Data Center
Network, server, and storage administrators get valuable advice and best practices to help meet the challenges they face in keeping systems connected, available, and running at high efficiency.
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Five things from VMworld that will change the data center
Rick Vanover breaks down the VMworld announcements that he thinks will significantly affect the virtualized infrastructure of the data center.
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Breaking down an IPv6 address: What it all means
Nick Hardiman explains the seemingly arcane engineering of the IPv6 address. Find out what makes it tick.
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Review: Tintri datastore in a box
The Tintri VMstore storage appliance operates at the VM level for snapshots, clones, and replication. Derek Schauland takes an in-depth look at what it offers.
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Making virtualization efficient: Three business use cases
Initial cost savings get the attention in virtualization deployments, but the more important results are how it can bring about new business advantages.
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VMworld 2013: Why this one is important
Rick Vanover thinks that this VMworld is going to usher in some new ideas and technology that will significantly change the world of the data center for server admins.
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Storage virtualization: Pros and cons
Scott Reeves takes a look at the advantages and disadvantages of storage virtualization.
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Fact Sheet: 802.11ac
Here is a quick fact sheet for the new wireless networking standard under the IEEE 802.11 protocol.
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Evaluating Lync Server 2013: Installation steps
John Joyner takes you through the steps to prepare and install an evaluation copy of Lync Server 2013.
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Five things you must do before you upgrade vSphere
The virtual data center moves quickly. Before you embark upon your next vSphere upgrade, read this quick list of things to check and any surprises.
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Infographic: Finding the right security solution for the data center
This infographic from Cisco illustrates the issues that data centers face trying to deploy comprehensive security systems.
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Avoiding virtual sprawl in the data center
After deploying virtualization technology and gaining the initial benefits, IT must be careful not to lose ground again by allowing unused virtual resources to grow.
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Take a look at the new IBM Power Linux 7R4 high-performance server
The 7R4 is the latest PowerLinux server from IBM. Scott Reeves looks at some of the key points.
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Research: Desktop virtualization growing in popularity
This report focuses on the result of the TechRepublic survey on who is using virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), the favored vendors, and pros and cons.
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Seven reasons virtualization hasn't fully taken off in the enterprise
Virtualization is certainly not a new technology, but actual deployments have lagged behind predictions.
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It's 2013: Are you still virtualizing like it's 2006?
Rick Vanover is convinced that the practice of using virtualization technology in the data center needs to be modernized.
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How SAS, Near Line (NL) SAS, and SATA disks compare
Scott Lowe breaks down the differences in reliability and performance between SAS, Near-Line SAS, and SATA drives.
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Microsoft announces four Windows Server 2012 editions: What you need to know
Scott Lowe explains Microsoft's new licensing for the four editions of Windows Server 2012. Here is what you need to know about upgrading and choosing the right edition.
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Introduction to virtualization: Understand the components of a Hyper-V VM
Rick Vanover breaks down the anatomy of a Hyper-V virtual machine.
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Cheat sheet: What you need to know about 802.11ac
The newest wireless networking protocol is 802.11ac, due to be ratified sometime in 2013. Michael Kassner does the research and tells you what you need to know.
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How to join your first Windows Server 2012 to your domain
It's release day for Windows Server 2012 and not too soon to learn how to add the new version to your domain. John Joyner takes you through the steps.
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How to perform four common tasks in Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2012 is different enough that are new ways to perform some of the most basic tasks. Scott Lowe goes over four of them in this tip.
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Practice Cisco router configuration using a free emulator
With a simulator, there are always missing commands and programming errors, and it can never really be as complete as the real IOS. However, because an emulator runs the IOS, you get every feature that the real IOS has.
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How to share a folder in Windows Server 2012
Scott Lowe reports that there are some slight changes with the file-sharing in Windows Server 2012. Here are the steps for sharing a file in the new version.
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Understand the levels of privilege in the Cisco IOS
The Cisco IOS actually offers 16 different privilege levels. David Davis discusses these different levels and introduces you to the main commands you'll need to configure these privileges.
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Working with and resizing Windows Server 2012 VHDs
John Joyner unveils the new VHDX format and shows how to easily reduce both the size and capacity of this file format in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V.
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Evaluating Lync Server 2013: Installation steps
John Joyner takes you through the steps to prepare and install an evaluation copy of Lync Server 2013.
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How to manage employee photographs with Active Directory
John Joyner explains how to use the built-in features of Exchange 2010 with Outlook and Lync to add and manage employee photos in your organization.
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Diagram your network with these tools
Document your network by checking out our list of network diagramming tools (half the list are free). Submit a network diagram to us and get some TR swag.
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Eight steps to restore an individual Exchange 2010 mailbox with System Center Data Protection Manager
Exchange admins often have to restore an individual mailbox rather than an entire database. John Joyner shows you eight steps to do this using PowerShell commands and Microsoft System Center DPM.
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50 terms and acronyms for VMware that you should know
Rick Vanover lists the short definitions for 50 VMware terms and acronyms you should get to know if you're venturing into a VMware project.