Duet 1.5 and IIS Sites using Host Headers

Overview

Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) allows websites that are hosted for a site name rather than the machine name or IP address of the system.  For example, the Duet server may need to be known as http://duet versus the NetBIOS name of the server for example “duetprd”; which would make the default web site address normally http://duetprd.  This is done by creating a web site in IIS and assigning a header as shown below during the Site Creation Wizard:

In order for the Duet installation to leverage this type of installation, two additional tasks must be completed and are shown below.  This is also required for uninstalling the website, which can be part of Support Pack and Hot Fix updates.

1 - Remove Host Headers during Duet installation/uninstalling

During the installation or uninstalling of the Microsoft Request Handler and Metadata Service components, you must remove the Host Header configuration from your site. 

To remove the Host Header, open your IIS Manager and navigate to your web site that will be used for the Duet components.  Right click on the web site and select “Properties”.   On the “Web Site” tab shown below, click on the “Advanced” Button to edit the Host Header information.

On the Advanced Web Site Identification box, select the relevant identity entry and click “Edit”.

In the edit dialog box, remove the entry for the “Host Header Value:” shown below as “DUET” and click ok to back out of the dialog boxes.

You may now complete the installation of the Microsoft Duet components. 

During the Request Handler installation, ensure the proper port for the web site is entered, in our case our TCP port was 8888.

After the installation is complete, make sure to reset the Host Header information to the proper site name.

2 – Set NTLM Authentication for Web Site

The Microsoft web services must be set to use Basic Authentication from SAP.  As per Microsoft KB article 294382, when the Host Header differs from the client machine, the web service requests will fail with 401 errors.

Two resolutions are available, first for Kerberos Authentication and the second is for NTLM.  For Duet the site should use NTLM.  In order to implement NTLM authentication on the website first find the site’s “Identifier” shown in the picture below as “1477372446”.

From a command prompt, use the ADSUTIL.vbs file to set “NTLM” as the authentication provider for this web site.  The VBS file is located in <system drive>:\inetpub\adminscripts.  The command to execute for this example would be:

cscript adsutil.vbs set w3svc/1477372446/root/NTAuthenticationProviders “NTLM”

To verify this completed successfully run:

cscript adsutil.vbs get w3svc/1477372446/root/NTAuthenticationProviders

And the system should return:

NTAuthenticationProviders                                              : (STRING)  “NTLM”

The site is now set for NTLM authentication and the website can be tested.

Duet 1.5 SP3 - What's Changing

Several updates will be delivered with the upcoming Duet 1.5 SP3 release.  This version will be released in just a few weeks so keep connected for the official release announcement.  In the meantime the following highlights a few of the key updates you can expect to see in upcoming release.  This release provides providing various improvements in Duet for both the end user and Duet administrators.

Improved client install experience (Single click client install)

Yes this means you will no longer need to use the installation script to apply various KB fixes and numerous Duet patch installations (this is my favorite improvement!).  Duet 1.5 SP3 client will be in all inclusive installation experience, the required pre-requisites will be verified and applied as required (does not include installation of Office or support packages)

This change will dramatically simplify the installation process and allow everyone to focus on the functionality and not how we are going to deploy the client.

Improved server install

On the server side you will find simplified release information notes to help direct more quickly to the required notes to be applied and indicate what service packs will shorten this list.  You have already seen the .Net and Java notes separated from the ABAP notes for SP2.  We will continue to refine this process to make the server side patching for Duet as easy as possible.

Removal of malicious code pop-up dialogs

This has been a troubling error for end users as the Duet actions could sometimes be indicated as a malicious code execution.  Great effort has been invested to remove the occurrence of these errors and avoid the potential concern for the end users.

Supportability

Much effort has been devoted to improving the supportability of Duet in SP3.  This includes: making the CCD more robust by using explicit APIs to access client details, improved logging to keep a series of smaller log files, a mechanism to receive client log files from a central location, and improvements in the log files increasing the actionability of the messages being logged.    

Encryption Change

This change will alleviate some issues where encrypted data could not always be retrieved and could result in failures for the user.  The encryption algorithm used for encrypting the personalization data is updated and will result in a more stable experience for the user under all circumstances.

Various Bug Fixes

Of course the release also delivers various bug fixes for open issues. 

Disclaimer

All features are subject to change until the Duet 1.5 SP3 is released.

Duet 1.5 SP2 Hotfix 2 Available

A new client hotfix is available for installation.  Duet 1.5 SP2 HF2 will be published as Microsoft KB article 973706. This patch addresses some potential cases of which can result in Outlook becoming unresponsive.   It is highly recommended if you have been experiencing these issues.  The patch requires SP2 HF1 as pre-requisite level. 

This patch does not require any unique deployment actions as was required for deployment of Duet 1.5 SP2 HF1, see details about this patch in our earlier blog post here.  The hotfix can be deployed independently of the Duet server SP2 patch component. 

The following tables recap the client installation requirements for both x86 and 64 bit clients. 

Client installation requirements:

As a reference the following shows the download location for each of the Duet patch levels and helps associate the functional release with the technical release articles.

The client installation script template has been updated to incorporate the latest patch level.  You can find details about the script and download the latest version from the Microsoft Duet Community.

This script version includes an additional parameter to control the highest client patch level to install.  This provides an easy method to create installations at various patch levels as required.

After you are complete with the client patch, don’t miss the latest server patch available – SP2 patch 2.

Happy patching!

Duet Log Viewer Tool

Log Viewer Overview

If you have been working with Duet you have probably seen the Duet support resources request the client log files to analyze the client activity.  You too can look at these log files with the help of the Duet Log viewer utility.  The Duet client logs activity to local log files, with the use of the Duet client log viewer tool you can leverage these logs to gain insight to potential issues.

The tool is available for download from the Microsoft Duet Community site.  This utility provides a convenient method for reviewing the Duet log files on the client system.  The following sections will point out some of the basic features of the tool which you can use to investigate issues.  This tool is only intended for use by skilled administrators who have the need to gain insight into actions and/or issues or just want to find out if everything is working fine on the Duet client computer.

Log Viewer Download from Duet Community

Installing and Using the Log Viewer

After you download the tool from the link above you simply need to extract the contents to the local computer.  You do not install the tool, simply run the “LogViewer.exe” file to start the tool.  You can use the tool on your own computer or temporarily copy and run the tool on the Duet client computer.  The Log Viewer must to have access to the log files, ideally it is used on the Duet client computer to ease access to log files, but we can gather the files and review the files centrally as well.  The following figure shows the initial view of the log viewer after it has been started

Duet Team @ WPC 2009

Greetings from New Orleans! 

We are at the Microsoft WPC 2009 conference this week.  You can find the Duet team in the Business Productivity area in the Expo hall to discuss all things Duet.  Our Duet COE team will present a Hands-on Lab Wednesday (HOL131 Enable SAP Business Processes with Duet for Microsoft Office and SAP).  This session will provide attendees an opportunity to work first hand with the Duet scenarios.

 Additionally several partners will present Duet solution offerings and provide feedback from the field, these sessions will be presented on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Business Productivity Solution Theater. 

 We look forward to seeing you @ WPC!

Duet 1.5 Updates - New hotfix

Our team has been busy the last few weeks getting the latest patch for Duet ready for implementation.  I have several minor updates to share in this general update.

Duet 1.5 SP2 HF1 Now Available

This is the latest patch for Duet and offers an expanded set of support and corrects some important issues in Duet.  This patch became available last Friday June 19th.  When applying the patch you must take care to remove the cache of existing Duet client as the default encryption of the local cache is removed with this patch.  You can find details on this upgrade process and a revised client installation script @ the Microsoft Duet Community.

A recap of the product availability by patch level:

*KB 972625 - The Duet 1.5 SP2 HF1 from Microsoft is released as well. Please contact MS Support (duetatsp@microsoft.com) for getting info for Microsoft HotFix until KB article is available

Installation Sequence

I am also revisiting the installation sequence requirements posted a few weeks ago.  The following tables include the required client installation sequence to reach the current Duet 1.5 SP2 HF1 installation level.  Again refer to the client installation script which already accounts for all of these steps in the installation script @ the Microsoft Duet Community.

Again we are working to simplify this installation procedure in a coming release so stay tuned for updates and we have already received plenty of customer feedback that we need to simplify this process.

Initial Installation Findings

I have already had the opportunity to implement the patch in a customer landscape.  The biggest gotcha is simply missing the step to remove the local metadata cache before upgrading the client.  If you do perform this action out of sequence no harm is done to the client however the user will experience an error immediately on start-up of the Duet utility as shown below.

This error is corrected by carrying out the “RemoveCache” option with Duet client repair tool.  After the cache is removed restarting of the Duet utility will proceed with the configuration of the client. 

Other things of note in this release is the re-enabling of the some of the detailed support options in the SAP Client support utility, providing you easy access to some of the CRT commands and sync monitor.

Also don’t forget to apply the update group policy template provided with the fix, this is provided with the SP2 HF1 KB.  Of course we have additional patches on the SAP server to apply but nothing unique from an application procedure on the SAP side.

Updated Sample Duet Deployment Script Available

After using the client installation script on several customer sites it was apparent the prior sample script lacked some of the features required to make Duet deployments run smoothly.  We have taken the lessons learned from those customer experiences and rolled it into a revised sample client installation script. 

Please discontinue the use of the older template (from KB957860) and refer to the revised script available on the Microsoft Connect site at https://connect.microsoft.com/content/content.aspx?ContentID=12633&SiteID=426

 Key updates in the script include:

1.  Re-aligned support for required pre-requisites up to Duet 1.5 SP2.

2.  Covers complete installation to a Duet 1.5 SP2 level, both for upgrade and new installation scenarios.

3.  Script now installs CCD support tool on the client.

4.  Dramatically improved logging, including the facility for an administrator to monitor the success of each client installations centrally.

The connect site includes a detailed explanation on how to use use the script and offers a summary of the steps the script carries out so I wont' re-iterate the steps here.

The script has been field tested and has incorporated feedback from several customer projects.  Please reply with your feedback to help us fine tune this process.

In a related note we are working closely with the product team to roll many of these script based actions into the core Duet installer.  Once the details are set we can share the revised process, but you should at least know we are working to make the installation process a better experience.

New Duet 1.5 Request Handler Configuration Option

Depending on your Duet Scenarios, you may experience issues with the size of your Duet Request Handler's mailbox size, such as exceeding the limits setup by your Exchange Administrator.  The Request Handler account is responsible for sending the messages from Duet to your clients.  The Reporting and Analytics scenario is a good example where you could see this issue very quickly.  If your Duet system is sending out an average of 200 reports that are two megabytes in size during a day to clients, the mailbox can exceed 400 MB.  If your Exchange Administrator has setup limits on the mailbox of 250 megabytes, your Request Handler may no longer be able to send out reports.  To avoid this issue, the Request Handler now offers a configuration option so that it will not store the sent items.

If you have implemented the Duet 1.5 Service Pack 1 (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=961122) or later for the Request Handler Service, you now have the option to not keep the sent items in the Request Handler's mailbox.  Saving items in the sent items folder is the default option for the Request Handler, so you must manually perform the steps below after the installation to avoid saving items.  To set this option:

• Edit the web.config file in the RequestHandler virtual directory with Notepad (typically on the Duet Server in C:\InetPub\RequestHandlerRoot\RequestHandler)
• In the web.config file, look for the lines:
  <!-- Set SaveInSentItems to false if you don't want to save sent control messages in the mailbox-->
  <add key="SaveInSentItems" value="true"/>
• Set the "SaveInSentItems" value to "False"
• Save the file
• Restart IIS by opening a command prompt and executing "iisreset /noforce"

The Duet Request Handler should no longer be saving sent items. 

New Duet Demo Available

In case you are not in the habit of checking in on the Microsoft.com/Duet or Duet.com websites like I am you should be alerted to some great new content that is available on these sites.  The sites include new business area specific scenarios outlining how Duet provides value to these groups - you can see the value prop for IT, HR, Sales, & Finance groups.

The updates also deliver quick on-demand videos showing many of the Duet scenarios in action.  These are a great way to get a taste of what Duet functionalities look like and what value they can provide.  At this time the following scenarios are featured:

• Reporting and Analytics
• Time and Leave Management
• Workflow Management
• Sales Management
• Budget Monitoring
• Recruitment Management

I think you will find these resources very useful to gain insight of the Duet story and see the product first hand. 

On an alternate note last week I attended the SAP SAPPHIRE event in Orlando.  It was great to see the continued enthusiasm for the Duet solution.  It was great to get feedback from our customers and partners about the product.  Here is a view of the Duet Demo area in the Microsoft booth.

Duet 1.5 and Office 2007 SP2

Office 2007 SP2 was recently released and offers serveral improvements for the Office system.  You can find more information about this Office support pack - learn more.

This support pack release is an important release for Office, however when looking at the support pack with the view of Duet we must ensure the changes are all compatible with Duet.  At this time Duet 1.5 is targeted to support Office 2007 SP2 beginning with Duet 1.5 SP2 patch 1.  At this date the latest Duet release, 1.5 SP2 is not certfied for use with Office 2007 SP2.

Please keep this requirement in mind as your organization begins planning the deployment of Office 2007 SP2 to clients running Duet.

Duet 1.5 SP2 - what do I install on the client computer?

The latest patch for the Duet 1.5 was released this week.  This patch promises to resolve some the identified issues and get Duet closer to a general release milestone.

I am revisiting a prior topic regarding the requirements to install the Duet client components as this seems to be causing some confusion.  The Duet 1.5 patch installation guide does highlight these requirements but I am presenting an alternate view of these requirements and adding a few more hints.

One important element to note is that Duet 1.5 SP2 is the first version to offer 64 bit client support, so the following is broken down by x86 and 64 bit clients.  In the past we have only addressed x86 clients.

x86 Clients

The following table outlines the requirements to move existing Duet clients and new clients to the latest Duet 1.5 SP2 patch level.  As SP2 is a patch for x86 it is not a complete install package thus you can't start the installation process directly from this level.  Refer to the table below to see the installations which are required to arrive at a client with the Duet 1.5 SP2 level.

As indicated a new client computer will start with Duet 1.5 RTM installation, followed by 1.5 SP1, 1.5 HF2 and 1.5 SP2.  The patch installation requirements depend on your starting point for your clients.  Note that the Duet 1.5 RTM start point requires you have both DVDs available to start the new installation.  The following table summarize the location where you can each of the released versions.

64bit Clients

As noted 64 bit client support has been added with the Duet 1.5 SP2 release.  As this is is the first version to support 64 bit clients the 1.5 SP2 release is full installation for these clients. 

As this is the first Duet 1.5 version offering 64 bit client support the installation is completely delivered in the SP2 package.

Happy installations!

Duet and Outlook Add-ins

A frequent project speed bump comes during the integration of Duet for Microsoft Office and SAP and Microsoft Outlook or Exchange Add-ins.  Add-ins are frequently added within any environment to extend the functionality offered by Outlook.  Duet is an example of an add-in that will be added.

The large number of add-ins delivered from numerous vendors means that we sometimes find conflicts when implementing Duet into environments with existing add-ins.  In our experience the most problematic add-ins for Duet are archiving related add-ins, however all add-ins should be tested in your environment.

A couple of examples of the issues which have been experienced:

• An archiving solution might start archiving Duet configuration messages stored in the user mailbox causing Duet functions to be impacted
• Add-ins might touch Outlook items with extended Duet data properties causing unplanned changes to the Duet properties
• An archiving add-in could start archiving active Duet items. As Duet items are associated with SAP system data this can lead to data problems.

During the initial project analysis existing Outlook add-ins must be investigated.  This will head off potential surprises later.  Once the add-ins in the environment are identified, test scenarios should be included to ensure the add-in and Duet function correctly together.  The test scenarios must verify that the Duet functionality and add-in functionality do not conflict.  Test cases must test both add-in and Duet functionality.

How to find Outlook Add-ins

Outlook 2003:

• Tools -> Options
  


• Click on the Other Tab and click the Advanced Options button
  


• Click the Com Add-ins Button
   
  
  

Also check for Exchange Add-ins by clicking Add-in Manager

Outlook 2007:

• Click Tools -> Trust Center
  


• Click on the Add-ins Tab
  


• At the bottom of the window select Com Add-ins from the drop down list then click Go.
  

Also check for Exchange Add-ins by selecting Exchange Client Extensions in the drop down list then click Go.

There are some add-ins that usually perform nicely with Duet and a few that have known issues.  Below is a short list of add-ins that we have seen successfully implemented with Duet, but they should always be tested in each environment to ensure quality:

• TechSmith SnagIt (7.0 +)
• Microsoft Office Communicator
• Microsoft Business Contact Manager
• Microsoft Office Live Meeting
• Microsoft Office One Note
• Microsoft SharePoint
• Microsoft Office Groove
• Zantaz Enterprise Archive Solutions (EAS) (6.0)

The list of add-ins with known integration issues are below.  The Duet teams and the add-in providers will continue to work on the integration issues to resolve the integration issues, so check with your local contact to verify the current status.  Note that this list does not necessarily indicate a fault within the add-in, as the error could come from Duet, the add-in, or even Outlook.

• Symantec Enterprise Vault (all versions)
• PKWare PKZip
• TechSmith SnagIt (older than 7.0)
• SAP Calendar Add-in (all versions)
• McAffee (older than 8.0)
• Interwise

Do you need more information about Duet?  Refer to the Duet.com site for a complete overview of the solution.  Additional Duet blog topics are covered in the SAP Developer Network site, you might find these blog topics useful - SDN Duet Blog

Are you using additional add-ins with Duet?  Continue the conversation by adding your comments on this posting.  Share your findings with us and the rest of Duet community.  Together we can build a full reference of known add-ins that function with Duet. 

Please stay tuned to this blog. In part 2 of this blog topic I will explain how to use a script to find installed add-ins on computers.

Duet 1.5 Client Install Requirements

Automating Duet Client Deployment

A common challenge for Duet implementation teams is developing a process to deploy the required client components to the end users in a production landscape.  Duet has various prerequisites which must be met prior to the installation of the Duet client component. 

I have found it useful to think of the deployment process in 3 phases: I) Validation, II) Pre-Req Component Install, III) Duet Install.

Phases I and II could/should be run prior to the intended Duet deployment to avoid longer deployment events, i.e. installation of .NET, dealing with SP deployments prior to deployment, etc.  Phase III is the actual Duet client installation, this has an external dependency on the group policy updates being available and pushed to the user to utilize some of the parameters from the policy during the install and ensure the client is ready for use once it is installed. 

Phase I: Validation
1.  Hardware *verify with install guide 
  1.1  CPU > 2.4 GHz
  1.2  RAM > 1 GB
  1.3  Disk > 2 GB
2.  Software  
  2.1  OS One of the following OS/SP levels
    2.1.1  Windows XP Professional Edition, Service Pack 2 (SP 2) or Service Pack 3 (SP3)
    2.1.2  Windows XP Professional Tablet PC Edition, Service Pack 2 (SP 2) or Service Pack
    2.1.3  Vista Service Pack 1 (SP 1) Business or Enterprise Edition
  2.2  Office One of the following Office/SP levels
    2.2.1  Office System 2003 Professional or Enterprise Edition, Service Pack 3 (SP 3)
    2.2.2  Office Professional Plus 2007 or Office Enterprise 2007, Service Pack 1 (SP 1)

Phase II: Prerequisite Installation
1.  Patches – applied where version exists on client   
  1.1  XP   
    1.1.1  XP Security Patch - Security Update for Windows XP (KB899587) 
  1.2  Office 2003   
    1.2.1  Office Outlook 2003 Hot Fix - KB 945430 
    1.2.2  Update for Office 2003 (KB907417) 
  1.3  Office 2007   
    1.3.1  Office Outlook 2007 Hot Fix - KB 948716 
2.  Other Components   
  2.2  Office Components  
    2.2.1  Install Office 2003 Web Components, must be installed if clients are Office 2003 
    2.2.2  Set to run local - if not already 
      2.2.2.1 ".Net Programmability Support (o11, o12): Word, Excel, Outlook, InfoPath, and Office 2003 Web Components"
      2.2.2.2 Smart Tag .NET Programmability Support
      2.2.2.3 Outlook Message component => Outlook Address Book
  2.3 .NET  Framework
    2.3.1 Install .NET 2.0 (*would be installed by Duet installer) 
    2.3.2 Install .Net 3.0 SP1 (*would be installed by Duet Installer but suggested as pre-deployment item) 
  2.4 Other  
    2.4.1 Vista only - re-register vbscript.dll & jscript.dll via regsvr32.exe 

Phase III: Client Installation
1.  Install Check  
  1.1 User executing has admin rights 
  1.2 Office Applications stopped, if not dialog to close, processes below 
    1.2.1  WINWORD.EXE
    1.2.2  EXCEL.EXE
    1.2.3  MSACCESS.EXE
    1.2.4  POWERPNT.EXE
    1.2.5  OUTLOOK.EXE
    1.2.6  INFOPATH.EXE
    1.2.7  COMMUNICATOR.EXE
    1.2.8  MSPUB.EXE
    1.2.9  ONENOTE.EXE
    1.2.9  GROOVE.EXE
2.  Client Install  
  2.1   Duet Installation -  Options (key items to define in script or via group policy) 
    2.1.1 TRUSTED_SENDERS - configure this via group policy
    2.1.2 READSERVICE_URL - set to Duet Server read service URL, can be defined in Group Policy rather than install
    2.1.3 "PATH - local install path, default is %systemdrive%\\Program Files\Microsoft
Information Bridge\1.8\Framework"
    2.1.4 CHECK_SERVICE_URL - set to YES to force validation, not required in script
    2.1.5 ACCEPT_EULA - set to YES to accept terms
   2.2 Duet Install Error Codes to Catch 
     2.2.1 Error_DOTNETINSTALLFAILURE, Error_OWC11INSTALLFAILURE, Error_SQLINSTALLFAILURE, Error_VSTOINSTALLFAILURE
  2.3 Install Duet 1.5 SP1 Hot Fix (HF2)
3.  Post Install  
  3.1  Start Duet Utility 
  3.2  Client Deployment - metadata download 
  3.3  Trusting infopath forms as required 
  3.4  Potential need to trust addinloader.dll 

Sample Script 
A sample deployment script is available as a starting point to develop your own deployment script to fit your individual landscape and deployment requirements.  This is only a sample for starting your own script to fit your specific needs.  This sample script can be downloaded from the following link – download.  Thanks to the development team for providing a starter sample script.