Help Shape the Future Microsoft Virtualization, Cloud, and Datacenter Management Products

Got some great ideas about what Microsoft should do with virtualization, the cloud and the datacenter?  Do you actively virtualize systems or want to get more in-depth with the future of virtualization?

Microsoft Windows Server and Systems Center Customer Research team is looking for ITPros to participate on an IT Pro panel.

As a member of the panel, you will have the opportunity to provide vision and feedback to the Cloud and Data Center Management Product team through surveys, focus groups, usability sessions, early design concept reviews, and customer interviews.

The research team is looking for very specific expertise profiles. Use of Microsoft products IS NOT required. To help identify if you qualify, start by completing a short survey.

Please note, this is only for customers located in the US but there is work toward extending to an international audience soon. Once again, you do not have to use Microsoft products to participate.
Interested? Want to learn more? Click to access the survey.

Get the Bits!

I've got a few easy links for you to visit if you haven't had a chance to check out Windows Server 2012 R2 or Hyper-V 2012 R2.  I've also included a few other links of interest as well!
(Note: As of Oct 18th, these links will take you the non-Preview version.)

• Windows Server 2012 R2
• Windows Hyper-V Server 2012 R2

If you haven't gotten an Azure trial yet, you can find that here - http://aka.ms/NewAzureTrial and for some extra learning, check out the Microsoft Virtual Academy.

Need something else? There is always the TechNet Evaluation Center.  The Windows 8.1 Enterprise Evaluation is available there now.

All the News That's Fit to Recap!

Welcome July!  I can't believe half of 2013 is over already and so much has been happening and changing. If you've been busy enjoying the great Bay Area weather the last few days or working hard on your summer plans, you might have missed a few of these key bits of news.

1. As of this morning, the TechNet Subscription is retired. Check out nicely comprehensive post about what options are available once your TechNet Subscription expires, by Kevin Remde. Also be sure to visit the FAQ for additional detailed information at www.aka.ms/TNSFAQ.
2. You can get Microsoft Surfaces at some of you favorite resellers. If you've been eyeing Surfaces for your business, but couldn't get them from you standard reseller it's time to look again. Read more about this on the Surface Blog.
3. As of last week, the Windows 8.1 Preview is here!  Download it from http://preview.windows.com.  When released closer to the end of 2013, it will be a free upgrade for licensed users of Windows 8.  There will also be an 8.1 update for the Surface RT.
4. If you are looking for preview software for some of the other releases from June, look no further than the Evaluation Center for the previews of Hyper-V Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012 R2,  Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials and the System Center 2012 R2.

I hope your bandwidth can stand all the downloading!

My TechEd Session Wish List

Had a great time at TechEd this year, do not get me wrong. But like all the other conferences of the past, there is often too much good stuff to get it all in.

This year, just about all the breakout sessions are available online. While some may think this reduces the value of actually attending the conference, I disagree. The more intimate sessions, like Birds-of-a-Feather and the “Interactive” style sessions were not recorded. So when I could, I attended those sessions over the traditional breakouts, chatted with Microsoft experts in the TLC areas, or spent time networking with others in the Expo and Community Lounge.

If I could have tailored TechEd to fit my schedule and I had more than 4 days, here are the sessions I would have attended. I did get to a few of them during the conference, they are marked with a (*). Since it will probably take me a while to view all the ones I missed, if you caught one of these and it’s especially good or bad, comment and let me know!

Management Track
MGT314* – Technical Introduction to Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010

Office & SharePoint
OSP314* – Microsoft Outlook and Exchange 2010: Better Together Overview
OSP208 – Microsoft Office 2010 for IT Professionals
OSP203 – (SharePoint) Designing Governance: How Information Management and Security Must Drive Your Design

Security, Identity & Access
SIA333 – Useful Hacker Techniques: Which Part of Hackers’ Knowledge Will Help You in Efficient IT Administration?
SIA230 – Why Security Fixes Won’t Fix Your Security
SIA306 – Night of the Living Directory: Understanding Windows Server 2008 R2 Active Directory Recycle Bin, Undeletion and Reanimation

Unified Communications
UNC303* – Upgrading from Microsoft Exchange Server 2003/2007 to Exchange Server 2010: Tips, Tricks and Lessons Learned
UNC307* – What’s New in Archiving, Retention, and Discovery in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP1
UNC201 – Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP1: An Overview of What’s Coming
UNC306 – Going Big! Deploying Large Mailboxes with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 without Breaking the Bank
UNC203 – What’s New in OWA, Mobility, and Calendaring in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP1
UNC301 – Microsoft Exchange Server 2010: Sizing and Performance – Get It Right the First Time

Virtualization
VIR310 – Networking and Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V: Deployment Considerations
VIR403 – Virtualization FAQ, Tips and Tricks
VIR316 – Remote Desktop Session Host vs. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Smackdown

Windows Client
WCL304 – Best Practices Guide to Managing Applications
WCL205 – Windows 7 Deployment Tips from Early Adopters

Windows Server
WSV208* – Best Practices in Architecting and Implementing Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)
WSV333 – DNSSEC and Windows: Get Ready, ‘Cause Here It Comes!
WSV201 – 10 Hot Topics Every IT Admin Needs to Know about Windows Server 2008 R2
WSV303 – Death of a Network: Identify the Hidden Causes of Lousy Network Performance
WSV301 – Administrators’ Idol: Windows and Active Directory Best Practices
WSV307 – Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

Developer Tools, Languages & Frameworks DEV211 - Microsoft Professional, Master and Architect Level Certifications: Notes from Those Who Have Conquered and Lived to Tell the Tale

Terminal Services RemoteApp – Bumps in the Road

This month I’ve been trying to nudge the project of moving to Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services RemoteApp forward at the office. The goal is to get away from using a version of Citrix Presentation Server to access applications over the Internet. The needs of our office have changed and the new features with Terminal Services in Server 2008 make this something we want to adopt instead.

However, nothing is without an occasional bump in the road. Here a couple of ours:

Bump #1 - No way to filter which applications users see on the RemoteApp webpage.

I know this feature was added in Server 2008 R2. Unfortunately, we have to stick with the Server 2008 “classic” due to an important 32-bit application that does not install or run properly under WoW. We debated the importance of filtering the application list and decided it wasn’t a deal breaker. Or we can look at some third-party workarounds.

Bump #2 – Users with passwords set to “enforce change at next logon” can’t get past the TS Gateway.

We have to remember to handle first time password changes for users who only be using RemoteApp by NOT checking the enforcement box and instructing them on how to change there password after they launch an application. (CNTL + ALT + END does the trick from any launched application.)

Bump #3 – No support for Macs with the Mac version of the RDC client.

Ouch. We only have a few employees that use a Mac at home and we’ll have to continue offering GoToMyPC to meet their needs. Not what I’d like to do, but hopefully support for the Mac will come along soon.

Bump #4 – Limitations with multi-monitor support.

Microsoft KB925876 gives some of the details of what type of multi-monitor support is available with Server 2008 Terminal Services and should automatically support spanning if your monitors meeting the configuration requirements. Those rules are: the total resolution on all monitors must be under 4096 x 2048 pixels; the monitors must have the same resolution; the monitors must be aligned side-by-side; and the far left screen has to be the primary one.

This is pretty limiting, especially if you have a laptop connected to an external monitor and want to take advantage of both screens. Or have monitors set up in configuration where one is turned vertically. Or any other number of possible configurations. Windows 2008 R2 improves on this as well, but as noted in #1, we just can't quite use that yet.

So yes, we've got a few bumps, but nothing that would keep us moving forward with the project at this point. Our remote access isn't supposed to be used by someone as a long-term way to work, nor is used with a frequency that demands extra capital expenditures to overcome a few relatively minor issues.

Windows Update Hiccups Occasionally

Ran into an interesting Windows Update issue today. I have a freshly built Windows 2008 Server and have it set to automatically run Windows Update. The majority of the updates were installing with incident, but it kept reporting a problem installing two updates - KB967723 (TCP/IP vulnerability) and KB976098 (time zone update).

The error code was 80070490, which isn't particularly helpful. Most mentions of it I've run across in the 'net involve Vista users who seem to think they need to reinstall their OS. Also not helpful and hopefully not the same problem!

Windows Update was happily installing other updates after the failed attempts, so the problem was specific to those two updates. The event log reported 4374 Warning - "package is not applicable for this system." Seems that for some reason the Windows Update service was calling the wrong version of the package, as both of those updates apply to all the current Windows operating systems. Downloading each package and manually installing them did the trick.

Customer Focus Design for Window Server with PacITPros

On May 5th, I helped organize a special event for the Pacific IT Pros user group in San Francisco. Customer Focused Design is a process used by Microsoft to collect feedback about features and requirements that need improvement in future product development.
The goal of this event was to provide Microsoft with feedback related to the future of the Windows Server operating system. The Customer Focused Design team was very appreciative of the time PacITPros spent brainstorming together to during the session. They saw a lot of really good ideas and value come out of the session. Overall, the three groups provided over 300 individual requirements and close to 50 high level requirements where improvements could be made.
That information was distilled into the following series of slides:Group 1 (Kevin Lane) - 15 high level requirements, with 97 individual sticky requirements.Group 2 (Robert DeLuca) - 18 high level requirements, with 54 individual sticky requirements.Group 3 (Pat Fetty) - 16 high level requirements, with 174 individual sticky requirements.
The slides highlight the following information:
"Customer Importance" - this provides the prioritization of the requirements that were generated.
"Current Ability" - This is the PacITPros ranking of Microsoft’s ability to deliver this requirement right now based on the technology Microsoft provides in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008R2. The ranking numbers are:
1 = Microsoft doesn't deliver this at all
2-3 = you can do this with significant workarounds and/or 3rd party solutions
4-7 = Mircosoft delivers this with minimal workarounds or other applications
8-9 = Microsoft delivers this with no workarounds
10 = Microsoft couldn’t do this any better
"Improvement Pareto" - The requirements and the ability rankings are calculated together to determine the improvement areas needed for focus. Areas with high importance but low ability are areas that Microsoft needs to put some work into. Areas that are low mean that Microsoft needs less investment and effort to deliver what is needed.
Kudos to all the PacITPros members who participated. This was a hands-on way to have our voices heard directly by Microsoft.