MaximK's WebLog

Security Program Guide

2004-08-10T19:02:00Z

The Security Program Guide contains online and in-person events that address your needs, including:

Free Security E-Learning Clinics that host self-guided lessons in six languages including French, German and Spanish
Free Hands-On Security Labs that can help in implementing and managing security in a Microsoft Windows-based network
Lots of Live and On-Demand WebCasts using Microsoft Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2003 covering lots of topics

Our team has created consulting service offerings to help you reduce security risks. Please visit our website or contact your local Microsoft office for more information.

Solution Accelerator for Consolidating and Migrating LOB Applications Released to Web

2004-08-10T07:12:00Z

The Solution Accelerator for LOB Application Consolidation and Migration provides comprehensive, lab-validated guidance that is intended to facilitate deployment of applications based on the Windows Server 2003 platform. This Solution Accelerator includes guidance for assessing and determining the most appropriate Windows Server 2003 technologies to be used for consolidating and migrating Windows NT 4.0-based applications in heterogeneous environments. It also includes in-depth planning and prescriptive implementation guidance for application consolidation using Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 and the Virtual Server Migration Toolkit (VSMT). Now available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/techguide/msa/solacc/lobsa/default.mspx.

Important notice for Administrators working with Windows XP Service Pack 2

2004-08-07T14:56:00Z

Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 includes a tremendous number of new policy settings, but there is an important issue around the use of .adm files that are shipped with the Service Pack. The .adm files in Windows XP Service Pack 2 will not load correctly on older versions of GPEdit and require fixes to be applied.

Note that this issue “only” effects administrative workstations – it has no impact whatsoever on the application of Group Policy!

By default, when viewing or editing a GPO in GPEdit, the timestamps of the .adm files in the GPO (stored in Sysvol) are compared with those on the administrative workstation (see KB 816662 for details). This means that the mere act of viewing an existing GPO from an XP SP2 machine will result in the new .adm files being uploaded to Sysvol - eventually used by any other administrative workstation (whether XP SP2 or not). Without fixes, this will produce error messages in older versions of GPEdit. This scenario is described in full in the following KB article which has just gone online: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=842933.

The KB article does not include a fix for all Windows version that this applies to as of this writing. Please check back regularly if the fix for your version is not yet included.

SMS 2003 OS Deployment Feature Pack (Beta)

2004-08-03T08:15:00Z

The Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 Operating System Deployment (OSD) Feature Pack (Beta) provides support for SMS to create and deploy Windows Operating System images. The OSD Feature Pack allows the deployment of Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows 2003 Operating Systems to systems currently running NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows 2003 via SMS advertisements or CD based installation with the following features:

Support for unattended image deployment to Windows Desktops
Support to create and distribute OS images using SMS 2003 advertisements or CD triggered installations
Fully integrated with SMS 2003 SP1 leveraging SMS inventory based planning and targeting, advertisement status and site to site content replication
Built in imaging using advanced Windows Imaging (WIM) format
Advanced image installation task scheduler supporting scripts to perform installation custom actions
Includes Microsoft Windows Pre-Execution (WINPE) version 1.5
Leverages the new Microsoft Windows User State Migration Tool (USMT) 2.6 to capture and restore user state

Available now at http://www.microsoft.com/smserver/downloads/2003/dpfbeta.asp

Microsoft Sponsoring ITSM: Beyond the Foundation, Building the Future

2004-07-30T07:20:00Z

The itSMF USA, in their commitment to assisting business and technical managers to achieve IT service management excellence, announced their 4th Annual itSMF USA Conference & Expo 2004. This event is specifically designed to educate management level attendees on how standardized processes and best practices can be systematically applied across the entire range of IT service support and service delivery functions. These include assisting end-users, root cause resolution, managing hardware and software infrastructure, managing changes (planned and unplanned), and effectively managing IT costs.

Microsoft Corporation is once again the premier sponsor of the itSMF USA Conference. We encourage our customers and partners to attend this event. Ron Markezich (MSFT CIO) will be a key note speaker at this event, he will share Microsoft adoption of IT service management principles and the benefits achieved.

Microsoft Corporation has secured a discount for our customers and partners. Our priority code is 55MICRO. For additional information visit the event site www.itsmfevent.com.

MSN Sandbox

2004-07-27T20:20:00Z

MSN Sandbox is the place to play with new MSN technologies, look at prototypes, and peek behind the scenes at some of our new ideas.

Currently includes:

Lookout Email Search Tool
MSN Search Technology Preview
Newsbot
MSN Toolbar
And more...

How Microsoft Does IT

2004-07-27T10:41:00Z

Microsoft IT Showcase gives IT professionals a unique, insider view into Microsoft's process of developing, deploying, and managing its own enterprise solutions. Find technical case studies, white papers, presentations and more, direct from Microsoft IT that highlight key business applications, deployment strategies, early adopter experiences, best practices, and initiatives at Microsoft. By sharing what we've learned with our peers, we help IT professionals make decisions about how best to develop, deploy, and manage Microsoft IT solutions in their own environments.

SMS 2003 SP1 RC1 (English) Released

2004-07-27T08:42:00Z

The Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) (Release Candidate) includes the following enhancements targeted at helping to tighten security, increase reliability, and improve scalability:

Inventory encryption and client authentication
Client certificate provisioning
Configurable communications port
Watson support for server diagnostics
Support for a greater number of distribution points to reduce maintenance cost
More granular control of intersite traffic
Improved software distribution in multi-site hierarchies
Folders structures for queries, packages, advertisements, and reports
Ability to bypass inventory of the Windows directory for each inventory rule
Client-side performance enhancements for Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)-based inventory
Critical patch management

The Release Candidate 1 build is now available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/smserver/downloads/2003/sp1beta.asp. To download the SMS 2003 SP1 (Release Candidate), you must first register to participate in the SMS 2003 SP1 open beta program. To register, complete the following steps:

Go to the BetaPlace Web site.
Sign in with a Microsoft .NET Passport account. If you don't have a Passport account, you can create one.
In the Guest ID box, type SMSInvite. The Guest ID is case-sensitive.
Click the SMS 2003 SP1, DM, OSD and SDK link and follow the instructions to register.

SMS 2003 Capacity Planner Tools Available

2004-07-27T08:38:00Z

Microsoft® Systems Management Server 2003 Capacity Planner is a tool that helps consultants, SMS administrators, and IT professionals perform scenario analysis on their existing and proposed SMS 2003 hierarchy. The Capacity Planner Tool User Guide describes how to use the Capacity Planner tool. The Capacity Planner tool analyzes the input you provide and suggests SMS site topology configurations and corresponding hardware configurations for site servers and site systems.

Available here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=009e0c30-bded-4b95-a8f9-06037de85c57&displaylang=en

MOM 2005 Online Training Now Available

2004-07-27T08:24:00Z

Get ready for the release of MOM 2005 by getting some hands on experience with MOM 2005 labs online:

Microsoft Operations Manager 2005
Managing Active Directory with MOM 2005
Managing Exchange with MOM 2005
Monitoring SQL Server 2000 with Microsoft Operations Manager 2005
Planning and Deploying Microsoft Operations Manager 2005
Administration and Configuration of MOM 2005
Building and extending MOM using MCF and the SDK Part 1
Building and extending MOM using MCF and the SDK Part 2

https://microsoft.granitepillar.com/mom2005/

Happy New Year!

2004-07-07T21:43:00Z

Many of you will know that Microsoft (fiscal) years start in July and end in June. During last year, the Microsoft Services Worldwide Consulting Offerings Group (or just WCOG) has expanded the available set of consulting offerings. These consulting offerings are created to enable Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) and Microsoft Partners to better address customers’ needs and increase their satisfaction. They are built around various solution areas and include:

Pre-sales services like briefings and workshops
Very prescriptive post-sales planning services
And semi-custom consulting services that may cover complete solution development and implementation.

Our consulting offerings are structured in role-based packs focusing on opportunity management (Sales Pack), proposal development (Proposal Pack), and solution delivery (Delivery Pack). And we include a Training Pack to help understand how to use our content.

Obviously, our solution delivery material is based on the existing authoritative, prescriptive technical guidance that Microsoft publishes on TechNet and patterns & practices.

So what specifically do we bring to the table? We enable MCS and Microsoft (consulting) Partners to sell, propose and deliver consulting services. We do this by incorporating Microsoft’s best practices and technical guidance into the packs described earlier. More information on the consulting offerings we currently have is available on our website.

Now that the New Year has started, I look forward to starting new consulting offerings development projects! We have spent the last few months planning for next year. And as program manager for information security and application development consulting offerings, I feel that I have an exciting year ahead of me.

I look forward to sharing some of my activities in the near future!