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HiED West ATU: ATS Newsletter - April 2007

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Microsoft News and Product Information

Security

· Malware Revolution: A Change in Target Today’s malware focus is no longer a battle to dominate the computer; it is increasingly a battle for control of the user’s assets. With money as the motive and the user as the target, we can expect to see an even greater number of cleverly disguised scams, phishing, and other socially engineered attacks in the future.

How Microsoft Does IT

· Managing Line of Business Applications using Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 provides the foundation for the Microsoft Information Technology (Microsoft IT) group to increase operational efficiency and advance the alignment of IT services with the needs of Microsoft. Microsoft IT achieves these goals by providing business units with greater control over line-of-business (LOB) applications based on a new generation of end-to-end service management solutions.

· How Microsoft IT Deployed Windows Vista Wireless Group Policy (audio) New features in Windows Vista Wireless group policy provided the Microsoft Identity and Access Management (IAM) team with the ability to deploy a group policy object to automatically configure wireless network settings for Windows Vista and Windows XP clients. The team was able to leverage the new interoperability feature to configure wireless network settings for both Windows Vista and Windows XP within a single group policy object in each domain.

· Implementing System Center Operations Manager 2007 at Microsoft Microsoft Information Technology (Microsoft IT) is responsible for monitoring the health of nearly 11,000 servers that are running over 2,000 corporate applications. Until the development of Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (OpsMgr) 2007, Microsoft IT used several individual installments of Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 for monitoring. Using multiple installations of MOM 2005 sometimes resulted in duplication of effort and redundant data. This technical white paper describes how Microsoft IT created a centralized monitoring solution by deploying OpsMgr 2007 in its corporate network environment.

· Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Edge Transport and Messaging Protection In deploying the Exchange 2007 based messaging protection solution, Microsoft IT used all messaging protection features of the Edge Transport server role and Forefront Security for Exchange Server to block, delete, reject, or quarantine unwanted messages. To further increase security, servers were hardened and audited for vulnerabilities to ensure readiness for Internet visibility.

Windows Desktop and Server - Vista / 2003 / XP / 2000

· Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 Whitepapers

o Wolfram Research's gridMathematica2

o ANSYS Solution Brief

· Windows Administration: Inside the Windows Vista Kernel: Part 3 In this issue, we wrap up our in-depth discussion about what’s new in the Windows Vista kernel. In this final installment, we look at changes and new features pertaining to reliability, recovery, and security.

· Windows Administration: Disaster Recovery: Active Directory Users and Groups Data recovery in Active Directory can be very complex, yet it’s essential that you have a recovery plan in order. We show you how Active Directory stores, deletes, restores, and replicates objects so you can be prepared the next time a user or group membership is accidentally deleted.

· When I’m x64 Take a look at an implementation of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 on x64 systems, examining some of the deployment benefits and hurdles you can expect to run into. And get familiar with Windows Vista x64 support, migration, and deployment.

· Wireless Group Policy Settings for Windows Vista Discover how you can use Group Policy to centrally configure and distribute wireless network settings to all the computers in your Active Directory network.

· Windows Vista Policy-based Quality of Service (QoS) This white paper describes how to prioritize network traffic by configuring Policy-based QoS on Windows Vista. Provides a business-based scenario. Also provides reference for QoS error and event messages.

· Microsoft-Intel Virtualization Whitepaper Reducing Technology Costs with Intel Virtualization Technology and Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1

· Deploying and Managing the Windows Deployment Services Update on Windows Server 2003 Windows Deployment Services is the updated and redesigned version of Remote Installation Services (RIS). Windows Deployment Services assists with the rapid adoption and deployment of Microsoft Windows operating systems. You can use it to set up new computers through a network-based installation without having to be physically present at each computer

· Technology Overview: Internet Explorer 7 for the Enterprise This technology overview of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 describes how improvements in the new browser will help IT professionals deploy and manage IE7 in an enterprise environment. Whether your support a large, medium, or small business, deploying Internet Explorer 7 will benefit your organization.

Exchange Server

· Getting Started with Outlook Voice Access Outlook Voice Access is a feature in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging (UM) that enables users to retrieve e-mail messages from their mailbox by using an analog, digital, or cellular telephone. They can then interact with their mailbox by using touchtone or voice commands.

· For more of the latest Exchange articles, see The Exchange Team Blog – you might make it a favorite link!

Microsoft Management

· TechNet Webcast: System Center Reporting Manager Overview Join us as we demonstrate the power of Microsoft System Center Reporting Manager and illustrate how it can unlock valuable data stored within Microsoft System Management Server (SMS) and Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM).

· Management: Plan Ahead with System Center Capacity Planner Insufficient hardware leads to poor response times while too much hardware is a waste of budget and administration resources. Learn how you can use the System Center Capacity Planner to model your network and accurately estimate your infrastructure needs.

· Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 Evaluation Edition System Center Operations Manager provides an easy-to-use monitoring environment that includes thousands of event and performance monitors across hundreds of operating systems and applications to provide a single view of the health of an organization’s IT environment.

· Management: Advanced Client Inventories with SMS Out of the box, Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 collects a lot of information, but it doesn’t collect nearly as much as you may need. Find out how the right combination of scripting, WMI, and SMS knowledge can help you expand SMS inventories to collect and report almost any morsel of information.

· Management: Deploying Custom Software Updates with SMS 2003 R2 Systems Management Server 2003 R2 lets you use managed update features to deploy custom updates. Explore two new tools—the Inventory Tool for Custom Updates and the Custom Updates Publishing Tool—and see how they can help you deploy your own updates as well as updates from third party developers.

· Systems Center Operations Manager 2007 documentation

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

· White papers: Excel Services step-by-step guides These guides help you learn about Excel Services functionality and understand the relationships among various components of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. The procedures in these guides take you step by step through the process of configuring and using Excel Services to build fully functional PivotTable reports, charts, and a variety of other reports.

· Plan e-mail message records retention This article describes planning tasks related to retaining e-mail message records by using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, with emphasis on using Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 with Office SharePoint Server 2007 to manage message classification, retention, and expiration.

· Design logical architecture for collaboration sites Use this article to decide how to incorporate collaboration sites into your overall intranet solution. Understand the design recommendations for collaboration sites, estimate the number of site collections you can support and the number of content databases you need, and plan settings for managing your collaboration site collections.

· More recently published MOSS content

Microsoft Office System

· Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Speech Server Public Beta Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Speech Server enables you to develop and deploy interactive voice response (IVR) applications. Speech Server combines speech technologies, Voice over IP (VoIP), and telephony capabilities into a single system and a single code base. See also the documentation for the beta.

· Deploying Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager in a Remote Database Configuration Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager uses a SQL Server 2005 database for storing its data. By default, configuring Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager with any Outlook profile creates a SQL database on the local computer. Instead of creating a database on the local computer, you can choose to connect to an existing database on a remote server.

· Microsoft Office Groove and SharePoint Integration This document discusses how you can integrate Groove and SharePoint to enhance and facilitate collaboration in your enterprise.

· How to Help Secure a Groove Manager Web Site Securing a Groove Manager Web site involves choosing an administrative authentication system, configuring network settings, implenting SSL, and enabling role-based access control.

Other Information

· Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance - Wipro TCO White Paper The Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) whitepaper focuses on the IO model and how MDOP can reduce the cost of implementing the core IO best practices by up to $150/PC/best practice and then how it can help an organization realize a sustained annual savings of up to $50/PC/year/best practice implemented. Wipro estimates the savings for use of MDOP will range from $200-$500/PC/Yr .

· BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Beta 2 Installation and Upgrade Guides The installation instructions explain how to install BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Beta 2 and RFID on Windows Server 2003 in a single server environment. The upgrade guides explain how to upgrade from BizTalk Server 2004 and BizTalk Server 2006 to BizTalk Server 2006 R2.

· Optimizing the Performance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 White Paper This white paper discusses how to optimize the performance of your Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 system. You’ll learn how re-indexing, de-fragmenting, and regularly maintaining your databases can increase the speed with which Microsoft Dynamics CRM accesses your data. The white paper includes more advanced techniques as well, such as improving report performance, configuring Microsoft SQL Server, and optimizing Microsoft Internet Information Services and the .NET Framework.

· Microsoft Forefront Overview The Microsoft Forefront comprehensive line of business security products provides greater protection and control through integration with your existing IT infrastructure and through simplified deployment, management, and analysis.

Microsoft Developer Information

· Beginner Developer Lessons – with Visual Studio Express

· Building Sustainable Banking Architectures In this article, we will use a banking scenario to focus on some of the specific needs for financial services. This scenario will provide means for partners and customers to integrate banking applications and establish consistency in this integration. This article describes the Loan-Origination Reference Architecture Pack.

· InfoPath 2007 Sample: Training Labs Step-by-step training and downloadable samples illustrating Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 features.

· Explore The Web Server For Windows Vista And Beyond In this article, the author takes the opportunity to present the major reasons why the next-generation IIS 7.0 Web server makes such a big difference to developers and administrators alike-and give you a head start in using many of its new features.

· Add Video To Controls And 3D Surfaces With WPF This article will get you up to speed with Windows Presentation Foundation media integration and give you the knowledge you need to add media files and that optional visual interest to your own applications.

· Automate Releases With MSBuild And Windows Installer XML In this article, I'll show you how to achieve an automated and repeatable build and release process in your organization using the Microsoft Build Engine (MSBuild) and the Windows Installer XML (WiX) toolset.

· Scalable Apps with Asynchronous Programming in ASP.NET Asynchronous programming is an excellent way to build more scalable applications by using the ASP.NET thread pool as efficiently as possible.

· Improving a Graphics Application with Tablet APIs Demonstrates how to write an application for colorizing digital photos using the inking support provided by Tablet PC APIs.

· Feature Changes in ASP.NET 2.0 If you are considering migrating from ASP or ASP.NET 1.x, you should definitely consider the advantages provided by the new features in ASP.NET 2.0. This article provides a feature-based overview of ASP.NET 2.0 for developers familiar with ASP or ASP.NET 1.1.

· Extending SQL Server Reporting Services with SQL CLR Table-Valued Functions This article describes how to take advantage of SQL CLR table-valued functions to combine different types of data sources to create rich and exciting SQL Server Reporting Services reports.

Monthly Reminders of Good Information Sources:

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Recent Security Bulletins (Security Bulletin Archives)

Last 5 Published or Updated Security Advisories

· Microsoft Security Advisory (935423)
Vulnerability in Windows Animated Cursor Handling
Published or Last Updated: 3/31/2007

· Microsoft Security Advisory (933052)
Vulnerability in Microsoft Word Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Published or Last Updated: 2/14/2007

· Microsoft Security Advisory (932553)
Vulnerability in Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Published or Last Updated: 2/13/2007

· Microsoft Security Advisory (932114)
Vulnerability in Microsoft Word 2000 Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Published or Last Updated: 2/13/2007

· Microsoft Security Advisory (929433)
Vulnerability in Microsoft Word Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Published or Last Updated: 2/13/2007

For the entire list of published Security Advisories, visit the Security Advisory Archive Web site.

Security Guidance Center for Developer and IT Pros Get prescriptive guidance tools, training, and updates you need to assist you in planning and managing a security strategy that’s right for your organization.