Windows 2003 Virtualization Licensing
I read Michael Otey's Top 10: "Tips for Virtual Server 2005 R2" (February
2007, InstantDoc ID 94289). Michael stated, "Windows 2003 R2 Enterprise allows
as many as four active Windows Server instances." Does this apply to virtualization
software other than Microsoft's? For example, I just purchased a new server
with Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition R2, and I installed VMware Server.
I was about to order a Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition R2 OS license for
the virtual machine that I'm building when I saw Michael's article. I'm hoping
I can avoid the additional cost of the VM OS license.
—Bill Mills
Yes, the Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition R2 virtualization licensing
applies to all virtual machine (VM) technologies, including VMware and Microsoft.
So in your case, Bill, you don't need another Windows OS license for the VM
you're building. To clarify: You can run more than four VMs, but you must pay
for licenses for the fifth and subsequent VMs.
—Michael Otey
Uninstalling Patches in HFNetChkPro Plus
In his review of Shavlik Technologies' HFNetChkPro Plus 5.8 in "Patch Management
Solutions" (March 2007, InstantDoc ID 94912), Philip Morgan states, "HFNetChkPro
Plus lets you uninstall patches but only in the reverse order of deployment."
This is inaccurate. With the exception of Microsoft-recommended Daylight Savings
Time patches in the US and Australia, patches in any of Shavlik Technologies'
patch management solutions can be uninstalled in any order.
—Mark Shavlik, President and CEO
Shavlik Technologies
EventSentry 2.72
In the March 2007 edition of Windows IT Pro, Joel Barker reviewed our
product, EventSentry 2.72 (InstantDoc ID 94824). Unfortunately, there were several
technical inaccuracies in the review. I would like to clarify our product's
capabilities, as well as address how we have resolved some of the short-comings
and problems that the review pointed out.
First, the review states that EventSentry can monitor disk and processor performance. This is only partially correct: EventSentry monitors all 32-bit performance counters available in Windows. EventSentry then collects this performance data in a database and creates alerts based on thresholds. Second, the review incorrectly states that the EventSentry agents send data in real time to the management console.
To the contrary, the agents send their data directly to the configured notifications, such as SMTP servers, database servers, and more. As such, no central management console needs to be running in order for the agents to function properly. Third, the review categorizes EventSentry as a network-monitoring tool. EventSentry instead is an event log consolidation and server/workstation health-monitoring suite with complex alerting and configuration options.
As for our product's shortcomings and problems, the review points out a problem
in which it's difficult to clearly identify depressed buttons. We, too, identified
this problem, located solely in the Hour/Day tab of the filter configuration
dialogue. This has been resolved in the upcoming 2.80 release of EventSentry.
The review also pointed out that our Quickstart Guide doesn't contain step-by-step
instructions. Mr. Barker misunderstood the function of the Quickstart Guide,
which provides an architectural overview of EventSentry. He also overlooked
our extensive Help guides, which include nine Web-based tutorials and twenty
Web-based screencasts to first-time users. In the 2.80 version, we rename the
QuickStart Guide "EventSentry Overview" to avoid confusion. Finally, Mr. Barker
doesn't recommend EventSentry to large organizations because our management
console can be run locally only one user at a time. Although this is only partially
true—EventSentry can be run on any computer that is running the agent—we
acknowledge this shortcoming and are resolving it in our major 2008 release.
In the meantime, our customers with large IT departments use EventSentry happily
and successfully.
—Ingmar Koecher
NETIKUS.NET
2 Thumbs Up
There are so-called reviews and then there are reviews that Windows IT Pro
does, and "Windows Vista: The Supersite Review" (http://www.itprotoday.com/reviews/winvista.asp)
is a real review. I think your work is extremely thorough and just what
I had been looking for. Not only did I learn many new things but agree with
much of the good and bad.
