December2008December 2008

Interop:Authenticate Linux Clients with Active Directory

Many IT shops are divided into two camps—the Windows team and the Linux team—but we all have the same ultimate goal of providing high-quality and cost-effective IT services. One way you can do this is by sharing core software infrastructure. Think Windows and Linux don’t mix? See how you can configure Linux machines to use Active Directory for authentication. Gil Kirkpatrick

Interop:Managing Macs in Your Windows Environment

Today, the likelihood of a homogeneous network has become increasingly remote. It’s in your interest not to limit yourself to a single platform. Instead, you can be known as the IT guy who can do whatever needs to be done—whether it be supporting Mac or Windows. Don Jones teaches what you need to know to set up a Mac on your Windows network, troubleshoot network problems, share files and folders among Macs and Windows-based systems, and configure Macs to use your network printers. Don Jones

Interop:Interacting with Windows from a Mac Environment

How times have changed! These days it is fairly easy to bring Macs into your Windows network infrastructure. And with a little work you can even integrate some of the operating system services. Learn how to connect Macs to Active Directory, see how you can use Entourage with Exchange, integrate the Messenger for Mac 7 application with your Windows-based communications, and explore how you can bridge the platforms with virtualization. Wes Miller

Interop:Managing the Root Password on Your Mac

How do you give your Mac users the rights they need on an as-needed basis and improve security at the same time? Surprisingly, by enabling the root account. Find out how. Chris Stoneff

Active Directory:Understanding Proxy Authentication in AD LDS

Proxy authentication lets users perform a simple bind to an Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services instance but still have an association to an Active Directory account. This can be very useful: it gives developers full access to a user object without giving them access to the Active Directory account, and it allows products that require the X.500 format to be used with Active Directory. Here’s what you need to know about proxy authentication. Ken St. Cyr

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Columns

From the Editor:Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Joshua Hoffman
Letters:Readers Speak Out
Toolbox:New Products for IT Pros
Greg Steen looks at managing your environment with Desktop Authority, checking site links with Xenu Link Sleuth, and managing partitions with GParted Live. Greg also discusses the book “How to Cheat at Administering Office Communications Server 2007”.Greg Steen
SQL Q&A:Row-Overflow, Differential Backups, and More
Paul Randal answers your questions about SQL Server. In this installment, Paul discusses the row-overflow feature, database mirroring and automatic failovers, backup strategies, and managing workloads and memory for failover scenarios.Paul S. Randal
Utility Spotlight:Change Analysis Diagnostic
See how the Change Analysis Diagnostic tool can help users discover system changes on their computers (from updates, new software, and changed hardware) and resolve problems they may encounter due to these changes.Lance Whitney
Utility Spotlight:SyncToy 2.0
This column describes what’s new in version 2 of SyncToy, a utility that helps you keep your files in sync across computers and external drives.Jay Munro
Inside SharePoint:Enterprise Project Management with SharePoint
Microsoft Office Project Server (MOPS) 2007 is extremely complex and difficult to deploy. Yet the effort is worthwhile—MOPS inherits the strengths of SharePoint as an enterprise platform, allowing you to increase the efficiency of team collaboration within and across departments. This article discusses some of the challenges you’ll face when deploying MOPS.Pav Cherny
Windows PowerShell:Building a Better Inventory Tool
Following up on the November installment of his Windows PowerShell column, Don Jones demonstrates an even better inventorying tool and demonstrates a sound process for building your own custom Windows PowerShell functions.Don Jones
Hey, Scripting Guy!:Calculating Server Uptime
You need to calculate server downtime in order to report on server uptime. The Scripting Guys have a Windows PowerShell script that can do this for you.The Microsoft Scripting Guys
Security Watch:Revisiting the 10 Immutable Laws of Security, Part 3
It's been about 8 years since "The 10 Immutable Laws of Security" were first published, and a lot has changed since then. In part three of this series, Jesper Johansson wraps up his analysis of the immutable laws to see if they still hold true after all this time.Jesper M. Johansson
Sustainable Computing:Power Management Settings for Compliance and a Reduced Footprint
In this month’s installment of the Sustainable Computing column we’ll discuss how features in Microsoft operating systems, various IT tools, and system management solutions (such as Microsoft System Center) can help you save money and minimize carbon emissions.Frank Koch, Mike Stephens, and Michael Walsh
Field Notes:Prep Your Patch Policy
Without a thorough and consistent service pack policy, an organization runs the risk of disruptions and downtime. This is because systems throughout the organization may have different patches installed. The key is to think outside your domain.Mark D. Scott
Field Notes:Mark{IT}ing: Synergy in the Shadows
This column delves into the potentials of aligning IT and marketing.Romi Mahajan
Windows Confidential:Keep Your Caches Close
Raymond Chen looks at how a poorly implemented proxy server can completely nullify the benefits of a proxy server.Raymond Chen