Archive for May, 2010
Turning Windows 7 into a Wireless Router
Monday, May 31st, 2010
Did you know that you can turn your Windows 7 laptop into a wireless router? I certainly didn’t. I can see many situations where being able to build an adhoc wireless network can really help solve some temporary problems you might have. Amy Babinchak recently had such a problem and solved it here
Tags: Windows 7, Wireless
Posted in Blog | No Comments »
Hyper-V Webinar recording available for free
Monday, May 31st, 2010
In April, I did a Hyper-V Webinar with my fellow MVPs at ThirdTier. The recording from this event is now up and you can download it for free from the ThirdTier site here
Check out the other recordings from previous webinars and also check out the ThirdTier blog for other cool tips n tricks
Tags: Hyper-V, Third Tier, Training, Virtualisation
Posted in Blog | 1 Comment »
What should they call the next version of SBS?
Friday, May 28th, 2010
This is in no way an official poll at all, but I thought it might be fun to see what people thought the next version of SBS should be called.
Tags: SBS 2008 R2
Posted in Blog | 5 Comments »
SMB Community Events in Australia – Registration now Open
Thursday, May 27th, 2010
There’s been a heap of hard work to pull this together from fellow Aussie SBS MVPs Dean Calvert and Stuart Applegate and myself, but I’m now very happy to announce that Microsoft are sending two of their top team members from the SMB/SBS team here to Australia in June. Not to miss out on the party, Jeff Middleton has also volunteered to come out and help educate us on how to better migrate our SBS servers. Below is an invite I sent out today to members of SBSfaq.com newsletter. Please register for this event and support your local SMB Community.
A rare chance to talk directly to the Microsoft SMB Team in Australia along with Jeff Middleton aka the King of the Swing Migration.
Nick King, Senior Product Manager in the Windows Server Business Group & Adrian Maziak, Senior Program Manager in the Home and Small Business Server team are coming to present, listen and take feedback on the Microsoft SMB Server products.
Jeff Middleton, the master of the swing migration will be presenting a session on how to migrate from existing SBS environments to SBS 2008 to any combination of Windows 2003, 2008 and Exchange 2003, 2007 or 2010 platforms.
You will also be able to find out more about your local SMB IT Professionals group and understand the benefits of being involved in the growing SMB IT Professionals community here in Australia.
This invitation is a rare chance for you to talk directly to two key members of the Microsoft SMB Team when they visit Australia in June. Make sure you register now using the link below. Note due to timing, Nick and Adrian will only be presenting at the Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne events. Jeff Middleton has volunteered to be at all four events (thanks Jeff).
Registration is a must and attendance is free.
Brisbane – June 16th 5:30pm – Register here
Sydney – June 17th 5:30pm – Register here
Melbourne – June 21st 5:30pm – Register here
Adelaide – June 22nd: 5:30pm – Register here
This event is being hosted by Microsoft and your local SMB IT Professionals group. If you have any question about this event, please feel free to email me direct.
To find out about other events like this and information relevant to the SMB IT Professional Community sign up for the SMBFocus Newsletter here
Tags: Events, Microsoft, SMBiTPro, Swing Migration
Posted in Blog | 1 Comment »
What’s your business plan and how does it relate to specific products?
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
Tim Barrett has today posted his weekly comic strip here. In it Tim actually highlights a large number of products that Microsoft has ditched over the years and he tongue in cheek questions how long the Microsoft “We’re all in…” pitch towards Cloud Computing will be around.
Many resellers make their money from pitching what is the current product without a view for what is right for the customers business. They shoehorn a given product into the business believing that it is the right peg for any given hole.
They forget that the reason they are in business by and large is because they have something the customer wants and needs. 9 times out of 10 the thing the customer needs most is NOT the cheapest price, but the right advice. The customers rely on us helping to understand their business requirements and translate that into the applicable technology solution.
Likewise, too many resellers build their plan to be too reliant on a given product. We were guilty of that to an extent as we really started to focus on EBS as a solution to our clients mid market requirements. We’ve learned though and we’re now looking to make our plans more dynamic and independent of any one vendor.
What’s your business plan and how will it survive a change in Microsoft product line up?
Tags: Business Focus, Humour, Thoughts
Posted in Blog | No Comments »
How can I change the default website for all users in SBS 2008?
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
By default SBS 2008 sets the default website to be http://companyweb using group policy. We are often asked to change this to something else if the client is not using the inbuilt Companyweb.
To change the default website for all users in SBS 2008, use the following procedure.
- Logon to the SBS 2008 console using your network administrator account
- Run the Group Policy Management console which is located under the Administrative Tools group
- Expand the Domain tree as you can see in the screen below and locate the “Windows SBS User Policy” underneath the Group Policy Objects container.
- Right click on the Group policy and select Edit. This will open the Windows SBS User Policy directly for editing.
- Expand the User Configuration node down to the URLs section of the Internet Explorer maintenance node as you see in the screen shot below.
- Double click on the Important URLs object in the right hand side and you will be able to edit the setting for the default home page to be something other than Companyweb.
- Once you have modified the setting, close the Group policy and reboot the users computer. This will ensure that the GPO changes are applied to the users computer correctly.
Tags: Companyweb, SBS 2008
Posted in FAQs | No Comments »
Don’t yell at the Cloud…
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
Thanks to those that came to the Kerio Partner Event today in Sydney. I had fun with my presentation for sure, and hope you learned from it. At the same time, I want to encourage you all not to be lemmings… Don’t just go to the cloud because everyone else is doing it.
Open your eyes and look at the reasons WHY you want to do it for your clients and also look at the RISKS in doing it as well and make sure that you don’t lose sight of the fact that you are the customers trusted advisor and that you need to keep their best interests in mind when designing solutions for them whether they be Cloud based or OnPremise.
Most of all, don’t be like Granpa Simpson and yell at the cloud. Investigate it and decide IF and HOW it fits into your business model today and into the future.
Tags: Cloud Computing, Kerio
Posted in Blog | No Comments »
How can I disable features from Remote Web Workplace?
Monday, May 24th, 2010
Many people are not aware of the fact you can disable or remove features of Remote Web Workplace such as the Internal Website or the Change Password option. To do this is very simple and does not need any registry edits at all.
Using this procedure you can remove any of the following features from the Remote Web Workplace
To disable features use the following procedure.
- Logon to the SBS 2008 server using your domain administrator credentials
- Open the SBS 2008 Console
- Select the Shared Folders and Websites tab
- Select the Websites sub tab
- Select the Remote Web Workplace from the left pane
- Select View Site Properties from the right tasks pane. This will open the Remote Web Workplace Properties window as you can see below.
- Select the Home page links
- Remove the check mark against the feature you wish to disable
- Select OK
- Now if you login to Remote Web Workplace you will find your feature disabled or no longer present.
Note that this does not uninstall a given feature, it simply removes it from being available via the Remote Web Workplace website.
Tags: Remote Web Workplace, SBS 2008
Posted in FAQs | No Comments »
Is the cloud the answer to everything?
Monday, May 24th, 2010
Industry pundits would love you to think so. I however have some concerns about the cloud and it’s ability to solve all the problems our clients are faced with without creating new bigger problems. If you would like to see more about what really is behind the cloud and things you need to considerthen you need to come along to the talk I am doing at the Kerio Partner Event in Sydney this Tuesday.
Tags: Cloud Computing, Kerio
Posted in Blog | 4 Comments »
Geek car number plates
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010
Tim Barrett tweeted that he was on his way to a Trend Micro event with fellow SBS MVP Kevin Royalty… http://twitpic.com/1pzlhw
I figured it was bout time that I come out and reveal my car number plate so here it is. What geek number plates have you seen around?
Tags: Thoughts
Posted in Blog | 4 Comments »