Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) in Windows 2008 R2
One of the questions I get frequently is “What’s the difference between the Windows SharePoint Services that comes with Windows Server and the Microsoft Office SharePoint Service (MOSS) that you pay extra for. I pulled an excerpt from my book “Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed” where we clarify that exact question… Read more
Group Policy Enhancements in Windows 2008 R2
Most of what is “new” in Group Policy enhancements in Windows 2008 R2 were actually in Windows 2008, however many organizations never migrated off Active Directory 2003 to Active Directory 2008, so this is all new to administrators who have basically gone from Active Directory straight to Active Directory 2008 R2. What Microsoft has done with Group Policies in Windows 2008 (and 2008 R Read more
Migrating to Active Directory 2008 R2
The migration to Active Directory 2008 R2 comes with a number of prior considerations. First of all, Microsoft only provides a migration method from Active Directory 2003 Native mode and higher to Active Directory 2008 R2. You cannot be running Active Directory 2000 or in some form of mixed mode in Active Directory 2003 to get to Active Direct Read more
Migrating DHCP to Windows 2008 R2
As I prefaced in my previous article “Free Migration Tools to Windows 2008 R2” about these free migration tools from Microsoft that help organizations migrate from Windows 2003 and 2008 servers and services to Windows 2008 R2, this article is specifically on the DHCP migration tool Read more
Free Migration Tools to Windows 2008 R2
In the past, any time a new Windows operating system came out you had to manually migrate server configuration settings and data, or go out and buy a 3rd party tool to assist with the migration or do an inplace upgrade and bring along a lot of operating system "baggage" with your migration just to preserve your application configuration. With Windows 2008 R2, Microsoft shipped the product wi Read more
ServerCore in Windows 2008 R2
Microsoft released ServerCore with Windows Server 2008 as a GUI-less version of the Windows Server operating system, and while many of us fiddled with ServerCore, it really didn’t take off for installation in the enterprise. The biggest challenge administrators had was doing basic administrative tasks with ServerCore. Read more
Windows 2008 R2 Hyper-V R2 Virtualization
In just over a year, Microsoft went from having basically no real enterprise-class server virtualization technology to one that is at par and has VMware scared and running. Back in the middle of 2008, Microsoft’s server vritualization offering was Virtual Server 2005 that didn’t provide 64-bit guest support and really didn’t scale beyond having 3-4 guest sessions on a single server. Read more
DirectAccess in Windows 7 / Windows 2008 R2
In a few years, DirectAccess will be the standard way remote users will access their network, just like Outlook Anywhere (what used to be called RPC over HTTPS) allowed email users to synchronize their Exchange email without having to VPN to their network. DirectAccess does away with VPNs by giving you access to “everything else” on your network beyond what Outlook Anywhere provides l Read more
Microsoft’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (Part 2 of 2)
So in Part 1 of 2 of this article on VDI titled “Microsoft’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (Part 1 of 2)” where I covered the Understanding Where VDI Fits in the Enterprise I gave a background of VDI and where we’ve found it fitting in. What I’m cover in this posting is HOW to install it VDI and make it work. Read more
Microsoft’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) (Part 1 of 2)
With the release of Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft is now in the VDI game, although quite frankly I’ve sat through sales pitches by VMware reps talking about how VDI is the “way to go” for the future of desktops and I don’t quite see it that way. Our past year of experience implementing VDI has proven that VDI has an excellent value proposition for organizations, but it’s not Read more
Migrating to Active Directory 2008 R2
Whenever people talk about “migrating to the latest version of Windows”, I always like to clarify whether they are talking about moving their application servers to the latest version, and/or their Active Director to the latest version as there’s a huge difference. To move from say Windows 2003 as a file server to Windows 2008 R2 as a fileserver, that’s just a shift of an operatin Read more
Windows 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services (RDS) (2 of 2)
In my previous post titled Windows 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services (RDS) (1 of 2) where I covered Understanding and Deploying RDS, I gave an intro to RDS as well as the basic installation of the Windows 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services (formerly known as Terminal Services). In this post, I’m going to key in specifically on the Remote Desktop Services Web Access and RemoteApp roles. Read more
Windows 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services (RDS) (1 of 2)
This is the first of a 2 part article I’m going to do on the Windows 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services, or RDS. This first article I’m going to cover the technology and the basic implementation. In Article 2 of 2, I’m going to focus on the Remote Desktop Web Access which is like Outlook Web Access (OWA) but for terminal services sessions a Read more
Top 10 in Windows Server 2008 R2
I had the opportunity to work with Windows Server 2008 R2 for over 2 years before its release at the end of 2009 implementing the product in a couple dozen very large early adopter enterprises, and now since its release, dozens / hundreds of production sites... This posting is dedicated to those early adopters who slugged it out with us in working with the latest and greatest operating sy Read more
Happy New Year 2010! – Month Long Blog on Windows 2008 R2
Happy New Year everyone, I wanted to welcome you into the new year as well as to a month long dedication to posting on Windows Server 2008 R2. My 1550-page book, Windows 2008 R2 Unleashed ships in a few days and will be available through all the normal bookstore sources (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc). The book (and this month of blogs) is based on over 2-yrs of working with Windows 2008 R2 server and the Windows 7 client. Read more
Exchange 2010 Client Access Server (CAS) and Hub Transport Server (HT) Redundancy
The question has come up a couple times in my blog on high availability and redundancy of Database Availability Groups (DAGs) specific to “What happens to the Client Access Server (CAS) and Hub Transport (HT) roles when the Exchange 2010 server fails over to another site?” or “What is the best practice in configuring CAS and HT so that when the DAG fails over, the CAS and HT will also failover?” Read more
Sneak Peek at Outlook 2010
So another set of common questions I get is “Do I need to run Outlook 2010 after I migrate to Exchange 2010?” or “What don’t I get if I’m still on Outlook 2007 in an Exchange 2010 environment” or “Can I still use Outlook 2003 against Exchange 2010?” or “Which Outlook 2010 features work against an old Exchange 2003/2007 Environment?” Here are answers to these and Read more
Unified Messaging (Voicemail) in Exchange 2010
With the release of Exchange 2007, Microsoft included voicemail as one of the core components of the product, and as a v1.0 technology, we didn’t have a lot of organizations choose to implement the Exchange 2007 voicemail. However with the release of Exchange 2010 and the inclusion of core features in the Exchange update, we’ve been implem Read more
Server Sizing in Exchange 2010
I’ve been blogging this entire month on Exchange 2010, everything from the basics of what’s new in Exchange 2010 to Migrating from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010 to Migrating from Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010 to Integrating Exchange 2010 with OCS 2007 R2. One of the questions I get asked frequently is “what’s the right size servers for Exchange 2010?” That’s always a fun topic because the answer no doubt is “it depends,” however it’s not like the Read more
Understanding Shadow Redundancy in Exchange 2010
One of the improvements made in Exchange 2010 is the redundancy built-in to the routing of messages through the Exchange environment. Microsoft built-in a technology they call “Shadow Redundancy” which the concept behind shadow redundancy is that a message is not deleted from the queue until the next hop has confirmed delivery to the subsequent hop.&nb Read more
- About Secrets of Windows Server 2008 R2
Rand Morimoto has been in the computer industry for more than 30 years and has authored, co-authored, or been a contributing writer for a couple dozen books on Microsoft Windows, Security, Exchange email, BizTalk Server, and remote and mobile computing. Rand is the president of Convergent Computing, an IT consulting firm that has been one of the key early adopter program partners with Microsoft, implementing beta versions of Microsoft technologies 2-3 years before the product releases to the public. This provides Rand and the consultants in his company extensive knowledge on the technologies long before the products are generally available.
Besides speaking at more than 50 conferences and conventions around the world in the past year on tips, tricks, and best practices on planning, migrating, and implementing technologies, Rand is also head judge for the worldwide Imagine Cup competition, is a Board member for the Chabot Space and Science Center and planetarium, and a Regent for the Board of Saint Mary's College of California.
Rand's latest book Exchange Server 2010 Unleashed has been selected as the November, 2009, book of the month book giveaway. Read a free sample chapter of this book,, hosted exclusively by Microsoft Subnet. Buy the book now from InformIT. Enter the monthly book giveaway contest. Entry form and details are on the Microsoft Subnet home page. http://www.networkworld.com/subnets/microsoft/110109-exchange-server-2010-unleashed-ch3.html
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