Straight Talk on Windows Migration
NetIQ senior product manager Ronnie Blewer explains how the right training and smart planning can simplify Windows migration, keeping it from becoming an overwhelming and intimidating prospect. Source: .Net Magazine

What You Need to Know About the Interim WinPE
Microsoft is planning to release an interim version of the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE). This stripped-down OS, which will be available for Windows 2003 and XP, will cut down installation time and complexity. Source: Windows & .NET Magazine

Chapter of the Week: Ultimate Windows Server 2003 System Administrator's Guide -- Chapter 8, 'Group Policies'
The Ultimate Windows .NET Server System Administrator's Guide is an essential resource for planning, deploying, and administering a Windows .NET enterprise system. The authors draw on years of experience designing and administering Windows NT and UNIX systems in order to guide you through the varied tasks involved in real-world system administration. There are detailed discussions of key Windows .NET Server administrative functions, and descriptions of many advanced tools and optional components. In addition the authors have included a comprehensive and convenient command reference. You can download this sample chapter in .PDF format by clicking here Free registration may be required. Source: TechTarget

Active Directory Migration Gets Easier:
Microsoft©s recently released Active Directory Migration Tool v2 offers important enhancements over the first version. One of Hewlett-Packard©s top AD experts briefs us on the improvements. Source:MCPMagazine

Attack Of The World Wide Worms
How a series of prolific viruses clogged computer networks, bared the vulnerability of the Internet and showed the cracks in Windows. Source: Time

Slow Down Internet Worms With Tarpits
This timely article discusses how to slow the spread of Internet worms using a tarpit and IPtables on Linux. A similar approach could potentially be used with tarpits on Windows platforms, Solaris, OpenBSD, and others. Source: SecurityFocus.com

Microsoft Revises 2 Security Bulletins
"Microsoft updated and reissued two security bulletins on Wednesday -- one from last year and one from last month. The older security bulletin addressed what Microsoft originally believed was a flaw in a SQL Server command. Microsoft recently determined that the flaw is in a Windows component and that all versions of Windows except for Windows Server 2003 are vulnerable to this critical problem. In the worse case, the vulnerability could allow an attacker to take control of a system. Microsoft's other bulletin revision on Wednesday updated a July 23 bulletin that fixed a critical flaw in DirectX that could allow an attacker to execute code on a user's system." Source: ENT Online (Aug 20, 2003)

Book Excerpt: TCP/IP for Windows 2000: Introduction to TCP/IP
Running TCP/IP on Windows 2000 presents unique challenges and opportunities that simply don't apply in other environments. This book explains TCP/IP from a Windows 2000 point of view. TCP/IP for Windows 2000 explains fundamental TCP/IP concepts with exceptional detail and clarity, and it delivers practical, hands-on guidance for planning and deploying TCP/IP using Windows 2000 and Active Directory. From addressing to routing, architecture to troubleshooting, this book's step-by-step procedures and exercises will give the skill you need to deploy and maintain any Windows 2000 TCP/IP network. (Chapter is in .PDF format and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. Free Registration may be required) Source: Search WIn2000.com

The Bright Side of Blaster
"The Blaster worm has infected hundreds of thousands of Windows machines, shut down the Maryland state DMV, put network administrators on overtime, crashed countless consumer's home computers, and on Saturday it will attempt a denial-of-service attack on Microsoft's Windows Update site. But that doesn't make it all bad. As nasty as that is, security experts say it could have been much worse: the worm is hampered by clumsy construction, and it does not contain a malicious payload to damage victim's files. Moreover, in its reckless tear through cyberspace Blaster is accomplishing what a month of warnings from the security community, an unprecedented mass-e-mail campaign by Microsoft, and two advisories from the Department of Homeland Security all failed to do: it's forcing companies and consumers to install the patch for the serious RPC DCOM vulnerability, shutting down computer intruders who've had their pick of these systems for weeks." Source: SecurityFocus.com

KB 823980 Scanning Tool
If you're still trying to secure your workstations and servers against W32.Blaster and variants that exploit the RPC vulnerability, Microsoft has released a free tool that network administrators can use to identify host computers on their network that do not have the 823980 security patch (MS03-026) installed. The KB823980scan.exe tool can scan remote host computers without requiring authentication (that is, you do not have to supply valid credentials on the remote host computer). Use of the KB823980scan.exe tool does not affect the stability of the target operating system that is scanned. You can use the KB823980scan.exe tool from a Windows Server 2003-based, Windows XP-based, or Windows 2000-based computer to scan your network. Source: Microsoft.com

Disaster recovery follows US blackout
Time to put those processes to the test...
Source: Silicon.com

Fast Path to Security Incident Response and Recovery
Every network will eventually be the victim of a computer security incident. System administrators need to be prepared for security incidents and respond quickly to minimize and repair the damage. For the busy administrator, this article provides a quick overview of the steps involved in an incident response, with links to more in depth resources if required. Source: Microsoft Technet

Sample Chapter of the Week: "Setting up and using a network"
Networking is at the forefront of today's push for improved productivity. The first part of this chapter from Windows XP Professional: A Beginner's Guide provides a foundation for networking, by describing the schemes, hardware and protocols or standards that can be used to make it function. The rest of the chapter describes how networking is set up and managed in Windows XP. (Free registration may be required) Source: SearhWin2000.com

W32.Blaster.Worm
If you're having problems with Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 computers shutting down every few minutes with the error "The RPC service terminated unexpectedly", chances are your systems have been infected with the W32.Blaster.Worm. Also known as "Mblast" this bug doesn't require any user interaction to infect host systems. It simply scans available networks for machines with an unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft's RPC service, installs itself, and repeats the process to infect new systems. In addition to causing instabilities that will repeatedly shut down the host system, the worm also launches a denial of service attack against the Microsoft Update website. Infected machines will also have the "Mblast.exe" file in the windows/system32 folder and the Mblast process will be visible in Task Manager.

Fast Path to Intrusion Detection and Event Logging
Most network administrators will face a computer security intrusion event sometime during their careers. Having an intrusion detection plan will result in earlier intrusion notification, minimize the consequences, and allow a quicker recovery. Microsoft provides several tools for intrusion detection, including event logging. This document will discuss intrusion detection and some of the Microsoft tools that you can use as part of an intrusion detection plan. Source: Microsoft Technet

Through the Looking Glass: Raises and How to Get One
This year's Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine salary survey, states that 56 percent of MCPs expect to receive an increase in compensation this year. What it doesn't provide is information by certification about what size of raise that equates to. Here, we'll provide details about the size of those raises by certification title as well as additional information we couldn't squeeze into the original report. Shortly, we'll follow up with information about salaries by size of company. What you don't know about compensation can cost you! Source: MCP Magazine

SAN Security by Obscurity
"Many IT managers are unaware of the security risks associated with their Storage Area Networks (SANs). According to Himanshu Dwivedi, managing security architect of @stake, a digital-security consulting firm, "Fibre Channel networks lack authentication, encryption, and authorization normally found in IP networks." According to @stake, most companies feel secure with their SAN security; however, a growing number of SANs connected to the Internet are increasingly exposed to potential security breaches. Dwivedi said, "90 percent of all SANs have been set up with soft-zoning, a technique that relies on World Wide Name to determine LUN access. However, World Wide Names can be changed on the fly if you can gain access to the host bus adapter device driver." Source: Windows & .NET Magazine

Sample Chapter: Windows Server 2003: The Complete Reference -- 'Tweaking and optimizing performance'
This chapter will give you a solid understanding of why you need to adhere to performance optimization and capacity planning procedures. It's common for administrators to pay little attention to tweaking and optimizing performance. After all, maintaining a Windows Server 2003 environment is challenging enough without having to consider performance aspects. But performance optimization and capacity planning does affect you, your environment and users' perceptions. Click here to download the PDF file Free registration may be required Source: SearchWIn2000.com

Panel Probes the Half-life of Bugs
Researchers find that software vulnerabilities have a predictable decay rate, and the Microsoft RPC hole is currently the most prevalent on the net. Source: SecurityFocus.com

Finding Bad Spam Delights Geeks
SpamAssassin, the popular antispam service, has spawned a new geek sport: finding the most egregious examples of junk e-mail. The more blatant the come-on, the higher the score. Enthusiasts say it's fun to see how stupid spammers can be. Source: Wired

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