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Author Archives: Bjorn Houben

Microsoft – Introduction to Hyper-V Jump Start videos and Q&A transcript

The videos of the “Introduction to Hyper-V Jump Start” have been posted to Microsoft Virtual Academy:
https://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/tracks/introduction-to-hyper-v-jump-start

Unfortunately however, the link to the Q&A transcript has only been sent by mail to participants. The Q&A has very valuable information in it as well, so be sure to take a look at it here.

[EDIT] I mailed the MVA people and they added the Q&A to the MVA website as well. Love the MVA [EDIT]

 

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VMware – Free videos covering what’s new in VMware vSphere 5.1

In the last half year, it’s been a very busy time for me because of all the new Microsoft products being released. As a result of this, I unfortunately haven’t been able to look into the newly added features and capabilities in VMware vSphere 5.1

Luckily however, VMware has released these free videos covering what’s new in VMware vSphere 5.1. This should make it easier to get up-to-date again.

I hope you enjoy it.

 

 
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Posted by on February 6, 2013 in Uncategorized

 

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Office 365 / Sharepoint online – Add search to your public site

In the past I’ve created a post to get my public site to become a SharePoint 2010 style team site. The only thing I’d been missing since was a way to allow public/anonymous users to use the search (when trying to perform a search you would have to logon).This also meant that filters in the lists I created weren’t working 😦

Because of the unsupported customizing I did on the SharePoint site, I thought this just wasn’t possible.

Thankfully however, a visitor of my blog (Denis) came across my post “Provide anonymous access to sharepoint lists on Office 365 (Sharepoint online)” and shared this blog post to enable search for an Office 365 / SharePoint Online public site which refers to https://dotnetmafia.sys-con.com/node/1918049/mobile

So now my website http://www.bjornhouben.com and all the content inside it, including the lists is completely searchable.

Thanks again Denis.

 

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Gadget – portable speaker review : X-mini Max Gun Metal

Sometimes your laptop or tablet speakers just won’t do. Either because the sound quality isn’t very good or because they aren’t loud enough.

Because of this, I decided to buy the X-mini MAX Gun Metal

X-mini MAX Gun Metal

X-mini MAX Gun Metal

X-mini UNO Gun Metal

X-mini UNO Gun Metal

X-mini MAX Gun Metal:

  • Contains 2 small speakers that produce stereo sound.
  • Costs about 65 euro.
  • Provides great sound and volume considering its small size.
  • Contains a built-in battery that can be charged using micro USB (similar to a lot of smartphones).
  • When it’s charged you can use it with any device you’d like as long as it has a 3.5mm jack plug.
  • Allows for speakers to be used separately as well (mono).
  • Allows for linking / daisy chaining even more X-mini devices.

I’ve been looking for a good video that gives you an idea of the sound quality, but none really do it justice. You really have to hear it by yourself. I know (some) MediaMarkt shops in the Netherlands have them, so if you’re interested you might want to test it there. For those that still want to have an impression, check out this youtube video of another version of the X-mini speaker:

Even though I really like the X-mini MAX Gun Metal, there is still room for improvement. By example:

  • At a higher volume, the speaker is distorting and still moving (because of the vibrations).
  • The included usb micro charging cable assumes your laptop/tablet USB and jack port are close to each other. If this is not the case you would need to extend by example the jack plug.
  • The built-in jack cable is too short in my opinion and is only useful for daisy chaining / interconnecting with other X-mini speakers.
  • The price for the MAX version might be too steep for some. The mono versions might suffice though, depending on what you want to use it for.

X-mini also has a lot of cool other versions of their speakers like by example a Bluetooth version, a version with a built-in mp3 player and a version with a built-in radio tuner. So be sure to check out their website.

On a closing note, Fujifilm has unveiled bendable foldable roll-up speakers. So there’s still much more cool stuff coming for portable speakers.

 
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Posted by on February 4, 2013 in Hardware

 

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VMware – The VMware virtualcenter server service terminated with service specific error code 2

A friend of mine who is still a student has been building his own VMware lab environment for some time now. Yesterday he contacted me that he couldn’t get the “VMware VirtualCenter Server service” to start anymore.

The log showed: EventID 7021 “The VMware VirtualCenter Server service terminated with service-specific error 2 (0×2).”

A quick google search however showed that many things could be causing this error. Because it was a lab environment, I wanted to upgrade the virtual center to the latest version. Before doing so, I took a look at the VMware blog post covering the latest update 5.1.0B. In the readme it said:

SSO service dependency on MS SQL
When SSO is installed with local Microsoft SQL Server, the services must start in a specific order.
SSO must start after SQL Server starts. If SSO starts before SQL Server starts, restart the SSO
server after SQL server starts.”

Doing so resolved the issue. To prevent the issue from re-occurring, I made the SSO service dependent on the SQL service.

I don’t understand why this is not part of the automated installation process though 😦

 

 

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Office 365 – E1 and K1 plans getting full Office Web Apps (view, edit, create), replacing E2 and K2 at lower cost

As part of the new Office 365 service, changes will be made to the Office 365 plans. In short this means that the E1 and K1 plans will get full Office Web Apps (view, edit, create) replacing E2 and K2:

  • Current E1/K1 will get E2/K2 functionality at the same low cost.
  • Current E2/K2 customers will keep the same features, but at a lower cost (E1/K1).
  • E2/K2 will be replaced by E1/K1 since they will then have the same functionality.

The new situation will become like this:

New Office 365 Enterprise Plans overview

New Office 365 Enterprise Plans overview

PS: Besides the lower prices I’m also looking forward to the new Office 365 features that will be added when Office 365 will start using the Office 2013 (Wave 15) versions of SharePoint, Outlook, Lync, Office Web Apps. More about that soon.

 
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Posted by on February 3, 2013 in Cloud, ICT, Microsoft, Office 365, Public Cloud

 

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Microsoft – Security Compliance Manager 3.0 (SCM) has been released

Microsoft has released the Security Compliance Manager 3.0 (SCM). This version includes support for Windows Server 2012, Windows 8, and Internet Explorer 10.

SCM enables you to quickly configure and manage computers and your private cloud using Group Policy and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager. It provides ready-to-deploy policies and DCM configuration packs based on Microsoft Security Guide recommendations and industry best practices, allowing you to easily manage configuration drift, and address compliance requirements for Windows operating systems and Microsoft applications.

Basically in SCM 3.0 you can use predefined baselines, customize them or create completely new ones. Then you can export it from SCM 3.0 and apply it using an Active Directory GPO. To do this, create a new GPO in Group Policy Management, right click the GPO, import settings and complete the wizard.

You can also export existing GPO and then import it into SCM 3.0 and compare the differences.

 

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Microsoft – Exam preparation resources wiki for Server 2012 and much more

Guido van Brakel (@guidovbrakel) has posted the great “Preparation resources for the exam 70-417: Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012” on his blog http://www.enduria.eu some months ago.

Apparently he has now partnered up with the Microsoft Learning / Born To Learn team and is moderating wiki posts containing preparation resources for all kinds of exams including:

70-410: Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012
70-411: Administering Windows Server 2012
70-412: Configuring Advanced Windows Server 2012 Services
70-413: Designing and Implementing a Server Infrastructure
70-414: Implementing an Advanced Server Infrastructure

From what I can see in the wiki based on the placeholders, a lot of great content is planned for the future as well.

The Born To Learn blog , Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) and Server 2012 Virtual Labs are also great resources you may want to check out.

PS: If you’re Dutch or Belgian, you might also want to take a look at the Tweakers.net forum and especially the “[Microsoft Certified] Ervaringen en discussies – Deel 9” thread where lots of Microsoft Certification information is shared.

 
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Posted by on January 31, 2013 in ICT, Learning, Microsoft, Windows, Windows 2012

 

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Microsoft – Free retake of Microsoft exam with second shot

After the recent flood of Microsoft product releases, a lot of new exams have been released as well.

Even though I’ve been able to pass quite a number of these exams in beta, I still failed some of them unfortunately. Since I’m planning to retake these exams, I’ll take advantage of the second shot program. Should I fail again, which I don’t hope … at least I’ll still have a free retake.

So if you’re planning to take some exams in the near future take a look at the second shot program and the Microsoft certification packs that provide discounts.

 

 
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Posted by on January 30, 2013 in ICT, Learning, Microsoft

 

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VDI – Free Train Signal video series : “Intro To Desktop Virtualization”

For those who are unfamiliar with Desktop Virtualization, Train Signal is providing a free video series “Intro To Desktop Virtualization on YouTube.

Be sure to check out these websites and twitter accounts as well if you want to keep track of what Train Signal is doing:

http://www.trainsignal.com
@TrainSignal
@davidmdavis

 

 

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