I have another iPhone
Posted by duanewolff in iPhone on February 25th, 2010
Yes folks, it’s true. I ponied up the $99 for another one since my Fuze went to the great beyond and it wasn’t by choice either. I wanted another Windows Moblie device but the cheapest device (smartphone, NOT PocketPC) was $249 WITH a 2 year agreement. Now, I am not sure about your finances but I don’t have that kind of dosh so I have another iPhone. Regular readers may remember my previous experience with the Messiah phone and I am still not really impressed with the device, so I am still looking to move away from it and go back to WM. But, since I did pay for it and now have it in my pocket, I can test its’ “ITness”. I have your standard RDP, Telnet, NetTools apps and they perform well. Like before, the UI is crisp, though not as responsive I’d like, apps are plentiful if not useless and just a general “meh”. Bill Ray over at the Register commented on a recent ed-op post that he wants “a computer that makes phone calls” and I can’t agree more. While the iPhone is a FANTASTIC consumer device, it doesn’t have the features I need on a mobile device. Browsing the web while at the dentist was decent but my arms got tired holding my phone in the air for 3 hours. And Safari? YIKES!! I need things like built-in RDP, video camera (for documenting the smoking remains of servers after a web development team build) document editing capabilities (not $30 later, but built in), stuff like that. So for now I have an iPhone but soon, if things go my way, I’ll be back home in WMland.
MOSS Next Gen, ahem, I mean SPS 2010 review part 1.
Posted by duanewolff in MOSS on January 30th, 2010
What is it with Microsoft and renaming product lines?!?! First, SharePoint Team Services 2001, then SharePoint Server 2003, on to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and now back to SharePoint Server 2010. Anyway, enough rants, let’s get onto a review. First, install was buttery smooth, not ONE hitch, even on a non-spec box. They want a minimum of 4GB of RAM and now I see why. SPS2010 HAMMERS a server with services, requests and, if you chose the standalone option, database hits. Apart from a monster box with oodles of resources, don’t expect it to fly. When it installed and PSCONFIG (I assume that’s what they’re calling it as I haven’t heard different) finished, I was presented with a decent looking Central Admin site. Not the ground-shaking change that SPS2003 to MOSS was but it was still WAY different. I felt the social tags on Central Admin were a bit much (what, we REALLY like Central Admin now and want to share with our friends?!?!) but other than that, it’s a true improvement over what was there before. Total setup time from bare metal box rebuild to opening Central Admin was 1 Hr, 48 Minutes. Nice and fast in case I need to turn up a farm or five. More unboxing, installing, etc. later as I get time. Thanks for reading!!!
OCS 2007 R2 not supported on Windows Server 2008 R2?!?!
Posted by duanewolff in OCS on January 5th, 2010
Really Microsoft?!?! Well, so be it, but it did cause a reinstall of our OCS pilot. Thank goodness for great server admins and team members. OK, so you heard it here, OCS 2007 R2 is NOT supported on Windows Server 2008 R2. Not sure why but it ain’t. So if you’re beating your head on a cert issue and you call the MS boys, don’t expect support for that for AT LEAST Q1, possibly into Q2. Weird. On a positive note, SharePoint 2007, MOSS and SharePoint 2010 ARE supported in a virtualized environment, if you are using Hyper-V (which we are).
OCS External testing tool
Posted by duanewolff in Cool Stuff, General Microsoft, OCS on December 21st, 2009
OK, testing external connectivity on an Access Edge server is kind of a pain. We all know this but rather than setting up your home machine to accept RDP (like I’ve done), try this site. I’ve used it on a couple of occasions now and it’s becoming an invaluable tool in my admin toolbox.
https://www.testocsconnectivity.com/
Awesome tool. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
SQL Server 2005 on a MOSS 2007 generates dump files on SQL
Posted by duanewolff in MOSS on October 30th, 2009
Hello
I don’t know if you’re like me but when I have to keep deleting error dump files on a 250GB partition or the TEST environment’s SQL Server will lock up, it’s annoying to say the least. I also had the issue where the TEST SharePoint full crawl wouldn’t stop, no matter what I did. Stop the service? Didn’t work. Run STSADM -o execsvcjobs? Also, didn’t work. I installed SQL Server 2005 SP2 on our TEST SQL machine and both the errors and the crawl stopped. Checking on it now but that appears to have worked. UPDATE: yup, it worked. There are no error dumps in the log folder and SharePoint is humming along nicely.
TwitToday, CETwit and now, PocketTwitV76
Posted by duanewolff in Windows Mobile on October 30th, 2009
So a couple of posts ago I promised to review TwiToday and CETwit. Some things have happened since but you’ll still get a review. First, a bit of background. A couple of weeks ago I bit the bullet and bought an iPhone (GASP!! NOOOoooo). Yes, and I did like some things about it. First, movies were SUPERB on it. I’m not much of a mobile media guy but the movie quality on the iPhone was excellent. The interface, while novel, wasn’t any faster than my Fuze but still pretty good. The silence switch on the side, while not something that I normally wish for, was a nice addition. But then, the new toy feeling started to wear off. First, no integrated tasks app?!?!? Really, Apple?!?! I am a guy that LIVES off my task list and it’s not even built-in, much less syncs with Exchange? Second, why, when I just dropped $150 on a phone and a case, do I need to pay $7 or $30 for good apps? I see many “LITE” (read: reduced functionality) apps but if I want to use an actual spreadsheet, I want my phone to already include the software for that purpose and don’t even get me started on remote desktop apps. I am an IT guy, remote desktop is a NEED here, not just something nice to have. Windows Mobile includes its own RDP app for free, why not iPhone? Weird. Well, at least my wife wants the iPhone, so not a big loss there.
Now, lets review apps here. First, TwitToday. I found the UI to be minimalistic, which in an app like Twitter, isn’t a bad thing, however the one line update on the today screen got kind of annoying. If, however, you are a heavy updater, then you will want to take a look at it. The one line updates would be almost invaluable to such a person.
CETwit was a clear favorite of mine (until I found PocketTwitv76). I liked the UI, crisp, clean and responded great to touch commands. The feature set was also pretty complete with searching for users and posts. Even though I’ve moved on to PocketTwitv76, I’d still recommend CETwit for non-touchscreen devices.
Then, there was PocketTwitv76. Great, touch responsive UI, fantastic feature set, including support for TwitPic, detail on the post you’re reading and hashtagging. It’s my Twitter client choice, and frankly, a well executed app. Since it is a touch app, I’m not sure about it’s operation on non-touchscreen phones, as I don’t have a non-touch device, so in that case, I’d recommend CETwit.
Stay tuned for more app reviews.
Windows Mobile App “TBLOGGER”
Posted by duanewolff in Windows Mobile on September 17th, 2009
I’ve often tried to make blogging about the usual things that an admin would face throughout a “normal” (how normal is IT anyway?) day. I thought about blogging on the go and came across this app. I like MoBlog as well but this app seems to fit a bit better. The feature set is better and if I wanted to, I could edit the HTML on my post. But that’s why we have WYSIWYG, isn’t it?
Update on MOSS SP2
Posted by duanewolff in MOSS on September 16th, 2009
One more quick post. We did upgrade our UAT environment to SP2 and there aren’t any glaring errors or problems associated with the upgrade or the upgrade process. Pretty easy install actually. If you guys want an install procedure, let me know and I’ll get one out on the blog!
Wednesday Windows Mobile Application Series (say THAT 10 times fast!)
Posted by duanewolff in Windows Mobile on September 16th, 2009
Hello all!
From time to time we like to shake things up here and try out something that we didn’t originally intend to do. I’ve been an avid Windows Mobile user for a few years now and I thought I’d like to write some reviews about different software I’ve used before, can’t live without and stuff I’ve run into along the way. I am, at the moment, using an HTC Fuze (Touch PRO) but my previous phone (AT&T TilT or TytnII) and the one my wife uses (Cingular 8125) are still alive and working great. I really wanted to focus on just a couple of technologies but I feel that Windows Mobile doesn’t get enough great press. There are some good blogs out there like http://www.1800pocketpc.com/ and http://www.brighthub.com/mobile/windows-mobile-platform.aspx but in my opinion Windows Mobile beats every other phone OS out there. Productivity, Internet, utilities, tweaking, ALL kinds of apps FREE. Yes, there are the ubiquitous fart apps and fluff but there are also some seriously useful apps like blogging, Twitter clients, Office (from Microsoft of course) and device configuration apps for the smartphone. I can remote control servers, bank, check my email for several different accounts (all POP3 or Exchange), update appointments all without booting my laptop. “Yeah, big deal, my iPhone can do that!” you say, and yes, it can, BUT can it edit Excel, Word and PowerPoint files, display an entire presentation with just a USB cable and then take a call and do it all at the same time?!?! Nope, didn’t think so. Not that I have any issues with the iPhone. Even for a Microsoft fanboy like myself, I can admit that Apple perfectly executed the consumer smartphone, as far as a business and technology user phone, it falls a bit short. It just can’t do some of the things the Windows Mobile phones can do and it’s missing some critical apps to function in a high-tech business environment. Stay tuned for my first app review, CeTwit versus TwitToday.
Installing MOSS SP2
Posted by duanewolff in MOSS on September 4th, 2009
Well, we’ve installed it on our UAT environment and it seems to work well. No big issues and no errors. We’ll see what becomes of it but so far, it’s a gem!
Microsoft