04/01/2005
April 2005 - SA Exposed
A guide to determining when, if ever, Software Assurance is a good deal. Plus: 6 Reasons to Consider Apache; a roundup of network load balancing products; 7 Terminal Services Tips and more.
In-Depth
Exchange Server 2003 offers advances in scalability, allowing for dramatic server and storage consolidation efforts—if it's properly configured. These best practices will send you in the right direction.
Terminal Services is a lot like poker—anyone can play, but it takes smarts and strategy to play well. These seven tips will make you a shark.
The proper level of load balancing services can ensure consistent availability of Web services.
Customers have few kind words for Microsoft's Software Assurance, and even fewer good choices for upgrades.
Readers generally like what they see in the 2005 makeover of Microsoft Operations Manager, citing improved usability, better reporting and expanded monitoring.
Even though IIS gets more secure with each generation, having at least a few Apache Web servers in your shop makes sense.
Product Reviews
Websense helps you enforce your organization's Web policies and keep employees surfing on the straight and narrow.
Barney's Rubble
Just because you run a computer magazine doesn't mean you're immune to network problems and usability issues.
Beta Man
Beta Man looks at the recently released beta Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware software.
Letters to Redmond
Doug Barney's Redmond Report Weekly e-newsletter causes quite a stir, plus: readers question how we select the products included in each month's Redmond Roundup.
Marching Orders
This MCSE doesn't think he'd be able to pass the new performance-based questions recently added to the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator exams.
Mr. Script
Scriptomatic Version 2 improves upon some of the limitations of the previous iteration of this handy scripting tool.
Script Tips
Quick way to check out why a Web page isn't responsive.
Ten
We certainly hope you're not guilty of using some of these IT buzzwords at work!
Windows Insider
Find out how to use Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) for system notifications without having to write scripts.
News
The Computing Technology Industry Association has an inventory of discount vouchers for A+ exams that are on the verge of expiring.
From the business wires this week: Group Policy solutions for managing desktop policies and software deployments; security tools for IE, e-mail and TCP/IP; and mobile tokens.
Subscribe to TechNet Plus and Microsoft will throw in four free e-learning courses.
From the business wires this week: a recovery solution to roll back systems to pre-SP2, e-mail server software and more.
Microsoft posts demo of performance-based questions on Web site.
Support and costs to reconfigure systems keep the open-source OS out in the cold.
From the business wires this week: an enterprise solution for simplifying secure user login, an alternative to Visual Basic, and a network appliance for Web conferencing.
Microsoft plans to introduce a board-level certification, called the Microsoft Certified Architect Program, designed to "identify architectural expertise," says the company.
Tantalizing performance gains could be on tap if Microsoft takes advantage of multi-core processors and 64-bit chips.
Centrify wades in to market for directory interoperability tools while Vintela bulks up.