If you ever want to create a Visual Basic 2005 application that works like a wizard you should have a look at this great control made by Manish Ranjan Kumar.
Link : www.codeproject.com
Create a handy button so your friends can easily add you to their contact list.
Buttons make it easy! Use the button builder below to create a button that fits your personal style or even just your mood. Add the button to your Windows Live Hotmail, Outlook and other email signatures, Windows Live Space, or blog, and your friends and family can simply click your button to add you to their contact list.
Link : www.messengerbuttons.com
Great post by 'Michael Pietroforte' on his 4sysops blog where he compares the following free products :
- RD Tabs v2.0.8
- mRemote v0.0.8.0
- RoayalTS v1.3.2
- vissionapp Remote Desktop v1.5 (vRD)
- Terminals v1.6
- Remote Desktop Manager v3.0.0.1 (RD Manager).
Source : 4sysops.com
DriveImage XML is an easy to use and reliable program for imaging and backing up partitions and logical drives.
The program allows you to:
- Backup logical drives and partitions to image files
- Browse these images, view and extract files
- Restore these images to the same or a different drive
- Copy directly from drive to drive
- Schedule automatic backups with your Task Scheduler
Image creation uses Microsoft's Volume Shadow Services (VSS), allowing you to create safe "hot images" even from drives currently in use.
Images are stored in XML files, allowing you to process them with 3rd party tools. Never again be stuck with a useless backup!
Restore images to drives without having to reboot.
DriveImage XML runs under Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista only. The program will backup, image and restore drives formatted with FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS.
Since this program is currently distributed as freeware, we don't offer technical support for it. Please refer to the program's help file and documentation.
Please refer to the program's FAQ to see if your questions are already answered.
Note: You can run DriveImage XML from a WinPE boot CD-ROM.
Download: DriveImage XML 1.21 (Freeware)
View: Website
As more and more companies get past the pilot stage with their SharePoint 2007 deployments and start broad roll-outs in early 2008, there will likely be a significant increase in the need to integrate SharePoint with other portals and applications.
I was just about to draft a blog entry, outlining the various integration options provided by SharePoint, when a few people pointed out to me that there was already an excellent post by Jose Barreto, who was an Enterprise Systems Architect prior to taking his current role as Technical Evangelist for the Microsoft Storage Partners Team. Although you can find some fairly useful content by doing a search for "sharepoint integration" or visiting our Interoperability Center for MOSS 2007, I like the way that Jose has laid out all of the integration options in a logical and succinct fashion in his blog entry, which he has given me permission to repost in its entirety below.
Source : Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Team Blog
Did you ever try to create a new site collection in SharePoint Service 3.0 (WSS) with a URL like http://myserver.com/newsite ?
Well, if you try then you already know SharePoint Central Administration site only allow you to create a site collection under http://myserver.com/sites (or any other defined managed paths with wildcard inclusion)
Here's a trick to create a new collection under the root :
- Delete the managed path for (root) Explicit inclusion (Central Administration > Application Management > Define Managed Paths)
- Add a new managed path for / with Wildcard inclusion (Central Administration > Application Management > Define Managed Paths). At that point your root site (http://myserver.com/ will not be accessible, don't worry we will make it work again.
- Create a new site collection with the URL http://myserver.com/newsite (Central Administration > Application Management > Create Site Collection)
- Delete the managed path for (root) Wildcard inclusion (Central Administration > Application Management > Define Managed Paths)
- Add a new managed path for / with Explicit inclusion (Central Administration > Application Management > Define Managed Paths). By the way, your root site (http://myserver.com/ is working again.
- Add a new managed path for /newsite with Explicit inclusion (Central Administration > Application Management > Define Managed Paths).
- Voila !
Gary Lapointe has an excellent blog about automating SharePoint 2007 Configurations via STSADM Custom Extensions.
He has develop a lot of usefull stuff for SharePoint.
Link : stsadm.blogspot.com
There is a DHCP Server management API DhcpGetClientInfo() with which DHCPUser can get the information about DHCP Clients.
There are three way to figure out the information for the client with the above API.
- The first one is by specifing ClientIPAddress in DHCP_SEARCH_INFO structure.
- The second way is by specifing the ClientName in DHCP_SERACH_INFO structure.
- The third one and the trickest one is by specify the MAC addess. For particular MAC address there can be more the one address assigned to client in differnt subnets so while doing the search the API caller should specify in which subnet one wants to perform the serach.
Read more : Microsoft Windows DHCP Team Blog
This paper has been long in coming and I think they nailed it. Announcing a new whitepaper...
Data protection and recovery for Office SharePoint Server in small to medium deployments
This downloadable white paper explains how administrators managing small-to-medium-size deployments can protect and recover data. It describes data recovery tools and procedures from the item level to the farm level.
Author: Bruno Lancelaeux a Sr. Consultant from OBS.
Although the initial target for this paper was small to medium, the disaster recovery strategies and thoroughness of this 40 page paper including the best information out there on recovering an SSP, recovering any given server in the farm with step by step instructions.
Again, don't let the name fool you. This is the best content that exists on the topic. Sure there might be more info on mirroring elsewhere, but you really need to understand this content to create your baseline. The name also implies we have more to give you, which is true as well.
In addition to the Backup/Restore Paper being out the other huge announcement around backup is the RTM of Microsoft Data Protection Manager (DPM 2007). Expect to see a lot more information about protecting your SharePoint Servers with DPM 2007 as the team releases detailed whitepapers on backing up your farms and restoring entire farms, databases, lists, and items on a recovery server. Very reasonably priced as well.
Backup/Restore Paper TOC:
- Executive summary
- Levels of data recovery in Office SharePoint Server 2007
- Content recovery
- Versioning
- Recycle Bin
- Site recovery
- Office SharePoint Designer 2007
- Microsoft IT Site Delete Capture feature 1.0 (Web Delete event)
- SQL Server database snapshots
- Disaster recovery
- Office SharePoint Server components
- Binary files
- Configurations
- Customizations
- Content
- Tools for backing up Office SharePoint Server
- Built-in backup and recovery tools
- SQL Server backup and recovery
- Windows Server 2003 Backup tool
- IIS metabase documentation
- Components and backup tools
- Planning your disaster recovery strategy
- Determine likely recovery scenarios
- Recommended backup standards
- Office SharePoint Server components
- How to perform content recovery, site recovery, and disaster recovery tasks
- Content recovery
- Versioning
- Recycle Bin
- Site recovery
- Use Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to back up a Web site
- Use Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to restore a Web site
- Use Microsoft IT Site Delete Capture 1.0 to capture and restore deleted Web sites
- Create and view a database snapshot of an Office SharePoint Server content database
- Content recovery
- Disaster recovery
- Backup procedures
- Recovery
Source : Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Team Blog
Since the SharePoint 2007 products (WSS 3.0, MOSS 2007, and SPD 2007) released about 11 months ago, there has been a tremendous amount of Q&A and discussions in numerous blog comments, in several major public e-mail distribution lists, in a handful of newsgroups, in dozens of web forums, and in countless private corporate e-mail distribution lists. From what I can tell though I must admit that I haven't done extensive research, there's quite a bit of duplication in the topics being asked about or discussed.
Forums to the rescue! And now there's a friendly URL for you to get to them much more quickly: http://mssharepointforums.com.
Source : Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Team Blog
A year ago, I advised users to stay away from Vista x64. But what a difference a year makes: Find out whether x64 passes muster now in my latest tech showcase,
Windows Vista x64: One Year Later!
Source : Paul Thurrott's SuerSite for Windows
« We are pleased to announce the RC1 release and new name for the fourth generation deployment Solution Accelerator, Microsoft Deployment. »
« Microsoft Deployment is the next version of Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007 »
New Features in Microsoft Deployment
Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 support, with the following features:
- Full support for Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 deployments with Microsoft Deployment and Configuration Manager 2007.
- Complete integration into the Configuration Manager 2007 admin console and task sequencing capabilities.
- Quick start Configuration Manager 2007 operating system deployments using one wizard to create needed task sequences and packages.
- Extension of the Configuration Manager 2007 task sequencing capabilities with new actions.
- Feature parity with BDD 2007 and SMS 2003, including dynamic package installation, automatic determination of state store location, computer backup, and database settings.
- Installation support for computers unknown to the Configuration Manager 2007 database
- Added support for offline patching
- Support for offline and online language pack installation
- Deployment monitoring:
- Updated Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007
Lite Touch Installation (LTI) support for Windows Server 2008:
- Support for deploying Windows Server 2008 Beta 3 and potentially RC1 (to be verified after RC1 release), including support for Server Core installation options.
- Automated server role definition using Server Manager
Lite Touch Installation (LTI) enhancements:
- Enhanced disk and network interface cards (NICs) configuration options, including support for static TCP/IP configuration.
- Design changes to ease the migration from LTI to Configuration Manager 2007.
- Support for multiple task sequence templates. New sample templates include:
- Client template: Windows Vista, Windows XP
- Server template: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008
- Replace scenario template
- Ability to invoke web service calls
- Support for web service calls from rules
- Web services can be invoked as part of the rules processing performed by Microsoft Deployment, using new rules that can be defined in CustomSettings.ini.
- Support for BDD 2007 upgrade or side-by-side installation with Microsoft Deployment.
Lite Touch Installation (LTI) multicast support:
- Deployment Workbench supports multicast transmission of operating system images when performing LTI deployments from Windows Server 2008 servers that are running Windows Deployment Services."
Source : Windows Deployment Stuff Blog
In the saga of the Windows Desktop Search 3.01 update (kb917013) that was installed on all Windows XP computers via WSUS, Microsoft finally admited they made a mistake.
Read the apolgies post on the WSUS Product Team Blog
The Ubuntu team is excited to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software that the open source and free software communities have to offer. This is Ubuntu 7.10, which brings a host of excellent new features.
- GNOME 2.20
- Desktop 3D effects
- Desktop search
- Fast user switching
- Firefox plugins in Ubuntu
- Dynamic screen configuration
- Graphical configuration tool for X
- Fully automatic printer installation
- Handling of non-free device drivers
- NTFS writing
- Power consumption
- Encrypted hard disks
- AppArmor security framework
- Additional installation profiles for Ubuntu Server
- Profile-based Authentication Configuration
- Improved thin-client support
Read all about the new features : www.ubuntu.com
by Paul Thurrott, thurrott@windowsitpro.com
Plagued by delays and missing any of the exciting "secret" features promised a year ago, Apple Computer's next-generation Mac OS X operating system, code-named Leopard, will be released to the public on October 26, the company announced. Leopard is the fifth minor revision to the company's OS X system, and it's shipping almost exactly a year after Windows Vista, an OS that Apple incessantly ridiculed for its tardiness.
Yep, reality really is distorted in Cupertino. And if you're looking for even more proof, consider the way that Apple hawks this system.
"Leopard is packed with more than 300 new features and introduces a brand new desktop," the official announcement reads. Many of these 300 new features are, of course, comical. Ten of them exist in Xcode, a developer tool (in total, more than 40 of the new features are only for developers). Six new features are, seriously, listed under the screensavers category. Fully 24 of them exist in iChat, Apple's IM application. There are six new fonts features, three new Quick Look features (although Quick Look is itself, go figure, a new feature) and a dozen new UNIX features.
If you can stop chuckling for a moment, Leopard does include a few minor but notable improvements. A new feature called Time Machine, a prettier version of the Previous Versions feature that Microsoft first shipped in 2003, lets users resuscitate previous versions of files. A new feature called Spaces allows users to use a years-old UNIX feature called workspaces in typically elegant Apple fashion. And Leopard can dual-boot with Vista, a feature that might prove to be the system's most popular.
Apple is pushing other minor improvements, such as a slightly updated shell and desktop, minor revisions to the system's email and Web- browsing applications, and new parental controls that more closely mirror what Microsoft added to Vista. In short, Leopard appears to seriously under-deliver compared with both the competition and with what CEO Steve Jobs promised would be major secret new features. None of these have materialized.
In related news, Apple also announced the Leopard version of Mac OS X Server. This one boasts only 250 new features, so it's presumably 17 percent less interesting than the client OS.
This article was publish on the WinInfo list at WindowsItPro.com
mRemote allows you to manage all your remote connections in a single place. Currently it supports the RDP, VNC, SSH2 and Telnet protocols. The main intention is to have a central place to store all your connections and access them in the same window.
Source : mstn.homedns.org
Web Site : sourceforge.net/projects/mremote/
The Microsoft SQL Server JDBC team is proud to announce the general availability of the v1.2 RTW release. This release continues Microsoft's commitment to the JAVA community and non-Microsoft centric programming platforms. The driver can be found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/data/jdbc.
Source : bink.nu
In its continued commitment to interoperability, Microsoft has released a new SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP. The SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP Community Technology Preview (CTP) download is available to all SQL Server users at no additional charge. The SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP is a PHP 5 extension that allows for the reading and writing of SQL Server data from within PHP scripts. The extension provides a procedural interface for accessing data in all editions of SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000.
Source : bink.nu
I'm a new Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 administrator. I recently downloaded the new 20 Site Admin Templates from Microsoft.
They are great and suddenly I start wondering If I could install those templates for all my sites instead of manually installing them in every site collection. The anwser is Yes !
Did you know that there is a central (or global) library for Sites Templates ? Don't try to find it in the central admin interface, it is not there. The only way to access it is with the stsadm.exe tool.
The only problem is that stsadm.exe does not recognize the title and description of the template like the web interface of a site collection template library.
So I have created a small script to install the 20 tempates with their orginal titles and descriptions.
You can download my script here.
It's very easy, simply extract the file InstallSiteAdminTemplates.cmd from the zip and copy it in the directory (on the server) were you downloaded and extract the 20 templates. Then just double-clik it (on the server).
If your stsadm.exe file is not in the standard directory (C:\Program Files\Common Files\...) you may have to edit the script.
After the installation you have to restart IIS (iisreset).
To check if the templates are installed use the following command (on the server) :
stsadm -o enumtemplates
If you want to uninstall the templates you'll have to use stsadm like this :
stsadm -o deletetemplate -title <template title>
Have fun.
One of the most frequent complaints that we've received on this blog and elsewhere is the lack of end user training material for WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007. Although there are some companies offering training courses and a book or two focused on the end user, our customers want and deserve to get something directly from us.
The SharePoint End User Training Kit is our offering, and it's available at no cost!
Source : Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Team Blog
Everything to make Windows Live Writer even easier and better
Windows Live Writer Plugins conventiently lists plugins, addons, hacks and tutorials for Windows Live Writer, a desktop blogging program that can post to various types of blogs.
Thank you Cynthia.
On her blog you will find lots of stuff including the "Windows Live Writer Portable 2.0" and "Windows Live Writer Backup" tools.
Link : http://wlwplugins.com/
Joris Poelmans has a cool list of Tools for SharePoint 2007. You should look at it.
Link : http://jopx.blogspot.com
In February, we published a KB article about the discontinuation of the MSNBC web parts in the online Web Part gallery. Of these web parts, the one that displayed weather information was one of the most popular. Bamboo Solutions, a SharePoint ISV partner since 2001, has graciously donated to the Community Kit for SharePoint project an enhanced version of the weather web part that fetches data from the MSN Weather service and displays the current time of the location. It can also accommodate multiple locations as shown below.
Source : Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Team Blog
Download : www.codeplex.com
Company site : http://store.bamboosolutions.com
This DHCP Server Callout DLL helps administrator to filter out DHCP Requests to DHCP Server based on MAC Address. When a device or computer tries to connect to network, it shall first try to obtain ip address from DHCP Server. DHCP Server Callout DLL checks if this device MAC address is present in known list of MAC addresses configured by administrators. If it is present, device shall be allowed to obtain ip address or device requests shall be ignored based on action configured by administrator.
Source : Microsoft Windows DHCP Team Blog
A network monitoring solution helps you get an overview of your network and it allows you to monitor the availability of devices and services. There are many sophisticated commercial monitoring tools. But The Dude from Mikro Tik is by far the best free network monitoring tool I have ever tried under Windows.
The BITS Repair Tool will help you fix a problem caused by the corruption of BITS state files. The problem stops the host process for Windows Services, which prevents you from using BITS to transfer files. Use this tool to resolve the corruption and re-enable BITS transfers. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Source : Microsoft.com
Microsoft has released several updates to improve the reliabiliy and compatibility of Windows Vista in certain scenarios. The issues resolved by these updates are detailed in the following Knowledge Base articles:
- October 2007 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista (KB941229)
Microsoft has released the October 2007 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista. This update rollup is intended for computers that are running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate. - Cumulative update rollup for USB core components in Windows Vista (KB941600)
This update resolves some reliability issues in the USB core components on the Windows Vista operating system. - Update for Windows Vista (KB941649)
This update improves the compatibility, reliability, and stability of Windows Vista. - Update for Windows Vista (KB941651) [KB article TBA -- Download below]
This is a reliability update. Install this update to improve the reliability of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows Vista in certain scenarios.
Source : www.activewin.com
The Microsoft Active Directory Topology Diagrammer reads an Active Directory configuration using ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), and then automatically generates a Visio diagram of your Active Directory and /or your Exchange 200x Server topology. The diagramms include domains, sites, servers, administrative groups, routing groups and connectors and can be changed manually in Visio if needed.
Source : Microsoft.com
