Check out the new library content, downloadable models, forums and videos in the newly launched Project Server TechCenter. You’ll find resources for determining your hardware and software requirements for Project Server 2010, and links to training and support. Check back often as new content is added.
More to come,
Mitch
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The Forefront Server team announced that Antigen 8 for SharePoint Service Pack 1 and Antigen 8 for IM Service Pack 1 are now available for download. It is important for customers to upgrade to these service pack releases before the AV engine mix is changed on December 1, 2009. Previous builds of the product will still function after December 1, but only one engine will be updating.
The service packs can be downloaded from the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center by opening the “Servers” group and finding the corresponding Forefront Server product. Antigen 8 for SharePoint SP1 (part number X16-09934) can be found under “Forefront Security for SharePoint with Service Pack 3”. Antigen 8 for IM SP1 (part number X16-09863) can be found under “Forefront Security for Office Communications Server”.
The Windows Client Monitoring Management Pack has been updated with bug fixes for Vista MP and support for monitoring Windows 7. It can detect, diagnose, and resolve hardware and software problems pertaining for computers running Windows Client 2000, XP, Vista, or Windows 7 operating systems.
Information and analysis on the issues that the system detected are collected by the MPs through an agent on the client machine, and sent to OpsMgr where this data is converted into health state, alerts (if need be) and processed for business critical and aggregate reports. The MP gives a clear picture of catastrophic failures in your mission critical machines, trend-based alerts of significant changes to computer groups, in-depth views of health of individual machines, and reports that provide a landscape view of the health of all monitored clients.
Download the Windows Client 2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7 Operating System Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007
The Infrastructure Planning and Design team has released the new IPD Guide for DirectAccess. This guide provides guidance for designing a DirectAccess infrastructure in an easy-to-follow, four-step process that explains the infrastructure required for clients to be connected from the Internet to resources on the corporate network, whether or not the organization has begun deploying IPv6.
The four key steps covered in the design process for DirectAccess include:
Download the IPD Guide for DirectAccess
Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 Update upgrades a Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 installation and delivers new platform support for Windows 7 client, Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2.
Download the entire Service Pack here. You can also evaluate the full version by downloading the 180-day trial.
Free for limited time, this Microsoft Press eBook provides selected chapters with guidance from the Windows 7 Resource Kit and TechNet Magazine on deployment platforms, planning, testing application compatibility and more. As an added bonus, you'll also get six new articles on Windows 7 from industry experts on migration, running Windows 7 in mixed environments, certification and more.
Download the free eBook here.
Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2, by Charlie Russel and Craig Zacker, is a great resource for learning about the new features of Windows Server 2008 R2 in the areas of virtualization, management, the Web application platform, scalability and reliability, and interoperability with Windows 7. Download your free copy.
Visit the new SharePoint 2010 Beta TechCenter and learn how to get started with the new tools and resources to help you install and deploy the upcoming Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, including a series of video learning modules for IT pros.
Microsoft today took the wraps off PowerPivot for Excel 2010 and provided more details on the data-analysis BI add-in. Check here to learn how it will enable manipulation of large data sets and about the features for sharing Excel 2010 workbook apps through SharePoint 2010 and integrate seamlessly with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2. You can also Sign up for PowerPivot release notification.
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
Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 allows your users to use the Internet without worrying about malware and other threats. It provides multiple protection capabilities including URL filtering, antimalware inspection, intrusion prevention, application- and network-layer firewall, and HTTP/HTTPS inspection. All these features are integrated into a unified, easy-to-manage gateway. Try out the Forefront TMG 2010 release candidate, available in both Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition.
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.
The Microsoft Exchange Team has just announced that Exchange 2010 is now code complete and released to manufacturing. This means that Exchange 2010 is on schedule for general availability in early November. For more on this milestone announcement, see the Exchange Team Blog posting.
The Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) is a set of tools and documentation that support the configuration and the deployment of Microsoft Windows operating systems. This guide describes the current methods, tools, and requirements for deploying Windows.
Download the AIK guide here.
Microsoft and Red Hat have completed certification of their respective virtualized environments under the cooperative technical support agreement the two companies signed in February. That means both companies have tested, validated, and now will support virtualized environments consisting of Red Hat Enterprise Linux running on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V, and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. Similarly, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 are validated to run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4, using Red Hat’s KVM-based hypervisor.
Microsoft and Red Hat have also selected certain applications that will receive technical support when running on certified server virtualization software. For more on this deal, check out the Virtualization Team Blog.
The Windows Phones based on Windows Mobile 6.5 launched today and while the rest of the world is touting the features and functionality for consumers, there are some good reasons for using Windows Phones in business environments. Check out David Tesar’s post on TechNet Edge Windows Phone for IT Pros to learn the key updates for corporate environments and businesses. See how this new generation of Windows Mobile 6.5 devices can help you reduce costs, increase productivity, and better manage, protect and control your mobile devices.
Let me guess… you’re thinking it’s time to upgrade from Windows XP or Windows Vista, but there is no budget for the new hardware you’ve come to associate with any operating system migration. Here’s what you do:
First, buzz on over to Daniel Oxley’s Confessions of a Microsoft Consultant blog entry on “Benchmarking Windows 7.” He explains that you can, in fact, compare Windows 7 to Windows XP running on your existing hardware. He points to couple useful guides that you can download: Performance Testing Guide for Windows and, to get your baseline, Benchmarking on Windows XP.
You might need such comparative testing to prove that you are not sacrificing performance for new features and these guides point out some common pitfalls. For instance, you might have noticed that a system might perform better a few days after a new OS is installed, especially when it performs dynamic tuning, and adapts over time to user behavior to increase responsiveness.
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.
Microsoft yesterday rolled out two new betas of System Center products. Designed specifically for mid-size companies, the System Center Essentials 2010 Beta offers a unified IT management experience with a single console for managing your physical and virtual servers, client computers, hardware, software, and IT services. Register for the beta trial here.
The System Center team also released the System Center Data Protection Manager 2010 Beta, the backup and recovery solution which provides continuous data protection of Windows application and file servers to integrated disk, tape, and cloud. Download the DPM 2010 Beta here.