WindowsNetworking.com - Monthly Newsletter - May 2015
Hi Security World,
Welcome to the WindowsNetworking.com newsletter by Debra Littlejohn Shinder <http://www.windowsnetworking.com/Deb_Shinder/>, MVP. Each month we will bring you interesting and helpful information on the world of Windows Networking. We want to know what all *you* are interested in hearing about. Please send your suggestions for future newsletter content to: dshinder@windowsnetworking.com
1. Containers: Passing fad or the next step in the evolution of computing?
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Last month, I talked here about Microsoft Nano Server, and a little about containers. In the meantime, I’ve had quite a few questions that made me realize not everybody is familiar with the concept, so this month I’m going to back up and talk a little more about containers in general. If you’re an IT pro and you haven’t already heard an earful about Docker and containerization, it’s time to take a look at this new technology that is reinventing virtualization as we know it â€" because all of those lovely VMs that you currently spend so much time attending to (whether on premises or in the cloud) are quickly becoming yesterday’s news.
Most of us are probably old enough to remember the first Virtualization Revolution. Although the concept of the virtual machine was actually originated by IBM way back in the 1960s (the CP-67 was the first commercial mainframe computer that supported virtualization), most would agree that the true Virtual Era came about in the 1990s, when Connectix Virtual PC and VMware came out and became popular with techies.
Virtual PC ended up being sold to Microsoft, but VMware went on to dominate the virtualization space for many years after expanding to the enterprise market with ESX Server and GSX Server. VMware was seen as the virtualization solution both for server-based virtual machines and desktop virtualization with VMware Workstation, until Microsoft mounted a challenge in the form of Hyper-V in 2008. Today, the two companies are still battling it out, each with its own advantages, disadvantages and proponents.
VMs turned the IT world on its head, making it possible to substantially reduce the footprint of the physical hardware in the server room or data center. Fewer physical machines means not just lower hardware costs but lower cooling/heating costs as well. VMs also enable easier server provisioning and disaster recovery, and allow you to isolate applications for better security and reliability. However, in recent times savvy IT folks have come to realize that there is a basic problem with traditional virtual machines: they’re pretty inefficient. When you run multiple instances of an operating system in VMs, you use a lot of resources for the duplication of OS overhead. In addition, you have to wait for the operating system to boot, resulting in slow startup (although this is improved with newer operating systems that boot more quickly).
There ought to be a better way â€" and there is: containerization. Containers give you most of the benefits of traditional VMs but without that extra overhead. The key is that containers provide isolated environments while running on top of a shared operating system. This makes them much more efficient than hypervisor-based virtualization.
Containers have been around for a while, but have only recently become reliable enough so that enterprises can depend on them. Containers are light weight and appear to the host system like other normal processes. They start up fast and they need less memory and CPU resources.
New technologies often chug along under the radar until an innovative company takes the idea and runs with it and comes up with an implementation that catches fire in the market place. Just as it took VMware to bring traditional virtual machines to the forefront of computing, it took Docker to make containerization a household â€" or at least data center â€" word.
For those who missed the April newsletter, Docker is an open source project that was designed to implement application containers using the resource isolation features of the Linux kernel (LXC), with multiple containers sharing the same kernel. Docker made it easy to create and manage containers, and with the push “to the cloud,� it has evolved to support Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform, among other infrastructures. It was only initially released in 2013 but has already gained enormous popularity.
Docker is by no means the only containerization technology. Windows Server Containers, which we discussed last month, is Microsoft’s answer to Docker for Windows fans. Back over in the Linux space, CoreOS is challenging Docker for the containerization championship. It’s a lightweight Linux distro based on Google’s ChromeOS that includes a containers implementation named Rocket. Canonical has a containers system for Ubuntu called LXD (pronounced “lex-dee�) that is tightly integrated with OpenStack. These are only a few, and as containers continue to be a hot technology, we’re sure to see more.
All the cool kids are playing with containers these days, so if you don’t want to be left behind, be sure and look into the options and what containerization might be able to bring to the table for your organization.
‘Til next time,
Deb
dshinder@windowsnetworking.com
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Quote of the Month - It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance. â€" Thomas Sowell
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2. Windows Server 2012 Security from End to Edge and Beyond â€" Order Today!
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Windows Server 2012 Security from End to Edge and Beyond
By Thomas Shinder, Debra Littlejohn Shinder and Yuri Diogenes
From architecture to deployment, this book takes you through the steps for securing a Windows Server 2012-based enterprise network in today’s highly mobile, BYOD, cloud-centric computing world. Includes test lab guides for trying out solutions in a non-production environment.
Order your copy of Windows Server 2012 Security from End to Edge and Beyond. You'll be glad you did.
<http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Server-2012-Security-Beyond-ebook/dp/B00CMQK0OG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387293428&sr=8-1&keywords=windows+server+2012+end+to+edge+and+beyond>
3. WindowsNetworking.com Articles of Interest
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Scripting for Small Business Admins
Those of us who have worked or are working in the small business end of the IT profession know that while automation is important it's difficult to keep up with the latest scripting technologies. Because we're so busy trying to keep our business going, our time for learning scripting languages is limited so when we get hold of something that works we tend to go on using it even when the wheel of progress has moved on. In this article, Mitch Tulloch provides some real-world examples of using different kinds of scripting technologies to automate some aspects of Windows administration in a small business environment.
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/windows-server-2008/scripting-small-business-admins.html
Extend your Wireless Network’s Signal
Wi-Fi is great when it works right, but as you may know all too well, it can be a pain when it doesn’t. Signals in the Wi-Fi frequency bands can have a pretty limited range indoors, especially if the building is constructed of higher attenuating materials like brick or concrete. Unlike cables, the data travels via the airwaves and is much more susceptible to interference and multipath, which can reduce Wi-Fi ranges as well. If you need to increase a wireless network’s coverage substantially, the best route may be adding more access points. However if that isn’t desired due to lack of resources or you only need to extend the coverage slightly, here Eric Geier discusses other options you might try.
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/wireless-networking/extend-your-wireless-networks-signal.html
Reporting Application of GPOs on Remote Computers and Generating a Report (Part 2)
In the Part I of this article series, Nirmal Sharma explained some useful GPResult commands that you can use to get the GPOs applied to user and computer objects from remote computers. GPResult.exe does not provide a parameter that can be used to check application of a particular GPO on remote computers. It also does not help you generate a report. In case you need to generate a report, you will be required to write a script. In Part 2, Nirmal will explain how using a script you can generate a report on GPO names that have been applied to computer objects on remote systems.
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/netgeneral/reporting-application-gpos-remote-computers-and-generating-report-part2.html
Windows 10: Nearing the Finish Line (Part 3)
In Part 1 of this series, we took a look at how Microsoft has made changes to Windows 10 that seek in some ways to backtrack and “undoâ€� some of the more dramatic changes in Windows 8 that users did not embrace, and make the new hybrid desktop plus touch experience smoother. In Part 2, we started to look at Windows 10’s new features, including the Cortana personal digital assistant and the new Spartan web browser. In the third and final part of this 3-part series, I’ll wrap it up with an up-close-and-personal look at Windows 10 networking in a business environment and what Microsoft has done to make this new version of Windows more appealing to its enterprise customers â€" so many of whom declined to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8/8.1.
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/windows-10/windows-10-nearing-finish-line-part3.html
4. Administrator KB Tip of the Month
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Using existing virtual machines as templates
A tip on how to use an existing virtual machine as a template for creating new virtual machines.
Quick check
You want to use an existing virtual machine as a template for creating new virtual machines on a Hyper-V host in your test environment. Should you register, restore, or copy the virtual machine when you import it onto a host?
Quick check answer
Copy it. This generates a new GUID for each new virtual machine you create with the import process.
The above tip was excerpted from Mitch Tulloch's book Training Guide: Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735673101/> from Microsoft Press.
5. Windows Networking Links of the Month
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What if Windows went open source tomorrow?
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2921234/windows/what-if-windows-went-open-source-tomorrow.html
Why the journey to IPv6 is still the road less traveled
http://www.itnews.com/internet/91943/why-journey-ipv6-still-road-less-traveled
Will 802.11ac kill wired Ethernet?
http://www.networkcomputing.com/unified-communications/will-80211ac-kill-wired-ethernet/a/d-id/1320299
Criminals borrowing HTTPS security to hide attacks, Dell Security finds
http://www.techworld.com/news/security/criminals-borrowing-https-security-hide-attacks-dell-security-finds-3607661/
Migrating roles and features in Windows Server
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/jj554790.aspx
Software detects fake mobile, wi-fi networks
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2921693/software-detects-fake-mobile-wifi-networks.html
6. Ask Sgt. Deb
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QUESTION:
We’ve upgraded all the computers in our small company to Windows 8.1. We mostly like it although it took some getting used to the GUI but I saw you recommended Start 8 and installed that on all the systems and my users are much happier. We have a problem though with the boss’s computer as he got a Miracast stick from Microsoft and he wants to use it to put his screen on a large TV to give presentations but we can’t get it to work. Any ideas what the problem can be? It works great on his home laptop but not his work computer. Thanks! â€" Butch L.
ANSWER:
Hi, Butch. Glad you’re enjoying Windows 8.1. Given that the Miracast device works on the home computer and not the work one, I’m going to speculate that there might be VPN software installed on the company laptop that’s interfering. Some third party VPN programs disable WiFi Direct which is used by Miracast. If you have a VPN client that’s not supported by Windows 8.1 for Miracast, you’ll probably have to uninstall it to get it to work. You can use the Windows built-in VPN client or the Checkpoint or SonicWall or a few others that are supported.
Barb Bowman talks about this problem in detail on the Microsoft Community Wiki, so if that’s not the problem, check out her article for other possible culprits. Miracast is really a great technology so I hope you’re able to get it working.
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