Kurt Shintaku's Blog

We’ve released the Microsoft® Forefront™ Identity Manager 2010 R2 Best Practices Analyzer (4.1.2515.0). 

The FIM2010 R2 Best Practices Analyzer is a tool that lets you verify the implementation of Best Practices. These best practices typically relate to the usage and administration aspects of your FIM 2010 R2 deployment, to ensure they are managed and operated well.

Here’s a list of some of the best practices that the new FIM2010R2 BPA detects and helps correct:

• FIM 2010 R2: Delete expired objects SQL job should be enabled
• FIM 2010 R2: The FIM 2010 R2 Service is not started
• FIM 2010 R2: SQL server service should be running on the remote server
• FIM 2010 R2: The FIM 2010 R2 Synchronization Service is not started
• FIM 2010 R2: Model Generator is installed in production environment
• FIM 2010 R2: Timer interval for BFPC and BFSS too low
• FIM 2010 R2: BHOLD Core root account is used for BHOLD FIM Integration
• FIM 2010 R2: Same Account being used for FIM Synchronization Service and FIM MA
• FIM 2010 R2: FIM Service or the FIM Synchronization Service Account does not have Deny Logon As Batch Job set
• FIM 2010 R2: FIMCM – Portal should be set to use only secure connections
• FIM 2010 R2: FIM CM – Database connection string should use Windows Authentication only.
• FIM 2010 R2: <Certificate Type> certificate is not defined, is close to its expiry date or has already expired.
• FIM 2010 R2: USEGroups and USEGroups settings are used
• FIM 2010 R2: Appropriate Service principal name should be set for the Web Pool account
• FIM 2010 R2: Autostats equals ON
• FIM 2010 R2: FTS Index is enabled in auto mode and the index is fully populated
• FIM 2010 R2: SQL Server Agent is not running or FIM Jobs are not enabled
• FIM 2010 R2: A required Certificate Management patch should be installed
• FIM 2010 R2: Remote server should be present and accessible to run sub model scans
• FIM 2010 R2: Pre-requisite check status
• FIM 2010 R2: Powershell remoting should be enabled on the remote serve
• FIM 2010 R2: Discovery script needs to be run by a user in the Local Administrators group

DOWNLOAD: Microsoft® Forefront™ Identity Manager 2010 R2 Best Practices Analyzer 4.1.2515.0
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30419

Click it to see the morph I put together in about 60 seconds.
(FYI: I used FotoMorph, a free morphing tool for Windows that’s quite excellent!)

If you’re in IT or you’re at all a Windows geek, you need to check Windows-to-Go out. 

Windows-to-Go allows you to boot your complete Windows 8 Enterprise Edition environment off of a USB 3.0 flash drive (Windows-to-Go certified hardware) from basically any Intel computer.  (I understand that this even works on MacBooks even though it’s not supported)  The performance, because of the hardware requirements, is outstanding.  You really can’t tell that it’s just a USB stick you’re booting off of.

WHAT YOU NEED:

• Windows 8 Enterprise (installed on a PC)
• Windows 8 Enterprise .ISO image (via TechNet/MSDN or Volume Licensing downloads)
• A Windows-to-Go certified USB 3.0 flash drive
  (Technically, any USB drive – even 2.0 drives – might work however they are not guaranteed to either work nor perform well.  If you’re going to do this, be prepared to just BUY a certified USB flash drive.  It’ll be about $80.  Trust me on this.)

Here’s some quick and dirty steps on how to build your first Windows-to-Go flash drive:

1. Run “Windows-to-Go” from the Control Panel on a Windows 8 Enterprise PC.  (Remember that Windows-to-Go is only available to Enterprise Edition users)  WinKey-X will allow you to bring up the Control Panel easily.

   

2. Select an .WIM image.  If you have the Windows 8 Enterprise media in .ISO format, simply double click on the .ISO to mount it as a virtual DVD drive beforehand and navigate to \sources\install.wim for a base image.  The tool should automatically find this .WIM file if you had mounted the virtual DVD beforehand.

   

3. Enable BitLocker if desired.  This will encrypt all data on the drive and require that you enter a BitLocker password before every boot.

   

That’s it.  The process of building the Windows-to-Go drive will commence.

WAIT… THAT’S EXPENSIVE!  WHY USB 3.0 CERTIFIED FLASH DRIVES ONLY?
Please refer to this post I wrote about the specifications required for Windows-to-Go but basically, there’s no guarantee that Windows-to-Go will work correctly with lesser flash drives. 

We have several expectations of latency & performance as well as long-term reliability & durability that we tuned the Windows 8 operating system for in the Windows-to-Go scenario and those expectations are only met by Windows-to-Go certified flash drives.

SO, WHAT SHOULD I NOTICE ONCE I BOOT TO IT?
Here’s a few key features of Windows-to-Go that’s sure to amaze & delight.

1. Pre-OS Password Unlock
   If you install Windows-to-Go with BitLocker – an option during the installation procedure – you will need to type a PIN in order to decrypt & use the BitLocker-encrypted Windows-to-Go flash drive.  This ensures that if the device is ever lost, there’s no concern of data leakage:  BitLocker uses a phenomenal level of volume encryption for the data on the drive.
2. Inaccessible Local Hard Drive
   Notice that if you go to My Computer from the Desktop, the local hard drive of the host PC is not listed and is otherwise inaccessible.  This is to prevent data leakage from the WTG “Work” environment and also protect that environment from malware that may reside on the local storage.
3. Accidental Drive Removal Resilient
   Try pulling out the drive:  You’ll find that the entire OS pauses.  This was a major innovation in Windows that was introduced in Windows 8 Windows-to-Go.  It freezes all system processing until the drive is returned to the USB port.  The user has 60 seconds to accomplish this and if they do plug it back in, they get a "don’t do that again" dialog on the screen.  If they DON’T return the USB drive to the port in 60 seconds, a hard shutdown takes place in order to ensure that the data on the desktop display doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
4. VPN out
   VPN is fully available from the Windows-to-Go environment if a network’s available.
5. Windows Store is disabled by default
   By design the Windows Store is not available to ensure that the WTG environment is not modified unnecessarily.  This can be overridden by Group Policy if necessary.

And exception FAQ on Windows-to-Go is available below:

• Windows To Go Frequently Asked Questio
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj592680

Brainstorm produced a neat FREE add-in for Office 2013 called “QuickHelp Starter” that shows within the frame of the Office application, how to use certain key functions of the application – either Word 2013 or Excel 2013.

OFFICE.COM DESCRIPTION
QuickHelp Starter is a collection of short videos that display in Word 2013 and Excel 2013 so you can work with features as you learn about them. Watch the videos that QuickHelp Starter recommends specifically for you, or search for the information you need within the collection. If there’s a particular video that you want to view later, bookmark it. Not sure which videos you already watched? QuickHelp Starter saves your viewing history.

PROVIDER DESCRIPTION
QuickHelp Starter is a collection of short videos that help users understand the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of features in Word 2013 and Excel 2013. Users increase productivity by increasing their ability to effectively utilize their productivity software. Features include:

• Suggested Content: QuickHelp Starter will recommend videos specific to each user.
• In-application Content: Videos are displayed directly within Word 2013 and Excel 2013 allowing users to follow along.
• Search: All content is completely indexed and searchable, allowing users to quickly find content for their specific needs.
• Favorites: Users can bookmark favorites so they can refer back to helpful videos at a future date.
• History: Complete history is tracked allowing users to find previously watched videos.

DOWNLOAD: “QuickHelp Starter” for Office 2013 (v1.2)
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/store/quickhelp-starter-WA102927044.aspx?redir=0

Have you been enjoying Click-to-Run functionality from the new Office Customer Preview?

So you have an App-V infrastructure in the lab and wish you could deploy the new Office in test for a side-by-side experience?

Lucky you!  We have the Office 2013 Preview available pre-sequenced for you to deploy via App-V 5.0!

• Here is the link for Office 2013 Preview App-V packages:  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30423

(NOTE:  App-V 5.0 beta is needed.  If your customer hasn’t already they need to sign up for the beta here: https://connect.microsoft.com/MDOPTAP/Survey/NominationSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=14058&ProgramID=7604)

UPDATE 10/6/12:
And it’s installed.  What’s amazing is that I guess this could really be as big as anyone wants to it be.  I don’t have a wall big enough for something like this. 

———————–
ORIGINAL POST:
Anyone want a really HUGE display?

The photo doesn’t do this justice:  These are massive 60+” panels in a 3×2 configuration presenting a gargantuan single HDMI display.  What you’re looking at is something called the Casgan PiXelWall:  A multiscreen high definition series of displays with ultrathin bezels that combine to form a highly configurable wall monitor.

They’re deployed anywhere from showrooms, to Entertainment industry theatres, to command & control centers for Enterprise companies, to the home theatres of the rich & famous.

As you can see, the configuration above is a configuration being put together for a client of a friend that works at Casgan.  The first thing they through up on the PiXelWall was a 6 display configuration showcasing a single monitor view of a Windows 8 display.  Looks pretty sexy, ‘eh?

As mentioned earlier, the displays are configurable on the fly so you can have one display configured for say watching a live feed – like TV – and another for computer stats – and yet another for… recreational usage, as evidenced above.

A fact of life is that laptop batteries don’t last forever. But it’s a fact that we largely forget about, and we blame Windows for being a “power pig” & only until the battery completely fails do we consider that it’s a hardware issue.  The truth is that a lot of folks find their laptop’s battery doesn’t last very long and the reason is… it’s OLD!  And it’s dying! 

So how does one figure out – without too much effort, whether their battery is failing and if they want better battery life, they need to get a battery replacement?  It turns out that in Windows 7 & Windows 8, we have some great tools that make it very easy to determine how well your machine is doing power-wise in just 60 seconds.

HOW TO RUN A 60 SECOND REPORT ON YOUR LAPTOP’S POWER CONSUMPTION:

1. Open a CMD shell with Administrative privileges in Windows 7 or 8.
2. Run POWERCFG /ENERGY and a 60 second analysis will be run on your machine.
3. If any issues arise, the analysis will tell you how many issues the OS found on the screen once it’s finished.  A report should be written to your \windows\system32 directory called “energy-report.html”

ANALYZING THE RESULTS
The resulting HTML file will tell you a lot.  For example, one of the things it will tell you is what applications are the biggest power hogs on your system.  On my system for example, besides the usual suspects, like Internet Explorer, I found some surprising CPU hogs on there like Soluto & Windows Live Writer.  Something to know when you’re on the road and want to conserve battery.

The thing you’re looking for in this case is in the 3rd section, near the end entitled, “Battery:Battery Information”.  There are two numbers you need to look at in this section:

• Design Capacity
• Last Full Charge

These two numbers should be relatively close to each other obviously.  On my PC for example, I have a Design Capacity of 52170 and a Last Full Charge of 48770, meaning that the maximum charge I can hold on my battery is apparently about 93.5%.  Not bad.

If you have largely divergent numbers, you probably have yourself a bad battery and it’s time to replace it.

Windows 8’s Client Hyper-V is real, and it’s spectacular.  Forgive my enthusiasm but this is the desktop virtualization technology you’ve been waiting for on the desktop: A true type-1 client hypervisor, with all the power of Microsoft’s best virtualization technology… right up against the metal.

That means all the ‘against-the-metal’ speed & ‘x64’ power of the BEST server virtualization technology at your workstation without loading Windows Server on your machine as your base OS… and you still get to use it on any current generation x64 processor and have the richness of the Windows hardware/driver ecosystem!

HOW TO TURN IT ON:

1. Open Windows 8 CtrlPanel
2. Go to Programs&Features & click Turn Windows Features On or Off
3. Check "Hyper-V" (and the tools)
4. Reboot… and you’re done.

You’ll notice Hyper-V Manager & Hyper-V Virtual Machine Connection client appear on the Start page, so if you’re used to Windows Server’s Hyper-V, you’re gonna be in familiar territory.  In the meantime, here’s some references that you’ll need once you’ve got things going:

• TechNet Reference: Windows 8 Technologies – “Client Hyper-V”
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh857623.aspx
• Client Hyper-V Survival Guide
  http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/7704.client-hyper-v-survival-guide.aspx
• Building Windows 8:  The “Bringing Hyper-V to Windows 8” post
  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/09/07/bringing-hyper-v-to-windows-8.aspx

I’ve noticed something:  It seems like not too many people know exactly HOW MUCH content is available for Windows Server 2012.

Folks – there’s so much recorded & written it’s insane.  Maybe we’re not doing a good enough job of exposing it but in any case, here’s a simple list of all the sessions on Windows Server 2012 from the recent TechEd 2012 Conference in Orlando, FL.

Each are 1hr & 15min long.

• Modernizing Your Datacenter
• Windows Server 2012 Overview
• What’s New in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V, Part 1
• Windows Server 2012 VDI/RDS Infrastructure and Management
• What’s New in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V, Part 2
• Windows Server 2012 Networking Performance and Management
• Windows Server 2012 Dynamic Access Control Overview
• Compete to Win, Part 1- Comparing Core Virtualization Platforms
• Inside Windows Server 2012 Multi-Server Management Capabilities
• Cluster Shared Volumes Reborn in Windows Server 2012- Deep Dive
• The Path to Continuous Availability with Windows Server 2012
• Dell Windows Server 2012 Greenfield Data Design – Hosted Server / Private Cloud
• Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Storage
• What’s New in Active Directory in Windows Server 2012
• RemoteFX and RDP Rocking RDS in Windows Server 2012
• Hyper-V over SMB2- Remote File Storage Support in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V
• Standards Support and Interoperability in Windows Server 2012- Storage, Networking, and Management
• Deploying Windows Server 2012- From Bare Metal, Server Core, Minimal Server Interface, and More
• Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming and Multichannel Solutions
• Windows Server 2012 Dynamic Access Control Deep Dive for Active Directory and Central Authorization
• Hyper-V High-Availability and Mobility- Designing the Infrastructure for Your Private Cloud
• Windows Server 2012 + Advanced Storage Solutions = Datacenter Elevation
• Building a Highly Available Failover Cluster Solution with Windows Server 2012 from the Ground Up
• Windows Server 2012 File and Storage Services Management
• An Overview of Hyper-V Networking in Windows Server 2012
• Windows Server 2012 Dynamic Access Control Best Practices and Case Study Deployments in Microsoft
• Active Directory Virtualization Safeguards and Domain Controller Cloning with Windows Server 2012
• Get Hands-on with the New Hyper-V Extensible Switch in Windows Server 2012
• Windows Server 2012 Storage Solutions- Vast Storage Capabilities for Everyone
• Update Management in Windows Server 2012- Revealing Cluster-Aware Updating and the New Generation of WSUS
• Windows Server 2012 IP Address Management
• Windows Server 2012 DirectAccess- How to Quickly and Easily Deploy Your Next Generation Remote Access Experience
• Windows Server 2012 High-Performance, Highly-Available Storage Using SMB
• Windows Server 2012 File System Enhancements- Redefining File Storage
• Hyper-V Network Virtualization for Scalable Multi-Tenancy in Windows
• Windows Server 2012- A Techie’s Insight into the Hot New Features
• Networking for Hybrid Cloud- BranchCache and Cross Premise Connectivity
• Windows Server 2012- Cluster-in-a-Box, RDMA, and More
• Using the Windows Server 2012 Server Manager for Remote and Multi-Server Management
• Building Flexible Hyper-V Environments Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Live Migration and Live Stora
• Preparing for The Big One – Protection and Recovery Using New Capabilities of Windows Server 2012 & System Center 2012 SP1
• The Evolution of Active Directory Recovery
• What’s New with Windows Server 2012 and Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1
• Guest Clustering and VM Monitoring in Windows Server 2012
• Deploying Private Clouds (Lessons Learned from the Windows Server 2012 TAP)
• DNSSEC Deployment with Windows Server 2012
• Building Hosted Public and Private Clouds Using Windows Server 2012

For more sessions, visit:
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2012

For Volume Licensing customers, the .ISO images of Windows Server Datacenter 2012 and Windows Server Standard 2012 are now available on the Volume Licensing Service Center web site:

VIDEO RECORDINGS
The following overview video recordings are available for Windows Server 2012:
(Note: Each are roughly 1hr & 15min long)

• WSV205: Windows Server 2012 Overview
  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2012/WSV205
• VIR308: What’s New in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V (Part 1)
  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2012/VIR308
• VIR309: What’s New in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V (Part 2)
  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2012/VIR309

(Note:  There’s a LOT more recorded content than this.  I only listed the above recordings because it was what one of you wanted to hear about.  If you’d like to see all the Windows Server 2012 content from TechEd 2012, check this post out:
VIDEO- Windows Server 2012 recordings @ TechEd 2012)

LICENSING:
Find licensing and pricing details in the downloadable datasheet; find the answers to the most commonly asked pricing and licensing questions:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/2012-editions.aspx

DOWNLOAD:  Windows Server 2012  – Volume Licensing Service Center
https://www.microsoft.com/Licensing/servicecenter/Downloads/DownloadsandKeys.aspx
(Requires Volume Licensing Administration privileges for your organization)