SQL Server can store and
consume any data type, from anywhere, while reducing the development
complexity with data abstraction and integration with Visual Studio and
the .NET Framework. Download it today.
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Support
and Troubleshooting
See a selection of new
Knowledge Base (KB) articles on the TechNet website. KB articles
feature an Article Translations box in the right-hand column. You can
select a language from the drop-down list and read the article in the
selected language.
Also available via RSS 
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Never lose another digital file. Back up and
restore. Build the ultimate home server.
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Windows HPC Server 2008 enables cluster-based
supercomputing using x64 versions of Windows Server 2008 (32-bit and
ia64 hardware is not supported). Windows HPC Server can be used for
massively parallel programs (such as computational fluid dynamics and
reservoir simulation) as well as embarrassingly parallel programs (such
as BLAST and Monte Carlo simulations).
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August 21, 9:00 A.M.
Maximise business performance: deliver timely, accurate and relevant
management information, align the organisation behind performance
priorities and ensure strategic objectives are met.
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August 26, 9:00 A.M.
In this webcast, we explore the criteria customers use when evaluating
an online solution, deliver a brief overview of Microsoft Dynamics CRM
and provide a customer's perspective on how they choose an online CRM
solution.
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September 16, 10:00 A.M.
Mastering the six key drivers (project start date, calendars, task
constraints & deadlines, task durations, task dependencies and
resource assignments & task types) will provide you with a
framework to develop and maintain plans effectively.
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October 15, 10:00 A.M.
In this webcast we'll demonstrate how to assign costs to project tasks,
providing a clearer picture of the project's total cost, and highlight
features that allow for better project accounting.
More Webcasts
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Download the August security
updates, including updates for Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office.
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Join world-renowned author
and expert on SharePoint and Windows technologies, Rand Morimoto, in
this introductory session where Rand describes the technologies that
will help improve the overall successful operation, management and
support of a SharePoint 2007 environment.
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Join world-renowned Exchange expert and author of
the No.1 selling book in the world on Exchange 2007, Rand Morimoto, in
this introductory session where Rand describes the technologies that
will help improve the overall successful operation, management and
support of an Exchange 2007 environment.
Security Center
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Get advanced training and
tools to help you design the right storage architecture for your
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 deployment, with an emphasis on the
Mailbox server role. Expand your knowledge of Extensible Storage Engine
(ESE) architecture. Learn how to properly balance disk performance and
capacity. See the Exchange Server 2007 mailbox storage requirements
calculator in action.
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Learn how Microsoft Forefront Client Security uses
Microsoft Operations Manager technology, integrates with Active
Directory, employs Windows Server Update Services for signature and
client deployment, and uses Microsoft SQL Server database software for
data retention.
More On-Demand
Webcasts
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Learn how to enable Remote
Access for Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 Standard
Edition in a lab environment.
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During this lab, you can walk through the steps
necessary to enable federation for Microsoft Office Live Communications
Server 2005 Standard Edition in a multiple forest topology.
More Virtual Labs
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Received
TechNet Flash from a Friend?
TechNet Flash is full of pointers to
in-depth technical information that we encourage subscribers to forward to
friends and co-workers. If you've received this issue from someone by
email and would like to receive the freeTechNet Flash
newsletter biweekly, all you have to do is register.
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Volume 10, Issue 16
1 September 2008
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National and Global Events
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Microsoft
Tech·Ed EMEA 2008 IT Professionals
3-7 November
Barcelona, Spain. Be a part of the experience - enhance your
technology career, get the best economic return on your IT assets
and explore more.
Attend the Launch
of Microsoft's New Virtualisation Products
8 September
Bellevue, WA, USA
You're invited. Attend the launch event and find out how Windows
Server 2008 with Hyper-V, Microsoft System Center - including
Virtual Machine Manager 2008 and Microsoft Desktop and Application
Virtualization - allow you to virtualise from the data centre to
the desktop, and manage with the same tools you're already using
for your physical infrastructure. Please use VIRTTECH when
prompted for a registration code. Space is limited.
VMworld 2008
15-18 September
Las Vegas, NV, USA
Visit us in the Venetian Hotel Exhibit Hall to win great prizes and
watch live product demos of Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V,
System Center Virtual Machine Manager, Presentation Virtualization
(Terminal Services), VDI and MDOP (Application Virtualization and
Enterprise Desktop Virtualization).
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Find a TechNet Event
in Your Local Area
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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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Let us know your technology interests. When you personalise
your Flash experience, additional content for your selected topics
can be found in every edition in Your Featured Content.
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