The Falconic Code

The Authoritative Geek's Guide to the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 (AKA Inspiron 910) Running Vista

waynea — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 22:46:00 GMT

I recently bought one of the first-flight Dell Mini 9 laptops. This is my authoritative guide to the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 running Windows Vista Business edition. The hardware. The OS install. The first few weeks of running it. This thing is long but those considering a Dell Mini 9 and want to run Vista on it or want the deep technical stuff would be well advised to muddle through. The Legal Stuff As always in the legal environment we live in, lets get the legal stuff out...(read more)

Campaigning for a Stronger Dell Mini 9!

waynea — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:04:41 GMT

This campaign season, I too have a political platform: More Memory and a bigger SSD for the Dell Mini 9! Bigger batteries with More Power Available! Get out there and cast your vote for more power options, people! And a bigger battery, too!...(read more)

Gerstmann-gate Nearly a Year Later

waynea — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:17:12 GMT

In a conversation earlier today with a colleague, and one of my mentors, I came to think a little bit about the depth of harm that has really been done to the CNet / Gamespot reputation by Jeff Gerstmann’s firing. The evidence? Its nearly a year later (the original firing was in November 2007), and I am still thinking about it enough to be writing about it. For those unfamiliar with the controversy and the original events, I invite you to read through the Kotaku coverage on the subject....(read more)

Video Blog: Managing Virtual Networks in Hyper-V

waynea — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 07:57:13 GMT

This video blog runs about 5 minutes, 30 seconds and focuses on the management of virtual networks in Hyper-V through the Manage Virtual Networks panel. Among the settings covered include configuring various types of virtual networks on the Hyper-V hosts and the configurations settings which can be modified. This content is roughly level 100. http://tfc.wanderson.org/Managing_Virtual_Networks_in_HyperV/Managing_Virtual_Networks_in_HyperV.htm Falconic note: Community Server, the software...(read more)

Video Blog: Creating a Virtual Network in Hyper-V

waynea — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:10:45 GMT

This video blog runs about 5minutes and focuses on the creation of a virtual network in Hyper-V through the Manage Virtual Networks panel. Among the settings covered include building various types of virtual networks on the Hyper-V hosts and the configurations settings exposed. This content is roughly level 100. http://tfc.wanderson.org/Creating_a_Virtual_Network_in_HyperV/Creating_a_Virtual_Network_in_HyperV.htm Falconic note: Community Server, the software upon which this blog is hosted,...(read more)

Video Blog: Configuring Interface Settings in Hyper-V

waynea — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:55:55 GMT

This video blog runs about 7 minutes and focuses on the 'Hyper-V Settings' configuration panel in the Hyper-V Manager in Windows Server 2008. Among the settings covered include the default location for storage of VHD files and virtual machines, and user settings such as VMC keyboard shortcuts and setting the mouse release key combination. This content is roughly level 100. http://tfc.wanderson.org/Configuring_Interface_Settings_in_HyperV/Configuring_Interface_Settings_in_HyperV.htm Falconic...(read more)

Video Blog: Creating a Basic VM in Hyper-V

waynea — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:19:30 GMT

This video blog runs about 7 minutes and focuses on the wizard in Server Manager to create a basic Virtual Machine on Hyper-V. This demonstration progresses through the entire creation phase, including setting the name and storage location, selecting a virtual network, attaching a Virtual Hard Disk, and finalizing the Virtual Machine creation. This content is roughly level 100. http://tfc.wanderson.org/Creating_a_Basic_VM_in_HyperV/Creating_a_Basic_VM_in_HyperV.htm Falconic note: Community...(read more)

Video Blog: Creating a Virtual Hard Disk in HyperV

waynea — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:03:08 GMT

This video blog runs about 8 and a half minutes and focuses on the process to create a Virtual Hard Disk in Hyper-V which can then be assigned to a Virtual Machine. This demonstration completes the creation process for each of the primary types of disk in Hyper-V including Dynamically Expanding, Fixed Size, and Differencing virtual hard disks. This content is roughly level 100. http://tfc.wanderson.org/Creating_a_Virtual_Hard_Disk_in_HyperV/Creating_a_Virtual_Hard_Disk_in_HyperV.htm Falconic...(read more)

Video Blog: Base Controls of the Hyper-V VM

waynea — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 16:35:52 GMT

This video blog runs about 5 and a half minutes and focuses on the basic controls that an administrator can use to connect to and manipulate the operating state of a Hyper-V virtual machine (VM). This introduction examines the differences between the Turn Off and Shutdown functions as well as the operation of the Save and Pause functionality in Hyper-V. This content is roughly level 100. http://tfc.wanderson.org/Base_Controls_of_the_HyperV_VM/Base_Controls_of_the_HyperV_VM.htm...(read more)

Video Blog: Introduction to the Hyper-V Manager

waynea — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:29:04 GMT

This video blog runs about 5 and a half minutes and focuses on the general features of the top level of the Hyper-V Manager user interface in Windows Server 2008's Server Manager. This introduction takes a very basic look at the 5 major components of the interface, the general information which each provides, as well what that functionality allows an administrator to access to maintain the Hyper-V server and its virtual machines. This content is roughly level 100. http://tfc.wanderson.org/Intro_to_HyperV_Manager/Intro_to_HyperV_Manager.htm...(read more)

Video Blog: Introduction to the Hyper-V Role Display

waynea — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:04:01 GMT

This video blog runs about 7 minutes and focuses on the functions provided on the high-level "Hyper-V" role node in the Server Manager of Windows Server 2008. This includes the quick status information provided by the events display, using the events filter, looking at the services status, and a brief overview of the technical resources at the bottom of the Hyper-V role pane. This content is roughly level 100. http://tfc.wanderson.org/Intro_to_HyperV_Role_Display/Intro_to_HyperV_Role_Display.htm...(read more)

Video Blog: Introduction to Server Manager

waynea — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:58:00 GMT

This is actually my inaugural video blog, a concept I have been thinking about for a bit and playing around with these last few days. This first entry addresses the high-level concepts in using the Server Manager in Windows Server 2008. This is roughly level 100 content and introduces the interface. My concept is to start very basic with this concept and work my way into virtualization configurations from here. This first entry is much longer than I had originally intended, weighing...(read more)

The Sky has not yet Begun to Fall

waynea — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:24:48 GMT

Recently at Black Hat / DEFCON, a presentation was given which indicated that a couple of security researchers had found isolated ways around the Windows Vista stack of security features intended to protect against the buffer overflows and predictable memory address space attacks very common in the Windows XP days. This news, not surprisingly, was immediately seized upon by the uninformed technology media which soon started screaming that the sky was falling. This morning, a colleague of mine...(read more)

Open Wireless Connections Bite Retail.... AGAIN!

waynea — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:18:16 GMT

Some retail stores apparently either do not have a Chief Risk Officer or apparently pay them no heed at all. A while back I posted a security blog entry called A Year after TJX: Have we learned anything? According to the recent announcement from the department of Justice, the answer is an emphatic 'Not Hardly.' Lets look at some brief numbers. 11 people. 40 million credit card numbers. And the number I find most incredulous? This all happened over 5 years! The primary method...(read more)

Intersecting Security in a Hyper-V World

waynea — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:02:47 GMT

As the industry settles into a market where virtualization has major offerings from Microsoft, VMWare, and the Open Source communities, administrators and security engineers are beginning to grapple with the implications of virtualization on infrastructure security. Fortunately, virtualization is really nothing new. While the utility (and cost savings!) of infrastructure consolidation are being increasingly recognized every day, infrastructures constructed on virtualization and virtual...(read more)