Search results matching tag 'networking'

The changing shape of SMBs – latest advisory panel video discussion

Microsoft Small Business — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Continuing our quarterly SMB panel discussions on the economic and business climate for SMBs, we’ve now got videos of the discussions on the Small Business website.

There are three videos, focusing on the following areas:

How do you view the economic climate changes for SMEs since the panel met in July 2009?
How would you summarise 2009 for SMEs and are there any particular trends you would highlight?
What changes do you see taking place within 2010 and beyond?

Panel members included Robert Epstein, Head of Small Business, Microsoft SMB UK; Stephen Pegge, Communications Director, Lloyds TSB Commercial; Stephen Alambritis, Head of Public Affairs Federation of Small Businesses; and Henry Eldelbaum, Director of AIMS, Accountants for Businesses.

Points arising from the discussions included:

A note of caution that although we may be nearing the end of the recession this is still a very difficult time for small businesses, and productivity and efficiency remain vital watchwords.
The panel expects to see the growth of an era of collaborative and flexible working, where innovative SMBs who are able to add real value to their customers, will prosper. ‘We will see the growth of the ‘network’ business, as opposed to the isolated individual. People will collaborate on certain projects but not be tied to one relationship or deal. SMBs will work together with a larger number of suppliers and customers with far greater fluidity than ever before; focusing on their core business and bringing in specialist as and when required.’
Technology lies at the heart of driving these remote and flexible working practice and ‘cloud computing’ or hosted online services will become widespread as businesses take advantage of agile IT infrastructures.

Read more about the panel's findings and watch the videos: The changing shape of SMBs.

Microsoft and Cisco: Joint UC Interoperability Support Statement

Keith Combs — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:00:00 GMT

I am often asked about various interop scenarios for a variety of products. So when I saw this pop up on the download center, I thought I’d bring this to your attention.

See http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=78814f28-2df5-4cff-a166-73622c7830bb for the document and contents. The contents are posted below.

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Direct SIP Interoperability

Microsoft has tested and supports Direct SIP interoperability between Cisco Unified Communications Manager versions 4.x and 5.x and Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007 R2, as documented on the Microsoft Unified Communications Open Interoperability Program website[1]. While Cisco offers and supports a SIP interface with Cisco Unified Communications Manager versions 4.x and 5.x, interoperability using this interface is only supported for systems that have been tested and documented on the Cisco Interoperability Portal[2]. Cisco has not tested Direct SIP interoperability between Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Cisco Unified Communications Manager versions 4.x and 5.x.

Cisco has tested and supports Direct SIP interoperability between Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Cisco Unified Communications Manager versions 6.1 and 7.0². Microsoft has tested and supports Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007 R2 with Cisco Unified Communications Manager version 6.1¹.

To facilitate interoperability support for our joint customers, both Cisco and Microsoft are members of TSANet, an independent third-party organization that helps coordinate multi-vendor support.

Cisco UC Integration for Microsoft Office Communicator

Microsoft provides support for its published APIs[3] for Microsoft Office Communications Server and Microsoft Office Communicator to all its ISV partners. Cisco, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, uses these published APIs to develop the Cisco UC IntegrationÔ for Microsoft Office Communicator product. Microsoft is pleased that Cisco has chosen to leverage Microsoft API’s to provide functionality for our mutual customers as an ISV.

Cisco, as the developer of the Cisco UC IntegrationÔ for Microsoft Office Communicator, provides support for this product. Microsoft will provide ongoing support for the published APIs for Microsoft Office Communications Server and Microsoft Office Communicator to our ISV’s, including Cisco. Microsoft does not provide direct support for the Cisco UC IntegrationÔ for Microsoft Office Communicator. The Microsoft UC platform will continue to evolve as the industry evolves and customer requirements change, and as with our broader ISV community, Microsoft is fully committed to working with Cisco so they can provide quality support for our mutual customers with future versions of Microsoft Office Communications Server and Office Communicator.

As Microsoft’s UC platform capabilities evolve, customer and ISV feedback is actively encouraged regarding UC platform evolution and announcing changes well in advance of shipping product. In doing so, Microsoft follows a consistent process that allows lead time for customers and ISVs to make required changes to their applications that rely on Microsoft software. In addition, Microsoft has specific technology adopter programs available for ISVs, including Cisco, where Microsoft provides support and roadmap information to help ISVs effectively build on the UC platform.

Remote Call Control

Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005 SP1, Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 offer an interface to third-party PBXs based on ECMA TR/87[4] called Remote Call Control. This capability allows Microsoft Office Communicator to control a PBX station set and to have station set presence reflected in Office Communicator. Microsoft generically supports the TR/87 interface, without requiring specific PBX vendor or version support.

Cisco supports Remote Call Control between Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005 and Office Communications Server 2007 and Cisco Unified Communications Manager versions 5.x, 6.x and 7.0 via Cisco Unified Presence 6.x and 7.0[5]. Cisco supports Remote Call Control between Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Cisco Unified Communications Manager 7.1.3 via Cisco Unified Presence 7.0.5⁵.

Remote Call Control is supported by Microsoft in Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and will continue to be supported for customers upgrading their Remote Call Control deployments to the next release of Office Communications Server. Microsoft has announced the deprecation of Remote Call Control in Office Communications Server. As a result, in the next release of Office Communications Server, new deployments of Remote Call Control will not be supported by Microsoft.

[1] http://technet.microsoft.com/UCOIP

[2] http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns728/networking_solutions_program_category_home.html

[3] http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb758719.aspx

[4] http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/techreports/E-TR-087.htm

[5] http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6837/tsd_products_support_series_home.html

Το ιδιότροπο Remote Desktop Connection

tdiogos — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Πως γίνεται να έχω RDP προς το sever από το Lan και όχι πάνω από WAN; Κάνω Ping το server και παίρνω απάντηση, τι συμβαίνει;

Πρώτα από όλα το ping είναι ICMP ενώ το RDP tcp port 3389. Άρα λειτουργία του πρώτου δεν συνεπάγεται και λειτουργία του 2ου.

Εδώ λοιπόν έχουμε την παρακάτω συνδεσμολογία.

Αριστερά είναι ο client στο κέντρο routers κλπ και δεξιά κάτω βρίσκεται ο server.

Σε περιπτώσεις σαν κι αυτή παίρνουμε network trace ταυτόχρονα στα δύο σημεία έτσι ώστε να φανεί αν υπάρχει κάποια διαφορά στα πακέτα που ανταλλάσσονται οπότε κάτι χάνεται-κόβεται ενδιάμεσα.

Client:

Εκ πρώτης όψεως τα πράγματα είναι περίεργα, ένα trace 10-15 πακέτα και τόσα “ωραία” χρώματα και μηνύματα. Προσέξτε στο frame 15 αναγρά φεται “TCP Previous Segment Lost” άρα φαίνεται πως κάτι δεν επιστρέφεται από το server. Το frame που ακολουθεί TCP Dup ACK 14# είναι άμεση αντίδραση του tcp όταν χάνονται πακέτα, έχασα το τάδε πακέτο παρακαλώ ξαναστείλτο. Το σύστημα από την άλλη μεριά με τη σειρά του πρέπει να ξαναστείλει αυτά που ζητούνται.

Με προφανή λοιπόν λόγο δυσλειτουργίας πάμε να δούμε τη μεριά του server.

Server:

Ωπ! κι από την άλλη μεριά τα ίδια χρώματα περίπου. Εδώ λοιπόν ο server λαμβάνει το TCP Dup ACK (frame 17) και κάνει αυτό που πρέπει Retransmission. Στέλνει δηλαδή αυτό που ζητήθηκε αλλά όμως τελικά η όλη διαδικασία αποτυγχάνει.

Το ερώτημα είναι γιατί; Αν κοιτάξετε λίγο προσεκτικά θα δείτε πως το frame 15 που έστειλε ο server δεν έφτασε ποτέ στον client να και ο λόγος του DUP Ack και των Retransmissions. Άρα λοιπόν ξέρουμε πως κάτι στέλνει ο server και δε φτάνει ποτέ απέναντι οπότε είναι προφανές πως οφείλεται στον ενδιάμεσο εξοπλισμό routers, firewalls κλπ.

Μη βιάζεστε όμως δεν τελειώσαμε ακόμα, παρατηρήστε στην 4η στήλη (Length) το πακέτο που χάνεται έχει μέγεθος 1434 bytes πολύ κοντά δηλαδή στο ethernet mtu. To mtu ορίζει το μέγιστο μέγεθος πακέτου που μπορεί να ταξιδέψει πάνω στο καλώδιο. Είναι προφανές λοιπόν κάποια συσκευή ενδιάμεσα έχει μικρότερο όριο mtu και κόβει αυτά τα πακέτα. Όπως φαίνεται και στο IP Header του 15 είναι ρυθμισμένο ώστε να αποτρέπει το fragmentation.

Εργαλεία για να βρεθούν τιμές όσον αφορά το mtu είναι το ping, δίνοντας ping –l <size> –f . Με την παράμετρο -l ορίζουμε το μέγεθος του icmp payload ενώ με το –f θέτουμε το flag “Do not fragment” στο IP Header αποτρέποντας το κόψιμο (fragmentation) του πακέτου μας. Δοκιμάζοντας λοιπόν με διάφορα μεγέθη θα πάρουμε απάντηση “Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.” που σημαίνει πως φτάσαμε το όριο του mtu.

Άλλο εργαλείο που ελέγχει αυτοματοποιημένα είναι το mturoute.exe

Forefront TMG RTM

jriemer — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Check out the post on the isablog here.. Congrats to the TMG team :)

RDP 7 for Windows XP and Windows Vista - now available for download

Keith Combs — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Now that we have released Windows 7 & Windows Server 2008 R2 to manufacturing, we wanted to share our plans to make the Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) 7.0 client available to Windows XP and Windows Vista. RDC 7 will ensure that when connecting to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 from an XP or Vista machines you are able to take advantage of the rich, advanced RDP7 features such as Media Player Redirection, True Multi-monitor support, etc.

Get the new download @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/results.aspx?pocId=&freetext=969084&DisplayEnglishAlso=on&DisplayLang=en.

See the RDP team blog post on the subject with all the juicy details at http://blogs.msdn.com/rds/archive/2009/08/21/remote-desktop-connection-7-for-windows-7-windows-xp-windows-vista.aspx.

Sprint launches 4G mobile network in Dallas and other markets

Keith Combs — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:00:00 GMT

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 2, 2009-- The wireless future just arrived in Dallas-Ft. Worth. Sprint (NYSE: S) today announced the launch of Sprint 4G mobile broadband throughout the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. As a result, streaming video, fast file downloads and uploads and turbo-charged web browsing are no longer just home, office or coffee shop benefits. Sprint 4G customers can enjoy a blazing fast wireless mobile broadband experience across the city, whether they’re working at a remote location, relaxing in the park, sitting at a favorite eatery or as a passenger on the freeway or public transportation.

Dallas-Ft. Worth is one of the first communities to enjoy 4G wireless connections from Sprint, the first national wireless carrier to test, launch and market 4G technology. Sprint 4G delivers download speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G.¹ Sprint 4G is like a hotspot designed to reach across Dallas-Ft. Worth. View 4G coverage at www.sprint.com/4G.

See the rest of the press release at http://newsreleases.sprint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=127149&p=irol-newsArticle_newsroom&ID=1349316&highlight=.

Head on over to the Sprint 4G area at http://www.sprint.com/4G.

DNSSEC Security Guide – update now available

Keith Combs — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:00:00 GMT

DNSSEC is a suite of extensions that add security to the DNS protocol. The core DNSSEC extensions are specified by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in RFCs 4033, 4034, and 4035, with additional RFCs providing supporting information. This guide provides detailed procedures and conceptual information to help you deploy Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) in your organization using Windows Server® 2008 R2.

DNSSEC is an important new feature that provides the ability for DNS servers and clients to trust DNS responses. This adds an additional layer of protection to your network by guaranteeing that the information received from a DNS server has not been modified or tampered with in any way.

The guide also provides information about using the Name Resolution Policy Table (NRPT). The NRPT is a new feature available in Windows Server 2008 R2 that allows you to configure DNS client settings and special behavior for specified names or namespaces. The NRPT is a key component used to configure client settings for DNSSEC-protected zones.

Get the updated guide @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=7a005a14-f740-4689-8c43-9952b5c3d36f.

Scalable Networking Pack revisited for 2008 - COULD STILL BE ISSUES!!

johnfer — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:00:00 GMT

A number of customers have been enquiring about the current situation of our Scalable Networking Pack in relation to Windows 2008 and thanks to Jane Lewis of the UK PFE team for running the ground work on this. So, Info and recommendations are as follows;

With Windows 2003 SP2 this setting was enabled by default. Many customers experienced issues post deployment and http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948496/jp. This was related to the fact that certain NIC cards especially Broadcom had some major compatibility issues. Network cards using Broadcom 5708 chipsets are known to have compatibility issues with the TCP Chimney Offload feature set and many a blog has been written around these issues;

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlprogrammability/archive/2008/05/27/sql-server-intermittent-connectivity-issue.aspx & http://blogs.technet.com/networking/archive/2008/11/14/the-effect-of-tcp-chimney-offload-on-viewing-network-traffic.aspx and http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942861

It was therefore advisable to “Switch off” the SNP via this registry key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters

EnableTCPA REG_DWORD 0x0 ßOK

EnableRSS REG_DWORD 0x0 ßOK

EnableTCPChimney REG_DWORD 0x0 ßOK

0 = disabled

1 = enabled default

With the release of 2008 I have been asked by many of my customers whether this remains an issue.

Well the answer is that IT COULD WELL BE!, however to mitigate the issue ensure that you have the LATEST NIC card drivers included as part of your server build, and checkout their comptibility with TCP Chimney Offload feature with the NIC Vendors

Windows 2008 specific reference to Scalable Networking Pack.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951037

As always - feedback welcome from the field

Kevin's "New Efficiency": Launch Event Resources

KevinRemde — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:00:00 GMT

E-mail Technical Questions: Kevin Remde – Kevin.Remde@microsoft.com
Feedback e-mail to my boss: Brian Moore – BriMoore@microsoft.com

Future Live, In-Person Event Information:
TechNet (for IT Pros): http://www.technetevents.com/kevinremde
MSDN (for Software Developers): http://www.MSDNEvents.com

NEW - IT Manager Community Hub - http://technet.microsoft.com/itmanagement
NEW - IT Manager Community Forum - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/itmanager

THRIVE: Me >> My Skills >> My Organization - http://www.microsoft.com/click/thrive/

25%-OFF Special TechNet Plus Subscription Promotion –
Yes, save $87.25 off of a TechNet Plus Direct Subscription, and even more on others!
Use Promotion Code TMSAM08 (that’s ZERO-8) at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/subscription

Introducing Windows 7

“The NEW Efficiency” Web Site - www.thenewefficiency.com

Windows 7 Enterprise Edition 90-day Trial
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/cc442495.aspx

Welcome to Winodws 7 - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/default.aspx

TechNet Edge - Windows 7 Screencasts - http://edge.technet.com/Tags/Windows+7/

Windows 7 Springboard - http://www.microsoft.com/springboard

Training Offers (Specifically for you launch attendees!) - www.microsoft.com/learning/careeroffers

Talking About Windows - http://www.talkingaboutwindows.com

The Windows Team Blogs (includes the Window 7 Team Blog, among others)
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/

Windows 7 Feature Walkthroughs - very useful screencasts...
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd320282.aspx

...such as the video "Migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7"
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd671583.aspx

TechNet Edge - Migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7 with the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Beta (USMT "Hardlink" feature)
http://edge.technet.com/Media/User-State-Migration-with-Windows-7/

MDOP – Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/mdop/default.aspx

The Official MDOP Blog - http://blogs.technet.com/mdop

Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 Home - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008

Windows Server 2008 Tech Center - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/2008/default.aspx

Introduction to Windows Server 2008 R2 - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/R2.aspx

Windows Server 2008 R2 Evaluation – http://www.microsoft.com/ws08eval

Windows Server 2008 R2 Reviewer's Guide (Beta) Document Download
http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/E/3/6E3E4529-27E3-48EC-B7E7-1A93242D3AE1/Windows_Server_2008_R2_Reviewers_Guide_(BETA).doc

Learning Resources - www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/learning.aspx

Technical Overview of DirectAccess in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=64966e88-1377-4d1a-be86-ab77014495f4&DisplayLang=en

Introducing Exchange Server 2010

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Home - http://www.microsoft.com/exchange

Webcasts and Podcasts - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb288465.aspx

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 TechCenter - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/2010/default.aspx

Exchange 2010 Trial Download - http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/2010/en/us/trial-software.aspx

TechNet Edge: Unified Communications Solutions Resources
http://edge.technet.com/unifiedcommunications/Default.aspx

Exchange 2010 TechNet Library
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124558(EXCHG.140).aspx

Exchange 2010 System Requirements
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996719(EXCHG.140).aspx

“You Had Me AT EHLO” – The Exchange Team Blog
http://msexchangeteam.com/

Forums - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/exchange2010/threads

Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 R2: Remote Desktop Services Virtualization (RDS-V)

cchameed — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Good Morning AskPerf Nation! Our Launch Series is at Day Seventeen. There are only five more days to go! Today we’re continuing on with Remote Desktop Services, with a look at Remote Desktop Services Virtualization (or RDS-V, for short). You may also hear RDS-V referred to as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). RDS-V provides remote desktop access to managed desktop environments hosted in Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 R2. OK, there are way too many technical buzzwords in that last sentence, aren’t there? Simply put, in the same way that RemoteApp makes applications available to users through individual Remote Desktop Services sessions, RDS-V provides access to specific virtual machines (desktops) through a similar mechanism. So, what does it really do?

RDS-V uses the Remote Desktop Connection Broker to determine where the user is redirected. If a user is assigned and requests a personal virtual desktop, RD Connection Broker redirects the user to this virtual machine. If the VM is not turned on, RD Virtualization turns on the VM and then connects the user. If the user is connecting to a shared virtual pool, then the RD Connection Broker checks to see if the user already has a connected session in the pool. If the user has a disconnected session then they are reconnected to that VM. If the user does not have a disconnected session, a VM in the pool is dynamically assigned to the user – if one is available. A quick note here, the Hyper-V server role has to be installed on the same system that has the RD Virtualization role service installed. Let’s take a quick look at the fairly simple high-level RDS-V topology:

The different components of RDS-V are as follows:

Connection Broker – given an authenticated user and their associated request for an application or desktop, the Broker determines which RDS Server or VM image can best satisfy the request
Redirector – RD Session Host Server whose purpose is to query the Broker on the RDS Client’s behalf. After querying the Connection Broker, the Redirector sends an RDP redirection packet back to the RDS Client
RDS Assignment Database – representation of the AD Schema extensions that provide end-user mappings to a particular VM Host image
Web Portal – web page that shows the user all the applications / desktops they can access
VM Host – Machine on which the VM images are hosted. The VM Host Agent service runs on this machine. The service is controlled by the Connection Broker and can perform certain actions such as spinning up a VM image

The diagram above breaks out the different components and their functions. Let’s take a closer look at the Connection Broker’s functions:

There are some basic steps that the Connection Broker performs. If the endpoint for the request is a farm, then the Connection Broker has to check the cache of user sessions to see if there is an existing disconnected session within that particular farm. The key here is that the disconnected sessions are farm-specific. If the user does not have a session, the Connection Broker chooses the best machine or VM image within the farm. There is also some machine logic that takes place. Connection Broker calls into the type-specific VM Plug-in to carry out what is called Placement. This action involves the plug-in move the necessary VM image to the best VM Host and then return the name of that host. For VM calls specifically (as opposed to RemoteApp requests), the Connection Broker calls into the VM Host Agent to spin up the VM image. This is called Orchestration. The return value of this step is a list of IP addresses for the final machine / image to which the RDS Client should be redirected. These steps are executed each time a user connects. In addition, the Connection Broker also has a “Pool Creator”. This component coordinates the creation of VM farms by directing VM Host Agents to create farm-joined VM instances out of template VM images.

The flowchart below outlines the logic that is followed by the Connection Broker when a VM connection request is made:

OK folks – with that, we’ve reached the end of today’s post. A couple of quick things to keep in mind:

Don’t install the Remote Desktop Virtualization (RD Virtualization) role service on the same system on which you have installed the Remote Desktop Connection Broker (RD Connection Broker) role service
The RD Virtualization server is only needed if you plan to deploy and configure virtual machines as virtual desktop pools or personal virtual desktops
Before configuring the Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) server to provide redirection to virtual desktops, ensure that the computer account for the RD Session Host server is a member of the Session Broker Computers group on the Remote Desktop Connection Broker (RD Connection Broker) server

Now, I know that we didn’t do a full walkthrough on the “How To’s” for this entire process. If that’s something that you would like us to go over – let us know. And now, we really are at the end of our post. I’ll be back tomorrow with a look at Remote Desktop Services IP Virtualization. Until tomorrow …

- CC Hameed

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