The Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Best Practices Analyzer gathers configuration information from Lync Server 2010 components to determine the overall health of a Lync Server environment.
the Best Practices Analyzer can examine servers running Active Directory Domain Services, Exchange Server Unified Messaging (UM), and Lync Server. You can use Best Practices Analyzer to do the following:
Download the Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Best Practices Analyzer.
Thanks for reading,
Mitch
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Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 are ready with new virtualization tools, web resources, management enhancements, and Windows 7 integration. You can also evaluate the SP1 edition with the Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 trial. Also find Service Pack 1 evaluation resources here.
Here’s a very handy new online service that could get you out of some jams, or just save you time fixing other people’s problems: The recently-launched Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services. With one click, Microsoft can detect problems on your machine and automatically fix any common problems that are found.
Here are some of the Fix it solutions available:
More to come,
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This bulletin summary lists security bulletins released for June 2009.
Just a heads up about the recent posting of more new Learning Snacks for Windows 7. Learning Snacks are short, interactive presentations delivered via Silverlight. Here are the new Windows 7 “snacks” for IT professionals:
· Implementing User Account Control in Windows 7
· Introducing BitLocker and AppLocker in Windows 7
· Introducing the Troubleshooting Platform in Windows 7
· Using the Deployment Image Servicing and Management Tool for Servicing Windows 7 Images
And for using Windows 7 at home, here’s a couple more learning snacks:
· Setting Up a Home Network in Windows 7
· Desktop Experience in Windows 7
Version 8.0.6362.143 of the Office Live Meeting console and add-in brings improvements and fixes that include:
· Improvements to text display on PPT slides in recordings
· Users using IE browser with security setting is set to “Do not save encrypted pages to disk” on Vista machines will be able to join meetings successfully
· Custom text displays correctly when meeting scheduled with Outlook add-in
Below find the links to the Knowledge Base articles for more information about what has changed with the console and Outlook add-in plus the download pages.
KB 974251 : Description of the Windows-based Live Meeting 2007 client update package: Sept 2009
Download the Windows-based Live Meeting 2007 client update: September 2009 package
KB 974252 : Description of the update for Live Meeting Conferencing add-in for Outlook: Sept 2009
Download the Microsoft Live Meeting Conferencing Add-in client update: September 2009
Check out the Microsoft Desktop Player, now in beta, to find contextual content for IT professionals and developers based on your adoption lifecycle. The Desktop Player filters content by topic based on your role and where you are in your adoption lifecycle. It also surfaces local resources based on your zip code.
Find videos, webcasts, podcasts, whitepapers and relevant links based on your specific criteria. And get a feed of the latest news for IT pros.
You can also download the player directly to your desktop.
IIS Media Services is a set of media-related extensions for Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 that provides an integrated HTTP-based media delivery platform. IIS Media Services 2.0 contains three extensions:
Download ISS Media Services 2.0 – 64 bit here.
You can also download two additional beta IIS Media Services extensions from the Microsoft Web Platform Installer (Web PI) by selecting IIS Media Services 3.0 - Beta. The two additional beta extensions available are:
Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) enables IT administrators to deploy the latest Microsoft product updates and fully manage the distribution of updates that are released through Microsoft Update to computers in their network. Windows Server Update Services 3.0 Service Pack 2 (WSUS 3.0 SP2) delivers updates to corporate environments from Microsoft Update. This release adds new features and fixes issues found since the release of the product. WSUS 3.0 SP2 delivers customer-requested management, stability, and performance improvements.
Some of the features and improvements include the following:
Download the update here.
The SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 is now available. Primarily a roll-up of Cumulative Update 1 to 3, Quick Fix Engineering (QFE) updates, and fixes to issues reported through the SQL Server community, SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 also includes capabilities for easier deployment and management of service packs, including:
Download the Service Pack here.
Starting on December 11, 2009, customers using Office 2003 will not be able to open Office 2003 documents protected with the Active Directory Rights Management Service (AD RMS) or Rights Management Services (RMS). To download the hotfix, see KB 978551.
This symptom affects Office 2003 products used in conjunction with RMS, including Word 2003, Excel 2003, PowerPoint 2003 and Outlook 2003. It does not affect Office 2007.
FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint Beta provides powerful high-end search delivered through SharePoint. It includes all the search features and integration capabilities of SharePoint Server 2010, plus the use of context to provide specific search experiences for different needs and advanced content processing capabilities that create metadata and add structure to unstructured content. Download the beta.
The Configuration Manager 2007 Toolkit V2 contains 11 downloadable tools to help you manage and troubleshoot Configuration Manager 2007, including:
· Client Spy
· Delete Group Class Tool
· Desired Configuration Management Migration Tool
· Preload Package Tool
· Security Configuration Wizard Template for Configuration Manager 2007
· Send Schedule Tool
· Trace32
· Desired Configuration Management Substitution Variable Tool
· Desired Configuration Management Model Verification Tool
· Management Point Troubleshooter Tool
· Policy Spy
Download the toolkit
The Windows Sysinternals team as brought out a new utility, called Disk2vhd, that creates VHD (Virtual Hard Disk - Microsoft’s Virtual Machine disk format) versions of physical disks for use in Microsoft Virtual PC or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines. The cool thing about Disk2vhd is that you can run Disk2vhd on a system that’s online. Disk2vhd uses Windows’ Volume Snapshot capability, introduced in Windows XP, to create consistent point-in-time snapshots of the volumes you want to include in a conversion. You can even have Disk2vhd create the VHDs on local volumes, even ones being converted (though performance is better when the VHD is on a disk different than ones being converted).
Download Disk2vhd or run Disk2vhd from Live.Sysinternals.com.
Those who’ve played with the R2 beta release of Windows Server 2008 might have noticed a new tool, the Best Practices Analyzer, designed to help administrators reduce best practice violations by automatically scanning the roles in use and reporting the violations. Also in WS 2008 R2, Events and Errors documentation is available directly from Event Viewer, organized in hierarchical structure by server roles and server fundamentals.
Finally, here are some issues that we know about this beta release of Window Server 2008 R2. Check here to see how to correct or work around these issues.
TechNet Flash readers are being offered a special deal on a TechNet Plus subscription. Get 12 months for just $297 (Reg. $349). Just use the promo code TNF10 to get the special price. Through TN Plus you can still get your hands on the Windows 7 Beta.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/bb892754.aspx?pm=Lv:103|np:TNF10
You can now evaluate Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2010, the new backup & recovery solution for unified data protection for Windows servers and clients. Register for the trial download and get access to technical resources—such as forums, solution accelerators, white papers and webcasts to aid in your evaluation.
Likewise, the System Center Essentials 2010 trial download is available along with resources from the experts to aid with your evaluation. System Center Essentials 2010 provides IT professionals in midsized organizations a unified physical and virtual IT management experience, enabling you to better secure, update, monitor, and troubleshoot from a single console.
Read more about the RTMs in Jason Buffington’s “All Backed Up” blog
For the month of December, Microsoft is offering a free four-day online training program to help you make the transition to the cloud. The program is four hours per day for each of the four days. Find the dates and times for your region and register here.
The sessions are geared for technical decision makers who have at least an intermediate knowledge of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or later and Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007 or later, along with a basic technical understanding of cloud services. See the Practice Accelerator prerequisites.
For more on the Practice Accelerator for Cloud Services, see the US SMB&D TS2 Team Blog post.
Download the new Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 5.0 to help you save valuable IT infrastructure planning time and expense. New features include Office 2010 readiness assessment, Windows 2000 Server migration assessment, and inventory of Linux-powered LAMP stacks.
Download the MAP Toolkit 5.0
The Microsoft Office Communications Server team has released at no additional licensing cost the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 XMPP Gateway, which enables IM and presence communication between Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and select XMPP-based IM and presence providers. The XMPP (eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) Gateway allows Office Communications Server users to communicate with users who use an XMPP-based IM and presence provider such as Google Talk and Jabber.
Also, as of October 1, 2009, a Public IM Connectivity (PIC) license will no longer be required for Office Communications Server connectivity to AOL public IM networks. In July, this licensing requirement was also removed for connectivity with Windows Live instant messaging users. Customers qualify for federation with AOL if they have Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Standard CAL or active Software Assurance on their current LCS/OCS license.
Customers who want Yahoo! federation will continue to purchase PIC licenses, but the price of PIC will be reduced by 50%, effective October 1, 2009.
The Microsoft Web Platform Installer 2.0 (Web PI) is a free tool that makes it simple to download, install and keep up-to-date with the latest components of the Microsoft Web Platform, including Internet Information Services (IIS), SQL Server Express, .NET Framework and Visual Web Developer. In addition, you can install popular open source ASP.NET and PHP Web applications with the Web PI. Download the Web PI 2.0 beta.
Also, see how you can get free hosting on the Microsoft Web Platform.
Microsoft yesterday announced Silverlight 5. With beta availability scheduled for the first half of 2011, the next release of Silverlight sports more than 40 new features, including support for running Silverlight applications with desktop features in the browser and dramatic video quality and performance improvements.
Key media and UI improvements include:
Silverlight 5 was announced during a day-long Firestarter event. You can view the Silverlight Firestarter webcast on demand.
For more detail on the upcoming release, see Scott Guthrie’s blog.
A new study (download PDF) by Microsoft, Accenture and WSP Environment & Energy, shows that, for large deployments, Microsoft’s cloud solutions can reduce energy use and carbon emissions by more than 30 percent when compared to their corresponding Microsoft business applications installed on-premise.
The study compared the energy use and carbon emissions per user for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM with their cloud-based equivalents: Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.
This set of virtual machines enables you to demonstrate and test Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 in a fully configured environment with sample data. In order to run this demo you will need the following:
· Windows Server 2008 R2 with the Hyper-V role enabled
· NTFS drive formatting
· Intel VT- or AMD-V-capable processor
· 8 GB RAM or more recommended
· 50 GB hard disk space required for install
Download the 2010 Information Worker Demonstration Virtual Machine (Beta)
Microsoft just announced the Windows Cache Extension for PHP Beta, a PHP accelerator that is used to increase the speed of PHP applications running on Windows and Windows Server. Once the Windows Cache Extension for PHP is enabled and loaded by the PHP engine, PHP applications can take advantage of the functionality without any code modifications. Windows Cache Extension for PHP Beta can be installed with the Microsoft Web Platform Installer 2.0 RC and works with IIS 7.5, 7.0, 6.0, and 5.1. Download the New Windows Cache Extension for PHP Beta and check out Using Windows Cache Extension for PHP for more information.