IT Knowledgebase Articles

It can seem at times we all have an overwhelming amount of things to do and information to deal with. Solutions like Microsoft 365 are supposed to help us collaborate and be more productive. But unless you understand the tools and how to best create a process that works for you and your team, it…

In this article, Michael Otey shows you how to use SQL Server Report Builder. SQL Server Report Builder and Reporting Services Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) enables you to create, deploy, and manage printed, web, email, and mobile reports using data from SQL Server databases and Analysis Services (SSAS) as well as other relational…

In this article, I’ll explain what role-based access control (RBAC) is and how to configure it in Windows Admin Center. Next, I will cover topics such as creating roles, assigning permissions, and adding users and groups. I’ll include best practices and tips for managing access to your resources with Windows Admin Center. Windows Admin Center…

Windows Admin Center (WAC) is the modern evolution of “in-box” management tools, like MMC (Microsoft Management Console) and Server Manager for Windows Server management. WAC provides wizards to guide users through its deployment and deploying Windows Servers and other cluster solutions. Learn more about what Windows Admin Center features and capabilities might be useful to…

In this article, I will demonstrate how to use Windows Admin Center (WAC) to remotely manage your servers. If you haven’t already, check out my article on how to download and install Windows Admin Center before starting with the tutorial below. How to Use Windows Admin Center When you launch Windows Admin Center, you’ll see…

The buzz around Microsoft Copilot has been well-documented. Since its inception, this intelligent AI assistant tool has offered users access to a wealth of information and resources to help them work more efficiently and effectively. It’s certainly part and parcel of Microsoft’s continued excellence in responsible AI integration across its estate. In this article, I’ll outline…

Backup and replication are common data protection concepts, but they serve different purposes. Learn more about their differences and how they can benefit your data management strategy, especially how the backup vs replication argument relates to Active Directory (AD) and protecting it. What are backup and replication? Although backup and replication are both methods of…

SQL Server is a relational database. But what is a relational database exactly? Mike Otey, our resident SQL Server expert, explains in this article. What is a relational database? A relational database is a type of data storage mechanism that organizes data into tables where each table consists of rows and columns. It is typically…

With Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI) solutions becoming more common, many customers are now concerned with building clusters on top of those environments. In this article, I’ll explain how to build a guest HCI cluster and why traditional approaches don’t work. In the past, customers built redundancy and resilience based on virtualization and Storage Area Networks…

You’ve probably heard about Windows Server – Microsoft’s enterprise server counterpart to its end-user client Windows 10 and 11 operating systems. But what is Windows Server exactly and how much do you know about it? Why would you want to install it and use it in your environment? What are the current supported versions and…