One of the questions we have been getting in the first few dates of the Windows 7 Tour in Ireland is about making a bootable USB Drive to install Windows 7 from. For those that don’t know how to make a bootable USB key, here is the recipe:
Creating a bootable USB device:
Start\run\diskpart.exe
DISKPART> list disk
Select the USB device from the list and substitute the disk number below
when necessary
DISKPART> select disk 1
DISKPART> clean
DISKPART> create partition primary
DISKPART> select partition 1
DISKPART> active
DISKPART> format fs=fat32
DISKPART> assign
DISKPART> exit
xcopy X:\*.* /s/e/f Y:\
where X:\ is your mounted image or physical DVD and Y:\ is your USB device
Now all you need to do is plug the device into your target box's USB slot and boot it. This may require hitting F10/F12 to load the one-time boot menu and selecting the USB Key.
cheers
Many of you may be aware that Microsoft has been a player in the Identity Management space for many years. Starting off with Microsoft Metadirectory Services, then moving on to the release of Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 and our current offering Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007.
What you may not be aware of is that Microsoft is about to revolutionize Identity Management with the release of Forefront Identity Manager (previously known as ILM “2”) in the first half of 2010. The marketing strap line for ILM “2” is that “Identity Management is about to get a whole lot easier” and having worked with ILM “2” (currently available as a Release Candidate) I’m very excited about this product and what it can do for both IT Pros and businesses.
So, for those of you who may not be familiar with Microsoft’s Identity management story I’m going to start with Microsoft's philosophy on Identity Lifecycle Management (ILM). Future articles will look at where we are today in terms of ILM 2007 and where we will be going to, with the much anticipated release of ILM "2". So let’s look at Microsoft's philosophy for ILM.
Microsoft’s Identity Management Strategy
Basically Microsoft's position on ILM comes down to the concept of a People Ready business. Identity and access is at the centre of the People Ready business:
To enable the people in your organisation to be successful, they need an efficient and intuitive way to collaborate. At the same time, the business needs to ensure that collaboration is taking place within the bounds of internal and external regulations, business policy and process, and security. At the centre of it all, is the identity and access infrastructure and tools that provides information on users, devices, they access, what credentials they need and how they are configured, and the rules or policies governing the behaviour of these objects. In order to realize the vision of a People Ready business, the identity and access infrastructure and tools need to provide people with the right collaboration experience, in a way that complies with business process.
How do we ensure that our identity and access infrastructure and tools are enabling this People Ready vision? By overcoming a number of challenges, such as....
1. Improving Operational Efficiency
2. Reducing Security Risks
3. Meeting Regulation Requirements
4. Enabling Business Objectives
Today, the management burden is on IT
Today, we know that the burden of addressing these challenges is on IT. When you think about what identity management tasks IT today, they include a number of things that IT should be doing – such as deploying software, administering systems, ensuring systems under their control are secure and compliant. But often IT is also burdened with additional repetitive tasks such as managing end user requests such as password resets, creating and deleting user accounts in all the systems the end users need to do their jobs, and manually implementing, reporting on, and enforcing policies across these systems.
Meanwhile, end users are in a position where they are relying on IT for their requests. Wouldn’t it make more sense for users to have the tools to do some of this work themselves and remove the burden from IT as well as themselves?
Today identity and access management tasks are often being done by the wrong people, who are struggling with the complexity of existing systems and tools. In the end this means higher cost for the business:
Microsoft's Vision
Microsoft has a vision for putting the identity lifecycle back into balance by aligning experiences with the right people.
IT professionals should be focused on what they do best – architecture, deployment, administration, governance, and security
Information workers should have familiar tools to manage their own information, credentials, access, and resources they own. Information workers should have tools within the applications and systems they use every day.
Microsoft’s vision for this space is to provide an identity lifecycle management solution that spans across a breadth of Windows and non-Windows infrastructure, and delivers management of users, access, credentials, and policy from a single, integrated solution that is easy to configure and customize if needed:
Changing the Equation
Research from IDC, Gartner, and Microsoft shows that identity and access management software is only about 10% of the total amount that organisations spend. The rest of the identity and access management budget is spent on IT staff performing manual, repetitive tasks such as password reset and manual user provisioning and deprovisioning. What Microsoft wants to do is decrease the total amount your organisation spends on identity and access and enables IT staff to do work that is more strategic for the business. The result of this decreased spend is:
- Less spending on specialized infrastructure and tools to manage the complexity
- Higher end-user productivity from users who have the right tools at their fingertips
- IT staff focused more on business enablement than end user account, access, and credential related requests
- Lower spending on services since systems integration costs dramatically decrease
IDC recently completed a study comparing enterprise customers cost structures with these solutions in place. IDC found that customers can save
-€30 per PC per year with an automated user provisioning solution
-€70 per PC per year with a directory synchronization, password synchronization, and self-password reset solution
Roadmap for getting there
Today we have a product in market called Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager (ILM) 2007, a solution that provides metadirectory and user provisioning capabilities and capabilities for managing strong credentials, providing an integrated approach that pulls together metadirectory, digital certificate and password management, and user provisioning across Windows and other enterprise systems.
In the 1st half of 2010, Microsoft plans to deliver Identity Lifecycle Manager ”2”, a comprehensive solution for managing user accounts, access via groups and roles, password and certificate-based credentials, and policies across Windows and heterogeneous environments. ILM “2” will extend the functionality of ILM 2007 with new capabilities that will (1) empower end users with integrated self-service tools in Office and Windows; (2) put IT in control through a robust delegation model and business process framework, and (3) increase operational efficiency by automating common identity lifecycle management tasks and empowering end users with self-help solutions. In addition, Microsoft is implementing ILM “2” on a common set of services – including workflow, delegation, web services APIs – that customers and independent software vendors can use to customize and extend the functionality in ILM “2”.
So, there you have it. In the next article I'll have a look at ILM 2007, our current product which has been successfully deployed to many customers in Ireland. In the meantime you can find out more about ILM at the following links:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/ilm/default.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/ilm2/default.mspx
Stay tuned for the next instalment!
James McAlonan, Senior Infrastructure Consultant, Microsoft Consulting Services
Microsoft have just released the beta of the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. It checks your system to see if it’s capable of running Windows 7.
You can download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta from here.
The Advisor, checks PCs running Windows XP SP2 (with .Net 2.0), Vista or release candidate versions of Windows 7.
The Advisor software can also be run on Intel-based Macs under virtualization to test for Windows 7 compatibility.
It tests whether users' PCs meet the minimum requirements of:
It’s a simple install and simple to use.
As well as checking the basic hardware requirements, it looks for Device Driver support for all onboard Devices as well as known Application Compatibility issues for your Programs.
Enjoy
On June 12th the Windows User Group will be running a session on Exchange 2010, also known as Exchange 14. The speaker, Nathan Winters, is an Exchange MVP, consultant and author with huge experience and a growing international reputation. As you can see from the session agenda, the world of email has evolved into a world of communications and collaboration, introducing many new technologies and offering new ways to access existing technologies with solutions for the major corporates and the small businesses. This will be an interesting session that will explain what's happening now and in the near future.
Agenda
Live Webcast
We will be using LiveMeeting to share this presentation live to the world! You can sign in here using this code: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=46G74S&role=attend
Please use the free installed client instead of the web client. The web client has issues regarding audio sharing.
About Nathan Winters Nathan Winters is a Lead Consultant for Dimension Data. He is responsible for the Microsoft Exchange practice in the UK. Nathan has been working in I.T. for six years and specializes in Exchange and Office Communications Server.
Midway through 2006 Nathan founded the Microsoft Messaging and Mobility User Group UK which holds regular meetings in the UK to discuss topics related to Exchange. In April 2007 Nathan was awarded an MVP (Exchange Server) for his work with MMMUG and regular contributions to the Mark Minasi Forum. Nathan is a regular contributor to the MSExchange.org website and Nathan's other articles have been published by Penton Media (Exchange and Outlook Administrator newsletter), Microsoft (TechNet Industry Insiders) and on the MMMUG website.
Registration
Anyone wishing to attend the event should register. This event is being held in Microsoft so registration is mandatory. As usual, there is no cost associated with this event.
Please spread word of the event to anyone you think may be interested.
Reporting Services 2008 Architecture and End User Reporting
Summary
The first part of this session is a detailed look at architectural changes to the Reporting Services 2008 product and how they might benefit your reports.
The second part of the session is a demo based walk through of the new Report Builder 2.0. Focusing on the flexibility of the Tablix Format and end user charting.
We will also be taking a sneak preview of some of the new map based reporting capabilities to be introduced in SQL 2008 R2 shortly.
Speaker: Bob Duffy
Bob Duffy is a 16 year veteran of database technologies having worked closely with many enterprise customers in Ireland and Europe around SQL Server, Business Intelligence and dot.net and chalked up over 250 successful projects. Bob is currently one of eighteen Microsoft Certified Database Architects Globally, is an active speaker for SQL Server and is on the working group for the new SQL 2008 “master” examination syllabus.
Date: 04 June 2009 19:00 - 21:00
Location: Imperial Hotel, South Mall, Cork
Register and learn more here
Everyone knows that I am a big supporter of Microsoft Small Business Server and an even bigger supporter of the SBSC program for SBS Partners. Well free exam vouchers are being made available to help you pass the latest Microsoft technology exams and achieve the Small Business Specialist Certification. Take advantage of this offer now as it expires June 30, 2009.
Be one of the first 1,000 partners to submit a request to askcorp@microsoft.com to get a FREE voucher for one of the following exams (a $125 value):*
Requests must be submitted by May 30, 2009 and include your First and Last Name, Company Name, and Partner ID. To look up your partner ID, sign in at https://partners.microsoft.com/partnerprogram. Limit one partner and one exam per voucher. Terms and conditions apply.
Have you signed up for the Windows Remote Desktop Services (formerly known as ‘Terminal Services’) event yet? Microsoft Terminal Services MVP and Citrix CTP, Alex Yushchenko, is delivering this training in Galway, Cork, Dublin and Belfast in the space of two days – which is a feat in itself!
This three-hour training has a comprehensive agenda covering the following:
- New features of Remote Desktop Services (previously known as Terminal Services) in Windows 2008 R2 - Migration from W2003 or W2008 to R2 - VDI – Virtual Desktop Architecture built-in - Application Delivery, TS Web Access, Session Broker & Load Balancing and Licensing - Powershell in Remote Desktop Services - Virtualization of Terminal Server?! - How to get the most of Remote Desktop Services and maybe even replace your Citrix farm and save costs
Learn more and register @ the Windows User Group site.