April, 2011

I’ve had this question so many times lately that I’ve just got to write a blog post about it!  This is the scenario… Create an AD connector Import users (or really any other kind of object – computer, printer, group) via that connector The user account...

Just a quick heads up on a new KB article we published today.  This one’s really only relevant from a support standpoint as it details the information our troubleshooting tool gathers but I thought you’d like to know about it anyway. Summary System...

Yesterday we talked about what App-V Package Accelerators were and how the process worked, and today we’re going to continue that theme and show how Package Accelerators are vehicles for sharing within the App-V community. We’ll even walk through a couple...

Looks like the good folks over on the Configuration Manager writing team just announced their Configuration Manager Documentation Library update for April 2011: The Configuration Manager 2007 documentation library ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us...

Here’s a heads up on another interesting article I found over in the TechNet Wiki. This one is by Microsoft Partner Kristian Nese and it talks about all the cool new features that are part of the library in SCVMM 2012: With all the new features in System...

Hi everyone, I just wanted to give you a quick heads up on a cool resource for SCVMM 2012 that a colleague turned me on to today.  Our friends over on the Hyper-V.Nu blog have been busy at work putting the System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012...

What are Package Accelerators? Package Accelerators support the “Predictable Packaging” pillar of the new App-V 4.6 SP1 Sequencer. Package Accelerators allow users to sequence easily and automatically large, complex application packages.  Instead...

This post will discuss our experiences defining and extending the SCSM incident data model and forms used in our SCSM implementation. Our team (MPSD) provides a comprehensive monitoring and management service used by Microsoft.com, TechNet, Windows Update...

We published the following new Knowledge Base article/update today that’s primarily to address localization but note that there are a couple additional fixes that it includes: ===== Summary This update for MED-V 2.0 provides the capability for localized...

  As a follow up to Emre’s article on how to create packages using the Server App-V Sequencer , we are providing step by step instructions on how to sequence and deploy PetShop 4. This is especially useful if you are new to the whole concept of virtualization...

Quite a few customers have asked us over the last couple of years if we would localize Service Manager into Arabic.  Since Arabic is what is called a “bi-directional language” there is some significant additional work we would have to do in the infrastructure...

Symptoms The information below describes how to use System Center Configuration Manager 2007 to determine whether The Microsoft Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V is installed prior to sending the Office 2010 virtual package. This is a good practice...

Microsoft Learning hosted another new and exclusive Jump Start virtual training event – Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals and we are thrilled to announce availability of the HD-quality video recordings – FREE – on TechNet Edge and soon...

Yesterday we released Part 1 in this series, and now in Part 2 we will look at the Automated Best Practices throughout the new App-V 4.6 SP1 Sequencer. In Part 1, Problem Notification features were addressed, which are also an important part of Automated...

Just a quick heads up that the Windows Server UA security writing team just announced that our  WSUS home page has been updated to include a section for TechNet Wiki Articles.  You can check out how it looks at the following link: http://technet...

In previous versions of the Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) Sequencer, there was little to no built-in guidance from the Sequencer around potential problems or following best practices. With the new Microsoft App-V 4.6 SP1 Sequencer, automated...

Symptoms Using System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 (ConfigMgr 2007) and USMT 4.0 in a ConfigMgr 2007 Native Mode environment to refresh an Operating System puts the resulting deployed ConfigMgr 2007 client in a non-functional state as it is unable...

This is a continuation in a series of blog posts on using SMLets Beta 3. Previous blog posts in this series: Using SMLets Beta 3 Post #1 – Using Get-SCSMObject, Get-SCSMClass to Dump Data from SCSM Using SMLets Beta 3 Post #2–Using Get-SCSMEnumeration...

This is a continuation in a series of blog posts on using SMLets Beta 3.  Previous blog posts in this series: Using SMLets Beta 3 Post #1 – Using Get-SCSMObject, Get-SCSMClass to Dump Data from SCSM I was talking to a customer today and they wanted...

Want to get a jump start on learning WSUS?  Or maybe you want to hone your expertise on a few specific topics?  If so this new roadmap published by Microsoft’s own Yuri Diogenes is for you: Patch management is a crucial process in today’s IT...

Yesterday we released SMLets Beta 3 .  This will be the first in a series of posts on using SMLets Beta 3. To start out with let’s answer a question in the comments on the release announcement blog post from Sam: I also wanted to ask you about the...

Today we released a major new release of SMLets – Beta 3!  Download the new release at the CodePlex site . Jim Truher and I have been hard at work adding a lot of new capabilities, cmdlets, testing harnesses, scripts, cleaning up the code base, and...

OS Deployment of Hyper-V through SCVMM 2012 makes it very easy to turn bare metal machines into VM Hosts. The process deploys the OS and creates a consistent configuration to provide a layer of uniformity to your hosts even though there can be significant...

Just a quick FYI on a great article written by our very own Michael Kleef.  If you’re seeing Error Code: 0000C824 in the Management console then you’ll want to check this out.  Keep in mind that this applies to any MMC that’s acting up, not...

Last summer at the Black Hat security conference, we announced a philosophical shift in how we refer to vulnerability disclosure, called "Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure" (CVD). Our intent was to focus on how coordination and collaboration are required...