churchIT

Virtualization

I have spent the last month virtualizing 4 servers. At this time, I am using VMware Server on Windows Server 2003 but I am monitoring this setup. So far I have not seen a pressing need to spend $4-6K per physical server for VMware Infrastructure.

To virtualize the first server I used VMware Converter to perform a P2V conversion. So far that server is working very well and I have had no problems with it, related to virtualization. Since that time I have created 3 new virtual servers that are now in production. Those servers are an Altiris Deployment Solution server (manages our HP Thin Clients), one running Service Desk Plus (Helpdesk Tickets), and one running Ricoh/Savin ScanRouter Software (Copier scanner to email). All of these servers perform as well virtualized as they did when installed on a physical box!

I am in the process of virtualizing our Main Campus print server, our Shelby/SQL server, and Windows SUS server. The printer server and WSUS servers should go into production next week. I am a bit worried about the performance of the Shelby/SQL server in a virtualized environment on a Windows VMware Server Host. I will be testing its performance extensively before deploying into the production environment. If SQL performs well and I can get my hands on another HP DL360 or DL380 server I will start evaluating Exchange 2007 with SP1. If the performance is not close to a physical server then I may look to VMware Infrastructure much sooner than planned.

I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Today’s Church IT Podcast

In the Church IT podcast today I had mentioned a couple cool tools that I use quite a bit. Both are password generators that I use when creating or changing passwords for system or service accounts. The first one is found at http://www.pctools.com/guides/password/ and the other can be found at https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm . I hope this helps!

We also had a discussion about password policies and that had a tangent into locking out administrator accounts. I had made mention of the fact that the domain built-in administrator account could not be locked out. More information can be found in the "Administrator Accounts Security Planning Guide" but by default the administrator account cannot be locked out, even if your domain policies do specify a lockout policy. I would recommend reading the security guide since it has several good pointers. Some of those pointers are to rename the administrator account, create a decoy administrator account, make sure you are using strong passwords and change the passwords periodically. The document also describes how to enable lockout policies on your administrator account, if you are interested.

Microsoft Licensing and Charities

I have been doing a little bit research over the past few months about different Microsoft licensing programs. I was first intrigued about Microsoft SoftGrid software virtualization and its use in our environment. So I started researching the licensing options for this product and it turns out that this product is licensed as part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack. This pack includes Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization, Microsoft Asset Inventory Service, Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management, and Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset; all of which are technologies Microsoft acquired through recent acquisitions.

According to the FAQ, It turns out that the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack is a non-perpetual offering that is tied to your Windows XP/Vista Client license with Software Assurance but only when that Software Assurance is licensed under an EA, EA subscription, Select, Academic Select, Open Value, Campus Agreement, and School Agreement volume license programs. You will notice that Open Charity, Open Business and Open Government programs are not listed. I assume that all churches acquire their Microsoft volume licensing through the Open Charity program. We do and I actually do purchase Software Assurance with all of my licenses and that helps me stay on current technology on all of my workstations. If you want to use any of the Desktop Optimization Pack you will have to purchase Windows Client Licenses with Software Assurance on the Open Value program. This means that you will lose Microsoft's charity pricing, because it is not offered with the Open Value program.

For those of us that want to deploy Microsoft's Forefront security products, those products are offered as non-perpetual, subscription services and are not offered under the Open Charity program. So to acquire Forefront Client or Server Security you will purchase those licenses through the Open Value program and charity licensing is not available.

In addition to these two instances, yesterday I called my sales representative with DesktopStandard. You see, DesktopStandard was acquired by Microsoft, October 2006 and its products are being integrated into Microsoft's portfolio. The DesktopStandard product I manly used was PolicyMaker and it is used to extend the functionality of Group Policy policies. It turns out that PolicyMaker will be integrated into the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack later this year. At that point, we will, most likely, have to choose to upgrade our client licenses to Open Value with Software Assurance ($$$) or migrate PolicyMaker's functionality to another product.

As you can see some of Microsoft's newest product offerings are not offered under any charity pricing program. Does this mean that Microsoft will increasingly offer advanced features that will be available to customers only under Software Assurance agreements? That is almost a certainty. As Microsoft adds value to Software Assurance, there will be more necessity in using Software Assurance. As that happens, us non-profits will see our Microsoft licensing cost skyrocket, unless Microsoft could offer us a charity licensing program under Open Value. Have you looked at the price difference between Open Business and Open Charity? According to Provantage.com it is about 7X more expensive to buy Office Professional with Software Assurance through Open Business versus Open Charity.

So, what do you think? Am a crazy? Is this relevant to your ministry? Do you have a different opinion? I'd just like to see some dialogue on this issue, so speak up!

TechNet Spring Event

I'm sure most people know that Microsoft holds free quarterly TechNet IT events but if you don't, now you do. I had the opportunity to attend the Microsoft TechNet Spring Event last Thursday and found it to be very informative. This TechNet event covered Vista reliability and security, Server 2008 Core and Read-Only Domain Controller, and an introduction to Forefront Client Security, Microsoft's new enterprise desktop antivirus and spyware solution. Keith Combs was the presenter and he did a great job of presenting the material. If you can't make the Spring Event in your area, Keith has a screen casts of some of the material on his blog.

All of the topics are technologies that I will deploy or evaluate in the next 12 months, so this was time well spent.

This event also included a paperback copy of the Windows Vista Security Guide, it can be found in an online copy at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/security/guide.mspx. I've read through half of the book and it looks like a must read before deploying Vista. It provides recommendations that will make Vista more secure, in an Active Directory, Group Policy environment. In an added bonus, I won one of the Office 2007 Professional door prizes!

If you haven't been to a TechNet event, check it out. The current topics will run through June 2007 and there will be a series of topics this fall.