System Center / Management for the Month of April
News
The Manageability Team Blog
https://blogs.technet.com/smsandmom/default.aspx
The Deployment Guys
https://blogs.technet.com/deploymentguys
Starting mid-April 2008, beta Operations Management Packs for Windows Server 2008 will become available through MS Connect
Starting mid-April 2008, beta Operations Management Packs for Windows Server 2008 will start to become available through Microsoft Connect The betas are scheduled to be released as follows: BaseOS and DHCP in mid-April; Cluster, Active Directory, and Network Access Protection (NAP) in May; Network Load Balancing (NLB) in June 2008
New & Updated Operations Management Packs (MPs) on System Center Pack Catalog (Apr 2008)
A number of new and updated MPs were recently released to the System Center Pack Catalog for Operations Manager 2007, including Windows System Resource Manager 2003, Exchange Server 2003, Windows 2003 Cluster (update), SQL Server 2000/2005 (update), and AD Server 2000/2003 (update). New localized versions (in Japanese, French and German) include DNS 2000/2003, DPM 2006, DFS 2003 and DHCP. A Japanese-localized version of the Exchange Server 2007 MP was also made available.
https://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/scp/opsmgr07.aspx
Operations Manager 2007 SP1 (English Only) Now Available for Volume License Customers
Volume license customers can now download the slipstreamed version of Ops Mgr 2007 SP1 (English only) via the MVLS website
https://licensing.microsoft.com/eLicense/L1033/Default.asp
New Localized Versions of Operations Manager 2007 SP1 Now Available
Recently released for web download were the evaluation and upgrade versions of Ops Mgr 2007 SP1 for Russian, Japanese, French and German. Volume license customers will be able to download the respective slipstreamed Ops Mgr 2007 SP1 for these localized editions via the MVLS website from 1st May 2008.
Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2008 Release
On Tuesday, April 1, Microsoft announced Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2008. MDOP 2008 addresses IT professionals’ need for increased desktop manageability and employs innovative technologies to reduce the total cost of desktop ownership. Specific updates to MDOP 2008 include improvements to DaRT 6.0, which now increases TCO savings by minimizing recovery times, as well as DEM 3.0 SP1, which proactively manages application and operating system failures.
Our objective with this announcement is to position MDOP 2008 as part of Microsoft’s larger optimized desktop vision. There is still a lot of education to be done around the MDOP technologies and how they enable value-added scenarios for IT. MDOP coverage has increased following announcements at IT Forum in November, at Virtualization Strategy Day in January, and Microsoft’s plans to acquire Kidaro and include its technologies within MDOP. While MDOP as a technology set, and application virtualization specifically, is perceived positively in the press, we have yet to tell a broader story about Microsoft’s vision for MDOP.
Microsoft announces cross-platform support in Operations Manager
Today at MMS, Microsoft announced the public beta of OpsMgr 2007 Cross Platform Extensions. System Center now natively supports Linux and UNIX in addition to Windows. Also announced: Management Packs from partners for Linux and UNIX apps to be monitored by OpsMgr and connectors enabling data from OpsMgr to feed other management tools.
https://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/apr08/04-29MMS08PR.mspx
Documents
SMS and Configuration Manager
Managing Windows XP Embedded Systems with SMS 2003 sp3
This document describes the steps necessary to manage Windows XP Embedded Systems with SMS 2003 sp3.
System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Software Updates Synchronization SuperFlow
The Software Updates Synchronization SuperFlow is a dynamic, interactive dataflow model that provides all of the information needed to understand the software updates synchronization process in Configuration Manager 2007. The SuperFlow also provides an animation for the process and resource files and links that provide information related to the process.
MOM and Operations Manager
Operations Manager 2007 Performance and Scalability Whitepaper
This document describes performance and scalability guidelines to consider when planning a Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 deployment.
Remote Operations Manager 2007 Deployment Guide
Best practices for deploying Remote Operations Manager 2007
Other
Security Compliance Management
The Security Compliance Management Beta provides authoritative, supportable tools and prescriptive guidance to help organizations conduct and validate security compliance checks against established baselines from Microsoft.
Essentials Tech Walkthrough CD ISO
ISO Image for the System Center Essentials 2007 Tech Walkthrough CD
Downloads
MOM and Operations Manager
System Center Operations Manager 2007 SP1 Documentation
This download contains documentation for System Center Operations Manager 2007 SP1.
Operations Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 Eval
System Center Operations Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 is the end –to-end service management solution that is the best choice for Windows because it works seamlessly wit Microsoft software and applications helping you increase efficiency while enabling greater control of your IT environment
BizTalk Server MP for SC Ops Mgr 2007
The BizTalk Server Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007 provides monitoring for BizTalk Server 2006 and 2006 R2.
Exchange 2003 Management Pack
The Exchange 2003 Management Pack monitors Exchange 2003 deployments and monitors Exchange Server Back-end and Exchange Server Front-End systems (5000.11)
Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 MP for Microsoft SC Ops Mgr 2007
The Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (ConfigMgr) Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007. This Management Pack helps administrators manage and administer Configuration Manager 2007 servers.
SQL Server 2000/2005 Management Pack
The SQL Server 2000/2005 Management Pack monitors Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005.
Events/Webcasts
Manageability Webcast Home
A list of all archived and upcoming Manageability Webcasts is available at:
https://www.microsoft.com/events/series/technetmms.aspx?tab=webcasts
TechNet Webcast: Configuration Manager 2007 and Network Access Protection (Level 300) - 5/14/2008 11:30 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- Duration:90 Minutes
Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 introduces new levels of security, enabling new and improved ways of managing clients both inside the corporate network, and in mobile scenarios. Configuration Manager 2007 also introduces perimeter health validation with Network Access Protection (NAP). To enable these features, there are design considerations to follow, as well as infrastructure dependencies. In this session, we take a deep dive into the best practice guidance to integrate Configuration Manager 2007 and Windows Server 2008 Network Access Protection implementation. We discuss experiences from both the Microsoft internal deployment and Wake Forest University Hospital to help demonstrate features, functionality, scalability, and lessons learned.
https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032374498&culture=en-US
TechNet Webcast: System Center and the Datacenter (Level 300) - 5/19/2008 1:00 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada) - 90 Minutes
Businesses are demanding more processing power to succeed in today's digital marketplace, requiring their data centers to rapidly scale and adopt innovations in virtualization, clustering, and server consolidation. In contrast to these demands, challenges of security, automation, compliancy, and green initiatives all add complexity to truly meeting the needs of today's IT organizations. Successful companies are turning their server infrastructures from cost centers to strategic assets to counteract these constraints. In this session, see how the Microsoft System Center family of products can help your customers deploy and manage their datacenters quickly and easily–reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO), improving service levels, and increasing organizational agility.
https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032374504&culture=en-US
TechNet Webcast: System Center and the Desktop (Level 300) - 5/27/2008 1:00 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada) - 90 Minutes
With the increasing reliance on electronic information, the redefining of the network perimeter to the user level, and greater security challenges, modern organizations need to deploy and securely manage an more challenging desktop landscape. Combining this with the distributed nature of today's workforce, managing the configuration, performance, and security of the desktop presents some of the most costly and challenging exercises for any IT management team. In this session, learn how the Microsoft System Center family of products can centrally manage your customer's desktop infrastructure. This includes the controlled deployment of system images, validation of desktop configurations (such as for compliance and security), performance monitoring for potential operating system issues, and ensuring that sensitive data is backed up.
https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032374506&culture=en-US
New KB's
SMS and Configuration Manager
How to replace Windows AIK version 1.0 with Windows AIK version 1.1 when you use System Center Configuration Manager 2007
https://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=950782
The Configuration Manager 2007 International Client Pack installation process fails, and you receive a "Setup cannot start SQL Server to perform the upgrade" error message
https://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=950531
The SMS_Executive service (Smsexec.exe) process for Systems Management Server 2003 may crash when it tries to shut down while the process is experiencing a heavy load
https://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=950032
A software inventory operation does not work correctly in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 if the inventoried file has invalid time attributes
https://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=950653
MOM and Operations Manager
When you run a task in the System Center Operations Manager 2007 Operations Console on a Russian version of Windows Server 2003, the task outputs are displayed in corrupted text
https://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=949875
The Health Service does not process configuration files, and events 7022 and 1220 are logged every 30 minutes on a domain controller on which you installed the Operations Manager 2007 agent
https://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=946428
The OpsMgr Health service may incorrectly display the health state of the cluster nodes in System Center Operations Manager 2007
https://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=945312
Other
The backup image may be corrupted if you use System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 to perform an online backup of a virtual machine that is running in Virtual Server 2005
https://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=948373
Description of Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager (MDM) 2008 Resource Kit Tools
https://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=951063
Insufficient randomness in the random number generator of the System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 gateway server