Quote

YouTube - Your Digital Lifestyle
  

Original Post Here:
http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2008/07/22/windows-powershell-excellent-screencast-now-available.aspx

Jeff Alexander is perfecting the art of screencasting and his latest adventure with Windows PowerShell is certainly well worth watching.  He stole my intro but it’s all good matey.  I think in return he needs to tell us where he snagged that cool spinning globe on his desktop.

So what is PowerShell you ask?

I would imagine a lot of you have at least heard of PowerShell.  If you aren’t a developer you’ve probably steered clear of it simply because it looks like complex code.  Fear not, it isn’t that complex.  Here’s the description from microsoft.com:

Microsoft Windows PowerShell command line shell and scripting language helps IT professionals achieve greater control and productivity. Using a new admin-focused scripting language, more than 130 standard command line tools, and consistent syntax and utilities, Windows PowerShell allows IT professionals to more easily control system administration and accelerate automation. Windows PowerShell is easy to adopt, learn, and use, because it works with your existing IT infrastructure and existing script investments, and because it runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2003. Windows PowerShell is now included as part of Windows Server 2008. Exchange Server 2007, System Center Operations Manager 2007, System Center Data Protection Manager V2, and System Center Virtual Machine Manager also leverage Windows PowerShell to improve administrator control, efficiency, and productivity.

Here’s the 20 minute screencast video Jeff created.  Jeff demonstrates some really cool tools so stick with him through the entire video. Double click the small window below while playing and it will go full screen.  If you want to download the video and watch it offline, right mouse click this link and SAVE AS to your local disk.

For more information on PowerShell, see the website at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/management/powershell/default.mspx.

See the TechNet Script Center at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/hubs/msh.mspx.

Get PowerShell version 2 (CTP) @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=7C8051C2-9BFC-4C81-859D-0864979FA403&displaylang=en.

/Dennis

Ask yourself these questions:-

Have you always wanted to have a chance up there on the stage?

Be a renown speaker in your field of expertise in IT?

Just want to give it a shot at speaking on stage?

A chance to win prizes by speaking?

If you answer is YES to any of those, here's your chance.

You now have a chance to stand in front of hundreds of your peers, on stage, sharing your passion for Technology. Announcing Tech.Ed Speaker Idol !!!

Afterhours, 5 of you will compete against each other for a chance in the FINALS. The winner will win a Home Theatre System worth RM1,500 AND will get an opportunity to present in an upcoming local Microsoft event!

The theme for the demo is: Showcase your digital lifestyle through Windows Vista® and Windows Live

You find more information about rules and the theme at the website

/Dennis

I was recently in a debate with an IT Pro about Hyper-V and VMWare. I can't name him as i have not asked for his permission to be named here. He's been using VMWare for quite a while and he was seriously pissed when Microsoft released Hyper-V. I take it in a good way.

We were trying to argue who will be cheaper and he brought up a formula on how he calculates if Hyper-V or VMWare is cheaper. In a similar fashion, i stumbled on a blog entry by a MSFTie which discusses this with all the algebras.

He is James O'Niel. Here's his blog. http://blogs.technet.com/jamesone/archive/2008/03/15/vmware-running-hot-enough-to-cook-the-figures.aspx

Please read his blog and you'll find it very interesting to know that Hyper-V is indeed cheaper, even though Hyper-V doesn't allow us to overcommit the memory for a VM.

/Dennis

If you are running Hyper-V RC and you don't know where to get the RTM, fred not.

The bits is being distributed over Windows Update as of this morning.
On your Hyper-V Server, just turn on Windows Update and the update will change your RC bits to RTM bits.

You'll just need to do a reboot after which. ;-)

http://blogs.msdn.com/taylorb/archive/2008/07/08/hyper-v-rtm-on-windows-update.aspx

/Dennis

Source: http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/server/microsoftcom_goes_virtual.html

I love this set of figures.. Don't you just love numbers?

Microsoft.com "handles 15,000 requests per second, 1.2 billion page views per month, and 280M worldwide unique users per month as well as supporting ~5000 content contributors from within the company," Rob blogged. "This site has close to 300GB of content consisting of some seven million individual files on each server.

Today, Rob Emanuel, a Microsoft technology architect, blogged about Microsoft using Hyper-V technology for Microsoft.com. He earlier blogged—and much more briefly—about using Hyper-V Release Candidate 0 for the MSDN and TechNet sites.

Presumably, Rob's post supports today's Hyper-V release to manufacturing. I didn't see the blog post until this morning (it wasn't there at midnight Pacific time), even though it has a time stamp of 4:38 p.m. PDT yesterday. I assume that Rob simply forgot to update. Too many pesky blogging systems label time when a post is created, forcing the blogger to manually update time and date later on.

I love it when Microsoft employee bloggers describe how the company's dog food is caviar—and that's meant as a compliment, by the way. Microsoft is quick to use its own technology, but it's not as fast telling other people about it. That's changing, and Rob's post is indicative of the trend. The best Microsoft case study is Microsoft.

Rob has put together a nice, concise primer, including Microsoft.com site stats and deployed hardware. Companies like Microsoft don't easily disclose this kind of information. There are competitive and even security considerations, which make the post's existence that much more impressive.

As of today, Microsoft has "25 percent of production traffic" running on Hyper-V, Rob blogged. "Based on these results we are ready to fully host www.microsoft.com web servers on Hyper-V and we're targeting end of June for 50 percent of the load. As soon as we complete deployment of our new hardware infrastructure in diverse data centers, we'll complete the full virtualization."

I don't want to excerpt too much from the post, but these statistics are worth calling out: Microsoft.com "handles 15,000 requests per second, 1.2 billion page views per month, and 280M worldwide unique users per month as well as supporting ~5000 content contributors from within the company," Rob blogged. "This site has close to 300GB of content consisting of some seven million individual files on each server."

Microsoft transparency is best when the company opens up the soul of its own IT operations. No case study is better than Microsoft.

Posted by Joe Wilcox on June 26, 2008 1:36 PM

/Dennis

I was told of these 2 videos by Eric White.

It features 2 screencasts showing how IT Pros can use OpenXML.
First video shows how to use Open XML to compare 2 documents.

 
Video: How to compare two Open XML documents

This video talks about Open XML with PowerShell.

 
Video: PowerTools for Open XML Introduction

/Dennis

I received this from a fellow teammate. I thought this was hilarious and so cleverly crafted. Enjoy and have fun.
I do not know who really wrote this, but kudos to you for being able to craft such special messages... Awesome and fun.

Teaches me to read between the lines.. ;-)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The HR manager received the following appraisal report one day:

   1 Bob Smith, my assistant programmer, can always be found
   2 hard at work at his desk. He works independently, without
   3 wasting company time talking to colleagues. Bob never
   4 thinks twice about assisting fellow employees, and always
   5 finishes given assignments on time. Often he takes extended
   6 measures to complete his work, sometimes skipping coffee
   7 breaks. Bob is a dedicated individual who has absolutely no
   8 vanity in spite of his high accomplishments and profound
   9 knowledge in his field. I firmly believe that Bob can be
   10 classed as an asset employee, the type which cannot be
   11 dispensed with. Consequently, I duly recommend that Bob be
   12 promoted to executive management, and a proposal will be
   13 executed as soon as possible.

Later that day, the same HR manager received the following addendum:

Addendum:

That idiot was standing over my shoulder while I wrote the report sent to you earlier today. Kindly re-read only the odd numbered lines.
Thank you and Have a Nice Day

/Dennis

Software + Services competition. This is a great change for you to learn about Software+Services by taking part in competition in creating a video. You get a chance to go to Macau!!

What we want you to do is to spread the word about Software-plus-Services. All you need is a video camera, this script, and lots of creativity! First prize is a trip to Macau, where you will stay at the Venetian Hotel!!!

For rules and conditions, check the website....

/Dennis

Together with Matty, we are doing a series of informative, simple and fun videos on Windows Server 2008.
This is a mirror post.

Welcome to the first edition of ANWYCDFYSBWYSCDFY (Ask not what you can do for your server but what your server can do for you).

Yes Ill admit its a terrible title, but the intent behind these videos is to quickly show you what can be achieved with Windows Server 2008 and its various features. They videos themselves aim to be informative and fun, so we hope you feel the same way when you watch it too!

Please leave comments and let me know if these are beneficial/fun for your to see. ;-)

/Dennis

Is Mother Earth falling sick?

If you live on this planet, and have access to newspapers, you will probably have noticed about every week there is an article that is related to the planet. Was it a week, or was it daily.. hmm... Being a living thing on this planet really makes me feel that this planet is our home. Well, it is. It is about time that humans start thinking about taking care of Earth, just like we take care of our homes.

In recent disasters, for example, the Quake in Szechuan, China, the floods in many places and the typhoon that hit Myanmar, makes me think Earth is getting a little crazy now. Wonder if it is because we have upset Earth and it is making corrections. Just like if you're sick, you see a doctor and recover.

In Singapore, we have the Saving Gaia campaign, driven by MediaCorp. I urge you to visit the site and rethink what you're doing for Earth. In Singapore, plastic bags are a no-no on Wednesdays at all major supermarkets. This is a move to help us reduce the use of plastics bags.

Anyway, i think each and everyone of us can play a part. Lets do something for Earth.

Why do we need Green Computing?

You see, computers uses electricity to run. Electricity are generated using various methods. Most commonly, by burning fuels that turns turbines which generates electricity. Hmm, or at least i think it does. ;-)

Because we burn fuels, carbon dioxide or what i heard commonly as green house gases are introduced into the atmosphere. This traps heat and in turns brings up the temperature of the globe, also known as Global Warming.

By reducing the amount of energy used to power your computers and equipment, in fact anything, not just computers, will help reduce the amount of electricity you use. This translates to you reducing your carbon footprint.

What can i do?

Everyone uses a computer, who ever uses a computer has the ability to reduce their carbon footprint. Remember, the whole objective is to reduce power consumption.

1. Power off / hibernate your computer when not in use
2. Configure Power Options. You can tell the computer (XP/Vista) to turn off things like monitor, hard disk, etc.. Read this -> Power Management in XP, Power Management in Vista
3. When you are going for lunch, power off your monitor

These are some simple practices to help save some power.

Is that all you can do? NO. IT Pros !! You can do a lot more!!

In any computing environment (except the end user computers), the data center / server room is usually the most energy consuming one, but a lot more can be done to reduce power consumption. Watch this space. I am currently doing a consolidation project and i will share with you the experiences. Going Green in the Server Room can take many forms. In a separate blog entry, i will share you with more on what you can do in that Server Room.

All in the name of GOING GREEN and Saving energy !! ;-)

/Dennis

Please order by 30th June 2008.

Payment is needed only when collected. This is an exclusive offer for members of Singapore Windows IT Pro User Group.
To Order, please add your name here. http://sgwindowsgroup.org/forums/thread/5818.aspx

Normal Price: SGD $438.00

You only need to pay when collecting. This offer will never be repeated anywhere else.

Visit http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/10345.aspx for more information about the Kit.

What the kit covers;

- IIS 7.0 Resource Kit
- Windows Administration Resource Kit
- Windows Power Shell Scripting Guide
- Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Resource Kit
- Windows Server 2008 Security Resource Kit
- Windows Server 2008 Networking and Network Access Protection Resource Kit
- Scripts, e-Books and Digital Resources (Cannot be bought on its own)

If you buy individually, each books costs you between $65 to $85.

/Dennis

UGTV !! A monthly webcast dedicated to bringing informative programming to Users Groups worldwide.

If you are a IT Pro User Group Leader, this is the video for you.
BTW, i'm a roving UGTV Roving Reporter.. ;-)

UGTV (User group Television) for ITPro Debuts!
/Dennis

This is a super early demo at the Multi-Touch Capabilities in Windows 7.

Windows 7 is the next generation of Windows Operating System.
Check it out, its really Cool.

 
Video: Multi-Touch in Windows 7

/Dennis

Skydrive is now in SouthEast Asia. Countries covered are Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

What is Windows Live SkyDrive?

Ever want to show pictures to friends or family when you’re not at home? Or edit a document you’re working on when you’re out of town?

With Windows Live™ SkyDrive, you can store up to 5GB of files that you can access from virtually anywhere! All you need is a computer and an Internet connection. And your information is protected too – it can only be accessed using your Live ID username and password. It’s up to you who sees what, and SkyDrive is integrated with other Windows Live services. No more worrying about losing your documents or misplacing a flash drive.

Click here to watch a demo of Windows Live SkyDrive
What’s new in this release of SkyDrive?

· Comments. You can leave comments on any file in SkyDrive and see all of the recent comments people have left for you.

· Captions. A picture's worth a thousand words, but sometimes you need a few more. Now you can add captions and descriptions to your files and photos

· Browsing widget.  When you click on any file, you can speed through all the files in the folder:

· Larger photo previews - we've made the photo previews even bigger.

How many files does 5 GB really let people store?

5GB of free storage equates to approximately 30,000 Office documents of average size, or 30,000 digital photos at a resolution of 1200x1200.   

Is there a limit to the size of individual files uploaded?

Yes, there is a 50MB limit on each file uploaded.

/Dennis

Going Green in IT

We can all do our part for Earth by going Green. But what exactly does going green in IT means? Watch this space as i start working on efforts on going Green in IT. But this section this morning, I came across a very important step-by-step guide which i wanted to share with you.

Now, we can all go green by reducing the amount of power needed for a server room / data center. Using energy efficient servers and server consolidation are some of the steps that can help save us power and go Green. With the release of Windows Server 2008, and the upcoming Hyper-v release, we can go Green in a big way.

By consolidating machines that are not highly utilizing its processing power with virtualization. Hyper-V allows us to consolidate numerous machines into one physical server. In Singapore' s Microsoft Innovation Centre, i was able to consolidate about 6 servers into 1 physical machine using Hyper-V. Having done this, i have on power required to power these reduced number of servers.

The problem on consolidation

Now comes the real problem. Since all my virtual machines are on 1 server now. If this server encounters hardware problem, all my virtual machines will go down. This step-by-step guide will show how you could quickly setup a cluster node and have High Availability for your virtual machines.

Yes. Its HA for virtual machines. No, your virtual machines are not clusters, its the Hyper-V host.
Have fun, try it out... Here's the guide.

/Dennis

Hi Virtual PC 2007 users,

Virtual PC 2007 SP1 is now available for download from the following location:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=28c97d22-6eb8-4a09-a7f7-f6c7a1f000b5&displaylang=en

After installing VPC 2007 SP1,

the Product Version: 6.0.192.0
Additions version for this build: 13.820

What is available in this release?

This release provides support for the following additional Host and Guest OS’es

Virtual PC 2007 SP1

For more information, see the Release Notes at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9f3d3eb5-5e03-4712-999c-e96f91bdf128&displaylang=en

The Virtual PC website will be updated shortly with this release information at:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx

/Dennis

If you are a Virtual Server 2005 user, KB948515.msp update to Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 is now available at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a79bcf9b-59f7-480b-a4b8-fb56f42e3348&displaylang=en

This update provides support for the following additional Host and Guest OS’es

Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 with KB948515.msp

Host	Guest
Windows 2008 (Core, Standard, Datacenter, Enterprise, SBS)	Windows 2008 (Core, Standard, Datacenter, Enterprise, SBS)
XP Professional SP3 (non-production only)	XP SP3
Windows Vista SP1 (non-production only) (Business, Ultimate, Enterprise)	Windows Vista SP1 (Business, Ultimate, Enterprise)

After installing the update:

Product Version: 1.1.629.0
Additions Version: 13.820

For more information about the software update and the fixes made in this release, see the KB article at:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948515

The Virtual Server site includes this update:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/

/Dennis

Are you into screen casts?? Or perhaps i should say, making a video out of your screen activities? I used to be using Camtasia, and i still am. However if you want a free alternative, check out Community Clips. A tool released by the Office Lab team.

It used to be a Microsoft Internal Tool. After so much feedback and improvements to the product, we felt this good thing should be shared with everyone... And yes, it was released.

Grab it here.

You can use to create videos effortlessly. Try it.

Here's a sample of the output.

/Dennis

Believe in giving back to the society? Well, Microsoft does. I made an earlier posting about Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They are in line with giving back to the society.

Having been in Microsoft Singapore in the past 10 months, I realize that the organization isn't just about making money, its about realizing potential. I do recall a video during the Windows 2003 Server Launch event, where it focuses on realizing potential.

Many of us do not realize that, no matter how "not so well off" we are, there are often, in fact, always people who are not as privileged as us. Its been spurring me to do my every bit for charity. Have you?

I know of this MVP, Chong Ai Chung. For Charity, he has shaven his head bald once at Suntec City in a bid to raise funds for a Charity. Can't remember which charity though, but he was on national TV.

Come 10th May2008, Microsoft Singapore is doing its big for Charity. Supporting the President's Challenge, Microsoft in the past years, has donated over $6 million in cash and kind to more than 200 Singapore charitable organizations. This year is no different. In a mini event, Microsoft Singapore has raised $400,000. We want to bring the bar higher.

You can do your bit for charity, download the full brochure here. I have donated, have you?

If you like to find out more and put forward your support, visit http://www.microsoft.com/singapore/citizenship/charity.mspx

/Dennis