Hey look what I just saw at the Naked MVP’s Site
Just this moment announced, the Small Business Server team have just released the new version of the best practices analyzer for Windows Small Business Server 2008!
Harry awarded the SBS’er of the year award to none other than the SBS Diva, I think it should have been SBS’er of the decade personally.
Ok so of you have mention my pal Vlad is a little too rough around the edges for you, you actually enjoy his view on the business side of our business, you just don’t like his delivery. Well ask and you shall receive!
Just for you (well and maybe a few thousand others) Vlad has started a newsletter with the content but without the Vladvilleness. Signup up for it HERE, but if you’re anything like me you will miss the commentary that makes Vlad the loveable character he is. Hey if I wanted dry business insight I would have just stayed in school :>)
Well have I got some great news for you.
Too oustanding SBS-MVP’s (and great people also) have joined forces to help make you whole again.
Here is the press release,
Support Services for IT Professionals
Press Release
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Contact: Amy Babinchak Phone: (248) 890-1794 |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 3, 2008 |
IT SupPOrt Services for Professionals
Royal Oak, MI, October 3, 2008: Amy Babinchak and Eriq Neale, MS MVP’s, Authors and Speakers, have teamed up in a new business venture to provide remote support services to IT professionals. By formalizing and centralizing the remote support services of highly skilled professionals across a wide range of products ThirdTier.net will be the place where IT professionals turn to when they need assistance to resolve that tough problem for their client. Third Tier will also offer SMB focused vendors the solution to the difficult problem of supporting a wide variety of skill sets in the SMB market space, thus making it easier for them to offer their products to small business customers.
· Central location for IT Professionals to contract experts on a wide variety of technologies to remotely assist in problem resolution.
· Experts providing vendors the solution to product support in the SMB market space.
My fellow SBS-MVP Henry Craven shared this link to Chris Hanley’s Video and PowerPoint explaining some of the features of the new Vista / Windows Server 2008 TCP/IP stack and I thought I would share it with Y’All. It’s great when you are connecting Vista and 2008 machines, I just wish they had put a little more consideration into connecting Vista and 2008 into legacy systems like XP Pro and 2003. Some of us just can’t afford to upgrade our entire infrastructure all at once.
That is right, once again Eric Ligman is begging you to tell him how to help you. Don’t make him drive to your office please, just hop on over to ERIC’S BLOG and tell him what would make your life easier.
It never ceases to amaze me you guys a complain about Microsoft and yet when they reach out to you, very few of you even bother to respond. Boy I would hate to be Microsoft, well except for the being worth billions of dollars part :>)
So I was reading this morning and I saw where Vlad is trying to beat out Eric as Slimmy Vendor of the Year. Can you belive these guys are fighting for this title? And why isn’t Dana in the running?
If there is anyone left on the planet who doesn’t know who Vlad is, watch the VarVid Interview done at the recent ConnectWise Conference
It’s offical they have finally gone and done it, after being beaten up by a number of us that wanted them to join forces!
Here is the press release, see if you recognise any of the names :>)
Calyptix Security Expands Sales Efforts with
SMB Channel Strategy Experts
September 24, 2008 – CHARLOTTE, NC – Internet security firm, Calyptix Security, has announced expansion of its business development and channel sales team. This expansion will immediately increase exposure within small and medium businesses (SMBs) of the value that Calyptix’ innovative single unit device, AccessEnforcer™, contributes to Internet security strategies.
Calyptix infuses the existing team with three experts, Kristen Wild, Steve Wild and Terry Van Winkle, who have proven successful in the rapid development of knowledgeable and profitable channel sales networks. The team’s intimate knowledge of the SMB market is widely acknowledged, and they understand the vital role that partners and resellers play in implementing innovative products into the organizations that can best benefit from them.
“Two of my favorite SMB focused teams are coming together to give SMB service providers everything they need to offer quality Internet security solutions. Calyptix provides the product excellence and Terry, Steve and Kristen provide complete, responsive, and knowledgeable services and support through their extensive network of SMB partner contacts. The beauty of this for SMBs is that every element in this solution was planned, developed and is offered with the SMB’s best interests in mind,” comments Andy Goodman, SBS-MVP and Owner of DownHome Computers.
“Calyptix, which in my opinion has the absolute best fit UTM product for the upcoming SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 platforms, is big enough to serve the needs of the SMB community and small enough to care and provide rapid response to issues,” continues Andy. “Steve and his gang have already proven their experience in our market over the last couple of years bringing StorageCraft from a virtual unknown to the top imaging software provider in the SMB Channel.”
The majority of Calyptix’ partners and resellers are focused on serving the IT needs of small and medium businesses (SMBs) and Calyptix’ solution is practically turnkey for them. Trends within SMBs are shifting toward greater dependence on IT services for everything from security solutions to comprehensive network management. AccessEnforcer fits perfectly into their solution model because it was purpose built to serve the needs of the SMB market sector. Calyptix’ innovative UTM (Unified Threat Management) device provides total control and security with a combination of features that protects networks from spam, viruses, spyware, unauthorized web surfing, hackers and other cyber threats and enables secure remote access, Active Directory integration and comprehensive reporting – all at a single price point that SMBs can afford.
“Calyptix has a phenomenal product to offer to businesses and a tremendous reseller program for consultants and IT service providers. Joining the Calyptix team gives us a great opportunity to bring innovation into the marketplace,” said Terry Van Winkle. “We’re excited to become part of a sharp team with fresh ideas for SMB solutions.”
“We’re happy to bring Kristen, Steve and Terry on as part of the Calyptix team that is charged with getting the word out to the resellers who serve the SMB marketplace. Our grassroots efforts have produced consistent regional successes. With this team in place, Calyptix’ products can be more quickly introduced into reseller opportunities across the country,” comments Calyptix CEO, Ben Yarbrough.
AccessEnforcer is a comprehensive yet simple solution. Service providers can actually streamline their management efforts and boost the quality of Internet security by including it in their solution set. Calyptix has expanded its support team to work in conjunction with the new channel strategy team to ensure that service providers reach their comfort zone for introducing and implementing AccessEnforcer.
ABOUT CALYPTIX and ACCESSENFORCER
Calyptix Security manufactures AccessEnforcer, an innovative UTM (Unified Threat Management) device that provides total control and security with a combination of features that protects networks from spam, viruses, spyware, unauthorized web surfing, hackers and other cyber threats and enables secure remote access, Active Directory integration and comprehensive reporting. The unified threat management appliance is offered exclusively through authorized channel partners seeking comprehensive security strategies for their clients. Calyptix Security’s expertise is evidenced in industry-wide vulnerability discoveries and in DyVax™, the company’s proprietary inspection engine which has proven more successful than leading antivirus solutions by dynamically filtering email traffic, executable files and Microsoft Office files from true zero-day threats without reliance on signatures. For more information about Calyptix, please visit www.calyptix.com.
Contacts: Jill Purdy Ben Yarbrough, CEO
704.236.2501, jpurdy@calyptix.com 704.971.8989, byarbrough@calyptix.com
Well I am a belt and suspenders kind of guy deep down inside. So I have been a bit annyoed that I had to choose between ShadowProtect and SBS Backup. If you read KB838183 it will explain the problem. Well today is the day I said enough. So I put together a plan and a few files which I am going to share with you here, but as always USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
First the plan, on this system SBS Backup runs at 9:00pm until 3:30am then at 4:30 I snap a full ShadowProtect image which finishes around 7:00am which goes offsite each day. So I am going to schedule a job to turn on the Exchange VSS Writer on at 4:15am another one to turn it back off at 7:30am
We will need to create a few files first, you can do this in notepad.
first lets build 2 reg files called ExchIS-disable.reg and ExchIS-enable.reg
all these files are assumed to live in D:\DHC\Exch if you put them somewhere else
you will need to modify them accordingly.
also if you do not have CRM loaded on your server you can leave out the CRM lines
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The following file is ExchIS-disable.reg
Do not include the dashed lines
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Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\ParametersSystem]
“Disable Exchange Writer”=dword:00000001
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The following file is ExchIS-enable.reg
Do not include the dashed lines
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Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\ParametersSystem]
“Disable Exchange Writer”=dword:00000000
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Now lets build the 2 command files
called EnableExchVSS.cmd & DisableExchVSS.cmd
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The following file is EnableExchVSS.cmd
Do not include the dashed lines
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Rem Batch File to turn Exchange VSS Writer on
D:
cd D:\DHC\Exch
reg import ExchIS-enable.reg
net stop “Microsoft CRM-Exchange E-Mail Router Service”
net stop “Microsoft Exchange Information Store”
net start “Microsoft Exchange Information Store”
net start “Microsoft CRM-Exchange E-Mail Router Service”
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The following file is DisableExchVSS.cmd
Do not include the dashed lines
——————————–
Rem Batch File to turn Exchange VSS Writer off
D:
cd D:\DHC\Exch
reg import ExchIS-Disable.reg
net stop “Microsoft CRM-Exchange E-Mail Router Service”
net stop “Microsoft Exchange Information Store”
net start “Microsoft Exchange Information Store”
net start “Microsoft CRM-Exchange E-Mail Router Service”
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Now that we have our files, here is the process
We will create a couple of scheduled tasks.
Here is how to do that and what they look like
First Create a new Scheduled Task
Lets call it PreSPvssOn
Now lets set it’s properties
Point it to it’s command file
Schedule when you want it to run
Make sure to give it enough privledges to run,
you may want to run it as the domain Administrator
Now lets do the other one, call it PostSPvssOff
Point this one to it’s command file also
Schedule it for a time that the image will be complete
Make sure to give it enough privledges to run,
you may want to run it as the domain Administrator
They should both appear in your scheduled task list now
See you can have the best of both worlds with a little bit of work.
Until Next Time
Look at the deal that just landed in my inbox. I just had to share this one.
If you have been on the fence whether you should join MSPSN or not, this deal makes it a no brainer.
You get the benifits of Amy’s hard work building this organization and a great deal on the best imaging software on the planet (IMNSHO) !
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