NightWatchman Console Security
In my post regarding what’s new in NightWatchman 5.5 I talked about the new NightWatchman Console . I want to cover the security aspect of the console in this post to show some of the flexibility of the console as well as explain how to set the proper security. In the NightWatchman Console the last tab on the right is Security , this is to manage the security of the console specifically, not...
1E White Paper on Remote BIOS Configuration
1E released a new white paper written by Ian Godfrey last week entitled Remote Management of BIOS Configuration, which is centered around configuring Wake-on-LAN but the concepts and tools can be used to manipulate other BIOS settings as well. This paper covers a number of different hardware vendors and how to remotely configure the BIOS, something that is not standard across the hardware vendors...
NightWatchman 5.5 New Features
Right before Christmas 1E released not only the free tool Service Window that I mentioned in my last post but also new versions of NightWatchman now version 5.5, 1E WakeUp version 5.5, Nomad Enterprise 3.2 and our first version of the NightWatchman console. Over the last 18 months I had been working with AT&T® to prove out the 1E Power and Patch Management Pack, which is a combination of...
Win32/Conficker.B/Downadup Resolution
First install this patch MS08-067 Then use this to remove it from any infected computers Malicious Software Removal tool History: Win32/Conficker.B --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Background Win32/Conficker.B exploits a vulnerability in the Windows Server service (SVCHOST.EXE) for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, and Windows 2008...
ConfigMgr Maintenance Window Editing Tool
Right before Christmas 1E released its first free tool for ConfigMgr admins in a while called Service Window . This tool will allow you to edit, delete, add and view maintenance windows for ConfigMgr clients. You can run the app on the client machine or by specifying the remote computer you want to examine. Here is the app running on my laptop where you can see there are currently...
Wanted! IT Administrators with Windows Server experience (Puget Sound Only) Microsoft User Research is conducting a study focusing on the next version of Windows Server between August 22 and August 28, 2008
This is a great opportunity for IT administrators who have experience with Windows Server to provide feedback and help improve the next version. You do not need to prepare anything for this. We want to learn from you, the experts. We highly value your feedback and will be offering you a gratuity option in appreciation of your time and participation.We are recruiting individuals who: • Have experience...
Oakley Sunglasses Are Overpriced!
I have been working with JD, Brian, and Nelson this week in Minneapolis. At lunch today Brian and were talking about blogging and he had a good suggestion, I should change the title of my blog to The Monthly Ramblings of an SMS Engineer”. Since I post so infrequently now. I won’t apologize for my lack of posts however. I do work quite a bit, just ask my manager and customers...
Sysinternals Tools Can Now Run From The Web
While they also updated several of their tools like Process Explorer, Handle, ZoomIt and SigCheck, the much more interesting news is that you don't have to download the tools any longer and put them somewhere in %PATH% you can execute them directly from the website. How cool is that? From a command prompt or Run simply type \\live.sysinternals.com\tools\<tool name here> And this site has...
Get FREE One Year Subscription of CA Anti-Virus - Tweaking with Vishal
In case you missed out the free AVG offer here is another free anti-virus product. Once you create a free account on the CA site they will send you link to download it. There words regarding the account. "This information will be used to create your FREE account in case you are in need of any support. Your information will be kept private and will not be shared with any third parties." Get...
Using Maintenance Windows While Patching
I got a really good question today on maintenance windows and patching and how they can or cannot work together. Specifically if you had a maintenance window defined, but told the patches to install ignoring the maintenance window but suppress the reboots until the maintenance window will it install the updates and hold off on rebooting the clients until the maintenance window? First let's go over...
ConfigMgr SP1 Goes RTM
Update : Download link More Details . Overview Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 now offers full support for management with Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008, integrates customer feedback, feature Integration with Intel vPro Technology and enhances Asset Intelligent features. Full Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 Support: Deploy and manage Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008—with...
ConfigMgr SP1 Goes RTM
Just made public today, it will take a day or so to get the bits available for download. Regards, Anthony Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E Microsoft MVP System Center Configuration Manager http://configmgr.com © Anthony Clendenen Technorati Tags: ConfigMgr , service pack , SCCM
SMS Admin Job in Seattle
My client is seeking an SMS Administrator to join their operations team in Seattle. The ideal candidate must be passionate and driven about SMS 2003/SCCM 2007, but also enjoys interfacing with customers. The contract would be roughly 6 months in duration with a start date of immediately. Responsibilities: - Communicates and negotiates deployment activities with the customer on peer and management level...
MMS 2008 - Sunday - Registration Swag
Finally got here after quite a long drive. We are staying at the Venetian and it is quite nice. There are quite a few people here already. When you register you get a backpack this year. It is blue, dark blue, but it is an OGIO backpack and it has a side zipper for your laptop as well as small side pockets, a large front pocket and a small front pocket. It actually looks like it will hold up quite...
How Update Enforcement Works in NAP
There is a great article on the NAP team's blog on just how update enforcement works in NAP. "The easiest way to discuss update enforcement is to step through each part of the “Security Update Protection” section of the WSHV user interface. This is the dialog that appears within the Network Policy Server (NPS) console on Windows Server 2008" Regards, Anthony Anthony Clendenen | Solutions...
XP SP3 Goes RTM
Windows XP SP3 went RTM today. It will be available to the public on April 29th. For ConfigMgr the biggest piece of this is that now you can use NAP on your XP clients as well. There is also a rumored 10% increase in performance - YMMV. Find out exactly what will be included when this link goes active in the next 24 hours or so. Regards, Anthony Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E http://configmgr...
System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Eval Available
This is not a part of ConfigMgr, this this a separate management tool that does a ton more than what you can do with mobile devices in ConfigMgr. You can get a 120 day eval of Mobile Device Manager (MDM) from Microsoft's TechNet site here . What is MDM you ask? "The goal of MDM is simple: Enable Windows Mobile powered devices to become managed and authenticated members of the IT infrastructure...
Turning Your Wii Into a Streaming Media Center
After you win the Wii at the 1E booth (311) at MMS and you have made Pro on all the sports, have made all your family members and friends into Wii peeps, the next logical step is to stream all your music and videos with it from your PC upstairs to your Wii downstairs in your media room. XBox does this out of the box (no pun intended) from what I have heard, since my daughter is only in second grade...
More MMS Goodness
This is from the 1E site, but down towards the bottom you can see the schedule for demos at the 1E stand. I will be presenting at least a couple times. Brian Tucker and Neil Kimberly will also be presenting at the stand on other topics. If you think I know SMS/ConfigMgr then you haven't spent much time talking to Brian and Neil these guys are AMZAZING! 1E MMS Focus 1E will be exhibiting as a Gold...
Hibernation Hotfix for Windows XP and Vista and Insomnia Madness
I have read of reports where systems will not resume from hibernation but have not seen it replicated myself. Well if you have seen this problem in your environment this patch , released on April 7th by Microsoft (KB 951126), may be just what the doctor ordered. Insomnia? Ambien... I have also heard reports of a software vendor that claims to have a patch for a situation they refer to as insomnia....
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?
I have an advantage, my son is in seventh grade and my daughter is finishing second, so all those geography questions, and factoring, I have done them recently. But the real question is are you smarter than a seasoned ConfigMgr admin? Find out by taking some the ConfigMgr quizzes, recently updated and located here . If you take them post your scores in the comments section and I will buy the winner...
New Tool for DCM
This tool coverts Security Content Automation Protocol files into DCM packs. It is in public beta and you can get it here . Overview The SCAP Conversion Tool for DCM can convert any SCAP stream files into DCM Configuration Packs for use with Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007. This Beta release includes a user guide that provides detailed instructions for using this command-line tool...
OneNote PowerToys
If you don't know I am a HUGE OneNote fan and have converted countless people from using Notepad, Notepad2, Word, paper, you name it to using OneNote since it first came out in Office 2003. (If you are only interested in the the list of OneNote PowerToys, skip this section and scroll down). Some of my favorite things are the ability to write anywhere, assign "tags" to notes, copy and...
Auto Site Assignment and Multiple IP's
Carol posted this over the the TechNet blogs site a couple of hours ago. I commented that I didn't think it was a huge change because the odds are pretty low that this would really happen in today. Essentially the rule that an SMS or ConfigMgr client will use first bound NIC for auto assignment is no longer true. If you think this is a significant technical change leave a comment and let her know...
Attending MMS 2008? Yes I Am - We Are
I have gotten a ton of emails asking me if I am going to be at MMS this year and when and up until now I have held off because I was waiting for some things to finalize. But today 1E sent out an email to customer letting them know the booth number, and when Sumir, one of the founders of 1E, was going to speak. Which is right after the State of the Union, and also at the same time as Paul Thomsen is...
The Deployment Guys : ConfigMgr 2007 and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit - Video Walkthrough
ConfigMgr 2007 and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit - Video Walkthrough Are you struggling with setting up ConfigMgr 2007 Operating System Deployment and integrating MDT? - download and view the video walkthrough that shows you how to: Setup the server environment for ConfigMgr 2007 OS deployment Configure the ConfigMgr 2007 Site Settings Configure the ConfigMgr 2007 Computer Management Settings Configure...
ConfigMgr SDK (final) Released
Microsoft released the ConfigMgr SDK yesterday. You can get the download here . It includes DCM Digest Authoring guide, DCM digest schema, a SUM gadget that gives you current status messages on patches you have deployed, samples on creating admin console extensions, OSD custom task sequences and more. Regards, Anthony Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E http://configmgr.com © Anthony Clendenen...
New FolderShare
FolderShare has gotten a face lift, new client, and has moved to the Windows Live platform. If you are not familiar with FolderShare Microsoft bought them a couple years ago and the concept is that you can setup shares among computers that sync with each other. I have been using it for years to sync computers and make sure that I have the same documents on each computer. You can set the sync to be...
How-To: Sequencing Office 2007 with SoftGrid
I wish Microsoft would standardize on either SoftGrid or Microsoft Application Virtualization. Here is a KB on sequencing Office 2007. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;939796 INTRODUCTION This article describes one method that you can use to successfully sequence a 2007 Microsoft Office program for use with Microsoft SoftGrid. The method that is described in this article is not...
Nomad Enterprise Webcast - March 5
It is not often I blog about 1E, I think it has only happened once before actually. Even before I got an offer from them they told me they didn't want me to blog about them or their products because they didn't want my blog to turn into PR for 1E. And over the last year I have not talked about the products at all. But as you may have noticed the number of posts I put up have also dropped dramatically...
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