MS Exchange tar pit feature switch ON

A couple weeks ago, Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for Exchange Server 2003. Typically, I wouldn't mention this type of news but the product does have a new SMTP 'tar-pitting' function against hackers. Too little, too late if you ask me...

"Boost your defenses with Microsoft Exchange Server Intelligent Message Filter and Sender ID. SP2 raises the bar in the antispam war. The latest Exchange Server Intelligent Message Filter incorporates checks against phishing scams and domain spoofing tactics."
"Gain more mobile e-mail security options.
Support for Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) message encryption and certificate-based authentication of mobile e-mail gives you more options for more securely handling your mobile e-mail."




security

what's it worth?

a recent calculation of your blog's worth using the same link to dollar ratio as the AOL-Weblogs Inc deal:

My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

Novell IDM solution tops InfoWorld review

Not that I'm biased but, recently Novell's Novell Identity Manager 2 product topped the InfoWorld Identity Challenge in the Oct.12 Issue. For a top down look, see the chart _here_.

This is a continuation of my earlier _posting_.




identity manageropen enterprise servernovellsuseedirectorylinuxdirxml

MS nixes VMware platform support for Windows

Seemingly, yesterday Microsoft announced it was dropping support for VMware GSX or ESX server.
Check A. Perilli's comments _here_.


virtualvmwarevirtualization

ZEN Asset and Patch Management demo after thoughts

in attending the ZEN Asset and Patch Management demo today, there were a few take-away thoughts:

-the Inventory & Asset Management Module does not rely on eDirectory
-the next version of Inventory & Asset Management should provide open source Linux database Server support

-The Patch Management Module (PatchLink) is an OEM product and does not integrate with the ZEN Suite
-The Patch Management Module (PatchLink) does not integrate with eDirectory
-The Patch Management Module (PatchLink) runs on a Windows Server




open enterprise servernovell susenetwarezenworkslinuxedirectory

discount for early GWAVACon registration by October 31st

The folks over at GWAVA are hosting their annual GWAVACon conference in Dallas/Plano Texas January 21-24,2006.
"Come join GWAVA and various GroupWise Partners at GWAVACon 2006. If you missed the GroupWise tour, you do not want to miss this opportunity to get hands on and up-to-date. Various speakers and vendors with expertise in GroupWise will join GWAVA to offer attendees the most up-to-date information regarding GroupWise 7. Various sessions will be held throughout the day on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, introducing you to the new GroupWise 7 client, web access and administration, as well as solutions for security, mobility, HIPAA compliance, email archiving, document management, and email auditing to name a few."
Go to dxmarket.com/beginfinite/products/GWAVACON.html to register today."




open enterprise servernovellgroupwisesusegwavacon

OES Insider Chat - Novell Cluster Services Oct.27

Interestedin the technical aspects of OES's Novell Cluster Services & looking to get questions asked? Attend the Upcoming OES Chat - Thursday, October 27 at 1 pm Eastern with Novell Distinguished Engineer Robert Wipfel. goto http://www.novell.com/oes/chat at start time in your time zone. (link will be functional starting Thursday morning).
"Engineering for your future
For me, the best part about working on NCS is knowing that we're engineering a truly enterprise-class cluster system that many customers depend on for services that are critical to their business. Not only do clusters provide high availability and simplified storage management, but clusters also virtualize the access to storage and network presence of hosted services; decoupling services from any particular physical server. We predict this trend will continue, and are very excited to be working on technology that will help customers simplify their deployment of NetWare and Linux in mission critical environments, while also creating the technology foundation for new Novell products in development."
"Features
Novell Cluster Services really is an industry leading product, in particular, I'm really excited about the development team's engineering work in support of the following features:

Pure NetWare, pure Linux or mixed clusters for online rolling conversion. Novell Cluster Services is built from a common code base for NetWare and Linux.
Rolling cluster conversion
If you want to convert your NetWare cluster to Linux, NCS supports a fully online, rolling cluster conversion, including automatic translation of cluster resource scripts (for virtual NCP servers and NSS Pools), that allows cluster resources to failover from NetWare to Linux, or from Linux to NetWare, while the cluster is running in production and supporting client access to NSS files.
Works with or without shared disks
Patented shared disk support includes multi-port SCSI, Fibre Channel, iSCSI and FireWire (e.g. for testing purposes).
Works with NSS on NetWare and Linux
NCS and NSS work together to support shareable for clustering disks and multiple server activation prevention (MSAP) - the industry's most advanced protection against mis-configured LUN masking in SAN storage arrays. Even if you mis configure SAN LUN masking to allow a server access that it shouldn't, OES software will prevent trouble.
Works with other Linux file systems too
If you want to cluster Samba on Ext3, no problem; NCS for Linux supports that too. Further, NCS (in OES sp2) doesn't require NSS modules to be loaded for applications that don't need enterprise workgroup file access semantics.
Works with NCP and CIFS
Whether mapping a drive letter to a NetWare or Linux cluster, using NCP or CIFS protocols, NCS provides (in most cases) transparent drive letter reconnect during failover (even in mixed NetWare / Linux clusters).
eDirectory enabled administration
We worked really hard to ensure the Linux cluster administration experience matched NetWare - iManager supports enterprise wide management for all of your clusters, and the (shell) command line interface is also an identical experience.
Scales to 32 nodes, hundreds of terabytes of storage
Novell's cluster, NSS and protocol server teams have worked together to ensure that OES Linux provides the same file system and protocol serving scalability and robustness as NetWare, for enterprise file and print services that customers know only Novell can provide.
Cluster-aware backup
Novell and its partners have pioneering the integration of clustering and backup services. Novell's backup solutions have adapted to the service oriented nature of cluster resources, allowing for backup of data no matter what server is hosting the virtualized file services, and even supports recovery should the cluster resource failover during a backup job. Another industry first notched up by NCS.
Cluster aware disk mirroring
Novell's management of host-based disk mirroring, whether for NetWare or Linux, uses disk-based checkpoints to record mirror status, and provides synchronized remirroring when disks are shared in a cluster. Cluster aware disk mirroring is a great feature for customers that want to replicate data to a remote location.
Simple and easy to setup and operate
Despite its advanced features, the engineering team takes great pride in engineering NCS to be simple to install, upgrade, setup and operate. We hope you think it's rocket science, but prefer to be excited when you forget it's even running."




open enterprise servernovell susenetwarelinuxclustering

Oct. TASK group monthly meeting _Wed.

The Toronto Area Security Klatch group meeting is Wednesday evening with a topic set on "Careers in IT Security". Presenters will come from the fields of IT Security Education, Communication & IT Security Recruiting.
If you're nearby downtown Toronto, it's highly recommended as a free to attend event. More info _here_.




security

Bob Young to Resign From Red Hat Board

For an unstated reason, Red Hat founder Bob Young resigned from their board. He's focusing on his earleir lulu.com project. See the Press Release.




linuxchoice

Novell layoffs coming?

In a recent news report, the author tells of expected layoffs at Novell. I can see the Linux strategy being long term. Maybe stock owners won't be so patient. We've been here before. Maybe time to use that cash & purchase the VMware folks outright.




open enterprise servernovell susenetwarelinux