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Windows 7 for XP ProfessionalsUpdating Support Skills from XP to Windows 7by Bink.nu's Raymond Comvalius
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URL Rewrite Module 2.0 provides a rule-based rewriting mechanism for changing requested URL’s before they get processed by web server and for modifying response content before it gets served to HTTP clients.
Microsoft URL Rewrite Module 2.0 for IIS 7 RC is an incremental release that includes all the features from version 1.1, and adds support for rewriting of request and response headers as well as response content. More specifically, it can be used to:
Download details URL Rewrite Module 2.0 for IIS 7 - RC (x64)
Microsoft URL Rewrite Module 2.0 for IIS 7 - RC (x86)
By: Netanel Ben-Shushan, CSA/JNCIA-SSL/MCP/MCSA/MCSE/MCTS/MCITP
Abstract
This article will help you to learn everything that you need to know as a systems administrator (or SysAdmin) about this protocol and what can you do with him.
What's DHCP? And why it's recommended to use it?
Imagine that you're working as a SysAdmin for a large company with 500 desktop computers; you need to set to each desktop computer IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, DNS servers, and other network settings. How could you do that?
If you'll try to perform this task manually you're probably going to waste a lot of time on sitting on each computer 5-10 minutes, beside time, you can for example accidently enter wrong IP address to few clients, or to type the same IP address to few clients too.
In order to solve these "problems" you can use Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (or DHCP) in your network.
DHCP allows you manage the networks' IP addresses scopes and other TCP/IP settings like DNS, Default Gateway, etc. from central place, this central place called DHCP server. Beside the management, if there's any problem you don't need to run between your clients, you just need to connect to your server and to check the DHCP settings, as I mentioned – the DHCP works from central place, so if there's a problem, it's probably from the server, so you know where to go in case of problem and your saving time.
The DHCP server can provide easily IP addresses to clients automatically so you don't even need to configure and set options in the client side, all you need is to setup DHCP server, configure scope options and some other TCP/IP settings in the server side and that's it. You can provide to your clients IP addresses from the selected range that you've configured and some other TCP/IP options.
Note: DHCP in my opinion can called "The next generation of BOOTP", because the BOOTP came first before the DHCP, and today we're using BOOTP in order to deploy operating systems by booting from the network. Beside this, DHCP was developed in order to support in large networks – something that BOOTP can't provide.
How DHCP works?
Without entering to the related technical information (DORA process) the DHCP client request from the DHCP server IP address for a while, the length of time that the DHCP client can use the dynamic IP address that the DHCP server provided can be called lease, just like the name: lease means that the client "rent" an IP address for a specific time from the DHCP server, if the client want to continue using the specific IP address the client needs to re-assign the address by renew the lease, this will happen before the expiration time of the lease if the client is still in the network.
More in depth, the DHCP service works by using the DORA (Discover, Offer, Request and Acknowledgment) process (you can trace on the whole process using a network monitor utility):
1. DHCPDISCOVER – The client broadcast a DHCPDISCOVER packet in order to locate a DHCP server in the network, in some cases that the DHCP server isn't in the same subnet of the client, you'll need to configure in your network devices (usually routers) a DHCP Relay Agent, in order to transfer the DHCPDISCOVER packet to the DHCP server.
2. DHCPOFFER – The DHCP server broadcast a DHCPOFFER packet to the client which includes an offer to use a unique IP address for the client.
3. DHCPREQUEST – The client broadcast a DHCPREQUEST packet to the DHCP server with an answer, and "asks" from the server to "rent" the unique address that the server offer to her.
4. DHCPACK – The DHCP server broadcast a DHCPACK packet to the client, in this packet the server acknowledge the request from the client to use the IP address, and provide to the client the IP address lease and other details such as DNS servers, default gateway, etc. if the server cannot provide the requested IP address or from some reasons the address is not valid the server sends DHCPNACK packet in stand of DHCPACK, more information about DHCPNACK is under the specific subject – DHCPNACK.
Note: DHCP service uses port 67/UDP in the DHCP server, and 68/UDP at the DHCP clients.
It's recommended to check that your firewall doesn't block these ports in order to able the DHCP server and clients to communicate, and also check that your network devices supports DHCP Relay Agent in case that some of your clients are in different physical subnet.
In some cases you'll notice another DHCP messages like these:
1. DHCPDECLINE – If the client recognizes that the IP address that the DHCP server offer to her in use, the client will generate a new request to another IP address (in the DHCPREQUEST step).
2. DHCPRELEASE – This message is commonly in use when the client "give up" and release IP address.
3. DHCPRENEW – This is the request packet to renew and continue "renting" the IP address lease.
4. DHCPINFORM – The DHCPINFORM is packet that the client send to the DHCP server in order to get more details from the server, for example DHCPINFORM can be send in order to locate another DHCP servers in the network.
DHCPNACK
The DHCPNACK or Negative Acknowledgment is a packet that the server sends if the IP address is not available in stand of DHCPACK (in use on other client for example) or the address is no longer valid. In case of DHCPNACK the client must restart the lease process in order to get an IP address.
DHCP Scopes, Exclude and Reservation
DHCP Scope is a range of IP addresses that you configure in your DHCP server as range of addresses that designed for distribution to the clients.
For example, if you set a scope with a range from 10.0.0.100-10.0.0.200, you can easily provide only from this range IP addresses to your clients.
You can also create more than one scope, but it's recommended to check that your scopes aren't duplicating one with each other's. At the scope creation process you can add some more TCP/IP parameters such as subnet mask, IP addresses lease time, router (default gateway), DNS servers, etc. so when the clients gets the IP addresses they'll get also the other parameters from the scope.
In some cases, you'll need to prevent the client using some addresses, for example if your scope is from 10.0.0.1 up to 10.0.0.100, and your servers using 10.0.0.1-10.0.0.10, you can exclude these IP addresses from the scope and exclude the DHCP to distribute them to the clients, in most of the DHCP servers this option called exclude.
Reservation is a great option if you're planning to provide specific dynamic IP address from the DHCP server to unique DHCP client. If for example in the 10.0.0.1-10.0.0.100 scope you want to provide for specific client a unique address that will be always of the client, you can easily set reservation for the client using a unique identifier – the MAC address, the MAC of Media Access Control is a unique hexadecimal physical address for network adapters.
DHCP & DNS
When you're installing DHCP server you can configure the DHCP server to set DNS updates to any DNS server that support dynamic updates. More information about the combination between DHCP and DNS you can find right here.
Active Directory & DHCP Servers
In Microsoft Windows Server with Active Directory you need to authorize your server in order to work with the DHCP service.
In the past you could install few DHCP servers – as you wish, this action occurs problems like server crashing, etc.
In the new Windows 2000 Server/Server 2003/2008 you must authorize your server in order to start the DHCP server, if there's an authorized DHCP server in the Active Directory environment and a non-authorized server trying to start the DHCP service in order to distribute IP address, the server will failed in this task and the DHCP service in the local computer will stop.
DHCP Relay Agent
DHCP Relay Agent is any kind of host (usually a router or server) that listen to DHCP/BOOTP broadcast from clients on subnets without local DHCP servers.
The DHCP Relay Agent forwards the packets from the clients and the DHCP server that sitting on different physical subnets to each other in order to supply 'connection' between the DHCP Server to the clients, and opposite (from the clients to the server).
In conclusion
Using DHCP service can easily help you as a System/Network Administrator to manage you clients by assigning, tracking and re-assigning IP addresses.
About the author
Netanel Ben-Shushan is an IT Consultant & Trainer from Israel, who works mainly with Microsoft, networking and information security systems. He's the creator of www.ben-shushan.net, a personal website in Hebrew with technical guides and articles. Beside he's website, Netanel is also writing a Hebrew weblog at Microsoft Israel's blogging community.
This guide describes how to replace the default Windows Recovery Environment (RE) with a Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset version 6.5 (new version of Winternals ERD Commander).
Introduction
Microsoft has been developed a new version of ERD Commander from Winternals, which Microsoft acquired while ago; Named Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset, or DaRT for short.
In order to replace Windows RE boot image with DaRT you'll need to use account with administrative privileges (member of the local Administrators group at least).
It's recommended to replace the default Windows RE within DaRT for getting wide local troubleshooting toolset such as LockSmith for passwords reset, restoration utility, etc.
In order to perform the replacement follows these steps:
Preparing the field…
1. Open Windows Explorer, click with Alt and choose Folder Options from the Tools menu.
2. Choose Show hidden files, folders and drives and deselect Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) and Hide extensions for known file types.
3. Then click OK.
4. Open C:\ Drive, right-click Recovery folder. Choose Properties from the menu.
5. Select Security tab, and click on Edit.
6. On the new windows, click on Add and find you user account, then click on OK.
7. Assign Allow: Full Control permissions for the specific account and click on OK.
Now, as you can see the C:\Recovery folder is accessible to your user account.
At C:\Recovery\<UID> you'll find the Winre.wim image file. This is the Windows RE image that have been loaded every time you're choosing to repair your computer from the F8 startup menu.
Creating ERD Commander ISO Image
1. Install DaRT 6.5 from Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 2009 R2 (available to customers with active Software Assurance license) on your computer or on computer with DVD burner.
2. Open ERD Commander Boot Media Wizard from the Windows menu and follow these steps to create ERD ISO image:
2.1. On the welcome screen click Next.
2.2. Insert and navigate to Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 media and click Next.
2.3. On the Preparing files screen click on Next.
2.4. Select or exclude the tools that will be included in your ERD image and click on Next.
2.5. Locate the Windows Debugging tools and click on Next.
2.6. Choose if you want to update your ERD's system sweeper and click on Next.
2.7. If you want to add additional drivers, click on Add. Then click on Next.
2.8. On the Additional Files click on Next.
Note: You can add useful applications and files to your ERD ISO image such as disk imaging utility, corporate antivirus, etc.
2.9. To create the ISO image click on Next.
2.10. If you want to burn the ISO into a media set the wizard to your media burner. Click on Next to proceed.
2.11. Click on Finish.
3. On the ISO navigate to the Sources directory; inside X:\Sources (when X: is the CD driver letter) you'll find boot.wim image.
4. Copy boot.wim into C:\Recovery\<UID>\ and change the file name to Winre.wim.
Note: It's recommended to rename the original Winre.wim file name to Winre.wim.old or delete it from the C:\Recovery directory.
Next time you'll restart your computer and choose Repair your computer you'll notice that DaRT has been added to the Windows RE menu (and there's also network support at the start of Windows RE).
Note: My personal recommendation is to deploy Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 with a built-in DaRT recovery environment support.
Note that you will need an active Software Assurance (SA) license to each OS that deployed with DaRT.
Summary
This guide described how to create ERD ISO image by using Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset and then replacing the default Windows RE boot image with DaRT boot image on Windows 7 & Server 2008 R2.
In August 2009, Microsoft commissioned Forrester Consulting to examine the total economic impact and potential return on investment (ROI) that enterprises may realize by deploying Windows Server 2008 R2.
Windows Server 2008 R2 is the newest Windows Server operating system from Microsoft. To understand the financial impact of deploying Windows Server 2008 R2, Forrester conducted indepth interviews with nine actual Microsoft customers. These organizations were all Microsoft TAP customers who are early adopters of Windows Server 2008 R2. Forrester then compiled the results from these interviews into a composite case study of a North American retail and distribution organization of 1,500 employees and $450 million in annual revenue.
Download details WS08 Whitepapers
The Microsoft VHD Test Drive Program provides customers a flexible, extensible and supported evaluation experience requiring minimal hardware and IT overhead. You can access the catalog of pre-configured Microsoft solutions in VHD format for test, evaluation, demonstration, training & education and proof of concept from www.microsoft.com/vhd. This download helps you evaluate the new features of Windows Server 2008 R2. You’ll have the opportunity to try new and improved features and functionality of Windows Server 2008 R2 free for 180 days. Windows Server 2008 R2 builds on the award-winning foundation of Windows Server 2008, expanding existing technology and adding new features to enable IT professionals to increase the reliability and flexibility of their server infrastructures. New virtualization tools, Web resources, management enhancements, and exciting Windows 7 integration help save time, reduce costs, and provide a platform for a dynamic and efficiently managed data center. Powerful tools such as Internet Information Services (IIS) version 7.5, updated Server Manager and Hyper-V platforms and Windows PowerShell version 2.0 combine to give customers greater control, increased efficiency and the ability to react to front-line business needs faster than ever before. To find out more about Windows Server 2008 R2, please visit the product homepage. Please note that this product is available for evaluation purposes only and should not be used in a production environment. This is a preconfigured virtual machine set contained within the Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) format. Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, or the R2 versions of these products is required to use this virtual machine. Please refer to the system requirements section for more details.
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The Infrastructure Planning and Design Guide for Windows® Deployment Services, updated to reflect the new features and functionality introduced with Windows Server 2008 R2, outlines the critical infrastructure design elements that are crucial to a successful implementation of Windows Deployment Services. Following the six steps in this guide will result in a design that is sized, configured, and appropriately placed to enable rapid deployment of Windows operating systems, while also considering the performance, capacity, and fault tolerance of the system.
Take advantage of the benefits IPD Guides provide:
· Acceleration the infrastructure design process. · Best practice design guidance from the product group. · Infrastructure optimization for best meeting business requirements.
Download the updated IPD Guide for Windows Deployment Services.
The Web Deployment Tool simplifies migration, management and deployment of IIS Web servers, Web applications and Web sites.
The Web Deployment Tool simplifies the migration, management and deployment of IIS Web servers, Web applications and Web sites. Administrators can use command-line scripting with the Web Deployment Tool to synchronize IIS 6.0 and IIS 7.0 servers or to migrate an IIS 6.0 server to IIS 7.0. The Web Deployment Tool also enables administrators and delegated users to use IIS Manager to deploy ASP.NET and PHP applications to an IIS 7.0 server. Migrate Web applications between IIS 6.0 and IIS 7.0 with ease Simplify the planning of your IIS 6.0 to IIS 7.0 migrations by determining incompatibilities and previewing the proposed changes before starting the process. Learning about any potential issues in advance gives you the chance to take corrective measures and simplifies migration. Synchronize your server farm efficiently The Web Deployment Tool allows you to efficiently synchronize sites, applications or servers across your IIS 7.0 server farm by detecting differences between the source and destination content and transferring only those changes which need synchronization. The tool simplifies the synchronization process by automatically determining the configuration, content, databases and certificates to be synchronized for a specific site. In addition to the default behavior, you still have the option to specify additional providers for the synchronization, including COM, GAC and registry settings. Package, archive and deploy Web applications more easily The Web Deployment Tool enables you to package configuration and content of your installed Web applications, including SQL databases, and use the packages for storage or redeployment. These packages can be deployed using IIS Manager without requiring administrative privileges. The tool also integrates with Visual Studio 2010 to help developers streamline the deployment of Web applications to the Web server.
The Active Directory® Management Gateway Service provides a Web service interface to Active Directory domains and instances of Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) or Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) that are running on the same server as the Active Directory Management Gateway Service. You can download and install the Active Directory Management Gateway Service on servers and domain controllers running the following operating systems:
Note: You can install the Active Directory Management Gateway Service on writable domain controllers as well as Read-only domain controllers that are running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 SP2. After it is installed on any of these operating systems, the Active Directory Management Gateway Service runs as the Windows Server 2008 R2 Active Directory Web Services (ADWS) service and provides the same functionality. For more information about ADWS, see What's New in AD DS: Active Directory Web Services (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=152772). Note: The Active Directory Management Gateway Service does not support instances of the Active Directory Database Mounting Tool running on Windows Server 2008–based servers. The Active Directory Management Gateway Service enables administrators to use the Active Directory module for Windows PowerShell and the Active Directory Administrative Center running on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7 to access or manage directory service instances that are running on Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2003 operating systems in the previous list. Note: Installing the Active Directory Management Gateway Service on your Windows Server 2008–based or Windows Server 2003–based servers does not make it possible for you to install the Active Directory module or the Active Directory Administrative Center (which is available only on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7 operating systems) on these servers. If the Active Directory Management Gateway Service on your Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2003 server is stopped or disabled, client applications, such as the Active Directory module or the Active Directory Administrative Center will not be able to access or manage any directory service instances that are running on this server.
Today, I’m very excited to announce that Microsoft has acquired the technology assets of Interactive Supercomputing (ISC), a company that specializes in bringing the power of parallel computing to the desktop and making high performance computing more accessible to end users. This move represents our ongoing commitment to parallel computing and high performance computing (HPC) and will bring together complementary technologies that will help simplify the complexity and difficulty of expressing problems that can be parallelized. ISC’s products and technology enable faster prototyping, iteration, and deployment of large-scale parallel solutions, which is well aligned with our vision of making high performance computing and parallel computing easier, both on the desktop and in the cluster.
Bill Blake, CEO of ISC, is bringing over a team of industry leading experts on parallel and high performance computing that will join the Microsoft team at the New England Research & Development Center in Cambridge, MA. He and I are both excited to start working together on the next generation of technology for researchers, analysts, and engineers, as well as those who have yet to be exposed to the benefits of parallel computing and HPC technologies or may have thought they were out of reach.
You can find more information on HPC and parallel computing at Microsoft in these links and stay up to date on integration news and updates at Microsoft Pathways, our acquisition information site.
Are you looking to deploy DirectAccess available from the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems? And, are you planning to allow users to access corporate resources (such as e-mail servers, shared folders, or intranet Web sites) securely without connecting to a virtual private network (VPN) using DirectAccess?
Good news! The Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) Team has just announced the Beta release of the Infrastructure Planning and Design Guide for DirectAccess from the Microsoft Connect site.
What is the IPD Guide for DirectAccess?
The IPD Guide for DirectAccess provides actionable guidance for designing a DirectAccess infrastructure. The guide’s easy-to-follow, four-step process gives a straightforward explanation of the infrastructure required for clients to be connected from the Internet to resources on the corporate network, whether or not the organization has begun deploying IPv6.
What is included in this IPD Guide?
This guide include best practice that guides you through the 4-step process to design a DirectAccess infrastructure including the following:
Get the IPD Guide for DirectAccess Now!
Download the IPD Guide for DirectAccess (Beta) now!
Microsoft® Hyper-V™ Server 2008 R2 is a stand-alone product that provides a reliable and optimized virtualization solution enabling organizations to improve server utilization and reduce costs. With the addition of new features such as live migration and expanded processor and memory support for host systems, it allows organizations to consolidate workloads onto a single physical server and is a good solution for organizations who are consolidating servers as well as for development and test environments. By having the ability to plug into existing IT infrastructures Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 enables companies to reduce costs, improve utilization and provision new servers. It allows IT professionals to leverage existing patching, provisioning, management and support tools and processes. IT Professionals can continue to leverage their individual skills and the collective knowledge of Microsoft tools, minimizing the learning curve to manage Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. In addition, with Microsoft providing comprehensive support for Microsoft applications and heterogeneous guest operating systems support, customers can virtualize with confidence and peace of mind. System Requirements
Download at source (via hypervoria)
Source: www.microsoft.com
The Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows 7 RTM have been released to microsoft.com. These include the Hyper-V tools for remote management of Windows Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2.
Once you install the update, you can enable one or more of the following tools from the Control Panel under Programs, Turn Windows features on or off.
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Paul Thurrott:
Microsoft last week officially announced a product that Windows IT Pro UPDATE readers have known about since the end of 2008: A new low-cost version of Windows Server called Windows Server 2008 Foundation. Foundation Server, as I'll call it, has already been made available to mainstream server makers like Dell, HP, and the like, and will become available with new low-cost hardware in the weeks ahead. (As with Small Business Server, Foundation Server will only be sold with hardware.)
"Yeah, it's kind of boring," Microsoft's Iain McDonald joked with me during a recent briefing. "Here we are releasing another version of Server."
I had thought that Foundation Server would be an R2 SKU, that is, a version that would ship with Windows Server 2008 R2 in late 2009. So last week's announcement was somewhat of a surprise. But McDonald told me that Microsoft saw a glaring hole in its product line, one that was not filled by the consumer-focused Windows Home Server or the overly-functional SBS. This year, it's possible to purchase perfectly capable low-end servers for well under $1000. So it doesn't make sense that Microsoft's lowest cost infrastructure server, Windows Server 2008 Standard, costs $500. Clearly what the company needed was something that offered core Server features but came in well under that price.
Continue at SuperSite
Last week we announced the Release Candidate (RC) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2. We initially made it available for TechNet and MSDN subscribers. Today, we’re making it available to anyone interested in testing SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 prior to final release.
You can download the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 RC from our Customer Preview Program site or install through Windows Update using our Windows Update Experience Kit.
If you have the SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Beta installed, you will need to uninstall that first before installing the RC.
You can also check out the SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 RC notable changes here. And you can submit feedback on SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 here on the TechNet Forums.
Source: http://windowsteamblog.com/
Hotfixes and Security Updates in Windows Server 2008 SP2 RC and Windows Vista SP2 RC.
Windows Server® 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista® Service Pack 2 include all the previously released updates for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista. This document contains the list of Hotfixes and Security Updates in Windows Server 2008 SP2 RC and Windows Vista SP2 RC. Many of these updates are available to the public on the Microsoft® Download Center and Windows® Update, while others are only available to specific customers or partners. It is a standard practice to include all of these updates in a service pack, and they are included in Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2.