Greetings, all,

Christa Anderson here with another MVP blog roundup. This week, MVPs have created lots of new resources. For example, for those interested in Remote Desktop Services, there’s the latest edition of the “VDI Smackdown” (a vendor-neutral analysis of VDI offerings), an evaluation of Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2012, and a new TechNet article series on deploying VDI with Windows Server 2012. Need to troubleshoot Group Policy? A new German-language guide is available. MVPs are also helping with how-to, testing AD and SYSVOL replication with PowerShell, scripting Group Policy management, and showing how to use SCVMM 2012 SP1 create Hyper-V cluster shared volumes, automate patching, and deploy load balanced servers.

If you need to know the latest Knowledge Base articles or Management Packs, MVPs point out the ones they find most important in their blogs and have pointed to a roundup of key hotfixes for clustering. MVPs also
point out new third-party offerings for working with Windows Server 2012 and System Center.

Finally, one MVP asks: why are you still deploying Windows Server 2003? 

App-V

Ruben Sprujit

• VDI Smackdown: Head-to-head analysis of Citrix XenDesktop, Citrix VIAB, Dell vWorkspace, Microsoft Windows8/Server2012 and VMware View 5.2 + more 

Cluster

Robert Smit

• Trustworthy Computing–#Cloud Cloud #Security #Readiness #Tool
• Microsoft #TechDays 2013 Netherlands on March 7 & 8 #Hyperv #Cloud #TechDaysNL  

Directory Services

Jorge de Almeida Pinto

• (2013-03-02) Testing Active Directory Replication Latency/Convergence Through PowerShell
• (2013-03-03) Testing SYSVOL Replication Latency/Convergence Through PowerShell 

Leonardo Ponti

• Sesiones de uso de la herramienta “LepideAuditor for Active Directory”
• Transferir Roles FSMO hacia otro Domain Controller con comandos AD-PowerShell
• VIDEO-Utilizando la herramienta LepideAuditor for Active Directory by LeoPonti
• Error al dar alta registro Reverse DNS
• Recuperar objetos de Active Directory con “LepideAuditor for Active Directory”
• Generando reportes en “LepideAuditor for Active Directory”
• VIDEO-Utilizando la herramienta LepideAuditor for Active Directory Part 2 by LeoPonti 

Roberto di Lello

• Windows Server 2012, Utilizando Server Manager para administrar nuestra arquitectura de Directory Services {ScreenCast}
• DirectAccess, que es y como implementarlo en nuestra Arquitectura de Active Directory. {Lab DirectAccess-Parte 3 

Group Policy

Darren Mar-Elia

• Group Policy Preferences and Environment Variables 
• Cool listing of PowerShell-based Group Policy Scripts
   

Matthias Wolf

• Der große Group Policy Troubleshooting Guide Teil 1/3 ("The Big Group Policy Troubleshooting Guide: Part 1 of 3" 

Hyper-V

Aidan Finn

• MVP Summit 2013
• Azure Services For Windows Server
• Unveil Of Cisco Nexus 1000V Distributed Switch For Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V
• Adding Cluster To VMM Results in 13805 Error
• Creating A WS2012 Hyper-V CSV Using VMM 2012 SP1 Via SMI-S
• Finding Hotfixes For WS2012 Hyper-V And Failover Clustering
• Troublesome KB2799728 (CSV Paused State/Offline Patch) Replaced By KB2813630
• Enabled ODX In Hosts With Non-Supporting SAN Can Cause CSV Stability Issues
• Using VMM 2012 SP1 Baselines & Compliance To Orchestrate Patching Of Hyper-V Hosts
• Win A Copy of Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Installation And Configuration Guide Book
• Deploying Load Balanced Servers Using VMM 2012 SP1 (And Citrix NetScaler)
• New “More Affordable” WS2012 CiB From Fujitsu 
• Why Are You Still Deploying Windows Server 2003?
   

Hans Vredevoort

• HP adds Windows Server 2012 Support for several HP ProLiant G6 Servers
• SMB 3.0 and ODX both appear in EMC VNX mainstream release
• Troubleshooting Host based Backup of Hyper-V Guests
• Hyper-V Virtual Switch Extension Cisco Nexus 1000V
• Wiki for Windows Server 2012 Cluster Hotfixes

Thomas Maurer

• System Center 2012 SP1 Configuration Analyzer
• Cisco announced Nexus 1000V for Hyper-V with Microsoft SCVMM integration
• List of Hyper-V and Failover Cluster Hotfixes for Windows Server 2012
• Microsoft Live from CeBIT 2013 with me as an Expert for Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center 

Remote Desktop Services

Benny Tritsch

• Is Windows Server 2012 RDS finally good enough? 

Freek Berson

• Microsoft TechNet Magazine article series on VDI in Windows Server 2012, now online!
• RDV Team: Microsoft VDI vs. VMware View: Freedom of Choice
• Retrieve usernames for files in a User Profile Disks (UPD) share in VDI environments 

Small Business Server

Amy Babinchak

• Microsoft Partner Benefits
• Data Centers are Concentrated in Natural Disaster Zones. Problem or Opportunity? 
• Join us for a chat with the SMBKitchen Crew
   

Damir Dizdarevic

• MSNetwork conference is getting closer–free passes for community members! 

Elvis Gustin

• VPN to Azure with TMG 

System Center Cloud and Datacenter Management

Daniele Grandini

• A Network virtualization primer (#sysctr #scvmm) 

Flemming Riis 

• IBM Storwize V7000 Virtual Machine Manager 2012 SMI-S Integration 

James van den Berg

• #Microsoft Windows Azure Services on Windows Server (WASWS) samples for Service Providers #winserv #WindowsAzure #SPF
• #Microsoft Service Bus 1.0 for Windows Server #WindowsAzure #Cloud #Winserv #Powershell
• Scaling Applications Using Microsoft #WindowsAzure #Cloud Services Poster 
• Download Now : #Office365 Security White Paper from #Microsoft #Cloud 
• #Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1 Configuration Analyzer #sysctr #SCVMM 

John Joyner

• Use the Configuration Analyzer to troubleshoot System Center components 

Marin Frankovic

• Long time no write 

Marnix Wolf

• Updated MP: Failover Cluster MP, 6.0.7005.0
• Updated MP: Network Load Balancing MP, 6.0.7004.0
• HOT NEWS!!! Whitepaper ‘The Saga Continues’ Available For Download!
• Be Careful When Configuring Agent Heartbeat Interval. Otherwise Tons Of EventID 20022 & 20021…
• DMZ Monitoring Of Windows 2003 Servers Fails: Root Certificate Not Accepted
• System Center Advisor (SCA) Is A Free Service!
• Final Call: Whitepaper ‘The Saga Continues’ Available For Download AND JOIN THE WEBINAR! 
• A Dashboard Is Nothing But A Dashboard…
   

Steve Buchanan

• Export computer list from Active Directory 
• New System Center book & SC troubleshooting tool
• Deduplication for Microsoft DPM using Crunch 
• Protecting Server 2012 VMs on Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V go into Saved State
   

System Center Configuration Manager

Marcela Berri

• Lo nuevo en certificación: Windows Server

• PXE on remote DP’s failed after upgrade to ConfigMgr 2012 SP1
• Which Mobile Device Management Settings are available in ConfigMgr 2012 SP1?
• ConfigMgr 2012: Notes from the field at Techdays NL 2013 
• XenApp Connector for ConfigMgr 2012 (SP1) released 

Other

Marcelo de Moraes Sinsic

• New SCOM Management Pack for Windows Server 2012 and 2012 SCCM
• System Center 2012 SP1 Configuration Analyzer