Microsoft Azure Automation

This tutorial walks you through the steps to import and execute an Automation runbook in Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft Azure Automation provides a way for developers to automate the manual, long-running, error-prone, and frequently repeated tasks that are commonly performed in a cloud environment. You can create, monitor, manage, and deploy resources in your Azure environment using runbooks, which under the hood are Windows PowerShell Workflows. To learn more about Automation, see the Automation Overview Guide.

More information can be found here and here.

Enterprise Mode Site List Manager Tool

Enterprise Mode, a compatibility mode that runs on Internet Explorer 11, lets websites render using a modified browser configuration that’s designed to avoid the common compatibility problems associated with web apps written and tested on older versions of Internet Explorer, like Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8.

You can use Internet Explorer 11 and the Enterprise Mode Site List Manager tool to add individual website domains and domain paths and to specify whether the site renders using Enterprise Mode or Standards mode.

Download here; more information here.

Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter 2.0

Microsoft® Virtual Machine Converter (MVMC) is a Microsoft-supported, stand-alone solution for the information technology (IT) pro or solution provider who wants to convert virtual machines and disks from VMware hosts to Hyper-V® hosts and Windows Azure™.

MVMC can be deployed with minimal dependencies. Because MVMC provides native support for Windows PowerShell®, it enables scripting and integration with data center automation workflows such as those authored and run within Microsoft System Center Orchestrator 2012 R2. It can also be invoked through the Windows PowerShell® command-line interface. The solution is simple to download, install, and use. In addition to the Windows PowerShell capability, MVMC provides a wizard-driven GUI to facilitate virtual machine conversion.
New Features in MVMC 2.0

MVMC 2.0 release of MVMC includes the following new features:

• Converts virtual disks that are attached to a VMware virtual machine to virtual hard disks (VHDs) that can be uploaded to Windows Azure.
• Provides native Windows PowerShell capability that enables scripting and integration into IT automation workflows.
  Note The command-line interface (CLI) in MVMC 1.0 has been replaced by Windows PowerShell in MVMC 2.0.
• Supports conversion and provisioning of Linux-based guest operating systems from VMware hosts to Hyper-V hosts.
• Supports conversion of offline virtual machines.
• Supports the new virtual hard disk format (VHDX) when converting and provisioning in Hyper-V in Windows Server® 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012.
• Supports conversion of virtual machines from VMware vSphere 5.5, VMware vSphere 5.1, and VMware vSphere 4.1 hosts Hyper-V virtual machines.
• Supports Windows Server® 2012 R2, Windows Server® 2012, and Windows® 8 as guest operating systems that you can select for conversion.

Standard MVMC Features
In addition to the new features previously identified, MVMC provides the following functionality:

• Converts and deploys virtual machines from VMware hosts to Hyper-V hosts on any of the following operating systems:
• Windows Server® 2012 R2
• Windows Server® 2012
• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
• Converts VMware virtual machines, virtual disks, and configurations for memory, virtual processor, and other virtual computing resources from the source to Hyper-V.
• Adds virtual network interface cards (NICs) to the converted virtual machine on Hyper-V.
• Supports conversion of virtual machines from VMware vSphere 5.5, VMware vSphere 5.0, and VMware vSphere 4.1 hosts to Hyper-V.
• Has a wizard-driven GUI, which simplifies performing virtual machine conversions.
• Uninstalls VMware Tools before online conversion (online only) to provide a clean way to migrate VMware-based virtual machines to Hyper-V.
  Important MVMC takes a snapshot of the virtual machine that you are converting before you uninstall VMware Tools, and then shuts down the source machine to preserve state during conversion. The virtual machine is restored to its previous state after the source disks that are attached to the virtual machine are successfully copied to the machine where the conversion process is run. At that point, the source machine in VMware can be turned on, if required.
  Important MVMC does not uninstall VMware Tools in an offline conversion. Instead, it disables VMware services, drivers, and programs only for Windows Server guest operating systems. For file conversions with Linux guest operating systems, VMware Tools are not disabled or uninstalled. We highly recommend that you manually uninstall VMware Tools when you convert an offline virtual machine.
• Supports Windows Server and Linux guest operating system conversion. For more details, see the section “Supported Configurations for Virtual Machine Conversion” in this guide.
• Includes Windows PowerShell capability for offline conversions of VMware-based virtual hard disks (VMDK) to a Hyper-V–based virtual hard disk file format (.vhd file).
  Note The offline disk conversion does not include driver fixes.

Download here;

Windows 8.1 Update Video’s

All about you!

Meet the new Windows.

The Desktop.

April 8th : Windows XP : End of Life : Hello, Farewell, Goodbye!

The end of an era; may the force be with you!!

Windows Server 2012 R2 Update 1

Changes included in the update

After the update is installed, the following features are present:
Internet Explorer 11 now includes an “Enterprise Mode.” This mode is available if you disable Enhanced Security Configuration and provides better compatibility for sites designed for Internet Explorer 8, along with tools to manage which web apps use it. You can specify a list of web apps to render dynamically in Enterprise Mode, avoiding compatibility problems with web apps written for older versions of Internet Explorer. For more information, see the Internet Explorer 11 FAQ for IT Pros or TechNet documentation.

The user interface includes buttons for Search and Power on the Start page. If you install the Desktop Experience feature, other changes introduced with Windows 8.1 Update will also be visible. For details, see What's new in Windows 8.1 Update and Windows RT 8.1 Update. The specific Windows 8.1 features installed when you install Desktop Experience have not changed from those in Windows Server 2012 R2 (see Desktop Experience Overview).

Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) has added the capability for an administrator to enable signing in with an alternate login ID that is an attribute of the user object in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). This enables customers to adopt Azure Active Directory without modifying on-premises User Principal Names (UPNs). It also allows users to log in to the computer using an Office 365 email address instead of a UPN. This change does not affect the Active Directory schema. For more information, see Configuring Alternate Login ID.

The update includes all other updates released since Windows Server 2012 R2 was released.

SQL Server 2014 Versions (MSDN)

Windows 8.1 Update 1 & Windows 2012 R2 Update 1

Windows 8.1 with Update (multiple editions) (x64) - DVD (English)
ISO English Release Date: 4/2/2014 Details
Download 3924 MB
File Name: en_windows_8.1_with_update_x64_dvd_4065090.iso
Languages: English
SHA1: 4652DC6EBFEBE02C6A63E167C36E3FAEDFB93999

Windows Server 2012 R2 VL with Update (x64) - DVD (English)
ISO English Release Date: 4/2/2014 Details
Download 4338 MB
File Name: en_windows_server_2012_r2_vl_with_update_x64_dvd_4065221.iso
Languages: English
SHA1: D4B28F350981A7C3306DD409B172AEA10D8599AC

Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Update (x64) - (Multiple Languages)
Download 770 MB
File Name: mu_windows_8.1_windows_server_2012r2_windows_embedded_8.1industry_update_x64_4046913.zip
SHA1: 6A5CBC6FD6C1366F1041E03820FD8508FC95A4AC