Some cool virtual labs for ITPros

Windows Server 2008 Virtual Labs
Come experience the next major release of Windows Server. Test-drive new and improved features and functionality in the Windows Server 2008 release, including management, network protection, and improvements to Terminal Services. New labs will continue to be added and updated to the series so check back frequently.

Office Communications Server 2007 Public Beta Virtual Labs
Experience Office Communications Server 2007 through this series of Virtual Labs. Take a hands-on walk through topics such as installing, deploying, configuring, and enabling users in Office Communications Server 2007.

System Center Virtual Labs
Take part in these Virtual Labs and experience how the Microsoft System Center family of leading IT management solutions helps you proactively plan, deploy, manage, and optimize your IT environment.

Windows Live Writer Beta 2 - (an off line blogging tool) - (with SharePoint 2007 support!) now available

The Windows Live Writer team just announced the availability of Beta 2 of their excellent offline blog writing tool, which now has support for the blog functionality in WSS 3.0 and consequently MOSS 2007. I’ve been using a pre-Beta 2 build of the tool to write and post blog entries here (a Community Server based blog) as well as my own blog (a MOSS based blog) for a few weeks now, and it has worked very well.

HTTP security filter - Exchange Publishing

Steven Hope, formerly with Microsoft Consulting Services, put together a fantastic document on how to configure the HTTP security filter for a number of Exchange Publishing Scenarios. You can find that document at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/isa/2004/plan/firewall-exchange2003.mspx

I was made to think ISA Server must never be a domain member for security reason.

Until i had to configure a complex ISA 2006 with SharePoint and Exchange publishing.
Read Debunking the Myth that the ISA Firewall Should Not be a Domain Member and you will change you mind too.

A quick guide to locking down the SMTP Virtual Server in Exchange 2003

Stop Spam From the Inside by Locking Down SMTP

I was having this issue in one of the exchange servers i was working. Saw this huge amount of outgoing message queues.

Verified that the content was was only of bad emails outgoing, i then decided to wipe out all the pending email files (.eml) in "C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mailroot\vsi 1\Queue". You need to stop the SMTP Virtual Server before you do this.

/Gill

SEA 2007 is coming in Sept

Tech•Ed SEA 2007, Microsoft’s premier & largest annual conference in the South East Asia region, focuses on newly released products such as of Microsoft Office along with content about upcoming releases such as Windows Server code name "Longhorn". For four days in September, you can get technical training, information and resources to help you build, deploy, secure, mobilize, and manage solutions.

Tech•Ed SEA 2007 features:

• More than 120 breakout sessions
This year’s event will feature even more speakers from Microsoft Corporation allowing you to hear about your favorite technologies from the sources who develop them. Create a personal learning program from 6 technical tracks with more than 120 breakout sessions.
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• Hands-on experiences
Tech•Ed offers opportunities to evaluate products both from Microsoft and from 250 of our most important industry partners. Additionally, based on attendee feedback from last year, we will be more than doubling the number of Instructor Led Lab sessions as well as introducing a whole host of new self-paced Hands On Lab content.
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• Networking with your peers
Walking around Tech•Ed are more than 2,000 minds just like yours. 2,000 IT pros and developers to meet. 2,000 opinions to consider. Add to the mix Microsoft product team members and industry gurus and you will immediately see why a Tech•Ed crowd is like no other.
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Tech•Ed is a one-of-a-kind experience!

Good SharePoint Upgrade Articles and Posts

HP Whitepaper on SharePoint Server Performance

This is a good read for performance tuning a SharePoint. It written by HP using HP hardware, but it gives you a very good idea of how to capacity and performance tune your MOSS 2007 architecture.

A good guide to improving performance of MOSS 2007 via caching.

How can I make my web site faster with caching ?
http://blogs.msdn.com/ecm/archive/2006/11/08/how-to-make-your-moss-2007-web-site-faster-with-caching.aspx

Role-Based Templates for SharePoint My Sites

What are Role-Based Templates for SharePoint My Sites?

Every job role is unique and demanding. As people work to drive business outcomes, they have to balance the complexities of interacting with multiple systems, tracking goals, and relating to surrounding processes. IT organizations have been seeking role-based solutions that can provide information workers with common interfaces to access priority information.
Role-Based Templates for SharePoint My Sites are custom templates, designed for Office SharePoint Server 2007 and the My Site functionality, and tailored to

Deploying Windows Rights Management Services with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Step-by-Step Guide

Brief Description
Deploying Windows Rights Management Services with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Step-By-Step Guide provides instructions for deploying Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 in a Microsoft Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) with Service Pack 2 environment.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7bab2321-71e6-4cf2-8bcd-0880e0d1cda3&DisplayLang=en

How to run host podcasting on SharePoint 2007

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2007/05/14/people-ready-podcasting-at-the-asia-pacific-sharepoint-conference.aspx

From the SharePoint Team Blog: Top 17 case studies for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and several new MOSS-based web sites

Really good reference for MOSS 2007 implementations.
http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2007/05/03/top-17-case-studies-for-microsoft-office-sharepoint-server-2007-and-several-new-moss-based-web-sites.aspx

New Exchange 2007 whitepapers

Going 64-bit with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007

Admin/Management Overview

Confidentiality/Secure Messaging

How to lockdown an Internet facing MOSS-based web site

Great information from the SharePoint team blog.
http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2007/05/10/how-to-lockdown-an-internet-facing-moss-based-web-site.aspx

RTW of the SMS2003 Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007

Here is the RTW of the SMS2003 Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=BDCA74EE-D493-4F68-BDDD-AC7EE38D8745&displaylang=en


The Public RTW of the English SMS 2003 Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007.

SharePoint Governance and Manageability

What is SharePoint Governance and Manageability?
This workspace is designed for governance and manageability samples and tools designed to help IT Professionals.

Lookout for the following tools:

Microsoft IT Site Delete Capture 1.0
Site Life Cycle Management
Sample Auditing Configuration Solution Deployment Package

More Governance Content:
SharePoint Governance posts on Joel's Blog
Manageability and Governance Post
Key Governance Considerations
Information Policies and Auditing Post
Information Architecture Post
Logical Architecture Samples