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    July 03

    End of Life for Windows 7 Beta, Upgrade to Windows 7 RC

    If you are still using the beta version (build 7000) of Windows 7 your must be restarting every couple of hours. Very soon it will stop working at all. To avoid your computer become completely inaccessible please upgrade to Windows 7 RC (build 7100). Here are the steps.

    1. Download Windows 7 RC from here http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx
    2. Backup your data using Windows Easy Transfer/Windows Backup/simple (copy/paste)
    3. Reinstall  the OS. In place upgrade is not available
    4. Restore your data and reinstall the programs
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    June 14

    Basic Management Tasks in Asset Inventory Service (AIS)

    Creating Groups: Creation of computer groups is helpful in producing meaningful reports. There are two ways to do this. If Active Directory environment is available in the network, Group Policy can be used for creating AIS groups. There is a Group Policy template called sconline.adm available in the AIS web site to help you do this job. If the computers are not part of any any Active Directory then the following registry key can be used to create an AIS group and join the computer to the same

    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\SCOnline\ClientGroup

    This key should be a string value and the value specified is the name of the group.

    Sorting of Computers: AIS managed computers can be sorted using computer name, last user log on, predefined AIS group, last reported date, date discovered and client version

    Performing the inventory update: Along with the application related information AIS also collects information related to domain/user name, OS & service pack, hardware make/model, free disk space etc. By default this inventory collection happens once in a month. But this frequency can be increased manually to a maximum of four times a month (once in seven days). After initiating the manual inventory collection all the clients should report back within 24 fours, otherwise there is a problem which needs to be troubleshooted.

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    Microsoft Asset Inventory Service (AIS) – Part 1

    Here comes the third component of MDOP, Microsoft Asset Inventory Service (AIS).

    What is AIS? It is a web based online service that can be used to track the software applications installed in Windows computers. There is no need to maintain any server for this application.

    What is the use of AIS? The software inventory collected by AIS is useful in a networked environment to ensure license compliance and optimize IT budgets. Also it gives complete visibility into the kind of applications installed in various computers in the network.

    What does AIS do? It identifies the list of applications installed in computers from links in Add/Remove Programs, Start menu, MSI file history etc. Also AIS maintains a catalog of thousands of commonly used applications. The inventory data collected is reconciled against this catalog to produce meaningful details such as type of applications, vendor and version details etc.

    How about the security of data collected by AIS? The privacy statement attached is Microsoft’s legal document which states that customer data would remain confidential. Data is transferred over SSL channel.

    Authentication is done using Windows Live ID. Each account has an account-specific certificate that is packaged with the AIS client. This ensures that the client software downloaded from different accounts are not interchangeable :)

    Here is the usage flow of AIS

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    AIS client can be installed on multiple computers using manual installation method, group policy or System Center Configuration Manager.

    Diagnostic & troubleshooting tools can be found under the following folders

    C:\windows\sconlineclient.log

    C:\program files\Microsoft System Center Online Client\Diagnostic Tools

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    June 13

    Talking about 'Automatic Crash Recovery, with NextGen Internet Explorer 8’

     

    Quote

    'Automatic Crash Recovery, with NextGen Internet Explorer 8’

    'Automatic Crash Recovery, with NextGen Internet Explorer 8’
    Watch the promo of the latest version of the internet browser Internet Explorer 8. The browser provides the user with the facility of auto crash recovery.
    June 12

    System Center Desktop Error Monitoring (DEM)

    This is the second component of MDOP I want to talk about.

    Application and OS crashes are inevitable. If not properly identified and controlled this can lead to serious productivity loss. The effect is amplified in a networked environment. By default when crashes happen Windows asks you whether you want to send a report to Microsoft or not. If the reports are sent to Microsoft they’ll be used it to identify the reasons and solve them if things are under the control of MS. But in a networked environment it is important to have visibility into the various application/OS crashes happening in various computers. This will help system administrators better manage their networked PCs. The Desktop Error Monitoring (DEM) tools is an agent-less solution to collect error reports from Windows computers, analyze them, generate reports and optionally send the error information to Microsoft.

    Here is the top level architecture of DEM

    image

    DEM uses Microsoft SQL Server for error management and generate reports. But the error data is reported to either a file share(2000/XP) or a web location(Vista) depending the version of OS.

    If there are no agents required how would the clients know about the presence of DEM server. Simple, group policy settings are available to redirect client side errors to DEM server instead of Microsoft’s servers.

    Examples of reports that can be generated using DEM; Top ‘N” errors in the network, top ‘N” applications causing errors in the network etc..

    Note that DEM is a subset of features offered by System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)

    June 10

    Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM)

    This tool is part of MDOP offering from Microsoft. It has a client component as well as server component. Some of the salient features of AGPM are

    • Offline editing of Group Policy Objects (GPO)
    • Change history is preserved
    • The AGPM server can be installed on either Windows Server or Windows Client. For example AGPM v3.0 server can be installed on Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista SP1
    • Role based administration and delegation
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    June 08

    Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) - Introduction

    I am going to post a series of blogs on MDOP. Let me start with an introduction

    What is MDOP?

    Technically speaking it is a bunch of tools used for advanced management of Windows client computers in a networked environment. These tools are available as an additional subscription to Microsoft customers.

    What are the tools available as part of MDOP?

    There are six different tools available as part of MDOP. They are

    1. Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM)
    2. Microsoft Assent Inventory Service (AIS)
    3. Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT)
    4. Microsoft Desktop Error Monitoring (DEM)
    5. Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V)
    6. Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V)

    In the upcoming blog posts I will be writing in detail about each of these tools.

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    May 29

    DDR3 Vs DDR2

    I am currently evaluating various laptops that can run multiple virtual machines simultaneously. One of the key components I’m evaluating is the RAM. Both DDR2 and DDR3 based RAM modules are available today. If budget permits I will definitely go for DDR3 because of two advantages 1) faster 1067MHz as against 667 or 800 MHz in DDR2 and 2) 30% less power consumption, this will lead to better battery life for my computer

    This article is very informative.

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    .net framework 2.0 missing

    Are you are getting the following error when trying to launch an application?

    The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135). Click on OK to terminate the application.

    The solutions is to make sure that .net framework 2.0 is installed in your computer. Download it from here

    May 28

    Backup Feature in Windows 7

    The backup application in Windows 7 is much improved compared to it’s previous versions. Two things I really liked are

    1. the ability to choose specific folders and
    2. it starts and runs even if the computer is on battery power
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    May 23

    Chinese Dosa and Idli

    One of the most innovative food items, available in one of shops in Mumbai-Pune Expressway :)

    033
    May 22

    Huawei Mobile Connect is Working Fine in Windows 7 RC

    The Tata Indicom Plug 2 Surf dialler did not work properly in Windows 7 beta. My device is Huawei EC 321 and I had to manually install the drivers and configure a dialler for the same. I had to follow the steps mentioned in this blog. But these steps are no more required in Windows 7 RC. I just downloaded the driver/dialler from here and installed in my Windows 7 Enterprise x64 RC. It worked perfectly :)

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    May 20

    GUI Tool For Configuring Windows Server Core

    I’m going to try out this tool. Looks very promising. It can configure things like iSCSI settings in a server core

    http://www.codeplex.com/CoreConfig

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    May 04

    Virtualization Track in TechEd India 2009

    Today, virtualization is a hot topic among IT Professionals. And it is not very difficult to find information on virtualization technologies. In fact every vendor has some story around virtualization. Information overflow and its unstructured nature is creating more confusion than clarity. This is exactly what we are trying to address in the virtualization track @ TechEd India 2009 ( www.msteched.in ). This track is going to have a complete 360 degree coverage of virtualization

    There will be 8 dedicated sessions on virtualization ranging from desktop virtualization to data center virtualization. Here is a brief description of all these sessions

    Virtualization 360 - Technical Overview Learn about Microsoft's virtualization from the datacenter to the desktop to the cloud. At this session we will review and demonstrate each of Microsoft's virtualization products and discuss how you can use them to solve today's IT issues (consolidation, business continuity, green IT), develop new computing solutions (VDI) and build a foundation for a more dynamic IT environment, including cloud computing. The session will review all of Microsoft's latest virtualization products, including Application Virtualization (App-V), Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V), Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V and Microsoft Hyper-V Server, as well as System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008.
    Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) Are you worried about application compatibility while moving to a new desktop OS? Is application compatibility a show stopper in moving to the latest OS? Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) can solve these problems through a managed virtual PC environment. The intuitive user interface requires very minimal or no training to end users. Attend this session to learn how the centralized management, provisioning, monitoring and troubleshooting of such a system can be done
    How to plan for Virtualization Virtualization is becoming ubiquitous in datacenters. But do you know which of your existing servers are good candidates for server consolidation and virtualization using Hyper-V? Can you project the return of investment (ROI) with virtualization?Attend this session to learn how to quickly assess servers for a Hyper-V server consolidation project with Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit. We will also cover how to use the MAP toolkit to help determine the power savings benefits and assess hardware and device compatibility for Windows Server 2008 migration. Virtualization ROI calculator will also be introduced in this session.
    All You Need to Know About Application Virtualization You know about OS virtualization. But what is application virtualization? Where is it used? What is in it for me? This session will discuss the technical and business scenarios for applying application virtualization with Microsoft App-V 4.5.Specifically, we will discuss the various deployment types, pros and cons for each type of deployment, and performance and scalability issues. By the end of the presentation, IT Administrators will be able to identify the deployment that is best suited for their organization and infrastructure.
    Work Anywhere Infrastructure with Virtualization Technologies Windows Server 2008 R2 will include a new way for customers to meet the needs of managed desktops. The Presentation and Hosted Desktop Virtualization group (Terminal Services) will introduce a new way to manage, and connect to Virtual Desktops and remote applications. This session talks about and demonstrates the flexibility of this new solution, including the security, brokering, and transport of the remote desktop connections. Highlights include integration with Hyper-V, new multimedia remoteing, extensive multi-monitor support, Windows 2008 R2 workspaces, and Kerberos Identity management
    Hyper-V: Real World Examples on Performance and Scalability What can Hyper-V do? In this session we will provide real world examples of how customers are deploying Hyper-V. Come see some high performant architecture and scalability examples with Hyper-V
    Building Business Continuity Solutions with Hyper-V Hyper-V Virtualization enables multiple IT workloads to run on a single physical machine as virtual machines (VMs). Fewer physical machines can lead to reduced costs through lower hardware, energy, and management overhead, plus the creation of a more dynamic IT infrastructure. With this capability, however, comes an increased need for managing planned and unplanned downtime. A well developed disaster recovery plan is essential for every infrastructure, whether physical or virtual. This technical presentation focuses briefly on an architectural overview of Hyper-V from the perspective of high availability and disaster recovery and discusses/demonstrates strategic solutions for protecting virtualized workloads on Hyper-V.
    Security Best Practices for Hyper-V and Server Virtualization Virtualization is one of the hottest topics in IT today and security is a top priory for IT Staff. In this session we cover security best practices for Hyper-V and introduce the Hyper-V Security Guide. This guide is Microsoft's reference for hardening servers running Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V enabled
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    April 17

    I’m Speaking @ TechEd India, Hyderabad – May 13th, 14th and 15th 2009

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    I plan to deliver at least a couple of sessions at TechEd India this time. One of them is going to be …

    Security Best Practices for Hyper-V and Server Virtualization

     

    Virtualization is one of the hottest topics in IT today and security is a top priory for IT Staff. In this session I cover the security best practices for Hyper-V and introduce the Hyper-V Security Guide. This guide is Microsoft's reference for hardening servers running Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V enabled

     

    See you @ TechEd

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    March 16

    What’s New in IAG 2007 SP2

    Here is a quick summary of new features introduced in service pack 2 of Intelligent Application Gateway 2007.

    • Ability to connect from Macintosh OS, Linux OS and Firefox running on Windows OS
    • Wiper feature which would wipe off the user data after logoff
    • Ability to run IAG 2007 SP2 as a virtual machine on Hyper-V

    For more details watch this video

    http://edge.technet.com/Media/IAG-SP2-hits-RTM-details-under-the-cover-interview

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    Managing Power Consumption with System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM)

    The desired configuration management (DCM) feature in SCCM is a great tool for ensuring software compliance management across your server and desktop systems. This is typically done with the help of various configuration items (CI). Now there is a new CI for managing the power consumption levels of PCs in your network. Click the link below know more about it.

    http://www.microsoft.com/environment/campaign_energy_star.aspx

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    March 06

    Resize VHD Files

    Are you looking for ways to increase the size of virtual hard disk (VHD format) files? Then here is a great tool

    http://vmtoolkit.com/files/folders/converters/entry87.aspx

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    March 05

    Managing HP Servers from System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM)

    HP has recently updated it’s server update catalogue for managing Proliant series of servers using SCCM. Follow this link for more details

    http://h18013.www1.hp.com/products/servers/management/integration/catalog.html