Over the last week our domain has been moved to new servers. We are hoping that this will improve the availability. The most common visual representation of the problems we have had are the ever annoying Service Unavailable and more seldom the site has…(read more)
We had a few problems on a project recently where the server builds did not set machines up exactly the same. This is a pretty major problem as if the software installed across your BizTalk Group you can not expect to receive consistent or expected results. Based on this I reviewed a few servers using PsInfo recently but being a manual thing its a bit of a pain trying to identify any differences.
Im sure there must be tools to do this but a quick google didnt throw up too much joy so I knocked up a quick tool to help.
The tool will let you list a bunch of servers which you expect to be the same and will then run PsInfo agains them and report any differences which are identified.
There are a couple of things to note here though that it will not do things like compare registry settings etc, and ive not used the switch to get disc information from psinfo as if the servers have been used then their disc free space is likely to differ.
Anyway its a bit basic but saved me some hassle so ive shared it on codeplex; http://www.codeplex.com/ServerDiff
Its taken some time (and a lot of procrastination) but I’ve finally decided to properly get into WF and WCF and as a Biztalk guy, one of the things that most interests me is Workflow Services. I’ve known the basics of all of this for a long time but never dived into it, so i […]
This weekend I am heading to San Francisco to speak at Oracle Open World (OOW). The topic ( take a guess 🙂 )Web Services interoperability between WCF and Oracle WebLogic. This time, I have the pleasure of sharing stage with Pyounguk Cho, Product Manager…(read more)
I’ve carried an AT&T Tilt for nearly a year now as my primary personal phone. I truly love this phone, Windows Mobile 6, GPS, WiFi, full keyboard, 3 mega-pixel camera, and high speed networking is fabulous. I’ve been with AT&T for several years now. I was an AT&T Wireless customer, then I was a Cingular customer, now I’m an AT&T customer again so I’ve got a really good deal on a tethering plan for this unit as well which makes it Option 3 in my always connected plan.
I’ve just begun to carry a T-Mobile Dash as my work phone. It is replacing the 8700g (below) which I’ve carried for the last 2 years. While it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of the Tilt, it is running Windows Mobile, and so I can keep my mobile helpers on it as well.
My Blackberry that I’ve carried for many years is great for all the reasons that BBerries are great, and horrible for several other reasons. First and foremost, the thing refuses to power of nearly any scheme other than a true Blackberry charger. In my opinion, if I can’t charge you off of a USB connection without special software installed, I’m not interested and that was the deal breaker for this otherwise great phone.
I carry a Sprint Wireless Card as my primary mobile connectivity option (Option 2) in my backpack. I have nothing but gushing things to say about Sprint’s network. As you can see from above, I commonly have had a chance to work with every network except Verizon for data, and Sprint is far and away the king. This wonderful ExpressCard slot item just works, and that is what I want from my technology.
So about now someone has to be asking … seriously? You carry a router? Heck yes! My Linksys Compact Wireless Router has solved a ton of problems for me in the past, and takes up so little space I often forget I’ve got it until I get desperate. When I land at a hotel room for a conference, I’ll pay for internet for my room and then share it out via this little baby. It has also saved the day when visiting clients without wireless capability (NOTE : Ask about this folks, often they don’t have it for good reason) or when I’m on personal trips to family. It has also saved the day at the first We Are Microsoft event when we overloaded the wireless capabilities of the sites router. I plugged in and took Team Sogeti and several other teams onto this unit to clear up some spots. Get one, you won’t regret it.
Eons ago, when .NET was young and I was trying to learn it, I attended a ton of MSDN events. Inevitably you got a little bag of swag, and in one of those bags I got this little gem, a self-winding network cable. It lives in my backpack, comes out when the client doesn’t have wireless and has saved the day many times.
For several years now I’ve used a Targus backpack to haul around my portable office. A good bag, one that you can trust and has space for what you want to carry is absolutely key. For me, as you will see below, this means I want a lot of space, with large cavernous storage areas. I find my use of other bags (see the next section) helps organize these large spaces without the waste of the designers trying to guess what I want to carry and what shape it will be. For instance, even my favorite CityGear Chicago bag comes with a cell-phone pouch, how useless is this? Cells change shape so often I swear we’ll have a boomerang shaped one yet. Let me worry about organization, the backpack is about portability and accessibility. Some small amount of small pockets are great for high access items like pens, pencils, etc but I’ll organize the rest, thanks.
I love me some Zip-Lock Bags, these little creations are absolutely fantastic for organizing the internals of your backpack. Now, don’t go overboard and turn into Monk or something, but these bags are great for organizing. I’ve had best luck with the Freezer bag variety because the plastic is tougher. Also, here’s a hint : Punch small holes with a pencil in the sides of your bag. This will let things pack small easier as air can escape, and we’re not looking to hold liquids in these anyway.
There are endless other bags you might be able to use. Go to your favorite online mega-retailer and search on Zipper Pouch or Zipper Bag and you’ll find them. I prefer bags which are more than two sides gusseted together so that I can fit larger items into them. At Tech-Ed 2007 I was given a couple of these wonderful bags (pictured right) which originally were printed with a Windows Mobile logo which has mostly peeled off the non-pictured side. These slightly padded bags have been carrying my portable hard disks and video camera ever since, and I’d love to have more of them (4-6 more would do if anyone has a stack of these in their office, email me).
One of the things that I have had to do as a consultant is get used to moving from location to location. Even if I’m at a client for many months, I’ll often be moved around their facility because I’m not permanently moving in. This has meant that I’ve developed quite the interesting bit of tooling to help me keep a portable office. So there are a few different areas of concern:
This is a run down of what I carry, and what I think of it. My bag is not perfect, as you’ll be able to see from my reviews, but it works for my needs. What works for you will likely be different, but there will likely be overlaps and this list should prompt some ideas.
I’ll update this post with links to each of the posts as I get them up over the next week.
SimpleTalk has a helpful DBA checklist for all those BizTalkers who double-hat and manage a SQL Server as-well-as a BizTalk environment. It covers a number of useful topics, including:
General best practices
High-availability
Performance tuning
Application coding and design
SSIS, Analysis Services, Reporting Services & Service Broker
Plenty of content for both new and experienced DBA’s – well worth a look.
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Just in case you haven’t seen this yet, check out this article in eWEEK from last week. Focuses on Robert Wahbe, corporate vice president of CSD, as well as technical fellows, John Shewchuk and Brad Lovering, discussing their thoughts on modeling, Oslo and where is the industry headed. Great insight to how the group has evolved and what’s to come in the upcoming months leading to PDC!