Marco Nielsen at myITforum.com

System Center Mobile Device Manager Total Cost of Ownership (SCMDM TCO)

There hasn't been much mention of this I believe, although I could have missed last year with all the activity going on. :-) But it recently caught my attention that Microsoft has indeed published material on the TCO of SCMDM 2008.

White Papers, Reports and Calculators oh my

All the Microsoft mobility white papers and reports are linked from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/business/strategy/tco.mspx

An interesting white paper that pits a RIM BES 4.1 environment against SCMDM 2008 for TCO is detailed in this paper. Here is the direct link and title:

Wipro: SCMDM 2008 - The case for Managing Mobile Devices using SCMDM (Oct 2008):
http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/E/9/2E9676F1-2457-4F16-87A2-71416601296E/Wipro%20-%20System%20Center%20MDM%20v1-1%20Jan%2009.pdf

This white paper appears to cover SCMDM 2008 RTM and not SCMDM 2008 SP1, so the additional scalability available in SP1 might not be factored in as well. This provides an additional large scalability boost.

SCMDM 2008 SP1 Scalability Boost

As I mentioned above, there is a huge difference in scalability with SP1 of the product. Here is a good overview I put together to show this:

Please see all the details at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd261960.aspx for the SP1 hardware specs and policy conditions to met these management numbers. One thing that is lacking I believe however is clear SQL Server requirements and numbers..

|\\arco..

Microsoft Recite Technology Preview

I used the excellent Jott service a little last year when it was still free and know how easy it was to use by calling 866-JOTT-123. The integration with other online applications was also really slick.. It appears Microsoft is also building upon the voice recognition that their mobile Live Search product has. So far not as elaborate as the Jott service, but possible useful none-the-less..

Basically the Microsoft Recite application provides the quick and easy functionality of a old fashioned voice-recorder, but makes it searchable and provides a timeline of the recordings.

Some quick screen shots of it in action:

When you click "Remember", it will record the voice recording:

After several recordings you have a timeline, that you can browse through. Clicking "Search", lets you record what you want to search and provides a browseable results pane where you can play back the best matching results:

During my brief tests it appeared to successfully and accurately locate previous recordings with the spoken search words I gave it.

I had some issues on my Palm Pro when testing the application. Not sure if it was just some bugs or quirks of me trying out the application.. :-)  Appears that it is not touch screen aware, but if you are on the go I think it's simple construction would make touch screen support unnecessary.

I think this preview shows promise of some of the powerful aspects of voice search could have to retrieve other information on the Windows Mobile device or available through a connection. We shall see where Microsoft decides to take it..

References:
http://recite.microsoft.com
http://blogs.msdn.com/recite
http://getsatisfaction.com/microsoft/products/microsoft_recite

|\\arco..

Verifying Microsoft Installation Media

A question that has come to me several times has been how to verify if an specific installation is running a time limited evaluation copy or full blown copy. Many Microsoft products can now be downloaded and installed as evaluations and you usually can't tell the product apart at all until one day it stops to function.

The same is true for System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 (SCMDM 2008). From the Console if you select Help->About you can retrieve the Product ID for the installed product. The first 5 digits is called the Microsoft Product Code, "MPC" and identifies the product that has been installed.

This is what SCMDM 2008 RTM looks like using Volume License (VL) bits:

This is what SCMDM 2008 SP1 looks like using Volume License (VL) bits:

Please notice the Product ID field and the second grouping of 3 digits. These are the Channel ID for the media, or "CID". Using the listing on http://wiki.lunarsoft.net/wiki/Product_IDs, it shows that the second 3 digits “270” are indeed Volume Licensed bits..

If you download the SCMDM 2008 SP1 120-day TechNet evaluation copy from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/cc339027.aspx, the Help->About screen looks like this:

Notice that the second 3 digit grouping in the Product ID field, the Channel ID, is "849" in this case, not "270". It appears that the some of the Channel ID numbers vary from product family to product family, so I was unable to get information on what the "849" is representative of at this point in time.. If you have more details please comment!

This article explains the details of the Product ID and various media channels on the Windows 2003 Server OS side: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=889713. perhaps not directly reverent for SCMDM, but shows more of the complexity behind the media and versions out there for other product families..

|\\arco..

Windows Mobile Troubleshooting - How to log like an expert

As part of supporting Windows Mobile in an enterprise environment, one of the things that often will come up is what tools are available for troubleshooting..

One tool that has been around since the dawn of the first computer programs is logging. Here are a few important Windows Mobile logging tips that can be extremely helpful and save your day:

Exchange ActiveSync Device Logging

Nice write-up from Vik Thairani on how to enable the verbose logging on Windows Mobile for Exchange ActiveSync troubleshooting:
http://blogs.technet.com/vik/archive/2008/12/04/setting-up-verbose-logging-in-windows-mobile-and-parsing-logs.aspx

The log is saved in text file in the \Windows\ActiveSync folder starting with "serverlog" and a sequential number.

SCMDM Device Management Logging

With MDM Connect Now Tool, you can enable or disable various types of logging as necessary. To enable enrollment logging on a device using MDM Connect Now Tool, select Menu, and then select Logging.

For information about MDM Connect Now Tool, see the MDM Resource Kit Tools at this Microsoft Web site: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=127030.

1. EnableNodeMon log - If this option is checked, the system generates a log file at \NodeCache.txt.
2. Enable OMADM log - If this option is checked, the system generates a log file at \deviceupdate.log.
   See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd252860.aspx for some information on what this log can show.
3. Enable Enroll log - If this option is checked, the system generates a log file at \deviceupdate.log.
4. Enable Scheduler log - If this option is checked, the system generates a log file at \Application Data\Logs\Scheduler.txt.
5. Enable alerter log - Generates a log file at \deviceupdate.log.
   If this option is checked, the system enables the following values:
   • Alerter - Search for "Rejecting packet" or "Successful push packets" in the log.
   • Nodemon InitSession
   • Nodemon configuration service provider
   • Software Distribution
   • TDET settings

Please see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd261878.aspx for additional details on these logs.

SCMDM VPN Device Logging

The MDM VPN Diagnostics Tool can be downloaded from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=127030.

To enable and disable Mobile VPN logging on your Windows Mobile device, run the MDM VPN Diagnostics Tool and follow these steps:

1. On the Start page, select Menu.
2. Select Logging.
3. Select Enable or Disable.

MDM VPN Diagnostics Tool includes a Log Browser for viewing the VPN Service log file located at \Application Data\Logs\ipsecvpnpm.txt.

Network Traffic Device Logging

Sometimes the best recourse for technical troubleshooting is determining what is going on on the network level. On a Windows Mobile device this can also be accomplished.

The Microsoft Windows Mobile Network Analyzer PowerToy v1.0 can be directly downloaded from: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=081c6401-49d4-4506-a03b-c41bc76c2f51&displaylang=en.

If you have a storage card inserted, Network Analyzer will write all logs under \Storage Card\NetworkLogs. If there is no \Storage Card, it will write all logs under \NetworkLogs.

To capture the network traffic (NetMon) log for analysis, run the start analyzer script in the Program directory. Run the stop analyzer script to stop the network logging.

Then you can view the .cap file in your network protocol analyzer of your choice to properly decipher all the information. I highly recommend the freebie WireShark efforts from http://www.wireshark.org/.

An example (from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd252860.aspx) to troubleshoot SCMDM VPN issues on a Windows Mobile device:

1. Install the Windows Mobile Network Analyzer PowerToy.
2. Install MDM VPN Diagnostics Tool.
3. Start MDM VPN Diagnostics Tool, select Menu, and then disable VPN.
4. Make sure that you can browse the Internet using Internet Explorer Mobile through your WiFi or Mobile Operator (carrier) data connection.
5. Start the Windows Mobile Network Analyzer PowerToy to capture network traffic on the device.
6. Enable VPN using MDM VPN Diagnostics Tool.
7. When the VPN connection fails, stop capturing network traffic, and save the trace file.
8. View the VPNDiag report and the ipsecvpnpm.txt file from the device.

For more information, view the readme file that accompanies the Windows Mobile Network Analyzer PowerToy.

|\\arco..

New White Paper: Windows Mobile Application Security Configuration for Enterprise Deployments

My esteemed colleague from Enterprise Mobile, Dave Field, has published a new fabulous white paper titled "Windows Mobile Application Security Configuration for Enterprise Deployments".

It recommends how enterprises can take advantage of the powerful security features of Windows Mobile to defend against malicious and unsupported application use. Taking a very pragmatic approach, Dave outlines how various features work and how to implement them. 

Specifically the security features of Windows Mobile, such as certificates, roles and the actual policy configuration values itself.

The 47 page white paper is available for download on this website, at http://www.enterprisemobile.com/resources/white-papers.htm after a quick form to be filled out.

A recommended read for any IT professional interested in better managing security on the Windows Mobile platform!

|\\arco..