October 2009 – Technology Rollup Mail - Manageability

News

Steve Rachui's Manageability blog - ConfigMgr/OpsMgr

https://blogs.msdn.com/steverac/

System Center WebLog by Russ Slaten

https://blogs.msdn.com/rslaten/

Configuration Manager & SMS

Announcing System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R3

Today, the System Center team is excited to share with you our plan to release System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R3.  This new release of the ConfigMgr is packed with some extremely cool features, which over the coming months we plan to share with you in different ways.

https://blogs.technet.com/systemcenter/archive/2009/09/08/announcing-system-center-configuration-manager-2007-r3.aspx

SCCM AMT Provisioning Flowcharts from Steve Rachui

https://blogs.msdn.com/steverac/archive/2009/09/02/sccm-amt-provisioning-flowcharts.aspx

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 Now Available

MDT 2010 includes custom actions and task sequence templates for your System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 RC environment, enabling you to start deploying Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 quickly and cost effectively.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee376932.aspx

WSUS 3.0 SP2 released

WSUS 3.0 SP2 has been released. Find out more information and where to download it in the following blogpost

https://blogs.technet.com/carlossantiago/archive/2009/09/01/wsus-3-0-sp2-released.aspx

Paul Thompson new OSD tools beta

As part of our deployment of Windows 7 to Microsoft IT's users we developed some tools to enhance the experience. In case you have similar needs, we're pleased to be able to share them with you.

https://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/pthomsen/archive/2009/09/07/141124.aspx

The Configuration Manager Support Team Blog

https://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/

The Deployment Guys

https://blogs.technet.com/deploymentguys

System Center Configuration Manager Solutions

https://blogs.technet.com/mwiles/

Carlos Santiago's Manageability Blog - SCCM/Softgrid

https://blogs.technet.com/carlossantiago/

Michael Niehaus' Windows and Office deployment ramblings

https://blogs.technet.com/mniehaus/

Paul Thomsen at myITforum.com

https://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/pthomsen/default.aspx

Jeff Gilbert's Web blog at myITforum.com

https://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/jgilbert/default.aspx

Operations Manager & MOM

Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 7 Support

Support is now available for running Operations Manager 2007 SP1 & R2 on Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 7

https://blogs.technet.com/momteam/archive/2009/09/18/opsmgr-2007-sp1-and-r2-now-officially-support-windows-server-2008-r2-and-windows-7.aspx

Operations Manager PowerShell Survey

Operations Manager being one of the first products to ship with a PowerShell Snapin of 80+ cmdlets is looking for feedback on that very subject.  Please complete a quick 10 question survey on connect at the following link.

https://connect.microsoft.com/opsmgr

Common Issues the Operations Manager team get in product support

Common issues by OpsMgr Admins all over the globe and suggested fixes from the product team.

https://blogs.technet.com/operationsmgr/archive/2009/09/23/some-common-operations-manager-issues-we-get-here-in-product-support.aspx

Guide: Opening Console Views and executing tasks from reports

SCOM 2007 reporting infrastructure has an ability to invoke a view or execute a task defined in a Management Pack from a report. Learn how to leverage this functionality.

https://blogs.msdn.com/eugenebykov/archive/2009/08/14/opening-console-views-and-executing-tasks-from-reports.aspx

The Operations Manager Support Team Blog

https://blogs.technet.com/operationsmgr/

Other

System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) 2008 R2 RTMs, Evals Available

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 has RTM’d. Please experience for yourself what the 10,000+ people who have previously downloaded our ‘Release Candidate’ plus organizations such as Continental Airlines, Lionbridge Technologies, and Indiana University have seen with VMM 2008 R2! A 180-day evaluation version is now available, too, on the Microsoft Download site.

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=292de23c-845c-4d08-8d65-b4b8cbc8397b&displaylang=en

System Center Virtual Machine Manager

https://blogs.technet.com/scvmm/

The App-V Blog

https://blogs.technet.com/Softgrid/

Documents

Operations Manager & MOM

Operations Manager 2007 R2 Sizing Helper

The sizing helper is an interactive document designed to help assist customers with planning their OpsMgr infrastructure. A typical recommendation will include minimum hardware specification for each server role, topology diagram and storage requirement

https://blogs.technet.com/momteam/archive/2009/08/12/operations-manager-2007-r2-sizing-helper.aspx

Visio 2007 Add-in for Operations Manager 2007 R2 Released

This was released at the end of last month.  If you missed it, be sure to head over to the MOMTeam blog for an overview of this great addin.

https://blogs.technet.com/momteam/archive/2009/07/31/visio-2007-add-in-for-operations-manager-2007-r2-released.aspx

Downloads

Configuration Manager & SMS

BDD and MDT Archive

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 is the recommended process and toolset to automate desktop and server deployment. The support status of earlier versions is outlined here.

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=02a2605d-51e8-469f-be4a-1dd2af580502

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 is the newest version of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, a Solution Accelerator for operating system and application deployment. MDT 2010 supports deployment of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 in addition to deployment of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP.

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=3bd8561f-77ac-4400-a0c1-fe871c461a89

Operations Manager & MOM

BizTalk Server MP for OpsMgr 2007

The BizTalk Server Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007 provides monitoring for BizTalk Server 2006, BizTalk Server 2006 R2, and BizTalk Server 2009.

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=389fcb89-f4cf-46d7-bc6e-57830d234f91

Window Client 2000/XP/Vista OS MP for OpsMgr 2007

The Microsoft Windows Client 2000/XP/Vista Operating System Management Pack provides fundamental monitoring basics for computers running Windows Client 2000, XP, or Vista operating systems.

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=f55f1803-eae6-4ed5-b2d2-9e1adf98e325

Windows Key Management Service MP for System Center OpsMgr 2007

The KMS MP monitors core Key Management Service offered by Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 and Vista

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=a330d876-c965-4433-afdf-7c61a9126fb3

Windows Server Operating System MP for OpsMgr 2007

The Windows Server Operating System Management Pack provides the fundamental monitoring basics for computers running the Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 and 2008 Operating System.

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=3529d233-5e3e-4b51-8f66-5d6f27005ec3

Events/Webcasts

Configuration Manager & SMS

TechNet Webcast: Automating Windows 7 Deployments Using System Center Configuration Manager (Level 300)

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)

We focus on automating Windows 7 operating system deployments using Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager in this webcast. First, we cover how to automate hardware and software inventory using Asset Intelligence to determine what applications and hardware are needed for deploying Windows 7. Next, we examine deploying Windows 7 packages, and we discuss how to add Windows 7 packages to System Center Configuration Manager and then the deploy packages to bare metal machines and existing Windows Vista clients across the enterprise.

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032416867&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

TechNet Webcast: Asset Intelligence with Configuration Manager 2007 (Level 300)

Wednesday, October 07, 2009 8:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 collects asset information that can be used for license and asset management reports. In this webcast, we explain the asset management reporting that comes out of the box in Configuration Manager 2007 R2, we describe what Configuration Manager reports can be built with customizations, and we tell you about partner add-ons for reporting that are available. You also learn how to import license information and how to compare the license information with the software that is installed and currently used in your organization. If you have an asset manager in your organization who is asking you for asset management reports, or if you want to know if you are over or under licensed and are uncomfortable with a possible software compliancy audit, then this webcast is for you.

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032425485&culture=en-US

Operations Manager & MOM

TechNet Webcast: Optimizing Operations Manager for Monitoring, Auditing, and Dashboards (Level 300)

Friday, October 09, 2009 8:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)

Learn how to optimize Microsoft System Center Operations Manager for cross-platform devices, applications, and regulatory auditing requirements, and see how to create advanced line-of-business (LOB), geographic, and executive-level dashboards in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. This webcast includes more than 40 minutes of demonstrations, and we provide customer examples of:

* Monitoring Oracle and Apache applications using BridgeWays

* Supporting Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) and PCI audit requirements using Secure Vantage Technologies.

* Building intelligent views across solutions using Savision Live Maps.

* Integrating solutions with SharePoint Server.

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032425621&culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Understanding Operations Manager 2007 Performance and Scalability (Level 300)

Wednesday, October 07, 2009 1:00 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada)

In this webcast, we discuss the fundamental concepts around the architecture and design of Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007, and we cover the various factors that affect the overall performance and scalability of an Operations Manager deployment. We also describe ways to configure and tune an Operations Manager deployment to adjust the level of scale.

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032424650&culture=en-US

Other

TechNet Webcast: Announcing Data Protection Manager 2010 Beta (Level 300)

Thursday, October 08, 2009 9:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)

This month, Microsoft released the public beta for Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2010. Before you download the software, attend this webcast to learn about Data Protection Manager 2010 and the product features that are causing excitement in the IT community. We deploy a DPM 2010 server and walk you through most of the new features in DPM 2010 and the enhancements that were made to the Data Protection Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) solution, which is protecting Windows-based application servers and file servers today.

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032426727&culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Monitoring Datacenter Service Health and Performance (Level 300)

Thursday, October 15, 2009 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)

Proactive management of the applications and IT services running in your data center is challenging, particularly when you have inadequate or disparate tools, are interrupted with other projects, and have to complete the necessary daily or weekly tasks. While there are many activities that impact IT service performance and availability, a comprehensive monitoring capability makes it possible to identify situations early—before they create an IT incident—by providing the time and knowledge for you to rapidly respond.

Join us to discover how System Center delivers a comprehensive and extendible monitoring capability, and how its many features, such as task automation and schedulable reporting, can reduce your time and effort in assuring IT services running across the Windows, UNIX, and Linux servers in your data center.

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032427590&culture=en-US

New KB's

Configuration Manager & SMS

Sys Center Config Mnger 2007 AL: High CPU usage during MIF file processing on System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 site servers

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/973065/EN-US

Sys Center Config Mnger 2007 AL: Update rollup for System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 to add support for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 clients

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/974236/EN-US

Operations Manager & MOM

MOM Ops Mgr Serv Ent Ed 2005 EN: Error message when you try to download a file by using the Background Intelligent Transfer Service: "Content file download failed" (Updated)

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/922330/EN-US

Sys Center Operation Mgr 2007 EN: Operations Manager 2007-based agents consume 100 percent of CPU resources for the Monitoringhost.exe process (Updated)

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/974051/EN-US

Sys Center Operation Mgr 2007 EN: One or more management servers and their managed devices are dimmed in the Operations Manager Console of Operations Manager 2007 (Updated)

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/975057/EN-US

Sys Center Ops Mgr 2007 SP1: Support for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 in System Center Operations Manager 2007

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/974722/EN-US

Sys Center Ops Mgr 2007 SP1: You receive an HTTP Error 403 page when you access the Reporting Services virtual directory for System Center Operations Manager 2007 after you upgrade to Windows Server 2008

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/975439/EN-US

Other

Sys Center DataProtect Mgr 07 EN: Protection jobs for various protected servers fail with errors in System Center Data Protection Manager 2007: 0x80990A51, 0x809909B0, or 0x800706BA (Updated)

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/971411/EN-US

Sys Center Essentials 2007 SP1: When you install System Center Essentials 2007 Service Pack 1 on an x64 Edition of Windows Server 2008, no options on the System Center Database page of the installation wizard are enabled

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/975344/EN-US