I just started working on a LiveLesson DVD for Addison-Wesley tentatively titled "SQL Server Fundamentals for the Accidental DBA". The DVD will focus on the essential skills required to work with SQL Server for people that are not full-time DBAs. I will keep you posted as I have more details. For more information about the LiveLesson videos, check out http://www.informit.com/promotions/promotion.aspx?promo=135366. Eric
Co-Host CS Techcast
http://www.cstechcast.com
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If you haven't already heard, Microsoft is upping the ante in the
certification arena by introducing a new line of certs called the Microsoft Certified Master Program.
The gist of it is that these are certifications (currently only for SQL
Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, and Windows Server 2008) that
represent the highest skill level in building solutions based on the
specific product. A much more detailed blog post from the program owner
HERE.It's a lengthy post, be sure you have a minute to digest all of that information. Here's
the rub: many people already feel that certifications, particularly MS
certs, aren't all that valuable in the real world, because the certs
can be obtained by anyone patient enough to read the study materials
and take the test, without having any actual, useable, real world
experience. And on top of that, with the changes in recent
certifications from MS, many managers and HR reps don't even know what
the certs represent. So, how can adding a higher level cert be helpful
in any way? Well, personally speaking, I think they've got a good
deal with this one, with one caveat I'll speak to in a minute. This
particular certification, much like the Microsoft Certified Architect,
requires (as in MANDATORY) classroom training. For the SQL Server
Masters Cert, they are going to require that you already hold the
MCTS:2005 cert, as well as both the MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Pro)
SQL Server certs for DBA and Developer. And, they will need an
application, as well as a resume to see if they will accept you into
the program in the first place. All of which seems to, in my opinion,
make the cert a little more "weighty" than it's predecessors. Primarily
because this will make it hard for the cert to become watered-down by
literally hundreds of thousands of people holding it. Plus,once
accepted to the program, you have to pass 3 written exams AND a lab
based exam (similar to the Cisco CCIE).Again, I think that's a huge
plus. The idea behind all of this is that if you encounter someone that
holds the MCM for a given product, you should be able to reasonably
assume that they know, very well, what they are talking about. This
increases their value to a company, as well as value in their career. However. The
blog post says (and it may be an early report, but I don't imagine it's
too far off), that the program fee, IF you are accepted, will be in the
neighborhood of $18,500USD. This includes the mandatory 3 WEEK course
and ONE round of exams. If you fail any exam, retakes are extra: $250
for written tests and $1500 for the lab exam. In other words, this is
not likely to be a cert you can afford on your own. In fact, just to
meet the pre-requisites, you or your company has already forked over at
least $225-$250 in exam fees for the earlier exams, not to mention
training. Not only would an individual find this expensive, even a
small or medium business might find this to be too much to fork over.
The argument, of course, is that a business that employs someone that
holds a cert of this level has not only a strong technical resource,
but a good marketing tool (particularly those companies that are MS
Partners). So the question is not only "Am I good enough?", but "Who's
going to pay for this?". I would love to acheive this cert. I
currently have the MCITP:DBA, but never pushed on for the Dev MCITP (or
any others) because I felt like it was pointless. I really felt that if
you've spent more than 6 months with SQL Server, you could probably
pass the test(s). And if you've already built up a healthy resume of
experience, the MCITP cert doesn't really impress anyone as much as
your background and references will. However, I think the MCM would be
a much more difficult certification to earn, not only requiring you to
demonstrate expertise but probably deepen it during the training
courses. If nothing else, think of it this way: Many experts in
our field (think Kalen Delaney, Kimberly Tripp, Itzik Ben-Gan) have
made careers out of sharing their deep knowledge, and don't generally
advertise or glorify certifications (I don't know if they do or don't
hold any MS certs, but they certainly don't advertise it if they do).
Their body of work shows what they know. But, for those of use
somewhere in between "Senior DBA at XYZ Corp." and "SQL Server
Community Guru", a cert like this might help us get that slightly
higher paying job or even help us branch out on our own as consultants,
authors, and trainers. I'm curious to hear if anyone else out there has any thoughts. Please feel free to respond, thanks for stopping by!
--Josh
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No need to wait in line for our newest podcast; all the week's tech news and insight for IT Pros is here at CSTechcast.com. We explore the latest in delivering applications to remote and global networks with Zach Seils, author of Deploying Cisco Wide Area Application Services . This week, Microsoft lobs another offer at Yahoo, DNS gets patched across all vendors, NVidia slowly reveals more about their overheating laptop chips, cloud apps have downtime woes, SQL Server will be out in August, and a new Microsoft push for software plus services. Overreacting tech bloggers make "The Worst tech Move of the Week", we take "A Closer Look" at the new Microsoft Certified Master program, and "The Weekly Tech Tip" covers WSUS troubleshooting. Links to stories discussed during the show: Yahoo Rejects Joint Microsoft/Icahn Deal But Open To $33 Per Share All-Microsoft Sale (Search Engine Land)
Patch domain name servers now (ComputerWorld)
Report: NVIDIA issues cover all G84 and G86 GPUs (ZDNet)
Rackspace Downtime: A Reminder That All Are Vulnerable (TechCrunchIT)
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Due in August (eWeek)
Oracle, Salesforce.com Jump on iPhone Bandwagon (eWeek)
Microsoft still pushing Vista compatibility story (CNet)
iPhone 3G disaster (Scobleizer's Recent Qik Videos)
Microsoft Certified Master Program (Microsoft)
More on the Certified Master programs from me, Per, the program owner... (Technet Blogs)
Troubleshooting WSUS downloads (Technet Blogs) Thanks for listening and give Dana a warm welcome. She will be helping us out with the news and shaking up the format a bit. We hope you like her as much as we do. Don't forget our give away. Enter at CSTechcast.com for your chance to win and take our money in the form of an Amazon.com gift certificate. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=33 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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The new SQL Server installation is so different, I thought I would take a second to write about it. For starters, the whole thing is now called the SQL Server Installation Center. 
This tool is broken down into seven sections which include the following: - Planning - This section gives you access to documentation and allows you to run the upgrade advisor.
- Installation - This is where the rubber meets the road. You can install stand-alone instances, clusters, add-nodes to existing clusters, and even start upgrades from 2000 or 2005.
- Maintenance - Here you can change your edition of SQL Server (that's right - change - did you install developer edition on production by accident, here you can change to to enterprise), repair an installation, or remove a node from a cluster.
- Tools - Access to a few handy tools such as the System Configuration Checker, a report to tell you what SQL Server features are installed, and an SSIS upgrade wizard.
- Resources - Links to helpful documentation on SQL Server
- Advanced - This section lets you install SQL Server based on a configuration file, perform advanced cluster prep, or complete a cluster from already cluster-prepared SQL Servers.
- Options - Allows you to specify the architecture (x86, x64, or ia64) and the location of the install media.
Enough about the Installation Center, let's take a look at the stand alone installation. I am not going to walk through step-by-step, I just want to highlight some of the new features that I think are pretty cool. This is the face of the new instillation wizard. 
The first few screens are just some checks and then the installation of the prerequisites. After that's done we get to the meat of the installation. Even here, the first few screens are pretty straight forward asking if you are installing a new instance or changing an existing instance and another screen allowing you to enter you product key. The first screen that grabbed my attention was the Instance Configuration. Here you not only specify and instance name, but you an also specify the instance ID. The instance ID is used in folder naming instead of random numbers. By default the ID will be the name of your instance. 
The next few screens are your standard drive space overview and service account set up, nothing really new here. Ah, but then we get to the Database Engine Configuration screen which abounds with new options for security, file locations, and the new FILESTREAM type. The first tab, shown below, lets you set the authentication mode and set up accounts that will be administrators of SQL Server. Gone are the days of BUILTIN\Administrators and here are the days of telling SQL Server who you want to be administrators. 
The second tab, Data Directories, allows you to set up the default locations of some common files used by SQL Server. This really gives you a level of control that was previous a registry hack, done manually, or done after the installation was complete. You can set up individual locations for the following: - Data Root
- User Database Files
- User Database Log Files
- Temp DB Data
- Temp DB Log
- Backup Files
Last but not least, the third tab allows you to enabled FILESTREAM for T-SQL access. I won't get into FILESTREAM here, but it is a feature of SQL Server 2008 worth your further investigation. That's the bulk of the installation....one more check to look for problems that might cause the installation to fail and your off and running. I know the installation wizard isn't the sexiest new thing in SQL Server 2008, but there are some neat new things that made me happy so I wanted to share my rather geeky bliss.
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Come and get it, CSTechcast.com has the latest podcast for IT professionals posted for download. This week we get an IT compliance education with Don Jones. Find Don's vast expertise at his website concentratedtech.com. The news brings enhanced search for Adobe Flash on the web, no critical Microsoft patches this Tuesday, the VLC Player has buffer overflow security problem, Google gives away Rat Proxy to check for security on your websites, the Coreflood Trojan is waiting for an admin to logon, NVidia has heat problems with laptop chips, and Microsoft gets serious with a new yearly subscription model for Office. Twitter downtime gets "The Worst Tech Move of the Week", we take "A Closer Look" at cloud computing security, and "The Weekly Tech Tip" is all about SQL auditing.
Links to stories discussed during the show:
Adobe, Google, Yahoo Team for Flash Search (eWeek)
Four Microsoft Patches Due Tuesday; Not Rated Critical (PC World)
Critical vulnerability found in VLC Media Player (InfoWorld)
Google gives away free Web app security scanner (InfoWorld)
Trojan lurks, waiting to steal admin passwords (InfoWorld)
Nvidia reports problem with laptop chips (InfoWorld)
Microsoft Hopes Office Subscription Plan Will Counter Free Software (InformationWeek)
Get on the bandwagon, tweet us on Twitter @cstechcast or friend us at FriendFeed, friendfeed.com/cstechcast. As always, give us a call, post on the blog, or send us some feedback on the main website cstechcast.com. Stay tuned for some changes and enhancements coming soon to CS Techcast. If you like us, post a review on your favorite podcast directory or blog about it. Thanks for listening.
Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=32
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The latest CSTechcast.com podcast is up. This week we discuss social networking and how we take it into business and gain personally with Patrice-Anne Rutledge, author of The Truth About Profiting from Social Networking. Be social and visit patricerutledge.com. In the news; Microsoft stops selling Windows XP, but keeps a loophole for business and extends support, Hyper-V goes RTM, Cisco updates its edge network solution with VMWare support, new tools are released to deal with recent SQL injection attacks, database market share shows Oracle in the clear lead, and IT spending is not reducing security threats. Suing web sites over negative comments gets "The Worst Tech Move of the Week", we take "A Look Back" at Bill Gates' time at Microsoft, and we give SQL Server admins plenty of detail to avoid worst practices in "The Weekly Tech Tip". Links to stories discussed during the show:
Microsoft Pledges Windows XP Support Through 2014 (InformationWeek)
Hyper-V: It’s here (ZDNet)
Virtualization Key Enhancement To Cisco Data Center 3.0 (InformationWeek)
Microsoft Puts Bull's-Eye on SQL Injection Attacks (eWeek)
IDC: Oracle Maintains Lead in Database Market (PC World)
2008 Security Survey: We're Spending More, But Data's No Safer Than Last Year (InfomationWeek)
Car dealership sues consumer site over bad feedback, loses (ArsTechnica) Look for a not so hidden blooper in this episode. Support us by sending in your comments and posting a review on iTunes or your favorite podcast directory. See you next week and thanks everyone for listening. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=31 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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We even podcast on vacation, bringing you the latest tech information for IT professionals at CStechcast.com from fabulous Las Vegas. This week, we delve into Vista with the authors of Using Microsoft Windows Vista Robert Cowart and Brian Knittel. In the news, Firefox gets it's 3.0 on while Microsoft previews more IE8 features, the new iPhone gets some enterprise functionality while hopefully not tarnishing its cool factor, Oracle adds social networking to CRM, Microhoo finally break up (could Bradgalena be next?) while Yahoo gets on the rebound with Google, and PC shipments stay healthy in Asia. Short sighted middle management gets our "Worst Tech Move of the Week" and "The Weekly Tech Tip" presents the incredible, shrinking partition. Links to stories discussed during the show:
Mozilla to release Firefox 3 on June 17 (InfoWorld)
Next Internet Explorer 8 beta targets IT pros (PC Advisor)
Coming To The iPhone: Enterprise Apps (Information Week)
Oracle Touts Social Networks For Salespeople (Information Week)
Yahoo `Damaged Goods' After Yang Fails to Revive Deal (Bloomberg)
IDC Calls for PC Market to Grow 15 Percent (eWeek) We bring you CS Techcast even when on vacation, and we will keep bringing you more shows you can use to stay informed every week. Help us out by putting your review of our show on your preferred podcast directory and especially on iTunes. Help us grow the show and keep in contact with us, all our contact information is on the web site CStechcast.com. Thanks for listening. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=29 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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Info for IT pros, get ready to download the latest audio at CStechcast.com. Crimeware is the focus this week, as we interview expert Markus Jakobsson, author of Crimeware: Understanding New Attacks and Defenses. In the news; Adobe gives a preview of the new Acrobat 9 integrated with the new acrobat.com web site, Microsoft warns on the monthly round of patches, spear phishing catches 15,000 big fish, AMD starts to make a serious notebook push with Puma, Opera one ups the browser competition in the fight against malware, and we review the latest rumor mill around the next generation Apple iPhone. Spying end users for targeted ads is first place in "The Worst Tech Move of the Week" and "The Weekly Tech Tip" gives the accidental SQL DBA some great pointers. Links to stories discussed during the show:
Adobe offers Acrobat 9 (InfoWorld)
Microsoft Patch Tuesday: 7 Security Bulletins (eWeek)
Spear-phishing Attacks Have Hooked 15,000, Says Verisign (PC World)
AMD's Puma pounces; misses red-hot netbook market (ArsTechnica)
Opera Bolsters Web Browser with New Malware Protection (eWeek)
Next-Gen iPhone Preview: Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference '08 (Information Week)
Breaking: Exclusive leaked pics of the iPhone 2! (CrunchGear) Keep the love coming with reviews on your preferred podcast site, especially iTunes. Give us your comments and feedback on the blog, via e-mail, or by voicemail. All details are available at CStechcast.com. Thanks to everyone for listening. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=28 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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While remote access solutions have given us a unique way to access our networks and applications -- and provide a new level of worker productivity -- these solutions can inadvertently provide hackers a portal to your entire network if the security features are compromised.
This is especially true now that the mobile workforce has become a reality for organizations across all industries, and the ubiquitousness of the Internet is fueling more cost effective remote solutions, the security perimeter is anywhere your employees can hang their hats.
The latest white paper, "Like Stealing Candy: Recent Security Threats Leave Passwords in the Open", from authors Eric Beehler and Eric Johnson is now posted at Redmond Magazine's Tech Library: www.redmondmag.com/techlibrary. There is also a companion web cast recorded that we finished last week. Get the latest on threats to remote access and solutions available to neutralize those threats.
Link to white paper: http://redmondmag.com/techlibrary/resources.asp?id=667
Link to webcast: http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=109811&s=1&k=228FC12DBA871955999704159BAD33EA&partnerref=library
- Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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Another podcast is up and available at CStechcast.com, the podcast for IT professionals. This week we talk about the history and the future of networks with John Day, author of Patterns in Network Architecture. The news brings cloud computing to your data center with a new product from HP, easier Web 2.0 APIs from Google, details on Windows 7 and Ruby on .NET, and a warning on Apple Safari on Windows. Lack of data breach disclosure "The Worst Tech Move of the Week", getting Vista's search to work right in the "Weekly Tech Tip", and we take "A Closer Look" at smartphone security in your network. Links to stories discussed during the show:
HP Building Out Web 2.0 Infrastructures (eWeek)
Google Delivers New AJAX APIs (eWeek)
Google's Gears Gains Ground (eWeek)
Google Shows Off Android (eWeek)
Microsoft linking Silverlight, Ruby on Rails (InfoWorld)
Windows 7 to have touch-screen interface (InfoWorld)
Court finds Dell guilty of fraud (InfoWorld)
Dell shares jump after solid 1Q results (Business Week)
Microsoft Warns Of Security Vulnerability Arising From Apple's Safari (Information Week)
Microsoft Security Advisory (953818) (Microsoft.com) Check out the review of our podcast at That Podcast Show: http://www.imaginatepro.com/thatpodcastshow/?p=78 As always, show your appreciation for CS Techcast by dropping us an e-mail, voicemail, or blog post. You can also write a review in your favorite podcast directory and in iTunes. This will help get the word out and help us continue to bring you a great podcast every week. Thanks to everyone for listening. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=27 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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Six months of weekly podcasts all for the IT professional and we continue our march forward at CStechcast.com. This week we explore VMware ESX virtualization with Edward L. Haletky, author of VMware ESX Server in the Enterprise. Find information from the author at http://astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Virtualization. In the news; Microsoft announces support for ODF and PDF in an upcoming Office service pack, Citrix debuts its Branch Repeater for remote office support over the WAN, Google gives us the Safe Browsing Diagnostic Tool to check web sites for malware, jobs openings involving virtualization skills are up 40 percent, and some companies look to allow employees to use their own laptops on the corporate network. Microsoft gets rid of their academic search tools for the "Worst Tech Move of the Week", we take "A Closer Look" at how to get started with virtualization, and a quick "Weekly Tech Tip" on how to make a shortcut in Vista with admin privs to help save you some time. Links to stories discussed during the show:
All eyes on how Microsoft pulls off ODF support (InfoWorld)
Google's Safe Browsing Diagnostic Tool (Search Engine Land)
Microsoft, Citrix Unveil 'Swiss Army Knife' Remote System (Information Week)
Virtualization Job Openings Jump 40% (eWeek)
Microsoft embraces 'Bring Your Own Laptop' model (CNet News.com)
Microsoft Shuts Down Book Search (PC World) For those looking for the Google Browsing Diagnostic Tool, just use the following URL and put the URL for your web site at the end: http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site= As I mentioned above, CS Techcast is celebrating six months of expert interviews, news for IT pros, segments that can help you out and give you more insight, and having fun just by having an outlet to express our personalities. We've brought you technical leaders and industry expertise such as Bill Inmon, John C. Dvorak, Kalen Delaney, and Greg Shields just to name a few. We've also brought you extras such as our special video episode from SQL PASS Camp. We would love for you, a member of our loyal audience, to spread the word about our show so we can continue to bring you everything we have and more. You can help us by writing a review in your favorite podcast directory, filling out our listener survey, blogging about us, and telling your friends to subscribe. Thanks for listening and we will continue to bring you more at CStechcast.com. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=26 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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IT pros get another podcast chock full of information and irreverence, at CStechcast.com. This week we put the focus back onto the brand new Windows Server 2008 operating system with Rand Morimoto, author of Windows Server 2008 Unleashed. Tech news sees the demise of the MicroHoo merger, Windows XP Service Pack 3 gets PCs to go on endless reboots, a new security bulletin on a new Trojan infecting half a million PCs, patch Tuesday sees 4 new patches, Office 2007 SP1 is coming to automatic updates, Google sets up a new enterprise hosted security service, and we take a peek at the 10 worst workplaces in tech. A continuing trend of knocking a good app developed with Microsoft tools gets "The Worst Tech Move of the Week", fanboys get a freestyle rant in the "IT Pet Peeve", and the "Weekly Tech Tip" helps you hack the Vista experience index. Links to stories discussed during the show:
The MicroHoo Fallout (eWeek)
Trojan Infects More Than 500,000 PCs (eWeek)
Continuous Reboots Plague Windows XP SP3 Users (PC Magazine)
Four Patches Coming in May (ENT News)
Google gains on Microsoft with hosted security offering (C|Net News.com)
The 10 Worst Workspaces in Tech (ValleyWag)
Building a web app the Microsoft way (ThinkVitamin.com)
Maybe Microsoft isn't completely useless on the web, after all (C|Net Blogs) Thanks everyone for downloading and listening to the CS Techcast. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=24 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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Our latest weekly podcast for IT Pros, available at CStechcast.com, is released to the world. This week we try to tap our inner CSI with Keith J. Jones, author of Real Digital Forensics, available alone or in the Computer Forensics Library Boxed Set. Find more info at realdigitalforensics.com. The news finds Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Vista Service Pack 1 pulled back from Windows Updates, the BlueHat conference exposes easy antivirus hacks, third party solutions aim to help Ruby on Rails scale, SharePoint gets a new administration toolkit, and dirty secrets of the security industry are revealed. Eric Schmidt's obsession with Microsoft gets "The Worst Tech Move of the Week", we take "A Closer Look" at the recent SQL injection attacks and what you can do about it, and joining a domain from afar using Vista is our "Weekly Tech Tip". Links to stories discussed during the show:
XP update delayed over glitch (C|Net News.com)
Vista SP1 auto updates also halted (C|Net News.com)
Antivirus holes, browser spies are highlights at Microsoft's BlueHat hacker sessions (C|Net News.com)
Making Ruby on Rails Scale (eWeek)
Twitter Said To Be Abandoning Ruby on Rails (TechCrunch)
Announcing the First Release of the Microsoft SharePoint Administration Toolkit (Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Team Blog)
7 dirty secrets of the security industry (InfoWorld)
Schmidt in CNBC interview: We're concerned about Microhoo (C|Net News.com)
SQL Injection Attacks on IIS Web Servers (BillS IIS Blog) We love bringing you the show and hope everyone who listens appreciates the effort. Let us know what you think; post to the blog, send us an e-mail, or call us. Details for contacting us can be found at CStechcast.com. Review our show at your favorite podcast directory, including iTunes, and let everyone know how you like CS Techcast. Thanks everyone for listening. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=23 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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This week's new podcast, available at CStechcast.com, gives IT pros another dose of news and expert information. Microsoft Office 2007 Servers is the topic with J. Peter Bruzzese, author of Administrator's Guide to Microsoft Office 2007 Servers and regular contributor to Infoworld.com, among his many endeavors. Find him on the web at cliptraining.com. In the news; Microsoft floods us with bad news on desktops, the Yahoo merger, and it's database share, but hey Live Mesh is cool along with Yahoo! announcing a redesign at the Web 2.0 Conference, SQL injection attacks are on the rise, and IT pay takes a depressing dip. You would think a non-profit charity like One Laptop Per Child could steer clear of making "The Worst Tech Move of the Week", the "Weekly Tech Tip" gives us a refresher about DNS on Windows with some useful tricks, and we get the "Point / Counterpoint" on system administrators specializing in more than one OS. Links to stories discussed during the show:
Microsoft Windows Sales Plunge 24% Amid Rising Competition (Information Week)
Microsoft Flexible On Windows XP End Date, Ballmer Says (Information Week)
In Database Market, Oracle Gets Bigger, Others Hang On (Information Week)
Microsoft Demos Live Mesh (eWeek)
Yahoo plans makeover with elements of social network (Washington Post)
The Web 2.0 economy hangs in limbo (C|Net News.com)
Microsoft: Web at the center, not PC (C|Net News.com)
SQL attack hits 500,000 websites (vnunet.com)
SQL Infection Hits Over 500K Webpages, Infiltrates DHS And UN (mashable.com)
Walter Bender Resigned from One Laptop Per Child!! (olpcnews.com)
OLPC CTO founds own company, aims at $75 laptop (Ars Technica)
Average Info Tech Pay Drops To $105,000 For Managers, $78,000 For Staff, Our Survey Finds (Information Week) For those looking for additional information on the SQL Injection attacks plaguing vulnerable Internet pages, please follow this link to the SANS posts: http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=4331. For anyone interested in viewing some of J. Peter Bruzzese video training material, point your browser to youtube.com/cliptraining. For anyone who enjoys our podcast through iTunes, please write up a nice note in their reviews section or on your favorite podcast directory. If you like what you hear, share it with a friend; send them to CStechcast.com. Thanks everyone for listening and, please, give us your feedback. Keep tuning in every week for a new episode of CS Techcast. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=22 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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After tons of feedback from the community, MS has decided to release another Service Pack for SQL Server 2005. More information on the Data Platform Insider Blog. Of course, there's not much detail about what will be IN the SP, but I think this is a huge step in maintaining good standing with customers. While many people jumped at the chance to go from SQL Server 2000 to 2005, the jump to 2008 will be a little more hesitant, mostly because of the difficulty in moving database platforms in production environments. Hopefully, this SP will give people a "longer life" in SQL 2005, while giving them the opportunity to more carefully evaluate SQL Server 2008.
--Josh
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The latest CS Techcast podcast is here with news, views, and interviews for IT professionals at cstechcast.com. This week we discuss Microsoft Expression Web and the approach of these tools in a Web 2.0 world with Jim Cheshire, author of Using Microsoft Expression Web 2. Find Jim at www.jimcobooks.com. The news brings new web mashup design and an updated Live Maps from Microsoft's Live platform, Forrester is going against conventional wisdom with Vista in business, Citrix turns up the heat on the competition with smooth delivery of applications via virtualization on their XenDesktop beta, and an increasing zero day worry as a Microsoft vulnerability exploit is in the wild two days after the patch release. Blog aggregating gets aggravating for "The Worst Tech Move of the Week", virtual Josh gives us advice on Windows and how to avoid getting tripped up by service principle names in "The Weekly Tech Tip", and we take "A Closer Look" at the Microsoft MVP Summit. Links to stories discussed during the show: Ozzie's Mesh Mashup (eWeek Microsoft Watch)
Hands on: new Microsoft Live Maps improvements impressive (Ars Technica)
Don't Skip Vista, Forrester Study Says (PC World)
Citrix`s Smooth New XenDesktop (eWeek)
MS08-021: A Must-Patch Vulnerability (eWeek)
For Sale: 3 Blogs, Barely Used; Seller Highly Motivated (TechNewsWorld) CS Techcast is proud to bring you a quality podcast every week, without fail. If you enjoy it, share it with your friends and point them to cstechcast.com. As always, thanks for listening. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=21 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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This week's podcast at cstechcast.com concentrates on technology trends that matter to IT pros. We have an extended interview with long time industry expert, PC Magazine and MarketWatch columnist, and Cranky Geeks host John C. Dvorak where we discuss Google's platform as a service, Dell's shrinking relevance, and Microsoft's apparent soft opening for Windows Server 2008. Find John C. Dvorak at dvorak.org/blog. The news brings us Gartner's top disruptive technology trends that may mean upgrades to your internal apps for multi-core and a further move towards mashup development, Gartner also stirs the pot by declaring that Windows is collapsing in the face of code bloat and web apps, and we also put forth a whole series of security updates from Oracle, Adobe, and post warning about malware on USB keys from HP that hold software for Proliant servers. Gartner's report on the untenable state of Windows is declared "The Worst Tech Move of the Week". We also give away Quest Software's Change Director for SQL Server to a lucky listener. 
Links to stories discussed during the show: Gartner: Multicore, Clouds, Social Nets Top Disruptive List (PC World)
Google Hosts Web Applications By Outside Software Developers (Wall Street Journal)
Windows is 'collapsing,' Gartner analysts warn (ComputerWorld)
Oracle Warns of Critical DB Server Vulnerabilities (eWeek)
Adobe Issues Critical Flash Player Update (eWeek)
HP ships USB sticks with malware (C|Net News.com)
What happened at Dell? (MarketWatch) We dropped a couple regular segments this week to bring you all the goodness of the Dvorak interview, but we will be back with those segments next week, including an update from the Microsoft MVP summit. After our interview with John C. Dvorak this week, we were mentioned on Dvorak's Tech 5 podcast Thursday, April 10th, 2008 entitled "Yahoo and Google both Freaked", available at tech5.podshow.com, on the discussion we had about the lack of real press and marketing surrounding the release of Windows Server 2008. We are expecting a full blown article from Dvorak based on our discussion of the subject soon. Thank you to Quest Software for providing valuable software to our listeners. Visit quest.com for information on their full suite of management products for applications, databases, and Windows. Tell your friends to visit cstechcast.com. Thanks. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=20 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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We interviewed John C. Dvorak this Thursday for CS Techcast episode 20, to be release Monday, about several interesting IT trends. One topic we touch on is the seemingly soft, targeted debut of Windows Server 2008. There was almost no press about it in the general media or even the tech press except within the Microsoft-specific tech community and some enterprise IT trade papers like eWeek. My speculation is that Vista and the negative response received from its big release is causing Microsoft to be cautious about its launch so they don't attract bad press as the "Vista for servers", which is true in the same ways XP and Server 2003 share similar kernel code.
Today, the day after this discussion for the upcoming CS Techcast releasing Monday, a new Gartner report says that Windows is collapsing. They report the continuing trend towards web apps and the increasing irrelevance of Windows as reasons why Microsoft must go through with the Yahoo merger. With only a 6.3% adoption rate for Vista in business, they tell us that companies cannot make the justification for a migration to Vista when there is no obvious benefit to the new OS. They also cite the need for a new version of the client OS to mend fences, but the very large code base of Vista and the massive effort it will take to turn it into a smaller, leaner version of itself to address the many criticisms hurled at it in the past year will take a while. In the end, though, web apps may make the version of Windows you are running largely a moot point in the very near future.
Make sure you tune into the latest release of CS Techcast this Monday for our discussion of Windows Vista and Server 2008, pre-Gartner report, and more insight with John C. Dvorak. Find the CS Techcast podcast at cstechcast.com.
- Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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CStechcast.com brings you another information filled podcast for IT pros. This week we interview Ben Day, Microsoft MVP for C#, conference speaker, and leader of the Beantown.NET User Group to get into the benefits and how to avoid the controversy of LINQ. Find him online at Benday.com. In the news we see the nail in Windows XP sales coffin, we explore Windows 7 rumors, you get exposed to a plethora of security patches, go head first into IRS phishing, see the resurgence of backscatter spam, more DDoS traffic, get some much needed help from a honeypot client, look at VMWare's latest release to control VM's, and confirm what we already knew about the direction of IT this year. Creative shuts down helpful user written Vista drivers for "The Worst Tech Move of the Week", we show you why SPNs are important for domain accounts in IIS and SQL in the "Weekly Tech Tip", and we take "A Closer Look" at IT conferences. Quest Software is giving away a copy of Change Director for SQL Server. Enter using the "Contest" link at CStechcast.com.
Links to stories discussed during the show:
Microsoft Windows XP Dies June 30, as Planned (eWeek)
Windows 7, Successor To Vista, May Ship Next Year (Information Week)
Critical IE, Office, Windows Patches on Deck (eWeek)
Another Phishing Scam Spoofs IRS (ENT News)
Backscatter Spam Is Back (eWeek)
Internet tubes dripping with "raw sewage" of DDoS attacks (Ars Technica)
VMware Adds Control To Burgeoning Virtual Infrastructure (Information Week)
Report: IT Heads Back to Basics (eWeek)
Creative Labs Stops Guy From Making Its Technology Work Better (Techdirt)
Setspn Overview (Microsoft TechNet)
The Big Giveaway is Closing Soon!
Don't miss our big giveaway of Quest Software's Change Director for SQL Server. Change Director for SQL Server provides a powerful automated solution for managing change to SQL Server databases. Please enter using the "Contest" button on the CStechcast.com homepage.
Leave comments at the blog, on the feedback form, or at our voicemail. Thanks for listening this week and every week.
Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=19
- Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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After Microsoft’s Windows Vista went RTM last year I quickly installed in onto my desktop and then my laptop. Both were manufactured before the release of Vista. My desktop was a bit more than a year and a half old and my laptop about 8 months old and came with the ubiquitous Windows Vista Capable sticker. On the desktop, I did an upgrade, followed about a month later by a fresh install to the same partition. Recently, I bought a brand spanking new laptop for my wife, who needed to have her 8 year old Compaq laptop replaced because every time the virus signature update initiates, it locks up the whole machine. It was just getting too slow and its battery was certainly out of juice. I’m not throwing it out, but it’s just not that pleasant an experience if you need to do more than surf the web and check e-mail. So, I went high end with the processor, an HP 2700 Special Edition series Intel Penryn class 2.5 GHz beast, a nice 2GB of RAM, 120 GB hard disk, DVD writer, 14.1” Brite View screen, discrete NVidia 8400 graphics, extended life battery, HDMI port, fingerprint reader; it has the works for an everyday machine. It should last just as long as the last one did. And, it came pre-loaded with Windows Vista Home Premium, my first machine pre-loaded with the OS. The interface was smooth and functionality was without issue. The only problem I ran into was my network printer driver for the HP color laser printer 2605dtn, so I had to download the full CD. HP doesn’t provide the small driver for the network version of this printer. I noted a problem with IE after the installation of the CD where the HP Web Clips feature add on was crashing IE so I disabled it. The experience was so nice that I decided it was time to re-install Windows Vista on my other computers. My first candidate was my laptop, an HP DV 5190. It’s an early dual core Intel processor T2400. It’s sold as a budget processor today, but it was one of the best at the time. I know a reinstall won’t fix everything. It definitely runs hotter than the new model, a given with the Penryn’s advances in power consumption and my bigger 15.4” screen. It’s also been dropped once or twice going through airports, car rental buses, and sitting on hotel beds, so some cosmetic damage has been done. My biggest problems were around my upgrade path for the machine. I chose an in place upgrade to Vista at the time because of all the pre-installed software. From what I could tell, HP put many things on the machine that worked against proprietary features such as the TV tuner, DVD, function buttons, etc. and they were not available for download at the time either. The Vista driver list was very small, just a card reader driver I think. On top of that, I really didn’t have time to get my system right after a full install. I was in the middle of writing a book for goodness sakes. So, after the upgrade I had multiple conflicts with said vendor software. I ran MSconfig and disabled a bunch of startup programs, which seemed to work for some stuff, but MSconfig is not supposed to be a permanent solution so it would pop up to tell me some programs were not started. OK, so then I would go and uninstall a bunch of these programs, but some HP core program kept popping up a C++ error whenever I would resume from sleep or a reboot. It was annoying and the system just seemed slow. Other problems I had was video from DVD being jerky and the inability to run a SD card as a ReadyBoost drive, even though I bought a faster Ultra II series card. This weekend I ran a file backup using the built in File Backup in Vista to an external hard drive. I didn't want a whole image, just the important stuff. After a couple hours and a quick safety backup of some pictures to a USB key, I was ready. I popped the DVD into the drive and rebooted. No problemo. I told Vista setup to install and went to the advanced link for disk management. I deleted two partitions, one of which was the HP partition that was eating 12GB of my hard drive space. That wasn't ever a cool decision by HP in my opinion. I setup a new, single partition. I didn’t format the drive, but just told setup to proceed with the install. Vista handled the rest with no further prompting from me. After a reboot I did the regular things, such as account and time zone setup. After another reboot I was in business. A fresh install, which is the fastest this thing will ever boot with Vista. Next, I setup wireless networking by clicking on the network icon on the taskbar and entered the passphrase for my network. I connected and got an IP address, but it wouldn’t connect to the Internet. I opened the Network and Sharing Center and the graphical network map showed a disconnect to the Internet. After a click on “Diagnose and Repair” an automated repair of the network initiated, first tried an IP address refresh, but it ultimately disabled and reenabled the network adapter. I was now able to browse the web.
 The first order of business was a download of Vista Service Pack 1. It’s not showing in Windows Update yet, so I downloaded it manually without a pass through the 45 patches Windows Update identified as critical and important. Service Pack 1 took another 30 minutes more or less to install. No problems with the service pack, which I’m sure is an easy result on a machine with nothing else installed, including security software. Windows Update only needed to install a couple things after the service pack, along with optional software like my “Vista Ultimate” copy of Texas Hold’em Poker and a couple of hardware drivers. Then I went for anti-virus software. Having more than 3 computers in the house means two buys of Norton Internet Security every year. It may not be the geek's preference for AV, but it keeps all the family computers safe and secure. The only other issue was my integrated card reader. Vista didn’t have the right driver for the TI chipset, so I went over to HP’s web site, downloaded the right driver, and installed. Problem gone, but HP could have provided this driver to Microsoft for availability in Windows Update. Next were my network printers and, to my surprise, the HP Color Laser installed with no need for an external driver download which was required on the other, new laptop. I guess it was added with SP1. This keeps me away from the bloatware like HP Web Clips. Rebuilding your box is kind of like spring cleaning. When you’re done it makes you say ahhhh. All the quirky little problems seem to be cleared up, but some things still needed to be resolved. One is the video driver. Vista still installs the old WDDM version of the NVidia driver that came on the original DVD, which is a very poor performer and has major problems with video from my experience. Since NVidia laptop chipsets are considered OEM, NVidia wants you to download the driver from the manufacturer. The problem is HP hasn’t updated the driver for my laptop since March 2007 and it sucks too. I used the excellent laptopvideo2go.com package, a free download, which plugs in the OEM files to the driver so you can run the latest and greatest. Trust me, you want newer than last year’s drivers because video drivers from all the major chipset vendors were notoriously bad when Vista debuted. You also realize after a fresh install that you are missing certain programs that you don’t even think about until you realize they are gone. For me these are Nero Burning ROM, PowerISO, SnagIt, iTunes, Virtual PC, and Firefox. Microsoft Office 2007 went on too. I’m going to try to stay away from the crapware that tends to bog down your system in the first place. Vista freshly installed with SP1 on my old machine makes it feel like new, its a nice feeling.
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CStechcast.com brings you another audio podcast filled with a half hour of solid information for IT professionals. This week we interview Andy Leonard, Microsoft MVP and co-author of several books including Professional Software Testing with Visual Studio 2005 Team System: Tools for Software Developers and Test Engineers, and we talk about the importance of database testing. In the news we talk about some major security gaffs involving malware on servers that led to identity theft and rigged searches on major web sites, plus new attacks against DNS, hacking Windows Server 2008 and the MacBook Air, and EnterpriseDB's open source Postgres database gets new life with new funding and a competitive update. The "Worst Tech Move of the Week" goes to Warner's proposed music tax on ISPs, the "Weekly Tech Tip" brings you ways to improve page file performance in Windows, and disaster recovery planning gets "A Closer Look". A big giveaway for you from Quest Software for a copy of Change Director for SQL Server, so enter at our web site CStechcast.com by clicking the Contest button. Links to stories discussed during the show: Attackers booby-trap searches at top Web sites (C|Net News.com)
Malware Cited in Supermarket Data Breach (Associated Press)
EnterpriseDB Looks to Bolster Product Line (eWeek)
NIST Unveils Tool To Foil DNS Attacks (ENT Magazine)
Minimizing Information Leakage in the DNS (National Institute for Standards and Technology)
MacBook Air Hacked In Two Minutes (Information Week)
Hacker Pours Cold Water on Windows Server 2008 Security Design (eWeek)
Warner Music Pushes ISP Tax For Music Downloads (Information Week)
Jim Griffin says ISP music tax only one possibility (C|Net News.com) Don't Miss The Giveaway! Don't miss our big giveaway of Quest Software's Change Director for SQL Server. Change Director for SQL Server provides a powerful automated solution for managing change to SQL Server databases. Please enter using the "Contest" button on the CStechcast.com homepage. Leave comments at the blog, on the feedback form, or at our voicemail. Tell your friends to subscribe to CS Techcast! Thanks for listening. Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=18 - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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Web 2.0 is all the rage, making users more productive by offering new programming methods and applications used on an Internet platform. This expanding ability for greater productivity is great, but it comes with a side effect; new security threats that were previously unheard of. New attacks require new security considerations for your environment. We cover recent threats from Web 2.0, Flash, bot-nets, and we talk about some new considerations you should think about as you move forward in protecting your network with these new threats lurking. Download the white paper from us, Eric Beehler and Eric Johnson, at http://redmondmag.com/techlibrary/resources.asp?id=621. - Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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The title, a play on translated Japanese advertising; the cstechcast.com podcast, real information for IT professionals. Get ready for the newly released Microsoft Windows Server 2008 operating system with our interview of Greg Shields, frequent TechMentor presenter, Redmond Magazine contributing editor, and author of the new book: Windows Server 2008: What’s New/What’s Changed. Check out the details and a free sample chapter at sapienpress.com. The news hails the coming of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 along with lingering problems and updated Microsoft Deployment tools; FireFox 3, Safari for Windows, and IE 8 are bringing back the 90's; it's Browser Wars 2: Attack of the Clones, Hyper-V may break the Microsoft release pattern with an EARLY release, and reality show "The Office" proves itself to be a self fulfilling prophecy. Comcast gets all up in the grill of the FCC for the "Worst Tech Move of the Week", the "Weekly Tech Tip" is presented by our SharePoint Zen master, and we discuss the book The Rational Guide to Building Technical User Communities in our rip off segment of Oprah's book club with "What We're Reading". Thank's to Quest Software for sponsoring the software giveaway, enter at cstechcast.com. Find them at quest.com.
Links to stories discussed during the show:
Vista SP1 Goes Live (ENT Mag)
Windows Vista SP1 Wreaks Havoc On Some PCs, Users Complain (Information Week)
Microsoft deployment tools ready as Windows Server 2008 arrives (TechTarget)
Mozilla says Firefox 3 ready for prime-time (Reuters)
Battle of the betas: Firefox 3 beats IE8 (Computer World)
Apple launches Safari for Windows (ZD Net)
Court Notes That Empty 'The Office'-Style Workplace Concepts Not Subject To Copyright (TechDirt)
Comcast Says FCC Has No Authority To Stop Traffic Shaping (TechDirt)
We metioned author Greg Low, author of The Rational Guide to Building Technical User Communities. We also wanted to provide a link to his SQL Server podcast at sqldownunder.com. Thanks Greg for keeping the spirit of real life technology communities alive.
Giveaway!
Don't miss our big giveaway of Quest Software's Change Director for SQL Server. Change Director for SQL Server provides a powerful automated solution for managing change to SQL Server databases. We appreciate your listenership, so take advantage of this attempt at buying your love. This is a great package and your chances of winning are pretty good, so don't forget to enter at cstechcast.com.
Link to the episode: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=17
- Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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CStechcast.com brings another podcast episode to the starting line with guest Kalen Delaney. This SQL Server expert and authoritative author of the Inside SQL Server series gives us her take on SQL Server 2008. Find the latest from Kalen Delaney at insidesqlserver.com and SQLCommunity.com. In the news; 10,000 legitimate sites were hit by a SQL injection to deliver malware, Microsoft get their Dynamics apps revved up for the enterprise, Apple makes the iPhone business savvy, and the NCAA gets set to dunk on your network bandwidth. The "Worst Tech Move of the Week" is pre-installed with viruses courtesy of bad Q.C. at Chinese factories, we reach back in our storied histories for our favorite "Data Center Disasters", and the "Tech Tip" exposes easy to use shortcut keys in SQL Server Management Studio.
Links to stories discussed during the show:
Hackers Look to Steal Online Gaming Passwords
Anatomy of a SQL Injection Incident
Anatomy of a SQL Injection Incident, Part 2
A Glimpse of Microsoft's Enterprise Goals
Apple releases iPhone SDK, announces push e-mail, Exchange support
How to Not Bring the Network to Its Knees During March Madness
Shout out to the "Couple of Admins" podcast at mindofroot.com, Steve Jones at the Voice of the DBA podcast and SQLserverCentral.com, and Peter Varhol at the Redmond Report for giving us props. Don't forget to leave your comments here on this blog, refer-a-friend to our podcast from the link on our homepage, leave your feedback, and keep tuning into cstechcast.com.
Link to CS Techcast Episode 16 podcast: http://www.cstechcast.com/home.aspx?Episode=16
- Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)
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