Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Please join us as we present some of the highlights of PDC! 

We will be reviewing some technologies first discussed at PDC — such as ASP.Net 4.0, jQuery integration, and C# 4.0.

But we will not only be talking about the future.  We will also discuss some recent releases that you can take advantage of now, including the current ASP.Net 4.0 codeplex releases.  

The sessions will be broken down as follows:

• Los Angeles
  Tuesday, March 24, 2009 2:00 PM – Tuesday, March 24, 2009 5:00 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada)
  Microsoft – Los Angeles
  333 S. Grand Ave.
  Suite #3300 (33rd Floor) Los Angeles California 90071
  **Parking is available at Joe’s Auto Parks (Lots 220 and 240) located on the corner of Hope and Gen Thaddeus Kosciuszko Way (lot address: 220 S. Hope Los Angeles CA 90071); you will need to pay a parking fee of $12.00 (check or cash only) for the full day. Please note that Joe’s Auto Park is an unaffiliated, independent vendor and that Microsoft is in no way liable for any negligence or any damage that may be incurred by attendees who utilize this parking facility.
  
• Irvine
  Wednesday, March 25, 2009 2:00 PM – Wednesday, March 25, 2009 5:00 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada)
  Microsoft – Orange County
  3 Park Plaza, Suite 1600
  Irvine California 92614
  **Parking is available in building garage. Cost is $1.50 per 15 minutes, with a daily maximum of $18.00.

Registration:
If you’re interested in attending and a customer of mine, please contact me for details on how to register.

Please join Microsoft & Quest Software for an informative event:  Managing System Updates in a Complex, Heterogeneous Environment. During this event, experts at Microsoft and Quest will show you innovative solutions for System Center that can help you easily manage your heterogeneous environment, increase efficiency, reduce costs, increase compliancy and mitigate risks.

Discover how Configuration Manager with QMX enables you to:

• Centralize visibility and control
• Track all of your IT assets
• Manage and report on your configurations
• Reduce redundant tools and scripts
• Meet compliance mandates

You will also have the opportunity to tour the Microsoft Technology Center and view the integrated Configuration Manager & QMX solution in the Envisioning Center lab.

• 8:30am-9:00am
  Registration & Breakfast
• 9:00am-9:30am
  Overview of Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007
• 9:30am-10:00am
  Overview of Quest’s System Center Solutions
• 10:00am-12:00pm
  Deep dive into QMX for Configuration Manager
• 12:00pm-12:45pm
  Lunch
• 12:45pm-3:00pm
  MTC tour and Envisioning Center Demo

Registration:

• Thursday, March 19, 2009 9am – 3pm Irvine Microsoft Technology Center
  http://www.quest.com/common/registration.aspx?requestdefid=22667
• Tuesday, March 10, 2009 9am – 3pm Dallas Microsoft Technology Center
  http://www.quest.com/common/registration.aspx?requestdefid=22665

The BizTalk Adapter Packs is a set of modules that provide message passing & various other levels of integration with SAP, Siebel, OracleDB, OracleEBS and SQL WCF Bindings.  These adapters can be used with BizTalk Server 2006 R2 and R3.

(taken from the Biztalk blog)

We are pleased to announce the release of the Adapter Pack 2.0 Beta.As this is a public beta, customers can also download a 120 day evaluation version here .The features we added are listed below in brief . In addition, we are shipping a free to use migration tool which will help users migrate their projects which used older adapters to the Adapter Pack adapters (details below)

Oracle EBS

• 64 bit support
• Synonyms
• Added performance counters
• Notification support

OracleDB

• 64 bit support
• Synonyms
• UDTs
• Notifications
• Polling stored procedures
• Performance counters

Adapter SDK

• Display complex binding properties 
• Display metadata wsdl in web control

SAP data provider

• Support for more operators in Sap Queries
• SAP SSRS support in VS2008

Samples

• New Samples for SQL and Oracle eBiz Adapters

The BizTalk Adapter Pack Migration Tool  is a utility that helps developers migrate BizTalk projects using the  BizTalk 2006 SQL or the BizTalk Adapter v2.0 for mySAP Business Suite to their corresponding WCF-based versions from BizTalk Adapter Pack v2!

With the help of this utility you will be able to compile and deploy your application within minutes. Some of the highlights for the Migration Tool are:

• Works on the source project files
• Generates equivalent schema definitions for the operations used in the existing project
• Generates new maps to convert messages from older formats to the new format
• Modifies any existing maps to work with the new schemas
• A new project is created upon completion, which uses the SQL and/or SAP adapters from the BizTalk Adapter Pack v2

The tool works for most common scenarios of maps and orchestrations, however it is only meant to be a starting step towards migration to BAP and we are open to receiving feedback to add scenarios.

DOWNLOAD:
http://connect.microsoft.com/Downloads/Downloads.aspx?SiteID=218

Many organizations are tempted to skip Windows Vista entirely and wait for the next release, Windows 7, which Microsoft plans to release in late 2009 or early 2010.

“Most organizations shouldn’t skip Windows Vista entirely… Skipping versions of Windows entirely generally increases the risk of having unsupported applications running on the selected operating systems.”

– Taken from “Understand the Risks of Skipping Windows Vista”
Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00158795, Michael A. Silver, 11 July 2008, RA2 04022009  (http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/gc/reprints/microsoft/
microsoft_vol2_article2.pdf)

(Note:  Document requires Gartner Group Subscription)

We’re giving away free individual copies of the Windows Vista Resource Kit eBook (2^nd Edition)!
Offer ends this month.

—————–

Windows Vista® Resource Kit, Second Edition
Mitch Tulloch, Tony Northrup, Jerry Honeycutt, Windows Vista Team
July 16, 2008
1696 Pages
9780735625969

Your definitive resource for deployment and operations—straight from the experts.

In-depth, comprehensive, and fully updated for Service Pack 1, this RESOURCE KIT delivers the information you need to administer Windows Vista. You get authoritative technical guidance from those who know the technology best—Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals and the Windows Vista team—along with essential scripts and resources on the CD.

Get expert guidance on how to:

• Use Microsoft Deployment Toolkit best practices and tools
• Plan user-state migration and test application compatibility
• Exploit new Group Policy features, settings, and ADMX templates
• Configure software updates and client-security technologies
• Administer disks, file systems, file sharing, search, and Internet Explorer
• Install and troubleshoot printers, devices, and services
• Manage IPsec, IPv6, wireless, and remote connectivity
• Use performance monitoring and diagnostic tools to manage desktop health
• Resolve common startup, hardware, and networking issues

DOWNLOAD:
http://csna01.libredigital.com/?urws8un4p7

We’re giving away free individual copies of the eBook “Microsoft® Visual C#® 2008 Express Edition: Build a Program Now!”.  Offer ends this month.

——————-

Microsoft® Visual C#® 2008 Express Edition: Build a Program Now!
By Patrice Pelland
ISBN: 9780735625426
272 Pages

Make building new programming skills fun and fast with a quick-start, project-based approach!
In this lively, eye-opening, hands-on book, all you need is a computer and the desire to learn how to program with Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition. Featuring a full edition of the software, this fun and highly visual guide walks you through a complete programming project—a desktop weather-reporting application—from start to finish. You’ll get an introduction to the Microsoft Visual Studio® development environment and learn how to put the lightweight, easy-to-use tools in Visual C# Express Edition to work right away—creating, compiling, testing, and delivering your first ready-to-use program. You’ll get expert tips, coaching, and visual examples at each step of the way, along with pointers to additional learning resources.

DOWNLOAD:
http://csna01.libredigital.com/?urrs4gt63d

Technet & MSDN Events Unleashed: Windows Vista to Windows 7
Saturday, February 28, 2009 8:00 AM – Saturday, February 28, 2009 1:00 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada)
2/28/2009
8:00 AM – 1:30 PM
Welcome Time:  2/28/2009 7:45 AM Pacific Time

Recommended Audiences: IT Professionals, Developers
This event is taking place live in the Irvine, CA office.  For those who cannot attend in person, we are also simulcasting via Live Meeting.  We will be utilizing 2-Way Audio directly from Live Meeting so you shouldn’t need to dial into a conference bridge.  The Live Meeting link will be sent with your registration confirmation.

Is Vista Still Relevant? Windows Vista – The Path to 7
With Windows 7 on the horizon, is Vista still relevant? This presentation will cover why Vista is the best path to Windows 7 readiness as well as discuss the key underpinnings in the Windows 7 OS and product evolutions with Server 2008 R2, IPv6 and beyond. Focus will be around top 10 things IT Pros should know about Windows Vista and its evolution in Windows 7.

Welcome to Windows 7
This session will be an overview of the GUI and Feature improvements in Windows 7. This will include
  • Task Bar/System Tray Improvements
  • Aero Features
  • System Improvements
  • Control Panels and Features
  • Desktop Improvements
  • IE 8
  • Under The Hood

Windows 7 Deep Dive
Deep Dive One and Two will dig into Windows 7 and the new or redesigned under the hood features in the product.
The topics covered will be:
  • Microsoft’s understanding of the needs of IT Pros when designing Windows 7
  • Hardware Readiness
  • Improved Applications
  • Application Compatibility
  • AIK
  • VHD Images and Imaging
  • DISM
  • Dynamic Driver Provisioning
  • Multicast Multiple Stream Transfer
  • Streamlined Installation and File Migration
  • USMT
  • DHCP Hint
  • Enterprise Application Compatibility
  • Windows Troubleshooting Platform

Registration:
If you are a customer of mine, please contact me for details on how to register.

If you’ve ever worked with Windows Disk Image files, you know that the traditional tool used are the IMAGEX.EXE utility a.k.a. the WIM tools which are entirely command line executables available from the Windows Automated Installation Toolkit. (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=94BB6E34-D890-4932-81A5-5B50C657DE08&displaylang=en)  In an operating system that made itself famous through GUI tools, it’s a little unusual to find there’s no graphical version of these utilities available from Microsoft.

Enter GImageX.  GImageX is a GUI overlay which orchestrates the WIM tools so that you don’t need to type out long command line arguments to get them to do what you want.  It’s a free tool that is being made available from the folks that brought you AUTOIT scripting tools… tools for automating repetitive actions on Windows.

The new version 2 of this utility’s been retrofitted for compatibility with Windows 7 and the new command line arguments for the new ImageX tools.

WEBSITE: http://www.autoitscript.com/gimagex/

MICROSOFT DEPLOYMENT GUYS BLOG: 
http://blogs.technet.com/deploymentguys/archive/2009/02/04/gimagex-beta-for-windows-7-beta.aspx

<taken from the Windows Server blog>
Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 Beta is now available on the Microsoft Download Center. 

Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 enables IT pros to manage roles and features that are installed on remote computers that are running Windows Server 2008 R2 (and, for some roles and features, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2003) from a remote computer that is running Windows 7.

It includes support for remote management of computers that are running either the Server Core or full installation options of Windows Server 2008 R2, and for some roles and features, Windows Server 2008. Some roles and features on Windows Server 2003 can be managed remotely by using Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7, although the Server Core installation option is not available with the Windows Server 2003 operating system.

This is the next generation of the Admin Pack, aka Windows Server 2003 Administrative Tools Pack and Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1).

Don’t forget, you’ll have to take all the old Admin Tools packs off your computer before you unleash Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 on it. And please, don’t try to run multiple copies of Remote Server Administration Tools on your computer, even if the copies are in different languages.

What’s included in this release? Read on, gentle user…

Server Administration Tools:

• Server Manager (thaaaat’s right! You can use Server Manager to manage Windows Server 2008 R2 computers from a computer that’s running Windows 7. You’re welcome.)

Role Administration Tools:

• Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) Tools
• Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools
• Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools
• DHCP Server Tools
• DNS Server Tools
• File Services Tools
• Hyper-V Tools
• Remote Desktop Services Tools

Feature Administration Tools:

• BitLocker AD Password Recovery Viewer
• Failover Clustering Tools
• Group Policy Management Tools
• Network Load Balancing Tools
• SMTP Server Tools
• Storage Explorer Tools
• Storage Manager for SANs Tools
• Windows System Resource Manager Tools

DOWNLOAD:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=82516c35-c7dc-4652-b2ea-2df99ea83dbb&displaylang=en

Today, we announced that, on average, customers save $470,000 per year by using Windows Server Hyper-V. Not bad at all and very gratifying to see.  Here’s just one example provided today:

Saxo Bank had an average physical server utilization of just 20 percent and was deploying nearly 200 new servers per year before using server virtualization. Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V allowed the bank to reduce the number of servers needed by 36 percent and realize savings equivalent to $1 million (U.S.), because of lower server hardware costs and associated reductions in space, power and cooling costs

Another interesting part were the videos seen at the site. You can see/hear from Saxo Bank, Banverket, Rand Morimoto (who wrote a book on Hyper-V), and a video featuring Santa Barbara Web Hosting and Microsoft’s Bob Muglia.

Colleagues over at Windows Virtualization team blog have blogged that Microsoft’s virtualization management stack is about 1/3 the cost of VMware’s comparable stack. And who can forget how they let the chips fall in Vegas.

I can’t wait to hear more from customers running Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V, and from those using live migration with a free product like the standalone Hyper-V Server 2008 R2.

 
Cost Savings with Microsoft Virtualization

Cost Savings with Microsoft Virtualization

Watch this video to see why the economic crunch is leading many businesses to choose Microsoft’s virtualization solution over the competition.