RunAs Radio

While at TechDays Toronto, Richard talks to Jeff Woolsey about virtualization in the SMB space. Jeff walks through a scenario where a branch office with three servers in different roles sets up Hyper-V, uses P2V migration to virtualize the existing roles into the hardware and then repurposes the hardware to create failover and redundancy. The conversation continues into the role of Cloud and even a sneak peek of how Server 8 will make Hyper-V even more important to the equation!

Richard and Greg talk to Geoff Citron about the choices IT pros can make today around running applications on-premise, with a hosting provider or in the Cloud. Geoff discusses how small hosting providers are thriving in a Cloud world by providing great customer service and customizing services for their customers.

Richard flies solo to talk to Mike Laverick about VMWare. Mike starts out talking about the history of virtualization, from the early days of virtualization for testing into the later generation production virtualization. The conversation moves into the upcoming release of VMWare vSphere 5, including a discussion about the rather controversial new licensing model. Mike also talks about the relationship between virtualization and the Cloud, and the role of virtualization in disaster recovery.

Richard and Greg talk to Susan Bradley and Kevin Royalty about the latest edition of servers from Hewlett Packard specifically made for Small Business Server. Susan and Kevin talk about the ultra-small form factor of the HP ProLiant MicroServer, priced with Small Business Server Essentials for under a thousand dollars. You can see more about MicroServers and SBS at the SMB MVP Community Roadshow at http://mvptour2011.sbsmigration.com/.

Richard and Greg talk to Tim Barrett about Microsoft Windows MultiPoint Server. Originally for the academic market only, MultiPoint Server is now available for small businesses, allowing up to 20 users to share a single computer simultaneously via Remote Desktop. Tim talks about using MultiPoint to provide access to applications for iPads and other third party devices, as well as extending the life of older PCs. You can learn more about MultiPoint at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/multipoint/. Tim's blog is at http://www.nogeekleftbehind.com/ and he also mentioned a tour where you can see MultiPoint in action at http://mvptour2011.sbsmigration.com/.

Richard and Greg talk to the one-and-only Rhonda Layfield about the beta 1 of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012. MDT 2012 is a free tool for doing operating system, driver and software deployments. Rhonda talks about how MDT is becoming more closely integrated with System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), to the point that you need to use MDT with SCCM to do zero touch deployment. The conversation digresses into a series of discussions around fundamentals of IT, talking a bit about networking, user profiles, disk performance and more - a good chat with a good friend about what matters in IT!

While at the Build conference in Anaheim, California, Richard sat down with Mark Minasi to get his first impressions of Windows Server 8. What happens next is almost an hour of high speed brain dumping, so hold on to your hats. For even more information about Windows Server 8, check out Mark's newsletter (which you should be subscribing to anyway).

Richard flies solo to talk to Barry Dorrans, now at Microsoft, about the recent spate of security breaches at Certificate Authorities like Comodo and DigiNotar. What can you as an IT Pro do about this recent set of hacks? Other than replacing your potentially exploited certificate, not a lot. Barry talks about how these exploits have happened, what Microsoft, Google and others are doing about it and some possible long term solutions to the problems. Check out Barry's blog at idunno.org. Barry also mentions an alternative solution to Certificate Authorities called Convergence and why Chrome won't be implementing it.

Richard and Greg talk to Donald Farmer about his new role over at QlikView. Don spent ten years working on Business Intelligence technologies at Microsoft and now has taken his experiences into QlikView and their business analytic products. Don also digs into how business analytics has evolved, reducing the cost of systems and making BI 'disposable' - low cost, agile and easily replaceable. Towards the end of the show, Don tells some great BI stories of different companies taking advantage of their BI systems.

Richard talks to Mark Russinovich and Aaron Margosis about the newly released Sysinternals Administrator's Reference. SysInternals is a vital part of any IT administrator's toolkit, but has never been well documented. The administrator's reference is that documentation, including details on every SysInternals tool as well as troubleshooting examples and a detailed overview of core Windows concepts. If you're using SysInternals (and who isn't), you need this book!

Richard flies solo to talk to Laura Hunter, now working at Microsoft IT about the identity infrastructure at Microsoft. Laura talks about the scale of the identity problem at Microsoft, the challenges of using smart cards instead of passwords (the passwords won). The conversation moves on to talking about identification in general, talking about different ways of recognizing users, the shared authentication via twitter, facebook, etc. Ultimately Richard and Laura end up back at ADFS and how cloud technology is facilitating the adoption of ADFS and claims-based security.

Richard talks to Jeremy Moskowitz about his latest version of PolicyPak. PolicyPak provides Group Policy templates for third party applications. This is one of those products that once you understand what it does, you can't live without it. There's a free community edition as well as a paid version that is ten bucks per PC! Check it out at www.policypak.com.

Richard and Greg to talk Yong Rhee from Microsoft Premier Field Engineering. Yong talks about optimization and health checks for Windows clients. He focuses on using the Windows Performance Analysis Tools (WPAT) which includes three tools: xperf, xperfview and xbootmgr. WPAT works with Event Tracing for Windows (ETW), available for Windows Vista and 7.

Richard and Greg talk to Cameron Fuller about System Center Operations Manager. Operations Manager is the instrumentation part of System Center - centralizing the status of all your servers into one console. The conversation moves into the concept of server and application health... looking beyond ping times and into knowing how healthy your application is. Cameron also helps us understand how Operations Manager interacts with other System Center products including Configuration Manager, Service Manager and Orchestrator. Check out http://systemcentercentral.com/ for more info on System Center.

Richard flies solo to talk to James Bannan about System Center Configuration Manager. Configuration Manager pulls together the administration of operating system, driver and application installs working alongside tools like Microsoft Deployment Toolkit. Check out James' blog at http://www.jamesbannanit.com/.

Early one morning at Kim and Paul's place, Richard sat down for a conversation about how they go about helping their customers make SQL Server go faster. The conversation wanders over index tuning, hardware issues and learning issues. Also listen for a special guest visit from Paul's nine year old daughter who knows that auto shrink is evil.

Richard and Greg talk to Stephen Foskett about storage technologies. Stephen gives a history of storage technologies from RAID arrays to SANs, including Microsoft's Storage Server. The conversation ranges over a huge number of storage technologies, including the new generation of low cost iSCSI targets, lamenting the death of Microsoft Home Server and even diving into obscure concepts like (get this) Fibre Channel over Token Ring! The show ends exploring the prospects of storage in the cloud and the possibilities going forward for data storage.

Richard and Greg talk to Steve Wright of SQL Sentry about the performance challenges with Analysis Services. Steve talks about how putting SSAS on the same box as SQL Server is not a good idea, how both products are greedy for memory and comparing query tuning techniques. Steve also gets into the performance counters that matter in SSAS.

Richard and Greg talk to Chris Ross from Catapult Systems. Chris talks to the boys about System Center Service Manager, an IT Service Desk application recently added to System Center. Service Manager is the front line application for doing problem support, routine maintenance, routine workflow processes, and so on. Chris discusses how Service Manager becomes a hub for the other System Center components, making it easier to have a clear picture of what's going on with your system and what to work on next. Check out Chris's Service Manager blog at http://blog.myscsm.com/.

Richard chats with Mark Minasi about his Tech Ed Atlanta experience. The conversation moves onto recent announcements around Windows 8. Richard and Mark argue over the viability of tablets like the iPad versus the latest generation of laptops. Mark also mentions a few web sites, including the Software Conspiracy. It's one of those rambling conversations we know and love!

While at DevTeach, Richard talked to Colin Melia about the challenges of securing applications using the phone and cloud. The discussion digs hard into Active Directory Federated Services, Azure Access Control Services and more.

While at Tech Ed Atlanta, Richard talked to Jeremy Thake from AvePoint about scaling Sharepoint. Jeremy talks about how Sharepoint decomposes into multiple servers to provide effective scale. The conversation also moves to the cloud, talking about the Sharepoint offering in Office 365.

Richard catches up with Kevin Kline at Tech Ed Atlanta to talk about the next version of SQL Server, code name Denali. Kevin discusses the new 'Always On' features, new column store and the updates to reporting services. The conversation also wanders over to SQLAzure, SQL Saturdays and how the major database products in the world can work together.

While at Tech Ed Atlanta, Richard talked to Mitch Garvis about Hyper-V. Mitch focuses on how Hyper-V has caught up with VMWare feature wise. The conversation ranges over what should be virtualized, what shouldn't, and the role the cloud plays in virtualization.

While at Tech Ed Atlanta, Richard talks to Dmitry Sotnikov from Quest Software about cloud technologies including virtualization. The debate ranges over Software as a Service, Platform as a Service and whether or not application migration to the cloud really makes sense.

Richard and Greg talk to to Dana Epp about CardSpace. Now that Microsoft has decided not to release CardSpace 2.0, where does that leave identity? Dana mentions Dick Hardt's Identity 2.0 presentation at Oscon 2005, take a look at it here: http://identity20.com/media/OSCON2005/.

Richard and Greg talk to Mike Crowley from Planet Technologies about infrastructure rights management (IRM) and Exchange. Rights Management Service (RMS) has been around for the past few versions of Windows Server, but the latest edition significantly improves its abilities. More than just encryption, IRM and Exchange together can actually block a sensitive file from going out via email!

Richard and Greg talk to Ted Pattison about how SharePoint 2010 is permeating every aspect of business. All of the major Microsoft product lines now have some part of their feature set connected to SharePoint. Ted is one of the authors of Inside Microsoft SharePoint 2010. Check out Ted's blog at http://blog.tedpattison.net/default.aspx.

While at SQLConnections, Richard sat down with Brent Ozar for a rolling discussion about the things Brent is working about these days - how SQLAzure is stacking up, and how many performance problems that can be solved by 10Gb iSCSI and SSD drives. The conversation also dives into disaster recovery strategies, thoughts around data loss vs. downtime, and more.

While at Exchange Connections in Orlando, Richard sat down with Tony Redmond, former CTO of Hewlett Packard. Tony talks about how Microsoft's Office 365 is the 800 pound gorilla on the minds of many folks in the Exchange community. The conversation digs into the differing viewpoints of cloud technologies for large enterprises and small-to-medium businesses. Along the way Tony pulls out some anecdotes from his experiences with messaging.

Richard and Greg talk to Ken Westin from ActiveTrak about mobile device security. The conversation ranges over securable smartphones, tablets and laptops. Ken also tells some stories about using GadgetTrak to break up a laptop theft ring. Check out GadgetTrak at www.gadgettrak.com.

Richard flies solo to talk to Ed Horley about getting IPv6 deployed. In February 2011, IANA exhausted all the reserve IPv4 addresses, allocating them out to the five regional internet registries. APNIC, the registry for the Asia-Pacific area, is expected to run out of IPv4 first. So 2011 is going to be a big year for IPv6, especially for content providers. If your responsible for your company putting content on the internet, you need to get thinking about IPv6. Check out http://isoc.org/wp/worldipv6day/ for World IPv6 Day on June 8, 2011, when all the major web sites of the world will be testing out their sites in IPv6 mode. Will you be ready?

Richard and Greg talk to Stephen Rose about where Windows is going. Stephen gives us some hints about Windows vNext and some ideas on how IT Pros are going to be able to manage the new diversity of devices coming into the workplace. Stephen also spends some time talking about the IE9 Release Candidate, Windows 7 SP1 and announces Windows inTune! inTune is a cloud-based management console for small to medium businesses - bringing together all the different tools built into Windows to manage them more effectively.

Richard flies solo to talk to the father of Powershell - Jeffrey Snover! Jeff talks about the core concepts of PowerShell, advances that happened from version 1 to 2 and some hints of what is coming in version 3. The discussion goes into some of the community extensions for PowerShell, including the PowerShell Community Extentions (PSCX) and PowerShell Management Library for Hyper-V. Jeff also talks about the upcoming PowerShell Deep Dive at TEC 2011 - if you love PowerShell, you'll want to be there. Check out the blog post at the Windows PowerShell Blog.

Richard and Greg talk to Steve Riley, late of Microsoft and Amazon, now with Riverbed Technology. Steve shares his thoughts on Riverbed's products, cloud technology and security. Steve mentioned Guy Rosen's Jack of All Clouds blog, and the State of the Cloud post at www.jackofallclouds.com.

Richard and Greg talk to Mark Russinovich, PhD, Technical Fellow and all around smart guy about Azure. In 2010 Mark moved from the Windows team to the Azure team, recognizing that the future of Microsoft lay in the cloud. Also, look for a quick conversation about Zero Day, Mark's upcoming cyberthriller novel.

Hey, it's the 200th show! Richard and Greg invite Kim Tripp and Paul Randal to share a celebration of the past 200 shows. This may not be the most technical show we've ever done, but hey, you only do 200 shows once! Topics range over SQL Server training, water cooled PCs, bursting aquariums and some of the history of RunAs Radio. The show ends with an oddly serious discussion on performance tuning. Thanks for listening!

Richard flies solo to talk to Peter Schmidt about federation in Exchange 2010. While federation has been around for awhile in Exchange, the 2010 version gets away from connection Active Directory together and into a web services model that allows simple, limited visibility for other Exchange 2010 users into your calendar and contacts. If you've ever wanted to give a third party the ability to see when you're available without emailing you, you need federation! Check out Exchange 2010 Federation at TechNet.

Richard and Greg talk to Karri Alexion-Tiernan, director of Product Management for Desktop Virtualization. Karri digs into desktop virtualization in general and application virtualization specifically. The conversation digs into some case studies with BMW and others to show the advantages of virtualization on the desktop. Check out the Springboard Series on Desktop Virtualization at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/gg276319.aspx and the Application Virtualization TechCenter at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/appvirtualization/default.aspx.

Richard and Greg talk to Doug Splinter from avtex about Microsoft Lync. Lync is the new name and new version of Office Communications Server. Lync, like OCS before it, pulls together telephone, instant messaging, email and collaboration into a common interface and address book. Check out Lync at http://lync.microsoft.com/En-us/launch/Pages/launch.aspx.

Richard and Greg talk to Brian Randell about Microsoft Lab Management. Lab Management is a tool aimed at the development crowd, bundled with Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate. But as Brian explains, Lab Management is also a powerful tool for IT Pros, making it easy to stand up a group of servers that emulate the production environment and do testing. You can get a copy of Lab Management as part of Visual Studio 2010 Test Professional edition as well. Check out Lab Management at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/ee712698.aspx.

Richard flies solo to talk to Pam Lahoud about SQL Server performance. Not just fighting slow queries, but planning in advance for poor performance behavior. The conversation digs into techniques to anticipate where performance problems will occur. Pam provides a list of great tools to use for understanding your performance problem in SQL Server, including SQL Nexus (http://sqlnexus.codeplex.com/) and PAL (http://pal.codeplex.com/).

Richard and Greg talk to Brad McGehee about the challenges of working remotely. The conversation ranges over getting your home office set up right, negotiating with the family over work time and convincing your boss that you're actually working.

Richard and Greg talk to Susan Bradley, the SBS Diva! Susan digs into the new features of Small Business Server 2011. Check out the Microsoft SBS site at http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/products/servers/Pages/sbs_overview.aspx. Susan also talks about the balance between SBS "on-premise" and the cloud offerings of Azure, BPOS and Office 365. Check out the SBS forums at http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/smallbusinessserver/threads. The conversation also explores the kinds of internet connections small businesses are going to need in the connected and cloud-enabled world. Susan is a Small Business Server Specialist, and points to http://www.microsoft.com/sbs/en/us/find-partner.aspx to find a specialist in your area if you want help setting up and maintaining Small Business Server.

Richard and Greg talk to Joel Oleson from Quest Software about Microsoft Office 365. Office 365 is Microsoft's cloud based offering for Office, Exchange, Sharepoint and Lync.

Richard talks to Amit Agarwal from Quest Software about Project Lucy. Projecy Lucy is a free Azure-based utility that analyzes SQL Traces to find performance bottlenecks and other problems. Check out Project Lucy at http://www.projectlucy.com/.

Richard talks to Ned Pyle from Microsoft Directory Services support. Ned, with his associate Ted Stephens, developed FRS2DFSR, a utility for assisting administrations migrating from File Replication Services (FRS) to Distributed File System Replication (DFSR). Check out Ned's blog post on the subject, with links to the white paper, the tool and operations guides on the subject at http://blogs.technet.com/b/askds/archive/2010/05/27/frs-to-dfsr-migration-tool-released.aspx.

Richard flies solo in a discussion with Kevin Kline about PASS and all things SQL Server. The conversation ranges over business intelligence, OLTP, SSDs, you name it! Check out the upcoming PASS SQLRally at http://www.sqlpass.org/sqlrally/2011/.

Richard and Greg talk to Alan Sugano about migrating from VMWare ESX to ESXi. VMWare announced that the next version of ESX is the last one, only ESXi will be developed further. ESXi is a far lighter weight version of ESX, lowering the security risk, memory consumption and a host of other advantages, but in exchange you give up a lot of the tools you're used to working with in ESX. Regardless, this is the direction that VMWare is going, so give a listen to how Alan has solved these challenges.

Another Connections conference show, Richard talks to the one-and-only Mark Minasi about his keynote at the conference. Mark aims his sights at cloud computing, asking the important questions about pricing, reliability and implementation challenges.