Dave Glover "Down Under (Oz)" : Security

Application Architecture Guide 2.0

dglover — Thu, 14 May 2009 05:28:00 GMT

Hey if you went to the Victoria.NET User group on Tuesday then you would have caught my Windows 7 session, you can find resources I mentioned at here, hope those that installed Win 7 on the night are enjoying and those that grabbed the DVDs have had a chance to fire it up!!

You can find resources from Tarn Barford's awesome session on Iron Python at http://blog.sharpthinking.com.au/post/2009/05/11/IronPython-Presentation.aspx - funny we both did our sessions on Netbooks!!

And Mahesh's session covering the Application Architecture Guide 2.0, tbh, I had lost track that version 2 was over on codeplex!! If you've not see this guide then I highly recommend you download it from http://www.codeplex.com/AppArchGuide/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=20586

There is great coverage of where technologies fit, from web, to services, data access, security, desktop and mobile along with recommended best practices and patterns, honestly take a break from your busy day to day busy existence and check it out, it'll be time well spent!!

Cheers Dave

Windows 7 "Remote Server Administration Tools" including Hyper-V Management

dglover — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 05:13:00 GMT

IMHO, one the of the coolest technologies to be released last year was Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, the virtualisation just rocks, it's fast, solid and reliable. I run Windows Server Core 2008 (ie no GUI) so I manage the Hyper-V Role from Windows Vista Sp1 with Hyper-V Manager, so was a tad disappointed to find the Hyper-V management wouldn't install on Windows 7.

Anyways, fear no more, you can download the updated tools from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7d2f6ad7-656b-4313-a005-4e344e43997d&displaylang=en, once installed:-

Go to Control Panel.
In the Programs and Features area, click Turn Windows features on or off.
If you are prompted by User Account Control to enable the Windows Features dialog box to open, click Continue.
In the Windows Features dialog box, expand Remote Server Administration Tools.

The download link contains more information on setup.

Yes, you still need to enable the firewall and allow anonymous DCOM call backs if you manage a Hyper-V Server that is in it's own workgroup or domain. For more info on this then check out http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/11/14/configure-hyper-v-remote-management-in-seconds.aspx

Cheers Dave

Victoria.NET Back to Basics - Sessions on WCF, WPF and WF – Monday Dec 15th

dglover — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:12:20 GMT

In case you missed this announcement from Mahesh… Cheers Dave

Monday 15th December 2008
5:30pm (Pizza and drinks served); 6pm (presentations start)
Microsoft Theatre, Level 5, 4 Freshwater Place, Southbank

Back to Basics - WCF, WPF and WF

Over two years ago Microsoft introduced .NET 3.0 and with it, it's four pillars - Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Framework (WF) and Windows Cardspace. In "Back to Basics", we present 3 detailed sessions on 3 of these topics - WCF, WPF and WF.

If you've never used these Technologies before or would like to re-acquaint yourself with them, this is the session to attend.

If you are planning on coming, please RSVP to help us organise drinks and catering.

To register, simply send an email to info@victoriadotnet.com.au. It is a FREE event and there is no charge for attendance but space is limited so you'll need to let us know you're coming so we can make sure there's space. If you do not wish to receive event notification mails in the future, simply send a mail to info@victoriadotnet.com.au with the word Unsubscribe in the subject.

The user group has a Twitter account. You can follow the happenings in the group at http://twitter.com/vdnug/a>

The Victoria .NET Dev SIG usually meets on the second Tuesday of every month to discuss developer related .NET topics. Victoria .NET also runs an Office and SharePoint group called MOSSIG (that meets on the 4th Wednesday of every month) and a SQL SIG (that meets 12:30-2:00pm on the 2nd Monday of each month) to discuss topics related to SQL Server development and a new Silverlight Developer and Designer Network user group

Windows Live got a serious social makeover – see http://home.live.com

dglover — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:52:50 GMT

If you thought that Windows Live was a bit of a yawn then you’ve not seen the latest incarnation, it’s got way more integrated and socialized, added in concepts of social feeds, networks, sharing, update notifications etc, the networking has taken off like wildfire, so be in to win and get connected!! Check out the Windows Live Team Blog for more info and check out the blog item on privacy and permissions.

The Windows Live Beta clients are great, new IM Client, Writer, Photo Gallery, Mail (with integrated Calendar support) available at http://www.windowslive.com/ComingSoon

http://Skydrive.live.com now offers 25 gig free of charge space, max file size is 50mb, but there are plenty of file splitters around for larger files:)

http://Photos.live.com is very cool and the slide view is beautifully implemented with Silverlight, the frame seems to pick up in the dominate colour in the photo, to great effect, upload is drag and drop simple with the uploader addin.

Windows Live Activities off your Windows Live “Profile” page – hooks up you flickr piccies, blogs, twitter feeds etc in to a unified “What’s new” feed – again well implemented!!

Updated mobile support at http://mobile.live.com – see http://windowslivewire.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!2F7EB29B42641D59!28656.entry?sa=411864678 for more info.

http://office.live.com – two free offerings:-

Office Live Workspace (SharePoint in the cloud and very cool)
and Office Live Small Business (but limited to a handful of countries at the moment)

All this have been well integrated in to http://home.live.com.

From a developer perspective check out Live Services SDK - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb264574.aspx

and the article on wikipedia is not bad – slightly out of date in places – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Services

Cheers Dave

Australian Teched 2008 Session Listing available at...

dglover — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:11:30 GMT

I've been asked this a couple of times over the last few days so I thought it might be useful to blog it locations.

You can find the current session list at https://aunz.msteched.com/au/public/sessions.aspx

Cheers Dave

MS Press Books Discount (May 2008, Australia) Available via your User Group Leader

dglover — Mon, 05 May 2008 09:09:34 GMT

Tania Netterfield our Partner Account Manager for CPLS (Certified Partner for Learning Solutions) as asked if we could blog, it looks to be a great kickoff offer so if you are after a MS Press book or two then check out www.mspress.com.au

To help us launch the Store during the month of May we've created a special User Group Members offer of 50% discount on all books on the site.

Some of the great advantages of www.mspress.com.au include:

Express delivery
Competitive pricing
Easy Keyword Search facility
Latest titles and Books of the Month
Large inventory
Newsletter sign-up

And until the end of May on www.mspress.com.au

All User Group Members will receive a 50% discount by using this Code at Checkout - ask for the discount code from your user group leader
Plus go in the draw for a chance to win an XBOX by providing feedback on the site

We are planning to keep improving the site in the future and I'll keep you updated as these improvements are made.

Cheers Dave

Hooking up my Turtlebeach Audiotron to Windows Server 2008

dglover — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:06:02 GMT

My Audiotron continues to be one of my favourite household gadgets, it's a Win CE device (Win CE 3x, I think) and streams music off a Windows File Share, the device must be nearly 10 years old and was built in a less hostel era when security models were simpler. Alas Turtlebeach don't make these devices any more, but I know there are a lot of them kicking around and have spotted various postings on getting them to play with Windows Server 2003 and Vista, but none for Windows Server 2008, so surprise surprise getting it to work was a combination of Windows Vista and Server 2003 tweaks.

Getting the Audiotron to communicate with more modern operating systems such as Windows Vista or Windows Serer 2008 requires relaxing some security settings which could make the system more vulnerable to attack, so the you need to be aware of potential risks, so buyer/tweaker beware and this does not represent in any shape or form best practices but the risk profile for my home server is minimal (lol, no this is not an invitation:) )!! I stream the music files to the Audiotron using a network of Netcomm Ethernet over Powerline adapters as I found them way more reliable than wifi.

I made the following changes mostly around negotiating security levels using a combination of the Local Security Policy Manager and Regedit - see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=17936 plus the references below for more information on the mechanics of making these changes. It would probably a good idea to Export (backup) your registry before making these changes...

Required settings:-

Microsoft Network Server: Digitally Sign Communications (always): Disable
Microsoft Network Server: Digitally Sign Communications (if client agrees): Enable
Network Security: Do not store LAN Manager Hash value on next password change: Disable
Network Security: LAN Manager Authentication Level: Send LM & NTLM - use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated

I rebooted the server, reset the password for the Audiotron user in active directory - a mandatory step!! Checked all the Audiotron device security settings, set the the user name in @ format, ie audiotron@mydomain.local, cycled the power on the device and it magically connected to the file share and it rebuilt the music catalogue - yeh hah, I'm a happy chappy:)

Some useful reference resources are:-

Hope this helps someone!!

Cheers Dave

Free e-book offer for Windows Server 2008 and Powershell

dglover — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:19:00 GMT

In case you missed this there is a free download for the following books:-

Introducing Windows Server 2008 by Mitch Tulloch with the Microsoft Windows Server Team (ISBN: 9780735624214) This e-book covers Windows Server virtualization, managing Windows Server 2008, Active Directory, Terminal Services, and failover clustering.
Microsoft Windows PowerShell Step by Step by Ed Wilson (ISBN: 9780735623958) This e-book includes an overview of Windows PowerShell, using Windows PowerShell cmdlets, and leveraging PowerShell providers.

at https://www.microsoft.com/learning/windowsserver2008/default.mspx

The e-book will load up in the browser, from IE, click "Page -> Save as" to save the PDF file locally...

Enjoy!!!!

Cheers Dave

"How Do I?" Videos for Security

dglover — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:09:00 GMT

In case you missed this then worth checking out the "How Do I?" Videos for Security, see http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bb896640.aspx

Cheers Dave

Free Online eLearning Available from https://www.microsoftelearning.com

dglover — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 03:09:00 GMT

See the attached document for more info - but here is a quick summary:-

Developer

Clinic 7045: What's New in Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008
Collection 5134: Developing Rich Experiences with Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.0 and Visual Studio® 2005
Clinic 5135 : Introduction to Developing with Windows® Presentation Foundation and Visual Studio® 2005
Clinic 3402: ASP.NET for PHP Developers: Introduction to ASP.NET
Clinic 5230 : Developing Enhanced Web Experiences with Microsoft® ASP.NET AJAX Extensions
Clinic 5045: Inside Look at Developing with Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0
Clinic 5046: Inside Look at Building and Developing Solutions with Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007
Clinic 5136 : Introduction to Developing with Windows® Workflow Foundation and Visual Studio® 2005
Clinic 5137: Introduction to Developing with Windows® Communication Foundation and Visual Studio® 2005
Clinic 2954: First Look: Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2006 for Developers
Clinic 2955: First Look: Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2006 for IT Professionals

Infrastructure

Collection 5934: Introducing Microsoft Windows Server Code Name "Longhorn" (Beta 3)

Collection 5125: Introducing Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007

Clinic 5091: Introduction to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging

ForeFront eLearning

Cheers Dave

PS. cya at SQL/Security Code Camp in Wagga Wagga!!

ADNUG/MSDN (Thur Sept 6th): New Features and Improvements for Smart Clients in Visual Studio 2008

dglover — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 02:55:00 GMT

Hi there, hoping we'll see you this Thursday lunch time for an update on what's new in Visual Studio 2008 for Smart Clients, there's lots of great stuff but my fav is the unification with the ASP.NET membership model , well cool!!

Cya there cheers, Dave

New Features and Improvements for Smart Clients in Visual Studio 2008

This session will cover what's new for Smart Clients in Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 including unified membership services between ASP.NET forms and Smart Client applications, improved support for Windows Presentation Foundation controls, enhancements to ClickOnce deployment and depending on time a few tips and trick.

When: Thursday Sept 6^th, bite to eat at 12 midday, the session starts at 12:30 and runs for approximately an hour

Where: 2nd Floor, Innovation Center, Westpac House (old Santos), 91 King William Street, Adelaide SA 5000

SQL Down Under Code Camp 2007 (Oct 13th and 14th) Agenda Publish

dglover — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 05:42:00 GMT

If you're not on Greg's SQLDownUnderList mailer then there's a fair chance you missed the agenda has now been published, check out http://www.sqldownunder.com/CodeCamp/tabid/53/Default.aspx.

There is also a Security event running side by side and the aim is to sync the agendas so you can jump between the streams as you see fit, see Security Camp Oz for more details.

The SQL and Security Camps are running at Wagga Wagga/Charles Sturt University Campus again, the event is free of charge and from my own personal experiences with these events then I'd high recommend attending as it's a great opportunity to learn what's new, network, share stories and have a bit of fun!!

If you want a quick primer on what's new in SQL 2008 then check out http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/futureversion/default.mspx.

It's all happened the weekend of October 13th and 14th in 2007, go to http://www.sqldownunder.com/CodeCamp/tabid/53/Default.aspx and pop Greg a note to let him know you'll be there...

cya there, cheers Dave

New Anti Cross Site Scripting Library available for download

dglover — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 10:46:00 GMT

Hopefully you'll hear plenty about this new Cross Site Script library from you local developer security events!!

The AntiXSS Library is a white-list (encodes all characters not known to be safe) encoder for html and urls and it significantly improves on the encoder provided with "Server.HtmlEncode" and "Server.UrlEncode".

The first release is for Framework 2.0 but support for Frameworks 1.0 and 1.1 to follow shortly.

You can download from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9A2B9C92-7AD9-496C-9A89-AF08DE2E5982&displaylang=en

Cheers, Dave

Adelaide Feb 27th Free of charge Microsoft "Security Interchange" evening happening at the Adelaide Oval

dglover — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 04:23:00 GMT

The Security Interchange will provide an informal evening for you to get your questions answered. Leading Microsoft security experts Steve Riley, Jamie Sharp, Michael Kleef, Andrew Coates, Graham Elliot, Rocky Heckman and Dave Glover are touring Australia for the Microsoft Security Summit Workshops and we'll also be joined by a local South Australian Carl Jongsma.

This will be a great opportunity to help you understand more about the products you use daily – and to help you understand some of the solutions to today’s business problems.

The panel discussions will cover the following topics
Privacy, Security, and Compliance: What you need to know NOW!
Building and Managing a resilient Active Directory Infrastructure
Protect your Applications: Strategies that Can be Applied to Applications
Building Identity Provisioning Solutions
Application Development Principles and Best Practices
Threat Mitigation
Creating Reliable and Robust Applications with Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005
Building an Agile Infrastructure to Support Secure Mobility
Case Studies and some practical examples

There will also be plenty of chances to ask questions and it should prove to be a useful and informative evening...

See you there!! Dave

If you haven't done so yet then please Register for Adelaide Feb 27 event here

http://msevents-as.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=120466487&Culture=en-AU

Event Details at a glance!!

Microsoft “Security Interchange”

Monday, 27 February 2006 6:15 PM - 9:00 PM
Welcome Time: 6:00 PM

Adelaide Oval (nice!!)

Bradman Room
Adelaide Oval Function Centre
War Memorial Drive North Adelaide South Australia 5006
Australia

If you have read this far and not in Adelaide and wondering when we get to your city then please check http://blogs.msdn.com/dglover/archive/2006/02/01/521721.aspx

Australia Security Interchange Registration Now Open!!

dglover — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 11:42:00 GMT

We now have the dates and locations finalized and are now taking registrations - so get in early

If you have questions you'd like answered then please email them to me via my blog or post them against this blog item!!

Please feel free to forward this along and you can register here!!

Security Interchange bought to you by Microsoft.

Maybe you’re a seasoned techie or developer. Maybe you’re just wanting to know and understand more. The Security Interchange provides an informal format for you to get your questions answered.

Leading Microsoft security experts *Steve Riley, **Jesper Johansson, Jamie Sharp, Michael Kleef, Andrew Coates, Graham Elliot, Rocky Heckman and Dave Glover are touring Australia for the Microsoft Security Summit Workshops and want to help you understand a bit more about the products you use daily – and to help you understand some of the solutions to today’s business problems.

Developer Track Panel Topics	IT Pro Track Panel Topics
Registration
Privacy, Security, and Compliance: What you need to know NOW!	Building and Managing a resilient Active Directory Infrastructure
Protect your Applications: Strategies that Can be Applied to Applications	Building Identity Provisioning Solutions
Break
Application Development Principles and Best Practices	Threat Mitigation
Creating Reliable and Robust Applications with Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005	Building an Agile Infrastructure to Support Secure Mobility
Finish
Speaker Panel
Dave Glover, Andrew Coates, Rocky Heckman and Graham Elliot and Charles Sterling!!	Michael Kleef, Jeff Alexander, Steve Riley, *Jesper Johansson and Jamie and Sharp

Dates Cities and registration links

*Steve Riley will be doing:

27 Feb: Adelaide
01 Mar: Brisbane
06 Mar: Melbourne

**Jesper Johansson will be doing:

07 Mar: Sydney
09 Mar: Canberra
13 Mar: Perth