technical solutions and commentary

    • June 15, 2006

    Bill Gates to leave Microsoft

    Filed under: general — Jason Hartley @ 4:00 pm

    Microsoft announced that Bill Gates is handing over the position of Chief Software Architect (CSA) to Ray Ozzie immediately. The transition of CSA to Ray Ozzie is not a big suprise considering the industry events Ozzie has been speaking at recently, which traditionaly Gates had been the key note speaker. What is somewhat of a surprise is the announcement of Bill Gates planned retirement from day-to-day operations of Microsoft, which is to occur in the next two years. With Jim Alchin retiring at the end of 2006, and Bill Gates semi retiring by mid-2008, it looks like Microsoft will begin developing a new vision of the software industry and the role of technology as a whole. It will be an interesting change in the industry over the next five years.
    As far as the timing of this announcment, perhaps Bill just wanted steal the thunder away from Robert Scoble’s announcment of leaving Microsoft for Podtech.net. Or maybe not.

    The story on Digg.

    How to enable COM port redirection in Windows 2003 Terminal Services

    Filed under: Uncategorized — Jason Hartley @ 2:18 pm

    Windows Server 2003 allows for COM port redirection for Terminal Services clients. The actual command to enable this are difficult to find in documentation. You can use these in a logon script, a GPO or a batch file. This does not work for Windows 2000 servers.
    For Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services clients use this command:

    net use COMx: \\tsclient\COMy

    Where x = an available server COM port such as 4,5,6,7
    Where y = an availabe client COM port such as 2,3,4,5
    * Use the actual word “tsclient” in the command

    For Windows Server 2003 using Citrix Presentaiton Server use this command:

    net use COMx: \\client\COMy

    Where x = an available server COM port such as 4,5,6,7
    Where y = an availabe client COM port such as 2,3,4,5
    * Use the actual word “client” in the command

    With Citrix you can also enable COM port redirection using other methods, such as Citrix Policies. However, for the command line the above will work as well.

    Use Google as the default search engine in the MSN Toolbar

    Filed under: internet — Jason Hartley @ 2:08 pm
    • Open the MSN Toolbar ‘Options’
    • Go to the ‘General’ tab
    • Choose ‘Other search service’ in the ‘Web search service’ area.
    • Type the following string into the text field (without the quote marks): “http://www.google.com/search?q=$w”.
    • Click OK.

    Google Search in the MSN Toolbar

    Options for running an exe from scripts.

    Filed under: Uncategorized — Jason Hartley @ 1:42 pm

    There are times you may need to call an executable program from a logon script. Depending on what type pf logon script you are running (bat, vbs) there are different ways to accomplish this.

    • You can place one of these three command sets in a bat file:

    @echo off

    START “Title1″ “%PROGRAMFILES%\file1.exe” /q

    EXIT

    @echo off

    START “Title1″ “C:\Program Files\file1.exe” /q

    EXIT

    @echo off

    Net use Y: \\servername\sharename

    START “Title1” “Y:\file1.exe” /q

    Net use Y: /delete

    EXIT

    • You can add this to the logon script if it is a vbs file

    Option Explicit

    Dim objShell

    Set objShell = CreateObject(”WScript.Shell”)

    objShell.Run “\\pathtothefile\file1.exe”

    WScript.Quit

    • You can use a combination where the bat file calls the vbs file

    -save this code as something like “runfile1.vbs” and place it in the netlogon share on the server-

    Option Explicit

    Dim objShell

    Set objShell = CreateObject(”WScript.Shell”)

    objShell.Run “\\pathtothefile\file1.exe”

    WScript.Quit


     -modify the logon bat file to include this line-


     CALL “runfile1.vbs”


    June 9, 2006

    Configure Windows as an SMTP relay server

    Filed under: Uncategorized — Jason Hartley @ 1:26 pm

    To increase security between the internet and your internal email server, you may choose to setup an SMTP relay server in your DMZ. This is simple to do using a Windows 2000 or 2003 non-domain member computer. You can us the relay server to accept mail for “remote” domains, which would actually be your internal mail server. You can also use this for a ’smarthost’ and point your internal exchange servers to use the relay server to send mail to the internet.

    This will allow you to protect the ports on you internal mail servers which are domain members. This will add a another layer of perimeter protection by avoiding direct access of your mail servers to the intenet.

    These references provide simple instructions for configuration:

    SharePoint Portal 2003 does not work with .NET 2.0

    Filed under: Uncategorized — Jason Hartley @ 12:04 pm

    If you are deploying SPS 2003 do not install it on a Windows 2003 R2 server which has the .NET 2.0 Framework integrated. Important functions will not work such as adding users and groups into the portal from Active Directory. There are also issues with web parts and other portal service configuration. Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 does NOT work with .NET 2.0.

    Using a specific installation allows you to work around the issue with SPS 2003 on a server that requires .NET 2.0 -such as the case when using SQL 2005 for SPS 2003 on the same physical server. Install and configure the services in the following order:

    1. Install Windows 2003 Server (not the R2 edition)
    2. Setup the new IIS Virtual Web Site Server you will will use with the Portal server. Make sure you select the 1.1.4xxx version in the ASP.NET tab of the virtual server configuration.
    3. Install the .NET 2.0 Framework
    4. Install SQL Server 2005 (if on the same server as SPS)
    5. Install SharePoint Portal Server 2003
    6. Install Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 2
    7. Install SharePoint Portal Server Service Pack 2
    8. Extend the IIS Virtual Server you configured in step 2 to be used as the Portal using the “SharePoint Portal Central Administration” page.
    9. Verify the IIS Virtaul Server is still cofigured to use the ASP 1.1.4xxx Framework in the ASP.NET tab on the Vitrual Web Site properties.
    10. Configure the Portal and other SharePoint Portal Server properties as usual.

    Windows SharePoint Services works with .NET 2.0.

    Additional references:

    June 6, 2006

    Attend TechEd 2006 even if you can’t “be there”

    Filed under: general — Jason Hartley @ 8:51 am

    Micorosft is broadcasting TechEd sessions over the internet for TechEd 2006 from Boston which takes place June 11-16. You can view these at “Virtual TechEd“. It’s the next best thing to being there.

    New Group Policy capabilities in Vista and Longhorn

    Filed under: Uncategorized — Jason Hartley @ 8:48 am

    With the addtion of about 700 Group Policy settings in the new releases of Windows Vista and Lonhorn server, there have been settings added to control Anti-virus, removable storage such as thumb drives, CD/DVD burning, Hard Drives, NAP, and UAP, and Tablet PC settings. Most of these are much needed additons/enhancements which enterprise customers have been needing for a long time. There are also other enhancements which are great add-on’s such as the A/V control to help simplify network managment.

    You can see a more detailed look at the Summary of New or Expanded Group Policy Settings.

    Micorosft is also building a TechCenter dedicated to the topic ‘What’s New in Group Policy in Windows Vista and Windows Server “Longhorn”‘

    Windows 2003 Scable Networking Pack

    Filed under: Uncategorized — Jason Hartley @ 8:39 am

    At WinHEC 2006 Microsoft launched something called the “Scalable Networking Pack” for Windows Server 2003 SP1+. What is it? The simplist explanation I came across is this… the Scalable Networking Pack is focused on reducing operating system bottlenecks related to network packet processing and enabling support for network acceleration technologies in Windows, without requiring costly changes to existing applications or network configurations.

    You can find more infomation on this and a download link on the
    Windows Server Division WebLog in the post Scalable Networking Pack Makes Debut at WinHEC ‘06.