One of the main objections many people have to adopting Windows 2008 Server, petty as it may be, is that is feels too much like Vista. I sure this has nothing to do with Windows 2008 being built on the Vista code-base. So for you creatures-of-comfort out there let me submit a few humble suggestions: 1.) Set explorer to classic mode. Do this by right-mouse clicking on the START orb and choosing properties. Then choose classic mode. 2.) Stop Windows from locking your session after 15 minutes of ideal time. Go into Global Policy’s and modify ...<< MORE >>

I arrived in Philadelphia late Sunday afternoon and departed for home Wednesday morning.  During this time span I managed to get a cumulative total of 12 hours of sleep.  "What accounts for my sleep deprivation" you ask?  "Too much caffeine in my system?"  Well, yes, but the main culprit is our yearly disaster recovery test.

Our test began Monday morning at 8 a.m. and ran for the next 48 hours.  During this time we recovered an ERP system, a database cluster,  a data warehouse, Exchange, and miscellaneous third-party applications.  I'm happy to report we were largely successful with our recovery ...

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Protecting your customers data against accidental leakage is perhaps one of the most important concerns facing CIOs today.  Almost every week there is a news story concerning some organization who inadvertently lost a laptop containing Social Security numbers, backup tapes containing credit card data, or some other type of personally identifiable information.  When these data leakages occur it not only results in loss of credibility for your corporation but also places you in serious legal jeopardy.

I am familiar ...

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  For the past 10 years Citrix, in all its various versions, has proven itself to be my faithful friend.  Together we have seen and whether all of the trials and tribulations that IT can throw at a person.  And furthermore, we've been successful.  Citrix has, in large part, been responsible for the success of my ERP career.  That's why, with much sadness, I realize this once great product does not have much of a future. Microsoft has had remote desktop offering since 1998 when they released Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition.  Its functionality while extremely useful ...<< MORE >>

For years, I've run their processors in all of my home machines.  Their stock has shown up in my portfolio several times over the last decade. I've loved the David and Goliath tale of the small, upstart company taking on evil Intel… This is why it breaks my heart to tell you now to sell AMD's stock short. The story begins about three weeks ago, when I decided to build a new system for the purpose of testing Windows 2008's vitalization technology.  Although still in beta, HyperV promises to make Windows a mainstream for vitalization. The catch with ...<< MORE >>

I've been eagerly waiting for Microsoft to release SP1 for Vista but decidedly against the idea of running it on my laptop until it's completely out of beta and officially released. (I deal with enough buggy software every day without having to go out and look for it.)  All of this changed this weekend while I was working on a Windows 2008 Server Terminal Services demo.  When I went tried launching remote applications from my laptop I got a message informing me that I must be on Vista SP1 or XP SP3.  With much mumbling I broke down and installed ...<< MORE >>

Want to check out the clustering changes in Windows 2008 but dont have a SAN, servers, and a lot of time?  No problem, the folks at Microsoft have got you covered.  They are providing a virtual lab for you to play with all this until your heart is contented.
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 For too long Microsoft has continually been lowering the bar in terms of who was capable of administrating Windows servers. Long ago the Mystical Order of the Computer Priesthood was strong and healthy but alas, as ever more have come into IT, we have become overpopulated and weakened. We are no longer nerds and geeks. It is time for a return to the old ways. It is time for us to admit something that our UNIX brethren have known for decades... "Real operating systems dont' have GUI's."

Ok... enough of the melodramatics... Let's talk about Microsoft Windows 2008 ...

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Virtualization is one of the most exciting technologies in the computer industry at the moment.  The reason for this is quite simple.  Most servers run at a very low level of resource utilization.  Virtualization allows companies to consolidate physical servers into virtual ones thus reducing their overall hardware expenditures and simplifying overall system administration.  This article will focus on one of the aspect of simplifying system administration, that being high-availability.

High-availability is the holy grail for the system ...

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One of the best things about starting Informed CIO is that now I have a legitimate excuse to start playing around with software that typically I would not be touching until at least it’s first service pack is released.  Such is the case with a VMware's newest entry into the virtualization wars, VMware Server 2.0 Beta 1.

The Good…

This new version of VMware, although still in beta, certainly is a ...

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