Hash Tab 3.0 is a small program that allows you to calculate file hashes. The great thing about hash tab is that it is supported as a Windows shell extension. This means that once you have the program installed all you have to do is look at the file properties to see the hash. Hash Tab 3.0 supports several algorithms including MD5, SHA1, SHA2, RipeMD, HAVAL and Whirlpool. Check out the link below to download the program and learn more about it.
Download Hash Tab 3.0
http://beeblebrox.org/hashtab/
Microsoft has been doing a great job at releasing new best practice analyzers. They have now released one for SQL Server 2008 R2. The analyzer will look at things like event logs, permissions, and SQL metadata. The BPA will provide recommendations for any warnings or problems. You can download the BPA by following the link below.
BPA For SQL 2008 R2
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=0fd439d7-4bff-4df7-a52f-9a1be8725591
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 is Microsoft’s preferred method for deploying both client and server operating systems. The latest release of MDT occurred September of 2009. The new release was a huge improvement over the previous version. The current version also supports the deployment of Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2.
I have been working with the product now for a few months with deploying Server 2008 R2. I have also deployed a few Windows 7 clients using it. I have been really impressed so far how easy it is to deploy a server image. I also know that I am using just a fraction of this tool and look forward to learning more about it over the next several months. I will try to share my experiences so other people can learn from my trial and error. I have included some links below that are some good resources if you are just learning about this great tool. The next few posts will cover the installation of MDT 2010 and AIK.
MDT 2010 TechNet Site
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/solutionaccelerators/dd407791.aspx
MDT Team Blog
http://blogs.technet.com/msdeployment/default.aspx
MDT TechNet Forums
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/mdt/threads
Michael Niehaus Blog
http://blogs.technet.com/mniehaus/default.aspx
Deployment Guys
http://blogs.technet.com/deploymentguys/default.aspx
