Summary: Use Windows PowerShell to find the status of a range of services.

 How can I use Windows PowerShell to find the status of a range of services that have an initial letter that
           does not begin with V through Z?

 Use Get-Service with the –Exclude parameter, and supply a wildcard character set that represents
           the letters V through Z:

Get-Service -Exclude [V-Z]*

Back in April we blogged about a new Google Chrome behavior had the potential to impact user's meeting join experience resulting in being directed to the Lync Web App experience rather than launching the Lync or Skype for Business client. The details of that blog post can be found here:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/scottstu/archive/2015/04/16/potential-impact-on-lync-and-skype-for-business-meeting-join-experience-when-google-chrome-is-the-default-browser.aspx

Since that time Microsoft has published updates for all on-premises server versions as well as updating all online tenants which changes the meeting join process that does not require you to use NPAPI to join a meeting.

The following table shows the minimum build that contains the NPAPI fix as well as the direct link for where to download the updates from.

In order for this change to take effect you need to ensure that you patch the server or pool of servers which hosts the meeting simple url in your environment to the correct version as noted above.

This is a new series of articles for this blog that were inspired by Mark Russinovich’s Case of the Unexplained series. Each article will tell the story of an Exchange Online scenario that initially made no sense. I’ll then progress through the troubleshooting steps and eventually end up with the root cause. I have a couple of hopes here.

1. If you have experienced the same or similar issue, you can jump right to the root cause without needing to troubleshoot yourself.
   
   
2. You can learn more about Exchange Online from seeing how I approach solving a problem as I’ll be detailing not only what I did, but why I did it.

The US Regional Lounge is a key part of your US Partner experience at WPC 2015 next week. From Sunday through Wednesday, we’ll have experts from across the US subsidiary in our US Lounge to chat with you about profitability, partner investments , Windows 10, and Trusted Cloud and Online Security.

For real-time updates about US Partner activities and events during #WPC15, follow @wpcus on Twitter, and use #usatwpc to join the conversation

Meet, greet, and recharge

In addition to our experts, the US Regional Lounge is where you can get details about our US Partner activities, like the US People for Innovation event on Monday night, the US Sessions and the Microsoft North America General Session on Tuesday, and the US Celebration at Epcot® at the Walt Disney World Resort on Tuesday night. And, you can take advantage of this space to meet with other attendees, relax for a moment, and recharge.

US Partner experience wristbands

For entry to the US Celebration on Tuesday night, you will need to pick up a US Partner Experience wristband. By registering your RFID-enabled wristband at the time you pick it up, you’ll be able to quickly obtain event information and share your US Partner experiences with your social networks. The Windows 10 US Team has partnered with us to bring you this fun way to engage during WPC.

US Regional Lounge schedule

Windows 10 US Regional Lounge schedule

Download the US Partner’s guide to a great WPC 2015 for a comprehensive look at our activities, events, and recommendations for you while you’re at the conference.

This is a collection of the top Microsoft Support solutions for the most common issues IT Pros may face when administering Microsoft Outlook 2013 (updated quarterly).

1. Solutions related to sending, receiving, synchronizing, or viewing email:

• Fix sending or receiving problems in Outlook by using the Office Configuration Analyzer Tool
• Only a subset of your Exchange mailbox items are synchronized in Outlook 2013
• Sync Issues folder for Outlook contains warnings such as "Synchronization of some deletions failed"

2. Solutions related to a crash while using Outlook:

• How to resolve crash and stability issues in Office programs by using the OffCAT tool
• How to troubleshoot crashes in Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013
• Outlook 2013 keeps crashing - Microsoft Community
• Outlook not responding, stopped working, freezes or hangs
• Outlook 2013 crashes when you use the calendar

3. Solutions related to email messages remaining in the Outbox:

• Fix sending or receiving problems in Outlook by using the Office Configuration Analyzer Tool
• Email stuck in the Outbox in Outlook 2010 / 2013
• Email stays in the Outbox folder until you manually initiate a send/receive operation in Outlook
• Send or delete an email stuck in your outbox
• Reminders do not fire, e-mail stays in the Outbox, the To-Do Bar displays an error or Windows Desktop Search frequently rebuilds the indexing of Outlook items
• The mysterious Outlook Outbox - Office IT Pro Blog - Site Home ...

4. Solutions related to errors sending or receiving email:

• Fix sending or receiving problems in Outlook by using the Office Configuration Analyzer Tool
• Error occurs when you send or receive an email message in Outlook or Outlook Express
• Error 0x8004010F when you try to send or receive email in Outlook 2010 or Outlook 2013
• Fix your Outlook email connection by repairing your profile
• Error "Cannot find xxx.pst" when sending / receiving email or opening Outlook 2013

5. Solutions related to sharing calendars:

• Open and use a shared mailbox in Outlook 2013
• Share an Outlook calendar with other people
• Outlook errors when you try to access a shared calendar
• "The Delegates settings were not saved correctly" error when you try to add a delegate in Outlook
• How to open a shared calendar from an Outlook sharing invitation

Woody Walton

Ask yourself, are you a US SMB Partner Insider?  Well if you answered “no”, I highly encourage you to become one.  One of the more common requests I get in my travels is “how do I align better with the Microsoft folks in my area” or “how can I keep track of the latest initiatives, promotions and such?” In my experience, partners that are better connected to our field sales organization in SMB are not only the first in the know, they have a more holistic grasp of what is going on. Partners who are better connected are also able to acquire help more quickly when the need dictates. Relationships matter; showing you are interested matters.

Becoming a US SMB Partner Insider is an excellent way to become better connected.

Below is a summary of benefits and instructions for signing up.  I look forward to seeing you on an upcoming call!

Insider Community Members enjoy:

Sound good? Take these two easy steps to join today!

#1 Insider Communications– Sign up here.  

Please note: You will need to sign in with your live ID before entering the registration portal.

#2 Regional Monthly Insider Calls- Register for your region below!

We’ll have content designed for business owners, marketing, sales and technical professionals so join us to get exclusive US SMB Insider information straight from your Regional General Manager, field, and Microsoft US SMB corporate team!

· East Region SMB Partner Insider Call, 9:00AM ET, 1^st Friday of every month

· Central Region SMB Partner Insider Call, 10:00AM CT, 1^st Friday of every month

· West Region SMB Partner Insider Call, 10:00AM PT, 1^st Friday of every month

Need more of an incentive? Register now for the new series beginning on August 7 and you’ll be entered for a chance to win a Surface Pro 3 and a $300 Microsoft Store gift card.* Earn additional entries each time you attend one of our calls from August through December. The more often you attend, the more chances you’ll be entered to win! *Contest is subject to terms & conditions. Learn more here

Questions? Comments?
Please send questions and comments to smbvarinfo@microsoft.com.

Regards,

Woody

Two weeks ago we released a walkthrough of managingApache HTTP Server with System Center 2016 Technical Preview 2 Operations Manager. This week we continue with a walkthrough for managing MySQL Server with System Center 2016 TP2 Operations Manager. This walkthrough details a step by step guide for setting up and managing MySQL Server.

Here’s a quick look at the feature set for the MySQL Server management pack. A full list of available metrics can be found in the MySQL Server management pack guide in the Appendix section:

-          Performance metrics for key cache, query cache, table cache, etc.

-          Alerting on connections and query performance

-          InnoDB buffer pool hit and usage statistics

-          Information on disk space usage for the whole server and individual databases

Requirements for Open Source Software management pack monitoring can be found in the respective management pack guide at the linked download page above.

Basic Setup

For this walkthrough my pre-existing environment consists of the following

1. System Center 2016 Technical Preview 2 Operations Manager
2. System Center 2016 Technical Preview 2 Management Packs for Open Source Software
3. Ubuntu Server 14.04 LTS with MySQL Server 5.5 installed
   1. Important: This Linux server is not already managed by System Center 2016 Technical Preview 2 Operations Manager

MySQL Server Monitoring Overview

MySQL Server monitoring consists of a MySQL OMI CIM Provider that uses the MySQL client libraries to retrieve statistics from the running MySQL Server. In order for the MySQL OMI CIM Provider to utilize the MySQL client libraries user credentials must be specified to authorize and facilitate the connection. A short architecture overview can be seen below.

Creating the MySQL Server user

To begin configuration of the MySQL Server monitoring user let’s login to the MySQL Server using the MySQL client. There are a variety of tools to access the MySQL Server. In this tutorial I use the mysql client included with the mysql-server distribution

1. On the Ubuntu 14.04 LTS Server run the following command to login to the MySQL client as root. Note: You may login as any user as long as the specified user has permissions to CREATE users and GRANT permissions.
   1. mysql -u<INSERT USER> -p<INSERT PASSWORD>
2. if successful you are greeted with a terminal for the mysql client
3. In the MySQL command terminal enter the following to create a MySQL Server monitoring user with a specified password. In our case the user is "scomuser" and the password is "scompass"
   1. CREATE USER ‘scomuser’@’localhost’ IDENTIFIED by ‘scompass’
4. Once the MySQL Server monitoring user is created we need to grant permissions so that the monitoring user can view the performance metrics MySQL Server collects.
   1. The MySQL monitoring user requires SELECT privileges to the default 'mysql' tables for base performance monitoring. Run the following command to grant SELECT privileges for the 'mysql' database to the scomuser

   • GRANT SELECT ON mysql.* TO ‘scomuser’@’localhost’;

5. The MySQL monitoring user also retrieves information about MySQL Databases the MySQL monitoring user has permissions to access. In order to grant privileges to the MySQL monitoring user use the following command as a template.

   1. GRANT SELECT ON <INSERT DATABASE NAME>.* TO ‘scomuser’@’localhost’;

Managing the Ubuntu Server with System Center 2016 Technical Preview 2 Operations Manager

As mentioned in the Apache blog last week, the process for bringing a Linux server under management with this new version of Operations Manager remains largely unchanged. For a more detailed look on how to discover Linux servers with Operations Manager refer to the following blow post http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/archive/2012/03/18/deploying-unix-linux-agents-using-opsmgr-2012.aspx

Like the Apache provider the MySQL provider is included in the new Linux agents for System Center 2016 TP2 Operations Manager. During the Linux agent installation if a supported version of MySQL Server is installed the Linux agent installs the MySQL Server agent.

If you would like to add MySQL management to an already managed Linux server refer to the instructions inside the MySQL management pack guide on the download page.

1. Import the MySQL Server Library Management Pack and the OSS Library Management Pack. The version for both management packs is 7.6.1042.0
2. After the MySQL management packs are imported when the next discovery runs a MySQL Server instance appears in the console. MySQL Server discovery runs every four hours by default.

Enabling MySQL Monitoring

Now that we have the MySQL Server discovery completed in Operations Manager we have to configure the MySQL provider to use the MySQL Server monitoring user we created earlier. Thankfully, this can be done by distributing an authentication text file or running a management pack task. This guide uses the management pack tasks. Instructions for creating and distributing the authentication text file can be found in the management pack guide.

1. Click the “Not monitored” instance of the MySQL Server and open the “Task Pane” on the right hand side
2. Under MySQL Server (Linux) Tasks you can see two tasks “Set Default MySQL Credentials” and “Update Discovered Properties”
3. First run the “Set Default MySQL Credentials”
4. The task contains parameters including username, port, password, and bind address. Let’s click “Override” and change the username and password to the user we created in the earlier step as well as change the bind address to 127.0.0.1 for localhost.
   1. The port option can be changed to a specific port if needed, otherwise the MySQL client communicates through the default 3306. If multiple instances of MySQL Server are running on the same Linux server refer to MySQL Management Pack Guide for authentication file configuration.
5. After clicking override and then run task we should receive a “True” for task output
6. Once the MySQL Monitoring user is configured we can run the “Update Discovered Properties” management pack task to initiate a discovery and immediately update properties.

Congratulations!! You have successfully set up MySQL Server monitoring with System Center 2016 TP2 Operations Manager. After a couple minutes MySQL Server Databases and MySQL Server performance metrics begin to populate.

We appreciate any comments you may have about MySQL Server or Apache HTTP Server monitoring, and look forward to your feedback.

This is a continuation of my previous blog posts in this series, Navigational Guidelines: 

1. Wiki Life: What are in-line links?
2. Wiki Life: What do you put in the See Also section? Should every article have one?

This topic (Other Resources) is part of the UX Guidelines section, Links and Accessibility.

Here are the different link guidelines:

• Article table of contents
  • This is the "In this article" section under the introduction section.
  • See Page Layout above for detailed instructions on how to create this section.
• 'Return to Top' links
  • These links exist at the bottom of every section (above the horizontal rule) and link back up to the very top of the article (and not just the TOC).
• In-line links
  • In the introduction section, include an embedded link (when possible) to the parent topic.
• <Product Name> Wiki Pages section
  • Pull it into a Portal page if >10 links.
• See Also section
  • This is a link list at the bottom that links to domain parent articles (and related articles) in TechNet Wiki.
• Other Resources section
  • These are the external links, including links to Microsoft and TechNet sites that are non-Wiki.
• References section
  • Use this section if you pulled source material and ideas from other sites, blogs, or forums. Make sure you have permission from authors to use their material.
• TechNet Resources section
  • This list is specific to TechNet resources found on the topic. 

The Other Resources section is a list of links that are external to TechNet Wiki. If you have links to TechNet Wiki articles, they should go in the See Also section, which comes above the Other Resources section. See Wiki Life: What do you put in the See Also section? Should every article have one?

Similar to the See Also section, the Other Resources section should be an H1.

Should every article have an Other Resources section?

Yes! Honestly, it would be best to make sure each article has a See Also section first (see this blog post for ideas), but every article would benefit from an Other Resources section and should have one.

For every article, there are a lot of links that should be included.

Here are some examples of types of links you should include:

1. Microsoft official marketing page for that technology (example: https://www.visualstudio.com/) 
2. MSDN/TechNet Forum
3. MSDN/TechNet Library parent articles (the main Help documentation for that product)
4. MSDN/TechNet Library related articles (articles in that technology section that are related to your scenario)
5. MSDN/TechNet Blog official site for that product
6. Related MSDN Gallery/TechNet Gallery/CodePlex/GitHub items
7. Related MSDN/TechNet Blog posts by other teams and Microsoft employees
8. Related non-MS blog posts (Wordpress, Blogger, etc.) from MVPs, other partners, and other customers
9. Related YouTube videos

What other types of links should be included in the Other Resources section? Comment with your thoughts!

What are some good articles that should be examples that have great Other Resources sections? Comment with the URL!

Come on in! The Wiki is warm!

   - Ninja Ed

Como já mostramos em outros posts, o nosso TechNet Wiki também está muito envolvido com desenvolvimento de softwares.

Você poderá encontrar muitos artigos sobre Visual Studio, abordando diversos temas: .Net, ASP.Net, C#, Visual Basic e outros.

E mais uma vez, temos a oportunidade de aperfeiçoar nosso conhecimento.

Em 20 de julho, iremos celebrar o último release do Visual Studio 2015 !!!

Convidamos à todos para aproveitar este evento "online" e aprender mais sobre as novas Features e tecnologias que acompanharão essa nova versão.

Você poderá interagir neste evento "ao vivo", participando de uma sessão de perguntas e respostas com a equipe de engenharia.

Uma excelente oportunidade de conhecer mais detalhes técnicos com quem faz esta ferramenta uma realidade.

Teremos também a oportunidade de ver o time de Visual Studio criando uma solução "end-to-end" em um projeto open-source.

Veja diferentes cenários e tire suas dúvidas sobre os mais novos recursos e tecnologias do VS 2015.

Então marque na sua agenda e participe do lançamento no dia 20 de julho, clicando aqui.

Não é necessário fazer o registro, apenas acesse a URL indicada no dia 20 de Julho à partir das 12h30 (horário de Brasília).

Você pode também aprofundar seus conhecimentos através de mais de 60 sessões on-demand do Channel9.

Compartilhe conosco a sua experiência publicando artigos no TechNet Wiki sobre o Visual Studio 2015.

Não esqueça de usar à tag Visual Studio e nas redes sociais usando às hashtags: #tnwiki e #visualstudiortm

Até +,

Wiki Ninja Durval Ramos ( Blog, Twitter, Wiki, Perfil )

The following is an excerpt from the book Mobile for Good: A How-To Fundraising Guide for Nonprofits written byHeather Mansfield, founder of Nonprofit Tech for Good.

With more than 250 million blogs in existence and countless online news outlets worldwide, new media managers must excel at writing and have the ability to expand their storytelling, marketing and fundraising content beyond traditional blog writing, such as program updates, success stories, breaking news and promoting calls to action. The rise of mobile and social media has profoundly altered how journalists frame and format stories, and the same is true for nonprofit bloggers. Remember that the most shared and retweeted blog posts will be those that are out of the ordinary.

1. Write Numbered Lists

Formatting your nonprofit’s cause(s) and programs into numbered lists is guaranteed to grab the attention of your donors and supporters. Since most readers now scan online content rather than read it thoroughly, listing and bolding content in a numbered format piques curiosity and ensures easy reading.

2. Photo Essays

Photo essays have emerged as a powerful means for telling a story. Your photo essay should include the following: at least five images of the same size, including a border, that fill the entire width of the page; large bolded captions; a preface of one or two descriptive paragraphs; and a closing with a clear call to action.

3. Summarize Research Reports and Studies

Summarizing the key findings of recently released research reports or studies by nonprofits or think tanks is good strategy. Promote the summary and gain access to new readers by using the report hashtag on social networks. When summarizing a report, be sure to bullet-point at least five of the most important stats mentioned in the report. Then when distributing your summary, tweet or post one of the stats with a link to your summary. By including at least five stats in your summary, you can then distribute your summary up to five times over a one or two week period.

4. Share Resources Relevant to Your Cause

After breaking news and current affairs, articles related to daily life are the most popular on mobile and social media. A simple Internet search will reveal countless articles related to health, lifestyle, family and popular culture. Experiment with publishing blog posts that share resources and useful advice related to your own organization’s mission. As examples, an environmental organization could write about which commonly bought food packaging items can be recycled. Or, an arts organization could create a list of the top 10 museums to visit in a lifetime.

5. Show Donation Impact

Regularly share how donations are being used and the impact they have had. For program milestones, illuminate how the funds raised helped you achieve the goal. Mention the amount raised, how many donors gave and list all the products bought and delivered. Thank donors and encourage others to give. Donors are much more likely to continue giving if there is concrete evidence that their donations are making an impact.

6. Tell the Story of a Community Served

Evoking empathy is essential when telling the story of the communities or individuals served by your nonprofit. The challenge is to communicate need though text, images and video with dignity and respect, hope and possibility. Make it clear that these communities and individuals are real people who are acutely affected by circumstances that are often beyond their control. Illuminate how beneficiaries needs and wants can be or are being met. Focusing on the positive that exists in even the most unfortunate of situations is much more likely to encourage giving.

7. Interview Donors and Volunteers

Create a community of long-term givers and volunteers who are more than just a collection of faceless database entries, through interviews and photos. People find it interesting to read the stories and see the faces of other donors and volunteers. They may even be inspired to give financial support or their time to support your cause. For both donor and volunteer interviews, ask unique questions beyond the obvious to add more personality and character to the posts.

8. Go Behind the Scenes

Many donors and supporters want to see what happens behind the scenes at your nonprofit. Take photos of important meetings and solicit quotes from staff about key takeaways. Record a video of your office or facilities. Interview staff and volunteers as they prepare for an event. Though donors are primarily concerned with the cause(s) you advocate, demonstrating how hard your staff and volunteers work behind the scenes can further cement their commitment to your nonprofit.

9. Write Book and Movie Reviews

Writing reviews about popular books and movies whose plots and characters are related to the cause(s) your nonprofit advocates is an easy way to tap into pop culture. Make sure to include suggestions on how individuals can take action, which can foster social good. Before distributing your reviews, search for popular hashtags representative of the book or movie.

10. Feature New Mobile and Social Media Content

When your nonprofit launches a new infographic, video or e-book, write a post that features the content. By embedding the video into your website or blog and providing some background information on why and how the video was made, you’ll likely get more video views and website traffic. The same is true for infographics, which should be featured on your website in proximity to a donate button, e-newsletter and mobile alert opt-in form and social network icons to help convert readers into donors. Finally, if your nonprofit launches a presence on a new social network, then write about your goals and ask your donors and supporters to help grow your new community.

Microsoft はナデラ CEO の下、モバイル ファースト、クラウド ファーストの世界において、「人や組織がより多くのことを達成できることをエンパワーする」というミッションを掲げ、視点を「PC」から「人」に 180度転換する「変革」を進める。7 月 1 日付で、日本マイクロソフトの社長に就任した平野拓也氏は、チャレンジャーとして「優れたエクスペリエンス」の提供や「プロダクティビティの再定義」に取り組んでいくと話す。
(アイティメディア エグゼクティブ・エディター 浅井 英二)

▼ 続きを読む

We had requirements on to collect the information of Install date for updates which is not usually collected using inventory.

The below Steps will help to get that information in to SCCM database

1) Import the Cab file

• Take the attached file--> Update Details.cab
• In your ConfigMgr 12 console, on Assets and Compliance, Compliance Settings
• Right-click on "Configuration Baseline"  and Import this file (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh691016.aspx )
• Once done deploy the baseline to the collection of machines from which you need.(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh219289.aspx )

2) Import the MOF file so that SMS_DEF.MOF is updated in 2012 this is how you do

• On the console, Administration -> Client Settings ->  right-click 'Default Client Settings' ->and go to properties.
• Select Hardware Inventory, then on the right "Set Classes.
• Click Import and browse to the updatedetails.mof file you saved.

Content of MOF file
========================================
[ SMS_Report (TRUE),

  SMS_Group_Name ("CM_UpdateDetails"),
  SMS_Class_ID ("MICROSOFT|CM_UPDATEDETAILS|1.0"),
  Namespace ("root\\\\cimv2") ]
class CM_UpdateDetails : SMS_Class_Template
{
    [ SMS_Report (TRUE), key ]
    String     HotFixID;
    [ SMS_Report (TRUE) ]
    String     Installdate;
    [ SMS_Report (TRUE) ]
    String     Installedby;
    [ SMS_Report (TRUE) ]
    String     UpdateType;
};

============================================
The powershell script use to create a WMI entry is also available in the Zip file.
You will get the data in the query
select * from v_GS_CM_UPDATEDETAILS

Cloud Platform Release Announcements for July 9, 2015

This is a blog post of a new ongoing series of consolidated updates from the Cloud Platform team.

In today’s mobile first, cloud first world, Microsoft provides the technologies and tools to enable enterprises to embrace a cloud culture. Our differentiated innovations, comprehensive mobile solutions and developer tools help all of our customers realize the true potential of the cloud first era.

You expect cloud-speed innovation from us, and we’re delivering across the breadth of our Cloud Platform product portfolio. Below is a consolidated list of our latest releases to help you stay current, with links to additional details if you’d like more information. In this update:

• Linux RDMA Support generally available

• Introducing Operations Management Suite add-on for System Center

• Azure Site Recovery (VMWare/Physical to Azure) generally available

• Azure Batch generally available

• HPC Pack support for Linux generally available

• Power BI Content Packs

• Datazen Windows 7 Publisher Public Preview

• System Center Configuration Manager Technical Preview 2

Linux RDMA Support generally available

We now support Linux remote direct memory access (RDMA) technology, enabling scientists and engineers to solve complex problems using simulations running on Azure. RDMA technology allows A8 and A9 Linux VMs in Azure to directly communicate through the InfiniBand network. This helps enable faster communication between VMs at low latency for parallel workloads and applications that take advantage of the Message Passing Interface (MPI) stack. With this release, Intel MPI is supported. For more information, please visit the About the A8, A9, A10, and A11 Compute Intensive Instances documentation webpage.

Introducing Operations Management Suite add-on for System Center

We designed OMS to empower customers to do more with their System Center investments, and just two months after the release of OMS, we are delivering the Operations Management Suite add-on for System Center.  The OMS add-on provides System Center customers access to the full suite of OMS solutions at one low cost. For every System Center Standard or Datacenter license you own with Software Assurance, you will be able to purchase a corresponding Microsoft Operations Management Suite add-on for access to allocated solutions that enable you to extend your datacenter, quickly enable hybrid cloud scenarios, and take advantage of cloud bursting, migration and dev/test scenarios.  To add further value, we are also providing an introductory promotional offer through December 31, 2015, which includes site recovery to Azure.  This promotion equates to a 40 percent discount over the regular price and a 57% discount over purchasing the standalone services.  You can learn more about Operations Management Suite and the new OMS add-on here.

Azure Site Recovery (VMWare/Physical to Azure) generally available

Pricing | Site Recovery webpage
ASR for VMWare and Physical is now generally available and we’ve made it easier to try Azure Site Recovery to enable Availability on Demand, and to extend and help protect your datacenter. With Site Recovery, you can quickly help protect applications running on your physical and virtual infrastructure, migrate applications into Azure, create copies of your applications in Azure for dev/test, or run analytics or reporting on replicated applications with a copy of production data.

Site Recovery helps you avoid the expense and complexity of building and managing your own secondary datacenter, and leverage the power of Azure with a just a few clicks. Now, you can use the powerful replication capabilities of Site Recovery for 31 days at no charge for every new application or VM that you replicate.

Azure Batch generally available

Azure Batch makes it easy to run large-scale parallel and high-performance computing workloads in Azure. As part of this release, the Batch scheduling capabilities will be available as a free tier. Users pay only for the underlying VM usage, with no additional charge for using Batch. Developers can use Batch to scale out parallel workloads, manage execution of tasks in a queue, and enable applications to offload compute jobs in the cloud. With Batch, users can run these applications on demand at scale without setting up and managing a cluster, VMs, or a job scheduler. Batch manages VM deployment, autoscaling, and failure recovery. It can also be used as part of a workflow and to deliver self-service applications as a service.

HPC Pack support for Linux generally available

HPC Pack 2012 R2 Update 2 is now available. With this update, HPC Pack now supports Linux VMs running on Azure. Customers running high-performance computing clusters on Linux can now use HPC Pack management, deployment, and scheduling capabilities. For more information about this update, please visit the Microsoft HPC Pack webpage.

Power BI Content Packs

Power BI continues to make it easier for users to connect to their data, providing pre-built solutions for popular services as part of the Power BI experience. This month we added content packs for Acumatica and UserVoice. Acumatica offers cloud accounting software and cloud ERP software for small to midsize business and UserVoice integrates easy-to-use feedback, helpdesk, and knowledge base management tools in one platform. Subscribers to these supported services can now quickly connect to their account from Power BI and see their data through live dashboards and interactive reports that have been pre-built for them.

Getting started with data visualization and analysis has never been easier, for additional information visit the Power BI blog.

Datazen Windows 7 Publisher Public Preview

Datazen Publisher enables quick creation and publishing of rich data visualizations from on-premises enterprise data sources such as SQL Server. Published content delivers business insights through an interactive user experience on all major mobile platforms.

The public preview of Datazen Publisher for Windows 7 is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center.

Datazen Publisher for Windows 7 offers feature parity with the Datazen Publisher app, which is available in the Windows store, the UI that has been optimized for desktop scenarios.

For more information about how Datazen can help your organization get insights from your on-premises data please visit: http://http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/products/sql-server-editions/sql-server-enterprise.aspx

System Center Configuration Manager Technical Preview 2

Today, we announced the availability of System Center Configuration Manager and System Center Endpoint Protection Technical Preview 2. This second technical preview provides an early glimpse of the functionality that we plan to release in Q4 of this calendar year, bringing with it full support for client deployment, upgrade, and management of Windows 10. New features available in Technical Preview 2 include:

• Universal Windows apps support for Windows 10– You can now side-load internally developed Universal Windows apps to Windows 10 devices.

• Peer cache support for Windows PE– Peer cache support now includes OS deployment scenarios for Windows PE, extending our existing Configuration Manager peer cache content management.

• Ability to manage Windows 10 PCs and mobile devices via MDM with on-premises Configuration Manager infrastructure– Support now includes Windows 10 PCs in addition to existing support for mobile devices which was added in the first Technical Preview. With this new option, you can manage Windows 10 devices using Configuration Manager integrated with Microsoft Intune (hybrid) without the need to store your data in the cloud. This is especially helpful for managing devices that are unable to connect to the Internet such as Windows IoT/Embedded devices. Note: An Intune subscription is required.

  Read the post on the ConfigMgr blog for more information on today’s announcements.

   

When I announced the Preview of Disaster Recovery to Azure for VMware and Physical workloads back in March, I emphasized our commitment to provide Hybrid cloud business continuity solutions for anyenvironment – whether it’s Windows or Linux, physical or virtualized, or on Hyper-V, VMware or others.

Today, after a successful Preview period, I am very excited to announce the General Availability of Disaster Recovery for VMware Virtual Machines (VMs) and Physical Servers to Azure using Azure Sites Recovery.

Our early customers have put this new functionality through a rigorous period of evaluation, and their feedback has been incorporated into this high-quality GA.

With our awesome Availability on Demand (AoD) solutions, enterprises and service providers of all sizes can now confidently use Microsoft Azure for DR, Cloud Migration, DevTest, and other enterprise scenarios.

*AWS Windows instances can now be migrated to Azure with ASR

Today’s announcement delivers on our promise to enable workload-aware disaster recovery and protection for your heterogeneous and hybrid IT environments. Building on top of functionality that we delivered as part of the Preview, the following new features are also now available:

• Smart Replication of your VMware and physical server workloads to Azure ensures that you can perform DR drills and failover tests multiple times without requiring the reseeding of source data. Data is always replicated to your own Azure Storage account to ensure maximum security and isolation.
• Support for Resize of Source Volumes ensures that as your on-prem apps grow in size, you can continue to benefit from the protection of those apps without losing DR assurance.
• Process Server Failover and Load Balancing guarantees that your DR setup can scale to meet the availability and scaling needs of your on-prem workloads.
• Multi-NIC Support for your Linux workloads is fully supported when you replicate them to Azure.

We are also expanding coverage for non-English deployments. Starting now, customers that use non-English locales for their ESXi host names, vCenter Server names, resource names, and source machine names, can benefit from ASR’s replication and protection to Azure capabilities.

Also, we’re addressing a key piece of feedback about streamlined error handling, monitoring/diagnosability, and ASR dashboard notifications for new software component updates.

In addition to these new and enhanced features, customers also get simplified, automated one-click recovery with ASR Recovery Plans¸rich-monitoring and e-mail notifications, and support for failback to on-premises once their primary datacenter recovers from an outage. For a really detailed overview of how to get started with this, check out our VMware and Physical server scenario documentation.

When you’re ready to start replicating your workloads to Azure using ASR, I recommend checking out this site with even more product info and specs. It is pretty remarkable how easy the team has made it to try ASR and enable Availability on Demand. Even the test drive is easy: You can test the replication capabilities of ASR for 31 days at no charge for every new physical server or virtual machine that you replicate.

If you have additional questions about ASR or want to share your experience with it, reach out on Twitter!

We are pleased to announce the availability of Datazen Publisher for Windows 7 Preview.

Datazen Publisher is the single point for creation and publishing of rich, interactive visualizations. You can simply connect to the Datazen Server to access your on-premises SQL Server or other enterprise data sources,
easily create beautiful visualizations for any form factor and then publish them for access by others on all major mobile platforms.

Datazen Publisher for Windows 7 offers feature parity with the Datazen Publisher app and the UI has been optimized for desktop scenarios. You can now create and publish data visualizations based on your personal preference
(mouse & keyboard or touch) or device that you are working on.

The Datazen Publisher for Windows 7 Preview is available for download on the Microsoft Download Center.  Please visit the Windows Store to install the Datazen Publisher for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1+.

For more information about how Datazen can help your organization get insights from your on-premises enterprise data please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/products/sql-server-editions/sql-server-enterprise.aspx#sqlmobilebi

In recent weeks the ongoing surge of EMS success stories has continued to grow. I’ve written about this before, and today there are six more quick stories I want to highlight because of how their stories apply to so many of the regular readers of this blog.

With each of these stories, I think you’ll recognize the decision making process these organizations went through, as well as the familiar solutions they required. In each case, these organizations became dramatically more efficient, their infrastructure was simplified, and their end users became immediately more productive and more secure.

If you want to see real-world examples of the Microsoft advantage – this is a post worth sharing.  Also, for a deep dive into the breadth our Enterprise Mobility solutions, check out the Success with Enterprise Mobility blog series.

ABM

ABM is one of the largest facility solution providers (e.g. janitorial, maintenance, etc.) in the United States with more than 300 offices.

ABM’s IT department worked with the business to enable enterprise mobility and anywhere/anytime productivity for their mobile workforce. That mobile workforce is almost always away from the office at customer locations like universities, hospitals, and airports.

To empower this workforce, ABM deployed Office 365 and the Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) to 12,000 users and their devices.

From the case study:

“The Enterprise Mobility Suite is symbiotic with Office 365 in terms of benefits,” says Andre Garcia, AVP, Global Infrastructure Services at ABM. “With Office 365, we provide the cloud services for employees to be more mobile and productive; with the Enterprise Mobility Suite, IT gets another set of cloud services to protect and manage users, devices, and data. We will use the Enterprise Mobility Suite to help our increasingly mobile workforce access and share data in a secure fashion on up-to-date devices, so they can work more productively and improve service.”

“Managing identity is the first step toward empowering mobility,” says Garcia. “We use the tools in the Enterprise Mobility Suite for an enhanced level of end-user management and self-service capabilities and for multifactor authentication—and now IT can validate that devices connecting to the network are owned and controlled by individuals with the appropriate credentials.”

The scenarios noted here by Andre (who was previously a guest on The Endpoint Zone) are actually the two most common scenarios that I see among organizations who choose to deploy EMS:

1. The need to secure and protect the data that’s being used and accessed in the Office mobile apps.
2. The rapidly growing importance of the strong identity management capabilities in EMS. In the ABM case study you’ll see a lot of detail about how ABM uses EMS for multi-factor authentication, self-service password reset, single sign-on for SaaS apps and managing all the mobile devices being used by their employees.

To read the whole ABM story, check out their case study here.

St. Luke’s Health System

St. Luke’s Health System is a nationally recognized nonprofit healthcare system. Like many other healthcare organizations, St. Luke’s needed to migrate from multiple electronic medical record systems (a total of 35) to one solution from a partner, Epic. As a part of this transition, St. Luke’s has a vision for its 3,000 clinicians: It wants to deliver a high standard of care across multiple devices.

This is where O365 and the EMS came into play. O365 and EMS will enable secure access to the Epic solution and other IT-approved apps from anywhere and on any device. This means better patient care and more efficient management.

From the case study:

“At St. Luke’s, we have many different versions of mobility,” says Brett Taylor, Information Technology Director at St. Luke’s Health System. “We were impressed by the level of investments Microsoft is making in its datacenters and by the rapid release cycle of new capabilities in the suite, such as the ability to use data loss protection for content in Microsoft SharePoint Online sites and Microsoft OneDrive for Business,” says Taylor. “The Enterprise Mobility Suite helps us answer our security requirements.”  

St. Luke’s clinicians want to access patient records from home and to provide better patient care outside of office hours, such as diagnosing an on-site concussion at a school football game, for example. To support that anywhere access, the health system needs to trust that each clinician’s identity is accurate and device is secured. Using the multifactor authentication capabilities and conditional access controls within the Enterprise Mobility Suite will deliver that trust.

Two things really stand out from St. Luke’s story:

1. Notice the general movement in the healthcare industry towards Epic – and notice how EMS helps to secure that Epic data.
2. I’m consistently impressed by the speed of the release cadence for new functionality within EMS. This speed is a huge advantage for EMS customers.

To read the whole St. Luke’s Health System story, check out their case study here.

Japan Business Systems

Japan Business Systems (JBS) is an independent systems integrator that specializes in information infrastructure, application development, system maintenance, and system operations. Like many systems integrators, more than half of their employees (1,200 total) work at remote customer sites and they face complex security constraints when moving between customers.

JBS is an awesome example of how the Enterprise Cloud Suite (ECS) dramatically simplifies the licensing required for organizations that need to make their users productive whenever, wherever, and on whatever devices they want to use. The beauty of ECS is the way it provides a per-user license for O365, EMS, and Windows Software Assurance at very attractive prices. You can read more about how ECS works here.

ECS is a very proactive response to the feedback Microsoft has received by the ton over the years about the complexity of our licensing. We have worked very hard to make ECS as simple as possible: It’s a per-user license (aka don’t worry about counting devices), it’s a simple upgrade from your Platform EA, and it’s a great price.

To read the Japan Business Systems story in depth, check out their case study here.

SoftBank Technology

SoftBank Technology was an early adopter of Office 365 back in 2011, and, at the time, they were using another EMM solution. Soon after evaluating EMS in July 2014, and then after testing out a pilot in February 2015, they migrated from their existing EMM solution and completed their implementation of EMS across their company this April.

Now they manage their 1,200 mobile devices from the cloud, and they are looking to run SCCM and Intune together for a single solution that manages everything – PC’s and mobile devices.

From the case study:

Toshiro Mine, Senior Manager, estimates that about 20 percent of the work normally required for mobile device management is expected to be reduced. He concludes, “Taking into account the integration capabilities with existing systems and the synergistic effects with our in-house solution, EMS is the most appropriate solution for our future business development.”

SoftBank’s story features two very common scenarios I see on a regular basis:

1. I am told by a lot of organizations using alternative EMM solutions that they are unhappy with the offering – especially the productivity apps from these vendors. They all want the rich Office experience.
2. These organizations want that single pane of glass to manage PC’s and mobile devices. The reality is that the other EMM vendors are super weak in PC management. SCCM and Intune deliver great PC and mobile device management.

To read the whole SoftBank Technology story, check out their case study here.

Willemen Groep

Willemen Groep is a Belgian construction company that emphasizes completing projects on-time and on-budget. They turned to O365 and the EMS to make their users more productive while securing and protecting company data.

From the case study:

“Employees use Office 365 to access and share updated project plans, equipment deliveries, and contracts,” says Kris Mampaey, Director of IT at Willemen Groep. “And employees are using our mobile apps to accomplish business tasks on the go. However, to enable these mobile work scenarios, we needed better identity and access management for SaaS [Software as a Service] resources, and we needed to secure and manage the mobile devices and smartphones used outside the corporate network—as well as the data they contain. The Enterprise Mobility Suite delivers these capabilities in one, cost-effective package.”

“Thanks to the Enterprise Mobility Suite, we can confidently deploy mobile apps that deliver business value. The Invoice app streamlines our three-person sequential invoice approval process. Using the app on their mobile devices, approvers can make a quick decision anytime and anywhere. We are reducing payment cycles from 60 to 30 days, which puts us in a position to negotiate discounts with suppliers.”

I love learning how the work we are doing is enabling organizations to re-imagine their business processes and drive efficiencies! I want to know how can we help you!

To read the whole Willemen Groep story, check out their case study here.

Mitchell Shire

Mitchell Shire is a 1,780 square mile (2,864 km) in Australia’s Goulburn River Valley. The 470 employees of the Mitchell Shire Council (over half of whom are mobile) are responsible for government services and facilities like parks, healthcare, senior/disability programs, sports/recreation spaces, and the infrastructure for the approximately 40,000 citizens. The Council leaders needed to better empower their employees to efficiently deliver these services while keeping the local government’s sensitive data secure.

Mitchell Shire was one of the first councils in Australia to subscribe to O365 – they were particularly interested in the 1 terabyte of document storage per user, the videoconferencing features, as well as the native instant messaging and collaboration tools. Mitchell Shire is now taking full advantage of the EMS.

From the case study:

“The Enterprise Mobility Suite provides the tools we need to configure, secure, and manage mobile devices as well as protect data,” says Clint Zikesch, Chief Technology Officer at Mitchell Shire Council. “It’s absolutely key to achieving our mobility strategy.” Before choosing the Enterprise Mobility Suite, Council evaluated other options, but none of them offered more flexible, multiplatform management capabilities.

Council also liked that Microsoft Intune works with the organization’s existing PC management solution, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager, a component of System Center 2012. “Having one user interface to cover all computing devices is a huge advantage, reducing the workload for IT staff,” says Zikesch. Read about how they are using EMS to comply with the records management legislations as well as using the EMS multi-factor capabilities to ensure security of that data.

To read the whole Mitchell Shire story, check out their case study here.

* * *

I have writtena fair amount about how PC management, mobile device management, identity management, and productivity are converging. I hope that as you read through these customer examples this convergence really stood out. This convergence is real and it is happening quickly.

As you define and refine your Enterprise Mobility strategy, you must take this convergence into consideration. You may have deployed point solutions 1-2 years ago to address specific needs – but the future is going to depend upon a single, unified approach.

Right now is the time to really consider what your all-up strategy should be going forward, as well as how you will move from point products that are not integrated (and, frankly, cannot be integrated) to an integrated Office 365 + EMS solution.

Office 365 + EMS will make your users more productive, they will love the experience many times more than the point solutions you may be using now, your data will be more secure, and you will be the HERO for delivering this to them!

Today’s (SQL) Tip…

There are a few very useful images built into the new Azure portal for putting SQL Server onto IaaS VMs. First and foremost is the ability to have your disks, tempdb, and other items properly setup for IaaS. If you look into the SQL Server 2014 Enterprise (or Standard) Optimized for Transactional Workloads you will get 16 disks all properly striped for the best performance in Azure.

Another extremely useful image is the SQL Server 2014 AlwaysOn image. It automates the deployment of a SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Group for high availability of SQL Server. It provisions 2 SQL Server 2014 Enterprise replicas (primary and secondary) and 1 witness file share in a Windows Cluster. It also provisions 2 Domain Controller replicas (primary and secondary). In addition, it configures an Availability Group Listener for clients to connect to the primary SQL Server replica. You push a few buttons wait 30 minutes and you get a fully setup AlwaysOn AG.

its been a while , a nice site not to miss :)

http://powershell.office.com/