Cliff Hobbs - FAQShop.com and Microsoft MVP ConfigMgr/ SMS

[Events] WSUG: Windows Crash Dump Analysis and Windows Performance Troubleshooting and Analysis – 13th April

Cliff Hobbs - MVP — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:55:13 GMT

Hot on the heels of their BranchCache & Migration to Windows Server 2008 R2 event the Windows Server User Group (WSUG) have organised another event on Tuesday 13th April at Microsoft’s office in Cardinal Place London where they’ll be looking at Windows Crash Dump Analysis and Windows Performance Troubleshooting and Analysis.

Full details at:

http://www.wsug.co.uk/?p=80

BTW - In case any of you are wondering yes we at WMUG are organising events this year (we had something ready to go for February but it fell through at the last minute). As soon as we have something definite we can share (plenty of irons in the fire) we’ll be in touch.

[Events] NEBytes – 17th March 2010 “Visual Studio 2010” and “System Center in the R2 Wave” – Newcastle University

Cliff Hobbs - MVP — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:33:08 GMT

Our friends over at North East Bytes are hosting an event next Wednesday at Newcastle University where they’ll be covering Visual Studio 2010 and System Center R2. Full details at:

http://www.nebytes.net/page/events.aspx

[MS Security] Advisory Notification - Issued: March 9, 2010

Cliff Hobbs - MVP — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:28:02 GMT

* Microsoft Security Advisory (981374)
- Title: Vulnerability in Internet Explorer Could
Allow Remote Code Execution
- http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/981374.mspx
- Revision Note: V1.0 (March 9, 2010): Advisory published.

* Microsoft Security Advisory (973811)
- Title: Extended Protection for Authentication
- http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/973811.mspx
- Revision Note: V1.3 (March 9, 2010): Updated the FAQ to
    announce the rerelease of the update that enables Internet
    Information Services to opt in to Extended Protection for
    Authentication. For more information, see Known issues in
    Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 973917.

[Events] Free MMS Convention Pass for the price of an email

Cliff Hobbs - MVP — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:07:47 GMT

If you’d like to go to MMS but the price of the Summit pass is beyond you don’t worry as someone is going to win a free pass. How do you enter this free competition? Easy just send an email as detailed below:

Secure Vantage Technologies (SVT) is pleased to announce its continued support for the myITforum community and the Microsoft Management Summit(MMS) by awarding an MMS Conference Attendance Badge valued at $1,970 USD to a lucky winner! MMS is an invaluable tool for anyone supporting Microsoft systems management technologies. Don't miss out! Enter today for your chance to attend MMS this year, compliments of Secure Vantage Technologies.

To enter, simply send an email to mms2010-contest@securevantage.com. That’s all there is to it! Once we’ve received your email you will be entered to win. We’re sorry, but for content integrity emails from Yahoo!, Gmail, Hotmail and similar online email services are not valid for entry. The deadline for entry is 5:00PM on March 24, 2010. The winner will be notified by 5:00PM CT Friday, March 26, 2010. THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE TRAVEL OR HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS! Please do not enter unless your able to attend and provide for your own travel. This contest is for the conference fee only.

About Secure Vantage

Founded in 2005, Secure Vantage Technologies delivers expert security reporting and auditing solutions for Microsoft System Center. Using existing Microsoft infrastructure makes Secure Vantage Technology solutions simple to deploy and increases the value of the investment customers have made in Microsoft management solutions. Take advantage of hundreds of auditing scenarios, advanced forensics and unmatched offline archiving capabilities for Windows security events, group policy, service and application configurations -- even your Unix/Linux syslogs. For more information, please visit www.securevantage.com

Contest Rules:

Must be able to attend the Microsoft Management Summit 2010 in Las Vegas, NV USA - April 19-23. Winner to be notified by March 26, 2010. Travel and accommodations are NOT included. Open to citizens of the United States only. SVT is not responsible for content entries not received. Must be 21 or older to enter. One entry per person.

[ConfigMgr] New KB Article: 978757 Search paths are not discovered when the Active Directory System Discovery process or the…

Cliff Hobbs - MVP — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:57:16 GMT

Search Paths not working in AD System or Group Discovery [09/03/10]
Got issues with a second search path in AD System/ User Group discovery not working? You could need the following hotfix...

[System Center] New System Center Training Portal

Cliff Hobbs - MVP — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:56:28 GMT

I think this one slipped through the net whilst I was at the MVP Summit but it seems Microsoft has created a new System Center Portal which attempts to centralise all of the training information on System Center in one place rather than you having to go trawling all over the MS website looking for example for books on the MS Press site, training and exam information on the Microsoft Learning site, etc.

I like when I click on links such as “Learning Plans” that it opens up a list of available learning plans for the System Center products which are designed help guide you through getting skilled up in a product and certified where a relevant exam exists.

So go take a look and let me know what you think:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/training/systemcenter.aspx

[ConfigMgr] Your chance to “Ask the Experts” at MMS

Cliff Hobbs - MVP — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:03:19 GMT

One of the Must Attend sessions at MMS each year is the ConfigMgr/ SMS Ask the Experts where a panel of Microsoft folks and MVPs are lined up ready to answer any burning questions you may have.

This year Microsoft are inviting YOU to submit your questions ahead of time which you can do so either by email or by Tweeting using the #MMSEA01 hashtag as Jeff Wettlaufer explains in the following extract from his post below:

Configuration Manager v.Next - Ask the Panel of Experts
Thursday, April 22 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM, Veronese 2404-2506
OK - so, you've attended all the breakouts on ConfigMgr v.Next and completed all the hands-labs. Now you know the "what" of ConfigMgr v.Next. How about getting a chance to learn the "how" and "why" of ConfigMgr? We've assembled a panel of engineering leadership from the ConfigMgr team, along with a few key MVP's, to really answer your questions about the "how's" and "why's" of ConfigMgr. To help tee it up we are using some social avenues to hear from you. Either email a question to the session moderator (jeffwe@microsoft.com) or simply tweet a question using the hashtag #MMSEA01. Even if you don't have a question - come join us to hear these so-called "experts" answer the tough questions and provide insights into the product and strategies for ConfigMgr.

So get your thinking caps on and those questions submitted.

The full post is here:

http://blogs.technet.com/systemcenter/archive/2010/03/04/mms-panel-session-ask-the-experts-use-our-hashtag.aspx

[OOB Management] An update regarding AMT support in System Center Configuration Manager 2007

Cliff Hobbs - MVP — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:07:09 GMT

From the OOB Management blog:

We recently noted some of the changes to support for ConfigMgr 2007 over on our support team blog but I wanted to also mention one big AMT related change here:

AMT firmware versions 4.2 and 5.2 are supported on ConfigMgr 2007 SP1 and SP2

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 and SP2 now supports AMT firmware versions 4.2 and version 5.2 with a minimum revision of 5.2.10 with the out of band management feature for both in-band provisioning and out of band provisioning.

No software updates are required.

J.C. Hornbeck | System Center Knowledge Engineer

http://blogs.technet.com/oob/archive/2010/03/04/an-update-regarding-amt-support-in-system-center-configuration-manager-2007.aspx

[ConfigMgr] Some updates to what's supported in System Center Configuration Manager 2007

Cliff Hobbs - MVP — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:02:51 GMT

From The Configuration Manager Support Team Blog:

The Configuration Manager product team recently announced some changes in what's officially supported in ConfigMgr 2007, including SP1, SP2 and R2. Below is the meat of it but you can view the source straight from our very own Levi Stevens here.

=====

Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.6 is now supported on ConfigMgr 2007 R2 with ConfigMgr 2007 SP2

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 with System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 now supports Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.6 Desktop Client and Client for Remote Desktop Services. This client release enables support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and support for 64-bit operating systems.

No software updates are required.

AMT firmware versions 4.2 and 5.2 are supported on ConfigMgr 2007 SP1 and SP2

No software updates are required.

Windows XP Embedded SP3 is now supported on ConfigMgr 2007 SP2

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 now supports Windows XP Embedded SP3 as a client platform. This does change the Known Limitations for managing Windows Embedded devices.

No software updates are required.

Windows Embedded Point of Sales 1.1 SP3 is now supported on ConfigMgr 2007 SP2

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 now supports Windows Embedded Point of Sales 1.1 SP3 as a client platform. This does change the Known Limitations for managing Windows Embedded devices.

No software updates are required.

Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs SP3 is now supported on ConfigMgr 2007 SP2

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 now supports Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs SP3 as a client platform.

=====

Enjoy!

J.C. Hornbeck | System Center Knowledge Engineer

http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/archive/2010/03/04/some-updates-to-what-s-supported-in-system-center-configuration-manager-2007.aspx

[ConfigMgr] New ConfigMgr Guides Now Available for Download

Cliff Hobbs - MVP — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:43:41 GMT

I stumbled across the following four Guides which are now available for download:

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Deployment Guide

This guidance provides information on how to design and deploy a Configuration Manager infrastructure within a healthcare organization. It allows the healthcare organization to be confident that the Configuration Manager infrastructure being designed and deployed is using current best practice.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=8b635615-b368-4e98-a4b3-d779611eced4

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Operating System Deployment Guide

This guidance helps healthcare organizations when implementing and using the operating system deployment feature of Configuration Manager. This guidance provides the information required to quickly become familiar with the operating system deployment feature and understand the appropriate decisions that need to be made in order to deploy and use the solution. It also provides step-by-step guidance showing how to install and configure the required components, and also how to use the most common features.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=defbf5ab-7d60-402b-a58e-5cccc4932a12

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Software Distribution Guide

This guidance provides the information required to quickly become familiar with the software distribution feature and understand the appropriate decisions that need to be made in order to deploy and use the solution. It also provides step-by-step guidance showing how to create the objects required within Configuration Manager to perform the software distribution.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=0a4a62eb-4335-4847-b22f-baeb915f3e24

System Center Configuration Manager Software Update Management Guide

This guidance provides the information required to quickly become familiar with the software update feature, and understand the appropriate decisions that need to be made in order to deploy and use the solution. It also provides step-by-step guidance showing how to install and configure the required components, and how to use the most common features.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=27c44801-0d99-48a1-b371-56e27099c5d2

[MS KBs] KB980861: Prescriptive guidance for sequencing the Beta version of the 2010 Office system in Microsoft App-V

Cliff Hobbs - MVP — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:39:53 GMT

INTRODUCTION

Beta Information

This article discusses a beta release of a Microsoft product. The information in this article is provided as-is and is subject to change without notice.
No formal product support is available from Microsoft for this beta product. For information about how to obtain support for a beta release, see the documentation that is included with the beta product files, or check the Web location where you downloaded the release.

This article describes one method that you can use to successfully sequence the Beta version of the 2010 Microsoft Office system for use with Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) 4.6. The method that is described in this article is not the only method that is available. You may have to change the information in the article as appropriate for your particular environment.

Full article at:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=980861

[ConfigMgr] When deploying Windows Server 2008 SP2 64-bit as a Software Update via Configuration Manager 2007, the update is not…

Cliff Hobbs - MVP — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:54:33 GMT

From The Configuration Manager Support Team Blog:

When attempting to deploy Windows Server 2008 x64 SP2 (KB948465) as a Software Update via System Center Configuration Manager, the update may not be offered as applicable to some Windows Server 2008 64-bit machines.

Cause

When you are running an x64-based version of Windows Vista or of Windows Server 2008 on a computer that has multiple Intel x64 processors of a certain kind, or has an Intel x64 multi-core processor, certain known issues were encountered when applying SP2 so detection logic was added that blocks Service Pack 2 on these machines.

Resolution

For computers that meet this description, you need to have update KB973879 installed. This detail is noted in the following Knowledge Base article:

KB948343 - Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 service packs are not available for installation through Windows Update

"Computers that have certain multiple processors need to have update 973879 installed for Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and for Windows Server 2008 to be offered

Some processors report support for some unsupported feature sets. Therefore, when the system uses these feature sets, a Stop error occurs. If this issue exists, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 service pack will not be offered for download. For more information and to install this update, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

973879 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973879/ ) You receive a "Stop 0x0000003E" error message when you try to install Windows Vista Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 on a computer that has certain multiple processors "

Some users have noticed an additional issue when attempting to install KB973879. In these cases, the installation fails with, “The update does not apply to your system.”

This can occur if Microsoft Security Update KB971486 is already installed on the same machine. We are working to release a new version of KB973879 with updated detection logic to allow it to be installable when KB971486 is installed but in the interim we have the following workaround:

1. Remove KB971486

2. Install KB973879

3. Configure a Software Update deployment for the client.

4. After SP2 installs, re-install KB971486.

Note: A special thanks to Mike Johnson for documenting this issue.

Hope this helps,

J.C. Hornbeck | System Center Knowledge Engineer

http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/archive/2010/03/04/when-deploying-windows-server-2008-sp2-64-bit-as-a-software-update-via-configuration-manager-2007-the-update-is-not-offered-as-applicable-to-some-machines.aspx

[Event] Optimise Your Data Center Management in 2010 with Microsoft System Center – 22nd April 2010

Cliff Hobbs - MVP — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:22:05 GMT

Don't manage in the dark! Manage more with less using Microsoft System Center

In this economy IT management is an important issue because you’re expected to do a great deal on a short deadline with a tight budget – take care of all the physical and virtual servers, desktops, laptops and handheld devices across your enterprise more effectively than ever.

Now you can manage it all from a single pane of glass and save money by consolidating your IT management software and processes.
Award-winning Microsoft solutions partner Eurodata Systems and Microsoft UK invite you to an exclusive briefing at the IoD City Hub in London on 22nd April 2010. You will learn about Microsoft’s acclaimed System Center suite for Data Center management. Each session will include a product demonstration and a case study by Eurodata.

Event Date: 22nd April 2010
Venue: IoD City Hub, 35 New Broad Street, London EC2M 1NH
Register Now!
Agenda

09:00 Registration and Coffee

09:15 Welcome and Introduction by Eurodata Systems

09:25 Facing the Future with Microsoft - Keynote address by Microsoft UK

09:45 How Configuration Manager 2007 reduces the complexities of monitoring configuration changes in even the most complex IT infrastructure, plus demonstration

10:15 Operations Manager 2007 R2 - the next step in end-to-end event and performance monitoring, plus demonstration

10:55 Break

11:15 Virtual Machine Management 2008 - optimising management of your Virtualised IT infrastructure, plus demonstration

11:45 NEW Data Protection Manager 2010 for continuous protection of business-critical data with rapid and reliable recovery, plus demonstration

12:15 Bringing it all together – licensing with the System Center Suite

12:30 System Center for the SMB – Introducing SCE 2010

12:45 More efficient, effective and easier management of your IT environment with Eurodata

13:00 Ask the experts...

13:15 Summary, close & draw

13:30 Lunch

http://www.eurodatasystems.com/events/microsoft_systemcenter_event/default.asp

[MDT] HealthcareMDT2010 Download now available – Includes SMS Trace x64

Cliff Hobbs - MVP — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:07:44 GMT

The HealthcareMDT2010 is now available for download which includes the x64 version of SMS Trace (many thanks for the heads up on this one from my good friend Johan Arwidmark in his post on this).

Details and link below:

Overview

Healthcare MDT 2010 is a customized version of The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit that allows IT administrators within a healthcare organization to create and maintain a customized Healthcare Desktop or Server build image in an automated and repeatable manner. Healthcare MDT 2010 helps healthcare organizations decrease the time required to develop a server or desktop build, and reduce errors associated with creating builds.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=cd73a2c5-76c1-48b3-a366-156900bb9493

[Event] Upcoming event, Microsoft Desktop Virtualization Hour, March 18, 9:00 AM PST

Cliff Hobbs - MVP — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:52:34 GMT

From The System Center Team Blog:

Looking at desktop virtualization including VDI? Thinking about migrating to Windows 7?

Want savings, but unsure of the tradeoffs? Have more questions than answers on the topic?
Please mark your calendar for the Desktop Virtualization Hour, Thursday, March 18th, 9am PST. Watch and interact live with industry experts IT leaders and Microsoft executives for a moderated televised discussion.

Here is a link to the event

Jeff Wettlaufer
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center

http://blogs.technet.com/systemcenter/archive/2010/03/03/upcoming-event-microsoft-desktop-virtualization-hour-march-18-9-00-am-pst.aspx