Windows Server 2003

Just noticed on Larkware - Exchange intelligent Message filter just released to everyone!

Blog Author — Wed, 26 May 2004 00:14:00 GMT

Umm..title says it all, Larkware link is here, download link here

This strikes me as incredibly useful! AzMan - lets you assign your own permission types (like 'CanEatPizza')

Blog Author — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 01:11:00 GMT

Found this on Loren Halvorson's Blog...he (?) explains it best, so here's just a complete copy of what he wrote...

Is anyone using AzMan?
We are in the process of developing a common role based authorization layer for several of our applications and stumbled across the Microsoft's Authorization Manager. I had originally passed over it because I thought it was tied to Windows Server 2003, but it turns out that it runs on Windows 2000 which we are using in production, and Windows XP which developers use. On XP, just install the Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack and you'll get it.
The idea seems great. It allows you to define logical operations like "CanApproveExpenseReports", map those to logical roles in your organization like "Manager". Then assign users to the roles. (The model is extremely flexible...I recommend Dave McPherson's article). There is a COM runtime and a .NET interop assembly for use from .NET, that allows your application to quickly check to see if the current user is allowed to perform some operation. Following is not the actual API, I just wanted to give you a feel for how you use it in an app:
if (azMan.CheckAccess(user, "CanApproveExpenseReport")
{
// Approve expense reports code goes here
}
It also provides an MMC snap-in tool to manage everything. If it works out, it promises to save us a ton of time.
I see the Patterns and Practices Authorization and Profile Application Block has a provider that can use it, and there is a RoleManager Provider in Whidbey that uses a part of it too. So Microsoft seems to think it fits the problem.
Actually while I'm on the subject of Whidbey, I was surprised that it doesn't seem to provide a general purpose authentication mechanism other than IsInRole. Roles are good for some things, but they are too course-grained for deciding whether a button is visible or not, or whether a user can delete items from a table. There can potentially be hundreds of these fine-grained secured operations scattered throughout your application, and hard-coding role names (if (User.IsInRole(“Manager“)...) throughout your app is not an acceptable solution in my opinion because it limits the ability to redefine the permissions of each role later on without touching code.
Authorization Manager (or AzMan for short) seems to fit the bill perfectly. However I hesitate to jump in too quickly because I don't see very much buzz about this technology on the web. I'd like to read other people's experience with it. Has anyone tried to use it in a .NET Application?

CDONTS, Windows XP and Windows 2000

Blog Author — Thu, 16 Oct 2003 04:01:00 GMT

If you have a lot of ASP code which currently runs on a Windows 2000 server, you probably use CDONTS to send your mail...Now, if you want to migrate to Windows 2003 (or Windows XP for local dev) you'll have a problem - CDONTS no longer comes with those environments...
Luckily CDONTS still works, you just have to hunt down a file called CDONTS.dll in the system32 directory of your Win 2000 box, copy it to your 2003 box and register it...your old code will then work (though CDOSYS is better!)

Windows Server 2003 Bug in the SMTP administration tool

Blog Author — Mon, 08 Sep 2003 05:08:00 GMT

This one drove me nuts for a while, I have an smtp server running on my server, but occasionally, the SMTP administration snapin would disappear for no particular reason. This is needless to say VERY annoying - as there's not other effective way to administer SMTP and the snapin doesn't appear in the normal list. Well, forget where I found the solution but here's the fix - just run this command - regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\inetsrv\smtpsnap.dll and you'll magically see it's back!