Microsoft released earlier this month the first release of the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Administration Toolkit which includes the following features:

• Security Configuration Wizard Manifests Files
• The Load Testing Toolkit
• The User Profile Replication Engine 2010 (MOSS 2007 to SharePoint 2010), not supported on SharePoint Foundation
• The Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS), not supported on SharePoint Foundation

Download Links:

• MS Download - Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Administration Toolkit v1.0

More information’s:

• MS TechNet - SharePoint 2010 Administration Toolkit v1.0 (SharePoint Server)
• MS TechNet - SharePoint 2010 Administration Toolkit v1.0 (SharePoint Foundation)
• OASIS Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) TC

Marc

Long ago I blogged about using PowerShell to read out an XLS(X) file using ADO.Net. Until recently, only the x86 version of the ODBC driver was available.

Fortunately, Microsoft recently release a x64 version of the drivers as part of the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable Package. Download link:

• MS Download: Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable

Interestingly, while this package is labeled “Office 2010”, the provider's names references “Office 12” (2007) –> this should have be released earlier :)

Marc

The Beta of the Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Beta and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 is available for download: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ff183870.aspx

This major update will introduce two key technologies:

• Hyper-V Dynamic Memory: http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/D/E6D383D1-414E-41A3-8388-D0D8D3D1F530/Windows_Server_2008_R2_SP1_Hyper-V_Public_FAQ.docx, http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/0/5/E05DF049-8220-4AEE-818B-786ADD9B434E/Implementing_and_Configuring_Dynamic_Memory.docx and http://edge.technet.com/Media/Vijay-Demos-Dynamic-Memory-in-Hyper-V-on-Windows-Server-2008-R2-SP1/
• Remote Desktop Services with RemoteFX: http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/E/4/7E4D882D-BFBD-447F-B410-C5CC82E33060/Windows_Server_2008_R2_RDS_General_FAQ_SP1Beta.docx and http://edge.technet.com/Media/RemoteFX-in-Server-2008-R2-SP1-with-Michael-Kleefe/

You might also want to have a look at the the Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta Reviewer’s Guide.

Marc

According to Scott Guthrie, MS is about to bring best of both worlds by releasing an “Express” version of Internet Information Server" (IIS).

This would be used as a smooth though rich replacement for Visual Studio’s built-in Web Server or to the very basic one shipped with each recent version of Windows.

Interestingly some see this as a threat for the health of IIS in the enterprise. Personally, I am rather seeing this as an opportunity to better and more easily align Dev and Prod infrastructures and therefore reduce the gap and subsequent failure at release time. Future will tell.

• MSDN – ScottGu’s Blog – Introducing IIS Express

Marc

Pascal Benois (Belgium-based Microsoft Premier Support Field Engineer) has recently started blogging about SharePoint:

• MS TechNet Blog – Pascal Benois

No doubt you can expected from him real-world solutions to real-world issues. He's even capable of resolving cases while listening at Sepultura :)

Have a look at this one, perfectly complementing my older post over TCP Connectivity problems.

Marc