There are many ways to implement Windows Server Failover Clustering with Hyper-V. I could actually find five unique methods to do it. Some of them will actually not give you a fully fault-tolerant solution, but most of them actually make sense in specific scenarios (even if only for demonstrations). In any case, just trying to understand and differentiate them will probably be a good exercise.

1 – Parent-based Failover Clustering with two physical servers

In this first scenario, probably the most common one, you implement Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering at the Hyper-V Parent (Host) level. You will need some shared storage, like a Fibre-Channel or iSCSI SAN.

Full Article – http://blogs.technet.com/josebda/archive/2008/06/17/windows-server-2008-hyper-v-failover-clustering-options.aspx

The Live Mesh team has been working hard to fix bugs reported by our Tech Preview users, and to include popular feature requests (such as removing the requirement that UAC be enabled in Windows Vista SP1). Below is a list of the most prominent fixes implemented in the latest Live Mesh release. Thank you for all your great feedback!

Fixes

· Live Mesh is now available in all English-speaking countries (not just the U.S.)

· Removed the User Account Control (UAC) requirement when installing and using Live Mesh with Windows Vista SP1

· Index for Desktop Search now works with Live Mesh folders

· Fixed bug where an underscore in a Hotmail account name returned an “Invalid Hotmail Address” error

· Fixed bug with Silverlight 2 Beta 2 failing to load in Silverlight Media View

· Fixed bug where the notifier tooltip incorrectly indicated that Live Mesh Remote Desktop was unavailable for a computer running in non-admin mode

· Fixed bug where the Live Mesh folder icon was not displayed in the e-mail inviting someone to share a folder

· Fixed one of the bugs that caused Live Mesh to fail to start

· Fixed problem with Live Mesh returning errors when waking from sleep/hibernate

Did You Know?

You can install Live Mesh on multiple devices-then Live Mesh can keep all the folders in your mesh synchronized for you! To add a computer to your mesh, visit www.mesh.com from the computer you wish to add, sign in, and click Add Device on the Devices page.

To get even more from Live Mesh, share folders with friends and family! Simply open a folder you’ve added to Live Mesh, click Members in the mesh bar, and then click Add.^* Your friends will be able to access your folder as well as install Live Mesh on their devices.

* You can enter any e-mail address to invite others to a folder; it doesn’t have to be a Windows Live ID. However, they will need to use a Windows Live ID to sign in to and use Live Mesh.

Feedback

Thanks for being one of the first to use Live Mesh. We’re working hard to create the best experience and appreciate any feedback you have. Please send us feedback using our online form. You can also submit (and view others’) feedback and bugs here on the Microsoft Connect website.

Thank you,
The Live Mesh team

— Taken from an email sent to me this morning.

MySpace launched part of its expected redesign today and the new look gives a much needed overhaul to the formerly cluttered social networking site.

The appeal of MySpace has always been its media-rich environment and a large amount of creative control that users have over their environment. However, Facebook has been able to catch up to the world’s largest social networking site with its clean design and far more simplified user interface. With these new rounds of changes, MySpace has taken some of the appeal of a cleaner design but retained the appeal that makes the site so popular in the first place.

Full Article – http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/007130.html

Microsoft Wednesday said it plans to release at the end of the month another beta of its Windows HPC Server 2008 and that the final version will ship by year-end.

The beta is the first release candidate (RC), which Microsoft says is feature complete. An RC is a final beta before the code is considered finished. Microsoft officials said they plan to have one more RC before development is complete.

Microsoft made the announcement at the start of the International Supercomputing Conference in Dresden, Germany, where it also placed for the first time in the Top 25 of the world’s largest supercomputers.

Full Article – http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/061808-microsoft-hpc.html?fsrc=netflash-rss

While it is possible to create some complex networking environments in Hyper-V, the basic concepts are relatively straight forward. This post walks some simple scenarios and how the main components operate in terms of the flow of data.
Let’s start by setting a level playing field and a “best practice”.

• When adding the Hyper-V role in a full installation of Windows Server 2008, you have the option to create one or more external virtual network switches. (This option is not available in server core installations of Windows Server 2008). I’m going to assume that no external virtual network switches were created during installation, and the Hyper-V role is enabled.
• Our recommendation, in a simple deployment, is to have at least two physical NICs in a physical machine– one (or more) dedicated to the physical machine, and one (or more) for virtual machines. The reason will become obvious as you work through this post.

Full Article – http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/06/16/how-does-basic-networking-work-in-hyper-v.aspx

Mike here. Windows Vista made numerous changes with how user profiles work. In fact, the changes are too numerous to describe here (you can read more about the changes with user profiles in the Managing Roaming User Data Deployment Guide (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=73435). However, the policy settings for user profiles from earlier versions of Windows remain and Windows Vista introduces five new policy settings.

Four of the five new policy settings for user profiles exist under Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\User Profiles (the remaining policy setting uses the same path under User Configuration). These five policy settings apply only to computers running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista, however; these policy settings can co-exist in GPO’s applicable to clients earlier than Windows Vista. Operating systems other than Windows Vista ignore the policy settings. Let me begin with the policy settings under the computer configuration and then close with the single user setting.

Full Article – http://blogs.technet.com/askds/archive/2008/06/17/user-profile-policies-in-windows-server-2008-and-windows-vista.aspx

REDMOND, Wash. — June 17, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the acquisition of Navic Networks, a leading provider of television advertising solutions. Navic’s technologies include sophisticated campaign management tools that use relevant data to optimize the delivery and placement of targeted interactive television media and through Admira provide a unified ad network for targeting audiences across television advertising inventory. With the addition of Navic solutions, Microsoft’s comprehensive advertising platform will be able to facilitate enhanced digital advertising across online and offline environments.

Full Article – http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/jun08/06-17TVAdSolutionsPR.mspx?rss_fdn=Press%20Releases

Later today Mozilla will launch Firexfox 3.

Mozilla is hoping to set a new world record for the most downloaded program in 24 hours.

keep checking www.firefox.com for the download link.

And to think Microsoft used to be popular with the developer crowd…

Not anymore. A recent report from Evans Data shows fewer than one in 10 software developers writing applications for Windows Vista this year. Eight percent. This is perhaps made even worse by the corresponding data that shows 49 percent of developers writing applications for Windows XP.

Such appreciation for history is not likely to warm the cockles of Microsoft’s heart, especially when Linux is getting lots of love from developers (13 percent writing apps for it this year and 15.5 percent in 2009). The Mac? I don’t have any equivalent data via Evans Data. But the Mac OS has rocketed by 380 percent as a targeted development platform, Evans Data told Computerworld.

Full Article – http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9969231-7.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=NewsBlog

And to think Microsoft used to be popular with the developer crowd…

Not anymore. A recent report from Evans Data shows fewer than one in 10 software developers writing applications for Windows Vista this year. Eight percent. This is perhaps made even worse by the corresponding data that shows 49 percent of developers writing applications for Windows XP.

Such appreciation for history is not likely to warm the cockles of Microsoft’s heart, especially when Linux is getting lots of love from developers (13 percent writing apps for it this year and 15.5 percent in 2009). The Mac? I don’t have any equivalent data via Evans Data. But the Mac OS has rocketed by 380 percent as a targeted development platform, Evans Data told Computerworld.

Full Article – http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9969231-7.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=NewsBlog

As of 30 June, large PC makers will no longer be able to sell Windows XP-based PCs on mainstream notebooks and desktops. Retailers will also have only until their current supply is exhausted to sell boxed copies of the operating system.

Despite a brief “Save XP” movement (and continued criticism of Windows Vista from many corners), Microsoft is not going to change the deadline, which is now just two weeks away.

Full Article – http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Windows-XP-The-end-is-nigh/0,130061733,339289884,00.htm?omnRef=http://www.google.com/reader/view/

It’s been over a year and a half since the Mozilla Corporation shipped its last major Web browser update, Firefox 2 (see my review). For cloud computing companies like Mozilla, that amount of time is an eon, and equivalent in many ways to the amount of time Microsoft took to ship Windows Vista. But one thing that hasn’t changed for Firefox since the first version shipped in November 2004 is that this impressive browser is still the one to beat. Microsoft can make a lot of noise about Internet Explorer 8 (see my preview) and Apple can muddy the waters with its unnecessary (and dishonestly distributed) Safari browser. None of it matters. When it comes to Web browsers, there’s Firefox and then there’s everything else.

Full Article – http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/firefox3.asp

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Internet Explorer 8 is set to be Microsoft’s most standards compliant browser ever. After originally stating that IE8 would default to the same noncompliant behavior exhibited by IE7, Microsoft relented and plumped for standard-by-default. The first beta of IE8 was released in March and it did indeed default to standards compliance. Web developers have been clamouring for standards compliance for a long time; IE is a long way behind the competition, requiring considerable hacks and workarounds to get pages working properly. IE8 should make things a lot better—but it will still fall far short of the standards set by Firefox, Safari, and Opera. Some of these problems are technical, but others are cultural. Where the other browser developers are open and communicative, Microsoft is still leaving web developers in the dark.

Full Article – http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080615-microsoft-to-developers-fix-your-broken-web-pages-for-ie8.html

For more than 30 years he has roamed among us, a strange hybrid of Napoleon Dynamite and Vlad the Impaler. Nerdy yet ruthless, brilliant yet hobbled by blind spots regarding his company’s failings, Bill Gates leaves an indelible mark on everything digital. Yet on June 27, he’ll step down from his day-to-day duties at Microsoft to devote himself to philanthropic activities.

With snark in our hearts, we humbly offer ten of the most memorable moments of Bill’s career, with suggestions for suitable career moves he might consider if he decides to follow the logical path indicated by each milestone.

Full Article – http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,147036-pg,1/article.html