Blog

An overview by David Davis of I/O Virtualization (or IOV), a relatively new form of virtualization utilized in data centers allowing for a huge reduction in network and storage cabling. Video included of interview at VMware Partner Exchange (PEX) 2010 with Stephen Spellicy of Virtensys.

Daniel Petri covers some of the basic configuration options for RemoteFX – a set of RDP technologies, most prominently graphics virtualization and the use of advanced codes, that are being added to Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1.

Overview by Bruce Mackenzie-Low of Performance Analysis of Logs (PAL), a free tool developed by Microsoft and the open source community for analyzing storage performance issues. This powerful tool is used in conjunction with Perfmon data to automatically analyze the counters for various thresholds.

David Davis walks us through the new VMware vSphere 4.1 feature which allows importing of Hyper-V virtual machines into vSphere. Complete instructions for importing Hyper-V VMs into vSphere, including what you’ll need to get started (vSphere 4.1, vCenter 4.1, vCenter Converter 4.2 installer). Video included.

Tips from Daniel Petri for blocking Windows Automatic Update of Internet Explorer 9. Internet Explorer 9 Blocker Toolkit from Microsoft blocks automatic delivery of IE9 to machines in environments where Automatic Updates are enabled. If you’d previously used the IE7 or IE8 Blocker Toolkit, you will still need to run the IE9 version, as each version of the toolkit uses different registry keys to block or unblock automatic delivery.

Sean Wilkins covers the basic factors to take into consideration when configuring Quality of Service (QoS) with VoIP, including bandwidth, delay, jitter & loss, and the high level QoS methods available to achieve quality voice traffic.

Bruce Mackenzie-Low discusses the major storage architectures that can be used in a Windows environment. This article provides an overview of Direct Attached Storage (DAS), Storage Area Networks (SAN) and Network Attached Storage (NAS).

Microsoft has announced the availability of Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1). Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 includes previous improvements delivered via Windows Update and addresses feedback from customers. Currently, there are 625 hotfixes and updates. Many of these updates are available to the public on the Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update, while others are only available to specific customers or partners. It is standard practice to include all of these updates in a Service Pack, and as such they are included in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1.

Step-by-step guide by Jennifer McCown on creating a basic data load package in SQL Server Integration Services. SSIS is used to extract data from sources such as SQL Server databases, flat files, Excel files, Oracle and DB2 databases, perform data manipulation and transformation, and deliver it to one or more data destinations.

Sean Wilkins provides an overview of the basic concepts of voice operations as they relate to VoIP implementation and the CCNA Voice Exam.

Using PowerShell for changing job owners in SQL Server. Sean McCown demonstrates how PowerShell is a more efficient option than SSMS or T-SQL when changing job owners in bulk.

Bruce Mackenzie-Low covers free Windows tools for storage performance monitoring, including Task Manager and Perfmon. These tools gather and display performance metrics to help identify any I/O bottlenecks or saturation. Stay tuned for future articles on using other free tools such as PAL and xPerf, to analyze storage performance data.