Cloud | Aidan Finn, IT Pro

Microsoft News Summary – 11 September 2014

More Azure changes. Keeping up with this is difficult!

Azure

More changes announced: VPN Support for Azure Websites, Scalable CMS in the app gallery, role-based access control, and more stuff were announced yesterday.
Update for Azure Backup for Microsoft Azure Recovery Services Agent: The agent now supports weekly backups with 120 retention points, and 9 years of retention (one recovery point every 4 weeks). You can use this version of the agent together with the Microsoft Azure Site Recovery service to protect virtual machines that are running on Windows Server 2012 R2 CORE SKU and Microsoft Hyper V Server 2012 R2 into Azure.

Office 365

Microsoft Unveils Office Delve for Office 365: A new content discovery tool that looks like Flipboard. It’s a bit "eh" for me.
Patching Office 365 with System Center Configuration Manager 2012: Take some control over Office Click to Run using SCCM.

Legal

Microsoft refuses to hand over foreign data, held in contempt of court: AFAIK, Microsoft (as well as every other US-owned cloud operator) needs the higher US courts to agree that data held in MSFT clouds is not MSFT-owned, and therefore outside of the jurisdiction of US agencies unless the actual owner is American and subject to US laws.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Azure,Backup,Cloud,Cloud Computing,Hybrid Cloud,Office 365,System Center,Configuration Manager

Microsoft News Summary – 10 September 2014

In other news, Apple proves that wearable devices are a pointless Gartner-esque fad, and those preachy tax-avoiding frakkers, U2, suck donkey balls.

Hyper-V

Boot a Hyper-V Virtual Machine Using PXE: A post I wrote for Petri.com

System Center Operations Manager

OM12 Sizing Helper: This is a Windows Phone app version of the OpsMgr 2012 Sizing Helper document.

Azure

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Data Protection and More: A new white paper provides in-depth information about protecting critical data in Azure at every layer, whether structured or unstructured, in-transit, or at-rest.
Microsoft Azure Hybrid Connection Client: This download installs the Hybrid Connection Client which enables your Azure VM or a Web/Worker Role instance to access your on-premises data & services using Hybrid Connections.
Windows Azure Poster: I’m sure this will be out of date by the end of the week (if not already).
Scaling Azure VM with Azure Automation, with help of Azure SQL: Using Azure Automation to power down/up VMs when they are not needed, i.e. save money.
Step-By-Step – Enabling A Primary AD FS Server in Azure for Office365 Single Sign-On: This Step-By-Step will provide instruction to setup a primary AD FS 3.0 server on a Windows Server 2012 R2 virtual machine in Azure. This is how you can overcome dependency on HQ Internet connection for roaming O365 users.

Miscellaneous

Microsoft rumored to be poised to buy Minecraft creator for $2 billion: This blocky game is the hottest thing with kids. I’ve spent many an hour *cough* helping *yes, helping* with constructions & adventures on an iPad and Xbox. And to be honest, it is a good problem solving game and it encourages kids to interact, based on what I’ve observed.

Technorati Tags: Windows Server 2012 R2,Windows Server 2012,Hyper-V,Virtualisation,Deployment,System Center,Operations Manager,Windows Phone,Azure,Cloud,Cloud Computing,Hybrid Cloud,RDS,PowerShell,Scripting,Active Directory,Microsoft

BEWARE! Microsoft Released September 2014 Update Rollups For Windows Server

Both Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 (as well as their desktop OS and RT variants) received update rollups last night.

You know the drill: only install these updates before they are one month old if you want to shut down your business, get fired, and become an IT pariah. Let some other mug do the testing for you. You can do your own pilot testing and approve after that.

The WS2012 release includes a fix for SMB troubleshooting (including other fixes):

2980749 Event log data for troubleshooting SMB in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012

The WS2012 R2 release highlights for me are:

KB2984324 Clussvc.exe or cluster node crashes when a node sends a message to another node in a Windows Server 2012 R2 cluster
KB2982348 Broadcast storm occurs after a virtual switch duplicates a network packet in Windows 8.1
KB977219 Updates to improve the compatibility of Azure RemoteApp in Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2

Technorati Tags: Windows Server 2012,Windows Server 2012 R2,Storage,Networking,Hyper-V,Azure,RDS,Cloud,Cloud Computing

Microsoft News Summary – 8 September 2014

It’s been 5 days since my last of these updates – events, meetings and travel take their toll!

Below you will see an announcement on how to deploy DPM in Azure to backup stuff from within Azure VMs (not a host level backup). Please note that this is licensed using on-premises SysCtr SML licenses and cloud management licensing is not the same as on-premises licensing. A SysCtr Datacenter SML covers 8 VMs in the cloud, so you might need lots more SysCtr licensing to manage Azure.

Microsoft has also launched a Migration Accelerator for Azure based on the InMage acquisition. Right now, the preview is limited to the USA. That’s pretty dumb; anyone who knows MSFT virtualization knows that Europe is the place to be.

Oh – the MSFT versus FBI Irish data centre case rumbles on. It’s clear that the motivations of the US government were not speed (the Irish government would have been quick to help) but are more along the lines of “Mine! MINE! MINE!!!! MY PRECIOUSSSSS!”.

Windows Server

What is Hyper-Convergence? A post by me on Petri.com
5 Reasons Why You Should Upgrade To Windows Server 2012 R2: A post by me on Petri.com

SCVMM

Support Tip – Updating DHCP agents after applying VMM 2012 R2 Update Rollup 3: With the release System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager Update Rollup 3 (VMM 2012 R2 UR3) the DHCP agent was updated. The most important fix in this agent is the mitigation of an issue that can cause delays of up to 45 seconds in acquiring an IP address when using private networks.

Azure

Modernizing Your Infrastructure with Hybrid Cloud – Step-by-Step: Building Microsoft Azure Virtual Networks (Part 14): A video on managing deploying networks in Azure.
XenDesktop 7.5 Windows Azure Pack Gallery Image Tech Preview: The Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 Windows Azure Pack Gallery Image enables rapid and repeatable XenDesktop deployments. The automation capabilities of Windows Azure Pack are leveraged to greatly reduce administrator involvement with XenDesktop configurations.
Azure IaaS workload protection using Data Protection Manager: Deploy DPM in Azure to protect your Azure VMs, and if you want, stream that data to Azure online backup.
Introducing Microsoft Migration Accelerator: Spawned from the technology of our InMage acquisition the MA is designed to seamlessly migrate physical, VMware, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Hyper-V workloads into Azure.
Azure Automation: Reliable, Fault-Tolerant Runbook Execution Using Checkpoints: As an Azure Automation runbook author you want to create runbooks that execute reliably in the face of unexpected issues like errors, exceptions, network issues, and crashes. Azure Automation helps you with this.
Networking Infrastructure Setup for Microsoft Azure as a Disaster Recovery Site: This post explains how to setup the required networking infrastructure with the help of an example.
MSFT certification (70-533): Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions (IaaS)
Study Guide for 70-533 Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions: Curated by Marius Sandbu.

Office 365

Microsoft Promo Provides Support for Office 365 Migrations: Microsoft has kicked off a limited-time Office 356 promotional offer this month, but it’s just for new customers. The deal extends from Sept. 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015 for new customers only that purchase 150 "seats," or more, of various Office 365 licenses.
Toshiba to bring €139 Windows 8.1 tablet to market in Q4: This includes Office 365 Personal with 1 TB One Drive and offers license for 1 Tablet + 1 PC/Mac for 1 year. And other stuff. As was joked in the office today: buy Office 365 and get a tablet.
Questions to ask your cloud provider: According to Microsoft

Hardware

Intel releases first Core M processors for business-class convertible PCs: Broadwell means thinner, lighter devices with no moving parts (fans). Devices could be as thin as 9mm!

Legal

(Irish) Government’s ‘serious concern’ over US order on Microsoft: The Irish Government has expressed serious concern about a US court order for Microsoft to hand over emails held on servers in Ireland to US prosecutors, saying it would create significant legal uncertainty about data protection in Europe.

Technorati Tags: Windows Server 2012 R2,System Center,VMM,Azure,Cloud,Cloud Computing,Citrix,DPM,Backup,DR,PowerShell,Scripting,O365

Microsoft News Summary – 3 September 2014

The idiotic US government is continuing in their quest to kill off all US interests in cloud computing, thanks to “justice” Plesk contemplating placing contempt of court charges on Microsoft. Sad thing is, the contempt is justified.

Hyper-V

Installing a guest OS from a Windows ISO image: A Hyper-V post by me on Petri.com
What Is AutoRecovery.avhdx all about? Learn how this temporary VHDX is used by Hyper-V for backing up VMs.
‘Unnamed VM’ could not initialize… The security ID structure is invalid (0x80070539): A permissions issue that can occur when importing VMs.

System Center

Deploying Virtual Machines in Azure using Service Manager and SMA Part III: Using on-premises automation to deploy VMs in Azure.
Windows Azure Pack Tool: Enables you to execute tasks through a simple menu. In this version Windows Azure Pack Tool includes the following functions: Change default URLs, Add admin users and more!

Azure

Azure Site Recovery – Our Commitment to Keeping Your Data Secure: ASR was designed ground up as a hybrid IT service composed of both cloud & on-premises components aligning to Microsoft’s privacy commitments.
Azure AD – Under the hood of our geo-redundant, highly available, distributed cloud directory: Answering lots of questions. This is clever stuff.
Create your own dedicated MySQL Server for your Azure Websites: Set up MySQL in Azure VMs to have total control and multi-purposing.
Windows Azure Virtual Machine Monitoring with WAD Extension: With the launch of the Azure preview portal and the support for the Azure extension model, there are new diagnostic capabilities available that will help you better monitor your Azure IaaS VMs with very little setup and configuration.

Microsoft

Judge mulls contempt charges in Microsoft’s e-mail privacy fight with US: The borders & warrants issue continues, as does the stupidity of the US government. A simple request to the Irish government would have given them the data they wanted last year, assuming it was a legitimate request in the first place!

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Hyper-V,Windows Server 2012 R2,System Center,WAP,PowerShell,Azure,Cloud,Cloud Computing

Microsoft News Summary – 27 August 2014

The rumours on “Threshold” are swirling through the Ethernets. Take nothing seriously until you see it for yourself on your own monitor.

Windows Server

Modernizing Your Infrastructure with Hybrid Cloud – Storage Spaces in Windows Server 2012 R2 (Part 7): A significant percentage of our JBOD sales are going to cloud implementations where €/TB is important.
Best Practices for Windows Server 2003 End-of-Support Migration: Windows Server 2003 End-of-Support is right around the corner (July 2015).
Windows Server 2003 support is ending July 14, 2015: The official website.

System Center Operations Manager

Version 3.0 of PowerShell Script to Download All SCOM Management Packs: By Damian Flynn and Stanislav Zhelyazkov (both MVPs). Remember to read the instructions for each MP before importing!!!

Windows 9

Windows ‘Threshold’ and cadence: How fast is too fast? I’m all for staying up to date, but asking businesses to upgrade every year is mad.
Big Windows 9 leak reveals ‘awesome’ upgrade pricing for XP and Windows 8 users: Rumour central on pricing and more features.

Azure

Step-By-Step: Automate Azure with Runbooks: This functionality can, not just make life easier, but save you money!

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Windows Server 2003,Windows Server 2012 R2,Storage,Storage Spaces,Failover Clustering,Operations Manager,Azure,Cloud,Cloud Computing

Microsoft News Summary – 22 August 2014

Here’s the latest news from the Microsoft wires. More new services have popped up on Azure, mostly for devs, but the SQL AlwaysOn template should be a massive time saver.

Hyper-V

Manually Install a Guest OS in a Hyper-V Virtual Machine: A post by me on Petri.com

Azure

New DocumentDB NoSQL Service, New Search Service, New SQL AlwaysOn VM Template, and more: All of these improvements are now available to use immediately (note that some features are still in preview).
Azure Automation Capabilities in Depth: The Azure Automation PowerShell Cmdlets: Whether you want to use Azure Automation completely headless, or you’re just looking to script a few key actions like bulk runbook import, the Azure Automation cmdlets are for you.
WordPress Troubleshooting Techniques on Azure Websites: You may run into some issues with your WordPress websites and might want to troubleshoot them. This post will review some common issues and discuss the best techniques to resolve them.
Automate Linux VM Customization Tasks Using CustomScript Extension: CustomScript extension provides even more power for customizing your VM, it can run your scripts during or after provision; it can also run on any Azure supported Linux VM.
How to create a hybrid deployment of RemoteApp: This tutorial walks you through the process of creating a hybrid deployment of the Azure RDS service.
Manage your Azure Websites directly with Websites Process Explorer: This is especially useful when your site has been scaled out and misbehaving in some specific instances but not in others. You can quickly identify runaway processes, find open file handles, and even kill a specific process instance. This feature is freely available for all Azure Websites.

Security

Using the Microsoft Security Compliance Manager Tool: Study for those certification exams!

OS Deployment

Utilizing Windows Deployment Services in Windows Server 2012 R2: A free OS imaging solution with multicast, driver management, and all that jazz. A real Ghost killer.

Office 365

Creating an Office 365 Support Organization: Available now on the Partner Learning Center is a new training on best practices for creating an Office 365 Support Organization.
Why FastTrack and the Adoption Offer for Office 365 is great news for partners: The FastTrack and the Office 365 Adoption Offer less than two weeks away, here are some details and resources.

Microsoft News Summary – 20 August 2014

The headline news from yesterday is that Steve Ballmer has resigned his new position from the Microsoft board to focus on “teaching” and his duties as the new owner of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA basketball franchise. He’s still the largest independent owner of MSFT stock.

Microsoft

Former Microsoft CEO Ballmer steps down from the board: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is stepping down from his current role as Microsoft board member.
Gartner names Microsoft a leader in Four Magic Quadrants: Microsoft is currently positioned as a Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrants for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service, x86 Server Virtualization, Enterprise Application Platform as a Service and Public Cloud Storage Services.

Virtual Machine Manager

VMM 2012 Self-Service users cannot open a console session to a virtual machine: When you try to connect to the console session of a virtual machine (VM) that is running in Windows Server 2012 by using Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager or Microsoft System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager Service Pack 1 (SP1), the connection fails, and you receive the following error message – Virtual Machine Manager lost the connection to the virtual machine for one of the following reasons.

Azure

Azure Virtual Machine Disk Encryption using CloudLink: Encrypt Windows and Linux VMs in Azure using a third-party product.
What is Microsoft StorSimple? A post by me on Petri.com.
Where can I find information on how to Sell, Deploy and Support Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft Hybrid Cloud? Microsoft Partner Technical Services can assist you as you sell, deploy and support Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft Hybrid Cloud solutions.

Office 365

SharePoint Online simplifies storage management: Anything that simplifies SharePoint is welcome!

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,System Center,VMM,Hyper-V,Security,Azure,Cloud,Cloud Computing,Office 365,SharePoint,Storage,Hybrid Cloud

Microsoft News Summary – 19 August 2014

Does “fail fast” = “fail predictably often”? Automated testing of software for cloud services needs to be investigated and questioned. First we had the clusterfrak August updates for Windows. Then a significant chunk of Azure went offline.

Azure IaaS experienced issues in many regions yesterday: Mary Jo Foley posted updates (see below).
Install the VM Agent on an existing Azure VM: The MSI package to install the VM Agent on an existing Azure VM is now available for download.
Migrating a VM from EC2 to Azure at 300 Mbps: A very clever method to migrate VMs from AWS to Azure using the first cloud’s upload bandwidth & MS conversion/upload tools.
Hyper-V Amigos Episode 5 Generation 2 VM: This Youtube podcast is back with the latest episode.
SQL Server High Availability in Windows Azure IaaS: When deploying SQL Server in Windows Azure you must consider how to minimize both planned and unplanned downtime. Because you have given up control of the physical infrastructure, you cannot always determine when maintenance periods will occur.
After a 10-year Linux migration, Munich considers switching back to Windows and Office: LMAO
Using Office 365 Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Take control of data leakage!
Managing an Azure VM via Windows Server Manager: Hmmm
Cloud App Discovery keeps getting better: Find cloud apps and enable secure single-sign on.
Deploying Virtual Machines in Azure using the Service Manager and SMA Part I: Truly mad stuff. Remember that your System Center licensing gets "fun" when you go hybrid like this! An on-premise System Center SML with SA can manage up to 8 VMs in a remote public cloud.
Rick Claus and Simon May of MSFT take the ice bucket challenge: See these two well-known personalities take the plunge!

Technorati Tags: Azure,Cloud,Cloud Computing,Hyper-V,Virtualisation,SQL,Failover Clustering,Linux,Office 365,System Center