The World According to Mitch

The entire world runs on DNS. While that is not true, the Internet does, and without it the entire infrastructure would screech to a deafening halt.  In short, DNS (or Domain Naming System) is the directory service that lets us use friendly(ish) names to remember sites, such as garvis.ca/blogs,...

I was sitting in a cafe minding my own business the other day when I overheard a couple of network administrators discussing the benefits of virtualizing their server room.  As this is a topic about which I am quite passionate I was delighted to hear the 'buzz'... the fact that organizations...

One of the great advantages to MVP Summit is the information that is made available to us; speak to any MVP and chances are they were in no fewer than a dozen sessions over the course of four days, not to mention all of the break-out sessions, the Open Space sessions on the first day, and a plethora...

Every so often an event comes along that has the potential to offer a lot to many for very little.  The problem in deciding which ones are worthwhile is not only deciding which ones are primarily focused towards marketing rather than offering benefit, but sometimes in taking the time to understand...

So what is Essential Business Server (EBS) ?  In simple terms EBS is a complete corporate network for mid-sized companies in a box, or rather in three or four boxes depending on the version.  Let me explain: In the beginning there was the PC.  And of course Microsoft looked up at the PC...

For years I have been saying that Small Business Server was the best solution for small businesses that did not have huge IT budgets; it allowed them to take advantage of the same enterprise-level tools such as Microsoft Exchange Server, SQL Server, and SharePoint Server without having to purchase several...

This past Monday I had the opportunity to present what I call a 'Let's Get Excited' presentation to an architect audience at Microsoft Canada.  I was asked to showcase several new features of Windows Server 2008, due to launch on February 27th. While preparing for the presentation I...

Cell/e-mail/calendar: What device do you use to keep organized? This question was posed to me by a colleague who is just leaving a job as a system administrator for a major educational institution for the freedom and stresses of independent consulting. Up until now he has used the university's tools...

Here we are. July has past, and as we look out onto August I see something more than just another month. July has been a bit of a whirlwind for me. I moved from Montreal to Toronto, and though I have accomplished much this past month the reality is I have chiefly been on vacation. I am moved in and my...

It is a bitter-sweet day. In 2004 I bought a used Dell PowerEdge 4300 server... but I couldn't use it until 2005 when my wife left, because as powerful as it is, it is also big and loud. Since then it has been my main server, and as reliable as Old Faithful. There has not been a single hardware failure...