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Archive for the 'Server' Category

Enabling Superfetch on Server 2008

Most of you are asking why would you want to do this?  Well I already know a handful of IT Pros out there are running Server 2008 as their desktop OS.  So the idea of enabling this service seems more interesting.

Never one to reinvent the wheel, Aaron has a good post that explains the process for enabling Superfetch.

Check it out…

Update: GPO Accelerator

Brief Description

The GPOAccelerator creates all the Group Policy objects (GPOs) that you need to deploy recommended security settings for your environment to save you hours of work that you would otherwise need to configure these settings. This Solution Accelerator includes guidance to assist you with this tool.

Overview

The download for GPOAccelerator includes the following components:

  • GPOAccelerator. The GPOAccelerator automatically deploys the security recommendations in the Windows Server 2008 Security Guide, 2007 Microsoft Office Security Guide, the Windows Vista Security Guide and the Windows XP Security Guide. These guides recommend Group Policy configurations and, in the case of Windows Vista and Windows XP, Security Template configurations that are enforced via Active Directory® in your environment. Each of these guides contains prescriptive recommendations for two security baselines, Enterprise Client (EC) and Specialized Security – Limited Functionality (SSLF). These baselines have been thoroughly tested and validated. The tool provides you with the recommended EC and SSLF Group Policy objects (GPOs) for Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and the 2007 Office release in this download.
  • How To Use the GPOAccelerator. This download also includes the How To Use the GPOAccelerator to provide you with step-by-step guidance to set up a test environment, create the GPOs. Then you can link the GPOs in a test or production OU structure, and deploy them.

Click here to download the accelerator…

Group Policy Preference Client Side Extensions

Overview

Multiple Group Policy Preferences have been added to the Windows Server 2008 Group Policy Management Console (which are also available through the Remote Server Administration Toolset (RSAT) for Windows Vista SP1). Group Policy Preferences enable information technology professionals to configure, deploy, and manage operating system and application settings they previously were not able to manage using Group Policy. After you install this update, your computer will be able to process the new Group Policy Preference extensions.

For more information on the topic of group policies check out this post…

Planning Group Policy for Server 2008 and Vista?

If you are planning on deploying server 2008 and manage group policies for your company you’ll want to check out this new download from MS.

Here is also a great post on some of the highlights from the new Planning and Deploying Group Policy download.

Windows Server 2008 Technical Overviews (v4.5)

Overview

These technical overviews provide IT Professionals with information about how a Windows Server 2008 technology works. They may also cover design and planning considerations and basic setup and operating instructions.
These documents are downloadable versions of guides found in the Windows Server 2008 Technical Library (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=86808).

Contains the following guides:

  • DNS Server global query block list
  • Installing, configuring and troubleshooting the online responder (MS OCSP Responder)
  • What’s new in failover clusters
  • What’s new in terminal services for Windows Server 2008

Click here to download the documents….

Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Vista Sp1 and Server 2008

The Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) is designed to help corporate IT professionals customize and deploy the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 family of operation systems. By using Windows AIK, you can perform unattended Windows installations, capture Windows images with ImageX, and create Windows PE images.

Click here to download the kit…

…PS: This download is over 1GB.

Windows 2008: Upgrade paths, resource limit and registry values

The guys over on the MS Performance Team blog just posted some great information about Windows 2008.

  • Upgrade Paths for 2003 -> 2008
  • Resource Limits of 32-bit and 64-bit
  • Key Memory Management registry limits
Excerpt:

"It’s February 1, 2008.  Only twenty-six more days until Windows Server 2008 is released to the world.  With that in mind, we have twenty-six posts lined up between now and February 27 covering areas of Windows Server 2008 that contain both general information as well as specific posts that are relevant to what we support here on the Performance team.  So without further ado, let’s dive right in, beginning with the upgrade paths available for Windows Server 2008 shown in the table below:"

 

Click here for the rest of the article…

RDP /Console switch is gone. Hello /Admin?

Originally posted by the TS Team Blog.

 

Excerpt:

“In Windows Server 2003, you can start the RDC client (mstsc.exe) with the /console switch to remotely connect to the physical console session on the server (also known as session 0). In Windows Server 2008, the /console switch has been deprecated. (For more information, see the “Why the /console switch is no longer needed” section of this article.) In Windows Server 2008, session 0 is a non-interactive session that is reserved for services.

You can use the new /admin switch to remotely connect to a Windows Server 2008-based server for administrative purposes. The /admin switch is introduced with RDC 6.1. RDC 6.1 is included with the following operating systems:

  • Windows Server 2008
  • Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta and RC
  • Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Beta and RC

Note   RDC 6.1 (6.0.6001) supports Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) 6.1.

RDC 6.1 does not support the /console switch. However, for backward compatibility, you can use the /admin switch to connect to the physical console session on a Windows Server 2003-based server. For example, to connect from a Windows Vista SP1 RC-based client to the physical console session of a Windows Server 2003-based server, you can run the command mstsc.exe /admin.”

 

Read the rest of the post here…

Windows Server 2008 RC1 Released

Windows Server 2008 RC1 was just released for testing.  Get the software here…

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/audsel.mspx

You can read the post from the Windows Server blog to get some more information on what’s new.

Excerpt:

What’s new in RC1 you ask?  Microsoft is enhancing Group Policy with Group Policy Preferences, formerly known as  PolicyMaker Standard Edition and Policy Share Manager.  Group Policy Preferences will be available to Microsoft customers in two ways:

1.       Integrated into the Group Policy management tools in Windows Server 2008

2.       Integrated into the forthcoming Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows Vista, which will be available as a separate download in the Windows Server 2008 timeframe and will work in a Windows Server 2003 environment. 

 The Client-Side Extensions for GP Preferences are included in Windows Server 2008, and down level versions will be available as a separate download for:

1.       Windows XP Service Pack 2 and above

2.       Windows Vista RTM and above

3.       Windows Server 2003 SP1 and above”

The desktop 32-bit vs. 64-bit debate continues…

A couple articles the explore the 64-bit vs. 32-bit debate.  They contain very useful information that will help you decide if 64-bit is right for you, or if you should stick with 32-bit.

Just because your workstation supports a 64-bit OS doesn’t mean that you should install a 64-bit OS.

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