Modern Day Utility Closet - FAIL

I was at a client's home yesterday to repair a 12TB Storage Server for their Home Theater, I was a little surprised when I found out where they had decided to install it. It started out in the Home Theater Rack but it was loud and too close to the home owner’s bedroom. So, they moved it to the utility closet in the garage. The picture tells the rest.

Resource for IT Consultants

SMB Books has great resources for Businesses, IT Businesses, Consultants, Exam Prep, Free Audio Content, Sales & Marketing, SBS 2008, and VOIP.

Pac IT Pros' TechDays - Computer Forensics

Join Pac IT Pro's at their event on Monday April 12th from 9-5 at Microsoft's SF Office on Market Street, just steps from the Powell Street BART/MUNI station and the 5th & Mission Parking Garage, for a must attend hands-on training in computer forensics.

In this workshop you will be given the software tools he uses to dig into computer memory, and hard drives for looking for evidence. You will learn how to use the tools law enforcement uses to analyze machines for evidence. Ideally students bring a laptop where they can dual-booting into a clean install of Microsoft Windows XP, but most of our hands-on exercises should also work fine if Windows is running in a virtual machine. This is computer forensics, so no software will be installed on the computer.

The presenter Mark Spencer is President of Arsenal Consulting, started his career in computer forensics in 1998, has worked with the Suffolk County (Boston, MA) DA's office as a computer crime scene investigator and teaches Computer Forensics at a Boston area college. And this guy knows his stuff.

If you pre-Register you can attend for $125.

See you there!
TechmoTim

Join Harry Brelsford at the 5th Annual SMB Nation Spring conference

The 5th Annual SMB Nation Spring conference is from April 30th to May 2nd in the NYC-area. Their early bird rate expires at the end-of-day March 31st.

If you attend be sure to share your findings with your fellow users' group members. If you are local to the SF Bay Area then let me know and you can make a presentation at a BASBITS meeting.

As Harrybbb says, "Cheers!"
TechmoTim

Needed Tweak for Domains with a Single AD Controller

Since I have been on the road a bit and showing fellow Microsoft SBSC partners how to use Hyper-V, I have been researching how best to virtualized SBS for the road. Using SBS on physical hardware is similar to using virtualization in that much of the time the environment just has on Active Directory Controller.

So, for all environments with only a single Active Directory Controller I think we should use Tip #2 – Avoid huge delays by fixing the DNS up when the Domain Controller Starts.

So, go check out Ben Armstrong's post on Hyper-V and Domain Controllers – Demo Tips and Tricks, http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2009/11/20/hyper-v-and-domain-controllers-demo-tips-and-tricks.aspx

Cool Tool for free Hyper-V 2008 R2 Server

Check out the Core Configurator 2.0 over at http://coreconfig.codeplex.com/ and you will find a very cool tool for configuring Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 R2 Core Configuration with Hyper-V and Hyper-V 2008 R2 Server.

Hyper-V 2008 R2 Days for the Microsoft Partner Community

Hyper-V 2008 R2 Partner Day: Practical Knowledge for Successful Deployments. Join me in:
- Redmond, Washington on February 6th - Register for Redmond Event
- Los Angeles (Gardena), California on February 13th - Register for Los Angeles Event
- Phoenix, Arizona on February 20th Register for Phoenix Event
- San Francisco, California on February 27th Register for SF Event

This is day of Live Builds; Instruction; Demonstration; and, Tips & Tricks on Hyper-V for fellow Microsoft partners who want to use Hyper-V within their practice. You will see deployment, optimization and management of Hyper-V, all with a focus for how to use Hyper-V within a Microsoft focused IT practice from a fellow practicing Microsoft partner. Watch & Learn as the Hyper-V Role is deployed on a Windows Server 2008 R2 and while Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 is installed.

This is not a Hyper-V versus VMware day.
This is not a hands-on day.
This is not a test preparation day.
This is an “I can do ‘that’” day.
This is a Partners sharing with Partners day.

The day will largely be driven by question from the attendees.

Here is a list of the topics we will be covering:

Hyper-V Versions

Hyper-V R2 Improvements

Deploying Hyper-V Role via:
• Windows Server 2008 R2 (Full Installation) with Hyper-V
• Windows Server 2008 R2 (Core Installation) with Hyper-V
• Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

Managing Virtual Machines:
• Hyper-V Manager
o Virtual Network Manager
o New Virtual Machine Wizard
o New Virtual Hard Disk Wizard
• Core Configurator Tool

Practical Tips & Tricks:
• Virtualizing Windows Small Business Server 2008
• Licensing & Hyper-V
• Backups
• Network Design when Virtualizing
• Performance Optimization

Overview of Advanced Topics:
• System Center Virtual Machine Manager
• Virtualizing Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services)
• Power Shell Hyper-V
• Managing Virtual Machine Storage
• Quick Migration
• Live Migration, Failover Cluster & Cluster Shared Volumes
• System Center Essentials and how it integrates into the System Center Virtual Machine Manager
• Hyper-V and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

Schedule:
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM Registration
9:30 AM - 11:30 AM Morning Session
11:30 AM - 12:20 PM Lunch Break
12:20 PM - 1:50 PM 1st Afternoon Session
1:50 PM - 2:10 PM Break
2:10 PM - 3:30 PM 2nd Afternoon Session
3:30 PM - 4:00 PM Wrap Up

Thanks to those who joined me for the events in:
- Beaverton, Oregon on January 30th
- Irvine, California on January 23rd
- Menlo Park, California on Novemeber 21st