In Server 2012, Storage Spaces has been added. It allows you to pool multiple physical disks together (regardless of disk size and connection type) as one big logical disk. For those people familiar with Windows Home Server (WHS), the concept is similar to Drive Extender. For more information read the Storage Spaces FAQ or this blog post.
After the Storage Pool has been created, you can create one or more Storage Spaces (virtual disks) and configure them as either a simple volume, mirror volume or parity (software raid).
It’s a pity Storage Spaces didn’t meet my expecations, because I was really looking forward to replace my Windows Home Server with Drive Extender. But for now I would recommend sticking with hardware RAID solutions.
Op 26 oktober wordt Windows 8 officieel gereleased door Microsoft. Vanaf dat moment zullen nieuwe pc’s en laptops ook standaard uitgeleverd gaan worden met Windows 8. Tevens zullen dan ook Windows 8 (RT) tablets beschikbaar komen. Zowel Microsoft zelf zal tablets verkopen (Microsoft Surface), maar ook andere grote leveranciers zullen hun eigen tablets verkopen. Ook is het de verwachting dat er steeds meer laptops met touchscreen zullen gaan komen.
Het gevolg hiervan is dat Windows 8 qua bediening enorm verandert.
Ik raad daarom ook iedereen aan met interesse in deze nieuwe versie van Windows om de “HCC Windows 8 introductiebijeenkomst” in Urmond bij te wonen:
Currently, there are many technological advancements taking place every day. To keep up with them is already very hard. To make it a bit easier I use RSS feeds to quickly filter what I think might be of importance to me.
A list of the RSS feeds I currently use can be found here , but you can also download an XML export of my RSS feeds here for easy import to your preferred RSS reader (assuming it supports XML import). I also advise you to check Microsoft’s RSS feed index so you can customize it to your own needs.
I personally use Google Reader for my RSS feeds because then my RSS feeds will be accessible from everywhere as long as I have a browser and an internet connection. When you are often on the road without an active internet connection, a dedicated client with cached articles from the RSS feed might also come in handy.
PS: The Microsoft blog rss feed had many articles added daily and can be hard to keep up with, but you can pretty quickly weed out duplicate articles and articles in foreign languages.
On October 18 (1 week before Windows 8 gets released), Microsoft is hosting a free “Windows 8 for IT Pros Jump Start” for those looking to get to know Windows 8 better.
I’ve attended some jump starts in the pasts and I really like them, so don’t miss out. Even though I’m already certified, I will be attending it as well. You will always learn new stuff AND you get the chance to get answers to any questions you still have.
PS: For more information about Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, be welcome to check my “Microsoft Information Flood” post. I’m a bit behind on updates, but it should still prove to be a valuable resource.
After desperately checking if my results were in for the beta exams I took, I finally got the great news that I passed the first three beta exams for Windows Server 2012. This means I’m now officially “MCSA: Windows Server 2012” certified.
I’m still waiting for the results of the other 5 beta exams *fingers crossed*, but I couldn’t have wished for a better start 🙂
PS: For more information about Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, be welcome to check my “Microsoft Information Flood” post. I’m a bit behind on updates, but it should still prove to be a valuable resource.
It’s up to you how much you pay, but paying more than the average might get you bonus games. Sometimes even also previous bundles.
You can decide how the paid amount is split between the developer, charities and organizing party.
Games are multi platform (Windows, Linux, Mac, Android), but this differs per game.
Games are DRM free, but this differs per game.
Games are redeemable on the steam and/or desura platform, but this differs per game.
(Indie) Humble Bundle 6
(One of) the first bundles with this concept was the Indie Humblebundle and they have just released their latest bundle: Humble Indie Bundle 6 which in my opinion contains the best games I’ve seen in a bundle yet:
The Humble Indie Bundle 6 contains the following games:
PS: Even though it’s not in the Humble Indie Bundle, Torchlight 2 is coming out tomorrow as well. It is fairly priced (especially in a 4-pack), looks promising and will include modding options (expect a lot of fan made content).
Other game bundle offers
Besides the Indie Humble Bundle, there are more bundles available. Not all of them involve charity and not all of them allow you to set your own price. But it might be interesting to check some of them: http://indiegamebundle.wikia.com/wiki/Indie_Game_Bundle_Wiki
When Microsoft creates new (versions of their) software, they also create new exams to become certified. Part of this process includes testing the exams, determining the passing score, getting feedback and improving the exams based on the feedback (deciding which questions to use, removing questions, re-phrasing, etc.). More information can be found here.
To get feedback, Microsoft offers access to these beta exams for free. They do this publicly using by example the born to learn blog or privately using mail to select subject matter experts (SME) based on their profiles on Microsoft Connect. So if you’re interested in taking beta exams, update the information on the Microsoft Connect site to get private invites to the latest beta exams that are relevant to you. More information about the invite procedure can be found on the Born To Learn blog. Also keep in mind that public invites might be limited using a first-come, first served principle so check on a regular basis.
Advantages and disadvantages of taking beta exams:
+ It is free if you received an invite. Nowadays you can also take beta exams if you haven’t had an invite, but then you need to pay for the exam.
+ You have a chance to become one of the first people to become certified for the new software.
+ If you pass a beta exam, you passed it legitimately because there are no answers to download online.
+ Even if you fail the beta exam, you’ve still learned a lot about the new (version of the) software.
– In general there are no books available yet and you have to get all your information from hands-on experience, blogs, technet, websites, etc.
– The time frame you have to prepare for the exams can be (very) limited. For example with the last invites for the Server 2012 beta exams I had only 2 weeks to prepare for multiple exams.
– After you’ve taken a beta exam, it might take 2-3 months before you get the result.
Beta exams I’ve taken recently include those for Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, System Center 2012 and Office 365. I expect the next beta exams to cover mainly Office 15/Office 2013 related products like by example Sharepoint, Exchange, Lync. So if you’re interested in these beta exams be sure to keep a close eye on the beta exams and start working with and learning about the products already.
I hope this was informative and that it well help you and/or your company gain a competitive advantage.
As most people, I often complain about not having sufficient time. It also doesn’t help that I have a lot of hobbies and interests. Because of this I decided to combine my hobbies and interests in such a way it would eventually save me time.
The file names of most movies I download are mostly in the following format: The.Devils.Advocate.1997.UNRATED.DC.720p.BluRay.X264-AMIABLE.mkv <movie.name>.<movie release year>.<metadata>.<metadata>…..<last.metadata>.<file extension>
What is important for YAMJ to work correctly is basically the movie name and the year (just in case there are movies with the same name, but released in a different year). So basically my preferred output would be: The Devils Advocate 1997.mkv
To realise this, conceptually the following will be done for all files in a specific folder:
Determine the current file extension and save it to a variable.
Remove all dots “.” from the file name.
Determine if there is a year notation in the file name (by example 1997).
If there is no year notation found, don’t do anything else (file does not meet the expected format).
If the year notation is found, remove everything from the file name after the year notation and re-add the file extension.
I hope this will help home users to see the advantages of scripts, use them and benefit from it. For ICT professionals I also hope that it will help them get a better understanding of Powershell. Because in my opinion Powershell is getting increasingly important both for Microsoft and non Microsoft products (by example VMware).
I’d love to get feedback about this post and hope to receive some replies.
blog.bjornhouben.com 