Tag: Office

When Selling Office365 As A Partner Of Record …

According to Redmond Channel Partner:

As with BPOS and other Microsoft cloud offerings, the payouts are 12 percent for net-add seats and 6 percent in annual recurring fees. The 6 percent fee starts paying in the first year, making the first-year fees 18 percent.

As a partner you will only get those fees if your customer registers you as the partner of record when they sign up.  Unfortunately, that is optional and not a mandatory of the sign up process.  In fact, it’s a link that is tucked away off to the side.

The customer will be asked for the Partner ID of the partner of record.  That’s not public information.  So here’s what might happen.  A customer wants to sign up after you’ve sold the concept of cloud computing.  They go to the site.  They go through the process.  Even if they see the link and understand what it does, they won’t have your Partner ID, they’ll likely skip it, and pay Microsoft without you becoming the partner of record.

My suggestions for the people selling O365 (yes; I’m talking to you, sales people):

  1. Have your partner ID handy.  Don’t make it public, because it is used for a few different things in the partner programs.  Know what the ID is.  Most MSFT partners have no idea what their partner ID is.  You can find it when you log into the Microsoft Partner Network website.
  2. When your customer agrees to sign up, go out to them (or remote assist them) and walk through the sign up process.  Think of it as “value added reselling”.  You know what your partner ID is and you’ll know to hit that register partner link.  If you’re not there, the customer is sure to miss it, or they’ll not be able to find/read your email containing the ID.

A customer can add or change a partner of record using the instructions on O365 online help.  I’ve just done it for my subscription … giving one lucky partner in Galway all of a few cents per month.

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My Office 365 Subscription Experience

I set up my first trial of Office 365 last year during the beta.  It was a pretty smooth process for E-Mail, requiring an MX and confirmation.  I didn’t really care too much about SharePoint.  Lync … well … Lync requires a lot of DNS stuff, none of which was possible to do myself in my registrar’s control panel.  For a trial, it wasn’t worth getting them to set up the records for Lync manually.

Before the Christmas holidays, I signed up for another trial, this time choosing the P plan for professionals and small businesses.  The 25 GB mailbox was tempting … I’ve a number of email accounts (personal, MVP stuff, Microsoft stuff) and it’s been annoying for me to use, and some folks I know just send 1 email to all of them to get me – my clear delineations weren’t clear to others.

Problem: Partner Selection

This morning I decided to subscribe to the P plan.  Payment was easy.  The issue I had with the signup process was from the channel point of view (I work for a distributor).  Way off to the side, almost invisible, was the option to Add Partner.  This was where I could optionally choose to add a qualified Office 365 partner.  I thought “I’ll do that and choose one of our customers (a reseller) that has signed up with our O365 distribution channel”.  Up popped a screen and it asked me for the partner ID of the reseller.  Huh!  I’m pretty sure folks in Microsoft think that every MSFT partner lives in the Microsoft Partner Network website and can shout out their numeric partner ID like a soldier does their serial number.  Not quite!  When faced with this, I did what any customer will do – I clicked cancel and completed the payment without specifying a partner. 

Email Setup

First thing was to get my email address configured.  The MX was set up last year.  But my account (the default administrator) was set up with a damned onmicrosoft.com address.  I configured my sign-in to use my domain but the sent email still used the MSFT domain.  I edited my account in Admin –> Users –> <Select Account> –> More –> Change Mailbox Settings, and removed the “other address” from Email Options.

Email Migration

I wanted to import a Hotmail and a Gmail account.  Hotmail was smooth and easy.  I went into Options – See All Options –> Account –> Connected Accounts.  Here I added the details of my hotmail account.  All the folders and email were imported nice and smooth.

Gmail is a different beast.  You have to enable POP access in your Gmail account (Settings –> Forwarding And POP/IMAP).  That beast is importing 1.5 GB of email right now, and it appears to have 2 issues:

  • My 10 year old folder structure in Gmail is being ignored.
  • Read emails are being marked as unread.

Both are very unhelpful.  And no, I was not going to set up mail rules – why the frak should I have to do that to recreate a 10 year old folder structure?  I’m in the midst of trying to find a realistic alternative.  No, I won’t be installing Exchange to do this (COME ON MAN!).  This seriously impacts the migration of customers from Google Apps to Office 365.  Try tell any user that you’ll only import their Inbox, their folders will be lost, and all their email will be marked as unread.  You’ll be lucky if your not flayed alive.

EDIT#1

It appears that the only option I have (that doesn’t include paying for a 3rd party tool) is to configure Outlook to connect to both Gmail (to create an IMAP connected PST) and O365.  Then I can import the Gmail PST into O365.  That will take a wee while (1.5 GB of email).  So much for cloud computing easing my bandwidth demands during migration.  MSFT has been talking up a “soon to be released” PST Capture tool since October 2011.  It is not available yet.

Remember: Office 365 primarily sells to small and startup businesses.  They don’t have Exchange.  They probably have nothing or are on Google Apps.  Office 365 seems to have forgotten that.

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Activating Lots of Windows Virtual Machines in a Cloud with KMS

You know, few of us ever think about the practical sides of Windows/Office licensing when it comes to deploying lots of machines.  It’s one thing to identify, buy, and deploy the licenses – but we never seem to think about activating the damned things until it’s a bit late (been there, took photos, and bought the t-shirt).

The challenge is that when we use automated techniques to deploy software (imaging for Windows, software distribution for Office) then we need a way to activate the software without us admins/engineers/consultants being actively involved.  End users won’t click on the activate prompts for MAK product key activation … and that leads us to help desk calls and outages.

If you have volume licensing then you are entitled to use Key Management Service (KMS) licensing.  KMS is kind of similar to RDS or TermSvcs licensing – you set up a local KMS on a machine that you activate, and then your local product installations contact it to activate.  This is all done using a KMS product key instead of a MAK product key.

This is ideal in the cloud.  Now you can allow end users to deploy Windows servers and activation will be handled automatically, or you can enable a VDI broker/architecture to deploy VMs automatically and Windows/Office will be activated automatically from a local service.

Note that it requires a minimum number of products to work:

  • Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 you must have at least five (5) computers to activate.
  • Windows Vista or Windows 7 you must have at least twenty-five (25) computers to activate. These thresholds can be a mix of server and client machines to make up the threshold number.
  • Office 2010, Project 2010 and Visio 2010 you must have at least five (5) computers to activate. If you have deployed Microsoft Office 2010 products, including Project 2010 and Visio 2010, you must have at least five (5) computers running Office 2010, Project 2010 or Visio 2010.

Rather than me recreating the wheel, here are some useful links:

The half day of effort that you’ll put into this is a worthwhile investment.  Once you’re set up, the activations of machines (virtual or physical) Windows and Office installations will happen automatically, taking care of that last step of the deployment that we never think of until the helpdesk calls start coming in.

Cannot Install Office 2010 to Windows 7 Using SCE 2010

Microsoft released KB2607070 to resolve a software deployment issue with SCE 2010 managed Windows 7 SP1 PCs.  I first noticed this with Office 2010, and it appears to have affected the distribution of other software packages.

An update has been released to resolve issues where System Center Essentials updating Windows 7 SP1-based computers with locally published content may fail with error 0x80070570.

When you locally publish updates through System Center Essentials and then attempt to download and install those updates to a Windows 7 SP1-based computer, those updates may fail with error code 0x80070570.

Software Benefits as a Microsoft Partner

Another common question that is popping up in my day job so I reckon it’s another subject that I need to blog about.

Microsoft partners are consumers of the technology too.  They face all the same challenges as their customers: money is tight and software can be expensive.  Good news: you can get it either cheap or even free.  What you get, and how much you get all depends on what type of partner you are and what grade and type of competency you have as a Microsoft partner company.

Piracy

A lot of Microsoft partners are using Microsoft software illegally.  That is a fact, and I suspect that it is quite common in the smaller/medium sized partner companies.  They can get a certain allocation of software, but often it is not enough. 

What is it that they are doing to be illegal?  They get their MSDN or TechNet subscription for a handful of users and start using it to deploy production desktops, applications, and servers all over the shop.  MSDN and TechNet have explicit usage rights, and they do not include widespread production usage, e.g your domain controller, file server, everyone’s PC/Office, etc.  The directors may not know this is happening, they may turn a blind eye to it (sticking fingers in ears and repeatedly shouting LAH-LAH-LAH-LAH when the sys-admin tells them the truth – been there), or they may even instruct it to happen (been there too, many years ago).

So how can you, as a Microsoft partner company, get a chunk of software legally for next to nothing?

Microsoft Partner Action Pack

This is an excellent bundle for small companies that are even at the most basic level in the Microsoft Partner Network: a registered partner.  In fact, you cannot have a silver or gold competency and subscribe to this pack!  The eligibility requirements are online.  The Irish rate (per year) is €289 and that includes a big list of software, really for that partner with up to 10 users.  Highlights include:

  • Office Professional Plus (10) + Project (5) + Visio Professional (10)
  • Exchange Standard: 1 servers + 10 CALs
  • SQL Enterprise: 1 server + 10 CALs
  • Window Server: Enterprise (1), CALs (10), Storage Server Essentials (1), SBS Standard (1), SBS CALs (10)
  • Windows 7: Pro (10), Ultimate (1)

A handful of Office on OVS will cost more than all that!

Silver and Gold Competency Holders

These folks tend to be bigger companies and are not suitable for the Partner Action Pack, nor are the elligible.  But don’t worry if you’re here, you get a much bigger allocation of software.  If you qualify for a competency, then you get an allocation of software that you are free to download and use.  What you get will depend on:

  • The competency: developers will get more relevant stuff for them, and systems management people will get more relevant stuff for them.
  • The grade: The gold competency rewards you more software than the silver one.

Microsoft could have published a nasty matrix.  Instead there, is a simple graphical calculator that allows you to punch in the competencies that your company has, as well as the grades, and it tells you what you are eligible to download and use.

For example, a company with Silver Systems Management and Silver Virtualisation competencies gets stuff including:

  • 2 Exchange Enterprise + 25 CALs + 25 ForeFront for Exchange (and SharePoint)
  • 25 Windows 7 Enterprise + 25 AD RMS + 25 Office Professional Plus
  • 2 Windows Server Datacenter + 4 Windows Server Standard/Enterprise
  • 15 Visio Professional + 5 Project Professional
  • All the System Center stuff
  • And LOTS more

Go Gold with those competencies and you get 100 copies of Office Pro Plus and Windows 7 Enterprise.  There is work to become a partner but you can see there is money to be saved.

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Deploy Office 2010 via ConfigMgr 2007

Yesterday I wrapped up the deployment and proof-of-concept of deploying Office 2010 with SP1 via System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R3.  It was a nice one: branch distribution points, client deployment in a mature XP network, etc.

Here’s a rough idea of what I did:

  • Install a site server in the central site.  Local SQL installation to make backup/recovery more manageable via the ConfigMgr backup task.  Boundaries were defined (the IP subnets in the ConfigMgr site).  Enable auto discovery from AD every hour.  Small network (by ConfigMgr standards) and it’s good to get changes frequently if using groups for collections.
  • Deployed branch distribution point in the local site.  I set the sample one up as a protected BDP.  This associates the subnets of the branch office with the BDP, restricting access to clients in that site.
  • Deployed some ConfigMgr clients to test machines by hand.  I did not enable client push installation (proof of concept).
  • Packaged Office 2010 using setup /admin.  Note I used SETUP_REBOOT in the setup properties (Office Customization Tool) and set it to Never.  This prevents Office 2010 setup from rebooting the machine if previous versions of Office are running during setup.  If this situation occurs, Office 2010 setup would reboot the PC with no notice to the user – bad!  Instead, I’ configured the package program to let ConfigMgr reboot the PC (no matter what – probably not a bad thing anyway).
  • Slipstreamed Office 2010 Service Pack 1 into the package.
  • Distributed the package to the Site Server’s distribution point and to the BDP.  Force the BDP to download the package by running the BDP maintenance task in the BDP server’s Configuration Manager client (Control Panel).
  • Setup up a proof of concept collection. 
  • Advertised the package setup program to the collection.  Forced policy refresh on the test machines by running the machine policy refresh in the ConfigMgr client (Control Panel).
  • Sat back and watched the goodness.

For production deployment:

  • We wanted to restrict client deployment impact on the network.  I copied the client setup files into SYSVOL and created a .bat script to run CCMSETUP with the flag to define the site name.  That would copy the ConfigMgr client setup files to DCs in every site.  I setup a GPO to run a startup script that would execute this .bat file.  That GPO could be linked to appropriate objects in AD to force setup of the client on machines.  They’d install from the local SYSVOL and eliminate any WAN impact.  Eventually, the GPO can be removed/unlinked, and client push installation can be enabled, thus hitting those last few machines that haven’t rebooted (to get the startup script to run) or any new machines that are added to the domain.  I also find that this scripted solution tends to get me better results in a mature XP network.
  • Office 2010 is to be deployed 1 site at a time.  The AD sites/OUs don’t match the physical sites (not all that unusual) so I setup a collection definition where: (system role = workstation AND (network configuration IP address = 192.168.1.% OR network configuration IP address = 192.168.2.%).  This will include all XP (or later) PCs on the site’s subnets in the collection, and exclude server machines.

From there, a new advertisement can be created to run the Office 2010 SP1 install at a pre-scheduled time.  ConfigMgr reports can be monitored to see which exceptions (problems) need to be dealt with.  The clients in the site will install from the local BDP.

For following sites, one at a time:

  • Add the branch office subnets to the ConfigMgr site boundaries.
  • Install a BDP and protect it with the site’s subnets from the boundaries list.
  • Distribute the Office 2010 package to the BDP.
  • Create a new collection specifying the subnets with the % wildcard.
  • Advertise the Office 2010 package program.

For something like this, you need to test, test, test.  You cannot test enough.  Sounds like a lot of work, but your up front time investment saves a bunch of time and money on the back end, versus a manual install to hundreds or thousands of PCs.  This works out being not so bad if you license intelligently too: ConfigMgr + SQL combined with a (desktop) Core CAL Suite (includes a bunch of CALs and a ConfigMgr management license).  And after that, you have a fine solution in ConfigMgr to manage the entire life cycle of the PCs you manage:

  • Zero touch OS image deployment
  • Software deployment
  • Patching (MSFT and third party)
  • Desired configuration management (2012 adds auto rectify)
  • Software/hardware auditing
  • License auditing/usage measurement
  • Power monitoring/policy enforcement (saving money!)
  • 2012 also adds “user centric computing” and Android/iOS device management
  • Reporting on more than you could dream of … all the way to identifying those machines that you need to replace.
  • And Dell/HP are fully invested in it as a solution, recognising the power it adds for their customers.

Jeez, I’ve totally gone over to the dark side of sales Smile Despite that, I love ConfigMgr; it allows me to play out my megalomania fantasies, even if they are limited to absolutely everything in the AD forest that I can get a ConfigMgr client onto.

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70-681 (Windows 7/Office 2010 Deployment) Exam Preparation

I’ve been asked several times during the last week about how to prepare for 70-681, the exam on deploying Windows 7 and Office 2010, so I thought it was worthy of a blog post.  The issue is that there is no guidance from Microsoft on how to prepare for it in terms of materials.  And that is because it pulls in information from all over the place.  Think about it; Windows 7 deployment can include:

  • MAP
  • ACT
  • WAIK/ImageX
  • WDS
  • MDT
  • ConfigMgr OSD/Zero Touch

That’s 6 different products.  By the way, we cover all that in Mastering Windows 7 Deployment.  And that’s just Windows.  This exam also covers Office 2010.  They typically go hand in hand, which is why the exam includes both topics.  And this certification will be mandatory from May 2012 for the Microsoft partner Desktop competency (new and renewing partners).

If you want blogs/websites to read for preparation then check out:

From time to time, Microsoft is known to run classes for partners on training.  Your registered partner contacts in your company should be getting email announcements from the local MSFT partner team with any such information.  These courses are usually anywhere from free to very economic.  This is just a starting point to get the attendees on the ladder.  A course cannot be a complete exam prep.  And folks like Rhonda Layfield (USA) and Johan Arwidmark (in Europe but also USA) are known to run their own deployment training classes which can be attended by the public (for a fee).

In the end, most of the OS deployment stuff centres on a few things like WinPE, WSIM, SysPrep, and drivers.  I did the Vista/O2007 exam and Office deployment questions asked about evaluation/migration stuff.  To be honest, nothing prepares you for this exam like doing a lot of work in a lab.  That’s where your MSDN/TechNet licensing and a virtualisation host come in really handy.  You can get a little prep work done also in the TechNet Labs for Windows 7.

Office365 RTW and Office 2010 SP1 RTM

Earlier this afternoon Microsoft launched Office365.  I had a play with the beta over the past couple of weeks.  The online experience was pretty smooth; much better than BPOS was at the same stage.  I am not convinced that an ordinary user will not be able to do a smooth deployment of the on-site piece – yes; you will likely use Office on a PC instead of the web editions, just because of mobility and usability.  You will download a client to (allegedly) configure Office.  I found it downloaded, ran for a while, and did squat.  Anyone with an AD or Exchange to integrate will need to work with a specialist partner to do the synchronization and/or migration.  Note that there is a SKU (or a set of them) that include an on-PC Office 2010 license that you are entitled to use for the life of your Office365 subscription.

Office 2010 Service Pack 1 has also been released for x86 and x64.  Mary-Jo Foley has all the details on changes.

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Visio 2010 Add-Ins – Pay Attention System Center People!

You may have wondered how to crate pretty pictures to share on a big screen that depict some health information about stuff that you manage using System Center.  Here’s how …

I was mucking around with the Visio plug-ins for Operations Manager for the first time today, adding monitored objects from SCE 2010 (plus their health status) into Visio.  The cool thing with this is that it refreshes the objects’ health in Visio!  And then you can save your diagram into SharePoint 2010 with live health refreshing.  In other words, you can create nice and friendly views of the services that IT provides and share them with service owners and/or users via diagrams on SharePoint sites.

VisioOpsMgrAddinExample

But it doesn’t stop there.

There are a lot of these plug-ins.  Why I’ve not heard/paid attention to most of these before, I have no idea.  There’s one for Exchange, allowing you a friendly view of your Exchange Server 2007 environment.  There is a cool one that drags in alerts from OpsMgr and update status from ConfigMgr if you are running a dynamic datacenter. 

image

Seriously, take a look at this stuff if you are running System Center, or if you’re a systems integrator looking for cool new upsell services.

Office 2010 Service Pack 1 RTM Date

According to Microsoft, you can expect Service Pack 1 for Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 to RTM in the end of June.  “Initially, Service Pack 1 will be offered as a manual download from the Download Center and from Microsoft Update, and no sooner than 90 days after release, will be made available as an Automatic Update”.

Changes include:

  • Outlook fixes an issue where “Snooze Time” would not reset between appointments.
  • The default behavior for PowerPoint "Use Presenter View" option changed to display the slide show on the secondary monitor.
  • Integrated community content in the Access Application Part Gallery.
  • Better alignment between Project Server and SharePoint Server browser support.
  • Improved backup / restore functionality for SharePoint Server
  • The Word Web Application extends printing support to “Edit Mode.”
  • Project Professional now synchronizes scheduled tasks with SharePoint task lists.
  • Internet Explorer 9 “Native” support for Office Web Applications and SharePoint
  • Office Web Applications Support for Chrome
  • Inserting Charts into Excel Workbooks using Excel Web Application
  • Support for searching PPSX files in Search Server
  • Visio Fixes scaling issues and arrowhead rendering errors with SVG export
  • Proofing Tools improve spelling suggestions in Canadian English, French, Swedish and European Portuguese.
  • Outlook Web Application Attachment Preview (with Exchange Online only)
  • Office client suites using “Add Remove Programs” Control Panel, building on our work from Office 2007 SP2