So I archived some data from our database yesterday and I needed to shrink the database file so I ran the “Shrink Database” task in Management Studio.  The database is over 500GB in size and I checked 7 hours later and the database shrink operation is still going.  I got a little worried because someone needs to use this database today and I’m not sure if the task would be done by then because the GUI is not showing the progress.  I needed to know where the DBCC Shrink operation is currently at or if it’s even doing anything so I can cancel if it doesn’t look like it will finish in time.

The next step I took of course is open up Firefox and used my favorite search engine to look for a way to check the progress.  I found this website that explained it and all I needed to do is open Query Analyzer and query sys.dm_exec_requests and look for DbccFilesCompact in the command column.

Here’s an example:

SELECT percent_complete, start_time, status, command, estimated_completion_time,
cpu_time, total_elapsed_time
FROM sys.dm_exec_requests

In my case, the percent_complete was already at 94.xxxx and slowly moving so that made me happy.  Going from 94 to the end took about 5 hours, by the way.  The entire operation took around 12 hours.

This is actually the first time I’ve even heard of opportunistic TLS, I’m used to seeing S/MIME and PGP when reading about email encryption.  What I like about this is encryption/decryption is done on the server side so the users don’t have to do anything different when sending emails and we don’t have to issue a certificate to each user and manage the keys.

If you’re using Exchange Server 2007, opportunistic TLS is already enabled by default.  You can check this by entering Get-SendConnector “Send Connector Name” | Format-List in the Exchange Management Shell.  Look for the IgnoreStartTLS parameter, if it’s set to false then opportunistic TLS is enabled.

To check whether a server supports TLS, telnet to the server on port 25 and check if the server supports the STARTTLS command, for example:

telnet mail.global.frontbridge.com 25

This server supports TLS

Here’s an example of the header of an email that was delivered with TLS enabled (I modified the IP addresses and names for privacy reasons):

Received: from mailgateway01 (1.2.3.4) by mailserver01.domain.com (1.2.3.5)
with Microsoft SMTP Server (TLS) id 8.1.263.0; Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:05:18
-0400
Received: from mail.global.frontbridge.com ([65.55.88.22]) by mail.somedomain.com
([1.2.3.4]) with ESMTP (TREND IMSS SMTP Service 7.0; TLS:
TLSv1/SSLv3,128bits,AES128-SHA) id 06456c96000057da for <jdoe@microsoft.com>;
Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:05:16 -0500

This new version also now supports RIM OS version 4.7, so if you have a BlackBerry Storm this should work.

You can download the software from here: http://www.rsa.com/node.aspx?id=1165

Step 1.  Copy the contents of the Office 2007 installation CD (or package) to a network share (eg. \\server\Office12).

Step 2.  Run the Office Customization Tool and create a setup customization file (I got these instructions from a BDD 2007 document on Microsoft’s website).

1. Run the Office Customization Tool
   1. Go to Start->Run
   2. Type the following command:  \\server\Office12\setup.exe /admin
2. Create a setup customization file
   1. In Office Customization Tool, Click OK to create a new setup file.
   2. Specify the Installation Path, Organization Name
   3. Add the network share location of the Office 2007 Installation Files Shared Folder. \\server\Office12
   4. Specify the Product Key and Accept the License Agreement. And Modify the Display Options.
   5. Configure other options
   6. Finally, Click File, Save As, and save the Setup Customization File to Office12\Updates Folder
   7. Close the Office Customization Tool

Step 3. Download and install PowerShell.

Step 4. Download and install PsExec.

Step 5. Open a text editor (WordPad or Notepad is fine) and use the sample script below.  Save the file as office_2007_install.ps1.

$hostname = “comp1″,”comp2″,”comp3″

foreach ($i in $hostname)
{
&”c:\psexec\psexec.exe” -s \\$i \\server\office12\setup.exe /adminfile cust_file.msp
}

Replace comp1…comp3 with the computer’s hostname or IP addresss.

Note: You can also pull the list of computers/IP addresses from a text file (one entry per line) by doing something like $hostname = Get-Content c:\computers.txt.

Step 6. Schedule the script in Task Scheduler

c:\windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -noexit “c:\office_2007_install.ps1“

Some suggestions:

• Let your users know ahead of time when you are planning on upgrading their Office software.  They may be working on a project and can’t afford to lose any time adjusting to the new version.
• Send these links (Interactive 2003 to 2007 Command Reference Guide) to your users before you upgrade their Office applications so there are no surprises when they first use Office 2007:
  • Word: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100744321033.aspx
  • Excel: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA101491511033.aspx
  • PowerPoint: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA101490761033.aspx
  • Outlook: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102221621033.aspx
• Start with a small group of computers so if you discover a problem (eg. software conflict) there will be minimal interruption.  For example, start with 5 computers and if there are no problems then increase it to 10 computers for the next batch, then 20, then 40, and so on.

Desktop support ranked as the most wanted skill sets for 76% of CIOs, with network and Windows administration taking the second and third slots with 65% and 64%, respectively. Database management is considered hot for 55% of respondents, and telecommunications support and wireless network management was selected by 47% and 46% of CIOs polled, respectively. Rounding out those skills seen as in demand are Web development/Web site design (39%), virtualization (35%) and business intelligence (31%).

Full Article

The study is based on data gathered from about 300 clients with $200 million or more in revenue, according to Network World.

I’m actually a bit surprised with the findings.  I didn’t expect desktop support to be the most wanted skill, I was expecting virtualization to be at the top because of all the cost/time savings virtualization can provide.

100,000 Miles!

I was driving to work this morning and noticed my car just reached 100,000 miles!  I pulled out my BlackBerry and took a quick picture at the next stop light.  The picture is really blurry though.

Hoping to get another 100,000 miles from this car!

Tiny Twitter

If you’re looking for a Twitter application for your BlackBerry, I recommend that you give Tiny Twitter a try.  It has a nice user interface, plenty of options, and supports keyboard shortcuts.

This is the first mobile Twitter application that I’ve tried and I’m not really planning on trying the other ones out there because I’m happy with this one already.  It does pretty much all the Twitter-related functions that I need, but I’m still pretty new to Twitter so I’m not sure if this is good enough for the heavy Twitter users.

Here are some of the options that are available: Update, Tweet, Access Links, Reply, Direct, Retweet, User Timeline, Unfollow, Delete, Inbox, Nearby Twitter Peeps, What’s Hot, Search, Hide Friends.

Happy Tweeting!

The first thing that actually came to mind when I signed up for an account was how to integrate it with my blog.  I found a WordPress plugin called “Twitter Tools” and installed it right away.  It seems to work pretty well, you can also use it to post a “tweet” directly from your WordPress blog and you can even set it to notify Twitter every time you write a new post.

You can view my latest tweets on the sidebar on the right.