Browse by Tags

• Active Directory
• Beta
• ConfigMgr
• Group Policy
• KB Articles
• Longhorn
• Microsoft
• MMS 2006
• NightWatchman
• OSD
• OSD Plus Pack
• Packaging
• Rants
• SCCM 2007
• Server 2008
• SMS 2003
• SMSNomad Branch
• Vista
• WMI

Multicasting in Server 2008

Kevin is right, this has already been talked about , but he does a nice job of explaining the two types of multicasting. Two drawbacks to this however...First you cannot multicast across subnets, well you can but if your network supports this you are wide open to a SQL Slammer type of attack where one laptop brings your network to its knees. Second, you have to have Server 2008 to make this work. A simple, less costly solution, that you can utilize now is to use the 1E OSD Plus Pack , or SMSNomad...  ... Read the full post or  the first comment. Filed under: Active Directory, Group Policy, Packaging, Patching, Beta, Longhorn, News, Microsoft, SCCM 2007, OSD, SMSNomad Branch, OSD Plus Pack, ConfigMgr, Server 2008

WMI Stability Improvements Fix For Windows XP

Back in May Microsoft released the same type of fix for Windows 2003 and now it is ready for XP clients. SMS admins understand the pain of WMI corruption as well as anyone, and probably better than most. Getting permission denied errors when it has nothing to do with permissions, trying to diagnose client issues remotely when WMI is not reporting the correct or latest data, the painful memories return so quickly... With this update applied you should get better stability from WMI, integrated into...  ... Read the full post or  the 6 comments. Filed under: SMS 2003, Patching, News, Microsoft, WMI

How Verizon Is Saving Millions Using NightWatchman And Other Technologies

If you didn't believe me when I said reducing your power consumption could save you millions? Would you will believe the CIO of Verizon? In the article below he explains how 1E's NightWatchman alone is going to save them $500,000 per year! Through NightWatchman, application rationalization, and thin client technology they have saved $20 million so far. How Verizon Does Green Computing John Hinshaw, CIO of Verizon Wireless, talks about the methods he's using to make the company's vast...  ... Read the full post or  the first comment. Filed under: Patching, News, NightWatchman

Microsoft Releases Fix For Automatic Updates

While the article below highlights complaints posted to the WSUS product team blog if you read in the newsgroups it seems that this has fixed a number of peoples problems. They essentially lowered the priority that the process runs under so while the CPU will still show 100% used you can still work as it will hand back CPU cycles as other processes or threads request them. There is a trade off here, you can scale back the scan to only use < a certain percent of the total CPU available and extend...  ... Read the full post or  the 4 comments. Filed under: KB Articles, Rants, Patching, News

SCCM Adopts WSUS Interface for Patching

Omar, Omar, Omar....Why must you always.....read on folks. SCCM 2007: No ITMU but WSUS!! "If you are considering SCCM 2007 and you have your 'legacy' SMS 2003 running on ITMU or ITCU? -Forget it! SCCM 2007 will use WSUS. But will a few lesser screenclicks really speed up your patch management? The integration of ITMU / ITCU in SMS2003 was for me one of the biggest milestones for centralised patch management. I was an advocate to get rid of WSUS. Ok, you had to put your mind to work managing all the...  ... Read the full post or  the 2 comments. Filed under: Patching, News, SCCM 2007

WSUS is Getting New Vista Categories Today

Source . Hi Folks: There will be a new product category added to your WSUS server over the next day or two, under the Windows family. The new category will be titled “Windows Ultimate Extras.” Windows Ultimate Extras are programs, services, and premium content for Windows Vista™Ultimate. The Windows Ultimate Extras category will contain all Extras for Windows Ultimate as they are released throughout the Windows Vista timeframe. Ultimate Extras will be offered through WSUS, for clients...  ... Read the full post or  the first comment. Filed under: Patching, Vista, News

MMS 2006 - Day 3 - SMSv4 (SCCM 2007) Beta 1 and Beta 1 Refresh Features

Presented by Josh Pointer and Michael Kelley IF YOU MISSED THIS SESSION MAKE SURE YOU ATTEND IT - THE SLIDES DO NOT DO IT JUSTICE YOU MUST SEE THE DEMOS!!! Included in Beta 1: (You may want to skip this section and get to the good stuff in Demo 1 below) Operating System Deployment (OSD) Software Updates Management (SUM) New UI Based on MMC 3.0 Filter Drag and Drop for patch and folders!!! Branch DP's What's new in the Beta 1 Refresh? - Matches Vista Beta 2 release time Deployment of Vista and Longhorn...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: SMS 2003, Packaging, Patching, Beta, Vista, Longhorn, News, Microsoft, MMS 2006

MMS 2006 - Day 3 - What's New in SMS 2003 R2?

Bryan Keller Program Manager SMS eXtreme Team and Quincy Milton Group Manager SMS eXtreme Team. What is it? New point release. Available for purchase if you are not an SA customer, if you are an SA customer then its free Built on SMS 2003 SP2 (SP2 is a pre-req) Available in Q2 - end of May or early June Enhancements: Deprecated AC support for Windows 200 SP3 Systems and XP RTM Added FQDN support AD Security Groups Discovery Multi threaded SWINV Integrated ITMU Features: Scan Tool for Vulnerability...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: SMS 2003, Patching, News, Microsoft, MMS 2006