Spring2005Spring 2005

Windows Administration:Breathe New Life Into Your Server! From Windows NT To Windows Server 2003

If you're moving up from Windows NT to Windows Server 2003, you'll be pleasantly surprised. But before making the move, find out what you need to consider first and get the best migration strategies for your needs. Jonathan Hassell

Windows Administration:Secure Your Desktops With The New Group Policy Settings In SP2

Group Policy lets you control who can access resources across your network and what types of actions users can perform based on their roles. New settings in Windows XP SP2 offer even tighter control so you can regulate more and worry less. Jeremy Moskowitz

Windows Administration:Redundancy On A Budget: Implementing A RAID File Server

Did you know that you can implement a fault-tolerant departmental file server on a low-end desktop PC? All you need is RAID, Windows Server 2003, a PC, and an extra hard drive, and you're good to go. Robert Walker

Windows Administration:Preserve Your Data With The Backup Tool You Already Have

If you're running Windows XP, Windows 2000 Server, or Windows Server 2003, you already have Ntbackup. It's time to dispel some of the myths about how it works so you can get good, efficient backups without blowing your software budget. Jay Shaw

Windows Administration:10 Easy Ways To Lock Down Your Computer

Here are 10 important Group Policy settings you can start using for more secure user passwords, authentication, user privileges, and persistence of GPO settings. Derek Melber

SQL Server:Reduce Downtime: Implement SQL Server 2000 On A Cluster

Running SQL Server 2000 on a Windows Server 2003 Server failover cluster will get you more uptime by alleviating your reliance on a single server. Stephen Strong

SQL Server:XML To The Max: Get More Power Out Of Your SQL Server

Using the SQL Server 2000 T-SQL syntax, you can manipulate XML in a variety of ways. For example, you can access data contained in an XML string passed into a stored procedure and produce XML output. Find out what these flexible, powerful XML features can do for you. Ward Pond

SQL Server:Get A Traffic Report: Analyze Your Database Usage With System Tables

By querying data from the master.sysprocesses table you can get almost any information you need about connections to your SQL database, what each process is doing, which processes are blocking, and lots more. Then you can use this data to create some truly enlightening reports. Matt Evans and Josh Moody

SQL Server:Async Lifestyle: Manage Your Tasks With Service Broker

SQL Server 2005 Service Broker is more than just a developer tool. DBAs can use it to schedule tasks, run batch processing, and perform routine database maintenance. Roger Wolter

SQL Server:On The Horizon: Improved Data Security In SQL Server 2005

Microsoft has performed extensive threat modeling and security analysis to identify the threats facing database servers. This work has resulted in an upcoming version of SQL Server, SQL Server 2005, that is secure by design. This article enumerates the various security improvements to the popular database. Don Kiely

Exchange for Experts:Be The Master Of Your Domain Rename With Exchange

Domain renaming is not only possible, it's actually easier than you think, especially with this handy guide to the process and the right tool—Rendom.exe, which can be found on your Windows Server 2003 CD. Steve Schiemann

Exchange for Experts:Migration, Active Directory, And You: A Guide for Exchange Admins

You can use the Active Directory Migration tool to migrate users, computers, and groups from one domain to another. Plus, the new version of the tool lets you migrate user passwords as well as accounts, which makes the Exchange Server migration process a whole lot easier. Nino Bilic

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Columns

From the Editor:cc160791(v=msdn.10).md
A few months ago, we launched the first issue of TechNet Magazine, the Microsoft magazine for IT pros. At the time, we were cautiously optimistic about what we were doing, but we were also anxious to see how the people who make everything run—the IT superheroes—would react to the new publication that ended up on their desks.
Letters:cc160792(v=msdn.10).md
It's about time that a tech magazine showed the "how to" and "why" for Windows administrators. I'd like to see issues that cover Application Center in detail in the future. Also, please show ways to integrate Windows Active Directory and Novell eDirectory.
Toolbox:New Products For IT Professionals
www.gpsoft.com.auMarnie Hutcheson
Utility Spotlight:Limit Login Attempts With LimitLogin
Ever needed to limit concurrent user logins in an Active Directory® domain? Ever wanted to keep track of information about every login in a domain? If so, LimitLogin is for you.
SQL Q&A:Troubleshooting Connections, Using Variables, And More
Your queries answered by Microsoft IT professionals.Edited by Nancy Michell
How IT Works:Decoding TCP/IP
TCP/IP is comprised of a set of protocols including Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Internet Protocol (IP), and Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP). Most IT professionals understand how these protocols work together to make network communication possible. Don Parker
Beta Box:Discover SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
One of the most promising updates to a Microsoft product this year is SQL Server™ 2005 (formerly known by its code-name "Yukon"). SQL Server 2005 will come in a variety of versions, supporting many different types of deployments from the desktop to the enterprise datacenter. Brian Randell
Post Mortem:Migrating 240,000 Mailboxes And 29 Domains
I recently participated in a project with a large agency of the United States federal government as they migrated and consolidated their servers from Exchange Server 5. 5 to Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server 2003. Dennis Swenson
Blog Tales:A Guide To Public Folder Tools
Are you an Exchange Server op who's confused by different public folder tools? With all the various public folder tools out there, it can be difficult to remember what each tool can be used for. Let's straighten it all out now. Bill Long
How IT Works:A Primer On SQL Joins
One of the trickiest things about learning SQL is mastering how various JOIN statements differ in the ways they combine data from multiple data tables. There are three types of joins: inner, outer, and cross. Joshua Trupin
Serving the Web:Get It Right The First Time With IIS 6.0
Server administrators are always on a quest for the secret formula that will solve their performance woes. But no matter what you may have heard, there is no magic pixie dust. Yet the promises keep rolling in, even though few results are delivered. Chris Adams
InterOp:Windows Services For UNIX
If you're an administrator working in a mixed environment, Microsoft® Windows® Services for UNIX (SFU) 3. 5 can make your life a lot easier. SFU provides a full-featured interoperability solution that includes a Network File Server (NFS) client, server and gateway for file system interoperability, and a Network Information Service (NIS). Charlie Russel
Security Watch:Isolate Servers With IPsec
We live in an age of always-connected communication and are able to send e-mail messages or gain access to files, databases, and Web pages at any time, through a proliferation of networking technologies. Joseph Davies
Resources:IIS 6.0 Performance Tune-Up
By now you've probably gotten to know IIS 6. 0, available in all versions of Windows Server™ 2003, and are taking advantage of much that this Web server offers. It's important to keep an eye on the overall goal of IIS 6. Phil Sherwood
TechNet Live Events Roundup:Vacation 1.0
I know the last thing you want to do over the summer is to sit in a classroom for eight hours a day, listening to an instructor drone on, especially when you'd rather be waiting in line for Star Wars: Episode III. Kai Axford
TechNet Update:Highlights From The Microsoft IT Community
The volume of desktop deployment information on the TechNet site can seem overwhelming, and at times it might be difficult to find exactly the information you need. Here we will point you to some of the most popular sites on TechNet, which should help in your search.
Field Notes:IT and Life Experiences
IT pros don't write code. IT pros don't develop applications, and we certainly don't want anything to do with mathematical algorithms and binary search trees. We leave that to the dev geeks with CompSci PhDs and cases of Mountain Dew under their desk. Joshua Hoffman