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Volume 11, Issue 1: January 20, 2009
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Greetings and Welcome to TechNet Flash,
I would like to extend my best wishes for a healthy new year. In spite of challenging
times, there is comfort in observing the holidays and long-kept traditions of gift
exchanges, wishes and hopes.
Traditions play a big role in our lives,
and we do love our time-honored traditions.
So, here's your chance to take part in one of Microsoft's traditions: The Customer
Preview Program, where you can play an integral part in our development process.
Check out the Customer Preview Program (CPP) for Windows Vista SP2 and Windows
Server 2008 SP2. This is a traditional
service pack release containing all cumulative security updates available since
the Windows Vista SP1 release in March 2008; however, either Windows Vista SP1 or
Windows Server 2008 is a prerequisite for installing this service pack. What makes
the Windows Vista SP2 release unique is that it is a single service pack for both
client and server operating systems. Since the code base for Windows Vista is shared
with Windows Server 2008, a single update can be deployed across your full infrastructure.
For a summary of the key highlights of Windows Vista SP2 for IT pros – including
support for new types of hardware and emerging standards and capabilities to improve
system performance – see the Springboard Series Blog
and bookmark the Windows Client TechCenter
for ongoing updates and announcements. For a full list of changes in SP2, visit
the Windows Server Division Weblog
for Windows Server 2008 and
The Windows Blog for
the Windows Vista client.
Microsoft also invites
you to experience SQL Server 2008 a trusted, productive, and intelligent
relational database management system that provides an enterprise-ready data platform
for organizations to manage any data, any place, any time.
In last month's edition of the TechNet newsflash we mentioned the need for our customers to do more with
less in today's uncertain economic environment. This month we invite you to
discover how SQL Server 2008 can provide immediate cost savings
while empowering you to manage data more efficiently than ever before.
Click here
for 12 ways that SQL Server 2008 can help you reduce costs and do more today!
Is HPC for You?
Would your server workloads benefit from high-performance computing (HPC)? Carl
Claunch, Gartner Vice-President and distinguished analyst, pens a great synopsis
on when enterprises should install Microsoft Windows HPC Server 2008 as the operating
system for their computer clusters. Check out
When to Choose Windows HPC Server 2008 for Your Computing Cluster. Then
get a
side-by side comparison of Windows HPC Server 2008 and its predecessor.
For more quick takes on HPC Server 2008, see the HPC Show on Channel 9:
New on TechNet Magazine: Tip of the Day
Check out the helpful new Tip of the Day feature on TechNet Magazine.
December is Windows Vista month, with a new tip posted every business day. Here
are some recent tips:
Round 2 of the Cloud Computing Survey
Thanks go out to those who participated in round 1 of this survey. Please give us
your opinions in round 2. Do you have something to say about cloud computing? Click
here, tell us more, and make your opinion count.
Ahmer Hasan
Editor, TechNet Flash
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Your Featured Content
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Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express is a free application delivering search across
Windows SharePoint Services sites as well as file shares, Exchange Public Folders,
and Web sites.
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Get the inside scoop on resources, tools, and guidance to help you deploy and manage
the latest Windows desktop operating system. Subscribe to this newsletter and you'll
also find tips and tricks from your peers, insight into upcoming resources, details
about upcoming events, and special opportunities to share your feedback with the
Windows IT Pro team.
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December 15, 2008, 11:30 A.M. Pacific Time
Learn the basics of Windows PowerShell, examine how the help system works, and review
the Windows PowerShell command structure. See how to format output and some basic
Windows PowerShell commands, and how to use the Microsoft .NET Framework to build
a simple form using Windows PowerShell.
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Evaluate SQL Server 2008 today to experience greater data management and cost saving
opportunities tomorrow!
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Identity Lifecycle Manager (ILM) “2” RC delivers powerful self-service capabilities
for Office end-users, rich administrative tools and enhanced automation for IT professionals,
and .NET and WS-* based extensibility for developers.
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The Windows Server 2008 operating system, the next generation of Windows Server,
is designed to help high-performance computing (HPC) administrators maximize control
over their infrastructure, while providing enhanced availability and management
capabilities. This leads to a significantly more secure, reliable server environment
than ever before. Join this session to learn how you can tune Windows HPC Server
2008 to take advantage of high availability.
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After completing this lab you will understand how to deploy policies and software
using System Center Mobile Device Manager, use multiple methods of creating device
enrollments, using either self-service or pre-enrollment, and actually enrolling
devices.
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After completing this lab, you will be better able to prepare your Excel data for
building mining models, build, explore and evaluate mining models in Excel 2007,
and apply the mining model to a new data set and view the results in Excel.
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For a limited time, receive Partner Subsidy Funds good for up to 15% back on ERP
when you purchase at least 10 Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007 or Microsoft
Office Project Professional 2007 licenses through a new or true-up Enterprise Agreement
or Select License Agreement with Software Assurance.
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January 13, 2009, 9:30 A.M. Pacific Time
Find out how to use and extend Microsoft SQL Server and Analysis Services to simplify
the storage of KPI and metrics into an Analysis Services catalog that can support
intuitive UI-agnostic content creation.
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January 27, 2009, 9:30 A.M. Pacific Time
Learn how Microsoft IT leverages re-usable Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
(MOSS) solution building-blocks for internal portals. Join us for an exclusive look
at how Microsoft developed and deployed its SharePoint portal environment, and how
that environment helps solve business problems.
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See the Windows Server Performance team blog for access to a best-practices white
paper for optimizing power efficiency in the data center.
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Evaluation Center Updates
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There's no better way to experience System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 than
to try it in your own environment. Try a fully functioning version of VMM 2008 for
180 days for free.
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IT Management
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Check out the demo in this Tech·Ed Online interview with the Group Product Manager
behind the Microsoft Security Assessment Tool. Through the easy-to-use assessment
process, you will find prioritized tasks with industry guidance, best practices,
and recommendations to resolve security issues identified in the detailed reports.
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Scripting for IT Pros
Hey Scripting Guy...
Support and Troubleshooting
Hotfixes
Knowledge Base Articles
See a selection of
new Knowledge Base articles on the TechNet Web site. 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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This beta includes the updated infrastructure components that will both deliver
the performance we are targeting for the release and support our objective of delivering
an IT service desk that is tightly integrated with the rest of the System Center
product family.
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Quicker SQL Server 2008 migration starts with the new Microsoft Assessment and Planning
(MAP) Toolkit 3.2. Bypass the labor-intensive task of locating and discovering SQL
instances. Download the free toolkit today.
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Upcoming Webcasts
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December 12, 2008, 9:30 A.M. Pacific Time
We look at what the new SMB 2 protocol does, how its performance is influenced by
the new TCP/IP stack, and how other network parameters like Jumbo Frames contribute
to overall network performance.
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Security
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Download the December security updates,
including the out-of-band update released December 17, 2008, for Internet Explorer.
Posted on Wed, December 17 2008
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Find out how to assess whether your desktops are vulnerable to viruses and spyware
with the new Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 3.2. This free toolkit
also assesses Forefront Client Security and Network Access Protection (NAP) readiness
of your PCs.
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The Security Development Lifecycle provides you and your team with corresponding
levels of guidance and tools for strategy, assessment, and implementation of your
security.
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On Demand
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In this webcast, we focus on showing you how to use ILM "2" to address self-service
group management and password management scenarios, with an eye toward planning
and deployment guidance for real-world production implementation.
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In this webcast, we discuss current and future Intel VT technologies and describe
the Intel vision of hardware-assisted virtualization. We also address installation,
management, and high availability of the Hyper-V Server role on an Intel server
chipset platform.
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Virtual Labs
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After completing this lab, you will be better able to understand appropriate uses
for the Resource Governor, create resource pools, create workload groups and also
monitor resource usage.
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Received TechNet Flash from a Friend?
The 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 via e-mail and would like to receive the free TechNet
Flash newsletter biweekly, all you have to do is register.
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National and Global Events
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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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Personalize Your Flash
Let us know your technology interests. When you
personalize your Flash experience, additional content for your selected
topics can be found in every edition in Your Featured Content.
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