TechNet is gone, but it's still possible to get low-cost versions of Microsoft operating systems, applications, and server software. Ed Bott breaks down the various TechNet alternatives.

John Joyner explains how to use the Windows Server 2012 built-in backup application to restore a system image.

How a Hyper-V VM boots up will dictate a lot, especially if optical media are interchanged. IT pro Rick Vanover shows a few ways to manage boot order for Hyper-V virtual machines in this post.

With huge cloud players building their own stripped-down servers on a massive scale, midsize data centers could reap benefits from the altered server landscape.

John Joyner shows you the steps you need to take to successfully install Windows Server 2012 on HP ProLiant servers. Here are tips on HP drivers and utilities, firmware and software updates, and techniques for assisted installation.

Guest contributor Rafael Akchurin of QuintoLabs presents this how-to article on setting up web content filtering on Squid Proxy.

Nick Hardiman describes several methods of backups of your Amazon EC2 machines. He also details the steps for restoring snapshot backups.

Improperly installed cabling can cripple network performance, create maintenance headaches, and lead to hidden costs. Here's where things can go wrong.

Jack Wallen features some alternative solutions for a Terminal Server environment that are sure to save your small business serious cash.

The Service Management Plan (SMP) is a document that contains all the necessary details to run a service. Here's a breakdown of what to include.

Rick Vanover covers three of the major changes coming in vSphere 5, including VMFS 5, the new sub-block algorithm allocation, and support for sizes up to 64 TB.

Scott Lowe provides an overview of disk-related metrics in the Windows Resource Monitor. Find out you can use the tool to troubleshoot CPU performance issues.

The Windows Resource Monitor tool provides very good at-a-glance information about some important disk-based performance metrics. Scott Lowe gives an overview of the tool's graphics and metrics.

Being a left-brain thinker can be an asset in the IT field. But as Alan Norton observes, it's not without its shortcomings.

Provisioning storage to the Windows Server Core can be a challenge. Rick Vanover describes how to configure iSCSI storage on Windows Server Core or Hyper-V Server.