IT Knowledgebase Articles

Microsoft recently released System Center Service Manager 2012 beta. In this first of a series of posts by Peter De Tender about installing System Center Service Manager 2012, we learn what SCSM 2012 offers and what is needed to get it up and running.

Jeff Hicks is back with more command line tricks. In today’s post, Jeff talks about how you can manage event logs with the command line. This is usually faster than navigating through a GUI once you get a hang of it.

The IPv4 to IPv6 transition is upon us but the undertaking is not one that can take place with the flick of a switch. In this post, Sean Wilkins takes a look at the options available to organizations for an efficient and headache free transition. Which method is best for you?

Have you ever needed to work on a computer but couldn’t because the password was lost? Instead of spending time trying to guess what the password is or tracking it down from an old employee, sometimes it’s better to just reset the password. In this post, Michael Simmons covers 4 great password reset utilities that will get you into the locked out machine in no time.

In this post, Jeff Hicks discusses how you can use the Windows System Configuration interface to troubleshoot and fix simple system issues.

IPv6 is largely about adding more IP capacity as we are quickly running out of IPv4 addresses to allocate, but IPv6 also offers different and better functionality. In this post, Sean Wilkins describes the different IPv6 address types: Unicast, Multicast, and the new Anycast.

Although there are plenty of performance management options that utilize nice-looking GUI’s, sometimes the “quick and dirty” approach is best. In this post, Jeff Hicks explains the use of TYPEPERF.EXE to monitor server performance with the command line. This can often be a much more efficient approach to diagnosing issues or just checking on servers.

The last of the available unreserved IANA IPv4 addresses were allocated nearly a year ago and with complete IPv4 exhaustion fast approaching, knowledge of IPv6 is critically important. In this brief post, Sean Wilkins introduces the IPv6 Header and how the different fields are used.

Wesley David discusses data deduplication and why all system admins should consider utilizing it. Duplicate data can lead to system inefficiencies and unnecessary costs in your system’s storage arrays. In this introductory post, Wesley covers what deduplication actually is, the different types of deduplication and helps you decide what would be the best option for you.

In today’s post, Michael Simmons talks about one of our least favorite Windows screens: The Blue Screen of Death. In part 1 (of 2), Simmons covers why these errors generally happen, what they tell us (specifically, the crash dump that they produce) and how you can begin to troubleshoot the hardware or software that is crashing the system.