Spring 2005

Windows Administration:Breathe New Life Into Your Server! From Windows NT To Windows Server 2003

If you're moving up from Windows NT to Windows Server 2003, you'll be pleasantly surprised. But before making the move, find out what you need to consider first and get the best migration strategies for your needs. Jonathan Hassell

Windows Administration:Secure Your Desktops With The New Group Policy Settings In SP2

Group Policy lets you control who can access resources across your network and what types of actions users can perform based on their roles. New settings in Windows XP SP2 offer even tighter control so you can regulate more and worry less. Jeremy Moskowitz

Windows Administration:Redundancy On A Budget: Implementing A RAID File Server

Did you know that you can implement a fault-tolerant departmental file server on a low-end desktop PC? All you need is RAID, Windows Server 2003, a PC, and an extra hard drive, and you're good to go. Robert Walker

Windows Administration:Preserve Your Data With The Backup Tool You Already Have

If you're running Windows XP, Windows 2000 Server, or Windows Server 2003, you already have Ntbackup. It's time to dispel some of the myths about how it works so you can get good, efficient backups without blowing your software budget. Jay Shaw

Windows Administration:10 Easy Ways To Lock Down Your Computer

Here are 10 important Group Policy settings you can start using for more secure user passwords, authentication, user privileges, and persistence of GPO settings. Derek Melber

SQL Server:Reduce Downtime: Implement SQL Server 2000 On A Cluster

Running SQL Server 2000 on a Windows Server 2003 Server failover cluster will get you more uptime by alleviating your reliance on a single server. Stephen Strong

SQL Server:XML To The Max: Get More Power Out Of Your SQL Server

Using the SQL Server 2000 T-SQL syntax, you can manipulate XML in a variety of ways. For example, you can access data contained in an XML string passed into a stored procedure and produce XML output. Find out what these flexible, powerful XML features can do for you. Ward Pond

SQL Server:Get A Traffic Report: Analyze Your Database Usage With System Tables

By querying data from the master.sysprocesses table you can get almost any information you need about connections to your SQL database, what each process is doing, which processes are blocking, and lots more. Then you can use this data to create some truly enlightening reports. Matt Evans and Josh Moody

SQL Server:Async Lifestyle: Manage Your Tasks With Service Broker

SQL Server 2005 Service Broker is more than just a developer tool. DBAs can use it to schedule tasks, run batch processing, and perform routine database maintenance. Roger Wolter

SQL Server:On The Horizon: Improved Data Security In SQL Server 2005

Microsoft has performed extensive threat modeling and security analysis to identify the threats facing database servers. This work has resulted in an upcoming version of SQL Server, SQL Server 2005, that is secure by design. This article enumerates the various security improvements to the popular database. Don Kiely

Exchange for Experts:Be The Master Of Your Domain Rename With Exchange

Domain renaming is not only possible, it's actually easier than you think, especially with this handy guide to the process and the right tool—Rendom.exe, which can be found on your Windows Server 2003 CD. Steve Schiemann

Exchange for Experts:Migration, Active Directory, And You: A Guide for Exchange Admins

You can use the Active Directory Migration tool to migrate users, computers, and groups from one domain to another. Plus, the new version of the tool lets you migrate user passwords as well as accounts, which makes the Exchange Server migration process a whole lot easier. Nino Bilic

bb978519(v=msdn.10).mdcc135917(v=msdn.10).md

Columns