http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1228952,00.asp
We have come a long way from the days when a hard drive could be defined as "a balck hole into which you put your data". But disks do fail [I had an IDE drive which was no more than 5 years old fail on me earlier this year] from time to time. And knowing how to recover data in the case of such a disaster is a useful skill to teach to IT students, so here is a "Beginners Guide" to doing exactly that.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1228952,00.asp
An introduction to four tools for creating blogs, the Web's equivalent of desktop publishing. Remember the rule about freedom of the press: "freedom of the press is avalable to anyone rich enough to own one". Blogging brings that freedom a lot closer to home.
Blog on!
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1228952,00.asp
Do I know anything about RSS? Heck. I can't even spell it! But this is a technology of undeniable importance,and here is an article comparing 6 RSS readers, spanning a variety of platforms and providing a range of capcity and ease of use.
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,4248,1230771,00.asp
New operating system? "We doan' need no steenkin' new operating system!" is one of my many rally cries [perhaps in itself an explanation why the expected rally fails to happen]. My oft-expressed rule-of-thumb is that it takes about two years to become really proficient in a new OS of the complexity of 32-bit Windows, another two years to roll it out, get everyone acculturated to it, and get the bugs worked out -- then you can enjoy your investment for a whole whopping year before starting the cycle all over again!
Indeed, if you are particularly desirous of being on the bleeding edge, since details of any upcoming OS are available months in advance of its scheduled advent, then you never have any period of functional stability. This does not see to me to be A Good Thing.
The announcement of delays in the rollout of "Longhorn" [I don't know if it frightens me, but it sure frightens Bill Gates] is, according to this article, not causing undue bearning of hearts outside that in my own breast, which remains quiet as a cooing dove at the prospect of Windows 2000 keeping on for several more years.
http://www.cra.org/Activities/grand.challenges/
The proceedings of a Computing Research Associates conference on "Grand Research Challenges" in Computer Science and Engineering are available on-line, complete with the downloadable .PDF files of the five Grand Challenges which appear most noteworthy:
Create a Ubiquitous Safety.Net
Build a Team of Your Own
Provide a Teacher for Every Learner
Build Systems You Can Count On
Conquer System Complexity
All of these major issues have the power to so alter the fundamental fabric of computing and life that even if their realization is a matter of the more distant future, it behooves us to be thinking about them today.
"Chance favours the prepared mind" -- Louis Pasteur
Herewith a clutch of tools which are of potential value to the serious Windows administrator:
http://mcpmag.com/features/article.asp?editorialsid=358
These three high-end monitoring tools automate the management of
networks with thousands of nodes.
http://mcpmag.com/features/article.asp?editorialsid=357
Microsoft's recently released Active Directory Migration Tool v2
offers important enhancements over the first version. One of
Hewlett-Packard's top AD experts briefs us on the improvements.
http://mcpmag.com/features/article.asp?editorialsid=360
Besides amending the EULA to maintain antitrust compliance and
adding USB and wireless support, Microsoft rolls up fixes for a
slew of performance bugs into its latest service pack.
http://mcpmag.com/reviews/products/article.asp?editorialsid=444
The tools you need to resurrect a dead computer.
Reviewed by Brian Reisman
http://mcpmag.com/reviews/products/article.asp?editorialsid=445
This tool leverages group power to ease administration. Reviewed by Joe Jorden
http://mcpmag.com/reviews/products/article.asp?editorialsid=446
Learn how to protect yourself with this wireless monitoring solution. Reviewed by James Carrion
http://mcpmag.com/reviews/products/article.asp?editorialsid=447
This tool allows for incredibly simple control over your enterprise desktops. Reviewed by Matt Kinsey
http://mcpmag.com/reviews/products/article.asp?editorialsid=441
Get up close and personal with your network's activity. Reviewed by Andy Barkl
http://mcpmag.com/Features/article.asp?EditorialsID=361
Getting a grip on Active Directory is not an activity to contemplate bare-handed. These two articles provide an in-depth reference to the dozen most common administrative tasks needed in an AD operation, along with valuable and effective reviews of third-party tools to help accomplish these tasks.
Most curriculum used for AD teaching concentrates on the Microsoft native tools. One theme I beat like a circus drum is the fact that in a large or complex AD deployment, third-party tools are practically essential. This article reinforces that point.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/howitworks/management/w2kservices.asp
Services are an important part of the Microsoft Operating system -- here is an online guide which can also be downloaded as a WORD document that gives an alphabetized summary of these services.
So if you wake up at night in a sweat that you can't remember what the Boot Information Negotiation Layer does -- dry yourself off and consult this document to jog your memory.
As an early adopter who got badly stung by DVD-RAM as a "standard" -- and indeed, as someone who has not, as of this writing, ever gotten any of his writeable optical media drives on any of his systems to actually work -- this guide as to which standard works best comes a tad late.
For those of you still deciding, however, it is another matter.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3172967.stm
While I happen to think that the punishment for writing a computer virus and releasing it on the InterNet ought to be, at a minimum for the first offence, loss of the dominant hand without benefit of anesthetic, I had not thought of the reasoning behind this article. We should look for more virus activity, it says, because the virus writers are forging a profitable relationship with spammers and hackers.
Which, of course, is another reason why we should oppose spam [the minimum first offense punishment there cannot be revealed in a blog intended for professional viewing, but the fact that it involves fire ants, honey, aardvarks, and old telephone crank generators, inter alia, should give some inkling of its awesome power].
http://www.thefeature.com/article?articleid=15703
Examination of how mobile telephony has changed the way we live and work. As someone who Thinks Bad Thoughts towards anyone using a mobile phone in public, and who would rather be skinned and salted alive than actually carry one of these beastly contraptions, the position on mobile InterNet interaction discussed here certainly tempts.
I am fond of saying that if they come up with a chip implant to allow direct interation with the Net, I will happily plunk down the cash to have one -- the Net is simply my favourite indoor activity. Those who cannot make it an outdoor activity are seen as quaintly excluded by the author of this article: "citizens of another country" which one might visit, but not live for an extended time.
Obviously, millions of people think like this. For my money, these millions of people are, essentially, wrong. I want to be able to get away from the Net and connectivity -- so why should I pay for a device which makes this more difficult?
http://www.tcfb.com/freetechbooks/index.html
About a hundred free on-line books are on this site, dealing with Programming Languages, Scripting Languages, Operating Systems, Computer Science, and Miscellaneous [Free Software/Open Source; Hackers and Computer Philosophy] categories.
Well worth a look, expecially at the price!
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2003/tc20030820_5175_tc056.htm
Discontent in Apple-land brews over the fact that the new G5 processor is only available in desktop machines. This article explains that the G5 is a smokin' CPU -- literally, and puts out too much heat for use in laptops. Cooler heads and chips will prevail.
The revelation of the fact that it takes 9 cooling fans to keep a G5 from emulating Mount Etna makes me wonder: what sort of warning do you get when a fan is failing or actually fails?
Using your PC as a space heater might be a benefit Apple could tout in colder climes.....
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/longhorn_preview_2003.asp#aero
I feel we need a new desktop OS from Microsoft about as much as we all need migrane headaches measuring 9.5 on the Richter Scale [If Windows 2000 was good enough for my grandmother, it definitely is good enough for me]. Microsoft disagrees, hence the "Longhorn" project detailed in this article.
Whose going to win this disagreement, do you think?
http://news.com.com/2100-1042_3-5064990.html
Because they are so easy to use and service that there is no market for teaching people about them, Apple computers aren't much mentioned in this blog. But the announcement of the new G5, along with an explanation of how the Mac OS/X can act in an evolutionary manner to bridge between 32- and 64-bit CPUs, mandates some mention here.
On a pure price basis Apple systems are not competitive with Wintel boxes, but this adaptability to the 64-bit environment may give them an additional leg up. Certainly if someone was to buy a twin CPU G5 with a 23" Cinema display for whatever reason, I would gratefully accept it!
I am not, however, holding my breath.....
http://www.iqt.com.au/selectnewsletters/currentissue/windowsXPdifference.htm
Although I think it is to be avoided with the same assiduous intensity that one would apply to staying away from a land shark [if Windows 2000 was good enough for my great grandfather, it certainly is good enough for me], alas, Windows XP is becoming increasingly unaviodable, and even I will probably have to endure its charms when I next hit the hardware bar for a pick-me-up [can anyone spell "Alienware"?].
Under those circumstances, a good guide for evaluating whether you want the "Home" or "Pro" version [hint, real men don't eat quiche, though they may like the smell of it when it is cooking] can come in handy. Personally, I will plunk down the extra $100, but your mileage may vary. Here is a useful, highly-detailed, and hype-free article showing the differences between the the two OS types.
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7010272%255E13762,00.html
Now this is downright creepy! Articloe about a doll which can read, tell time, and do sums, and, effectively, react in a limited way to the world around "her". Shades of AI!
I have often been tempted to say that if it looks like a human, and talks like a human, and walks like a human....
This is bringing us far too close to the point where we can't tell [the other driving technology here is medical prosthetics] which twin has the AI. Such developments raise a whole host of questions resonating with the maddening hum of killer bees -- and it is time we started trying to sketch out an answer.
http://www.bbctraining.co.uk/pdfs/newsStyleGuide.pdf
As a Canadian, I am perhaps somewhat more sentitive to national stylistic issues than most of my audience. Here is a tonic guide to style from an authority with oomph -- the BBC itself. Seriously, much of what is written here would be excellent for students to read, and it is very clear and to-the-point -- it is also slyly humourous.
One interesting item in the section on "Americanisms" -- which of course, all true native-speaking Englishmen outside the USA eschew with vigour -- concerns the distinction between "meet" and "meet with", which I do not think an Americanism at all. I tend to use "meet" in terms of contact, as in "I meet a lot of people I know when I walk down the street", and "meet with" in terms of process "I meet with my development staff every week". In the first case, there is no formal meeting, while in the second there is.
Additionally, to say, as I would of this guide, that it "meets with my approval" is surely a defensible colloqualism on a global basis.
http://www.securitypipeline.com/
A CMP TechWeb resource site on computer and network security, covering news and trends; explanations; a product finder; desktop, network, and infrastructure categories; policy and privacy; a free newsletter; a security glossary; and downloadable white papers.
A detailed, useful, and professionally laid-out tool which is definitely worth bookmarking.
http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-5065298.html
An absorbing interview with a resident sociologist at Microsoft, which has as its main focus the utility and value of what must be the largest 'niche' operation in the world: news groups. It is a queen bee in my overstocked bonnet that the development of effective tools for managing this buzzing blooming cornucopia of data and extracting information from it could provide a major competitive advantage for the instiution so deploying such tools. This man has some ideas about how to go about it.
Tangentally, the interview also covers a related topic which buzzes boomingly -- "making the world smart" by providing easily read data tags creating a public information metasphere -- a concept explored to some extent in Science Fiction [for a good recent example look at Technogenesis by Syne Mitchell {Roc; (January 2002) ISBN: 0451458648}]. This is a concept simply crawling with festering issues, having the potential to remake the world we experience -- whether for better or worse should be a debatable question, one not receiving sufficient attention for my taste.
However fascinating this all may be, two dark questions circle in the depths of this article, like brooding sharks forever on the feed:
1) If such tools are developed, and demand any sophistication in their use [and I would argue that the sophistication such tools require is so subtile that we may be too sophisticated to see it, though William Gibson has some pointers here], aren't we facing another have/have not gap, with immense implications?
2) Is everyone else in the room really comfortable with the idea that such a powerful, deep line of research is being driven by Microsoft?
http://home.dataparty.no/kristian/reviews/bayesian/
Spam! 'Nuff said. As mentioned earlier in this blog, a promising solution to this problem, which is worse than dandruff but not quite as bad as Ebola fever, is Bayesian filters. The article reviews a couple of e-mail products which incorporate such filters, and concludes they are reasonably effective at controlling spam.
The only question being, in my mind, whether the annoyance of spam is sufficient to make all users go to the trouble of "training" their new tool. If a sufficient critical mass does not adopt such a tool, much of its potential benefit for eliminating spam is negated; we must remember that the overload problem is perhaps more troubling than individual inconvenience caused by spam.
Put another way: we don't want a product which just shields a user from spam while allowing it to pollute on the InterNet commons, we want something which will exterminate it root and branch.
http://www.microsoft.com/education/?ID=21stCenturyCitizen
An extensive on-line and downloadable [WORD format] white paper titled "Educating the 21st Century Citizen" setting out Microsoft's future education vision. The broad coverage in this paper gives ample pause for thought, regardless of one's opinion of the originator.
http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,60053,00.html
Article explaining the benefits of aggregation tools such as RSS. With e-mail becoming more and more about aggravation, the ability of this class of tool to provide a wide and deep self-selected news channel can be highly empowering.
The combination of the Net and powerful tools appears to continually provide paradigm shifts in the way we can and do use information.
An HCL for Linux site, broken out by device type. When a specific product is selected, buying information and review links are supplied, as well as links to Linux-friendly PC purchase. This can save a lot of heartache for the do-it-yourselfer.
If I had just had this before buying that 32 MB PCI grapics card...
http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,3959,1215795,00.asp
Well-argued paper with examples on the necessity for process re-engineering to be applied to security problems and issues. The overall state of corporate IT security is less than healthy, and this article makes clear that nothing less than a deep approach to the topic can have any hope of success.
http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1042056881_377&type=RES&src=KA_RES
Patterns are a handy rubric for any constructive activity, so a white paper entitled "Enterprise Network Design Patterns - High Availability" would seem to be a useful tool to have in the network designer's toolbox.
http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=978728650_214&type=RES&src=KA_RES
Countering Denial of Service attacks [particularly those of the distributed variety] represents a difficult challenge against a highly probable threat. This white paper, "Security on IP Networks - Countering Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks: An Overview of the Key Challenges and Countermeasures", looks at the issues involved, including access control, authentication, Denial of Service Attacks, Ethernet Switches, hackers, IP Networks, policy-based management software, Quality of Service, and the RADIUS Protocol.
http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1057858101_721&type=RES&src=KA_RES
The journey of 1000 miles of network security begins with a single step -- this white paper: "Action Steps for Improving Information Security" explains how to complete the journey for your infrastructure.
Website of the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis, which does hype-free and refreshingly informative research concerning matters Netly, publishing this in on-site papers and presentations, along with tools and PowerPoint presentations.
Worth looking at, worth joining.
Article on how Web logs can get their own International Standard Serial Number, what the advantages, and what the drawbacks are. Despite being both a graduate from library school and a quandam blogger, I don't know how I feel about this....
Some suggestion that ISSN registrars will tighten the rules so as to prevent blogs being given ISSNs.
http://entmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=5910
Rivalling the argument about how many VC angels can dance on the head of a pin has been whether Linux or Windows has a lower TCO -- this article comes quite close to saying "both". Besides making some sensible analytical remarks about costs and their estimation, it also [along with commentaries in response] demonstrates that such issues as IP and Product Activation represent real factors to be considered above just cost issues.
This won't settle this debate, but it can make the discussion more informed.
http://entmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=5911
At the beginning of WWI, most of the troops involved said "home by Christmas" -- it did not quite work out that way. Nor will the war among Linux, UNIX, and Window be resolved by a knock-out blow any time in the immediate future.
The difference being, this war may ultimately benefit all computer users, something which assuredly cannot be claimed for "the War to End All Wars".
http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_34/b3846601.htm
The technology revolution is far from over, according to this article. The term of "creative distruction" has been relatively constant in IT throughout the years, and the author considers it will continue to apply. While this does make the IT future look brighter than most prognistication, there is an iceberg of disappointment here.
The point being if creative destruction remakes the IT world to the extent that major hardware and software investments are needed to cope, it also makes extensive demands on education. Many existing skills will become obsolete, and IT technology is sufficiently challenging without this extra ear from the bull.
http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/2003/08/15.html
Previous murmurings about the degree to which humans may be usurped by computers may gain some volume with this, a report on a Sandia Labs experimental "congnitive" system, which interacts with users in a radically different manner from the computers to which we are accustomed.
Apart from the sheer potential power of such a system [and the danger of extrapolating something like this to politics, where the "axioms" involved are much "mushier"], one wonders at what point the machine will no longer need to collaborate with the human at all -- it might prefer collaborating with another machine!
One thing you can say in regards to a "Threats and Countermeasures Guide" from Microsoft is that they have had a lot of experience with the former, at least! This easily-read and recent reference to security settings in XP and Windows 3003 can be viewed online or downloaded, and looks like a meaty, thorough discussion of its topic.
Additional resources are a dowloadable Windows 2003 Security Guide and a downloadable Windows XP Security Guidde.
http://vo243techtricks.blogspot.com/
Here is a blog which has paid for itself the first time I used it, since it indicated that the B: drive is now assignable in Windows 2003 Server -- this is almost enough to get me to buy it for home use, and the first workstation version of Windows which comes with an assignable B: I will buy regardless of Product Activation [gag me with a spoon!] irritations.
The fact is that I have long held on to 5.25 drives as being more reliable floppy media than the 1.44, but my latest main home system, which I bought about 1.5 years ago, did not have a B: drive nor could I get one configured. There is no way to express how it bothered me not to have a B: drive, though I have suggested an irritation index above. The fact that Real Soon Now I will transfer over most of my 5.25" files to one [!] CD, and will not, as a regular practice, need a B: drive [actually, on most of my systems the A: drive was 5.25" and the B: was the 3.5"] simply makes this news all that much more of a lift.
Sometimes it is the smallest thing which bring the greatest joy....
An easily used and free service allowing you to keep up with your favourite blogs and [somewhat more special] enabling subscription to RSS newsfeds without having to download and install a client-side environment [which is what has been staying my hand from getting into what I think may be a major re-orientation of how we inform ourselves about and by the InterNet].
As of the date of this posting, over 9,000 blogs were listed. The mind indeed bloggles....
http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1057858077_908&type=RES&src=KA_RES
A white paper on the "Economic Impact of Network Security Threats" gives some quantifiable assessments of threats to network operation, which may serve as a useful focussing device.
http://news.com.com/2100-1037_3-5059740.html?tag=cd_mh
The Iridium satellite system, which once was to be harbringer of truly global communications links [and with which Bill Gates intended to be in competition], and then was threatened with the shortsighted vandalism of being commanded to self-destruct, now is offering a new service: SMS text.
The fact that the original promise, while not realized, still has not been destroyed, and that the system is still rendering useful service, is certainly cheering.
http://news.com.com/2009-1032_3-5059006.html?tag=fd_lede1_hed
Extensive article convering a major controversy over RSS, which serves as a form of automated news feed for blogs [among other things] and represents an important extension of the blogging tool. There appears a good possibility that an alternative standard to RSS will be developed in the near future.
Spam keeps getting worse; this article discusses fixes for the problem, based on replacing SMTP or fixing it. No consensus except, I opine, if we are going to solve spam and reliability, we will have to give up some of the open connectivity potential which has made the InterNet such a joyful place.
Another demonstration of the price of progress.
http://www.w2knews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=030804TB-Server_2003
One major advantage of Windows 2003 Server, so far as IPv6 is concerned, is that it offers a robust, fully functional IPv6-capable protocol stack. The link leads to a plethora [if not a surfiet] of information about IPv6 in Server 2003.
http://ct.com.com/click?q=12-jaAKIl.Q6lZQ.KFqUo1J6p2kqGPR
Given that Windows NT Server 4.0 is just about to pass its "best before date", an organization which has waited this long probably really needs a white paper titled " Evaluating Windows Server 2003 Migration Options", and Dell will be happy to let you download it free from the URL provided.
More details on migration planning from NT to an Active Directory server can be found here:
http://www.informit.com/guides/content.asp?g=windowsserver&seqNum=53
http://www.gfi.com/mailsecurity/wptrojans.htm
Company white paper demonstrating how Trojans can avoid standard antivirus solutions, while suggesting that the more extensive use of freeware and peer file sharing also increases Trojan risks. Of course, specialized anti-Trojan suites are also available [e.g. TDS-3 http://tds.diamondcs.com.au/ ].
http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,3959,1195170,00.asp
Thought-provoking and highly metaphorical article discussing the relevance of "information architectures" and suggesting the these are not sufficent -- we need the equivalent of "city planning" as well. The point that any sufficiently large scale planning objective will almost always be obsolete once completed is contrasted with the seductive nature of such a vision in the first place.
Deep background thinking like this is an important component to overall IT progress, because new metaphors can result in new meanings.
http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,3959,1192684,00.asp
Examines the problems Linux has experienced with negative competition, and points out that while the SCO suit is high-visibility, the shark in sheep's clothing is really Microsoft. Suggests as well that should Microsoft win out in this struggle, the long term consequences would make eating Grandma look like a picnic.
http://www.foresight.org/NanoRev/index.html#FurtherInfo
While not quite "much ado about nothing", certainly a lot has been made of a very little in this case. Yet the promises are seductive, representing the sorts of tremendous strides in basic control of matter and energy which the term "industrial revolution" connotes.
Here is a page of straightforward annotated links to many aspects of the nanotech revolution, well worth bookmarking.
http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm
In the very near future, based on Moore's Law, robots will be able to do such difficult jobs as flipping burgers and driving buses [if the jobs were not so difficult, they would have been automated by now]. The author raises some alarm about the consequences of this -- what will our economy be like when unemployment rates reach 50%?
There are a number of hands to be on about this, not least that we have been here before [see, for example, Herbert A. Simon: The Shape of Automation for Man and Management]. This has the potential to be a Real Big Deal; at the same time, there are lots of points at which this argument can be pulled apart.
I, for one, am not particularly optimistic about this, because if you seek to know the future, determine what will happen with the least effort. Not only is this likely to be what in fact does happen, it is also likely to be the outcome which is most offensive to human dignity, decency, and comfort.
Where is the Terminator when we need him?
http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/2003/08/11.html#a550
The promise of quantum computing is almost as daunting as its premise. Here is a link to another blog summarizing a report detailing progress towards the quantum computer -- in this case, a logic gate.
Of course, from my understanding of quantum physics, specifying the exact location of something is not possible -- so even if we create a quantum computer, we may not be able to find it!
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1841
Power supplies labour away unseen and nearly unheard, yet their proper operation is of major significance for a smoothly-running computer system. Here is a detailed article with comments, reviewing more than a baker's dozen of high-wattage power supplies.
http://entmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=5890
More indication that 64-bit computing is the wave of the future which is beginning to crest before breaking on our sunny beach of IT activity: a short article suggesting that the next version of Microsoft Visual Studio.NET will support 64-bit development.
We appear to be in the same condition relative to 64-bit computing that we were about a decade ago in relation to 32-bit computing: it was a big transition to make, there were lots of compatibility issues to resolve, and yet, within a couple of years, the market momentum had built to the point that the shift was inevitable. The question of utility was somewhat more pressing a decade ago; the change to 32-bit systems was made with good reason.
Right now, it is the server end of the IT spectrum which most needs 64-bit processing, and such hardware is being installed. It may take longer for this to manifest itself on the desktop, but only those who consider the current desktop the peak of computational perfection would think this will take very long, and my estimate is about 4 years maximum.
Incidentally, this may be the inflection point where there is once again a major hardware difference between systems used at work and those used for non-business purposes in the home environment.
A "Best Practice Guide for Securing Active Directory Installations and Day-to-Day Operations" in such detail that it is presented in two parts. The URL provided indexes the first part [oddly enough, there seems to be no way to index the report as a whole], but the second part is easily visible in the left-hand pane on the page.
An extensive and thorough treatment of its topic, well worth careful and continuous review.
Hot off the presses, an in-depth view of "Microsoft Windows Server 2003 TCP/IP Implementation Details"; just the thing if you want to see how TCP/IP works in Server 2003.
HREF="http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1057858120_962&type=RES&src=KA_RES
This free white paper on "Network Security - An Executive Overview" would be a good resource for students, since they often need the same 'high level' view as executives, so the forest emerges from the trees.
Although you have to go through a slightly convoluted registration process to get it, this free 32-page "Windows Server 2003 Resource Guide" is briskly written and filled with information and links of immediate, significant value.
And the price is unbeatable -- though there is some low-key advertising.
http://news.com.com/2100-1033_3-5055803.html?tag=fd_lede2_hed
IPv6 will certainly solve any shortage of IP addresses for the forseeable future, but because the USA was allocated a major slice of IPv4 addresses in the original address distribution, it has not pressed this issue. As a result, despite concern, concerted effort to make a change of this magnitude [which will not be trivial] has not been forthcoming.
The supplementary benefits of IPv6, like greater security, are simply not sufficient to cause such a changeover in themselves. They may, however, become more salient if networking problems which can be allocated to IPv4 increase in severity.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/wo_lefkowitz072503.asp
Article recording an interview with Robert Lefkowitz who makes the point that open source software may be attractive for business not because of low cause of acquisition, but because the nature of the open source support community remarkably lowers TCO. Given an acceptable level of technical performance, this may indeed be a devastating weapon against the closed software paradigm represented by Microsoft.
http://www.sunbelt-software.com/product.cfm?id=925
A protocol sniffer is an essential tool for serious network administration and proactive security defence. Here is one from a well-reputed supplier at an apparently reasonable price for an enterprise product.
There are, I am sure freeware/cheap versions of this sort of tool, but the ease with which this particular example can be used and managed may in fact offset any price differential in a short time.
The issue of security patches is sufficiently high-visibility and -stress that a good guide to patch management is a valuable resource. Here is one from Microsoft itself, providing not only a wealth of detail about what patching is all about -- to the tune of some 100 pages -- but also in a downloadable as well as a Web version.
The downloadable version provides scripts, templates, and other useful supplements.
On the other hand, you should not rely on Microsoft to handle all your patching needs, so a white paper on "How to Keep Your Microsoft Software Secure" is a useful addition to the above publication, and can be found here:
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=eb-HlLoQkD1IUBe2PnEeahpbuKd99RR
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/07/24/HNgateslong_1.html
The fact that Bill Gates himself finds the "Longhorn" OS variant actually a bit scary ought to warn the rest of us to become stiff as boards at the prospect. Once again, the question is begged: do we really need a new OS every 4 years or so?
I happen to think the answer is "no", and that in this case, at least, Microsoft has been busy pushing string since the new millenium. On the other hand, they make quite a bit more money than I do....
http://www.forbes.com/technology/newswire/2003/07/24/rtr1037488.html
A common dystopian future vision displays the majority of the populace functioning as passive couch potatoes under the malign influence of TV. For a while, it did look like we were going down that particular slippery slope.
This article gives renewed hope that the InterNet represents not only a positive alternative to TV, but is also outgaining the latter in acceptance among young people, even though they have greater capacity for multimedia multitasking then their elders.
http://www6.tomshardware.com/network/20030630/index.html
In many cases, the only place a student or teacher can practice networking skills is at home. Here is a good, detailed, and authoritative article on "Building a Home Network From Scratch" which relieves this itch. Covering both wired and wireless networks from the viewpoint of new construction involving contractors, this could prove quite useful.
http://aumha.org/win4/a/parts.htm
Questions of when, why, and how to partition a hard disk can generate lots more heat than light. Here is an article which discusses many aspects of partitioning in a clear and effective manner.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/dialog0703.asp?p=0
A vigourous commentary from several authors in response to an original [and linked on the page] article about the problem of spam, which ought to be sobering for anyone who considers it carefully.
I always like an argument which causes me to rethink my position. For some time I have been arguing vociferously that the solution to spam is an unique and difficult-to-forge ID attached to mail. I have equally opposed a pricing structure for e-mail. Now I have my dounts about both.
Certainly, for some charge like $10/year, if my inbox can be cleared of spam [defined as bulk UCE], I would be willing to pay such a charge.
Billing itself as the "security news site for systems administrators & hackers" this site provides News, archives, XML feeds, links, downloads, reports, advertisements, comment and chat rooms, and a numer of online utilities. Not particularly fancy from the graphics point of view, yet there appears to be a wealth of information and applications here.
http://www.certmag.com/articles/templates/cmag_nl_infosec_content.asp?articleid=348&zoneid=39
Technical application of security tools at the server face are next to useless (and perhaps positively dangerous) if implemented in the absence of a security policy. Creating such a policy may be hard, but greater security ease will result, making this annotated list of security policy resources, templates, and books a useful starting point to such a creation.
SAFE: IP Telephony Security in Depth http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1057858103_115&type=RES&src=KA_RES
SAFE VPN - IPSec Virtual Private Networks in Depth http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1014669748_545&type=RES&src=KA_RES
SAFE - Extending the Security Blueprint to Small, Midsize, and Remote-User Networks http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1014669157_842&type=RES&src=KA_RES
SAFE: A Security Blueprint for Enterprise Networks http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1057858038_851&type=RES&src=KA_RES
A series of whitepapers covering Cisco's secure blueprint for networks both large and small (SAFE), providing best practice information on the particular subjects addressed.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1196651,00.asp
A clearly written (though obviously not without source bias) account of AMD's OPTERON and its advantages, with a more general discussion of why 64-bit personal computing is an idea which time has come. Commentary and additional links to other OPTERON stories add to this discussion.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5047555.html
An article reprising a Global Software Survey by the Ovum research group, which suggests that the software market will continue to shrink, particularly as a result of Web services. An upturn in this arena is not expected until 2007, suggesting that company consolidation will continue apace.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-1027238.html
Article reprising a study from the Rand Institute suggesting that the USA will maintian a lead in technology development for the forseeable future, despite developments elswhere. One critical element in the set of USA national advantages is a willingness to allow uncompetitve industries to fail. Since the "hollowing-out" of basic manufacturing once led to prolonged lamentation, there is some virtue in finding out this "medicine" is good for the country after all.
Incidetally, though I cannot provide citations, there have been several other studies (one source being George Guilder) suggesting that allowing uncompetitive businesses to fail is best in the long run.
http://www.atruereview.com/Articles/winsecurity.php
Short and to-the point article "Increasing Windows 2000 and XP Security", with a number of straightforward procedures simply and concisely described. Given continuing problems with W2000 and XP relating to security, it never hurts to have some more advice.