Sunday November 4th, 2012, 2:00am marks the end of Daylight Saving Time for most of the United States and Canada. So be sure to change your clocks before you go to bed!
You can’t remember if you lose or gain an hour? I find repeating the following phrase helpful: “Spring forward, Fall back” — or is it “Fall back, Spring ahead”???
Storagecraft is the maker of the popular backup software for servers and workstations, ShadowProtect.
Due to the events caused by Hurricane Sandy, StorageCraft is offering a free three day use of their ShadowProtect IT Edition software to people in areas affected by the storm.
Read more here:
http://www.storagecraft.com/blog/affected-by-sandy-wed-like-to-help/
The IT Edition allows you to backup and restore an entire server or workstation without installing any software on the computers. I have relied on the IT Edition of ShadowProtect for years, and is one of my primary “go-to” I.T. solutions in my tool bag!
A local columnist where I live (Tampa FL) wrote an article recently titled “If Google Buys GM…”. The author is Chris Ingram. I thought it was a hoot. Hope you enjoy it!
http://www2.tbo.com/news/opinion/2012/sep/18/naopino2-if-google-buys-gm-ar-503868/
By default, on an SBS 2008/2011 server, DNS is configured to use Root Hints for Internet resolution. I have previously posted about potential issues with resolving domain names on an SBS server.
If you are using Root Hints, it may be necessary to update your root hints from time to time, as my good MVP friend, Mick, recently reminded me. And it’s fairly simple to do:
First, you need to access a list of known root servers and note the IP address of one of them. I’m going to use 192.228.79.201
From your SBS server, open up DNS –> right click on your Server –> click Properties —> then click on the Root Hints tab to see the current list of root DNS servers.
Go ahead and click the Delete button to delete ALL the listed root hints.
Then click on the “Copy from Server” button and enter the IP address you selected, and click OK.
The list of Root Hints will be populated. Click OK and then restart DNS Services!
You bought Windows 8 Pro, and now you want to watch and record live TV? 
Surprise! Windows 8 Pro does NOT come with the Windows 8 Media Center Pack.
But, for a limited time only, you can request from Microsoft a free product key that will enable Windows 8 Media Center Pack on your computer.
So, get busy and request it now!
There are so many choices when it comes to accessing a computer remotely.
For my SBS customers, they have Remote Web Access (RWA), which was formerly called Remote Web Workplace (RWW). For my non-SBS customers that I support on a regular basis, I use the free version of LogMeIn on their workstation, and I use LogMeIn Central and LogMeIn Ignition to connect.
I’ve tried CrossLoop with reasonable success. And TeamViewer is on my radar, as I have heard great things about it.
But today, we’re going to check out LogMeIn’s Join.me. Three EASY steps!
Step 1: From the remote computer, the user will:
Step 2: From your support computer, you will:
Step 3: From the remote user will give you control of their computer:
Some things never make sense to me, and one of them is the way one finds out the build number of Exchange that is installed on a server – the method is different depending on which version is installed!
First, here is the link to a list of all the build numbers for the various versions of Exchange:
Exchange Server and Update Rollups Build Numbers
I’m running SBS 2011 Standard in my office, with Exchange 2010 SP2, and I’m preparing to install Update Rollup 4-v2 for Exchange 2010 SP2. I will presume that you have a recent backup of your server!
Step 1: Let’s find out what version of Exchange 2010 I am running.
You do this by opening up the Exchange Management Shell, and then entering this command:
GCM exsetup |%{$_.Fileversioninfo}
Here’s the result on my server:
Step 2: Install UR4-v2 from the SBS/WSUS console
Step 3: Reboot your server and confirm version of Exchange
Surprisingly, the UR4-v2 did not require a reboot of the server, but I certainly would suggest doing so!
Finally, open up Services (services.msc) and do a quick check and verify that all the Exchange-related services that have a startup type-Automatic are indeed running.
After installing a SharePoint update to your SBS 2011 server, you may see one (or both) of the following warnings the next time you run the SBS Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) utility:
Use psconfig.exe to upgrade one or more SharePoint databases (Source: 348)
Use psconfig.exe to upgrade SharePoint (Source: 349)
To resolve these warnings, it will be necessary for you to manually run the psconfig command, as it is not run automatically after an update has been applied.
Please note: it may take some time for the psconfig command to complete. And, in some cases, if you get any errors, it is recommended to run the above psconfig command again.
After this, please check that your SharePoint sites are working properly, and rerun BPA to confirm that the warning messages have been cleared.
For more information on this, please check out the following two posts from the Official blog for Windows Server Essentials and Small Business Server support:
All this talk about cloud computing, and who will be the winners and the losers got me to go digging deep into the archives – Roger Miller and King of the Road (1965)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qgmxPb-ego
Servers for sale or rent
Tapes to let – fifty cents
No need to backup now
We’re all movin’ to the cloud
Ah, but, now that our files are moved
What to do with all that space we used?
I’m a man of means by no means
King of the clouds
Third time we’ve been offline
No solution, what a crime
Got to tell the boss the news
Now we’re singin’ the cloud-broke blues
I take old modems that I found
Slow, but still they power on
I’m a man of means by no means
King of the clouds
I know every cable run to every wall
All of the phone jacks, we used to make calls
And every handset in every room
And everything kept working
Before there were clouds, I sing …
What happened to those days?
Work was fun, with time to play
No need to virtualize
We didn’t have to tell no lies
Ah, but, these days they’re not the same
Buying eight or twelve domain names
I’m a man of means by no means
King of the clouds
Client Access Licenses (CALs) are usually purchased as User CALs or Device CALs. Up until now, the pricing for these have been the same. But on December 1, 2012 Microsoft will be increasing the price of User CALs by 15%. And it makes sense, I suppose.
Device CALs are primarily useful, in my view, for shift work scenarios, where multiple people will use the same computer. E.g. John uses it from 6a-3pm, Sally uses it from 3pm-11pm, and Dave uses it from 11pm-6am. In these environment, one device CAL is the better (price) choice.
User CALs allow the same user to connect to a server from multiple workstations/devices. The price increase is in response to the “increasing value of user based licensing over the single device licensing model”.
For more information, check out:
http://www.softcat.com/news/industry-news/microsoft-client-access-licensing-rules-to-change
