RunAs Radio

Richard chats with Rhonda Layfield about the now shipping version of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012. Rhonda describes the relationship between MDT 2012 and System Center 2012 Configuration Manager - what MDT does and what SCCM does. The conversation continues over to how Group Policy packs are deployed by default in MDT 2012, which might surprise some IT folks. Rhonda also talks about Security...

Richard talks to Robert Bogue about his Nine Keys to SharePoint Success. The conversation starts off with an acknowledgement that a SharePoint implementation, like any business-related project, needs a shared vision that creates value for a business for there to be any chance of success. After all, if you don't define success, how can you know when you've achieved it? From there, Robert discusses...

Richard and Mark Minasi go off the RunAs Rails a bit to talk about geek health. At the beginning of 2011 Mark embarked on a diet and exercise regime that a year later reduced his weight by 30%. The conversation is geeky, but that's what we like - Mark has learned how to get his body recalibrated to burn fat rather than carbs, take the weight off and keep it off. Here's the list of links talked abo...

Richard chats with Eric Shupps about the process of improving SharePoint performance. Starting with the single-server implementation of SharePoint, Eric walks through each point of tuning SharePoint including database tuning, separating web front ends from application servers, separating off services, etc. Microsoft has a great site on Best Practices for SharePoint Server 2010.

Richard chats with Steve Murawski about the new features in Powershell V3. V3 comes with Server 2012, but should also make an appearance in 2008 R2 and Windows 7. Steve talks about how V3 is utilizing .NET 4 and the DLR for improved performance and flexibility. The new Command Source Adapter uses CDXML to create Powershell proxy commands against WMI API calls, which has made it possible for Server...

Richard chats with Microsoft Premier Field Engineer Jeff Stokes about his tools and techniques for improving boot performance. Jeff points out that it doesn't matter what version of Windows you're using, all of them can suffer from bad boot performance for a variety of reasons, including third party tools, logon scripts and even group policy. The first tool on the list for diagnosing boot performa...

Richard talks to Richard Hicks about the new features of DirectAccess in Windows Server 2012. DirectAccess first made its appearance in Server 2008 R2 as a way to make VPN connectivity to the network less painful for users. But the server requirements were arduous, to the point that many IT folks could not deploy DirectAccess at all. Richard talks about how this second version of DirectAccess solv...

Richard talks to Alan Sugano about using the cloud for disaster recovery. Alan discusses how the latest version of Site Recovery Manager (SRM) from VMWare works with certain cloud providers to provide an alternate site for your virtual machines in the event of a disaster. The conversation digs into how much bandwidth is needed, dealing with the initial 'big sync' of data and the on-going costs of...

Richard talks to Aidan Finn about the new Hyper-V features in Windows Server 8. Aidan starts off talking about Hyper-V Replica, focusing on it as an awesome solution for virtual machine disaster recovery for small and medium businesses. The conversation continues into exploring how Microsoft has taken their experiences running Azure into improving Hyper-V and Server 8.

Richard chats with Jes Borland about SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). Jes talks about how SSRS has evolved into the latest version with SQL Server 2012, including some new features like reporting monitoring, where reports are generated automatically (and notifications sent out) when data changes. The conversation also digs into some of the administrative capabilities of SSRS including securit...

Richard chats with Allan Hirt about the new failover clustering features in SQL Server 2012. SQL Server 2012 has added a number of new features to make clustering more flexible and less wasteful of hardware. Allan talks about how Windows Server 8 will also amp-up the clustering offerings when it ships. The conversation also digs into the controversy around Microsoft deprecating database mirroring...

Richard talks to Rory McCaw of Infront Consulting about the System Center 2012 suite. The conversation starts with the starting point of System Center - Configuration Manager or Operations Manager, depending on the focus of your organization. From there, the entire suite is explored, including Virtual Machine Manager, Orchestrator, Service Manager, Data Protection Manager, Endpoint Protection and...

Richard talks to Stacia Misner about the new features of Data Analytics 2012. The conversation starts with the evolution of data analytics from 2000 to 2005, 2008, 2008 R2 and now 2012. Then Stacia digs into how Excel has become the defacto client for analysis services, using PowerPivot and PowerPivot for Sharepoint mode. PowerPivot runs from Excel and doesn't require Analysis Services, at least n...

Richard talks to Brent Ozar about the upcoming release of SQL Server 2012. While there's certainly lots to talk about around SQL Server 2012, Brent focuses on some of the odder features, like the ability to attach SQL Server to a database accessed over a NAS. Doesn't seem like the best idea, but Brent paints a few scenarios. The conversation also brushes over the NoSQL movement and how SQL Server...

Richard talks to Tony Redmond about DMARC, a new email specification for controlling spam and phishing emails. DMARC is an acronym for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance. It standardizes implementations of Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) so that email servers receiving mail can be sure that the domains the email identifies with are ac...

Richard talks to Mike Jones about implementing IPv6 at home. After listening to RunAs Episode 205 about IPv6, Mike set about to get himself ready for World IPv6 day. Mike talks about discovering what his ISP (Comcast) was doing for IPv6, and how you can implement IPv6 in your network with or without ISP support. He almost mentions two key resources - one is knowledge base article 929852 on configu...

Richard talks to Stephen Rose about the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Stephen talks about the features that IT Pros are particularily going to be interested in for Windows 8, such as the new version of BitLocker. The conversation also moves over to Server 8 and some of the capabilities there, including a new IPv4 version of DirectAccess. Now is a great time to get testing!

Richard talks to Justin Morris about the mobility component of Lync. Only just released, Microsoft has Lync clients for iPhone, Android, Symbian and Windows Phone 7. Justin talks about how the mobile Lync client extends Lync's concept of presence to the smartphone, so that people working in the enterprise can connect and communicate with their fellow employees on the road the same way. The convers...

Richard talks to Sean Deuby about Simple Cloud Identity Management (SCIM). SCIM is an evolving standard for simplifying federation of identity authentication and account information using common web-based protocols like REST and SAML. Sean talks about how services like Microsoft's Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) works fine for a handful of major cloud applications, but becomes a proble...

Richard talks to Tom Arbuthnot about how Microsoft Lync impacts business processes. Going beyond 'What is Lync', Tom talks about how the integration of IM, email and voice together presents opportunities for automating workflow. Tom sites the example of a timesheet that follows you around until you fill it in. He also discusses the goal of reducing email by creating opportunities for immediate res...

Richard talks to Stephen Foskett about building data centers for virtual servers. The conversation ranges over how virtualization has evolved from consolidating servers in data centers into the newer concepts of private cloud, where being able to move and/or duplicate a virtual machine quickly becomes paramount. Stephen focuses on the challenges around data in these scenarios and how traditional d...

Richard talks to Clint Huffman about understanding the health of IIS7. Clint points out some awesome resources for taking care of IIS7, especially learn.iis.net. Don't miss Clint's Blog Post on IIS7 PowerShell Scripts, how to TroubleShoot Failed Requests Using Tracing in IIS7 and where to get the IIS Log Analyzer. There's more to talk about here, but this is a great start on the toolkit for keepin...

Richard talks to Jeremiah Peshcka about how DBAs can work with Object Relational Mapping (ORM). ORMs are tools used by developers to speed development of object-oriented applications that use databases by automating the process of connecting application objects to database objects. While speed is good, crap is bad, and DBAs often struggle with the results of the ORMs generated data structures and...

Richard talks to Rodney Buike about how System Center 2012 facilitates the construction of private clouds. This is where System Center all comes together - utilizing Configuration Manager, Operations Manager, Virtual Machine Manager, Service Manager and Orchestrator to create effective private cloud infrastructure in your own data center. Rodney talks about how each of the System Center components...

For the first show of 2012, Richard talks to Dana Epp about his eight rules of security. Dana wrote the original blog post back in December of 2003, you can read it here. The rules are technology agnostic, and revisiting them reminds us that they are still right, there's just new ways of implementing them. Have a read and think again about what you're focused on for your security!