Marcin Policht

In our description of Group Policy Preferences characteristics, introduced recently as part of this series intended to provide comprehensive coverage of the most prominent features of Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, we have started reviewing functionality available via Control Panel Settings nodes in the Group Policy Management Editor (in both User and Computer Configuration nodes). […]

The previous installment of our series dedicated to Windows Server 2008 Directory Services, laid out an innovative approach to providing granular Password and Account Lockout Policy settings, incorporated into a set of features available in Windows Server 2008 domain functional level (for their overview, refer to our earlier article). The new functionality allows you to […]

The previous installment of our Windows Server 2003-based high availability solutions series discussed Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC), which extends the scope of transactional capabilities to multiple, potentially independent systems. Message Queuing has become a popular option to ensure reliability. Because it uses a queue-based infrastructure, which provides message store and delivery mechanism as well […]

In the previous installment of our series dedicated to Windows Server 2003 High Availability Solutions, we described cross-platform authentication mechanisms incorporated into Windows Services for Unix (focusing on the version included in Windows Server 2003 R2). The information we provided was necessary to introduce concepts critical to understanding clustered implementation of Network File System shares, […]

The previous installment in our high availability solutions series based on Windows 2003 Server platform, we have focused on the File Share clustered resource and its characteristics. Throughout our discussion, we have covered configuration settings accessible through clustering administrative utilities as well as functionality related to storage and shared file access, such as quotas, encryption, […]

Recent installments of our series describing Windows 2003 High Availability solutions, have looked at more common resource types present in Server Clustering. The most recent one focused on File Share, covering majority of its characteristics, including encryption and quotas. Although they are not configurable directly through any clustering administrative utilities, they are worth mentioning due […]

In the previous article in our series on Windows 2003 Server High Availability solutions, we reviewed the SCSI architecture, which has been providing shared storage capabilities since the earliest Microsoft server cluster deployments. Although this approach is still available and frequently used in lower-end, two-node clustering implementations (since higher number of nodes is not supported […]

This is the first article of our new series about high availability solutions based on Windows Server 2003. Although some of the technologies we will be describing here have been available in earlier version of Windows (as inherent components, add-on programs, or third-party offerings that made their way into Microsoft’s portfolio through acquisitions), their latest […]

Image Distribution Service Image Distribution Service (IDS) manages storage of operating system images and their distribution to managed devices. ADS provides its own set of imaging tools (such as Imgdeploy, ImgMount, and Adsimage), that generally follow the same principle as other programs in this category. They capture content of a drive containing installation of an […]

If you’ve been following our Windows XP Deployment series, you’ve probably noticed our frequent references to the Windows Pre-execution Environment — or simply WinPE. In fact, the term appeared when discussing Systems Management Server 2003 OS Deployment Feature Pack and was most recently presented Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment. Bart’s Preinstallation Environment is a […]

Previous articles in our Deploying Windows XP Series examined solutions that simplify XP deployments through an innovative approach (e.g., disk imaging, Windows PE functionality, or eliminating the need for standard installation methods) or by employing various automation, centralized management, and remote administration techniques. The Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment facilitates the process for […]

USMT While the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard suffices for individual and small-scale migrations, it is not suitable for larger or more complex deployments (mostly due to a lack of support for automation and unattended operation). Such capabilities are provided by some of the third-party tools listed in our previous article as well as by […]