Planet Lowyat

The interesting article “How to extend the Windows Server 2008 evaluation period” can be found on Microsoft Support and Help.

Many system administrator like me are testing Microsoft Windows 2008 and normally installing Windows Server 2008 without a key gives you a 60 day evaluation period.

Come on, let extend Windows Server 2008 evaluation period to 240 days.

INTRODUCTION
Evaluating Windows Server 2008 software does not require product activation. Any edition of Windows Server 2008 may be installed without activation, and it may be evaluated for 60 days. Additionally, the 60-day evaluation period may be reset (re-armed) three times. This action extends the original 60-day evaluation period by up to 180 days for a total possible evaluation time of 240 days.

Note In the Windows Server 2008 Evaluation DVD package, there is a 120-day initial evaluation period. You can extend the evaluation period to 240 days. To extend the initial evaluation and testing period, follow the steps in this Microsoft Knowledge Base article.
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Activate Microsoft Windows 2008 is an easy job but I would like to share “How to activate Microsoft Windows 2008 using command line”. Sounds good?

Go to ‘Run’

Type ‘cmd’ and press ENTER.

Type C:\Users\Administrator>cscript \windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ipk KPQTV-YOUR-PRODUCT-KEY-HERE and press ENTER.

Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.7
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Installed product key KPQTV-….-…..-…..-….. successfully.

Type C:\Users\Administrator>cscript \windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ato and press ENTER.

Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.7
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Activating Windows Server(R), ServerEnterprise edition (xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx).
Product activated successfully.
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Download Microsoft Windows 2008 Essential from rapidshare.com

Content includes:
Installing Windows Server 2008
AD Users and Groups
Windows Core and DHCP
File and Print Servers
Read Only DCs
IIS 7 Web Services
Terminal Services
Deployment Services
MCITP Certification Info
Read more »

As my previous post about 8G RAM upgraded, I did a STRESS TEST on my desktop today.

click here for biggest picture.

My desktop setup:

• Microsoft Windows Vista x64 SP1.
• 8GB physical RAM.
• Non-brand Desktop.

Let me explain what I did:

• More than 75 applications running simultaneously. (Still can’t beat 165 Linux applications)
• Running 2 x VMware ESX 3.0.x(1024MB RAM for each ESX Server) on top of VMware Workstation 6.0.3
• Running 2 x Windows 2003 Server(512MB RAM for each Win2K3) on top of VMware Workstation 6.0.3.
• Running Ubuntu 8.04 beta(1024MB RAM) on top of VMware Workstation 6.0.3.
• Running Windows 2008 Data Center(2048MB RAM) on top of VMware Workstation 6.0.3.
• Running SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (1024MB RAM) on top of VMware Workstation 6.0.3.

Read more »

Personally, I have download Windows Server 2008 codename Longhorn from MSDN but yet to install and test it(My colleague installed as a VM guest in one of the VMware ESX 3.5 farm and it’s worked).

According to Yahoo and Inforworld, Windows Server 2008 enhancements work pretty much as expected such as restartable Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) and several integrity-related NTFS enhancements. Other Longhorn changes can take quite a bit of planning to deliver what you’d want, plus may require you to buy new hardware to take advantage of them: Server Core, RODCs (read-only domain controllers), failover clustering, multi-path I/O, and Next Generation TCP/IP. Read more »