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Blog upgrade complete
Morning Folks,
Well, after roughly two and one-half years, I've finally completed the first major update to my blog.
I changed the theme to make it more current and to brighten it up a bit.
I updated the blog engine to the current stable version of WordPress to capture some of the newer capabilities that have been added.
Finally, I've added a few new plug-ins and widgets to allow me to both manage the functionality of the blog and to enhance the readers ( that would be you ) experience. One of those plug-ins allows you to read the blog from a PDA or phone in a format that fits the phone. Something I've been wanting to add for a while but just haven't gotten around to.
Anyway, let me know what you think and if you run into any issues with the site, RSS feeds, etc.
Have a great weekend.
Mitch
Misc
(No Ratings Yet)1,132 views
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Excellent warning message of the day
Love those WordPress guys and their sense of humor:
Misc (No Ratings Yet)936 views Loading ... -
Blog update this weekend
Greetings Everyone,
I'm going to spend some quality time this weekend updating my blog to the newest WordPress engine, changing the theme, etc.
So, if you hit the site during this period you may experience strange visual results and the RSS feeds may contain test posts as I verify I've moved my modifications over to the new code base correctly. I'm not a PHP developer so it may be hit or miss for a bit.
Everything should be back to normal by Monday.
Thanks and have a great weekend.
Mitch
Misc
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)1,055 views Loading ... -
SQL Server Version Numbers
I found a handy site today that lists version numbers for Microsoft SQL Server and what is installed to obtain a specific version:
http://www.sqlsecurity.com/FAQs/SQLServerVersionDatabase/tabid/63/Default.aspx
Development, Dynamics CRM (No Ratings Yet)1,353 views Loading ... -
Skinning SharePoint with Custom Templates
I haven't really done much with SharePoint since I started working with CRM. Basically, my brain can only hold so much information and I decided to fill it with CRM instead of SharePoint.
Anyway, I still read up on SharePoint and have people that I know that are neck-deep into it. I was having a conversation with my friend Dave this week regarding changing the appearance of SharePoint. I found out that PixelMill is now carrying SharePoint templates.
I have long used PixelMill for purchasing web site templates for various products like FrontPage and it's good to see them expand into the SharePoint market.
Dave just purchased a SharePoint template, or Skin, for his site, InfoCinch. It's a fairly clean and simple layout but it will give you a idea of what you can do with a third-party SharePoint template.
He also has started to integrated some Microsoft Silverlight video into the pages in a simple way. The initial video is an overview of the site, but it looks interesting.
Misc (No Ratings Yet)1,559 views Loading ... -
Joke of the day. 3.26.2008
A stranger was seated next to a little girl on the airplane when the stranger turned to her and said, 'Let's talk.
I've heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.'
The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it slowly and said to the stranger, 'What would you like to talk about?'
'Oh, I don't know,' said the stranger. 'How about nuclear power?' and he smiles.
'OK, ' she said. 'That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff -grass – . Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?'
The stranger, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, 'Hmmm, I have no idea.'
To which the little girl replies, 'Do you really feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when you don't know shit?
Meanderings (No Ratings Yet)766 views Loading ... -
Seen in the neighborhood today
The third trunk of this popular tree was cut down a couple of years ago after the top had broken off. Someone finally got creative with the stump.
Pretty good job, I think.
Meanderings (No Ratings Yet)780 views Loading ... -
Solving an undeliverable mail issue with CRM 3.0
I ran into an interesting issue yesterday at one of my customers. They have two CRM servers and a forwarding mailbox for each server. The setup looks like this:
We had an issue with the second CRM server, which just went into production, where inbound mail wasn't being sent to CRM. Looking at the forwarding mailbox, we found that all of the mail had ended up in the Undeliverable folder. After a couple of hours of troubleshooting and searching the web, I found this article from Guenter that provided the solution to our issue.
It turns out the CRM Email Router service was running under the security context of a user called CRMMail. We had to add that user to the PrivUserGroup security group for the second CRM server so that it would accept the forwarded email.
Dynamics CRM, Email (No Ratings Yet)1,535 views Loading ... -
The Science of Experience
I was out of the office for a week and decided to catch up on my blog reading this afternoon. While reading one of Scott Hanselman's posts when I took his advice to read the post "What does it take to be a grandmaster" by Jeff Moser. Jeff's article mentioned a Time Magazine article entitled The Science of Experience which described the work of Anders Ericsson, who is an expert on experts. His research has produced the following fascinating piece of information:
Ericsson's primary finding is that rather than mere experience or even raw talent, it is dedicated, slogging, generally solitary exertion — repeatedly practicing the most difficult physical tasks for an athlete, repeatedly performing new and highly intricate computations for a mathematician — that leads to first-rate performance. And it should never get easier; if it does, you are coasting, not improving. Ericsson calls this exertion "deliberate practice," by which he means the kind of practice we hate, the kind that leads to failure and hair-pulling and fist-pounding. You like the Tuesday New York Times crossword? You have to tackle the Saturday one to be really good.
Wow! This should not have come as a shock to me, but it did. I guess, like most people, I just needed the cold hard data to make things clear.
I have long believed in the fact that if anyone could do it, they would. Which is why I think there are actually so few people doing cutting-edge work – because it's hard.
Throughout my career I've had opportunities to work on some fascinating projects with some amazing ( at the time ) products. But, I always noticed that at some point in time, when you've learned pretty much all you can learn about something, it gets boring.
Boring = Coasting. Coasting = Not Improving. Not Improving = Not Growing.
And if you're not growing, what the heck use are you anyway?
Well, with the introduction of CRM 4.0, I'm back to learning a whole new bunch of stuff all over again. I guess it's time to put down the Cheetos, get off the couch and jump neck-deep back into learning how CRM 4.0 works, and more importantly, how to make it work. :)
Both Jeff's article and the Time Magazine article are worth reading and full of interesting information. Read both when you have time.
Development (No Ratings Yet)953 views Loading ... -
CRM Performance and Optimization
This week, at Convergence 2008, I attended several sessions on performance and optimization. I thought it would be a good idea to summarize the performance and optimization tools and documentation released by Microsoft for both 3.0 and 4.0. If I missed anything, please let me know.
CRM 4.0
Optimizing and Maintaining Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0
This white paper details techniques, considerations, and best practices for optimizing and maintaining the performance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 implementations.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Performance and Scalability – User Scalability for the Enterprise
Microsoft, together with Unisys Corporation, completed benchmark testing of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 running on Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 operating system and Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 database software. Benchmark results demonstrate that Microsoft Dynamics CRM can scale to meet the needs of an enterprise.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Suggested Hardware for Deployments of up to 500 Concurrent Users
Describes general hardware sizing information that will support Microsoft Dynamics CRM version 4.0 with up to 500 concurrent users in a single deployment on-premise model.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Performance Toolkit was created by the Microsoft CRM product team to formalize performance testing of Microsoft CRM 4.0. The performance toolkit can be used by the Microsoft CRM partners and customers to collect data to support their CRM deployment decisions. This release of the toolkit contains several enhancements we have made to fit the additional capabilities in the Microsoft CRM 4.0 product itself. Some of the enhancements made to the toolkit are.
CRM 3.0
Optimizing the Performance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 White Paper
This white paper discusses how to optimize the performance of your Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 system.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0: Enterprise Performance and Scalability
This white paper provides detailed information about Benchmark test and results that demonstrate that a single Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 instance can achieve sub-second response times with 6,000 concurrent users executing a heavy workload against a large, complex database.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Performance and Stress Testing Toolkit
This tool can be used by partners and customers to provide the necessary data that will support sizing and scalability decisions throughout the sales, customization, and deployment processes.
Dynamics CRM (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)1,944 views Loading ...
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