Microsoft MVP Renewed and what’s on for 2016.

Happy New Year everyone!

I have received a confirmation that I am a Microsoft MVP for yet another year!

With the restructuring of the MVP program my Cluster, now High Availability, focus has been melded in to the Cloud and Datacenter Management umbrella category.

What this means for the MVP program is, at this time, beyond me.

For us here at MPECS Inc. we're in the process of working on a number of exciting things.

A 4 node Storage Spaces Direct cluster in TP4+

• Claus Joergensen: Microsoft and Intel showcase Storage Spaces Direct with NVM Express at IDF '15
• Claus Joergensen: Hardware options for evaluating Storage Spaces Direct in Technical Preview 4
• Claus Joergensen: Storage Spaces Direct in Technical Preview 4
1. Scale-Out File Server and Hyper-V Clusters
• We're testing in TP4
• We're testing 12Gbps SAS HBAs and JBODs with some solution sets already in production
2. Hyper-V Cluster with Clustered Storage Spaces
• 2 Nodes and 1 JBOD
• We have 12Gbps HBAs and JBODs tested and passed in this configuration
3. Mellanox InfiniBand and Ethernet fabric
• We're working with a set of Mellanox demo Ethernet switches and NICs to test our setups with RDMA via RoCE

This is going to be a busy year for us on both the SBS (Small Business Solution), Cluster, and the Cloud front via a new business venture we started mid-2015.

We hope the New Year brings many blessings for our families and our businesses!

Thanks for reading everyone! :)

Philip Elder
Microsoft High Availability MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

SMB Nation Fall: Taking My IT Support Business to the Next Level

It's official, I will be at SMB Nation's fall conference in Las Vegas.

• SMB Nation Fall Content

The following blog posts are an outline of the planned discussion:

• A little SBS History Lesson. What SBS Has Been, Is, and Always Will Be 
• SMB Solution Sets Going Forward 
• One Little Feature Where In-House/On-Premises Kills Cloud 
• The SMB Market - The Astute Small Business Owner 
• The SMB Market - IT Commodity or IT Contact?
• Small Business Owners Take Risks - Huge Life Changing Risks

Believe me when I say that we have been going through a lot of soul searching in the last six to nine months. We MVPs were just as much in the dark about the goings on around SBS and the product group's directions as all y'all out there.

As of today we see a lot of opportunity for us in the current SMB IT environment for those that have honed their skillset and are continually working on them.

We see an even larger opportunity for the IT Support Shop that provides a consistent On-Premises IT Solution experience for their clients. Let's talk about that.

Let's talk about the real-world experience of Cloud, Hybrid, and On-Premises IT Solutions for our clients. While our client's preferences at this time are for On-Premises we do have a number of clients that are Hybrid and a few that are almost completely in the Cloud.

The goal for the session will be to have a fairly solid understanding of what our client's options are, what our options are as the IT Solution Provider, and to have a big to medium picture road map in place for us going forward.

• On-Premises, Hybrid, and Cloud Solutions
• What are they and how do they work for our clients and us?
• Vehicles to specialize
• Training, Certification, More
• Business Plan
• 1 Year, 3 Years, 5 Years
• Where do I want my clients to be in 5 years?
• Where do I want to be in 5 years?

With all of the angst over the changes, the Cloud being pushed really hard, and uncertainty all around we need some hope. And hope is what we intend to bring about in this session.

Thanks for reading! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Some Awesome Security MVP Reading For Monday’s Coffee Break: Mobile Security Risks

Security MVP Harry Waldron has some great blog posts linking to various information on mobile device security or the lack thereof:

• Harry Waldron – Computer Security News: Android banking malware increases in wild
• Harry Waldron – Computer Security News: Mobile Malware - Increased Attacks during 2011
• Harry Waldron – Computer Security News: Android Malware - Design Strategies using Staged Attacks with User permissions
• Harry Waldron – Computer Security News: Android - Malware turns phone into a proxy relay device

Okay, so maybe these will be good for this afternoon’s coffee break! :)

Man, how the time has flown by this morning!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Microsoft MVP for SBS Awarded For 2011!

Well, it looks as though I am around as an SBS MVP for yet another year! :)

Thanks to Microsoft and to all of you that have supported me in my endeavours to share a bit of the knowledge over the last three or four years!

Thanks again for all of your comments, e-mailed questions and comments, and for reading!

We here at MPECS Inc. hope that all y’all have a great 2011!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Quick IE Search Tips: Blog & MSFT KB Examples

This neat tip comes originally from Mariette Knap which we have modified for our own purposes.

• Internet Explorer IE Knowledgebase Quick Search (ZIP file)
• The above file has the needed registry entry for doing a quick KB search.

After merging the above registry file we may need to restart all IE session for the change to take.

So, just what does the above do?

Well, let’s say we need to get to the Hyper-V Nehalem hotfix page really quick. Since we know the KB number off by heart we type the following in IE’s address bar:

Once we hit the Go arrow or Enter we end up at:

Okay, we now have quick access to Microsoft Knowledgebase articles that we know the article number for.

Now, we search our own blog _a lot_ as it is a knowledgebase for us too. Thus, we would love to see:

Give us:

After tweaking the registry entry a little we figured out how to get the above search results by typing the keyword “mblog” and our search terms.

The registry file can be found here:

• MPECS Inc Download: IE MPECS Inc. Blog Quick Search

Here are a couple screenshots of the registry settings:

Microsoft Knowledgebase Quick Search

MPECS Inc. Site:blog.mpecsinc.ca Search

These little IE tweaks will save us a huge chunk of time!

Susan Bradley also pointed out the following:

• Help Desk Geek: Copy Title and URL Context Menu Extension for Internet Explorer

The above would have been very handy to get that link into this blog post! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Have U Rebooted Yet – Comic by fellow MVP Tim Barrett

Tim Barrett has a pretty neat little comic strip he publishes on his blog NoGeekLeftBehind called Have U Rebooted Yet.

This latest one really describes a lot of the angst in the SMB/SBS community:

• Original: Have U Rebooted Yet - 018 - Windows Roadmap

Check some of the other comics as they can be both quite funny and very astute in their comment on our industry as in #18 above.

• NoGeekLeftBehind Category: Have U Rebooted Yet

Some of my favourites:

• Have U Rebooted Yet – 017 – P2V

• Have U Rebooted Yet - 015 - The Cemetery

• Have U Rebooted Yet – 010

Good job Tim! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

MVP Jeff Middleton Swing Migration Deep Dive Canada

Fellow MVP Jeff Middleton will be touring across Canada in the coming weeks. If you have not seen Jeff speak in person, then this is the opportunity to do so.

He is a very dynamic speaker. He keeps us completely engaged with his style and the content is _always_ relevant to our SBS IT Business practices.

Having been to a few of Jeff’s presentations, I do highly recommend checking this out.

A video of Jeff can be found here:

• Jeff Middleton: Getting up to Speed with SBSmigration.com

The Small Business Specialist Web page for the events:

• SBSC Canada Blog: Join the 2010 SBS Migration Tour – Montreal, Mississauga, Richmond, Calgary

A quick link to the various registration pages:

• Where & When:
• Montreal:
  April 21
• Mississauga:
  April 22
• Richmond:
  May 4
• Calgary:
  May 5

There is a minimal cost associated with the event of $99 Canadian.

Here is the description from the Partner Program page for the event:

I am registered for the Calgary event. Registration will fill up fast, so it would be a good idea to jump in early.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Awarded SBS MVP For 2010!

It’s official:

Thank you all for your great support and contributions to this blog and other efforts by me to help out in the SBS/SMB community! :)

This is going to be an exciting year with lots of changes coming about both within the SBS/SMB community and in our client market!

I look forward to it!

Thanks again for reading this blog and for your ongoing encouragement and support.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Microsoft And A Zune HD

The reason for the low posting numbers this last week was due to my being in Redmond at the Microsoft campus with other MVPs for an MVP Deep Dive.

It was fun and amazing to meet all so many Microsoft folks that hail from so many different parts of the world.

As much as the folks on the outside, us, can give Microsoft a hard time for whatever, there is something to be said about a company of Microsoft’s size being able to attract such amazing talent from _everywhere_!

My glimpse into the Microsoft culture while on their main campus in Redmond was a real positive one. Kool-Aid? Maybe, but keep in mind that I have had my fair share of experience working for employers of various sizes and in various industries. And, based on that experience as limited as it is, Microsoft has something really neat going on there.

Okay, so on the way from the hotel in Bellevue to the airport I asked Dennis the Town Car driver if there was a Frys between us and the airport and he said there was one in Renten.

So, we stopped . . . and I picked up a Zune HD (Wikipedia – Official site does not seem to work) along with the in-car charger and broadcast component. Hopefully at some point we here in Canada will see the Zune HD product line released.

Neat! :) 

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

MVP Oliver Sommer Interview at TechEd Europe 2009

Have a few minutes to burn?

Fellow MVP Oliver Sommer, along with other Microsoft MVPs, were interviewed by Karen Young while attending TechEd Europe recently.

• YouTube: MVP Oliver Sommer at TechEd Europe 2009

Besides Oliver’s interview, there are a number of other Microsoft MVPs from various disciplines interviewed by Ms. Young.

Check them out! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Um, Flash Has Tracking Cookies . . . And Sites Use Them Without Telling Us?!?

On one of the e-mail lists that I follow that focuses on security, one of the threads caught my eye as I was working my way through the volumes of e-mail.

Apparently, Adobe Flash Player has a cookie tracking mechanism built into it.

“Oh really?” you might say. What does this mean for me?

Well, think about the last In-Private browsing session that was used while working on a client machine with IE8 installed. We use In-Private to browse our own business specific sites if there is a spontaneous need while at a client site and working on their system.

Apparently, the IE8 In-Private feature, or any other browser’s similar feature, does not coordinate with Flash Player!

This was brought to my attention by fellow MVP Derek Knight:

• Security and Privacy Blog: Sites pulling sneaky Flash cookie-snoop • The Register

There are a number of ways to deal with this situation.

One is to manage the cookies on Adobe’s Web site:

• Flash Player Help: Website Storage Settings Panel

There is something that is just not comfortable about the above procedure.

From there, we can manage them locally:

• C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\DataFolder

All of the cookies will be contained in some randomly named DataFolder under #SharedObjects.

Or, Derek mentions a tool on his blog post that will take them out in one fell swoop:

• Steelworx Flush Flash

The nice thing about Steelworxs Steelworx Flush Flash is that it is both Windows and Mac (Leopard and up) friendly.

This little blindside was definitely a wakeup call to make sure to discover all of the tracking mechanisms that can be used on our systems.

The original study on the subject:

• Flash Cookies and Privacy

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Marco Shaw to be presenting for EMUG – Remotely :)

Our monthly Edmonton Microsoft User Group meeting is this coming Wednesday at NAIT at 18:30 (6:30PM).

• EMUG Event: Introduction to PowerShell (Click to Attend).

Marco has a short introduction on his blog on the content we will receive:

• Marco Shaw – MVP: Edmonton Microsoft User Group presentation.

PowerShell is the future of server management. While the management GUIs can provide us with most of the necessary management tasks, in many cases now only PowerShell gives us access to certain areas of the product being managed.

PowerShell also gives us the ability to script much of the routine tasks that would otherwise take up our valuable time clicking through the GUI management console.

This will be a worthwhile event to attend!

Bonus: Marco has a link on his blog to the LiveMeeting stream so that anyone can listen in!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac!

Windows Live Writer

Needed Books in the SBSer’s Repertoire

One of the neat things about the niche we find ourselves working in is the awesome pool of knowledge we can tap into in the SBS MVP community as well as beyond.

I personally love to read. The library at home reflects the books gathered during Monique and my various University and College attendance over the years.

The office here holds all of the technical volumes that have been read and reread many times over. The Windows 3.x Resource Kit is about where things start.

Of course, our SBS 2008 Blueprint (SMB Nation link) book is definitely a part of our library! ;)

The library here just grew a little bigger as a very important package arrived with some key books we SBSers need to look into to augment our knowledge on SBS 2008.

The new additions are:

• Windows Small Business Server 2008 Unleashed (Eriq’s Amazon ID) by Eriq Oliver Neale (Eriq’s blog) and other SBS MVPs.
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 Bible by Vikram Kartik.
• Windows Server 2008 Resource Kit (MS Press).
• Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services Resource Kit by Christa Anderson and Kristin L. Griffin.
• Windows Forensic Analysis DVD Toolkit (link is to the second edition with Amazon ID) by Harlan Carvey (Harlan’s Windows Incident Response blog).

A number of chapters in the SBS 2008 Unleashed book have been authored by a variety of SBS MVPs so it is very much a knowledgeable effort by some great SBSers! At first glance, the book will be an awesome resource for picking up on SBS 2008’s underlying technologies.

The SharePoint Designer 2007 Bible is a part of this grouping so that we can get a handle on the fundamentals of the Companyweb SharePoint site. We need to understand a little more about how to manipulate the Companyweb site and its underlying templates without breaking things!

We all need the Windows Server 2008 Resource Kit. There is no question that the knowledge contained in the kit’s volumes are key for us getting a handle on the Windows Server 2008 OS that is SBS 2008’s foundation.

The kit contains (links to MS Press site):

• Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 Resource Kit
• Windows Administration Resource Kit: Productivity Solutions for IT Professionals
• Windows PowerShell Scripting Guide
• Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Resource Kit
• Windows Server 2008 Networking and Network Access Protection (NAP)
• Windows Server 2008 Security Resource Kit

One of the key new features in SBS 2008 is the ability to publish a Terminal Services RemoteApps (Ask the Performance Team Blog) via the Remote Web Workplace. The Terminal Services Resource Kit will be very helpful both in this task as well as how to properly configure the new Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services setup.

Harlan’s book on Windows Forensic Analysis came to us via a mention in his blog. Harlan’s blog came via Susan Bradley. His blog, and now the book, are a real eye opener when it comes to Windows Security. Both are well worth the time.

There will be more volumes forthcoming. There are a number of new SBS, Windows Server 2008, and more books that are coming up in the next six months or so that we are greatly anticipating!

Please support the authors by clicking on the book link that contains their Amazon ID. Every little bit helps! ;)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac!

Windows Live Writer

MVP Insider – MVP Profile for Philip Elder

A little while back I was asked to provide some answers to a number of different questions for the MVP Insider.

There are questions about things like what I would ask Mr. Ballmer, what kind of software and hardware tools are in my tool bag, favourite software, and my hero.

In the case of the question about who is my hero, I could not choose just one person as there are many people both inside and outside of our industry that I look up to.

The two key heroes that I chose are:

• In Business: Clive Bedoe (Live Search) is the former President and CEO of West Jet which started out as a small regional airline based out of Calgary, Canada. He, and is team, took West Jet from a regional player into what is now a national and international airline. In the mean time, West Jet continued to turn a profit during the early part of this decade when other airlines were not.
• In life: My wife Monique Elder. For those of you that run your own I.T. shop business, you know the time involved in building a business. She does an incredible job managing our home life with three kids, as well as keeping my life balance just that: balanced. She is truly amazing and very supportive!

The rest of the answered questions can be found on the IT Pro Connection blog: MVP Profile – Philip Elder.

Thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement as well as for subscribing and continuing to read the blog! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac!

Windows Live Writer

Jason Miller Presents: First Technical Look at SBS 2008

As mentioned in yesterday's post, I was in Calgary all day for the First Technical Look at SBS 2008.

It turns out that our presenter was Jason Miller SBS MVP.

The presentations were excellent as were most of the demos other than a few typical VM glitches.

Jason gave us a pretty thorough walk through of the SBS Console and the various features controlled and monitored there. The event size was small enough, roughly 25 of us, that we were able to ask questions and work with Jason through the demos. Since all present were mostly focused on SBS, we spent most of our time on SBS. He did give us a good overview of EBS and its features though.

Jason's presentation skills were excellent and I appreciated the fact that he made a good effort to keep us involved and things interactive. Well done Jason! :)

The time spent watching and listening to Jason, as well as the attendees and their questions/input, was well spent. The general consensus at the end of the event was very positive ... we all enjoyed ourselves and learned a lot.

Microsoft put in a good effort into providing us with a venue that worked with the tasks at hand along with a full breakfast and lunch. The food was excellent as was the service provided by the hotel. The event, venue, and catering was consistent with previous free Microsoft sponsored Partner Training events. This is good to see.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.