Microsoft Groove....killer ap?

Sometimes we need to step away from a problem in order to find a better solution to the problem.

We are setting up a Groove Server to improve file collaboration among the staff. We have many laptops that depend on offline syncing of server-based files. The Groove sofware solves this problem by sending just the file changes to all Groove Workspace members automatically wheneverthe document is saved. the transmition of the changes is encrpted to all Workspace members. This is not sent by email. So everyone can see the latest changes...very cool. The Groove client software comes with Office 2007 Enterprise Edition.

Could this be a killer ap?

Research Project: Application Virtualization

I have just started to look at Microsoft's SoftGrid program for application virtualization. The prospect of saving tech time and improving our software management are too compelling to over look. We already have about 15 virtual servers running on two Dell servers. So why not try this with applications? I'll keep you posted as we venture out and test this product.

Managing your environment

We are now dependent on WUG (as we call it) for monitoring our network. Its like having another IT staff person monitoring our network while we do other projects. The old days are gone. We really like WUG and have only begun to tap into all the features. Now that we have a tool like this, we will never go back to the old ways. I believe managing your network environment is part of being a good steward of God's I.T. resources.

New SAN is working well

We purchased a Dell MD3000 iSCSI SAN with ten 400 SAS drives for tier1 storage to replace our old Dell DAS server. We also added the MD1000 SAS storage chassis for tier2 storage using 750 GB SATA drives. We have really liked the features, performance and quality of these products. Each chassis can hold 15 drives. We are using one dedicated hot spare drive in our tier1 storage with 2 TB RAID5 volumes.

We will be using Micosoft DPM to store snapshots of our tier1 storage on the MD1000 chassis. We can also add another MD1000 chassis to this solution when we run out of space.

Virtual servers are here to stay

We have made some significant changes to our server infrastructure, over the past few months, by hosting about 13 servers on two physical Dell 860 PowerEdge servers. And we are not done yet. We have about 15 more servers that will be vitualized over the next. We ae using Windows DataCenter Edition to host unlimited VM's per server. It's sweet! All of our storage is stored on our SAN (details in another post). We are already planning for 64bit Hyper-V later this year.

Anticipation?

Do you ever long for big complicated projects?

Neither do I. But there are many new technologies on our horizon that will forever shape our IT environment.

Our IT team is traveling next week to attend the Winconnections event to learn about .NET, Exchange 2007, Sharepoint, and Windows 2008. I'm excited about hearing about the new features, but not about all the implications in upgrading. We are at the threshold of converting over to a 64bit environment and we need to dramaticly improve collaboration on documents and projects. The next few years should be exciting, to say the least.

Remember the Team

I have been in many executive planning sessions lately which got me thinking about how valuable the IT team is to charting the course for a mega church. I am so thankful for our IT team of professionals (Nick , Derek, David, and Robert) that sacrifice working at the church. God has called them, at this time, to tackle some amazing technology projects.

My son plays on a good high school football team; each player using their talents to move the team down the field. That's what I'm experiencing now; our IT team is working together, marching down the field as God calls the plays. It's awesome!