TechEd 2013: Swag Alert + The Countdown has Begun!

As you may already know, in a few days the extremely friendly Devolutions team will be at Microsoft TechEd 2013 in New Orleans. The countdown has finally begun!

Last year, TechEd was held in Orlando and we had the pleasure of meeting Remote Desktop Manager users from all around the world. To thank many of you who took the time to visit us, we handed out earphones (and they flew off our shelves!).

So, since you all seem to love swag as much as we do, this time we’re offering something even cooler. Yes, we’re giving away earphones again. But since we’re all about evolving and innovating here at Devolutions, these are newly-designed NEXT GENERATION earphones and they really rock! Here are three reasons why you’ll love them:  

1-They're designed for ears:

The design for these next generation earphones didn’t start with the speaker in mind: they started with the ear in mind, and feature a very comfortable fit that feels great.

2- They're durable:

The folks who tested these next generation earphones logged plenty of miles on treadmills in extreme heat and extreme cold. They performed various cardio workouts. They were even asked to shake their heads from side to side. The verdict? Stronger protection against sweat and water, and an extraordinarily stable fit.

3- They optimize your listening experience:

In addition to being more stable, these next generation earphones are designed with the ear’s geometrical contours in mind, which allows them to send sound directly into the ear canal – so you can really hear your favorite tracks like never before.

Come Visit us!

Sounds exciting? Well, there's a pair of next generation earphones with your name on them! Just stop by our booth and get ready to rock! We have a limited number of those earphones so come to see us by booth 723 as soon as you can!!

On behalf of the team here, we can’t wait to meet wonderful RDMers, and connect with new IT pros who are looking for the ideal way to manage all of their remote connections and passwords.

Thanks!

Interview with Matthieu Goulet, web developer and graphic designer

Hi everyone,

A few days ago, Max interviewed our very talented Software Developer and Add-On Manager, André Sanscartier, who is one of the pioneers here at Devolutions.

Well today is another special day, as we would like to introduce you another pioneer. Please meet our very smart, somewhat shy and extremely friendly web developer and graphic designer, Matthieu Goulet!

As with André, Matt has been at Devolutions since the beginning. In fact, he was the first employee. His most recent projects include our great new website, brochure and stand for Microsoft TechEd 2013. To help you get to know Matt a bit better, I interviewed him a few days ago. My questions are in bold, followed by Matt’s answers.

Tell me a bit about your background in the IT world.

Well, my first real job was as a webmaster for the FINA WORLD MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP of Montreal in 2005. This championship is the Federation’s biggest competition in terms of participation. Every two years it welcomes swimmers, divers and water polo players from all corners of the world. Since then, I've had several jobs that have provided me with a great deal of knowledge and experience.

 

How did you and David meet? 

In 2005, my cousin introduced David to me at a Halloween party. We talked about our professions without even knowing that we would eventually work together. At that time, Remote Desktop Manager was still in its early days.

When did you start working at Devolutions and how was it at the very beginning?

I started working on Devolutions’ website in 2005. It was on a contract basis, as at the time I was still working with other companies.

A few years and a couple of jobs later, I asked David if he knew of any contacts or companies that could use my services. That’s when he told me more about RDM and how it was growing in popularity, and to my surprise, he invited me to work with him. Of course, I said yes! And it was the beginning of a great adventure.

What has changed about Devolutions since you started?

Well, the image of the company has changed dramatically! We have new offices, several new faces, and very competent people and partners who believe in David’s vision! I am very excited about the future of RDM. Things are going very well, and I am convinced that we are on the right track. We work hard every day to reach our customers and satisfy them. The sky’s the limit!

What does your job involve? What tools do you use?

My main role is to provide all of the company’s graphic image and website design and development needs. I’m fortunate, because back in Montreal I worked in the IT department as the resource person. This experience allowed me to learn so much, and has given me very versatile skills. So I’m not just a designer, but I’m also a programmer – all in one ;).

As for tools, I work a lot with Photoshop, InDesign, Visual Studio and Firefox. For the web, I work mainly with FireBug (firefox plugin) to test my css.

What are some of your hobbies?

I love to play guitar and piano. I also like to create my own compositions.

What are your favorite movies?

Definitely, Forest Gump and Dune.

What music do you listen to?

RadioHead, Nick Drake, Wilco, The Police and The Doors.

What invention would you have liked to create?

I wish I had created an invention that does not even exist: a remote control that controls time, as in the movie Click with Adam Sandler.

Would you like to say something to our community?

Thank you so much for trusting us and using RDM. How do you like our new website? I would really appreciate your comments and suggestions. You can be assured that we will all keep working really hard!

Tips and Tricks: Data Migration

Many users start with the Standard edition but end up migrating to the Enterprise edition.  Here is the procedure to migrate the data between data sources.

The migration is simply an export from the origin data source, followed by an import in the destination data source.

Export

Select the origin data source in the data source selection drop down.

Data source selection drop down

Select File -> Export -> Export All Entries (.rdm).

Export sub menu

Decide if you want to export credentials or not.  For a typical migration you would check the option. Export entries option dialog

Save the file with the name and location of your choice.

Import

Select the destination data source in the data source selection drop down.

Select File -> Import -> Import Entries (.rdm, *.pvm, .vnc, .rdp).

Import sub menu

• In the Import Entries dialog, use the ellipsis button to browse for the data file exported in the previous section. 

Import Entries dialog

In the next dialog, you are presented with a list of all entries that are in the data file.  Simply press ok to complete the process.

Top 5 Reasons Why Your Mom would Love RDM this Mother’s Day!

Hi everyone!

As you all SHOULD know if you really and truly cared (do I sound like your mom?), it’s Mother’s Day this weekend!

And like millions of people, you’ll probably buy your mom some flowers, chocolates, perhaps a bottle of wine or a day at the spa…that kind of stuff. It’s nice, but let’s be honest: it’s pretty predictable, right?

Well, this year, I have an interesting suggestion for you. Instead of giving her something ordinary, why don’t you prove to her that, as a Remote Desktop Manager user, you are faithfully following 5 key pieces of her wise, loving and motherly advice. 

“Don’t forget to tidy up everything!”

Remember when you were a kid and having fun with your toys – and you’d leave them all over the place? Or when growing older, do you remember organizing a LAN party in your basement (Doom, anyone?) – and your tired, overworked mom had to nag you to tidy up everything? Well, imagine her delight in discovering that now, after all of these years, you’re using RDM to group and organize all your remote connections and passwords. And when you show her the elegant easy-to-reach tree view, she just might start crying tears of joy. 

“Put on your helmet”

Ah, yes. Remember how you would recklessly ride your bike around your home? And who was that person who pleaded with you to put your helmet? Your mom, of course! Well, now with RDM, you can show her that you finally got the message. You can even point out our Online Backup, which is the easiest and quickest way to automatically save all your remote connections and settings in case there’s a mistake or equipment failure. Your mom will be so proud. 

“Don’t talk to strangers”

And let’s not forget mom’s classic warning: don’t ever talk to strangers! Well, guess what? Now you can show her that, thanks to RDM, you can create security groups or grant access to parts of your database to certain users -- and keep everyone else locked outside. Expect plenty of hugs and comments like “oh my little baby is so big now!”

“Don’t forget to lock the door!”

Whether you were just running in for a drink or to watch a couple of minutes of Transformers, your mom always told you to lock the front door. Well, now that you’re all grown up (well, let’s pretend J), you can tell mom that you not only lock the front door of the house but you also protect your network’s “front door” as well.  Indeed, the weakest link of any network is passwords. They’re “doors” to your sensitive data. With RDM's integrated password generator, you can always ensure that you’re using strong passwords. And even better, you don’t even have to remember them, as the tool does it for you. Plus, you can choose which users can or cannot view the passwords, while still granting them access to servers, VMs, client’s infrastructures, etc.  Your mom may even worry that she’s trained you TOO well!

“Don’t come back too late”

Back when in my early teenage years, there were no cellphones or GPS devices to keep track of me and my friends…and we loved it! But what wasn't fun was always being reminded not to come back too late. Well, I can’t say that I always followed that order – and maybe you didn’t always, either. But so what? That was the past, and now you can prove to your mom that you’re never late by showing her RDM’s  database connection log. Impress her with epic tales of how RDM helps you keep track of every action performed during a session, such as opening, closing, deleting, creating, editing a session, and so on. And if she isn't by this point busy thanking the heavens for giving her such a wonderful child, be sure to tell her about how useful this is for auditing and billing purposes, too.

What Do You Think?

Well, OK – let’s be frank. Your mom probably isn't going to love RDM as much as you do. But what she’ll really love is how you listened to her advice, and have grown up into such a smart and thoughtful IT pro (who always wears clean underwear and eats veggies). 

Thanks, and to the great mom’s out there: HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

Max

PS: I’m curious to see what your mother told you as a kid that still applies in your day-to-day tasks. Feel free to share them below! 

How I met Devolutions...

Hello everyone,

My name is Annie Letourneau, and I’m a brand new member of the Devolutions team! I’m the Marketing Coordinator and “healthy style motivator.” You’ll understand later...;-) I'm happy to be part of the team, and I’ll be focusing on managing our online community, as well as customer service, branding, web development, and optimizing our marketing tools and campaigns. 

Here’s a little about me…

I started learning all about the web about 13 years ago (back when everyone else was freaking out about “year 2000 bugs” :) I started programming in HTML and became fascinated with how I could connect to people though this amazing new medium. After a lot of hard work, I launched my very first website – and fell in love with the web! 

Over the next few years, I developed my skills and discovered new technologies. I also realized that, while I enjoyed programming, I really preferred the design end of things. And so, I decided to let the experts handle PHP and ASP programming, and focus more on marketing.

For the next decade, I had the pleasure of working as a Marketing Project Coordinator with some amazing companies, including Cirque du Soleil, Reebok, Monsters, Desjardins, Energizer, Loto-Quebec, Astral Media and many more. I also worked for the RDS network as a Web and Mobile Sales Coordinator. I learned so much, had countless great experiences, and met some truly wonderful people!

Of course, while I enjoy working with technology, I’m also very active and love sports. My motto is “no health, no success!” That’s why, about 10 years ago, I became a Private Trainer, and even launched a blog on the topic at www.suivez-me.com.For now, the site is in French – but I’m working on the English translation. Check it out even if you don’t read French, as the images may inspire you. 

And of course, my goal is to help my new Devolutions colleagues become healthier, too, so I’ve been giving them advice on what to eat…and what not to eat!

How life surprises me

In 2005, I was working as Private Trainer in a fitness center here in Lavaltrie – which, back then, was a pretty small town. A few years later in 2008, I moved in Montreal to work on some exciting projects, and get involved in SEO, SEM and social media. And then in 2013, I received a call from David (our CEO) who asked me to join his team – and I enthusiastically accepted!

So, here I am back in Lavaltrie J Except it’s not a small town anymore. There are major developments and growth happening all over the place. And I get to work with my fellow Marketing Coordinator Anne-Marie Mongeon, who was also my colleague back at the gym in 2005. Here we are, together again ;-)

I’m looking forward to supporting this great team. If you’d like to get in touch, feel free to contact me at aletourneau@devolutions.net.

Automating Remote Microsoft Management Console (MMC) – It’s Simple!

While running a remote MMC Snap-In is useful, automating it is bliss! Session Macros/Scripts/Tools will do the job, configure once and run the MMC against any of your servers.

Here's how you do it:

1. Create the session tool via: Edit -> New Entry -> Add Macro/Script/Tool

2. Select: “Command Line”

3. Name: “DHCP”

4. Run: “dhcpmgmt.msc /ComputerName $HOST$” (see notes below)

• Note: if you only put “dhcpmgmt.msc” in the run textbox and hit “Assign file icon to session,” the dhcpmgmt.msc icon will be assigned
• Note: Passing the host name can be tricky, as some Snap-Ins require different parameter formatting. For example: /Computer=$HOST$ or /ComputerName $HOST$

5. Select: “Run as Administrator”

6. Select: “Open embedded/tabbed” (see note below)

• Note: Embedding the console works with most Snap-Ins

Next, double-check your sessions. They must be configured to feed the proper credentials to the session tool. On the Tools tab of each session, make sure you’ve selected the proper credentials to be supplied:

• Use default credentials = send nothing and let Windows figure things out
• User session credentials = use the same credentials as the session
• Use custom credentials = use specific credentials
• Use credential repository = specify a set of credentials from the repository

To run the Snap-In, select your session and locate the tool in the dashboard.  If everything is configured properly, a simple click is all you need!

We hope this gives you a helpful new way to manage your day-to-day workload, and make your life simpler and more efficient. If you have other great tips on using session macros/scripts/tools that we can share with the community, please let us know! 

May’s Poll Question: What Tools Do You Think EVERY IT Pro Should Use?

Hello RDMers!

As an IT Pro, you surely have a set of tools that you just can’t imagine being without. These are the tools that make your life simpler, more productive, more enjoyable, and that integrate perfectly with your day-to-day life. 

So, we’d like you to think of your beloved tools, and share the BEST ones with our community. These are the tools that you can’t live without, and you can’t imagine anyone else can, either.

Your Top 3 Free and Paid Tools

Please share your best top 3 FREE tools, and top 3 PAID tools. And while we’d be honored and grateful if you had RDM on your list, please think of non-Devolutions tools so that we can generate a wide selection of responses. 

If you need any suggestions, check our this extensive list from well-known blogger Scott Hanselman.http://hanselman.com/tools. 

Plus, here’s a list of the cool tools that some of the experts here at Devolutions use and couldn't live without:

Top FREE tools:

Notepad++ --- A free source code editor which supports several programming languages running under the MS Windows environment. 

WinMerge --- An open source differencing and merging tool for Windows.

Dropbox --- You know Dropbox I'm sure! ;)

SVN (Subversion) --- An open source version control system.

FireBug --- Tools for web development. Allows inspect, edit and monitor CSS, HTML, JavaScript and Net requests in any web page. 

Fiddler --- A free web debugging tool which logs all HTTP(S) traffic between your computer and the Internet.

Evernote --- A popular software and services designed for notetaking and archiving. Pretty handy to remember everything.

Top PAID tools:

SQL Server --- Microsoft's popular database. Most popular database amongst RDM users too. 

LINQpad (Pro version) --- Lets you interactively query databases in a modern query language: LINQ.

Resharper --- Productivity and code refactoring plugin for Visual Studio

Photoshop CS6 --- Popular graphic design software by Adobe

SnagIT --- A screenshot program that captures video display and audio output

Parallels Desktop --- Lets you run Windows application like they were made for your Mac 

Visual Studio --- The popular integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft

Share your Tools, Win a RDM License!

So…let’s go RDMers! Send in your list by commenting below, on our Facebook page, via Twitter, or you can email me as well (mtrottier@devolutions.net).  At the end of the month, we’ll post the top picks, and award four lucky respondents with an RDM Enterprise license. 

Thanks!