RunAs Radio

Richard flies solo to talk to Joel Oleson about upgrading to Sharepoint 2010. Since Joel was last on the show (#27!) he's left Microsoft to work with Quest, but still focused on Sharepoint. In the conversation Joel talks about the importance of using the pre-checker provided with Sharepoint 2007 Service Pack 2 to check the state of your sharepoint installation as well as it's preparation for migration to Sharepoint 2010. There are numerous changes to the deployment environment of Sharepoint 2010 that can make an upgrade very challenging. Joel is also publishing a book on upgrading to Sharepoint 2010 with O'Reilly. You can look at the rough cuts at http://oreilly.com/catalog/9781449390457/.

Richard and Greg talk to Alex Payne about the online products at Microsoft. The focus steers toward the enterprise side of things with Exchange Online, specifically comparing it to the offerings that Google has. Office Online is also explored. Alex also points to whymicrosoft.com.

Richard and Greg talk to Daniel Parker, a Microsoft Premier Field Engineer, about integrating Linux servers into Active Directory. The conversation not only digs into what's possible, but the huge range of choices that people have when making Linux and Active Directory interoperate, from LDAP to Kereberos to Samba.

Richard and Greg talk to the amazing Laura Chappell about WireShark. WireShark is an open source tool for analyzing network packets. You can download WireShark at www.wireshark.org. You can get Laura's definitive book on WireShark at www.wiresharkbook.com and learn more about getting certified in WireShark at www.wiresharktraining.com/certification.

Richard and Greg talk to Brent Ozar about his experiences doing the Certified Masters in SQL Server 2008 program at Microsoft - a three week intensive course that stretches your knowledge in every aspect of SQL Server. The conversation also ranges into SQL Server 2008 R2 and the latest features of SQL Azure. Check out Brent's blog posts at http://www.brentozar.com/sql-mcm/.

Richard and Greg talk to Francois Doremieux while he was in France, talking about Microsoft Communications Server. The discussion digs into how telecommunications is migrating into an integration between instant messaging, email and telephony. While most of discussion focuses on the current version of Microsoft Communications Server, listen for some tidbits of what's coming next.

Richard and Greg talk to Robert Hamilton about Data Loss Prevention (DLP). Modern DLP products actually inspect data as it moves around the network, identifying any information that might be at risk and offering a number of responses to that finding. The conversation also digs into the balance between security and impairing productivity.

Richard and Greg talk to Eriq Neale about mixing Apple Macs and PCs in networks. The conversation digs into how Macs can access file shares in Windows network. There are even options for allowing Macs to log into Active Directory and with some third party tools, some group policy can be pushed onto a Mac. Eriq also talks about printers, virus scanning and the effects of BootCamp and Parallels for Mac.

Richard and Greg talk to Nick Simons about the upcoming Microsoft office Web Apps. Web Apps are lightweight versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote available through Sharepoint 2010 or soon via Windows Live SkyDrive. The conversation digs into how users can interoperate between regular Office 2010 and Web Apps as well as the ability to collaborate (simultaneously edit) a document with multiple users using both Office 2010 and Web Apps.

Richard and Greg talk to Amy Babinchuk about Essential Business Server (EBS). Amy digs into the challenges of setting up EBS's Threat Management Gateway with an existing firewall and how Feature Pack 1 addresses those problems. The conversation also delves into the issues around integrating EBS into an existing environment, including using the Microsoft IT Environment Health Scanner to make sure your existing infrastructure is healthy enough to add EBS too successfully. The health scanner is a must have for any environment!