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Vol. 13, #18 - May 5, 2008 - Issue #672
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What Are The Ten Hottest Jobs In IT?
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- Editor's Corner
- Microsoft Delays Release Of XP SP3
- Save Windows XP Petition
- Need WinXP After June 30? Dell Can Factory-Install!
- Sunbelt Awarded by SC Magazine
- Quote of the Week
- Admin Toolbox
- Admin Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without
- Tech Briefing
- Beta Testers Wanted for Sunbelt Firewall On Vista
- What Are The Ten Hottest Jobs In IT?
- Outlook Add-In Tool Saves And Restores Email Attachments
- Free Virtual Seminar: Email And File Archiving
- Protect Mobile User Data With EFS And Bitlocker
- Moving Unstructured Data Sources To Networked Storage
- Windows Server News
- Microsoft Outlines W2K8 MCSE Certification Exams
- Redmond Targets CA, HP with System Center Cross-Platform Support
- What Hyper-V Brings To Windows Server
- WServer Third Party News
- "Why We Replaced Barracuda With Blade"
- Radmin 3.2 Supports Vista SP1 and W2K8
- What's New in Opalis Integration Server 5.5?
- WServerNews FAVE Links
- This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff.
- WServerNews - Product of the Week
- Unrivaled Web Filtering Performance
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Unrivaled Web Filtering Performance
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When it comes to managing your Internet access, don't break your
budget and tie up your resources with a complex software solution
like Websense. Get the iPrism Web Filter! iPrism's powerful h-Series
appliances offer a model to fit any requirement and performance
that leaves Barracuda in the dust. Plus, iPrism's ease-of-use and zero
maintenance deliver the lowest TCO around. Need more convincing?
iPrism recently received the highest rating from SC magazine, 5 stars,
and our renewal rates are over 95% -- no one can match that.
Get a Quick Quote and find out how much you can save.
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-iPrism
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Editor's Corner |
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Microsoft Delays Release Of XP SP3
The saga continues. No, you can't have XP SP3. Nothing to see here. Move
along folks. They pulled SP3 and blame a "compatibility issue" with their
Microsoft Dynamics RMS (a SMB retail-chain-management application). SP3
seems to cause data corruption. And they are also "Temporarily holding
any additional automatic distribution of Windows Vista SP1," said a
spokeswoman for Microsoft. And oh, they only had a few -years- to check
for these things before SP3's release. The conspiracy theorists are going
to have a field day with this one. I can already hear them muttering,
"nobody knows anybody who uses RMS, fishy". I'll be sure to update you
when Microsoft gets that update updated with a new update. *g*
Save Windows XP Petition
SAY IT LOUD: SAVE WINDOWS XP - Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer late last week
said the company might consider keeping Windows XP available beyond June 30
if customers call for it. So crank up the volume and get everyone to sign
the Save Windows XP petition. Read on:
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-Save-XP
Need WinXP After June 30? Dell Can Factory-Install!
Many of us are dreading the time where we are arm-twisted to buy workstations
with Vista preinstalled, and having to go through a lot of hassle to either
wipe and downgrade ourselves, or otherwise are confronted with extra work.
Well, this infamous June 30 deadline for WinXP availability manifested a new
loophole recently as Dell announced on their website that it would continue
to offer WinXP, thanks to a clause in their "downgrade rights." Here is
the section: "Is there any way to get Windows XP after June 30th? Customers
may continue to get Windows XP Professional by exercising Downgrade Rights
that come with Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate licenses.
Dell has the ability to exercise "Windows Vista downgrade rights" on your
behalf in the factory if your business is still reliant upon Windows XP and
you'd prefer to have Windows XP Professional preinstalled on your PCs."
Dell will factory install XP if you choose a "Vista Ultimate Bonus" or
"Vista Business Bonus" option during configuration. In these cases Dell
will install WinXP, and (get this) give you backup media for XP as well
as the install disc for Vista.
ComputerWorld confirmed with a Microsoft spokesperson that Dell was within
its rights to factory-install XP on machines sold with a Vista Ultimate or
Vista Business license. Here is the link to Dell's statement:
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-Dell-XP
Sunbelt Awarded by SC Magazine
We received two Finalist Reader Trust Awards. One for Best Email Security
Solution and one for Best Anti-Malware solution. Here are the certs:
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-SC-Magazine-Awards
Quote of the Week
"I'm in favor of progress; it's change I don't like." -- Mark Twain
Thank you for being a WServerNews subscriber. Please
tell your friends about us. They can subscribe here:
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-Subscribe
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Been Told To Cut IT Budget?
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Has your company gone into 'recession mode'? It's time to review these
expensive Antivirus maintenance contracts, and not renew them. You can
now get CounterSpy Enterprise and upgrade to VIPRE Enterprise when it comes
out in Q2. VIPRE is a high-performance, new and true next-generation
Antivirus + Antispyware in-one for an excellent price. Less RAM usage,
small footprint, highly efficient and a robust, enterprise architecture
that runs on thousands of sites. Need to protect 20,000 desktops at lower
cost? Here is the answer; Get CounterSpy Enterprise! The upgrade to
VIPRE is fast, smooth and easy. Save your valuable IT budget now:
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-CounterSpy-Enterprise
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Tech Briefing |
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Beta Testers Wanted for Sunbelt Firewall On Vista
The Sunbelt Personal Firewall Beta 4.6.1751 (known previously as the Kerio
Personal Firewall) is now available for download. This version supports
Vista and also has a number of under-the-hood improvements. There are
numerous improvements to SPF:
- Significant improvement in packet filtering
- Significant improvement in network performance when web filtering is
enabled.
- Enhanced Process Injection prevention to prevent code inject attempts
into Windows system DLLs.
- Corrected numerous application crashes in the firewall service.
- Corrected various crashes in assist.exe
- Enabled support for Windows Vista
- Corrected issue in which binary data appeared in logs.
- Significant improvement in product stability.
- Enhanced leak test protection.
The download and more information is available from our beta forum here:
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-SPF-Beta
What Are The Ten Hottest Jobs In IT?
eWEEK has a whole article about it, and I will give you the link to that
at the end, but it's interesting to just check out the list for starters:
- Senior Level Java/J2EE and .NET Developers
- Application Development Managers
- Security Professionals
- Architects of All Stripes
- Talented IT Managers
- Business Technology Professionals
- Database Administrators and Managers
- Infrastructure Pros with Strong Backgrounds in Virtualization
- Web 2.0 Developers
- Wireless Networking Experts
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-Top-10-Hot-IT-Jobs
Outlook Add-In Tool Saves And Restores Email Attachments
Emailing large attachments poses Exchange storage issues. And there's
only a 50% chance that these emails and the attachment will end up in
the recipient's mailbox. In this tip, learn about a new standalone
add-on that alleviates size restriction and storage limitation headaches
in Outlook. (registration required)
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-Outlook-Add-In-Tool
Free Virtual Seminar: Email And File Archiving
Independent technology experts will explain via live videocasts and
webcasts how an effective email and file archiving strategy can help
you reduce storage problems, avoid legal and compliance issues and
increase IT productivity with your everyday business practices. This
event is taking place online on Wednesday, May 21. Register today!
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-Virtual-Seminar
Protect Mobile User Data With EFS And Bitlocker
Mobile users pose one of the biggest security threats to a company's
data by taking laptops on the road for business trips and other
outside-the-office jobs. In this tip, Microsoft MVP Brian Posey
outlines how to best protect stored files using encryption keys in
conjunction with Windows Vista BitLocker. (registration required)
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-Mobile-User-Data
Moving Unstructured Data Sources To Networked Storage
There are many advantages to hosting structured data on a SAN or
NAS. Microsoft MVP Mark Arnold breaks down the migration process
and provides details on how networked storage can benefit your
Windows environment.
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-Unstructured-Data-Sources
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Windows Server News |
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Microsoft Outlines W2K8 MCSE Certification Exams
The arrival of Windows Server 2008 means a whole new lineup of
certification exams and the end of the MCSE (Microsoft Certified
Systems Engineer). So now InfoWorld asks the $25,000 question: Is the
Microsoft Architecture credential worth the cost? Read the rest of
this story at InfoWorld:
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-W2K8-MCSE-Exams
Redmond Targets CA, HP with System Center Cross-Platform Support
They released a beta that allows its System Center to manage servers running
other OSen than Windows. They plan to include Linux, Unix-based machines
and VMware virtual servers. "We think we are a serious player in this game,"
said Larry Orecklin, the general manager of the Windows enterprise and
management division. "We want to become the systems management platform
[in the enterprise]."
To get there, Redmond plans to go cross-platform and extend System Center,
(which includes Configuration Manager and Operations Manager) and add
application management to its current infrastructure capabilities.
The public beta now has new "Cross-Platform Extensions" and can manage
HP-UX, Red Hat, Solaris and SUSE. Redmond included WS-Management and
OpenPegasus, the open source implementation of the Distributed Management
Task Force's Common Information Model (CIM) and Web-Based Enterprise
Management (WBEM) standards.
Redmond also released a beta of System Center Virtual Machine Manager
2008. (SCVMM 2008) That one could actually be very interesting because it
manages multiple virtual environments: Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V,
Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 and competitor VMware ESX Server. They
stated that SCVMM tightly integrates with Operations Manager 2007 to
deliver the brand spanking new feature called Performance and Resource
Optimization (PRO). A few of the major players like Dell, HP, EMC, Emulex,
and Quest are committed to deliver management packs for PRO.
Ops Manager now interfaces with frameworks like OpenView and Tivoli.
If you use both SCVMM and System Center you can control both physical and
virtualized servers and applications across desktops and data centers.
That is pretty cool, if it all works. You can find the betas at:
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-Microsoft-Betas
What Hyper-V Brings To Windows Server
Microsoft's Hyper-V tool has changed the virtualization game - but has it
changed your game as a channel pro? Now is the time to become educated on
the benefits of Microsoft's Hyper-V so that you are able to help your
customers in their virtualization decision process. Learn the benefits
of Hyper-V for both your customers and your bottom line with this
SearchSystemsChannel.com tip: (registration required)
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-Hyper-V
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WServer Third Party News |
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"Why We Replaced Barracuda With Blade"
"As for the Sunbelt Software Ninja Blade appliance, we demoed and purchased
the product in February/March of 2008. We replaced an old Barracuda SPAM
filter 300 model. We have the Blade 500 model. We love it. The price was
right and it's blocking everything. We trailed quite a few products before
settling on this one.
"To answer your question on support, they were amazing. During the trial
period, I got through via phone right away to a knowledgeable tech every
time (and did not wait more than 5 minutes) and they solved and educated
me on every problem I had. I even was able to break the box and they were
able to remotely access the appliance and fix it. Tech's even walked me
through downloading the latest build of the appliance software off their
FTP site and installing and configuring the box from scratch. It was
rather easy and painless to do for a rebuild. Awesome stuff...
Pros:
- Active Directory integration.
- Individual rules as well as global. Users can login and manage their
own allow and block lists.
- Price.
- Only one SPAM getting through for each user approx. once per month (if that).
- 80% of our email is SPAM now. Meeting North America's average...
Cons:
- Barracuda had a feature where you could drill down right into the actual
email to figure out some header information. This can't be done on the
Ninja Blade as of yet. --
S. P., Technology Coordinator
Ninja Blade - The Barracuda Killer. Carrier-grade Email Security on Dell
Hardware with 4-hour on-site repair included. Test drive this appliance:
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-Ninja-Blade
Radmin 3.2 Supports Vista SP1 and W2K8
New updated Radmin 3.2 has been released with Windows Vista SP1 and Windows
Server 2008 support. The new version is even faster, more reliable and more
secure. It has the following updates and modifications:
- Support for Windows Vista SP1. As a Certified Partner of Microsoft,
Famatech keeps up the pace with the updates of Microsoft products. Users
of Windows Vista with installed SP1 can now use Radmin 3.2 on their computers.
- Support for Windows Server 2008. Since Radmin is often used to manage
a corporate network, Radmin 3.2 now supports Windows Server 2008.
- Faster speed and smooth performance. Due to improved networking algorithms,
Radmin 3.2 works faster and with no delays in transferring the remote screen
image.
- Left-hand mouse support. Famatech strives to make Radmin as user-friendly
as possible, and that is why a left hand mouse support has been added to the
new version.
Version 3.2 has been translated into 27 of the major languages in the world.
Every localized version is available in the form of a separate installation
pack. The update to Radmin 3.2 is free for users of Radmin 3. You can download
the new version at Famatech's website:
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-Radmin
What's New in Opalis Integration Server 5.5?
Automate IT processes to achieve agility and faster service delivery
Innovation continues to make Opalis the leading IT process automation
solution on the market today. Opalis has the most widely deployed IT
process automation platform, and is the only vendor that offers rapid
deployment of IT processes across a heterogeneous infrastructure without
coding or scripting. This is achieved through engineered integration,
dynamic process configuration via the data bus, event-driven triggers,
and intelligent workflow logic.
NEW Operator Console
The new Operator Console provides operators with feedback on policy
status, and the ability to start or stop a policy.
- get visibility into "what's running now"
- trigger workflow policies
- view workflow policy status
NEW Dashboard
The new Opalis Dashboard provides IT executives with operational
metrics to measure the impact of automation on the business.
- measure automation savings in dollars and time
- quantify savings per policy, policy group, and servers
- evaluate historical data to guage performance
Self-monitoring
The self-monitoring feature provides greater reliability and availability
of your processes by monitoring the health of Opalis components,
including the database, connectivity to remote systems, and running
policies. When a problem is detected, an alert is sent to the Events
window in the Designer console, and it broadcasts SNMP traps that can
be picked up by external monitoring tools.
Audit Trail
The Audit Trail is a text file log that contains information about the
interaction of a policy with external tools and systems. This enables
users to report on configuration and change compliance of processes
and provides a quick method to identify what and who made changes to
a system for audit purposes or to remediate a change that causes service
interruption. Contact Opalis at:
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-Opalis
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WServerNews FAVE Links |
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This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff.
|
|
WServerNews - Product of the Week |
|
Unrivaled Web Filtering Performance
When it comes to managing your Internet access, don't break your
budget and tie up your resources with a complex software solution
like Websense. Get the iPrism Web Filter! iPrism's powerful h-Series
appliances offer a model to fit any requirement and performance
that leaves Barracuda in the dust. Plus, iPrism's ease-of-use and zero
maintenance deliver the lowest TCO around. Need more convincing?
iPrism recently received the highest rating from SC magazine, 5 stars,
and our renewal rates are over 95% -- no one can match that.
Get a Quick Quote and find out how much you can save.
http://www.wservernews.com/080505-Web-Filter
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Email me: 