A few months ago I talked about a
couple tools including the SoftGrid Migration Tool which helps you “convert” existing automated application setups to SoftGrid Virtualized Applications (aka streams or sequences). It looks like the folks over at Login Consultants have an updated version out on the web that includes new features such as:
Allow local interaction option.
Terminate children option.
Disable virtual services option.
Add one or more custom shortcuts while sequencing.
Load/Save a project for future reference.
Create your own default setting using the GUI.
For more information as well as a link to down the tool see the
http://www.softgridblog.com. As always, this is not a Microsoft tool and as such we make no warranties or guarantee's, nor does Microsoft support the use of this tool in any way. This is more of a 'use at your own risk' type of thing but I think you'll find it helpful.
Patrick G just announced on his Technet blog a new Microsoft product, called "Bulldog". He writes about the main points of the product in development:
The Stratature +EDM product will be released as a Technology Preview in February, 2008 to a select group of customers.
A formal TAP program will commence in the first half of 2008.
The first CTP release should be available Q3, 2008.
General availability for Bulldog is currently planned to coincide with the next release of Office.
Where "Bulldog is about making Stratature +EDM a Microsoft product. Bulldog will remain almost identical to +EDM with some enhancements."
"The Microsoft MDM product codename is “Bulldog”. Bulldog includes Microsoft process and standards applied to the Stratature code base as well as several important new capabilities described below. This document introduces the short term roadmap for master data management at Microsoft and the timelines for reintroducing an enhanced master data management product in the near future."
You can view more here:
http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/mdm or check out the detailed roadmap here:
The Microsoft MDM Roadmap.
The
November Edition of TechNet Magazine is now available online. This month it's all about keeping users happy which in turn keeps Administrators happy. Below is a quick list of the featured articles:
Changes to Offline Files in Windows Vista
Simple Scalable deployment with BDD 2007
Exchange Edge Transport Servers at Microsoft: Part 2
Configure VPN Remote Access with ISA Server 2006
Optimizing SQL Server Query Performance
So there's something for everyone in this month's edition. Check it out!
TechNet Magazine - November 2007
In order to assist customers in designing their storage layout for Data Protection Manager 2007, we have put together a calculator that focuses on outlining the storage capacity requirements based on a set of input factors. For the first release, the calculator focuses on Exchange 2007 backup scenarios only. Future releases may include other technologies. The calculator uses all the recommendations outlined in:
Protecting Exchange Server with DPM 2007 White Paper
Exchange 2007 Planning Storage Configurations
Exchange 2007 Mailbox Storage Calculator
DPM Blog
The calculator does not make any recommendations toward storage design (RAID parity, number of disks, etc) as the storage design is largely dependent on the type of storage array being utilized.
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The other day I needed to get a list of all SCOM 2007 agent-managed computers in my environment, because they needed to have a registry key fixed. I constructed a SQL query to do so:
SELECT MEGv.[Displayname] AS Object FROM dbo.ManagedEntityGenericView AS MEGv
INNER JOIN dbo.[ManagedTypeView] AS TMv
ON TMv.[id] = MEGv.[MonitoringClassId]
WHERE TMv.[Name] = 'Microsoft.SystemCenter.HealthService'
ORDER BY MEGv.[Displayname]
I saved the results to a file called "servers.txt". Essentially, it queries the OpsMgr operational DB for any instance of the HealthService class. Enjoy!
My fellow MOM-MVP and overall knowledgable guru,
Pete Zerger, is doing a multi-part blog post about Gateway scenario's with Operations Manager 2007:
I get a question from someone almost every day about a variation of the gateway scenario, so in a series of posts I’d like to expand on the gateway scenario and how it works. Let’s start with this question:
Question: You explain in the Gateway and PKI scenarios document how to make a Gateway fail over to a another Management Server in the event one fails. I have agents in an untrusted environment. How can I make my agents fail over to another Gateway in the event one of my Gateway fails?
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OpsMgr 2007 PKI and Gateway Scenarios Part 1: Agent failover when the primary Gateway fails
J.C. Hornbeck writes: Here are some Proof of Concept guidelines I put together that I thought you might find helpful. While this document provides an overview of installing Configuration Manager in a Proof of Concept (POC) environment, it should under no circumstances be considered a replacement for reviewing SCCM product documentation in detail prior to production deployment.
Note: SCCM can be downloaded from the Microsoft Volume Licensing Site MVLS website on or shortly after 11/1/07 (SQL 2005, which SCCM requires, can also be downloaded from the MVLS website). Customers can download the 120-day evaluation version (which is RTM code, link is below) to begin their testing and once they get their MVLS product key, they will be able to apply the product key using a simple upgrade process (no re-installation will be required). It should be noted that the 120-day evaluation version does NOT support an in-place upgrade from SMS 2003 SP2/SP3. SCCM is also available for download for MSDN subscribers, but this version cannot be used in production (which is the case for all products downloaded from MSDN).
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Boris Yanushpolsky writes: I added a couple of things that people have asked for in the MPviewer:
The ability to save to HTML. Looks like quite a bit of people asked for this.
More info about monitors (whether it generates an alert, what's the severity, is the alert auto resolved)
More info about discoveries (how frequency does the discovery run)
MP Viewer 1.2
Trika Harms writes: I think these posts on the actual process of applying for and sitting your panel review for Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA) are interesting. There is good reason that the MCA has such a great reputation--it is a pretty thorough process...
Richard was at Microsoft when he went through his early-days MCA process (he passed)
Congratulations to Natasha for passing her board! Read her advice.
Miha has a pretty funny story. Not funny ha-ha. More roundhouse-to-the-shins funny. On the MCA blog.
The Ranger programs (for database and messaging architecture) are another facet of MCA and part of our Microsoft Certification program. The Ranger director, Per, is going to talk about the program and process in our MCP meeting on Wednesday, another reason to attend:
meeting info.
I just came across a great new blog around System Center. The System Center team put up their team blog here:
Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog
This blog is still young and I know they will have some great information with the products currently in their launch schedules. There first post has a lot great resources take a look here:
Welcome to the official System Center blog from Brad Anderson
This feature is currently known as the “Database Mounting Tool” (DMT), which is better than the previous name of “Data Mining Tool”. Who knows what we’ll end up calling this at RTM, but I like the previous name “Snapshot Viewer” the best so this is what I entitled the post.
DMT allows you to quickly take snapshots of your AD database at any point in time and view those snapshots using the LDP viewer of your choice. At first I was extremely excited about this feature, but after realizing the command-line action you have to go through in order to do this (see below), it killed my buzz a little bit. If you compare this to automating ldifde/csvde backups of your AD, I can see these advantages to snapshots:
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The Server Virtualization Management Pack provides enterprise-wide monitoring of Microsoft virtual environments. The Management Pack monitors the health and availability of virtual machines deployed on hosts running Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 and the health and availability of the hosts. The Management Pack also monitors the components of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 (VMM), including the VMM server, database server, hosts, library servers, and self-service portals, and provides reporting for VMM.
The Server Virtualization Management Pack provides the same comprehensive monitoring of hosts and virtual machines that is available through the Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, and can be used by organizations that have not yet deployed Virtual Machine Manager.
Server Virtualization Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007
Fellow MOM-MVP,
Cameron Fuller, has written a blogpost about Agentless monitoring:
"With all of the options available to monitor devices with OpsMgr 2007 why would you want to use Agentless monitoring? As a background, the recommended method to monitor Windows-based systems is by deploying the OpsMgr agent to the system. When an agent cannot be deployed to the system, your options include monitoring via SNMP, TCP Port, Ping, and third party vendor solutions (click here for background on monitoring network devices ) AND there is Agentless monitoring. So why use it? In what situations is Agentless monitoring the best available solution?
As Kerrie Meyler discusses in her article, I agree with her summary statement “For Operations Manager, agentless monitoring is recommended only when an agent-managed configuration is not possible.” I would recommend that you check out her article before reading through this." (more)
DNS provides the name resolution services required by Active Directory. The DNS server in Windows Server 2008 complies with the set of Requests for Comments (RFCs) that define and standardize the DNS protocol. Because the DNS Server service is RFC compliant and it can use standard DNS data file and resource record formats, it can work successfully with most other DNS server implementations, such as DNS implementations that use the Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) software. The DNS Server service in Windows Server 2008 includes some new and enhanced features described below.
1. Background zone loading
A DNS server running Windows Server 2008 now loads zone data stored in AD DS in the background while it (re)starts, so that it can respond immediately to requests for data from other zones. Because the task of loading zones is performed by separate threads, the DNS server is able to respond to queries while zone loading is in progress. Let's have a look at the startup sequence:
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Anders Bengtsson, a fellow MOM-MVP, writes: "In the ”Windows Client Operating System Management Pack Guide for Operations Manager 2007″ you can read about monitoring Business Critical Clients. But even if you import this management pack, and add your business critical workstation to the “All Business Critical Windows Critical” group you will not get an alert when the workstation are unreachable for example disconnected from the network.
If you look at the “Computer Not Reachable” monitor you will see a default override that disable it for Computer Clients. The same thing for the “Health Service Heartbeat Failure” monitor. If you then add your workstation to the for example All Business Critical Windows Client/All Business Critical Windows XP Clients” group and then create a override that enable “Generates Alert” for the two monitors for this group, you will get an alert if they are unreachable."
Today sees the update of Windows Live Gallery, the online site where users can personalise their Windows Live experience. From a user's perspective the update adds the new Wave 2 UI, as well as a new area showcasing gadgets for Windows Live Events, not surprising given that Events runs as part of Spaces. The Gallery update adds much more for developers though, turning it into a true marketplace for developers to showcase their wares, and if they want to, receive payment for their efforts.
Gallery now uses the existing Microsoft Points system, which also power Zune and Xbox Live purchases. The addition of a points-based based payment methodto Windows Live has been talked about for a while, with confirmation that it would be included as part of the Windows Live developer platform being given at CES 2007. As well as potentially providing the impetus to galvanise independent Windows Live developers, integrating Microsoft Points potentially provides a further revenue stream for Microsoft, albeit maybe only a small one. Just as Facebook has Gifts, Microssft Points enables a similar scenario with Windows Live. Think Messenger content available to buy, with parents being able to give Microsoft Points gift cards, and not have to hand over their credit card.
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PR sent out a link to
this slick new Windows Home Server Demo this afternoon. Nothing really notable about it (although I do want one)…except the demo is in Flash.
Microsoft has been pushing their alternative framework to Flash called
Silverlight since announcing it earlier this year, even going so far as to have a
new search user interface created that shows off some of the Silverlight features. Did the memo never get to the Windows Home Server team? Eat your own dogfood, or else no one else will.
Of course, everyone has Flash on their computer, and few have Silverlight installed. So what does Microsoft want more - Silverlight installations or sales of Windows Home Servers? I guess the answer is - servers.
Given that groups are used for role based security, overrides, reports, and some other features, it might be pretty interesting to know what groups is a particular computer member of. Attached is a sample script that dumps the list of groups that a particular computer is a member of.
Steps to run the script:
1 - Save the script file
2 - Open the OpsMgr command shell
3 - Run the following: C:\GetContainingGroups.ps1 -computerFQDN:'server1.contoso.com'
OpsMgr / Powershell: Computer Group Membership (.ps1)
The
DHCP Server Callout DLL helps to filter out DHCP requests based on MAC address. When a device or computer tries to connect to network, it first tries to obtain an IP address from the DHCP Server. The Callout DLL (read: hook-in DLL) also works and should continue to work on Windows Server 2008.
The DHCP Server Callout DLL checks if this device MAC address is present in known list (text file) of MAC addresses configured by administrators. If it is present, the device will be allowed to obtain an IP address or the device requests will be ignored based on the action configured by administrator.
MAC address based filtering will allow network administrators to ensure that only a know set of devices in the system are able get ip address from DHCP Server. This DLL will help administrators to enforce additional security into network. After installation, both the DLL (MacFilterCallout.dll) and the installation/configuration instructions (SetupDHCPMacFilter.rtf) are available under %windir%\system32.
Download here
Additional reading:
DHCP Team blog
Jason Langridge held a webcast yesterday evening on System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008. After request, he posted them to the web. You can download them
here. It also contained some nice screenshots of the current build, still called "Codename Yona":
SC Mobile Device Manager: Screenshot #1
SC Mobile Device Manager: Screenshot #2
SC Mobile Device Manager: Screenshot #3
The presentation containes more screenshots and information. Check it out:
System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008
Good news for all you wannabe Groove adapts, this is your change. Microsoft has just published they new and all improved Microsoft Office Groove 2007 Client and Server E-Learning. So this is your change to build up to the Groove 2007 Exam 70-555 and go for that certification. The E-Learning consist of the following modules:
Collection 6452AE: Implementing Microsoft Office Groove Server 2007
Course 6453AE: Installing and Deploying Microsoft Office Groove 2007
Course 6454AE: Configuring and Administering Microsoft Office Groove Server 2007
Course 6455AE: Managing Microsoft Office Groove 2007 Accounts and Workspaces
Course 6456AE: Using Advanced Microsoft Office Groove 2007 Workspace Tools
Course 6457AE: Deploying Microsoft Office Groove 2007 Data Bridge and Disaster Recovery
Course 6458AE: Securing and Maintaining Microsoft Office Groove 2007
These courses can be accessed at
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/elearning/course/6452.mspx
Great news from Jeff on the
Virtualization team blog, here is a short summary you can get the full details from
here.
"The hypercall API enables partners to develop solutions with Windows Server virtualization allowing customers to achieve dynamic IT environments. These APIs are available for use by any organization seeking to integrate or extend their software with Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server virtualization."
"Microsoft is taking a step further in its commitment to interoperability by extending the Open Specification Promise to the hypercall API within Windows Server virtualization. With the OSP, any individual or organization is free to implement, commercialize and modify Microsoft’s virtualization format technology for free, now and forever..."
Geert Baeke writes:
"Creating a failover cluster with iSCSI disks is quite simple but there is one thing you need to be sure of: support for persistent reservations by your iSCSI target. I tried to create a failover cluster with iSCSI disks served off an OpenFiler target but that did not work.
But how do you know it will not work? Well, the good thing is that Windows Server 2008 has a Cluster Validation tool that will tell you if your configuration is supported. Click the images below to see parts of the validation tool."
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There was a webcast on the new System Center cerfications the other day. As you might know, the beta TS exam for Operations Manager 2007 (71-400) was held the past two weeks, but has now reached its limit. The public TS exam, called 70-400, will be live starting January 2nd 2008. In the webcast Microsoft outlined the new TS examens and the IT Pro certification. Thanks to
Alipka, here is the flowchart:
So, if you're in the System Center area of products, study for Operations Manager 2007 and Configuration Manager 2007 the coming months. If you're going to IT Forum; be sure to attend the Configuration Manager sessions, as Barcelona will the official launch moment with many many in-depth technical sessions. The ConfigMgr Certification will be available in March 08, and beta in Jan 08.
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In this article we will discuss “Starter GPOs”. With Starter GPOs you get the ability to save baseline templates to use when creating new Group Policy Objects (GPO). These templates can actually be exported to other domain environments, giving you enhanced flexibility.
Built into Windows Server 2008 is the new and shiny Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) version 2.0. The look and feel is pretty much like the older versions, but some nice features have been added.
As you probably know, Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista will uninstall the version of GPMC that comes as part of the operating system – leaving you without a tool to manage you domain GPOs… But don’t get too disappointed now: around the release of SP1 for Vista GPMC version 2.0 will be available as a separate download from the Microsoft website. (
continue at source)
SyncToy 2.0 Beta for Windows is available as a free download from the Microsoft Download Center. The easy to use, customizable application helps you copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders and computers.
There are files from all kinds of sources that we want to store and manage. Files are created by our digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops. Increasingly, computer users are using different folders, drives, and even different computers (such as a laptop and a desktop) to store, manage, retrieve and view files. Yet managing hundreds or thousands of files is still largely a manual operation. In some cases it is necessary to regularly get copies of files from another location to add to primary location; in other cases there is a need to keep two storage locations exactly in sync. Some users manage files manually, dragging and dropping from one place to another and keeping track of whether the locations are synchronized in their heads. Other users may use two or more applications to provide this functionality.
SyncToy v2.0 Beta |
SyncToy White Paper
"We are pleased to announce the RC1 release and new name for the fourth generation deployment Solution Accelerator, Microsoft Deployment. The current generation of automated deployment tools from Microsoft is increasingly unified; the same tools, utilities and products in many cases offer support and functionality for desktop and server deployment tasks. Following the trend of unified tools, the Business Desktop Deployment team has incorporated new functionality and guidance to support automated server deployment in addition to desktop deployment capabilities. This expanded feature set, with its guidance and ability to automate installation of Windows client and server operating systems – as well as applications – has effectively outgrown the current name, Business Desktop Deployment. Previous Beta releases have been using the code name “Deployment 4” to refer to Microsoft Deployment before the name was finalized.
(
continue at source)
There are new Virtual Machine Additions for Linux available for download. There key change to be aware of is the addition of support for SuSE Enterprise Linux 10. The official supported list is now:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 (update 6)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 (update 6)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
Red Hat Linux 7.3
Red Hat Linux 9.0
SuSE Linux 9.2
SuSE Linux 9.3
SuSE Linux 10.0
The download is no longer on connect.microsoft.com and does not require any registration (yay!). You can easily download it from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=bf12642f-77dc-4d45-ae4e-e1b05e0a2674&displaylang=en&tm. As always - this is only supported on Virtual Server - but should work just fine on Virtual PC.
Kurt Roggen writes:
"Easy Print" builds on the functionality provided by the XPS (XML Paper Specification) printer/driver infrastructure delivered with Windows Vista and also included in Windows Server 2008. XPS (XML Paper Specification) printing provides some extra advantages:
Public open document format
Portable and printer independent (incl. print server x86/x64 independent)
Flexible document properties handling
Lower bandwidth consumption
- For typical knowledge worker print jobs
- For print jobs with multiple copies
But what is the real advantage of this "Easy Print" ?
First of all, you no longer need to map the local client-side print driver with the exact Terminal Server-side print driver, which introduced some administrative overhead, and in some case (x64 Terminal Servers) would be blocking due to the absence of x64 print drivers.
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Gmail is getting support for IMAP clients like Outlook, Thunderbird, and the iPhone. This means that Gmail users will no longer limited to the Gmail.com user interface or to the weak integration they can get from clients using the much more rudimentary POP email protocol.
There's no word on the official rollout schedule for IMAP support. Some users have it, some don't. I do. Don't ask me why. To see if you have support, click on the "Settings" link and then see if you have a "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" tab.
The Microsoft Windows Server 2000/2003 Operating System Management Pack has been updated to include an OpsMgr07 specific MP Guide:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=3529d233-5e3e-4b51-8f66-5d6f27005ec3&DisplayLang=en
The version of the MP itself has not changed.
Microsoft has announced the next component of System Center, the
System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008. When it's released (look for it in Q2 of 2008) it will allow IT departments to enhance security by enforcing company and departmental policies across a wide variety of Windows Mobile phones. Features will include:
The ability to restrict the use of Bluetooth, SMS/MMS, WLAN, Infrared, POP/IMAP e-mail, as well as camera functionality
The ability to restrict which applications will run on your devices
Encryption of files
Remote wipe of lost or stolen phones
Software and firmware deployment, based on WSUS 3.0
Device Inventory and reporting
Not to mention behind-the-firewall access to documents through a mobile VPN feature. All in all, it looks to be a solid offering. Phones will require Windows Mobile 6.1, which isn't available yet, but will be out by the time SCMDM2008 (sheesh, these product names are getting long) ships.
The Microsoft Windows Domain Name System 2000, 2003 Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007 has been has been updated to include an OpsMgr07 specific MP Guide:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=633b718f-5fe8-47d5-a395-8203f8ec354f&DisplayLang=en
The version of the MP itself has not changed.
Microsoft has announced that support for the F# functional programming language will be fully integrated into Visual Studio. This marks a bold new commitment to facilitating functional programming on the .NET platform and could potentially help legitimize functional programming in enterprise environments. Microsoft’s promotion of F# to a fully-supported language in Visual Studio is also indicative of the extreme versatility of the .NET platform and Microsoft’s Common Language Runtime.
F# began its life as a Microsoft Research project to demonstrate the efficacy of .NET as a platform for mixing multiple distinct programming paradigms. F# is heavily inspired by the OCaml programming language, and a subset of F# and OCaml are largely compatible. F# offers developers many valuable and compelling features without sacrificing much runtime efficiency. F# supports type inference, pattern matching, high-order functions, and currying. F# also supports interactive execution, which means that F# programs can be run like scripts or inputted in an interactive top-level environment similar to the Python shell or Ruby’s IRB. F# also has full access to the .NET APIs and components written in other .NET languages.
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We are pleased to announce the release of the remaining 19 languages packs for Windows Vista Ultimate. This Ultimate Extras release brings the total number of language packs for use with Windows Vista Multilingual User Interface Pack (MUI) to 35. Windows Vista Ultimate enables users install multiple languages on their system and quickly switch between them by associating a system language with their login name.
MUI is particularly useful in multilingual homes where multiple people use a single computer and choose different languages for their primary use. People who wish to learn a new language will also find MUI to be a particularly useful feature. We are aware of a very large number of customers who have purchased Ultimate for this feature specifically and are gratified that these customers can now realize the full benefit of Windows Vista Ultimate.
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| 24 Oct '07 - 07:18 | maarten goet | 
