TechNet Magazine January 2009 Issue Available Online

The January 2009 issue of TechNet Magazine is now available online.

Learn about Identity Lifecycle Manager 2, delve into Group Policy Preferences, get an overview of advanced SQL Server troubleshooting with Extended Events, discover a handy free utility for managing USB flash drives, and more.

FEATURE ARTICLES
Identity Management: An Introduction to Identity Lifecycle Manager 2
The upcoming release of Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager “2” offers many new features and enhancements. Explore the new portal experience and find out how you can cut costs with self-service tools, increase security compliance with business process modeling, and reduce development time with simplified development tools.

Windows Administration: Expanded Control with Group Policy Preferences
The new Group Policy Preferences feature found in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista provides more than 3,000 settings, greatly expanding what administrators can do with Group Policy. Here’s a guide to using Group Policy Preferences to manage your environment.

Windows Administration: Deploying Applications with Terminal Services
Without too much effort, you can deploy a terminal server to host the applications you need in your environment. But there are some important decisions you’ll need to make to ensure your implementation meets user expectations. Greg Shields discusses the various options you have and explains how they will affect you.

SQL Server 2008: Advanced Troubleshooting with Extended Events
SQL Server 2008 includes a new “eventing” mechanism called SQL Server Extended Events that enables some sophisticated troubleshooting. Get an overview of Extended Events and find out how you can use this new functionality for monitoring and troubleshooting.

Microsoft Office: Getting Started with Project Server 2007
Project Server 2007 delivers significant enhancements, not only to the features and functionality for users but also for administrators. Alan Maddison explores some of the most significant new features and walks you through the installation and configuration of Microsoft Office Project Server 2007.

COLUMNS Toolbox: New Products for IT Pros
Greg Steen discusses recovering from system crashes with Replay RA - Recovery Accelerator, managing compressed archives with WinRAR, using TortoiseSVN to simplify source control, measuring disk I/O with Iometer, as well as rebooting servers remotely with the APC Switched Rack PDU, and looks at the book "Windows Group Policy: Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista". Greg Steen

Exchange Queue & A: Mysterious Attachment Size Increases, Replicating Public Folders, and More
Why do attachment sizes increase when sending and receiving e-mail messages? How can you ensure databases on a passive node in a CCR cluster are defragmented during online maintenance? Can you use an external trust between forests? We answer these questions and more. Henrik Walther

Utility Spotlight: USB Flash Drive Manager
See how the free Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager can help you easily copy, delete, and back up files from a flash drive, as well as perform other useful tasks. Lance Whitney

Inside SharePoint: SharePoint Security Accounts
Take a close look at SharePoint Security Accounts to see how a weak configuration can give an attacker full control over all site collections and sites. Pav Cherny

Windows PowerShell: Trapping Errors
Learn how you can implement error-handling in Windows PowerShell. Don Jones

Hey, Scripting Guy!: Learning to Excel
Discover how to use the Excel.Application automation model for a more powerful way to process data from your servers and take advantage of the analysis and charting tools built into Excel. The Microsoft Scripting Guys

The Desktop Files: Windows Won't Start!
Drivers fail, files get corrupted, disks crash--there are numerous uncontrollable reasons why Windows might fail. But all is not lost. Wes Miller explores the kinds of things that can go wrong in a Windows system, and explains how you can troubleshoot them to get your system working again. Wes Miller

Security Watch: Subjects and Security Principals
Security principals underlie so much of Windows security that it is essential for any administrator to have at least a basic understanding of how the various types of  Security principals work and how they are used. Here's what you need to know. Jesper M. Johansson

Field Notes: What On Earth Is Green IT?
Get a quick overview of some simple IT upgrades that can provide both environmental and cost cutting benefits. Jim Lynch

Windows Confidential: Last Check-In Chicken
Raymond Chen explains why it is often the developers who have their acts together who end up checking in the final bug fixes to products. Raymond Chen

ON THE WEB VIDEO: SQL Server 2008: Advanced Troubleshooting with Extended Events
Paul Randal demonstrates how you can use the new Extended Events functionality for monitoring and troubleshooting in SQL Server 2008 .

VIDEO: Windows PowerShell: Trapping Errors
Don Jones demonstrates techniques for performing error-handling in Windows PowerShell.

VIDEO: Windows Administration: Deploying Applications with Terminal Services
Greg Shields demonstrates how you can deploy applications with Terminal Services.