If you've got a problem on the wire, that's above layer 2 in the epoymous OSI model, then a network sniffer may well be your tool of choice. Choosing a packet sniffer is mainly a combination of platform and preference.

For Windows, the obvious choice is Wireshark (previously Ethereal) it's both free and provides most of the functionality you're likely to need.

Microsoft provides Network Monitor (netmon) which is also a good tool, although for most tasks it doesn't substantially differentiate itself from Wireshark - you may however, prefer the user inferface. Even if you aren't interested in Microsoft's offering, the netmon blog does provide a good source of information on packet capture and analysis for the beginner.

For other platforms, we'd recommend Wireshark. But getting it installed on a Mac can prove problematic, if you don't read the documentation carefully first.

So go out there and capture some packets, ethically of course!

     

Firstly let's skip the argument about what is and isn't a podcast, we'll do that some other time.  Call them what whatever you like, there is a plethora of good technical content out there, which sure beats the time we used to spend frantically searching compuserve at 9600 baud for Acorn Econet (and that's not a spelling mistake!) wiring diagrams. Listed below are a few of our favourite vidcast / netcast / podcasts :

• Technet Radio - Microsoft's very own audio offering.
• IT Idiots - Video based offering, covering a variety of Windows technologies.
• Windows Weekly - Paul Thurrott covers all things Microsoft.
• dnrTV - Carl Franklin and guests cover a wide variety of Microsoft technologies in glorious screencast goodness!

     

In all honesty, this was a pretty weak choice - you all know which version you need despite Microsoft's attempts to complicate the matter.  But we couldn't really leave Vista out of a 2007 technology related list, so here's our advice :

If you're a volume license junkie, Vista Enterprise is the choice for you.

If not, Vista Business is where it's at!

     

The command line is far from dead, despite Microsoft's Windows 95 protestations and as every good admin knows often the keyboard is quicker than the mouse!  So here we suggest 4 command line utilities that we don't think get the publicity they deserve.

• Telnet - the troubleshooting tool par excellence if you have SMTP problems.
• Netstat - gives you the low-down on what's happening in the network stack.
• Runas - another reason you don't have to run as an Administrator to get the job done.
• Pathping - if you have intermittent network issues, pathping is your friend.

     

If you're in the market for x86 workstation virtualization products, commercially at least, there are 3 main players.  Microsoft, previously Connectix, Virtual PC2007, VMware Workstation 6 and Parallels Workstation 2.2.

Virtual PC 2007 has one obvious advantage over the other two products, price! Being free certainly makes for a tempting offering, and indeed does make it a pain-free way to dip you toe into the virtualization pond. However, there is a price to be paid in terms of development and functionality. Since Microsoft's aquision of the product from Connectix, I don't think anyone would argue that development progress has slowed. Indeed my opinion is that Microsoft's purchase was a technology aquision rather than a product one.  If your primary use for virtualization is testing Microsoft products, VPC is ideal.  For more on Virtual PC, why not visit the Virtual PC Guy blog.

VMware Workstation has been around long enough to have achieved a good deal of maturity.  Historically it was differentiated from VPC as VMware's angle was to produce a product which optimally virtualized a chosen set of operating systems, whereas Connectix chose to produce a purer x86 emulation.  Over time I have personally owned (and here I mean spent my own cash!) both VMware Workstation and Virtual PC.  VMware Workstation improves upon VPC's differencing disks with their implimentation of snapshots which are a very powerful feature and especially useful for running "what-if" scenarios on software configurations.  VMware's ability create a virtual machine from an existing physical machine is a feature I've found particuarly useful.  So if you need richer, more feature-laden environment for your testing then VMware is the way to go.

Parallels Workstation is very much in 3rd place at this stage.  It's considerably cheaper than VMware Workstation and appropriately less feature rich.  If you're tempted by this mid range solution, you can try out the demo before commiting your hard earned cash.