leedesmond’s blog

Our very own Swiss Platform Technology Advisor (formally IT Pro evangelist) from Microsoft Switzerland has done it again. In Frank Koch’s second PowerShell book, he focuses on demonstrating how to deploy Windows PowerShell and other core technologies such as COM, WMI and .NET to perform common server administration tasks.

You can get this free resource here in English and German.

Download Windows PowerShell today - supported on Windows XP SP2 and above with the .NET 2.0 Framework installed, and is an optional feature (no separate download needed) in the recenty released Windows Server 2008.

Technorati tags: PowerShell, Windows Server 2008

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Looking for new and exciting opportunities in the IT professional services field? Want to be part of a dynamic organization with global presence? Are you someone that enjoys new challenges, traveling, open interaction and communication with peers and senior management (clients and peers) in multi-lingual, multi-cultural environments? Want to get away from regular desk-bound jobs and daily mundane routines?

If you answer yes to any of the above, then get in touch with me right away! Post a comment to *this* blog entry with your detail cv and contact information* or email me directly with your curriculum vitae!

Where ever you may be currently located, we are looking to fill several positions across EMEA (particularly Switzerland) in the fields of security, network/project management, virtualization, database, networking, infrastructure, VoIP, unified communications, Unix/Linux/Solaris, and much, much more. Whether you are a solution architect, technical field specialist, database/network administrator or project manager with proven experiences working on enterprise solutions from Microsoft, IBM/Lotus, Sun, Cisco/Nortel, VMware, Oracle, etc. with (or without) industrial certifications such as ethical hacker, CISSP, PM, MCSE, etc., we want to hear from you today.

Don’t miss this great opportunity to be part of a fast growing and dedicated team that can make a difference. Do something for yourself today for a change!

Read more here.

* moderated so your detail information will remain private

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I am very pleased to be invited as a speaker at Security Day 2008. This jammed-packed, full-day event on Tue 29 Apr 2008 is organized by Digicomp to be held in Zürich. A wide spectrum of hot topics has been lined up and will be presented by a selected panel of speakers from well-known names such as Google, Siemens and green.ch (to name a few). You can find a brief description of the event further below (in German).

I shall be speaking on the topic “Virtualization and Security”; a brief synopsis is outlined here:

Virtualization is becoming widely adopted in the rush to contain server sprawl, reduce running costs and optimize limited hardware resources. Join us in this session to learn how you can make use of this exciting technology to complement and manage your organization’s security landscape. Vortrag in Englisch und Deutsch.

More information and registration for the event can be found here.

—
Security Day 2008

IT Sicherheit hat viele Facetten: Hacking von Daten, E-Mail- Spam, Internet-Malware, leckende Netzwerke, Kontrollsysteme. Neue Herausforderungen wie Mobile Security, VoIP und digitale Identitäten stellen die Sicherheitsverantwortliche in Zukunft vor komplexe Aufgaben.

Am Security Day 2008 am 29. April erhalten Sie den Überblick, was sich in Sachen Sicherheit tut. Die Keynote hält Dr. Thomas Dübendorfer, Software Engineer Tech Lead bei Google. Er erklärt, wie Google Millionen von Webseiten im Internet identifiziert hat, die den User im Vorbeisurfen mit Malware infizieren. Und zeigt auf, was Sie als Security-Verantwortlicher dagegen tun können.

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By popular demand, the full-house session held earlier this month* by the Swiss IT Pro User Group is back. Entitled “Windows Server 2008 - What’s New”, the session contents have been updated to cover the RTM release. Additional sessions will be delivered in Zurich with two new cities added - Bern and Basel - courtesy of our sponsor Digicomp Academy.

Zurich - Tue 27 Feb 2008
Bern - Mon 3 Mar 2008
Basel - Wed 5 Mar 2008

More information and registration can be found here. Act now to reserve your seat to learn more about Windows Server 2008 and grab the opportunity to network with your IT Pro peers today!

* Zurich Tue 5 Feb 2008

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It was a very rewarding experience working with all the different teams at Microsoft Gulf - UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait - to drive the Windows Server 2008 readiness and awareness campaign in the gulf region. It has been a couple of months since I started and how time flies! All the traveling, customer sessions and roadshows seem just like only yesterday. Now that the product has gone RTM, this phase of my project engagement finally comes to an official close today.

A big thank you to one and all that I got a chance to work with one way or another. I really appreciate your support and encouragement and look forward to future endeavors with you again.

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Besides the blog entries you find here, I made references to several articles that I have written for popular magazines, both online and in print, such as Exchange & Outlook VIP Pro, mcpmag.com and Windows IT Pro magazine, to name a few. To obtain the most current list, navigate to my top level domain at www.leedesmond.com and click on Contributions (on the left hand menu). Enjoy!

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A lot of questions and interests around Windows PowerShell training were repeatedly echoed as I speak with different customers across different organizations and industries. As far as I know, Microsoft Learning, the group responsible for creating Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC), does not have instructor lead, classroom training courses on PowerShell dedicated for the Windows administrators or IT Professionals.

Which is a shame but … you can still receive real-world expert training for PowerShell by signing up for the renowned program developed by SAPIEN Technologies and delivered by yours truly ;). For more information, click on the appropriate logos on the left hand pane on the main page of this blog. Better still, write me at desmond {d0+] lee (a+] swissitpro [°} ch or post a comment with your detail contact information.

Technorati tags: PowerShell, Windows Server 2008

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One common question that I constantly get as part of my Windows Server 2008 roadshow tour for IT Decision Makers as well as IT Pros in the gulf region is: “Can I have a copy of the slide deck(s)?” or “Where / How can I get a copy of the PowerPoint presentation?”. The simple answer is - approach your Microsoft Account Manager responsible for your organization.

Do not hesitate to contact me per email or just post a comment here with your contact details should I be of any help.

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With over 50 breakout sessions across 2 developer tracks, 2 IT Professional tracks and 1 Architecture track to be delivered by local and global speakers, you definitely should not miss out the chance to be part of the the biggest launch event of the year happening in:

Geneva (CIGC) - 12 to 13 March 2008
Basel (St. Jakobshalle) - 19 to 20 March 2008

Registered delegates will each receive the Standard editions of the final version of each of the launch products - Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 as well as SQL Server 2008*.

Swiss IT Pro User Group will also be there so take this opportunity to network with your peers and the volunteers behind this dynamic, independent, non-profit organization by IT Pros for IT Pros.

Registration and more information can be found here.

* when available

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Windows Server 2008 x86 RTM installs without a hitch on older hardware such as Dell Latitude D600. The built-in wireless network adapter (Broadcom 802.11g) and graphics sub-system (via Standard VGS Graphics Adapter) were correctly setup with functional drivers.

However, the integrated network adapter (Broadcom 570x Gigabit Integrated Controller) as well as sound card (SigmaTel C-Major Audio) are not recognized by default. You can download and install using existing Dell Windows drivers respectively here and here. You must take one more step to enable the Windows Audio Service to finish the configuration for audio.

Technorati tags: Windows Server 2008

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