Aidan Finn, IT Pro

Mark Minasi published his February newsletter over the weekend.  Mark is continuing his current them of working with WAIK by having a look at how you can use WinPE to capture and deploy a Vista PC using the ImageX command.  This works just like you would work with Ghost, but with some expcetopns as Mark notes:

• It isn’t destructive.
• It is folder/file based and not sector based like Ghost.

Mark also mentions that you can deploy XP and Windows 2003 with this method.  This is true.  I actually have an example of it being done via WDS in my WDS whitepaper. 

You can use Mark’s method to also access devices over the network.  This will require network card drivers to be added.  Mass storage drivers will also needed to be added.  I’ve previously blogged how to update a WinPE image to add network card drivers for a VMware VM and how to add storage drivers for a HP DL380 – don;t worry about these being a server or a VM because the comands are the same … just get your hands on the right drivers first and secondly make sure you decompress them correctly to get at the folder with the INF file that is usually required by plug and play.

Check out Mark’s article and you will learn something useful.

Credit: Mark Minasi.

Brian Madden has blogged some information about the new release from Citrix including:

• New software bundling/packaging: No more standard edition.  Presentation Server Platinum Edition suite includes Presentation Server, Password Manager, Citrix Access Gateway with SmartAccess and the EdgeSight application performance monitoring product.
• Server OS support: Windows 2003 only.  PS 4.0 CD’s for Windows 2000 will be included.
• Pricing:  Very pricey.  Very.
• Availability: Public availability on March 8th, earlier for "My Citrix".

I have to admit that I’ve fallen behind with Citrix.  My last certification and personal hand-on admin experience was with Metafame XP.  I never used any of the other products like Password Manager, etc.  But having seen Citrix PS in action in numerous sites, I really wonder if you are moving costs and problems from the desktop and onto the server, where 1 glitch can affect many users at once.  Printers, dodgy apps, profiles, etc all just seem to be a pain … not to mention that laptops (with offline data replicas) and PDA’s are still required.  I used to be a huge fan but I’m firmly in the managed desktop/server camp now.

Credit for original article: Brian Madden.

I’ve just seen this very interesting article on Mark’s blog.  It explains how Vista’s User Account Control (UAC) and Integrity Levels work toether to create a sandbox environment to eliminate direct interaction between processes of differing secuity levels.  It’s not complete speration because this is not possible, as Mark explains, and hence they should not be referred to as secuity boundaries.  They just make it much harder for malware authors to transfer data from a low level process to one with admin or system rights.  Mark also explains how PsExec interacts with this environment.

These once fierce competitors have announced details of their partnership that was announced late last year.  Considering some of the public "discussions" of what the partnership meant to those who ran Linux, I’m impressed that they kept the train on the tracks because this deal will offer some benefits for those running products from both of these companies.

Virtualisation

• Novell’s Suse Linux Enterprise 10 will be a supproted guest on Windows Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack 2 (out in Q2).  We can read from this that there will be support on the "Longhorn" Hypervisor product, due out 6 months after "Longhorn" is released.
• Speakign of which, Suse Linux Enterprise 10 will be supported as an "enlightened guest" on "Longhorn" Hypervisor.
• Support for "Longhorn" on Suse Linux using Xen’s (another Microsoft partner) virtualisation solution.

There’s a comment in the press release that "Longhorn" is due out in H2 of 2007.  It’s either going to be very late 2007 or early 2008.  MS will not rush it out just to meet deadlines … they will want to get this right like they did with Windows 2003.

Web Based Management

The two companies are workign together on WS-Management solutions to manage Windows Server, Suse Linux and virtualisation.  Both Novell Zenworks Orchestrator and Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 will feature WS-Management support.

Directory and ID Interoperability

Both companies have their own directories, Active Directory and Novell’s eDirectory.  Both will work closely with each other to increase interoperability in heterogeneous environments.

Document Interoperability

Micosoft has already announced the release (via SourceForge.net) of the Open XML/ODF Translator for Microsoft Word 2007, Word 2003 and Word XP.  Novell will release an Open XML/ODF Translator for the Novell edition of OpenOffice.org.

I’ve been nominated for the Irish Blog Awards under the "Best Technology Blog/Blogger" section.  If you have some time, I’d appreciate a vote.  If necessary, I’ll visit your local town in a speeding bus, shake hands and kiss babies 🙂  I can’t promise to get rid of global warming or reduce taxes (a pity) but I’ll be grateful for any votes I get.

 

• 5Pieces.com
• Aidan Finn
• Bernie Goldbach
• Clare Dillon
• Conor O’Neill
• Creative Imagination – Ken McGuire
• Donncha O’Caoimh
• EdenWeb Blog
• Firstpartners.net
• Francis Shanahan
• Ina O’Murchu
• IQ Content Blog
• James Corbett – Eirepreneur
• John Collins
• John Naughton
• Justin Mason
• Michele Neylon for IrishBlogs.info
• Mobileblogr.com
• Pat Phelan
• Red Cardinal Blog
• Robert Burke
• Tom Raftery
• What Will you see next? Hadyn Shaughnessy
• Your Tech Stuff – Adrian Weckler

I’m about 25% way through a whitepaper entiled "An Introduction to Configuration Manager 2007".  In it I breakdown the changes from SMS 2003 to CM 2007.  I don’t assume the reader is an SMS buff so I also am doing a high level pass on the components and design concepts of CM 2007.  Low level detail and recommendations still are not available seeing as it’s still a Beta 1 product, but documentation does refer you to the first 4 chapters of the SMS 2003 online guide.  From what I’ve seen, this is indicative of little change in core functionality – lots of other stuff has changed/improved/been added.  I’m also going to document a typical, single server install.

This will be the first in a series of documents.  They’ll take some time seeing as I’m doing them after work.  The other docs will break down other components of CM 2007, e.g. Software Update Management, Branch Distribution Points, etc.

This first document is taking much longer than I expected.  Looking back on it, I have no idea how I typed up my SMS 2003 guide in 2 days.

Update (13/Feb/2007 23:06GMT): I’m about 60% through the document and just finished page 43.  Hopefully I’ll post it before the end of next week.

Bink just posted a link to a very interesting and informative article on Tom’s Hardware Guide.  The article explains:

• How SuperFetch pre-caches commonly used applications in RAM so they load quicker after you start them.
• How ReadyBoost can be used to store SuperFetch data on a USB flash drive if you don’t have enough RAM.
• Compares the performance of the various scenarios to give a clear analysis.
• Makes a recommendation on RAM for Vista.

The results: if you have a PC with 512MB then you should upgrade to 1GB for some serious performance gains.  That 512MB makes a big difference.  Running 512MB with ReadyBoost will offer a small gain in performance but nothing compared to more RAM.  And in the end, having more RAM means you can do more anyway.

My suggestion if you are running business desktops and want to deploy Vista is to try to budget for 2GB RAM.  I think that you will eventually use it … you’ll likely have started out with 128 or 256MB RAM XP PC’s and upgraded them all to 512MB.  If you can’t afford to go 2GB then 1GB is the way to go … don’t skimp and go with 512MB RAM.  512MB will work fine for a typical business dekstop with XP Pro but Vista is a much hungrier beast.

Credit: Bink.

As expected, Microsoft launched, this morning in Barcelona, Windows Mobile 6.  There’s plenty of blurb going around.  Here’s a sample:

"Users of the Microsoft Office system on the PC — of which there are nearly 400 million worldwide — will feel right at home with the new mobile versions of Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint available for Windows Mobile 6 powered devices. Windows Mobile 6 addresses extensive user feedback and makes information management easier and more convenient through the following improvements:

• Better-looking e-mail. Users view e-mail the way it was intended with its original pictures, tables and formatting, whether from a corporate e-mail server such as Exchange Server 2007, Web-based accounts such as Windows Live Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail, or a wide range of other service providers.
• Ease of viewing and editing of Office system documents. The new Office Mobile suite, built for all Windows Mobile powered devices, gives users a truly familiar and powerful experience with rich viewing and editing capabilities, without having to worry about the deletion of critical formatting and images.
• E-mail management and setup with fewer clicks. Nine new one-click options have been added, including Reply All, setting a flag, moving a message to a subfolder, and, of course, Delete. Users can set an automatic out-of-office reply while on the road when using a Windows Mobile 6 powered device and Exchange Server 2007.
• Synchronization with Windows Vista. Windows Vista™ and the Windows Mobile Device Center take the guesswork out of managing a device and swapping music, pictures, movies and Outlook information between PC and the device.
• Smart calendar bar. This innovative new feature gives users the ability to understand at a glance the day or week ahead and quickly determine open time on their schedules. With Exchange Server 2007, they can see who is attending a meeting and forward or reply to meeting requests.
• Web search, e-mail, instant messaging (IM) and blogging all together. Windows Live for Windows Mobile will provide customers with a rich set of services including Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, Live Search and Windows Live Spaces, uniquely designed to work with Windows Mobile software. Users can also find all their contacts in one unified list and see presence information on their Windows Live Messenger contacts.
• Contacts with context. Call history is now placed where it belongs, in each individual contact card, so people spend less time searching and more time communicating.

Windows Mobile efficiently works with existing Microsoft business technology investments and offers users a familiar software experience, making it the smartest mobile solution for businesses to deploy:

• Security options. The platform offers a variety of security options, giving IT departments ways to help secure a device, including new Exchange Server policies and certificate options, storage card encryption, and continued support for remote and local device wipe.
• Protected content. Organizations using Information Rights Management (IRM) technology to help control the viewing, storing and printing of confidential information on PCs can now extend those capabilities to Windows Mobile 6 powered devices, a feature not available on any other mobile phone platform.
• Line-of-business applications. Powerful, new mobile versions of the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework and Microsoft SQL Server™ are built into Windows Mobile 6, making it even easier to create and access sales tools, inventory tracking and many other applications from a Windows Mobile 6 powered smartphone.
• Internet sharing. A new built-in application makes using a Windows Mobile 6 powered smartphone as a laptop’s high-speed modem “one-click easy” with either a Bluetooth wireless or cable connection.
• Communication alternatives. Windows Mobile 6 makes it easier for operators and device-makers to integrate a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) solution into devices they are building. British Telecom in Europe, as well as HP, will be among the first to provide smartphones with new VoIP offerings for their business customers".

There is a fact sheet on how Windows Mobile can be used to offer better performance and value.

Microsoft also launched some Windows Live products for Windows Mobile including Maps, Mail, Messenger, Spaces and Search. 

Office 2007 should now be appearing as a category on your WSUS servers.

And to add to the confusion over time zone updates for North American customers, a new replacement rollup update will be released as an "Update Rollup" this Tuesday.

Microsoft has released a troubleshooting guide for the beta release of Forefront Client Security.  It covers the deployment and administration of the product.  Be sure to also check out my whitepaper on Forefront Client Security.