I.T.'s all Geek to Mike!!!

Error migrating DHCP database to Windows Server 2008 from Windows 2003 Server

2011-08-16T14:20:00.001-05:00

Finally back to the blogsphere. I’ve decided to use my blog as a repository for issues & stuff I come across that I want to document. We’ll see how long this lasts.

On the first day back at work, I ran across an interesting issue while migrating the DHCP server in our lab from a physical 2003 server to a virtual 2008 R2. Clients without reservations were receiving addresses, but were not being displayed in the DHCP mmc (Statistics showed IPs in use). However, clients with reservations were not getting their IPs. Also, reservations would not show DHCP in mmc and no addresses were under the Address Lease node. The folder which normally displays a clock had a red X. After doing some searching I ran across an article on social.technet.com. First, was a discussion on a difference between 2003 and 2008 R2 in regards to leases. In 2003, you could create a reservation for servers that fell outside of the available IP range. I had used this to keep track of IP’s within DHCP instead of a spreadsheet or other document. However, it appears 2008 R2 does not support this. I’m not sure on Server 2008 since I skipped over it.

Here’s how I fixed my issue:

1. On the source DHCP server, I deleted all leases that fell outside of the available range. This range includes specified exclusionary ranges as well as undefined ranges.

2. I exported the DHCP database using Netsh: netsh dhcp server export ALL

3. On my destination server, I stopped the DHCPServer service and deleted c:\windows\system32\dhcp\dhcp.mdb

4. After deleting the database, I started the DHCPServer service.

5. I imported the DHCP database using Netsh: netsh dhcp server import ALL

6. Upon opening the DHCP mmc, I was able to see all leases as well as reservations. Also, all clients previously using reservations now received IP addresses.

Thanks to the Sainath IRP_MY_Create on Network Infrastructure Servers forum on social.technet.com for assistance on this!

January 1, 2010

2009-12-31T17:29:00.003-06:00

New Year...New Decade

I mine as well start it off and make it interesting.

Ever since reading Tim Ferriss's book, The Four Hour Work Week, I have wanted to go on a "data/information" diet. No social media, no gossip rags, and reduced email usage. However, I just never found the right time to do it. Well, now seems as good a time as any.

My latest interest was peaked by an article in TechCrunch on John Mayer. John has invited his social media followers to join on a data cleanse to "defragment" your brain. Here are the guidelines laid down from John's blog:
Guidelines:

*email only from laptop or desktop computers

*cell phones can only be used to make calls, and no text messages or e-mails are allowed - if you receive a text, you must reply in voice over the phone. E-mails must be returned from a laptop or desktop computer.

*no use of Twitter or any other social networking site - this includes reading as well as posting.

*no visiting of any entertainment or gossip sites. (No need to detail which ones - you know what they are.)

Hmmmm...This should be interesting.

My plan is to keep a written journal of each day and blog about it upon returning to the "digital world". I can tell you it won't be easy. The last time I was without my smartphone for more than 8 hrs (besides sleeping) caused some serious withdrawls.

In preparation for tomorrow's events, I have done a full factory reset of my smartphone, a motorola droid. No email accounts are configured except for synching my contacts (for phone calls) and calendars. No fancy apps to waste my time; no checking my emails as soon as they come in. The only time I will be checking my mail is when I'm around a computer.

Wish me luck and see you in a week!

Mike

The Jim Jones Martini

2009-06-17T11:16:00.002-05:00

Named after the late Jim Jones, this cocktail is like adult kool-aid with a kick.

My version of the Jim Jones Martini originated at T.G.I. Friday's in Madison, WI in 1996. A fellow bartender, Dave K., had a customer come in and ask for a Jim Jones. Not knowing the drink, Dave asked for the recipe. The original recipe Dave made included equal parts Absolut and Absolut citron, lemon & lime juice, simple syrup, and a splash of Chambord. Needless to say, the drink was a hit and became the new "staple" with employees and regulars.

As a fan of old-skool cocktails and methods, I came across an interesting method for sugar glazing a glass prior to building out a cocktail. This was discovered at my favorite after work bar, The Old Towne Pub. A bartender at the OTP, Joelle, made a fabulous rocks gimlet where he combine lime juice and bar sugar in the bottom of the glass. Then, he proceeded to glaze the inside of the glass with the back of a bar spoon. After imbibing in numerous of these wonderful concoctions, I thought about trying this with the Jim Jones. So the next night at the bar, I had some regulars in and decided to do a "test drive" of my new cocktail. Here's the recipe, then we'll discuss the build:

Jim Jones Martini - Up

Cocktail glass

Bar sugar

¼ lime, squeezed (2 wedges)

¼ lemon, squeezed (2 wedges)

1 ½ oz Absolut

1 ½ oz Absolut Citron

½ oz Chambord

Starting with a chilled martini glass, add lemon and lime juice to cocktail glass. Add discarded lemon and lime into mixing tin for drink build. Add 2 bar spoons of sugar cocktail glass. This is where it's tricky. Depending on the amount of lemon/lime juice, you need to balance the amount of sugar so it's not too pasty, but not too running. Proceed to line the inside of the cocktail glass by rotating glass by the stem and drawing spoon towards the rim. Side Note: Some people like a sugared rim on the glass as well. I think it gets in the way, but is always an option. Quickly, add Absolut, Absolut Citron, and Chambord to tin along w/ lemon and lime. Add Ice and shake till chilled. Strain into the center of the martini glass. This will give the best presentation and will not was away the sugar glaze. Garnish with lemon and lime squeeze.

Variations of the drink were created by various bartenders. Most notably, was the move from a classic martini to a shaken cocktail served in a Collins glass (14oz Gibralter) w/ a splash of 7-up. Simple Syrup replaced the sugar glaze. This change was definitely a more efficient way to make the drink. Especially when the bar was three deep at the Second Story and people were ordering 4 at a crack. Trust me when I say that my traditional method is excellent, yet very time consuming. More than one will put you in the Weeds very quickly.

Thanks to all the old skooler's who spread the Jim Jones in Madtown…Kristin, Jake, Jerry, Dave, Reinie, Kelly, Leslie, and Matt…

Prior to posting, I decided to research whether another "Jim Jones" drink existed. Low and behold, I found another cocktail, Jim Jones, posted by Jace K. Seavers on www.barnonedrinks.com. Jace's drink is , too say the least, powerful. Another version is seen at drinkswap.com and called The Real Jim Jones Cocktail Recipe. I like mine better, but then I think I make the best drinks on the planet! lol

Enjoy responsibly!

Mike

P.S. I hope to get some pics up for the Jim Jones as soon as I can make some at homeJ

The Bucket List…

2009-06-12T15:24:00.003-05:00

Good Afternoon True Believers…

As some of you (all 3 of you) may have noticed, I've been blogging about more than just technology lately. You will probably see a lot more of that going forward as I hope to increase the frequency of technology and non-technology related blog posts. Let me know what you think…

Anyway, today's post is about the bucketlist. I've seen the movie. Love Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. But I've never really taken the time to write down or even spend extended periods of time contemplating my list. Sure, I thought of stuff I'd like to do, but never have a made a permanent record of the things I'd like to do before I "Kick the Bucket".

I started thinking about this after seeing The Last Lecture during a teaching certification class last week. If you have not watched the entire video, take an hour, grab a cup of coffee, and watch one of the most inspiring lectures you may ever see. I plan to incorporate this into all of my classes. I think my students would get valuable insight about themselves and their lives.

Further inspiration to begin my bucket list creation came after receiving a tweet from @theartofmanliness on Twitter. If you have not been to www.theartofmanliness.com, check it out. I think it's a very funny and insightful website for Men on how to be a better man.

Before jumping in, what is a bucket list really all about? IMHO it's about dreams and fulfilling those dreams. It could be as simple as building a birdhouse or as hard as completing The Seven Summits. Chris from TheArtOfManliness.com writes an excellent guide to get you started thinking about and creating your bucket list. Check it out here.

While a bucket list is a list of things you want to do, I have found it helpful to add to the list things you have done. Just like with anything, it is often helpful to have a record of the things you have accomplished.

So I grabbed a cup of Joe and sat down for my list. Here's what I came up with. You'll note I've put the completed items at the top of the list.

Complete an Ironman triathlon – I had wanted to do this since I saw Julie Moss crawl across the finish line at Kona in 1981. I completed this at Ironman Wisconsin in 2006.
Write a book – Published April 2009.
Teach Information Technology at the College level – Current career
Travel: Spend 2 weeks in Scotland playing golf on 100 year old courses
Reach a financial point where I owe nobody anything…zip…zero…nada. No credit cards, mortgage, loans…nothing
Retire by the time I am 50. 11 years is not a lot of time…
Ride a bicycle across the US.
Tour the 50 states on a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
Take my parents to Europe for their 45^th anniversary since it is something they would never do for themselves.
Visit Everest base camp. I'm enthralled by Everest but have no desire to risk my life to that point.
Bartend again.
Learn how to be interested in conversations I have no interest in.
See the UW Badgers play for the NCAA Football nation title.
Go to the NCAA Final Four.
Attend Oktoberfest in Munich.
Ride my bike to work on a regular basis.
Renew my love of reading NON-Technology books.
Spend a semester at CIA…Culinary Institute of America.
Write a book that isn't a textbook.
Learn how to REALLY enjoy a vacation.
Learn to be a better husband and son
Visit Napa Valley

I plan to review this every once in a while…

What do you have on your list? I'd love to hear.

With That…EXCELSIOR!

Mike

Teaching Philosophy for Michael Bender

2009-06-09T19:53:00.005-05:00

For me, the concept of teaching and learning is encompassed by what I call "Assisted Darwinism". While a bit tongue and cheek, I believe it has merits in how I run my classroom. While it may be an unpopular, I do not believe that every student walking into my class will be successful as not everyone is meant for the world of IT, or is ready for academic learning. I do not pre-identify or judge students. I allow the natural order of the classroom to take its course. This does not mean I simply allow students who could be successful fail; it means that those unwilling to take ownership for their academic careers and don't ask for or want help may fail.

Conceptualization of Learning

I believe learning occurs when a student is provided with new information or a new task, and then they are able to apply that task within their life. True learning occurs through making mistakes and being able to use those experiences to grow. If we do things the right way all the time, we'll never learn how to manage. While not specifically related to learning, this quote by Theodore Roosevelt sums up my beliefs of learning.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt

Conceptualization of Teaching

I believe that my role as a teacher is to provide an environment that inspires learning through trial and error. In my honest opinion, the only true way to learn job skills is through practice, repetition, and making mistakes. In my classroom, I see myself as more of a Subject Matter Expert (SME) than a teacher. Many of my students are peers in the IT industry. They perform many of the same job activities that I teach about. So I attempt to create a classroom where we are peers in the context of the IT community, and I am simply a SME providing reference knowledge as they learn new skills. In this scenario, the goal is that students will not only learn from me, but learn from each other

As a certified "Geek", I love technology and everything about the field. I am passionate about learning new technology and keeping my skills up to date. Not just because it is my job, but because I have a true passion for it. Hopefully this passion wears off on my students and they develop this passion as well. I believe IT, more than any other career, requires constant vigilance and learning if you wish to be successful.

Goals for students

For my students, I hope that they achieve the goals they set for the class. Whether it is to simply learn more about Windows Vista so they can use it a home or to start a new career, my mission is to help students achieve those goals.

Students need to be invested in their education. If they cannot commit fully to their learning, it will be very difficult for me to help them achieve success. For students that struggle, I will attempt to assist them to the best of my abilities. However, they must be willing to accept this help, along with invest in getting past the "brick walls" to success.

Students need to develop a lifelong passion for learning. IT is not a career where you learn some skills, and then you just do your job. It is ever evolving. I tell my students that it is a very good chance that the technology we are currently working with may be out-of-date by the time they actually put their knowledge to use.

Implementation of the philosophy

I implement my philosophy by just doing what I do. I do not spend a lot of time philosophizing about how I should be teaching. I simply do what comes natural. I try things; those things that work, I continue to use and improve. Those things that are not successful are evaluated so I can learn from this and improve my teaching methods.

Personal Growth Plan

A number of things come to mind when I think of what

I need to create clearer goals for my activities. Many times, students will finish an activity and not really know what they have done.

I need to take more time to analyze my classes and the impact of my teaching on my students.

Often times I create activities that I think are excellent, but they are too challenging for students. I should be consistently re-evaluating my activities to ensure the learning goals of my classes are met by the activities.

Web 2.0 in the Classroom Presentation

2009-06-05T09:00:00.007-05:00

This morning I had the privelage to present an introduction to Web 2.0 and Social media for use in the classroom.

As a Social Media geek, it was a fun presentation.

Enjoy!

Mike

Open Letter to The Krewe

2009-05-15T18:50:00.008-05:00

So here it is…The last day of TechEd 2009.

What an awesome week we’ve had. I’ve met a great number of new friends and shared many an adult beverage with the coolest people at TechEd. TechEd is the one time of year where I can “Fly my Geek Flag” and cut loose. For this, I thank you. Without all of the members of The Krewe, it would not be the same.

While TechEd wasn’t as good as previous years in many respects, The Krewe rocked the house. Almost every night, we had 10-15+ people hanging out. A testament to the “coolness” of the Krewe, and the power of connectivity.

Though people associate it with me, I am not the leader of the Krewe. A state of mind cannot have a leader; it simply has believers who do the deeds which need to be done. I, along with others like Jeff (expta), have simply done what needs to be done for our group to thrive. And thrive it has…I was lucky enough to meet up with the Krewe at TechEd 2007. And I’ve hung with them ever since. It has been my honor and privilege to act on your behalf. To that end, I’ve purchased a domain name, thekrewe.info, for our use. Actually, I bought it last year with the intent to have a site of for TechEd 2009. However, that didn’t happen. But this year will be different; I hope to have a simple forum-type site up within a month or two. Just a simple site where we can share contact info securely, as well as share photos from TechEd. A virtual home for the 51 weeks of the year when we are away from TechEd and our other Krewe members. If you wish to help, please contact me here.

As with any large groups, things often did not work as planned. That’s life and you roll with it. That’s what makes this group so special because there are no egos; just new and old friends enjoying a week of learning and camaraderie. We all work hard so there is no reason we should not be able to play hard.

Myself, Jeff, and others have great plans for the Krewe and TechEd 2010 in New Orleans. We hope you will join us.

Your Friend…Mike

Creating Multiple Mailboxes with Powershell

2009-04-06T16:09:00.001-05:00

I was prepping for my Exchange classes client lab this afternoon. I came across a need for each student to have there own mailbox on the Test exchange server. I could have created each mailbox and associated user by hand, but I figured "Let's Try Powershell...or the Exchange Management Shell to be more correct".

Anyway after about an hour of tinkering, I came up with a script that will allow you to create multiple mailboxes from a .CSV file, and base the mailbox on an existing mailbox. This would work great if you had a bulk of new hires or just a need to create a lot of mailboxes.

First I created a CSV file that included the Alias, Name and UPN fields.
Alias,name,upn
User01,User 01,user01@itsallgeek2mike.com

Next, I created a basic mailbox called Template to use as my copy source mailbox.

Finally, I ran the following powershell script to create the new mailboxes:
## Bulk Creation of Mailboxes in Exchange 2007
## Created by Michael Bender
## Requires creation of a CSV file called CreateRecipients.csv located in the
## root of c: or directory of your choice. If you change the directory, you will need to

## Set Script Variables
$CopyMb = Read-Host "Enter Name of Mailbox to Copy"
$Template = get-mailbox $CopyMb
$Pwd = Read-Host "Enter password" -AsSecureString
$MBDb = Read-Host "Enter Exchange Database"
$Db = get-mailboxdatabase $MBDb
$CSV = Read-Host "Enter location of CSV file (e.g. c:\NewMailboxes.csv)"

## CSV Import and Mailbox creation
Import-CSV $CSV | % {new-mailbox -alias $_.alias -name $_.name -userPrincipalName $_.UPN -database $Db -org Users -Password $Pwd -templateinstance $Template}

The mailboxes create properly. However, I keep getting an error referring to the new-mailbox cmdlet and a null value.

I'll keep you posted on the progress...

Mike

DSL and house wiring

2009-03-17T16:22:00.002-05:00

It's spring so I'm taking some time off, but I wanted to share an experience with you.

I switched to ATT DSL and was getting a much slower speed than my 6MB subscription.

Long story short...It was my house wiring. As soon as I moved my modem to right off the connection coming in the house, my speed went up.

Hope that helps someone else out...

Mike

Intro to Windows Server 2008 presentation

2009-03-06T11:55:00.003-06:00

Today, I had the pleasure of presenting to the Wisconsin Technical College IT State-Called meeting in Eau Claire, WI.

Attached is the slide deck from the presentation.

WTCS Slide Deck

Mike

The Book...DELAYED!!!

2009-02-25T23:07:00.002-06:00

Sad to say Tru Believers, but the book has been delayed about a Month until April. It just went to the publisher this week so it should hit the warehouse by April 3rd.

Anyway, I'm still having a "Book Pre-Release" party at the Great Dane Brew Pub on Doty on March 19th starting around 5pm...

Pop by if you are around...

Mike

Ok...I'll bite!

2009-02-25T22:57:00.003-06:00

As many of you know, I drank the "Virtualization Kool-aid" very early so I'm a big fan. However, I'm not sure where this is going to go.

VMWare just announced a Virtualization platform for mobile phones. I'll have to read up more, but it sounds a little bit of a stretch for me.

However, maybe that will allow me to run WiMo on an iPhone:)

Mike

P.S. 1 week till Watchmen hits the big screen...I have my tickets!!!!!

The Book...

2009-02-20T05:50:00.003-06:00

March 2nd is the date...

Last I heard, my book will be available to the public on March 2nd. Currently, it is listed on Amazon which is kinda cool, though searching by my name was a bit fruitless. I stopped counting the pages to get to my book

Anyway, a number of people have expressed a desire to purchase my book. I'm working on a way to get the book at a discounted price for friends, etc as the retail on Amazon is $101.
MCTS Guide to Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure Configuration (exam #70-642)

However, Tower Books has it for $81.50...
http://www.tower.com/mcts-guide-microsoft-windows-server-2008-network-infastructure-michael-bender-paperback/wapi/113036653

I'll keep you posted...

Mike

In the works...

2009-02-19T13:42:00.004-06:00

Well, I've been spending a lot of time with my classes, clients, and family so the blog has been lacking. For those needing their tech fix, here is some new stuff I've come across...

Microsoft MyPhone
By invitation only, this service will allow WinMo (Windows Mobile) users to backup phone data and have access to Microsoft Live features that are still in the works. I haven't received my invite yet so I'll keep you posted once I'm "in"...
https://sn1-p3.myphone.microsoft.com/mkweb/Start.po?mkt=en-US

Live Mesh for Windows Mobile
Depending on your "status", you may be eligible to add your WinMo phone to live mesh and sync docs. This might not sound like a big deal but it's a great way to transfer docs/pics/etc to & from your phone without using the Mobile Device Center sync (Which is a POS in my opinion!). Plus, the data is backedup & available from the cloud. Check it out under add devices in your mesh client.

Windows 7
I'm just beginning to kick the tires. I hope to have a working Win7/w2kOcho R2 setup up in the near future as there is some cool functionality between the two. I like the new taskbar and IE8 preview of open tabs, though I'm still on the fence w/ IE8. It's very buggy and find it crashes often. Windows Explorer in 7 is laid out much better and it's easier to place favorite file locations in WE.

Thrive
Microsoft has added a new website dedicated to helping IT Professionals further their careers and knowledge. This is a good thing considering the current economic state. Check it out at
http://www.microsoft.com/click/thrive/
Word of Caution: This site is only available in IE so no Safari, Firefox or Chrome...
As for the future, I've got a couple of things in the works:
1) I'm planning to resurrect the "learning Windows" blog posts. My hope is to use them as a basis for an e-book on Windows Networking...
2) Beta Reviews of Windows 7 and W2KOcho R2...

Thanks to everyone whose been keeping watch...

Mike

Good Afternoon True Believers!

2009-02-05T13:52:00.004-06:00

The wait is over....

FINALLY, the Rock has returned to Blogging....(Insert your favorite Dwayne Johonson impression)

So it's been a few months...a lot has been happening.

The Beta for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 have been released. I got both right after Ballmer's speech at CES 2009. I have not played around with W2kocho R2D2 yet, but I've heard many good things.

As for Windows 7, I like the interface. I find it very intuitive and like many of the new features. I put it on my tablet PC and the performance is very good. Also, there were few drivers that need to be custom loaded. This is surprising for an HP tablet/convertible laptop. I'm hoping to blog on just Windows 7 when I get the time.

Windows Live has gotten a facelift...
Microsoft is continuing it's aggressive movement into Cloud services. I've been using Live Mesh extensively (RAWKS!!!!) and I finally got into the Beta for Live Mesh on windows mobile...

My book gets published March 2nd. That is very cool and has been a long time in the making. I hope it does well and people learn something from it. Check it out at http://tinyurl.com/Mikes1stBook

Things I have in the works...
-Rehashing and continuing the blog series on learning Windows Server 2008
-How to build a disaster recovery site

Sorry for the long delay...I hope to post everyweek!

Mike

Honey...I can't shrink my disk volume!

2008-12-11T20:50:00.004-06:00

Well, I've been touting running Windows 2008 as a desktop for months. However, my latest work laptop came installed with Vista Business and I need to use it right out of the gate. Also, it's an hp and laptops are notorious for being "driver challenge" with a new OS.

Anyway, I finally completed the book and have a need to run Windows Server 2008 x64 and Hyper-V, so I decided to use Vistas built in disk shrink function since HP built the entire drive as c:.

Well, I cleared some junk of my laptop and had about 45GB free. I tried to shrink it and came up with bubkiss...nothing...nada. All I got was a lowly 300MB. Even with the HP recovery partition vaporized, not enough for W2kOcho.

After some searching and testing, I found the solution. You not only need to defrag the drive; you need to defrag the system files. What happens is that a simple defrag does not impact the MFT, or Master File Table records, on the drive. In my case, they were sitting on the last few sectors of the disk so a shrink was impossible.

Since Vista does not have built in defrag of systems files, I downloaded a trial of Perfectdisk 2008 from Raxco software (www.raxco.com). This worked flawlessly except I had to run error-checking (chkdsk.exe) and fix any errors prior to it working. After running both, I was able to shrink my volume by up to 45GB.

Other hints:
-Turn of Volume Shadow Copies/Previous Versions
-Temporarily stop page file usage and delete pagefile.sys

Good Luck!

Mike

IE8...Beware of Chrome

2008-12-05T16:06:00.006-06:00

IE 8 Sucks!!!! I'm running the beta and have way too many pages that don't render properly.

Anyway, so I ran across this interesting posting at gizmodo:
http://tinyurl.com/5bvg2m

Basically, if you install chrome, google has a right to use any and all content created through the browser...Guess I should stop blogging through chrome! Not that this would ever hold up in court or anything. But it's just another example of google and problems with personal privacy.

Do No Evil...I'm calling Shenanigans!!!! They are just like everyone else...living the capitalist dream!

Chrome at your own risk...

Mike

Picture courtesy of www.earthfrisk.com

It's all about the 7

2008-10-14T18:27:00.007-05:00

Mike Nash has reported on the official Windows Vista Blog that the next version of Windows desktop will be called...

Windows 7...

I like it! Simple, to the point...Asta la vista, Vista!!!!

See the blog here

More on why 7 here
Later...Mike

Windows 7 on the Brain

2008-10-01T00:53:00.005-05:00

I...Can't...get....away...from....it...

All I can think about, besides the #$%#@$% foresaken book I'm writing, is Windows 7. Why am I so enamored by it??? Probably because I can't have it!!!

So here I sit...can't sleep because of the book...trying to crank out some pages...And what comes to mind....

Windows 7

I've even thought of how I can convince my employer to send me to PDC or WinHEC so I can get a copy (fat chance)...Guess I just wait for the beta...

Unless Santa stops by the Haus early...

Later...Mike

Drinking the Kool-Aid!!!

2008-09-20T12:06:00.002-05:00

After finishing Ironman Wisconsin, I took a break.

Well...Break may not be the correct word, but anyway...

I've finally got back on the training train with the help of a great bunch of people at endurancenation.us.

If you are into triathlon, looking into triathlon, or just want to take yourself to the next level, check it out!

I'm doing the "Out-Season", or OS plan, starting December 1 (maybe november, it just depends on how October goes)...

As the winter goes along, I'll post my progress...

What are you doing??? Any tri-geeks in the House???

Back to Work...Mike

Fall already...

2008-09-20T11:56:00.003-05:00

It seems like only yesterday...

Well, I am back in the saddle and ready to roll. As many of you know, the summer has been super crazy with the Book (still is till Oct 13th!!), but I'm finally get a handling on juggling everything.

Unfortunately, School, The Book, and home life has taken a toll on the blog. I'm hoping to rectify that in the coming weeks as I continue bloggin about cool things in technology and my new workout regime.

I'll probably need to change the title as some posts will be on technology and other's will be on triathlon/cycling training & racing.

As for technology, here are some ideas I have...
-Finish my blog series on learning Server 2008 in your own home
-Highlighting the newest and freshest tech toyz, sites and apps...
-How I'm building a Hot DR site for a SMB client using cheap & reliable Virtual Servers on the Web...Rockin Cloud Computing!

What I need from you? Keep me honest...If I'm not posting regularly, FLAME ME! Most of you know how to get a hold of me, so do it. Also, if you get into a cool beta or find a great new app/site, post it as a comment or drop me an email. I love BETA testing!!!

Talk to you Soon!

64-bit workaround

2008-07-04T11:04:00.004-05:00

As many of you may know, I run Windows Server 2008 64-bit as my Desktop OS. The reasons are many and expansive. See my previous post on Workstation 2008 for more info.

One of the issues with running W2kOcho or a 64-bit Windows OS is driver support and legacy hardware/software support.

That's where VMware comes in. For a few years, I used a VM of Windows XP to house my Groupwise client. Yes...My employer still used Groupwise. It pains me everytime I check my email! This seperates the horrid GW install from mucking up my OS. Also, it provides portability for my app as I keep it on a USB drive.

So I ran into a problem. After I rebuilt my machines, I could not use the scanning software or drivers for my Brother MCF-240c. I tried the Vista drivers...did not work in this case. After thinking about it, I wondering if I could run the software in a VM using VMware since VMware supports USB.

Answer...Works without a hitch!

Next experiment...Try to run activesync and update my Motorola 9Qc to Mobile 6.1 through the VM.

Stay tuned

Some kewl stuff I've been geeking on...

2008-07-03T15:02:00.007-05:00

Well, it has been a long time. Writing the "Great American Textbook" has been quite an adventure. Along with Tech-Ed 2008, a trip to DC, and losing my luggage, June was a bit of a bust for me.

Anyway, I wanted to get back in the swing of things with a short post.

Anybody on the CTP for Live Mesh from Microsoft. It's another foray from Microsoft into the cloud computing arena. I've been using foldershare and skydrive for a while, but this is way better. Mesh allows you to create a "desktop in the cloud" where you can store stuff. You can like folders on your local computer to Live Mesh, and it will sync the content. Also, gives you remote access to machines w/ the live mesh client.

Since tech-ed, I've been spending time (probably too much) on twitter and facebook. One of my followers on facebook, tecarmona has this SWEET website called CityDictionary.com. It's a pretty kewl guide to different cities where people post "definitions" of local sites, happenings, and people. I found some pretty interesting definitions for Madison. Someone posted the traffic ring around West Town Mall as "The Circle of Death"...hilarious!

Hopefully, I can get caught up over the next week and get ahead on the book. I've got so much kewl stuff from Tech-Ed that I haven't had a chance to look at yet... I haven't even had a chance to update my phone to Windows Mobile 6.1. I've had the update for about a month. I just don't have a laptop runs a 32-bit OS (required for the install)...

Have a great holiday weekend!

Mike

Testing Blogger via Email.....

2008-06-21T06:39:00.000-05:00

Figured I would test this from my phone...

michael bender

Smokin....

2008-06-07T12:56:00.002-05:00

Got the shirts, and they are awesome.

Here's pics of the front and Back for you...

I'll be around all day Sunday, Monday, etc. at the Embassy Suites and Krewe events. If you want your T-Shirt prior to Sunday/Monday Pre-Cons, drop me an email at michaelbender1 AT gmail DOT com.

Later...Mike

The Mojito Adventure...

2008-06-06T19:39:00.005-05:00

Like they say...

The best laid plans never work out!

I needed to get a ton of work done in hopes for being work-free at Tech Ed. Well, a busted washing machine hose and a broken air conditioner on top of two last-minute client issues...

Well, it's mojito time!

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to make simple syrup (basically sugar disolved in water) so I had to use real sugar which has a tendency to not disolve in cold liquids. Anyway, It turned out so so, but it's wet and full of cuban rum. Yes...That is a genuine bottle of CUBAN Havana Club. Not sure how they let me bring it into the US...

I'll have time after TechEd to perfect the recipe!

Cheers!

Tech Ed 2008 T-Shirt Options

2008-06-05T22:05:00.006-05:00

Hear are the two options for Tech Ed T-shirts...

Email me at michaelbender1@gmail.com w/ size, quantity and design.

Cost is $10 and I'll arrange pickup time in Orlando.

Mike

Thanks to Brad at www.indiethread.com for hooking me up with the hot Tees!!!

What I'm bring to TechEd 2008?

2008-06-05T10:04:00.009-05:00

Besides clothes and my drinking boots, here's my list of gadgetry that I consider an absolute must for Teched 2008:
1) Sprint Motorola 9Qc Smartphone loaded with software for tweety and blogging.
2) Plantronics headset w/ blue tooth adapter so I can use skype for my hotel room.
3) Creative Zen M for tunes and Videos
4) HP TX1000 tablet pc (purchased at last years Tech Ed)
5) Solio solar recharger for electronic devices (Go Green!)
6) Altoid USB charger (uses 2 AA batteries)
7) Darth Vader and Stormtrooper USB Drives
8) Palm Treo 700wx (Doesn't every Geek need two phones??)
9) Nintendo DS w/ Lego Star Wars game
10) (Not Pictured) Canon PowerShot SD750...won at MCT Summit
11) (Not Pictured) Olympus digital recorder for capturing cool sessions and secret conversations

What are you bringing???

The Count is On...

2008-06-05T09:46:00.004-05:00

Unless my busy "networking" schedule gets in the way, I hope to post pics and recaps of each day at TechEd 2008.

It's been a frantic week. Chapter two went in last Wednesday, and I'm plugging away at chapter 3. It's tough because the topic is soooo boring. IPv4, RRAS, and networking... I became a Microsoft guy for a reason. I HATE SUBNETTING!!! I guess it's Karma...

Not to mention all the posting on TechEd Connect and Twitter about TechEd 2008. I just need to focus and move forward. I've even thought of disconnecting my internet, but I need it for research...Lame!

Anyway...Talk to you soon!

Mike

I'm Back...

2008-05-06T14:13:00.002-05:00

After a much too long vacation, I've returned to my Blog...

For those faithful readers who have been diligently checking (but not posting:(...My apologies. It's been a pretty busy spring. My wife and I took a wonderful, and much needed, trip to Puerto Vallarta for a Wedding. Also, with school wrapping up, and my first book chapter due, it's been nutz!!!

Did I mention? I'm writing a textbook for the Microsoft 70-642 Exam. So far it's been pretty challenging. I just got the first chapter in this AM. About 8 hours late due to some issues w/ Microsoft Office 2007. Am I like the only one that doesn't know they removed Auto-Save from Word???? Anyway, I was using auto-recover. Too bad that doesn't help if you just close word w/o saving. You can recover it from the recovery file, but it's a jumble of Hex and characters. Also, if you used change tracking (I did), changes were just all jumbled together.

Speaking of the Book, I have an oppurtunity for a few of you. As I'm writing my book over the next few months (May-Sept/oct), I would like to get feedback on how the book is from a student standpoint. Here's the oppurtunity:
I will provide you a first-draft copy of each chapter when it is ready for delivery. This is a great oppurtunity if you want to get going on Server 2008. In return, I'll ask that you give me feedback on the content. I will provide a feedback form for you. Also, I'm on a time deadline so I would need your feedback in about 7 days to be helpful for me.

You might ask...HEY WHAT DO I GET OUT OF THIS??? Well, karma point for helping me out. A free education (sort of...it does cost you time), and a copy of my book once it is released.

If you are interested, drop me an email at michaelbender1 AT gmail DOT com...

I should ramp up with the blog posting once school is out so check back!

Mike

Xobni Beta

2008-03-16T22:16:00.003-05:00

OK...

Anyone heard of this? Well, I'm a bit late to the party, but Xobni is beta social-networking tool that integrates with Outlook.

I guess Bill Gates hyped it last fall.

Anyway, if I get two people to click on the link below and sign up, they put me on the top of the list:)

Thanks in Advance!

Mike

"Workstation 2008"...the Hot Ticket!

2008-03-12T15:37:00.005-05:00

OK...This Rocks!

Following a blog post from an MS Engineer, Installed Server 2008 standard x64 on my TabletPC adding in many of the vista features. It smokes my install of Vista Ultimate to pieces...

Performance tests have shown a 11-17% performance difference between a Server 2008 WS and Vista, SP1. This is the OS MS should have released to the desktop!

Here's a guide to add more stuff...

http://www.win2008workstation.com/wordpress/

I'm working on a scripted install so I'll keep you posted!

Mike

What's New...

2008-03-11T19:49:00.010-05:00

Well, I've got a lot on my plate this week so we won't have a new post till spring break...and it will be a long one. I've got a ton of cool stuff to share with you. And hopefully, I'll start getting some feedback from my publisher on my book proposal!

TTYL...Mike

While you are waiting...check out

http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

http://anchorfree.com/downloads/hotspot-shield/

Reason #1 to keep moving forward...Don't be The Lone Server!

2008-03-05T08:42:00.004-06:00

Check out this funny video from MS...

http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/pages/about-lone-server.aspx

I love the Blue Screen cocktail...As an ex-bartender and IT geek, this is COOL!

And if you haven't seen Microsoft's latest children's book...Personally, I think it is funny, yet a lame marketing attempt.

http://gizmodo.com/342499/microsofts-brainwashing-childrens-book-mommy-where-do-servers-come-from

Mike

The Road to IT Pro

2008-03-04T18:47:00.004-06:00

As promised, this is the first of many posts on the subject of working in IT and teaching yourself Windows or your operating system office choice using the techniques described. Before we get started, let's talk about IT. Unlike some fields out there, IT is great because it's always changing and you can constantly be challenged. On the flip side, IT can be tough because it's always changing and you can constantly be challenged. How you look at it is dependent much on whether you see the glass as "half full or half empty". Unfortunately, the hard skills you learn today (Building a Server 2003 domain, configuring Windows XP, Novell) may not be used tomorrow, but the soft skills and lessons in technology you experience with ease your path.

Don't like the IT path you are on?? Change it! Do some research (we'll talk about this), find something you like in the field, and learn it... If you are lucky, you might pick the hot new thing and be a wanted commodity. If you are not so lucky, you'll learn a new skill set, expand your "Tech Toolbox" (we'll talk about this), and make yourself more marketable.

Does someone you know have a IT position you find interesting? Do an informational interview w/ them and see how they got there. While some people "fall" into cool positions, many prepared themselves to take on new positions by learning new skills and keeping up to date.

So how do you get started? Well, you can attend classes at a local college. But I prefer to delve into self-taught learning here. With the power of the Internet and all the information available, you can create your own training classes w/ some creativity. While self taught learning does not have the "certification" of having taken a class or course, I would hire anyone whose "honed their craft" in their spare time as it shows initiative and drive to learn.

First things First...You need to create a training facility for yourself. Just like training for a marathon, a bike race, or just to get in shape, you need a plan, the tools to work, and the desire. Here are the basics you need to follow the plans I'm going to lay out

A recent model computer. Dual-Core would be optimal but Pentium 4 is good. Make sure you have at least 1GB of RAM and lots of HD space. Laptops are my choice due to portability and ease of accessing free Wi-Fi if you are on a budget.

Access operating systems and programs you wish to learn. As we'll focus on the Microsoft world, I'd recommend getting a subscription to TechNet Plus. If you are attending a college w/ an MSDNAA account, you can get it for $99. Talk to the head of your program...

Broadband or access to free Wi-Fi (and I don't mean "borrowing" your neighbors unsecured connection). When you are self learning, you'll spend a lot of time on the web, so the faster, the better.

A plan for studying. Set aside a few times a week, just like workouts or attending class, for your studies. Create a timeline and assign objectives for your sessions.

Optional: I like books! Fortunately, I receive free books on many topics as a college instructor. Scour EBay, used book stores, or talk to your friends. If you know others who are "in the same boat", start a book club where everyone buys a book and passes it along when they are done. And if you ask nicely, people with lots of books may lend you one...

Note on this: You are going into IT...you should have the proper "tools of the trade". Do you know any mechanics that don't have tools to work on cars? If you do, tell me their name so I don't take my car to them. You should have a decent computer and peripherals.Cost per my calculations to create a self-study lab:

Dell Laptop Inspirion 1525 $599+shipping/handling/tax

Technet Subscription $249 (With this code...Thanks to Keith Coombs)

Broadband Access @ Home $250+/year

Sum Total................................$1200 should get you started. And that's about one semester of school or half of a class at a professional training center.

Biggest thing to remember...Free is Good! Large companies like Microsoft and VMware hold tons of free events to get you interested in their products. Many times they give you free stuff...take the MS launch events. Normally, you get a copy of all of the products being launched. Often full of marketing stuff, you can often pick up some hidden gems about products from the pros. Get on mailing lists, Betas, and anything else free. I'd recommend creating a free email account for all of this as you will get pummelled w/ email.

That's it for now...

Next time, we'll talk about setting up a home-based lab environment, and begin "geeking"...

Mike

So you want to work in IT????

2008-03-02T08:35:00.003-06:00

As promised, this is the first of many posts on the subject of working in IT and teaching yourself Windows or your operating system office choice using the techniques described.

More Stuff you need to know...

2008-02-26T20:35:00.003-06:00

Extending Server 2008 eval to 240 days...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948472

Check out the latest issue of PCMagazine for 157 FREE pieces of software. I've got a whole slew written down. I just haven't had time to play with them. Also, WIRED has a great article on how FREE is the business model of the future. And get it Free if you are the first of 10,000.

Tools you need to use

2008-02-25T06:26:00.006-06:00

Everyone knows I'm a "Windows" guy so it is of no surprise that I'm hyping on some tools out of the Windows Live suite of products. Live is Microsoft's answer to many of the tools other companies such as Google have created for the web.

First is Foldershare. Still in Beta, Foldershare allows you to create libraries of folders/documents and have them synced between multiple computers. It requires the installation of a very small agent to run on each machine. One of the nice side effects of installing folder share is that you not only have access to your libraries from other computers; you can access your entire file structure from your foldershare web site.

Next is Skydrive. Just out of Beta, Skydrive is a good solution for storing data "in the cloud". Since post-beta release, the storage capacity is now 5GB. However, a 50MB limit on file size and the inability to upload folders hamper the ability to "wholesale" backup your current storage devices. Kevin Remde speaks to Skydrive in his blog.

I'd like to see integration between the two. My Vision is that I could SEAMLESSLY add documents to folder share, sync them between my devices. Then, once a day, my foldershare libraries are backed up to skydrive.

Extending Server 2008 eval to 240 days...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948472
Using the slmgr.vbs /rearm you can extend the 60 day grace period 3 times. Slmgr.vbs works in vista as well.

Check out the latest issue of PCMagazine for 157 FREE pieces of software. I've got a whole slew written down. I just haven't had time to play with them. Also, WIRED has a great article on how FREE is the business model of the future. And get it Free if you are the first of 10,000.

More to come...

Mike

Back in the Emerald City

2008-02-02T09:09:00.000-06:00

Back in Seattle again...

This time for business. Monday through Wednesday, I'm attending the MCT Summit in Redmond. I'm pretty stoked as I've never attended the Summit before and they are rolling out lots of training for the new products: Server 2kOcho (2008), SQL 2008, and Visual Studio 2008. I'm hoping to get some good insight into Server along with more info about Unified Message w/ Exchange 2007. Plus, hob-nobbing with Blue-badgers and other MCT's will be fun as well.

The trip out went well. I flew out of Chicago instead of Madison, both for price and logistic reasons. Good thing as the Madison United flight got delayed 2 1/2 hrs. I splurged and used some miles to fly First Class. WOW...It really made the long flight quite enjoyable. And I don't think I would ever say this, but I ate too much on the plane.

On the way out, I listened to about 2 1/2 hours of The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss Very exciting and interesting book on becoming part of the NR, or New Rich, and making your life more effective. I'm hoping to weave some of the concepts like a low information diet into my daily life. I'm intrigued by the concept of outsourcing tasks so I will see if I can find some tasks that I don't like to do which can be outsourced at an economical rate.

Once I got to town, I got my vehicle and proceed to a kitschy-cool coffee shop called Fuel coffee. Being as I'm 'going green', I purchased a Fuel Coffee travel mug as I'd forgotten mine at home. I got a free Americano....AWESOME espresso coffee they have!

I met Peter and Leslie for Sushi at Chiso. AMAZING...probably, the best sushi and fresh fish I've ever had. We had some amazing Oysters on the half shell, Tuna Belly, and Line-caught salmon, just to name a few. Sean, the amazing sushi chef at chiso, made us a speciality roll that was out of this world and all I can remember is that it had seared scallops on top! I will got there again. Being from the midwest, its very difficult to get really fresh sushi. Talking with PK and Leslie, it sounds like Chiso may get some of its catches straight from Japan. Yummmy....

Well, I had brought my GPS, but that did not help in keeping my 30 minute drive to my friend's house in Bothell from taking 1 hr+. If you've ever driven in Seattle, you know the straights cross every which way, and they are very narrow. More than once, I ran into a street that was no longer a street...Oh well.

It's 7:30am PST, but I've been up since about 4:30 PST due to still being on CST.

Friday Morning

2008-01-25T06:58:00.000-06:00

Check out this sick system:

Quad Core Laptop w/ all the trimmings...I don't think this will make it in the "Year of living frugally"! I customized mine and it came out to $4400...What do you get?

Installing Server 2008 and Exchange 2007 on VMware Workstation 6.0...

Nathan Winters on msexchange.org has a great article on the installation

Being a guy who doesn't like to read the manual, I tried this the old fashin way, and I spent a half a day working on this including one complete infrastructure build. It did finally work with no issues.

Glorious Day

2008-01-21T18:31:00.001-06:00

I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

My GMAIL inbox is EMPTY!!!!!!

Thanks to some hot tips, I was quickly and easily able to archive my entire mailbox. How did I do it...

Choose ALL to select all of the message on your first inbox page.

You should receive an option to select all messages available in your inbox...choose it.

Select your action on all the messages. I choose Mark as Read.

Then I repeated 1 & 2, and applied an Archive Label to all the messages.

Then I archived them all.

In case I need an email, I can search for it, but I don't have to look at all of the unread emails or inbox message count.

How Wonderous!!!

Back from Winter Break

2008-01-16T19:10:00.000-06:00

Well, I took some time off from Blogging over winter break as I took about 10 days away from anything job related.

What did I do...
Partially drywalled my basement wall
Partially painted my basement
Built some cool StarWars Lego sets:)

I hope to get back to weekly blog entries as the school year ramps up. I should have some kewl topics especially with the launch of Server 2008.

Another big development to follow will the social experiment of the year. My wife and I are trading our cars in and getting a signal Toyota prius! I'll keep you posted.

Mike

Server 2008 Beta Exam...71-640

2007-12-14T13:10:00.001-06:00

After spending about 2 weeks cramming for 71-640, I completed the exam this morning. As this was my first Beta exam w/ Mircosoft, I was saddened and surprised when I got the message that I would receive a grade notification in about 8 weeks. Oh Well...

I think I did fairly well. However, I just learned that 2-3 questions I thought I had gotten correct were answered incorrectly.

We'll see what happens. I'm taking 71-642 next week...

Trip to the Emerald City...In Brief

2007-11-28T20:25:00.000-06:00

So my wife and I took a decadent long weekend over Thanksgiving to Seattle. We absolutely loved it. The Weather was awesome. All our friends there said it's NOT normal:) And the people were super friendly. I'll post some pics later but we did all the cool tourist stuff...-+

Do you know how I know you're a Geek???

2007-11-20T17:16:00.000-06:00

As you may not know, I'm a total Star Wars and Lego geek. Just got this very cool video link which combines both.

Also, checke these out. StarWars USB drives!!! Darth Vader is sold out (of course), but I found one on ebay:)

I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on an OLPC XO Laptop. Till November 26th, you can give 1 get 1 for $400. This includes one XO for you, one for a child in a developing nation. To sweeten the offer, they are throwing in 1 year of access to T-mobile Hotspots. I might do it to right it off:)

Not sure how I feel about this...

2007-11-15T06:34:00.000-06:00

Well, it was just announced at Tech-Ed IT Forum in Barcelona that the new name for Windows Server virtualization, or WSv, is "Hyper-V". From the the sounds of it, Anti-trust issues are probably involved. So Microsoft will make their virtualization platform available for $28. Interesting...when looking at the price structure, they have basically lowered the price of versions w/o H-V, so I'm sure everyone will buy the version with.

As far as the name, I think they bungled it again. I'm still not a fan of "Vista". It sounds more like a comic book character than an Enterprise virtualization product. I can just imagine sitting in a meeting with the CIO and telling "Yes, sir. We are readying Hyper-V for deployment". Personally, I'd ask if you get a free bowl of soup with that. Next thing you know, they call next next version of SBS (codenamed cougar) the "Geek Box" cuz any "genius" from Best Buy can manage it:)

Appears that Oracle is jumping into the VM game. They will be providing versions of their enterprise products built on the Xen hypervisor platform, now owned by Citrix...

It's getting pretty interesting out there...

I could be...

2007-11-09T11:41:00.000-06:00

Enjoying the outdoors...

Raking leaves...

Cleaning out my garage...

But, I'm sitting in my office GEEKIN that I got both WSV and ESX running and BUILDING VMs. WSV was an easy fix. When the blades were deployed, both the AMD Processor Virtualization and XD/NX (eXecute Disable/No Execute) in the BIOS were both disable. Couple keystrokes and I've got a Server 2008-based hypervisor. I'm building an intial S2kOcho base image to begin laying out my test farm. Plan is to get 2 external clients, ISA 2006 DMZ, Full 08 AD/TS and play with implementing Exchange 2007 sp1 which supports 08.

For those playing with WSV, John Howard from Microsoft has a great article on does/don't on how to get it running.

WSV running on Server 2008 RC0

VMware Virtual Infrastructure Client connected to ESX 3.0.2 Blade Server

And then there were Blades...

2007-11-08T15:15:00.000-06:00

Finally, after many months of postponed installs, I have my blade servers up and running for the college. We have 2 HP ProLiant BL465c G1 w/ 16GB of RAM and SAN storage space. One is running the current version of VMware ESX, and the other is running Windows Server 2008 RC0 w/ the Windows Server Virtualization role installed. I don't have any VMs running yet, but I will in the future. Right now, I'm just working on getting ISO images for all my build media from MSDN. Unfortunately, the Hypervisor on Windows 2008 doesn't want to start. I thought I had the lastest BIOS but I'll have to check w/ HP. Keep you posted!

Server 2008 RC0...

2007-11-01T15:05:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been geeking on Server 2008. What a great product with excellent functionality! I'm stoked about the future built-in virtualization, new terminal services functionality, and ease of build.

Today, I set up TS RemoteApps which allows you to RDP applications to the desktop. Very nifty how this works. Also, I'm in the process of installing RC0 on a Dual-Core 16GB Blade server. I want to kick the tires on Windows Server Virtualization (WSV) and the x64 version of 2008. I had installed it on my laptop, but I couldn't get my wireless to work so I rebuilt it to Vista Ultimate.

Here's some screen shots of RC0 and TS Apps...

Server Manager in Server 2008...

Calculator, OneNote 2007, and Paint running on XP Client via TS RemoteApps.

Crazy Summer...

2007-08-24T17:34:00.000-05:00

Tech Ed 2007 in Orlando...

Virtualization and Vista trainings...

Defcon 15 in Las Vegas...

Many cool things this summer. Hopefully, I'll get some time over the next few weeks to dive into Tech Ed and Defcon.