2011 August :: Third Tier

Archive for August 2011

Aug
29

Brain Explosion Session Detail: Becoming a Message Sleuth

by amy

You know Dave Shackelford as an Exchange MVP, Third Tier consultant and all around nice guy that seemingly knows more about Exchange than Microsoft does. Well, now you can learn some of his secrets.

Haven’t registered yet? Please do so now. www.thirdtier.net/registration Your registration fee includes a full day of training, lunch and an evening with Third Tier at the local pub. Space is limited so register today.

Sometimes as a consultant you are asked to be the expert on what happened to a message that was or wasn’t delivered. While you may have used the Exchange message tracking logs and the application log, there are also the SMTP protocol logs, the filtering logs and additional diagnostic logging at your disposal. This session will get you familiar with the tools and give you the best practices for getting useful data out of them, making you look like a CSI guy (or gal). I’ll focus on the scenarios that I encounter every week working for ThirdTier.

Remember, register to reserve your space. Last year we sold out. www.thirdtier.net/registration

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So who wrote this blog and what do they do for a living anyway?
We’re Third Tier. We provide advanced Third Tier support for IT Professionals.
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0 Categories : Brain Explosion, Dave Shackelford, Exchange, SMB Nation

Aug
23

Make the Installation of 64-bit Print Drivers Easier

by amy

This post was written by Third Tier consultant Jeremy Anderson. Jeremy will also be presenting at the Third Tier Brain Explosion

Making sure that the printers in your network are available to you users is an important part of any SBS installation or migration. One think that you can do to make this easier for you is to install the print management console so that you can install the 64bit and 32bit drivers.

1) Go to the Server Manager, under roles summary, click on Add Roles

2) Choose Print and Document Services.

3) Choose Print Server

4) Click Install

After the Install is finished, Open the Print Management console:

5) At this point you need to download the 32 bit and the 64 bit drivers from the printer manufactures web site. It is important to get the drivers from the website, as the names must match.

For our example we are going to use a HP LaserJet 3050. To support this printer we are going to use the HP Universal Print driver.

Here is the list of Operating Systems on the HP web site.

The 32 and 64 bit PCL5 Universal Print Driver

6) Just extract the Files, do not run the driver installer…

7) Now add the printer to the server in the print management console:

Expand Print Servers, And Printers, right click on printers and choose Add Printer.

Add a tcp/ip printer and follow the prompts.

Uncheck AutoDetect the driver to use:

9) Go through the next prompts, and then install the driver from disk

10) Install the 64 Bit driver that you downloaded from the web site.

11) Set its name, and share it:
TIP – Give it a Descriptive name, something like JohnsPrinter or CopyRoom

Click finish, and return to the print console.

12) Now its time to install the 32bit drivers for the client PC’s. This works for legacy XP clients, as well as 32 bit editions of Vista and Win7. Expand the server name, and then choose Drivers:

13) Right Click, and add drivers:

Choose x86 and click next:
TIP – Make sure you uncheck x64

14) Choose Have disk, and browse to the driver you downloaded:
Make sure you choose the 32 bit one this time:

14) Click Next and finish and now you will see both the 64 bit and 32 bit drivers are available:

TIP – These driver names must match EXACTLY. Otherwise the Operating System things it is a different driver.

As you can see, using the print management console is a fast, easy way to manage printers on a SBS server. Here you can easily change the driver that a printer uses, for both the server and the client. This also allows you to see the version of the driver, and ensure that you have the proper version for both 32 bit and 64 bit computers.

__________

So who wrote this blog and what do they do for a living anyway?
We’re Third Tier. We provide advanced Third Tier support for IT Professionals like you.

www.thirdtier.net/support

3 Categories : Jeremy, Printers, SBS 2011

Aug
22

Brain Explosion Session Detail: DNS Mysteries Unveiled

by amy

Jeremy will kick off the day with his master class in DNS. DNS should not be a mystery to you anymore!

Name the single most important aspect of any computer network, from the smallest office to the largest multi-national corporation. Name the one thing that each of us use every day, that we don’t even think about. This is DNS.

DNS is a complex protocol that is required for daily operation of your networks. DNS is often set up behind the scenes and has little maintenance and configuration. But what do you do if its not working? How do you troubleshoot and verify its operation? Can you be certain that you have your DNS set up and configured according to best practices?

An overview of DNS and how it works, with an emphasis on ‘WHY’ it matters, how to troubleshoot, and what tools to use to verify its operation. I will go over the different types of DNS servers, split scopes, DNS replication, and other terms that you may have heard. DNS is a practical solution to an everyday problem, that we do not nearly spend enough time on, assuming that it will just work. The intricacies and mysteries of DNS will be explained to you.

It’s time to shed some light on a seriously neglected aspect of networking. Proper DNS configuration gets even more critical as your clients app move to the cloud and you provide more remote access capabilities to the network.

Remember, register to reserve your space. Last year we sold out. www.thirdtier.net/registration

0 Categories : Brain Explosion, Events, Jeremy

Aug
13

Clone Your SQL Server Databases Using SMO and PowerShell

by edwin

Back in 2009, I wrote an article about how to generate SQL scripts using Windows PowerShell and Server Management Objects …

Categories : Edwin Sarmiento

Aug
10

Registration is OPEN!

by amy

Join us for a Brain Explosion Master Class in Remote Access

exploding-brain

Join us on September 29th in Las Vegas for an SMBNation Pre-Day event.

The day will begin at 8:30am with introductions, then at 9:00am sharp the first session begins. Lunch and an evening at the pub are included with your $100 registration fee. So not only are we providing amazing content by our very own Third Tier consulting team, but we’re going to have fun too!

Members of our own staff will be presenting at this event: Eriq Neale, Brian Higgins, Dave Shackelford, Jeremy Anderson, Steve Banks and Cliff Galiher

Here’s what we’ve got planned:

2011 Brain Explosion – A Master Class in Remote Access

8:30am – doors open, meet & greet, welcome by Amy Babinchak
9:00am – Mastering DNS
10:15 – break (15 min)
10:30 – Under the covers of Remote Web Access – how it all works.
12:00 – lunch break (30 min) Vendors Lunch.
12:30 – Securing Remote Access using Radius
1:15 – To Be Determined
2:30 – break (15 min)
2:45 – Advanced Exchange Diagnostics
3:30 – Really Enabling Work from Anywhere on Multiple Devices
4:15 – Final thoughts, dismiss by Amy Babinchak

Later that same evening: PARTY with Third Tier at the local Pub.

0 Categories : Amy Babinchak, Announcement, Brain Explosion, Brian Higgins, Cliff Galiher, Dave Shackelford, Eriq Neale, Jeremy, Steve

Aug
8

Return of the Brain Explosion: Mastering Remote Access

by amy

Join us on September 29th in Las Vegas as we gear up for the SMB Nation conference with a Masters Class in Implementing and Supporting Remote Access brought to you by members of our staff.

Last year we had a ball, training all day and freely pouring beer into the night. A true geek festival. We’re going to do it all over again. Since last year there’s been a dramatic proliferation of demand for remote access by your users. During this pre-day event we’re going to deep dive into the stuff that makes remote access to network resources reliable, secure and functional for your end users. When you implement this stuff you’ll be the hero! All the content is going to be delivered by Third Tier staff. This is your chance to pick their brains in person. Speakers include: Brian Higgins, Jeremy Anderson, Steve Banks, Amy Babinchak, Cliff Galiher and David Shackelford. That’s a lot of big brains for one room!

Space is limited. Last year we sold out! Registration is about to open. So save the date and keep an eye on this blog.

Here’s what we’re going to cover:

8:30am – doors open, meet & greet, welcome

9:00am – The day begins with DNS. A fitting start to a day full of understanding remote access technologies. DNS is the foundation to all network communications and we’ll show you how the packets flow, which DNS entries are critical and how to create them.

10:15 – break (15 min)

10:30 – So now you’ve got your DNS records in place and understand which remote access technologies require which kinds of records. This bring us to security. In this session we’ll demonstrate how to secure VPN remote access using Radius. You’ve seen that Radius option in your router, in your firewall and even in your server. So why aren’t you using it to secure remote access to your network? We’ll show you how it’s done.

12:00 – lunch break (30 min) Vendors Lunch.

1:00 – Remote Web Access is a very popular feature of Small Business Server. In this session we’re going to tear it down bit by bit and show you exactly how it works. There’s no OZ behind the curtain. Instead there’s built-in Windows technology. Leave from this session not only able to troubleshoot RWA but also able to create an RWA like interface for your non-SBS domains.

2:30 – break (15 min)

2:45 – Tablets, netbooks, iPads, Smart Phones, Apple, Microsoft, Android these devices are everywhere! Which apps can really empower your end users? Which apps are secure and can you make them more secure? In this session we’ll demo a bunch of stuff that it working in the real world for real clients.

4:15 – Final thoughts, dismiss

Later that same evening: PARTY with Third Tier at the local Pub.

0 Categories : Active Directory, Amy Babinchak, Brain Explosion, Brian Higgins, Cliff Galiher, Dave Shackelford, Jeremy, Networking, SBS 2011, SMB Nation, Steve

Aug
3

24 Hours of PASS: Fall 2011 Edition

by edwin

Today, I just got confirmation regarding the sessions available for the 24 Hours of PASS: Fall 2011 Edition (also called …

Categories : Edwin Sarmiento

Archive for August 2011

Brain Explosion Session Detail: Becoming a Message Sleuth

Make the Installation of 64-bit Print Drivers Easier

Brain Explosion Session Detail: DNS Mysteries Unveiled

Clone Your SQL Server Databases Using SMO and PowerShell

Registration is OPEN!

Join us for a Brain Explosion Master Class in Remote Access

Return of the Brain Explosion: Mastering Remote Access

24 Hours of PASS: Fall 2011 Edition

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