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Author Archives: Devin
GetSharp lives!
If you’ve only interacted with 3Sharp through me, Paul, Missy, and Tim, then you’ve missed a whole key aspect of the talent we’ve got here at 3Sharp. Our group (Infrastructure Solution Group or ISG, formerly known as the Platform Group) … Continue reading
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This is what I do for fun???
For the last three weeks, I’ve been on vacation. Much of that vacation has consisted of quality Xbox 360 time, both by myself (Call of Duty: World at War for Christmas) and with Steph and Chris. (Alaric had a friend … Continue reading
Posted in Computers, Life, Recreation
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Self-imposed silence
I really hate that there are things I want — nay, need — to write about right this minute and I can’t because it would be revealing too much about sensitive stuff that isn’t my place to talk about. What … Continue reading
Posted in Rants
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Christmas 2008 Newsletter
This page is a placeholder for our soon-to-be-written 2008 Christmas newsletter. Check back soon!
Posted in People
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So long, Exchange!
This holiday weekend, I finally accomplished a task I’ve been meaning to do for a while: I got rid of my email. More precisely, I’m no longer hosting my email domains on my own server here in the house like … Continue reading
Posted in Computers
2 Comments
Oh, Alaric Ganger, no!
For the most part, we have good kids. We get compliments on their public behavior all the time. Usually, this is because we’ve taught the kids to hold it together until they get back home, where we give them a … Continue reading
Posted in People, Writing
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After slight technical difficulties and a simple but complicated operation, the patient has recovered
I don’t remember which day it was two weeks ago that I discovered that my web server was no longer accepting queries, but I do remember the distinct annoyance I felt when I got home from work, made my way … Continue reading
Posted in Computers
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What happens in Vegas gets blogged
Update (11/15/08 1240PST): Fixed the URLs in the links to point to the actual decks. Sorry! Time this year has flown! Hard to believe that I’ve just finished up my last conference for the year — Exchange Connections Fall at … Continue reading
This is just the start
Despite the fact that I’m now counting the hours until the election is officially over — election season has been *so long* and so incredibly divisive from all angles — I’m aware of the fact (and even somewhat excited by … Continue reading
Posted in Life, Politics
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Masters update: short form
I have gotten a lot of email from people who wished me well and wanted to find out the status of my recent Masters rotation. I’m working on a bigger write-up, but here’s the short form: It was intense. I … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, Exchange
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…does this mean I’ll get an apprentice?
For the next three weeks, I’ll be squirreled away in a hidden location, having my brains surgically removed and replaced with a quantum-computing device filled with Exchange knowledge. Good times! Seriously, though, I’ll be off to the October rotation of … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, Exchange
3 Comments
Some nifty Windows Mobile tools
One of the projects I’ve been working on recently involves managing Windows Mobile devices; Tim and I have gotten to spend a bit of time playing with some very cool software. However, we both noticed that Windows Mobile makes some … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp
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No, just the Doctor
After looking at a lot of options, Alaric has decided that he wants to be the ninth Doctor for Halloween. This is good for us — it’s a simple costume, in theory, especially since I’ve already got a sonic screwdriver … Continue reading
Posted in People, Recreation
1 Comment
A little GPO study aid
I’ve been in study mode a lot lately, as I’ve been preparing for an upcoming class I’ll be going to. In the process, I’ve had to loop around and pick up several MCP exams I’d not gotten. Today, I’m studying … Continue reading
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Bad Nick
Nick has done a very bad thing. He bought me Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for the Xbox 360 as a late birthday present. After the stress of this last week, studying for (and passing) the Microsoft 70-237 and 70-238 … Continue reading
Posted in Recreation
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WTF? FTW!
On my drive into work this morning, one of the local radio stations played “November Rain” (Guns n Roses) “Rock Me Amadeus” (Falco) back to back. That’s some serious musical whiplash. That’s like having bacon-caramel pie. I like bacon, and … Continue reading
Posted in Humor, Music
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Empty hand
In my previous post, I talked about taking a class at the local YMCA. You may have noticed that I didn’t mention which class I was taking; that wasn’t by accident. I didn’t feel like talking about it until I … Continue reading
Posted in Health, Karate, Life
4 Comments
OCS follows Exchange into 64-bit-only land
You may have missed this interesting blog post this morning amidst all the political kerfuffle, so let me sum up: the next version of OCS will only support x64 platforms. This isn’t the big deal it would have been for … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, Exchange
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The OCS Edge Server: how many NICs do I need?
There are a lot of people out there who want to try to get around Microsoft’s recommended configuration for the OCS Edge Server roles. For whatever reason, they don’t like the thought of have two network interfaces, one on a … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, OCS
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First Look at Microsoft Online Services: the Sign-In tool
Continuing from my previous post on MOS… I didn’t really mention this in the previous post, but MOS is designed to provide a hosted alternative to the server-side applications. One of the goals is to continue working with existing native … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, Exchange
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First look at Microsoft Online Services: adding domains
I’m at an airlift here in Redmond for the new Microsoft Online Services (MOS), Microsoft’s hosted services platform. Right now, MOS offers a combination of hosted Exchange (OWA, Outlook, and even EAS!), hosted SharePoint, and Live Meeting. We’ve just gone through … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, Exchange
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The beatings shall continue until the anatomy improves
One of the reasons I’ve been a lot quieter on the blog front for the past month is Call of Duty 4 (actually, let’s be honest; that’s one of the ways I’ve chosen to spend a lot of my free … Continue reading
Important safety tip
If you’re already having the kind of day where you feel a bit dizzy, and you’re walking through the parking lot at your place of employment after coming back from lunch, do not under any circumstances close your eyes for … Continue reading
Posted in Life
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DPM 2007 Rollup packages now available
While I was away on vacation last week, Microsoft finally released the DPM 2007 Rollup packages to Microsoft Downloads. (I blame Jason Buffington; I’m sure he waited until I was out of office.) There are both x86 and x64 packages; … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, DPM
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Hyper-V in the hizzouse!
Everyone’s being so coy in the Windows blogosphere today. “As you may have heard…” Heck with that; this is wicked cool. Hyper-V has Released To Manufacturing … and is already available for download. As the link explains, it’ll start coming … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, Exchange
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These are not the solutions you’re looking for
As IT professionals, we are more than often prone to fall to the perils of magical thinking. (I’m sure this is a side-effect of being human, which is a pesky and bothersome condition I will have to do something about … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, Exchange
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masteringdpm.com back online
Things got hairy enough last week that I forgot to post, but my hosting provider got the problem sorted out and the website is back online.
Posted in 3Sharp, DPM
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masteringdpm.com temporarily down
If you’ve tried to get to masteringdpm.com in the past couple of days, you may have gotten a cryptic error message instead of a site with DPM goodness. I’m working with my hosting provider to get it put back up … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, DPM
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Tech-Talk: Making Backups Cool with DPM
While I was at the Tech-Ed NA IT Pro conference last week, Jason Buffington and I took the chance to invade the Tech-Ed Online fishbowl studio and record a quick Tech-Talk on using DPM. You can now view it online … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, DPM, Exchange
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Welcome, Mike Rand!
Just a quick shout-out to fellow 3Sharpie Mike Rand, who just posted his first post to the 3Sharp blog site last week. Mike’s a super-smart developer here with mad SharePoint skills; I can’t imagine why he hasn’t blogged sooner than … Continue reading
Updated Exchange Developer Roadmap
To reinforce yesterday’s post about Exchange Web Services (EWS), I wanted to draw your attention to the Exchange Developer Roadmap posted on May 22 2008 on the Exchange API-spotting blog. There shouldn’t really be any surprises here, but there were … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, Exchange
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A .NET add-on for working with Exchange Web Services
I just got word that Independentsoft has come out with a beta version of an EWS client API for the .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework. I’ve not looked at it yet, but I’m particularly hopeful about having a good … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, Exchange
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3Sharp, Podcasting, and You
The talented people at 3Sharp are one of the best reasons to work here. Our Platforms Group is just one piece of the pie here; we’ve got some top-tier development talent who can make SharePoint stand up and dance. Those … Continue reading
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All purchases should be this easy
If you haven’t seen me in person recently, you may not realize I’m a heretic. Yes, that’s right — I use an Apple 15″ MacBook Pro with Vista as my laptop. It took some jiggling to get it all working … Continue reading
Revised guidance on protecting Exchange with DPM 2007
Just a quick note to let you all know that the Protecting Exchange Server with DPM 2007 white paper is available for download from Microsoft. This is the same white paper I worked on for them last year, but freshly … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, DPM, Exchange
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Hyper-V RC1 available
This is pretty cool — I didn’t even notice this at first! Hyper-V RC1 is now available for download through the Microsoft Download center or through Windows Update as an optional update. One of the nice changes here is that … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp
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Three random links make a post
…so I’ll throw in a fourth for good measure. Rather than try to write a full-length post about each of these, I’m just going to give you a quick bullet list: Want to get the MAPI client or CDO libraries … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp
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LJ random quote meme
One of my friends on LiveJournal posted a meme. Now, I’m normally not the kind to participate in various memes, but I like this one: go here and pick out five random quotes that somehow resonate with you (keep going … Continue reading
Posted in People, Recreation
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The Euphemism Lexicon
Over time, any group of people and friends starts to develop its own set of euphemisms and textual substitutions. Here are some of ours. home friendship appliance — a sex toy. I forget where we ran across this one — … Continue reading
Posted in Humor
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Silly
Steph alerted me to the existence of a very cool product — a dock for Macbook Pro laptops that stands them vertically. This has two advantages: saves desktop space and promotes better cooling. Macbook Pro machines are industrious heat generators … Continue reading
One last quick tidbit: Exchange 2007 and Outlook Anywhere scalability whitepaper
A lot of you may have missed this: Microsoft just released a new white paper for Exchange, Outlook Anywhere Scalability with Outlook 2007, Outlook 2003, and Exchange 2007. This paper should give you some detailed guidance goodness on scaling your … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, Exchange
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A certificate roundup
Certificates are one of the biggest issues I keep hearing about with Exchange and OCS, and apparently I’m not the only one. Fellow MVP Michael B. Smith has recently posted two blog articles on certs: how to use SAN certificates … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, Exchange, PowerShell
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Doing UC in the Pacific Northwest
I’ve been sitting on a cool announcement for several days now, and I’m happy that it’s now time to announce it. I’ve been working with a group of people to get a new user group for Unified Communications (UC) put … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, Exchange, OCS
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Vanity Fair, Miley Cyrus, and Disney
Man. Just shoot me now, because not only am I about to blog about Miley Cyrus, I’m about to defend her. Yup, that’s right. I, as a parent of a girl about to be a teenager, am willing to go … Continue reading
Posted in Life, People
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Post-Conference report
As I typically do, I’m posting links to my slide decks for the presentations I just finished giving. I apologize to the Connections folks; I was supposed to get this done Monday afternoon or Tuesday and got ambushed by a … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, DCAR, DPM, Exchange
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A DPM roundup
This was a big travel week for me; I got the privilege of speaking about protecting Exchange with DPM 2007 at both Exchange Connections (in Orlando) and Microsoft Management Summit (in Las Vegas). The session had a good response at … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, DPM, Exchange
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Greetings from Orlando!
I’m posting from a break between sessions at Exchange Connections in Orlando, FL. I just had a good session on protecting Exchange with DPM — thanks to everyone who attended and gave lots of good feedback. Next up — a … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, DCAR, DPM, Exchange
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Am I hot or not?
Stupid website, but it gives me a chance to taunt my co-worker Kevin. This morning I got a puzzled e-mail from him, asking me why this picture of me in Sydney from February (yes, that’s Sydney, Australia; we were there … Continue reading
Posted in Computers, People, Recreation, Work
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A reality show I’d watch
On a break this afternoon with co-workers Jon, Kevin, and Ryan, the idea for a new reality show was born. I hate “reality” TV — but I might watch this one. It all started with Jon suggesting that it would … Continue reading
Posted in Recreation
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Setting Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging codecs on a per-user basis? Genius!
I was completely floored to discover, via Paul, that you can control which codec the UM role uses to record voicemails on a per-user basis. This is seriously cool stuff, and if you can’t see why quite yet, let me … Continue reading
Posted in 3Sharp, Exchange, OCS
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