Krudler: Blog

New House = Lots of projects

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 08:40:41 GMT

Jo and I just moved into our new house a couple of weeks ago. Between the move and the end of FY, and getting ready for our big holiday soon, we've been flat out, hence the lack of blogging lately.

Well we're starting to get on top of things, so I wanted to put up a list of things we're about to be doing, and I'll try to blog about my progress as we work through our list of projects. So, what are we doing to the new house, well....

Pool Fence - it's surprising the previous owners never bothered, but this is top of our list. We have too many friends with young kids so this is the first priority before summer. We're going to put up a glass fence, and I'm going to do it myself, so I'll make sure I post some pic's of the process.
Bird Aviary - Reggie, our Kookaburra is staying with Jo's mum at the moment, but we'll be putting up a new aviary, bigger and better than her last one. They're soooo expensive to buy new, cause we'd need a custom one.
Hair Salon - we have a room that we're going to setup for Jo's hair salon, so we'll be building a wall (how cool is that!) and setting up her chair and basin for this project.
Backyard renovation - this is low on the list, basically doing the same as the last house, replacing the lawn with a drought tolerant one and putting in underground irrigation. We'll also need to fix some drainage issues and do a lot of paver moving. This can wait till summer.
Cabling the house - I've decided wireless just doesn't cut it when you want to stream media throughout the house, so I'll be wiring up the house with CAT6 soon. We're on NakedDSL and VOIP, so no need for all the phone cabling through the house too.
Theatre Room - My pet project. I'm setting up a room with a projector and huge screen. Can't wait for this project, although it isn't exactly urgent.

Anyway's, I'll send some updates soon as things progress, and also put up some photo's of the holiday as we go.

Irregardless is not a real word!

Sun, 25 May 2008 09:43:40 GMT

IT'S NOT A REAL WORD

an erroneous word that, etymologically, means the exact opposite of what it is used to express

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/irregardless

Those of you using this word, please stop now (I'm looking squarely at you America)

Human Transformers

Thu, 01 May 2008 10:18:15 GMT

Too cool...

In KL for the UC Voice Ignite

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 06:40:09 GMT

Well, I'm here in Kuala Lumpur for the UC Voice Ignite that we're running here this week. I flew in overnight last night, and am now just getting myself ready for the event. The Grand ballroom is all set to go, with about 120 laptops setup for the attendees to work from.

So the flight over was an experience in itself. I came from Sydney, straight from the Voice Ignite sessions there, and had a 1hr stop in Brisbane. From Brisbane it was direct to KL, and I gotta say, it was the most turbulent flight I'd ever been on. The whole 7hrs was one bump after another, with quite a few REALLY big air pockets that dropped the plane, thrusting all the passengers, myself included, up from their seat, only to be stopped from hitting the roof by their seatbelts (which ended up being very tightly done up after the first 1/2 hour). The plane was great, it was Malaysia Airlines, which I'd never flown with before, and the staff were really good, but the weather really put a bad note on the trip. Hopefully it will be better on the way at the end of the week.

This is my first time in Kuala Lumpur, and it's very different to what I'd expected. Actually I didn't know what to expect. I deliberately didn't do too much research into Malaysia as I wanted to see it for myself, fresh, without someone else's views of the place in my head. The first thing of interest obviously was the airport. Everything was well signed and easy to get around, and getting through immigration and customs was very fast (take note USA). Then there was the taxi ride into KL to get to my hotel. It was 7am, so traffic was light, but it appears as though traffic lanes and speed limits are optional here, so that was also an unnerving trip.

So now I'm just going over the decks I'll be presenting, making sure I'm all set to go. Hopefully it all goes well.

Here is a bunch of photo's from my hotel room stitched together with Live Photo Gallery, in the middle are the Petronas Towers, pretty cool view yeah. The building down the bottom is a shopping mall, 8 stories high, it is huge inside!!!

Technorati Tags: Kuala Lumpur, UC, Voice Ignite, Travel

How to dispose of an old Xbox 360

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:16:16 GMT

As sad as I am to see a working Xbox 360 getting demolished, this is pretty well done. This is what happened when Mac Gargan got his Elite and didn't need the "old" 360 any more...

YouTube - How to open an XBOX 360

So who needs a second Xbox 360? Someone who has a gamer tag with this many points on it...

Jo's Birthday

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:27:10 GMT

Well today was Jo's birthday, and we had some friends around for a BBQ. We've been working on the backyard over the last couple of months and it's looking pretty good now. Here are some photo's of the day...

Those where done with the Windows Live Photo Gallery Panoramic tool.

And the birthday girl...

Happy Birthday baby.

Xbox 360 Fall Update

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 09:16:19 GMT

It's actually the Summer update for us in Down Under, and it was released a couple of days ago.

This update is huge!!! It's what all us nerds have been waiting for. DivX and XviD support!!! Wooooo hoooooooo!!!!! And it works great, no need for server-side transcoding, just pure streaming goodness. It supports widescreen files natively, as well as fastforward/rewind, as well as resuming from where a file was stopped.

From the press release...

Among the key new enhancements are the Xbox® Originals game download service, Family Timer parental control feature, and expanded social networking experiences. Xbox 360 owners can also look forward to enhanced navigation, profile and video features and Xbox LIVE® Arcade Hits.

Check out the full article here...

http://www.xbox.com/en-au/support/systemupdates/default.htm

Technorati Tags: Xbox360, Fall Update, Divx, xvid, streaming

Backyard Reno Updates

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 01:33:54 GMT

So we're almost done with the backyard renovations, the lawn is in (and covered in chicken-wire for protection just in case ), and we've just had the Kwik-Kerb (http://www.kwikkerb.com.au/) edging done on Friday. The stepping stones are in, and the KISSS (http://www.kisss.com.au/) subsurface irrigation is in and hooked up, it works great!!! Definitely recommend this stuff over the chemical based sub-surface irrigation kits.

Any-who, here are some photos of the progress...

Technorati Tags: Backyard Renovation, KISSS, Kwik Kerb

Backyard Renovations

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:25:19 GMT

So the backyard has been ripped up and we've had new sub-surface irrigation and new lawn put in, the old pond and river is gone, and the place is looking awesome. Here are some photo's...

Perth Holiday

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:38:03 GMT

Jo and I went to Perth for an extended weekend. It was pretty cool, we did all the sites, and watched the Red Bull Air Race.

We also went to Kings Park, cruised around the city, and went to Fremantle. Here is some photo's of the trip...

Talking Smack on Xbox Live

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 01:53:13 GMT

This is hilarious!!!

Outlook Connector for Hotmail / Live Mail

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 11:17:33 GMT

Microsoft have released the Office Outlook Connector for Hotmail, which you can use with Outlook 2003 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 to access and manage your Microsoft Windows Live Hotmail or Microsoft Office Live Mail accounts, including e-mail messages and contacts for free! Cool yeah.

We use this for our home email, as we use Windows Live Custom Domains to host our mail. It's soooo much easier than running the servers at home these days.

Check it out here...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7aad7e6a-931e-438a-950c-5e9ea66322d4&DisplayLang=en

Technorati Tags: Outlook Connector, Live Mail

TVersity for XBOX360 Media Center

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 11:14:46 GMT

I had to rebuild my home machine last week, so decided to go with Vista 64bit Ultimate this time. And with the rebuild thought I'd try TVersity for streaming media to my XBOX360.

I'd been using Transcode 360, and it did the job, but was a little fiddly, so thought I'd try something different. Well after a little bit of stuffing around figuring out which .exe I need to let through Windows Firewall (it was MediaServer.exe by the way), I got it up and running.

So far it's worked great, it's a little hungry on the CPU when transcoding, especially when you bump up the resolution to something decent (it defaults to 400 x 600). Other than that I'm quite happy with it so far.

For all the details and the free download, go to the TVersity site here... http://www.tversity.com/home

Technorati Tags: XBOX360, Media Extender, TVersity

Backyard Renovations

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 11:14:18 GMT

So I haven't been blogging much lately (well on this blog anyway), so thought I'd do a quick post to say what's going on.

We're in the middle of our backyard renovation at the moment, we've ripped out our gazebo and started moving the ponds around, all in preparation for the big lawn replacement and new gardens.

And of course the boss of the yard was a little tired, so he napped right here for most of the day...

The big pond is now in moved up to the back corner, so now we can get the bobcats in to really make a mess.

Technorati Tags: Backyard Renovation, Home handyman

Blogging is so old school, bring on Facebook

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:17:14 GMT

Ok, so I've given in after being harassed by some "friends". Even though I've been blogging for over 3 years now, apparently I'm not cool if I don't have a Facebook site.

The whole social networking website thingy is new to me, but it only took a couple of days on there to convince me it's a great way to find and communicate with people. Just more proof I think that the Web 2.0 phenomenon is actually something real.

So, if you want to be "cool", then add me to your Facebook friends.

I think I might have to investigate this new social network stuff some more, maybe setup a MySpace next.... kidding!!!

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Social Networking

Busy @ work = Slow @ blogging

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 08:12:00 GMT

Ok, so I've not been blogging much lately, but I have a good excuse.

I'm now in my fifth week in my new role as a Senior Consultant at Microsoft in Adelaide. Things have been crazy, there is sooooooo much information to take in, new people to meet, and just stuff in general to do. I've had a couple of trips to Sydney, and oodles of training and new-starter stuff to do.

So now that I'm starting to settle in I promise to get back into the blogging. I've actually started a new work blog, so I'll just be using this one for personal type stuff from now on.

If you want to keep up with my work blog, check it out here...

http://blogs.technet.com/robcost/ (RSS)

It's a little plain at the moment, and not much content, but I'll pimp it out soon and start getting some content up there on the MS world, and specifically stuff around Exchange, OCS, and UC in general.

Xbox360 Warranty Extended

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 11:03:56 GMT

Microsoft have extended the warranty on Xbox 360's that protects from the "Red Rings of Death" problem experienced by too many 360 owners.

From the article...

As of today, all Xbox 360 consoles are covered by an enhanced warranty program to address specifically the general hardware failures indicated by the three flashing red lights on the console. This applies to new and previously-sold consoles. While we will still have a general one year console warranty (two years in some countries), we are announcing today a three-year warranty that covers any console that displays a three flashing red lights error message. If a customer has an issue indicated by the three flashing red lights, Microsoft will repair the console free of charge—including shipping—for three years from the console’s purchase date.

For the full article check out...

http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/support/petermooreletter.htm

Virtual Server Remote Control Plus

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:24:42 GMT

Just ran into this at Keith Combs Blahg, VMRCPlus is a new VM client display and management tool for Virtual Server 2005. It looks pretty cool, with feature like...

Direct control of local or remote instances of the Virtual Server service. IIS and IE browser are no longer required!
Tabbed interface to quickly jump between Virtual Server hosts and guest VMRC sessions.
Reusable saved states: this feature allows users to preserve a particular saved state and return to that state at any time.
Multiple guest selection supported for startup/shutdown/save/display.
Browse button navigation for media, hard disk images, ISO images, .VMC files, etc.
Drag and Drop support for .VMC files, ISOs images, VHD and VFD files.
Resizable desktop support for guests running Virtual Machine Additions (maximize VMRC window supported).
Limited cut and paste of text from host to guest (only).
A built-in utility to take JPG screenshots of running guests. Useful when filing bugs.
Built-in error notification with Virtual Server eventlog viewer.
A Virtual Networks Manager and Virtual Disks Manager that cover all features.
Keyboard shortcuts (e.g. Ctrl-S to save state a guest).
Create multiple guests at once.
Create guest from parent (or multiple guests)!
Automatic reconnect to a designated Virtual Server host.
Toolbars in both Guest and Console Manager for quick access.
Unlimited number of guests.
Maximum of 32 Virtual Server hosts.
Sorting on columns of guests so you can sort based on status and multi-select.
Automatic detection of Virtual Machine Additions and notification.
Detection of Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1.

You can download it from here...

Download the x86 version @ http://keithcombs.members.winisp.net/vmrcplus/VMRCplus-1.5.0-x86.zip

Download the x64 version @ http://keithcombs.members.winisp.net/vmrcplus/VMRCplus-1.5.0-x64.zip

Or wait a few days and it will be on the Microsoft Downloads site.

My only gripe with it is you can't control VS Hosts that are in a workgroup, they need to be members of a domain.

Tags: Keith Combs Virtual Server VMRCPlus

My First Nephew

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:20:34 GMT

Jo and I now have a new nephew. Amanda and Michael just had a little baby boy, Cooper Whitaker Rosewarne. He was born at 7:27PM in Alabama, USA. He is 8 pounds and 2 ounces, and is 21 inches.

I'll update with some photos as they come through.

UPDATED: Photo below...

XBOX360 - Rainbow 6 Vegas Complete

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 01:36:04 GMT

Well I finished the Story mode of Rainbow Six Vegas yesterday, only in the noobie Normal mode, the hardcore Realistic Mode might take me a while. This game is very addictive, which was especially surprising for me given I never really played First Person Shooters before.

I'd definitely recommend this game, if I'd have to give it a score, and INARR (I'm Not A Real Reviewer), I'd almost have to give it a 10.

Now my next task, to get playing on Xbox Live and kick some butt!!!

Tags: Xbox360 Rainbow Six Vegas

My New Job @ Microsoft

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:00:02 GMT

I was having lunch with Hayes and Andrew today (both of whom are exceptionally lazy with their blogs I might add!!!) and they were asking me why I haven't blogged about my new job yet?!? My answer simple was "I'm not sure if I'm allowed too???". So I hope I don't get in trouble for this, and if I do it's their fault.

I've accepted a job at Microsoft as a Senior Consultant, and I'll be starting there next week. So this week is my "in-between-jobs" week, where I'm catching up on stuff, building my new lab box up, and playing the new Xbox 360.

Anyway's, once I'm on the "inside" I'll find out the rules and will hopefully either use this blog to post on stuff I'm allowed to, or I'll be starting up a work blog.

Virtual Server 2005 on Windows Server 2008 Beta 3

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 06:12:57 GMT

Ok, first problem on my new box... getting Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 installed on Windows Server 2008 Beta 3. Well the install goes great, no errors there, but you pull up the Virtual Server Website, and you get a blank screen. Great.

Well after some hunting, I came across a post at the "A Microsoft IIS PM" blog, about exactly my problem. So I proceed to configure IIS7 as per said blog entry, and test again. This time, the page loads, but it's just the text, no images, and it appears no CSS files have been grabed to style the page. So some more fiddling around, and I find that IIS7 when installed does not allow Static content to be downloaded (like images and style-sheets), nice.

So in through Server Manager, Roles Section, Web Server config, allow Static Content. Restart the website, and voilà, Virtual Server Management website is up and running.

I hope they fix that one in the next release of the Virtual Server installer.

Tags: Windows Server 2008 Virtual Server 2005 IIS7

New Lab Machine

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 06:01:39 GMT

Well I'm on holidays at the moment and have been putting together my new Lab machine. So I got all my parts, and have been putting it together today, and getting Windows Server 2008 Beta 3 up and running.

My lab box has the following:

ASUS P5B-E mobo
ASUS 7600GS 256Mb graphics card
Intel Core 2 Duo
4Gb DDR2 RAM
4 X 500Gb WD SATAII drives
Sonata II Case

The Sonata case is awesome, the box is so quiet, even with the 4 SATA drives and an IDE drive as well. The mobo supports RAID 1/5/10, of which I'm running 5.

I'm sure I'll come across some oddities as I get my lab rebuilt on the new box, so I'll post things as they come up.

Tags: Windows Server 2008 ASUS 7600GS P5B-E Sonata II

Australian Microsoft Evangelists

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 06:36:31 GMT

Frank Arrigo has a list of all the Microsoft Evangelists in his DPE team. It also includes their blogs, check it out below...

		NSW	VIC	ACT	QLD	WA
(DE) Developer Evangelists	4	Andrew Coates	Dave Glover		Charles Sterling
(DE) Developer Evangelists \| Web	2	Michael Kordahi			Scott Barnes
(AE) Architect Evangelists	4	(Anna Liu) \| TBA	Nigel Watson	(Nils van Boxsel)
(ITE) IT Pro Evangelists	2	Jeff Alexander				Michael Kleef
(ISV DE) ISV Developer Evangelists	2	Shuk Chan	(David Sajfar)
(MBS DE) MBS ISV Developer Evangelist	1		David Lemphers
(UXE) User Experience Evangelist	1		Shane Morris
(EE) Enthusiast Evangelist	1	Nick Hodge
(IAE) Infrastructure Architect Evangelist	1				Jorke Odolphi

http://blogs.msdn.com/frankarr/archive/2007/06/19/more-evangelists-jorke-odolphi-joins-the-team.aspx

XBOX360

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:16:17 GMT

I got an XBOX360 last week. Man it was the best thing I've bought in a long time. I was going to wait for the XBOX Elite to come out here in Aus, but with no firm release date, I couldn't just wait indefinitely.

So I got the Gears of War pack, and some extra's like another controller and a Live subscription, but the best thing I got for it was Rainbow Six Vegas. I'm hooked on R6V already. I'm trying not to play it too much, as I've got a weeks holiday coming up soon and I don't want to finish it before then.

Gears of War is a little too intense for me, I played it online a couple of times and kept getting chopped in half with a chainsaw (probably by an eight year old kid too!), so I'll be getting rid of that one.

I've added my little gamer-tag on the front screen of this site, and if anyone wants to add me as a friend on Live my tag is krudlerAU. If anyone runs into me on R6V on Live, please go easy on me, I'm a noob.

Exchange 2007 Storage

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:04:02 GMT

I've posted about this before a couple of times, but it's such an important topic I thought I'd bug everyone again with it. For some reason people still don't get how important it is to correctly size the storage subsystem for Exchange. If you're planning on upgrading to or deploying Exchange 2007, make sure you check out the following....

If in doubt, consult your storage vendor.

TechEd 2007

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 08:14:32 GMT

So you might have seen or heard some of the buzz around lately about TechEd 2007. I went to TechEd last year in Sydney, and thought it was fantastic. Well this years event seems to be looking pretty good again, with content on some of the new products coming out like:

Windows Mobile 6
Windows Server 2008 (aka Longhorn)
PowerShell
Windows Vista
System Centre

The US TechEd event is happening right now, and if you want to keep up with whats happening there and get an insight into what is coming to the Gold Coast event next month, then you can check out the TechEd Bloggers Community, or you can check out Virtual TechEd, where you'll find plenty of webcasts, virtual labs, podcasts, and blogs.

For more information about this years TechEd on the Gold Coast, you can check out the local site here...

http://www.microsoft.com/australia/teched07/index.aspx

One of our Aussie MS guys at the US event at the moment is Roger Lawrence, and you can check out what he's been seeing over at his blog...

http://rog42.spaces.live.com/

I especially like the Mac Mini Cluster running Windows Server 2003...

Windows Live Writer Beta 2 Released

Thu, 31 May 2007 13:10:49 GMT

The Windows Live team have just released Beta 2 of their offline blogging tool. Live Writer. I've been using Beta 1 for 4-5 months now, and I couldn't do without it.

You can download it from here...

http://writer.live.com/

Some of the new features...

New Authoring Capabilities

Inline spell checking
Table editing
Ability to add categories
Page authoring for WordPress and TypePad
Support for excerpts and extended entries
Improved hyperlinking and image insertion
Paste Special

Integration and Compatibility

SharePoint 2007 support
New APIs enabling custom extensions by weblog providers
Automatic synchronization of local and online edits
Integration with Windows Live Gallery
Support for Blogger Labels

Plus...

New look and feel
Available in 6 languages
Improved accessibility and keyboard support
Many other frequently requested enhancements!

Tags: Windows Live Live Writer

Exchange 2007 Resource Mailbox Custom Properties

Wed, 30 May 2007 00:49:33 GMT

Just came across this short guide to managing custom properties of Exchange 2007 Resource Mailboxes. Interesting stuff...

http://msmvps.com/blogs/andersonpatricio/archive/2007/05/28/creating-custom-resources-for-room-and-equipment-mailboxes-in-exchange-server-2007.aspx

Geek Tattoo

Tue, 29 May 2007 00:51:36 GMT

What more is there to say...

Message Retention with MOSS 2007 and Exchange 2007

Sun, 27 May 2007 10:05:26 GMT

Just came across a post on Paul Robichaux's Blog about using SharePoint 2007 with Exchange 2007's Managed Folder and Journaling features to provide a message retention system.

For details check out the MOSS 2007 Planning and Architecture guide here...

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/8f752e21-b5af-4ed1-b48e-26a72a6d3eaf1033.mspx?mfr=true

Unified Communications == Excitement+

Fri, 25 May 2007 12:10:48 GMT

This whole Unified Communications push from Microsoft lately has got me really excited (in the nerdy way!). With the entry into the space with products like Exchange 2007's Unified Messaging, Office Communications Server 2007, Response Point, and all the new UC Devices that will be coming out, like Round Table and the Communicator Phones, I think Microsoft will really push the boundaries of the way we communicate with others within our organisation, as well as the wide world.

Microsoft have already done this with Windows Mobile, changing the way we organise our days, record and prioritise our tasks and commitments, and interact with the world. Personally I now couldn't get by without my i-mate JAMin.

The whole Unified Comm's space I think is very exciting, not just because of the cool new software and devices (all the techy stuff), but because it will have a very real impact on the way we work and live. Just like the technological revolution of Velcro, the products that Microsoft is producing now will change the way business's work now, and eventually these products will change the way we live.

Very exciting times.

For more information on the Unified Communications stratagy from Microsoft check out their site...

http://www.microsoft.com/uc/default.mspx

Also, you can check out some of these devices here...

Unified Communications Devices .... coming to PC near you!

Shell to move to VOIP using OCS

Fri, 25 May 2007 04:29:15 GMT

Ran across another article I'd missed back in March, about Shell's plans to roll out a global VOIP network based on Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. How cool is that.

Check out the full article here...

http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1797176501;fp;4;fpid;19;pf;1

Tags: Microsoft OCS Office Communications Server 2007 VOIP

Microsoft Response Point

Fri, 25 May 2007 02:32:28 GMT

I must have missed this on release, but Microsoft have released a phone system targeted at small organisations to enable them to enter the VOIP space, with integration into Office and Desktop based voice access.

This is an entry level product that services smaller customers who might not have the need or funds to use Office Communications Server.

The blurb for Response Point...

Microsoft Response Point phone system software was designed for small businesses with simplicity in mind. Backed by industry leading hardware vendors like D-Link, Quanta and Uniden, Microsoft Response Point offers a breakthrough voice-activated user interface, simplified setup and system management, and the calling capabilities your business needs.

Check it out here...

http://www.microsoft.com/responsepoint/default.mspx

Tags: Response Point OCS

Aussie UC Blogs

Fri, 25 May 2007 00:32:36 GMT

I've just come across two blogs by Australian Microsoft guys in the Unified Communications space. Very interesting reading what they have to say about the UC market and the boom it is going through at the moment, very exciting stuff (yes I'm a nerd alright).

Johann Kruse (RSS) - Johann is an Exchange/UC/RTC specialist. I've saw him present at TechEd last year and he's a very switched on guy. You can also find his personal blog here... http://www.whassaname.net/blog/

Oscar Trimboli (RSS) - Oscar is the Director of the Unified Communications Group in Australia.

Tags: Johann Kruse Oscar Trimboli Unified Communications Australian Microsoft Blogs

Speed up large file copies over network

Tue, 22 May 2007 09:29:12 GMT

The guys over at the Ask the Performance Team blog have an interesting article on the reasons some large file copies over the network run slow or sometimes fail.

Basically it boils down to the type of copy functions called by the tool used to initiate the copy. When using tools like Windows Explorer, Copy.exe, Xcopy.exe or Robocopy.exe, they call the CopyFile() or CopyFileEx() functions, which use Buffered IO to cache the file to the file system cache as it is being copied. Should the cache fill up, then the copy functions are forced to wait for space in the cache to become available before it can continue. 1Kb of Paged Pool is required for each Mb of the file being copied.

This file systemm cache overhead can be avoided by using Unbuffered IO calls for the file copy operation, like CreateFile(), ReadFile() and WriteFile().

So what tools use these calls for copy operations you ask? Well apparently ESEUTIL.EXE and ESEFILE.EXE from Exchange are two of the tools you can use.

Ah Exchange, is there nothing you can't do?

Check out the full article here...

http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2007/05/08/slow-large-file-copy-issues.aspx

Tags: Exchange File Copy

Windows Server 2008

Fri, 18 May 2007 02:19:39 GMT

Microsoft have finally confirmed the new name for Longhorn Server....

Windows Server 2008

Wow, didn't see that name coming.

Grab the Public Beta 3 download from here...

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/beta/lhs/default.mspx

New Exchange 2007 doco

Fri, 11 May 2007 09:08:10 GMT

Microsoft have released some new Exchange 2007 content on the Microsoft Exchange Server TechCenter

Microsoft SysInternals Tools

Fri, 11 May 2007 09:00:35 GMT

Just went looking for the old SysInternals tools like FileMon and RegMon, and found their new home. Check them out here...

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/sysinternalssuite.mspx

Tags: SysInternals Microsoft Tools

Windows Server Longhorn Resources

Fri, 11 May 2007 08:56:19 GMT

To help out with those of us having a look at the recent Longhorn Beta 3 release, the following resources may be handy...

Tags: Windows Server Longhorn Beta 3

Virtualization in Production?

Fri, 11 May 2007 07:02:28 GMT

This discussion comes up a lot in my current organization. Whether to use VMWare/Virtual Server for production systems. Most people are adamant that it is the way to go, that there aren't any problems and it's the cheapest way to go. There was an interesting article on ITWorld about Gartners view on virtualization, basically saying it's too expensive now, but in the next 2-5 yrs the problems with licencing and support should be sorted out.

http://storage.itworld.com/4620/070509virtexp/page_1.html

Also worth noting when this discussion comes up in relation to virtualizing Microsoft based solutions is their stance on support. This support article has been around for over 18 months and has not changed yet.

http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=897615

From the article...

Microsoft does not test or support Microsoft software running in conjunction with non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software.

Basically, if you have a problem in the virtual world, you'll need to replicate the problem in a physical environment before they will help you. Don't think I'd be wanting to virtualize my entire production environment just yet, might be best to wait a couple more years hey?

Tags: Microsoft Virtualization Virtual Server VMWare

Exchange 2007 Technical Architecture

Fri, 11 May 2007 06:56:03 GMT

If you're looking for the Bible of Exchange 2007, this is the document you're after. The index alone takes 16 pages. This 594 page document has all the details you'll ever need (almost) about every component of Exchange 2007. For those true nerds out there, this is a great read. Check it out here...

Technical Architecture of Exchange 2007

Tags: Exchange 2007 Architecture

Free Windows PowerShell book

Thu, 10 May 2007 06:55:38 GMT

Just come across this free Windows PowerShell book. It's a great introduction if you're new to PowerShell, or a handy reference if you're an intermitent PowerShell fiddler. Check it out here...

Windows PowerShell Book PowerShell Demo Files

Tags: PowerShell

Best XBOX Ad ever

Tue, 08 May 2007 06:55:07 GMT

Came across this Ad for Xbox 360, which was banned and never made it to air...

YouTube - Banned Xbox Commercial

Tags: XBOX 360

Windows Server Longhorn Certification vouchers

Mon, 07 May 2007 06:55:18 GMT

For those of us with current MCSE/MCSA certifications, Microsoft is offering discount vouchers for the Windows Server Longhorn upgrade exam.

To receive your voucher, you must satisfy the following two requirements.

Complete registration for your voucher by June 30, 2007.
Hold a completed MCSA or MCSE on Windows Server 2003 by June 30, 2007.

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/upgrade/ws2003/offer/default.mspx

Tags: Windows Server Longhorn Certification

Silverchair Young Modern Concert

Sat, 05 May 2007 06:22:48 GMT

Went to the Silverchair Young Modern concert last night with my little bro (http://www.myspace.com/coz28 ). Those guys just get better and better. We've been following them since they first made it big with Frogstomp, and they've really matured now. The music they play live is better than on their albums.

Check them out at Chairpage.com

Can't see much in my photo's, but the colour's are cool.

Tags: Silverchair

Solid State Laptop drives arive

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 22:42:27 GMT

Just noticed this article from InfoWorld...

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/04/25/HNdellssd_1.html

Dell and Sony both have laptops out that use 32Gb SSD drives instead of conventional HDD's. This is a great step forward, paving the way for much higher performing laptops, which, for on the go power users like me, is a good thing. Having a machine with lots of grunt that doesn't chew through the power and turn off in the middle of a preso is going to be awesome.

Windows Server Longhorn Beta 3 Released

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 08:07:37 GMT

Longhorn beta 3 is now available for download from Technet and MSDN. Check it out here...

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/longhorn/default.mspx

Cool new features to check out include...

Read-Only Active Directory Domain Controller
Virtualization (not available within Beta 3 release)
Terminal Services Gateway and Web Access
Server Core
IIS 7
Network Access Protection