In this issue:
Windows Server 2022 comes on stage. Still struggling with the print problem? Technology and fitness. Core principles of data privacy. Disposable email addresses. Best/worst sci-tech movie? Plus lots more — read it all, read it here on WServerNews!
Servers galore. Will we ever have enough of them? Photo by Science in HD on Unsplash
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Mailbag
In response to our last issue Tech support is broken we received this comment from Dean Baird in Illinois, USA:
Tech Support????? I have not seen any evidence of Tech Support in years! Tech Support and Customer Service are now considered “Non Essential Positions” for most companies. Good luck even finding a way to contact a company if you have an issue with anything they are offering! Companies now post standard responses to FAQ expecting you to resolve any issue with a canned response. They don’t want to hear about YOUR problem! Contacting a company for help has turned in to a highly irritating “last resort” effort!
And on another topic, for any of you looking for a way to earn a few extra bucks working online, here’s what Howard Rubin from Brazil has to say:
I’m an online worker, you know. You should check utest.com out. I’ve been working with them 15 years. Currently I am testing three streaming services, one of which is futebol, Champions League and others. Check: not on yet, pre game, live game, post game show, etc. They give me credentials to use, make about USD $12.00-15 an hour and I don’t even have to watch the game, just report bugs! Bugs pay extra. Work when you want, free training – and must report in English.
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Editor’s Corner
Windows Server 2022 comes on stage
The release of a new version of Windows Server used to be a pretty big thing. Not as big as the launch of Windows 95 of course, but still pretty important in the eyes of the tech media and IT community. In other words, people didn’t get up and dance when a new version of Windows Server arrived.
In fact the last version of Windows Server that I myself really got excited about was Windows Server 2012 and the follow up release of Windows Server 2012 R2. Since then not much has been happening in the Windows Server world that has interested me personally. Why?
Well for one thing, the cloud. When Ballmer stepped down from Microsoft leadership in 2014 (miss you, Steve!) and Satya Nadella took control things, the Microsoft behemoth began shifting from selling software to selling services from the cloud. This change in focus had an inevitable impact on the direction they would evolve future versions of Windows Server, and Windows too if we’re to believe that Microsoft’s Cloud PC will be the next big thing in client computing.
Specifically, the Windows Server versions after 2012 R2 became tailored more and more towards the needs of the datacenters that provide the underlying foundation for what we call the cloud. For example, version 2016 of Windows Server included an installation option called Nano Server that provided a headless instance of Windows Server which you could could only manage remotely, making it ideal for large datacenter deployments. Version 2019 then dived deeper into the cloud with built-in support for Kubernetes and Linux containers to take advantage of the growing popularity of containerization and the DevOps paradigm. And now we have Windows Server 2022 which we’ll see in a moment carries this direction even further.
But are many smaller businesses still happy to run Windows Server on-premises instead of handing over everything to the cloud? Aren’t there still lots of large Active Directory deployments around that can benefit from further improvements and tweaks to the evolving Windows Server platform? Both of these may be true, but the reality is that Redmond doesn’t seem to have much interest in these customers anymore, despite what they say in their messaging about Windows Server. The reality for Redmond is that the cloud is the future of everything—it seems they’ve fully embraced Apple’s walled garden approach. Expect the day to arrive, perhaps not too distant in the future, when Windows Server is only marketed to datacenter customers, or perhaps even evolves into a bare-metal hypervisor solution like VMware that runs mostly Linux—and probably Microsoft’s own version of Linux.
Those of us who run WServerNews are well aware of this evolution. This newsletter (we have others too!) which was started by Stu Sjouwerman way back in 1997 was originally called W2Knews and its purpose was described in the first issue like this:
“You read this because you run an NT server and probably many more than just one. In this newsletter we try to give you an overview of the market with an NT focus, but to a large extent also what is happening in the 3-rd party tools and application area.”
For the initial years of its existence, W2Knews focused mostly on the NT/2000 server platform with included coverage of server applications like Exchange Server and SQL Server plus frequent dips into the Windows clients of that time. And in 2005 the newsletter was renamed WServerNews, and its topicality slowly broadened to include greater focus on cybersecurity and coverage of Microsoft’s early cloud initiatives such as SharePoint Online and Exchange Online. Then in late 2011 the newsletter was acquired by TechGenix and Ingrid and I became its editors at the start of 2012. We’ve now been at the helm of WServerNews for almost a decade, and as our readers may have noticed we’ve been focusing less on the Windows Server platform and more on matters of current relevance to IT professionals, security and privacy being two of the biggies in terms of topics frequently dealt with. Not that this is any different than how Stu original ran the newsletter—his mix of topics covered was pretty much as eclectic as what we cover today in WServerNews.
But if most of our newsletter coverage is not about Windows Server, why do we still called it WServerNews? Shouldn’t we rebrand it, maybe calling it GenericTechStuff or perhaps something more millennial like BlueBubbleBaboon? Nah, we’ll keep it forever named WServerNews even if we only occasionally devote an issue to the Windows Server platform.
Which brings us back to talking about Windows Server 2022. Is there anything new and exciting in this new version as far as businesses are concerned?
First and perhaps most importantly for the IT crowd is that Microsoft has finally decided to stop those annoying Semi-Annual Channel releases of Windows Server that have been unnecessarily consuming the time and energy of sysadmins and IT departments. Windows Server 2022 will instead follow the release pattern of previous versions 2016 and 2019 i.e. Long-Term Servicing Channel releases with 5 years of mainstream support and 5 years of extended support. This change also means no more confusing version naming like Windows Server version 2004 (um, was that the successor to Windows Server 2003?) or Windows Server version 20H2 (is that hexadecimal or just a typo?) or other such nonsense. Anyways, kudos to Microsoft for making this change, and also for soon releasing Windows 11 and ditching the silly labelling of biannual Windows 10 versions.
Second, Windows Server 2022 running on select OEM hardware can provide enhanced security under an umbrella concept called “secured-core server” which through a combination of hardware, firmware and drivers could better protect your sensitive business data. There’s a short overview of secured-core computing in this ITOps Talk blog post but we’ll probably hear more about it in the upcoming Windows Server Summit on September 16th where Microsoft will provide us with their in-coverage of Windows Server 2022’s new features and capabilities. While this is probably more just marketing than innovation, any improvements in the security of the platform are always appreciated.
Third (and this is no surprise) this new release of Windows Server is going to be more tightly integrated into the Microsoft Cloud than ever before. The built-in Azure hybrid capabilities of the new platform will make it easier than ever before for enterprises to extend their datacenters to Azure—if that’s something they want to do of course. The new Azure Edition, an offshoot of Windows Server 2022 Datacenter Edition, supports hotpatching which—if it works as intended—will bring big benefits for maintaining virtualized Windows Server workloads running in the Azure IaaS cloud. Kudos to Microsoft for this as well since patching has been one of the biggest pain points of companies I’ve talked to.
Fourth, Microsoft has made a number of improvements to container support in Windows Server 2022. I must confess that while these improvements are indeed to be applauded, they may not generate that much interest in the Kubernetes-obsessed DevOps world, simply because the Linux platform still reigns supreme in that part of the devosphere.
Besides the above noteworthy improvements and the meager documentation currently online for Windows Server 2022, we’ll have to wait and see what’s announced at the upcoming Windows Server Summit happening later this month. In the meantime you may want to try out Windows Server 2022 by downloading the eval version in ISO or VHD format or by trying it out for free in Azure (it’s a free trial but you’ll need to provide a credit card).
So to conclude then, am I excited about Windows Server 2002? Well, yes—a little bit. But we’ll see how things develop once we’ve had some time to play around with it. Stay tuned for more.
Still struggling with the print problem?
Microsoft Support article KB5005652 gives what we hope will be the final word (for now, anyways) about the bedeviling print subsystem vulnerability for Windows that enterprises have been struggling with these last several months:
KB5005652—Manage new Point and Print default driver installation behavior (CVE-2021-34481)
If anyone knows of any info superseding this KB article, please let us know!
Technology and fitness
IT pros like us should be fit, not fat. Unfortunately the unending stress of our jobs tend to make it hard for us to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle. Can using technology help us improve our fitness, or does it hinder it? Check out what I have to say on this subject in the August issue of our companion newsletter FitITproNews, and be sure to subscribe to FitITproNews to begin your journey from “fat IT pro” to “fit IT pro”!
Core principles of data privacy
Invisibly has a good blog post summarizing some basic principles for how companies should manage the privacy of customer data they collect:
Data Privacy Principles: Full Breakdown of the 7 Principles (Invisibly)
https://www.invisibly.com/learn-blog/data-privacy-principles
Got comments about anything in this issue?
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Tip of the Week
Disposable email addresses
If you’re going to subscribe to mailing lists and other non-serious stuff that are only tangentially related to your work email, you might want to use a temporary email address. A good option for this purpose is Guerrilla Mail which provides you with a way of avoiding spam in your work email. Check it out here:
https://www.guerrillamail.com/
Admin Toolbox
>> Got any admin tools or software you’d like to recommend to our readers? Email us your recommendations!
dtSearch®-Instantly Search Terabytes. Doc. filters for popular file types, emails, databases & web data; 25+ search options; Win/Lin/Mac C++/Java/.NET Core APIs; Azure/AWS FAQs. Enterprise/dev evals available.
Infosec_Reference is an Information Security Reference That Doesn’t Suck:
https://github.com/rmusser01/Infosec_Reference
This web site lets you manage access to local admin passwords managed by Microsoft LAPS:
https://github.com/lithnet/laps-web
This collection of tutorials helps you learn how to use Docker with various tools:
https://github.com/docker/labs
Factoid: Best/worst sci-tech movie?
Our previous factoid and question was this:
Fact: Boeing Still Used Floppy Disks to Update the Software in Its 747s
Question: What else have you seen floppy disks still being used for? And do you still have any kicking around your office, basement or garage?
We got a couple of good responses to this one. Martin Urwaleck in Austria is not only an IT manager but also a musician:
Hi Mitch, there’s a lot of old samplers and synths that use Floppies (needless to say that I have one 😊) for patches or sample data. And they are still in active use. I also have a lot of old floppies lying around – 8″ hard-sectored, 5 ¼ ” DS HD, 3,5″ HD. Especially the 8″ is an eye-catcher in my office…
And Wayne from Australia echoed with:
Hi Mitch, enjoyable newsletter as usual with some good tips. I still have a number of floppies floating around at home, both 5 1/4″ and 3.5″ but probably do not have a machine that can access them. Just never got around to throwing them out. I’m sure every IT person has a cupboard or drawer full of old IT stuff and cables for various devices that we thought we better hang onto in case we needed them. In fact I think I have a floppy disk version of windows 3.11 and the RingWorld game still floating around. Cheers!
Any more floppy packrats out there in cyberspace? Email me.
Now let’s move on to our next factoid:
Fact: Well it’s maybe just my own personal opinion and not a cold hard fact, but I think that the best ever nerdy geeky techie movie is Blackhat directed by Michael Mann. I never get tired of watching it despite the rotten reviews it received. And IMO the absolutely *worst* major motion picture when it comes to proper use of science and technology is Angels & Demons starring Tom Hanks who I like as an actor. The scene with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN where a physicist excitedly says “Photons are moving!” makes me want to throw up every time I see it. (Full disclosure: I have a degree in Physics and I many years ago I visited CERN to gather info for writing an article about their IT infrastructure an industry magazine.)
Question: What’s your favorite sci-tech movie? What’s the worst misuse science/technology in a film you’ve seen?
Email us your answer and we’ll include it in our next issue!
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Conference Calendar 2021
NOTE: Conference dates and locations (real/virtual) are subject to change
European Cloud Summit — Sept. 27-29 in Frankfurt, Germany
https://www.cloudsummit.eu/en/
Open Source Summit — Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in Dublin, Ireland
https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-summit-europe/
VMworld — Oct 5-7 (virtual)
https://www.vmworld.com/en/index.html
Black Hat Europe – Nov 8-11 (virtual)
https://www.blackhat.com/upcoming.html#europe
Podcast Corner
Responding to a Ransomware Attack with Dana Epp (RunAsRadio)
TLS 1.3 Down Deep With Ed Harmoush (Heavy Networking)
https://packetpushers.net/series/weekly-show/
802.11ax 1024-QAM & HE-MCSs (Clear To Send)
Bad incentives make Microsoft a villain again (Risky Business)
https://risky.biz/netcasts/risky-business/
News Roundup From the Microsoft Cloud (Microsoft Cloud Show)
http://www.microsoftcloudshow.com/podcast
New on Techgenix.com
Cisco chooses not to patch critical bug in some business routers
Cisco has released a threat advisory for some of its small business routers. The odd part? Cisco will not issue a patch for the routers.
https://techgenix.com/cisco-not-patch-some-routers/
7 questions to answer before you can pick the right password manager
Before signing off on a password manager for your business, you must consider several factors. Answer these seven questions, and make a better decision.
https://techgenix.com/right-password-manager/
Note-taking apps and Microsoft 365 — sync or sink
Note-taking apps are great alternatives when you can’t fire up the desktop version of Microsoft 365. But make sure your notes app is one that syncs.
https://techgenix.com/microsoft-365-note-taking-sync-apps-sync-or-sink/
Making Hyper-V work in the Windows 11 preview
Curious about the Windows 11 version of Hyper-V? This step-by-step tutorial walks you through the process of setting it up so you can try it out.
https://techgenix.com/hyper-v-work-windows-11-preview/
Why out-of-band management solutions are vital for your network
When normal communications with your servers go down, you need a fallback. This is when you’ll be glad you have an out-of-band management solution.
https://techgenix.com/out-of-band-management-solutions/
Fun videos from Flixxy
Car Pooling In Russia – How To Fit 17 People Into One Car
17 people plus a guitar and an accordion in a sedan is a really good result. You can see that the guys are really happy
https://www.flixxy.com/car-pooling-in-russia-how-to-fit-17-people-in-one-car.htm
Swimming with a Great White Shark
On Jan. 15th 2019, conservationist and freediver Ocean Ramsey and her team came face to face with possibly the largest great white shark ever recorded.
https://www.flixxy.com/swimming-with-a-great-white-shark.htm
World Taekwondo Demonstration Team
The World Taekwondo Demonstration Team delivers a performance of power, speed, and athleticism at America’s Got Talent 2021 Semifinals.
https://www.flixxy.com/world-taekwondo-demonstration-team-americas-got-talent-2021-semifinals.htm
The Simpsons – Prophetic As Always
‘The Simpsons’ episode from 2010 where a group of TV bosses plan to cause mass panic to increase ratings by creating a deadly disease.
https://www.flixxy.com/the-simpsons-prophetic-as-always.htm
Send us your feedback!
Got feedback about anything in this issue of WServerNews? Email us!