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	<title>demonGREEN (by design)</title>
	<atom:link href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk</link>
	<description>eclectic. gibberish.</description>
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	<language>en</language>
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		<title>Cool Video Sunday</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/08/cool-video-sunday-2/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/08/cool-video-sunday-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Aug 2011 17:16:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Visual]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=1002</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Only one video for this weekend, but it is a video interpretation of the Holstee Manifesto that seems to be viral craze!]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Only one video for this weekend, but it is a video interpretation of the <a title="Things to Buy: Holstee Manifesto Poster" href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/04/things-to-buy-holstee-manifesto-poster/">Holstee Manifesto</a> that seems to be viral craze!</p>
<p><object width="640" height="390" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qQAzi8q_2LY&amp;rel=0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;version=3" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed width="640" height="390" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qQAzi8q_2LY&amp;rel=0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;version=3" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" /></object></p>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>SCOM 2012 Quick Start Guide</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/scom-2012-quick-start-guide/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/scom-2012-quick-start-guide/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 31 Jul 2011 19:02:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SCOM]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[System Center]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=980</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We are busy deploying SCOM 2007 R2 at work &#8211; unfortunately the testing and deployment phase had started before I arrived &#8211; so I haven&#8217;t really had much input; given [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We are busy deploying SCOM 2007 R2 at work &#8211; unfortunately the testing and deployment phase had started before I arrived &#8211; so I haven&#8217;t really had much input; given the strategic importance SCOM plays in running a Microsoft-heavy infrastructure, I really wish I had; amd it is a very cool product that looks very good on your CV.</p>
<p>SCOM 2012 is slowly starting to drum up some news, and I came across a Microsoft blog with notes on deploying SCOM 2012 quicky. I am sticking it on here for safe keeping, so I can refer back to it once the new SCOM gets the green light and enters the RTM phase.</p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/archive/2011/07/26/deploying-opsmgr-2012-a-quick-start-guide.aspx">http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/archive/2011/07/26/deploying-opsmgr-2012-a-quick-start-guide.aspx</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Installation Procedure for SharePoint 2010 SP1</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/installation-procedure-for-sharepoint-2010-sp1/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/installation-procedure-for-sharepoint-2010-sp1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 31 Jul 2011 17:17:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cumulative Updates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SharePoint]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SP1]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=971</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Service Pack 1 for SharePoint 2010 is a welcome relief to resolve a number of issues as well as add a number of new features. Office Web Apps SP1 also [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Service Pack 1 for SharePoint 2010 is a welcome relief to resolve a number of issues as well as add a number of new features. Office Web Apps SP1 also looks to bring enhancements and stability.</p>
<p>The real nightmare behind SP1 was a very quick release of June 2011 Cumulative Update to resolve FIM issues in SP1, and there were bugs in the update that required it to be re-released &#8211; all but making the SP1 deployment process something from a Stephen King novel.</p>
<p>I have done a fair amount of reading online, both from Microsoft and SharePoint MVPs, I have also done my own amount of testing on replica environments of our live system. Taking in to account my own experience with SharePoint, I will be following this process to update my 3 tier farm (1 Web Front End Server, 1 Application Server, 3 SQL Server in a mirror with a witness):</p>
<p><strong>Create backups and test their restore to a test farm</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Run a full SharePoint 2010 backup</li>
<li>Run a full SQL Server backup of all databases</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Stop any services that could interrupt the install process:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Disable SQL Server Maintenance plan that runs every 30 minutes to backup the transaction log for all databases</li>
<li>Stop the Search Service Incremental Index crawler</li>
</ul>
<div>
<p><strong>Run the installs on the Web Front End Server:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Install SharePoint 2010 Foundation SP1</li>
<li>Install SharePoint 2010 Server SP1</li>
<li>Install Office Web Apps SP1</li>
<li>Reboot the Server</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><strong>Run the installs on the Application Server:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Install SharePoint 2010 Foundation SP1</li>
<li>Install SharePoint 2010 Server SP1</li>
<li>Install Office Web Apps SP1</li>
<li>Reboot the Server</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>We need to ensure all the databases are updated to the same version as the installed binaries:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Run the SharePoint 2010 Product Configuration Wizard on the Application Server</li>
<li>Run the SharePoint 2010 Product Configuration Wizard on the Web Front End Server</li>
</ul>
<div>
<p><strong>Run the installs on the Web Front End Server:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Install SharePoint 2010 Foundation June 2011 Cumulative Update</li>
<li>Install SharePoint 2010 Server June 2011 Cumulative Update</li>
<li>Reboot the Server</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><strong>Run the installs on the Application Server:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Install SharePoint 2010 Foundation June 2011 Cumulative Update</li>
<li>Install SharePoint 2010 Server June 2011 Cumulative Update</li>
<li>Reboot the Server</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>We need to ensure all the databases are updated to the same version as the installed binaries:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Run the SharePoint 2010 Product Configuration Wizard on the Application Server</li>
<li>Run the SharePoint 2010 Product Configuration Wizard on the Web Front End Server</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Final Reboot</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>I found that I needed to do a reboot on my second set of testing as the UPS wouldn&#8217;t run as it thought it the server was in a shutting down state</li>
<li>It did have to do this a few days on the first set of testing I did</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>If you have the User Profile Service running, I think I read somewhere that you need to restart it:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Open Central Administration, and go to Manage Services on this Server</li>
<li>If the User Profile Synchronization Service is running, select Stop</li>
<li>Start the User Profile Synchronization Service, providing your Farm Admin credentials</li>
<li>Close Central Administration</li>
<li>Run IISReset from a Command Prompt</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Assuming all the installs and wizards have run successfully, I would recommend rerunning your backups:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Run a full SharePoint 2010 backup</li>
<li>Run a full SQL Server backup of all databases</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>With successful backups, you can re-enable your services:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Enable SQL Server Maintenance plan that runs every 30 minutes to backup the transaction log for all databases</li>
<li>Start the Search Service Incremental Index crawler</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Run a UPS full sync:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Run a UPS full sync, as I started to get Event ID 5555 errors. This <a href="http://seth.killey.me/" target="_blank">blog post</a> refers to some stsadm commands to run, however I found that a full sync cleaned up the errors for me</li>
</ul>
<p>Check Upgrade status:</p>
<ul>
<li>I won&#8217;t print out all the checks to run, as you can verify your update success via this <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc424972.aspx" target="_blank">Microsoft Technet article</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> <del>When you run the installs, somewhere along the line (probably SP1), the CEIP Data Collection Timer Job is enabled. This can kick up errors if it wasn&#8217;t previosuly enabled due to DCOM permissions. You will need to go to Central Administration, then under Monitoring and select Job Definitions to find CEIP Data Collection, and to Disable it if you continue in not wanting to send SharePoint reports off to Microsoft.</del> I found that CEIP had been enabled on the SharePoint Central Administration Web Application, so under Manage Web Applications in Central Administration, select the Central Administration Web Application and select General Settings and at very bottom of the list, you can turn off CEIP without having to disable the Timer job. I also noticed that I hadn&#8217;t set the Time Zone and was wondering why (all of a sudden), the UPS log file showed the import results 2 hours behind the current time here in Cape Town.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> I wouldn&#8217;t run any backups after the SP1 installations if you intend to apply the Cumulative Updates straight after &#8211; it seems to cause a little mess with the UPS (as the backups stop the UPS services and restarts them and the backup failed).</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> According to this <a href="http://sharepointsolutions.com/sharepoint-help/blog/2011/07/a-few-notes-on-sharepoint-2010-service-pack-1-and-the-june-cumulative-update/">blog post</a>, the user runs the updates on the Web Front End first and then the Application servers &#8211; I was going to do it the other way round, but have updated by order above to conform with theirs.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> This <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff806338.aspx" target="_blank">Microsoft Technet article</a> also recommends upgrading your Web Front End servers first. It also confirms that you should run the SharePoint 2010 Product Configuration Wizard on the Application Servers first, then the Web Front End servers.</p>
<p>The above blog post also provides at the very least a base checklist of items to test after SP1 and the Cumulative Update are applied:</p>
<ol>
<li><em>Edit and View Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote documents in the browser</em></li>
<li><em>View My Sites</em></li>
<li><em>Test User Profile Synchronization</em></li>
<li><em>Tag Pages and check for tags in Newsfeed</em></li>
<li><em>View a Visio Web Access Drawing in the Browser</em></li>
<li><em>Work in an Access Web Database site</em></li>
<li><em>Add an obscure word to a page or document, do an incremental search crawl, and search for the word</em></li>
<li><em>Add terms and/or term sets to the Managed Metadata store</em></li>
<li><em>View Reporting Services Reports (or Access Web Database Reports)</em></li>
</ol>
<p><del>Depending on how successful the above went, how clean your Event Logs are, and generally how brave you are, you can now install the June 2011 Cumulative Update following the same process as above &#8211; backup, install the Foundation update followed by the Server update, reboot, run PSConfig, re-provision the User Profile Service, backup and then re-enabled disabled services.</del></p>
<p><del>Microsoft seem to recommend installing the SP1 and Cumulative Update at the same time &#8211; I would prefer to get a stable backup in between the installation of the updates so if something fails, you only have to go back halfway and not end up starting from the very beginning.</del></p>
<p>My advice is do this on a weekend, preferably a Saturday if you can, then you have an extra day in case something goes wrong. Secondly. you won&#8217;t be rushed if doing this on a weekday. I will be doing mine next weekend as long as no mishaps show up between now and then. I will let you know if I go with the Cumulative Update.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> Since applying the updates, SharePoint does seem snappier and more stable - I havent tested Google Chrome support but I have played with Sub Site Recycle Bin restores and that works aplomb!</p>
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		<item>
		<title>National Lottery Numbers</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/national-lottery-numbers/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/national-lottery-numbers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 30 Jul 2011 21:38:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lucky Numbers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[National Lottery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Star Sign]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=968</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I don&#8217;t follow star signs religiously or have a major belief in them, but there are coincidences between the stereotype personalities of each sign. Each star sign has its own [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I don&#8217;t follow star signs religiously or have a major belief in them, but there are coincidences between the stereotype personalities of each sign.</p>
<p>Each star sign has its own set of lucky numbers, and my Capricorn numbers are used for a weekly play on the National Lottery, here they are for safe keeping:</p>
<blockquote><p>08 17 23 26 35 44</p></blockquote>
<p>&#8230;a nice even spread across the board. Fingers crossed.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Heavy Chef: Rich Mulholland</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/heavy-chef-rich-mulholland/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/heavy-chef-rich-mulholland/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 30 Jul 2011 21:34:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rich Mulholland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Heavy Chef Project]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=966</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I love this guy, and we seem to share the same way of thinking. It was only the other day that I had a similiar discussion with a guy at [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><object width="640" height="390" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DpRb99FN4VM&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;version=3" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed width="640" height="390" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DpRb99FN4VM&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;version=3" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" /></object></p>
<p>I love this guy, and we seem to share the same way of thinking. It was only the other day that I had a similiar discussion with a guy at work about how there needs to be some sort of underlying authentication system that ties all the social networks together, whereby the user decides what personal information is available to networks/businesses &#8211; Rich&#8217;s point is about how it would benefit us in a social context.</p>
<p>The problem is, who runs this? Who is trusted to run this? Can we feel safe that all of our personal information is centralised in one place? Sony shows they can&#8217;t be trusted after their PlayStation Network was hacked. Can Google be trusted, especially when all that information will be indexed by them (i.e. how they scanned people&#8217;s emails in Gmail and provided ads based on the content of the emails, or pretty much why they started Google+).</p>
<p>ID Cards in the UK was a very touchy subject with regards to trust and Government-managed projects. Can we trust 3rd party systems anymore that Government systems?</p>
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		<title>Linux Integration Services 3.1 for Hyper-V</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/linux-integration-services-3-1-for-hyper-v/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/linux-integration-services-3-1-for-hyper-v/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:28:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CentOS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hyper-V]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Integration Components]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Linux]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtualisation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=962</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For all my skeptism for Twitter, I did come across this announcement on Twitter: the release of Linux Integration Services 3.1 for Hyper-V. The updates primarily add support for: Red [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For all my skeptism for Twitter, I did come across this announcement on Twitter: the release of <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26837">Linux Integration Services 3.1 for Hyper-V</a>.</p>
<p>The updates primarily add support for:</p>
<ul>
<li>Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.0 and 6.1 x86 and x64 (Up to 4 vCPU)</li>
<li>CentOS 6.0 x86 and x64 (Up to 4 vCPU)</li>
</ul>
<p>The features of V3.1 of the Linux Integration Services are:</p>
<ul>
<li>“Driver support: Linux Integration Services supports the network controller and the IDE and SCSI storage controllers that were developed specifically for Hyper-V.</li>
<li>Fastpath Boot Support for Hyper-V: Boot devices now take advantage of the block Virtualization Service Client (VSC) to provide enhanced performance.</li>
<li>Timesync: The clock inside the virtual machine will remain synchronized with the clock on the virtualization server with the help of the pluggable time source device.</li>
<li>Integrated Shutdown: Virtual machines running Linux can be shut down from either Hyper-V Manager or System Center Virtual Machine Manager by using the “Shut Down” command.</li>
<li>Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) Support: Supported Linux distributions can use up to 4 virtual processors (VP) per virtual machine.  SMP support is not available for 32-bit Linux guest operating systems running on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V or Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008.</li>
<li>Heartbeat: Allows the virtualization server to detect whether the virtual machine is running and responsive.</li>
<li>KVP (Key Value Pair) Exchange: Information about the running Linux virtual machine can be obtained by using the Key Value Pair exchange functionality on the Windows Server 2008 virtualization server”.</li>
</ul>
<p>&#8230;and something else that I have long wished for&#8230;the ability to install the drivers using rpm! No more Perl scripts to run! The benefit of this (I think?) is that it should allow a far easier deployment of Linux VMs.</p>
<p>There is a PDF ReadMe to accompany the installer (containing an ISO of the drivers), that has details on how to do the install. It mentions how Linux VMs must have static MAC addresses set in the VM settings for each NIC if used in a Hyper-V cluster, because of the way Linux handles MAC addresses. From a automation perspective, this could be an issue &#8211; certainly something I need to look in to.</p>
<p>I am glad this came out now, as I wanted to build a CentOS VM to act as a proxy/firewall, and was going to use CentOS v6.0 x64, but reverted back to v5.6 because the 2.1 version of the Integration Components wasn&#8217;t supported.</p>
<p>I am very encouraged by the speed at which these drivers came out, as CentOS v6.0 was realised only a few weeks ago, so this is very promising. I think the next step for Microsoft is to get the drivers built in to the OS, much like Ubuntu. I did an Ubuntu 11.04 install yesterday on Hyper-V, and enabling the drivers is done by simply adding four lines of code to a file and running an update command afterwards!</p>
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		<item>
		<title>SharePoint is&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/sharepoint-is/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/sharepoint-is/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 24 Jul 2011 21:20:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Visual]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SharePoint]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=957</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have been catching up on my blog reading, and came across this post with had the image below &#8211; and it is far too engaging to not share!]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have been catching up on my blog reading, and came across <a href="http://www.sharepointedutech.com/2011/07/16/image-contest-sharepoint-2010-is/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Sharepointedutech+%28SharePointEduTech%29" target="_blank">this post</a> with had the image below &#8211; and it is far too engaging to not share!</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-06-24-ImageContest-01.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-958" title="SharePoint is..." src="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-06-24-ImageContest-01.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="397" /></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>Replacing Custom Intranets &amp; Extranets with SharePoint</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/replacing-custom-intranets-extranets-with-sharepoint/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/replacing-custom-intranets-extranets-with-sharepoint/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 24 Jul 2011 20:37:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Extranet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Intranet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SATS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SharePoint]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=951</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Although residing in Cape Town, I am the IT Manager for Special Ambulance Transfer Service (SATS). The website will give a better synopsis of what they do: Special Ambulance Transfer [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Although residing in Cape Town, I am the IT Manager for <a href="http://www.sats.uk.com" target="_blank">Special Ambulance Transfer Service (SATS)</a>. The website will give a better synopsis of what they do:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>Special Ambulance Transfer Service Ltd (SATS) provide a comprehensive critical </em><em>care service to both the public and private health sectors. We can provide fully </em><em>equipped mobile &#8220;ITU&#8221; units, with highly trained and appropriate staff, 24 hours </em><em>a day, to anywhere in the UK mainland and Europe.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Since day one, I have provided all their IT needs, from the logo design to the office network. I have developed two hosted systems for SATS, a <a href="http://www.sats.uk.com" target="_blank">website</a> and an <a href="http://portal.sats.uk.com" target="_blank">extranet</a>. Both systems are custom ASP applications, built on the .NET 2.0 Framework. The website fulfils the usual business criteria, but it makes use of AJAX to provide dynamic forms for <a href="http://booking.sats.uk.com" target="_blank">transfer</a> and <a href="http://sats.uk.com/eventcover" target="_blank">event booking</a> with NHS hospitals and private clients; it even has a fancy recruitment application form which I am very proud of.</p>
<p>The Extranet was a much bigger project and was also a real nightmare at times. It offers User Profile accounts to each staff member, as well as access to all company policies, forms, and training documents. It allows management to post Staff Announcements via email to all staff members as well as write <a href="http://www.sats.uk.com/company_news.aspx" target="_blank">Company News</a> articles for the website.</p>
<p>The advanced part of the Extranet is the online management of the transfer and event bookings. As bookings are made, managers can dynamically update the status and details of each booking, i.e. time of crew dispatch, arrivals and finishes. This information is then able to give managers a daily/weekly/monthly assessment of the jobs and their types that the company does. This level of reporting can then be passed back to the individual hospitals that SATS work with, so that they can review the jobs being done.</p>
<p>The Extranet does have a social aspect with a simple custom Message Board, however it is quite primitive and not of much use.</p>
<p>The Extranet is one of those projects that just will never end and the cost of custom work is always an issue when reviewing the list of the latest changes, additions and bug fixes.</p>
<p>The past six months has seen me work extensively on SharePoint 2010 Enterprise, and I have been able to work on a number of its features that are beginning to make me wonder whether it is time to scrap the Extranet and rather migrate it to a SharePoint farm.</p>
<p>The idea would be to create an Intranet, and extend it to an Extranet. SATS do not currently make use of SharePoint internally for their document management, which is something I have always wanted to get round to doing, as it would allow us to scrap endless duplicate files and structured spread sheets that can be turned in to lists. It would also allow the company to allow document access to off site workers without the need to send out emails with attachments (and running the risk of increasing document duplication).</p>
<p>The Extranet does a lot of document management that is duplicated from the office network (files exported to PDF and uploaded to the Extranet), so by extending the Intranet online, it would allow office workers to publish documents instead of waiting for me to do it (which involves creating the PDFs, uploading them to the web server and manually inserting HTML). The permissions on the Extranet are not as granular as I would like, so tying in AD user accounts would enable a much finer permissions structure, which can be managed by the office workers themselves.</p>
<p>By utilising the Business Connectivity Service (BCS) in SharePoint, I can use InfoPath forms and lists to allow the managers to work on the Transfer booking data, and then use PerformancePoint to create dashboards based on the data and publish them to managers and clients.</p>
<p>The Portal may need to remain around for some tasks such as Staff Announcements, however I could use the site Announcements and Alert Me feature to get around this. I can integrate the updating of Company News in SharePoint too.</p>
<p>I think the most important point to consider here, is cost. Extranet development is a costly exercise both financially and in time. Developing new features requires my time to design and build them. They are also limited by budget constraints. Time is also an issue by the amount of manual work I currently do updating the data on the Extranet; work which can be automated or done by office workers. By migrating to SharePoint, we would essentially be able to offload the development time and cost on to Microsoft, and that would allow me to apply my time to more useful projects over repetitive exercises.</p>
<p>The more I think about it, the more I really want to get cracking on my current SharePoint project so that I can learn as much as possible and take this information back to SATS. SharePoint is a user-managed tool and that&#8217;s exactly what SATS need. I have Lync 2010 on my project roadmap as well, and this will be something I really want to see how I can integrate at SATS as communication is a big part of their business.</p>
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		<title>Building a Redundant Web Farm</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/building-a-redundant-web-farm/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/building-a-redundant-web-farm/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 24 Jul 2011 16:08:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DFS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IIS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shared Storage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Farm]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=945</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I am working on a Windows Shared Hosting project at the moment, utilising WebsitePanel in a redundant IIS web farm configuration to load balance the application processing as well as [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I am working on a Windows Shared Hosting project at the moment, utilising WebsitePanel in a redundant IIS web farm configuration to load balance the application processing as well as make the configs and content redundant.</p>
<p>I have <a title="IIS 7.5 with ARR and Shared Config Web Servers UPDATE" href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/05/iis-7-5-with-arr-and-shared-config-web-servers-update/">written</a> about it a little so far, but came across <a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/owscott">Scott Forsyth&#8217;s blog</a> yesterday which I wish I had found these videos earlier! They pretty much cover everything I have learnt so far, but also go in to storage replication with DFS (which I was going to use a horrible robocopy script to do) and more details on how everything works.</p>
<p>I will only be posting the videos most useful for me, but you can view the whole series on <a href="http://dotnetslackers.com/community/members/scottforsyth.aspx">dotnetslackers.com</a>, or via his <a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/owscott">blog</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Securing IIS. Thwarting the Hacker (Week 23)</strong></p>
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/imDc6GM1GcA" frameborder="0" width="640" height="390"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Why You Shouldn’t Use Web Gardens in IIS (Week 24)</strong></p>
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9bOTesCnszo" frameborder="0" width="640" height="390"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>How to Setup an Active Directory Domain (Week 26)</strong></p>
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YHJK1vMCs9A" frameborder="0" width="640" height="390"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>DFS-R for Web Server Replication (Week 27)</strong></p>
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DYfBoUt2RVE" frameborder="0" width="640" height="390"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>IIS 7.x Shared Configuration – Advanced Tips and Tricks (Week 29)</strong></p>
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CYKDbrqY6MA" frameborder="0" width="640" height="390"></iframe></p>
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		<title>The Facebook Book</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/the-facebook-book/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/the-facebook-book/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 24 Jul 2011 14:09:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Visual]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Book]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=941</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I did write in the past about a business idea that allowed people to have their Facebook profiles turned in to a book&#8230;well it seems that someone has beaten me [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I did write in the past about <a title="When Facebook Becomes a Book" href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/04/when-facebook-becomes-a-book/">a business idea</a> that allowed people to have their Facebook profiles turned in to a book&#8230;well it seems that someone has beaten me to it!</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/facebook-book.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-942" title="The Facebook Book" src="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/facebook-book.png" alt="" width="600" height="401" /></a></p>
<p>Jason Dunn at <a href="http://www.digitalhomethoughts.com/news/show/113158/egobook-your-facebook-history-in-book-form.html" target="_blank">DigitialHomeThoughts.com</a> had one printed, and to be honest, it looks pretty tacky. It is such a great idea, however it do think it needs a little work. I suppose I could do Twitter instead, although that doesn&#8217;t have the same collage of images in it &#8211; however it would mean that it wouldn&#8217;t allow someone to give access to their account so you could do it as a gift.</p>
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		<title>theSpoke Archive: Get Off My Lazy Backside!!</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/thespoke-archive-get-off-my-lazy-backside/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/thespoke-archive-get-off-my-lazy-backside/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Jul 2011 20:34:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inspiring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[theSpoke]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=934</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I must admit that I haven&#8217;t been my usual productive self these past few weeks. I have certainly been busy, but I don&#8217;t think I am the smartest worker and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-172" title="theSpoke Archive" src="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/archive.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" />I must admit that I haven&#8217;t been my usual productive self these past few weeks. I have certainly been busy, but I don&#8217;t think I am the smartest worker and thus things tend to take a little longer than usual. However, a lot of time is put in to research and planning and I don&#8217;t make big cock-ups all that often (&#8230;but they do happen every now and again).</p>
<p>This did remind me of a post all from six years ago, where I did seem to be in a similar rut whilst finishing off my Masters at university. These ruts do come round and seem to be be quite seasonal, so it could just be related to winter coming in. As you can probably see from the churn of posts this past week, I am slowly getting back on top of things and getting stuff in order &#8211; just need to learn to work smarter.</p>
<blockquote><p><em><strong>Get Off My Lazy Backside!!</strong> (08/05/2005)</em></p>
<p><em>I was supposed to write a blog to celebrate passing 1000 reads for my blog, but I even got too lazy/busy to do that!</em></p>
<p><em>Having two jobs whilst trying to study for a Masters can be a little tricky &#8211; seeing as postgraduate students do not get Student Loans so all the money I can get between lectures is very useful.</em></p>
<p><em>I have now finished all my lectures for the year, I handed in a bit of group coursework on Friday, and now have to prepare for a group presentation next week then the report the following week &#8211; been trying to get some research done but was working last night and decided to crash in front of the TV and watch a double episode of Enterprise&#8230;the one show that is slightly cool to watch Star Trek!</em></p>
<p><em>I am even writing a blog to avoid work, plus my room needs a clean, tidy the contents of my wallet, fix my glasses, do the washing, some ironing too, so many distractions its untrue!</em></p>
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		<title>Microsoft Tulalip Social Network</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/microsoft-tulalip-social-network/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/microsoft-tulalip-social-network/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Jul 2011 13:32:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Network]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tulalip]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=930</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was pointed to this article but someone I follow on Twitter, noting a recent mistake by a Microsoft research department that accidently posted a screenshot of possible future social [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I was pointed to <a href="http://venturebeat.com/2011/07/14/microsoft-social-project-tulalip/" target="_blank">this article</a> but someone I follow on Twitter, noting a recent mistake by a Microsoft research department that accidently posted a screenshot of possible future social network of some kind.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/tulalip.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-931" title="Microsoft Tulalip Social Network" src="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/tulalip-600x357.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="357" /></a></p>
<p>Some people may look at this and cringe, thinking &#8220;<em>oh no, not another network to join, I have just had to set up Google+!</em>&#8220;, however I don&#8217;t think that is the case here. Microsoft did try their hand at all this, with Windows Live and it failed; and did the right thing by integrating all of the applications in to Facebook and WordPress &#8211; Windows Phone 7 also has heavy Facebook and Twitter integration and I am sure that will continue in to Windows 8/Windows Phone 8.</p>
<p>Back to Tulalip, I think this is a Windows Live upgrade that will pull in your Windows Live account, Messenger/Live chat, Hotmail, Facebook, Twitter, and Xbox Live; a sort of dashboard as it were. Microsoft has a small stake in Facebook and seems to pushes it where ever it can, with Facebook only to happy to reciprocate. A dashboard to control them all &#8211; and I really hope it is.</p>
<p>The screenshot has some mention of searching, so Bing will definately be in there too, and sharing will expand to Windows Live Mesh &#8211; I use it to sync my Favorites list across multiple devices and it works very nicely.</p>
<p>I was actually ranting about this last week: I don&#8217;t want to use a different portal, website or device to update my profiles, I want one place that does it all. This is one of the reasons why I love TweetDeck. I can use it to update my Facebook and Twitter account in once place, and I have tied my Windows Live account to Facebook so that get&#8217;s updated also. I think Google will also be looking to do this, more than likely to help transition people from Facebook over to Google+ &#8211; a migration of sorts, or at least people use Google+ to manage both profiles.</p>
<p>A lot of people also forget that Microsoft already has a social network platform: Xbox Live. This has actually been around much longer than Facebook and seems to be pretty successful, so much so that Microsoft are tying Xbox Live in to all new consumer-based products, and expanding it from games, to music (read: Zune) and video (read: hosted Netflix/Hulu). I read rumours that Microsoft will be making Xbox games compatible for Windows 8 PCs, and they have already released an SDK for Kinect to make it PC-compatible. This also fits in to the Windows 8 across all devices mantra.</p>
<p>Well that was an enjoyable brain-fart dump.</p>
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		<title>London Underground Birds Eye View</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/london-underground-birds-eye-view/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/london-underground-birds-eye-view/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Jul 2011 13:02:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Visual]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[London]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Poster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Underground]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=924</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have come across previously cool posters of London Underground interpretations, and the Underground map can be a true source of inspiration based on the colour, station names, layout and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-243" title="London Underground Birds Eye View" src="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/londonunderground.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" />I have come across <a title="Cape Town on the Underground" href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/02/cape-town-on-the-underground/">previously cool posters</a> of London Underground interpretations, and the Underground map can be a true source of inspiration based on the colour, station names, layout and just general excitement London can generate.</p>
<p>Growing up in London, I never really had a true grasp of where anything was physically, and my general consensus of the layout was based on the Underground map. The map however doesn&#8217;t give a true reflection of how far the stations are from in each other and there true layout on the city of London, until now&#8230;.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/London-tubemap.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-926" title="London Underground Birds Eye View" src="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/London-tubemap-600x411.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="411" /></a></p>
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		<title>Things to Buy: Star Wars: The Blueprints</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/things-to-buy-star-wars-the-blueprints/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/things-to-buy-star-wars-the-blueprints/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Jul 2011 12:52:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Visual]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Star Wars]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Things to Buy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=921</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have been on another Star Wars bender this past few weeks; I had a sudden urge to watch Star Wars, so I just did. Spent three nights in a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have been on another Star Wars bender this past few weeks; I had a sudden urge to watch Star Wars, so I just did. Spent three nights in a row watching the first three movies and will now finish off the last originals/last three this weekend.</p>
<p>Watching the Phantom Menace again, Jar Jar Binks didn&#8217;t seem so annoying this time&#8230;</p>
<p>In all my Galactic Empire excitement, I randomly came across this gem of an item and will sell body parts to get it!</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/HOMEmodel_2_crop1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-922" title="Things to Buy: Star Wars: The Blueprints" src="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/HOMEmodel_2_crop1-600x292.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="292" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.theblueprintsbook.com/" target="_blank">Star Wars: The Blueprints</a> is:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8230;the original blueprints created for the filming of the Star Wars Saga. Drawn from deep within the Lucasfilm Archives and combined with exhaustive and insightful commentary from best-selling author J. W.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>This is a limited edition book, selling for $450.00, with only 5000 copies being made. Financially, I am behaving myself at the moment to clear every debt in my name and finally be in credit since Day One of being a student &#8211; but this seems too good an opportunity to pass up on.</p>
<p>Excitement and disappointment in one is an exhausting way to live.</p>
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		<title>Cool Video Saturday</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/cool-video-saturday/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/07/cool-video-saturday/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Jul 2011 12:44:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Visual]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inspiring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=919</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Random selection of cool videos to gaze over on a bizarrely beautiful day in a supposedly winter Cape Town. Social Media Revolution (an animated infographic on the current impact social [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Random selection of cool videos to gaze over on a bizarrely beautiful day in a supposedly winter Cape Town.</p>
<p><strong>Social Media Revolution</strong> (an animated infographic on the current impact social media has on the world)</p>
<p><object style="width: 640px; height: 390px;" width="640" height="390" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/x0EnhXn5boM?version=3" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed style="width: 640px; height: 390px;" width="640" height="390" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/x0EnhXn5boM?version=3" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" /></object></p>
<p><strong>Interview with Derek Sivers</strong></p>
<p><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/25098472?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0" frameborder="0" width="400" height="150"></iframe></p>
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		<title>Building A Hyper-V Cluster On The Cheap</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/06/building-a-hyper-v-cluster-on-the-cheap/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/06/building-a-hyper-v-cluster-on-the-cheap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 2011 21:53:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Failover Clusters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hyper-V]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iSCSI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SAN]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shared Storage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=893</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I don&#8217;t intend to re-invent the wheel with this post, nor do I quite have the expertise of others to provide a real detailed step-by-step guide (not yet anyway, but [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I don&#8217;t intend to re-invent the wheel with this post, nor do I quite have the expertise of others to provide a real detailed step-by-step guide (not yet anyway, but I am working on it!).</p>
<p>To help me as well, I am going to use this page to dump a whole lot of links and resources on how to deploy Hyper-V hosts in to a cluster, with a mixture of shared storage options.</p>
<p>The point of this article and it&#8217;s links is to provide information to either lab setups or startups that can&#8217;t afford a few Dell R710 servers, EMC storage and Cisco switches.  The info below should help lay out basic architecture design, and simple setups as well as some basic principles that can be applied to increase performance.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.petri.co.il/2008-failover-clustering-and-san.htm?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Petri+%28Petri+IT+Knowledgebase%29#" target="_blank">Utilizing SAN Storage with Windows Failover Clusters</a></p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro/archive/2011/04/07/all-for-san-and-san-for-all.aspx" target="_blank">All for SAN and SAN for All</a></p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro/archive/2011/04/12/creating-a-san-using-microsoft-iscsi-software-target-3-3.aspx#comments" target="_blank">Creating a SAN using Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3</a></p>
<p><a title="Permalink to: Rough Guide To Setting Up A Hyper-V Cluster" href="http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=10311" rel="bookmark">Rough Guide To Setting Up A Hyper-V Cluster</a></p>
<div><a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732181(WS.10).aspx#BKMK_Connect">Hyper-V: Using Hyper-V and Failover Clustering</a></div>
<p><a href="http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=11164" target="_blank">How to Build a Hyper-V Cluster Using the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target v3.3</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=11208" target="_blank">UPDATED: How to Build a Hyper-V Cluster Using the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target v3.3</a></p>
<p><a title="Permalink to: Hyper-V Cluster: Be Careful With Your Protocol Bindings" href="http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=11029" rel="bookmark">Hyper-V Cluster: Be Careful With Your Protocol Bindings</a></p>
<p>To be honest, just follow this blog: <a href="http://www.aidanfinn.com/">http://www.aidanfinn.com/</a>!</p>
<p>I will also try and get some other links up regarding the use of other SAN software such as Solarwinds and Openfiler when I get a chance.</p>
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		<title>The Most Powerful Colors in the World</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/06/the-most-powerful-colors-in-the-world/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/06/the-most-powerful-colors-in-the-world/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 2011 21:37:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Visual]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[colour]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[demonGREEN]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Favicon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[logos]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=885</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is an old article from Colour Lovers; old being 10 month, but I have only got round to reading it now. The article looked at the colors in brands [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is an old article from <a href="http://www.colourlovers.com/business/blog/2010/09/15/the-most-powerful-colors-in-the-world" target="_blank">Colour Lovers</a>; old being 10 month, but I have only got round to reading it now. The article looked at the colors in brands from the top 100 websites, and analyzed them; producing some excellent graphics along the way.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/most-powerful-web-colors.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-888" title="The Most Powerful Colors in the World" src="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/most-powerful-web-colors-423x1024.jpg" alt="" width="423" height="1024" /></a></p>
<p>You will instantly notice the popularity of the colours red and blue, which I assume are designed to have some impact on the end user. I certainly get the use of red, to enforce and a sense of dynamism, excitement and energy. I guess the blue epitomises a more passive, and relaxed approach to the service of the website- you could certainly look at Facebook in this way (&#8230;despite Mark Zuckerberg&#8217;s admission of colour blindness). Thoughts?</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Icons-of-the-Web.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-889" title="The Most Powerful Colors in the World" src="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Icons-of-the-Web.jpg" alt="" width="588" height="588" /></a><a href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/colorsofcorporate2.jpg"></a></p>
<p>The image above is a representation of website favicons, which is also very heavy on the reds and blues. I love favicons, and it used to drive me nuts that IE6 was very fragile when it came to detecting and displaying favicons. They just add such a simple, yet effective aesthetic pleasure to browsing. It is another way for a website to advertise its brand, as well as provide a new avenue of design in a 16px x 16px graphic.</p>
<p>I noticed straightaway that there is very little green in the graphics above; hope for demonGREEN yet&#8230;although BP certainly hasn&#8217;t done the colour any justice recently!</p>
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		<title>Tokyo Time Lapse Video</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/06/tokyo-time-lapse-video/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/06/tokyo-time-lapse-video/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 2011 17:27:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Visual]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Time Lapse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tokyo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=881</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Another piece of visual art from Joshspear.com, and another time lapse video to compliment others that I have posted. The latest time lapse is Tokyo city. The video doesn&#8217;t quite [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Another piece of visual art from <a href="http://joshspear.com/item/tokyo-in-timelapse/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+urbanspy+%28Josh+Spear%29" target="_blank">Joshspear.com</a>, and <a title="Cape Town &amp; New York City Time Lapse Videos" href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/02/cape-town-new-york-city-time-lapse-videos/" target="_blank">another time lapse video</a> to compliment others that I have posted.</p>
<p>The latest time lapse is Tokyo city. The video doesn&#8217;t quite have the same impact as the Cape Town video did, however the mix of music and timing of the cinematography is just awesome. A video of details.</p>
<p><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/14692378?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0" width="600" height="337" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The video is by posted on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>, by <a href="http://vimeo.com/14692378">inter // states</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1535794">Samuel Cockedey</a>. The photography is by <a href="http://samuelcockedey.com/">Samuel Cockedy</a> and music by <a href="http://woob.bandcamp.com/album/repurpose">Paul Frankland</a>.</p>
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		<title>Things to Buy: Vectorfunk Rorschach Posters</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/06/things-to-buy-vectorfunk-rorschach-posters/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/06/things-to-buy-vectorfunk-rorschach-posters/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 2011 13:24:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Visual]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Josh Spear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Poster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Things to Buy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=870</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have been an avid follower of Josh Spear whilst he was at Cool Hunting, and then spun of on his own. He always digs out of the coolest stuff, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have been an avid follower of Josh Spear whilst he was at Cool Hunting, and then spun of on his own. He always digs out of the coolest stuff, and the latest is <a href="http://mwmgraphics.blogspot.com/2011/01/vectorfunk-rorschach-posters.html" target="_blank">this series of prints</a> by Matt W. Moore, at <a href="http://mwmgraphics.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">MWM Graphics</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/MWM_Rorschach_1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-871" title="Things to Buy: Vectorfunk Rorschach Posters" src="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/MWM_Rorschach_1-600x600.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="600" /></a></p>
<blockquote><p><em>The graphics are inspired by classic Rorschach Tests (<a href="http://mwmgraphics.blogspot.com/2011/01/symmetry-series-preview-1.html">Learn More</a>) with hyper-colorful and psychedelic twists. The really fun part for me is that when asked &#8220;What do you see?&#8221; everyone has a different response.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Now Available in the <a href="http://mwmgraphics.com/2008_SHOP.html">MWM Graphics Online Shop</a>, the prints are produced on heavy stock, signed &amp; numbered (x/100), and shipped in sturdy tubes.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/MWM_Rorschach_2.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-872" title="Things to Buy: Vectorfunk Rorschach Posters" src="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/MWM_Rorschach_2-600x600.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="600" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/MWM_Rorschach_3.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-873" title="Things to Buy: Vectorfunk Rorschach Posters" src="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/MWM_Rorschach_3-600x600.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="600" /></a></p>
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		<title>Cool Video Sunday</title>
		<link>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/06/cool-video-sunday/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/06/cool-video-sunday/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 2011 12:47:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>demon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Visual]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPhone App]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Quirky]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/?p=864</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A collection of very cool videos to gaze over on this beautiful Sunday afternoon&#8230; The Quirky Manifesto (Manifestos have become a cool factor since Holstee&#8217;s, which has gone viral) Quirky [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A collection of very cool videos to gaze over on this beautiful Sunday afternoon&#8230;</p>
<p><strong>The Quirky Manifesto</strong> (Manifestos have become a cool factor since <a title="Things to Buy: Holstee Manifesto Poster" href="http://blog.demongreen.co.uk/2011/04/things-to-buy-holstee-manifesto-poster/">Holstee&#8217;s</a>, which has gone viral)</p>
<p><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/23382817?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0" width="600" height="337" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/23382817">Quirky Manifesto</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/quirky">Quirky</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<p><strong>The JamChain</strong></p>
<p><object style="height: 390px; width: 640px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_voojg6RKzs?version=3" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_voojg6RKzs?version=3" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></object></p>
<p><strong>Turf Geography Club</strong></p>
<p><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/22619803" width="600" height="255" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/22619803">Turf Geography Club</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/cosamas">Cosa Mas</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
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