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[Keith] Welcome to the Mind Of Root. I'm Keith Albright

[Rich] and I'm Rich Niemeier.

[Steve] and I'm Steve Murawski and this is Episode 87 streaming live on Ustream.tv on February 11th, 2008. Today's show is sponsored by Quest Software; Helping you rule your domain. And by the makers of PrimalScript?; Sapien Technologies.

Chit-Chat - What's going on with you?

[Steve]

  • There is just no let up.. Things continue to be busy. I was able to get out of the office for a bit today and went to the Madison Cisco office for a presentation on public safety communications technology. They really have some cool products. I'll talk in more detail about one in a few minutes.

[Rich]

[Keith]

Housekeeping Items

[Rich]

[Steve]

  • Just wanted to welcome the Get-Scripting guys to the Techpodcast network.

[Keith]

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____________________________READ QUEST AD COPY____________________________

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  • Tweeter Tags [STEVE]
-Organize your associations on Twitter
-
-Link: http://www.tweetertags.com/tags
  • hMailServer [KEITH]
-I spoke before about the problem with Symantec Mail Security sending NDR's for all SPAM messages and it caused problems with one ISP.
-Symantec's recommendation was to create a separate outbound instance of SMS which you would then configure to filter out these messages.
-Since SMS is a resource pig and a piece of junk, I looked for an alternative SMTP engine that could do basic filtering based on email address.
-hMailServer is a piece of freeware that fit the bill. It has many other features for Anti-Spam measures that I didn't need in this circumstance, but it very clean and easy to use.
-Only difficult part was understanding the developers use of external vs. internal domains when you are only using it for a relay. Once I got that understood, it was easy to configure.
-Link: http://www.hmailserver.com/
  • Cisco has NERV [STEVE]
-Cisco has at least three Mobile Command and Control vehicles or Network Emergency Response Vehicles (NERV).
-They are an IP Enabled Mobile command center... takes phone, radio, and other methods of communication and converts them to IP.
-Grew out of a clumsy response to the Katrina episode.. Cisco employees eager to help grabbed up whatever network equipment they could carry and all drove down (not coordinated). Their lack of coordination merely added strain to the local area (more mouths to feed). While their hearts were in the right place, Cisco felt that they needed to have a way to respond to events in a coordinated fashion. Enter the NERVs?. Now, Cisco monitors conditions everywhere they have operations or support contracts and has vehicles available to roll out to incidents. They are also available for rental or lease.
-The NERVs? also provide an model for regional agencies who need to design mobile command posts.
-One of the neat things about the NERVs? (besides the acronym) is that they are built primarily with Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) products.. meaning that if something fails, it is easy to get a replacement component and that you can price shop for parts in less urgent scenarios.
-Link: http://blogs.cisco.com/news/comments/video_ciscos_network_emergency_response_vehicle_nerv/

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  • Exchange 2007 [KEITH]
-When you install Exchange 2007, it creates a certificate based on the NetBIOS? name, but not on the FQDN.
-This really only matters if you are using TLS, but you will get errors in the log.
-You can simply create a self-signed cert using cmdlet New-ExchangeCertificate? and then assigning it to the SMTP service using the Enable-ExchangeCertificate? cmdlet.
-Link: Generating self-signed certificate to Exchange 2007 SMTP
-Link: Assigning certificate to use for FQDN in Exchange 2007 SMTP
  • Perfmon Counter - Memory\% Committed Bytes in Use [STEVE]
-Last week we finished covering the indicators of a hard disk bottleneck. Today we are going to start with the counters that could indicate a memory bottleneck.
-A memory bottleneck could be an indication of insufficient RAM, memory leaks in applications, or even using/not using the memory switch in the boot.ini
-Today's counter is % Committed Bytes in Use
-Committed memory is the physical memory in use for which space has been reserved in the paging file should it need to be written to disk.
-The commit limit is determined by the size of the paging file. If the paging file is enlarged, the commit limit increases, and the ratio is reduced).
-This counter displays the current percentage value only.
-If this value is over 80 percent, you may need to either add more RAM or increase your page file size. I've found conflicting explanations as to how to resolve this issue, so my recommendation would be to increase the page file first (since that is the path of least resistance) and monitor that server. If that does not solve your performance issue, you may need to add more RAM.
-Link: http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2008/01/25/an-overview-of-troubleshooting-memory-issues.aspx
-Link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2008.08.pulse.aspx
  • SQL Server Instances - Single or Multiple? [KEITH]
-I encountered this when I did a consulting job at a Dr. office a while back. Two apps on the same server and there was a separate SQL instance for each DB. I wasn't sure why and I haven't been back to re-address the issue. I came across this IBM Redbook on SQL Consolidation and it gives a good discussion on why you would want multiple instances.
-Different Sort Order and Collation required by the different databases.
-Different DBA's limited to certain databases.
-Duplicate database names
-Different versions of SQL Server or different patch levels of SQL Server.
-Some reasons not to do it...Different patch levels means applying patches across more instances and maintenance is more complicated.
-Link: http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/RedbookAbstracts/redp4385.html?Open

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First correct answer in the chat. What was the nickname given to the IBM PCjr? computer?

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Listener Feedback

From listener....Justo

For a long time, I always stayed away from trying beta software and especially beta operating systems. I didn’t try Windows 98 until SP1?, and really didn’t get into it until Windows 98SE. I didn’t try Windows 2000 Pro until like 2002, and I never used Windows XP before SP1?. And by the time I used XP, shortly after SP2? was released.

And now, I have just seen Windows Vista, but don’t have it installed on any computer I use. Not at work, and not at home.

However, for the first time ever, I am running Windows 7 Beta on one of my home computers and running Internet Explorer 8 RC1? on my work computer. And although the IT department may not be pleased to hear that, I can provide my own support.

But, I have to say, I like both. They have been very stable and have (knock on wood) not giving me any problems even with web applications that require java and all that good stuff.

What is everyone else’s experience with Microsoft’s beta software?

Website Picks

Rich - http://

Steve - http://

Keith - http://www.marshallalexander.net/ Cool foldables with a robot/tech twist.

Last Call

Anyone....Anyone....Buehler.....Buehler....

Closing

All right, well that is it for the show. For listener feedback; you can email us at Feedback [at] mindofroot.com or post a comment on the main site at mindofroot.com. If you use iTunes, you could write a review. If you just want to show us your listening, drop a pin on the Frappr map...there's a link on the show site.

Lastly, you can drop any show ideas or topic requests on the wiki. There is a link to the wiki on the main show site. If you would like to participate in the show; either through an interview, a segment contribution, or any other way, please let us know. We are also a member of the Techpodcast network. Check out some other great shows by going to Techpodcast.com.