RunAs Radio

Richard and Greg talk to Alan Sugano of ADS Consulting about everything storage. The conversation ranges over the different types of RAID, direct attached storage, iSCSI, Fibre Channel, Fibre Channel Over Ethernet, SANs... you name it!

Hey, its our 100th show! Just for fun, Richard decides to interview Greg, and ends up in a serious discussion about security. Who knew? Anyway, thanks for sticking with us for 100 shows! Here's to the next 100!

Richard and Greg talk to David Sengupta from Quest about all things cloud computing. The discussion ranges from outsourced email to building cloud-based applications. Azure gets a mention, but so does Google and Amazon... and all the concerns in between!

Richard and Greg talk to Bob Beauchemin about the new spatial data features in SQL Server 2008. Don't think you have spatial data in your database? Bob explains how every address can be spatial data. Check out Bob's blog at http://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/bobb/

Richard and Greg talk to Dana Epp about the challenges around Virtual Machine security. Not just stopping someone from taking your virtual machine away on a USB key, but also the controlling of creation, duplication, distribution and configuration of virtual machines. Oh, and Dana goes off on a couple of serious security rants. Check out his blog at http://silverstr.ufies.org/blog/

Richard and Greg talk to Richard Hicks about ISA Server, including 2000, 2004, 2006 and the upcoming Threat Management Gateway product. The discussion also explores dedicated ISA hardware.

Richard and Greg talk to John Bocharov from Microsoft's IIS Media team. John talks about Microsoft Media Services in general and the upcoming Smooth Streaming technologies utilizing IIS7 and Silverlight. Check out John's blog at http://blogs.iis.net/jboch/

Richard and Greg talk to Ed Wilson, one of the Scripting Guys from Microsoft's Script Center (www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter). Ed talks about the evolution of scripting, from batch files to VBScript to PowerShell. He digs into what folks need to know about scripting today and in the future.

Richard and Greg talk to Chris Jackson from the Microsoft Windows Application Experience SWAT Team about Windows compatibility. Chris is part of a small team at Microsoft that helps enterprise customers fix their application compatibility issues with older Windows applications running in new operating systems like Vista and Windows 7.

Back in the studio at last, Richard and Greg talk to Clint Huffman of PAL fame about WMI. Windows Mangement Instrumentation has been around since Windows 2000 and provides detailed data about your machines and a variety of methods for altering the behaviour, even remotely!

Richard and Greg talk to Stephen Rose, Senior Community Manager for Windows Client. Stephen announces the release of the beta of Windows 7 simultaneously with Steve Ballmer at CES. Check it out at www.microsoft.com/windows7

While still at Windows Connections in Las Vegas, Richard and Greg talked more with Mark Minasi. This time the conversation was a bit more serious, digging into Microsoft's Cloud Computing technology called Azure. Happy New Year!

At Windows Connections in Las Vegas, Richard and Greg talk to Mark Minasi about... well, just about everything. It's a silly show, but Mark does dig into the history of Windows and his thoughts on the upcoming Windows 7. Hey, it's Christmas, have some fun!

As Tech Ed 2008 IT Pro in Barcelona was wrapping up, Richard and Greg talked to Michael Nystrom about Microsoft's new Essential Business Server (EBS). EBS looks like the big brother of Small Business Server (SBS), but its more than that. Check out EBS at http://www.microsoft.com/ebs

Another of the Tech Ed EMEA 2008 shows from Barcelona, Richard and Greg talk to Jeff Woolsey about Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, what's coming for Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2 and even some hints of what comes after that.

Another show from Tech Ed EMEA 2008 IT Pro in Barcelona, Richard and Greg talk to Baldwin Ng and Jay Sauls about the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP). MAP is a Solution Accelerator, combining guidance and tools to help IT pros understand the equipment in their network, virtualization opportunities as well as desktop upgrade challenges. You can download MAP for free at http://www.microsoft.com/map.

Richard and Greg talk to Iain McDonald, General Manager for Windows Server while at Tech Ed EMEA 2008 IT Pro in Barcelona. Iain gives us a look into what's coming up for Windows Server 2008 R2.

While at Tech Ed EMEA IT Pro 2008 in Barcelona, Richard and Greg talk to John Rodriguez, a Premier Field Engineer focused on Exchange Server. John walks through the strategies and tactics for troubleshooting problems with Microsoft Exchange Server.

Richard and Greg talk to Chris Stoneff of Lieberman Software about the challenges of passwords. The discussion ranges from password alternatives to complexity policy and privileged account password management.

Richard and Greg talk to Clint Huffman about the Performance Analysis of Logs (PAL) Tool. The tool can be downloaded at http://www.codeplex.com/PAL. PAL helps identify what performance counters to monitor and what are reasonable thresholds for Microsoft products like IIS, MOSS, SQL Server, Exchange and Active Directory. Clint has a blog at http://blogs.technet.com/clint_huffman/.

Richard and Greg dig deep into PerfMon with Shane Creamer. Shane works with Microsoft Premier Field Engineering and runs the Vital Signs workshop, a three day course teaching everything the administrator needs to know about performance monitor. Download the video Here. Also, a link to the 25 key perfmon counters is in Stephen Choy's article at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc718984.aspx?pr=blog.

Richard and Greg talk to Itzik Ben-Gan about all things T-SQL in SQL Server 2008. Itzik doesn't just talk about what's new, he talks about what's missing (in his opinion). This is a must-listen for serious SQL geeks! Check out Itzik's web site at http://www.sql.co.il/

Michael Anderburg returns to talk to Richard and Greg about code security. Focused around the book The Security Development Lifecycle (http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/8753.aspx), Michael describes the role of IT in making code security work. While it sounds like a topic for developers, the book is equally applicable to IT Pros and what they can do to help development and even third-party applications be more secure.

Richard and Greg bring back Wes Miller to talk about Windows Rights Management Services (RMS). RMS secures email and other Office documents to have precise security options, limiting the ability to view, print, copy and so on.

Richard and Greg talk to Stephen Choy about measuring and managing server performance. Stephen digs into the intricacies of performance monitor and other tools for measuring server performance. One of the tools mentioned is Performance Analysis of Logs (PAL) Tool at http://www.codeplex.com/PAL.

Richard and Greg talk to the illustrious Kim Tripp, in a rare interview without her husband Paul Randal. The conversation delves deep into the wonders of indexes in SQL Server, including the value of clustered indexes, their impact on non-clustered indexes and a huge number of details on why some indexes rock and other suck. Check out Kim's blog at http://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/kimberly.

Richard and Greg talk to Michiel Wories about Powershell for SQL Server 2008. The latest version of SQL Server implements several object models through Powershell to let folks manage SQL Server without using the management tools. Michiel's blog is at http://blogs.msdn.com/mwories/

Richard and Greg talk to Paul Randal about the new file stream technology in SQL Server 2008. File streams provide a solution to very large files being connected with SQL Server transactionally while still storing the files themselves in the file system, rather than the database. Check out Paul's blog at http://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/paul

Richard and Greg talk to Jeff Goodwin about Microsoft Unified Communications. Jeff lays out the relationship between Exchange, Office Communicator and Unified Messaging Server to combine email, telephone and instant messaging. Check out Jeff's TechNet articles at http://www.shrinkster.com/11mj and http://www.shrinkster.com/11mk.

Richard and Greg talk to Paul Randal about the involuntary DBA - those folks that end up being the DBA without previous training or expectations. Kim Tripp (Paul's wife) pops in here and there to support her husband's ideas. Check out Paul's blog at http://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/paul/

Richard and Greg talk to Laura Hunter about all things Active Directory. Laura digs into the key aspects of Active Directory, breaking down the differences between simple single domain installations and complex environments. Laura also shares her favorite resources, including the Ask the Directory Services Team (blogs.technet.com/askds).

Richard and Greg bring Erin Welker back to talk about Performance Point Planning. Performance Point Planning is part of the Office Server suite that ties SQL Server, Analysis Services, Integration Services and Reporting Services together to provide budget and forecasting services. You can read Erin's blog at www.sqlblog.com/blogs/erin_welker.

Richard and Greg talk to Brian Randell about what the IT Pro needs to know around virtualization for developers. The topics range from automating (and limiting) the creation of virtual machines for developers, licensing issues, testing, using virtualization to control IP and work the remote developers.

Richard and Greg talk to Keith Mayer about Microsoft's Infrastructure Optimization initiative. The conversation ranges across the optimization of the data center, productivity applications and custom development. More information on Microsoft Infrastructure Optimization can be found at http://www.microsoftio.com/ and http://www.microsoft.com/optimization.

Richard and Greg bring back Simon Goldstein to tackle another challenging IT Management topic: IT Risk Management. Simon outlines a plan for getting started with Risk Management, including how to "manage up" to get budget for risk management solutions.

Richard and Greg talk to Daniel Nerenberg, the Lazy Admin (www.thelazyadmin.com)! Daniel talks about the great free tools Microsoft provides for facilitating the migration and updating of Windows XP, Vista, 2003 Server and 2008 Server. Tools include Microsoft Deployment Tools (www.shrinkster.com/zq8), USMT (www.shrinkster.com/zq6) and the Application Compatibility Toolkit (www.shrinkster.com/zq9).

Richard and Greg talk to Mark Minasi of the Mastering Windows Server series (and more)! While the conversation ranges around a lot, listen for a serious dig into the networking stack of Server 2008 (and Vista).

At Tech Ed IT Pro 2008 in Orlando Florida, Richard and Greg talk to Hal Rottenberg and Carter Shanklin about VMWare's support for Powershell. VMWare has added an extensive Powershell accessible interface to VMWare to simplify the automation of virtual machine related tasks.

Live from the floor at Tech Ed IT Week in Orlando Florida, Richard and Greg talk to Frank Simorjay and Dan Griffin about NAP and Forefront. Network Access Protection (NAP) is a technology for controlling access to the network for workstations, especially laptops that might fall behind in patches and upgrades. Forefront is the client protection technology from Microsoft. Together they make an effective solution for keeping mobile worker systems safe.

A year after his first show (number 10!) Isaac Roybal comes back to talk about the state of IIS7 and the new modules being released by Microsoft. Recorded on the main floor of Tech Ed 2008 IT Pro in Orlando, Florida. And check out the new modules at www.iis.net/downloads.

Richard and Greg run a panel discussion on the compliance features of SQL Server 2008 while at Tech Ed US IT Pro week in Orlando, Florida. The discussion focuses around the tools built into SQL Server to make it easier to support compliance requirements like SOX and PCI.

Richard and Greg talk to Allan Hirt about using virtualization with SQL Server. Allan digs into where virtualization makes sense for SQL Server and when it doesn't. And yes, its true, sometimes virtualizing SQL Server really does make sense!

Richard and Greg talk to Matthew Roche about SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS). SSIS comes with SQL Server 2005 and 2008, replacing Data Transformation Services (DTS) from SQL Server 2000. Matthew digs into the dramatic improvements SSIS has over DTS and some of the best practices for using SSIS. Check out Matthew's blog at bi-polar23.blogspot.com.

Richard and Greg talk to Erin Welker about Data Partitioning in SQL Server 2005 and 2008. Erin digs into the advantages of partitioning for OLTP and OLAP, as well as the changes between 2005 and 2008. Check out Erin's blog at www.sqlblog.com/blogs/erin_welker.

Richard and Greg talk to Susan Bradley, the SBS Diva herself, about Small Business Server (SBS). The discussion digs into the various features of SBS including the upcoming 2008 edition. Susan blogs at http://www.sbsdiva.com.

Richard and Greg talk to Mark Beckner about using BizTalk Server for Integration. The discussion explore understanding the integration needs of an organization as a whole, how BizTalk can be utilized without development and how Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has improved in BizTalk Server 2006 R2.

Richard and Greg talk to Greg Lamothe about Windows SteadyState. SteadyState allows administrators to configure PCs to roll back to a base configuration after every reboot. Combined with Group Policy for restricting access to resources you can create the perfect kiosk computer that cleans off all traces of the previous user, ready for the next.

Richard and Greg talk to Garth Jones about SMS 2003 and its new version, System Center Configuration Manager 2007. Configuration Manager takes over where SMS left off, handling software distribution, updates, asset management, even working with Windows Deployment Services to do bare metal installations!

Richard and Greg talk to Sean Siler from Microsoft about IPv6. Sean talks about what Microsoft is doing to make IPv6 work and how IPv4 and IPv6 will be living side-by-side for many years.

Richard and Greg dig into Hyper-V with guest Anil Desai. Hyper-V is the virtualization product that shipped as a beta with Windows Server 2008, the release version to be available 180 days later. This show was recorded while Hyper-V was still a release candidate. Anil digs into the strengths and weaknesses of Hyper-V and how it compares to products like VMWare's ESX Server.