Silverlight can now be used to write a complete business application that can be run outside the browser. Such an application will probably need to automatically check, and react to, changes to the network status, as well as automatically download and install updates from the server. It will need to be easily installed from the browser. Richard Costall explains how, with a complete example.… Read more
In Exchange Server 2010 it is possible to make the system more resilient by creating a Database Availability Group (DAG) where the nodes contain multiple server roles.… Read more
Unless you use Red Gate's PST Importer, the import and export of PST files with Exchange 2010 is a complex and error-prone business. Microsoft have acknowledged this in the release of Exchange 2010 SP1, since they have now re-engineered the way that PSTs are handled to try and ease the pain of importing and exporting them, but it is still a matter of using Powershell with cmdlets, rather than a GUI. Jaap Wesselius takes a look at the new process.
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Now that you've created your first DAG in Exchange 2010, you'll need to be sure it's correctly configured for failovers and switchovers, and you know how to troubleshoot. Fear not, for Neil Hobson tells you what you need to know.… Read more
Since Exchange 2000, and the introduction of the document retention period it has been much easier to recover mailboxes, disconnect or connect mailboxes to users, and disable mailboxes. Exchange 2010 has introduced the personal archive, which adds a slight complication. Michel de Rooij explains how to deal with this, and clean up mailboxes that are still within the retention period.… Read more
Just recently, a problem involving the iPhone/iPod's synchronisation process with Exchange 2007, made it necessary for Exchange Administrators to alert various mail users to upgrade to the latest version of Apple's iOS 4. Ben shows how easily he was able to do this for his organisation, using Exchange's Management Shell with PowerShell and some Exchange cmdlets.… Read more
If you ever need to set up fine-grained rules to control the maximum size of messages a subset of your picky users' can send or receive, Krishna Kumar has you covered. His step-by-step instructions will tell you everything you need to know to keep emails sizes under control.… Read more
If you could design an Exchange email archiver from scratch, what would you do differently and how would you bring it to maturity? Bob Cramblitt talks with three principals from the new Exchange Server Archiver 3.0 development team and gets the inside story on the soul of a new archiver.… Read more
Sean Duffy, always keen to be on the cutting edge of making his job as a production SysAdmin as painless as possible, puts V3.0 of Red Gate's Exchange Server Archiver through its paces. His verdict: an impressive and transparent tool for managing your Exchange environment.… Read more
Having introduced us to the basics of the new Code Access Security Model available in .NET Framework 4.0, Matteo Slaviero explains how to use this powerful new system to implement fine-grained code security in ways where have never before been possible.… Read more
In his previous article, Antoine Khater made sure that every Exchange SysAdmin knew how to backup their servers. Now that you've got your backups running smoothly, his latest no-nonsense guide covers exacty how to restore everything ranging from whole servers down to individual mailboxes and items, and how to do it fast.… Read more
The very latest and greatest incarnation of Exchange Server 2010, Service Pack 1 Beta, is now available for the public to try out. Lucky for us, Jaap's had access to the new release for quite some time, and he gives us a distilled guide to exactly what is new and improved.… Read more
SQL Server's UPDATE statement is apparently simple, but complications such as the FROM clause can cause puzzlement. Bob Sheldon starts simply, and introduces the more complex forms painlessly. … Read more
In the third of a series on Web Application design, Nick turns his attention to the Model part of the Model View Presenter (MVP) pattern, and discusses what a well-behaved model might look lik… Read more
The 14 chapters of "The Art of XSD", written by MVP Jacob Sebastian, will take the reader step-by-step all the way from the basics of XML Schema design all the way to advanced topics on SQL Server XML Schema Collections. Reviewer Hima Bindu Vejella gives it an 8/10 rating, and gives us an excellent distilled description of what the book has to offer.… Read more
If you're using Exchange 2010, then you're probably interested in using the new Database Availability Group feature for your High Availability needs. The DAG is superbly powerful technology, but you'd better make sure yours is 100% correctly configured. Neil Hobson walks us through what we need to know, using a two-node DAG as an example.… Read more
One of the most interesting additions to SQL Server syntax in SQL Server 2005 was the APPLY operator. It allows several queries that were previously impossible. It is surprisingly difficult to find a simple explanation of what APPLY actually does. Rob Sheldon is the specialist in simple explanations, so we asked him.… Read more
ASP.NET now has support for the jQuery JavaScript library. Although ASP.NET integrated AJAX technology by introducing the is the UpdatePanel server control, jQuery offers an alternative, and more versatile, way of doing it and a great deal more besides. Matteo shows how easy it is to get started with using jQuery.… Read more
If you're a Systems Administrator concerned about information security, you could do worse than implementing Microsoft's Information Rights Management system; especially if you already have Active Directory Rights Management Services in place. Elie Bou Issa talks Hub Servers, Transport Protection Rules and Outlook integration in this excellent guide to getting started with IRM.… Read more
The SQL Server common table expression was introduced into standard T-SQL to simplify queries for which a derived table just wasn't suitable. Robert Sheldon explains CTEs in this article.… Read more
