Category: Microsoft

This category is for anything Microsoft related-so you’ll probably find that msot posts end up in here!

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System Center Desktop Error Monitoring (SCDEM)


SCDEM is the newest addition to the MDOP family and it’s a corker!

What does it do?

SCDEM captures all application & OS failures across your enterprise and stores them in one central location, to enable your technicians to track, monitor and pro-actively respond to issues.

This is like a local version of the “Send error report to Microsoft” box you sometimes get when apps crash and hang. While it’s good for MS to have this information, in a larger enterprise it’s more immediately useful for the in-house IT team to have it. This way they can identify error trends and match them up to recent changes they’ve made to the network, desktops, 3rd party software etc-thus quickly identifying, and (hopefully) fixing, the problem.

It also enables you to create a company specific knowledge base of fixes for errors.

Advantages of SCDEM

Increase productivity of users: Once SCDEM has been running for a while, IT will have had a chance to identify and correct the vast majority of common issues. That means that there will be less errors on the desktops and thus less downtime for users. The internal knowledge base will also make it easier for end users to be pro-active and solve their own issues without having to log a ticket with the help desk.

Easy Deployment: Due to it using the standard Windows error reporting system, all it takes to get SCDEM deployed to however many 1000’s of PC’s you have with a single Group Policy in Active Directory-nice huh? 🙂

Advanced Reporting: SCDEM provides many different reports to show which applications crash most, when they crash etc so that IT can make well informed decisions when it comes to patching and fixing.

For anyone who is using SCDEM and having problems, I’ve just found a great whitepaper on Troubleshooting this program. Download here. The Technet blog post is here.

If you head over to this Technet blog, you can see a great video of SCDEM in action-here.

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Windows Server 2008 R2 Licensing


Every new version of a Microsoft product comes with changes to the licensing 🙂 So let’s see what the new Server OS release will bring…

  • As this is an R2 release-if you already have Windows Server 2008, you will NOT need to purchase new CALs. The existing Server 2008 CALS will continue to work.
  • There will be no more “without Hyper-V” editions.
  • When running Windows Server 2008 R2 in just the Hyper-V role-you do NOT need to upgrade to Server 2008 CALs.
  • Terminal Services (TS) is becoming Remote Desktop Services (RDS). TS CALs and RDS CALs can be used interchangeably between Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2.

What does this mean to me?

 The biggest thing for end users here is the first point-not needing to upgrade to R2 CALs. As Windows Server 2008 R2 is such an integral part of any Windows 7 environment for things such as Direct Access, BitLocker, Branch Cache etc-this is a great way to facilitate uptake of the new technology. For most customers the main cost of a server upgrade is in the CALs-that is almost universally the reason that people I talk to are still running Server 2003!

This means that customers can move to Windows Server 2008 R2 at minimal cost, thus helping drive adoption of Windows 7-which is always good!

Another CAL related bit of goodness is the 3rd point-that if you have Server 2008 R2 solely to run Hyper-V, you can continue using your existing CALs for say Server 2003 to access applications on those virtual servers. Again a great move that helps increase adoption of Hyper-V which, don’t forget, has Live Migration in R2 🙂

The Microsoft page is here.

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MED-V


MED-V or Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization is like SUPER XP mode 🙂

As great as XP Mode is, it has caused a few problems where people are now wondering if MED-V has been replaced-it hasn’t.

First up-MED-V is used for virtualizing legacy applications so they can be run on new OS’s like Vista and Windows 7. Yes that sounds a lot like XP Mode but MED-V introduces a whole extra management layer for use in the corporate world-specifically:

“MED-V provides important centralized management, policy-based provisioning and virtual image delivery to reduce the cost of Virtual PC deployment”

Stephen L Rose has got a great post over on the Windows Team Blog about the differences between these 2 technologies so, rather than re-invent the wheel I’m going to respectfully copy & paste 😉

How does MED-V adds management to Windows Virtual PC?

To provide a managed, scalable solution for running virtual Windows XP applications, MED-V addresses many of the IT challenges around deployment and management including:

  • Deployment – deliver virtual Windows images and customize per user and device settings
    • Automate first-time virtual PC setup based on an IT customized script – including assignment of a unique computer name, joining to AD domain
      (for instance: assign the virtual PC a name that is derived from the physical device name or the username to simplify identification and management)
    • Adjust virtual PC memory allocation based on available RAM on host, so that the virtual PC does not take significant resources from the user
  • Provisioning – define which applications and websites are available to different users
    • Assign virtual PC images according to users and groups
    • Define which Windows XP applications will be available to the user through the start menu
    • Define which websites (e.g. internal sites that requires a previous version of Internet Explorer) are redirected automatically to Windows XP
  • Control – assign and expire usage permissions and Virtual PC settings
    • Control the network settings of the Virtual PC (e.g. whether it connects through NAT or DHCP, whether its DNS is synchronized with host)
    • Authenticate user before granting access to the Virtual PC
    • Set expiration date, after which the Virtual PC is not accessible to the end user
  • Maintenance and Support – update images, monitor users and remotely troubleshoot
    • Update images using TrimTransfer network image delivery – update a master Virtual PC image, and MED-V will automatically distribute and apply the changes to all endpoints
    • Centralized database aggregates events from all users, and provides troubleshooting information on malfunctioning virtual PCs
    • Administrator diagnostics mode allows faster resolution of Virtual PC issues
    • Run on multiple platforms – MED-V will work on both Windows 7 and Windows Vista, and will not require processor-based virtualization support

MED-V is available only as part of MDOP and thus is only available to certain volume licence customers with active Software Assurance.

This technology builds on Microsoft Virtual PC and the new version has got some great new features including:

USB Support: Access USB devices connected to your Windows 7 machine directly from the Virtual Machine.

Clip Board Sharing: Copy and paste between your Windows 7 desktop and your Virtual desktop.

Printer Redirection: Print directly from your Virtual PC.

More can be found over at The Windows Team Blog.

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Application Virtualization (App-V)


Microsoft App-V is what was formerly known as SoftGrid and it’s some pretty clever stuff 🙂

It’s main feature is to virtualize applications, this isolates them on the users workstation and reduces application conflicts-thus reducing end user downtime. However the apps can still fully interact with each other such as copy & paste etc so still giving the users the experience they’re used to.

The latest version is 4.5 and major highlights include:

  • HTTP streaming. Support for streaming virtual applications from an IIS server (v6 or v7) providing dramatic performance and scalability improvements for large App-V deployments.
  • Re-designed Sequencer. Simplifies the process and reduces the complexity of creating virtual application packages.
  • Dynamic Suite Composition (DSC) for MSI packages. Consolidate virtual environments, control virtual application interaction, enable faster, easier administration.
  • Seamless integration with System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2. Allows customers to easily deploy virtual applications through the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 infrastructure and scale their deployments.
  • Client cache improvements. The maximum size of the client cache has been increased to 1 TB.
  • Improved Manageability. Integration and support for VSS writer, Operations Manager management pack, ADM template.
  • Accessibility. The product is now Section 508 compliant, bringing App-V in line with Microsoft shipping requirements.

    • Most conversations I have with schools include App-V as they often have odd bits of software like “Science for GCSE 1997” and “Maths is brilliant V 2.3” that don’t play nice with each other-and App-V is a great way to solve that.

    See the Technet MDOP page here.

    Advantages of using App-V:

  • Streams applications on demand over the Internet or via the corporate network to desktops, terminal servers, and laptops.
  • Automates and simplifies the application management lifecycle by significantly reducing regression and application interoperability testing.
  • Accelerates Windows and application deployments by reducing the image footprint.
  • Reduces the end-user impacts associated with application upgrades, patching, and terminations. No reboots required, no waiting for applications to install, and no need to uninstall when retiring applications.
  • Enables controlled application use when users are completely disconnected.
  • Integrates with System Center Configuration Manager to enable physical and virtual deployments through the same people, process and technologies.

    • Licensing:

    It needs to be noted that there are 2 version of App-V available to buy.

    App-V as part of MDOP: For use in standard environments.

    App-V for Terminal Services: For use in Terminal Service environments only. App-V’s application virtualization allows any application to run alongside any other—even applications that normally conflict, multiple versions of the same application, and many applications that previously could not run under Terminal Services.

    Terminal Services

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    When is Windows Svr 2008 R2 RTM out?


    With all the interest in Windows 7, Server 2008 R2 is getting as much love as it was perhaps expecting. However as many of the best features of Windows 7 rely on Svr R2-it’s a good idea to know when you can get your hands on it:

    ISV & IHV Partners: August 14th

    Microsoft Certified/Gold Certified Partners: August 19th

    Microsoft Action Pack Subscribers: August 23rd

    OEMs: July 29th

    Volume Licensing customer with Software Assurance: August 19th

    Volume Licensing customer without Software Assurance: September 1st

    TechNet/MSDN Subscribers: August 14th

    Retail Channel: September 14th

    According to Twitter-it could be August 19th for Technet/MSDN…

    One thing I do find funny is that Microsoft are still telling customers it’s release date is January…but if you really push them, they’ll go to November 🙂

    Technet blog is here.

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    Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) for Windows 7


    I was out at a customer site today working on some Windows 7 deployment stuff and saw a great example of how Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) can be used to make OS deployments a whole lot easier.

    WAIK

    You can download the WAIK here.

    *Update* The original link I posted has stopped working-I guess there is a new version of WAIK now the RTM is available. The new download link is here.

    I want to apologise to the people who’ve followed the original link and got a "Page cannot be found" error-sorry! It’s a shame MS couldn’t re-direct the link but hey ho 🙂

    As I get a chance to play around with it, I’ll post more but what I saw today was pretty amazing 🙂

    There is a great Technet article on using WAIK here. Although it is focussed on Vista it seems that everything will still apply-happy playing!

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    Microsoft BPOS New Features – August 2009


    August sees yet more additions to the feature list of Microsoft Exchange Online-helping make it an even better choice for customers. This month sees:

    SMTP Relay: This allows SMTP enabled applications to send emails via Exchange Online. I’ve been asked about this a few times now so it’s good to be able to say “yes” 🙂

    Journaling: Exchange Online emails can now be journaled, both to Exchange Hosted Archiving and other 3rd party solutions*. Journaling can be turned on by contact Support and opening a service request.

    *It’s worth noting that MS do not support or certify any of the 3rd party offerings.

    The MS Online blog can be found here.

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    Windows 7 Family Pack


    Windows 7 news keeps on coming and unfortunately, it isnt always good.

    First of all is more info on the “Family Pack“. It will cost $150 to upgrade 3 Pcs in the same house to Windows Home Premium which is great value but:

    • It still hasn’t been announced if it’s available in the UK
    • It is a “limited time only” offer so once the stock is gone-that’s it.

    I don’t understand why it’s not a proper, standard Windows 7 edition-it would surely increase the take up of WIndows 7 AND reduce the chance of people being tempted by pirated copies.

    The second piece of news was pricing for the Windows Anytime Upgrades (WAU). These are an easy way for users to move from one edition of Windows 7 to another such as Home Basic to Home Premium and, in most cases, it is quite cost effective too.

  • Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Home Premium: $79.99 · €74.99 · £69.99
  • Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Professional: $114.99 · €184.99 · £119.99
  • Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Ultimate: $164.99 · €204.99 · £139.99
  • Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional: $89.99 · €179.99 · £119.99
  • Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate: $139.99 · €189.99 · £124.99
  • Windows 7 Professional to Windows 7 Ultimate: $129.99 · €134.99 · £84.99

    • As you can see, the dollar vs GBP prices don’t compare particularly well-coming out at almost DOUBLE in some cases!

    As much as I am a fan of Microsoft and their products, it is often the pricing and promotions side of things that they fall down on. They’ve really seem to have stuck it to UK users with the WAU pricing; things are always cheaper in the States but this seems to be a little extreme.

    ZDNet’s Ed Bott has more info here and NeoWin’s article on the WAU is here.

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    Windows 7 WILL have IE


    The EU fuelled saga of IE8 in Windows 7 has taken another turn now-it seems Windows 7 WILL included Internet Explorer here in Europe. Microsoft have instead agreed with the EU’s idea of having a “ballot screen” allowing users to choose and download other competing browsers such as Firefox or (the instigators of this whole thing) Opera…This is a bit of an about-turn as MS were dead set against this idea initially.

    The interesting thing is how this affects the availability of Windows 7 upgrades in Europe. The last minute creation of “Windows E” meant that an upgrade version wouldn’t be available in Europe so users would need to do a clean install-which wasn’t an ideal situation. However with this change, perhaps we will get the ability to upgrade after all?

    It seems that Microsoft will continue with Windows 7 “E” until the EU formally accepts the Ballot proposal. Hopefully that won’t take too long (in the work of international law) to go through and Europe will be able to get it’s upgrade on! The RC installation of Windows 7 doesn’t expire until March 2010 so if they can get it wrapped up before then-that should suit everybody…expect those who’ve pre-ordered!

    Thanks to Mary Jo for this and as she updates, I’ll update 🙂

    *Update* It seems that Windows 7 E may well still be the plan!

    *Update* There is now an official statement on the Microsoft PressPass site here. The most exciting bit is:

    “Under our new proposal, among other things, European consumers who buy a new Windows PC with Internet Explorer set as their default browser would be shown a ‘ballot screen’ from which they could, if they wished, easily install competing browsers from the Web. If this proposal is ultimately accepted, Microsoft will ship Windows in Europe with the full functionality available in the rest of the world.” (Bold mine).

    The EU should accept it as it was their/Opera’s idea in the first place so hopefully we’ll all be doing nice upgrade installs on our machines soon-whoo hoo!

    Windows 7 e

    Check out my sweet photo editing skills 😉

    *Update* Opera now want the Ballot screen to be logo free (See techflash)! I’ve said it before that Opera are, and pardon my French, taking the piss…as formerly funny fellow Northerner Peter kay once said “Too far (Tony), too far”!

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    Applocker & Windows 7


    What is Applocker?

    Applocker allows you to prevent programs from executing on desktop machines, through central administration. It is one of the many new features of Windows 7, although it is only included in the Enterprise version of the OS.

    It is similar to the “Software Restriction Policies” (SRP) from previous incarnations of Windows but much improvement with more power and greater flexibility.

    How does it work?

    There are 3 kinds of rules available with Applocker:

    Path Rules: Allows you to restrict program execution to certain directory paths, such as Program Files etc but is only effective if users are unable to install their own applications. Monitoring and tracking allowed folders can be time consuming and difficult.

    Hash Rules: Uses cryptographic hashes of executables to identify them. Very secure but can be time consuming as the hash must be updated after any updates to the program.

    Publisher Rules: Identify applications based on digital signatures issued by the publisher. While these are similar to “Certificate Rules” in SRP, they are more sophisticated. You can restrict execution to the:

    Publisher (I.e. Microsoft)

    Product name (such as Office 2007)

    File name (office2007.exe)

    File version (14.0.1.1 for example)

    All 3 rules can be applied to:

    Executables (.exe)

    Installer Files (.bat, .cmd etc)

    System Libraries (.dll etc)

    and all three rules allow the creation “exceptions” such as:

    “Allow Publisher “Microsoft” except file name mediaplayer.exe”

    In the Windows 7 deployment I’m working on, and I’m sure many, many more, AppLocker is if great interest to System Administrators. It’s ability to block programs will lead not only to increased security but could also be used for increased productivity-particularly in schools.

    You can see Microsoft’s Paul Cooke talking about AppLocker here.

    For a great look at the technical aspects of using and setting up Applocker-head over to 4Sysops here.

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