The System Center Connector: Blog

Agent proxying needs to be enabled for a health service to submit discovery data about other computers

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:58:46 GMT

Agent Proxying Alert

Agent proxying needs to be enabled when health service discovers instance of some managed entity type for which management context doesn’t provide information that this exact health service will also monitor this instance.

alert:

Agent proxying needs to be enabled for a health service to submit discovery
data about other computers.
Source:
Path:
Alert Rule:
Microsoft.SystemCenter.DiscoveryWriteActionModule.AgentProxyingNotEnabled.Alert
Alert description: Details:Health service (AA918247-6E40-E645-A2D2-9C8629CE0AAB) should not generate data about this managed object ( ).

Things you can do to find the error:

Execute following T-SQL against OperationsManager database:

select * from basemanagedentity
where basemanagedentityid = 'AA918247-6E40-E645-A2D2-9C8629CE0AAB'

Make sure that proxy is enabled for health service matching Path property.

Remember every DC needs the proxy enable setting !!!

see the full name below this is the DC that needs the proxy setting !!

Push Scom Agent To ISA 2006

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:50:26 GMT

For pushing the Scom agent to a ISA server you need to do some things.

First we have to make a rule and a protocol rule and then you can push the agent. here is a how to do this with a "nijntje manual "

Open ISA server

Create Protocol Rule

Use Port 5723 TCP ! this is the default Scom Agent port

Go to the scom server do a discovery pick the ISA server and push the agent

As you can see it works BUT but I tricked you. if you do this it may not work.

In the scom account settings there is a setting this account is a remote local account USE this and the agent push will succeed

Email Prioritizer

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:32:43 GMT

Cool stuff. from the microsoft office lab

http://www.officelabs.com/projects/emailprioritizer/Pages/default.aspx

Project: Email Prioritizer

Click here to download.

Requirements: This prototype requires Outlook 2007 running on Exchange Server

Limitations: None

Last updated: 08/18/2008

View Larger Image

Email Prioritizer is a plug-in for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 (running on Exchange Server) that helps you manage email overload. This concept test provides a “do not disturb” button that temporarily pauses new email arrival, and prioritizes email with a 0-3 star rating system. We hope this prototype helps you focus on the emails that are most important to you.

Watch Video

HP Proliant servers

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:46:04 GMT

Maybe you did know this but the HP servers have a insight display The new tool uses leds to show the status of the hardware components within the server.

Where can you find this on the new DL360. The display is hidden. It clicks open if you push a little button on the front panel of the server.

Advanced Group Policy Management

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:53:11 GMT

Advanced Group Policy Management

You can use Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) to extend the capabilities of the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), providing comprehensive change control and enhanced management for Group Policy objects (GPOs). Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management is a component of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance (MDOP SA)

With AGPM you can:

Perform offline editing of GPOs, so you can create and test them before deploying to a production environment.
Retain multiple versions of a GPO in a central archive, so you can roll back if a problem occurs.
Share the responsibility for editing, approving, and reviewing GPOs among multiple people using role-based delegation.
Eliminate the danger of multiple Group Policy administrators overwriting each other's work by using a check-in/check-out capability for GPOs.
Analyze changes to a GPO, comparing it to another GPO or another version of the same GPO using difference reporting.
Simplify the creation of new GPOs by using GPO templates, storing standard settings to use as starting points for new GPOs.

AGPM adds a Change Control node under each domain displayed in the GPMC, as well as History and Extensions tabs for each GPO and Group Policy link displayed in the GPMC.

Advanced Group Policy Management Overview

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=993a34d0-c274-4b46-b9fc-568426b81c5e&DisplayLang=en

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb767569.aspx

For more information: Advanced Group Policy Management datasheet
Also watch the AGPM video presented by Kevin Sullivan, Senior/Lead Program Manager in Group Policy Product Team (23 min)
Or listen to the AGPM talk on Technet Radio on AGPM (15 min)

IIS syncronisation tool vs NLB

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:52:52 GMT

Cool new Features with IIS 7 for a new Scom Site ( Webbased ) I had this problem with a Website NLB. SO I tried to test this new tool.

IIS syncronisation tool - tech preview released

For all those wondering what options you have post-Application Center 2000 for synchronisation (let alone load balancing etc), the IIS Product Group has released a technical preview of a new tool: msdeploy.exe. This tool can sync or migrate:

IIS 7.0 configuration settings
Web content
Registry keys and values
SSL certificates

It supports moving configuration, content, SSL certificates and other types of data associated with a web server. You can choose to sync a single site or the entire web server. Because we know that one tool can never ‘automagically’ guess what your application relies on, we’ve tried to be pretty flexible and powerful – you can customize exactly what you want to sync using a manifest file. You can also skip sites or other objects, or you can perform regular expression replacements during a sync (like changing the home directory on the destination machine).

The goal of the tool is to help you keep servers in sync, to make deployment easier and also to help with migrating to new versions of IIS. You could use a sync on two machines in a web farm, for example. Or maybe you need to move to a new server of the same version, you can use this tool. Of course, we also enable you to do a migration from IIS 6.0 to 7.0.

Download the x86 version or the x64 version of our Technical Preview 1.

eSATA versus USB2

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:12:39 GMT

What is faster USB or SATA with virtual servers you need disk io and memory. Stuart James did some testing with virtual server. tabels are from Ken Schaefer.

ExpressCard: http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=676511

2.5" External eSATA/USB case: http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=603610 (note that this comes with all cables you need, including eSATA to eSATA)

2.5" Hard Disk: http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=773812

Tests are performed using HD Tune 2.55 using a quick test. It's the same disk just plugged in to a different socket so all other things (such as cache, RPM etc) are equal.

USB 2 eSATA

This tabel shows eSata is about 2x the speed of USB 2.0, provided you have a 7200 RPM disk (at the 2.5” form factor)

System Administrator Appreciation Day

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:04:07 GMT

SysAdminDay.com System Administrator Appreciation Day

Yes today is the day greetings to all. ;-) Next Year the 10 and it is always the last Friday in July

July 25th, 2008 (Last Friday Of July) 9th Annual System Administrator Appreciation Day

This is a copy from the http://www.sysadminday.com/ think about this day.

It's a great idea to think about your SysAdmin and thank him/her for all the great work he/her have done

There are great songs :

If you can read this, thank your sysadmin

A sysadmin unpacked the server for this website from its box, installed an operating system, patched it for security, made sure the power and air conditioning was working in the server room, monitored it for stability, set up the software, and kept backups in case anything went wrong. All to serve this webpage.

A sysadmin installed the routers, laid the cables, configured the networks, set up the firewalls, and watched and guided the traffic for each hop of the network that runs over copper, fiber optic glass, and even the air itself to bring the Internet to your computer. All to make sure the webpage found its way from the server to your computer.

Fig. 1 Ted.

A sysadmin makes sure your network connection is safe, secure, open, and working. A sysadmin makes sure your computer is working in a healthy way on a healthy network. A sysadmin takes backups to guard against disaster both human and otherwise, holds the gates against security threats and crackers, and keeps the printers going no matter how many copies of the tax code someone from Accounting prints out.

A sysadmin worries about spam, viruses, spyware, but also power outages, fires and floods.

When the email server goes down at 2 AM on a Sunday, your sysadmin is paged, wakes up, and goes to work.

A sysadmin is a professional, who plans, worries, hacks, fixes, pushes, advocates, protects and creates good computer networks, to get you your data, to help you do work -- to bring the potential of computing ever closer to reality.

So if you can read this, thank your sysadmin -- and know he or she is only one of dozens or possibly hundreds whose work brings you the email from your aunt on the West Coast, the instant message from your son at college, the free phone call from the friend in Australia, and this webpage.

Show your appreciation

Friday, July 25th, 2008, is the 9th annual System Administrator Appreciation Day. On this special international day, give your System Administrator something that shows that you truly appreciate their hard work and dedication.

Let's face it, System Administrators get no respect 364 days a year. This is the day that all fellow System Administrators across the globe, will be showered with expensive sports cars and large piles of cash in appreciation of their diligent work. But seriously, we are asking for a nice token gift and some public acknowledgement. It's the least you could do.

Consider all the daunting tasks and long hours (weekends too.) Let's be honest, sometimes we don't know our System Administrators as well as they know us. Remember this is one day to recognize your System Administrator for their workplace contributions and to promote professional excellence. Thank them for all the things they do for you and your business.

SysAdmin Day Comedy

"SysAdmin Day Song" - Live From Las Vegas - Written and performed by Wes Borg Dead Trolls

"Internet Helpdesk" - Live - Written and performed by Wes Borg Dead Trolls

"Every OS Sucks" - Live - Written and performed by Wes Borg Dead Trolls

Best movies great stuff

System Center Solution Whitepapers

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:52:48 GMT

System Center Solution: Managing Data Server Compliance Start download

Solution: End to End Monitoring

Managing the Dynamic Desktop

Windows Live Messenger now available on BlackBerry

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:45:18 GMT

http://www.blackberry.com/devicesoftware/entry.do?code=wlm20

Microsoft Tech·Ed EMEA 2008 IT Professionals

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:41:16 GMT

Microsoft Tech·Ed EMEA 2008 IT Professionals

Microsoft Tech·Ed EMEA 2008 IT Professionals is the Microsoft premier technical education conference just for IT professionals. For five days, you and 5,000 of your peers will learn how to architect, plan, deploy, manage and secure a connected enterprise from Microsoft experts and industry leaders. Experience more than ever before at Tech·Ed EMEA 2008 IT Professionals.

Be a part of the experience

Design a personalized schedule from 11 Technical Tracks and 4 Virtual Tracks
Advance your development skills in one of more than 190 Breakout Sessions
Go deep with Microsoft experts in one of more than 95 Interactive Sessions
Take your time and drill down on a specific task in one of our Hands-on Labs

Be a part of this year’s Tech·Ed EMEA 2008 IT Professionals, 3-7 November 2008, in the CCIB, Barcelona, Spain.

For more information, check out the following:

Is Tech·Ed EMEA 2008 IT Professionals right for you? Learn who should attend.
Why you can’t afford to miss Tech·Ed EMEA 2008 IT Professionals. See the benefits of attending.

http://www.microsoft.com/emea/teched2008/itpro/about/default.aspx

Pwnage Tool 2.0 beschikbaar voor iPhone

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:47:20 GMT

dutch only

source :http://www.iphoneclub.nl/8595/handleiding-pwnage-tool-mac-en-windows/

Nu Pwnage Tool 2.0 beschikbaar is, is het mogelijk om eerste generatie iPhones te upgraden naar firmware 2.0, te unlocken en te jailbreaken. Omdat er veel nieuwe gebruikers bij zijn gekomen, hebben we een simpele handleiding gemaakt waarin begrippen zoals pwned, jailbreak en unlock nog eens duidelijk worden uitgelegd. We leggen stapsgewijs uit hoe Pwnage Tool op de Mac werkt, maar ook hoe je te werk moet gaan als je Windows-gebruiker bent.
Meteen verder » iPhone Unlock handleiding

Onderaan de handleiding geven we ook een lijst met downloadlocaties en mirrors voor firmware 2.0, bootloaders en Pwnage Tool 2.0 zelf.

De handleiding gebruikt de Simple Mode in Pwnage Tool, geschikt voor beginnende gebruikers. Ben je gevorderde gebruiker en wil je vooraf instellingen van logo’s, Installer- en Cydia-packages kiezen, dan kun je beter voor de Expert Mode kiezen. Een uitgebreide handleiding daarvoor vind je op iClarified.

Verder lezen:
iPhone Unlock: Handleiding iPhone firmware 2.0 unlock (Mac OS X en Windows)

Praten over je ervaringen en vragen stellen? We hebben twee aparte forumtopics geopend waar je kunt discussiëren over Pwnage 2.0:

Service Level Dashboard Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:06:53 GMT

We are pleased to announce the availability of the Service Level Dashboard Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007 for download on TechNet.

You can download it from the following page:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc463350(TechNet.10).aspx

An online demonstration of this solution accelerator is available at:
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=eaa26b14-35e5-4355-a69f-84cb0d207161

IT departments need ever more sophisticated tools to monitor the performance and availability of line-of-business (LOB) applications that make the organization run. These tools need to go beyond traditional server-based monitoring where server health equals service health.

The Service Level Dashboard for System Center Operations Manager is a new Solution Accelerator that addresses the need of IT service managers for end-to-end reporting on the performance and availability of their line-of-business (LOB) applications. The accelerator provides a unique view of a business application from the user's perspective by simulating user interactions with the business application and reporting on the experience. Results are displayed on an easy to read dashboard, providing both top-level and detailed views. The top-level view reports the service level agreement (SLA) status (compliant or non-compliant) for every application being monitored. The detailed views reveal component-level information that can help administrators investigate the possible causes of noncompliance reported at the top level.

Solution Accelerator Components

This accelerator includes the following software components:

Service Level Dashboard for System Center Operations Manager 2007 Management Pack
Sample unsealed Management Packs targeted at monitoring a Web site, Web Based Application (SharePoint) and Non-web based Application (SQL).
The accelerator provides the following guidance:

- Executive Overview on TechNet
- User's guide
- Planning guide

In addition to the above guidance, there is also an online video demonstration available for this solution.

Overview of the Tool

The Service Level Dashboard for Operations Manager 2007 is designed to work with an existing Operations Manager infrastructure (it is assumed that Operations Manager is already configured to monitor the business-critical applications). Service Level Dashboard for Operations Manager 2007 uses the following components to gather and process additional data (see figure for reference):

- SLA definitions. The IT Manager identifies and defines the SLA agreement for a given business-critical application or service.

- Web application monitors and synthetic transactions. The IT administrator configures and deploys watcher nodes to perform the actions of a synthetic transaction, such as connecting to the Web site or querying the database. A Web application monitor runs on the watcher node and uses these synthetic transactions to perform actions to check availability and to measure performance of a Web page, Web site, or Web application. It does this by monitoring the web application and then changing the health state of an object associated with the web application based on the results of the synthetic transaction. It is this change in health state that the Service Level Dashboard records and reports on. The IT administrator configures the thresholds for identifying an error or warning state during a synthetic transaction. For the Service Level Dashboard for Operations Manager 2007, an error is equivalent to an availability exception, and a warning is equivalent to a performance exception. Because an unavailable application is by definition not performing as expected, availability exceptions are also factored into performance exceptions.

- Distributed Application model. The IT administrator uses an Operations Manager Distributed Application (DA) model to define the application or service. Using the DA model, the IT administrator groups Web application monitors and other monitors into applications and regions for the dashboard.

Operations Manager derives availability and performance percentages independently for each component object in the application model tree, based on Operations Manager's time in state for that object. Any rollup calculations are controlled by the standard DA model health rollups.

- Dashboard interface. As soon as the Service Level Dashboard for Operations Manager 2007 components are configured and operating, you use the dashboard interface to analyze the SLA compliance data. The Service Level Dashboard for Operations Manager 2007 evaluates each application over the defined reporting period, determines whether the application was in or out of compliance during that period (and for how long). The dashboard then lists the application as compliant or non-compliant, based on defined service level targets.

The Service Level Dashboard for Operations Manager 2007 evaluates each application over the defined reporting period, determines whether the application was in or out of compliance during that period (and for how long). The dashboard then lists the application as compliant or non-compliant, based on defined service level targets.

Thank you for your interest

The Solutions Accelerator Team

Addressing Problems Due to Access Token Limitation ( Kerberos )

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 10:41:50 GMT

Lately I was doing some testing with users and local & global groups, did you know you can't give a user more than 1015 groups.

There is a limit in group membership. I did a yahoo and saw there a lot and lots of issues whit this problem in large sites.

Sites with more than 10k users an 500k off groups the user get a error

Excellent info is there form microsoft read it and there is no hotfix for this to fix this by software.

Don't give users more than 1000 groups that's a fact.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=22dd9251-0781-42e6-9346-89d577a3e74a&DisplayLang=en#filelist

Cheers,

Robert

Microsoft Hosting Solutions for Service Providers

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 10:27:09 GMT

Featured Resources

Hosted Messaging and Collaboration 4.5 Now Available

The Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration (HMC) incorporates powerful Microsoft enterprise products such as Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services, and:

Introducing Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, which manages all real-time communications such as instant messaging (IM) and audio and video conferencing.
Improved support for Exchange Server 2007 SP1 now includes Web-based OABs and resource mailboxes.
Enhanced support for Windows SharePoint Services now includes multi-tenant People Picker functionality.
Provisioning capabilities have been expanded by adding Microsoft Provisioning System (MPS) cross data store integration checking procedures and the Individual Information Worker (IIW) tenant model.

Read about these and more new features

Hosted Messaging and Collaboration Hotfix KB Articles

All Knowledge Base (KB) articles reference hotfixes that may resolve an immediate issue.

Microsoft Hosted Solutions Version History

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=C9CBBC69-4AE4-450D-AF5E-F49E7C701CF4&displaylang=en#filelist

http://technet.microsoft.com/nl-nl/serviceproviders/default(en-us).aspx

TechNet Magazine

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 10:27:00 GMT

July 2008

IIS: Going Live with IIS 7.0

The release of Internet Information Services 7.0 sets new standards, offers fundamental improvements, and brings new capabilities for consolidating Web environments. Explore the most important enhancements and get an in-depth guide to testing, staging, and migrating your Web apps to IIS 7.0. Fergus Strachan

Communications and Collaboration: Planning Your Migration to Unified Messaging

Moving from a legacy voicemail system to a unified messaging platform can be done fairly easily and with little disruption to your end users—as long as you have a solid plan in place. Here’s what you need to know to plan your migration, test your new systems, and implement unified messaging in your organization. Jeff Goodwin

Communications and Collaboration: How Voice Powers OCS 2007

Microsoft Office Communication Server brings important changes to enterprise telephony. Examine how voice calls are made layer by layer, learn how calls can be routed to various endpoints, and explore the importance of conversations in OCS communications. Rajesh Ramanathan

Communications and Collaboration: Create Powerful Connections with Groove and SharePoint

Microsoft Office Groove and SharePoint Server both provide powerful collaboration capabilities. Compare how they differ from and complement one another, and find out how you can integrate Groove and SharePoint to provide an easy and flexible collaboration solution that will support users at different locations. Alan Maddison

Windows Administration: Introducing Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering

Users have complained for years that clustering in Windows Server is too complicated. With the release of Windows Server 2008, clustering received a complete facelift. Explore some of the most significant advancements found in the new Failover Clustering, and see how this new implementation makes clusters much easier to set up and maintain. Chuck Timon

Network Monitor 3.2 Beta is available!

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:02:23 GMT

We are our proud and excited to announce the release of NM3.2 Beta, available at http://connect.microsoft.com. Please visit the Network Monitor Project on Microsoft Connect and download the Network Monitor 3.2 Beta. You can also view the FAQ from the home page for more information about the latest version.

Also remember that you can visit our blog for continued updates about using NM3 and network troubleshooting in general: http://blogs.technet.com/netmon.

What's New since Network Monitor 3.1

Process Tracking: View all the processes on your machine generating network traffic (process name and PID). Use the conversation tree to view frames associated with each process.

Find conversations: Quickly isolate frames in the same network conversation. Isolate TCP streams, HTTP flows etc.

PCAP capture file support*
Capture engine re-architecture to improve capture rate in high-speed networks. NM 3.2 drops significantly fewer frames that NM 3.1

· Extensive parser set: Parsers for over 300 protocols! Parsers for the protocols covered by the Windows Open Protocol Specifications (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc216517.aspx).

· NM API: Create your own applications that capture, parser and analyze network traffic!

Better parser management: By default only a subset of parsers are loaded. You can load the full parser set by changing the parser search order in Tools>Options>Parser
Support for frame truncation. Go to Tools>Options and limit the number of bytes captured per frame to improve performance.
More extensive documentation of the NPL which includes documentation on the new NMAPI. Access the documentation from Help > NPL and API Documentation
Enhanced filtering on items within NPL while loops or arrays. You can specify an index into the array or while loop to filter on
IA64 version now available.
ContainsBin Plug-in: Search frames for arbitrary byte sequences or strings. For example, ContainsBin(FrameData, ASCII, "msn").
More UI indications of conversation status, dropped frames and the number of frames in the capture buffer.

. and more. See our Release Notes in the NM3.2 installation directory for a complete list of new features and known issues with the Beta.

Enjoy!

The Network Monitor Team

Microsoft released the Security Compliance Management Toolkit for System Center Configuration Manager

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:27:40 GMT

source:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5534BEE1-3CAD-4BF0-B92B-A8E545573A3E&displaylang=en

Monitor the Security Compliance State of Your IT Environment for Computers Running Windows
The toolkit provides best practices from Microsoft about how to plan, deploy, monitor, and remediate a security baseline. The toolkit includes 12 Configuration Packs that you can use with the desired configuration management (DCM) feature in Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager 2007 to monitor Windows Vista®, Windows® XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), and Windows Server® 2003 SP2.

The toolkit also offers a proven method that your organization can use to effectively monitor the compliance state of recommended security baselines for Windows Vista®, Windows® XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), and Windows Server® 2003 SP2. You can monitor computers running these operating systems using the desired configuration management (DCM) feature in Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager 2007 with the Configuration Packs the toolkit provides. In addition, you can quickly and easily run reports to demonstrate how your organization is meeting important compliance regulations.
The Security Compliance Management toolkit includes the following components:

Security Compliance Management Overview.docx: This document describes the overall security compliance management process and the steps that the toolkit recommends to achieve security compliance using prescribed security baselines.
DCM Configuration Pack User Guide.docx: This user guide describes how to load and operate the Configuration Packs in the desired configuration management (DCM) feature of System Center Configuration Manager 2007.
SecurityComplianceManagement.msi: This Microsoft Windows Installer (.msi) file includes 12 Configuration Packs to provide security baseline checks for Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, and Windows Server 2003 SP2.
Informational Materials.zip: The materials include a Security Compliance Management Data Sheet and a FAQ that explain how the guidance for the toolkit can benefit your organization.

To view this accelerator online at TechNet click here.
Please direct questions and comments related to the DCM feature and the Configuration Packs to the Configuration Manager – Desired Configuration Management community forum on Microsoft TechNet.

Get the Files : http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5534bee1-3cad-4bf0-b92b-a8e545573a3e&displaylang=en&Hash=xZt%2bZ7y7zf9B%2bn4cVvxhB%2fidNiLbpcyeXj6K9kAJ7DuEAfrMSm1JzKjXgrNeDN%2bofT9q4v%2bS%2fCvvLZ8q9KbW3Q%3d%3d

Secure Vantage ACS Administrators Quick Reference

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:24:37 GMT

Secure Vantage released a ACS Administrators Quick Reference for Free.

Get it here

ACS Administrators Quick Reference

Based on some customer and partner feedback we put together a 1 page quick reference sheet for the Audit Collection Service (ACS) included with System Center Operations Manager 2007. This ACS 'cheat sheet' includes best practices, configuration and administrative facts for managing your ACS environment.

If you're new to ACS or it's something you don't administer often this doc is for you. Don't waste time hunting for information, print this doc and keep it close by.

Download ACS Administrators Quick Reference

Summary of content

· adtAdmin Command, Parameters and SubParameters List

· Best Practices

· Collector Default Settings

· Collector Queue Settings

· Collector Database Size Planning equation

· Collector Memory Planning equation

· Collector & Forwarder Performance Counter Objects

· dtPartition Status Codes & dtConfig Items

· General Scalability & Performance information

· Important Event IDs

· Key SQL Views

· Noise Filtering Tips

· Security Quick Facts

source:http://securevantage.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!905E136EE69247B4!285.entry

http://securevantage.spaces.live.com/default.aspx

Microsoft buys virtualization player Kidaro

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:55:27 GMT

Kidaro delivers innovative virtualization solutions to address desktop computing challenges at an enterprise scale. With Kidaro, you can deploy secure, corporate-managed virtual desktops that run locally on enterprise or 3rd-party PCs, enhancing IT agility while eliminating cost and risk.

Microsoft to Expand Investment in Desktop Virtualization With Acquisition of Kidaro

Addition to Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack will provide IT professionals with capability for managing Virtual PCs across the enterprise

Turning Virtualization Into Tangible Benefits

Managing desktops across an enterprise can be time-consuming, complex and costly. Adding Kidaro’s desktop virtualization capabilities to the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack suite will provide Microsoft Software Assurance customers who have purchased the add-on subscription with the enhanced ability to do the following:

•Accelerate Windows Vista migrations by minimizing compatibility issues between applications and the operating system

•Easily deploy managed Virtual PCs to Windows desktops

•Drive business continuity by enabling rapid reconstitution of corporate desktops

•Minimize the tension between IT control and user flexibility by applying policies in locked-down corporate Virtual PCs while giving users more open access to the underlying host operating system

•Speed user adoption of desktop virtualization by making Virtual PCs “invisible” to end users

•Reduce IT investment in desktop image management by delivering virtual images independent of hardware or local desktop configuration

“Virtualization technology has tremendous potential to help companies reduce costs and increase control over their desktops, while simultaneously delivering benefits to end users,” said Kevin Brown, chief executive officer of Kidaro. “By adding Kidaro’s technology to Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, Microsoft can deliver sophisticated virtual desktop capabilities and management to a wide variety of enterprise customers.”

Kidaro technologies will be incorporated into future updates of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance, which currently includes five key technologies that help enterprises manage their desktops:

•Microsoft Application Virtualization

•Microsoft Asset Inventory Service

•Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management

•Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset

•Microsoft System Center Desktop Error Monitoring

http://kidaro.com/

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2008/mar08/03-12ExpandVirtualizationPR.mspx

OpsMgr Answer This: Why should I go to Operations Manager 2007 when I can stay with MOM 2005 or use WhatsUp Gold or ... ?

Sat, 31 May 2008 05:53:19 GMT

Read the full Story at : http://ops-mgr.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!3D3B8489FCAA9B51!475.entry

We are starting a new series: OpsMgr Answer This questions. These are questions that you probably have asked yourself (or others) more than once. In this series, the writers of the System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed book will offer their opinions to some of those (sometimes rhetorical) questions. The first question we are discussing is, Why should one go to Operations Manager 2007? You may be using MOM 2005 and be perfectly happy with it. There is an adage: "if it works, don't break it" - so why go to Operations Manager 2007?

Andy Dominey suggests:

Because of all the additional functionality OpsMgr gives you (not listing them as you all know the score there).
MSFT is heading into the enterprise management space with X-Platform and NASM and this new version of MOM lays the groundwork in the architecture to support these components later on.
WhatsUp Gold doesn’t provide effective and synthetic monitoring of Windows applications.
MOM 2005 will be going out of support sooner than you might think :-) (and NO we haven't heard anything about this, but you know how Microsoft works)

From John Joyner:

Most compelling single reason = MOM 2005 only monitors servers. OM 07 monitors both servers and applications as objects. Dependencies between monitored objects permit cross-platform event correlation that was not possible with MOM 2005.
Management Pack availability - New applications from Microsoft and third party vendors are getting new OM 07 MPs released for them, not MOM 2005 MPs.
Interoperability with other System Center applications - Example: VMM 2008 requires OM 07 for monitoring. Service Desk will use OM 07-style management packs.

Cameron Fuller says:

First, let's look at MOM/OpsMgr versus WhatsUp Gold: WhatsUp Gold provides an environment with up and down monitoring, gathering of events, performance information, SNMP information in the network. It also provides reporting and notification functionality. From a high level it is really a good question of why MOM or OpsMgr versus WhatsUp Gold. The key reasons to go with a MOM or OpsMgr solution versus WhatsUp Gold are:

Issue identification – The Microsoft solutions gather specific information to identify issues based upon the products being monitored. IE: The Exchange Management Pack gathers specific event ID information versus gathering all error level alerts on a system.
Decreased noise – The alerts generated by MOM and OpsMgr are more targeted as a result of how issues are identified and result in less noise.
Issue resolution – The knowledgebase contained within management packs was developed by the product team which created the product (as an example, the Exchange team helped to develop the Exchange management pack), and is combined with MCS information to provide assistance with resolving issues identified within the environment. These issues can be more quickly resolved through leveraging tasks that are also provided as part of the management packs. When issues are identified, Operations Manager provides notification to the appropriate personnel so that they can respond to the issue more expediently.
More Proactive – Faster issue identification and issue resolution combined with product knowledge provides a more proactive monitoring solution. Let’s take as an example an Exchange issue. An issue is identified based upon the number of drive reads and writes when compared with the management pack levels for what is acceptable on the Exchange server. An alert is generated notifying that the system is not performing optimally. Additional spindles can be added or faster storage can be used to address the issue before it affects the user community.

Source :http://ops-mgr.spaces.live.com/default.aspx

Microsoft Exchange Server Error Code Look-up

Fri, 30 May 2008 19:26:11 GMT

Nice to have.

Determine error values from decimal and hexadecimal error codes in Microsoft Windows® operating systems.

Quick Details

File Name:Err.EXE

Version:6.0.4011.0

Date Published:5/29/2008

Language:English

Download Size:809 KB

Overview

Use the Error Code Lookup tool to determine error values from decimal and hexadecimal error codes in Microsoft Windows® operating systems. The tool can look up one or more values at a time. All values on the command line will be looked up in Exchange’s internal tables and presented to you. If available, informational data associated with the value or values will also be shown.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=be596899-7bb8-4208-b7fc-09e02a13696c&displaylang=en&tm

Sysinternals Tools Can Now Run From The Web

Fri, 30 May 2008 19:18:21 GMT

Updates: Process Explorer v11.20, ZoomIt v2.0, Sigcheck v1.53, Handle v3.4 and introducing Sysinternals Live beta.

Sysinternals Live: We're excited to announce the beta of Sysinternals Live, a service that enables you to execute Sysinternals tools directly from the Web without hunting for and manually downloading them. Simply enter a tool's Sysinternals Live path into Windows Explorer or a command prompt as \\live.sysinternals.com\tools\<toolname> or view the entire Sysinternals Live tools directory in a browser at http://live.sysinternals.com.

Process Explorer v11.20: Process Explorer now shows thread permissions, adds process working set minimum and maximum columns, and fixes a bug that allows it to run from read-only locations on 64-bit Windows.

ZoomIt v2.0: This major ZoomIt update adds the drawing color pink, adds screen blanking to the undo history, extends the maximum pen size from 9 to 19 pixels, has an option to hide the tray icon and makes it easy to save zoomed and annotated screens as bitmap files.

Sigcheck v1.53: The CSV column headers have been fixed to correctly reflect the extended version and hash options.

Handle v3.4: This release fixes a bug that allows it to run from read-only locations on 64-bit Windows and adds an option to show the sizes of pagefile-backed sections.

REALTECH's newly developed Management Pack for SAP Monitoring

Wed, 28 May 2008 18:04:05 GMT

source : http://www.realtech.com/wInternational/software/application_manager/Applications/Windows_Systeme/Management-Pack-for-SAP-MonitoringW3DnavidW26190.php

Monitoring Windows and SAP from a central location

Microsoft's Operations Manager is a solution that allows companies to monitor their Windows environments. Management packs can be used to extend its functionality to operating systems, applications, and other technology components.

REALTECH's newly developed Management Pack for SAP Monitoring is one of the first integration modules to use the .NET interface of Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 to display real-time information on the availability, performance, and error status of any SAP NetWeaver component. Thanks to the seamless integration of the management pack, Operations Manager will continue to be the primary system.

Benefits of the integration solution

Management Pack for SAP Monitoring now enables Microsoft customers to effectively monitor their SAP systems. This is a definite plus for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager, considering that Microsoft Windows is one of the leading platforms for the operation of SAP systems. The Management Pack not only includes the standard SAP CCMS alerts, but also the REALTECH-specific extensions in the fields of ABAP, J2EE, CRM, SCM, BI, XI, and SAP Enterprise Portal. The integration of the SAP data gives IT administrators a broader range of IT data, paving the way for more detailed and sophisticated analyses.

Management Pack for SAP Monitoring for Microsoft System Center

Operations Manager 2007 is available starting at EUR 9,950.

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact us. Give us a call at

+49.6227.837.591 or send an e-mail to customer-services-am@realtech.com.

Click here for more information on REALTECH's implementation guarantee (pdf)

SCOM-CRM Connector

Mon, 26 May 2008 16:22:12 GMT

SCOM-CRM Connector

We have the pleasure to announce you the release of the Connector for System Center Operations Manager 2007 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 !

Having developed the connector for MOM-CRM, we decided to upgrade the application for SCOM and CRM 4.0, in the aim to meet the strong demand for the product.

The connector will help you managing your infrastructure by generating cases in your CRM, regarding the SCOM alerts you want to treat, and sending information to SCOM about the resolution state of the cases.

A better management of your infrastructure, a better interactivity within your team. Never again will an alert be forgotten in the list of your SCOM application, and the problem's resolutions will be stored in your CRM. All these benefits can be obtained by simple mouse clicks.
Connect to our website to know the prices and to download your demo version
It will be a pleasure to answer all your questions about the connector.
Please use the feedback form to send us your remarks.

A PodCast and MP3 player written ENTIRELY in Windows Powershell

Thu, 22 May 2008 16:15:10 GMT

ASE PowerShell Player

The ASE PowerShell Player is a podcast and MP3 player with support for playlists and all the other features you expect of such an application. What makes the ASE PowerShell Player unique is that it is written entirely in the PowerShell Scripting Language. Images are encoded within the script and the window layout was created with the ASE ScriptForm Designer.

Included are RSS links for feeds on scripting and desktop management but you can modify those defaults very easily. Check out Episode 24 of the PowerShell Scripting Podcast for an interview with iTripoli's Steve Behrns. The use of the program itself is very simple but if you do not currently have PowerShell installed, it is naturally a requirement to run this script.

Click here to download the ASE PowerShell Player Script
Click here for a quick video of the ScriptForm Designer in action
Click here for more details on the ScriptForm Designer
Click here to download the ASE v3.5 trial!
Click here for a detailed feature list!
Click here to purchase!

MICROSOFT ASSESSMENT & PLANNING 3.1 TOOL

Wed, 21 May 2008 19:55:52 GMT

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Solution Accelerator is an integrated platform with tools and guidance that make it easier for you to assess your current IT infrastructure and determine the right Microsoft technologies for your IT needs. It offers easy inventory, powerful assessment and actionable recommendations for Windows Server 2008, Windows Server Hyper-V, Virtual Server 2005 R2, Microsoft Application Virtualization (formerly SoftGrid), System Center Virtual Machine Manager, Windows Vista, and 2007 Microsoft Office. The popular Windows Vista Hardware Assessment readiness tool will be integrated into this platform.
This automation tool helps IT professionals and consultants like you establish a clearer understanding of your infrastructure, desktop and virtualization needs through network-wide assessment of your assets including desktops, laptops, servers, applications and network devices. Actionable recommendations are provided through the auto-generated migration proposal reports and documents.
In addition, the new MAP user interface also offers a "resource center" where users can download other relevant tools and useful resources such as white papers and technical guidance from Microsoft and other sources from the IT community.

Target Audience

Customers: IT Architects, Infrastructure Specialists and Desktop/Application Administrators.
Partners: System Integrators, Value-Added Partners and IT Consultants in the Enterprise and Midmarket

Key Benefits

Quick Assessment of Your Existing infrastructure and assets
Adaptive Guidance and Actionable Proposals that provide specific recommendations that will help simplify your planning and deployment of Microsoft technologies
One-Stop Shop for All Your Planning (or Pre-Sales) Needs

https://connect.microsoft.com

Microsoft ISA Server 2006 Service Pack 1 Beta

Wed, 21 May 2008 19:55:43 GMT

Service Pack 1 new and improved features

ISA Server 2006 SP1 includes the following new features:

1. Configuration Change Tracking—Registers all configuration changes applied to ISA Server configuration to help you assess issues that may occur as a result of these changes.

2. Test Button—Tests the consistency of a Web publishing rule between the published server and ISA Server.

3. Traffic Simulator—Simulates network traffic in accordance with specified request parameters, such as an internal user and the Web server, providing information about firewall policy rules evaluated for the request.

4. Diagnostic Logging Viewer—Now integrated as a tab into the Management console, this feature displays detailed events about the status of your ISA Server computer, as well as configuration and policy issues.

ISA Server 2006 SP1 also includes feature improvements, including:

· Support for NLB multicast operations

· Support for certificate with multiple SAN entries

· KCD for cross-domain users

Stay tuned :

Forefront codename “Stirling”

Silect Software MP Implementation Webcast

Wed, 21 May 2008 19:41:35 GMT

MP Implementation Webcast

At MMS in Las Vegas this month Silect Software introduced the Implementation Guide v1.0 Quick Reference, a list of best practices including a flow chart defining lifecycle management for Management Packs. The Quick reference was so well received we have decided to share the details of it in a web presentation for those who could not attend MMS.

If you have multiple management packs, multiple management groups and multiple administrators working with Operations Manager, having a well defined process is critical to a successful implementation of Operations Manager 2007. Even with smaller implementations, having a defined process for handling change requests for management packs is critical to avoiding costly downtime, unnecessary error and even chaos.

If ITIL and MOF are important to you, if Change Management and Version control are important functions in your organization, if auditing changes in management packs is something you would like to be able to do, then this webcast could be the most important event you attend all year!

The presentation will focus on process considerations and how MP Studio features can function as the foundation for a repeatable process.

All participants who sign up for the presentation will receive a copy of the Implementation Guide v1.0 Quick Reference by email after the presentation.

Time / Date

The MP Implementation Webcast will be held Wednesday May 28^th at 11:00AM Eastern (GMT – 5:00).

Click here to register for this important event.

Microsoft Management Summit 2008

Fri, 09 May 2008 17:25:41 GMT

Henry Wilson's MMS 2008 Conference Summary

Summary:
MMS 2008 proved to be very useful in gaining knowledge and insight into what to expect during the upgrade of SMS 2003 to SCCM 2007, the OS Deployment pack, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, etc
While the focus of MMS 2008 appeared to be the Systems Center suite, the conference provides a very diverse number of sessions that attract Systems administrators of the many Microsoft offerings.
Attending this conference is beneficial and enabled me to meet many peers with diverse knowledge in the Systems Management and SQLServer fields. As a result, I now have access (knowledge) of new tools (web sites) and the author’s who make up these communities that unselfishly share their technical expertise.

Credits:
I would like acknowledge the following whose content (from their blog) was used as a basis for this document.
(content and pictures from various blogs on the internet)
Joseph Hinkle, MyItForum Blogger
(detail blogs from many sessions I attended! Thanks Joe)
Sherry Kissinger, MyItForum Blogger
Rod Trent, CEO MyItForum
Greg Hueing, MyItForum Photographer
(Thanks for providing most of the pictures)
Anthony Clendenen, MyItForum Blogger
And others not mentioned here.

http://www.myitforum.com/downloads/MMS2008%20Conference%20Summary1.pdf

Extending the System Center Content Search Windows Gadget

Tue, 06 May 2008 19:31:31 GMT

Stefan Stranger has a great post on his blog about the search windows gatget. check this out.

Read all about it on his blog http://weblog.stranger.nl/extending_the_system_center_content_search_windows_gadget

Systems Management Server 2003 R2 support for Microsoft Update Standalone Package (MSU) Validation Program

Tue, 06 May 2008 19:22:05 GMT

Announcing the Systems Management Server 2003 R2 support for Microsoft Update Standalone Package (MSU) Validation Program

Program Description

SMS 2003 R2 was created to enable authoring and scanning for custom-defined software updates. It was originally designed to support update files in exe, msi and msp extensions. Updates for Vista are in the new msu (Microsoft Update Standalone Package) format, which is currently not recognized in Systems Management Server 2003 R2. To provide customers the capability of deploying Vista security and critical updates through use of SMS 2003 R2 custom updates publishing tool, we are developing an update to provide .msu support. This program will provide an opportunity for validation by customers interested in this capability.

We are looking for customers who:

· Are using SMS 2003 SP3 with R2 today, and also need to manage Windows Vista security and/or critical updates

· Are not planning to upgrade to Configuration Manager 2007 in this calendar year

· Have resources to devote time to validating scenarios in a test environment. The expected testing time investment is expected to be 2-3 days

· Have available lab resources to validate the update, including:

o SMS 2003 SP3 ENU site server computer with R2 installed. If you have a working lab that emulates the production environment closely, this is a bonus.

o One or more Vista client computers managed with, both i386 and x64 platforms

· Will report their results and/or bugs to Microsoft in a timely manner

If you are interested in helping us test this functionality, please do the following:

Navigate to http://connect.microsoft.com .
Click on the Connection Directory link at the top of the page.
Search for the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 connection.
Choose the apply link for the "MSU update for SMS 2003 R2" program.
Follow any additional instructions to join the program.