RSAT is the Remote Server Administration Tools, which replaced the Adminkit that was supplied in Windows Server 2003. RSAT is for managing a Windows Server 2008 box in Vista. The RSAT and the related Hyper-V management component were updated when SP2 of Vista was released. I found a lot of difficulty trying to locate the correct version of the Hyper-V tools for SP2 but eventually I got the right file version.
However you may see an error message which reads “Access denied. Unable to establish communication between <server> and <client”. The fix is to change DCOM permissions as described here.
Hyper-V is so good that I expect our site will eventually just have two physical servers (instead of four at present) and these will be two Hyper-V servers.
Last week I talked about rebuilding some desktop PCs. We have another scenario of computers in tower cases. Rebuilding these is a much more viable option because the power supply is likely to be a drop in replacement (standard ATX style, although I haven’t yet checked). The issue of rebuilding is that basically, an old PC still has two useful components that may be in as-new condition but their actual market value is next to nothing. These components are, the Windows chassis sticker, and the chassis itself. Together these could be worth around $200-250, about the same as the resale value of a 4-5 year old PC system unit in working order. Obviously in that price you are getting much more than a chassis and license. This is providing that the Windows volume license allows direct upgrades from the version of Windows on the sticker.
When we last upgraded the PCs at our site, the chassis were old style pre-“Prescott” ATX, meaning they lacked the ventilation duct in the side, and power supplies were failing. However provided the chassis you have now has the duct fitted, modern boards should be OK for this chassis. We discarded most of those old PCs, and when you do that, you are effectively throwing away that Windows OEM license. But if you can rebuild the PC by replacing most of its internal components, you can retain the replacement value of both the chassis and sticker. Rebuilding isn’t for the faint hearted, however. Installing the CPU into the board, installing the CPU heatsink/fan and installing the mainboard into the chassis are tasks that I have found challenging in the past, even though these days the boards don’t have the jumpers to worry about. A little slip could result in expensive damage due to fragility of components. Once you have the thing assembled you must run a burn in test, for which you may have to buy software. The burn in helps guard against future component failures by stress testing the components to ensure they are reliable.