Archive for December, 2009

New Year’s 2010 IT Resolution

Published December 30, 2009 Randy Muller Leave a Comment
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It is almost upon us – a New Year!  This has been a tumultuous year – lots of “new” things and some worrisome things have occurred within the IT field (I guess someone feels real special for hacking the Twitter servers).  There will be more changes in 2010, but hopefully not as detrimental as we experienced this past year.  But keep this in mind – we have survived 2009!

The economy is beginning to recover – businesses are upgrading (there are so many new products out, or will be released soon – Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010, Windows Server 2008 R2, OCS 2010) and these new technologies will require experienced and TRAINED personnel. That is the key – trained on the new technologies.We must position ourselves to react to these new changes in our IT world.

In the 2009 Certification Magazine Salary survey one of the questions asked was if an employee had received a raise after earning a new certification:

The Salary Survey did reveal some good money news, however. After receiving their most recent certification, about 36 percent of respondents received a raise, though about half reported that raise was 5 percent or less. About 15 percent said the raise was at least 10 percent; roughly the same number said it was between 15 and 20 percent; and 5 percent of respondents said they received a raise of more than 50 percent*

The moral of this post – you need to enhance your skill set – that is applicable in this case and in general.  Don’t rest on your laurels – as soon as you do, you will only see the dust of the rest of us who have moved on to newer and brighter technology pastures.

Now, since you are going to expand your skill set and look at what may be an emerging technology this is your chance to become an early SME (Subject matter expert).  Since my crystal ball is in the shop for its 40,000 viewing update – I will only be able to guess here.  I would say that anything with Virtualization (Hyper-V R2 is WAY cool!) will be in big demand.  This in addition to VoIP (can you say OCS 2010 anyone?) as well as Exchange 2010 and SharePoint 2010 will be in big demand next year.  IT budgets will hopefully expand some but IT departments will still be under pressure to come up with ways to provide the current (or increased) level of support with less staff and budgets smaller – but they will still want to upgrade as well!

So, expand your current skill set as well as trying to see what is going to be a hot field next year to help secure your current position.  While these are good suggestions, you might have to come up some additional ideas all your own!

-Randy

* http://www.certmag.com/read.php?start=0&in=3915

What are you worth this year?

Published December 28, 2009 Randy Muller Leave a Comment
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Are you worth more or less than last year at this time (as the economy was busily sliding in the wrong direction?)  How much has the sag in the economy affected IT salaries – or, as Donald Sutherland said in Kelly’s Heroes – “No negative vibes”. In December 2009’s Certification Magazine released the results of their 2009 salary survey.  While overall compensation numbers are down – as is expected, it is not as dire as some would have postulated and there were some positive indicators as well!

Over 40,000 IT professionals from 167 countries responded to the salary survey from Certification Magazine and not all was to be dreaded.  Was there a drop in the average pay – yes. But is there a silver lining in all of this?  Yes again– Certifications.

One interesting area in an otherwise somewhat bleak financial outlook is with certifications.  Employers were giving raises to those who took and passed certification exams. Of those who earned a new certification in 2009, 36 percent were rewarded with a raise of some sort.  Also, many participants in Certification Magazine’s survey believed that furthering their certification portfolios also contributed to their career progression. There were many other interesting statistics regarding certifications:

  • More than 85 percent of respondents agree that since they’ve become certified, there is a greater demand for their skills.
  • More than 86 percent said becoming certified has improved their problem-solving skills, and roughly the same number report that achieving certification has increased their productivity on the job.
  • Around 47 percent said they think their most recently earned certification played a role in them getting a raise. Furthering their certification portfolios also contributed to respondents’ career progression.
  • Roughly 1 in 5 respondents received a promotion in the first year after receiving their most recent certification*

Now these are just statistics – and numbers can be presented in such a way as to promote or prejudice an argument.  I would say that in this case – the numbers definitely show that when 85% of 40,000 participants in the Salary survey believe earning a certification helped them with a promotion or raise, than I would believe them!  Sounds like it is time to earn a certification or two or three to me!

-Randy

*http://www.certmag.com

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Email is a Privilege, Not a Right… or is it?

Published December 23, 2009 Brad Werner Leave a Comment
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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all users are endowed with certain unalienable rights, such as open copyable, forwardable, printable, free email? No, I just skimmed the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, and I don’t believe that in any nation, email is a right. Whether you believe email to be a blessing, a curse, or something in between, would you agree that some communications, some messages, ought to be freely redistributable and usable for all time, yet others… yes, certain other messages should be… protected?

A certain change is afoot – a change in the landscape of email which changes many long-assumed-immutable rules. Once upon a time, access to a file system was governed by permissions such as read, write, and execute. These still exist, yet Windows evolved out of the RWXDPO permission model to the more fine-grained {R,ra,re,rp,W,ac,wa,we,X,D,ds,P,O,sy}  permissions several years ago with Windows 2000 for files and folders in the NTFS file system. The Windows registry, services, printers, Active Directory Domain Services, and other subsystems have their own similar but distinct permissions.  Classically, if you had Read access to a file, it meant that you could copy, print, view, resave, forward, reply, resend, transfer, and do other amazing things with that file. In fact, resaving a copy of the file would give you read-writable copy of the file which you could sent to other people.

Is email always destined to dwell in the land of chaos? Well, facilities such as PGP and S/MIME can help with authentication and encryption for confidentiality, and Exchange Server and Outlook have supported S/MIME for several versions (e.g. 2003, 2007, 2010). But the change that’s afoot more recently is facilitated by Windows Server 2008 (R1 and R2) Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS). Yes, that’s the same AD RMS that lets Microsoft Office 2007 applications such as Word take .doc files beyond the abyss of the RWXD model’s read-allows-anything motif.

Now, Exchange Server 2010 and Outlook 2010 allow AD RMS-based integration to provide services well beyond S/MIME. Now, before you hit that Send button to deliver a message to your colleagues, customers, friends, et cetera, perhaps you don’t need to be quite as concerned as to how long all of those recipients will keep the message, who they might forward it to, where they might copy and paste it, who their email administrators might be, why hackers have gotten into their networks and computers, and so on. No need to worry. Well, maybe. How can AD RMS really provide Information Rights Management (IRM) to users of Exchange 2010 and Outlook 2010?

First, note that now only can native Outlook 2010 clients benefit from this, but Exchange 2010’s Outlook Web App (OWA, formerly known as Outlook Web Access in earlier Exchange) clients can also benefit. Better still, this is policy driven in a well-thought-out way so that there’s even a back-door for journaling, and yet ensure that we have protection where we need it with both client and transport coverage. What does this all mean?

If you send an email to five people with View-Only access, only those five people can view it. Aside from doing screen shots or video recording, those five people cannot print or transfer the message contents.  No forwarding or reply-all. View only. Plus you can specify that the message is viewable for a limited time only. After 15 days, the viewable nature of the message can vanish as well, after an expiration date. This sort of policy or individual message setting could apply to voicemail too. Like digital rights management in general, this email style Information Rights Management (IRM) changes the landscape of messaging. And that’s good when people are blogging that 92% of email is spam and that Facebook may spell an end for email as we know it. Or knew it. It’s a dynamic game. Don’t stand still. Evolve.

-Brad

Related Course

Configuring, Managing, and Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (M10135)

Mass Changing Voicemail (Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging)

Published December 22, 2009 Brad Werner Leave a Comment
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How many kilograms is your voicemailbox? Even if you knew, how would you change it? That’s not what this article is about. How would we take a massive number of people’s mailboxes and make changes to them? That’s the ticket, and we’re referring to Exchange Server 2010 hosted mailboxes with Unified Messaging. Yes, some of this article might even apply to Exchange Server 2007, but it’s focused on 2010.

Let’s say that the human resources department (or some of the other powers that be) have a spreadsheet or database of change requests for you. They want you to create some voicemail boxes for some people, delete others, reset some PINs, and in some cases create or delete a basic mailbox as well. Instead of tackling that whole solution in one article, we will start with one part of it – how would we enable voicemail for people with existing Exchange 2010 mailboxes?

If the words Exchange Management Shell (EMS) aren’t already ringing in your ears, perhaps you need to get up to speed on automation with Exchange 2010, Exchange 2007, and Windows PowerShell. Specifically, we’ll tackle this problem with at least two cmdlets. The first, Import-CSV, doesn’t exactly extract information from the spreadsheet or database directly (although that’s a far more interesting endeavor which PowerShell could tackle), but simply takes a comma separated values (CSV) file which could be exported out of Excel or other software. With a CSV file representing the change requests, PowerShell’s Import-CSV cmdlet can bring the data into quick grasp. Another cmdlet we’ll use is Enable-UMMailbox, which isn’t is basic PowerShell 2.0, but in the extensions which Exchange 2010’s EMS provides. This facilitates making the actual changes.

First, let’s look at an example change request file (changevm.csv):

request,first,last,ummailboxpolicy,pin

newvm,Samantha,Spade,”Outbound Sales”,135790

newvm,Wanda,Wombat,”Outbound Sales”,444333

resetpin,Alex,Maravilla,”Marketing”,111111

newvm,Susan,Murphy,”Engineering”,864321

Each Unified Messaging Mailbox Policy includes a dial plan and other options. Consider the following pipeline.

import-csv changevm.csv | %{ $who = $_; switch( $_.request ){

newvm { Enable-UMMailbox -Identity $(Get-Mailbox “$($who.first) $($who.last)”) `

-UMMailboxPolicy $who.ummailboxpolicy -Pin “$($who.pin)” -PinExpired $false }

resetpin { Set-UMMailboxPin -Identity $(Get-Mailbox “$($who.first) $($who.last)”) `

-Pin “$($who.pin)” -PinExpired $true }

default { “Cannot handle {0} request for {1}” -f $_,”$($who.first) $($who.last)” }

} }

This looks at the keyword at the beginning of each line (the change “request” type), and supports both “newvm” (new voice mailbox) requests, and a “resetpin” requests, but also includes a default selector in the switch statement to alert you that this little code block doesn’t know how to handle other kinds of requests (but could easily be enhanced).

Note that the value of each person’s change request ($_) is saved in the $who variable just inside the ForEach-Object (%) loop because the switch construct also assigns the special variable $_, but with the value of its expression (inner pipeline) which is $_.request.

Exchange 2010’s Enable-UMMailbox cmdlet is used to create a unified messaging mailbox for voicemail and inbound faxes for a user with an existing mailbox. Their PIN is set to the value from the request file, and the PinExpired property is set to false so that the user doesn’t have to change it. This is a calculated security risk.

For the PIN reset scenario, the Set-UMMailboxPin cmdlet is used, and in this case we chose to set the PinExpired value to true so that the user must change their PIN when they next connect to their voice mailbox.

The sky’s the limit with automation and Exchange Server 2010. How often do you have to handle similar requests? The shell can help.

-Brad

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Moving Exchange Server 2010 Mailboxes

Published December 21, 2009 Brad Werner Leave a Comment
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Moving mailboxes doesn’t have to be difficult – all you need is a bag of concrete mix, some water, a good shovel, some good solid posts, and of course the mailboxes in question. Oh wait, am I forgetting something? Right, the wheelbarrow to mix the concrete in and a hacksaw to cut down the old posts.

What? That’s not the kind of mailbox you’re talking about. Ah, I see, you wanted to know about mailboxes hosted on Exchange Server 2010. Excellent, then you’ve come to the right place. Just give me a minute to put away my trowel.

There are two kinds of mailbox move operations in Exchange Server 2010, local and remote, depending on the destination.

Local Move Requests: If the source and target mailboxes reside in database copies in the same server, then you can issue a New Local Move Request… in the Exchange Management Console (EMC) or in the Exchange Management Shell (EMS), a command such as ‘777.wernerconsulting.com/Users/Brad Werner’ | New-MoveRequest -TargetDatabase ‘Database Seven’ to create the move request.

The other kinds of request, a New Remote Move Request… is used when the source and target mailboxes are hosted in database copies which are not on the same Exchange Server as one another. There are several potential sources for the original location of the mailboxes with a remote move request. The source mailboxes could reside on another mailbox server which is in the same Active Directory site, in another site, a member of another domain, or even from a server which is a member of another Active Directory forest.

When the destination server is Exchange Server 2010, the remote move request tools of Exchange 2010 should always be used, even if the source servers are running Exchange Server 2007 or Exchange Server 2003. If you’re migrating from Exchange 2003, it’s probably tempting to want to use Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC) to perform the moves to a new server, and you’re probably also trying to wean yourself from Exchange System Manager (ESM), but it’s time to start acclimating to some new tools. Even Exchange Server 2007’s Exchange Management Console (EMC) and Exchange Management Shell (EMS) based on PowerShell v1.0 just aren’t the right toolset either. Use the Exchange Server 2010 tools to move mailboxes now.

Who does the digging to move these mailboxes? It’s not the mailbox server, and it’s not like Exchange 2007’s Move-Mailbox cmdlet which did the work. Exchange 2010 Client Access servers run a service called Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Replication (MSExchangeMailboxReplication). So if you’re moving mailboxes from Exchange 2003 SP2, Exchange 2007 SP2, or even from Exchange 2010, this Mailbox Replication service (MRS) is used to move mailboxes from the source server(s) to the target server’s database. This architecture has a number of advantages over earlier version of Exchange.

Also, if you are moving mailboxes from either Exchange 2010 or Exchange 2007 SP2 to a target database on an Exchange 2010 server, it’s possible to do online moves. An online move operation can be taking place while the client (user) is accessing the mailbox. That extra advantage isn’t possible when moving from Exchange 2003 SP2, nor when moving to either Exchange 2003 or 2007 from 2010.

The ability to move mailboxes using a background service which will intelligently schedule, distribute amongst servers in the same site, and throttle server and network load is just one or many great features of Exchange Server 2010 which make this new messaging platform the best yet from Microsoft. If you’re using old versions of Exchange and aren’t at least planning for Exchange 2010, it’s seriously time to get ready.

-Brad

Related Course:

Configuring, Managing, and Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (M10135)

Tips on Microsoft Exams for the First-Time Tester

Published December 18, 2009 Randy Muller Leave a Comment
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What was your first certification exam experience?  You remember that first certification test – the fear and trepidation that came when you went into the testing booth for the first time. Not knowing what was going to be asked or even knowing HOW it was going to be asked.  Taking your first certification test can be quite the harrowing experience.  I know it was for me and I had been in the industry a number of years before taking my first certification test.

So how does a person who is new to the IT field, perhaps a younger IT pro –someone who has under a year’s experience – how are they going to study and prepare for an exam?  In an earlier blog I said lots and lots of hands-on experience.  This is even more important for someone who does not have a number of years’ experience to draw on to help study.

This new person should spend time researching concurrent areas.  Many cases the options of a test question can be eliminated based on knowledge from other areas.  This is where TechNet comes n handy.  There are usually numerous how-to documents and white papers available.  Read these and then click on the link for similar subjects.  It is always a good idea to look at the Resource Kits for more information.  As part of your preparation – you might want to consider “breaking” your study systems.  Or have a friend introduce some errors.  It is amazing what you learn trying to fix systems.

Look at the Microsoft community newsgroups for the product you are studying.  Some of your questions might be answered by others or you may be able to answer their questions!  Nothing helps to reinforce your own knowledge by explaining it to someone else.  I learned this lesson as a young Corporal in the Infantry.

So what should the new person to the IT field use to study for a certification exam:

  • Hands-on experience
  • Fix “broken” systems
  • Look at the community newsgroups
  • Read – read some more – read other’s Blog postings, read white papers, read the relevant Resource kits

I wish you all the best.  The first test is the hardest – learning how the information is presented is critical.  Learning to overcome your first-time-test-jitters is even more important or no amount of preparation will help.

Good Luck!

-Randy

Ideas on how to study for a Certification Test

Published December 18, 2009 Randy Muller Leave a Comment
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I pose this question because many test-takers to be have a hard time studying for a test, even if it is their second or even third certification test.  So – I asked myself “What is it that you you use to prepare for a certification exam?”

The best choice is hands-on experience – lots and lots of real, down-and-dirty, hands-on experience with the product.  Install the product, modify it, break it, fix it, become one with it.  Many students try to do this as they have at least one server at home (best bet is to have 2 or more servers available – networked).  In many cases someone studying for a test must some form of virtualization – Virtual PC (VPSC), Virtual Server or any other virtualization product.  The prospective examinee will install the product on a Virtual Machine

Every student’s testing ability and experience is different (not to state the obvious).  Over the years, I have had students who have had very little hands-on experience and yet have still managed to pass their exams.  In some cases, the only hands-on experience they have had is in the classroom and that was all they needed.In other cases this was due to their memory.

I am not going to go down that thorny path of discussing braindumps – this is neither the time nor place for such a topic. It is violation of the NDA you sign when taking a test to use such.  Enough said on that one.

So what do I use to pass a certification test?  A good understanding of the subject matter, lots of hands-on experience and a willingness to spend the time to prepare – seems simple enough, right?I also look at the subject areas that will be tested.  This information is available from Microsoft Learning and gives a breakdown of the broad subject areas.  Sometimes, the interpretation of a subject area by a question writer can be a bit broad.  But for the most part, this will greatly assist in focusing your “studies”

Well then – go forth and take a test!

-Randy

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2009 Year in Review: What Microsoft’s New Products Mean to IT

Published December 17, 2009 Mark Menges Leave a Comment
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As we come to the end of 2009 (already?), it is proper for those of us who support Microsoft-based networks to look back and assess the events of the past year.  2009 has been a challenging year, with the most severe recession in thirty years. Business is down, IT department budgets are under pressure, many organizations have cut personnel, and everyone is urged to cut expenses, to get more done with less resources.

Microsoft has been affected by the new business climate and has responded with lower prices on some key products: http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/06/25/announcing-the-windows-7-upgrade-option-program-amp-windows-7-pricing-bring-on-ga.aspx

Microsoft has also placed an emphasis on lowering administration and hardware costs. Microsoft Exchange 2010 can be configured in a complete, low-cost clustered configuration using as little as four physical servers that can serve the needs of many organizations. Exchange 2010 has enhanced mobile computing support, e-mail archiving, and voice mail capabilities without a need for third-party solutions. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd298136.aspx

Versatility was strength of the original release of Windows Server 2008 in February 2008 and the introduction of Windows Server 2008 R2 has added even more capabilities. Windows Server 2008 R2 boasts more than 16 Roles (major network services) and 36 Features (minor network services) http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd283012(WS.10).aspx

Server 2008 R2 is an excellent value proposition in difficult economic times. Enterprise Edition can provide directory services, DNS, DHCP,  Multicast desktop image deployment, Digital Rights Management, Federation Services, Virtualization Services, Media Services, Web Services, Terminal Services, Network Access Protection, PKI, File and Print services and Clustering support.  R2 Features add additional savings with built-in support for multipath I/O, ISCI SANs and an Integrated Power Shell scripting environment. Check out the new R2 Feature poster:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/confirmation.aspx?familyId=64a5cc28-f8a1-4b30-a4a2-455c65bda8d7&displayLang=en

The Debut of Windows 7 in October was a key event for Microsoft in the year 2009. After a disappointing rollout of Microsoft Vista 23 months before in November of 2006, success of Windows 7 was critical to maintaining Microsoft’s dominance in desktop operating systems around the world.  Many Enterprise networks did not deploy Vista, electing to retain Windows XP. As the year 2009 approached many observers felt that it was far from certain that Microsoft still could produce an OS that could generate the kind of buzz and excitement needed to create sales in a tough market.  Apple, Linux and even XP would be stiff competition for Windows 7. Expectations were high, and another Vista-like letdown would be disastrous.

Windows 7 was indeed a success. Microsoft wowed fans and mollified its critics with a product that was faster, more versatile and more stable. With a snazzy interface and a brace of new features Windows 7 captured the interest of millions.  Microsoft used a strong promotional campaign and aggressive pricing to set a new record in unit sales. In the first month after introduction more than twice (234%) more copies of Windows 7 were sold than any other OS release in history. Not bad results in the middle of a recession.

Many Enterprise networks are looking hard at Windows 7 and its stable mate Windows Server 2008 R2 for wide-spread deployment in 2010. Many PCs running Windows XP are reaching the end of their lease period or useful life and need to be replaced. Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 used in combination support key new features such as Direct Access and BranchCache.  Direct Access allows Window 7 machines to be in constant contact with the main office site whenever Internet access is available.  BranchCache allows  Windows 7 branch office computers to share file server downloads and web pages in a peer-to-peer cache.

I have personally seen a surge of interest in Windows 7 deployment from my students in the past few months.  Windows Server 2008 has been a success story in many datacenters and Server 2008 R2 is adding new converts. The hundreds of new Group Policy setting available for Vista and Windows 7 have lowered administrative costs and added energy savings and security options. Microsoft has released new tools such as the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 to make deployments quick and relatively pain-free.

The difficult economic environment may drive rapid change in IT environments in the year 2010. As organizations look for every possible competitive edge and operational efficiency  companies that create software that delivers a high return on investment will do well. Microsoft plans to be one of those companies.

-Mark

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The MCITP Certification is not one to take lightly

Published December 17, 2009 Randy Muller Leave a Comment
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The MCITP certification is not one to take lightly – it is certainly more difficult than the MCSE Windows Server 2003.  This doesn’t mean the tests are unfairly difficult, just that they are more challenging. As a result, your commitment in time and resources denotes your willingness to earn this certification which not everyone is willing to put in. There are well over 60,000 people certified with some sort of MCITP Certification worldwide.  Of the over 13 different MCITP Certification tracks (which includes Windows 7) that are available the most popular certification is the MCITP Enterprise Administrator.   The next most popular is the MCITP Enterprise Support Technician with over 10,000 and shortly followed by MCITP Server Administrator with over 9,000 people certified.

If you are interested in the SQL world, then look at the MCITP Business Intelligence Developer 2008 certification.  Given that that the SQL world is specialized to begin with, this is a specialty certification within the SQL world!

In case you are wondering about the venerable MCSE and MCSA certifications for Windows Server 2003?  Well, there quite a few of them out there – over a half-million!  A lot of people certified on Windows Server 2003 – that and the exams have been available for six years.  So don’t be shy if you are thinking about earning your MCITP on Windows Server 2008 and you see there are over 500,000 who have certified on Windows Server 2003. Also remember that these figures are for the MCSE and MCSA are worldwide.  Don’t be discouraged by the number of certified individuals – there is still a strong demand for certified individuals!

By the way – According to http://jobsearchtech.about.com/ –  The average MCITP Enterprise salary reported was $82,941.  Isn’t it time for you to earn your MCITP?

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Microsoft Certification Exam Formats

Published December 17, 2009 Randy Muller Leave a Comment
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Generally, Microsoft does not identify the format of any given exam at the time of registration.  The understanding is that the exam taker knows the material and content, regardless of how the test content is presented, so that the actual testing format is immaterial.

The Microsoft certification exams are presented in a wide variety of question and answer formats.  These formats are designed to evaluate a test taker’s knowledge and skills accurately. These formats include:

  • Multiple-choice, single-answer questions
  • Multiple-choice, multiple-answer questions
  • Hot area questions
  • Active screen questions
  • Drag and drop questions
  • Build list and reorder questions
  • Create a tree questions
  • Case studies

Notice what is not listed?  Adaptive format – where the exam “adapts”to your answers – asking further questions in your weak area(s).

Performance based Testing

Microsoft introduced performance or lab based testing. This hands-on testing format is currently available a Windows Server 2008 technical exam. These testing items were built on simulation technology. Performance based exams feature a combination of traditional testing items (think “regular” Microsoft testing) and a simulated work environment.  You will have to perform hands-on skills by performing actual and critical tasks on a “live” system.  As you are taking the hands-on test portion – you can use any path or tool within a virtual computing environment.  You are graded based on the accuracy of the test, not how you performed the task.

How to prepare/study for this test?  Classroom training is one of the best ways.  You will spend a great deal of working with Windows Server 2008 – hands on!  After you have attended class – download the evaluation copy of Windows Server 2008 and spend more time practicing – again hands-on.

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