February 2009 - Posts

Independent App-V Blog » Login Consultants launches App-V 4.5 Client Diagnostic and Configuration tool
24 February 09 03:35 PM | rodtrent | with no comments

 

Today Login Consultants released a new freeware tool to support Microsoft Application Virtualization called App-V 4.5 Client Diagnostic and Configuration tool.

Independent App-V Blog » Login Consultants launches App-V 4.5 Client Diagnostic and Configuration tool

Filed under: Virtualization, System Center, App-V

Windows Server Internet Information Services for System Center Operations Manager 2007 Updated - myITforum.com
23 February 09 06:57 PM | rodtrent | with no comments

 

Windows Server Internet Information Services for System Center Operations Manager 2007

Windows Server Internet Information Services for System Center Operations Manager 2007 - myITforum.com

Filed under: System Center, OpsMgr 2007, Management Packs

Get ready for the next two opportunities to learn about MDT and SCCM OS Deployments
23 February 09 04:51 PM | rodtrent | with no comments

 

Atlanta - March 10-12

New York - May 5-7.

 

Truesec accepts Microsoft SA Vouchers for the class!

Anyone wanting details can contact: 205-643-3834 or sales@truesec.com or visit the following web link:  http://www.myitforum.com/absolutebm/abmc.aspx?b=139&z=11

Filed under: Training, Microsoft Deployment

System Center Operations Manager 2007 SP1 Internet Information Services 7.0 Monitoring support - myITforum.com
23 February 09 04:45 PM | rodtrent | with no comments

 

System Center Operations Manager 2007 SP1 Internet Information Services 7.0 Monitoring support - myITforum.com

Filed under: System Center, OpsMgr 2007

Introducing the new Windows Live Hotmail Mobile beta
23 February 09 04:17 PM | rodtrent | with no comments

 

 

Feed: LiveSide - Windows Live news and interviews
Posted on: Sunday, February 22, 2009 6:10 AM
Author: damaster
Subject: Introducing the new Windows Live Hotmail Mobile beta

You may have noticed that the Windows Live Mobile Wave 3 upgrade previously did not include any updates to Hotmail. As part of the new Windows Live Hotmail upgrade, one thing that went unnoticed was that together with it came the new Windows Live Hotmail Mobile beta release!

This new Hotmail Mobile beta currently runs side-to-side with the existing Hotmail Mobile. There hasn’t been any official announcement as yet, however we did notice several features new to this update:

• New header and theme that matches it more closely with the other Wave 3 Windows Live mobile services
• First page shows the Inbox straight away
• Search box for fast email searching
• New collapsible Email message header
• Emoticon support
• Views entire email message in one page (the original one breaks a long email message into several pages)
• Less images used for navigation, meaning less mobile download usage and saving cost
• No ads (unsure whether this will be in the final version)
• Simplified address: http://m.mail.live.com

The new version of Hotmail Mobile is looking great! To try it out visit http://m.mail.live.com on your mobile devices. If you’ve found any additional new features as part of this release, let us know in the comment below and tell us what you think!

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What's New in the Configuration Manager Documentation Library for February 2009
23 February 09 04:17 PM | rodtrent | with no comments

 

 

Feed: The Configuration Manager Support Team Blog
Posted on: Monday, February 23, 2009 9:15 AM
Author: jchornbe
Subject: What's New in the Configuration Manager Documentation Library for February 2009

The Configuration Manager Writing Team posted a list of updated docs over on the Configuration Manager Team blog.  These all look to be updated as of February 2009 so if it's been  a while since you've read these then you might want to check out what's new. 

I have their list below but you can read their entire post at http://blogs.technet.com/configmgrteam/archive/2009/02/19/announcement-configuration-manager-documentation-library-update-for-february-2009.aspx.

========

The following information lists the topics that are new or contain significant changes since the December 2008 update.

About Report Models in SQL Reporting Services

- Updated with new information about deploying report models for use in the Configuration Manager console.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Report Model in SQL Reporting Services - Simple

- Replaces the topic "Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Report Model in SQL Reporting Services" to provide updated procedures for creating a SQL Reporting Services report model using a single view from the Configuration Manager database.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Report Model in SQL Reporting Services - Advanced

- New topic providing procedures to create a SQL Reporting Services report model using multiple views from the Configuration Manager database.

Step-by-Step Guide to Deploying a Report Model to Configuration Manager

- New topic providing a procedure for making SQL Reporting Services report models available to report authors from the Configuration Manager console.

About Configuration Items in Desired Configuration Management

- Updated with the information that providers retrieve configuration information by using objects and settings defined within the configuration item. The objects that can be defined are assembly, file or folder, and the registry. The settings that can be defined are XML queries, WQL queries, SQL queries, scripts, registry, Active Directory Domain Services, and the IIS metabase.

Prerequisites for Out of Band Management

- Updated with clarifications that the Intel HECI driver is required for in-band provisioning only; DHCP is also required for in-band provisioning; IPv6 is not supported; in-band provisioning is not supported with Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Tablet PC.

AMT Provisioning Issues for Out of Band Management

- Updated with the entry "Configuration Manager Fails to Provision Computers In a Child Domain Because of Missing DCOM Access Permissions", which describes a CA configuration requirement when the issuing CA is in another domain. To identify this troubleshooting scenario, look for ERROR: ICertRequest2->Submit failed: 0x80070005 in the log file amtproxyomgr.log.

How to Configure Windows Server 2008 for Site Systems

- Updated to include the fallback status point.

 J.C. Hornbeck | Manageability Knowledge Engineer

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Windows Vista Resource Kit, Second Edition for free!
23 February 09 03:46 PM | rodtrent | with no comments

For 25 years, Microsoft Press books have focused on helping you take your skills and knowledge to the next level. Celebrate our 25th Anniversary with a "Free e-book of the Month" offer! Simply sign up for the Microsoft Press Book Connection Newsletter for notification of offers, register, and download the selection of the month.

http://csna01.libredigital.com/?urws8un4p7

Filed under: Windows, Windows Vista, Books

1E Migration Tool
23 February 09 10:28 AM | rodtrent | with no comments

 

1E Migration Tool

This tool is designed to allow an SMS Administrator to Migrate all or selected packages and programs from his SMS environment into a System Center Configuration Management (ConfigMgr) environment. The tool has the following features:-

• The Migration of Package and Program details along with source files
• Renaming of Package and Program names during migration
• Direct transfer of packages from your SMS site to ConfigMgr
• Export to flat file structure from SMS site and Import into ConfigMgr from flat file
• Exporting of SMSNomad command line settings to new ConfigMgr Nomad tab settings.

1E Free tools - Windows Management,Power Management,SMS Tools,WMIping

Filed under: Software, System Center, ConfigMgr 2007, 1E

New Known Issues posted: Customized Intel AMT firmware; Microsoft SCCM and Microsoft Vista: Hi all - A co.. http://tinyurl.com/cb4g9o
20 February 09 03:40 PM | rodtrent | with no comments

IntelBlogs New Known Issues posted: Customized Intel AMT firmware; Microsoft SCCM and Microsoft Vista: Hi all - A co.. http://tinyurl.com/cb4g9o
Fri, Feb 20 15:36:10

 

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Documenting your Task Sequences Automagically (Update - v2)
20 February 09 03:23 PM | rodtrent | with no comments

 

 

Feed: The Deployment Guys
Posted on: Friday, February 20, 2009 11:19 AM
Author: DeploymentGuys
Subject: Documenting your Task Sequences Automagically (Update - v2)

A big thank you to those of you that tested the original XSL for the TaskSequence documentor and provided feedback.

This is v2 and includes some bug fixes:
    - Formats orphan steps with no Group
    - Added recursive template for Nested conditions for both groups and steps (tested to 3 levels)
    - Properly convert Not to Nor for conditions

For those of you that haven't used it - here is a re-post of the instructions:

1. Copy the attached file at the bottom of the post to the same folder as your task sequence.

2. Open your task sequence in your favourite text editor.

3. After the first line which should look something like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?> or <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

enter the following as the second line:

<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="tsDocumentorv2.xsl"?>

4. Save your task sequence file and open it in Internet Explorer. Presto! The XSL takes care of formatting, indents and sizing.

This post was contributed by Aly Shivji a consultant with Microsoft Services - U.S. East Region.

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Enclosures:

3204989.ashx (10 KB)
http://blogs.technet.com/deploymentguys/attachment/3204989.ashx

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Park N Patch Use Case - Here's the HW list
19 February 09 05:14 PM | rodtrent | with no comments

 

 

Feed: Intel vPro Expert Center Blog
Posted on: Thursday, February 19, 2009 12:27 AM
Author: communityadmin@intel.com
Subject: Park N Patch Use Case - Here's the HW list

Hi all.  It's been a bit since my last blog and I did commit to sharing out the HW inventory list that we used for Park N Patch.  here's the list:

 

• CF-19  - Panasonic Tough Book (note:  this a Montevina based platform, which is a Centrino2 w/ vPro Technology)
• LiIon Polymer Universal Battery 90 Watt (this is the ticket for making the machine believe it's powered on for a few hours after the key is pulled from the service truck).
• Access Point - Netgear WNR834B v2  (802.11g using WPA)
• Console Laptop – HP 6910p  (we used this as a light weight console, vs. a true server or desktop)
• Console – Altiris
•   12 battery (i.e. simulates the truck battery)
• Universal Auto 12v adapter to provide 16V to external battery

Prior & relevant blog posts

Park N Patch Use case

Panasonic Toughbook vPro Systems Updated

Here's the HD Video

http://communities.intel.com/openport/community/openportit/vproexpert/blog/2009/01/27/park-n-patch-use-case--the-video-is-ready

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Using IPsec to Secure an Internet-based Child Primary Site
19 February 09 05:14 PM | rodtrent | with no comments

 

 

Feed: The Configuration Manager Support Team Blog
Posted on: Thursday, February 19, 2009 9:10 AM
Author: jchornbe
Subject: Using IPsec to Secure an Internet-based Child Primary Site

Over on the Configuration Manager Team Blog Carol Bailey has another fantastic post, this one covering how to using IPsec to secure an Internet-based child primary site.  If you've ever wanted to do this then head on over and follow along as she shows you how:

 At first glance, dedicating a whole primary site to running Internet-based client management can seem very attractive when you're deciding on site and server placement in your Configuration Manager hierarchy.  Then one look at the Network Diagram for Internet-Based Servers - Scenario 2 with Child Site and you realize that this means two-way SMB traffic, which is not going to fly with your firewall admins or your security folks (and quite rightly so!).  However, think again because this configuration might work well with a simple IPsec policy between the site server in the perimeter network, and the site server in the parent site (often the central site). Because you have to run native mode in both sites, both sites are already using PKI.  You can take advantage of this and deploy additional certificates on the site servers to support IPsec, and then create IPsec policies that use certificate authentication.

To continue reading visit http://blogs.technet.com/configmgrteam/archive/2009/02/18/using-ipsec-to-secure-an-internet-based-child-primary-site.aspx

J.C. Hornbeck | Manageability Knowledge Engineer

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The Fallback Status Point: Prerequisites, Verification and Troubleshooting
19 February 09 05:14 PM | rodtrent | with no comments

 

 

Feed: The Configuration Manager Support Team Blog
Posted on: Thursday, February 19, 2009 9:31 AM
Author: jchornbe
Subject: The Fallback Status Point: Prerequisites, Verification and Troubleshooting

I tell you what, Carol Bailey is a writing machine.  She had another article that posted yesterday that covers requirements, how to verify the installation, and even some troubleshooting tips for the fallback status point.  If you need to get one of these setup then you'd do well by stopping over at the Configuration Manager Team Blog and checking it out:

Thanks to a recent Configuration Manager TechNet forum posting, I realized that we hadn't documented the prerequisites for the fallback status point, apart from saying that it required IIS.  When we released Configuration Manager 2007, we didn't support Windows Server 2008, and configuration for IIS was much simpler.  Consequently, I'm not aware of any problems installing this optional site system role on IIS 6.0. 

To continue reading visit http://blogs.technet.com/configmgrteam/archive/2009/02/18/the-fallback-status-point-prerequisites-verification-and-troubleshooting.aspx.

J.C. Hornbeck | Manageability Knowledge Engineer

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Monitoring Configuration Manager 2007 with Operations Manager 2007 in a 64-bit Environment : http://tinyurl.com/br6ezx
18 February 09 08:45 AM | rodtrent | with no comments

MSManageability Monitoring Configuration Manager 2007 with Operations Manager 2007 in a 64-bit Environment : http://tinyurl.com/br6ezx
Wed, Feb 18 08:36:58 from web

 

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Intel AMT and Mesh Networking
18 February 09 07:46 AM | rodtrent | with no comments

 

 

Feed: Intel vPro Expert Center Blog
Posted on: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 12:29 PM
Author: communityadmin@intel.com
Subject: Intel AMT and Mesh Networking

In the last part of the latest edition of the Intel Technology Journal (ITJ), I write about a new usage for Intel AMT and peer-to-peer computing. See Extreme Programming with Intel® vPro™ Technology: Pushing the Limits with Innovative Software.

 

The general idea is that you can use Intel AMT to represent a computer while it’s asleep to the rest of the peers. Normally, when you have lots of computers talking to each other in a peer-to-peer network and one of them goes to sleep, it just disappears from the network, just as if it had been completely disconnected.

 

Intel AMT can allow for network presence of a sleeping computer in a peer-to-peer network by creating an Intel AMT guest account that is very limited in its access (General Info + 3PDS) but allows other computers in the network to occasionally connect and read it’s sleeping state. This has many benefits: In the past, peer-to-peer networks required all computers to be always on; this is no longer the case. By using 3PDS, even off, computers are still discoverable and searchable.

 

Imagine for a moment 100 sleeping computers in a room. Someone wakes one up and searches for a tutorial video file located on one of the other sleeping computers. With Intel AMT and a peer-to-peer network, software can search all of the computers, find the one with the file, wake it up and download the file. Everything is very power efficient.

 

This technique does not have to be used only for files; you can find hardware, free disk space, backups, software and hardware services, etc.

 

Ylian

 

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