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by faisalmasood

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by faisalmasood

SAM (Software Assessment Management) from Microsoft allows you to do:

 

  • Software Inventory
  • Matching Software with Licenses
  • Review Policies & Procedures
  • Developing a SAM Plan

 

 

Step-by-step procedure for SAM walk you through the process of SAM. A list of downloadable documents and templates are available to help you with the implementation of SAM.

 

Microsoft Software Inventory Analyzer (MSIA) a free tool from Microsoft allows you to make an inventory of installed Microsoft products on local system or on network.

 

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by faisalmasood

At my work I had a long SQL stored procedure code (coded by someone else) which was difficult to understand at first. I was Looking for some tool which could do the job of creating flow diagram of the code. But didn't find any.

Few days later a friend sent me an email with a link to a tool which can create flow diagrams of almost any code (T-SQL, Java, VB, .NET etc). I've tried its demo version which created a flow diagram of my code in 5 sec. Wow.. That was gr8 if I compare it with the 2 days efforts I took to manually create the flow diagram in Visio. Though after comparison I like my Visio :). But still it’s a handy tool for a quick look at the code.

Check it out these tools.

Visustin v3 Flow chart generator (I've tried this one)
http://www.aivosto.com/visustin.html

SQL Diagrams 2004
http://www.skilledsoftware.com/sqldiagrams.htm

Data Flow Diagram (with Case Studio 2)
http://www.casestudio.com/enu/dataflow.aspx

Later on while searching I found another interesting tool. I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks like you can code (or edit code) just by making diagrams.

Code Visual to Flow Chart v3.3
http://www.fatesoft.com/flowchart/

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by faisalmasood

MS SQL Enterprise Manager is a powerful tool. But if you are looking for some administration tool for MS SQL / MSDE go for EMS MS SQL Manager.

 

It comes in two versions Professional & Lite (Compare). It’s a powerful database management tool with:

 

  • Easy Management of db objects
  • Advanced Data Manipulation Tools
  • Powerful Security Management
  • Visual / Text tools for Query building
  • Data import / exports
  • Administrative Tasks
  • & tons of other features

 

EMS MSSQL Manager Lite for Windows is free. You can download a copy from their website.

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by faisalmasood

On Exchange Server if messages have problem, those messages are moved into bad mail directory. Too many Bad mails can fill up space on server. To lower the burden of bad mails on System Admins, Microsoft released Bad Mail Admin utility. It can:

  • Automaticall delete / archive files in badmail directory of SMTP virtual servers
  • Put a limit on the size of the bad mail folder

You can download this free utility for Microsoft Exchange from http://tinyurl.com/6pxo5

Check http://www.FaisalMasood.com for services.

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by faisalmasood

Sharepoint technologies come in two flavors:

a. Windows Sharepoint Services (WSS - Free product)
b. Sharepoint Portal Server 2003 (SPS - Full fledged product)

http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/default.mspx

Sharepoint Portal server 2003 is a collaboration tool for medium to large enterprises. I'll not talk about its benefits here. Though I can talk about it for long, but its long discussion :D. Here I'll elaborate integration of Sharepoint technologies with Microsoft Project Server 2003.

Sharepoint is a component of Microsoft Project Server 2003 EPM. It enhances Project Server functionality by providing features like managing risks, issues and documents for your projects. You can use Sharepoint for lots of other features.

Configuring, integrating & later managing Sharepoint with Project Server 2003 requires good knowledge of both. Below are few links which might help you in understanding the integration of these technologies.

1. How to install SharePoint Portal Server 2003, Windows SharePoint Services, and Project Server 2003 on the same server

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;840701

2. Installing SharePoint Portal Server 2003 on a Server with Windows SharePoint Services
http://tinyurl.com/dmtj7

3. How To Integrate an Existing Windows SharePoint Services Installation with SharePoint Portal Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;824877

4. TechNet Webcast: Migrating to SharePoint Portal Server 2003 - Level 300
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032252551&Culture=en-US

How I integrated WSS with Project (PWA)
Check these two images to see for how I integrated WSS documents, issues, Announcements & Surveys features with Project Web Access (PWA) interface.

http://tinypic.com/biusf7.jpg
http://tinypic.com/biuxoi.jpg

Users will access WSS features from within their PWA interface. You can modify the theme of the Sharepoint site to match the PWA interface, can add other sharepoint features.

I hope this will be a good starting point for most if not all of you. Consult me for more Sharepoint / Project solutions. ;-)

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by faisalmasood

Microsoft Office 2003 comes with a lot of security enhancements. To lower the security threats through office applications one should know what security features are available in office 2003 & how they work.

Office 2003 security technologies are divided in three groups:

a. Digital certificates and signatures
Digital Signatures
Code Signing
ActiveX Controls
Macros
Smart Tags
Macro Security Settings
Trusted Sources

b. Data protection and recovery
File Access Controls
Digital Signatures & Encryption
Personal Information Removal
Data Recovery with Auto Recovery
Anti Virus API
Information Rights Management (with RMS)
Permission Policies
Sharepoint Services

c. Application-specific features
Document Protection

With these security features, you can control access to confidential documents and lower security threats. Implementation of Office 2003 security requires better understanding of Office 2003 application, Windows platform security & other security services / products available from Microsoft like RMS, Certificate Services, GPO etc.

At the end don't forget to update your Office applications with latest service packs & patches. That is a separate discussion (Patch Management) but you can use Office Update button on the home of Microsoft Office site to check & update your office applications with latest patches.

For more on Office 2003 Security check these.

1. Office 2003 Security Enhancements
http://tinyurl.com/cty5n

2. Microsoft Office 2003 Editions Security Whitepaper
http://tinyurl.com/3tgwm

3. Macro Security Levels in Office 2003
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011403071033.aspx

4. Working with Trusted Trust Publishers
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011403091033.aspx

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by faisalmasood

When you try to access Project Web Access (PWA) in Project 2003 environment you have to type http://servername/Projectserver every time. Which is sometimes difficult for users. Imagine if your server name is long.

Here I'm with a simple way to ease this complex URL. (you see I'm simplifying things as I've mentioned on my homepage :P )

For Project Web Access you can do things easier for your folks. This method doesn't require DNS additions.
 
You can follow this:

1. Create an index.html page with simple html like the following. Make sure to remove first & last line of HTML. Place it in your PWA root folder.

<!--
<html>
<head>
        <title>PWA Redirector Page</title>
</head>
<body>
PWA Redirector!
</body>
</html>
<-->

2. In IIS right click your Project Server website in left panel > Properties > Documents. Add index.html in that list & make it a first entry in that list.

3. Now right click index.html in right panel > Properties. On the File tab select 'A redirection to a URL' radio option. Type your actual PWA URL like http://servername/projectserver & click OK

4. Now you can just type http://Servername in IE & it will automatically redirects you to http://ServerName/projectserver.

If you have difficult or long servername, then you can ask DNS admin to create an alias in DNS say 'project' for your MS Project server. So when you type http://project it will redirects you using above method to http://ServerName/projectserver page

I'd recommend use the default http://servername/projectserver URL in Project Professional 2003 account setup. The URL has to be the same in Project Professional 2003 & PWA, else you'll get errors while accepting your project plan updates.

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by faisalmasood

With Project Server 2003, you can use Active Directory (AD) as your enterprise resource repository. There are many benefits of using AD instead of using Project authenticated accounts in Project Server 2003 environments.

? As people join & leave your organization, just updating their status in AD updates them in Enterprise Resource List

? You can use AD groups to sync with Project Server 2003 groups to automatically assign permissions to users according to their role

? You can automate the new resource additions in Project server 2003

? You can use Sharepoint Services features with single sign-on

Check the following links to get some overview on AD integration in MS Project Server 2003 environment.

Explore Active Directory integration with Microsoft Office Project Server 2003
http://tinyurl.com/d3vsj

Configuring Active Directory Synchronization
http://tinyurl.com/bbmms

Don't miss this webcast "Active Directory synchronization behavior and troubleshooting in Project Server - Level 300"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906738

Active Synchronization Issues in MS Project
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887025

You can search for other events & webcasts on Office Project Server 2003 at this link.
http://www.microsoft.com/events/AdvSearch.mspx

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by faisalmasood

Microsoft has released the service pack 2 for Project 2003 Server & Project Professional 2003 .

Project Server 2003 Service pack
http://tinyurl.com/bxau3

Description of Project Server 2003 SP2 here

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887621

Project Professional 2003 service pack

http://tinyurl.com/7twa8

Description of Project 2003 SP2 here

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887620

To deploy Project 2003 SP2 across your organization check this article ?Distributing Office 2003 Product Updates?

http://tinyurl.com/dgkhk

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by faisalmasood

When working on SQL databases, from time to time you feel the need to search for a integer / string in all the tables of a databses. While there are queries written by many but I found this one handy.

http://tinyurl.com/7c2ho

I wanted to search for a string while I was working on MS Project server database in production. This query solved my purpose.

1. Run the script (go to url above) in Query Analyzer for the database in which you want to search for a integer / string

2. Use the syntax mentioned or try one in the examples section to search for integer / string
3. View the results by querying the ##tmpSearchResult table

(Imp: Play with the script in your testing environment then use in production. Use it at your own risk.)

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