In order to support the new security features of Windows Vista, Microsoft has made fundamental changes to the certificate web enrollment process that Windows Certificate Services uses to provide certificates to end users. In the past, Xenroll was the...

Susan is a developer on a large team writing applications for a major financial institution – She's frustrated. Her portion of the application has to interface with a third-party service that handles check images and imports the associated account...

One of the major criticisms of the Windows operating systems has always been the tendency to run more services than are absolutely necessary. While these are usually in place for convenience and to provide a better desktop experience, on the Server platform...

Windows Server 2008 has introduced a ton of new security features to lock down the server operating system through a number of enhancements and a dramatic change in philosophy. Where previous versions of the operating system have tried to limit the number...

Windows Server 2008 has introduced a host of new features to the platform improving performance, scalability, and ease of maintenance. One of the most-improved technologies built into 2008 is the new treatment of Terminal Services. More than just minor...

Often one of the most overlooked and poorly understood disciplines in the software development arena, estimation techniques can spell the difference between a project that goes smoothly or one that, in the best case, will require constant resetting of...

A lot of consulting companies base the core of their practice on the MSF and MOF, especially as they integrate with the ITIL standards. This is a good starting point, but there is more to implementing these ideals than just following the framework. You'll...

One of the most difficult challenges an IT manager faces is hiring the right people. Finding the right employee is more than just looking for strong performance in a single area, but requires that you consider several different skill domains to not only measure technical ability, but to ensure that the prospective employee is a good fit for your organization. There are a number of considerations that should be taken when looking for new Active Directory engineers, both on the soft skills as well as the technical. Of course, a list like this can never be complete and would have to be tailored on a case-by-case basis, but should act as a guide for the careful interviewer.

IT managers and team leaders often complain that they are not heard by the business decision-makers and that their vitally important projects are often overlooked in favor of pet projects or niche software that was championed by a sales rep. Business leaders are paid to have a deep understanding of the business and the forces that shape its ability to compete in the marketplace, not necessarily new developments in technology. At the same time, managers are often frustrated by "geeky" IT staff members that want to upgrade every time a new technology comes out and aren't in tune with the business' needs. This difference in perspective can lead to misunderstandings and even worse, missed opportunities.

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is at the core of almost every enterprise network forming a mission-critical service that is the cornerstone of reliable and simplifies workstation management. Yet, this service is usually configured as a...

This document outlines a basic procedure for validating the health of your domain and is a good practice for iterative maintenance and an excellent pre-check before doing any potentially dangerous domain operations.

The release of Office 2007 by Microsoft has brought a wealth of new features as well as a number of new challenges to the enterprise workstation management platform. Users and organizations are eager to embrace the promise of easier collaboration and intuitive user interface that Office 2007 brings. With the new features, comes a new file format that is based on the XML standard allowing for a higher degree of interoperability between office products as they shuttle documents and data to collaborative web spaces and integrate with document search and management services. These file formats are incompatible with the older office 2000/XP/2003 format that has become almost universally accepted. Certainly, Office 2007 can save documents in the previous format, but this is not the default and is incumbent upon the end-user to make the change.