ajbritton

Ermm.. no. For instance VMWare have long said you can make a 3.6GB VMWare guest on a 4GB box without the /3GB switch (because it doesn't map a VMs memory into user address space). That's interesting. You wouldn't have a link would you?

Can I just be a total nitpicker and point out that RIS is NOT imaging. When a PC is built using RIS, it's an automated network install. I have to confess that I have never successfully created a RIPREP build, but AFAIK it's basically the same as a RIS build with some extra files and registry entries copied on after the automated install finishes. IMAGEX as I understand is a 'file' based image as opposed to Ghost images which are 'disk' or 'partition' images. One of the reasons that Ghost is fast is that it treats the partition is that it does not need to update file allocation tables (or the NTFS equivalent thereof) when copying each file. That should mean less work for the heads on the disk and therefore higher speed.

I know that by default on 32 bit systems (which can address an address space of 4Gb), Windows will allocate 2Gb of virtual address space to the Kernel and 2Gb of virtual address space to user mode processes. This means that even if you have more that 2Gb RAM you need to fiddle with BOOT.INI options such as the /3GB switch. I can see how this would affect the efficiency of VMs on a host with a lot of RAM. Does anyone know how Linux handles this sort of thing or is it a non-issue? Presumably it becomes a non-issue if you are in the 64 bit world anyway.

My God! Has Bill Gates abandoned all his principles???

What is it that you need to achieve Blind? If you need to override user's settings then as Ric says, you can merge a registry fragment in a logon script (it's a low tech way around the problem, but that is often the best way). Example Logon Script REG IMPORT "\\servername\sharename\path\AdobeSettings.reg" If you are using mandatory profiles and user's settings are being lost, then you need to create a logoff script which saves the settings to their home directory. You can use the REG command to script the export and import of registry settings; Examples Logon script REG IMPORT "H:\AdobeSettings.REG" Logoff script REG EXPORT "HKCU\Software\Adobe\Common\9" "H:\AdobeSettings.reg"

No, robocopy and robocopy gui are free.

This is an argument that comes up from time to time and will probably run and run. There are numerous reasons for having multiple domains and even multiple forests. These may be based on security policies or risk assessments and unless anyone has been through this process, I think that all discussions are somewhat moot. Microsofts guidelines are that you start with a single domain and break it down if necessary. If you need different password or other domain level settings then you need multiple domains. If you need total service or data isolation then seperate forests are the way to go. For what it's worth, our sites run on a single LAN with no routing or isolation at the network layer. We operate single forests with an Admin forest root domain and an additional tree with the Curriculum domain. This lets us run a single Exchange organization (single forest); maintain seperate password policies and user accounts (dual domains). We value the isolation that the additional domain gives to our Admin systems especially when so many contractors (unlikely to be CRB checked) who may be installing software on our curriculum networks are simply handed the Administrator password when they ask for it.

Robocopy will certainly copy files with all the permissions. Just specify the /COPY:DATSOU parameter, which will copy (D)ata, (A)ttributes, (T)imestamps, (S)ecurity, (O)wner and a(U)dit settings. The other nice thing about robocopy is that you can re-run the same command to either recover from a failed copy or two keep the two servers in sync during a migration. Robocopy GUI is useful to help configure all those parameters.

I'm 15th and, I suspect, falling. (sigh)

The general opinion on many forums is that unless you have a very good reason to do a domain rename (or unless you are already well practiced at doing it), then it should be avoided. Unless your NetBIOS domain name is going to clash with something else in some way, or it is accidentally a very rude word (!), then I would leave it alone. If you really want to go ahead, I would try a simulation in a disconnected lab (or virtual) environment before going anywhere near your live system.

Assuming all your services are on the same subnet, then you may never need the gateway (as Geoff says). The most obvious time that you would need to connect off-subnet would be Internet access, but if you have a proxy server on your local subnet, then that would be ruled out also.

In the experience of our schools support team, the move to SQL was not that bad. The key thing is to try it out first. Set up a test system (can be on a real standalone PC/Server or a VM). Install SIMS and test the migration path. Migration is done 'online', so it should not be a problem migrating directly from the old SQL 2000 system to SQL 2005 (express) on new hardware.

Another option which some love (and some hate) is the Windows Installer Wrapper Wizard, which can create an MSI 'wrapper' around a silent installer/uninstaller. So if you have, say, and InstallShield based installer (which can usually be made to run unattended by creating a SETUP.ISS), you can create an MSI which will install the application. ORCA is not a packaging tool, but can be very useful for creating/tweaking 'transform/.MST' files. or finding out about the internals of an MSI file. In that respect, it as essential utility for anyone doing packaging or MSI based installations.

You can happily set up trust relationships between domains that are not 'related', provide their are no clashes in server names, domain names etc.

The SMTP connector would be configured in the same way in that it would forward all mail to SMTP.EMBC.ORG.UK. Indeed we have to configure our on-site Exchange servers in this way to deliver SMTP mail via the LGfL, where port 25 is also forbidden.

The links I posted are for files of 50MB and 90MB for x86 and x64 respectively. I'm pretty sure that is the full redistributable, which is what it says on the page I got the links from here

Although this consiguration will work with a single Exchange server, it is not correct. You should really configure an SMTP connector for moving email to the Internet. Configuring the Default SMTP Virtual Server to route all email via the RBC smart host will cause a problem if you ever install an additional or replacement Exchange server and need to replicate information between the two (as Exchange uses SMTP to talk between servers). I got bitten by this one myself!

Full download links: x86: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=70848 x64: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=70849

Hey Sysman, how about adding a mortar board to the little yellow icon? EDIT: Kinda like this... http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/th.5f15935028.jpg or even http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/th.d0e78574b0.jpg

Pleeeeeeeeease tell me you're joking. :snakeman:

I've used PrimalScript and it is very good. Must say that I prefer scripting in AutoIT these days. One of the reasons I love it is that wherever I am, I can download the whole thing (interpreter, compiler, help file and IDE) in a few seconds from the web site. It compiles to .EXE and comes with a far richer set of commands than VBS. Then there is the whole GUI thing if you need it, not to mention all the extra user defined functions, windows automation, COM functionality... I've yet to discover anything that you can do in VBS that you can't in AutoIT. The reverse, however, is far from true!

If you are in doubt about the ability of the Dell PERC controller to succesfully expand the array, why not have a look at the Dell forums and/or post a question there? I think you have to balance the risk against the amount of work it might entail. If the server is just a file server and the expand fails, then a restore is not that much of a problem. If the server is the sole DC, DHCP, DNS and everything else, then you obviously want to take as many precautions as possible. If it's the sole DNS, then I would consider making a virtual DC on another machine, as a restore if the AD is kept online.

So basically, the sequence is 1 - Add the extra drive 2 - Expand the virtual hard disk to use the drive (wait for rebuild) 3 - Reboot to Safe mode and expand the last partition

Some RAID controllers do allow you to add storage 'on the fly', but I'm not sure if the PERC 4 in the PowerEdge 2600 can do this.

Had a GP problem on Viglen PCs. Problem was driver for the SIS900 chipset. I reverted to the driver supplied with XP and the problem went away.