MEC 2012 Summary

For those of us who couldn't make it to MEC 2012, here are two very nice write ups.

Microsoft Exchange Conference 2012, a Summary

MEC 2012 Wrap-up

Microsoft Message Analyser

Microsoft Message Analyser has been released to the public, available here.  In order to download the program, please join Message Analyser program.

Key capabilities include:

- Integrated "live" event and message capture at various system levels and endpoints
- Parsing and validation of protocol messages and sequences
- Automatic parsing of event messages described by ETW manifests
- Summarized grid display – top level is  “operations”, (requests matched with responses)
- User controlled "on the fly" grouping by message attributes
- Ability to browse for logs of different types (.cap, .etl, .txt) and import them together
- Automatic re-assembly and ability to render payloads
- Ability to import text logs, parsing them into key element/value pairs
- Support for “Trace Scenarios” (one or more message providers, filters, and views)

Announcing Exchange 2010 Service Pack 3

The Exchange Team is pleased to announce that in the first half of calendar year 2013 they will be releasing Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 3 (SP3). With SP3, the following new features and capabilities will be included:

Coexistence with Exchange 2013: Customers that want to introduce Exchange Server 2013 into their existing Exchange 2010 infrastructure will need the coexistence changes shipping in SP3.

Support for Windows Server 2012: With Service Pack 3, you will have the ability to install and deploy Exchange Server 2010 on machines running Windows Server 2012.

Customer Requested Fixes: All fixes contained within update rollups released prior to Service Pack 3 will also be contained within SP3. Details of our regular Exchange 2010 release rhythm can be found in Exchange 2010 Servicing.

More information can be found here;

Exchange 2013 and Lync 2013 videos from TechEd Australia

Lync 2013 TechEd Australia videos can be found here;
Exchange 2013 TechEd Australia videos can be found here;

Microsoft Office 2013 Preview AppV packages

Virtualized Office 2013 Preview packages for AppV 5.0 Beta deployments is now available here;

Windows Server 2012 Architecture - Server Posterpedia

Windows Server 2012 Architecture Posters are now available on the Windows Store;

 

Available here;

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 Update 1

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 Update 1 is the newest version of MDT, a Solution Accelerator for operating system and application deployment. MDT 2012 Update 1 supports deployment of Windows 8, Windows 7, Office 2010 and 365, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2008 R2 in addition to deployment of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP.

Deploy Windows and Office 2010 with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 Update 1. MDT is the recommended process and toolset for automating desktop and server deployment. MDT provides you with the following benefits:

• Unified tools and processes, including a set of guidance, for deploying desktops and servers in a common deployment console.
• Reduced deployment time and standardized desktop and server images, along with improved security and ongoing configuration management.

Some of the key changes in MDT 2012 Update 1 are:

• Added support for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.
• Support for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 CTP: Added support in MDT for deploying Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 with Configuration Manager 2012 SP1 CTP, while supporting all new Configuration Manager functionality (offline BitLocker, UEFI, and Assessment and Deployment Kit).
• Support for DaRT 8 Beta: Updated MDT to support DaRT 8 for Windows 8 deployments, while continuing to support DaRT 7 for Windows 7 deployments. Added DaRT support for Configuration Manager scenarios.
• New “Build Your Own Pages” User-Driven Installation (UDI) feature: Enhanced the UDI wizard and designer to enable IT pros to design their own wizard pages with little effort.
• New System Center 2012 - Orchestrator support: Provided the ability to add steps into an OS deployment task sequence to execute Orchestrator runbooks as part of the deployment process.
• Other improvements: Added support for Windows PowerShell 3.0, reworked Roles and Features installation logic for Windows 8, improved “boot from VHD” deployment scenarios, and added support for Configuration Manager monitoring.

More information can be found here;

Windows Server 2012 Core and Shell Tools

One of the main reasons for installing Windows Server 2012 Core is to reduce patching and the attack surface; however the downside of this means that you have no GUI so configuring the Server is only possible via PowerShell … well sorta!


Once you have installed Server Core 2012 you are greeted with a dos box.


Microsoft has changed Server Core and now allows you to install a MiniShell or the full Windows Shell.  If you enter a PowerShell session and type:

Get-WindowsFeature *gui*
(You will see that the two shell options are not installed)

To install the GUI tools you need to access the install.wim file; this is required because Server Core needs to access the missing files – Core is 3GB smaller. If you use the following command;
install-windowsfeature server-gui-mgmt-infra
(you may get “The request to add or remove features on the specified server failed”)


What we need to do is locate the index number for your Windows Server Core installation; index 2 is Standard and index 4 is Data Centre (index 1 and 3 refers to the Core installation media and will not have the missing files); in my scenario I had installed Server Core Standard – so index 2.

Install-WindowsFeature server-gui-mgmt-infra -source:wim:d:\sources\install.wim:2
(Where D: is my cd drive)
You can install both features by using;
Install-WindowsFeature server-gui-mgmt-infra,server-gui-shell -source:wim:d:\sources\install.wim:2

You must reboot the Server to complete the installation.

After the reboot Server Manger will start automatically; if you close Server Manager you can use the following commands.

We can use PowerShell to verify that the GUI Tools were installed.

You can also install the Full Shell as the binaries are now available locally by running the following command.

We can use PowerShell to verify that the Full GUI is installed.

The removal of the GUI Tools can be done one by one or remove both the Tools and Full Shell in one command as shown below.

Hyper-V Linux Support

When installed in a supported Linux virtual machine running on Hyper-V, the Linux Integration Components provide:

Driver support: Linux Integration Services supports the network controller and the IDE and SCSI storage controllers that were developed specifically for Hyper-V.

Fastpath Boot Support for Hyper-V: Boot devices now take advantage of the block Virtualization Service Client (VSC) to provide enhanced performance.

Time Keeping: The clock inside the virtual machine will remain accurate by synchronizing to the clock on the virtualization server via Timesync service, and with the help of the pluggable time source device.

Integrated Shutdown: Virtual machines running Linux can be shut down from either Hyper-V Manager or System Center Virtual Machine Manager by using the “Shut down” command.

Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) Support: Supported Linux distributions can use multiple virtual processors per virtual machine. The actual number of virtual processors that can be allocated to a virtual machine is only limited by the underlying hypervisor.

Heartbeat: This feature allows the virtualization server to detect whether the virtual machine is running and responsive.

KVP (Key Value Pair) Exchange: Information about the running Linux virtual machine can be obtained by using the Key Value Pair exchange functionality on the Windows Server 2008 virtualization server.

Integrated Mouse Support: Linux Integration Services provides full mouse support for Linux guest virtual machines.

Live Migration: Linux virtual machines can undergo live migration for load balancing purposes.

Jumbo Frames: Linux virtual machines can be configured to use Ethernet frames with more than 1500 bytes of payload.

VLAN tagging and trunking: Administrators can attach single or multiple VLAN ids to synthetic network adapters.

Support hosts
    Windows
    8 Hyper-V
    Windows
    Server 2012 Hyper-V
    Microsoft
    Hyper-V Server 2012

Supported guest operating systems:

    RHEL
    5.7 (x86 and x64)
    RHEL
    5.8 (x86 and x64)
    RHEL
    6.3 (x86 and x64)
    CentOS
    5.7 (x86 and x64)
    CentOS
    5.8 (x86 and x64)
    CentOS
    6.3 (x86 and x64)

More information can be found here;

Powershell Cheat Sheets

PowerShell Basic Cheat Sheet can be found here;
PowerShell Exchange 2010 Cheat Sheet can be found here;

Windows Server 2012 and Exchange 2010 / 2013

Exchange Server 2013 is supported on Windows Server 2012; see here.
Exchange Server 2010 is not “yet” supported on Windows Server 2012; see here.

More information can be found here;

Group Policy Settings Reference for Windows and Windows Server 2012

These spreadsheets list the policy settings for computer and user configurations that are included in the Administrative template files delivered with the Windows operating systems specified. You can configure these policy settings when you edit Group Policy Objects.

You can use the filtering capabilities that are included in this spreadsheet to view a specific subset of data, based on one value or a combination of values that are available in one or more of the columns. In addition, you can click Custom in the drop-down list of any of the column headings to add additional filtering criteria within that column.

To view a specific subset of data, click the drop-down arrow in the column heading of cells that contain the value or combination of values on which you want to filter, and then click the desired value in the drop-down list. For example, to view policy settings that are available for Windows Server 2012 or Windows 8, in the Administrative Template worksheet, click the drop-down arrow next to Supported On, and then click At least Microsoft Windows Server 2012 or Windows 8.

What's New?
The Administrative Template spreadsheet contains three columns that provide more information about each policy setting's behaviour related to reboots, logoffs, and schema extensions. These columns are the following:

• Reboot Required: A "Yes" in this column means that the Windows operating systems requires a restart before it applies the described policy setting.
• Logoff Required: A "Yes" in this column means that the Windows operating system requires the user to log off and log on again before it applies the described policy setting.
• Active Directory Schema or Domain Requirements: A "Yes" in this column means that you must extend the Active Directory schema before you can deploy this policy setting.
• Status: A "New" in this column means that the setting did not exist prior to Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8. It does not mean that the setting applies only to Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8. Refer to the column entitled "supported on" to determine to which operating system the policy setting applies.

More information can be found here;

Microsoft Security Compliance Manager 3.0 Beta

Microsoft Security Compliance Manager (SCM) is a free tool from the Microsoft Solution Accelerators team that enables you to quickly configure and manage your computers, traditional datacenter, and private cloud using Group Policy and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager.

SCM provides ready to deploy policies and DCM configuration packs that are tested and fully supported. These baselines are based on Microsoft Security Guide recommendations and industry best practices, allowing you to manage configuration drift, address compliance requirements, and reduce security threats.

Easily configure the latest Windows operating systems, Microsoft Office applications, and Internet Explorer with industry leading knowledge and fully supported tools.

Take advantage of SCM to import the configuration of a “golden master” reference machine or existing Group Policy. Compare your standards to industry best practices, customize them using rich knowledge, and seamlessly create new policies and DCM configuration packs in the user-friendly UI designed to work with Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager.

More information can be found here and here;

Microsoft DirectAccess Connectivity Assistant 2.0

Microsoft DirectAccess Connectivity Assistant (DCA) 2.0 can be used by computers running Windows 7 when connecting to internal corporate networks with DirectAccess in Windows Server 2012. It improves the DirectAccess connection experience, supports one-time password (OTP) authentication for DirectAccess users and helps organizations reduce the cost of supporting DirectAccess users.

More information can be found here;

Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 (RTM)

Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 includes Server Manager, Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-ins, consoles, Windows PowerShell cmdlets and providers, and command-line tools for managing roles and features that run on Windows Server 2012. In limited cases, the tools can be used to manage roles and features that are running on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008. Some of the tools work for managing roles and features on Windows Server 2003.

More information can be found here;

Bye, Bye Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 (TMG) (nee) ISA

It’s a pity, but Microsoft are discontinuing any further releases of the following Forefront-branded solutions:

- Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server (FPE)
- Forefront Protection 2010 for SharePoint (FPSP)
- Forefront Security for Office Communications Server (FSOCS)
- Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 (TMG)
- Forefront Threat Management Gateway Web Protection Services (TMG WPS)

More information can be found here and here.

Windows Azure Online Backup and Cloud Protection

Windows Azure Online Backup is a cloud-based backup solution enabling server data to be backed up and recovered from the cloud in order to help protect against loss and corruption; current trial offers 300GB of free storage for the next 6 months.

Windows Azure Online Backup now supports cloud-based backup from on-premises System Center 2012 SP1 via the Data Protection Manager component.

Key features
Below are some of the key features being delivered in Windows Azure Online Backup:

• Simple configuration and management.
  • Simple, familiar user interface to configure and monitor backups from Windows Server and System Center SP1.
  • Integrated recovery experience to transparently recover files, folders and VMs from the cloud.
  • Windows PowerShell command-line interface scripting capability.
• Block level incremental backups.
  • Automatic incremental backups track file and block level changes, only transferring the changed blocks, hence reducing the storage and bandwidth utilization.
  • Different point-in-time versions of the backups use storage efficiently by only storing the changed blocks between these versions.
• Data compression, encryption and throttling.
  • Data is compressed and encrypted on the server before being sent to Windows Azure over the network. As a result, Windows Azure Online Backup only places encrypted data in the cloud storage.
  • The encryption passphrase is not available in Windows Azure, and as a result data is never decrypted in the service.
  • Users can setup throttling and configure how Windows Azure Online Backup utilizes the network bandwidth when backing up or restoring information.
• Data integrity verified in the cloud.
  • Backed up data is also automatically checked for integrity once the backup is complete. As a result, any corruptions due to data transfer are automatically identified and repair is attempted in the next backup.
• Configurable retention policies.
  • Retention policies Configure and implement retention policies to help meet business policies and manage backup costs.

More information can be found here and here;
Nice article here on setting up Windows Azure Online Backup with DPM 2012 SP1;

Free ebook: Introducing Windows Server 2012 (RTM Edition)

Please see the links below to download one or all of the available formats. 

PDF - Introducing Windows Server 2012 RTM Edition - PDF ebook

EPUB – Introducing Windows Server 2012 RTM Edition – ePub format

MOBI – Introducing Windows Server 2012 RTM Edition – MOBI format (for Kindle)

• Building a foundation for Private Cloud
  Understand the latest improvements that takes Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V beyond basic virtualization: Increased VM scalability, Hyper-V extensible network switch, Network Virtualization, Improved Live Migration, Enhanced Quality of Service (QoS), Resource Metering and Hyper-V Replica.
• Designing a highly available, easy-to-manage multi-server platform
  Includes Failover Clustering Enhancements, SMB Transparent Failover, Live Storage Migration, NIC Teaming, Chkdsk improvements, DHCP Server Failover, Storage Spaces, Thin Provisioning, Server for NFS datastores, new multi-server Server  Manager, PowerShell 3.0 and Active Directory enhancements.

• Deploying web applications on-premise and in the cloud
  Includes improvements to scale, manage and deliver open Web Applications, such as: NUMA-aware scalability, Centralized SSL certificate support, IIS CPU Throttling, Dynamic IP Address Restrictions, FTP Logon Attempt Restrictions, WebSocket and HTML5 Support.
• Enabling modern anywhere, any-device workstyles
  Unified Remote Access, Simplified VDI deployment, User-Device Affinity, Enhanced BranchCache, Branch Office Direct Printing, Remote FX enhancements, Enhanced USB redirection, User Profile Disks, Dynamic Access Control, BitLocker enhancements and DNSSEC support.

More information can be found here and here;

Exchange Server 2010 Monitoring Management Pack re-released

The changes in the updated Exchange 2010 Monitoring Management Pack include:

• Fixes to Alerts – at times two events were logged for the same event.
• Ensure Correct Values are read.
• Log the event on local server where the TS is running.

The location of the updated Management Pack can be found here;

System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 Beta

Microsoft have just released the beta of SP1 for System Center Configuration Manager 2012 (plus updates to DPM and VMM etc.)

The beta includes;

Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012 Support
With this Beta release, all System Center 2012 SP1 components are now enabled to manage and run in a Windows Server 2012 environment.  System Center 2012 SP1 Beta also now supports the use of SQL Server 2012.

Network Virtualization
With System Center 2012 SP1 you can take advantage of the Virtual Machine Manager’s ability to manage Hyper-V network virtualization across multiple hosts, simplifying the creation of entire virtual networks.

Windows Azure Virtual Machine management
System Center 2012 SP1 now integrates with Windows Azure Virtual Machines enabling you to move on-premises Virtual Machines to run in Windows Azure and then manage from your on-premises System Center installation enabling a range of workload distribution and remote operations scenarios

Enhanced backup and recovery options
System Center 2012 SP1 Data Protection Manager adds the option to host server backups in the Windows Azure cloud, helping to protect against data loss and corruption while integrating directly into the existing backup administration interface in System Center. More details.

Management of Mac OS X clients and Linux and UNIX servers

The beta is available here more information can be found here and here.;

Windows Server 2012 / Windows 8 Hyper-V Hangs on Boot

There seems to be an issue with certain motherboards that have USB 3 controllers; when Microsoft Hyper-V is enabled and the Server / PC is rebooted the system just hangs at boot up.

The fix / workaround is to disable the USB 3 settings in the BIOS.

More information on this issue can be found here, here and here.

Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter Solution Accelerator

Overview

The Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter (MVMC) Solution Accelerator is a Microsoft-supported, stand-alone solution for the IT pro or solution provider who wants to convert VMware-based virtual machines and disks to Hyper-V®-based virtual machines and disks.

Converts and deploys virtual machines from VMware hosts to Hyper-V hosts including Hyper-V on Windows Server® 2012. As part of the machine conversion MVMC converts the virtual disks attached to the source virtual machine. It also migrates configuration such as memory, virtual processor and so on from the source virtual machine to the converted virtual machine deployed on Hyper-V. It adds virtual network interface cards (NICs) to the converted virtual machine on Hyper-V.

Converts VMware virtual disks to Hyper-V based virtual hard disks (VHDs).

Supports conversion of virtual machines from VMware vSphere 4.1 and 5.0 hosts to Hyper-V.

More information and downloads can be found here;

Windows Management Framework 3.0 aka PowerShell 3

Overview

Windows Management Framework 3.0 makes some updated management functionality available to be installed on Windows 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 & Windows Server 2008 SP2. Windows Management Framework 3.0 contains Windows PowerShell 3.0, WMI & WinRM.

Windows PowerShell 3.0
Some of the new features in Windows PowerShell 3.0 include:

• Workflow
  Windows PowerShell Workflow lets IT Pros and developers apply the benefits of workflows to the automation capabilities of Windows PowerShell. Workflows allow administrators to run long-running tasks (which can be made repeatable, frequent, parallelizable, interruptible, or restart-able) that can affect multiple managed computers or devices at the same time.
• Disconnected Sessions
  PowerShell sessions can be disconnected from the remote computer and reconnected later from the same computer or a different computer without losing state or causing running commands to fail.
• Robust Session Connectivity
  Remote sessions are resilient to network failures and will attempt to reconnect for several minutes. If connectivity cannot be re-established, the session will automatically disconnect itself so that it can be reconnected when network connectivity is restored.

More information and downloads can be found here;

It’s Alive .. Windows Server 2012

REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 4, 2012 — Today in a global online launch event Satya Nadella, president of Microsoft Server and Tools Business, announced the general availability of Windows Server 2012. In his keynote speech, Nadella described how Windows Server 2012 is a cornerstone of the Cloud OS, which provides one consistent platform across private, hosted and public clouds.

“The operating system has always been the heartbeat of IT and is now undergoing a renaissance in the new world of continuous cloud services, connected devices and big data,” Nadella said. “Microsoft’s unique legacy in the most widely used operating systems, applications and cloud services positions us to deliver the Cloud OS, based on Windows Server and Windows Azure, helping customers achieve a datacenter without boundaries.”

Launch site can be found here and more information here;

Windows Server 2012 PowerShell Web Access

Windows PowerShell Web Access is a new feature in Windows Server 2012 that acts as a Windows PowerShell gateway, providing a web-based Windows PowerShell console that is targeted at a remote computer.

It enables IT Pros to run Windows PowerShell commands and scripts from a Windows PowerShell console in a web browser, with no Windows PowerShell, remote management software, or browser plug-in installation necessary on the client device.

All that is required to run the web-based Windows PowerShell console is a properly-configured Windows PowerShell Web Access gateway, and a client device browser that supports JavaScript and accepts cookies.

Quick Installation Guide;
Install-WindowsFeature -Name WindowsPowerShellWebAccess –IncludeAllManagementTools –Restart

Install-PswaWebApplication -UseTestCertificate
(valid for 90 days)

Add-PswaAuthorizationRule -UserName domain\username -ComputerName * -ConfigurationName *

Accessing Windows Powershell Web Access
https://hostname/pswa

More information can be found here, here and here.

Exchange 2010 Back Pressure

Back pressure is a system resource monitoring feature of the Microsoft Exchange Transport service that exists on Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Hub Transport and Edge Transport servers. Exchange transport can detect when vital resources, such as available hard disk space and memory, are under pressure, and take action in an attempt to prevent service unavailability.

Back pressure prevents the system resources from being completely overwhelmed, and Exchange tries to deliver the existing messages. When utilization of the system resource returns to a normal level, the Exchange server gradually resumes normal operation.

Reference here and here;
Nice Powershell tool here;