GRID COMPUTING: A BRAVE NEW WORLD

SLAMMER VIRUS: HOW TO AVOID THE NEXT ONE

XP IN ACTION: LESSONS FROM BT IGNITE AND NUMERICA

GRID COMPUTING: A BRAVE NEW WORLD

SLAMMER VIRUS: HOW TO AVOID THE NEXT ONE

XP IN ACTION: LESSONS FROM BT IGNITE AND NUMERICA

SOFTWARELICENSING

OFFICE 2003

+PLUS

THEWRITESTUFF

WINDOWS SERVER 2003HAS ARRIVED

TEC

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MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGYDEPLOYMENT

ISSUE 2 MARCH 2003

Open here for the ultimate Microsoft resource guide for IT Professionals andDevelopers<

SOFTWARELICENSING

OFFICE 2003

1March 2003

i Editor: Jo Russell Technical editors: Helen Beckett, Rik Turner

Associate editor: Kate Pritchard Creative director: Crispian Brown Art editor:

Erroll Jones Account director Ingrid von Bibra Production director: Andrea St Hill

Editorial director: Stuart Rock Publisher: Mike Bokaie

FYi is published for Microsoft Limited by Caspian Publishing Limited, Millbank

Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QP. General enquiries: 020 7828 0706

Editorial: 020 7828 0744 Fax 020 7828 0737

E-mail: jr1@caspianpublishing.co.uk www.caspianpublishing.co.uk

The views expressed in this magazine are those of the contributors for which

Caspian Publishing and Microsoft Limited accept no responsibility. Readers should

take appropriate professional advice before acting on any issue raised.

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited.

Repro by Blaze Creative. Printed by TPL Printers (UK)

© 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, the Microsoft logo,

Windows, Outlook, MSDN, Active Directory, Visual Studio, IntelliMirror, Windows NT,

Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++, Visual J#, Powerpoint, InfoPath, SharePoint,

MapPoint, and Microsoft Press are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the

Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trade-

marks are held by their respective companies.

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY: WILL WEBSTER

A VIRTUAL REALITY 10-11

“XP’S CHIEF APPEAL LIES IN ITS

SUPPORT FOR DISTRIBUTED DEVICES ”STEVEN BETH, SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT, NUMERICA ON MAKING THE MOST OF WINDOWS XP

IN-BOX 2-5“Is it me or is Outlook 2002 running slower since I installed XPSP1?”

These and other questions posed to the clinic.

GRID COMPUTING: ON THE STARTING GRID 6-7“We are excited by the idea of hooking together databases and making them accessible to

remote users.”

Andrew Herbert, managing director at Microsoft Research, on the potential that grid computing holds.

XP: THE IT MANAGER THAT SLEEPS WELL AT NIGHT 8-9“When I reboot my PC, it automatically goes to the network and synchronises my

configurations settings.”

Paul Roche of BT ignite explains how XP is making an immediate impact on the bottom line.

WINDOWS SERVER 2003: A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY 12-14“For many customers, the key reason to move to Windows Server 2003 is to enable them to

consolidate the numerous servers they have in their organisation.”

Rik Turner assesses what Windows Server 2003 has to offer.

LICENSING: DON’T LET IT GET YOU DOWN 15“When people buy software, they are not always confident they’re buying the right thing or

getting the best licensing programme for them.”

Microsoft’s Sue Hogg offers some advice on avoiding licensing confusion.

OFFICE 2003: THE OFFICE MAKE-OVER 16-17“The new Office System will be revolutionised by the wholesale adoption of XML.”

What to expect from the launch of Office 2003.

SECURITY: DON’T LET VIRUSES GET YOU DOWN 18-19“Though short-lived, SQL Slammer’s effects were devastating while they lasted. The sudden

surge in internet traffic caused five of the main 13 root DNS name servers to go down.”

Candice Goodwin on how to avoid the nightmare recurring.

THE EXCHANGE: 20Licence fee or nice and free? Is it really a straightforward choice between paying for

licensed software or adopting the open source variety?

Tune into Rick and Simon’s latest e-mail exchange.

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SHORTCUTS

To feedback your comments on FYI Technology, go towww.microsoft.com/uk/fyitechnology

Q

2 FYITECHNOLOGY

ON WINDOWS XP SERVICE PACK 1:

Q: I’VE BEEN TRYING TO INSTALL WINDOWS XP

SERVICE PACK 1 (SP1), BUT I KEEP GETTING A

MESSAGE ABOUT AN INVALID PRODUCT KEY.

RESPONSE: When you try to install SP1,

you may receive the following error

message:

The Product Key used to install Windows

is invalid. Please contact your system

administrator or retailer immediately to

obtain a valid Product Key. You may also

contact Microsoft Corporation’s Anti-

Piracy Team by e-mailing

piracy@microsoft.com if you think you

have purchased pirated Microsoft soft-

ware. Please be assured that any personal

information you send to the Microsoft Anti-

Piracy Team will be kept in strict

confidence.

This may occur if the product key that you

are using to install Windows XP matches

either of the two product keys that have

been determined by Microsoft to not be

valid. These two product keys create a

product ID that matches one of the

following product IDs (where X is any

numeric value)

- XXXXX-640-0000356-23XXX

- XXXXX-640-2001765-23XXX

Q: IS IT ME OR IS OUTLOOK 2002 RUNNING

SLOWER SINCE I INSTALLED XPSP1?

RESPONSE: After upgrading to the service

pack Outlook® 2002 SP1 some cus-

tomers have noticed that Outlook appears

to respond more slowly or hang for a few

➔➔ iN-BOX

“TIME IS AN INCREASINGLY SCARCE COMMODITY, AND

PEOPLE NEED SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCY”

LEADERThis issue of FYI Technology comes to you at anexciting time for us at Microsoft. We are on thebrink of launching Microsoft® Windows® Server2003, which we believe to be one of the mostsignificant product launches in our history.

This launch is in recognition of our customers’changing needs. Time is an increasingly scarcecommodity, and people need solutions toimprove efficiency. The Windows Server 2003family takes the best of Windows 2000 Servertechnology and makes it easier to deploy,

manage, and use. There are three key elementsto Windows Server 2003: operational efficiency;platform dependability; and the ability to align ITand business. Read more about the manner inwhich Windows Server 2003 tackles each ofthese areas on page 12.

Looking forward, we are preparing for thelaunch of Microsoft Office System which incorporates Office 2003, and will prompt asea change in the way that businesses thinkof, and use, their office productivity tools. Afull explanation of the suite’s capabilities canbe found on page 16.

Also in this issue, we have chosen toaddress the issue of licensing. We know thatthis is a complex area that many of you have todeal with and we are introducing a range ofoptions to help make this experience better –see page 15 for details of what is available.

Finally, I would like to reiterate my commentsfrom the first issue of FYI Technology. We havecreated this magazine to help answer thequeries that you have and to increase yourawareness on the topics of importance to you.So do please keep the feedback coming(www.microsoft.com/uk/fyitechnology) and helpus to make this an even better magazine for you.

Neil HollowayManaging director, Microsoft LtdVice-president, Microsoft EMEA

QUESTIONS TO THE CLINIC >>>>

3March 2003

seconds when selecting different e-mails.

This may also occur after installing Office

XP SR2. It happens because Outlook will

attempt to check the Windows Messenger

contacts list for each e-mail to see if that

person is available online for additional

communications if desired. In Outlook go

to Tools > Options > Other (tab) uncheck

the option “Enable Instant Messaging in

Microsoft Outlook”.

Q. MY USB CONTROLLER ISN’T WORKING

NOW I’VE INSTALLED SP1.

RESPONSE: After upgrading to XPSP1

supported USB 2.0 Host Controllers still

display an exclamation point in device

manager and do not function. Remove the

unknown device from Device Manager

and choose “Scan for hardware changes.”

The USB 2.0 Host Controller will be cor-

rectly detected and installed.

Q. WHY WON’T OUTLOOK EXPRESS ACCEPT

A CHANGE OF IDENTITIES SINCE WE

INSTALLED SP1?

RESPONSE: You cannot switch identities

in Microsoft Outlook Express after you

install Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1).

For example, if you click Switch Identity on

the File menu, click the identity that you

want to switch to, and then click OK, the

main identity is opened instead of the one

that you want to switch to. To work around

this problem, configure Outlook Express

to prompt you for an identity at startup:

In Outlook Express, click File, point to

Identities, and then click Manage

Identities. Click to clear the Use this

identity when starting a program check

box then Click Close.

After you complete this procedure, you

are prompted to select an identity each

time you start Outlook Express. At this

time, you can switch identities; however,

you are prompted two times to switch to a

new identity.

Q: WHY CAN’T MAIL ATTACHMENTS BE

OPENED AFTER SP1 IS INSTALLED?

RESPONSE: When using Outlook Express,

attachments will appear “grayed out” and

the user is no longer able to open or save

them. Security updates in SP1 auto-

enabled the option of NOT allowing poten-

tially harmful attachments to be opened

or saved. In Outlook Express > Tools >

Options > Security (tab) the user must un-

check the option to not open or save

potentially harmful attachments.

ON SQL SERVER 2000:

Q: WHEN I CREATE A TABLE, I GET THE FOL-

LOWING 2714 ERROR MESSAGE:

Warning: The table ‘%.*ls’ has been cre-

ated but its maximum row size (%d)

exceeds the maximum number of bytes

per row (8060). INSERT or UPDATE of a

row in this table will fail if the resulting

row length exceeds 8060 bytes. The table

creation succeeds and data can be

inserted without problems.

WHAT DID THIS ERROR MESSAGE MEAN?

RESPONSE: This error message indicates

that you have variable length columns in

your table (such as nvarchar or varbinary)

and that the total maximum length of all

the columns adds up to more than 8060

bytes. You can still insert rows into the

table provided that the total length of the

data in each row does not exceed 8060

bytes. However, if the data does exceed

8060 bytes, the insertion fails with the

following error message:

Server: Msg 511, Level 16, State 1, Line 5

Cannot create a row of size <rowlength>

which is greater than the allowable maxi-

mum of 8060.

The statement has been terminated.

Q: A USER-DEFINED FUNCTION RETURNS A

TABLE THAT IS SCHEMA-BOUND TO TWO

TABLES IN MY DATABASE. ACCORDING TO

THE DOCUMENTATION, THE REFERENCED

TABLES CANNOT BE ALTERED UNTIL THE

SCHEMA-BOUND OPTION IS REMOVED.

HOWEVER, I AM ABLE TO ADD OR DELETE

COLUMNS FROM THESE REFERENCED

TABLES. SHOULDN’T THIS GIVE ME AN

ERROR?

RESPONSE: Not if you alter columns

that are not referenced by the function.

You cannot drop or alter the columns of

a table that are involved in the schema-

binding, but you can alter other columns

that are not involved in the schema-

binding. For example, let’s say we have

a schema-bound table, table1, defined

with 5 columns: c1, c2, c3, c4, and c5.

If the function only references c1 and

c3, only columns c1 and c3 cannot be

altered. Columns c2, c4, and c5 can be

altered as needed.

Q: HOW CAN I SET THE DATABASE TO SINGLE ➔➔

>>>>>>>RUSSELL READ>>>>>>RICHARD MANNION>>>STUART RAILSON

PH

OTO

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HY:

RO

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4 FYITECHNOLOGY

USER MODE AND RESTRICT THE ACCESS TO

DBO USE ONLY?

RESPONSE: In SQL Server 2000, a data-

base cannot be in single-user mode with

dbo use only. Instead, the following alter-

native options are available by using the

ALTER DATABASE command:

• ALTER DATABASE database SET SIN-

GLE_USER.

This command restricts access to the

database to only one user at a time.

• ALTER DATABASE database SET

RESTRICTED_USER.

This command restricts access to the

database to only members of the

db_owner, dbcreator, or sysadmin roles.

• ALTER DATABASE database SET

MULTI_USER.

This command returns access to the data-

base to its normal operating state.

ON EXCEL 2002:

Q: IN EXCEL 2002, ERROR CHECKING

APPEARS NOT TO BE AVAILABLE ON A WORK-

BOOK WHEN IT’S PROTECTED OR SHARED.

RESPONSE: This is correct, so you’ll have

to make sure the workbook is unprotected

and not shared. To do so, use the appro-

priate method, as follows:

For a Protected Workbook:

On the Tools menu, note that Error

Checking is not available (dimmed).

On the Tools menu, point to Protection,

and then click Unprotect Workbook.

Note that Error Checking is now available.

For a Shared Workbook:

On the Tools menu, note that Error

Checking is not available (dimmed).

On the Tools menu, click Share Workbook.

In the Share Workbook dialog box, click to

clear the Allow changes by more than one

user at the same time check box.

Click OK.

Click Yes to the “Remove the workbook

from shared use?” prompt.

Note that Error Checking is now available.

ON EXCHANGE 2000 SERVER:

Q: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A

PRIMARY AND A NON-PRIMARY CONNECTION

AGREEMENT?

RESPONSE: A primary connection agree-

ment replicates existing directory objects.

It also creates and replicates new directo-

ry objects in the destination directory. A

non-primary connection agreement only

replicates information in pre-existing

objects.

A connection agreement type has two

check boxes selected by default, even if a

connection agreement already exists.

These are “This is a primary connection

agreement for the connected Exchange

organisation” and “This is a primary con-

nection agreement for the connected

Windows domain.”

If you are using more than one con-

nection agreement to replicate Microsoft

Windows® 2000 user accounts for a sin-

gle Exchange Server 5.5 organisation,

there should be only one primary connec-

tion agreement. Using multiple primary

connection agreements to replicate the

same Exchange Server 5.5 organisation

will result in creating duplicate objects.

Q: WHAT IS THE NAME-MATCHING RULE, AND

HOW DO I SET IT?

RESPONSE: You can customise directory

object–matching rules on the From

Exchange tab and the From Windows tab.

The name-matching rule should be set to

its default setting. You should change this

only when the Microsoft Active Directory®

and the Exchange Server 5.5 directory

have several common objects, for example,

when inter-forest replication is in place.

Matching rules should be changed so that

object attributes in each of the directories

have different values, for

example, a Simple Mail

Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

address or a security identifi-

er (SID).

Note: Attributes you select

affect all connection agree-

ments. If you clear the attrib-

utes for Exchange Server

5.5, you clear the same

attributes for Windows

2000.

Q: WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE SITE

REPLICATION SERVICE?

RESPONSE: The Site Replication Service

(SRS) was designed to provide directory

interoperability between Exchange Server

5.5 and Exchange 2000 Server. SRS runs

on Exchange 2000 Server and serves as

a modified Exchange Server 5.5 directory.

SRS uses Lightweight Directory Access

Protocol (LDAP) to communicate to both

the Active Directory and the Exchange

Server 5.5 directory. To an Exchange 5.5

server, the SRS looks like another

Exchange Server 5.5 configuration/recipi-

ents replication partner.

Q: HOW MANY RECIPIENTS CAN BE ON AN

SMTP MESSAGE?

RESPONSE: The maximum number of

recipients is 5,000 by default. When you

send a message from one server to anoth-

er with 5,000 recipients, you want that

message body to be carried across the

wire only once. The Windows 2000 SMTP

server allows the administrator to specify

the maximum number of recipients per

message. The intention of having a low

number is to make it harder for people to

send junk mail to many recipients at once.

The SMTP standard specifies that mes-

sages with more than 100 recipients

should be broken into multiple messages.

Note: SMTP standards specify that

servers must be able to handle at least

100 recipients.

The information contained in this section represents a selection of the useful exchanges found on the Microsoft web

site, and originates from various sources. It is for general information purposes only. Microsoft Limited makes no

warranties, representations or undertakings in relation to this information, including but not limited to its quality,

accuracy, completeness or fitness for purpose. Microsoft accepts no responsibility for reliance placed on this

information. Always obtain appropriate professional advice on specific problems or matters.ILLU

STR

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➔➔

5March 2003

1 April 2003MSDN® - Introduction to.NET SeriesReading .NET for Web Developers

8 April 2003MSDN - Expert SeriesReading Building Secure and Scalable

ASP.NET Applications

9 April 2003MSDN - Expert SeriesLondonBuilding Secure and Scalable

ASP.NET Applications

17 April 2003MSDN - Introduction to.NET SeriesReading .NET for MCSEs

29 April 2003TechNet: The MicrosoftWindows Server 2003LaunchOnline interactive sessions

running throughout the day

29 April 2003TechNet EveningReading Domain Migration Strategies

29 April – 1 May 2003TechNet Security Sessions Infosecurity ShowOlympia, London

30 April 2003MSDN RoadshowLondonVisual Studio® .NET 2003

Launch Tour

1 May 2003TechNet RoadshowLondonThe Microsoft Windows

Server Roadshow

6 May 2003MSDN RoadshowNewportVisual Studio .NET 2003

Launch Tour

7 May 2003TechNet RoadshowNewportThe Microsoft Windows

Server Roadshow

7 May 2003MSDN RoadshowReadingVisual Studio .NET 2003

Launch Tour

8 May 2003TechNet RoadshowReadingThe Microsoft Windows

Server Roadshow

12 May 2003MSDN RoadshowBirminghamVisual Studio .NET 2003

Launch Tour

13 May 2003TechNet RoadshowBirminghamThe Microsoft Windows

Server Roadshow

15 May 2003MSDN RoadshowBrightonVisual Studio .NET 2003

Launch Tour

16 May 2003TechNet RoadshowBrightonThe Microsoft Windows

Server Roadshow

19 May 2003MSDN RoadshowEdinburghVisual Studio .NET 2003

Launch Tour

20 May 2003MSDN RoadshowReadingVisual Studio .NET 2003

Launch Tour

20 May 2003TechNet RoadshowEdinburghThe Microsoft Windows

Server Roadshow

27 May 2003MSDN RoadshowManchesterVisual Studio .NET 2003

Launch Tour

28 May 2003TechNet RoadshowManchesterThe Microsoft Windows

Server Roadshow

30 May 2003TechNet RoadshowLeedsThe Microsoft Windows

Server Roadshow

30 May 2003TechNet RoadshowReadingThe Microsoft Windows

Server Roadshow

TECHNICAL EVENTS FROM MICROSOFTMicrosoft offers a wide range of events delivering

technical ‘how to’ information to IT professionals through

TechNet and to developers through MSDN. These include

regular FREE events which focus on delivering in-depth

information on developing, deploying, using and

optimising Microsoft technologies.

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Technology. Visit:

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to give us your feedback.

Interested in receiving FYI Strategy?

FYI Strategy, the sister publication to FYI Technology, offers

advice and best practice to senior business decision makers on

many of the issues covered within FYI Technology.

To receive a free copy, visit:

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TEC

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THE COMPLETE PICTURE

For TechNet events, visit: www.microsoft.com/uk/technet/tcevents/itevents For MSDN events, visit: www.microsoft.com/uk/msdn/events/events.asp

6 FYITECHNOLOGY

PEER-TO-PEER (P2P) SHOT TO FAME AND NOTORIETY ON

THE BACK OF NAPSTER, THE FREE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION

SERVICE. HOW RELEVANT IS IT FOR IT PROFESSIONALS?

P2P is about mopping up spare clock cycles of idle

computers. This provides a “free” source of processing

but of a limited kind. The computation has to be capable

of being broken down into multiple sub problems – and

these sub problems don’t have to talk to each other

much during processing – otherwise there’s no advan-

tage of doing it in parallel. There are some particular

problems that fit this processing style – such as the sort

of huge, number-crunching maths that’s needed in oil or

pharmaceutical research.

WILL P2P EVER HAVE ANY VALUE FOR MAINSTREAM COM-

MERCIAL COMPUTING OR IS ITS USE LIMITED TO HEAVY-DUTY

COMPUTATION?

There is another, more widespread, application for

which P2P is suited –

systems services. For

example, it is possible

to keep copies of

each other’s files on

computers so that

you no longer have to

do back-up. If your

machine falls over,

you can get onto another client and recover your work.

Our colleagues in Redmond have tested P2P for

back-up in a project called Farsite. It’s an attractive

solution for a small or even home office, where there’s

a lot of redundant disc space lying around. Other

systems services work the same way and could make

use of P2P. Web caching, for example, where popular

pages are stored locally for quick access, could be a

task shared by users rather than hosted by dedicated

proxy servers.

What we’re looking at is the ability to spread informa-

tion around easily and where the only shared piece needs

to be some kind of directory, which logs which user has

which page. This kind of directory service could be self-

scaling and is an area where P2P shows great promise.

COULD MICROSOFT SEE P2P AS A THREAT TO ITS REV-

ENUES? AS IT PROMISES TO CAPITALISE ON LATENT PRO-

CESSING POWER ON THE DESKTOP, WON’T THAT MEAN

SUPPLIERS LIKE YOURSELF WILL SELL FEWER DEVICES?

No – we’re just making it easier to manage those

systems. I would expect those sort of capabilities to

encourage the growth of desktop clients. If you think that

we’re removing constraints such as making sure that

you have to have the right number of web proxy servers

for the user population, then it becomes easier to scale.

If anything, P2P encourages you to have more on the

network because the glue that keeps it together starts to

look after itself.

GRID COMPUTING IS OFTEN TALKED ABOUT IN THE SAME

BREATH AS P2P. BUT ITS OBJECTIVE – OF CREATING UNLIM-

ITED AMOUNTS OF COMPUTING POWER IN THE WAY THAT

OTHER UTILITIES ARE MADE AVAILABLE ON DEMAND –

SEEMS ALTOGETHER

MORE AMBITIOUS. HOW

REALISTIC IS THIS?

Certainly, one vision

of grid is that you plug

a socket into the wall

in order to access

computing power and

applications. There’s

nothing particularly new about this – it’s a model

already in use by telecoms carriers and service

providers, and grid strengthens it. But the model offers

challenges because someone else is looking after your

data. You may wish to run an application locally, for

example invoicing, but might not be prepared to hold all

your customer records at a remote site because of

security concerns.

It’s crucial not to underestimate the issue of owner-

ship. People like to see and touch their data. People

talked a lot about applications services providers (ASP)

during the dot-com boom, but there aren’t a lot left. The

only applications that really worked in this model were

the ones that beat on the economies of scale, like

Peoplesoft, for example.

ON THE STA

Grid computing, as a model for linking distributed nodes to providecomputing power on tap, is fast becoming the hot topic of discussionamongst technology pioneers plotting the future. Andrew Herbert,managing director at Microsoft Research, explains why.

“It’s crucial not

to underestimate

the issue of

ownership”

7March 2003

WOULD MAKING GRID COMPUTING

AVAILABLE TO THE COMMERCIAL

WORLD STOKE A DEMAND THAT

CANNOT BE MET BY EXISTING

TELECOMS NETWORKS?

If you choose to implement

computers in a distributed way,

you still have to deliver the

performance that people have

come to expect out of a desk-

top. The speed of light is finite

– and fixed. It means that the

greater the distance, the longer

it takes to get an answer out

the other end. Increasing band-

width does not resolve this

delay – it just means that you

can shovel more data down the

wire. It’s not something that’s

mentioned very often because

the telecoms people can’t fix it.

God – or Einstein, whichever

system you believe – narrowed

that one down.

PROJECTS SUCH AS THE VIRTUAL

GRID, BEING BUILT BY IMPERIAL

COLLEGE AND SOUTHAMPTON UNIVERSITY, SUGGEST THAT

THE POTENTIAL OF GRID WILL ONLY BE TAPPED WHEN IT

CONVERGES WITH WEB SERVICES TO BECOME A ‘FABRIC’.

WHAT DO YOU SEE AS ITS POTENTIAL?

Where we think grid is exciting is hooking together

databases and making them accessible to remote

users. These could be called data grids. A lot of

pioneering work is being done by the astronomy

community, which is pooling databases to make up

one giant, virtual (or federated) database. This is

composed of many sources including x-rays, optical

images and different parts of the spectrum that together

effectively make a map of the sky.

The technology being used is SQL Servers and web

services, specifically .Net, to glue the database together.

Participating scientists can write a program to run their

own computer that can interrogate the federated data-

base and run their own application.

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE VALUE OF THE DATA GRID FOR

BUSINESS USERS?

We see lots of business applications for this model.

We’re working closely with the Global Grid Forum and

Globus to ensure their grid services are designed to

work with web services.

But there are a number of issues that need to

be resolved before this technology is ready for the

business community, chiefly issues of access and

identity. The astronomy material is all public domain

and scientists are happy to share information. But for

commercially sensitive data it is a different matter.

Microsoft learned quite a lot about this when it

announced .Net My Services and brought it to market –

possibly a bit too early. You need to have the ability for

individuals to have an identity, and for there to be a

custodian of data “in the net”. The first is covered by sys-

tems like Passport, the second is less well understood.

As grid computing and web services develop we

are learning a lot about what peoples’ needs and

concerns are – and I’m sure we will revisit the concepts

behind .Net My Services again.

WHEN WILL WE SEE SOME OF THE DEVELOPMENTS YOU’VE

DISCUSSED INCORPORATED INTO MICROSOFT PRODUCTS?

You’ll see P2P appearing in Microsoft products over

the next two to five years. There are things the product

groups are working on now.

HOW WILL THE SELF-SCALING SYSTEMS YOU’VE DESCRIBED

AFFECT THE ROLE OF IT PROFESSIONALS?

Hopefully they’ll make their lives easier. I think that data

centres will continue to grow. If you take the 2003 data

centre and pickle it, and then compare it to one ten years

on, the later one will require less systems administra-

tion. But it will still need people in the loop because

they’re the intelligent bit. In the future IT pros will be

focussed more on the user and the user experience.

ARTiNG GRiD

HERBERT HISTORY

Andrew Herbert has recently taken

over as managing director at

Microsoft Research in Cambridge,

UK. He succeeds Roger Needham

who sadly passed away on 28

February, and leads research in dis-

tributed computing, operating sys-

tems and networks.

Prior to joining Microsoft in 2001,

he was responsible for advanced

technology at Citrix Systems Inc., and

was instrumental in steering the com-

pany towards internet technologies.

Herbert joined Citrix following acquisi-

tion of his company Digitivity Inc in

1998. He founded Digitivity in 1996

as a spin out from APM Ltd, a

research / consulting company he

had founded in 1985.

Herbert is senior member of Wolfson

College Cambridge, a member of St

John’s College Cambridge, a visiting

professor, computer science depart-

ment, at the University of Essex,

Colchester, and a Liveryman of the City

of London Worshipful Company of

Information Technologists.

THE iT MANAGER THAT SLEEPS WELL PAUL ROCHE, GENERAL MANAGER E-BUSINESS SOLUTIONS, BT IGNITE

An XP solution for BT Ignite

Despite its mature IT processes and a

dynamic workforce, BT calculates it can

reduce IT costs further and support its

workforce better by moving to XP. Two

months ago, the communications giant's

solutions arm, BT Ignite,completed a pilot

in which downtime was eliminated and

helpdesk calls were reduced by 26 per

cent. A 20 per cent reduction in the cost

of desktop deployment stacked up to

£160,000 for roll-out in BT Ignite

Germany alone. Overall XP is expected to

achieve a five per cent decrease in the

total cost of ownership.

A Rapid Economic Justification analysis

had identified operating system reliability,

centralised software management, network

administration, and ease of software

deployment as primary opportunities for

IT cost reductions. Company managers

hoped the internal pilot would prove the

case for XP, which would then be market-

ed to its own customers through the Agile

Office Solution.

The pilot replaced its long-serving

Microsoft Windows 9x platform with

Microsoft Windows XP Professional and

Microsoft Office XP on the desktop and

with Windows 2000 Server as the network

operating system. Two immediate objectives

were to reduce time-consuming manual

synchronisation and system crashes.

Frequent travel between the company

offices is routine for many BT staff mem-

bers but transferring data between laptops

and network file servers requires arduous

synchronisation. Worse still, an operating

system or application crash on a laptop far

from the home office meant lost work, lost

configuration settings, and limited access

to corporate network resources.

Combining Windows XP Professional

IntelliMirror® and automated offline

synchronisation capabilities made it

easier for laptop users to keep copies of

all key data on network servers and

enabled rapid recovery in the event of

data loss, hardware failure, or laptop

theft. Roaming User Profiles enable

remote workers to step up to the local BT

hot-desk, log in as normal, and quickly

access their own data, computer prefer-

ences and configuration settings from any

authorised corporate location.

Automated data synchronisation and

the secure mobile user profile capabilities

of Windows XP Professional are expected to

reduce time spent manually synchronising

data by approximately 20 minutes per day,

and contribute to an estimated four per

cent increase of annual, per-user

productivity.

Paul Roche, general manager of

e-business solutions at BT Ignite, says,

“When I had technical challenges in the

past, and the machine went down, I had to

start from scratch, re-configuring it to my

way of working. With Windows XP

Professional, my configuration settings are

stored on the server. When I reboot my PC,

it automatically goes to the network and

synchronises my configurations settings.”

This level of support can be extended

to non-laptop users too, by adding

Windows Terminal Services and thin client

technology incorporated into Windows XP

Professional.

Following the pilot at BT Ignite, BT is

implementing Agile Office for customers

such as Parity. By entering an individual

identification number and dialling into a

central data farm, 790 Parity employees

can load their personal desktops onto any

PC or laptop. As a global operation, BT has

to provide a single face for sales and sup-

port and critical to that is maintaining high

levels of network reliability and perform-

8 FYITECHNOLOGY

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AT NiGHT

9March 2003

ance for business users on a 24/7 basis.

Mike Needs, deputy general manager

for e-business solutions at BT Ignite says,

“every IT manager wants to simplify oper-

ations, save money, and sleep well at

night. Windows XP Professional and Office

XP provide us with a robust system that

keeps running, is simple to operate, and

is less expensive to support.”

Features of the XP Professional 32-bit

architecture such as Windows File

Protection and side-by-side components

help avoid operational failures due to

software installation and running multiple

versions of Windows components.

Improved application compatibility

features and built-in compatibility for

over 1,000 applications that run on

Windows 9x reduces the frequency of

compatibility-related system failures on

the desktop too.

“As an IT solutions provider, we

realise that the reliability of our solutions

such as Agile Office is an essential ele-

ment of the added value we provide our

customers. Windows XP Professional and

Office XP provide the technology, tools,

and support we need to run reliable, cost-

effective operations, maintain customer

satisfaction, and deliver dependable solu-

tions such as Agile Office” says Roche.

Numerica was formed eighteen months

ago from the union of three companies

that pooled resources to provide a spread

of accountancy-based services. Its strategy

is to achieve high growth through

acquisition. Central to this strategy is the

concept of the locationless office.

“It doesn’t matter where I am but I

can access networked resources as if I’m

in the office,” explains Steven Beth,

solutions architect. Such a high degree

of flexibility means new workers can hit

the ground running when they join the

company, and customers are offered a

highly personalised, on-site service.

But the IT infrastructure assumes

an additional importance when it has to

provide a roving workforce with reliable

access to resources. Microsoft’s XP

operating system has played a key role in

ensuring Numerica has the capability to

support a distributed and virtual business.

“XP was fairly attractive in several

respects,” says Beth. “Its chief appeal lay

in its remote support for distributed

devices.”

Given the rate of expansion and the

number of satellite offices Numerica

operates, it makes sense to centralise

the management of certain functions

such as finance. Centralising IT support is

sensible too and is now a lot easier with

the new level of functionality built into the

operating system.

“It’s now possible to physically take

over control of a user’s screen to sort out a

problem, whereas with NetMeeting® [avail-

able with Windows 2000] you still had to

talk the user through the problem,” says

Beth. “Without a doubt, we are able to

support newly acquired people without

investing additional cost and time.”

Additionally, users can synchronise their

laptop data with central resources and

applications. This is an important feature,

given that around half the staff use laptops.

The offline synchronisation capability has

made remote working a viable option, and

Beth’s team is in the process of implementing

home directories for Numerica’s fleet of

laptop users so they can back-up and store

documents on the central network.

The notion of locationless is gradually

being applied within a physical building too,

as employees are encouraged to hot desk.

Reception areas and boardrooms of offices

are wireless networked zones using the

802.11lb standard. A series of Compaq

Tablets running XP edition are due to be

piloted so users can connect intothe corpo-

rate electronic document management

system and display client documents.

XP has kicked in here too with what

Beth describes as “a decent level of

support for wireless” that manages configu-

rations [rather than the drivers on the

10 FYITECHNOLOGY

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A ViRTUAL REALiTYSTEVEN BETH,SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT, NUMERICA

Numerica uses XP to support its locationless office strategy

XP operating system

11March 2003

wireless cards]. So different satellites can

have different wireless networks installed

and XP will switch through transparently to

the users.

There’s an added advantage of hav-

ing XP do the configuration management

because it avoids having to talk remote

users through the complexities of setting

up. This is a big plus with wireless where

there’s no possibility of connecting to a

user device to talk through a scenario,

points out Beth.

One area where Beth is planning to

optimise XP is to cement over a current

vulnerability in the level of security when

remote users dial into the company network

from the internet using ADSL. Network

Address Transition is the normal method for

grabbing an internet connection. NAT does

not provide a live IP address, nor therefore,

the level of security and authentication that

normally operates on the company VPN.

XP however, provides a firewall on the

network card, which permits a secure, live

IP address. "The built-in firewalling in XP

gives us the ability to provide a static IP to

home users, permitting a secure connec-

tion to the corporate network," says Beth,

who plans to roll this out over the next six

months.

Numerica has a series of development

projects lined up, including the introduction

of IP phones that can pull up relevant client

data during conversation. Writing web

services to enable this tight integration

between voice and data applications is

one of the more exciting developments on

the horizon.

But the cornerstone of the Numerica IT

platform is reliability and security, and that,

increasingly is being provided through XP.

For more information on Windows

XP and Office XP, visit

www.microsoft.com/uk/windowsxp

and www.microsoft.com/uk/office

WHERE NEXT?

Windows server 2003

12 FYITECHNOLOGY

A WiNDOW OF OPPORTUNiTY

As the first major operating system release since Windows 2000,Windows Server 2003 constitutes Microsoft’s most serious appealyet to the enterprise market. But once the champagne corks havestopped flying, what can users expect post-launch? By Rik Turner.

THE LAUNCH OF WINDOWS SERVER 2003 marks another milestone in Microsoft’s quest to satisfy the mainframe-

standard levels of performance that customers want to run their datacentres. As Peter Cummins, Microsoft’s

head of business critical consulting says, “the argument for us today is not about product features, it’s about an

altogether more complex proposition concerned with scalability, manageability, availability and security.” The

company is clear on who it needs to convince. As Mark Tennant, UK product manager candidly confirms: “Much

of the rethinking behind the operating systems is designed to bring on board those corporate users that opted not

to upgrade to Windows 2000, preferring instead to stick with Windows NT®4.”

APPS SERVER CAPABILITY

Crucially, in addition to the raft of enhancements designed to beef

up its stature, there is the inclusion of the .Net Framework, which

delivers a fully configured, tested and proven “in the box”

application server. An application server manages all applications

transactions between client and back-end servers and is a hotly

contested market. Microsoft knows it needs to convince users that

the .Net variety with its multi-language strengths is every bit

as – and indeed more – powerful and compelling than the OS

“independence” claimed by other vendors.

At present, the alternative is a J2EE-compliant application server

deployed on Unix or Windows boxes. Gary Barnett, research manager

at analyst Ovum, points out that the platform-independent boast of

this flavour of application server needs to be qualified. “An

Enterprise Java Bean written to run on the JVM for one OS can be

made to run on another, but you’re going to have to give up some

features that you can only enjoy on the original one.” In any event,

the platform independence argument may have decreasing merit.

For a lot of companies, “portability of the code is more important

for ISVs,” believes Barnett.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

The OS has undergone a couple of name changes between inception

and birth, having been both Windows .Net Server and Windows

.Net Server 2003. But the removal of .Net from the name means

anything but a drop in support for the software architecture, as

Tennant is at pains to stress: “We’re not dropping support for .Net,

in fact, quite the contrary. It’s just that the .Net technology is in

everything we’ll be doing from now on, so why single it out for this

particular product?”

Windows Server 2003 also adds up to more than Windows

2000 plus .Net, an impression falsely gained by some customers.

Admittedly, the move from Windows 2000 to 2003 is evolutionary

rather than revolutionary (unlike the one from NT4 to Windows

2000 Server), but the new product contains significant enhance-

ments that make it easier to use, more flexible and more robust

than its immediate predecessor.

Not least, says Tennant, customers already on Windows 2000

will realise an immediate upgrade in performance, with File and Print,

Web Services, Terminal Services and Active Directory operating at

twice the speed, if not more, than they did in Windows 2000.

Manage Your Server

The new Setup Wizard for

Windows Server 2003 retains

much of the design of the

Windows 2000 Server Setup

Wizard. This design has been enhanced, however, to make it

easier to find setup-related tasks and information. The new

Setup Wizard reflects the task-based design of Windows

Server 2003 by grouping common tasks with documentation

and information to help administrators perform them.

VSS (Volume Shadow Copy)

After the shadow copies fea-

tures are enabled on the server

or network share, users can find

previous versions of files in

Windows Explorer by simply

right-clicking the file and selecting Properties. This means

they can access previous versions of a document. Useful if

they have accidentally overwritten them or even deleted

them. This helps the helpdesk reduce calls to restore acci-

dentally deleted or overwritten files from backup.

>>>>>>CLICK-THROUGH > >>>>>

13March 2003

AVAILABILITY

With mainframe and Unix vendors established in the high-uptime

space, Microsoft, with its heritage in the desktop space, always

knew it had some ground to make up. “Now,” says Tennant, “we

have large customers like Freemarkets.com and Abbey National

who are achieving five-nines uptime (99.999 per cent), which is

approaching the 100 per cent delivered by the likes of Stratus. To

achieve the highest levels of uptime requires more than rock solid

technology. Equally important is the ‘people and process’ element”.

To achieve this, Microsoft has been working with industry

standard groups to produce best practice documentation for the

Windows platform, as well as working with hardware vendors to

guarantee a high level of uptime of systems that have been

stringently tested for the Windows platform.

SCALABILITY

For many customers, the key reason to move to Windows Server

2003 is to enable them to consolidate the numerous servers they

have in their organisation, thus reducing management costs as well

as physical space required to house their IT infrastructure. The

scalability improvements in Windows Server 2003 make this the

platform for this scenario. Tennant says “We’ve come a long way

since we launched Windows NT4 seven years ago. Windows Server

2003 is around 87 times more scalable than NT4, and we’ve a

number of technologies built in specifically for server consolidation”

One technology in particular is the Windows Resource Manager

which allows you to assign processor and memory resource to the

applications that you have consolidated onto one server. To meet the

obvious need for highly available systems that server consolidation

brings, Windows Server 2003 supports 8-node clustering in both

Datacenter and Enterprise Editions. Both editions will also be avail-

able in 64-bit flavours supporting Itanium and Itanium 2 systems.

With that, there is increased support for more processors and more

memory (e.g. Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition in its 64-bit

MIGRATION MADE EASY

Accompanying the launch of Windows Server 2003 is

Visual Studio .Net 2003, the latest package of develop-

ment tools from Microsoft. Whereas the server OS has

“gone .Net” only this year, Visual Studio has contained the

.Net Framework since its 2002 version, explains Ivo

Salmre, product manager for .Net and development

technologies at Microsoft in the UK.

“V1.1 represents a more mature version of the product,

with the feature set rounded out,” says Salmre. He

points to the stability of the product and the addition of

diagnostic and tracing capability for server applications.

An addition to Visual Studio is that programmers working in

Visual Basic® .Net and Visual C#® can now develop device-

based mobile applications using the .NET Compact

Framework. Previously only server-based device-browser

applications could be developed using the ASP .NET Mobile

Web Application facility. “This will enable smart devices such

as a Pocket PC to interact with web services running on

Windows Server 2003,” Salmre explains.

For the four to five million Visual Basic developers, wanting

the productivity that the product’s higher-level abstractions

make possible - or Rapid Application Development (RAD) -

Visual Basic .Net is the natural evolution. Visual Studio

offers Visual C++® developers, who tend to be writing

lower-level software as well as large sophisticated systems

not only an improved version of C++ but also C#. Labelled

as ‘the premier .Net development language’ it evolved out

of C++ to become an object-oriented language for the .Net

Framework. In addition, there is provision within Visual

Studio for what Microsoft calls “managed C++”, where an

application can be written in C++ and run as a managed

app within the .Net Framework. C++ developers will also

continue to be able to write state-of-the art “native-code”

applications using the improved C++ compilers supporting

further increases in ANSI standards support.

The community of Java programmers have not been neglect-

ed either. For these developers, Visual Studio offers Visual

J#™ “a Java language targeting the .Net Framework”, says

Salmre. He describes it as “a bridge to .Net” for the Java

community. However, he is reluctant to predict whether Java

developers who work with the .Net Framework will stick with

J# or move across to C#.

In addition to the three languages offered by Visual Studio

itself, Salmre says the language-independent status of .Net

Framework means that third-party vendors of other lan-

guages such as Fortran and Cobol have been able to

produce compilers so that developers working in them can

also target .Net.

GPMC (Group Policy Management Console)

Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) will

provide the new framework for managing Group

Policy. With GPMC, Group Policy becomes much

easier to use, a benefit that will enable more

organisations to better utilise the Active Directory service and take advantage

of its powerful cost saving features.

In addition, GPMC lets administrators manage Group Policy for multiple

domains and sites within a given forest, all in a simplified user interface (UI)

with drag-and-drop support. And with cross-forest trust, administrators can

manage Group Policy across multiple forests from the same console. GPMC

can manage Group Policy for Windows 2000 or Windows domains.

>

“Windows Server 2003

is more than Windows

2000 plus .Net”

➔➔

14 FYITECHNOLOGY

variance supports up to 64 processors and up to 512GB memory).

Tennant says the company has been working with 14 early

adopter customers in the UK, including major financial institutions.

One such customer has 64-bit computing and eight-node clustering,

with the facility of assigning one of the eight to a particular task and

running the rest as a seven-node cluster.

Further robustness and flexibility have been added in Windows

Server 2003 with features such as health detection,

memory mirroring, which protects a system

against situations in which part of the mem-

ory is corrupted, and hot-add memory,

which makes it possible to add memory on

the fly, without bringing the server down.

SECURITY

In security too, there’s been a shift in

thinking from Windows Server 2000. That

product shipped with all its features switched

on, requiring intervention from the system

administrator to switch them off for specific

users, Tennant explains. This out-of-the-box approach

eased the way for hackers, because everyone on a company’s

network had access to the IIS web server in the OS by default. By

contrast, Windows Server 2003 ships with everything switched off,

giving the administrator the control over what they want to switch on

depending on the role that server will play.

FLEXIBILITY

When Active Directory debuted in Windows 2000, many systems

administrators were worried that it was an all-or-nothing scenario,

which not only required a lot of planning but once deployed, would

represent a major operation to deactivate. In Windows Server 2003,

therefore, Active Directory has been made more flexible. “It can be

rolled back, which means you can carry out pre-testing before full

deployment,” said Tennant. In addition, a new Group Policy

Management Console has been introduced, making it easier to

manage groups, and run tests and queries.

Analysts recognise in Windows Server 2003 a serious endeavour

to address the reliability and performance issues that preoccupy dat-

acentre managers. Graham Fisher, a senior analyst at Bloor Research

says the launch of Windows Server 2003 heralds a

new concern for “enterprise-class robustness”.

He identifies the Microsoft Operations

Framework (MOF) and Microsoft Operations

Manager (MOM) strategy, unveiled in

2000 and enhanced with the first MOM

Service Pack last month, as another

step in this direction.

MOF is an initiative in which the

company aims to provide the technology

for a service management methodology

akin to the Office of Government

Commerce’s Information Technology

Infrastructure Library (ITIL). “You need an

operations framework in place with the right

diagnostics to be able to take the proper actions. You don’t want to

be doing reboots,” Fisher comments.

But perhaps more than this, Windows Server 2003 is the

platform that will provide a gateway to seamless transactions within

and between companies. As the cornerstone of Microsoft’s web serv-

ices’ strategy, the new OS server has a lot of expectations riding on it.

WINDOWS SERVER 2003 OPENS THE DOOR TO WEB SERVICES

Windows Server 2003 is the first oper-

ating system release to ship with the

.Net Framework “in the box”. This is

Microsoft’s software architecture

designed to open the way to web

services, a brave new world charac-

terised by ‘just-in-time applications’.

In the Cutter Consortium report

“Web Services in Context”, author

Tom Welsh gives this definition:

“Web services comprise a set of

standards that let programs invoke

software services across internet

protocol (IP) networks. There is a

presumption that the underlying

protocol is HTTP. It does not have to

be, but so far, nobody has seriously

tried anything else.

Web services always invoke

some sort of executable program

or programs. But just what that pro-

gram is need not be decided until the

message arrives. In other words, web

services are characterised by late

binding or ‘just-in-time applications’

Perhaps the essential distinguish-

ing feature of web services is that they

allow programs to exchange informa-

tion and commands in the form of

XML messages.”

The new model enables code

existing anywhere on a company’s

network to be re-utilised representing

an immense saving in developers’

time and storage resource. Mark

Tennant, UK product manager for

Windows Server 2003 says beta

customers have made up to 60 per

cent savings on developers costs.

Web services can be carried out

entirely within a company’s firewall

for internal business processes or

extended beyond it, out into the big

wide world of e-commerce. Using web

services over an extranet offers fresh

commercial opportunities alongside

the economies of scale that come

with using them within the firewall.

In a B2C scenario, every time a

customer comes onto a company’s

web site and makes a purchase, the

credit card check, purchase order

and stock check can all be executed

using web services.

Should the item be manufac-

tured by a third party, a web service

should be able to kick in to handle

the order to the manufacturer and

inform purchasing and sales that the

transaction is going through.

For more information on Windows Server 2003, go to

www.microsoft.com/windows (US). The site includes

information on the new TPC-C benchmark results.

WHERE NEXT:

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15March 2003

THE TOPIC OF LICENSING OFTEN PROVOKES A STRONG REACTION as it affects anyone who uses

a software program. Understanding licensing better can have a significant impact on purchasing

behaviour. Changes introduced by Microsoft in 2001, designed to iron out some of the complexities

of licensing, also had the knock-on effect of raising the issue to the forefront of customer’s minds

and triggering more focus on this area.

In the words of Sue Hogg, group licensing manager, Microsoft

UK, “the company recognises that it didn’t communicate effectively

around the launch of Software Assurance.” This extra layer of

confusion has compounded an unease

that has always existed on the topic.

“When people buy software, they are

not always confident they’re buying the

right thing or getting the best licensing

programme for them,” Hogg says. She

names common pitfalls as overbuying,

buying an inappropriate programme or

even buying illegal licences.

The state of confusion is being

tackled head-on by Microsoft, which is

launching a three-pronged campaign

consisting of information, tools and

accreditation. “We are launching a

bundle of information and initiatives

which are all designed to make our

customers’ lives easier,” Hogg explains.

ONLINE TOOLS

One of the major issues customers face

is software asset management. Trying

to reconcile software assets with their

appropriate licences can be a long (and

in some cases impossible) manual

process. “We’d like to encourage users

to take a look at our suite of free, online

tools that could help them manage their licensing more effectively.”

Microsoft Volume Licence Service (MVLS) and eOpen are both

online tools for tracking and managing licences which customers,

who have bought under those licences, can access at no additional

cost. A user of MVLS since late last year is Skandia Life Assurance,

the UK subsidiary of the Swedish financial services group (see box).

eOpen is aimed at SMEs. Mark Wheeler, Microsoft business

manager at distributors Computer 2000, describes it as “a great

tool that was long overdue.” In smaller companies it is often the

same person acquiring product and deploying software, so there’s

no time to micro-manage licences. With eOpen, users quote their

LiCENSiNG WiTHOUT THE HEADACHEA tripartite approach of information, online tools and accreditation is designed to help companies understand and manage their software licences moreeffectively and provide IT managers with a clearer view of their software assets.

licence and authorisation, and this logon enables them to view

and manage their licences.

An additional advantage with eOpen is increased security. “The

activation key for a licence used to

come on the media disk, but now it is

actually on the eOpen site,” explains

Wheeler.

Also available to all users is

Microsoft Software Inventory Analyzer

(MSIA), which can be run on any

network to discover which Microsoft

software packages a company has in

operation. It then performs a tally with

the licences that the company holds.

NEW LICENSING ACCREDITATION

The Microsoft Licensing Sales

Specialist (MLSS) programme has

been introduced to enable customers

to assess the level of licensing expertise

available from the channel partner

they are working with.

Individuals within channel partners

can take an online exam on licensing

and success will be rewarded with

personal accreditation. Two levels of

accreditation are offered; sales

specialist which is the entry level and

sales expert status awarded to those

who pass the highest level of accreditation. Customers will be

able to look out for individuals with this kite mark of licensing when

they make their software purchases.

For a free guide on licensing visit

www.microsoft.com/uk/licensing. Microsoft offers a dedi-

cated help line available specifically for licensing queries.

Tel: 0870 60 10 100 and take the business option.

WHERE NEXT:

Skandia goes online for licensing

Julie Moore, R&D co-ordinator at Skandia,

explains that MVLS was invaluable last October

when the company upgraded from Windows 95,

NT, 97, 98 and a smattering of Office 2000 to

Windows XP and Office XP. This was a 12-month

process involving no less than 2,300 users.

Moore uses MVLS to get a summary of all

agreements current and past, with expiry dates

and renewal windows. She particularly appreciates

being able to drill down for detail on an individual

licence or filter information out to highlight

particular types, such as ones expiring this year,

or ones covered by Select 5 agreements rather

than Software Assurance. Information can also

be exported to Excel.

The person accessing the site must be either

a primary or notices contact for the user company,

as stipulated in the licensing agreement with

Microsoft.

Software licensing

16 FYITECHNOLOGY

Office System

THE OFFiCE MAKE-OVER

With the launch of the Office System this summer, office productivitytools will be presented in a whole new light. From a bundle of discreteapplications, the suite has been reengineered to integrate withdifferent business processes, transforming Office into a smart clientto view and manipulate data.

RESEARCH INDICATES THAT THE AVERAGE OFFICE WORKER SPENDS 20 PER CENT of his or her time scheduling or taking

part in meetings, 30 per cent of it searching for information and 40 per cent creating it. Microsoft believes that, for

each of these activities, the new Office System contains enhance-

ments that enable it to be carried out more efficiently.

The key to this transformation is Extensible Markup Language

(XML), a standard established by the World Wide Web Consortium

(W3C) for storing structured data. It has been championed for

some time as the way forward for e-business, allowing the

exchange of information between disparate systems and facilitat-

ing intra- and inter-company communications.

The new Office System, which goes into beta testing next

month, will be revolutionised by the wholesale adoption of XML.

With the exception of graphics

package PowerPoint®, all the

components of the suite,

including Word, Excel and

Access, offer the option to save

a file in the XML format. They

can also import and export

XML data based on custom or

industry XML schemas.

The first immediate advantage here is the integration XML

brings between the various applications within Office. This goes a

long way towards resolving customer frustrations of importing, for

instance, Excel data into a Word file. Significantly, it goes one step

beyond meeting this demand and holds out the promise of

integration with other, non-Microsoft applications, as Bloor

Research analyst Graham Fisher explains.

A source of XML data need not necessarily be an XML file. It

could also be an XML web service or indeed a database than can

return results in the XML format, which could be Oracle or DB2. “I

might need to be able to consume data from an Oracle database

and read and manipulate it in Excel, for instance,” says Fisher.

Furthermore, by building in support for XML throughout the

productivity suite, Microsoft is also opening the way for companies

to develop their own web services. In the brave new world of

office productivity and workflow,

users will be able to retrieve

and submit XML data using a

new application in the suite,

InfoPath™, designed for editing

forms created using standard or

custom XML schemas [see box

opposite].

This provides the capability

for companies to create the forms to fit their business processes.

By defining the tags that will identify specific fields, and populating

them with data from any Office programme, or indeed any other

source of XML data, customers can now architect their office

software, says Stephanie Thorn, Office product manager for

Microsoft UK.

Access already had some degree of XML integration, which has

1: Business Process

Integration

The most important

development is the

move to XML, with all

component packages

except PowerPoint being

able to generate native

XML data and, a major

innovation, supporting

customer schemas.

2: Integrated

Collaboration

These are changes to

Outlook, enabling it to

be used offline and

adapting traffic to the

speed of the internet

connection.

3: Information

Management and

Control

SharePoint Team and

Portal Servers have

been improved, enabling

multiple calendars to be

shown simultaneously,

parts of documents to

be protected and restric-

tions to be placed on

forwarding of e-mails.

>>>>>>WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR...

OFFICE 2003

“Adopting XML will

revolutionise

Office 2003”

ILLU

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17March 2003

been improved in the latest Office release.

The previous edition of Access imposed

limits on the way an XML file could be trans-

formed when being imported or exported, so

that, for instance, data exported to XML

meant a file was created using the standard

Access schema.

In the Office 2003 version, the

transformation can be made according to

the user’s own Extensible Stylesheet

Language (XSL), offering greater flexibility

on both imported and exported data. For

example, a buyer could submit a purchase order created from data

held in Access, exported as XML and transformed using an XSL to

conform to the supplier’s purchase-order schema.

Besides the big step-change in integrating processes,

Microsoft expects Office 2003 to meet user need for improved

teamwork. To this end the SharePoint™ Services platform, the

mainstay of its collaborative work offering,

has been singled out for enhancements.

“Members of, say, a sales team can

create forms with details of deals they’ve

done over the last week and submit them

to a shared forms library in SharePoint,”

says James Akrigg, a business productivity

technical specialist at Microsoft UK. “A

team leader can later take the individual

status reports and merge them down into a

single document for an overview.”

Meanwhile in the marketing department, Akrigg continues, “a

strategist might want to study regional demographics, income

levels and spending patterns to decide where best to concentrate

resources, say for a new product launch”. A market research

company may offer that kind of information as a free or paid web

service, accessed directly from Word from its new Research Pane,

in tabular form in Excel for further analysis or combined with the

data available in MapPoint® to view the information more visually.

Of course, promoting collaborative activity increases the risks

to security, so attention has also been focussed on ensuring that

the Office System addresses digital rights management. So

someone sending an e-mail to an individual or group of people

can now protect all or part of it from retransmission.

A similar development designed to accommodate the virtual

teams that drive modern business projects is the Meeting

Workspace. Here, a space is created on a SharePoint site on a

corporate intranet to hold all the documents related to a meeting. All

the participants can then access them from wherever they are.

Last, but not least, is the issue of information management and

control, with the Outlook client getting a make-over in some key areas.

In particular, Outlook will be able to adapt to

the speed of the connection to the server

and choose whether to send just e-mail

headers or the headers plus content. It will

also create a local file store for e-mail,

enabling the client to work offline, thereby

avoiding problems when the server is down.

These enhancements to a productivity

suite that already holds 90 per cent of the

UK market are impressive. But they need

to be if anyone is to be persuaded to

upgrade during such time times of economic uncertainty when IT

budgets are tight.

“The [enhanced] functions collectively make up 90 per cent of

the average information worker’s time, so the argument for upgrading

to Office 2003 is pretty compelling” argues Akrigg. “The remaining 10

per cent is made up of interruptions, and there is still no software

to handle them, but in the future, who knows?”

For a white paper on Office 2003 visit

www.microsoft.com/office/developer/preview (US)

WHERE NEXT:

INFOPATH

Peter Bell, responsible for business strat-

egy at Microsoft’s .Net developer group

in the UK, describes XML as “bridging the

gap between documents and data”. By

enabling a shift to a world of predominantly

structured data then activities like data

mining become much more effective.

Within Office 2003, XML separates

the storage of data from its presentation,

and allows developers to define their own

schemas to match internal business

processes. Along with the freedom to

design the templates to associate the underlying schemas, they can affect a

particular look and feel for presentation within any of the applications.

The main mechanism for delivering this ‘make-your-own’ office software

concept is InfoPath, something that Bell describes as “a combination of a docu-

ment editor and a forms package” for the creation or retrieval of XML data.

InfoPath works on or offline so it could be used at work to draw up the first

part of an expenses claim, then continued offline on a laptop at home.

Having calculated the rest of the expenses, the two parts can be merged via

remote access to the corporate intranet. “Once you’d got the claims form com-

pleted, you might want to post it to a web service such as the employers’

expenses processing application.”

18 FYITECHNOLOGY

Security

DON’T LET ViRUSES GET YOU DOWN

The impact of the SQL Slammer worm attackwas short-lived but devastating, and highlightedthe need for systems managers to combine bestpractice with up-to-the-minute security updates.By Candice Goodwin.

HACKER ATTACKS ARE A FACT OF LIFE for today’s IT managers, who have built up

comprehensive defences against a multitude of viruses, worms and trojans – or so it

seemed until recently. This January’s SQL Slammer worm attack took the IT industry by

surprise. Spreading like wildfire in just a few hours, the worm caused widespread chaos

among businesses that rely on the internet, bringing network

traffic grinding to a halt as its effects hit home.

Though short-lived, SQL Slammer’s effects were devastating

while they lasted. They have highlighted the need for a

comprehensive security policy to ensure your organisation stays

abreast of the latest security threats and countermeasures.

A proactive approach to security is important, since the sheer

speed with which Slammer spread gave system managers little

time to react once the attack had started. According to the

Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis, Slammer was

the fastest-spreading computer infection yet, taking a mere ten

minutes to spread itself around the globe. In

fact, its speed of proliferation ultimately

meant the worm was self-limiting,

because by blocking networks world-

wide it effectively blocked its own

spread.

Though short term, its effects

were very serious. In the US, bank

teller machines were put out of action.

In South Korea, one of the worst-affected

areas, most internet users were unable

to get access to the web for nearly half a

day. The sudden surge in internet traffic

caused five of the main 13 root DNS name servers to go down.

THE SAPPHIRE WORM

Also known as the Sapphire worm, Slammer is a tiny piece of code

just 376 bytes long, small enough to fit into a single data packet.

Once it has infiltrated a server it starts to replicate itself rapidly and

send out the copies to other vulnerable servers across the internet.

The resulting flood of bogus packets causes gridlock in data

networks, preventing other traffic getting through in a similar way to

a denial-of-service attack.

The attack could have been far worse. Unlike some worms,

Slammer did not carry a malicious payload to erase the hard drives

of systems it infected, so the damage it caused was not permanent.

Since it is not memory-resident, a reboot gets rid of it – then a sim-

ple patch closes the security loophole and ensures that Slammer

and worms like it can’t strike again.

BEST PRACTICE

However, January’s events acted as a wake-up call to the IT industry.

They have highlighted the need for IT professionals to implement

best practice in security management in order to stop any potential

problems before they start.

Slammer exploited a known vulnerability in

SQL Servers and MSDE 2000. The patch –

Microsoft’s SQL Server 2000 Service Pack

3 – was released six months before the

Slammer attack took place. But the

complexity of many IT installations,

combined with the proliferation of new

modes of attack, means that systems

managers are struggling to keep on top

of the state of the art in security. Many

of them had not yet got around to

installing the patch. Maintaining systems

security in the face of ever-changing threats

is a perennial headache for IT pros. However, there

is a wealth of support available which can help minimise the risk

of another Slammer attack.

SUBSCRIBE TO ALERTS AND NEWSLETTERS

The first lesson that emerged from the Slammer crisis was that

it’s vital to keep up to date with the latest software patches for

installed systems, even if there appears to be no immediate

security threat. Microsoft regularly issues updates to its systems

software, and alerts customers that these patches are available on

the web and via e-mail newsletters.

To keep up to date with the latest patches for installed

systems, IT managers should subscribe to the relevant technical

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19March 2003

newsletters. If new patches are relevant to your installation, it’s

important to test and implement them immediately.

SYSTEM MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGY

Having a well-thought-through system management methodology

in place will help ensure that new software updates don’t fall

through the gaps. To help plan system management strategy, IT

professionals can now access Microsoft’s new Microsoft

Solutions for Management (MSM) service. Launched at the end

of 2002, MSM is designed to help companies achieve opera-

tional excellence and improve manageability of their Windows

systems – thereby reducing total cost of ownership as well as

boosting security.

Through MSM for patch management, IT departments can

work with specialist Microsoft consultants to introduce industry

best practices into their organisation. These best practices will

address the challenges of critical patch management and software

updates, as well as

new application

installation and

service monitoring

and control.

The MSM con-

sultant will audit

the organisation’s existing processes against best practice in the

industry. They will also train your IT staff in how to effectively apply

the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) methodology, and opti-

mise the use of tools such as Microsoft Systems Management

Server and Microsoft Operations Manager within your installation.

SYSTEM MANAGEMENT TOOLS

Implementing a systematic approach to security is vital, but it’s

also a demanding, labour-intensive task for IT managers working in

today’s networked computing environment. Automated system

management tools can help managers deal with the challenge of

maintaining security without draining their resources.

Many Microsoft customers will already be using the Microsoft

Personal Security Analyzer (MPSA) tool, which scans desktop sys-

tems for potential security weaknesses and advises system man-

agers where patches should be applied. A new product, the

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA), offers extra func-

tionality to help IT managers keep two steps ahead of the hackers.

MBSA includes all the security checks currently available

through MPSA. However as well as scanning desktop systems it

adds the ability to scan servers, both locally and remotely over the

network. The latest version of MBSA will scan for missing security

updates and service packs for Windows, IE, IIS, SQL, Exchange,

and Windows Media Player. MBSA will create and store individual

XML security reports for each computer scanned, and will display

the reports in the graphical user interface in HTML.

MBSA’s role is to provide guidance on where to apply software

patches. The lengthy process of downloading, testing and deploying

those patches can also be automated, by deploying either Microsoft

Software Update Services (SUS) or Microsoft’s System Management

Server (SMS) enterprise management product in combination with

the SMS Software Update Services (SUS) Feature Pack.

The feature pack includes tools for identifying and deploying

security and office patches automatically. With the detailed inventory

SMS collects it

also allows users

to track SLA’s by

monitoring time

taken from a patch

being released by

Microsoft to being

identified and deployed in the environment.

Although the hacker menace is here to stay, system managers

can stay one step ahead. By implementing best practice in system

management and taking advantage of new developments in

upgrade automation, it’s possible to keep your system defences up

without straining your budget to breaking point.

For the latest information on security patches, subscribe

to TechNet Flash or MSDN Flash enewsletters at

www.microsoft.com/uk/fyitechnology

For general security information, visit

www.microsoft.com/uk/securityI or attend Infosecurity

2003, London Olympia, 29 April - 1 May 2003

www.microsoft.com/uk/technet/tcevents/itevents

WHERE NEXT:

1: The effects of the

network overload

In terms of packet loss %,

25 January 2003

2: The three load peaks

Caused by the virus and the

start of the working day in

Europe and US, 25-27 January

>>>>>>KEEPING CLEAN...

THE SLAMMER WORM IN ACTION

“Slammer took just ten

minutes to spread itself”

©Copyright 2003 Matrix Netsystems, Inc. www.matrixnetsystems.com

Some IT departments looking to reduce costs, see astraightforward choice between paying for licensed software or adopting the open source variety. But is it that simple?

Hi Simon. We’re looking at stripping out some costs and we think we

could save some money by using free operating systems and applica-

tions. Didn’t you try open source?

Rick

Maybe, but if your old hardware is as poor as mine, then you have to

cluster machines. It can be done but you’ll need someone who really

knows what they’re doing with the OS or pay for some help. Either way,

it’s more cost.

But again, you’re saving money by not paying much for the software.

The most you can save overall is five per cent for the software, which is

soon wiped out by the massive rise in staff costs.

The only reason we are having this conversation is the word "free". Look at

the time and cost of coding stuff that doesn’t come out of the box. Where

are your network of ISVs and partners for skills, training and support? Think

about how you can get business advantage and value for money while being

sure of a safe investment. Do that and then decide what "free" means.

Yes, but be careful, open source software is not the same thing as free

software. When people refer to open source as “free”, they mean freedom

of speech, i.e., freedom to modify the source code base, not “free beer”.

Simon

We looked beyond the initial purchase price of the software to the bigger

picture. There are lots of other costs to consider – IDC research shows that

staff are the biggest contributor to costs at a massive 62 per cent while

software only accounts for five per cent over a five-year period.

Wow. But couldn’t you re-use your old hardware and save costs that

way? I’ve heard some people do that.

Simon

Help please

Rick

Re: Help please

Simon

Rick

Rick

Simon

SimonRick

RickSimon

THEEXCHANGE

Fine, but did you run with it?

So what would you recommend?

What’s your view? Go to www.microsoft.com/uk/fyitechnology and let us have your thoughts.

<<

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EN

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CE

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MICROSOFT CTECSMicrosoft Certified Technical EducationCentres deliver the appropriate skillsusing a number of different methodsranging from the standard MicrosoftOfficial Curriculum (MOC) through to acombination of classroom based, onlinetraining and seminar based workshops.With the goal of helping individualsenhance their skill set to make the bestuse of Microsoft technology.

FIND A COURSEUse this tool to find the right course (andvenue) for you, view the course syllabusor related exam information.

MICROSOFT HANDS-ON LABSInteractive technical workshops designedto help you discover the essentials ofMicrosoft products.

RESOURCES FOR MICROSOFT .NET DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS Microsoft provides help for partnersdeveloping solutions using .NET includingtechnical training and sales resources

COMMUNITY RESOURCES SKILLS SUPPORT & SERVICES ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

MSDN LIBRARY ONLINEBrowse technical programming informa-tion, sample code, documentation, technical articles and reference guides.Also access the MSDN Bug Centre forinformation on bugs, fixes and problemarticles for developers.

MICROSOFT INCLUSIVE INCIDENT-BASED SUPPORT1 Microsoft Certified Partners receive a free Professional 5 incident pack2 MSDN subscribers receive inclusiveProfessional Support incidents (excludesMSDN Library)3 Microsoft provides two free supportincidents with its Full Packaged consumerproducts, desktop operating systems anddeveloper products including VisualStudio .NET purchased in retail stores.4 Microsoft volume licensing programmesinclude free support for some products,for example Multi-Year Open and OpenSubscription Licensing.Call 0870 60 10 100

MICROSOFT PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT *Provides telephone or online incident-based technical support for Microsoftproducts.Call 0870 60 10 100

MICROSOFT SERVICES PREMIER SUPPORT *Provides the largest enterprises with aflexible, managed, direct relationship with Microsoft, giving the highest level of proactive onsite support and technicalexpertise.

MICROSOFT ACCREDITED SUPPORT PARTNERS *If you’re looking for a partner to provideyou with additional technical supportservices for both Microsoft and multi-vendor solutions, contact aMicrosoft Certified Partner, MicrosoftGold Certified Partner or Microsoft GoldCertified Partner for Support Services.

MICROSOFT SUPPORT LIFECYCLE POLICY Provides consistent and predictableguidelines for product support availabilityfrom Microsoft at the time of productrelease.

MSDN CD/DVD SUBSCRIPTIONS *Annual MSDN Subscriptions give you priority access to essential developerresources, including Visual Studio .NET,product updates, vital programming information, access to exclusive technical support services and earlydelivery of everything you need.

MSDN DOWNLOAD CENTREDownload developer-related tools, add-ons, service packs, product updates, patches, drivers, beta and preview releases.

MSDN CODE CENTREOne-stop shop for all of your source codeneeds.

MSDN HOW-TO RESOURCESStep-by-step procedures for accomplish-ing common development tasks, coveringa wide range of ability levels, from gettingstarted with XML to working with embedded databases.

MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASESearch more than 250,000 constantlyupdated technical articles created byMicrosoft Support Professionals.

MICROSOFT PRESS PUBLICATIONS *Microsoft Press publishes a definitive collection of developer books, self-pacedtraining and e-learning training kits to help you put Microsoft technology to work.

MICROSOFT EVALUATION SOFTWAREAccess to a wide range of evaluation, trialand beta software for you to try out.

MICROSOFT LICENSINGInformation and tools to help you toestablish whether you have the correctlicenses for all your Microsoft software.

To access these resources visitwww.microsoft.com/uk/msdn/Or call 0870 60 10 100

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