New Prices for Microsoft Certifications Exams

Effective July 1, 2011, the retail price of certain Microsoft Certification exams will increase.*

This change reflects the significant value that our certifications provide to our customers and our continual investment in new and enhanced Microsoft Certifications and other program improvements.

For more information about this increase, please visit our frequently asked questions page.

Note: Microsoft Learning does not anticipate that this price increase will impact Microsoft Certified Master (MCM), Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA), Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA), and Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Certification exams.

* Price change effective in India August 1, 2011.

Ive got to admit im a bit outraged out this? Years ago you used to get a free MSDN account, free certificates (now only download certs are free, i.e. you have to pay to get the hard copy) and other benefits with certification, now they have been slowly striped away and you get nothing and theyre raising the prices!

I have been a advocate in getting certified, and have completed around 20 Microsoft Certs, but this looks like profiteering from Microsoft (i have also read else where that test centres get less than £3 of this) having raised the price from £88 to £99. Microsoft need to look at the vm model, thou the cost is higher, you get a copy of vm workstation as a benefit once completion of the vcp.

Rant Over!

The next update is called “Mango” as has a whole host of updates:

Internet Explorer 9

Mango will bring with it a new browser which will have the same rendering engine as their new, desktop browser. so this includes:

• Hardware Acceleration
• HTML5
• CSS Standards Support

all this on a mobile device. the demo vids have shown that updated devices to be faster than counterpart Iphones / Android Devices.

Third Party Multitasking

Only built-in Microsoft apps can multi-task but that will all change, allowing:

• Fast Application Switching
• File Transfers
• Background Audio

and more.

Random Extras:

Don’t forget that Microsoft have already told us that Twitter will be getting much deeper integration with the Mango update – that will be pretty great!

TCP/IP support will allow a Skype app.

The Course which is one of the two requirements for the VCP 4.1, which I see is a valuable qualification.

The course was set over five days, and inculded the following items:

•  Install and configure ESX or ESXi
•  Install and configure vCenter Server components
•  Configure and manage ESX/ESXi networking and storage using vCenter Server
•  Deploy, manage, and migrate virtual machines
•  Manage user access to the VMware infrastructure
•  Use vCenter Server to monitor resource usage
•  Use vCenter Server to increase scalability
•  Use VMware vCenter Update Manager to apply ESX/ESXi patches
•  Use vCenter Server to manage higher availability and data protection

Thou most of the subjects were just revision on the subject, i did learn a few tit bits of information from the course. I also Managed to get the course for a bargain £525 which is amazingly cheap when compared to other providers in the UK which charge between £1800 – £2500

Now all I need to do is complete the exam, which I’m planning to do next month, once i have covered the additional requirements i.e. reading the maximums docs etc.

For the last few years, I’ve been have been using a storage server 2003, which includes the iscsi target software, thou this machine has been reliable, its transfer speed have been to low to host virtual machines, and upgrading this to a storage server 2008 r2 was to expensive.

This is a shame as using a iscsi target is an “cheap” way to host VM’s without the expense of a proper san, and iscsi’s can have many uses: Windows Server Failover Clustering, Hyper-V and other server scenarios.

But Today, Microsoft has made this software publicly available to all users of Windows Server 2008 R2.

The Microsoft iSCSI Software Target has been available for production use as part of Windows Storage Server since early 2007. It has also been available for development and test use by MSDN and TechNet subscribers starting in May 2009. However, until now, there was no way to use the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target in production on a regular server running Windows Server 2008 R2. This new download offers exactly that.

Now available as a public download, the software is essentially the same software that ships with Windows Storage Server 2008 R2. Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 and the public download package will be refreshed (kept in sync) with any software fixes and updates. Those updates are described at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg232597.aspx.

This release was preceded by intense testing by the Microsoft iSCSI Target team, especially in scenarios where the iSCSI Target is used with Hyper-V and with Windows Server Failover Clusters. We do imagine these to be amongst the most commons deployment scenarios.

One test they did was running the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target in a two-node Failover Cluster and configuring 92 individual Hyper-V VMs, each running a data intensive application and storing data on a single node of that iSCSI Target cluster. The exciting part of the test was to force an unplanned failure of the iSCSI Target node being used by all the VMs and verify that we had a successful failover to the other node with all 92 VMs continuing to run the application without any interruption.

Which is very impressive

To download the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 for Windows Server 2008 R2, go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=45105d7f-8c6c-4666-a305-c8189062a0d0 and download a single file called “iSCSITargetDLC.EXE”. (Note: This was just released at 10AM PST on 04/04/2011

Virtualization solutions from Microsoft provide the path to optimize the infrastructure, helping to provide services more quickly and efficiently, allowing the organization to consume these services more effectively in a climate of changing business dynamics.

Pass any exam Virtualization between March 1, 2011 and June 30, 2011 and you will receive a complimentary subscription to TechNet.

The promotion is valid only for the first 1000 candidates who pass the exam.
* Note: Qualified applicants will receive their TechNet Subscriptions on or before July 15, 2011.

For more information about what tests are in this promotion, purchase a voucher for the exam marking, go to: http://www.prometric.com/Microsoft/virtualization

It is important to remember that SQL Server 11 does not mean SQL Server 2011 seconds Randal Paul himself said via twitter. SQL Server means that 11 is the 11th edition of SQL Server, and SQL Server 2005 is version 9 and SQL Server 2008 is version 10. Thus, it does not mean that he must be released in 2011, may be so or maybe not. I have not read anything about a possible release date.

Well, many of you, like me, should be wondering: … another version of SQL Server coming and I still have MUCH to learn SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2. No way guys, this is the life of an IT professional, we have to always update to not get overtaken in the market, we will live with a constant learning by the end of our careers.

Thou it how the new features work, such as:

SQL Server AlwaysOn

• The new SQL Server AlwaysOn will provide a set of capabilities to help businesses maximize uptime of their mission critical applications, simplify high availability deployments and provide better returns on hardware investments. AlwaysOn supports multi-site clustering and the new availability group option will help improve availability of databases by supporting multiple secondaries, increase utilization using active secondary and simplify HA management. In addition, Windows Server Core support will help significantly reduce planned downtime related to OS patching due to fewer patch requirements and reboots.

Column-based query accelerator

• Column-Based Query Accelerator will help dramatically increase query performance ~10x and reduce performance tuning through interactive experiences with data for near instant response times and streamlined setup which removes the need to build summary aggregates.

this browser is fast…. For most pages, load times were quick, navigation was snappy, and it was IMPOSSIBLE to measure differences between IE9 and rival browsers, even with a stopwatch.

The single biggest performance boost in IE9 comes from its support for hardware acceleration. Because IE9 runs only on Windows Vista SP2 and Windows 7, it can be tuned to offload some rendering tasks to modern graphics hardware, which often has more raw processing power than the rest of the PC. It’s clear from daily use, though, that hardware acceleration really does make a difference in rendering text, images, and graphics.

As a result, Microsoft finds itself in an unaccustomed position, out in front of other browsers, which are furiously trying to play catch-up. I tested the IE9 beta alongside Firefox 4 beta 5, which was released in September 2010 and is the first Mozilla offering to support hardware acceleration however it isnt full hardware acceleration, making it much slower… I also tested it against the most recent beta of Google Chrome 6, which doesn’t use the GPU for rendering.

at its IE Test Drive site, On the FishIE Tank example, which uses the new HTML5 Canvas tag, here’s how the three browsers compared:

IE9’s frame rates stayed high as I kicked up the number of animated fish in the virtual tank. Performance remained smooth and glitch-free even when I moved the window across multiple monitors and docked it to the side of the display using Aero Snap. Firefox 4, by contrast, was able maintain high frame rates for short bursts, but moving the browser frame caused performance to plummet and even froze the display for long periods. Using Firefox, frame rates plummeted dramatically when I selected the most demanding settings (500 and 1000 fish). Chrome, of course, was at unfair disadvantage because of its lack of hardware support. Its frame rates were well below either competitor, although it moved smoothly around the screen without any negative impact on other programs or Windows itself.

For a more independent performance test, I enabled all three browsers for YouTube’s HTML5 channel and tried playing a handful of high-definition videos at 720p and 1080p resolution. All three browsers performed admirably within a window and at full-screen resolution. IE9 and Chrome 6 were able to maintain full-fidelity playback even when tearing a tab out of the browser pane and dragging it to its own window. Firefox 4, on the other hand, failed this test, stopping the playback and starting the clip over when it landed in a new window.

The other new performance-enhancing component in IE9 is the new Chakra JavaScript engine, which uses multiple processor cores and has already been extensively benchmarked via the platform preview releases. Microsoft has handed out several charts showing its impressive improvements; most of those charts include its dismal IE8 score, which is almost an order of magnitude slower than IE9 and grossly distorts the scale of the charts.:

The difference between each browser is only about one-tenth of a second, and that composite result includes dozens of complex operations. The independent JSBenchmark test produced similar results, with the IE9 beta running 21% faster than the latest Firefox 4 beta but 29% slower than the latest test build of Google Chrome 6. The conclusion?
JavaScript performance isn’t a significant differentiator between modern browsers, and IE9 can hold its own with any Webkit-based browser on this score. (Yesterday, in anticipation of this first wave of reviews, the IE Blog published an interesting discussion of what JavaScript benchmarks really measure.)

In previous IE versions, browser add-ons have been a frequent source of slowdowns. IE8 introduced an add-on manager that was effective but hard to find and too daunting for mere mortals. It’s still available in IE9, but it’s been supplemented with a cleaner tune-up kit. After you run IE9 for a while, you’ll see a notification along the bottom of the screen. If you choose to follow it, you’re taken to this simple list, where you can identify and if necessary disable a troublesome add-on.

so conclusion: IE9 is faster than all the other browsers, has a much nicer sleek interface, feels snappy and clean, and includes a host of innovative new features like pinning a shortcut in windows 7, which other browsers cannot replicate because they arent built into windows.

If you elect to backup the Hyper-V host server, it is normally possible to include the VMs in the backups, which therefore protects the entire system with a single process. The Hyper-V VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service) Writer makes it possible to backup VMs from the host system. If you wish to use Windows Server Backup for an entire Hyper-V server and its VMs, you will need to register the Hyper-V VSS Writer with the backup software by adding the below registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WindowsServerBackup\Application Support\{66841CD4-6DED-4F4B-8F17-FD23F8DDC3DE}

Subsequently, in the registry key, you need to create a String Value with the below settings:

* Name: Application Identifier
* Type: REG_SZ
* Value: Hyper-V

Once the registry setting is done, a backup of the host server will then include the VM configuration settings, the virtual hard drives in the VMs, and the VM snapshots. Note that this type of backup will not include virtual networks.
The Hyper-V VSS Writer can access virtual hard disks, but it is not able to backup pass-through disks; so it cannot backup any physical disks which are directly attached to a VM. Also, it cannot backup iSCSI storage when the initiator is running inside a virtual VM.
Internal Virtual Machine Backup

Running backup utilities like Windows Server Backup inside VMs has the disadvantage that, in the event of a major server crash, you will need to rebuild the Hyper-V host server and then recreate all the VM settings before recovering the individual VMs. However, in contrast to a host server backup, an internal VM backup can address any physical disks and iSCSI storage running in a VM. In addition, the Hyper-V hot storage addition and removal functions in Windows Server 2008 R2 makes it possible for admins to create a dedicated backup VM that is responsible for protecting virtual hard drives in other VMs.

I have been looking for a way to receive calls to my home phone, while on the move, so a voip adapter was needed.

This is where choosing the right adapter comes in. I had to find an adapter that had an FXS port, and FXO port and an ethernet port.

Note:
FXO: Your normal analog phone port connect to this (eg the BT Plug on the wall) (Foreign exchange office)

FXS: Your phone connects to this (Foreign exchange station)

so the adapter i wanted was an draytek 2820 pbx, (use these at work, thou sometime a bit flaky i have found them to be 100% reliable) but these retail for £400, and my budget couldnt accommodate this, So i brought a linksys SPA3102 which had all the required features, at it can be had for less than £50 from ebay

So configuring the device

1) open
2) plug the provided wire from SPA3102 into phone, plug original phone wire from SPA3102 into BT wall outlet
3) head to web interface to configure the device

note i had already read on another site that the cable from device to bt is connected wrong for the uk (the rj11 needed to be rewired)

so i can now:

1. Receive a POTS (Plain old Telephone system) call – and ring my regular phone.

2. Receive a VoIP call – and ring my regular phone

3. Make a VoIP call – once configured

4. Make a POTS call – once configured (I made it so we have to dial #9 to get the regular phone line for calling, VoIP is cheaper but POTS has tried and tested reliability)

5. Receive a POTS call – forward it to another VoIP destination

6. Receive a VoIP call – forward it to another POTS destination

now all i have to do is evaluate all the providors i can use to the voip

January 30th, 2009

Background
I had set up a Hyper-V HA cluster in a Windows Server 2008 RTM cluster environment using my 2 HP ml110′s hooked up via iSCSI to a qnap ts239/2 nas in a lab environment. After setting up the cluster I migrated a VM between the two clustered hosts. I started a “ping -a” to the VM and was quite disappointed when I realized that while migrating between nodes I actually lost 4 pings while migrating the virtual guest OS between parent partitions. Apart from this, migrating the VM worked well.

Task at hand
Last friday (090109) I realized that Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta had been made available on MSDN and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it to try one of the new clustering features – Live Migration. After downloading the ISO I had the task of upgrading the host cluster to Windows Server 2008 R2. Just going ahead upgrading the parent partitions is a no go as the Hyper-V role needs to be removed before upgrading.

Here are the steps I followed to perform the upgrade:

1. I started with shutting the VM down on the current VM owner
2. Backed up the entire VM folder to a network share, just in case things would go horribly wrong
3. Deleted the VM from Services and Applications in Failover Cluster Manager
4. Evicted both cluster hosts from the old cluster
5. Destroyed the old cluster and removed the Failover Clustering feature from the clustered hosts. Make sure no traces of the old cluster remains to avoid issues further down the road
6. Removed the Hyper-V role from both hosts
7. I disconnected the iSCSI disks after deciding to redo the connections post upgrading
8. Started upgrading the 2 hosts to Windows Server 2008 R2 (took me about 2½ hrs)
9. After both hosts were upgraded to R2 I added the Hyper-V role. Since I performed an upgrade I didn’t have to redo the NIC setup, they were still identical on the 2 host servers with correct IP-addresses and everything. I was surprised to find that all my Virtual Network settings in Hyper-V Manager were intact, nice =)
10. Reconnected the 2 iSCSI volumes (Quorum & Shared Storage) to the 2 hosts
11. On one of the host servers I added the VM and installed Integration Services on it
12. Added the Failover Clustering feature on both hosts and ran configuration validation in Failover Cluster Manager (since I had remnants of my old cluster lingering on one of the hosts I got some errors from the validation. I cleaned up and the validation went through)
13. Built a new cluster with the 2 host servers and gave it a new IP and a new cluster name
14. Added a HA VM under Configure Services and Applications and chose my VM from one of the Hyper-V hosts. Done!

Now I had a new HA VM running Windows Server 2008 R2 Failover Clustering and I couldn’t wait to try Live Migration out. I set up a ping to the VM and made the mistake of choosing “Move virtual machine(s) to another node”. I was heart broken when I lost 5 pings while the VM moved over. I went back and this time I chose “Live Migrate this virtual machine to another node”. This time I lost 1 ping to the VM. I was kind of expecting not to lose a single ping after watching Microsoft’s Live Migration demos on YouTube.

I wasn’t too disappointed though as R2 still is in a Beta stage and hopefully Microsoft will perfect Live Migration until R2 goes live in 2010.