TechNet Magazine January • February 2006

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Configure SQL Server 2008 to Automatically Manage File Size

Learn how you can easily configure SQL Server 2008 to automatically manage database and log size. ...

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Create and Use Starter GPOs

When you create a new GPO in the GPMC, you are given the opportunity to base the new GPO on a starter GPO. Because the settings of the starter GPO are then imported into the new GPO, you can use a starter GPO to define the base configuration settings for a new GPO. Here are the steps you need to follow to create a starter GPO. ...

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Delete Files Permanently with SDelete

When you delete a file, Windows removes the index for the file, but the file’s contents are still on the disk until the data has been overwritten by another file. Learn how to delete files permanently so attackers can't recover this data. ...

Auditing in Exchange Server offers many options for tracking important information. We show you all of them and how to configure the policy you want in seven simple steps. ...

Understand when SQL Server uses parallel processing and learn how to configure parallel processing for your database. ...

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Popular Articles

Utility Spotlight: USB Flash Drive Manager

See how the free Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager can help you easily copy, delete, and back up files from a flash drive, as well as perform other useful tasks.

Lance Whitney

TechNet Magazine January 2009

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The upcoming release of Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager “2” offers many new features and enhancements. Explore the new portal experience and find out how you can cut costs with self-service tools, increase security compliance with business process modeling, and reduce development time with simplified development tools.

Aung Oo

TechNet Magazine January 2009

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Security principals underlie so much of Windows security that it is essential for any administrator to have at least a basic understanding of how the various types of Security principals work and how they are used. Here's what you need to know.

Jesper M. Johansson

TechNet Magazine January 2009

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Hey, Scripting Guy!: Learning to Excel

Discover how to use the Excel.Application automation model for a more powerful way to process data from your servers and take advantage of the analysis and charting tools built into Excel.

The Microsoft Scripting Guys

TechNet Magazine January 2009

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Raymond Chen looks at the skewed relationship bugs have to errors, and explains why it's important that programmers suffer as well as give results.

Raymond Chen

TechNet Magazine October 2008

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Our Blog

Geek of all Trades: Control Network Access Using DHCP Enforcement

NAP monitors the health of specified computers when they attempt to connect to a network and includes a number of mechanisms to enforce health requirements. In this article, Geek of All Trades Greg Shields gives readers an overview of these enforcement mechanisms and, as an example, takes a closer look at setting ...

Use Windows PowerShell to Manage Virtual Machines Here are a few examples of how you can use Windows PowerShell scripts to manage virtual machines running on a Server Core installation. Note that these scripts are presented as samples and may need to be customized to work in your environment.

Create a New ...

Disabling an Unused Part of Group Policy Objects One way to disable a policy is to disable an unused part of the GPO. By disabling part of a policy that isn’t used, the application of GPOs and security will be faster.

Administer Windows Server 2008 Server Core from the Command Prompt ...

In the August 2008 issue of TechNet Magazine, Paul Randal wrote an article Top Tips for Effective Database Maintenance. It was geared toward "involuntary DBAs" (IT pros who inadvertently wind up responsible for a SQL Server instance). The article had a great response from our readers so Paul has written another ...

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Forefront Security

Microsoft Forefront is designed to deliver an integrated security solution that makes it much easier to deploy and manage security across an organization’s IT infrastructure. In this, our annual security issue, we feature two articles that describe how Forefront Security protects instant messaging and e-mail.

Protect ...

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January • February 2006

SQL Server 2005: Set the Stage for a Smooth Upgrade

Randy Dyess

SQL Server 2005: Boost Performance with New Features in SQL Server 2005

Paul Nielsen

SQL Server 2005: Protect your Metadata

Kalen Delaney

SQL Server 2005: Running the Microsoft SAP Infrastructure on SQL Server 2005

Mike Hatch

Windows Administration: Rapid Recovery with the Volume Shadow Copy Service

Dave Field

Exchange Server: New Weapons In The Fight Against Spam

Alexander Nikolayev

Exchange Server: Stop Spam From the Inside by Locking Down SMTP

Greg Taylor

Exchange Server: Stay Better Connected with Exchange ActiveSync

Max Ciccotosto and Paul Limont

Exchange Server: Tune Up Exchange Server with the Best Practices Analyzer

Jon Avner and Paul Bowden

Columns

From the Editor: In this issue of TechNet Magazine, we are taking an in-depth look at two key products that our readers use at work every day: SQL Server and Exchange Server. Even the smallest companies need to store and track data, and you’d be hard-pressed to find an organization that doesn’t use messaging as a vital part of its daily business. Joshua Trupin	Toolbox: New Products for IT Professionals Overseer Network Monitor Greg Steen	Utility Spotlight: WMI Code Creator As a systems administrator you’re surely no stranger to Windows®Management Instrumentation (WMI), which gives you access to a wealth of management information and allows you to automate administrative tasks. Chris Scoville
SQL Q&A: Clusters, Isolation, and More Your queries answered by Microsoft IT professionals. Nancy Michell	How IT Works: POP3 Delivers In the last issue, I discussed SMTP, the most common protocol for sending e-mail across the Internet. Now I’d like to discuss the other Internet protocol that almost all mail clients support: POP3, which lets users access the e-mail on their mail server. R'ykandar Korra'ti	Blog Tales: Introduction to Excel XML With the soon-to-be released next version of Microsoft® Office (currently code-named "Office 12"), there will be new default file formats for Microsoft Word, PowerPoint®, and Excel®. These new formats, called the Microsoft Office Open XML Formats, will open up a whole new world to Office developers. Brian Jones
Hey, Scripting Guy!: Yes, Another One... Greetings, everyone. In one of their classic Halloween episodes, the Simpsons became rich and famous. Their faces were everywhere: on billboards, on T-shirts, you name it. Not too surprisingly the people of Springfield quickly tired of seeing the Simpsons everywhere they looked. The Microsoft Scripting Guys	Security Watch: Why You Should Disable the Administrator Account I’ve fielded a lot of questions recently about how to manage the built-in administrator account. I am referring specifically to BUILTIN\Administrator, also known as NT AUTHORITY\Administrator, the account with relative identifier (RID) 500. Jesper M. Johansson	Serving the Web: Configuring Application Pools in IIS 6.0 One of the best improvements in IIS 6. 0 over earlier versions was the introduction of Application Pools (often called App Pools for short). When IIS 6. 0 is running in Worker Process Isolation Mode (the default in a new installation of Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003), every IIS 6. Brett Hill
How IT Works: NTFS Permissions, Part 2 While security is essential in today’s network, unfortunately some administrators think they are secure if they just have a good firewall. Various studies suggest that up to 65 percent of all network compromises happen from inside the firewall. Richard Civil	Legal Briefs: Breach Notification Laws It’s almost impossible to read the news these days without running into a piece about computer security, compromised personal information, and bills written to protect consumer rights. Confidential information being inappropriately accessed and used is not a new problem. Don McGowan	Inside Microsoft.com: Making the Move to x64 For many years, one of the biggest challenges faced by the Microsoft. com Web site engineers was the virtual memory limitations of the 32-bit operating system. With hundreds of different applications running on the site, there was often contention for the 2GB address limit that the front-end Web servers had to deal with. Chris St. Amand
Field Notes: Don't Lose the Manual I have been mucking with computers since I was in the 5th grade. I built microcomputers on breadboards, wrote assembler programs, manually linked network drivers, assembled computers from piles of boxes—all those really old school techie things. Mark Scott	TechNet Update: The SQL Server Ecosystem It is fascinating to watch the ecosystem grow up around market-leading products. A walk through any computer hardware or software section highlights the fantastic variety of products built upon and for the Windows® platform. Graeme Bennett	Windows Confidential: The Resourcefulness of Annoying People Windows isn’t as open as it used to be. In the earlier, simpler days, Windows® was designed in a more trusting manner. Internal file formats were documented, and programs could manipulate the system in a wide variety of ways. Raymond Chen