News

Update Rollups for Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 are NOT cumulative

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:29:38 GMT

If you pay attention to the updates Microsoft rolls out each month or take note of what Windows Updates are on your Windows 8 PC or Windows Server 2012 Server, you may have seen some monthly rollup updates.

These update rollups are not cumulative updates. You do need to apply each of the monthly update rollups to get the fixes and enhancements from each month. Installing the February 2013 Update Rollup does not get you the January 2013 to October 2012 rollup updates. This is to say, these rollups are independent of each other. Searching on the KB number will discuss what each rollup is addressing that month. Note that these updates do not focus on a particular component as we have seen with previous cumulative or rollup type updates but are broader to Windows.

Continue at source:

Update Rollups For Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 Explained - Ask Premier Field Engineeri

Surface Pro firmware and driver pack

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:22:20 GMT

Cumulative firmware and drivers for the Surface Pro. This firmware and driver package contains drivers for all of the components in the Surface Pro device, as well as updates to the system firmware that have been released via Windows Update. These drivers and firmware are not compatible with Surface RT.

Use these drivers and firmware to prepare your custom images for enterprise deployment, or to repair problems with custom installations of Windows 8 Pro on your Surface Pro device.

Download

Trends in Cloud Computing Cloud Security Readiness Report

Thu, 16 May 2013 21:07:21 GMT

This report is the result of information collected in the Cloud Security Readiness Tool (CSRT).

This report is the result of information collected in the Cloud Security Readiness Tool (CSRT). The CSRT is a brief survey that seeks information about the maturity level of an organization’s current on-premises IT infrastructure. Organizations can use the CSRT to better understand their systems, processes, policies, and practices. They can also improve their current IT state, learn about relevant industry regulations, and receive guidance on how to evaluate different cloud options. This report analyzes data that was collected in the six-month period between October 2012 and March 2013. The data consists of answers provided by people who used the CSRT. Approximately 5700 anonymized responses to the CSRT’s 27 questions were received from around the world.

Download

System Center Service Manager Connector 3.0 for Exchange

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:12:37 GMT

The System Center Service Manager – Exchange Connector 3.0 connects Service Manager to Exchange for processing incoming emails related to incidents and change requests.

Exchange Connector connects Service Manager to Exchange for processing incoming emails related to work items. Once Exchange Connector has been configured to monitor exchange mailboxes, it can be used to create and update work items based on templates specified by the admin. By specifying special keywords to look for in the incoming emails, admins can configure Exchange Connector to perform actions like approving or rejecting review activities, or enable activity implementers to mark activities assigned to them as completed.

Download the following files:

System_Center_Service_Manager_Connector_3.0_for_Exchange.exe
SC2012_EC_DepGuide.docx

Microsoft Downloads

Windows 8.1 (Blue) will be a free update

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:46:03 GMT

According to the official Windows blog Windows “Blue” will indeed be named Window 8.1 and that it will be free for current Windows 8 consumers through the Windows Store.

So through the Windows Store, that is interesting not Windows Update.

It seems logical that enterprises can use their WSUS or any other deployment method, so I assume it will be available as a stand alone download.

Source: The Windows Blog

Infrastructure-as-a-Service Product Line Architecture Fabric Architecture Guide

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:28:38 GMT

Provides specific guidance for developing fabric architectures (compute, network, storage, and virtualization layers) of an overall private cloud solution.

This document provides customers with the necessary guidance to develop solutions for a Microsoft private cloud infrastructure in accordance with the IaaS PLA patterns that are identified for use with the Windows Server 2012 operating system. This document provides specific guidance for developing fabric architectures (compute, network, storage, and virtualization layers) of an overall private cloud solution.

Download

Lync 2010 and 2013 Bandwidth Calculator

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:26:44 GMT

A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that calculates WAN bandwidth requirements for a Lync Server deployment based on administrator-specified user profiles and network information, and a Word document user guide that accompanies the spreadsheet.

With the Lync Server 2010 and 2013 Bandwidth Calculator, you can enter information about your users and the Lync Server features that you want to deploy, and the calculator will determine bandwidth requirements for the WAN that connects sites in your deployment. The accompanying User Guide describes the recommended process for estimating your WAN bandwidth needs for Lync client real-time traffic. The User Guide will be updated periodically with new information and modifications.

Download

Microsoft Application Virtualization Server 5.0 Best Practice Analyzer

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:24:06 GMT

Microsoft Application Virtualization Server 5.0 Best Practice Analyzer is a diagnostic tool that verifies the configuration settings of a App-V Server 5.0 instance.

Feature Summary:

Gathers information about a Server and a Microsoft Application Virtualization 5.0 Management, Publishing, and/or Reporting service instance installed on that Server
Determines if the configurations are set according to the recommended best practices
Reports on all configurations, indicating settings that differ from recommendations
Indicates potential problems in the installed instance of App-V Server 5.0
Recommends solutions to potential problems
Produces an HTML report with all errors and warnings

Download

Office 365 Adapter: Deploying Office 365 Single Sign-On using Windows Azure

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:08:41 GMT

This document is intended for system architects and IT professionals who want to understand the architecture and deployment options for extending the on-premises Active Directory infrastructure with Windows Azure Virtual Machines to implement directory synchronization and single sign-on for Office 365.

Download document

Windows Azure General Availability of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:05:53 GMT

Now that Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is general available, make sure you start to play with it. Like I said before, Windows Azure is now more fun for the IT Pro’s!

Besides that this site Bink.nu is running on Windows Azure for over 9 months now, I have been testing Windows Azure IaaS since the preview launched last June:

Install a VM in minutes
Choose OSes from a Gallery, even Linux
Upload your own prepped VHD
Create a load balanced solution
Connect to your on premise network
Connect to on premise DNS
VM mobility

Now with the general availability even more features and options are live:

New VM Image Templates (including SQL Server, BizTalk Server, and SharePoint images)
New VM Sizes (including Larger Memory Machines)
New VM Prices ( reduced prices 21%-33% for IaaS and PaaS VMs)

First the new prices staring June 1st 2013

Below are the new hourly on-demand rates for Windows Azure Virtual Machines:

Size Name	# of CPU Cores	Memory	Windows VM Pricing	Linux VM Pricing
ExtraSmall	Shared	768 MB	$0.02 per hour	$0.02 per hour
Small	1	1.75 GB	$0.09 per hour	$0.06 per hour
Medium	2	3.5 GB	$0.18 per hour	$0.12 per hour
Large	4	7 GB	$0.36 per hour	$0.24 per hour
ExtraLarge	8	14 GB	$0.72 per hour	$0.48 per hour
A6	4	28 GB	$1.02 per hour	$0.82 per hour
A7	8	56 GB	$2.04 per hour	$1.64 per hour

Check out ScottGu’s Blog post for a comprehensive overview, also read the comments (with answers)

Windows Azure General Availability of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - ScottGu's Blog

The announcement on Windows Azure Blog: The Power of ‘And’ - Windows Azure - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

Start testing it for yourself now: Windows Azure IaaS

Windows Azure Pricing Windows Azure Pricing at-a-glance

Less than a year remaining until XP End of Support

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:30:27 GMT

Yesterday marked the day of the 1-year count down of when Microsoft softs supporting Windows XP.

In this blog post Stephen Rose provides some answers to help explain what the end of support is and what you need to do to move to a modern OS like Windows 7 or Windows 8.

Microsoft will end Extended Support on April 8, 2014. Why?

In 2002, Microsoft introduced its Support Lifecycle policy based on customer feedback to have more transparency and predictability of support for Microsoft products. Per this policy, Microsoft Business and Developer products – including Windows and Office products – receive a minimum of 10 years of support (five years Mainstream Support and five years Extended Support), at the supported service pack level. Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003 will go out of support on April 8, 2014. If your organization has not started the migration to a modern desktop, you are late.

Continue at the Springboard Series Blog

Microsoft Releases MDOP 2013

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:24:32 GMT

Today Microsoft announces that the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2013 for Software Assurance is now available for download! When people think about MDOP, they often think about its virtualization tools that help personalize user experience, simplify app deployment, and improve app compatibility for Windows. MDOP is much more than that though, it also helps manage and deploy important Windows features like BitLocker and Group Policy, as well as saves time by helping to make desktop repair planning proactive instead of reactive.

MDOP 2013 contains:

MBAM 2.0 (new release)
AGMP 4.0 SP1
DaRT 8.0 SP1
App-V 5.0 SP1
UE-V 1.0 SP1

Continue at blogs.windows.com

Step-by-Step: Extend Your Private Cloud with Windows Azure Virtual Networks

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 20:30:38 GMT

Windows Azure Virtual Networks allow us to securely extend our Private Cloud with a hybrid network infrastructure that leverages the best of two worlds: the low-latency and high-bandwidth available with our on-premise datacenter networks with the elastic, pay-as-you-go cloud model of Windows Azure Virtual Networks and Virtual Machines.

Continue at IT Pros ROCK! Blog

MMS 2013 Keynote recording now available

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 20:20:12 GMT

Good keynote from Brad Anderson: Cloud Optimize Your Business with Microsoft Management Solutions

MP3 (Audio only)
File size
103.9 MB
MP4 (iPod, Zune HD)
File size
612.8 MB
Mid Quality WMV (Lo-band, Mobile)
File size
570.7 MB
High Quality MP4 (iPad, PC)
File size
1.3 GB
Mid Quality MP4 (WP7, HTML5)
File size
943.2 MB
High Quality WMV (PC, Xbox, MCE)

1.8 GB

Microsoft Techdays 2013 Netherlands sessions online

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 08:51:59 GMT

Last week I attended Microsoft Techdays 2013 the Netherlands, an excellent 2 days Microsoft conference for IT Pro’s and developers. Most sessions were recorded and now available online, so it can now be attended by all of you for free .

Unfortunately, not all sessions were recorded.

Most sessions are in English

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechDays/Techdays-2013-the-Netherlands

Bing Desktop 1.2 adds Facebook feed support

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 12:51:12 GMT

New to Bing Desktop v1.2 is the ability to login to Facebook and see Facebook content right from the Bing Desktop

Also you can now minimize to taskbar or system tray.

Download Bing Desktop 1.2

Frequent Bink.nu updates on Twitter

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 15:03:32 GMT

Please make sure you are also checking bink.nu twitter account, as I lately tend to tweet more than I post here.

So please follow me at @sbink on twitter: http://twitter.com/sbink

Default product keys for Windows 8 deployments

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:57:40 GMT

Use the following default product keys to quickly and easily preinstall computers with Windows 8 software.

Windows version	Default product key
Windows 8	46V6N-VCBYR-KT9KT-6Y4YF-QGJYH
Windows 8 Professional	V7C3N-3W6CM-PDKR2-KW8DQ-RJMRD
Windows 8 N	7QNT4-HJDDR-T672J-FBFP4-2J8X9
Windows 8 Professional N	4NX4X-C98R3-KBR22-MGBWC-D667X
Windows 8 Single Language (Emerging Markets)	NH7GX-2BPDT-FDPBD-WD893-RJMQ4

Simply type the default product key into the answer file used to preinstall the version of Windows that your customer requested.

Example:

			<UserData>
				<ProductKey>
					<Key>V7C3N-3W6CM-PDKR2-KW8DQ-RJMRD</Key>
				</ProductKey>
				<AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
			</UserData>
		</component>
	</settings>
</unattend>

Note These product keys cannot be used for activation. You will need to type a software product key during the installation process. These keys will be removed when sysprep generalize is run. The end user will be required to type the unique product key from the Certificate of Authenticity (COA) label when first booting Windows 8.

Demystifying AppContainers (Part II): Internet Explorer 10

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:07:10 GMT

Anyone who will ever create a Modern UI App for the Windows Store has to obey Microsoft rules for app development. Rule #1 is that the app will run in an AppContainer and must declare only the minimum list of capabilities that your app needs for its core functionality. Some capabilities appear to be more special than others. If your Modern UI App requires capabilities like enterpriseAuthentication, sharedUserCertificates, or documentsLibrary, you are subject to even more strict rules and additional review and testing.

Internet Explorer appears to be a special case when you look at its capabilities. Internet Explorer is Trusted and allowed to use all System capabilities. At least, that is what the UI says…

Continue reading: Demystifying AppContainers (Part II)

Registration for TechEd Europe is now available

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:13:34 GMT

Registration for TechEd North America and TechEd Europe 2013 is now available. Encourage your customers to register by March 22 to take advantage of the $300/€300 Early Bird discount.

TechEd North America TechEd Europe

June 3-6 25-28 June

New Orleans, LA Madrid, Spain

http://northamerica.msteched.com http://europe.msteched.com

News

Update Rollups for Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 are NOT cumulative

Surface Pro firmware and driver pack

Trends in Cloud Computing Cloud Security Readiness Report

System Center Service Manager Connector 3.0 for Exchange

Windows 8.1 (Blue) will be a free update

Infrastructure-as-a-Service Product Line Architecture Fabric Architecture Guide

Lync 2010 and 2013 Bandwidth Calculator

Microsoft Application Virtualization Server 5.0 Best Practice Analyzer

Office 365 Adapter: Deploying Office 365 Single Sign-On using Windows Azure

Windows Azure General Availability of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Less than a year remaining until XP End of Support

Microsoft Releases MDOP 2013

Step-by-Step: Extend Your Private Cloud with Windows Azure Virtual Networks

MMS 2013 Keynote recording now available

Good keynote from Brad Anderson: Cloud Optimize Your Business with Microsoft Management Solutions

File size

File size

File size

File size

File size

Microsoft Techdays 2013 Netherlands sessions online

Bing Desktop 1.2 adds Facebook feed support

Frequent Bink.nu updates on Twitter

Default product keys for Windows 8 deployments

Demystifying AppContainers (Part II): Internet Explorer 10

Registration for TechEd Europe is now available