Planet Lowyat

Attention! Attention! We posted about Windows XP Service Pack 3 released date in mid of April are wrong.

Windows XP service pack 3 is available for download now via Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center!

For those that haven’t been keeping up with the latest SP3 updates, the service pack includes roughly 1,100 hotfixes/patches and new features like Network Access Protection and Black Hole Router Detection.

SP3 will also give users even more incentive to stick with the venerable operating system which has soldiered on since late 2001. Many consumers and businesses have clung to the operating system despite the fact that Microsoft has heavily pushed its newer Windows Vista operating system.

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Are you interested with Hyper-V, Microsoft virtualization?

The session features a discussion of the virtualization technology roadmap and an outline of Microsoft’s vision for how these technologies will combine with future capabilities in processors, chipsets, and I/O devices to enable unprecedented flexibility by the Windows Server platforms.

Presented by Mike Neil

Length: 51 minutes 59 seconds

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Read Microsoft Blog.

I want to take another break from the discussion of the overall Support Lifecycle policies to address some common confusion that we’ve been hearing regarding the support dates for Windows XP. Recently, there have been a number of posts in the blogosphere about Windows XP and the upcoming end of Direct OEM and Retail License availability. Some people are interpreting this as the end of support for Windows XP.

Please let me try and clear this up… Support for Windows XP will continue, in accordance with the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy. This means that the Mainstream Support phase will end on April 14, 2009 and the Extended Support phase will end on April 8, 2014. That’s at least another 6 years of support remaining for Windows XP!

Remember, that Windows XP was launched in 2001 and Microsoft committed to providing a minimum of 10 years of support (5 years of Mainstream Support and 5 years of Extended Support) at the time it was released. In accordance with the policy, when we announced the updated release date of Windows Vista, Microsoft also provided additional 2 years Mainstream Support for Windows XP. Last year, we also announced the addition of an Extended Support phase to the consumer editions of Windows XP. Supporting products for this length of time is not something that is typical in the software industry. This is a significant advantage for Microsoft customers, because it allows for future business planning and allows our customers to maximize their investment in Microsoft technologies by understanding how to achieve the most productive use of the product.

So, what is really changing on June 30th? To understand this, I would recommend reading the Windows Lifecycle Policy page and the official Support Lifecycle pages for Windows XP. Essentially, this means that OEMs and Retailers will not be able to obtain new copies of Windows XP. That’s it. System Builders will continue to be able to obtain XP through January 31st, 2009.

There is still plenty of support left for Windows XP. If you read any stories that say otherwise, don’t believe them.

Have you seen any posts that don’t tell the full story about Windows XP support? What has been your experience with understanding the Windows XP Support Lifecycle policy? What are your thoughts on the length of support for Windows XP? Please leave us some comments and tell us about it!

*This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.*

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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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I know there are many people know Microsoft Windows Active Directory and you can easily found tons of people’s using Microsoft Active Directory.In fact, you can easily get Microsoft Active Directory system engineer or system admin from the IT job market. So do you know Active Directory limits?

This topic describes the limitations and accompanying recommendations that apply when you are designing or implementing an Active Directory infrastructure from Microsoft.

Maximum Number of Objects
Each domain controller in an Active Directory forest can create a little bit less than 2.15 billion objects during its lifetime.
Each Active Directory domain controller has a unique identifier that is specific to the individual domain controller. These identifiers, which are called Distinguished Name Tags (DNTs), are not replicated or otherwise visible to other domain controllers. The range of values for DNTs is from 0 through 2,147,483,393 (231 minus 255). As objects are created on a domain controller, a unique value is used. A DNT is not reused when an object is deleted. Therefore, domain controllers are limited to creating approximately 2 billion objects (including objects that are created through replication). This limit applies to the aggregate of all objects from all partitions (domain NC, configuration, schema, and any application directory partitions) that are hosted on the domain controller.

Because new domain controllers start with low initial DNT values (typically, anywhere from 100 up to 2,000), it may be possible to work around the domain controller lifetime creation limit—assuming, of course, that the domain is currently maintaining less than 2 billion objects. For example, if the lifetime creation limit is reached because approximately 2 billion objects are created, but 500 million objects are removed from the domain (for example, deleted and then permanently removed from the database through the garbage collection process), installing a new domain controller and allowing it to replicate the remaining objects from the existing domain controllers is a potential workaround. However, it is important that the new domain controller receives the objects through replication and that such domain controllers not be promoted with the Install from Media (IFM) option. Domain controllers that are installed with IFM inherit the DNT values from the domain controller that was used to create the IFM backup.

At the database level, the error that occurs when the DNT limit is reached is “Error: Add: Operations Error. <1> Server error: 000020EF: SvcErr: DSID-0208044C, problem 5012 (DIR_ERROR), data -1076.”

Maximum Number of Security Identifiers
There is a limit of approximately 1 billion security identifiers (SIDs) over the life of a domain. This limit is due to the size of the global relative identifier (RID) pool of 30 bits that makes each SID (that is assigned to user, group, and computer accounts) in a domain unique. The actual limit is 230 or 1,073,741,824 RIDs. Because RIDs are not reused—even if security principals are deleted—the maximum limit applies, even if there are less than 1 billion security principals in the domain.

Group Memberships for Security Principals
Security principals (that is, user, group, and computer accounts) can be members of a maximum of approximately 1,015 groups. This limitation is due to the size limit for the access token that is created for each security principal. For more information, see article 328889 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=115213).

FQDN Length Limitations
Fully qualified domain names (FQDNs) in Active Directory cannot exceed 64 characters in total length, including hyphens and periods (.). As an example, the following host name has 65 characters and therefore is not valid in an Active Directory domain: server10.branch-15.southaz.westernregion.northamerica.contoso.com. This is an important limitation to keep in mind when you name domains. For more information about naming limitations, see article 909264 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909264).
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