Active Directory Topology Diagramer

The Active Directory Topology Diagrammer (ADTD) tool is now available for download for free from the Microsoft Web Site at the following address: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=cb42fc06-50c7-47ed-a65c-862661742764&displaylang=en&tm#Overview

Brief Description

The Microsoft Active Directory Topology Diagrammer reads an Active Directory configuration using ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), and then automatically generates a Visio diagram of your Active Directory and /or your Exchange 200x Server topology. The diagramms include domains, sites, servers, administrative groups, routing groups and connectors and can be changed manually in Visio if needed.

Technorati tags: ADTD, AD, Active Directory

Exchange Server Documentation Updates - November 2007

A new set of documentation regarding Exchange 2007 is available from the Exchange Server documentation team.

The Exchange Server documentation team is pleased to announce the following new Exchange Server 2007 content.

• Service Pack 1 Highlights
• History Is Made by Those Who Show Up
• Poster: Exchange Server 2007 Component Architecture
• Planning, Deploying, and Managing Unified Messaging with Exchange Server 2007

You can see these articles and other Exchange Server documentation content in the Microsoft Exchange Server TechCenter.

To see what content has changed for Exchange Server 2007 with Service Pack 1, take a look at What's New in Exchange Server 2007 SP1.

The following downloads are also now available for SP1 content:

• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Help
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Shell Help

 

and I've noticed the "geekness alert!" send by Rui Silva and I will download and print the poster!!

That's super cool!

del.icio.us tags: Exchange 2007, docs

Insight for Active Directory v1.0

ADInsight is an LDAP (Light-weight Directory Access Protocol) real-time monitoring tool aimed at troubleshooting Active Directory client applications. Use its detailed tracing of Active Directory client-server communications to solve Windows authentication, Exchange, DNS, and other problems.

ADInsight uses DLL injection techniques to intercept calls that applications make in the Wldap32.dll library, which is the standard library underlying Active Directory APIs such ldap and ADSI. Unlike network monitoring tools, ADInsight intercepts and interprets all client-side APIs, including those that do not result in transmission to a server. ADInsight monitors any process into which it can load it’s tracing DLL, which means that it does not require administrative permissions, however, if run with administrative rights, it will also monitor system processes, including windows services.

Insight for Active Directory v1.0

 

Technorati tags: Active Directory

Microsoft vs. Blackberry

Microsoft announced the new Microsoft® System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 and that will make the main competitor rethink all strategy.

The main reasons that keeps Blackberry selling devices and servers are the supportability, the easy way to manage devices from a centralized point in the network. And the feeling of security that a blackberry user gets when he use his device.

From now on Microsoft will try to compete in this areas, centralizing the management of mobile devices in the Active Directory via Group Policies and bringing a new layer of security to the mobile network, implementing software distribution

Very well explained @ Mr. Mobile

There are 3 core areas of capability in Systems Center Mobile Device Manager 2008.

1) SECURITY: Windows Mobile devices will be able to participate in Active Directory.  They will join Active Directory and can then be managed through Group policy to allow administrators to control the features and functions of a Windows Mobile Device.  You can control whether WiFi can be enabled, the camera can be used, which applications can be whitelisted or blacklisted.  There are over 130 policies that can be deployed.  

2) DEVICE MANAGEMENT: IT teams can manage Windows Mobile phones end-to-end through a single solution rather than many, helping save time and resources.  

• Easy distribution of software over the air
• Easily add more users as needed and as solution grows
• Over the Air enrollment of devices- just type in a password and go.
• Integration with Windows Server and mobile development investments, such as AD, GP, MMC Console, Powershell, WSUS 3.0, and Microsoft Dynamics

3) DATA ACCESS: System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 provides a Mobile VPN that gives a secure single point of access to the corporate network.  You can use this to access any line of business applications or Intranet applications.  It also enables a fast reconnect if disconnected and provides easy transition from Wi-Fi to carrier networks with Internetwork Roaming

System Center Mobile Device Manager will be available in the first half of 2008.  

Scalability

Security

del.icio.us tags: Microsoft® System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008

PopFly goes public

PopFly goes into a public beta and the logo had changed too!...

Introduction

What is Popfly?

Microsoft® Popfly™ is a web site and tool to help people create and share web sites, mashups, and other kinds of experiences. It has two parts: the social network, which we call "Popfly Space" and the online tool for creating different kinds of experiences, which we call "Popfly Creator."

What can you do with Popfly?

Programming is not something that takes years to learn. With Popfly Creator, in just a few minutes, you can create something that will have people saying "wow."

With Popfly you can create a mashup using functionality from Virtual Earth, Flickr, Yahoo!, Twitter, and more.

del.icio.us tags: popfly

Hotfix for Excel

Hotfix for Excel released

"(...)If you're a fan of the numbers 65534.9999999995 and 65535.99999999995, we've got good news for you. The bug that caused them to display 65535 and 65536 has been fixed. We released a couple of hotfixes for the issue yesterday. If such things interest you, head over to here and here to check out the Knowledge Base articles that will help you. Those are the fixes for both Excel 2007 and Excel Services in Office SharePoint Server 2007. One other note: This is NOT a security vulnerability. It's a formatting issue with the display of some calculation results."

Technorati tags: excel, fix

Windows Live SkyDrive updated

The beta of Windows Live Skydrive was updated today.

the news are:

• increased storage capacity, from 500 Mb to 1 Gb

• RSS Feeds on Public Folders

• See who uploaded a file

• Add a contact directly within SkyDrive

You can check for more @ the Windows Live SkyDrive team blog

del.icio.us tags: Live Skydrive

ITIL Foundations

Since last week I'm ITIL Foundations Certified, but WTF is ITIL?

the best description (...and help for the exam...) I've found it  on Jose Barreto's blog:

"(...)a framework for IT Services Management. But what can you really learn from a set of books on IT Infrastructure published by a UK government agency? Oh, quite a lot!

The idea behind it is to offer best practices for IT processes, using consistent terms that can be understood globally, no matter what IT environment you work on. If you find any value in similar systems like the ISO 9000, CMMi or EFQM, you will probably benefit from learning about ITIL. For me, the most important aspect of this training was to get a better understand of what this ITIL buzz is all about and to understand the terminology used by it. It helps put the entire set of IT Processes in perspective.

So what are these processes anyway? Well, the ITIL books define a number of them and, since they all interact with each other, it’s actually hard to talk about each one individually. They are grouped into two major groups each one in its own book: Service Support and Service Delivery. The Services Support book describes services (and a function) that is offered to your end-users (called simply IT users). The Service Delivery book includes services that are provided to the teams that sponsor or hire those IT Services (called simply IT Customers). There are other books in the library, but these are the main ones."

check the rest of the post for a more explanatory description of some processes and some study material.

del.icio.us tags: ITIL, Framework

Microsoft Active Directory Topology Diagrammer

The Microsoft Active Directory Topology Diagrammer reads an Active Directory configuration using ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), and then automatically generates a Visio diagram of your Active Directory and /or your Exchange 200x Server topology. The diagramms include domains, sites, servers, administrative groups, routing groups and connectors and can be changed manually in Visio if needed.

Windows Mobile Communicator RTM

Microsoft released the new communicator client for Windows Mobile devices.  Communicator Mobile 2007 requires Windows Mobile 5 or 6.  The client can be downloaded here.

 

del.icio.us tags: ocs 2007, communications Server 2007, mobile communicator 2007

IE7Pro - The Ultimate Add-On for Internet Explorer

For those of you who want to take the browser experience beyond the "normal", and for those of you who are asking for a IE 7 add-on that closes the gap between IE and other browsers...

(...)IE7Pro is a must have add-on for Internet Explorer, which includes a lot of features and tweaks to make your IE friendlier, more useful, secure and customizable. IE7Pro includes Tabbed Browsing Management, Spell Check, Inline Search, Super Drag Drop, Crash Recovery, Proxy Switcher, Mouse Gesture, Tab History Browser, Web Accelerator, User Agent Switcher, Webpage Capturer, AD Blocker, Flash Block, Greasemonkey like User Scripts platform, User Plug-ins and many more power packed features. You can customize not just Internet Explorer, but even your favorite website according to your need and taste using IE7Pro."

IE7Pro - The Ultimate Add-On for Internet Explorer

Technorati tags: Internet Explorer, browsers

Windows VISTA SP1 (beta)

About the same time as Windows Server 2008 RC0 gets out, the beta version for the Windows VISTA SP1 is out there too.

"(...)Windows Vista SP1 beta (build 6001-16659-070916-1443) is available now for download at connect.microsoft.com in English (~3GB), German and Japanese as Client or ClientN for x86 and x64 versions. Optional component(s): Language Packs for EN-DE-JP."

As always, there is a white paper you should read before:  Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta White Paper.

 

del.icio.us tags: Vista, SP1

Windows Server 2008 Docs

Now that Windows Server 2008 RC0 is out there, take a look at some of the documentation:

- Windows Server 2008 Step-by-Step Guides
- Windows Server 2008 Technical Overviews
- Windows Server Virtualization - Release Notes

- Windows Server 2008 Technical Library
- Quickstart for Get Virtual Portal

 

Technorati tags: windows server 2008

Windows Server 2008 RC 0

From the Windows Server Division WebLog

"(...)Yehaw! , today I pleased to announce the availability of Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate 0, and with it...the very first public release of Windows Server virtualization (codenamed Viridian). 

You can download the bits today as part of our customer technology preview (CTP)program.

Not only does this milestone indicate that Windows Server 2008 is ready to march down the path to RTM....but it also is the first time WsV will be part of the code base and available to everyone. Now is the time for organizations to start testing with key virtuzliation scenarios...such as server consolidation....as well as getting ready for many of the other key features of Windows Server 2008.

With Windows Server virtualization CTP, customers will now be able leverage the scalability of hypervisor-based platform and features, including multi-processor guests, large memory allocation (more than 32 gigabytes per machine) and integrated virtual switch support that enables IT organizations to virtualize most workloads.

In addition to the RC0 news there are a couple of other things going on today that are of interest:

1. Microsoft and Zend have been working together on a technical collaboration with the PHP community to significantly enhance the reliability and performance of PHP on Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. As part of this collaboration, the IIS product group has been working on a new component for IIS6 and IIS7 called FastCGI Extension which will enable IIS to much more effectively host PHP applications. You can get the FastCGI extension ( a free download) as part of the Go Live release of Microsoft FastCGI Extension for IIS 5.1/6.0 (FastCGI Extension) from the IIS community site, www.iis.net.

2. Windows Vista SP1 - Windows Vista SP1 beta will be released to approximately 12,000+ private beta testers.

Great week here at Microsoft!

Cheers,

Ward Ralston

...

Great, lets delete all of the VM's with the June CTP release and install it again... :-)

 

Technorati tags: Windows Server 2008

Office Communications Server 2007 Best Practices Analyzer

A few days after the RTM launch, here it is: the "Office Communications Server 2007 Best Practices Analyzer"

"The Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Best Practices Analyzer Tool is a diagnostic tool that gathers configuration information from a Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 environment and determines whether the configuration is set according to Microsoft best practices. You can install the tool on a client computer that runs Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, or on a server that runs Office Communications Server 2007.
Note: Although you can install the Office Communications Server 2007 Best Practices Analyzer directly on the computer that runs Office Communications Server 2007 Server, we recommend that you install and run this tool on a client computer.
The tool uses set of configuration files to gather information from the Office Communications Server 2007 environment. It compares this data against a set of pre-defined rules for Office Communications Server 2007, and reports potential issues. For every issue reported, the tool provides the current configuration in the Office Communications Server 2007 environment, and the recommended configuration.
With the proper network access, the tool can examine your Active Directory and Office Communications Server 2007 servers to do the following:

• Proactively perform health checks, verifying that the configuration is set according to recommended best practices
• Generate a list of issues, such as suboptimal configuration settings or unsupported or not recommended options
• Judge the general health of a system
• Help troubleshoot specific problems
• Prompt you to download updates if they are available
• Provide online and local documentation about reported issues, including troubleshooting tips
• Generate configuration information that can be captured for later review "

del.icio.us tags: ocs 2007, BPA

Introducing Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007

This collection of 2-hour clinics explains the enterprise capabilities provided by Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. These clinics are for infrastructure specialists working within organizations that are looking to deploy Office Communications Server within their solutions.
Topics covered within the collection include:

• Enterprise Instant Messaging
• On-Premise Conferencing and Telephony
• Incorporating Office Communications Server Functionality within custom applications

Student prerequisites
Familiarity with the following:

• Active Directory concepts
• Exchange messaging concepts
• SharePoint concepts
• Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007 fundamentals
• Fundamental concepts of Windows Server 2003
• Fundamental networking knowledge and experience

This offer includes the following:

Clinic 5126: Introducing Enterprise Instant Messaging Using Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 (Beta)

Clinic 5127: Introducing On-Premise Conferencing Using Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007

Clinic 5128: Introducing Enterprise Telephony Using Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007

Clinic 5129: Customizing Real-Time Communication with Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007

Technorati tags: OCS 2007

SharePoint: 7 New Features That Enhance Security in SharePoint

Descoberto na TechNet Magazine de Janeiro 2007.

SharePoint: 7 New Features That Enhance Security in SharePoint -- TechNet Magazine, January 2007

 

Technorati tags: MOSS 2007, SharePoint 2007, Security

The Shortcut Guide to Exchange Server 2007 Storage Systems

Always useful and written by a good blogger:

 

By Jim McBee

Sponsored by LeftHand Networks

The conventional way of planning for Exchange Server storage is to throw a lot of disk storage at the server and hope that is sufficient. Mail storage requirements continue to grow for even average users; these users place more and more capacity requirements not only on disk storage but also on disk I/O capacity. As current capacity requirements are exceeded, the storage system must provide scalability. The Shortcut Guide to Exchange Server 2007 Storage Systems, authored by Microsoft Exchange MVP Jim McBee, covers Exchange Server storage capacity requirement planning, the basics of using iSCSI SANs, and best practices for scalability and SAN operations.

Access to this expert publication is offered at no charge to readers. Available chapters may be downloaded in PDF format.

Technorati tags: Exchange 2007, Storage, Books

MOSS 2007 technical docs

Technorati tags: moss 2007

source: Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Team Blog

Avneesh Kaushik is a Senior Consultant with Microsoft Consulting Services and was the SharePoint Technical Lead for the development of the HawaiianAir.com website that was previously profiled here. He has authored two very useful technical articles based his in-depth experience in building that website and a few others, and the articles were recently published at:

• How to Optimize a SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management Site for Performance
  Summary: Learn how to optimize an Internet-facing Web content management (WCM) site to achieve maximum performance and an effective user experience. (9 printed pages
• How to Create a SharePoint Server 2007 Custom Master Page and Page Layouts for a Web Content Management Site
  Summary: Follow step-by-step instructions with code examples to learn how to create a custom master page and related page layouts based on a minimal master page. (15 printed pages)

Windows Live Translator

Microsoft Releases "Windows Live Translator" Beta

 

 

Technorati tags: Windows Live, Translator

MOSS 2007 education contents

The SharePoint Team published recently some education contents that fits in the EPE policy (Everyday Productivity Education). Those documents will help you to know how to create, maintain and troubleshoot a intranet site in MOSS 2007 environments.

 

Collaboration Selection Guide

Collaborating with SharePoint Server 2007 Overview

SharePoint Server 2007 Sites and Workspaces Selection Guide

SharePoint Server 2007 Document Collaboration Get Started

SharePoint Server 2007 Team Sites Get Started

Customizing a SharePoint Server 2007 Site Get Started

SharePoint Server 2007 Web Parts Learn More

SharePoint Server 2007 Meeting Workspaces Get Started

SharePoint Server 2007 My Sites Get Started

SharePoint Server 2007 Site Access and Storage Learn More

SharePoint Server 2007 Surveys Get Started

Outlook 2007 and SharePoint Server 2007 Integration Overview

Outlook 2007 and SharePoint Server 2007 Integration Get Started

Using InfoPath 2007 Forms on a SharePoint Server 2007 Site Get Started

 

source: Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Team Blog

 

Technorati tags: moss 2007

Process Explorer for Windows v11.0

Já está disponivel uma nova versão desta ferramenta do Mark Russinovich e da Microsoft, essencial em qualquer servidor.

Esta actualização visa resolver os problemas detectados na versão anterior, que podiam levar ao crash da máquina onde estivesse a correr.

Process Explorer for Windows v11.0

 

What's new in Version 11.0:

•New treelist control for better UI responsiveness

•Asynchronous thread symbol resolution on threads tab of process properties

•More flags on groups in security tab and SID display

•Thread IDs on threads tab

•On-line search uses default web browser and search engine

•Vista ASLR column for processes and DLLs

•Vista Process and thread I/O and memory priorities in process and thread properties

•Vista Process and thread I/O and memory columns

•PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION support on process permissions on Vista

•Run as limited user runs with low IL on Vista

•Reports information for all object types on Vista

•Show details for all processes elevation menu item on Vista

•Supports replacement of task manager on Vista

•/e to launch elevated

•/s switch to select a process at startup

•Compiled w/ASLR, DEP

•Faster startup

•Miscellaneous bug fixes and minor improvements

 

del.icio.us tags: process Explorer, windows

Microsoft Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer

Microsoft Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer is a stand-alone program that an administrator can run from a Windows Server 2003-based system or from a Windows XP-based system. You can use the tool to do the following:

• Perform a proactive health check on the Group Policy environment to detect common configuration errors that frequently generate support incidents.
• Collect diagnostic information and initial data from an environment, and then automate some analysis of that data.
• Obtain a snapshot of the Group Policy configuration for archiving. This data may be a useful reference if a future problem occurs.

DOWNLOAD HERE:

Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer for Windows XP

Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer for Windows XP x64 Edition

Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer for Windows Server 2003

Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer for Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition

 

Technorati tags: GPO, Windows 2003

Windows Live Folders

A equipa do live.com continua a apresentar novos produtos, desta vez foi o Folders (update: o nome foi alterado para SkyDrive):

When you sign in to Windows Live Folders, you're in charge
For each folder you create, you choose who has access to it. Add new folders, rename them, or change who has access at any time.

Always where you need them

• 500 MB of free online storage,
• available from any computer with Internet access.
• Create personal, shared, and public folders -- you decide who has access to each folder.
• Folders work well on any Windows or Macintosh computer with Firefox 1.5 or higher, or Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher.

How we help protect your files

• Your personal folders are password-protected with your Windows Live ID, so only you have access.
• When you create a shared folder, the friends you're sharing with need to sign in with their own Windows Live ID and password.
• Just like at your online bank, all file transfers are protected using Secure Socket Layers (SSL).

Personal

• Use personal folders to back up important files that are only for you.
• Get to your files from any computer with Internet access by signing in with your Windows Live ID.

Shared

• Shared folders make it easy to collaborate with coworkers or classmates.
• You decide how much control each person has over each shared folder. Some can just read what's there: others can add and delete files.
• Everyone who is sharing uses their own Windows Live ID.

Public

• With public folders, anyone on the Internet can view your files, but they can't change them.
• Want to show your public files to others? Just send them a link! Each folder and file has its own web address.

Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007

Para quem está interessado no novo OCS a Microsoft disponibilizou, gratuitamente, um conjunto de cursos no seu portal de e-learning:

(...)"This collection of 2-hour clinics explains the enterprise capabilities provided by Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. These clinics are for infrastructure specialists working within organizations that are looking to deploy Office Communications Server within their solutions.
Topics covered within the collection include:

• Enterprise Instant Messaging
• On-Premise Conferencing and Telephony
• Incorporating Office Communications Server Functionality within custom applications

Student prerequisites
Familiarity with the following:

• Active Directory concepts
• Exchange messaging concepts
• SharePoint concepts
• Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007 fundamentals
• Fundamental concepts of Windows Server 2003
• Fundamental networking knowledge and experience

This offer includes the following:

E-Learning

Clinic 5126: Introducing Enterprise Instant Messaging Using Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 (Beta)

Clinic 5127: Introducing On-Premise Conferencing Using Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007

Clinic 5128: Introducing Enterprise Telephony Using Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007

Clinic 5129: Customizing Real-Time Communication with Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007

Technorati tags: OCS 2007, Communications Server 2007

Tafiti

Mais uma experiencia visual bem "catita" com o Microsoft Silverlight:

(...)Microsoft today announced the availability of Tafiti, a Silverlight-based search tool on top of Microsoft's Live Search engine. Tafiti, which means "do research" in Swahili, enhances searching on the web by allowing users to store and share search results across multiple queries and sessions. This is accomplished by using "shelfs" to store one or more search results simply by dragging the search result onto one of five shelf spaces. Shelfs can then be stored for future use, or can be emailed or blogged about with ease.

Tafiti includes a carousel to simplify the organization of returned search results. By rotating the carousel, one can access search results from the web, images, news, RSS feeds, or books. Tafiti also supports a Tree View where by search results are placed on the limbs of a tree which can be rotated and zoomed as necessary to visualize the search result.

source: http://blogs.msdn.com/usisvde/archive/2007/08/21/Microsoft-Introduces-Tafiti.aspx

del.icio.us tags: tafiti, silverlight