The Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) enables IT administrators to remotely manage roles and features in Windows Server 2008 from a computer running Windows Vista with SP1. It includes support for remote management of computers running either a Server Core installation or the full installation option of Windows Server 2008. It provides similar functionality to Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack.

splogscreen: if you are reading this on a site other than http://blogs.technet.com/tonyso, why not come to the original site for a visit?

Check out the Edge video. And the Windows blog.

Download RSAT here:

• Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista 
• Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems            
  

You already know about the free Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Solution Accelerator to help you with virtualization and desktop migration planning, right? (MAP was formerly know as Vista Hardware Assessment)

 **Ann Coulter End Note: If you like what you are reading, and you are not at http://blogs.technet.com/tonyso, why not stop patronizing splogs and come visit?

There is a spiffy new TechNet forum for it here.

For example, this thread details the differences between MAP and SMS, including:

MAP
* Agent-less remote inventory
* Designed for one-time migration and deployment of OS and virtualization
* Out-of-the-box pre-defined Excel and Word reports for Windows Vista Readiness, Windows server 2008 Readiness, Virtualization Candidacy, as well as Office 2007 hardware assessments

SMS
* Agent-based inventory
* Designed for on-going management and operations
* Reporting is possible but will require customization efforts

For consumers trying to figure out desktop upgrade, there is

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx

A few friends over in the group that does security documentation for Microsoft prepared this survival guide. Enjoy. If you do, please leave comments.

Windows Server 2008 Security Survival Guide: Everything you need to evaluate, plan, deploy, maintain, or support Windows Server 2008 Security.

Learn

Windows Server 2008 Technical Library: Security and Protection

Evaluate

Introducing Security and Policy Management in Microsoft Windows Server 2008

Deploy

Support

TechNet Security Virus Alerts

Microsoft Security Bulletin Search

Windows Server 2008 Health Models

TechNet Troubleshooting and Support

These links to the Windows Server 2008 Technical Library will provide you with introductory and technical overviews and other resources.

To this guide I'd just one more resource: Windows SysInternals
 

As an IT Pro, what is your opinion of the Office 2007 new ribbon UI, called "Fluent"? Is it helping or hindering your user's productivity? Do you want to see more of it? Leave feedback and I will channel to the teams involved.

A recent Infoworld article says:

In a presentation at the Microsoft's 2008 Office System Developer Conference in San Jose, Calif. last month, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates characterized the Office Fluent UI as a success and said the company would be adding its capabilities to other systems. "We usability-tested it massively and, fortunately, it has had a very strong positive reaction," Gates said.

Sign up today for the free (signup required) Beta of SQL Server Data Services (SSDS).  SSDS are highly scalable, on-demand data storage and query processing utility services. Built on robust SQL Server database and Windows Server technologies, these services provide high availability, security and support standards-based web interfaces for easy programming and quick provisioning.

From the FAQ:

SQL Server Data Services is a storage and query processing utility providing mega scale, high availability, reliability, and geo-distributed data services in the Cloud. Customers use the service on-demand, with no up-front cost. It eliminates the initial investment in hardware and software and the on-going cost for storage administration, scale maintenance. Developers and Service providers can quickly run their on-demand applications with minimal infrastructure cost.

MSDN has launched a new site that hosts about 300 Free (Windows LiveID signin required) code samples so far that the community has decided to share. Check it out, you can find some usefull apps and tools, including:

Resource Page Description

Remote Tool for Windows CE and Windows Mobile based smart devices allows you to control processes running on the smart devices and view device information from the desktop computer.

Out Loud for Outlook

The "heroes" that run a little operation called microsoft.com have started a forum to exchange info with IT Pros worldwide. I had my reservations about the marketing folks going with the "heroes" theme for launch. Not because IT Pros are not unsung heroes, just 'cause most of them I know don't think of themselves that way. Most of them do what they do in order to help others get all they can out  of technology.

By pretty much any measure though, it doesn't get much more alpha-IT Pro than operations at microsoft.com.

Check out their new forum. In their own words, here's what you'll find:

"engineers who design, architect, deploy, manage, and sustain highly available, scalable, and secure on-line infrastructures based on Internet Information Services (IIS), SQL Server, and other Microsoft technologies. The major properties supported are www.microsoft.com, Microsoft® Update, Microsoft Download Center, MSDN® and TechNet.

We want to engage in real-world engineering discussions and share our experiences that have resulted from running some of the largest and most heavily visited sites on the Internet."
 

These guys are awesome. The kimono don't get more open than this folks.

Copy/paste and send the following link to your users who call with any issues for Vista SP1 install. They can select an option for Unlimited installation and compatibility support at no charge until March 18, 2009.

https://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&prid=11274&gprid=500921 

That's a few minutes of your "supporting end-users - including friends and family" life back, enjoy.

You already learned that the RSAT launched yesterday. I blogged it and about so did at least 24 other technet bloggers that I know (I can't read all the languages, but I *think* it got good coverage). More than 100 other bloggers picked it up overnight according to technorati.

Now you can enjoy the TechNet Edge video, and podcast. And the Windows blog.

splogscreen: if you are reading this on a site other than http://blogs.technet.com/tonyso, why not come to the original site for a visit?

The Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) enables IT administrators to remotely manage roles and features in Windows Server 2008 from a computer running Windows Vista with SP1. It includes support for remote management of computers running either a Server Core installation or the full installation option of Windows Server 2008. It provides similar functionality to Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack.

Download RSAT here:

• Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista 
• Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems            
  

I was a victim of ID theft this last week. Luckily, my credit card company (and their AI) were vigilant and phoned me on the weekend, and I was able to cancel the account before too much <financial> damage was done.

I am now still faced with the fact that this compromise throws all my personal system security in doubt. According to the 10 Immutable Laws of Computer Security:

Law #1: If a bad guy can persuade you to run his program on your computer, it's not your computer anymore

“It's an unfortunate fact of computer science: when a computer program runs, it will do what it's programmed to do, even if it's programmed to be harmful. When you choose to run a program, you are making a decision to turn over control of your computer to it. Once a program is running, it can do anything, up to the limits of what you yourself can do on the computer. It could monitor your keystrokes and send them to a website. It could open every document on the computer, and change the word "will" to "won't" in all of them. It could send rude emails to all your friends. It could install a virus. It could create a "back door" that lets someone remotely control your computer. It could dial up an ISP in Katmandu. Or it could just reformat your hard drive."

spogscreen: if you are reading this on any site other than http://blogs.technet.com/tonyso, please come on over to the original post.  

So, now all my personal systems are untrusted. This means a weekend of rebuilding my home network and the PCs from original media to ensure integrity, restoring required backups of music and pictures (thanks WHS!) and working through the following checklist:

• Contacting my financial institutions to ensure no accounts have been taken over or been created in my name without my knowledge. I get an average of 2 unsolicited “pre-approved” credit cards per week in the mail for example. If my bad guys have physical access to my recycling can – they can grab these and open accounts. I wouldn’t know for weeks. 

• Change my Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card, account, and Personal Identification Number (PIN).

• Contacting all creditors that the bad guys defrauded. For example, checking every online bill-payee – such as my long-distance telephone company.

• Pre-emptive filling out the ID Theft Affidavit at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/affidavit.pdf to dispute new unauthorized accounts.

• Contacting the fraud departments of the  three major credit bureaus at http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/recovering_idt.html#9 and place a Fraud Alert on my files. 

• File a report with my local Police Department, so I have a copy in case any creditors require proof of the crime.

• File a complaint FTC: Online at https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/widtpubl$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU03

• Contact my postal inspection service in case my bad guys has submitted a change-of-address form with the post office to redirect my mail, after sending in one of those “pre-approved” CCs: http://www.usps.com/nationalpremieraccounts/findlocators.htm.

• Notifying the Social Security Administration at http://www.ssa.gov or and IRS at http://www.irs.treas.gov.

Don’t throw away those old technology manuals and books once you take them out from under your old CRT to replace it with a sexy LCD.

Recycle them to bookmooch. It’s a free service, international, and growing every day (yay network effects!) with about 500 new books added WW per day.

There is a new TechCenter today, check out the Microsoft Online Services TechCenter. Is this the future of IT?

The intro information includes:

"Microsoft Online Beta services provide your company or organization with key communication and collaboration services over the Internet. By subscribing to one or more of the Microsoft Online services, your company is connected to a reliable hosted services platform that reduces the need to deploy and maintain on-premise IT services.

The Microsoft Online family of services delivers the following suite of services to businesses:

• E-mail and calendar functions — Advanced e-mail, calendar, contact, and task management features are available to Microsoft Online users using Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and Microsoft Outlook Web Access clients. E-mail services are delivered by Microsoft Exchange Online and include spam controls, virus scanning, and mobile device synchronization. Outlook Web Access enables users to access their e-mail from virtually any browser—whether in the office or on the road.
  
• Document collaboration and workspaces — Users can share and work together on documents with Microsoft SharePoint Online functionality. The SharePoint Online platform also enables you to create intranet sites to manage projects and project workflows, post calendar information, and assign tasks.
  
• Web conferencing — Microsoft Online users can hold online meetings with colleagues, customers, and partners in real time using Microsoft Office Live Meeting services. Office Live Meeting participants with Internet-connected computers can convene online to share documents, ask questions, work on a virtual "whiteboard," and chat with each other during the meeting.
  

The beta version of Microsoft Online is intended to allow companies to “test drive” its services and features. When you sign up for the service, your company is provisioned for a limited number of users and limited amount of mailbox and SharePoint Online storage. "

MSNBC reports that beginning next month, The BL will upload the quartos so that we will be able to compare images side-by-side, search and tag the texts.

Why is this important? We do not have his plays in his hand. The quartos are the closest thing we have, some of them have what is believed to be his hand-written notes in the margins. Eighteen of Shakespeare’s plays had appeared in quarto editions by the time of his death in 1616. Another three plays were printed in quarto before 1642. In 1623 an expensive folio volume of 36 plays by Shakespeare was printed, which included most of those printed in quarto.

Lo these many years, only those scholars that could afford to travel to and spend time in the Bodleian Library in Oxford and Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC could pore over the quartos in detail. 

In the 1603 quarto of Hamlet, we find:

Hamlet: To be, or not to be, I there's the point, To Die, to sleep, is that all? I all...

In the 1605 quarto we find:

Hamlet: To be, or not to be, that is the question, Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer...

The "first quarto" (Q1) also has a Queen/Horatio scene after Ophelia’s mad scene that suggests a conspiracy between Hamlet’s supporters to counter the King/Laertes conspiracy scene.

Hopefully all the participating libraries will offer this free, but you will be able to purchase and DL facsimile copies from Octavo.

949219  Description of the Hyper-V Release Candidate update for Windows Server 2008

949222  Virtual machines that were created on the beta version of the Hyper-V role do not start after the Hyper-V role is updated to a later version

949758  Availability of the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 management tools for the Hyper-V release candidate

939853  You receive an error message when you try to upgrade the WSv preview build installed on Windows Server 2008 RC0 or on Windows Server 2008 RC1 to the Windows Server 2008 RC1 build with Hyper-V beta or to the release version of Windows Server 2008

In the beginning, there was the Virtual Machine Remote Control (VMRC) client. The IT Pro, running Windows XP, used this to manage VMs running on Virtual Server 2005. Or not, sometimes he used Terminal Services direct to the VM, sometimes the tools native in Virtual Server,  but I digress.

In November 2007 TechNet Magazine highlighted VMRC+. Then System Central Virtual Machine Manager provided a self-service web page that allowed IT Pros to let bunches of other VM admins access their VMs.

32-bit, 64-bit, domain-joined, not domain-joined - things get complicated.

Today - to administer Windows Server 2008 from a Windows Vista SP1 machine (including the hyper-V role) you get:

Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista SP1 32-bit Edition (KB941314)

Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista SP1 64-bit Edition (KB941314)

Plus the Hyper-V management tools (MMC snap-in and associated UI)

x86: Update for Windows Vista (KB949758)
x64: Update for Windows Vista x64 Edition (KB949758)

and of course there are lots of pre-reqs and gotchas* involving WMI, firewalls, certificates and UAC settings.

*After installation, Hyper-V Manager is available under Administrative Tools on the control panel. There is no direct shortcut created for Virtual Machine Connection.

*In Windows Vista, Administrative Tools are not, by default available on the Start menu. To fix this:

• Right-click the Start button, click Properties and then click Customize next to the Start menu option
• Click "Display on the All Programs menu and the Start menu".

TechNet Edge has a new screencast on configuring Group Policy Preferences, including a really cool demonstration on how to configure filtering of Group Policy Preferences

Windows Server 2008 gives you 20 new Group Policy client-side extensions (CSEs) that expand the range of configurable settings in a Group Policy object (GPO). Also check out this spreadsheet listing the policy settings for computer and user configurations included in the Administrative template files (.admx/.adml) delivered with Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1).

For example, how useful would it be if you could do things like limit log sizes by programmatically setting regkeys? 

For more info see the  Group Policy TechCenter.

Others who downloaded Group Policy Settings Reference for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1 also downloaded:

1. Group Policy Settings Reference
2. Windows Server 2008 Component Posters
3. Group Policy Settings Reference Windows Vista
4. Group Policy Inventory (GPInventory.exe)
5. Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows Vista

Top Windows Server Security and Updates Downloads for March 2008:

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Five Language Standalone (KB936330)

Extended Security Update Inventory Tool: Use to detect security bulletins not covered by MBSA including MS04-028, February 2005 bulletins, and future security bulletins that are exceptions to MBSA.

Related Resources

1. Enterprise Scan Tool Knowledge Base Article
2. Best Practices: Security Patch Management
3. Systems Management Server 2003 Evaluation Software
4. TechNet Virtual Lab: Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003

Detection and deployment guidance for the February 8, 2005, security update release cycle

Microsoft Security Assessment Tool 3.5 (International): The revised version of the original Microsoft Security Risk Self-Assessment Tool (MSRSAT), released in 2004 and the Microsoft Security Assessment Tool 2.0 released in 2006. Security issues have evolved since 2004 so additional questions and answers were needed to ensure you had a comprehensive toolset to become more aware of the evolving security threat landscape that could impact your organization.  The tool employs a holistic approach to measuring your security posture by covering topics across people, process, and technology. Findings are coupled with prescriptive guidance and recommended mitigation efforts, including links to more information for additional industry guidance. These resources may assist you in keeping you aware of specific tools and methods that can help change the security posture of your IT environment.

Download a free trial of Windows Live OneCare – all-in-one PC care from Microsoft

Windows Server 2008 Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting documentation is now available in the Windows Server 2008 Technical Library for all server roles (for example, Terminal Services) and Server Fundamentals (for example, Core Security) in Windows Server 2008 operating systems. You can also access this documentation while reviewing an event in Event Viewer, by clicking the Event Log Online Help link. This will enable you to access troubleshooting knowledge specific to that event using your Web browser.

Top Issues include: