Entries for Keith Combs

TechNet Presents: Real World Azure [TechNet Presents: Real World Azure]

Keith Combs — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:52:00 GMT

The DPE US Central Region team just wrapped up an Azure tour and we recorded one of the final events of the tour. This webcast video discusses some of the real world aspects of using Azure. This is the IT Pro focused portion of the event. If you are also a developer, see my blog at http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2009/10/07/technet-azure-webcast-now-available-for-viewing.aspx for links to the MSDN portion.

For any additional questions on the content or topic, you can reach the presenter at http://www.brianhprince.com/.

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Dual Boot from VHD with Windows 7 and Windows Sever 2008 R2 [Dual Boot from VHD with Windows 7 and Windows Sever 2008 R2]

Keith Combs — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:38:00 GMT

Want to learn how to "Boot from VHD" with the new operating systems we have coming? How about "Dual Boot" with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 ???

It's simpler than you think. Checkout this video and see the full background and details at http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2009/05/22/dual-boot-from-vhd-using-windows-7-and-windows-server-2008-r2.aspx.

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AD and Linux Interop - Part 3 - Desktop Management [AD and Linux Interop - Part 3 - Desktop Management]

Keith Combs — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:57:00 GMT

There are a number of ways to invite Linux, UNIX, and OS X to the Windows Server Active Directory party. The operating systems we use today will interoperate in many ways because each includes some level of common protocol support. Support for HTTP is an obvious protocol they all share. SMB is also commonly used for access to Windows file system shares. In the UNIX world, NFS ruled the ether for years. Thankfully directory and security protocols like LDAP and Kerberos have also become common in the desktop and server operating systems.

See the full blog post at http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2009/05/16/windows-server-2008-interop-with-linux-and-os-x.aspx.

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AD and Linux Interop - Part 2 - AD User Auth [AD and Linux Interop - Part 2 - AD User Auth]

Keith Combs — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:52:00 GMT

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AD and Linux Interop - Part 1 - AD Domain Join [AD and Linux Interop - Part 1 - AD Domain Join]

Keith Combs — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:43:00 GMT

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Windows 7 DirectAccess - the next killer enterprise feature [Windows 7 DirectAccess - the next killer enterprise feature]

Keith Combs — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 03:46:00 GMT

Remember when you jumped from dial-up to DSL or a cable modem? You know what I mean. Those technology jumps that just make you smile really wide? Well, I have news for you. There’s another one coming that is going to rock your world. It’s called DirectAccess and although I am not particularly fond of the name, the name is accurate.

What is DirectAccess?

Simply put, it’s direct access to your corporate network across an automatically established tunnel. There’s a lot that has to happen in order for that to occur, but thankfully nearly everything is transparent to the user.

See the full blog post with documentation and references at http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2009/03/24/windows-7-screencast-on-directaccess-the-killer-enterprise-feature.aspx.

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Windows 7 Screencast - BitLocker To Go [Windows 7 Screencast - BitLocker To Go]

Keith Combs — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:23:00 GMT

Lets face it, we all make mistakes. Fortunately there’s a new Windows 7 feature that might just save your bacon if you misplace a USB drive with sensitive information on it. You’ve probably heard about BitLocker. It’s the drive encryption technology that’s been around now for a little while. With Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, we took another step and now allow you to encrypt more than just the operating system drive. BitLocker To Go is an easy to use encryption technology that will allow you to encrypt the contents of a USB stick or drive and prevent prying eyes from looking at your data. Considering the number of recent horror stories about all sorts of sensitive data getting into the wrong hands, this feature is long overdue.

See the full blog post at http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2009/02/09/windows-7-screencast-bitlocker-to-go.aspx.

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Windows 7 Screencast - Resource Monitor (resmon)

Keith Combs — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:22:00 GMT

The other day I was complaining to myself (grumbling) about some application on my system using the wireless network nearly constantly. That sort of thing bugs me. It’s not like I was visiting one of those horrific myspace sites laden with heaven knows what. I suspected it might be one of the Silverlight player controls on my blog.

Since I had recently added the post David Tesar did on edge.technet.com, the spotlight was put on the Silverlight player in that post. Sure enough, it’s the culprit. It’s autoloading the data when the page is displayed. See for yourself at http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2009/01/28/internet-explorer-8-rc1-admin-kit-ieak-now-available-for-download.aspx. I reported this to the Edge team so hopefully they will change their defaults for their players. Mine don’t do that.

But how would you triage and troubleshoot the problem? My first inclination was to fire up netmon and start sniffing the wireless traffic. Netmon is a super powerful tool, but it’s probably overkill for spotting the culprit. What I should have done instead was fire up resmon.exe on Windows 7.

The new Resource Monitor in Windows 7 adds a lot of capabilities to the tool you see in the Reliability and Performance Monitor of Windows Vista. I really like those new views and displays so I thought it would be good to bring it to your attention.

Windows 7 Screencast - Problem Steps Recorder (PSR) [Windows 7 Screencast - Problem Steps Recorder (PSR)]

Keith Combs — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:26:00 GMT

Are you the “Computer Guy” ??? You know, the Saturday Night Live character Nick Burns played by Jimmy Fallon? Well, one of the reasons computer users bring out the “Nick Burns” in many of us is the disconnect in communications and lingo between computer experts and computer users.

Thankfully the developers of Windows 7 have included a blood pressure reducing little tool called the Problem Steps Recorder (PSR). You won’t find a whole lot of information on this nifty little tool yet, but nearly everyone that sees it and uses it agrees, this baby rocks.

See the full blog post @ http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2009/02/09/windows-7-screencast-problem-steps-recorder-psr.aspx

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OSS Screencast Series - Part 3 - Installing Wordpress on Windows Server 2008 [OSS Screencast Series - Part 3 - Installing Wordpress on Windows Server 2008]

Keith Combs — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:29:00 GMT

Why on earth would you run the LAMP stack on Windows? Well for one thing LAMP commonly refers to Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP. So running LAMP on Windows Server 2008 really means running it in a virtual machine and the only supported method for doing that at the moment is via SUSE Enterprise Server from Novell. This was discussed on the webcast I delivered today that more broadly discusses running Open Source Software (OSS) on Windows Server with IIS7.

In order to take one or more open source applications to the Windows platform, you might choose the prudent and safe route. First running the entire LAMP stack in a VM. Next, you might decide to remove the L and run the AMP portions on Windows Server 2008. That's where the meat of the webcast I did today really starts. You'll see in the second webcast demo we install Apache. Later we install PHP, MySQL then Drupal on top of all of that.

The purpose of the webcast is to highlight the migration and coexistence that is possible. You don't have to totally tear everything you know and love down and replace it. Windows Server 2008 will be happy to run Apache, MySQL and PHP. If you decide to replace pieces of that solution over time, you can do so pretty easily and that is demonstrated in the webcast replay.

I decided to record a higher fidelity version of some of the demos and instead of using the Drupal software used in the webcast, I used a common blogging software product called Wordpress. So here is Part 3, installing Wordpress.

See my blog post at http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2008/12/16/running-lamp-on-windows-server-2008-webcast-and-screencasts-now-available.aspx for more information.

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OSS Screencast Series - Part 2 - Installing MySQL on Windows Server 2008 [OSS Screencast Series - Part 2 - Installing MySQL on Windows Server 2008]

Keith Combs — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:26:00 GMT

I decided to record a higher fidelity version of some of the demos and instead of using the Drupal software used in the webcast, I used a common blogging software product called Wordpress. So here is Part 2 on installing MySQL.

See my blog post at http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2008/12/16/running-lamp-on-windows-server-2008-webcast-and-screencasts-now-available.aspx for more information.

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OSS Screencast Series - Part 1 - Installing PHP on Windows Server 2008 [OSS Screencast Series - Part 1 - Installing PHP on Windows Server 2008]

Keith Combs — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:25:00 GMT

I decided to record a higher fidelity version of some of the demos and instead of using the Drupal software used in the webcast, I used a common blogging software product called Wordpress. So here is Part 1 on installing PHP.

See my blog post at http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2008/12/16/running-lamp-on-windows-server-2008-webcast-and-screencasts-now-available.aspx for more information.

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A Fireside Chat with IT Pro Evangelist Yung Chou [A Fireside Chat with IT Pro Evangelist Yung Chou]

Keith Combs — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:03:00 GMT

Yung Chou has been on our team a few months now, but Matt and I decided to introduce him to the rest of you. As you can see in the video, Yung has a great sense of humor and is bullish about the future of Microsoft technologies. Both are good traits to have if you want to be an Evangelist for Microsoft.

And it doesn't hurt if you have an XBOX 360 and know how to use it. :)

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Halo 3 Recon - the saga continues [Halo 3 Recon - the saga continues]

Keith Combs — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:18:00 GMT

Just when you thought Halo 3 new development was over, the Bungie folks release a new teaser on some stuff cooking in their development labs.

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Windows Vista Complete PC Backup and Restore [Windows Vista Complete PC Backup and Restore]

Keith Combs — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:55:00 GMT

It’s been a while since I brought up a great feature in Windows Vista (not present in Windows XP) called Complete PC (CPC). Available in Windows Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions, Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore is a image-based backup tool that will help you out of a tight spot if you need to recover your entire system.

While file restore is useful in cases of file loss and data corruption, Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore is most useful for disaster recovery when your PC malfunctions. This feature helps you create complete PC backups, and then in the event of a serious system issue or data loss, Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore can restore your entire PC environment, including the operating system, installed programs, user settings, and data files.

You can restore your PC back to its original state or onto another PC. Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore can be initiated from within Windows Vista or from the Windows Vista installation CD, if the PC is not able to start up normally from the hard disk. This feature is also now integrated into Windows Server 2008 and part of the backup and recovery toolset on that platform.

Checkout the FAQ from the team that developed the feature. It’ll answer some questions about security, network backups, etc. If you really must have a Powerpoint slide deck on the subject, check this out.

Here’s a screencast on Complete PC. Don’t forget you can view this full screen by double clicking the video during playback or using the button on the player toolbar.

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Vista 30, Rootkits 0 [Vista 30, Rootkits 0]

Keith Combs — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:21:00 GMT

I’m glad to see some positive press on Windows Vista. Security is a tough business and when you’re on the desktops of millions of computers, everything is magnified to the Nth degree. A couple of recent articles and postings are getting a lot of attention. See “Vista's Despised UAC Nails Rootkits, Tests Find” by John E. Dunn. This of course got picked up on the popular site Neowin.

Since a lot of you aren’t yet running Windows Vista, here’s a quick refresh on the tech. In Windows Vista, there are two types of user accounts: standard user accounts and administrator accounts. Standard users are equivalent to the standard user account in previous versions of Windows. Standard users have limited administrative privileges and user rights—they cannot install or uninstall applications that install into %systemroot%, change system settings, or perform other administrative tasks. However, standard users can perform these tasks if they are able to provide valid administrative credentials when prompted. With UAC enabled, members of the local Administrators group run with the same access token as standard users. Only when a member of the local Administrators group gives approval can a process use the administrator’s full access token. This process is the basis of the principle of Admin Approval Mode.

See the TechNet article, “Understanding and Configuring User Account Control in Windows Vista” for a detailed review of UAC. If you want to see it in action, see the four minute video.

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WorldWide Telescope - video demo and information [WorldWide Telescope - video demo and information]

Keith Combs — Thu, 15 May 2008 05:22:00 GMT

Early this morning I downloaded the new WorldWide Telescope application from Microsoft Research. After exploring the galaxies, I decided this would be a cool screencast to demo the application for those of you that might not otherwise download, install and begin exploring. Your children are going to love this. Heck, you might have some fun, too!!!

The screencast is 5 minutes and was recorded at 1280x720. You should really see the application on my monitor at 1920x1200. Breathtaking is such an understatement. You’ll notice when watching the video that the panning isn’t very fluid and that is because I captured at 15 frames per second which is a low FPS for motion. You’ll also notice I am not capturing the audio of the application. That’s ok, it’ll just be an extra incentive to go check things out for yourself. So here’s a quick demo. Be sure to double click the Silverlight control to go full screen.

Full story and information on my blog at http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2008/05/13/worldwide-telescope-screencast-now-available.aspx.

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Imagine Cup Interview - Mark Aggar [Imagine Cup Interview - Mark Aggar]

Keith Combs — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:27:00 GMT

This years imagine cup has an environmental sustainability theme. The projects all focused on the environment and our impact on it. Busloads of High School kids for around the greater LA area came in to look at the projects. It was so nice and refreshing to see their take on the future of software and our technologies.

Microsoft is focused on environmental sustainability and Chris Henley was able to corner Mark Aggar (one of Microsoft's Environmental technologists) for a short interview about his participation at Imagine Cup and some of his thoughts around how software might impact the environment.

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Imagine Cup US Finals - Photography [Imagine Cup US Finals - Photography]

Keith Combs — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:13:00 GMT

Chris Henley spent some time in Los Angeles California this last week working with college and university students from around the United States. They were competing in the Imagine cup finals in the categories of photography, software design, and game design. He was so impressed with the work that they had done. Chris shot some video footage while at the event and wanted to share some of it with you so you could get an idea of what the competition is like.

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Who is going to MMS or TechED 2008? [Who is going to MMS or TechED 2008?]

Keith Combs — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:43:09 GMT

I'll be at both and will likely take a video camera to record some of the action. Who's going? Anything in particular you want me to capture?

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Las Vegas Windows Server 2008 Launch event - Paul Chrisco [Las Vegas Windows Server 2008 Launch event - Paul Chrisco]

Keith Combs — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:22:00 GMT

Matt Hester and I just got back from Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada where we attended the Windows Server 2008 launch events on both locations. We took along our video cameras for the ride and captured some customer and partner conversations.

Checkout the conversation I had with Paul Chrisco of Chrisco Consulting. Paul is the owner of his firm and as you can clearly see in the video, a straight shooter. Anyone that starts a business from scratch needs confidence, and Paul’s confidence in himself and his business comes across very nicely as well. The video is just over 10 minutes in length. Enjoy.

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Should Microsoft make a laptop? [Should Microsoft make a laptop?]

Keith Combs — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:26:09 GMT

Should Microsoft make a screaming laptop the clearly demonstrates Windows Vista running as it should run? Would this "reference platform" sell? What risk would there be to our existing partner channel by doing something so bold?

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Windows Vista Screencast - Hyper-V Remote Management [Windows Vista Screencast - Hyper-V Remote Management]

Keith Combs — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:33:00 GMT

By now I’m sure you’ve heard about the Remote Server Administration Toolkit (RSAT) that released and your ability to run those tools on Windows Vista SP1. Around the same timeframe, we shipped Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V RC0. A week after that, we shipped the RC0 tools that allow you to manage a Hyper-V role server from a Windows Vista SP1 admin workstation.

Here’s a quick 8 minute screencast on the subject to show you where to get the tools and once installed, what it looks like from your Vista desktop.

Full blog post and details at http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2008/04/15/windows-vista-screencast-hyper-v-remote-management.aspx.

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SCVMM 2007 Checkpoints are the new UNDO [SCVMM 2007 Checkpoints are the new UNDO]

Keith Combs — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 04:36:00 GMT

System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2007 has been released and one of my favorite new features is the Checkpoint management that is now possible. Spend ten minutes of your day watching the video demonstration to get an idea of what I'm talking about.

UNDO Disk Files

I'm sure many of you are used to using UNDO disk files with the virtual machines you are running on Virtual PC 2007 or Virtual Server 2005. I pretty much have to with my demos. I've always enjoyed using UNDO and was shocked to see it is not supported in SCVMM. Why might you ask?

See the rest of this article on my blog.

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Which is more important to you? WinXP SP3 or Vista SP1? [Which is more important to you? WinXP SP3 or Vista SP1?]

Keith Combs — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 07:26:30 GMT

Hello,

I'm curious on which release is more important to you today. Are you more interested in Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista SP1? Why?

Thanks,

Keith

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