Windows Technologies
Windows Technologies will cover the wide landscape of the Windows Server Systems. With amazing new technologies such as System Center, Clustering, and SharePoint, there are many new areas that need to be covered. This track will give guidance and tips on how to install, configure, maintain, and troubleshoot these systems.
Monday, September 8
TM3Implementing Windows Clusters
Bruce Mackenzie-Low
Monday, September 8, 9:00 a.m.
In today’s business environment, downtime is directly equated to lost productivity and revenue opportunities. To address this, Microsoft offers several clustering solutions to avoid single points of failure. Learn about these clustering technologies and what applications are best suited for which technology. Learn tips and tricks for installing, configuring and maintaining clusters including a glimpse of Windows 2008 Failover clusters. This session is for anyone currently using or planning to use Microsoft clustering technologies. From basic file & print server clusters, to highly complex SQL, Exchange or IIS clusters, you won’t want to miss this informative clustering session.
TM11Top Tips and Tricks with Microsoft Replication Technologies - FRS & DFS-R
Rhonda Layfield
Monday, September 8, 2:15 p.m.
Got Replication? SYSVOL Replication, that is. Of course you do! You spent all that time plugging your security settings into Group Policies and then…they fail to replicate. Join Rhonda Layfield, a 26 year veteran in the IT industry, to understand the underlying replication engine responsible for ensuring all DCs have consistent policies. In the past policies were replicated via the File Replication Service. But Server 2008 introduces a new replication engine – the first ever to make SYSVOL replication more reliable, scalable and manageable by introducing a new replication engine –called Distributed File System Replication (DFS-R). In this session get a complete understanding of FRS and it’s common issues and resolutions, as well as DFS-R and the migration process.
TM12IPv6: Be Scared No More
Mark Minasi
Monday, September 8, 2:15 p.m.
Vista has arrived. 2008’s arrived. And with them they bring… IPv6. Your first reaction when you see an IPv6 address like “fe80::5efe:10.50.50.112” might be “hmmm… that’s a lotta colons, and I know what comes out of colons!” But is that the right reaction? Join veteran Windows explainer Mark Minasi in a look at the latest version of IPv6, and whether you’ll want to leave it on or turn it off. You’ll want to turn it on, trust us. But come see what you think.
TM13Taking the Pain out of Hang & Crash Dump Analysis
Bruce Mackenzie-Low
Monday, September 8, 3:45 p.m.
Troubleshooting a hung Windows server can be one of the most challenging endeavors a system administrator may face. This session discusses the various reasons why a Windows Server may hang or become unresponsive. The presentation covers both hardware and software induced hangs, such as system resource depletion, memory pool problems, high priority compute-bound threads, deadlocks and spinlocks. The presentation also provides guidance on what to do when a hang occurs including how to force a dump, how to analyze the hang with the debugger, and how to isolate the failure to intelligently search the internet for a potential hotfix, patch, or workaround.
TM15Resolving the Top 10 Microsoft Windows Configuration Issues
Kurt Hudson
Monday, September 8, 3:45 p.m.
Did you know that the most common configuration problem with Active Directory domains is with the Windows Time service? Are you aware that each month over 20,000 Windows operating systems report that they’ve reached their maximum TCP connection limit? While there may not be much a Windows administrator can do about an application error caused by poorly written code, configuration issues are solvable. You just need to know they exist and what to do about them. By the end of this session you’ll know how locate the most common configuration issues and, more importantly, how to resolve them.
Wednesday, September 10
TW6
Troubleshooting Group Policy
Jeremy Moskowitz
Wednesday, September 10, 10:30 a.m.
Group Policy Preference Extensions are built into Windows Server 2008, and available to be installed on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2003. Do you know how to troubleshoot them if something goes wrong? This is a dual-session, jam packed into one. Learn two big topics: Troubleshooting the Windows Vista Group Policy engine, plus troubleshooting the Group Policy Preference Extensions on all supported operating systems. Learn how to deal with reports and how to turn on advanced logging and tracing for the Windows Vista Group Policy core engine and the Group Policy Preference Extensions. Learn how to crack open the new Vista event log and trace Group Policy flow to figure out what might be going on. If you're looking for Group Policy answers to your troubleshooting questions, this is the session for you.
TW15 Tips and Tricks for Windows Backups: From NTBackup to System Center Data Protection Manager
James Conrad
Wednesday, September 10, 3:45 p.m.
NTBackup has been around for ages, but when you try to use it in Vista or Windows Server 2008 it’s conspicuously absent. In its place is an entirely new backup mechanism that makes backups easy to configure and automate – all without tapes! Plus, new methods now allow you to completely flatten and restore an entire server and its data in just a few minutes, without expensive imaging software. In this fast-paced session on new tricks for an old need, you’ll learn about Microsoft’s backup tools from Windows Server Backup all the way to System Center Data Protection Manager. If you thought backups were yesterday’s news, then you’re in for a surprise with Microsoft’s new technologies!
